He rubbed his bare foot against the smooth wooden floor. “When we were in Riverbend, Johnny said his daddy said you deserved for Pa to run around on you.” He swallowed hard. “That you’d spent time with him. And some other men, too.”
Stunned, Jessie found it hard to breathe. She knew people had talked, had even heard a few rumors herself. But nothing so vicious. She had never imagined that her child would hear such awful things. Kneeling in front of him, she laid her hands on his shoulders and looked him right in the eye. “Brad, Johnny’s daddy lied. I don’t know why, but he did.”
“I know that Mama. And that’s what I told Johnny.” A tiny smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Punched him in the nose, too.”
“That’s why you didn’t want to be friends with him anymore,” she said sadly.
“He wasn’t much fun most of the time anyway.”
She released him, settling her hands on her lap, and glanced away. “So when you saw Cade kissing me, you thought...” Oh, Lord, how do I ask this?
“You said you wouldn’t ever marry again.”
Jessie looked up. Brad’s red face told her exactly what he had thought. “I’m not, uh, spending time with him. And I don’t intend to.”
“I know that now. Mr. McKinnon explained it to me. He said he was trying to change your mind about marrying again.”
“Oh.” Jessie felt her own face flush.
“And that he wouldn’t ever do anything that made people talk about you, ’cause he respects you too much.”
“He’s a good man, Brad.”
“Yes, ma’am. You gonna marry him?”
“I don’t know.” She closed her eyes for a second, then met his gaze with a tiny smile. “But I’m not quite as scared about the idea as I was yesterday.”
Chapter 11
“If you need anything, holler at Asa. He’ll stay around headquarters until I get back.” Cade stopped on his back porch, waiting for Jessie to come outside. “Ty said he’d ride out tomorrow afternoon to see how things are going.”
“We’ll be fine.” She gave him an indulgent smile. “I’ve been fending for myself a long time.”
“But you don’t have to now,” he said, a stubborn set to his jaw. “Lock your doors at night.” He frowned, glancing around the back yard. “I wish we had a dog.”
We. He used the word without thinking, which made it all that much sweeter. And more unnerving. Her heart yearned to share her life with this man, but old fears were hard to conquer.
“I’m sure Asa and the other men will keep watch over us.”
“They’d better.” He looked over at her house. “Maybe I should have someone sleep on your porch.”
“How about the front room?” Jessie narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, growing impatient with his over-protectiveness.
“I’d have his hide,” he growled. When she started tapping her foot, he turned his attention back to her. “Guess the porch was a silly suggestion.”
“Almost as silly as the front room.”
“You have your shotgun loaded?”
She nodded. “It’s on the rack.” He had suggested hanging it up to keep it from being accidentally knocked over and built her a rack by the back door. It was low enough for Jessie to reach easily but high enough that Ellie couldn’t mess with it. Not that she would. The child was afraid of guns. She had been ever since Neil came home one night, shooting his pistol up in the air for fun. Still, Jessie liked the idea of having the gun handy but out of the way. She had also been touched by his concern and practical solution.
“You’d better get going.”
“And quit wastin’ daylight.” He smiled, turning to Brad and Ellie, who stood nearby. “No squabbling while I’m gone, you hear?”
“Yes, sir,” they said in unison. Ellie giggled and Brad shot her a grin.
Cade laughed. “Keep up that kind of cooperation, and you’ll do just fine. Brad, if you practice your roping, we’ll try it on a real cow when I get home.”
“Okay. But not one with big horns.”
“I’ll see if I can arrange that.” Cade knelt down, holding his arms open to Ellie. “Come here and hug my neck, sweetheart.”
She scampered across the porch, throwing her arms around his neck in a tight squeeze. He hugged her back and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Be a good girl while I’m gone.”
“I’m always good.” She grinned impishly.
“Most of the time anyway.” Cade smiled and stood, holding his hand out to Brad. “You wait to start Treasure Island ’til I get back.”
