by Norah Hess
"Fletch," Taylor said, pain evident in his voice, "try to make it to the cabin and tell Laura what's happened. She'll be worried. She'll also tear a sheet into strips for you to bring back."
The last thing Fletch wanted to do was see Laura, especially alone. He knew, however, that he had no other alternative. Their neighbors would flap their tongues if he refused.
Drawing a long breath, he left the post and started battling his way through the snow toward the cabin.
Gray morning had arrived by the time Laura awakened and found the snow up to her windowsill. She hadn't rested well last night, half awake, listening for Taylor to come home. For though she had told herself he was sure to stay with Butterfly until the weather cleared, she couldn't help worrying that he was out there somewhere in the storm, maybe in need of help.
She had toyed with the idea of going to Fletch and asking him to go look for his father. Two things warned her not to. One, he'd probably refuse to and they would get into a heated argument, and two, she didn't want him to know that Pa still made his trips to visit Butterfly. He'd really chew on that piece of information. As would everyone else if they learned of Pa's long association with the Indian woman and that it still continued.
The second time Laura went to the window to gaze in the direction of the post, hoping to see smoke rising from the chimney, the village men were out shoveling paths, Fletch and his friend among them. She wondered if Daniel and Maida had fulfilled their arrangement with Reverend Stiles to marry them. It occurred to her that the couple wouldn't be able to leave Big Pine now. She hoped that they wouldn't mind, because she would like to know the young girl better.
Jolie fussed, and Laura picked the little one up and sat down in the rocking chair before the fire, talking nonsense to her as she laid back the lapel of her robe and undid the ties to her gown.
By the time the baby had finished nursing and had been changed and laid back in the cradle, close to an hour had passed before Laura went to the window again and gave a startled, "Oh, my God."
She saw Taylor being carried into the post. Her mind raced with questions. Had Pa suffered a heart attack from fighting his way through the snow? Had he reached the post sometime last night only to fall exhausted outside its door? God forbid that he had frozen to death. She desperately wanted to go to him but knew it would be next to impossible to get through the snow that would reach her waist. Besides, she couldn't leave Jolie alone.
So she stayed glued to the window willing someone to come and tell her what had happened to Taylor. When the post door opened and Fletch stepped outside, she leaned forward, peering intently. He spoke a moment to the men standing around, then started plowing his way through the snow toward the cabin.
It seemed to Laura that it was taking forever for Fletch to close the distance between the cabin and the post. When he finally pushed his way onto the porch, she swung the door open, demanding in a shaky voice, "What's happened to Pa?"
Fletch stood a moment, catching his breath, then said derisively, "Pa? You call your husband Pa?" Laura wished she had the strength to grab his wide shoulders and shake them until his head wobbled. "I said Pa out of habit," she said impatiently. "Is he all right? What's happened to him?" Brushing the snow off his legs and stamping it off his feet, Fletch answered, "Let me inside and I'll tell you."
Laura stepped back, giving him ample room to enter. Still, he managed to brush against her, his elbow sliding against her breasts. She shot an angry look at his handsome, bland face. Had it been an accidental touching, or had it been meant as a deliberate action that a man would do to a loose woman?
However it had happened, she let it pass. She had more important things to wonder about. "All right, Fletch," she said impatiently, closing the door behind him, "you're inside now. What's happened to P… Taylor?"
Fletch deliberately took his time unbuttoning his heavy fur-lined jacket before finally saying, "Pa slipped in the snow and broke his leg."
"Oh dear!" Laura's face paled. "Is it a bad break? Is he suffering a lot?"
"He's in pain, of course, but it's a clean break according to Daniel and should heal all right. Daniel is going to set it, and he needs some strips of cloth to bind the splints with. Pa said you'd give them to me."
"Of course. Is there anything else you need?"
Fletch looked at her slender form, the curves revealed by the robe wrapped tightly around her, and wanted to say, I need you. I need to bury myself inside you to take away my ever present ache for you.
He looked away and said, "He'll need bedding. That old cot in the back room only has a straw tick on it."
