Charlie took a step back and turned to face everyone. Nell knew the exact moment he spotted her. Their eyes locked. Against her will a surge of longing took hold of her soul.
Fuming, Brenna stepped back and stomped her foot. “Charlie Rose! Put Maddie down!”
He shook his head. “No, Brenna. Maddie’s my daughter. I’ll never put her down again.”
Nell dismounted and tossed her reins over Brenna’s picket fence next to the packhorse. She went into the yard and up to Charlie. She touched Maddie’s slender leg. “Hello, Maddie,” she said. The smile on Maddie’s face was angelic.
“Hi, Mrs. Page,” she replied. She kissed Charlie one more time on his cheek, then laid her face against his whisker-stubbed jaw. That child wasn’t going to let Charlie go anytime soon.
“So Charlie Rose is your pa, then?” Nell asked softly. Close beside her, Charlie’s gaze caressed her face. She craved to feel his lips on hers again, the way he’d kissed her today in front of Gabe and Jake. She dared a glance up through her lashes and lost herself in his eyes.
Maddie nodded. “But his name’s not Charlie Rose. It’s Tristan Axelrose. And I’m Maddie Axelrose.”
Brenna gasped again. The other children stood silently on the porch. The kitten had long since jumped down and picked her way through the sparse grass. She rubbed back and forth against Charlie’s boot, or Tristan’s boot, or whatever the man Nell was going to marry called himself.
Nell felt a smile coming on as she gazed into Charlie’s eyes. “Tristan Axelrose?”
He shrugged and the color of his face deepened.
When Charlie took a step away, Brenna gripped the sleeve of his shirt. “You can’t imagine I’ll just let you walk out of here on your word. This goes against everything inside me. I can’t let you take her.”
“I understand. And it does my heart good to know you’ve loved my little girl just like she was one of your own. Ask her few questions about where she’s from. And her ma’s name. I’ll be able to corroborate. She brought her crocheted doll with her. The one she calls Beatrix. You still have her, Maddie?”
When Maddie nodded, Jane dashed into the house. She returned with the doll and set her into Maddie’s arms.
A fond smile appeared on Charlie’s face when he saw the toy. “Miss Baxter, your Aunt Cora cared for Maddie in Wilsonville. She’s the one who suggested she bring Maddie to you in Logan Meadows. Until I could get here myself.”
Brenna straightened, her eyes softening. “She cared for Maddie?”
Charlie reached over and placed a hand on Brenna’s shoulder. “I’m sorry she didn’t make it here, Brenna. It’s a real shame. She had a heart of gold, for sure. Took wonderful care of Maddie. I didn’t learn of her passing until Nell told me at the school picnic. I couldn’t be more sorry for your loss—our loss—even if she were my own aunt.”
Still cradled in Charlie’s embrace, Maddie’s smile faded.
“Honey, what happened to Miss Baxter?” he asked tenderly. “Can you tell us what occurred?”
“She didn’t feel good,” Maddie said softly. She blinked several times before saying, “We went to bed, but I woke up later when she called my name. She wanted her bag so she could write a note. I got scared and started to cry, but she told me everything would be all right. That nothing bad would happen.” Tears trickled down Maddie’s cheeks. “Then in the morning when she didn’t wake up, someone came and told me she was dead and they would dig a grave.” She buried her face into Charlie’s neck and he rocked her back and forth.
Poor child. Nell reached up and rubbed Maddie’s back.
“I’m sorry, Brenna,” Charlie said, his voice low. “Your aunt wanted to make the trip. She wanted to settle here in Logan Meadows with you. Actually, she wanted me and you to get marr—” Charlie quickly closed his mouth.
Brenna’s hand fluttered to her chest.
Charlie looked uncomfortable and cleared his throat. “Things have a way of working themselves out.”
When Brenna swayed, Mr. Hutton folded her hand into the crook of his arm. Her ashen face was rife with grief. “Since her things arrived on the stage, I’ve wondered. I sent a letter to the postmaster in Wilsonville trying to learn why she was coming here and what her connection was to Maddie.” She gave a small sob. “I’m sorry she passed on by herself.”
