One True Love (14 page)

Josh knelt beside her pallet. “Hey, no tears allowed. Colorado isn't that far off.”

“It might as well be eternity.”

He reached out and tugged her right cheek. “Not by rail. The railroads are building all through these parts. It won't be long before you can board a rail car and travel to Colorado in no time at all.”

The thought was a lovely one, but Copper couldn't imagine the luxury. Forgo dust, Indians, and rough roads and sit in a railroad car and be whisked to your destination in a matter of days? Only the very rich could afford the privilege.

That evening the campfire burned low. Three of the best horses grazed nearby. The setting was surreal; her and two men. Beyond the light, Fort Riceson's ghostly presence loomed like a bad nightmare.

Josh had kept busy most of the day preparing for the ride back to Thunder Ridge. Over a cold supper, he approached the subject Copper had been afraid to voice: What were Dyson's plans? They couldn't just ride off and leave him here, yet he hadn't mentioned a word about joining them.

Redlin tossed coffee remains in the fire. “What about you, Doctor?”

The man glanced up. “What about me?”

“What's your plan? You can't stay here.”

Dyson turned back to stare at the fire. “I haven't any plans.”

“You can't sit here,” Josh said. “Come with us.”

“To Thunder Ridge?”

“It's a nice town.” He glanced at Copper and winked. “A man could lay down roots there.”

Dyson shook his head. “My roots are lying in that fort.”

“In time, you'll plant new ones.” Josh's tone gentled. “I'm not suggesting it will be easy, but there's nothing here any longer. Ride back with us, at least until you get on your feet again.”

“I'm still a member of the cavalry. I have to report somewhere.”

“I understand. Do your superiors know that you survived the attack?”

The doctor shook his head. “I've spoken to no one.”

Copper doubted news of the attack had reached the government yet. Information was slow to come in these parts.

“Please.” Copper added her invitation. “Come with us. Once you're in Thunder Ridge you can notify your superiors and resume your duties. We can't ride off and leave you here.”

To leave the doctor sitting and grieving alone at the graves of his family was unthinkable.

Dyson stared sightlessly into the fire. Copper didn't know if a word they said reached him, but they couldn't desert
him. If they must, Josh would have to truss him up like a Christmas goose and tie him to the horse.

“You're coming with us,” she announced.

The doctor neither accepted nor rejected her statement.

By sunup, Josh lifted Copper onto the saddle and elevated her foot in a makeshift sling alongside the horse's neck. The supply of laudanum was very low, so this journey was not likely to be a pleasant one. The long-anticipated trip home was not one she was looking forward to.

Her eyes scanned the area. Dale Dyson was nowhere in sight. “Is he coming?”

Josh tightened a cinch. “I haven't seen him this morning. He was gone when I woke up.”

She located the third horse still grazing nearby. “Is he in the fort?”

“Don't know.” He moved to check his saddlebags. “A man has a right to privacy, Copper. We invited him to come; it's up to him whether he accepts help or not. The doctor's carrying a heavy weight; you have to understand that.”

Copper longed to ride to the fort, where instinct told her Dyson stood in front of three fresh graves. Yet Josh's words rang true. A man was entitled to his privacy—his life. Only the good Lord had a say on the doctor's future.

Josh glanced her way. “Weather's good. We'll take it easy; if your pain gets to be too much, you're to tell me and we'll stop.”

“I will. I promise.” But she wanted to get home. Quickly. She could stand pain. She'd lived with it long enough.

“When you need to rest, whistle.”

She nodded, her gaze drifting back to the fort. “Shouldn't we go check on the doctor? Maybe he intends to come
and time had gotten away from him. We should say good-bye.”

Josh shook his head and then swung into his saddle. “He knows the time.”

Nodding, Copper reined the horse and fell in behind the big stallion, her eyes fixed on the fort's open double gates.
Please let him come, God. You can't leave him out here grieving all alone.

Josh turned to glance over his shoulder. “A man has to do what he has to do.”

“I can't bear to leave him.”

“You do what you have to do.”