"Won't he be coming home?" Laura asked, a tiny frown forming between her eyes. "He says he's gonna stay there, keep an eye on things."
"How's he going to do that, flat on his back?"
"I guess he'll keep the door open between the two rooms. The cot sits right across from it, so he can see what's going on, keep an eye on whoever is gonna run the place."
"He'll probably ask Elisha to run it."
"Probably," Fletch said, then asked abruptly, "How come Pa is still seeing Butterfly? Don't you give him what he wants?"
Fire flashed in Laura's eyes. "I can't believe your gall, your crudeness." She glared at him. "First off, it is none of your business what goes on between me and Taylor. And as you know, he and Butterfly have been friends for years. It's only natural that he would like to see her once in a while."
"And sleep with her too?"
"You don't know that," Laura snapped and wheeled around, heading out of the kitchen. "I'm going to get dressed now and gather the strips and bedding."
Fletch made no response as he watched the angry twist of her hips as she passed into what used to be his bedroom. A puzzled look came over his face. Didn't she and Pa share the same bed? What in hell went on here?
Laura had barely closed the door behind her when Jolie began to fuss. Against his will Fletch was drawn to the cradle. When he gazed down at the tiny mite he received the same sensation he'd experienced the first time he'd seen the baby. What was it about this little one that gave him such a warm feeling?
He bent over and held out a finger to Jolie, who watched him with wide blue eyes. She grasped it and held on tightly. He was startled at the tenderness that rushed through him. He wanted to pick her up, hold her against his heart to mingle its beat with that of her tiny one.
Fletch forced himself to remember that Adam Beltran had fathered the child, and when Laura returned with an armful of bedding, he was back on the kitchen side of the room, staring moodily out the window. She laid everything on the table, then walked over to the cradle. When Fletch turned around and looked at her, she had taken Jolie up and was wrapping her in a heavy shawl.
"Why are you bundling her up like that? It's plenty warm in here."
"I can't leave her here by herself."
Fletch narrowed his eyes at her. "I hope you're not planning on going to the post."
"I certainly am. Taylor needs me."
"You're crazy, woman. You can't get through that snow."
"Yes, I can," Laura insisted as she shrugged into a heavy jacket and buttoned it up. "I'll walk in your footsteps."
Fletch looked at her small, mutinous face and sighed. Ever since she was a little girl, if she got a thing in her head to do, she was bound to do it. "All right." He scowled, picking up the folded bedding and walking to the door. "But you're gonna find it hard walking."
"I'll be right behind you, Mister Know It All." Laura gathered Jolie up and followed him outside.
They hadn't gone three yards when Fletch heard Laura puffing as she stretched her legs to step in his tracks. He tried to harden his heart against her struggling but found that he couldn't. He had looked after her too many years to break the habit now.
He stopped and turned around. "Give me the baby before you fall and hurt her," he ordered.
He thought for a moment she was going to refuse, but finally she said, "All right. I'll carry the blanke
ts."
The transfer was made, and holding the little one close to his chest, liking the feel of the little body next to him, Fletch shortened his steps so that Laura could more easily place her feet in his tracks.
"Honey, what are you doing here?" Taylor ex-claimed when Laura pushed her way through the group of men gathered outside and burst into the storage room. "How did you get through all that snow, and where is Jolie?"
"Fletch has her," Laura answered, taking off her jacket and kneeling beside the cot. "Fletch has her?" Taylor said, disbelief in his voice.
Laura nodded with a crooked grin. "He was afraid I'd drop her in the snow." She looked up and smiled a greeting to Daniel and Elisha standing nearby, waiting to set Taylor's leg.
"You about ready to get on with it, Daniel?" Fletch asked gruffly from the doorway, strips of cloth he had torn from the sheet clutched in his hand.
"Where's Jolie?" Laura jumped to her feet.
"I put her in a basket and set her on the counter so she wouldn't get stepped on," Fletch answered indifferently. "She's still asleep."
