by Paty Jager
“How much does it pay,” Colin asked, stepping in and forcing them to take steps backwards.
Aileen pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear as she scrutinized her son’s bold behavior. Could he finally be comin’ around to see Ethan wasn’t a threat?
“Fifty cents a day. And that’s for a day’s work.”
Colin’s eyes grew round as he stared at Ethan then over to her. “Ma, I could help you in the mine after I come home from working at the mill.”
“If we can haul the same buckets o’ bing out o’ the mine every day, ah’ll no’ stop yer from makin’ a man’s wage.” She turned her gaze on Ethan. “But if my laddie is hurt, may the cat eat you and the devil eat the cat.”
Ethan raised his hands in a show of surrender. “I promise, he’ll only do cleanup. There isn’t any way he could get hurt. And I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“When do ye want him to start?” They’d yet to start in the mine today. She had hopes of getting enough dug to work the sluice the following day. If there were going to be wagons with more men coming through the area, she wanted to keep an eye on Shayla.
“Tomorrow.” He tilted his head and listened. Muffled voices and the dull ring of hammers on rock could barely be heard. “When you hear the clank of the hammers on the rock in the morning, come on over.”
The glow in Colin’s eyes made her heart swell. It was time he moved about the adult world. She glanced up at Ethan. He was a good man to offer the job. He wouldn’t let anything happen to the boy.
“Thank ye,” she said, putting her gratitude into the words.
“He’s helping me. It’s hard to get help. The miners want to keep working their claims while the weather is good, and the farmers need to take care of their crops. Good labor is hard to come by.”
She didn’t miss his inflection of ‘good’. He’d witnessed her son’s work ethic.
“Laddie, go get started on the section in the mine we opened yesterday. We’ll have to pull out more bing today to keep me busy while yer workin’.” Aileen smiled and nodded her head in the direction of the mine. Colin frowned. He knew she wanted him to leave. Even though he accepted the job, he still didn’t like her to be alone with Ethan. She puzzled over this as he headed to the mine.
“He’s a good boy.” Ethan said, edging closer to Aileen. He didn’t want her to think he gave her son a job to get in her good graces.
“That he is.” Her light green eyes became misty. “He’ll no’ be a boy for much longer, though.”
“No. That’s why I offered him the job. My brothers and I discussed it after we left here the other day.” He didn’t miss the haughty way her head snapped around, and she peered at him down the length of her petite nose.
“And why be ye discussin’ my laddie with yer brothers?” The fire in her eyes and the flush of her cheeks excited him. She was a lioness when it came to her children.
“We were discussing the fact Colin needs to be around men folk.”
“And what is wrong with a mother raising a boy?” Her indignation expanded her chest, pushing the buttons on her shirt to their limit. Her ample breasts thrust toward him. He stifled a groan.
“There’s nothing wrong with you raising him. But he’s getting to the age where he needs to work with men and see anger doesn’t make you a man.” He knew that wasn’t the real reason behind Colin’s anger, but it was a start. Whether it stemmed from the abuse he’d received from his stepfather or something else, he and his brothers talked it over and decided they were all going to take on the job of teaching him how to handle the anger and put it to good use. They were not only doing the boy a favor but the community too. They didn’t need a hothead growing up and causing trouble.
The color drained from her face. Ethan took two quick steps and placed a hand on her arm. She flinched, but he didn’t drop his hand.
“I will never hurt you,” he said softly, moving his hand up and down her arm in a caress.
She glanced at his hand, then up into his eyes. The desire he saw nearly had him pulling her into his arms. He ached to hold her. The pain she must have received from her last husband still lingered in her eyes, but shining through the dullness was the heat of a woman wanting a man’s arms around her.
Clearing his throat, Ethan dropped his hand and backed up. He couldn’t afford a woman and her children right now. Hell, he didn’t know how to treat a woman other than at a distance as a friend.
