by Trumbo, Kari
Jennie couldn’t think of a single reason she wouldn’t take back her own family, even her pa, who had been a reprobate, wasn’t excluded. While she’d not want to live with him, she’d never wish him gone. “Do you really think they’d turn you out over a misunderstanding?”
Aiden frowned but didn’t look at her. “I don’t know. I can’t say for sure. I just know I’d give about anything to take back the things I said before I left. I didn’t even let my mam know I was leaving, I was in such an all-fired hurry.” He shook his head. “I just hope they can forgive me, is all.”
“I think you’ll be surprised. Just like if Hattie would come home even now after only being gone a few days, we’d take her back immediately. She’d be forgiven for running off, for scaring us, and even for putting Ruby in danger.”
“Not every family is as forgiving as yours, Jennie.”
She sighed and allowed the rocking of the wagon to pull her from side to side. “I’ll pray they forgive you and that you have a wonderful homecoming.” But I’ll also pray that you want to return… someday.
“I sure am going to miss you.” He moved the lines to his left hand and touched her cheek gently with his right. His eyes were soft and tenderness welled within them.
She felt heat rise up her neck. “I’ll miss you, too. How long do you think you’ll be gone?”
He turned back to watching the horses. “I don’t know. Right after harvest comes the winter. It can be slow in coming in Kansas, or it can hit hard and early. It’ll be colder here sooner than there.”
“But if you’re riding the rails, it shouldn’t matter... right?” She needed to hear that he wouldn’t be gone for too long. Somewhere between yanking on her braid and kissing her head… she’d fallen for him and, though he had to leave, it wouldn’t be easy letting him go.
“If I aim to help Beau on the ranch, I really need to have my own horse. That means I’ll be working for my da, if he’ll have me, until I can earn one. It could take a while.”
“But… what if the job with Ferguson isn’t open when you come back? It isn’t like you can expect him to hold it for you.”
“I know. I guess I just hope Beau will want to hire me as soon as I’m able to return. I’ll do my best. You know that, don’t you?”
“I know you spend an awful lot of time looking at that Deadwood book and the rest of your time talking about returning to your folks. I don’t fit in there anywhere. I don’t love Deadwood. It took me away from a place I’d learned to think of as home, it took my freedom for a time, and it took my sister from me. I’m stuck in a place I detest because my sister’s husband likes it.”
Aiden shook his head. “None of those things have anything to do with Deadwood, they would’ve happened anywhere. If Beau had chosen anywhere else, you still would’ve had to stay inside until he learned that it was safe for his womenfolk to walk about. He was being a good protector and provider.”
“That’s easy for you, you’re a man, you can walk about and do whatever you like.”
“Not really. We have to work and bear the burden of making decisions. It isn’t easy on us, either.”
Jennie wanted to cross her arms, but she had to hold onto her seat on the bumpy trail.
“Why do you like to argue with me so much, Jennie-girl? I noticed you are sweet as apple pie to everyone else, but with me, you get sour as vinegar.”
Jennie ducked her head to hide her embarrassment. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, on the contrary, she liked him far too much. It was more that she felt secure with him, a freedom to be herself she didn’t feel with anyone else. “I don’t do any such thing.”
“Whatever you say.” He glanced over at her and gave her sly smile that said he could see right through her.
“You think you know me so well? You don’t know one whit about me.”
“Oh, really? I know you want to have a say in everything. You always feel like because there are so many voices, yours isn’t heard. I know that when you’re nervous you tend to cut people off rather than face it. You don’t like to confront people and you tend to put more weight on people’s words than they mean.” He narrowed his eyes and nodded. “Like when I said I couldn’t find real riches here in Deadwood, that I’d have to go home to find them… you thought I was talking about you. I wasn’t. As God as my witness, you’re sitting next to me on this wagon which proves you are completely portable.” He flashed her another glance then turned back toward the worn path.