"You put her in a basket like she was a little puppy?" Laura screeched at him.
"Settle down, she's fine." Fletch busied himself with taking off his jacket and hanging it on the wall. Elisha had built a roaring fire in the potbelly stove in the store and its heat now reached the storage room.
"Go look after her, Laura," Taylor said, "and close the door behind you."
She knew that Taylor didn't want her to see or hear his pain when the bone was set. Still she hesitated. She wanted to hold his hand, to com-fort him when Daniel ministered to the break. But when Taylor said firmly, "Go on, Laura," she walked into the store and quietly closed the door, leaning on it, waiting.
Her fingers clenched into fists a few minutes later when Taylor gave a harsh cry of pain. Daniel had set his break. She rushed back into what would be Taylor's bedroom for some time and sat down on the edge of the cot. She took a handkerchief from her sleeve and dried the sweat that had beaded on his forehead.
She watched Daniel and Fletch winding the strips of cloth around the splint that would keep the break together until it knit and healed. She looked back at Taylor's pale face and asked gently, "Can I get you anything, Pa? Maybe a swallow of whiskey?"
Taylor smiled weakly and shook his head about the whiskey. "Believe it or not, it's food I'd like. I'm hungry as sin."
"Fine. How does bacon and eggs sound to you?"
"Sounds real good, but first I'd like a cup of coffee. Haven't had any since last night at supper."
While Laura was wrinkling her brow, wondering how she could fry bacon and eggs and brew a pot of coffee on a 14-inch stove top, Daniel and Elisha left.
Laura remembered the potbelly stove in the tavern part of the post and looked at Fletch, who was pulling on his jacket, preparing to leave. "Would you build a fire in the other stove and put a pot of coffee to brewing before you leave?" Fletch frowned, but before he could answer, Taylor said anxiously, "Don't leave the post until we've talked, Fletch."
"I can't hang around long," Fletch said coolly, not looking at Taylor as he took his jacket back off. "I have to give Daniel a hand with the shoveling."
There was so much hurt and sadness in Taylor's eyes as he watched his son leave the room that Laura wanted to run after him and beat his broad back with her fists. He had no right to hurt Pa like that.
If only I could tell him the truth about everything, he wouldn't act so high and mighty, she thought, walking into the store area.
But that would never happen, she knew, and she set about taking the utensils she would need from the shelves where they had been placed for sale. She ground a handful of coffee beans and set them aside, along with the old coffeepot Taylor always kept on the stove.
She didn't look up from slicing bacon when Fletcher came to collect the coffee and pot. If she looked at his sullen face she would say something that would start an argument, and Pa didn't need to be any more upset than he was already.
She exclaimed impatiently when Fletch took the pot outside to pack it full of snow and slammed the door behind him. He had awakened Jolie, who had set up a wailing, hungry cry. Without thinking, she put the bacon aside and picked the little one up and sat down on a stool behind the counter. She had bared her breast to the tiny mouth when Fletch returned.
He stopped dead, his eyes fastened on the creamy mound of Laura's breast pressed against her daughter's mouth. He remembered his mouth there and immediately became aroused, his hard length pushing against his buckskins. Laura hadn't seen him yet, all her attention on her nursing baby. He made a scraping sound with his feet and pretended not to see her as he walked into the tavern room.
Jolie finally had her fill, and Laura laid her back on the blanket Fletch had folded and placed in the bottom of the basket. She begrudgingly admitted that it had been thoughtful of him to make her baby as comfortable as possible. At least he wasn't taking his spleen out on her.
When she brought a loaded breakfast tray to Taylor later and placed it on his lap, Fletch leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest, watching her fuss over his father.
She doesn't treat him like a husband, he said to himself. She still treats him like a father. What in the hell kind of marriage did they have anyhow? They didn't even share the same bed, for heaven's sake.
It came to him like a hard blow to the head.
In the biblical sense they weren't husband and wife. He hadn't really believed it before, but he believed now what was whispered about Laura and Adam Beltran. The bastard had got Laura in a family way, and Pa had married her to save her good name. Everything fell into place, including his father's continued visits to Butterfly.
