Stuck Together

by Mary Connealy

  “He said I had to move out, but that suits me. I’m saddling up my horse and going to Californy. My brother owns a farm out there, and he invited me once to come and stay with him. I never could see my way clear to showing up, hat in hand, with nothing to show for a lifetime of work.”

  Vince thought that was strange, since he’d never seen Asa do any real work.

  Asa opened the heavy-looking cloth bag and held it out so Vince could see the gold coins. More money than Asa’s boardinghouse was worth, ten times over. If the old codger was smart—and Vince had no reason to believe he was—Asa could live out a comfortable life with the contents of that cloth bag.

  “Now I can go to my brother with some pride, and I aim to.” Asa shook the bag and gave Vince a gap-toothed smile at the sound of the gold jingling.

  Vince was too furious with his father to comment on the fact that Asa’s “lifetime of work” was pretty much spent lazing around in a house he owned through squatter’s rights. Even furious, he felt he had to warn the old man.

  “Don’t wave that gold around, Asa, or you’ll never live to spend it.” Vince knew plenty about what money could do to people. It’d had a real undesirable effect on his father. Vince sincerely hoped Asa survived to enjoy his newfound wealth. The fact that the man was braying about the gold and waving that bag around didn’t make Vince optimistic.

  “Your pa left money for you too, Vince. He told me to tell you it was your turn.” Asa scratched his head thoughtfully. “I wonder what that means? Your turn for what?”

  Vince knew very well what that meant. His turn to care for his mother and sister. Father had found both women embarrassing, and he’d moved the shame a long way into the wilderness.

  He thought of his mother and how addled she was and how unkind Father was, and mixed in with the fury was a hint of relief that his mother was away from the old tyrant.

  Vince turned to look at his humble room above his humble lawyer’s office. Then he turned and could see Dare’s house, with Mother in there. They’d already lost track of her once. And Melissa said two people had to watch Mother at all times.

  Vince trudged toward the doctor’s office, his mind a wrangle as he tried to imagine what he had ahead of him. It was a mighty good thing that being a lawyer never took a moment of his time.

  He reached Dare’s front steps just as Melissa came out. Vince stood facing his sister. She was part of that heap of wrangled-up thoughts. She was a living, breathing reminder of his father’s unfaithfulness and the burden of being a big brother. But honestly he didn’t even have time to ponder all that. Mother was taking up too much of his thinking time.

  Melissa frowned. “He abandoned us. Left his wife and daughter and son without a backward glance.”

  “Oh, I reckon he looked backward,” Vince said, picturing it in his mind, “just in case someone spotted him running off.”

  “All his problems solved in one easy jaunt.”

  Shaking his head, Vince said, “A one-thousand-mile, exhausting and expensive jaunt.”

  “When he told me we were going to see you, I never even suspected he had such a thing in mind, but he planned it from the first.”

  “How are we supposed to take care of someone who needs so much?” Vince really hoped she could tell him.

  Melissa stomped down the steps fronting Dare’s place. “In Chicago we had a staff of twelve people, each working a four-hour shift, so two people would be with her at all times. We tried six people doing eight-hour shifts, but it was hard to stay attentive for that long. I have no idea how we can duplicate that situation out here. Of course, there aren’t busy streets with rushing horses and wagons. There aren’t big buildings and thousands of bustling strangers.”

  Then Melissa looked at the wilderness that surrounded the town. “But there’s that.” She waved her arm at the rugged terrain. “Miles and miles of places to get lost, with rattlesnakes and cactuses all around . . .”

  “Don’t forget outlaws, cougars and buffalo, pits you can fall in, and avalanches that can rain huge stones down on your head.” Vince shook his head. “I found a scorpion in my office just the other day.”

  “What’s a scorpion?” Melissa had her hands twisted together as Vince listed some of the ways a person could die in the Texas desert.

  “A big old poisonous bug-lizard thing. Likes to sting.” Vince saw her flinch and was sorry he’d mentioned it.

  “Well,” Melissa said, “we need to—”

  “Who’s with her now?” Vince interrupted.

