by Lyn Horner
She donned her high-topped shoes – another feminine article she despised – and went to help Etta fix breakfast. After the meal, she offered her assistance to Wiley in the store. Etta thanked her profusely and took the opportunity to remain upstairs with Josh for a while.
Lil was stacking tinned goods on a shelf when Tye finally showed up around half-past nine. She turned at the sound of his entrance, and his eyes lit up when he saw her. He barely answered Wiley’s greeting as he strode over to her. His friend grinned in amusement, Lil noted. Then she had eyes only for Tye.
“Sorry I’m so late, colleen, but I wanted to clean up for ye.”
Dressed in fresh britches and a gold and black plaid shirt, with his hair still damp from a bath, he set Lil’s pulse racing. She smiled and caressed his clean-shaven jaw. “Reckon you’re worth the wait, Devlin.” She said it to tease him, but realized it was true in every sense. She’d waited all her life for him, and he was well worth the wait.
He grinned, caught her hand and kissed it. “Are ye ready to go?”
“Ready,” she murmured, wishing for more kisses.
He must have seen her yearning, because his gaze lowered to her parted lips and his mouth swooped down to taste them. The moment didn’t last nearly long enough for her.
“Come along then,” he said, husky-voiced. Taking her arm, he whisked her out with a cursory wave to Wiley. “Let’s walk a bit. I’ve a thing or two to tell ye.”
She glanced at him wonderingly as he led her across Main Street toward Clear Creek. He didn’t explain himself until they’d followed the rocky bank downstream to the outskirts of town. Dusting off a large flat-topped boulder, he invited her to sit down. She did, feeling uneasy.
“What is it?” she asked, watching him pace off a few feet along the rushing creek.
He pivoted to face her. “Lily, I’ve come to a decision since last night. There’s something ye need to know about me. ’Twouldn’t be right, me taking ye to wife without telling ye first.”
She stiffened in alarm. “Tye, do you already have a wife somewhere?”
“Nay!” He gave a bark of laughter. “’Tis nothing like that.”
“Oh, well, good.” Relieved and somewhat annoyed, she ordered, “Whatever it is, stop making me fret. Spit it out.”
Coming to squat down before her, he cupped her cheek and brushed his thumb across her lips. “Lily, ye asked me last night if I’m a mind reader, and I said not exactly. D’ye recall?”
“Sure. You said you could see in my eyes what I was thinking. I figured you just guessed what I was up to.” She frowned in perplexity, wondering why he was bringing up the subject now.
“Aye, I let ye think that.” He laid his hands on her knees, cleared his throat and added, “But ’tisn’t precisely true.”
“You mean you did read my mind?”
He shook his head. “Not your mind, your thoughts that is, but your feelings.”
“My feelings? What are you saying? I don’t understand.”
A muscle jumped along his jaw. He rose and walked slowly away again, rubbing his neck. “I can pick up other people’s feelings. If they’re in pain or giddy with happiness, so am I. If they’re in mourning, I feel their loss as if ’twas my own.”
“So? I sympathize with folks, too, when they lose somebody or when they’re hurting.”
He swung around shaking his head. “Nay, ’tisn’t mere sympathy I’m talking about. I can feel exactly what the person feels, especially if I happen to touch them. Although, I’ve learned to block out much of the commotion, and I wear gloves most of the time to be safe. Perhaps you’ve noticed?”
“That’s not unusual. All cowhands wear gloves.” In truth she had noticed that he never took his gloves off to eat or shake a man’s hand or, well, anything except with her – he wasn’t wearing them now – but that wasn’t enough to convince her.
“What if I say I know you’re a wee bit angry with me right now?” He narrowed his eyes. “And you’re determined not to believe what I’m telling ye.”
Lil shrugged. “It doesn’t take a mind reader, or whatever you’re claiming to be, to tell that.”
He smiled wryly. “I suppose not.” He planted his hands on his hips, frowning in thought. After a moment his expression cleared. “Do ye remember the day we met and how incensed ye felt when ye learned whose brother I am?”
