Lorraine Heath (24 page)

They stopped in front of a wagon where a man in a top hat paced back and forth on a board he had set up on
blocks, a bottle in his hand. He proclaimed in a bellowing voice that his elixir was guaranteed to cure all ills. They watched him for a while, his performance worthy of any stage show Rebecca had ever seen, although she didn’t believe a word of what he said. As they wandered on Jake bought Rebecca a lemonade from a young girl wearing two braids caught up in a circle on either side of her head. Rebecca steered Jake away from the women kicking their legs up in the back of a wagon while a man with a toothless grin strummed on his banjo.

Rebecca caught the glint in Jake’s eye when they came to the livestock. Jake stopped to study a bull, running his hands over the animal’s flanks.

The man standing beside the animal introduced himself. “Is this the result of a longhorn and shorthorn?” Jake asked.

“Yep. Wanna buy him?” Homer Price asked.

Jake shook his head. “No, just wondering. You having a lot of luck breeding them?”

“I’m pleased with what I got this year, considering it was such a dry season. Lost several calves, though. You a rancher?”

“Yeah. But I’m breeding Herefords.” Jake talked on with the man, and Rebecca stood back, smiling.

“Your husband changing his mind on what kind of cattle he wants to raise?”

Rebecca turned around, smiling up at William Long. “I doubt that. Jake just likes to check out the competition. How are you, William?”

“Be doing better if I could get my hands on some Herefords. Don’t suppose your husband brought any to sell?”

“No, but maybe if you asked him real sweet.”

“Hey, William! Want to buy some of my stock?” Homer yelled out.

Jake looked up to see William Long standing close to Rebecca and he smiled, walking over to join them, his hand coming to rest on the small of Rebecca’s back.

“Not from you, Homer,” William called back. “But I’d like to buy some from you, Jake.”

Jake gauged his competition. “I don’t need the money. I could use the longhorns you have on your spread.”

“Sounds fair. We’ll swap, head for head.”

Jake laughed. “Either you think I’m a fool or you don’t know the value of your animals. Ten longhorns for one Hereford.”

William laughed. “Somehow, it seems unfair that you should not only have a beautiful wife, but should get so many of my cattle as well. But it’s a deal. I’ll bring them out later in the week. Could you spare twenty?”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Can you spare two hundred?”

William chuckled. “Actually, the truth is with this dry season we’re having, I’ll be glad to get rid of them.”

The men shook hands, and William tipped his hat to Rebecca as he left. She moved in closer to Jake as they began walking along looking at the other livestock that was being offered. It filled her with a great deal of satisfaction to know that Jake’s confidence in himself had grown to the point that he no longer felt threatened when she talked with a man like William Long.

Frank roughly pulled Arlene to his side, his hand clamping down on her waist.

“Well, hello there, Ruth,” Frank said to the young woman looking over the bonnets. “This here’s Arlene O’Hennessy. Her father is a blacksmith at our ranch. She and her family live there with us. Arlene, sweetheart, darling, this here’s Ruth Reading. Her family owns a ranch near ours.”

Arlene shot Frank a warning glance. Then she smiled at Ruth. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Ignoring Frank, Ruth smiled at Arlene. “You talk funny. Where are you from?”

“My dear Arlene is from Ireland,” Frank said. “Isn’t that right, sugar?” He placed a kiss on her cheek, drawing her more firmly up against his side.

“We’ll have to get together sometime,” Ruth said. “I’d love to hear about your country, but I have to go now.”

As soon as Ruth was out of hearing range, Arlene
wrenched herself free of Frank’s grasp.

“And what in God’s name was that about, Frank Lewis?”

“Nothing,” Frank said as he searched the crowds to see if Ruth was looking back.

“You wouldn’t be trying to make the lass jealous now, would you?”

Frank’s eyes came back to hers. Hers were a brown, which surprised him. He remembered them as being green.

“I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine. She was always ignoring me before. I wanted her to see how stupid she was.”

“What a fool I’ve been. I’ll not be used, Frank. If you want to make her jealous, you find someone else with which to do it.”

“That’s just it, Arlene. There ain’t nobody else.”

Tears sprang to Arlene’s eyes. She choked back a sob, then turned and darted off.