Brad took his hand, shaking it firmly. “I will. Mama said we could read some from Harper’s Magazine instead.”
“I have a whole stack of them. They have some good stories. Interesting articles, too.” Cade’s gaze settled on Jessie. “Even some purty poetry.”
Ellie giggled again, and Brad rolled his eyes.
“Makes me think of your mama,” Cade added, his voice dropping a notch deeper. Her eyes widened.
“Come on, Ellie, let’s go look for grasshoppers,” said Brad. “They’re gonna get mushy again.”
“Okay. Bye, Mr. McKinnon.”
Since he had kissed Jessie a few times in front of the children, evidently it wasn’t much of a novelty anymore. “Goodbye, honey. I’ll see you at the end of the week.” The little girl waved and ran off after her brother.
“Brad’s right.” Cade moved a step closer to Jessie. “I need a proper send-off.”
“We should go inside.”
“No, ma’am. We’re staying right here so anybody that’s watching will know you’re my woman.”
“You’re getting cocky, cowboy.” She wasn’t about to admit that she liked it.
“Cattleman. The cowboys work for me.”
“My, my. You better be careful when you try to climb on your horse.”
“Why?”
“Your head is so big, you’re liable to just topple right on over.”
Cade laughed and put his arms around her waist. “Merely pointing out that you’d be better off with me than anybody else on this ranch. Of course that would be true even if I didn’t own it.”
Smiling, Jessie shook her head in bemusement. “Have you always been so sure of yourself?”
“Not always.” Sadness flickered through his eyes, and Jessie remembered what he’d told her about being unable to care for his mother.
Without thinking, she laid her hand along his jaw. “Since you became a man, I mean.”
He closed his eyes for a heartbeat, leaning ever so slightly against her hand. Turning his head, he pressed his lips against her palm. “I started out with more guts than sense.”
She lowered her hand. “You have more sense now?”
“A lot more. I took one look at you and saw the other half of my soul. That’s the most intelligent thing I’ve ever done.”
“Oh, Cade...” Tears welled up in her eyes. She wished with all her heart that she could tell him the same thing. But this attraction was too strong, too quick. She feared it would be like fireworks on Independence Day—beautiful, exciting, and over in a flash.
“Shhh, darlin’. Send me off with a smile, not tears.” He slowly pulled her closer. “And a kiss to keep me warm at night.”
“It’s June. You’ll be warm anyway.”
He chuckled and dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. “You always gonna be this sassy, woman?”
“Probably.”
“Good,” he murmured, lowering his head.
The tenderness of his touch moved her as much as passion would have. Desire lay beneath the surface, carefully controlled, waiting for another time and place. He ended the kiss slowly and eased away. “I’ll be back by Saturday. Friday afternoon if I can.”
“Be careful.”
“Always am. Have even more reason to be now.” He moved down the steps toward Mischief as the horse waited patiently at the hitching post. “This ol’ boy could get me home even if I fall asleep in the saddle.” Cade
untied the reins, patted him on the neck, and swung into the saddle with the grace and ease that came from earning his living horseback. “He’s done it many a-time.
“An order of new dresses came in yesterday. Why don’t you have Asa take you to town and pick up something pretty?” Earlier that morning, he had insisted on giving her what she had earned to date in case she needed money while he was gone. He had also given her some extra cash out of the household account to use for groceries or emergencies.
She had been equally insistent that he take out what she owed him from her wages. “I’m saving my money for a hat to go with the new dress I already have.”
“It’s two weeks old already.”
Jessie laughed and leaned against the porch railing. “And I’ve only worn it twice. Still new to me.”
He guided Mischief over next to the porch. “When we get married, I’ll buy you a new dress every week. Two or three if you want them.”
He had mentioned marriage other times, often in a way that sounded as if it were a foregone conclusion. She found it mildly annoying, yet also a compliment. “And where would I wear them?”
“To town. Or just for me. A couple of different ones every day.”