She set the horse into an easy gait and forced her thoughts away from the pain in her ankle to home. Home. Willow, Audrey. Pleasant memories. She'd had her fill of sorrow.

Half a mile down the road she whirled, breaking into a grin when she heard approaching hoofbeats. Dr. Dyson's animal covered the distance and drew even with her mare. Josh glanced over and nodded. “Good to see you, Dyson.”

Dyson fixed his eyes on the road and acknowledged the wagon master. “Redlin.”

Copper smiled. “I was so afraid that you weren't coming.”

“I wasn't. Then I realized the Kiowa took away a lot of things, but they didn't take away my oath to serve mankind. I'll ride to Thunder Ridge, keep an eye on that injury, and then rejoin a unit.”

Josh smiled. “Sounds good.”

Nudging her horse, Copper set off for Thunder Ridge with more joy in her heart than she had experienced in weeks.
Thank you, God.

She didn't need any more prayer than that. She didn't
need to mention specific blessings. The good Lord knew she was grateful that she didn't have to leave the stricken doctor behind.

Thunder Ridge wouldn't restore Dyson's will to live, or bring back his wife and daughters, but Fort Riceson certainly held no future.

The past was buried and the future lay ahead.

“O
uch!”

“Just stay put and this will be over quickly.”

“That's what you say every time, and it just gets worse. Owhh! Must you use that vile concoction?”

Audrey briskly rubbed the whiskey and salt mixture into Copper's backside. “Jolie says there's nothing better to relieve soreness and keep the rash from getting infected. This would not be an ideal area to get infected, you know.” She dipped the cloth in the pan of liquid and reapplied the poultice.

“Oh mother of—” Copper howled. She did not appreciate the humor in Audrey's anatomical reference about rash.

Willow sat in the bedroom chair offering advice. “You should have never ridden so long and hard.”

Gritting her teeth, Copper endured the treatment. She should be used to it by now. She, Redlin, and Dyson arrived in Thunder Ridge last night after a grueling five-day ordeal. Their pace had been slow, but steady. The men stopped more
often than she asked; they had been perfect escorts, but the last day her posterior hurt so badly that she almost forgot about the painful ankle. All in all, the ride home had cost her dearly. Months without having ridden a horse had left her backside vulnerable and now she was paying the price.

“Perhaps if you'd been where I thought you were you could have lessened my agony.”

“Sorry about that, but everything happened so quickly. The schoolhouse fire and the ankle injury caught us all off guard. You were barely conscious when they whisked you off to see Dr. Dyson.” Willow glanced at Audrey. “The last you knew Judge Madison's house was going to be auctioned the next day, and it was.”

Copper half sat up. “Did it sell?” She couldn't imagine anyone actually wanting to buy the strange-looking house with its comical stovepipe construction, but she fully expected the pretentious banker's wife, Cordelia Padget, to nab it. It was the biggest house in town.

“Oh, it sold, all right.” Audrey and Willow exchanged looks.

Sitting up straight, Copper squinted. “What's going on with you two?”

“Nothing.” Audrey pushed her down and slapped another poultice on her backside. “An out-of-state buyer bought the place, much to Cordelia's dismay. The banker's wife was so certain that she and Horace were the only people around with enough money to obtain the house, but did she ever get a surprise.”

Copper shifted. “Who bought it?”

Shrugging, Audrey dipped the cloth in a water basin. “Just a man from out of state, and he requested that Tucker and Willow remain here until he decided to settle down.”

“Strange. Who in their right mind would want to live here? I mean, I've grown to love the town, but you'd have to live here for a spell before you acclimated to the climate.”

Willow grinned. “True, and I'm sure the new owner plans to eventually settle here, but for the time being Tucker and I are more than happy to enjoy the extra space. The owner is allowing us free rent in exchange for taking care of the place.” She sighed. “If we'd had to move into Tucker's one-room cabin we'd be mighty cramped for space.”

Copper winced. “Especially with me turning back up on your doorstep. And I was so happy to settle in Beeder's Cove. The Widow Potts provided a lovely room.”

