Four
Rose took the boy by the ear. “This impudent rascal is Zac,” she said to Jared. “Pay no attention to him. His bark is worse than his bite.”
“I don’t bark and I don’t bite,” Zac announced as he wiggled free. “I just shoot people.”
“Go get the wood,” Rose said, pointing to a box in the corner, “or I’ll give your doughnuts to Monty.”
“You can’t,” Zac protested. “He’d eat ’em.”
“Then you’d better hurry with that wood. The sooner I fix supper, the sooner you’ll get your doughnuts. The tall one who’s going for water is Tyler,” Rose said to Sarah. The boys had left as quickly as they’d entered. “You’ve probably heard the only words he’ll speak all evening.”
Sarah had never been allowed to run outside much less inside the house. She’d had to keep her voice low and speak only when addressed. She had no idea what her mother would have done with a boy like Zac. Her father would have broken an endless string of sticks on his back until he’d broken his spirit. It was clear no one had broken Zac’s, though he obeyed Rose without question.
“I really would like to help,” Sarah said.
“Okay,” Rose said, relenting. “I’ll tell you what I’m planning to fix, and we can divide the dishes between us.”
The next hour was unlike anything Sarah had ever experienced. It was soon obvious that Rose knew what every person in the kitchen was doing even though she never seemed to take her eyes off her own work. She kept Zac and Tyler busy fetching and carrying, setting the table and filling glasses with milk or water, and setting out cups for coffee. Tyler made the coffee while Zac brought out bowls and laid out serving spoons. The whole time he kept an eye on Jared and the tin containing the doughnuts. Once everything was done and on the table, Rose told Zac, “Tell everybody it’s time to eat.”
Remembering how the two boys had entered the kitchen, Sarah was prepared for a stampede, but seven men entered quietly and waited for Rose to explain the new seating arrangement. Sarah could tell the men had washed, combed their hair, and put on fresh shirts. It was a revelation. These men were so different from her father and husband. Could she come to like a man like that?
She put that question out of her mind. She’d already decided against Salty.
Rose introduced everyone at the table. It was hard to take her eyes off the twins—they were as striking in their similarity as in their differences—but she forced herself to concentrate on Walter Swain. She eliminated George’s other cowhand because he was even younger than Salty.
As the meal progressed, she was more and more favorably impressed by Walter. He was open, genial, and apparently well-liked. His looks were average, but she wasn’t looking for an attractive candidate. She was impressed that he didn’t give her any more attention than he would any other stranger he was meeting for the first time. His enjoyment of Zac’s high spirits led her to believe he might become a good father figure for Jared and Ellen. He wasn’t as tall as Salty, but he was solid and well-built. He looked like a man who could hold up under the hard work necessary to save her ranch.
She was aware that Rose and George had noticed the direction of her gaze. George surely couldn’t like the idea that she was hoping to take away his best and most dependable man. Still, she hadn’t seen any indication that he was angry or upset over her proposal.
“Why doesn’t everyone move to the parlor while the twins clean up?” Rose said when the doughnuts had been eaten and everyone started to leave the table. Zac was out of his seat before the last word left her mouth. “There are more doughnuts for everybody, so no sneaking off to the bunkhouse. Walter, Mrs. Winborne has a proposal that might interest you. Why don’t you show her into George’s office and let her tell you about it?”
Even though Sarah had been trying to think of a way to speak to Walter, Rose’s suggestion took her by surprise. She didn’t know why she should have looked at Salty at that moment. She turned away just as quickly, but not before she read his expression. Resignation. He was certain she was going to choose Walter. There was no reason for her to feel she was taking something from him, but she did.
“I’ll be happy to speak with Mrs. Winborne if George has no objection,” Walter said.
“It could be a good opportunity for you,” George said.
Walter had to be curious, even a little confused, but if he felt it, nothing showed. Sarah considered that a good sign as well. He was a man who could take surprises or unexpected turns in stride. That was good because there would be plenty of both.
Sarah was surprised to find she didn’t feel entirely comfortable being in a room alone with Walter. There was nothing she could put her finger on, but being alone with him lacked the ease she’d felt with Salty. Walter settled into a chair a comfortable distance from her and waited for her to begin.
“I feel a little awkward talking to a man I don’t know,” Sarah began.
“Would you like me to start by telling you something about myself?”
“I’d appreciate that.”
His background was exactly what Sarah was looking for, but she found herself comparing it to Salty’s. That was stupid and pointless, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“That’s about it,” Walter said when he’d brought his story up to the present. “Is there anything else you wanted to know?”
“No. Thank you for being so open.”
Walter’s smile was fatherly. “There’s nothing unusual about my story. There are probably a hundred men in Austin and San Antonio like me.”
Maybe, but she hadn’t found any of them.
“Now how about you telling me about this proposal of yours.”
Sarah didn’t want to have to bare the story of her life, but he had a right to know why she was in the position of having to hire a pretend husband. It was hard to tell him about her marriage, but Walter showed nothing but sympathy for her situation. By the time she was finished, she felt like she was talking to an old friend. “I think that’s everything. Do you have any questions?”
