Dorothy Garlock - [Colorado Wind 03] (37 page)

“There seems to be no end to the lives that old man has messed up. He keeps a distance from me and Logan; and after his men had a run-in or two with Griff, he steers clear of him, too. He’ll try to run the woman off, you can bet on it. You say the old man married her under the name Henry Hill? The rotten old bastard used his brother’s name.”

“Young Henry isn’t as bright as you’d expect a man of twenty to be, but he’ll work like a demon if someone tells him what to do. He’ll make it with a little guidance.”

“I bet that was a blow to the old man.”

“He was terribly cruel to both of them. It was a sad thing to witness, Cooper. Ellie was stunned. For twenty years she’d thought he was dead. Henry favors you, and he’s got the Clayhill crooked finger, so there’s no doubt about his being the old man’s. I’ll bet old Clayhill is trying to figure a way to get out of this one.”

“If young Henry is about twenty, that means the old man was already married when he married your mother, Kain.”

“I figure he stopped off in Springfield and married Ellie on his way East to marry my mother.” Kain picked up the bag Lorna had tied to the back of her saddle. “Ellie and Henry know who you are. Come on in. I’m eager for you to meet Vanessa.”

“Yes, Cooper. I want to see this beauty who won Kain away from me.” Lorna said with a small smile.

“You just keep on lipping off, woman, and you’ll get a hiding when you get home,” Cooper said gruffly, and plucked their son from her arms. “Come to papa, Douglas. Your mama’s being feisty again.”

*  *  *

“Oh, my,” Ellie said when Cooper walked through the kitchen door. Her eyes clung to his face and without her knowing it, they filled with tears. “Oh, my,” she said again and blinked rapidly. “I’m sorry. It’s just such a shock.”

Cooper’s eyes had gone beyond Ellie to the tall man who stood behind her. “I know how you feel, ma’am.” He took a step toward her and held out his hand. “Cooper Parnell. This is my wife, Lorna, and our son, Douglas.”

“How do you do? This is
my
son, Henry.” Ellie turned so she could see both men. They were staring at each other. Henry spoke first.

“Is he the one, Kain?”

“Yes, Henry. He knows that he’s your brother.”

Henry looked at the hand Cooper extended. “Are you . . . mad about it?”

“Of course not. I’m glad to know my son has another uncle.”

The smile that could come so quickly to Henry’s face appeared now. He looked at the small boy in Cooper’s arms, and then at Cooper and grasped his hand.

“Ma! Did you hear that? I’m an uncle!”

“Yes, son, I heard.” Ellie’s shoulders slumped with relief.

“Mary Ben, you’ll be an aunt.” Henry pulled the girl from behind him. “Mary Ben, this is my brother, Cooper Parnell.”

Kain had moved over beside Vanessa and put his arm around her. Together they watched the meeting between the brothers. Vanessa saw the relief on her aunt’s face and was sure she was going to cry. Henry was so excited the words poured from his mouth. And Cooper’s face never changed expression when it became apparent that Henry’s mind hadn’t kept pace with his body.

Cooper’s wife watched, too. She was the prettiest woman Vanessa had ever seen. The skin of her face was white, a startling contrast to the blue-black hair that framed it, her mouth was red, and large, magnificent violet eyes adoringly watched every move her husband made.

“I don’t think Douglas will want to come to you yet, Henry,” Cooper was saying. “He’s a mite shy. After we’re here awhile he’ll crawl all over you. I think I’d better meet Kain’s bride. She’s got to be something to bring Kain back here and keep him in one place.”

“She is, Cooper. Believe me, she is!” Kain was gazing at Vanessa’s blushing face, his eyes filled with tenderness, and smiled with loving mirth when she pinched his arm.

The introductions were made amid laughter, teasing, and congratulations. Finally Ellie began to shoo them from the kitchen.

“You men can go in the parlor where you can visit. Mary Ben, take Lorna’s things up to the room we set aside for them. That baby must be hungry and want a nap after that long ride. And my, oh, my. I’ve still got two more pies to make.”

“I’ll help you, Aunt Ellie.”

“No, dear. You and Lorna go get acquainted. Enjoy yourself. Tomorrow is your wedding day.”

“I’d offer to help, Mrs.—” Lorna paused and lifted her straight black brows.

“Call me Ellie, Lorna.” Ellie smiled and then a trembling laugh burst from her lips. “You know, I don’t know what to call myself, now.” With that admission, a weight she had carried since the trip to town lifted from Ellie’s heart.

