by Annie Boone
He was a good man, Rowena, knew, but just how good? She shuddered at the thought of being wrong.
Chapter Fifteen
It was a beautiful day, Susannah sighed. She looked about the porch as she hemmed one of Lucas’s shirts. The sky was blue with few clouds hanging around, and it was just warm enough that the shade kept her cool. Nimbly her fingers wound around the fabric, and she cut the thread with her teeth.
Satisfied, she turned to the socks. She was in the middle of the second when she glanced up again and found Rowena and Jeb coming over the hill. Her eyes focused on the couple. They looked good together, she acknowledged, from their skin tone to their smiles, they matched. Maybe she would be good at this matchmaking thing after all. Granted, this wasn’t the way she had intended to begin the whole business. But if this one worked, then Susannah had a feeling that things would go more smoothly the next time.
After all, what was she to do? Rowena had clearly arrived on their doorstep without a plan, without knowing what she was doing with her life. The young woman needed a purpose, and she needed to be kept busy. The first few months were focused on learning new skills, on adapting to her new living space.
But she couldn’t stay here forever, and she had to know that. Rowena Oakton was a lovely young lady, but the west was hardly the place for a woman on her own. And that was a fact, Susannah acknowledged, one they had to accept whether they liked it or not. What better way then, to find a good man? She had come to the right place.
Susannah grinned as Jeb reached out and helped Rowena who stumbled on the path. It was coming together quite nicely, she decided. The idea had only been half-baked, but it was coming together more and more each day. The idea of Jeb inviting her to church had been inspired by Lucas, who had noticed Rowena’s uncomfortable demeanor when they talked about the Bible or church. He wondered if the concept was new to her.
After that, the meetings had been more than easy enough to arrange. The young man simply starting coming around more often, and it only took her a little convincing to talk Lucas into having Jeb turn up when they were in town. Matchmaking was fun, Susannah discovered, and it made her feel so good to be helping others.
As the couple drew closer, Susannah recalled how she had started setting everything up for the Boarding House business. As she had mentioned it to her closest friends, they shared the news around town quietly but surely. Word was getting around, for those closest to her in Rocky Ridge, some even as far as Colorado Springs, began coming to visit.
She had spent enough time talking each of the men. So far, she had six lined up for those that she had thoroughly interviewed, checked on their references, and compiled a portfolio on them. Already there were two young women headed west in a few months and this would really put things to the test.
They were supposed to be the first, but then Rowena showed up and Susannah couldn’t turn her away. Jeb Harbin was a good man, a young man with a good job starting out in his life. He’d come to Rocky Ridge to leave the Texas Rangers as her husband had done. Susannah supposed it was the similarities that kept him on her mind, and she had started seeing what she could do for him. For him and for Rowena.
“There you two are,” Susannah beamed at them as they finally reached the porch. “Is that what I think it is?”
Rowena nodded, pulling back the towel covering the basket. “Plenty to make a nice batch of preserves, I believe.”
“Maybe two batches,” Jeb said. “We found a big patch of wild strawberries and picked every ripe one we could find.”
“With a few flowers,” the girl continued, bringing forth a few sunflowers they had put on top. “Aren’t they lovely? They’re so big!” She looked up at Jeb who grinned back at her, as though this were a private joke. Susannah’s smile stretched wide across her face, watching the two of them. “I’ll go take care of these,” Rowena assured her, and slipped right into the kitchen.
Her eyes followed the girl until she was far enough inside that she wouldn’t hear anything. Still smiling, Susannah set aside her pile of clothes to one side, and waved Jeb over to her. The man pulled off his hat and took a deep breath as he sat on the bench to her left.
“It looks like things between you and Rowena are going well,” she said, inviting discussion. Trying to read his few expressions, Susannah put down the needle. “What do you think of her?”
At the mention of her name, Jeb’s cheek twitched. Looking at the ground, his shoulders relaxed and she saw the smile he was trying to suppress. “She’s lovely,” he said finally. “A real lady.”
“She is,” Susannah chuckled. “That she is. I’m sorry to intrude on your thoughts, but it would help me to understand as much as possible. What do you like about her most? You had very little to say before about your preferences in your portfolio, after all. I believe your only requests were for someone happy, and someone skilled within the home setting?”
Nodding, he played with the brim of his hat. The man looked nice today, as he always did lately now that Rowena was in the picture. Upon his arrival to Rocky Ridge, Jeb had looked more like a boy playing in the mud with his rundown clothes and that sloppy grin. He’d stayed in their barn a few nights before finding a spot of land he’d spent months camping on until starting to build his house. It was slow going at first since he had little interest in it.
But since he had come to her to start on his profile and with the idea of a possible family in the future, Jeb had grown determined to start growing and working on his homestead. Lucas, who had worked with him as Rangers, said he had completely changed from the rowdy young man he had been.
The shyness factor, however, still remained and Jeb hardly met her gaze. “That’s right, yes. I… I mean, other traits are always good as well, but I wasn’t even sure what I wanted. I guess I wasn’t completely sure about what I’m supposed to want. But now that I’ve met her,” Jeb took a deep breath, “She’s exactly what I want and more. She’s clever and smart, and talented. Rowena is…” but he didn’t know how to finish it.