Lil was feeling exasperated at the moment. Rising, she walked over to him, crossed her arms and tapped her toe impatiently. “You could tell I was mad from the gun I aimed at you. What does that prove? Nothing!”
“True enough, colleen.” He sighed and locked his gaze with hers. “But beneath your anger was pain and a feeling of despair that swept aside all the mental barriers I’ve constructed over the years to save my sanity. Those feelings burst from ye when I mentioned David and Jessie, and I couldn’t understand why. It made me stare at ye like a man bewitched. D’ye remember that?”
Lil gulped and nodded, unable to speak. She still didn’t want to believe his absurd claim about reading peoples’ feelings, but she remembered all too clearly the way he’d stared at her that day, and the notion she’d had that he was trying to see inside her head. She also remembered all the other times she’d gotten that same strange feeling and wondered how often he’d secretly searched her hidden depths. Why, he’d probably known she loved him before she even admitted it to herself. The thought angered her. It also frightened her.
“What are you?” she blurted, backing away from him.
“Nay, love, don’t be afraid of me!” he cried, coming toward her. Realizing he knew everything she was feeling at that very moment, she whirled and tried to run, but he caught her from behind.
“No! Let me go!” She fought to break free, but he wrapped his arms around her, using his greater strength to subdue her struggles.
“Lily, listen to me! I love ye, colleen, more than life itself. What I am isn’t easy to explain, but I’ll do my best if you’ll only listen. And I’ll never use my gift to hurt ye. I swear it upon my mother’s soul, God rest her.”
She went still. Breathing hard, she fought to calm her wild fear. This was Tye, the man she’d given herself to, heart and body, the man who’d saved her life more than once. She believed him. He wouldn’t use his gift to hurt her. Not deliberately at least.
“Let me go,” she repeated as calmly as she could manage.
He released her slowly, no doubt wondering if she would try to run again. She didn’t. Without looking at him, she returned to her seat upon the boulder and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop the trembling that had seized her. Aware of his approach, she forced herself to meet his searching blue gaze.
“All right, explain. Tell me where this curse of yours comes from.”
He frowned at her sarcasm but didn’t comment. Folding his long form onto the boulder beside her, he braced his hands on his knees and glanced at her sideways. “Have ye ever heard of an ancient people called Druids?”
She shook her head.
“Well, it seems they lived in Europe, Britain and Ireland thousands of years ago. They’re said to have been learned and wise. They were priests of a sort, though they practiced a pagan religion, for ’twas before the birth of Christ, ye understand. ’Tis also said some possessed . . . special talents.”
Lil caught her breath. “Are you saying you’re somehow related to those . . . what did you call them?”
“Druids. And, aye, that’s exactly what I’m saying. My mother used to say we came down from the Old Ones. She didn’t know their proper name until the woman she worked for found out about her ability and looked into the subject. She told us –”
“Wait! Do you mean your mother was like you? She could see into peoples’ heads?”
“Nay, she was a seer like Jessie. She could look into the future.”
Lil felt as if he’d knocked her in the head. “J-Jessie can see the f-future?” she stammered, swaying in shock.
“Here now, don�
�t fall off your perch,” Tye said in alarm. Wrapping his arm around her, he drew her against him, pressing her head to his shoulder. “’Tisn’t so bad as all that, colleen.”
Her head gradually stopped spinning, but the shock lingered. “D-does she always know what’s going to happen . . . b-before it does?”
“Nay, nay, at times she’ll dreams of something for months before it happens, but her visions only come upon her now and then, always in water.”
“In water?”
“Aye, she’ll be gazing at a pan of water and the power suddenly takes hold of her. Or she could be looking across a lake. I witnessed that once. ’Twas a hot day in late summer. We’d gone down to the lake to cool off. Lake Michigan, that is. Jessie was wading along the shore with her skirts hiked up, I remember, when all at once she went still as a statue. I asked was she all right, but she didn’t answer. She just stood there staring across the rippling lake. Then she gave a blood-curdling scream and toppled over in the water, nearly drowning herself before I could pull her up.”
“What did she see that made her scream?”
“She saw the city ablaze.” Tone grim, he tightened his arm around her.
