Texas Tender

by Leigh Greenwood

  “I was giving you a chance to tell the truth.”

  “No, you weren’t. You were hoping to catch me in a lie so you could blame me for breaking your heart.”

  “Well, you have,” she said, big tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. “I thought you loved me, and all the while you were seeing Junie Mae.”

  “You never thought I loved you, because I told you I didn’t,” Will stated.

  “Well, I love you.”

  “Well you shouldn’t. I’m leaving as soon as Carl finds my bull.”

  Mara threw herself at Will. “Take me with you!” she exclaimed in a dramatic fashion which would have been overdone even in a stage melodrama. “I don’t want to stay in this horrible town any longer.”

  Will pried Mara’s arms from around his neck. Taking her by the wrists, he held her away from him. “You should stop trying to convince yourself you’re in love with me and go back to Carl. He’s a fine young man who’d make you a wonderful husband.”

  Mara pulled away from Will. “Daddy won’t let me marry him. He says I ought to marry Van.” Mara pulled a face. “I don’t like Van.”

  “That’s the most intelligent thing I’ve heard you say in a long while. Just keep telling your father that, and before long he’ll give in and let you marry Carl.”

  Will wasn’t entirely sure of that, but he didn’t think Jordan would force Mara to marry Van against her will.

  Mara pouted. “Don’t you like me a little?”

  “Sure, I like you, but Carl loves you. He’d do anything to make you happy.”

  Mara puckered her lips like she was on the verge of a temper tantrum. “Carl wants to be a rancher. I don’t want to live on a ranch. I want to live in a city and have some fun.”

  “I want to be a rancher, too. Besides, I’ve been to enough cities to know they’ll drive a sane person crazy. You’ll be much happier here in Dunmore. Your parents and all your friends are here.”

  “That’s why I want to get away. I want to meet people I’ve never met before, see places I’ve never seen, do things I’ve never done.”

  Like act mature enough to be considered ready for marriage. But he didn’t say that, because he could understand the lure of the unknown, the excitement of imagined adventure. But he had the advantage of having looked behind the facade of the glamorous and exciting city life to see its sordid and dishonest side.

  “Have you told Carl that?”

  “I’ve tried, but all he can think about is finding that bull.”

  It was hard to underestimate the gulf between one person who’d had too little of everything and another who’d had too much. He didn’t know if love was enough to bridge the gap. He wondered if the same could apply to him and Idalou. She seemed to think he was a rich, spoiled brat who just happened to be able to take care of himself occasionally.

  “You have to try to understand the things that are important to Carl, just as he should try to understand what’s important to you.”

  “He says I’m too young and too pampered to know what life is really like.”

  Carl needed to learn that there were times when the truth, especially the unvarnished variety, should be kept strictly out of sight. “What does Van say?”

  “He’s even worse. He says a wife should do what her husband says and never question him.”

  That sounded like Van all over. “Have you told your father what Van said?”

  “It wouldn’t help. Daddy’s the same way. Mama never questions him.”

  Will could see that Mara was getting dangerously wrought up. “I’ll talk to your father and to Carl. I know they both love you and wouldn’t want to see you so unhappy.”

  “I wish I were like Idalou,” Mara said. “She does exactly what she wants and doesn’t care what anybody says.”

  Will was glad that Idalou was intelligent, dependable, and able to take care of herself, but it wouldn’t hurt if she’d be a little romantic. Even after he’d risked his life to pull her from the floodwaters, she still looked at him with clear, cool eyes. He wouldn’t have minded if she’d been so thankful she’d thrown her arms around him and kissed him like Junie Mae had. If one of the three women had to think she’d fallen desperately in love with him, why couldn’t it be Idalou?

  Love! Where had that come from? He couldn’t even decide how much he liked Idalou, and she had barely stopped treating him like a bad rash. It was time to put a halter on his galloping imagination before it infected his tongue.