It was good enough of an answer. Susannah noted the words in her mind so that she could write them down later. “Good,” she said after a moment. “She really is lovely, and I do love having her around. Now, is there anything that has gone wrong, anything we should be changing? Are you comfortable? Is there anything wrong?”
After all, she had noticed the space between them. Jeb was a gentleman, always willing to share an arm or helping hand. But Rowena rarely took it, and hardly touched him. They walked side by side but never touched, and that concerned Susannah. Obviously it had to be a pressure point.
But the look he gave her said otherwise. Flitting his gaze between her and the door, Jeb shook his head. “She should know. I understand you thought it best not to mention it until she was comfortable here, but… we’re beyond that. I don’t want to start a relationship of any kind based on mistrust.”
He looked at the ground, but seemed set on his thought.
Susannah sighed. This wasn’t a subject she wanted to tackle with Rowena. She was fairly certain the girl had forgiven her for not being completely honest in the ad she placed, but she knew trust was still a problem.
“That’s no way to live. I learned that in the Rangers, ma’am, you always need to be able to trust your partners. If you can’t, then you won’t survive. She’s playing a part she doesn’t know about, and I don’t feel comfortable with that.”
He looked up and his gaze pierced hers and Susannah looked away, feeling troubled about this as well. It had appeared easy enough in the beginning, that things would fix themselves and work out perfectly. But there was a chance, she knew in her heart, that this had gone too far and now it might cause more damage than good. If Rowena found out now, what would she think? There was so much that the young woman never said, never talked about.
“I know,” Susannah acknowledged this at last. “I know.” Sighing, she shook her head. “I do need to talk to her. This isn’t your fault, Jeb, please know that. I was im
pulsive. I will try to find the best way to talk her.”
“Soon?”
The door opened and Jeb hurriedly stood as Rowena appeared in the doorway. She eyed them warily as the party of two smiled at her. Susannah’s heart beat quickly, wondering if she had heard something.
Finally, the young woman smiled back and brought out a mug of lemonade for Jeb. “I thought you might be thirsty. You said you needed to be getting back to town, but I didn’t want you going back without a drink.”
“Thank you,” Jeb nodded. “Would you walk with me to my horse?”
She acquiesced and started down the stairs. Jeb glanced back as he followed after her, catching Susannah’s eye with a questioning gaze. She gave him a resolute nod, a silent promise, and then she watched them walk away. Taking a deep breath, she prayed for forgiveness with the hope that things would turn out for the better.
Chapter Sixteen
The moment Jeb was trotting away on his brown shaggy horse, Rowena glanced back at the house only to start off in her own direction. Susannah was still sitting on the porch with her needle and thread, but the idea of stepping near that woman shook Rowena to her bones.
It had only been a doubt, a small thought she had harbored and tried to ignore. But she had heard enough, and her hands were still shaking. Hiking up the hills, the young woman glanced down at her hands and balled them into fists. Frowning, she put them away and marched faster. The forceful steps allowed her to focus on expending her energies through physical motions, distracting her from her thoughts. This worked all the way until she reached the top of the hill.
Her chest heaving for breath, she paused to rest on her knees. Squeezing her eyes tight, Rowena inhaled deeply and leaned against a large tree trunk. The quaking within her heart lessened with the pressure in her lungs. In a way, this was better, she decided. For a minute she could ignore the nerves building up within her that were so anxious to escape.
One deep breath, and another. Number three, four, and five more before she felt composed enough to straighten up. Stretching, Rowena gulped and glanced around at the scenery. Though she still had to be on the Jessup property, she was higher than she had ever been before. It was dizzying, the height at which she stood with the world below. There were higher mountains around her, but she couldn’t imagine climbing any higher.
Jeb had said he had taken on taller mountains further west. But she shook her head. She didn’t want him on her mind right now. She didn’t want anyone on her mind. She wanted to be alone, to think clearly. Heart beating, blood rushing, Rowena looked around her as she thought things out.
An eagle soared above, calling out as he passed over her. He was free, flying wherever he wished. Rowena leaned against the tree and glanced up. What she wouldn’t give to be like that, to be so independent and rely on no one. All she wanted was the chance to be herself, and stop worrying about what would happen if she was able to be on her own. The future was unpredictable enough, and to leave it up to someone else was far from reassuring.
All her life, she could not recall the parents who had given her birth and who had passed away too early to give her a childhood. A concept that had never existed for Rowena for she had been raised in a run-down shack with her aunt and uncle. They were heavy drinkers with loose morals and heavy fists. The moment she was old enough, they sent her to the factories where she was worked to exhaustion.
When she wound up at the gambling house, she thought it was a stroke of good luck. Rowena spent two years giving her best in the quiet of the early mornings, cleaning up after it closed. But then they noticed her looks and put her out on the gambling house floors where she was exploited and used. She received more social interaction than she’d ever experienced or ever wanted.