  “Glynna and Dare are both in there with their children.” Melissa squared her shoulders. “I’m not sure how much time you’re willing to give to this, Vince, but I’ll plan on staying with her as much as possible. I imagine there’s nowhere else to go, anyway. We’ll have to move her to Asa’s boardinghouse.”

  “It’s the Yateses’ house now. Asa told me I own it.” Vince glanced at the big two-story house built as if to block the south end of Main Street.

  Melissa rolled her eyes. “Of course you do. Your father—”

  “Our father,” Vince reminded her.

  Nodding, Melissa said, “Our father would see that as providing for everyone. He could just buy that house—no doubt he left a stack of gold coins behind—and then he could ride away without a twinge of remorse.”

  Melissa scowled at Vince for a long moment, and Vince let her because he was curious as to what she planned to say next.

  “Just how much like your father are you?” she asked.

  And there was a question that stung like a scorpion.

  Jonas picked that moment to round the corner of Dare’s house, coming from the parsonage. His canny dark eyes flicked between Vince and Melissa exactly once before he asked, “What happened?”

  Vince liked to think he was pretty hard to read, but either he was so upset he couldn’t keep that fact off his face, or Jonas was unusually sensitive. Which would be a good trait in a parson, yet it annoyed Vince to no end. On the other hand, there was no sense pretending what had happened hadn’t. Maybe talking it out with Jonas was a good idea.

  “My father left town,” Vince began.

  “For how long?”

  Shaking his head at Jonas’s innocence, Vince said, “I don’t mean he left town for a while, like on a trip or for an errand. He left town for good. He’s gone. He only came here to leave Mother and Melissa with me. He finds them both an embarrassment—me too, for that matter.”

  “You find your mother and Melissa an embarrassment?” Jonas sounded personally offended.

  “No, Father throws me in with the two of them. The three of us are an embarrassment. I suspect he’ll go on back to Chicago and tell all his business cronies I invited both of them to stay with me.”

  “He won’t include me. I doubt anyone outside the house has ever heard of me.” Melissa didn’t seem to care overly.

  “Probably not. I’d bet Mother is a forbidden topic, too. No one will even know she’s gone. The big crisis will be if Father has gotten behind at work, but he’ll soon catch up.”

  Jonas’s eyes widened. “He left them both here?” They’d been talking quietly up until now. But now Jonas lost control of his voice. “Just up and abandoned his wife and daughter?”

  “Shh!” Melissa looked over her shoulder at the closed door. “Yes,” she said quietly. “No sense upsetting Virginia Belle with the news. If we’re lucky, she may not even notice he’s gone. And since she just recently moved out of the home she’d lived in most of her adult life—and that move confused her terribly—this change may not increase her addled state.”

  Vince looked again at the boardinghouse. “You said the new house was so big she couldn’t begin to find her way around. Maybe a smaller house will help. She’ll still have to learn it, but there isn’t much to learn, honestly. Four rooms upstairs, four down. Twelve people, though. How in tarnation are we going to find twelve people to help us?”

  “What do you need twelve people for?” Jonas really was b
ehind.

  “Mother can’t be left alone. She wanders off.”

  “Tina and I will take a shift.” Jonas was a good friend and quick to step in and help. But Vince wondered if maybe Jonas oughta ask his feisty little sister first.

  “You mean Tina will help if she can find time between working at the diner and the saloon.”

  Melissa gasped and took a quick look at the white parson’s collar Jonas wore. “Your sister works at the saloon?” She rested her hand on Jonas’s wrist. “Is she a dance-hall girl? She seems a bit edgy. I can help you get her out of that life. If you want, I can—”

  “I’m not a dance-hall girl, Melissa.” Dare’s front door closed with a solid thud.

  Melissa flinched and turned around.

  Tina had come out of Dare’s house without anyone noticing. “And I am certainly not edgy.” Tina plunked her little fists on her hips and glared at Vince’s sister in the edgiest way imaginable. “And I don’t expect to ever hear anyone say different.”

