Carolyn Davidson (14 page)

“Do you really think I’m in the family way?” she asked politely, her cheeks gone a rosy pink, her mouth quivering as she spoke.

“Yeah, I’d say you probably are, honey.” His mouth stretched into a wide grin.

Cassie took a deep breath. “Well, how come I didn’t know it? Shouldn’t I feel something?”

“Cass, didn’t your mother tell you about having babies? About how you don’t have monthly times and such?” Here he’d thought she was keeping it for a surprise, and now it turned out she didn’t have any idea what was going on. No matter how you looked at it, he was getting in pretty deep here, he decided. And not even too sure of his ground, to tell the truth.

“Maybe my mother better talk to you about this,” he suggested, deciding immediately that that idea had a considerable amount of merit. His arm around her waist, he turned her to the house, his steps a little quicker as Clara came out the back door.

“Ma, Cassie wants to talk to you,” he said brightly.

She stiffened against his arm, dragging her feet as Clara Tolliver moved to the railing. “It’s all right, Will,” Cassie said. “I’ll take your word for it.”

“What’s the matter here?” Clara asked sharply. “Were you out in the barn, Cassie? Are you all right, girl?” She cast an accusing look at her son. “She shouldn’t be out there when you’re breedin’ those horses, Will. You’ll have her all upset.”

Will grinned. “She’s upset, all right, Ma. But not about the horses. I think you need to talk to her.”

Cassie flushed a brighter hue. “She’ll think I’m ignorant!”

Clara’s face softened as she looked at her daughter-inlaw. “I’d never think that, child,” she said kindly. “Come on in here, your tea is gone cold while you were out back.”

Will gladly gave her over to his mother. Unless he’d read it wrong, Cassie was well on her way to motherhood, and he couldn’t have been more pleased if he’d tried. In fact,
he felt a touch of the same male arrogance that fancy stud had displayed out in the corral a while ago. Damn, life was good.

“Mama, I wish you knew!” Cassie tugged the quilt over her shoulder and spoke to the empty room, wishing with all her heart that the woman she addressed could somehow hear her. A bubble of pure joy escaped her lips and she brushed quickly at a single tear that dampened her cheek.

“I can’t be sad, Mama. I miss you so much, but I’m so full of happy, there isn’t room for sorrow inside me today.” She gazed across the room to the window, where the afternoon sunshine had faded to early twilight. The sounds of voices in the kitchen below were muted, only the low rumble of Will’s tones making her aware of his presence in the house.

She swung her feet over the side of the bed, rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands. Taking a nap had seemed a foolish waste of time, but Clara’s admonition, along with a sudden wave of weariness, had sent her to her bed over an hour ago.

Now she recognized the scents of supper, the chicken Clara had been cooking on the back of the stove earlier, in preparation for the dumplings she would add later. A grumble in her stomach alerted Cassie that it had been hours since she’d put any food in her mouth, and she bent to locate the shoes she’d kicked off earlier.

“Cassie.” Will spoke from the open doorway and she looked over her shoulder. He leaned with negligent ease against the frame, his eyes tender as he surveyed his wife.

“I’m getting up, Will. I should have been downstairs, helping your mother.” She leaned to slip her shoes on and suddenly he was there, kneeling before her, his hands on
her feet. He lifted one, then the other, putting her shoes in place, his hands big and warm against her cotton-clad flesh.

“You don’t have to wait on me, Will,” she told him, reaching to pick a piece of hay from his hair. Her hand lingered there, her fingers tunneling through his dark locks.

He looked up at her. “You’ll be getting waited on a lot for the next few months. You’re going to have my child, aren’t you, Cassie? Didn’t my mother agree with what I said?”

She nodded, her teeth settling softly against her bottom lip. “I can’t believe it, Will. After she told me all the things that happen, how her body changes when a woman gets in the family way, I knew right off she was right.”

“How do you feel about it, honey?” he asked, glancing down at her feet as he fastened her shoes. “You don’t mind, do you?”

She shook her head. “No!” Her hands rested on his shoulders and she bent forward, her mouth against his, her head turning a bit to better seal their lips in a caress. Soft as the velvet petals of violets in the spring, their mouths touched, brushing and meshing, a current of wonder flowing to capture them in its midst.

Cassie felt the touch of Will’s hands, his fingers enclosing her breasts, cupping her, weighing her tender flesh, and she whispered his name. “Will, I’ve been lying here wishing my mother could know about the baby.”

He nodded, his arms sliding to enclose her in his embrace, easing to scoot between her spread knees, drawing her to rest her head on his shoulder. “I wonder if maybe she doesn’t know, honey. Maybe part of the advantage of being in heaven is knowing all the good things that go on with the people we love. Maybe she’s already thinkin’ about a guardian angel for our baby.”

