A Bride at Last (40 page)

“Mother needed to marry again—and this time, she chose
poorly. The man’s name was Rooney, and he insisted that if she could give up her first four kids, then she could give up another. But she’d been an only child, and your father’s brother, who lives in Chicago, already had eleven of his own. So she put you in the orphanage.”

Jewel stopped stirring her tea to look up at him and frown. “I was seventeen then. I wish I would’ve known where you went much sooner. I married at eighteen and, as you can see, my husband came from money. I could’ve kept you, but once your father died, Mother as good as disappeared. I saw her once at the market, sporting deep circles under her eyes I could’ve sworn were bruises. I asked her about you and she told me she’d given you up. I sent a letter to the Hall’s Home for Boys but didn’t get a response.”

“Do you know if our mother’s still alive?”

Jewel shook her head, her eyes downcast. “She died falling down the stairs a few months after I saw her last. I don’t believe it was an accident.”

A blond-headed boy of about eight poked his head into the parlor and eyed the tea set. “I thought I’d smelled cookies.”

Jewel laughed and held one out for him. “Go get your brothers and sisters.”

“We’re already here.” A girl of about ten with long dark curls came in. “If Jacob says there’re cookies, we believe him.”

A taller version of the ten-year-old girl came in along with a boy around the same age.

“Children, I want you to meet your Uncle Silas. The two oldest here are Christopher and Catherine, my fourteen-year-old twins. Then there’s Isabelle and Jacob. I have two older boys named Randolph and Maxwell, but they’re already married.”

Each of the children came over to greet him, and he had a hard time finding his voice to greet them back. What a wonder
to go from being an orphan to learning he had more relatives than the six people in the room with him.

“Do you have any children?” Isabelle’s hazel eyes were shaped so much like his own that he blinked to make sure he wasn’t just imagining them being so similar.

“I have a boy, about your age.”

“Is he here?”

“No, that’s why we’re in Missouri—we’re looking for him.” At her frown, he added, “He ran away.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure.” He looked at Jewel, afraid of what she might think of this news, but not wanting to elaborate in front of the children. “I just learned about him myself two months ago.”

Jewel gave stocky Jacob a cookie. “If we can do anything to help you locate him, add money to a reward, write to—”

“Oh, the driver!” Kate jumped up and looked out the fancy-curtained window. “What do we tell him? He’s out there pacing.”

Silas set down his cookie. “Could you tell us where there’s a decent place to board near here?”

“Upstairs.” Jewel sprang up and rang the bell near the door, and an older man appeared almost instantly. “Please inform the driver to pull up to the carriage house and unload their luggage. We have overnight guests!” The way she clasped her hands as if it were Christmas stifled his protest. “Go on out and wash up, children.” She spread out her arms as if she were herding cattle through the door instead of people. Jewel looked over her shoulder. “I’m going to tell the cook to make something special. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

The moment she slipped out the door, he closed his eyes, wiping at the hot moisture he’d been trying to keep at bay.

Kate swiped the corner of his eye with her thumb. “I hope these are happy tears.”

He shook his head. “Not entirely.”

She squeezed his hand tight and tucked herself in close but said nothing. But he knew she was waiting for him to explain.

When he swallowed enough to speak, he opened his eyes, but couldn’t look at her lest he cry and ruin his sister’s happy day. “They’re wonderful, of course, but knowing Anthony may never know them, that I might have lost my chance at being a father when I’ve only just become one . . .”

“I think you forgot about me.” Kate kissed his cheek. “I can’t replace Anthony, of course, but we can certainly try to outdo your sister if a bunch of siblings for Anthony is what you’d like to entice him home with.”

“Maybe we just might try that.” He slipped his arm around her and pulled her closer, forcing himself to smile despite the sorrow. “It’s certainly a tactic I doubt I’ll tire of.”

Her fingers combed into the curls at the nape of his neck. “Tonight?” she whispered.

Despite hearing the tread of fast-approaching feet, he leaned over and put his lips a breath away from hers. “I think that might work.” He kissed her for a fraction of a second before his sister’s throat clearing made him pull away.

Even if he’d never found Jewel and learned he indeed had family, the promise in Kate’s eyes of creating his own would’ve been enough.