  Melissa took a quick step back and bumped into Jonas, who steadied her with a hand on her waist. Vince couldn’t help noticing Jonas didn’t move that hand. And then he still didn’t move that hand.

  “Of course you’re not,” Melissa said to Tina, sounding pretty scared. “That’s just my . . . my upset at Vince’s father running off affecting my thinking.”

  “Vince’s father ran off?” Tina screeched. Again, a bit edgy.

  Vince found he liked the distraction. “Yep.”

  Dare stepped outside. “Quiet down. Virginia Belle is sleeping.”

  Jonas still hadn’t moved his hand.

  It made Vince think about how he’d almost kissed Tina, and how much Jonas would have to say about that. Well, Jonas could just get his hand off Vince’s sister.

  Glynna was right behind Dare. “Vince’s father ran off?”

  Vince rubbed his eyes, hoping his vision had failed him and he’d look up and see Father, right back here, ready to get his wife and daughter and head for home.

  “Since we’re all here, we need to discuss how we’re going to manage caring for Virginia Belle.” Melissa had a lot of the Yateses’ take-charge skills that Vince saw in his father and himself.

  “Tina, Jonas offered your services.”

  “That’s when I said you worked at the diner and the saloon.” Vince smiled at Tina, enjoying her stormy expression.

  “I picket the saloon,” Tina said, then glared at him with her pretty blue eyes. “I’m trying to get the place closed. That’s a far sight from working there. And I’d be glad to help care for Mrs. Yates.”

  That the stubborn little thing offered without a moment’s hesitation warmed Vince’s heart, and that was good because his heart was currently ice-cold.

  “Thank you. And I apologize for my earlier comment. Vince and I will certainly have to help.” Melissa said it almost like she expected him to say he wasn’t going to.

  She probably really did suspect Vince was like Father. And it was a good bet Father never once took a turn caring for his wife. Julius Yates had a lot of money, and he used it to make problems go away.

  Jonas still hadn’t moved his hand.

  For some reason that bothered Vince, and considering all he had right now to be bothered with, that was just stupid. Still, he didn’t need any more aggravation, so he moved to the side, so Jonas was on his left, and took hold of Melissa and dragged her across in front of him until she was on his right.

  She gave him a startled look but didn’t punch him in the nose, so Vince figured she was fine.

  Dare said, “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”

  Since Dare was a doctor, Vince decided to let him talk.

  “We’ll do some work on Asa’s place.”

  “You mean the Yateses’ house?” Vince couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

  Ignoring him, Dare went on, “Asa doesn’t even have a lock on the front door. We need to get one on the front and back. Those are the only doors I know of. Vince, I want you to go over the place carefully. Is there a cellar? If so, is there a way out of it?”

  Vince was nodding. He usually took charge, but it was nice having someone else do it for a change. He was too upset at the moment to do much hard thinking.

  “That’s not good enough.” Melissa was the expert, after all. “She’ll still find a way to—”

  “Let me finish,” Dare cut her off. “You’re thinking of that big mansion in Chicago. A house with so many doors and rooms and ways in and out, it was impossible to keep track of her without having your eyes right on her. Asa’s place isn’t like that. We need to do some work on the windows so your ma doesn’t slip out that way. Asa doesn’t have shutters. We can add them so your ma can’t break a locked window and get out. But once we do that, your ma oughta be reasonably safe.”

  “It sounds like you’re building a prison.” Vince’s stomach twisted as he thought of the time he’d spent locked up.

  “It’s for her own safety, Vince.” Jonas slapped Vince on the back. “Any resemblance to Andersonville will be in your own head.”

  Dread twisted his stomach at the mention of Andersonville.

  “The way I see it, your ma is going to have a lot more freedom and privacy than she had in Chicago. She can have free rein inside the house. Sleep alone at night. We’ll lock the door to her bedroom at night and have someone sleeping on either side of her, but during the day we’re not going to stand guard over her, not inside. We’ll make sure she can only get outside when one of us is with her.” Dare tipped his head, looking at Melissa.

  Melissa gave a weak smile. “Maybe she can learn the house and not feel so disoriented.”

