Stuck Together

by Mary Connealy

  Glynna picked that moment to come into the kitchen, and Tina braced herself to do more cooking. It wasn’t unusual for a straggler to ask for a late breakfast, and Glynna always got a few coffee drinkers midmorning.

  Instead of asking for more eggs and hashbrowns, Glynna blew at blond hair wisps hanging in her eyes. She toted a tray loaded with dirty plates and utensils and coffee cups. She looked worn out.

  “This is the last of it. I locked the door.” Glynna smiled at Tina. “I’m not letting anyone in for morning coffee today. I’m hoping Ruthy will wake up and we all can get a chance to visit, though I won’t wake her. She must be exhausted. I’ve never seen her sit still, let alone nap.”

  “Coffee and a visit sound wonderful, but would you mind terribly if I ran over to the boardinghouse first?” Tina rolled down the sleeves of her blue gingham dress.

  “Do you need to see Vince for something?” There was a strange tone in Glynna’s voice that made Tina look at her sharply.

  Glynna couldn’t know anything. Surely the fact that a man kissed a woman wasn’t apparent on that woman’s face.

  “I saw Jonas go over quite a while back.” Tina buttoned her cuffs, focusing overly on the chore so she wouldn’t have to look Glynna in the eye. “I’m a bit worried after Missy asked Janny to go for help. I don’t know where the rest of the men are. I saw them leave your house with Luke. Since they all left Mrs. Yates alone with Missy, and Jonas went over and didn’t come back, I just want to make sure there’s no trouble.”

  “You go check on your brother.” Glynna set the tray down beside the sink. “Give Missy a break if she needs one, too. We’ll finish the cleanup just fine on our own. We’re all going to have to work a bit harder until we figure out all that Mrs. Yates is going to need.”

  Tina untied her apron and hung it on a nail by the back door, then pulled on her coat. “I’ll see if Missy can come here for coffee, otherwise maybe we could go there and include Mrs. Yates in our visit.”

  Glynna’s face brightened. “That’s a good idea. Either one has to beat serving food to a horde of starving men.”

  Smiling, Tina hurried over to Vince’s. She reached the front door and decided to just slip inside quietly. It seemed more like a boardinghouse than a private home, and anyway, what if Mrs. Yates was resting?

  She heard muted voices coming from the back of the house. So she headed back there, walking down a hallway that sided the stairway, thinking to invite everyone to the diner. It was mostly a female gathering, but Jonas could come or he could go find his friends. Luke Stone had been upset about something this morning, though Tina hadn’t heard what. A door stood ajar near the back of the building, and she swung it wide to see . . .

  Jonas jumping away from Missy as if she were a hot potato. But he was still too slow. Tina had seen exactly what was going on.

  Vince moved closer, pinning Duffy to the spot with his cold eyes.

  Sounding falsely belligerent, Duffy said, “I’m telling you that’s all the drink I’ve got, and no one ordered more. You’ve got my word, and that’s all the proof you’re going to get.”

  “You got a bill of sale?” Luke shoved on Duffy’s shoulder to earn the man’s full attention.

  Scowling, Duffy said, “I don’t hold with all that fuss. I can’t read anyhow, so what good is a pile of paper going to do me? The mule skinner brings me the same order every time, and he takes away the same amount of money to pay for it. A man’s word is his bond out here in Texas, and my word is good. You can’t find a single man in this town to say different.”

  Luke cocked his head sideways and seemed to burn a hole right through Duffy. “I’ll tell you how I see it, Schuster. Someone’s buying a lot of drink in this town, and you’re the only man who has it to sell. It’s been long enough that freight wagon should be through Broken Wheel again any day, and you can believe I’ll be askin’ him some questions. And if I don’t get answers I like, I’ll be back.”

  Luke pressed closer to Duffy and towered over him. “If my wife had been so much as scratched, you wouldn’t still be standing when I left this place. So if you’re lying, you’d better tell whoever’s buying from you that you’re out of the bottle-at-a-time business.”