“Remember to let me know if you have any troubles. I’ll see Colin first thing in the morning.” He spun on his heel and ran into Shayla.
“Bye,” she said, handing him a disfigured wildflower with pink petals. Her infectious grin and offering melted the resolve he’d made to stay away from her family.
“Bye, take care of your ma.” He ruffled her hair and headed back to the mill site. Before he turned the bend, he looked back. Aileen stood where he’d left her. A smile slowly formed on her lips, the color of the flower Shayla handed him.
He smiled back and waved slightly before ducking around the bend. He’d spent the past three days working from daylight to dusk alongside the men he’d hired. He fell into bed exhausted, but Aileen’s angel-kissed face, sparkling, light green eyes, and teasing smile haunted him until he’d fall into a fitful sleep and wake wringing wet with sweat, wanting her.
In all his adult life, he’d never craved a woman and now was not the time to start. Especially with this one.
****
Colin arrived every morning as the first hammers rang up the valley. The first day, Ethan introduced him to the men and set him to work cleaning up the pieces of lumber littering the work area. By the third day the boy proved he wasn’t a slacker having cleaned up the area and learned how to whittle the pegs used to put the frame together.
Ethan bent over a post, boring a hole, when he spotted Shayla enter the structure. He sprinted to stop her advance, but she stood in the middle of the framed building— a look of amazement on her face.
A shout rang out as a board fell. It landed on end and flipped, cracking her in the head. Her small body crumpled to the ground.
“Shayla!” Ethan yelled her name and knelt on the ground beside her. The blood staining her dark hair curdled his stomach.
Colin dropped beside him, tears shining in his eyes. “Why did she come here?” he wailed.
“I don’t know. Let’s get her to your ma.” Ethan gently cradled the child in his arms. When he stood, he noticed all the concerned faces gathered around.
“Want me to get the doc?” Hank asked at his shoulder.
“There’s no guarantee he’ll even be in Baker City when you get there.” Ethan looked down at the limp child in his arms. “Her ma should know what to do.” He started at a brisk pace toward the curve in the stream.
“S-she isn’t going to die, is she?” The fear in the boy’s voice made Ethan hug the child closer.
“No. She just has a bad hit on the head. She’ll be fine.” I hope. The child in his arms had become as important to him as his own kin. The warm, loving girl couldn’t die. He wouldn’t let her.
“Shayla!” Aileen screeched when she spotted her darlin’ lassie dangling from Ethan’s arms like a rag doll. She ran toward them. “What happened?” Her hand smoothed the dark curls and became wet. She spied the blood and nearly crumpled. Colin put his arms around her. She forced her legs to straighten and follow Ethan. He carried her precious daughter into the shack, placing her on the small bed in the corner near the fireplace. Opposite the disgusting, smelly corner.
Ethan’s nose wrinkled, and he scanned the tidy room.
She didn’t want to answer his question and started in with her own.
“What happened?” She sat on the bed next to Shayla and began parting the hair where she bled.
“She walked into the structure before I could stop her. A board fell and hit her on the head.” The agony in Ethan’s voice drew her gaze to him. He blamed himself. Lordy, but this man took on more than most.
Alone with her daughter, Aileen leaned down to gently hug her darlin’. Why had she scampered off when her mother’s back was turned? She’d been askin’ since Colin started to work to go see him. Why hadn’t she kept a better eye on the child?
Ethan entered with her newest pair of drawers. They weren’t anything fancy, but they’d make the best dressing for the wound.
“Over there,” she pointed to her mending basket sitting by the door, “in the basket are my trimmers.” Ethan retrieved the item and handed them to her. She cut a square to use as a wash cloth and another to fold to put over the wound. Colin returned with the bucket of water.
“Cut strips long enough to tie around the lassie’s head.” She handed the trimmers and what was left of the drawers to Ethan. She immersed the square in water and worked at washing the blood away from the wound. At the sight of the small gash, she breathed a sigh of relief.