Audrey wrung out the cloth. “You? What about me? I would have been forced to rent one of the Widow Gleeson's rooms, and while the woman is most pleasant, I would have missed being with Willow, and Tate certainly wouldn't have been able to run back and forth like he does.”

“No, Eli's boy would have to find another cookie source,” Willow teased. “But seriously, I don't know what I would have done without both your help during my confinement,” she admitted. “Tucker is so good to me, but the mill takes up so much time. He can't sit with me all day. Oh, by the way, Copper. A letter from your Aunt Nancy came while you were gone.”

“Aunt Nancy, in Ellsworth?”

“How many Aunt Nancys do you have? And exactly where is Ellsworth?”

“In Kansas, and from what Aunt Nancy writes the town is most boisterous. She says it attracts an army of ruffians, but Aunt Nancy is a bit of a hooligan herself.” Copper had
to laugh when she thought about the pint-sized lady. She hadn't seen her aunt in many long years.

Copper rested her head on the pillow. “Ellsworth. Now there would be an interesting town.”

Willow tucked the envelope under Copper's pillow. “You must visit her someday.”

“I should. She's invited me so many times since Mother passed. She was her only sister, you know. And Uncle Wilt passed away when he was very young. She moved to Kansas and never remarried.”

“Dr. Dyson seems quite nice,” Willow observed above Copper's misery. “Poor man—I wonder if he'll ever overcome his losses.”

“Someday he will.” Audrey straightened and wrung the cloth dry. “Look at Eli.” A smile touched the corners of her mouth. “There was a time that I feared he would never get over losing his wife.”

Willow met Copper's questioning gaze. “The two have been inseparable since you left. Honestly, I don't know how many picnics and long walks a body can take.”

“You should talk.” Audrey playfully punched Willow's shoulder. “I'm surprised you've even noticed.” She turned to Copper and complained, “Newlyweds. A flaming buffalo could run through here and they wouldn't notice.”

Copper buried her face in the pillowcase. She knew the feeling. When she was with Josh her surroundings disappeared. She'd learned many things on her brief trip to Fort Riceson, and one was that she'd misjudged Josh Redlin. The man was a prize, an anchor, a rock. Without him she was certain that she couldn't have made it through the long, tiresome journey and subsequent surgery and trip home.

She should have known that Willow and Audrey were completely attuned to her thoughts.

“So,” Audrey prompted, “you and Redlin? What's with all the sudden niceness between you two?”

“What niceness?”

“Oh please.” Willow laughed. “You two have bent over backward to be kind to one another. What happened on that trip that turned you from brawling street cats to…almost lovers?”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.” Copper slowly sat up and eased her legs over the side of the bed. “Mr. Redlin and I have come to an understanding, but that doesn't mean that I like him and we agree on everything.”

She didn't like him. She was in love with him. Madly in love. Dare she dream that he felt the same about her? He had been attentive during the surgery and the ride home, but he would have shown any woman the same courtesy. Josh was like that. Women flocked to him, and now she knew why. Yet in his eyes she might be little more than Milly Newsome personified.

Willow's tone dropped to conspiratorial. “Really? What's happened between you two?”

Sighing, Copper told them about the trip, the ups and downs and how she had come to love the maddening but oh-so-lovable wagon master, without whom life would have been intolerable these past weeks.

“You're in love with him?” Audrey shook her head. “Opposites do attract, but this seems rather like a copperhead and a skunk.”

Copper's jaw firmed. “He's the best thing that's ever happened to me, Audrey Pride.” She buttoned her pantaloons and carefully eased off the bed. “I don't know how I failed
to recognize it in the beginning, but I fear now that he's seen enough of the real me he'll never fully return my affections.” And yet he had kissed her. Had looked at her with…if not love, then most certainly great affection.

Audrey tugged Copper's nose. “Pish posh. We love you, and we have seen the
real
you.”

Willow interrupted Copper's rebuttal. “Does Dr. Dyson intend to return to the cavalry?”

“Yes. He thought he'd report in when he got here, but we passed a post on the way home and he did so at the time. He requested that he remain with me until we know how the ankle is healing.” Copper hobbled to a chair and gently eased down. Holding her right ankle aloft, she examined the bandage as she had every day since the operation.