Lil tipped her head back to stare at him. “You mean the Chicago Fire?”
“Aye, and a few weeks later her vision was fulfilled.” He swallowed, Adam’s apple bobbing, and stared into the distance, obviously remembering the terrible event.
“Good Lord!” she whispered. After a long moment’s silence, she cleared her throat and asked, “What about your other sister? Is she a . . . a Druid, too?”
His hold upon her relaxed and his tone brightened. “Aye, Rosie has a very special gift. She’s a healer.”
“A healer?” Feeling foolish for having a case of the vapors, Lil straightened away from him. “You mean she’s a sawbones?”
“Well, no, not exactly.” He eyed her closely as if fearing her embarrassing weakness might be repeated.
“I’m fine now. Just tell me,” she snapped.
He grinned, evidently feeling she wasn’t about to swoon. “Very well. Rose has the healing touch. She can cure a fever or mend a wound by simply touching the person with her hands.”
“Ha! I’ve heard of that before. A preacher came through Clifton once. Ma made me go with her to hear him preach.” She scowled at the memory. “He was all fire and brimstone, and he claimed he could heal the sick by laying his hands on them.” She eyed him dubiously. “Course he couldn’t. He just put on a good show so the durn fools who came to hear him would drop something in his collection plate.”
“I know the type.” He shook his head. “But Rosie’s not one of them. She truly does have the touch. I’ve watched her mend a torn leg in the time it would take a skilled physician to stitch up the wound. And when she was done, there was naught but a thin red scar to mark the place.”
“That’s mighty hard to believe.”
“I know, but ’tis the truth.” Tye watched her closely, giving her that unnerving feeling she’d gotten at other times, signaling his attempt to read her feelings, she now knew.
“Stop staring at me! And get out of my head!” she shouted furiously.
He flinched and jerked back as if she’d slapped him. Groaning, he bent forward, clasping his head with both hands. “Jaysus, woman! Don’t do that!” he gasped.
Lil gaped at him. “I just told you to get out of my head. I didn’t punch you.”
“Ye might as well have.” Straightening, he rubbed his temples, looking pale beneath his tan. “When ye shouted for me to get out, it felt like a knife stabbing into my brain.”
“I . . . I’m sorry. But you oughtn’t to go poking around in my head like that. I won’t have it, Devlin.”
He grimaced. “Well, all ye need do is order me out, it seems, and I have no choice in the matter. Though I’d be obliged if you’d be a bit gentler next time.” He lowered his hands and gave her a questioning glance. “If there’s to be a next time, that is. Now that ye know about me, I’d not blame ye for walking away. ʼTis why I’m telling ye everything now. If you’d rather not bind yourself to me, if ye choose to keep your freedom . . .” He swung his gaze to the creek and finished in a raspy voice, “. . . I’ll not try to stop ye.”
Lil snorted. “Freedom? Is that what you call going to bed alone every night and feeling so empty that nothing could ever fill the hollow? Look at me, Tye.” When he did, she met his gaze squarely. “I’ve got a confession to make, too. I’ll be twenty-eight years old in two months. I’m older than you.” Holding her breath, she watched a perplexed frown cross his face.
“Aye, a wee bit. So?” He shrugged casually, causing her to exhale in relief.
“So, I was a lonely old maid when you came along that day last summer.” Mouth twitching at the memory, she reached to run her fingers through his hair. It had dried by now, and the raven waves glimmered in the sunlight. “Do you think I want to go back to that life? If you do, you’re loco. You’re mine, Tye Devlin, and I’m not giving you up just cuz you’re a might unusual.”
He made a low rumbling noise and pulled her back to him, this time wrapping her in a tight embrace. “Ye were never an old maid,” he said gruffly. He was quiet for a moment, then added, “I’ve nothing to offer ye, Lily, except broken dreams and all my love . . . and the prospect of leaving ye a widow once we return home.”
“Don’t say that!” she cried, pushing at his chest, forcing a space between them.
“’Tis the truth and ye know it. Worse, ye could lose your own life if ye try to come between Howard and me.”