  “Idalou is a long way from doing exactly what she wants,” he said to Mara, “but she agrees with you that men don’t pay nearly enough attention to women. You ought to talk to her sometime.”

  Mara looked away. “She doesn’t want Carl to marry me.”

  “Idalou loves her brother deeply and wants him to be happy. If that means marrying you, then she’ll be the best sister-in-law in the world. She’d take on your father if necessary.”

  “Would she really do that?”

  “Mara, she’s already taken him on over that bull. How much more important do you think her brother’s happiness is to her?”

  Idalou returned to Junie Mae’s bedroom to find her roommate throwing up into the washbasin. “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick? I’ll get your aunt.”

  “No!” Junie Mae managed to say before another spasm wracked her.

  Caught between what she felt she ought to do and what Junie Mae clearly didn’t want, Idalou decided the most immediate need was to help Junie Mae. Supporting her until the spasms stopped, she helped clean up. “I’m going to throw this away. I’ll be back in a moment.”

  Idalou was relieved to hear Ella talking with her husband in their bedroom. She cleaned the washbasin and hurried back to Junie Mae, who was sitting on the edge of the bed looking as if she were about to pass out. “Have you seen the doctor?”

  Junie Mae shook her head. “I’ll be fine in a little while.”

  Idalou sat down on the bed next to her. “You don’t look fine. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “I wouldn’t mind a ghost,” Junie Mae said without humor.

  “You’ve been looking bad all week. Now I find you throwing up. You’ve got to see the doctor before you get worse.”

  Her laugh was bitter. “The doctor can’t fix what’s wrong, and he can’t keep it from getting a lot worse.” Junie Mae grabbed Idalou’s wrist in a vise-like grip. “You can’t tell Aunt Ella. No matter what happens, you can’t tell her.”

  “She’s your aunt. She has a right to know.”

  “She’ll find out soon enough.” Junie Mae released Idalou’s wrist.

  Idalou wondered if Junie Mae had some wasting disease. Not even sickness could erase her beauty, but her features seemed gaunt, her skin without color or luster. Even her luxuriant blond hair seemed dry and frizzy. Her lips were a pale slash across her face. Her blue eyes looked huge.

  “I’m not sick,” Junie Mae said. “I’m just going to have a baby.”

  In that instant Idalou had the horrible fear that Junie Mae was about to tell her she was carrying Will’s child. Junie Mae had said he was helping her, and she’d seen them kissing. It was a logical assumption. However, once she got over the initial shock, she refused to believe Will was the father. Besides, right now she needed to put her confusion aside and concentrate on Junie Mae. Regardless of who the father might be, her condition couldn’t be hidden for long.

  “Now you understand why I can’t tell my aunt,” Junie Mae said. “She’ll figure it out on her own before long. Then she’ll throw me out of the house.”

  “I’m sure she won’t,” Idalou said, barely able to control her voice. “You’re her niece.”

  “I’ll be disgraced. She won’t want anything to do with me.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You should tell the father. This is as much his responsibility as it is yours.”

  For a moment Idalou thought Junie Mae was going to break d
own. Idalou put her arm around Junie Mae’s shoulder, and in a few minutes she managed to get herself under control.

  “He doesn’t want anything to do with me. He says this can’t possibly be his baby, though he knows it can’t be anyone else’s.”

  Idalou was ashamed for feeling relieved. Whatever Will might have done in an unguarded moment of passion, she was absolutely certain he’d never turn his back on his own child. “Are you absolutely sure it’s his?”

  Junie Mae spun around toward Idalou, angry sparks flashing from her eyes. “I know that having a baby without a husband makes me a loose woman, but I swear I’ve only been with one man.”

  Idalou hardly knew what to say. Whether or not it was fair, she’d always held Junie Mae responsible for Webb’s defection. To know that she’d been intimate with another man was a shock. She really didn’t know much about Junie Mae, and this whole situation had taken her by surprise. She truly didn’t know what to think.

