Judith Pella, Tracie Peterson - [Ribbons West 03]

by Ties That Bind

  Jordana grabbed up her cookie and threw it at Rich. Unfortunately, his reflexes were lightning swift and he caught the treat easily.

  “Ah, more good fortune. Pull out the other two. I’m sure I can figure a way to further insult your respectability.”

  “You haven’t insulted my respectability, and why would I want to dance with you anyway? You said you’d given up on women. You weren’t going to ever marry again, as I recall,” she said betraying her irritation with his smugness.

  “I don’t recall it ever being said that I had to marry a woman if I danced with her. Is that some strange Baldwin rule?” He popped the cookie into his mouth just as Jordana charged him with raised fists.

  She didn’t really intend to hurt him, but her toe caught the edge of Scout’s saddle, which was propped up against the stall door, propelling her forward with more force than intended. Her fisted hands crashed into Rich’s midsection. The shock of her attack left him standing unguarded, and when her fists met his stomach she heard the wind go out from him. Though not in a way to really incapacitate him, it did cause his carefully constructed guard to drop. And it left them both standing only inches apart, staring nearly nose to nose as he bent over to regain his breath.

  “I didn’t mean to . . . it’s just that . . .” Guilt assailed her as she tried to steady herself. Why couldn’t she just act like a lady and treat Rich with the distanced respect that society expected of her? Hadn’t her mother and finishing-school teachers taught her that ladies simply did not go about touching men for any reason? She was certain this especially applied to beating them up or charging after them with fists flailing.

  Rich recovered, but as he did, he reached out and took hold of her arms. “I suppose I shall have to restrain you in order to have a civil conversation with you,” he taunted.

  “I’m sorry, Rich. I really didn’t mean to hurt you.” She was trembling at his nearness. Her knees grew weak as her eyes fixed upon his lips. She wanted so badly for him to kiss her.

  “Jordana?” She heard him murmur her name, but the pounding of her own heart refused to allow her to hear anything more.

  He reached out to touch her cheek, his thumb tenderly caressing her face. Somehow, she had brought her hands up to his neck, and rather than her usual desire to strangle him, Jordana gently toyed with the black curls touching the collar of his coat.

  An instant later, he had pulled her closer, bending her back ever so slightly so that she could still see his face, though blurry and ill defined from only an inch away. She heard a low moan but wasn’t sure if it had come from Rich or from herself. She only knew that she wanted very much for the moment to go on forever. When he lowered his lips to hers, Jordana was certain she could hear the angels singing in heaven. She clung tightly to his neck, pulling him closer, wanting this kiss—needing this man.

  He tasted sweet, like sugar cookies, and the thought made her smile as the sensation of his warm lips against hers sent shivering tingles throughout her body. Rich’s kiss was all she had ever hoped it would be. Rich’s kiss was perfect.

  Then as if both had realized her thoughts, Rich and Jordana jumped away from each other, standing panting and staring as though they weren’t entirely sure what had happened, what had truly taken place.

  “I don’t know what to say,” Rich muttered.

  “I . . . I suppose,” Jordana struggled to think of what words might make sense as an explanation. “It’s just that everything is getting to me. The crowds and the snow. I can’t get home to my family.” She began to ramble, because at least this made her feel more in control. “I should never have burdened you with my troubles and I shouldn’t have gotten angry.”

  He nodded. “That’s all it was. Just a case of the world getting you down—just nerves. No harm done.” He acted just as shook up as Jordana felt.

  She nodded. “I’d better get back to the house.” She picked up her skirts and made for the door. Just a case of nerves, he had called it, but in her heart she knew better. In her heart, she had come to the stable hoping to find him. And in her heart, she had wanted his kiss for nearly as long as she had known him.