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
That wasn’t the question she’d expected. “After what I’ve said, why do you ask?”
“A pretty young woman like you should be looking for a husband, not a man old enough to be your father.”
“I don’t want a husband. I mean, not a real husband. I don’t want any man to control my life ever again.”
“Not every man is like your father or your husband. I’m certain you could find a dozen young men who’d treat you like a princess.”
Sarah didn’t want to be treated like a princess, either. She wanted to be treated as an equal, one whose opinions would be listened to, whose wishes would be valued. She’d been in control of her life for six difficult and frightening years. She wasn’t willing to go back to being treated like a possession.
“Giving up your chance for a normal marriage is a big step,” Walter said.
“I’m determined to be the only one in control of my life. I’ll need something in our agreement that says while you’re legally my husband, you’ll have no authority over me.”
“That might be awkward to put into some kind of legal language. It would probably be easier to keep it as an understanding between us. Or the man you choose.”
It probably would be difficult to find the right language, but she wanted something in the agreement that protected her. She had no reason to distrust Walter, but she had plenty of reason to distrust men.
“Would you be interested in my proposition?” she asked.
“Any man would be interested,” Walter said with another of his fatherly smiles. “I hadn’t been thinking of having a place of my own again, but a man likes to feel he’s in control of his life, too. I’ll need to talk to George first though.”
“Take your time. I haven’t made up my mind yet.”
&nb
sp; That seemed to take him by surprise. “I didn’t realize you’d talked to anyone else.”
“Just Salty. The other cowhand is younger than I am.”
“Salty is a good man,” Walter said. “And much closer to your age.”
“That’s not a consideration.”
Walter paused a moment before saying, “I guess that’s all I need to know. You’ll let me know when you’ve made your decision?”
“Of course.”
He rose. “You’re fortunate to be able to call the Randolphs your friends.”
Sarah nearly blurted out that she’d never met the Randolphs until a few hours ago. She wasn’t sure what kept her quiet. She nodded and waited for Walter to leave the office.
The moment he closed the door, she fell back in her chair. He couldn’t have been nicer, and he was exactly the kind of man she was looking for, so why had she been so tense? Why did she feel relieved he was gone? Maybe she was tense because she was about to make a decision that would affect her family for years to come. Maybe it was the result of meeting so many new people in such a short time. It could be that she was tense because she was on strange ground. Perhaps she was simply exhausted and would feel much more like herself tomorrow. More likely she was worried because she didn’t know how her children were going to react when she told them what she had done. In some ways, her choice would have more impact on them than her.
Giving up all hope of figuring out what was bothering her, she was about to get up when she heard a knock on the door and Salty came in.
“I saw Walter leave. Do you want to join the rest of us?”
She would have preferred to be alone so she could clear away some of the fog in her mind. “Are you sure the men wouldn’t prefer their own company?”
Salty smiled in a way that caused a flutter in her chest. “We have more than enough of our own company. Visitors are always welcome, especially when they’re as pretty as you. Since we’ve never had a visitor like you, that makes you really special.”
No one had ever told Sarah she was special. It was a concept she had difficulty absorbing. Was she special only because she was a female and reasonably attractive? Probably, but she intended to enjoy the feeling. It wouldn’t last long.
“What do you do in the evening?” Sarah asked Salty.
“Sometimes we talk about things we did during the day or ranch business in general, but mostly we listen to the twins tease Zac. It’ll be a real treat to listen to someone else.”
Sarah felt something akin to panic. She had nothing to say that could interest a man like George Randolph. Zac and Tyler probably knew more about running a ranch than she did. Neither her father nor her husband had ever wanted her opinion. Everything she knew had been learned by trial and error or by picking the brains of hired men who made no attempt to hide their disgust at her ignorance.
“I’m sure they don’t want to listen to me.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. Ellen and Jared have made everyone curious to know more about you.”
What could her children have been saying? She’d always cautioned them to be careful what they said around strangers, but they had virtually no experience with strangers, especially not a woman like Rose who treated both of them as normal children and fed them doughnuts. They’d never been around a spirited child like Zac, a charming boy who was bubbling over with enjoyment of life. He made everyone laugh and want to join in the fun. You wanted to throw off all restraints because Zac had none and was having more fun than you had ever thought was possible.
“There’s nothing interesting about me,” she said.
“How often do you have women showing up at your ranch wanting to hire a man to marry her?”
She wouldn’t have put it quite that way, but she could see his point. “That makes me unusual, not interesting.”
“Ma’am, anything unusual is interesting. Now are you going to join us?”
More than ever she wanted to be by herself, but apparently she was to be the night’s entertainment. “Only if you promise not to expose my ignorance.”
She couldn’t quite make up her mind what she thought of Salty’s expression. It could have been a mixture of surprise, amusement, and disappointment that she would think so badly of him. Deciphering the expressions of people she didn’t know was a guessing game that was liable to put her in the wrong more often than not.
