by Beverly Long
Delilah nodded. “I’ve got a son, you know.”
“I didn’t. Where does he live?”
“With my mother, back in Illinois. He’s going on four.”
Which meant she’d been fourteen when she’d given birth. At fourteen Bella’s greatest concern had been what color of nail polish she wanted to buy. Of course, all of that had changed a year later when her mother had died.
Maybe that’s why she felt the connection with Delilah. They both had grown up fast. For different reasons, true. But the heartache was the same. “I bet you miss him,” Bella said.
“I do love him,” Delilah answered, her tone full of challenge.
“Of course,” Bella answered.
The door to the saloon opened and two men swaggered in. Bella caught the bold look they sent Delilah’s way and her almost imperceptible nod in return. They crossed the room and walked up the stairs.
Delilah tugged at the waist of her dress, pulling her bodice down, showing more of her thin chest. She set her tray down on the counter and turned toward the stairs.
Delilah’s night was about to start. “Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow,” Bella said.
She didn’t answer. She took another step before looking over her shoulder, right into Bella’s eyes. “People don’t understand this but sometimes a mother shows her love best when she leaves.”
Bella’s throat tightened up. Mothers should not be separated from their children. “I suppose. But sometimes love calls us back, too.”
She shrugged. “We’ll see.”
With a heavy heart, Bella walked to the livery and retrieved Aunt Freida’s wagon. Wymer had it ready to go. She walked up to the horses, leaned close, and whispered in their ears. “Afternoon, Rain. Thanks for getting to town last night on your own. You were better than a 911 call. And Sunshine, you were incredibly brave. If I was a bear, I’d have been scared of you, too.”
They tossed their heads and pawed at the ground. It looked like Rain was rolling her eyes. Great. Now she’d embarrassed the horses.
She climbed up onto the seat and took the reins in her hand. They were shaking. She pressed them into the folds of her cloak. She clicked her tongue and off they went.
She was barely at the outskirts of town when Jed, on his big black horse, caught up with her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I thought I’d ride out and see how Freida and my sister are doing,” he said.
“At exactly the same time I’m going home?”
He shrugged. “I don’t plan my day around your activities,” he said.
But he had. He could deny it all day long but she knew that Jed had somehow known how nervous she’d be. He’d waited to go so that he could accompany her because he’d remembered what she’d told him this morning.
And he’d cared enough to try to help her.
Damn him. She clicked her tongue and jiggled the reins. The horses took off and she didn’t look at him again the entire ride. When she turned into Aunt Freida’s lane, she drove the wagon past the cabin and toward the barn. Before she could get down and open the barn doors, he did it for her.
Once inside the barn, he stood next to the wagon and offered a hand so that she could get out. She ignored it and hiked up her long skirt far enough that she didn’t trip over it getting down.
“Your aunt is probably anxious to see you,” he said. “I’ll take care of the horses,” he said.
It was a pitiful excuse but she was grateful for it all the same. She was bone-tired. She’d gotten very little sleep the night before and it had been a long day.
“Thank you,” she said. She attempted to walk past him. He grabbed her arm, stopping her.
He was close enough that she could feel his warm breath on her cold cheek. His grip felt solid and strong and it made her remember how she’d run her hands down his bare back, his bare butt, his strong thighs. He’d been pure muscle and sexy as hell. “What?” she said, her voice a mere whisper. Her throat felt dry, her lungs delicate.
He kissed her. Like he had a right to. He pushed his tongue into her mouth and consumed her. She felt the immediate pull between her legs and knew that her body craved what it had briefly known.
They were both shaking when they finally pulled apart. He rested his chin on the top of her head, acting every bit like a man who’d been sucker punched. She wasn’t any better.
“Why?” she whispered.
“I don’t know,” he answered. He gripped her shoulders with both hands and stepped away from her. His jaw was set, his mouth a straight line. “I’ve been thinking about kissing you all day,” he said, sounding positively miserable.