“Wait, Arlene! I didn’t mean that the way it sounded!” He looked back in the direction Ruth had gone. He was free to go after her, to see if she’d have him now that she knew someone else was interested in him. But he’d just discovered that he couldn’t have cared less about Ruth. At first, his interest in Arlene was just to make Ruth jealous. When that reason had changed, he wasn’t sure. He got on tiptoe to look over the top of the crowd, but he couldn’t see Arlene. Damn it! He had come to care for Arlene a lot. She wasn’t as pretty as Ruth, but she made him feel like a man. He shoved his way through the crowd, cursing himself and his stupidity.

Frank finally found Arlene already in the wagon when it was time to meet up with Jake and Rebecca. Night settled down over the land as the wagon rolled along, headed back towards the Rocking R. Frank and Arlene sat in opposite corners, glaring at each other.

“Did you enjoy yourself today, Arlene?” Rebecca asked, wondering what had happened between the couple.

“Aye, ‘twas a fine day, it was. I met one of your neighbors.
A Miss Ruth Reading. Frank was kind enough to introduce us.”

Rebecca and Jake exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing.

“You and Ruth are about the same age, I think,” Rebecca said.

“Aye. We’re very close in age, but Ruth, she’s the lucky one, she is. Frank here intends to make her his wife.”

“I never said that!” Frank bellowed.

“Then why are you trying to make her jealous?”

“I wasn’t trying to make her jealous!”

“No? Darling, sweets, sugar dumpling? Then what were you trying to do, my dearest?”

Frank jerked his hat off and hit the side of the wagon with it. “Goddamn!”

“I’ve told you, Frank, I’ll not have you taking the Lord’s name in vain around me.”

“Well now, I ain’t around you, am I? You’re on one side of the wagon and I’m on the other, so I’ll say anything I goddamn want to!” He shoved his hat back on his head, moving further into his corner of the wagon.

“Every time I asked her to dance, she’d laugh and say ‘no.’ Every time I saw her in town, I’d say ‘Morning, Ruth. How you doing?’ and she’d either just stick her nose up in the air or tell me it was none of my business. And today, I had this beautiful woman walking around with me, and I just wanted her to know I was good enough.”

“But you used me, Frank. You used me and it hurt.”

Frank drew himself up. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. And I didn’t mean what I said about your being the only one. Oh, hell, all right, that first night I asked you to take a walk with me because I wanted to get you to like me so that when we ran into Ruth someday, I could make her jealous.” Tentatively, he reached across to touch her hand. “But after that walk, I swear I never thought about Ruth again. I like you so much, all I can ever think about is you. I acted like a fool today. Hell, I was a fool today. I just wanted Ruth to see that someone as pretty as you could hold her head up high when she walked with me. Ruth
always made me feel like I was something a cow left behind. I wanted her to see that I wasn’t.”

Arlene released a ragged sigh. “I trusted you with my heart, man. And you damn near broke it today.”

Frank squeezed her hand as he whispered, “I want to hold you, Arlene. Will you let me?”

Slowly, she moved her head up and down, and Frank moved over, drawing her into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry. She’s nothing and you’re everything.” He tilted her chin up. “Will you let me kiss you?”

She nodded and he lowered his lips to hers, gently kissing her, trying to take away the hurt.

Rebecca rubbed her hand down Jake’s thigh. “Maybe you should let Frank drive the horses,” she whispered.

“Because you don’t trust Frank, or because you want to be stretched out in the back of the wagon?”

“Both.”

“Come sit on my lap then. They won’t notice.”

She moved to his lap, sitting at a right angle. She removed his hat, running her fingers up through his hair.

“You sure you won’t tell me why you bought those four little wheels?” she teased. Jake just smiled mysteriously. Not really wanting to spoil his latest surprise, Rebecca changed the subject.

“I was proud of you today, handling William Long the way you did.” Her fingers stilled. “What did you think of him the first time you met him?” she asked quietly.

“That he was the kind of man you should have married.”

“And now you don’t think that anymore?” “Now, it doesn’t matter. You’re married to me.” “I was the night you met him.”

Jake’s eyes met and held hers in the moonlight. “No, you weren’t. Not really.” His arm tightened around her. “But you are now.”

