by Jodi Thomas
And for a moment, she hoped that both promises might lead him to love again, if he would allow himself the chance.
“Was the imp hard to settle in for her nap?”
Mina allowed him a better view of the child that rested behind her. “No trouble at all for an even bigger imp to handle.”
“You may be just what we…she needed.” He moved past Mina and bent down beside Violet. “I haven’t seen her rest this well in a long time,” he whispered.
“I promised her if she took a long nap, I would take her on a treasure hunt after I finished my work.”
“A treasure hunt?”
Violet’s well eye opened. “Yeah, Daddy, and I slept real good. You gonna let her stop now? She worked real hard.”
Both adults laughed.
“Tell you what I’ll do. I’ve got about another hour of cleaning the roundhouse. That’ll see the six-fifteen come and gone. I don’t think Sam will mind taking the reins forty-five minutes early. He’s wanting some extra hours with his oldest’s birthday coming up.”
Briar stood and glanced around the office. “This place hasn’t looked so good since we opened it.” He picked up an old boot standing on the corner of her desk. Indian paintbrush, blue flax, and yucca stalks filled the tanned leather in a colorful bouquet of red, white, and yellow. “You’ve added a decoration or two.”
“I brung her the flowers from out at the breaks, Daddy.” Violet got up and lifted the boot so her father could have a better look. “Old Joe decided to have his annual foot washing in the creek and threw away his old boots. I couldn’t lift but one of ’em, so I put the flowers in it to make it smell better. Angel said it was the best thing she ever got.”
She picked up what was left of the brassiere Briar had ripped off Mina. “I seen her picking stuff up like this off the ground, so I figured she’d like Old Joe’s boot since he didn’t want it no more.”
“Ye figured right,” Mina complimented, quickly taking the bra from her hands and stuffing it in a pocket. “And it is the nicest present anyone ever gave me. If not the most odoriferous.”
“The most odorous?” Panic seemed to etch Violet’s expression. “Can you still use it when the flowers go away?”
Mina’s heart lurched. What was the child really asking her? Was she hearing something in Violet’s tone that wasn’t there? Was she being too sensitive? She couldn’t take the chance of saying the wrong thing. After all, she’d been seven once and left behind. What would she have understood at that age? What had she needed to hear?
“I never throw anything away, lass.” She fingered one of the blue petals. “If I canna keep it, for whatever reason, I fix it and give it to someone who will love it more than me. And the word is odoriferous.”
Violet returned the boot to its place. “Good. ’Cause them flowers got mean stickers, and it was hard picking ’em.”
The wire started humming, signaling an incoming message. Glad for the interruption, Mina turned her attention to duties and let the Duncans visit while she took the message. She needed time to quiet the memory Violet’s question had evoked in her own past. Yet the more she heard of the message, the less she wanted to decipher it.
“Mina?” Briar put a hand on her shoulder. “You look pale.”
“Do I?” She tried not to lay her cheek upon the back of his hand. Doona go, her mind screamed. “I must need some air,” she whispered. “Will ye take over for a minute? ’Tis quick I’ll be.”
“Take your time. The roundhouse can wait.”
It was all she could do not to run outside. Mina forced herself to walk as if she had no concern for anything but a breath of fresh air. Once outside, she took long strides away from the depot so that no one would stop her and ask questions. She needed time alone. Time to get hold of herself.
She chose a path alongside the roadbed, allowing it to lead her away from the hustle and bustle of the busy station. Once she felt no one could see her, she searched the ground for a rock, found one, and threw it as hard as she could against the iron rail. It shattered into tiny pieces, mirroring the way she felt at the moment.
“Why is it that Ye want me alone?” she yelled at the blue sky above, her voice taking on volume as rage erupted from her. “I did what I should have. I proved I could take care of meself. All by meself, I grew to a woman, fine and true to Yer good ways. And with no help from either father or mother.” Her sails were full of breath and bluster. “I learned to wait.”