  Duffy cowered like a scared rodent, but he didn’t change his story. “I can’t stop doing what I ain’t doing to begin with, Stone.”

  Vince wanted to try a little rough justice on Duffy, see if they could pound some answers out of him. But Vince was the law in Broken Wheel, and that wasn’t the way a lawman conducted himself. He’d learned that from reading his volumes of Blackstone’s Commentaries.

  After Sheriff Porter’s disregard for the law, it didn’t sit right with Vince to follow the man in his corruption.

  “We’ll talk to the freighter.” Vince came up beside Luke just in case his friend needed to be restrained. “And if we don’t like what we hear, we’ll be back.”

  Vince waited until Luke quit trying to burn the truth out of Duffy with his blazing eyes and stormed out. Dare came out from behind the bar and followed Luke. Vince was right behind them. The three of them strode down the steps and into the deserted street.

  “He’s lying.” Luke turned to go back to the tavern, ready to get answers with his fists.

  Vince grabbed Luke’s arm and stopped him cold. “We don’t know that, Luke.”

  Turning on Vince, Luke said, “I’m not leaving town without some answers.”

  “You’re not going to find them in there. Duffy is either telling the truth or he’s covered his tracks. We have to wait for the supply wagon to come back.”

  Luke looked frustrated enough to swing a fist at anyone who thwarted him. “Those bullets came too close to Ruthy. I won’t let anyone hurt her, for sure not a low-down polecat like Duffy Schuster.” Luke took a step forward until he was nose to nose with Vince. They were close in height, yet Luke probably outweighed Vince by twenty pounds, all of it iron-hard muscle.

  Vince was tough, but he didn’t figure he could win a fight with the kid. “Luke, I’d let you pound on him, except I got a bad feeling in there.”

  “What do you mean, ‘bad’?” Dare asked.

  “Duffy was sure enough afraid, no doubt about it. But I listened to a lot of men tell stories both true and false while I was spying during the war and policing at Andersonville, and to me, Duffy sounded like he was telling the whole truth.”

  Luke turned to face the saloon. “Then it’s Griss. Maybe he orders bottles on the side.”

  “Griss sounded like he was telling it square, too.” Vince stood side by side with Luke. Dare was to the far side of the kid, and he faced the tavern, too. The three of them in a row, frustrated. Angry. Vince admitted he was also worried. Flying lead wasn’t a good fit for a lady with a baby on the way. Come to that, it wasn’t a good fit for anyone.

  “Then if it isn’t them, who is it?” Luke asked. But they all knew there was no answer, not here and not now.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of this, and we’ll do it fast. Let’s start by going back to where you found those bottles and look harder for tracks.” Vince added, “How sure are you that the Indians weren’t the ones who left those bottles?”

  “It ain’t them. I know it in my gut. But I’ve got no proof.” Shaking his head as if to escape his bleak thoughts, Luke turned toward the diner. “I want to go see my wife. I can hardly bear to let her out of my sight.”

  Dare said, “I’ve got a book for her to read about having a baby, Luke. Come on back to my place and I’ll get it for you, then we’ll go sit with the womenfolk for a while.”

  “I’ll go get my mother and Missy and Jonas and bring them over, too,” Vince said. “Jonas and Missy are probably long past ready for some help.”

  Chapter 15

  “Tina?” Jonas ran one hand over his red curls. But it was no use. Missy’s fingers had clearly left a trail.

  Missy blushed to the roots of her dark hair and clutched her hands together in front of her. She would have put t
hose hands to better use covering her lips, swollen from kissing Jonas.

  Tina’s brother kissing Vince’s sister.

  They’d only just met.

  “I . . . I didn’t mean to . . . to . . .” Tina was speechless. And that certainly never happened. “I’ll just . . . that is . . . Mrs. Yates should—”

  Tina spun away and almost ran out of the room, her head full of confused images. Her brother had been holding a woman close whom he barely knew.

  And where had Mrs. Yates gone to? As she rushed away, Tina’s temper began to build. Jonas shouldn’t be kissing a stranger. Why, Tina had known Vince for months now, and when they’d kissed she’d been astounded by it, not ready for it at all. And anyway, these two were supposed to be watching Mrs. Yates. Where was she?