As crazy as it seemed, his admission almost made her feel better. She’d gotten under his skin. “I’m going inside,” she said.
He reached for her, she jerked back. “You’ve a right to be angry, Bella.”
She shook her head. “For a whole lot of reasons, Jed, this thing between us isn’t right. Let’s just leave it at that, shall we?”
She stopped a foot shy of the barn doors that were still wide open. “I’ll tell Freida and Elizabeth that you’ll be in shortly.”
He shook his head. “I think I’ll just ride back to town,” he said. “I’m on duty tonight.”
Rantaan Toomay was going to be at the saloon. Money would change hands, alcohol would flow, tempers would ignite. “Be careful, Jed,” she said.
He chuckled—a dry, humorless, laugh. “I’m always careful, Bella. Maybe that’s the problem.”
When Bella opened the door, she was relieved to see her aunt sitting up in bed. She was reading a book. Elizabeth was standing at the stove, stirring something that smelled absolutely heavenly.
Her aunt put her book down. “Bella, we thought we heard the horses,” she said. “I was worried about you getting home on your own. Did you have any trouble?”
“No.” She figured she better tell the truth in case it somehow got mentioned later on. “Actually, Jed rode alongside so I felt perfectly safe. What’s better than having the sheriff escort you?” she asked, making every effort to keep her voice light.
Elizabeth reached toward the shelf where Aunt Freida kept her dishes. “I’ll set another plate for supper,” she said.
“Uh…he’s going back to town.”
Elizabeth frowned.
“Without supper?” Aunt Freida asked.
Bella shrugged. “He’s working tonight.” She turned toward her aunt. “You look like you’re feeling much better,” she said.
“I am. The leg hurts but with Elizabeth fussing over me, making me tea and cake, and attending to my every need, it’s not such a hardship. I just feel bad that you’re having to bear the burden of my silliness. I don’t imagine you expected this when you set out for a visit.”
“I’m happy to help,” she said. “And based on how great that pot smells that Elizabeth is stirring, I think it is better that I take care of the Mercantile and leave the cooking to Elizabeth.”
“My mother was the best cook,” Elizabeth said. “There could be almost nothing in the cupboards and she’d somehow manage to feed a family of four and we’d be rubbing our stomachs in contentment afterwards. She took such joy in it.” Elizabeth stopped stirring and reached for a bowl. She poured the contents from the pan into it. “After my father left, she barely ever lit the stove again.”
She picked up the bowl, turned, and carried it to the table. “Of course, by that time, I was married and in my own home. Jed was away, working for the railroads. I saw her more often so the changes in her were more gradual to me. When Jed came home that first year for Christmas, after my father had been gone for more than six months, it shocked him to see how she’d lost interest in living. He tried everything, from reasoning to begging, but she was filled with despair and could not seem to understand that she was only harming herself.”
Bella could easily imagine Jed’s frustration—he was clearly a man who liked to fix things, to make things right. But he hadn�
��t been able to fix something that was very important to him.
Aunt Freida shifted in her bed, managing to get both legs over the side. Then she reached for a pair of crutches that Bella had failed to notice earlier.
“Let me help you,” Bella said, hurrying to her aunt’s side.
“Thank you, kindly. But I can manage. Thomas stopped by Doc Winder’s and got these for me. Elizabeth and I spent a good portion of the afternoon practicing with them.” She stood, swayed just a bit, but remained standing. She started off toward the table. With each thump of her crutches on the wooden floor, teacups rattled in their saucers.
Once she got herself to the table, Bella pulled out a chair and helped the big woman lower herself down. Then she reached for the crutches and leaned them against the far end of the table.
Aunt Freida looked very satisfied. She reached for the bowl, sniffing appreciatively in the air. “You’ve got your mother’s talent,” she said. “I was telling Bella the other morning that I lost interest in cooking, too, once Herbert had passed on. But at least I had the comfort of knowing that it was something that neither one of us could do anything about. For your mother, she had the additional anguish of watching your father parade around town with his new wife.”