“No! Maybe he won’t even come after you. Maybe Pa talked sense to Judd and made him see how Frank brought it all on himself.”
“Aye, and maybe longhorns have wings,” he scoffed.
Lil gave a weak laugh. “Well, I reckon they do up in cowboy heaven. And as for what you’ve got to offer, you do have some mighty useful assets.” Tilting her head, she boldly trailed her gaze down his body.
Tye inhaled sharply. “Begorra! Stop looking at me like that, ye brazen wench!” he growled. “And me trying to be a gentleman. Och, we’d better find a priest right now if you’re meaning to torment me like this until we’re wed.”
Lil grinned, pleased with his response to her teasing. “Um, maybe you oughta take a cold dip in the creek first,” she said, noting the bulge in his britches.
* * *
There was no priest in Silver Plume, necessitating a descent to Georgetown, where they ran into another stumbling block. Since Lil hadn’t objected to finding a priest, it had never entered Tye’s mind to ask if she was Catholic. Therefore, when the good father put the question of faith to her, and she said she’d been baptized Methodist a few years ago, Tye experienced a jolt of alarm. His mind worked frantically while the gray-haired priest frowned in disapproval.
“I’m sorry, but The Church stands against any Catholic marrying outside the faith,” the man said officiously. “I would be remiss in my duty if I –”
“Father, there’s something ye should know,” Tye interrupted. He darted a warning glance at Lil and cleared his throat. “Uh, there’s a good chance the colleen may carry my child.”
A choked sound came from Lil. Tye sent her another silent message not to contradict him. Hot color rushed into her golden cheeks, but she dropped her gaze and kept silent.
Scowling at the pair of them, the priest delivered a brief, sharp sermon on the sin of fornication. Then he reluctantly agreed to marry them, on condition that Lil sign a pledge agreeing to bring up their children in the Catholic faith.
“I’ll sign whatever you want me to sign, Father,” Lil replied. “I’d do most anything for Tye.” She gave him a tender look, and he swallowed hard past the sudden lump in his throat.
The priest also seemed affected. He grew more cordial, and the wedding date was set for three days hence. He even agreed to perform the ceremony in Silver Plume, in the small house he used whenever he made the trip up there to minister to the Irish a
nd Italian miners who lived in the mining camp. A real church had not yet been built but was being planned, he explained.
Walking out into the sunlight a moment later, Tye paused to lay a hand on Lil’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, love, for having to say what I did to him, and for that pledge business. Ye needn’t go through with this for my sake. I believe there’s a Methodist church here in Georgetown. Say the word and we’ll find it.”
She shook her head, brown eyes smiling. “It doesn’t make any difference. I got baptized to make my mother happy, but I’m not really a Methodist. I can’t rightly say what I am.” Her brow creased in thought.
“See, I believe God’s sort of in everything.” She looked up at the sky, at the mountains, at the bustling street. Then she laid her hand over Tye’s heart. “He’s in here, too. So if you love me the way I love you, it doesn’t much matter who says the words or how many pieces of paper we sign, does it?”
Tye’s throat tightened again. Drawing Lil into his arms, he whispered, “Nay, it doesn’t. And I do love ye, Lily, with all my heart.”
She gave a joyful cry and dragged his head down to hers.
* * *
Lil smiled and clutched her nosegay tightly. The yellow, white and orange wildflowers complimented her wedding gown of yellow Swiss muslin that Etta had helped her cut and sew. More flowers wreathed her head, contrasting with her long, dark hair. She’d chosen the colors for their cheerfulness, hoping to please Tye. From the way his eyes had lit up when he caught sight of her moments ago, she knew she’d made the right choice.
She turned to face him, struck again by how tall and handsome he looked in the black suit and snow-white shirt he’d purchased. He clasped her hand, and she gazed into his adoring bluebonnet eyes as he spoke his vows. Repeating her own vows, she felt his grip tighten in reassurance when her voice wobbled. After a few more words, he slipped a plain gold band on her fourth finger. He’d bought the ring in Wichita, during his secretive trip into town the day before Frank Howard’s return. If Frank hadn’t forced him into a showdown . . . .