Chapter 24

With his hands in his pockets, Silas leaned against the Salt Flatts post office, his head tilted back until it rested against the siding, enjoying the sun and the unseasonable warmth that came out of nowhere.

Once they’d returned to Kansas and more carefully checked the cabin, they’d discovered the bag Silas had bought for Anthony in Missouri was missing, but their son hadn’t packed much—the only other things they’d figured he’d taken was an extra set of clothing and a few pantry items. If he was still in the area, the boy had someone he was depending on, or he likely hadn’t survived the cold snap.

In the week since returning home, they’d traveled the roads, taken the train to five stops both coming and going, and called until their voices were hoarse in the fields surrounding his farm. No sign of Anthony anywhere.

Silas would have to give up his homestead to keep searching. But what if Kate didn’t agree? She’d be back from her last attempt to question the school children soon, but after that?

The post office door beside him opened, but no one came out. He tilted his head to the side to look.

Jedidiah stood in the doorway. “You got business here, or are you trying to scare people away with your scowling?”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m sorry my mood’s affecting your business.”

“If people scare so easily, they don’t deserve their mail.” Jedidiah let the door slam behind him. “I take it you’ve had no luck?”

Not wanting to voice a negative response, he simply shook his head.

“You look like you need a drink.”

“I do.” He shook his head. “But I won’t.”

“That’s what a woman will do to ya.” He crossed his arms over his chest and sat on the short tree stump he had on his porch for a stool. “How’s life with the missus?”

Silas smiled, more amused than anything by the disdain in Jedidiah’s voice. “I was an idiot for ever joining your woman-hating club.”

“Yeah, well, so was I.”

“What?” He looked at the older man askance.

“Don’t look at me like that.”

Silas kept his mouth shut. If Jedidiah wanted to spill something, he would.

They watched the pedestrians walk by for a minute or so. Silas scanned the crowd for Kate, though he was pretty certain he’d know the moment she was within eyesight.

“What if Lucy hadn’t died?” Jedidiah’s voice held none of its usual scorn.

Silas licked his lips and swallowed. And here he’d thought Jedidiah’d be spilling his guts, not asking him to spill his. “I might not be as happy as I am now, but I’d have worked at our marriage—I was more miserable when she was gone.”

“Yeah.” Jedidiah’s shoulders slowly deflated with a long, loud exhale.

Silas kept his gaze on the passersby. “Fannie’s a good woman. You don’t deserve her.”

“I’d say she doesn’t deserve me.”

He wasn’t about to argue with the man since that’s why Jedidiah and Fannie were still separated—no one could change his mind for anything.

“How I’ve treated her, well, she shouldn’t have to be strapped to me.” Jedidiah squirmed in his seat. “Told her that a year ago, yet she still sticks around.”

“Ah.” So he meant
he
wasn’t worthy of
her
. Now he definitely wasn’t going to argue. “So you’ve chosen to let your pride steal your joy.”

“I don’t deserve joy.”

“But it’s nice to have.” He pushed himself off the wall. “What’s Fannie want?”

“Me, for some reason.” And yet the man’s arms stayed stiffly crossed over his chest, like a stubborn, chastised boy.

“If you hadn’t just told me you’ve been waffling about this for more than a year, I’d have thought you’d finally smartened up. Why are you hanging on to being so dumb?”

Jedidiah sniffed and continued staring out into the street. “Well, you’re no help.” He stood and shoved his way back through the door into the post office.

A flash of ordinary brown far down Main Street caught his eye. Kate. If he could only outfit her in nicer things. He fingered the sales notice he’d penned while waiting for her. Maybe they could afford to replace her worn dresses soon, though she might not let him buy one after taking such drastic measures to get more money.

Her eyebrows lifted the moment she caught sight of him, and he shook his head. Her frown seemed to slow her pace. When she made it to him, she clomped up the stairs and went straight into his side embrace. Oh, if only they were home, he
could bury his face in her hair, pull her body against his, and lose himself in the joy of loving her.

But he had to talk her into something that would take away the comfort of home.

He kissed the top of her head and stepped away to hand her the paper. “I thought of something after we split up this morning.”