Bella stared at Elizabeth, wondering if she was going to take offense at Aunt Freida’s frankness. But she simply nodded. “Jed tried to get her to leave Mantosa. He practically begged her to come live with him. She refused, said she didn’t have the strength to start somewhere new. We all knew that the real reason she was staying is that she expected Father to come to his senses at some point and return home.”
Bella took a bite of the beef stew. It was delicious. “But he never did come home?” she asked. She knew the answer. Aunt Freida had told her. But she really wanted to hear the details.
“No. Even after his first young wife left him, he didn’t come home. He got married again within months.”
“They never reconciled?” Bella asked.
Elizabeth shook her head. “I actually think my mother had forgiven my father by the time he died. But Jed never did. He couldn’t get past what his leaving had done to my mother. He couldn’t get past the fact that my father had become the subject of ridicule.”
***
Jedidiah went straight to Hawkin’s Saloon when he returned to town. It was busier than usual and he’d have liked to credit that to the fact that the poor weather had kept drinkers away for a day. However, he knew it had much more to do with Toomay’s arrival in town.
More than one person had stopped by the sheriff’s office earlier in the day to let him know that rumors were flying about a big game. Now, as Jed looked around the smoky room, he figured some had come to play, more had come to watch.
He’d come because big games generally meant big trouble. Somebody would drink too much whiskey, lose too much money, and get quarrelsome. Most times it ended there, before anybody got hurt. Occasionally he or Bart would be required to haul someone down to the jail and let them sleep it off. Jed wouldn’t tolerate too much foolishness and everybody knew it.
But Toomay was a stranger and by nature, strangers had to test the waters. Toomay, according to his trusted friend Bat Masterson, wanted to do more than test—he wanted to stir, spill, and poison the proverbial waters, leaving a path of slime in his wake.
Jed had intended to visit Toomay this afternoon, to let him know he wasn’t welcome in Mantosa, to convince him to catch tomorrow’s stage. However, Bella had changed all that. She’d deliberately gone to the hotel to see Toomay, of that Jed was confident. But he was unsure of whether she and Toomay had ever met before. It certainly didn’t seem like it but he couldn’t dismiss the odd connection he’d felt between the two of them.
He’d given her plenty of opportunity to tell him about her planned lunch with Toomay. But she hadn’t been forthcoming about the information
None of it made sense. He hated that.
Jedidiah took a stool at the far end of the counter, where he could see the door, and the entire room. He took off his hat and his coat and pulled some coins out of his pocket.
“What’s your pleasure, Sheriff?” Snake had come out of the kitchen. Food wasn’t available in the saloon at night. Men filled their bellies with drink.
“I’ll take a whiskey, Snake.” Jed looked across the room. He saw Delilah, the red-head and two other women who were known to entertain both downstairs and upstairs. “Looks like everybody is working tonight?”
“Just trying to keep my customers happy.”
Snake wasn’t the only person in Mantosa who employed prostitutes. But he was perhaps the only one who cared about his girls, making sure they had plenty to eat, and a decent place to live. “I hear there’s a big game tonight,” Jed said.
“I figured that’s why you were here,” Snake said, his tone agreeable. He didn’t want his saloon damaged and he knew it didn’t hurt to have a lawman present to discourage any tempers from getting out of hand.
It was less than ten minutes later that two men walked into the saloon. They weren’t from Mantosa but they weren’t strangers either. Both lived in Shinoah. Over the years, they’d spent a few nights playing cards at Hawkin’s Saloon. But it had been at least six months since Jed had seen either of them.
He wasn’t happy to see them tonight. They weren’t bad men. It was just that Lenny Rivers and Pete Mobley both drank too much, talked too much, and whatever common sense God had chosen to bless upon them, had long since been misplaced.