  27

  After weeks of putting distance between herself and Rich, Jordana finally forced herself to approach him on another matter. It was rumored the snows were being cleared and folks might expect to be able to travel as early as two days hence. If the rumors were true, it would indeed be answered prayer for more reasons than one. Travelers in Laramie who had been cooped up for weeks were becoming a problem as tempers grew ugly from the scarcity of food and the close quarters. Frankly, Jordana was sick of the entire lot. It seemed few people had any conscience whatsoever and were making money off anyone and everyone in whatever manner they could. Why, a single slice of bread dipped in watered-down molasses was selling for a dollar fifty! And most palatable foods, such as beef, potatoes, ham, beans, and even coffee, had long since run out. Jordana would be happy to leave Laramie and not look back. Well, she would be happy to be rid of the chaos. She couldn’t promise that her heart wouldn’t look back.

  As soon as the snow had been cleared from the track and train travel was once again possible, Jordana asked Rich to pull some strings and see her onto the first westbound train. Rich seemed to understand. Although he said very little when she explained that she had to get to Sacramento, she wondered if he was as eager to be rid of her as she was to be leaving him. The awkwardness between them had grown as huge and chilly as a snowdrift. Did that kiss haunt him as it did her? Or did he simply regret it? Were they both fools for courting such futile entanglements, or were they just fools for avoiding them? She had no ready answers. Thus, she merely let him believe it was the urgency of seeing Victoria’s baby born, of being there where she was definitely needed. He came through, as he always had, with a ticket as far west as the train could take her, and then he’d even managed to arrange a stage that would take her to the nearest CP depot where she might continue her trip home to Sacramento.

  Leaving Laramie had been both a relief and a sorrow. Jordana could hardly refuse him when Rich offered to see her to the train, but the painful awareness of his presence was almost more than Jordana could deal with. There was a moment of revelation when Jordana realized that everything had changed between them—and all because of one little kiss.

  Only it hadn’t been a little kiss. That kiss had held all the passion and fervor that Jordana had been missing. That kiss made her feel alive and excited in a way that nothing else ever had. But it was obvious that the kiss meant nothing to Rich. Or had it? He stood so very calmly, almost formally, as she waved down from the train window. He waved back and gave her a casual salute as the train lurched forward and started her toward Rawlins.

  He doesn’t care about me the way I care about him, she thought, tears misting her vision. Now I know how G.W. felt when I didn’t return his love. How very awful to feel this kind of love and know it isn’t reciprocated.

  She dabbed at her eyes and tried to fortify her spirit with the reasoning that leaving was for the best. Rich could be free to go about his business for the UP, and Jordana could claim a quiet respite with her family. It felt good to know they would welcome her with open arms and, hopefully, no questions. Oh, there would be a few questions, but nothing so out of line that Jordana would deny them answers. Of course, if they asked about Rich, she would just have to be very careful with how she answered. No sense in working everyone up with a hope that she and Rich might settle down and marry. No sense at all.

  ——

  Sacramento proved to be a blessing for Jordana. Coming back to Victoria and Kiernan, as well as Caitlan and Brenton, offered her a kind of comfort she hadn’t even realized she’d been missing. Victoria, due to deliver her baby any day now, waddled proudly around her new home that Kiernan had helped to build for her.

  “He thought of everything,” Victoria said, pointing out special built-in shelves in the pantry. “Look here, this table folds down from the wall for times when I n
eed extra counter space. Kiernan suggested it might be useful for making him fresh fruit pies.”

  Jordana laughed. “I’m sure he did. What a wonderful husband.”

  Caitlan smiled as well. “Brenton is naggin’ Kiernan to help him build us a house as well. He has a hankerin’ to settle down and stay a spell in one spot.”

  “I thought you were both considering the idea of living back east near our parents,” Jordana replied.

  Caitlan, pushing back several errant strands of cinnamon hair, patted her own rounding abdomen. “He’d like to be havin’ us in a place of our own before the baby comes. I told him I didn’t mind the idea of goin’ east, but he’s come to really enjoy the mild climate here. He hates bein’ separated from yar folks, but maybe once the railroad is actually in place, it won’t be that much of a concern.”