  “What do you plan to do?”

  Junie Mae’s face fell, and tears rolled down her cheeks. “I don’t know.”

  “I think you ought to talk to the father again. I’ll go with you if you want.”

  “No.”

  “Junie Mae, you can’t protect him forever. Your aunt and uncle are going to demand to know who he is.”

  “He’s not going to marry me no matter what anyone says. I can’t prove he’s the father. Unless it’s a boy who grows up to be the spitting image of his father, nobody will ever know.”

  “You don’t have to give up so easily,” Idalou said. “People in Dunmore won’t like seeing a man refuse to take responsibility for his child. He may not marry you, but he’ll have to help you support the child.”

  “He doesn’t want me or the baby,” Junie Mae said. “That’s just as well, because I don’t want him to have anything to do with my child.”

  “You must have loved him.”

  “I thought I did, but I guess I was wrong. In any case, it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t love me and he doesn’t want to marry me.”

  A sliver of doubt reared its head. Will had told Idalou that Junie Mae had kissed him but that he had no feelings for her. That was exactly what the baby’s father had said.

  Idalou told herself to stop thinking like a jealous woman. Just because Webb had turned his back on her for Junie Mae didn’t mean Will had or would. She couldn’t go around believing the worst of people all the time. She had to learn to trust, and who better to start with than Will. She wanted to believe him, especially when he said he liked her, but it was hard. She had to be fair to Will. Virtually anyone could be the father. Right now she had to stop being so concerned about herself and more concerned about Junie Mae. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  Junie Mae squared her shoulders and smiled for the first time. “Talking to you has cleared up a few things in my mind. I’ve decided to talk to the sheriff.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  If Idalou hadn’t been sitting down, her legs would have gone out from under her. Why would Junie Mae say that if it wasn’t Will’s baby? She told herself to stop leaping to conclusions, that she’d always been wrong about Will. She knew he was a sucker for a woman in trouble. Hadn’t he said he’d become sheriff so he’d have a legitimate reason to help her? Hadn’t he paid off her loan? Hadn’t he put up with Mara’s infatuation? Why was it so hard to believe that he would help Junie Mae in her time of need? Marry her, even if he wasn’t the father! The horrible image of Will marrying Junie Mae to save her reputation exploded in Idalou’s mind with the force of a shock wave. She’d seen Junie Mae kissing Will. Will had thought of Junie Mae right off when Idalou needed a place to stay. Now that she thought of it, Junie Mae looked at Will as if he were a knight on a big white horse. Having Will to turn to must have seemed like the answer to a prayer.

  “What is he going to do?” Idalou gripped her hands together, hoping Junie Mae wouldn’t say the words Idalou dreaded to hear.

  “I don’t know,” Junie Mae answered. “I told him about my situation the day you found me kissing him.” She blushed. “I shouldn’t have done that, but I was so desperate, his offering to help me seemed like the answer to my prayers.”

  “Do you love him?” Idalou asked. She felt crushed, her secret hope of being with Will gone.

  Junie Mae looked surprised. “Why would you think that? I hardly know him.”

  “That didn’t stop you with Webb.” Idalou was mortified the moment the words were out of her mouth. Junie Mae was the one in trouble. The ending of Idalou’s romance with Webb didn’t begin to compare with having a baby out of wedlock.

  “I didn’t know you were sweet on him until he’d asked me out a couple of times,” Junie Mae said. “I was new in town and didn’t know anybody. Besides, I was only seventeen and still so upset over my mother’s death, I would have gone out with almost anybody to have something else to think about.”

  “I’m sorry,” Idalou said. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “I’m glad you did. I always wanted us to be friends, but I knew that Webb stood between us. He really didn’t like me the way he liked you. He just wanted someone to have fun with, and I was desperate for the same thing.”