  “Tina, wait!” Jonas came running after her and caught her just as she was ready to go check Mrs. Yates’s room. “What you saw back there was . . . was . . .”

  The front door opened, and Vince stepped in. He looked right into Tina’s eyes and there was a flash of memory between them. Then Vince’s brow furrowed, and Tina wondered what in the world she must look like. Vince looked past Tina. His eyes locked on something. Tina looked back to see Jonas, lapsed into silence.

  “What’s going on here?” Vince asked, sounding like the crack of doom.

  Missy peeked out of the doorway but stayed back. Vince’s sharp eyes went past Jonas to his sister, then back to Tina. He arched a brow at her.

  Which helped her to regain her speech.

  “It was what, Jonas?” Tina thought she sounded rather steady. Calm, in fact. Cool and unruffled. “You were about to say what I saw was . . . ?” Tina let the word hang.

  “It was Missy agreeing to . . .” Jonas’s always ruddy skin turned a vivid red. He swallowed hard, looked at Vince, then squared his shoulders as if someone had ordered him to stand at attention. “Missy was agreeing that I could court her.”

  “She what?” Vince exploded.

  It was such an unexpected answer, Tina’s knees sagged, and even though she was gripping the banister, she sat down hard on the second step. If that step hadn’t been there, right under her backside, she’d have slumped all the way to the floor.

  Vince seemed like the type to catch a collapsing woman, but he didn’t even notice.

  “You just met her!” Tina hadn’t meant to shriek exactly, but that was how it came out.

  And one completely selfish stab of jealousy told Tina she was no longer going to be as important to her brother. In fact, if Jonas and Missy married, Tina was most likely going to be asked to move out. And if they were too kind to ask her to leave, she’d still know they would look on her as unwelcome. A feeling she’d had most of her life.

  Jonas shrugged and scrubbed both hands through his hair, then turned and reached one hand out for Missy. She came forward with a shy but steady smile and took his hand.

  “You’re courting?” Vince sounded somewhat like a screeching bird. He had the nickname Invincible Vince, but he must’ve had too many things happen too fast, because this situation had gotten the better of him.

  “I know this seems sudden.” Jonas pulled Missy close.

  Tina studied Missy. They really knew nothing about her. There could be little doubt she was Julius Yates’s daughter, but how had she really lived these last few years? Was she an honest woman? Maybe she was looking for a home and grabbed the most gullible man she could find. Maybe Jonas meant nothing to her. Maybe she’d been overly generous with her favors, allowing a man to kiss her. Tina caught herself on that when memories of being in Vince’s arms subdued her growing moral outrage.

  “It doesn’t seem sudden. It is sudden.” Tina really didn’t know what to say. And that never happened. Tina always knew exactly what to say.

  “Where’s my mother?” Vince sounded cold as the grave. “You were supposed to be watching her, but it looks to me like you got distracted.”

  Melissa gasped, gave Jonas a worried glance, then whipped around him and threaded between Tina and Vince to run upstairs.

  When she was gone, Tina exchanged a long look with her beloved brother. Vince stood silent.

  “I know it’s come from out of the blue,” Jonas said, “but from the moment I saw her, I felt like God was opening a door in my heart I never even knew was closed. I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. If it were up to me, we’d be getting married this very day.”

  “Today?” Vince croaked, and for a second Tina thought he was going to join her sitting on the steps. He looked none too steady.

  A movement at the top of the stairs drew Tina’s attention, yet that wasn’t a surprise. She was eager to look away from the besotted expression in Jonas’s eyes. Melissa came out of the room with Mrs. Yates on her arm.

  “I believe Missy is the woman God prepared for me,” Jonas went on. “I feel like I’ve found my other half.” He watched Melissa descend the stairs as if she were walking down an aisle with a bouquet of posies instead of an addled woman. Tina and Vince and Mrs. Yates might as well have melted into the floor, because Jonas and Melissa only had eyes for each other.