“You’re wrong, Aiden. I’m no treasure. If I’m gone, there are seven more just like me.” She looked away from him, afraid he would see how much her own words hurt.
“That’s not true one bit, either. Just like when you said Hattie had needs the rest of you didn’t, so do you. I aim to find out what those are before I go.”
“Why? You’re leaving, Aiden. You may never come back. What if you’re so happy with your family that you realize what you had here was fool’s gold?” Her hands shook and she dug her fingers into the seat to keep them still.
Aiden pulled up on the lines and the horses came to a stop, pitching her forward until she locked her knees. Two heads popped up from the bed of the wagon behind them.
“You are not fool’s gold, Jennie Arnsby, and if I knew for certain that you wanted to be with me, I’d ask Beau to court you proper before I go.”
The two girls behind the seat erupted in gasps and giggles. They ducked back behind the seat in a fit of whispers.
Aiden sighed and reached out for Jennie’s hand.
Jennie scooted back from him. “Well, I don’t want you. I don’t want a man who’s going to leave and I won’t split up my family any more than it already is!” She turned and climbed into the back of the wagon. Leaving her family after all they’d suffered wasn’t possible. Losing Aiden would be horrible, but she couldn’t lose her sisters. She glanced at Aiden’s back. He slouched down in his seat and flicked the lines, nudging the horses faster to catch up to Beau and Ruby’s wagon.
*~*~*
Aiden glanced behind him every few minutes, but Jennie wouldn’t even gaze up at him… at least not when he was looking. He could feel her eyes boring a hole in his back. He scratched the back of his neck then stood up bracing his foot against the buckboard for balance. There were fences ahead, and fences meant people. They might have a mile or so to go, but they’d be there soon.
He flicked the lines and followed Beau diagonally up the side of a hill. His stomach flipped as visions of Jennie or one of her sisters falling out of the rig and tumbling down the hillside flashed through his mind. They called them the Black Hills but they were steep. The wagon slid on the loose rocks and the small granite chunks that marked the trail. Aiden pulled to the left and the horses veered off the trail to the right onto a level spot cut into the side of the hill, stopping the fall.
Aiden wiped his brow and let his breath catch up. There hadn’t been any mangled wagons at the bottom and he didn’t want to be the first. Beau had made it around the hill and was out of sight. Aiden flicked the lines and pulled right and the horses responded quickly, pulling them back onto the makeshift trail. The wagon lumbered around the bend. The closer they came to the top, the more the trail was made of little more than loose rocks.
As he turned the bend, a level area with a huge house and many outbuildings came into view. He followed Beau’s wagon to the front of the house and stopped just behind it. He held the lines but turned in time to see Jennie helping the others out of the wagon. She didn’t bother waiting for him.
He shook his head. That woman ran hot as fire and cold as ice and, somehow, she’d wheedled her way into his blood. Beau strode out of the house, followed by a man with salt and pepper hair and a thick mustache. Aiden met them as they stepped off the front porch.
The older man held out his hand. “You must be Aiden Bradly, I’m Brody Ferguson.” He gave a firm shake then turned, spreading his arm out wide. “What’s visible here on the ledge is about a tenth of the area I’
ve got. You saw some of the fence coming in, but we’ve got enough land for pasturing. Beau, I see you traded your oxen for horses, that’s good. You can’t ride the range on no ox.” He laughed. While Aiden couldn’t tell which state he’d hailed from, his slight drawl pegged him as a former Southerner.
Beau chuckled. “That’s the truth. Bradly, here, might only be staying for a few weeks. He’s got business to tend to down in Kansas.”
“Will you be returning after your business, or is the trip permanent?” Brody asked.
Aiden glanced at the women standing by the other wagon and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know for sure, sir. If I’m needed, I won’t be able to return.”
Brody nodded. “The job will always be here. I’ll need men until this place folds, which I hope’ll never happen. You get your business tended to, then send me a wire and tell me if you’re coming back or staying there.”