  “The transcontinental railroad will change lives from coast to coast,” Jordana said, sounding like those prophetic men who wrote handbills. “Do you realize that a person will be able to cross the continent in just a matter of days? Remember when mother talked of Uncle Maine going west to be a missionary just north of here? He was months getting out here, and the hardships were so numerous he couldn’t even write of them all. And they all accepted the fact that they would never see one another again. It’s hard enough to fathom the telegraph and getting word to family in New York and hearing back from them almost always within hours of each other. I can’t even begin to imagine what new inventions they’ll come up with to top these.”

  “But no doubt they’ll be comin’ up with somethin’,” Caitlan replied.

  Victoria led the way back to the front room and motioned them all to sit. “I want to show you both something very special.”

  Jordana looked at Caitlan, who only shrugged her shoulders in ignorance. Apparently she had no better idea of what Victoria had planned than Jordana did.

  Victoria returned with a cloth bundle. It looked like some sort of blanket, but Jordana couldn’t be sure. Spreading it out on the rug in front of the sofa, Victoria awkwardly straightened up. “It’s the baby quilt I’ve been working on for over ten years.”

  “Oh my!” Jordana exclaimed, kneeling down on the floor to better see it. “Why, Victoria, this is lovely.”

  “Oh, and for sure it is,” Caitlan said in near reverence. “Why, look here, there’s a block that deals with the potato famine in Ireland. Look, she’s made the outline of me homeland.”

  “All of the blocks have something to do with important times in our lives. Kiernan’s coming to America and his accident, our travels to the goldfields, the building of the railroad, it’s all there.”

  “I’m notably impressed,” Jordana said, grinning up at her sister. “You are a wonder with a needle, Mrs. O’Connor. I just hope that when I get married and have a family, you’ll be kind enough to stitch a few of these together for me.”

  “Oh, and so now you’ll be gettin’ married and havin’ children?” Caitlan teased. “I thought for sure ya’d keep yarself to bein’ an old maid. I think since I’m already married and with child, there should only be stitchin’ done on account of meself.”

  The trio of sisters laughed. “I’ll happily make quilts and baby blankets for each of you,” Victoria said, her hand rubbing at the small of her back. “But first, I think it’s time for me to think about this baby. I didn’t want to cause either one of you to fret, but I’ve been having pains since daybreak, and I think the baby will be born today.”

  “What!” Jordana nearly screamed while jumping to her feet. “Why didn’t you say something? You should be in bed. For goodness’ sake, we’d better send for the doctor.”

  “Aren’t we the silly pair, fussin’ over a quilt while ya stand there in labor,” Caitlan said, quickly drawing up the quilt from the floor. “Let’s get ya to bed.”

  “I suppose if I must,” Victoria said, this time clutching at her swollen stomach. “The pains are much stronger of late, and more frequent.”

  “Of course they are, you ninny!” Jordana took hold of Victoria’s arm. “That’s the way they’re supposed to be.”

  “Oh, and where did you get so knowledgeable about such things?” Victoria asked.

  “I’ve read up on it and listened to plenty of talk about it,” Jordana replied, quite pleased to be able to boast this much. “Of course, I realize that dealing with actually delivering a baby or expecting one is entirely different. Nevertheless, I feel confident that I can make myself useful in this case.”

  By this time Caitlan had tucked the quilt under her arm and had come up alongside Victoria. “Let’s be gettin’ ya upstairs and changed. Jordana, I can get her upstairs if you’ll fetch Brenton and Kiernan. Oh, and the doctor, of course.”

  Excitement surged through Jordana. “I’ll be back before you can have her into bed.” She raced for the front door, then realized she had no idea where the men had taken themselves off to.

  Hurrying back to the staircase, Jordana called up to Caitlan and Victoria, who were already halfway up the stairs. “Where are the men? Who is your doctor and where can he be found?”

  Victoria laughed, then moaned painfully and doubled over. Unable to speak, Caitlan replied for her. “The men are lookin’ at some property just three blocks from here. Ya go straightaway up two blocks, turn left a block, and then up one more. Ya’ll see the carriage. Kiernan knows where to find the doctor.”