She pointed at the roadbed that led to the station. “And now, just when I found someone who doesna fear me shadows and makes me light up like the dawn, Ye’re gonna send him a fine message such as that! Take him from me like Ye have everyone else Ye ever put in me life? Take him from what’s best for her, too?”
If Briar was this busy in Amarillo, no telling what would happen to Violet if he carted her off to who-knew-where. Mina picked up one of the pieces of the rock and crumbled the rest of it between her fingers, letting the wind carry it away. “Ye’re gonna lead him off to somewhere in Texas or Mexico where he’ll find her too much of a distraction. Where he’ll not need or want me?”
The tears came now, unbidden, hot, cruel. “Am I such a tribulation, Lord? Why does no one want me?”
Two strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her back into a familiar embrace. Her eyes closed as she breathed in the essence of Briar and the haven he offered her. The sanctuary she needed.
“Don’t cry, Mina.”
“Ye heard?” She prayed he hadn’t. She wondered if he understood.
“I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t let you go without finding out. I left Violet with the wire. She’s probably contacted Japan by now.”
Mina laughed, grateful for a way to stop the flow of tears. Awed that he had cared enough to follow. She faced him, finding comfort in the fact that he continued to hold her. “I promise you I’m worth wanting, Briar.” Her eyes met his. “And I’m willing to wait however long it takes for ye to want me in return.”
“I’m not going to accept Pershing’s offer, Mina. Raising Violet right is my true adventure now. It has been all along and I just was too blind to see it. I have you to thank for that. And just so you know”—his breath mingled with her own as his lips lowered to hers—“wanting you has never been in question.”
She held nothing back. The first kiss they’d shared had been one to tempt him. This one meant to seal their fate so that nothing would ever keep their hearts apart. Shadows that had been so long a part of Mina suddenly vanished with the promise of a radiant dawn. The abandonment that had cloaked every fearful night of her life was now vanquished in the heated wake of belonging somewhere and to someone. The earth seemed to rock beneath her feet, as if the roots of their future had buried themselves deep within the soil.
When the kiss ended he took a step backward, looking dazed. “I vowed to love Katie forever, Mina. I just don’t know if I can make such a promise again.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but she’d learned to be patient. To wait on life to lead her in a better direction. She knew now, beyond a shadow of any fear, that Briar was the pot at the end of her rainbow.
Forever meant different things to people, but the one thing true for everyone was that forever could always be exchanged with now.
Chapter 9
“Where did you find that?” Briar took the sack of flour from Mina’s hand. They had been walking the streets between his house and the restaurant for an hour. The stores were closed so she couldn’t have got it from the mercantile.
“Someone must have dropped it off one of their wagons when they headed home. I put a notice up at the filling station in case the owner asked about it.” Mina dusted off her skirt where some of the flour had obviously leaked out of the bag. “I’ll make a blueberry patch of pies if no one claims it. The preacher will be glad of it when I share the pies with his flock next Sunday.”
“And look what else we found, Daddy.” Violet opened the pouch Mina had given her to carry
whatever treasures she found. She pulled out a cob pipe that had lost its stem, a rolled up newspaper, a silk ribbon, a piece of leather, and a tassel that could have easily been taken from the surrey he’d driven earlier.
“Looks like you found a bunch.” He examined each of her prizes carefully. “Decided what you’re going to do with them?”
“Angel said she’d fix ’em for me. I’m gonna give them to my friends. Angel said treasures should never be thrown away. You can always fix them up and give them a new home.”
“That’s mighty nice of you. I’ll bet your friends would enjoy them.”
“Except this ol’ newspaper. Jim Corbett said he’s seen enough newspaper at his grandpa’s house to last him till the earth runs out of ink.”
“I would like to keep it, if ye doona mind.” Mina waited until Violet handed her the newsprint then uncurled it. “It says here that rainmaker, Charles Hatfield, predicted heavy rains in San Diego, California, in January and, saints and begorra, if it didna come a downpour.” She held the headline up for Briar to see. “Maybe ye need to send the man a telegram and invite him to the panhandle.”