  “This isn’t your job, though, Dare.” Vince looked at Dare Riker, possibly his best friend in the world. And right there beside him, Jonas Cahill, the man Vince respected more than any other. Both men willing to give up any sort of normal life to help him out. “I can’t let you do this.”

  Dare snorted. “I seem to recall you standing outside my house, keeping watch in the cold for weeks because someone was trying to kill me.”

  “Well, yeah, but—”

  “And I remember,” Glynna interjected, “you running into an avalanche to save me and Dare.” Glynna reached out a hand and clasped Dare’s.

  Vince saw a look so full of love pass between them that he was glad all the way to his soul that he’d helped them find a life together.

  “And you’re providing me with a home,” Melissa said, giving him a sad sort of smile.

  “I don’t mind doing that, little sister.” Vince was finding that discovering he had a sister wasn’t bothering him all that much, after all. Jonas seemed to be taking to it, too.

  “I remember you taking a bullet to the head for Luke when Greer stole his ranch,” Dare added.

  “Don’t anyone say anything about this to Luke,” Vince said quickly. “He doesn’t need to start riding all the way into town to take a shift.”

  “And in Andersonville,” Jonas said, “I remember you stepping between me and a thrown fist too many times. You made a joke out of it. Said a man who wanted to be a preacher hadn’t oughta get into fights.”

  Tina made a small sound, and Vince turned to her, wondering what she was going to say that made it right for her to spend so many hours looking after his mother. He’d never done much besides torment her, and she’d deserved every bit of it.

  She rolled her eyes at him and gave him a smirk. “I’m sure if I’d been around longer, you’d’ve ended up doing something special for me eventually.”

  Vince was sorely tempted to do something special for her right then, like drag her into his arms and see how her smile tasted.

  “Spending time in a comfortable house with your sweet, if slightly addled, ma isn’t even close to paying you back.” Dare pulled Vince’s thoughts away from recklessness.

  Jonas spoke in his strong, wise voice. “When I say ‘there is a friend who is closer than a brother,’ I mean that about all th
e Regulators. But none more than you, Vince.”

  “Regulators? What’re they?” Melissa asked.

  “We met in Andersonville, a Confederate prison camp.” Vince found that after the time they’d spent here in Broken Wheel, it was easier to talk about those days. “We fought for the Yankees and were all prisoners of war. It was the meanest, cruelest, darkest place on earth. And we, along with others, got the job of bringing law and order to thousands of starving men, who’d been reduced to near animals from all the deprivation. There were bad men there who didn’t want anyone bringing peace. And there were good men there who thought when we punished the bad, we were taking sides with the Reb guards. Those good men considered us traitors to the Union.”

  “I had a man drive a knife into my back once and claim he was serving God by ridding the world of a pack of living, breathing Benedict Arnolds. Treasonous turncoats.” Dare squeezed Glynna’s hand harder. “Vince dragged that man off of me before he could strike again, knocked him cold, then pulled the knife out of my back and staunched the bleeding.”

  “That kind of anger focused on us from so many directions created a bond closer than brothers.” Jonas leaned forward to talk to Melissa across Vince’s body. “That’s what I’m talking about. We learned to depend completely on each other, and that trust has served us well even now, long after the last shot was fired in the war.”

  Jonas looked at Melissa a bit too long, then turned to Vince. “So, I’d say I can sit with your ma for a few hours a day and not feel put upon.”

  Vince wanted to protest. He didn’t mind helping others, but it wasn’t right when they helped him back. He had money. He’d been privileged all his life. They had families and serious responsibilities, like being a parson and doctoring the folks hereabouts. He did more or less nothing. Which reminded him he oughta check in on Lana Bullard here pretty soon.

  Jonas patted him on the shoulder. “One or two of us will always be around. We’ll figure it out.”

  Vince nodded silently. He was a little choked up from his friends offering so much help. It had been a while since he’d seen Mother, but right now if he went in there and she didn’t recognize him, or worse, called him Julius, he wasn’t sure he could bear it.