  Idalou didn’t know if Webb had ever really loved her, but it was time she stopped holding Junie Mae responsible for what he had done. She had to accept that her own actions had in all probability been a more important factor. Carl had warned her that her accusations would drive Webb away.

  “You weren’t to blame for Webb losing interest in me. But that’s neither here nor there. You and your baby are all that’s important now. Are you sure your aunt will throw you out once she knows?”

  Junie Mae nodded. “Mama told me that Emma turned her back on her best friend years ago when she had a baby by a married man.”

  “Is your baby’s father married?”

  “No.”

  “Good. We can bring pressure on him to marry you. Who is he?”

  “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

  “You’ve got to have someone to help you.”

  “The sheriff said he would figure something out. I trust him.”

  Idalou was beginning to have a good deal of respect for Will’s abilities, but this wasn’t the same as breaking up a fight or rescuing her from a flood. This meant rescuing a woman from social ruin and providing for her and her child. The only way Idalou could see for him to guarantee that was to marry her. The only good thing about this whole mess was that if the real father had refused to marry Junie Mae, Will couldn’t be the man.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to marry him?” Idalou asked.

  Junie Mae’s gaze locked with Idalou’s. “I would if he asked.”

  “You’ve got a cozy little hideout here,” Will said to Carl.

  “It won’t keep me dry, but it’ll keep me out of sight.”

  Carl had built his camp in the midst of a thicket of hackberry, willow, and soapberry made nearly impenetrable by vines that provided a barrier between him and any passing rider. Water was only a few steps away.

  “Have you had any trouble?” Will asked.

  “No.”

  “How about the bull?”

  “I’ve about given up on him.”

  Will ground-hitched his horse and followed Carl into his camp. They talked about odds and ends while Carl boiled water. When they had settled back with cups of coffee, Will brought up an idea that had been knocking around in the back of his head for some time.

  “I don’t think you ought to give up on that bull,” he said. “I’ve got a feeling he’s still here.”

  “He can’t be,” Carl said. “Everybody has looked for days.”

  “But not everybody wants to find it.”

  Carl stopped blowing on his hot coffee and looked up at Will. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve been thinking about the situation with your ranch,” Will said, “and the two men who want it.”

  Carl
sipped his coffee and burned his tongue.

  “Neither man would hesitate to apply a little pressure, but I think what each man is likely to do is different. I don’t see McGloughlin intentionally driving his cows onto your property. It’s too obvious.”

  “Then how do you explain so many of them being here and breeding with our bull?”

  “They were driven here, but I don’t think Jordan’s men did it.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I’ve had a chance to spend some time with Jordan, even talk to a few of his men. He’s sharp, but not dishonest.”

  Carl had lost interest in his coffee. “What are you saying?”

  “I think Jordan has hidden your bull somewhere on his property. He’s not using it to build his herd, just keeping it out of sight until you have to sell your ranch. Then he’ll let it go.”

  “You don’t call that dishonest?” Carl asked, disgust in his tone and a question in his eyes.

  “I do, but Jordan doesn’t. Look, you’re on good terms with him now. He probably wouldn’t object if you were to ride over to his place every day or so. It would give you a chance to spend some time with Mara. I know she’s been acting a little silly, but she really loves you.”

  “I’m not going to beg any woman to marry me,” Carl said, but his anger didn’t sound as if it went very deep.

  “Mara’s seventeen and full of romantic ideas. She wants to know that you think she’s wonderful, that you can’t get her out of your mind, that you think she’s beautiful, that—”

  “I’ve told her all that.” Carl sounded impatient, frustrated.

  “Telling her once about your future plans for the ranch is enough. Telling her a hundred times you think she’s beautiful and can’t stop thinking about her is just a start.”

  “Is that what you’d say to Idalou?”

  Will had never been particularly good at keeping things to himself, but it was disconcerting to realize that people he’d only known a few days could read him like a book. “I’m not so sure how to talk to your sister, but if I was thinking about marrying her, that’s what I’d want her to know.”