“Oh, Will! You’re just trying to make me feel better,” Cassie said with a soft laugh.

“Don’t you believe in angels?” he asked, nudging her to sit erect He looked long and hard into her eyes and an air of satisfaction touched his countenance.

Cassie shook her head. “Of course I believe in angels. I’m just not sure you do. I think you’re joshin’ me.”

He laughed aloud, then shrugged and rose to his feet, tugging her with him to stand toe-to-toe. “I just know we—”

He broke off abruptly as Maggie shrieked loudly from the kitchen. Clara shouted words Cassie couldn’t make out and then Maggie squealed again. One word resonated through the slamming of the screen door and the shouts from the yard.

In a moment of silence, Maggie’s voice rose in a cry of pure happiness. “Mama!”

“J
osie’s here.” His chin assuming a stubborn tilt, Will set Cassie aside and stalked to the bedroom door.

“Wait, Will,” she called after him. His eyes were no longer soft, and his mouth had lost its tender smile. Will had donned a cloak of anger Cassie had never seen him wear. Not even on the day he’d rescued her from the two cowhands had she found him to be so armed with fury.

He was down the stairs ahead of her, unheeding of her words, and she clattered down the steps, his greater stride leaving her behind. From the yard Maggie’s voice rose, shrill excitement coating each word as she greeted her mother.

“I knew you were comin’ back! I knew it, Mama! Grandma said I shouldn’t be lookin’ for you every day, but I knew!”

Then there was the rumble of Will’s lower tones, and Cassie burst through the screen door just as he greeted his sister. He’d managed to rein in his anger somewhat, his words not as harsh as Cassie had dreaded hearing. But the scowl he wore was mute testimony to the disapproval he felt.

“It’s been a long time, Josie.”

Cassie’s sigh of relief was echoed by Clara, and their eyes met in a mutual exchange of apprehension. If Maggie noticed any tension, it was blithely ignored as she danced around her mother.

Josie stood by the wagon that had delivered her, uneasy and travel worn, her eyes seeking first one, then another of the trio of adults before her. One hand reached to brush at Maggie’s head as the child bounced before her, her glance at the glowing face of her daughter filled with yearning.

The woman’s dress was wrinkled and bore signs of having been worn to a frazzle, Cassie thought. Not that she could afford to be critical, considering her own ragtag appearance upon her arrival at this place. Dark hair, almost the identical color as her child’s, was pulled into a knot at the nape of Josie’s neck, not a wave or curl loose to relieve the simplicity of her appearance.

She was thin, almost to the point of illness, if Cassie was any judge. Her dress hung loosely on her, and unless she had more baggage than the small carpetbag at her feet, she probably didn’t own much else to wear. Feeling an affinity for the woman, Cassie stepped forward to stand by Will’s side.

“I’m Cassie, your new sister-in-law,” she said quietly, offering her hand in greeting.

Eyes of a golden hue met hers, and a mouth that trembled in a smile repeated her name. “Cassie? Will’s wife? I guess I didn’t know he was married.”

“He wasn’t until just a while back,” Cassie returned, her fingers intent on warming Josie’s cold flesh. “Why don’t you come in and talk to your mother while I set another place at the table?”

“If we can get Maggie peeled off her long enough, I might even get a hug from my daughter,” Clara said gruffly, her eyes moist.

Josie stepped forward, almost stumbling over her carpetbag. “Oh, Mama! I’ve missed you so.” Her words broken with emotion, Josie reached for her mother and was enclosed in welcoming arms.

Will’s mouth was drawn into a thin line as he watched the reunion, his shoulders stiff as he regarded his sister.

“Will?” Cassie slid her hand into his and his mouth relaxed as he registered her presence beside him.

“Yeah, Cass.” He squeezed her fingers in a silent message. His eyes closed for just a moment, and with visible effort he relaxed his stance. “I’ll get Many Fingers from the barn for supper. We’ll be in shortly.” With a strained smile for her benefit, he turned away.

Josie’s gaze followed him sadly and then she turned back to her mother. “Will’s mad at me, Ma.”

Clara sniffed and raised an eyebrow. “Can’t see as he has much to brag about, child. He only managed to make it home himself a while back.”

“Mama, Uncle Will’s been showin’ me how to ride a horse,” Maggie bragged. “Him and Many Fingers helped Grandma’s mares have a lot of babies.”

Josie’s face brightened. “You’ve got new foals, Ma?” And then she looked baffled for a moment. “Many Fingers?”