  Jordana ran from the house, not even bothering to worry about a mount or a carriage of her own. She ran the entire two blocks before stopping to remember what Caitlan had said. Then turning left, she once again hiked up her skirts and proceeded at a most unladylike trot. Along the way, she thought of the time she had taken the dare of her school friends and climbed up the four-story brick building that had housed her school. The fear and exhilaration she felt then was nothing compared to what she felt now.

  She could make out her brother’s carriage just ahead. “Brenton! Kiernan!” she called, not seeing the men. Where could they be?

  The property was a pleasant little piece, several acres wide with double the distance in length. There were large, towering oaks reminding her of her grandfather’s plantation back in Virginia. They had called it Oakbridge because of a large bridge created from the oak trees that populated the plantation.

  “Brenton!” she called again, pausing near the middle of the clearing. She looked around, knowing that they had to be there. Within a moment, she caught sight of a lone figure and then another coming up through the trees from the far side of the property.

  “Kiernan! Brenton!”

  Both men seemed to hear her at once, and Jordana thought that they must have had some idea of why she’d come, because they raced toward her as if they’d planned the competition. Kiernan reached her first, with Brenton only steps behind.

  “Is it Victoria?” he asked, panting heavily. He still wore a black eye patch, which had caused his Chinese employees to call him “One-Eyed Bossy Man.” The name amused the family to no end.

  “Yes,” Jordana replied. “It’s time. The baby’s coming.”

  “Get in the carriage,” he said. “We’ll make for home.”

  “We must get the doctor first,” Jordana said, following Kiernan up into the buggy.

  Brenton was right behind her, sandwiching Jordana tightly between the two men. “I didn’t know where the doctor lived, or I would have gone for him first. The pains have been coming since morning.”

  Kiernan shook his head. “She’s a stubborn woman, me wife. I asked her before I left if she was feelin’ all right.”

  “Apparently she thought she had plenty of time,” Jordana replied. “First babies can take forever.”

  “Or they can come quickly,” Kiernan replied. “I was there when me siblings came, and for many of the neighbors’ babes as well. Every birth was different.” He released the brake, then flicked the reins on the horses’ backs. “Come along, boys, step lively.”

  Jordana had no idea what to expect when t
hey returned to the house. For all her book learning and such, she knew there was very little she could do to help. Dr. Benson had not been in his office when they stopped there, but his wife said she expected him back soon and would send him directly. Kiernan jumped from the carriage, scarcely giving it a chance to come to a full stop in front of his house. He raced into the house with Brenton and Jordana only a few paces behind.

  “I hope everything is all right,” Brenton murmured. “I hope Caitlan is all right. I wouldn’t want Victoria’s ordeal to worry her about our own baby.”

  “I’m sure she’s fine,” Jordana replied, patting her brother’s arm tenderly. “Don’t fret so. I’m sure all is well.”

  They entered the house to hear a baby’s cry. Startled, they looked at each other in dumfounded surprise. Kiernan was bounding up the stairs two at a time.

  “Victoria!” he cried as he reached the bedroom, flung open the door, and disappeared inside.

  A few moments later Caitlan, fairly dancing as much as her girth would allow, appeared and started down the stairs, meeting Jordana and Brenton halfway. “It’s a boy!” she declared. “Me brother has a son!”

  Jordana laughed out loud. “What wonderful news!”

  Brenton embraced his wife and held her tight. “Did you deliver the baby?”

  “I did,” Caitlan answered, pulling away. “It wasn’t the first to be brought in by me hand, but it was one of the most precious. I can’t tell ya the look on Kiernan’s face when he came boundin’ into the room and saw me holdin’ his son. I said, ‘Brother, ya have a fine boy.’ And ya know what he did?”

  “What?”

  Caitlan began to laugh. “He fainted dead on the floor!”

  Jordana joined Caitlan in laughing while Brenton chuckled in a more reserved manner. His pallor indicated he might well be thinking of his own turn to become a father.

  “I promise, we won’t laugh nearly as much if you faint, Brenton,” Jordana said.