Winning the Lady (Book 4 of the Red River Valley Brides)

by Hestand, Rita

  He was losing. Not just one or two games a night, but nearly all the games.

  Despite telling Trish he would be prepared for it, he never thought it would happen to him. It wasn't that he was out of money. He saved much of what he won. What bothered him was that the luck seemed to be gone.

  His moods began to change. He was more short-tempered and angry a lot. Finally one day he went to the bar and stayed there all night.

  "Gil, Gil, get up honey. They want this table for breakfast."

  "Leave me alone…" He remained lying across the table.

  "I can't. Come on, let's go upstairs," she suggested.

  "I don't want to go upstairs."

  "Please."

  "Go by yourself. I need a drink," he procrastinated.

  "Gil, you're drunk."

  "So?"

  She looked at the big clock on the wall. "So, it's ten o'clock in the morning."

  "Leave me alone, Trish. Just leave me alone."

  ~*~

  Hurt and confused on how to handle the situation, she walked away with tears in her eyes.

  She went upstairs, flung herself across the bed, and then yelped as it hurt to lay on her stomach now. The baby didn't seem to like it either.

  She was still crying when he came upstairs.

  He staggered through the door. "What are you blabbering about?"

  "You're drunk."

  "Of course I am. I'm losing. Do you hear me? I'm losing."

  "You said you could handle this," she reminded him.

  "So I can't. I’m human." He glared at her.

  "Gil, let me help you. Maybe we need to get out of here."

  "Get out of here. The only one who needs to get out of here is you. You caused this. You're not lucky any more. That's it. You aren't lucky."

  "You don't mean that."

  "The hell I don't."

  Staring at him as though he had suddenly become a monster, she shrieked. "You w-want me to leave?"

  "Why not? I don't need you anymore…"

  Although she felt shocked, pride kept her going. "All right, I'll leave."

  She dug out her satchel and filled it with as much clothes as it would hold. "I'm going to Vada. To be with my friends. If you want to see me, you know where to find me."

  "Go on. I said I don't need you anymore."

  "I'm going… and I'm sorry. Because I still love you, Gil."

  He waved his arms about, anger coloring his face red. "Go on, get out."

  She rushed down the stairs and to check on a coach she might catch.

  She didn't take his money. She took only a few clothes, that was all.

  He blamed her for losing at the tables. She'd been downstairs less and less as her time neared, and Gil resented it.

  How could her life turn so sour when her love was so deep?

  She waited for the stage in the hotel lobby. She had to wait two hours.

  Gil never came down the stairs. Never begged her forgiveness. It was over…

  The ride would be long and hard, but she'd manage.

  ~*~

  It was four o'clock the next evening before Gil sobered enough to clean up and go downstairs.

  He was in the middle of a game when one of the players glanced at him. "I see your wife's time has come. Did she go home to family?"

  Gil frowned. "What?"

  "I said I see your wife left. I figured she went home to have the baby."

  Gil's eyes rounded on the man. He stood and leaned over to hit the man in the face. "It's none of your business where my wife went."

  Then he stalked off.

  But the Sheriff was in the lobby, and witnessed the whole thing. He arrested Gil and took him to jail.

  In jail Gil fretted over his circumstances. "How long do I have to stay here?" He asked the sheriff.

  "Until morning, so settle down son, and sober up. I wouldn't let you out in your condition anyway."

  Gil banged the cell bars and frustrated that the sheriff ignored him, he sat down and his head nearly exploded.

  The next morning, he had sobered and he realized the brevity of what he'd done. He no longer cared that he lost at the tables, that his career as a gambler might be over. What concerned him now what that his pregnant wife was gone and he didn't know where.

  He was beside himself with worry.

  The sheriff saw he'd sobered and let him go.He ran up the stairs. She wasn't there. His Trish was gone. Where had she gone? The baby was due any time now. She didn't need to be out in this weather, traveling.

  His mind whirled with worry.

