Morgan looked up for a moment. His velvet brown eyes were troubled. “Hi,” he said quietly, then scooped another shovel full of dirt and poured it over the sunken grave.
Dayme was bewildered by his strange attitude. It wasn’t like him at all. “I…I didn’t know you were here,” she said haltingly. “I met the stage. You weren’t on it…so…I assumed….” Her expression changed to puzzlement. “Why are you working on Mr. McDoon’s grave?”
Morgan’s expression was resigned, unsmiling. It was contrary to his usual sunny personality. He was like a stranger. He continued scooping dirt and pounding it onto the mound. Finally, he answered. “He was my brother,” he muttered, not looking at her.
“Your brother? Morgan, you don’t have a brother.”
Her husband heaved a heavy sigh. “Yes, I do…this old prospector, Lester McDoon.”
“You didn’t even know that old man. He died years ago. They say he was a drunkard, a dirty old bum. He had no kin here.”
“Had the same dream, same hope, same pain,” Morgan replied. “Same disillusionment and disappointment. Lester and I had to be brothers.” He filled the shovel again with dirt and sprinkled it over the mound. “Somebody needs to care,” he muttered.
“How did you get here? You weren’t on the Fort McKavett stage.”
Morgan shrugged. “Been here a month. Come in on last month’s stage.”
“What! Morgan! How could you? I’ve been sick with worry. I even sent Ace to the fort to wire….”
“Why?” Morgan interrupted. “Nothing going to happen to me. I’ll live to be a hundred if somebody don’t shoot me.”
Both hands flew to Dayme’s face when the sudden realization finally soaked in. “Alone at the cabin all this time? Why, Morgan, why?”
“I wasn’t alone,” he told her quietly. “My bed was warm.”
It was certainly no secret that Morgan had affairs throughout their farce of a marriage. From the beginning, he was up front about his manhood. Yet it hurt to be told straight out about one of his paramours. Jealousy gnawed at her heartstrings, but she covered it well.
“Benjamin Farrington came to the ranch while you were….” Dayme told him. Her emerald eyes widened in disbelief and exasperated surprise. “Morgan! You knew!”
Before saying a word, Morgan drank deeply from a canteen and wiped his mouth on a sleeve. “Yeah, I knew,” he finally replied in a strangely quiet and controlled voice. “We came in on the same stage. Old Ben’s the one you been pining for, isn't he? He’s Daniel Lee’s father.”
Her hand fell from his shoulder. She buried her face in her hands as tears streamed down. Her voice lowered to an almost inaudible whisper. “How did you know? I never told you.”
“I act a bit crazy at times, but I’m not a fool, Dayme. Daniel Lee looks just like Ben.”
“I remember,” she told him softly as she studied his face, “I remember the night he was born. You insisted the baby resembled you.”
“That was a long time ago,” her husband told her tiredly. “A mighty long time ago.”
“He…he wants me to go back east.” She studied his troubled face for a reaction but he didn’t change expression.
“And?”
“Well, I said I had to talk to you.”
Morgan chuckled but it was mirthless. “Why? You’re not under bondage, Kitten. We agreed on that long ago. Me? I want a full time playmate that loves only me. I can’t, I won’t share my lover with another man anymore. No more crumbs for me. It’s the whole slice or nothing. That’s the way it is.”
Dayme held his dejected face between trembling hands and kissed him. He didn’t attempt to hold her or return her kiss. “I’m so sorry I hurt you, dear heart,” she mumbled as tears tumbled from her eyes.
“Don’t, don’t do that,” Morgan told her, pulling his face away. “Unless…unless…. That son-of-a-bitch down by the big tree came to court you. He wants you. You can quit dreaming about this day. He finally came for you.”
Dayme leaned her head against his pounding chest. His arms were stiffly at his sides. “Oh, Morgan, I…I love you dearly.” Her voice broke in anguish. “He was my first love. He is Daniel Lee’s biological father, but you’re his daddy. The only daddy he’s ever known.” She sobbed uncontrollably. “I don’t know what to do.”