Rebecca brought her lips to his, and they welcomed her. The wagon traveled along in the moonlight, the horses nickering as Jake’s hold on the reins loosened. Fortunately, they knew the way home.

Five-month-old Jacob leaned back against the feather pillows in the wooden wagon his father had lovingly built, the miniature wheels turning around and around as Sean cautiously pulled him along in front of the house. Suddenly, Sean stopped, spun around, and, with eyes wide, splayed fingers framing his face, he shouted “Boo!” And for the hundredth time Jacob went into peals of laughter.

Rebecca knew her son’s ribs were aching, because his laughter was infectious and her own ribs were close to cracking. She leaned into Jake, wiping the tears from her eyes, feeling the rumbling of his body as he sought to control his laughter, a difficult task as Sean again booed and Jacob’s laughter increased in intensity.

Jake moved his wife to the bench swing before both their legs gave out on them. He put his arm around her as their laughter subsided.

“He’s certainly enjoying the wagon,” Rebecca said.

“Oh, I think he’s enjoying Sean more.”

“I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to Jacob.”

Jake jerked his head down, his brows furrowed, his eyes searching Rebecca’s. “What brought that on?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. A mother’s worries I guess.”

He rubbed her shoulder. “Nothing’s going to happen to him.”

She offered him a small smile. “I know it’s silly, but sometimes I think maybe we’ll be spared any sorrows because you had more than your share when you were growing up. That maybe all you went through will protect us.”

Jake pulled her in closer against him. “I don’t think there’s anyone sitting up above who keeps a tally on how much sorrow each person gets. Sometimes I think sorrow and joy are kept in containers like Abrams’s candy, and someone just dips a hand in and throws it out. It all just depends where you happen to be standing at the time.”

“Still, it would be nice if some good were to come out of all the suffering you went through as a child.”

“But something good did come out of it.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“If Truscott hadn’t come for me, I would probably be playing a piano in a whorehouse right about now. I wouldn’t have my land, my cattle, a son.” He trailed his fingers along her cheek, around her jaw. “Or you,” he said quietly as his lips met hers, Jacob’s laughter echoing in the distance.

The star-filled sky stretched as far as a man could see, the occasional bray of a steer rending the still night air, the fire crackling as it spread its warmth. Jake took a deep breath as he lay back, bracing himself up on an elbow, and looked out at all that surrounded him. He had always enjoyed tending cattle at night, peace filtering through him. It had been a while since he had sat by a roaring campfire, but he had offered to do it tonight because one of the men was getting married and the others had wanted to take him into town for one last fling. Frank had offered to stay behind as well.

It was the first night since he’d married Reb that he wasn’t sleeping with her. He knew it was silly, but he missed her, thoughts of her lying in that bed all alone filling his head. He’d do some powerful thinking before the night was over, and he’d share it all with her in the morning when he got back.

Frank hunkered down before the fire, studying it intently before throwing Jake a look over his shoulder.

“Can I talk to you man-to-man?” Frank asked.

Jake smiled. Frank had stopped shaving the peach fuzz under his nose, but still his mustache wasn’t visible.

“Sure.”

Frank moved back. “It’s about women.”

“I’m hardly the expert on women,” Jake said.

“You must know something. You married Reb.”

Jake couldn’t argue with that flawed logic. “What do you want to know?”

Frank’s face grew serious. “Well, see, I like Arlene a lot. Hell, I guess I love her. And I think she loves me. And we go for long walks and well, she’s real partial to kisses,
but …” He hesitated, then continued. “Well, see … she won’t let me give her more than a kiss. If I try to … well, go further, she says I won’t respect her. Hell, I want to make love to her. And I will respect her afterwards. I told her that, but she said no anyway. And I was just wondering, since Reb was pregnant when you married her, how the hell did you convince her … you know, to say yes?”

Jake sat up and put an elbow on his knee, rubbing the bridge of his nose. It occurred to him he could just tell Frank it was none of his business. He sighed. “Do you swear that what I tell you won’t go beyond this campfire?”

Frank eagerly scooted up. “Yes, sir. I swear it.” He made an “X” across his heart. “I swear to God.”

Jake’s eyes held Frank’s, making sure the man understood the seriousness of what he was about to say.