  "What have I done? My God, what have I done?" He cried, getting on his knees in prayer. "I'm sorry. I thought I could handle losing. I couldn't. But to lose Trish because of it? Please, please help me find her."

  Where could she be?

  He'd let her down again. Just when she needed him most. What kind of husband would do such a thing?

  As he wrestled with trying to remember, it hit him.

  "She's gone to Vada. I know she has. It's the only place she ever called home. I'll go there and find her. I know I will."

  He packed his bags and paid his bill then rushed to catch the stage, but there would be no stage until the next day, he was told.

  He went to the livery stable to see if he could get a horse.

  "You aim to travel in this weather on horseback?" The livery man asked as he saw him hitching up.

  "I do."

  "But you'll kill yourself and the horse."

  "We'll be fine. How much?"

  "I ain't sellin' you no horse to murder, mister."

  "Then sell me a buggy."

  "Where you headed?"

  "Vada." He tried to contain his anger over the man refusing to sell him a horse.

  "That's over three hundred miles. No buggy will withstand that kind of trip. Look, you can probably catch the stage out tomorrow. Why don't you wait for that?"

  "I can't wait for that. My wife's going to have a baby, I've got to get there."

  "Sorry, fella. I just as soon put a gun to your head and shoot as give you a horse or buggy," the stable master said.

  Gil looked the thin, wiry man down. "Don't you understand? I've got to get there."

  "Not today you don't." The old man walked away.

  There had to be another way. The train, yes, there was a train. He could take it to Dallas and hire a rig out to Vada.

  Gil bought a ticket. It would be two days before he got there. Two days! What if Trish had the baby without him?

  He slumped in his seat and tried not to think about what he'd done to her.

  It would all be all right, if he could get to her.

  The train had a million stops, and it seemed forever before he reached Dallas. He bought a horse and headed for Vada.

  But the snowstorm caught him unaware.

  Gil had to find a place to hold up until the weather got better. Lucky for him, he found a cave not occupied by an animal and crawled into it. He brought twigs, a couple of logs, and built a fire. Hovering over the fire he tried to keep it going all night. He got very little sleep.

  The next day was just as bad. The snow had turned into ice, and the horse was having a time on it.

  He ran into a farm and knocked.

  A pleasant round woman of fifty or so answered the door. "Yes sir?" She looked up at him, half frozen. "Come on in and warm yourself."

  "Thank you, ma'am."

  "Over there by the fire. Warm up slow or you'll regret it," she advised.

  "Thank you, ma'am. Are you here alone?"

  "Nope. I got this. " She produced a rifle in her hand. "And I know how to use it. A woman on the prairie alone has to know how to use it."

  "I'm not lookin' for trouble, ma'am. I'm trying to get to Vada. My wife is having a baby."

  The woman's face changed to one of complete understanding. "You don't say. I'll swan. Well, you cain't get there in this, I can tell you. Give it a day or two. It will thaw, and then you can be on your way." />
  He looked at her with a frown. "Got a spare room you can rent me for the night?"

  "I do. You got money to pay?"

  "I do."

  "Then both of us are happy. Sit down a spell. I'll fix us some supper." She slapped him hard on the back.

  He laughed. "Yes, ma'am."

  A hound dog came into the room. He eyed Gil for a moment then let out a howl.

  "Hush up, Pepper. He ain't no varmint," the woman directed.

  The dog settled down on the floor near him.

  Gil glanced at the old woman. "I'm not sure he believes you, the way he's starin' at me."

  "He's my other protection, in case the first don't work." She laughed.

  Gil smiled.

  Before long, she had a steaming bowl of stew on the table and cornbread. "Help yourself. It's pretty good if I do say so myself." She chuckled. "Where do you hail from?"

  "I came from San Antonio."

  She nodded, her hair falling toward her face. "Now that there is one big place."

  "Yes, ma'am, it is."

  "Went there once back in '66. Wasn't as big then. Cousins said it growed though."