Morgan placed a firm hand on her shoulder. “It’s about time you found out. Go to him. He’s down by the big oak tree where they hold court.”
“What?” Dayme asked in a daze. “Now? I can’t just up and….”
“Of course you can, kitten. Ben and I, well, we made a gentlemen’s agreement. Neither will interfere with your decision. Me? I can’t bear to see you unhappy anymore. Go with him if that’s what you want. Erika will bring the children when you’re settled. Don’t worry about me if it’s what you want to do.”
“Erika knew?”
“Of course.” Morgan managed a chuckle. “So did Ace.”
“That’s why….”
Morgan nodded. “Had a devil of a time talkin’ old Ace into fibbin’ about the telegram to Mother.” He lifted his wife’s trembling chin with his cupped hand. His voice was somber. “Another thing Ben and I agreed on…visiting rights with my boys, if you choose to go with him. I don’t want to miss out completely,” his voice broke as he struggled to control his upper lip. “On their growing up.”
“No!” Dayme cried. “I don’t want you to. You’re their daddy. They need you.” She hugged her husband and lifted parted lips, but Morgan declined. “I love you, Morgan. I always will.”
“I wish,” the man muttered under his breath as he watched the love of his life run up the hill to her wagon.
Chapter 37
Completely bewildered by Morgan’s attitude, Dayme assumed their marriage was over. She trudged up the hill where her wagon was parked. She was weeping.
“Erika,” she blurted. “Morgan….”
The woman nodded. “I know.”
“Seems everybody knew except me,” she wailed. “I’ve made a fool of myself. Oh, Erika, what can I do? I love Morgan so much.”
“Vell, go to that young man that you have grieved for all these years. See if he’s the….”
“He’s not. Take care of my babies until I get back.” she managed to tell Erika in between sobs.
“I vill, dear. I vill.” The housekeeper wiped away a sympathetic tear.
“Morgan doesn’t love me anymore,” Dayme blurted between sobs. She was too overcome with emotion to say any more. Her hands trembled on the horses’ reins as the wagon wheels crunched on the rocky hillside. It was all coming too fast. She glanced back over her shoulder at Morgan. He was mounting his sorrel mare. He didn’t even look in her direction, and it broke her heart. Halfway between the two men in her life, Dayme felt like a thin piece of metal being pulled apart by two giant magnets. Morgan doesn’t love me anymore. The horrible realization pounded in her brain. And Benjamin…he wants to take Daniel Lee.
An indefinable feeling tugged at her heartstrings as she neared the big oak tree. Benjamin leaned cross-legged against the tree in a relaxed position, half-sitting, half-lying in the shade. He was dressed in a stylish blue business suit like the one he wore so long ago when she sailed away down the Mississippi River. Nearby a brand new black buggy was hitched to a black horse. Bittersweet memories flooded her brain as scenes of Vicksburg and Larkspur Plantation unfolded.
“I was expecting you,” Benjamin teased as he lifted her down from her wagon and kissed her hand. “You’re right on time.”
His self-assured attitude perturbed Dayme. “Don’t act so smug,” she retorted. . “I only came to….”
Benjamin nodded confidently. “There wasn’t a doubt in my mind.” He chuckled. “The only other choice you had was Morgan. You’ll forget all about that dirt dauber once you’re divorced.”
“Divorce! I could never forget Morgan!” she said nervously in almost a whisper. “It sounds so…so final. I didn’t say anything about a divorce.”
Benjamin chuckled. “Ah, but Morgan did. The papers were signed a month ago in Mason.”
There was a look of disbelief on the woman’s face. She shook her head. “That’s not true. I didn’t sign any papers,” she murmured.
“Morgan did. That was the major hurdle. Where is your trunk?”
She felt miserable, unable to believe that Morgan had actually started divorce proceedings without consulting her. “I didn’t bring luggage,” she finally managed to say. “I don’t intend….”
“Oh? Why not? Don’t tell me you thought about letting me leave without you?”
Dayme studied the man. “You never cared for anybody like you love yourself, Benjamin. You’re your favorite playmate,” she told him curtly.