“I was with her,” Maddie said softly, still nestled next to Charlie’s neck. “Holding tight to her hand.”
Brenna tried to smile, but her face crumbled. She turned into Mr. Hutton’s arms. “Thank you, Maddie,” she said between gulps of air. “Thank you for being with her as she passed.”
Charlie looked adoringly into Maddie’s face. “Can you wait a little longer for me? I need to find a place for us to live before I can take you home.”
Brenna sniffed, then used the hankie Mr. Hutton fished from his pocket. “Take as long as you like,” Brenna said. “Maddie is always welcome here.”
Charlie nodded. “Thank you.” Nell thought she saw a shadow of something pass over his eyes.
“But, Pa . . .”
“I know, I know, sweetheart. I’m just as anxious as you are, but some things have to get worked out.” He glanced at Nell, a smile tugging at his lips, before he kissed Maddie on the forehead. “And I’ll be by to visit as much as I can. Brenna, I’ve intended from the start to compensate you for your generosity. We’ll take care of that later today as well.”
“No, I couldn’t—”
“You will and I don’t want to hear another word.” He dug in his pocket for the bag of peppermints. He put it in Maddie’s hand, kissed her cheek, and set her on the ground. “There’s enough to go around.” The children crowded in excitedly.
“Nell and I have some unfinished business to take care of,” he said. “I had no idea she’d follow me into town.”
“You angry?” Nell asked, understanding now that the premonition that had moved her from the box canyon and the others before wasn’t a warning of impending danger, not in the way the stranger had been. Instead it was a message of love, a major change for her life—all for the good. Marrying Charlie and having a daughter of her own.
The twinkle in his eye made Nell’s breath catch. “What do you think?”
If Grover Galante showed up now, or had already shown up, at least Charlie knew how he’d been found. The thought of the confrontation that was sure to come was just as troubling as it had been the day he left Wilsonville. Brenna’s letters to the postmaster asking about Miss Baxter had been an easy tell. Anyone would put two and two together. Charlie walked toward his horse, Nell’s hand in his own. “We need to talk. There’s more to this story.”
He gathered his reins and looked back to the porch where everyone crowded around his daughter. “Maddie,” he called. “I’ll be back in about an hour and we’ll take a walk into town.”
Her face brightened. “All right, Pa.”
Charlie gestured to Gabe’s horse.
“Yeah, he was the freshest mount left, since you took off with the packhorse. I came straight here, thinking you were coming to see Brenna.”
They turned toward town and started down Oak Street, leading the horses. “Brenna?”
“All the signs pointed to her. And if she was the one for you, I wasn’t going to stand in the way. Not with Brenna being such a kind soul. I was happy for her.”
“Happy?”
“As happy as I could be for the woman who was going to marry the man I loved.”
Warmth squeezed his heart. “Is that true? Do you love me, Nell?”
She nodded. “You know I do.”
He stopped and ran his thumb down her cheek, surprised so much had been going on in her head that he didn’t know about. His happiness evaporated. He still had a heck of a lot of trouble dogging him. Nell just might not want to be involved. “I have a lot more to tell you, Nell,” he said, looking deep into her eyes. “Afterwards I’m going to ask you something very important. Seems God plunked me down in the exact spot
I needed to be. I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.”
“Do you have to wait to ask me, Charlie? What if I know my answer already?”
Darn, she made him feel good. Like the luckiest man in the world. “Yes, there’s a lot to consider. But first I need to know if you could love Maddie as your own. Being blind, she can’t do what most children can. Caring for her will be harder, more time consuming.”
Surprise washed over her face. “Of course I can love Maddie—I already do.”
At her words, he gave her another quick kiss. By then they’d walked to the livery. “Let’s see if Win has some hay for these hungry horses while we get a bite to eat ourselves. I don’t think I can go a step farther without some food. But I don’t want to go to your friend’s restaurant. Someplace out of the way where we won’t be interrupted.”