“Tis a wee cut.” Her stomach stopped churning now that she knew the gash would not require stitches. Aileen folded the other square, placed it on the wound, and wrapped another around the child’s head and tied it snug.
She leaned down. Her daughter’s breath puffed against her cheek. Her color was pale, but her breathing strong.
“All we can do now is wait.” She grasped Shayla’s hand, held it in her lap, and peered up at the man and boy staring at the unconscious child.
Colin touched Ethan’s arm. “Do I have to go back to work?”
“No. We’ll stay here and take turns sitting with Shayla.” Ethan took his hat off and placed it on the peg by the door.
“There’s no need for ye to miss work.”
His gaze lingered on Shayla before it moved to her face. The regret in his eyes told her she’d not get rid of him very easy.
“I’ll stay here and wait. You’ll need a break.” He went out the door and returned with two chairs. He handed one to Colin and placed the other one by the table.
His presence gave her strength. Even Colin didn’t stare at him with daggers in his eyes. She nodded and smoothed a wayward curl from Shayla’s eyes.
Once she’d waited for a cousin to awake from a blow. She glanced at Colin. His brow furrowed in worry and concern etched his face. How many times had he waited for her to wake after Mr. Miller beat her? Three? Four? His face was always the first thing she saw when she woke.
Ethan cleared his throat. “Colin bring in some more wood. We’ll see about making tea for your ma and some broth for Shayla when she wakes up.” He nodded to the door. The stiffness and keen attention the boy paid to his sister proved this wasn’t the first time he’d waited for someone to come around. He had a strong hunch the other times had been Aileen.
The boy glanced at his mother, she nodded, and he left the shack.
“Thank you,” she whispered. Her light green eyes were dull with sorrow. He wanted to draw her into his arms and soothe away her worries.
“He’s waited for you to wake hasn’t he?” He didn’t believe she’d talk about it, but he had to know.
“Colin was the first face I saw each time that monster beat me.” The hatred in her voice should have offended, but it merely made him hate a dead man even more.
Colin entered with an armload of wood. Ethan started a fire in the fireplace with the glowing coals from the morning meal. He handed the boy the bucket of bloody water. “Dump this out and bring in fresh so we can start water for tea and the broth.”
He found a small pot to boil water for tea and a larger one to use for the broth. “What do you have to make broth?”
“Are ye a cook as well as a miner?” The wobble in her voice did nothing to soothe the change of subject.
“After our parents died, we had to learn to cook to survive. I can make coffee, tea, and stew. Hank does the baking, Clay can make a hot cake that melts in your mouth, and Zeke can eat.” He laughed at the memory of Myrle teaching them to cook.
“That’s only four. What about the fifth brother?” She sat on the bed next to Shayla, but he’d drawn her out of her worry for a minute.
“Gil took off shortly after our parents were killed. He had the foolish notion it was all his fault. He was about Colin’s age when the Indians killed Ma, Pa, and our youngest brother. Gil had been out goofing around. When he returned and found them dead, he blamed himself.” Ethan shrugged. He and his brothers tried to find him, without any luck. When he rode back into their lives it healed the grief none of them had realized still lurked.
“He came home two years ago along with a wife. He’s the marshal of Galena.” He smiled. Gil had found his match in Darcy, his independent wife.
“It sounds like you have a nice family.” He caught the wistfulness in her voice.
“Do you have any family? Other than Colin and Shayla?” He hoped to find out more about the woman.
“Ah believe cousins and the like still live in the Highlands and some in Ireland.” The wistfulness disappeared, replaced by anger.
“Highlands?”
“Of Scotland. My family was o’ the clan MacCorrie in some o’ the finest Highland country. When the lords brought in sheep, they forced us off our land. My father took us to Ireland to live with a cousin.” Her eyes became misty. “Twas there ah met Colin’s da, Patrick O’Lear.”