“Two a day? That’s a lot of bother.”
He leaned over close to her, resting his hand beside hers on the railing. “Not if I help you change.” He kissed her hard and quick. When he pushed himself back upright in the saddle, his eyes danced with merriment.
“Cade McKinnon, you’re a scoundrel.”
“Yeah, but I’m lovable.” He winked and nudged the horse to a walk.
“Too lovable,” she whispered, sad to see him leave.
***
Jessie spent Monday cleaning all the nooks and crannies of Cade’s house. On Tuesday, she checked his clothes, carefully sewing up a ripped seam in a work shirt, repairing a torn pocket on a pair of pants, and replaced a few buttons here and there. The task took longer than it should have. It seemed such a wifely thing to do, especially when she caught herself resting her cheek against one of his dress shirts, breathing in the faint scent of his cologne that lingered at the collar.
In the afternoon, Brad and Ellie took her fishing at the creek. According to Brad, Jessie had a nibble, but the fish stole her bait and swam away while she was daydreaming—probably about Cade. She didn’t bother to deny it, but left the fishing up to her son while she and Ellie picked a small bouquet of wildflowers. He caught two good sized catfish, which she fried for supper. Ty rode up just in time to eat, and they enjoyed a pleasant evening.
By Wednesday, she had cabin fever and asked Asa to take them to town. He happily obliged. If he hadn’t been a gentleman, he would have dashed into McKinnon’s store ahead of them. Instead, he politely held the door open and waited impatiently while Lydia finished ringing up a customer.
She gave in to Lydia’s encouragement and bought a new dress instead of the hat she had planned to purchase. She found a nice straw one at McKinnon’s that would go with both dresses, at less than half the cost of the one she had spotted at the milliners. The new dress was an extravagance, but she wanted to please Cade.
On Thursday morning she did the family laundry. A pot of red beans, flavored with salt pork and a bit of onion simmered on the stove in her house. After hanging up the laundry on a clothesline Cade had built for her, she went inside and made a pan of cornbread. It still felt strange to spend the day in her own house, setting her own mismatched plates and bowls on the new oak table.
Jessie gazed slowly around the room at all Cade had bought for them. She had worried about the expense, but he pointed out that he needed to furnish the place regardless of who lived there. He also noted that though he bought good quality merchandise, it wasn’t fancy, nor extravagant.
At least most of it. To Jessie, the five-foot-long plunge bath sitting in the corner of the kitchen and the beautiful screen shielding it from view were both luxuries she had only dreamed of. The hand-painted silk screen, with graceful white swans gliding amid green and white lily pads on a dark blue lake, was far prettier than the one the mayor’s wife had in her bedroom.
She smiled, remembering when Cade carried the tub out of the store. He shoved it along one side of the wagon bed, then turned to her with a stern expression. “Not a word, woman,” he ordered quietly. “This is for my own peace of mind.” His gaze slid over her and he sighed. “Don’t know which is worse—this or that blasted washtub.” He had never mentioned it again. But each time she delightfully soaked in the hot water, she wondered if he was thinking about her and if his imagination was as unsettling as hers.
Besides the table, other additions to the kitchen were four chairs, a pie safe, and another cupboard. The living room portion of the long room held a small sofa, her rocker, another comfortable chair so he could visit, and two end tables.
Her trunk was tucked into a corner because there was no room for it in the bedroom. A narrow armoire, a dresser with a matching mirror, the bed, and a washstand filled that room, leaving barely enough space to change clothes. Brad’s room was furnished in a similar manner, only with a single bed and smaller dresser.
Cade had also surprised her with a special gift, meant for her, not the house. He had noticed her admiring a lovely china washbowl and pitcher, covered with delicate yellow roses. Sometime while they were moving the furniture into the house, he had slipped the set into her bedroom. It was by far the most beautiful gift she had ever been given, though she suspected she would have cherished it almost as much if it were gray graniteware.