  "It did."

  "What do you do fer a livin'?"

  "I'm a gambler."

  She wrinkled her mouth up. She had no teeth, and he wondered how she chewed her food, but he wasn't about to ask. "A tin-horn, huh?"

  "I was…"

  "Was? What are you now?"

  "Not much of nothing, I guess. Plan on doin' some farmin' though."

  "Farmin', huh? Not the right time of year to be thinkin' on that."

  "No, ma'am, but I got to buy me some land first."

  She nodded as she stared out the window and nodded, "I got 60 acres. Ain't much, but it keeps me busy. "You shore are a handsome one. You say your wife is gonna have a baby?" She cut the cornbread and added butter.

  "Yes, any time now. That's why I've got to get to her."

  She nodded taking a bite of stew and munching on her cornbread. "Well, that hag you got out there ain't gonna make it."

  "You got a horse you want to sell?"

  "Mister, I got everything but money," she bragged.

  "Good. When I get ready to go, I will buy one from you and leave that one for ya," Gil promised.

  "Sounds reasonable."

  "Where can I bunk tonight?"

  "Ain't got but one bed, and that's mine. You can sleep in here on the floor." She gestured at the small space between the door and the kitchen.

  He glanced about, seeing she had very little in way of furniture or rooms. "I can make out."

  "Good. Now, why ain't you already with your wife?" she asked.

  He eyed the woman, noting the uncombed hair, the rags she wore, and the determined look on her wrinkled face. "She left me."

  "Left you. Well, what in the Sam hill did she do that for? You're a right handsome feller."

  "I ran her off."

  "Makes no sense to me. Why'd you run her off then chase her down?"

  "It was a mistake. I was drunk…"

  "Oh, well, I certainly understand that. My man took to drinkin'. He six foot under now. Jest me here, all alone. He could be mean when he drank, so I cain't say as I miss him."

  "That's probably what she thinks of me."

  "Did you hit her?"

  "Heavens no!" Gil protested. "She's pregnant."

  "Even so." She shrugged and pulled the tattered shawl around her shoulders. "Drunks do fool things."

  "I guess they do."

  "Now you're sorry, huh?"

  "Yes, now I'm sorry." He admitted.

  "Too bad she ain't here. I might could help her along. I midwifed fer a while when I lived in town."

  "Is that so? What is your name?" he asked. He should've asked before this. But then he was full of should haves.

  "Matty, Matty Taylor. And yourn?"

  "Gil, Gil Davis." He smiled and shook her hand.

  "Well, sir, it's gettin' late. We need to stoke the fire, and I'll get some blankets fer ya."

  He nodded and went over to the fire. He stoked it and it got warmer.

  When he didn't move, she stared at him and folded her lips into her toothless mouth. "Go outside by the lean-to and bring in some wood."

  "Yes, ma'am." He left.

  Gil wished he could have pushed on, but the weather wasn't going to let him. He resigned himself to staying with old Matty for a day or so. Then he'd get on to Vada.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  The stagecoach didn't have much luck. It broke down halfway there, and they were near in a little community that didn't even have a name. Most of the population was Mexican.

  Seeing that Trish was pregnant, the driver tried to protect her above all the other passengers. He gave her extra blankets and water and watched after her, but they all nearly froze to death.

  When the driver came upon the community, he found some shelter for her and she spent the night with a Mexican couple. They didn't speak English, but they made gestures for food and sleep.

  Trish watched them as a family and envied them. She never dreamed she would be in this position. She loved Gil so much she was ready to turn around and go back, but there was no turning back for the stage. They were stuck here until they could fix the wheel.

  She wondered if it was a mistake to leave Gil. Her heart said yes, but her logic shrugged, not knowing.

  He had been so drunk he was out of his head. Money wasn't the issue. It was a sudden lack of confidence in his ability to do something he'd done for years. Trish should have allowed for that. She was his wife, and she belonged with him, through thick and thin. She prayed he'd be all right, that the baby would be all right, and that she might see him again.