Aiden nodded. Leaving his new boss so shorthanded left a bad taste in his mouth, but without knowing if his da would welcome him back, he couldn’t make any promises.
“You should get your horses put up for the night. I’m sure they’re tired. I’ve got a few in the corral you can take. Saddle ‘em up and I’ll show you around the place. We won’t be back until supper. You’ll all be eating with us tonight. Lefty had to go buy some provisions in Lead, it’s a little closer to us than Deadwood, but we’re considered part of Deadwood.”
He pointed to a spot behind the house. “That log house yonder, with the red door, that’s your place, Beau. Aiden. I don’t have a bunkhouse built yet, but I do have a small cabin my ma used to live in about twenty yards behind the log house. That one’s yours.”
“Thank you, sir.” Aiden tipped his hat and he and Beau led the teams to the large stable.
“Beau, tell me something… are all the Arnsby girls stubborn?” Aiden brushed the dust from the horse’s mane.
Beau shook his head. “Aiden, you don’t know the half of it. Have you finally got up the gumption to ask me to court Jennie?”
“I’d like to, but she said no. Said she doesn’t want to if I’m going to leave. I want to come back. I like it here. Jennie’s a formidable woman, but if I can’t break through that layer of anger… If she don’t want me here, I don’t see any reason to leave my da if he needs me.”
“Let me tell you a little something about those sisters. Their pa threatened them with sorry marriages from the time they were very young. He wanted them all gone, would’ve traded every last one of them for one boy. With the exception of Hattie, not a one of them is interested in getting married.”
Aiden frowned. “Beau, you’re married to one. Obviously, they aren’t that opposed to it.”
“For Ruby, I had to prove I wanted her heart and that I’d do anything, including let her go, to show her how much she meant to me.”
Aiden led his horse to the stall and poured some oats in a trough. “I’m not following you, Beau. You let her go? What does that mean?”
“Ruby was as timid as a rabbit any time she was near me, ran away from me at every turn. I finally had to prove to her I wasn’t hunting her down, but I’d do anything for her, including saving her sisters from their father, which we did.”
“Well, I can’t rescue everyone and I know bringing Hattie back would help, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”
“It isn’t that easy, Aiden. You need to talk to her, find out what it is that’s the most important thing, then help her get it.”
“That ain’t going to be easy.”
Beau laughed as he closed the gate for the last horse. “If it was easy, every man would be married. Let’s go pick out a horse. Don’t want to keep the new boss waiting.”
“You really think I can get her to stop running?”
“If you’re intentions are honorable and you keep trying… yes. And Aiden, don’t you go laying your lips on my Jennie again until you get permission to court her.”
He smiled as the approached the corral. “Can I have permission just in case?”
Beau raised a warning eyebrow. “Just in case, what?”
“Just in case she changes her mind.”
Beau’s let his eyebrow fall. “I’ll give you permission to court, but that’s as far as it goes for now.”
Aiden smiled as the afternoon sun lit golden pockets through the trees. “Yes, sir.” The day was looking better by the minute.
Chapter Sixteen
JENNIE PACED BACK AND forth in front of the empty stove. This house was smaller than the last two, but would fit them just fine as long as she didn’t need room to breathe or think. But there was the problem, she needed to do both and there just wasn’t enough space. There was one large open room for a parlor, dining area and kitchen, a door separated the one bedroom on the main floor which would be for Beau and Ruby, and a large one room loft for all the girls. They even had a dresser, which they’d never had before, but that was the extent of the house.
Ruby rested in her room after the trip and the younger girls had put away their clothes. Jennie was restless with nothing further to do. She’d seen the whole cabin and wanted to explore, but none of the men had bothered to tell the women if they could. They’d arrived hours ago and the soft light of evening poured through the windows. She needed air or she’d suffocate on the spot.
Aiden’s cabin was empty and he hadn’t had a chance to unpack since he’d had to work right away. She could go and spruce it up for him. He’d gotten used to her fussing over him back in Deadwood so it would be no bother to make sure his tick was ready and that he had water to wash up with when he returned. It would give her something to do and get her away from the walls that were moving in on her with every breath.
