A Texan's Luck (38 page)

Walker touched her arm. "We're ready. Go, quickly, once you leave the store."

"What's wrong?" She knew something had to be. She also guessed he wouldn't take time to tell her, and she was right.

When Lacy darted from the side door, she saw Theda swing her umbrella at a man trying to exit the back of the wagon as fast as possible.

"How dare you touch my things!" the tall woman yelled. "Get out of here immediately."

Lacy had seen the man when she'd been in town before. He'd sat outside the saloon looking too drunk to walk. She'd felt sorry for him then, not realizing he was a thief who must steal whatever he could in order to fund his habit of drink.

She smiled. She almost felt sorry for him again today, for Theda was dealing out justice with a mighty swing of her umbrella.

Walker rushed past Lacy to help the old maid, but Theda had already handled the situation. The thief darted away, screaming in pain. Two of the soldiers took off in pursuit, but Walker ordered them back.

Lifting Lacy into the wagon, he said, "Wonderful job, Miss Theda. I'll have you in my regiment anytime."

Theda, who a moment before had been raging mad, now looked like she might faint. "I can't believe my heart didn't stop with terror." She crumpled onto the bench as Hayes took up the reins. "When I climbed in and saw him picking through my boxes, I just reacted." She looked up at Lacy, her eyes wide with fear. "He might have killed me."

Lacy doubted it. The man was much smaller than Theda and looked too poor to even own a gun. But Lacy said, "You were so brave."

Theda smiled and calmed. "I was, wasn't I."

Within minutes they were clear of the town and riding hard. The bench seat inside the ambulance wagon would have been comfortable at a normal rate, but at this speed, Lacy and Theda rocked from side to side.

With a sudden dip in the road, Theda's elbow hit the iron of the bench side and she yelped, then quickly insisted it was nothing, but Lacy didn't miss the way she babied her arm.

After another five minutes, Theda was too frightened to talk.

Lacy feared she couldn't endure a day at this speed. She also knew it would be a waste of time to ask the men to slow down. There was a reason for their hurry, and if they knew what it was, Theda might be even more nervous than she already was.

Pushing off the bench, she gripped the canvas sides and crawled forward. Beneath the driver was a stack of army-issue wool blankets. Rising to her knees, Lacy spread them out on the floor of the wagon. Then she motioned for Theda to join her.

Theda spread Walker's blanket over them both, and they cuddled in the bed of the wagon. Here, the ride was smoother, and they didn't feel like they might fly off in one direction or the other at any moment.

Theda laughed. "This is exciting. How'd you know to get low like this?"

Lacy told her the story of how she came to Texas. Now that they were away from the fort, she felt she could tell everything, including how Walker and she were married and what it had been like on the wagon train. An hour passed as Theda asked questions, forgetting all about how fast they were traveling.

When the wagon slowed, they heard a tap on the side canvas and Walker's voice. "You two all right in there?"

"We're snug as bugs." Theda laughed, high on the adventure. "Why'd we slow down?"

"I thought…" Walker paused. "Lacy, is it rough on you?"

"No, dear," she answered, giggling at Theda's face. "We're tough enough to take it. Let's make some time."

She heard Walker give an order, and they were off again. In less time than she thought possible, they slowed to turn onto Carter McKoy's farm.

Lacy poked her head out and watched as Walker rode up to the gate and fired two shots, then waited for an answering two shots before opening the gate and motioning in the wagon.

The four mounted soldiers waited at the entrance, while Hayes drove the wagon up to the house. Lacy was out of the wagon and running to Bailee before Hayes had even brought the horse to a stop.

The two women hugged wildly, then Lacy stepped back and introduced first Theda, and then Walker. Hayes had finished unloading the wagon by the time she got around to him. The sergeant tipped his hat, then saluted Walker and departed without a word.

Walker dismounted and moved to where Carter stood.

Ranger Dalton stormed out the door. "Hello, honey," he shouted to Lacy. "How was army life?" When he set Lacy down from a hug, he offered his hand to Walker. "Captain."

Walker straightened, and Lacy held her breath. "My wife's name is Lacy, Dalton. I'd thank you to remember that."

The ranger grinned. "I was wondering when you'd care enough to notice." He turned to Lacy. "Nell's waiting to see you inside, Mrs. Larson."

Everyone but Walker and Carter moved.

Just before Lacy stepped inside, she thought she heard Walker say low to Carter. "Fill me in?"

The big man nodded as they both walked toward the barn.

Part of her wanted to know what was going on, but right now, she had Nell to see about.

The doctor had waited with Nell while the others ran outside to greet the wagon. He stood when everyone returned, but in his usual quiet way, he made no greeting.

Lacy saw the worry in his eyes a moment before he masked all expression from his tired gaze.

She forced questions down. They could wait until she could talk to him without anyone overhearing. She moved beside the bed.

Nell smiled up at Lacy. Her color was better, and the cuts on her body were beginning to heal, but, she didn't move.

"How you feeling?" Lacy kissed the girl's cheek and took her hand, which felt cold in her grip.

"Weaker than a kitten," Nell admitted in a whisper. "But the doc says I'm getting stronger every day. I guess I lost a great deal of blood." She blinked back a tear. "I wouldn't have made it if Carter hadn't come along when he did."

Lacy looked around. Nell had been set up in a corner of the huge main room and, from the location of the ranger's gear, Dalton was sleeping a few feet away on a long couch. The location was practical but offered Nell little privacy.

"You're going to be just fine," Lacy whispered.

"I know," Nell answered. "I know." She sounded as if she were trying to convince herself.

Timothy motioned with his head that maybe they should move away. "She needs to sleep. She's been waiting up until you got here, but it's time for more medicine."