Jed took another sip of whiskey. It had the makings of a long night. He waited until the men had picked a table, shed their coats, and ordered their first drink. Then he slid off his stool and walked to their table. He pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Evening Lenny, Pete,” he said.
“Evening Sheriff,” they answered, in unison. “We ain’t done nothing wrong,” Pete added.
It was clear that Pete hadn’t forgotten the last time that he and Lenny had been in Mantosa. The men had been drinking and Pete had gotten into an argument with another man, accusing him of taking liberties with his fifteen-year-old daughter. The man had denied it but Lenny had been eager to help his friend and shots were fired. Fortunately, nobody had been hurt. Once Jed got it sorted out, Pete admitted it was a case of mistaken identity. Jed had locked the pair of them up for a couple days, hoping to make an impression upon the two of them. He’d gotten to know them pretty well.
Jed gave the pair a friendly smile. “What brings you to town, Gentlemen?”
Lenny winked, like he was about to share a big secret. “A little of this and a little of that,” he said.
Pete slapped the table, like his friend was really clever.
Jed waited while Delilah set down a bottle of whiskey and two clean glasses. He got nervous, however, when Pete pulled money out of his pocket to pay for the drinks and there was a whole wad of paper money.
“You expecting to spend all that on whiskey, Pete?” Jed asked.
“This ain’t nothing,” Pete said, his tone proud. “My pockets will be so full tonight that I’ll probably need help carrying all my money home.”
Just as he’d thought. Rumor of a big game had spread quickly. “Boys,” he said, “do yourselves and me a favor and go home.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out enough money to cover the whiskey. “Here. Let me buy that bottle from you.”
Lenny grabbed the bottle and held it tight to his big stomach. “We ain’t leaving and you can’t make us.”
It was saying that kind of stuff that got Lenny into trouble. Jed was just about to tell him that when the doors swung open and Rantaan Toomay walked in.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
He wasn’t wearing a coat, as if he couldn’t bother with being concerned about the weather. He wore a white shirt made out of some shiny material. It had ruffles at the neck. His black trousers were pressed and his black boots looked new.
Damn. There was no time to deal with Pete and Lenny now. Jed watched T
oomay survey the room and then he took a seat at an empty table, his back to the door.
Confident bastard.
Toomay pulled a deck of cards out of his pants pocket. He tapped them on the table and Jed could feel the general unrest in the saloon. Wymer, who sat at a far table, pushed his drink to the side and stood up. He put on his coat. As he passed Jed, he leaned down. “I think I’ve got some shit that needs shoveling,” he said.
Wymer had always been a smart man.
Lenny and Pete pushed back their chairs. Jed could smell their excitement, their anticipation. When they sat down at Toomay’s table, Toomay gave each of them a nod. He never stopped tapping his cards on the table.
The saloon doors swung open and Earl Bean, looking neither left or right, walked directly to Toomay’s table. Where the hell was his mother?
There was one chair left at the table. Toomay looked up from his cards. His glance swept the room, settling on Jed. Toomay nodded at the empty chair and raised an eyebrow in silent inquiry.
Jed shifted on the stool, just enough so that the star he wore on his vest was visible. When Toomay saw it, he smiled, as if amused. Then he looked back at his cards and resumed his shuffling.
The saloon was absolutely quiet. Seconds ticked by. Then Jed heard the click of boot heels on the sidewalk and the saloon door opened once again.
Yancy Tate walked in. He looked sober enough. Of course, the night was still fairly young. He looked at the empty chair, hesitated, then walked to a table at the other side of the saloon.
Jed let out a breath.
Toomay continued to shuffle. It was another few minutes before the saloon door opened again.
Ben Stroud—the man who had paid too much attention to Bella and had held her too close. He swaggered in, his chest out, his manner confident.
Christ Almighty. Could this night get any worse?
Stroud stopped near Toomay’s chair and looked down at the man. “So we meet again, Toomay?”