Ten minutes later, on the quiet side of town, Charlie and Nell took a table along the wall at Nana’s Place, thankful the room was nearly empty. They ordered and were waiting on their meal as Charlie filled Nell in with the details of his arrival in Logan Meadows. He couldn’t imagine what she thought at this point. He hoped she’d still have him. He couldn’t envision his life now without her.
“So this man, Galante, may show up here. Then again, he may not. Is that right?”
“That’s as much as I know. But when you told me about the stranger who appeared at the ranch the week before I arrived, I got worried. Also the man on the bluff. But if that’s the case, I don’t know why he hasn’t already made his move.”
“You can’t live your life in fear.”
“I know. I finally came to that conclusion. I couldn’t go another day without Maddie, either. I miss her something fierce.”
“I could see that. Seemed the feeling was mutual.” An old woman approached with two plates of food. She placed them on the table and hurried away.
Nell cut her meat and took a bite of her steak, chewed, and swallowed. “Do you want me to call you Tristan Axelrose or Charlie Rose?” Her mouth curled up when she said his given name, setting off a flush of warmth inside. “Because I like ’em both.”
“Until I’m sure about Galante, I think it would be wise to stick with Charlie Rose. I took the name to make Galante’s finding me more difficult. If I knew for certain he wasn’t looking, I’d go back to my real name.”
She nodded, as if that made perfect sense. “So, is that the gist of everything? Anything else I need to know besides your secret daughter and the vengeful father who may be on your trail? If yes, I’m waiting on that very important question you said you were going to ask me.”
To appease the ache in his stomach, he scooped in several mouthfuls of creamy potatoes slathered in gravy, swallowed, then wiped his mouth with his napkin, worried what she’d say to the fact that he intended to live in or close to town. “There’s one more thing, Nell. Something I can’t imagine you’ll agree to. It’s a pretty large hurdle—”
“What, Charlie?” Her gaze lingered on his. Her tone was a bit impatient. “It won’t get solved with you sitting over there keeping it to yourself.”
How would she react to his decision? What did she love more, him or the ranch? She’d said plainly that . . .
“You know I’m not getting any younger, Charlie.”
When he chuckled her eyes narrowed. “You’re twenty, Nell. Your life has practically just begun.”
“Twenty-one,” she corrected. “Well, I will be next month.” Hunger winning out over her persistence, she took another bite of her meat and chewed vigorously. She swallowed and said, “Is that what this is all about? Our age difference? Because if that’s what’s bothering you, I have to say, you may be older but you don’t act it.”
He reached over and covered her hand. If he knew Nell at all, this would be the deal breaker. His concern wasn’t so much about age anymore. It was more that Nell was a rancher and she loved the place she’d built with her brother and Ben. He had no idea how she’d respond to moving into town, leaving her memories and Ben’s grave down on the riverbank.
Unexpectedly, Nell flipped the hand he’d been covering to the top of his and gripped it with a vengeance. She squeezed so hard he almost pulled his back. What was she doing?
“Charlie,” she wheezed out. “That’s him. The stranger at the ranch. He just came through the door.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Charlie sat back and disengaged his hand from Nell’s. He mentally checked off in his mind that his gun was loaded and in the holster around his hips. That Nell would be in the line of fire if a gunfight broke out. That this could be one of the last breaths he ever took.
Watching Nell’s eyes, Charlie could tell exactly where his adversary went. The scrape of a chair against a wooden floorboard in front of the window by the door. Charlie started to turn, to see if it was Galante, but Nell held up a palm.
“Wait,” she murmured under her breath. “Someone else just came in. He’s looking around. He’s joining the bad fellow.”
“The bad fellow?”
“He is, Charlie. I felt it at the ranch—I can feel it now.” She picked up her water glass with a noticeable tremble.
Charlie leaned forward. “I want you to get up and walk out, Nell. If it’s Galante, or someone he’s sent, as soon as he sees me, this could go bad. Or maybe he already knows I’m here.”
“No. I won’t leave you.”
“How is everything tasting?” The old woman appeared out of nowhere. “Would you like more gravy, young man?”
“No, thank you,” he gritted out. “Just the bill.”