Amused at her ruffled feathers, Benjamin continued. “I know what you’re thinking. But I wasn’t about to leave you. Not hardly. I wasn’t about to leave you here with Morgan after what I went through to get here.”
“There you go again…what I had to go through. It’s always I with you, first, last and foremost.”
He laughed. “Forget your things. I’ll buy you new ones.” He scooped her up and carried her to the buggy. “Where we’re going you won’t be needing those awful blue trousers, anyway. You will dress like a lady, my dear.”
“Now, hold on. You’re assuming a lot. Put me down!” she told him, but he set her down in the buggy.
Benjamin smoothed back a wisp of her hair that was blowing in the breeze. “You have a case of jitters, all quite natural. I like a bit of fire in my women. Mind you, just a bit. Once we’re back in civilization, in no time at all, with just a daub of polish, my dear, you’ll soon be charming everybody in Washington.”
Dayme sat quietly and listened as Benjamin talked. It was as though she was seeing him for the first time. In spite of her heartache, she was amused.
“But first,” he rambled on, “you’re off to Paris while you’re getting divorced.”
“Oh? I thought surely you’d want me by your side in Virginia,” she said sarcastically, not fooled for a minute.
“I have a hard campaign ahead. It would only bore you. Politics is a man’s game. I think it best that you remain in Paris until after the election. I refuse to subject you to the mercy of the press. Those vultures would pounce on this juicy bit of scandal like a tiger on a pussy cat.”
Dayme’s eyes reflected amusement. “What if I don’t want to go to Paris? What if I insist on helping with your campaign?”
“Nonsense. You’ll have the time of your life in Europe. You’ll be enrolled in the finest charm school in Paris. They’ll teach you how to walk, how to talk. Poise. That’s all you need. You’ll be presentable to the world by the time I’m elected to Congress.”
Just what I thought, Dayme mused. Still wants to mold me into somebody else. Her mind was spinning like the spokes on a passing wagon. She listened politely just to see what else he had to say.
“Being the wife of a United States Congressman bears a certain responsibility.”
Dayme laughed, a light, tinkly, amused giggle. “Why Benjamin," she said demurely. “I learned to walk before my first birthday. Talking has never been a problem for me, either. I always say what’s on my mind.”
“You certainly do…one of your vices. Knowing when….”
“I’m not about to change, Benjamin, so forget it,” she told him bluntly. “I don’t even want to. I’m just me. I don’t even want to be anybody else.”
“Your candidness has always intrigued me,” he told her. “It’s part of your charm, I suppose. But knowing when to talk and when to keep one’s mouth shut is most important in political circles. You told me once you wanted to travel. My dear, I intend to ‘court you proper’ all over the world. What do you think of an April wedding next year in Paris?”
For the first time in years, Dayme felt merry. Her green eyes sparkled and her soul began to sing as she climbed down from the buggy. “I’ve been courted, thank you, by Morgan since the day I arrived in this wild, beautiful land. I have no intention of going back with you. I just came to tell you goodbye and that I never want to see you again as long as I live. My heart is at the foot of the mountain with my wonderful husband, the man I love with all my being.”
Benjamin’s jaw dropped slack, and his face showed anger at being rejected. “I’m a rich man, Dayme. I offer you mansions. What can Morgan give you?” he sneered. “That shanty in the wilderness you call home? Morgan will never amount to anything. All he’ll get out of the prospecting effort is a dirty neck!”
Dayme felt lighter than an oak leaf floating in the wind. At last, she was at peace with herself. The shackles that held Benjamin Farrington in her heart for so long burst open like the bindings on a bale of hay. “Morgan gives me happiness. He makes me laugh. He is reality. He’s warm, he’s real and he’s mine. He loves me just the way I am. True, he doesn’t have much money, but Morgan is the richest man I ever knew. He has everything a man needs to make a woman happy.”
“You little witch! Come back here! You love me and I know it!”