She slipped out the back door so she wouldn’t disturb Ruby, and Jack followed her. When the door was shut and she began her walk, he jumped and barked, chasing every scent and enjoying his new freedom.
“You’ll have to stay over at Aiden’s now. You’re not my dog, Jack.”
His large fuzzy head tilted at an odd angle then he scampered away.
Jennie came to the small cabin in short order and pushed the door open. Inside, every bit of space was used, a corner for the bed, the cook stove sat along one wall, with one small cupboard for eating and cooking utensils. She closed the door behind her and smiled at the sweet space, taking in the tiny kitchen area. It isn’t like he’ll use that, I’m sure he’ll eat with us … until he leaves.
The coverlet on the bed was dusty so she took it outside to the clothesline and hung it over, beating the dust out with a long stick. When she’d freshened it up a bit, she took it back inside and made the bed. The wash bowl next to the bed was dry so she pumped some water for him, careful not to spill anything on the floor or it would be difficult to sweep.
She heard a squeak and turned as a large man filled the doorway. His long coat billowed out around him and his hat shaded his face. With the sun behind him, she couldn’t see who it was and she gasped. Trapped inside Aiden’s cabin.
“Jennie-girl? What’re you doing in my house?” He swung his hat from his head and tossed it on the table. As he stepped inside, she could see heat and confusion warring in his eyes.
Jennie breathed deeply and licked her suddenly dry lips. “I thought … you might like it if I freshened the place up a bit. I’m sorry if I was intruding.” She stepped to the side and dashed for the door. His lean arm snaked out and caught her around the waist, tugging her close to him.
“Jennie-girl, promise me you won’t ever go into a man’s house alone again unless you’re married to him. I don’t want to see you hurt and other men might not be thankful as I am.”
“Well, of course I won’t just go into a man’s home. You must not think very much of me if you do.” Strange that she had no desire to fight against his hold, even though what he’d said made anger bubble like acid in the back of her throat.
His voice dropped to a whisper next to her ear and she shivered. “Oh, I thi
nk far too highly of you. But right now, I need you to scoot out of here before anyone sees you or we’ll both be in trouble.” He swatted her on the behind with his free hand to get her going.
Of all the insufferable things a man could do, she blustered and fussed, making him laugh. He turned around so she couldn’t see his face.
“Aren’t you gone yet?”
“Mr. Bradly. I’ll thank you to keep your hands off me.” Her heart raced as he slowly turned and strode up to her each step painfully intent. He put his hands behind his back and leaned down. His breath fanned her cheek and she closed her eyes. Her skin tingled and she gripped her own hands behind her back to keep from grabbing the front of his shirt and dragging him in closer. His scent was straw, leather, and work and it had never thrilled her more. He pressed his lips against hers and her breath caught in her throat, pulling back as the pleasant feeling of anticipation burst through her. She flung her eyes open.
“You didn’t say anything about my lips.” He laughed.
She gathered her skirts and rushed out the door, his laugh chasing her down the trail.
Jennie rushed through the log cabin’s back door and washed her hands, splashing cool water on her face.
Ruby laughed and all her embarrassment came back. Had Ruby seen where she’d come from? “Jennie! Where have you been? I looked around for you, but didn’t see you anywhere.”
Jennie turned and dried her face with the towel. “I was…” Aiden’s words of warning rang in her ears. “I was just looking around outside.”
“Well, you weren’t here to hear Beau’s warning. They spotted some strange hoof prints up on the north hill pasture. He asked that we stay close to the houses. We’re free to roam about here, but not to wander too far.”
“I won’t wander. It is beautiful out here … reminds me a little of Cutter’s Creek.” Anything to keep Ruby from asking about the heat that wouldn’t leave her face.
Ruby glanced out the window and her face softened. “It does. I love the green of the trees, and from the top of this hill, it’s like you can see for miles.”