Her brows raised in question and she turned and hurried off.
“Nell, stop this foolishness and do what I ask.”
Her eyes popped open at his order.
“Get up and walk out now. If anything happens to me—”
“The whole town will take care of Maddie, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Nell’s mouth was set in a hard line and her flinty eyes said she didn’t appreciate him bossing her around. “Nothin’s happening to you because I’m not leaving without you.”
Charlie pulled a dollar coin out of his pocket and put the money on the table. He turned in his seat and looked over his shoulder fully expecting to see Galante, but both fellows’ backs were to him. He stood and looked down at the table. He really hated to leave such a good meal. All those days in the high country had him almost weak with hunger. He glanced at Nell. She stood and he put his hand on her back to escort her out. Just as he reached for the doorknob intuition told him he wasn’t going to make it out the door.
“Mister,” one of the men called. “You know the time?”
Charlie opened the door and pushed Nell out, then turned to address the question, knowing full well it just might have been a trick to stop him.
Confusion descended. One man was the fellow in the bank who’d been talking with Frank Lloyd. Wasn’t he some fancy lawyer? The other man wasn’t Galante, either—far from it. He’d seen those black eyes today staring back at him from the wanted poster in Sheriff Preston’s office. Tandy Smith, outlaw and murderer, was the man who’d been out at the ranch, interested in Nell.
Charlie drew his gun. “Tandy Smith!” he shouted. “Put up your hands so I can take you in. If you go for your gun, I’ll shoot you dead!”
As if in slow motion, the outlaw spun in his chair as he reached for his gun. Charlie pulled his trigger, but not before Smith, the slick outlaw that he was, got a shot off himself. Searing heat almost knocked Charlie’s weapon from his hand, but not quite. Smith’s eyes went wide when Charlie’s bullet sunk deep. He tilted and fell, gripping his chest.
“Don’t do it,” Charlie warned when indecision flashed in the other man’s eyes. Outside the window Charlie recognized the man’s fancy palomino tied to the hitching post. Ignoring the blood he felt seeping through the sleeve of his shirt, Charlie went over and kicked away Smith’s gun. He pulled the lawyer’s from his holster and stuck the heavy weapon in his belt. “Go get t
he sheriff,” Charlie said over his shoulder to whoever might be watching. He dared not take his eyes off the men.
Running footsteps sounded outside. Sheriff Preston, Thom, and then Nell came cautiously through the door, guns drawn and ready.
Albert locked the cell door as Nell looked on, then joined the group over by the coffeepot. Her insides trembled at the thought of almost losing Charlie in the stunning turn of events. One moment they were eating, the next, he was gunning for his life. When she reached out and softly touched him, he looked down at her and smiled. Placing his good arm around her shoulder, he pulled her close. The graze he’d taken to his other had stopped bleeding, leaving a round bloodstain on his sleeve.
“That was sure something,” Thom said. “The town’s first shootout since I’ve been deputy, and I missed it. Must be my Irish luck—or lack of it.”
Albert tossed the cell keys onto his desk. “The fewer people involved, the better. Thank God you know how to handle a gun, Charlie.”
“And that you came in today and saw the new posters,” Thom added. “I hate to think about what those two had planned. A lot of innocent townsfolk could’ve been killed.” He shook his head in dismay.
Frank Lloyd strode through the open door. “I can tell you what they were cooking up,” he said. He acknowledged Nell with a courteous nod and Charlie pulled her closer. “Well, at least I think I’ve put the puzzle together.” He nodded to the cell where the outlaw’s partner stood with his back to them, staring past the bars on the window. “Mr. Simpson is a lawyer, all right, but his interest in the Cotton Ranch was only to distract me. A ploy to get into my office and case the place. Gain my trust.”
Charlie grunted. “He even had his partner, Tandy Smith, out on the ranch leaving tracks to corroborate his story, just in case talk got around.”
And spying on me, Nell thought with an inner shiver. Charlie had told her fifteen minutes before about the conversation he’d heard in the bank about her ranch between the man in the cell and the bank owner.
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