“Oh yeah,” Briar scoffed, “I’ll just bet every family who’s experienced the boom and bust of their wheat crop will go for that idea. I’d be laughed off the high plains.”
Mina gently hit Briar with the paper. “Ye have any better idea how to call down the rain?”
“Maybe talk some of Quanah’s kin into dancing for us. It always worked for them.”
“Is his tribe still around? Nathaniel said the area was safe.”
“The last battle was out in the canyon a few miles from here.”
“Rainmaker or rain dance”—Mina did an Irish jig—“whatever will get the message to heaven quicker, I’m thinking.”
Violet quickly returned her discoveries to the pouch and tugged on Mina’s skirt. “Will you fix my kite for me?”
“Sure, but I thought ye didna want to play with it anymore.”
“I got me a real important message to send.”
Briar escorted them home and made supper while Mina and Violet worked on the kite at the kitchen table. He enjoyed watching her instruct his daughter, listened closely as she answered Violet’s questions and guided every helpful hand the child offered. She did not criticize the misspelling of the message, but rather applauded Violet’s diligent effort. Mina knew how to work with children. She would be a good mother.
The thought led his mind too easily to the kisses they’d shared this afternoon and the feel of her in his arms. He tried to will the same image of Katie, but it dimmed in comparison to what he’d shared with Mina.
“Are you two about finished?” he asked, almost too brusquely, aware that he was angry at Mina for his betrayal of Katie’s memory. “I need to set the table soon.”
“All done,” Mina announced, handing the kite to Violet. “Go put that in yer room on top of your footrest and I’ll help yer da with the plates. Be sure to slant it sideways as you go through the doors.”
“You’ve got her believing she can call down the rain with that. Don’t you think you’re being a little foolish?” Briar stirred the gravy before it bubbled over. He took a bowl down from the cabinet to use once the gravy cooled.
“Is it a fool’s wish to hope? Better to use yer imagination and try, than to sit back and do nothing.”
Criticism echoed in Mina’s tone, stirring his anger further. He couldn’t let her innuendo go unchallenged. “Say what you mean, Mina. You’ve always been frank before.”
“Okay, then I will. Ye say ye want me, but ye do nothing about it. Ye say ye canna love again, but yer lips tell me differently. Why are ye content in withdrawing from the fact that death has parted ye from Katie Rose and ye must find a way to live without her? Ye’ve lost yer way, Briar, and ye just need to find yer way back. I hope ’tis me who leads ye there, but if someone else is in the plan, then so be it. But ye must trust yer heart again, man, if ye want a better life than the one ye’ve now chosen for the two of ye. And I say chosen, because ’tis what ye’ve done. Ye’re choosing to be lost. ’Tis in yer own power to change things.”
He set the gravy off to cool. “My life’s not so bad.”
“It could be better.”
“Violet, come eat,” Briar called loudly, knowing Mina was right but unwilling to admit it. “You need to get to bed soon.”
“And yer da needs to stuff his mouth so he can evade the issue,” Mina added before she grabbed up the skillet and poured its contents into the blue-speckled tureen.
Craackk! The gravy began to seep out the edges of the large split that rent the tureen’s porcelain side.
“Ohh, ’tis sorry I am.” After Mina dropped the red-hot container, she began to mop up the gravy with the hot pad she’d used to lift the skillet.
Briar grabbed an empty pan from the cabinet and quickly transferred the remainder of the mixture into the pan.
“Please let me help. I’ll—”
“I’ve got it. Go wash that off before it burns your hands.”
Apology etched her face. “I wasna thinking. It was hotter than…Ye can take it out of my first wages or ’tis another I’ll buy ye at—”
“It can’t be replaced.”
Her eyes rounded. “It was Katie Rose’s?”
“Our wedding bowl.”
When the bowl was empty, he placed it gently in the trash. “Tell Violet to wash her hands before she comes to the table. That will give me time to make sure we didn’t get any on the floor so none of us will slip on it.”
“I’ll send her in, but please doona set a plate for me. I-I canna eat.”