He looked at his father's pain-etched face and regretted the harsh accusations he had hurled at the kind man. Somehow he must make it up to him. As for Laura, nothing had changed in his regard for her. If anything, it had slipped lower. While he had lain awake nights, longing for her, praying that she would have him when he returned, she had been lying with Beltran, letting him get her with child.
He couldn't bear to look at her as she sat before Pa, talking to him in her low, sweet voice. How could Pa still be so nice to her, knowing what she had done?
When Taylor finished his breakfast and Laura took the empty plate away, Fletch began his atonement by walking over to the bed and saying cheerfully, "Well, Pa, it looks like I'll be running the post while you're laid up."
Taylor looked up at him in startled surprise, then gave him a wide, pleased smile. "I was gonna ask you to do that, son. Reckon you can handle it?" he bantered. "There won't be much time for you to carouse with your friends. You'll be stuck here fourteen hours out of twenty-four, every day, seven days a week."
Fletch's eyes glinted humorously. "I guess if an old codger like you can do it, a young buck like myself will have no problem at all. I'll manage to find time for my friends and women."
Taylor stretched a hand to him. "Shake. It's a deal. You might as well start right now. The place should have been opened for business a half hour ago."
"I've got to go tell Daniel first."
"You've got to help Laura and Jolie home, too. And hire a couple teenagers to shovel a path to the cabin."
He's going to refuse, Laura thought as a dark flush of resentment spread over Fletch's face. After a moment, he turned frosty eyes on her and practically growled, "Are you ready to go?"
"I can make it on my own," Laura answered, her voice as cold as his.
"Get your jacket on and stop acting like the Queen of Sheba," Fletch half snarled. "I haven't got time to put up with your foolishness."
"I'm not being foolish, you…" Laura began, then saw that their bickering was upsetting Taylor. She snapped her mouth shut. She'd give the no-good woman chaser a tongue-lashing later on.
Chapter Seven
Laura wasn't to get the chance to give Fletch a piece of her mind. As soon as they pushed their way through the snow to the cabin,
Fletch shoved Jolie in her arms as soon as she opened the door. Before she could spit out the heated words she'd been holding back, he turned and walked away. She couldn't very well run after him hindered by the snow and Jolie in her arms, so she slammed the door shut, still hiding her time.
Daniel was clearing a path from the post to the house.
"How's it goin' with your pa?" he asked, pausing in his shoveling.
"He's doing all right. He just ate a hearty breakfast." The corners of Fletch's mouth lifted.
"We kind of made up. I'll be running the post for him until his leg mends."
"Well, now, I'm right happy to hear that." Daniel's teeth flashed in a smile. "A son and father should get along with each other. Me and my pa was always close. He's been gone twenty years now, but I still think about him and miss him."
"Daniel," Fletch said soberly, "I hope you and Maida have a whole bunch of sons. You're gonna make one hell of a good father."
"Thank you, friend." Daniel was pleased at the compliment. "I'd like for there to be a couple little girls for Maida, though. You know, little dolls for her to play with, her bein' so young herself."
Girl babies were like little dolls, Fletch thought, thinking of Jolie, remembering how good she had felt in his arms, and how he had resented the fact that she wasn't his.
"Will you be stayin' on with me and Maida, or will you be livin' at home?"
"I'll be staying with you two if it's all right. I don't want to be around Pa's wife any more than I have to."
"Of course we'll be glad to have you with us," Daniel said, then frowned at his stony-faced friend. "I've got the feelin' you've forgiven Taylor, why not the girl, Laura? Why do you still hold this animosity for her? I'm sure she didn't hold a gun to your pa's head and force him to marry her."
"No, she used something more powerful. She used his love for her against him."
Daniel thought that he understood what Fletch was saying but he wasn't too sure. He'd ask Maida later. She was a very wise person. "Well," Fletch said, "I'd better get on and open the post for business. I see a couple men headed this way. They'll be wanting something."