After dinner, she ironed their clothes and put the rest of the dried laundry away. As evening approached and the air cooled, she and the children walked down to the creek for a spell. When they returned home, she read a story called “Fish and Men in the Maine Islands” from the August, 1880, issue of Harper’s Magazine. The children particularly liked the drawings showing them a place and way of life they knew nothing about.
She tucked Brad and Ellie into bed, spending a little longer with each of them than usual. Late evening had become her time alone with Cade, sitting on the front porch away from the cowboys’ curious eyes. They shared hugs and kisses, but equally important to her, they talked. About his life as a Texas Ranger, stage driver, and cowboy. About her happy childhood until smallpox took her parents when she was fifteen, and she went to work.
They talked about her hopes and dreams, as well as his for the ranch and the town. They discussed problems that came with settling a new part of the country. To her amazement, he often asked her opinion on things. He listened to her ideas and concerns with respect and admiration, making her feel intelligent and important, not only to him but to the community.
She missed him terribly. She tried to read first one story, then another in the magazine, but nothing held her interest past the first few paragraphs. Finally, she snuffed out the lamp and went outside to sit on the porch.
Lamplight shown through the windows of the bunkhouse, and faint laughter reached her ears. A horse nickered in the corral, and a cricket chirped near the end of the porch. At least she and the children weren’t by themselves.
It only felt like it.
Her memory teased her with Cade’s smile, his touch, his wooing words. Though he talked of marriage, he had never said that he loved her. But he had called her the other half of his soul. Wasn’t that the same thing?
Had Cade started home? Was he alone beside a campfire on the open prairie, looking up at the stars and thinking of her? Did he miss their time together in the evenings? The teasing and flirting or the occasional misunderstanding, smoothed over with a hug and a kiss. Oh, those kisses! Did he long for her as much as she longed for him?
Or was he sitting on a rancher’s front porch telling tales and listening to yarns, thoughts of her far from his mind and conversation? Being away from her, perhaps with the rancher’s pretty daughter making eyes at him, had he suddenly realized how foolish he had been? That there were many others—brighter, prettier
, and wealthier—who would jump at the chance to become his wife?
On that gloomy thought, she went inside, locking the door behind her. She crossed the room to close the curtains, but a movement near a mesquite about fifty yards away drew her gaze. Peering out the window from the dark room, she watched as a man dismounted, leaving his horse hidden in the shadow of the tree. Crouching low, he hurried across the open prairie toward the house.
Jessie raced across the room, grabbing the shotgun from the wall rack, checking to make certain it was loaded. When she returned to the window, she spied the man near Cade’s house. He paused for a second, glancing around, then moved stealthily up the front porch steps and disappeared in the darkness.
Chapter 12
Jessie pulled the hammers back on shotgun and eased open her front door, moving across the porch and down the steps. She hurried across the yard as quietly as she could, thankful when she reached the shadow of Cade’s house. Tiptoeing alongside the building, she stopped at the corner of the porch and listened.
A board creaked. Then another, along with the faint tap of boot heels as the man walked across the porch. When the sound stopped, Jessie raised the gun to her shoulder and stepped out from behind the wall. “Hold it right there and put your hands up.”
The man threw up his hands. “Jess, don’t shoot! It’s me.”
“Quint!” Staring at the shadowy form of her brother, Jessie lowered the gun.
“Hi, little sister.” Though he moved near the railing, he stayed in the darkness.
“What are you doing sneaking around Cade’s house?” Jessie asked softly. Pointing the shotgun away from the porch and toward the ground, she eased the hammers forward so it wouldn’t fire. She laid it on the end of the porch, then raced around to the front and up the steps.
He gave her a big hug, then draped one arm around her shoulders. “I needed to talk to him but can’t let anyone else know I’m here. Except you.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll get to it in a minute. Is he in town?”
“He went to Fort Concho to talk to the commissioners about improving the road. He planned to be back by Saturday. Maybe even tomorrow.”
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