“If we don’t hurry, Rose is going to send somebody after us. If we’re lucky, it will be Tyler. He hardly ever talks. If we aren’t, it will be Monty. He makes up stuff just for the fun of it.”
“Come sit by me,” Rose said when Sarah entered the room. “Everybody has joined forces against me.”
“She says she hates cows and doesn’t think much of horses,” Ellen said to her mother. “And she has a whole ranch full of them.”
“I’ve tried to point out that I married my husband in spite of his cows and his horses,” Rose clarified.
“I think she married George in spite of us,” Monty said.
“She certainly married him in spite of you,” Jeff said.
Sarah had noticed at supper that Jeff was missing his left arm. She wondered if he’d lost it during the war. She wanted to like him, at least be sympathetic, but his expression was so forbidding even some of his brothers avoided him.
Rose laughed. “I married him in spite of all of you.”
“She didn’t marry George in spite of me,” Zac announced. “She loves me.”
Everyone laughed, but Sarah hadn’t missed the angry glance Monty threw at Jeff, or the glance George gave Jeff that caused him to shrug his shoulders and look away.
Sarah enjoyed watching the brothers tease Zac because it was so clear he enjoyed the attention. It made her sad that Jared had no older brothers whose love was strong enough to overlook his physical imperfection. Neither Jeff’s injury nor his bitterness had been enough to prevent him from being a valued member of the family.
“Did you find anything interesting when you were in Austin?” George asked Sarah during a lull in the conversation.
“I don’t know much, but I do know I don’t like the Reconstruction. They tried to tell me I owed a lot more taxes than I did.”
Monty’s laugh was angry. “They did the same to us, but Rose sent them packing.”
“What did you do about the taxes?” Rose asked Sarah.
“I told them they’d have to see the president of the bank because he held the mortgage. They never bothered me after that.”
“That was right clever,” Salty said.
“Of course she’s clever,” Rose said. “She’s a woman.”
That got a good-natured laugh from everybody, as well as a slighting remark from Monty and a spirited rebuttal from Zac.
“I knew you’d defend Rose,” Monty said, teasing, “because she spoils you.”
“She’d spoil you too, if you weren’t so mean.”
That generated another round of mirth.
The talk turned general with all the brothers except Tyler taking a part. It wasn’t hard to see that though there were many sharp edges in the brothers’ relationships, they were bound by a love that enabled them to look beyond their differences. Sarah had never known it was possible for men to do that. If her father and husband had been like any of these men, her life would have been immeasurably different. She was still thinking of that when Rose announced she was tired and was going to bed.
“We haven’t had our doughnuts,” Zac reminded her.
“You don’t need me to eat doughnuts, do you?” she asked the boy.
“You have to eat your doughnuts.”
“I think I’ll save mine.”
“If you don’t eat them now, Monty will get them.”
“Tell on me, will you?” Monty grabbed for Zac, but knowing where to find the safest place in the room, the boy h
ad already ducked behind Rose.
“Salty, will you get the doughnuts from the kitchen?” Rose asked. “I wouldn’t trust Zac or Monty not to eat half of them before they got back. Jared will show you where I put them.”
Sarah’s heart jumped into her throat. Her gaze flew to Jared, who looked stricken. Why would Rose do something that would expose Jared’s weakness to everybody in the room? She was about to make an objection when Salty got up, went over to Jared, and held out his hand.
“Let me help you up.”
Sarah held her breath when Jared reached for Salty’s outstretched hand. Taking a firm grasp, Salty pulled her son out of the chair and to his feet. Once Jared had his balance, Salty picked him up. Sarah couldn’t decide whether she was still angry or whether she was so relieved to see that no one seemed to pay any attention. She had always tried not to draw attention to Jared’s leg, while keeping him busy with the things he could do. The Randolphs had apparently done the same with Jeff’s arm. She wondered if he rode a horse or was limited to a buckboard. He didn’t have the look of a man who avoided hard work. She wondered how he did it. Maybe Salty would tell her.
She was reassured a moment later to see Salty and Jared return. More important, he had a look of happiness on his face. Salty allowed Jared to settle back in his chair before handing him the tin.
“Jared is going to parcel out the doughnuts,” Rose said. “He has my permission to penalize anyone who tries to take more than two.”
“You’d better watch Monty,” Zac warned. “He likes doughnuts better than girls.”
“I don’t like anything better than girls,” Monty said, “but Ellen is too young and I’m afraid of her mother.”
Sarah raised an eyebrow, but Monty only winked at her.
Zac jumped in front of everyone else, but the brothers kept picking him up and passing him back to the next person in line. Even Jeff entered into the fun. Zac made it known that he thought it was unfair that he was the last one to get his doughnuts, but when he looked in the tin and found there were only three left for him and Jared, his attitude changed. He took one doughnut, broke a second and handed half to Jared.
No One But You Page 5