  Finally, Melissa was near enough that Tina had to move or block the stairway for the two ladies. Tina struggled to her feet. Her knees wobbled. Vince caught her under the arm and kept her upright.

  “I want you to trust me, Tina.” Jonas reached for her, but Tina stepped back, pressing against Vince, out of her brother’s reach. “I know the voice of God, and He’s telling me I’ve found my wife.”

  Jonas wanted her to approve. He wanted her blessing. But right now that was too much to ask.

  “I came over here to invite you all to the diner for coffee.” Her voice was frigid.

  “Tina, I—”

  Slashing a hand at her brother to shut him up, she pulled herself free of Vince’s grip. “We’ve locked up until it’s time to serve dinner. Ruthy is in town with Luke, and we wanted a chance to visit uninterrupted. I’ll head on back now. Come if you want.”

  Tina dodged around Vince and left the house at a near run.

  “Wait!” Jonas called out. “Tina, come back!”

  Tina only moved faster. She needed someone, a witness, a buffer. She looked back and saw Vince’s broad shoulders blocking the doorway. Apparently he wanted a word with his friend.

  As she rushed away, Tina wondered where she was even going. Back to the diner, where Jonas and Melissa would no doubt soon arrive?

  Back to Jonas’s parsonage where, judging from Jonas’s determined look, Tina would soon be living on sufferance. Except the way she’d foisted herself on Jonas uninvited, that was all it’d been all along.

  If she stayed, it would be as an unwanted intrusion. Only the fact that Jonas pitied her would keep her from being cast out . . . again. She was a fool to let that break her heart. After her parents left her. After years of Aunt Iphigenia’s coldness. After the awful new uncle who wanted Tina in a way that turned her stomach. She should have expected this.

  Why had she come here?

  Why had she let herself believe that Jonas would make a home for her?

  Why hadn’t she just gotten on with her life, gotten a job somewhere and taken care of herself, instead of being a little fool who wanted home and family and love?

  After all those years of hearing Aunt Iphigenia say a woman needed to know how to take care of herself, Tina had ignored that sound advice, tracked down her brother, and forced from him something he hadn’t wanted to give.

  She rushed through the back door of the diner and was sorry she’d come. Now Jonas would catch her here and say all the painfully polite words about her always having a home with him. Jonas was kind, but he’d gone out West after the war without stopping in to see her. And she’d chased him practically to the ends of the earth and made it impossible for him to send her away.

  Not like Melissa. Jonas had known her for only hours before asking to court her.

  And meanwhile Tina had kissed Vince. It was hard to imagin
e that kiss was less passionate, less powerful than the one shared by Jonas and Melissa. And there’d been no request from Vince to court her—quite the opposite. He’d apologized, said it never should have happened.

  Whatever word God had whispered to Jonas, He had withheld from Vince. Which meant Vince didn’t want her, either.

  “You’re carrying on with my sister? My sister you just met?” Vince realized that the last day had worn him right down to the nub. Punching someone would suit him, and to his way of thinking, Jonas had just volunteered.

  “I’m not carrying on.” Jonas tried to follow Tina, but Vince blocked the parson from leaving.

  “Let me past. I need to talk to Tina. She’s upset.”

  Vince’s fist tightened. In a flash he remembered he was Invincible Vince Yates. His Regulator friends had given him that name when he’d found a knack for solving problems in Andersonville. If they needed supplies, Vince found them. If bad men were planning trouble, Vince got wind of it and gathered the Regulators together in time to head things off. If the Confederate guards were in one of their sadistic moods, Vince had a talent for dodging them or calming them down or turning them against each other.

  Nothing much got the better of him.

  So his father turning up, his mother being abandoned, a sister materializing, a new house being landed on his head, a feisty little lady coaxing a kiss out of him, and now this. It had all seemed to be more than Invincible Vince could handle.

  In a distant way, Vince realized this was nothing compared to cannonballs and starvation and a prison with thirty thousand men, about half of whom thought sticking a knife in his back was the will of God. But it was still beyond him.