“He’s Will’s right-hand man,” Cassie offered. “He came with us.” Not that she would volunteer the beginning of their strange friendship. No sense in telling more than anyone needed to know.

“An Indian?” Josie asked in surprise.

“He’s got lots of names, Mama,” Maggie told her eagerly. “His mama called him Tall Horse and I do, too, sometimes.”

“He’s a good man,” Clara said bluntly. “Works along-side
Will. Fact is, he’s right handy with the horses, like Cassie says.”

“But an Indian, Ma? What do the folks in town say about him being here?” Josie was not so much indignant, so far as Cassie could tell, as she was worried about Many Fingers’ presence.

Clara drew herself up, a militant gleam appearing in her eye. “We do as we please here. We’re not about to let anyone tell us who can come and go on our place.”

Maggie tugged at her mother’s hand, reminding her of her presence. “Come in the house, Mama. We’re gonna eat supper and you can sit by me.” Grasping the carpetbag, the child led the way and the women followed.

“Maggie’s about to burst, isn’t she?” Cassie stretched and yawned, watching Will’s nightly ritual at the washbasin.

His soapy cloth halted its progress and he turned to look at her. “What happens if Josie takes a notion to trot off again, Cass? Do you know what that’ll do to that little girl?” He lifted his arm to wash beneath it, his hand taking long strokes, leaving a residue of soapsuds behind. They gleamed in the lamplight and Cassie watched with pleasure as her husband repeated the motion with the other arm.

He’d stripped to the waist, and she marveled anew at the rippling muscles across his back and the solid width of his shoulders. He was strong, his arms heavy and long, his chest powerful, even more developed since their arrival at the farm. Handling the horses took an enormous amount of skill and strength, and Will was good at what he did.

In fact, in all ways Will was good—a good man, kind to Maggie, caring of his mother. But beyond that was the way he took care of her. From within Cassie it bubbled up, this yearning she could not escape. Living with Will, sharing
his bed and now carrying his child, she was becoming more and more a part of the man.

Now, as if she needed his touch, the power of his loving to make her whole, she anticipated his movements, hurrying him through his nightly ablutions, anxious for his presence beside her.

Will crossed the room, loosening his trousers as he came, sitting on the side of the bed to shed his boots before he rid himself of the rest of his clothing.

“I don’t want Maggie hurt again, or you either, for that matter,” he said, tugging the quilt into place. “You’ve spent a lot of hours with her, Cassie. And yet she can turn to Josie and just ignore you like you were a stranger.”

Cassie’s throat filled with emotion. “I felt a little jealous, Will,” she said meekly. “But I guess it’s to be expected. Josie’s her mother and you can’t deny her that. Maggie loves her, it’s that simple. And from what she said at suppertime, she won’t be seeing hide nor hair of Maggie’s father, anyway.”

“Well, Josie’s better off without that bast—” He broke off the word he’d almost spoken and hesitated. “I’m sorry, honey. I need to be careful what I say. I can’t let Maggie hear that kind of language from me. Bad enough I let slip a cussword every once in a while. She doesn’t need to match that kind of word up with her father, such as he is.”

“I doubt she knows what it means, Will.” Her fingers soothed him, rubbing against the tenseness in his neck, her touch easing to his shoulders to continue the massage more firmly.

“Feels good, Cass,” Will rumbled, ducking his head to allow her better access. “Right there, honey.” He hunched his shoulder as her fingers changed position.

“Turn over on your stomach,” she told him, shifting out of the way as he obeyed her, watching as he settled himself
with a groan, before she lifted one leg over him to straddle his behind.

Her hands moved slowly, her fingers curving into his flesh, across his shoulders, down his spine and then back, the heels of her hands dropping to apply pressure as she went His skin was sleek, the golden hue a result of his shedding his shirt outdoors when it became too sweaty to wear. He’d worked long hours in the sun, mending fences and handling the mares and their foals, not to mention cutting hay and loading it on the hay wagon just this week.

“What will Josie tell Maggie about that man?” Cassie asked Will, wondering aloud as she considered the vast problem facing the young woman.

Will grunted, his shoulders rising in a helpless gesture. “Pretty hard to tell a little girl that her pa never got around to marrying her mother, isn’t it?”

“Well, Josie thought they were married, didn’t she?”

“I guess so. He probably knew he couldn’t get her in bed with him unless he made it legal. Must be he faked the whole thing.”

Cassie’s hands slowed their movement. “Was that…”

Will reared up with a snarl, Cassie almost falling from the bed at his abrupt movement. “Hell, no! Don’t even think that, Cassie. I already had you in my bed, and if I’d wanted to, I could have been makin’ love with you before we got here.”