“I’d offer to help, Ellie, but I’m no hand at making a pie. Ask Cooper.” Lorna giggled and looked around the corner into the hall to see if the men were out of hearing. “He swore he was going to starve to death after Sylvia married and moved to the Morning Sun. She had to come back and teach me how to cook something beside beans and Hopping Jack. She and Arnie will be here later on. She’d not miss a wedding for anything, especially Kain’s.”

“I’m worried about meeting her.”

“You don’t need to worry about meeting Sylvia. You’ll like her. Everyone does. Come on upstairs with me, Vanessa. I’ll have to tell you about my first visit to this house. I’d lived on Light’s Mountain all my life and I didn’t know about such things as whorehouses. I thought this was a school for young ladies! When I found out what it really was I got Cooper out of here in a hurry.” Her happy laughter rang throughout the house.

Vanessa was fascinated by Lorna’s openness. Kain had told her that Lorna had been raised wild and free on Light’s Mountain. He had said she could sing like a bird, throw a knife, shoot a gun, and was the best with a bullwhip he’d ever seen. Vanessa knew she was also a happy woman, terribly in love with her husband.

*  *  *

The lamps were all lit and the table set for supper when Logan’s party arrived. The buggy accompanied by two riders pulled in at the gate and Kain and Cooper went out to meet them. Henry would have gone, too, but Lorna asked him to hold Douglas. Ellie smiled at her gratefully, knowing that Kain needed some time with Logan, just as he had with Cooper and Lorna.

When Cooper came in sometime later, he was leading a small dark-haired boy by the hand. The child looked around the room, spied Lorna and grinned a gap-toothed grin.

“Hello, Henry. Do you have a kiss for Aunt Lorna?”

“Naw. Boys don’t kiss girls.”

“Your Uncle Cooper does.”

The boy tilted his head back so he could see his uncle’s face. “Why do you do that?”

“You’ll know soon enough. I want you to meet another uncle. His name is Henry, too.” Young Douglas spied his papa and set up a howl until Cooper took him.

It seemed to Ellie a long time passed before she heard boot heels on the porch and the door opened again. Her heart was fluttering like a trapped bird in her breast, and she had unknowingly wrapped her hands in her apron. People filed in and suddenly the kitchen was filled.

The pleasant-faced woman who came in first greeted Lorna with a kiss on the cheek, nuzzled her grandchild, then looked directly at Ellie and smiled.

“I’m Cooper’s mother, Sylvia Henderson. Kain said your name is Ellie.” She glanced at the stove and the shelves where the rows of pans were covered with a white cloth. “Goodness gracious! You’ve been cooking all day. I told that Arnie we should get a wiggle on or we’d come in on you right at supper time.”

“But we have plenty,” Ellie almost choked on the words.

Kain went to Vanessa, put his arm around her, and held her close to his side while he made the introductions. There was a continuous proud smile on his face.

Rosalee Horn was a pretty woman with light brown hair and blue eyes set wide apart in a calm face. She was pregnant. Her husband stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders. He was a big, handsome dark-haired man with the high cheekbones and dark skin of ancestors who had roamed the land long before the white man came. He had a full mustache shaped in a wide downward curve around his mouth, reaching almost to his jaw, giving him a stern, forbidding look until he smiled, which he did when he looked down at his wife.

“Tired, honey?” He took the wrap from her shoulders.

“A little.”

Lorna jumped up from the chair she had moved out from the table. “Sit here, Rosalee. I remember how my back hurt when I was carrying Douglas.”

Henry hadn’t said a word. Ellie’s heart ached for the uncertainty he was feeling, and she wished there was something she could do to make this easier for him. Sylvia’s eyes went from him to Cooper and back again. Logan Horn’s dark gaze settled on Henry’s face, too. Henry fidgeted.

Logan crossed the room and offered his hand to Henry.

“Kain was telling me that there are three of us now. You and I and Cooper.”

Henry seemed overwhelmed. He didn’t say anything, and Ellie wanted to cry. It was Cooper who eased the tension. He clapped Logan on the shoulder.

“Henry, I know just how you feel when you look at this big galoot. When I first laid eyes on him I didn’t know he was my brother, and I thought he was as ugly as a mud fence. After I found out he was my brother, he got better looking. He grows on you. After awhile you might even forget he’s got a face that would stop a clock.”

“I don’t think he’s ugly,” Henry stammered. “He’s just . . . big.”

“Yeah. Big and ugly and mean.”