Jealousy hit him in the chest. The woman still loved her first husband. It was evident in the breathy way she said his name and the softening of her eyes.
“What happened to Patrick?” His suspicious nature started to rear.
“Tis no’ for yer concern.” She swiped at the tears on her cheek and turned her attention to putting more covers over Shayla.
Colin entered the shack with the water. Ethan set about filling the pots. “What meat do you have hanging in the lean-to?” he asked.
The boy looked toward his mother. “Ma and I aren’t much good at bringing down game.”
“Do you have a rifle?” Ethan had noticed no weapon hung above the door.
“Just an old thing we keep at the entrance to the mine.”
No wonder they were so protective of their privacy, they didn’t have a way to protect themselves.
“I’m going to get a rifle from Clay. Then you and I are going to get this family some meat.” Ethan reached out to pluck his hat from the peg by the door.
“That isn’t necessary.” Aileen stood. Her back stiffened, and her shoulders squared.
“Shayla needs proper food if she’s going to get stronger.” He wasn’t going to argue with the woman. This time she would have to eat her pride.
Chapter 10
“How’s the girl?” Hank asked when Ethan walked up to him.
“Still unconscious. I’m going to borrow your rifle,” Ethan said to Clay as he walked up beside them.
“You’re not back here to work?” The censure in Clay’s voice rankled. The Miller family needed him more than the men working on the mill.
“Not until Shayla wakes up.”
“Then what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be holding that woman’s hand?” Clay’s derogatory remark and Hank’s silence made Ethan grit his teeth.
“She doesn’t need her hand held, but they need meat. Shayla should have proper food to eat.” Ethan crossed his arms waiting for the accusations.
“Since when did some widow and her family take priority over your family?” Clay stepped closer, poking him in the chest.
Hank pulled Clay out of his reach. “You’re the top man on this job. You can’t just leave and expect things to keep going.” Hank crossed his arms, taking a stance similar to Ethan’s.
“I can leave whenever I want. You two are capable of getting this mill built. Besides it will only be for a day, no different than if I went off buying supplies. And you know where to find me if you have questions.” He strode to Clay’s horse. The
brunt of their glares burned into his back. His brothers could share more of the responsibility on this project. After all, they would profit just as much from the mill as anyone else.
He pulled the rifle from the scabbard, gave Hank a nod, and headed back toward the Miller shack.
His first glance of the rundown building when he rounded the arm of the mountain made him shiver. How could the three live like they did? No meat, poor cooking and heating conditions, and the stench. He’d have to ask Aileen—no he’d ask Colin about the odor while they hunted.
He set the rifle against the side of the doorway and knocked. The door shook like woven cloth rather than wood.
“Aye.”
He entered the building. The whole thing needed shore up, new roof, and more room. The narrow path between the beds, table, and fireplace were fine for the occupants, but he had to place his large feet creatively to not kick something.
Aileen measured tea into a small, clay pot. She glanced up, her eyebrow raised at his empty hands.
“I left the gun outside. Is she any better?”
The woman shook her head.
He turned to Colin. “You ready?”
“I’m not leaving Ma and Shayla.” A stubborn glower darkened his face.
“I’m going to show you how to get meat. They’ll be fine. Shayla isn’t going to wake up any sooner with you here.”
“Go, Mr. Halsey is tryin’ to help ye become a man.” Aileen squeezed her son’s shoulders and mouthed the word thank you over his head.
The boy shook off her hands and stomped to the door. The anxiety darkening her face as she watched the boy was unwarranted. Shayla needed all of her strength right now. Ethan shrugged and winked at Aileen.
The woman blushed and turned back to the steeping tea.
“Put some water to boiling. We’ll have venison to toss in when we come back.” Ethan wanted to cross the room and give her a comforting hug, but he still wasn’t sure she wouldn’t follow through on her threat to castrate him. Instead, he opened the door and motioned for Colin to exit in front of him.