Mina yawned. It had to be three in the morning, but at last she was done. It had been difficult working in the dark, but she knew if she had turned on the light she might awaken Violet. She only hoped the glue on the tureen would hold and that the mixture of flowers, flax, and candle wax was enough to hold the porcelain together. She’d used flowers and candle wax for glue before, but the idea to add some of the blue flax to hide the crack had come to her about an hour ago. She’d taken the bowl apart again, gathered some of the flowers from Briar’s backyard, and altered the mixture. Just as she planned, the color of the flax blended perfectly with the bowl’s design and the crack was no longer visible. Now if the glue held, she would be able to present the bowl to Briar almost in its original shape. Almost.
She decided to check on Violet before turning in. Mina tiptoed to the child’s room, hoping not to wake her. The rascal had a bad habit of not really being asleep. Briar had returned to the station hours ago after doing the dishes. She’d started to help him, but then thought better of it. She’d broken one of Katie’s precious belongings. If she harmed another, he would never forgive her.
Mina smiled as she saw all the treasures Violet had found now laying about her room, all with a piece of paper and the person’s name to whom she planned to give the treasure scrawled across its surface. She leaned down to press a kiss against Violet’s brow only to discover a wisp of hair had fallen into the lass’s eyes. She smoothed it back, then gently kissed the tiny forehead.
“I ’member somebody doing that,” Violet whispered. The bruised eye opened slightly as she yawned. “I think it was my mommy.”
Mina pulled the covers up and tucked the child in, then sat on the edge of the bed. “Do ye remember much about her?”
“Only that she smelled nice and she sang pretty.”
“Did she give you this?” Mina lifted the silver baby rattle that lay on the stand next to the bed.
“Nope. That’s Daddy’s. His godfather gave it to him, and he gave it to me.”
“His godfather?”
“Mr. Corbett, the newspaper man. He’s the one who helped Daddy meet Mommy, I think. ’Least that’s what Daddy said.”
“What else has yer da told ye about her?”
“Nothing. He said it would just hurt me to know. But you know what, angel?”
“What, sweeting?”
“I think he hurts when he talks about Mommy, so I don’t ask him.”
“Maybe someday soon he willna hurt anymore, then he’ll tell ye all about her.”
“You really think so?”
“Ye can be sure of it, love.”
“Jimmy told me my mommy’s buried in the graveyard, not in heaven like Daddy said. Did you see her when you went there?”
“No.” Mina was glad she could answer that question honestly, but she would not lie to the child. “People who get sick and go to heaven usually go to the graveyard first.”
“I don’t believe you. You and Jimmy are talking jive. I want to see her.”
“Yer da will have to take ye there, Violet. I promised him that I would leave that to him. Now close those sleepy eyes and go to sleep or ye’ll be too tired to fly yer kite tomorrow. Ye doona want another hot, dry day, do ye? We could sure use the rain.”
The child reluctantly went back to sleep. Mina waited until she was sure her steps would not reawaken the lass, then tiptoed out into the hall. A shadow shifted just as she sensed a presence in the hallway. “How long have ye been standing there?” she asked, her heart pounding in her throat.
“Long enough to tell you to stop discussing Katie Rose with my daughter.”
Mina moved past him and took a seat in the parlor, needing to sit to stop her trembling. She had forgotten about his occasional check-ins to make sure Violet was all right. His anger was almost palpable; she didn’t need to see it on his face.
“I didna discuss her,” she countered, electing not to turn on a light. “I merely asked Violet what she remembered and, frankly, ’tis a sad lot she recalls.”
“It’s none of your business, Miss McCoy. I’ll tell her when I’m ready.”
“And when is that? When ye’ve withdrawn so far into yer-self that ye canna teach her how it is to love and be loved? She’s a little girl expecting her mother to return. She needs to know Katie’s never coming back. She needs to know that doesna mean she was never loved while Katie lived. Violet has a right to know her mother fully so she can treasure that memory. ’Tis the greatest legacy ye can give her.”