Once she had run off and lived on the streets, only then was she had been able to go where she wanted and do whatever she wanted on her own. Clearly it wasn’t the best decision or way she had survived thus far, but at least there had been no one to answer to, no one telling her what to do.
Staring at her hands, Rowena wondered why this only appeared to happen to her, if she was just that cursed. Why was it so difficult to find any peace? Even now she was much too anxious to enjoy the wondrous sight before her. It was spectacular, she acknowledged that, but her thoughts were too mixed up and she couldn’t appreciate the surroundings with so much going on in her heart and mind.
“Maybe I’m just imagining it,” she murmured, twisting her hands absently. “That’s not what they meant, I’m making things up. They’re friends, that’s all they are. They aren’t really…” but her breath caught and she couldn’t continue the sentence.
A lump formed in her throat and Rowena rubbed her face as though it would clear her mind. If what she had managed to understand from the conversation on the porch was real, then it was a plot. But if she’d heard wrong, she tried to reason, then she was being foolish.
So she needed proof, that’s what she needed.
Gathering herself, Rowena managed a few more deep breaths so that her heart might slow down to its normal pace once again. Only then did she straighten herself up and once composed, started back down the hill.
“There you are.” Susannah peaked her head out from the kitchen and waved a towel. “I was wondering where you had wandered off to. Is everything all right? You look tired.”
Self-consciously Rowena glanced down at her dirty dress. It had been the nicer one, and now it was worse than her other gown. Shrugging it off, she offered a tight smile. “Everything’s fine. And you’re right, I am tired. I think I’ll retire for the evening, if you don’t mind?”
“Of course,” Susannah nodded hurriedly. “Do let me know if you need anything.”
Rowena nodded and headed off. She was halfway to her room and passing the bookcase in the main room when she decided to pause and glance in, seeing the sunlight through the window. The room fascinated her, since one of the mill workers, an old Irish man by the name of Grady, had taken pity on her and taught her to read during the long hours of feeding metal onto the conveyor belts. Usually she focused on the Holy Bible, but occasionally she’d come through here and choose one of the books, and just sit among the pages.
It was a nice, cozy room, after all. She sat down at the small desk, enjoying the feel of the smooth leather and cheery oak. The Jessups hardly used the piece of furniture, except for Susannah who could occasionally be seen there, working on pieces of paper. Shuffled pages organized into files that had to be kept somewhere and clearly meant something to her. Biting her lip, Rowena considered where they could be.
Keeping an eye on the cracked open door where Susannah could enter at any time, Rowena began digging. Hurriedly and quietly, she nimbly looked through the various papers in the drawers until finally, she found it.
They weren’t hard to find. But they were hard to swallow. A lump formed in her throat as she found the name at the very top of the pile. Rowena ran her fingers over the brown cover and took a shaky breath. His name was right there, mocking her.
“Jeb,” she whispered, a quiet moan that betrayed more emotion than she had comprehended. But she pushed it down, and left it behind as she forced herself to read.
The first page covered the basics, about the man himself. She skimmed the page, reviewing much of what she already knew. It expounded upon his childhood, his education, and his work experience. The following pages were what appeared to be letters of reference by people she didn’t know. Glancing anxiously towards the door, Rowena continued to read.
He has saved my neck a number of times… a good man in time of need… quiet until you know him… a sense of humor like no other…
She skimmed their words thoughtfully.
And then came the real treat, that of Susannah’s insights. Not just of Jeb, however, but of herself. The moment she saw her name, she stood and the chair squealed as it moved backwards. She bit her lip and froze finally, waiting for the footsteps she was certain would come.
They didn’t.
Still, she knew her time was limited. Sucking in a deep breath, she held the pages in her hands and couldn’t decide what to do. Did she want to read it? Rowena wasn’t certain she wanted to know what Susannah thought of her. Already she knew too much. Susannah had continued with her little game, roping her into this scheme without her awareness or desire to be part of it.
And Jeb had gone along with it. That, or perhaps he had even conspired to begin it. His devilish grin told the truth now, this entire setup. Rowena could feel the panic rising within her. It itched beneath the skin, tickling her spine. She wanted to claw it out, but didn’t know how. Only by leaving could she escape this manipulation. They hadn’t said a single thing to her but considered her a pawn. She had to take herself out of the plan. Now.
She scrambled about, putting away the papers. She had seen enough. With shaking hands, Rowena put the desk back the way it was and went to the door. She was just stepping out when a shadow came before her and she jumped.
“Ah.” Lucas was there, his closed expression staring her down. In the dim lighting, the scar on the side of his face gave him a menacing look. Though she had seen the way he was with Susannah, the way he acted as a gentleman at all times, Rowena knew he was a good man. But all the same, he was an unsettling figure with a rugged past and she was already on edge.
He didn’t even react when she jumped. The man merely stepped back and nodded. “I apologize. I should have had a light in the hallway.”
Clenching her jaw, she shook her head. “No, that’s all right. I… I wasn’t expecting anyone, that’s all. Pardon me,” Rowena added and stepped around him.
“Will you be joining us for supper? Or do you have other plans?”