“What is it?” She eyed the paper in his hand suspiciously.

“I can’t let my place keep me from going after Anthony like it kept me from finding Lucy.”

“You tried your hardest to find her. She didn’t want to be found.”

“Neither does Anthony, apparently. But nothing’s going to make me give up again.”

“But your farm . . . It’s your life.”

“Was.” He took her hand and rubbed his calloused thumb over her knuckles. “You two are my life now. I don’t want to continually fret between searching for my boy or keeping my homestead, like I did in Breton.”

“And if you don’t find him before the money runs out?”

“I won’t put you into poverty, but we could search longer this way. I’ll pick up work wherever we want to take our time looking, and if we decide there’s nowhere else to look or the money’s running low, we can settle somewhere. As I can’t put my trust in you for happiness, I can’t trust my land either. I can only trust God will get me wherever He wants me, and I’m sure He’d rather I go after my son than hold on to a patch of dirt. He brought me to Anthony before—He can do it again.”

The sweet smile on her face felt almost as good as the kiss she was considering giving him—if he was reading that look in her eyes right.

He took hold of her wrist and pulled her close enough to whisper in her ear. “Too bad there’s people around or I’d take
the kiss you’re offering, sweep you off your feet, take you inside, and—”

“Silas,” she hissed as a man in a dirty Boss of the Plains hat passed by on his way into the post office.

Silas lifted Kate’s hand and kissed her palm, giving her a look that produced exactly what he wanted: Her cheeks turned scarlet.

The door shut behind the dusty cowboy, and she gave Silas a sorry excuse for a chastising glare. “You’re going to get us into trouble. No telling what that man thinks of us now—”

“What could he think that ain’t true?”

“Come on.” She pulled on his arms and opened the door. “You have an advertisement to hang.”

That was certainly one way to stop his teasing. “No argument?”

“As you said, family matters more than possessions. Though I’m going to miss having an orchard—you have so many beautiful trees.” She sighed. “Wherever we settle, promise we’ll put trees in first thing.”

“Well, that depends on the state of the fields we end up buying, the type of soil and time of year, and the amount of money we have left—”

“Just say, ‘Yes, my love.’”

“Ah, so now we’re starting the bossy-woman part of the relationship.”

Jedidiah glared at them as they entered—as if Kate’s laughter was a hardship.

“Ignore the grumpy man behind the counter; it’s an act,” he stage-whispered.

Jedidiah pretended as if he hadn’t heard and grabbed another handful of mail to sort.

Kate dropped his hand. “Can’t ignore him. I’ve got to check for mail unless you have already?”

“No, go ahead.” Silas went over to grab a thumbtack off the advertisement board where the cowboy stranger stood reading the flyers. “You don’t happen to be in the market for a homestead?”

“Nah, looking for work. You know of any?”

“Not off the top of my head. How long you looking to work?”

“Up to a month.”

Silas pinned up his handwritten sales announcement. “Have you checked anywhere already?”

“A few places.”

“Are you looking for a good job or just money?”

The man looked at him warily.

He held out a hand to ward off suspicion. “Just that I know Ned Parker’s always asking for hired hands. He pays well, since people willing to put up with him are scarce, so if you just wanted cash—”

“Already tried him. He hired my brother. Said he didn’t need me with the kid he’s got doing the grunt work.”

“Kid?” Silas’s heart sped up. There’d been no kid at Ned’s when he’d stopped by when Anthony first disappeared. “Boy? Girl? What age?”

“I’d say a boy of nine, maybe. Didn’t see him but from afar. Mucking stalls.”

“Dark headed?” At the man’s nod, Silas refrained from grabbing the man’s upper arm and squeezing information from him. “How was he being treated?”

“Don’t know. Kid was working hard though.”

“Thanks.” Silas strode over to the counter where Kate waited for Jedidiah to finish going through a stack of unsorted mail. “I have to go.”

“Where?”

He shook his head. What if it wasn’t Anthony? They’d al
ready asked Ned if he knew anything about the boy and he’d answered negatively. But Ned wasn’t trustworthy. What if he was treating the child like he treated his ex-wife or the hired hands he’d had over the years? He treated people no better than his oxen, and his teams never lasted long.