She slid from his back, kneeling beside him as he rolled over in a smooth movement. “I wouldn’t have!” It was a firm denial of his claim.

“I could have coaxed you into it,” he maintained, lifting himself on one elbow as if to survey her anger. His own appeared to have dissipated, and he smiled. “But I didn’t, Cass, and that’s the whole issue. I thought more of you than to take advantage. And the longer we were together,
the easier it was to see us gettin’ married, especially after we arrived here and we got thrown together the way we did.”

“Did you ever tell Many Fingers?” she asked, reaching to touch his face, her burst of fury shattered by his words.

“I have a notion he’s sorta figured things out on his own, since we went to Mill Creek. He doesn’t say much, though.”

“I think he likes Josie,” Cassie said slowly, remembering the Indian’s watchful gaze during supper.

“He’s only part white man, Cass. There’s not a chance of anything happening there.”

“I thought you weren’t all caught up on the Indian thing, Will,” she said slowly.

He moved a little closer, as if he were intrigued by the movement of her hand against the angle of his jaw. “I’m not. I just know how things are, and a white woman stands to lose a lot if she gets tangled up with a half-breed.”

Cassie bent to press the warmth of her mouth on his cheek, her lips tingling from the faint stubble of his beard as she moved against his skin. “I don’t care right now about them, Will,” she whispered, her lips moving to brush the curve of his ear. “I’d rather talk about us.”

His arm moved quickly, gathering her to his side, then rolling her beneath him. His arousal was immediate, a thick ridge against her leg, and she smiled at his response to her invitation. “I don’t think I want to talk at all,” he told her bluntly.

“I can read your lips,” she offered, her own parted and dampened by the tip of her tongue.

“Shoot, Cassie! If you don’t take the cake!” he muttered, his mouth curling as he stifled a chuckle. Their lips met, touched and parted, then with a groan he rolled with
her again until she was atop him, soft breasts molded to his chest, legs on either side of his, her face within reach.

His hands clasped the back of her head and he drew her closer until their mouths were only a breath apart. He closed his eyes and a shudder rippled through him, his words a whisper against her lips.

“Damn, you taste good, woman.”

“Ma says you’re going to have a baby.”

Cassie smiled, unable to halt the automatic reaction to Josie’s words. “Yes,” she said. “In fact, I just realized it a couple of days ago myself.”
After Will told me.
That she had been oblivious to the fact was some indication of her ignorance, she had decided. Her mother had sadly neglected some parts of her education, that was for sure.

“It took me a while to figure it out when I got that way with Maggie,” Josie said with a sad little smile. “I didn’t have Ma there to ask, and I don’t think Bennett knew much about women, anyway.”

“How did you manage, by yourself?” Cassie asked quietly, unable to imagine such a thing.

“We lived in a small town, and a neighbor woman delivered Maggie late one night. Bennett was at the saloon playing cards, and he got mad because she sent her husband to get him. He said he lost out on a winning hand because of me.” Josie bent her head, concentrating on wiping the kettle she held. “He gambled for a living,” she said finally, and then lifted her head to look at Cassie. “I didn’t know that when I married him. Well, when I thought I married him.”

Her face flushed with bright color. “Will is so angry with me, Cassie. And I guess I don’t blame him. I was pretty stupid to believe everything Bennett Percival told me.”

“He’s not angry anymore, Josie. He was just worried
about Maggie. Besides, I’d guess he thought of you as his little sister, like you were supposed to still be a child. And now you’re a woman grown, with more worries than you can shake a stick at.”

Josie nodded dejectedly, then slumped into a chair at the kitchen table, kettle and dish towel in her lap. “Will just looks right through me. Maybe he’s not angry, but the way he’s been acting the past couple of days, I think I’d almost rather have him holler at me than to treat me like I’m not even here.”

Cassie’s eyes filled with tears, her hurt for Josie almost equal to that she felt for Will. He loved his sister, she knew that for sure. But somehow he needed to sort things out in his mind, come to trust the woman Josie had become and find it in himself to forgive her for leaving her child behind.

“I think Will’s more concerned about you leaving Maggie and going off again,” Cassie said firmly. “He just doesn’t understand how you could do it the first time.”

“There’s no reason to worry about that,” Josie said firmly. “I don’t know how I’ll manage, but Maggie and I will never be apart again. I thought if I went away with Bennett last year, maybe we could work things out and…”

Josie’s mouth quivered and she bit hard against the surface of her bottom lip. “When he told me we weren’t even married and I left him, he didn’t even offer to send me home. Just laughed and told me I’d been a fool. I had to sell my clothes for train fare, and I still owe Mr. Hogan’s boy, down at the livery stable, for bringing me out to the farm like he did.”