The two big were smiling at each other and Logan didn’t look quite so fierce. Henry began to grin. “I think you’re joshing me, Cooper.”

“I think you’re right, Henry,” Logan said. “Our brother has quite a sense of humor.”

Sylvia pulled an apron out of the travel bag that sat by the door, tied it around her waist, and went to the stove to help Ellie.

“I can’t get over how much Henry looks like Cooper did at that age. Now, what can I do?”

“We’ll have to set two tables. We’ll feed the men first and get them out of the way, and then we women can sit down and eat. Did your husband come?”

“Oh my, yes. He thinks the sun rises and sets with Kain. He’s putting away the buggy. Here he is.”

“Hang your hat there beside the door, Arnie, and come meet the folks,” Kain called to the man who stood beside the door shaking his head at all the confusion.

“I was fixin’ to eat in the yard, Kain. Them fellers has a steer cookin’ in a pit, ’n it smells larrapin’. ’Sides, I’d not have to listen to the hens acluckin’.”

“Arnie! Behave yourself until these folks get to know you. They’ll think I married an Illinois hillbilly,” Sylvia scolded.

“Ah . . . there ya are, sweet thin’. I done told ya there ain’t no hills in Illinois to speak of. I might a knowed you’d be right in the middle a the cookin’.” He crossed to where Vanessa stood beside Kain and held out his hand. His friendly eyes smiled into hers and he held her hand between his two hard, calloused palms. “Hit’s a good thin’ ya got me afore I saw this little pretty, honeybunch,” he said over his shoulder to Sylvia. “Or ya might not a got me a’tall.”

“Oh, Arnie!” Sylvia threw up her hands. “He’s just a talker, Vanessa. I couldn’t get rid of him if I tied him to a span of mules and shot them in the rumps with a slingshot.”

Rich laughter filled the room. Vanessa looked up to meet Kain’s tawny gaze. She had seen those eyes in so many moods; they had laughed, teased, smiled, grown fierce with anger. Now they were filled with warmth and love and happiness. The smile she adored claimed his face.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Look at Henry with Logan and Cooper. Look at Ellie and Sylvia. They’re chattering away like a couple of magpies. It’s working out for both of them.”

“It’s all your doing. Thank you, darling.”

“I know how you can thank me . . . properly.”

“I can’t imagine how.”

“I’ll show you tonight,” he promised.

Her mouth curved in a contented little smile. He was safe! With his friends here, he was safe!

*  *  *

By sunrise everyone had had breakfast except the children, who were still sleeping. The night before, long after the women had gone to bed, the men had sat around the kitchen table, drank coffee and talked. Now they were outside, gathered around the pit where Clay was cooking the steer. John called down from his perch beside the loft door that two riders were coming.

Fort and Bonnie Griffin rode into the yard amid shouts of welcome. At Ellie’s urging, Vanessa threw a shawl around her shoulders and went out onto the porch. She saw a slim, wiry, young man jump from the saddle and pump Kain’s hand vigorously. Cooper lifted the woman down. Lorna came from the house, vaulted off the porch, ran to the woman and threw her arms around her.

“Oh, Bonnie! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. Wait till you see how Douglas has grown.”

Kain called to Vanessa and she went to meet his outstretched hand.

“Honey, this is Griff and Bonnie.”

Bonnie smiled and nodded a greeting. She was as tall as her husband and looked even younger. She wasn’t pretty. Standing beside the petite, curvaceous Lorna she looked thin and gawky. But she was sweet looking, with her wide mouth and large, soft brown eyes that made her appear vulnerable.

“I’m shore proud to meet ya, ma’am.” Griff shook Vanessa’s hand. “Kain saved my bacon a time or two.” When he laughed he looked more boyish. “Cooper and Logan have, too. Cooper even cut me down from a hangin’ tree once.”

“There are times when I think I should have left him, huh Bonnie?” Cooper clapped him on the back.

“We didn’t get to town till after dark,” Bonnie said to Lorna on the way to the house. “Griff was bound to come on out, but I talked him into stayin’ at the hotel. We shoulda come on. We didn’t sleep a wink cause of all the racket in town.”

Kain held onto Vanessa when she would have followed Lorna and Bonnie. He pulled her close and placed a quick kiss on her lips.

“Kain! Stop that! What’ll they think?”

He let loose a rich, satisfied laugh. “They’ll think that I’m madly wildly in love with you, which I am.” He let her slip from his arms and she hurried to catch up with Lorna and Bonnie.