  But being pregnant forced her to be protective of her baby, and the future looked bleak without Gil.

  If Gil didn't want them, then she had to find some way to make it on her own. She hadn't taken any more money from his account than what she needed for a ticket. It was his money. He'd won it. Thank God he hadn't lost all his money! Just like he told her, he'd saved most of it.

  His only real problem was his gambling. When a gambler lost faith in his ability, he was a loser. She feared the day would come, but she held out hope it never would.

  She missed him. Part of her was back there, with him, a big part of her.

  The little boy and girl ran around the house, shouting and playing, so happy. The mother watched them and then began preparing a meal. When it was ready, she motioned for her to join them.

  "I have no….dinearo," Trish explained.

  The woman smiled and shook her head and intimated for her to eat.

  So she ate as the woman fed her baby, holding her lovingly, and the man sat playing with his older children, laughing with them. This is what a family should be. Money didn't matter. She wished Gil had been here to see this.

  That was how it was supposed to be with her and Gil.

  Tears stung her eyes. She hurriedly wiped them away.

  The woman gave her a bed to sleep in, one of the children slept on the floor beside her.

  Trish was grateful and hugged the woman before she left the next day on the stage.

  The repairs were made, and they were on their way again.

  Back on the stage, it was crowded and cold. The wind seeped in through the closed flaps. The breeze sounded lonely. It made her ache for Gil, for his big strong arms to hold her.

  She rubbed her hands to keep them from freezing.

  The farther north they went, the colder it got.

  Two women and three men rode the stage with her. The women hardly said a word to her, but the men talked off and on.

  But no one expected what happened next. The stage stopped. Two men with guns on horseback were bearing down on the driver. They weren't carrying anything valuable the driver told them.

  The outlaws seemed put out, so they killed the driver and ran off, with the gold watches the men carried and a few pins the women wore. Trish huddled
with another lady who had gotten on at the last stop. She was scared witless when the driver was killed so merciless.

  She had carried nothing on her. Gil had taught her that.

  With the driver killed, the men decided one of them was going to have to drive the stage into the next town. Trouble was, these men were businessmen and Trish seriously doubted any of them could handle the horses.

  "I've never driven anything like this, it's so big and so many horses. I'm not sure I can handle it. I might kill us all." The man fretted, putting his hands in his pockets and frowning at the ground.

  "Yeah well, I got a bad shoulder, I doubt I'd last long up there." Another man said.

  Trish grimaced. "All right, then, I'll do it," she heard herself say.

  The other woman nearly screamed but put her hand over her mouth.

  Trish wasn't intimidated by the stage and the horses, as she had hauled for her daddy long ago. When he hauled freight. She could do it again. Her mind raced back in time, at how cruel her daddy had been when she made a mistake. She never had measured up in his eyes. But then one day she quit caring.

  "Are you crazy? You're a woman. "The man with his hands in his pockets said. "And you're pregnant."

  "I'm aware of that, but you gentlemen seem to be having a hard time deciding. I'll drive the damn thing. You see, I need to get there as soon as possible."

  The men frowned. The woman was appalled.

  She climbed up on the seat and bundled herself well in the fur coat Gil had bought her a few months back. She remembered the day he bought it for her. It was nearly a hundred degrees outside, but this traveling salesman had told him it was rabbit fur. The color was so pretty Trish stared at it longingly.

  It was going to come in handy for this trip. She sighed. At least her baby was warm.

  The ride was bumpy and hard and just sitting the seat was enough to shake the baby.

  Only minutes from the next town, her water broke. Trish realized quickly what had happened as she'd had quite a discussion with Jo Ella about having babies before she left. She knew her labor pains wouldn't be long in coming. Thankful now that she had asked Jo Ella so many questions about the birth. At least she knew a little of what to expect. But panic did get to her, and she screamed and stopped.