Dayme grinned as she took hold of the reins. “No, I don’t, Benjamin,” she said with all honesty. “You were a dream. A fantasy left over from childhood. The ghost of first love residing in my subconscious mind.” She studied his face with a questioning expression. “I wonder why I ever thought I loved you? You are a snob and a two-face. I’ve been sleepwalking through a wonderful life. I loved Morgan all along. I just didn’t know how much. I’ve hurt him. I hope he will still have me after the years of pain I’ve caused him. But even if Morgan won’t take me back, one thing I know for certain. I don’t want you! You’re as hollow as a piece of macaroni! You never had an honest emotion in your entire life. I’d rather live alone than….”
“You can’t do this!” Benjamin protested angrily, his voice rising. “I’m Daniel Lee’s father! I have rights! I want my son!” The man was visibly shaken by her sudden, unexpected decision. “He’s my flesh and my blood! My heir! I want my son with or without you.”
There was a new lilt in Dayme’s voice, a new confidence. “What makes you think my little boy is your son? Not once did I say you’re his father.”
“You didn’t have to, you little wench,” Benjamin said through clenched teeth. “I’ll sue for custody!”
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” It felt good to see Benjamin on the other side of a frustrated conversation. “You’d be the laughing stock, Mr. Big Shot. Try to take my son and you’ll be picking up the pieces of your political career like the scattered nuts of a freshly thrashed pecan tree!” Raising her chin defiantly and grinning impishly, adding, “Said it yourself, Benjamin. You strongly suggested that Daniel Lee’s biological father was probably some dark, handsome stranger aboard the Mississippi Duchess, remember?”
“That boy is mine!” he shouted angrily.
The woman shook her head with determination. “Nope. Daniel Lee and Alexander belong to me and to Morgan. You don’t stand a hailstone’s chance in a pot of boiling of water! Let go of my reins!” She cracked her whip and circled the big tree. Amid his protests as he was ran alongside the wagon, her words poured out, “I’ve been a fool. I was never happy with you, not for one crummy minute!” she yelled. “You’re a snob. You think you’re better than me and Morgan.”
The man sneered. “That dirt dauber might not want you now. He’s fed up with you. Have you thought about that? He’s got himself another woman…a pretty one, too, I might add.”
“Then I’ll fight for him. Morgan is mine!”
“This is your last chance,” he threatened. “Come with me, or at least let me have the boy when he is old enough for secondary school.”
“No!” Dayme screamed. “You egotistical jackass! Marry Molly and have your own son. She’s more your type, shallow and selfish like you. You’re not good enough for me. I need a real man with a heart. I need Morgan.” She whipped the horses into a trot, leaving him standing in the road.
The ride to the cabin next to the mountain seemed to take forever. Morgan’s sorrel mare was not there. A bay horse was tied at the hitching post. She leaped from the wagon and burst through the door calling Morgan’s name. When her eyes became adjusted to the darkness inside, they opened wider in furious surprise. A pretty raven-haired widow was sitting on the side of Morgan’s bed holding a glass of wine.
“Mrs. Edwards,” the woman blurted, rising quickly to her feet. “I…I just delivered Mr. Edwards some eggs.” She smoothed the covers where she had been sitting. “I was thirsty and….” Shakily, she set the glass on the table.
“Really? You’re the hussy who’s been sleeping with Morgan!”
“Certainly not!” Ruby cried. “You have it all wrong, Mrs. Edwards. I…I just delivered his eggs and….”
“And a damn runny pie! What else do you deliver, Ruby? Free love on a couple of buns?”
“Well! I was never so insulted in….”
“Get out of here, you strumpet!” Dayme screamed. “You come around my husband again and I’ll scratch your eyes out!”
As the trembling woman mounted the bay horse, Dayme called out to her. “Where is Morgan?”
“How should I know,” Ruby replied coolly. She left the mountainside in a gallop.
Dayme had already looked for Morgan at the cemetery, her frantic eyes searching through the dwindling crowd for him. Although his sorrel wasn’t tied at the Cattlemen’s Saloon, she elected to go inside anyway. Somebody might know where to find him.
“Ma’am, this is no place for you,” big David Purcell said, tipping his hat. “What’s the matter?”
“I must find Morgan. Have you seen him?”
“No, Ma’m. He hasn’t been in here today.”
Child of the River Page 37