Lacy kissed Nell again and stepped away as Dalton and the doctor pulled a wooden divider to offer Nell some privacy.

"She's still needing a lot for the pain," the doctor whispered when he joined them a few minutes later. "She'll sleep for a while now, and then I'll check on her before I head back to town."

Lacy noticed Theda standing by the door looking totally out of place. "Timothy, could you look at my friend's elbow? She hurt it on the ride here and is trying to act like it's nothing, but I know it pains her."

"Of course." He grabbed his bag.

To her surprise, Theda didn't argue when she introduced the doctor and suggested he examine her elbow. Lacy insisted they use the small bedroom at the front of the house.

In a few minutes, Timothy's kind manner had won Theda over. Her sleeve was too tight-fitting to allow him to see unless she removed her blouse or he cut the material. He stepped out of the room while Lacy helped the old maid pull her arm and shoulder free of the dress.

When the doctor returned, he was as professional as Theda was nervous. But as Lacy encouraged her to talk about helping her father, she relaxed. To Lacy's surprise, Timothy had heard of Theda's father. He'd been a great doctor during the war and was still talked about at medical school for some of the things he'd pioneered in field hospitals.

Three hours later, when everyone sat down to dinner, the doctor and Theda were still talking. Dalton filled his plate and moved behind the divider to have his meal with Nell, even though she still slept. Carter looked like there were far too many people in the house, but Bailee kept him busy helping with his sons. Walker, Lacy realized, was the watcher in the group. He was polite, even helpful, but never a part of the group.

When Bailee announced that Theda and Lacy would share the only bedroom and Walker was welcome to bunk in the main room by the fire or in the workshop with old Samuel, Lacy was the only one who caught the disappointment in Walker's eyes. He looked straight at her.

Dalton laughed. "I tried the bunkhouse the first night. I'd rather sleep with a dozen bears than listen to Samuel snore all night again."

"I'll take my chances by the fire," Walker said, but Lacy knew he wanted to be closer to her.

To everyone's surprise, the doctor asked if Bailee would mind if he stayed the night. He claimed he wanted to keep a close watch on Nell, but everyone wondered if it might have something to do with the tall old maid. She'd followed him to Nell's side every time he'd checked on the girl, assisting him.

When the house settled down, there was no private time for Lacy to talk to Walker. He walked her to her bedroom door and said good night, formally, but she saw the need in his eyes.

The world had closed in around them. There would be no time for them to be alone tonight.

Lacy fought back tears as she closed the door and put on the gown she'd planned to show off to Walker. Tonight, only Theda would see it.

Walker swore as he unfolded his bedroll by
the fire.

The ranger laughed from ten feet away. "Stop complaining, I've been sleeping in this room for a week now. It ain't so bad. You're the last one to get to sleep, and the kids wake you up by dawn coming down from the loft like a herd of buffalo smelling fresh water. Add to that, Carter patrols the house a couple times a night checking the locks like someone might sleepwalk and unlock a door, and Bailee checks on Nell every few hours like I might not be doing the job."

Dalton continued, as if Walker cared, "But tonight should be interesting with the doc sleeping on a cot in the kitchen. No telling how many times he'll be in and out of here. If Miss Theda thinks he's doing doctoring, she'll be running out to stand by his side. Then there's your wife, Mrs. Larson. She'll probably wander out here to check on Nell just in case me, the doc, and Bailee are all falling down on our jobs." Dalton sighed. "I'd get more sleep in a stampede."

Walker had little sympathy. "At least your wife isn't
sleeping in another room. After tonight, I'll only have ten days of leave left."

"It's not like you only have ten days of marriage left." Dalton tried to help.

Walker groaned.

Dalton sat up. "It
is
like you only have ten days left! Larson, maybe no one's ever explained this to you army guys, but marriage is for a lifetime. That's why they put that 'till death do us part' line in there, so the husband won't accidentally throw out the wife with last year's calendar."

Walker didn't want to talk to the ranger about his marriage, but he knew Dalton would be around long after he'd gone. The ranger's shoulder would probably be where Lacy cried, if she missed him, which he wasn't at all sure about, since she still carried that tablet around and marked off each day.

He poked at the fire, mumbling as much to himself as to the ranger, "I gave Lacy my word that if she'd let me protect her, I'd leave in twenty-four days and never come back. The time's over half gone, and she hasn't said a word about my not keeping that promise."

"Have you?"

"No."

Dalton swore. "That's crazy. You're her husband." He stood and walked over to the fire. He rubbed his hand through hair a month past needing to be cut. "You are her husband, aren't you, Captain?"

"I'm her husband."

"Her real husband … in every way? Not just on paper."

"In every way."

"Then don't go. Or at least take her with you."

"I gave her my word I'd leave, and she wouldn't go with me, even if I asked her."

Dalton shook his head. "Then you got one hell of a problem. Tell me, Captain, just for the record, do you love her?"

"Yes," Walker answered without hesitating. The question had not entered his mind before, but when asked, he could give just one answer, the truth. Even to say he thought he did, or he might, would have been a he. There was no doubt; he'd loved her since that day in Cottonwood. Not because of her body, or what they'd done, but he loved her for being so brave. In those few minutes they'd been together, she'd become his wife in body as well as in his heart. "I love her," he said again, letting the words roll around in his mind.

"Have you told her?"

"No."

The ranger looked bothered by the captain. "I'm no expert, but I think you oughta tell her. It might make some difference."

Bailee tiptoed down from the loft, having put her boys to sleep. "Good night," she said to the men as she passed through the main room and headed downstairs to where Carter had built a bedroom underground.

She paused at the opening of the trapdoor and glanced back at Walker. "I agree, Captain. You should tell her." Laughing, she disappeared.