“How long did you say it would be before you know if the doctor's efforts were successful?”

“Six to eight weeks.”

“And the doctor is allowed to remain here in Thunder Ridge with you until then?”

“He could leave the cavalry any time he chooses. He's spent many long years in service, but I don't know what he will do. With his wife and family gone there'll be little to hold him anywhere.”

“Does he have parents or siblings alive?”

“He hasn't said.” Copper shook her head. “He says little, actually. It was only at the last minute that he decided to come with us. At first he said he was going to stay at the fort.”

“You said nothing remained?”

“Nothing but graves and the horrible stench of death.”

Audrey shook her head. “Eventually he would have been forced to leave.”

“Josh and I feared he would do himself bodily harm if he remained behind, but a half mile down the road he caught up with us. Said he wanted to see his work through, but I imagine he knew that if he stayed it would be the last of him.”

“Such a pity,” Willow mused.

“Perhaps Eli can help.” Audrey straightened the bedding.

Willow shook her head. “You know men; they don't talk it out like women do. They keep all their feelings inside until they explode.”

Audrey turned pensive. “Not all men explode. Maybe they should. The release would allow healing to begin. Eli's kept his emotions for his wife buried so deep he wouldn't let himself feel—at least until lately.” She sat down on the side of the bed. “He told me the other night he'd been afraid to look or even think about another woman since Genevieve's death because he felt he would be betraying her. He'd left her to fight in the war, and for her to die in childbirth having his son—that was betrayal enough.”

“Perhaps the two men might console each other,” Willow mused. “God works in mysterious ways.”

“Indeed he does.” Copper bent to tie her shoe. “How's Caleb's love life coming along?”

“Slow.” Both Audrey and Willow giggled. “These days he seems a bit taken with Yvonne, but it is still too soon for her to consider marriage.”

“Wasn't her deceased husband much older than her?”

“Very much older, and the union was based on need and respect, not love. At least not the exhilarating kind. Yvonne confessed that she loved him much as she would love a father. He had taken her in when her parents were slain by Indians.”

“So it wasn't the giddy sort of love.” Willow folded a hankie in her lap. “Perhaps in time something might have developed between the two.”

Copper cast Willow a mischievous eye. “Of course there's always Meredith Johnson. I declare that young woman is man-hungry.”

“Gray-hungry,” Willow confirmed on a sour note. “She'd take any Gray, dead or alive.”

Audrey's hands came to her hips. “Well, there's only one available. Eli's mine.”

“So say you,” Willow teased. “I don't see an engagement ring.”

With a crafty grin, Audrey reached into her pocket, drew out a ring, and slipped it on the third finger of her left hand. Copper's and Willow's jaws simultaneously dropped.

Audrey good-naturedly wrinkled her nose. “He proposed last night. The ring belongs to his mother; it's a family heirloom. I've been waiting all day for the perfect time to tell you.”

Pandemonium broke out as the women oohed and aahed over the token of intent.

“When?” Willow exclaimed. “When's the wedding?”

“A few months…at least until Eli can take some time off.”

The three clasped one another in a long group hug. As delighted as Copper was with the news, she couldn't ignore the razor-sharp pain that sliced her heart to ribbons. She wanted Josh Redlin. She wanted a token of love. And yet Josh would ride out soon to rejoin the wagon train, and he'd made no mention of his intent toward her. Out of Thunder Ridge and possibly out of her life.

As thrilled as she was for Audrey and Eli, she couldn't break the melancholy that suddenly rendered her weepy.

 

On the way to the Madison home, Josh noticed that Dale Dyson had settled into Widow Gleeson's spare boarding room nicely. For three dollars a week he was assured a roof over his head and three hot meals a day. The widow kept two rooms for such occasions, but Thunder Ridge rarely had guests, so the good doctor had a comfortable deal and the privacy he craved. In time, Dyson's pain would ease. He'd never completely get over the loss, but if he stuck around Thunder Ridge, there were single women…The newly widowed Yvonne came to mind.

Five minutes later, Josh tapped on the door casing of Copper's bedroom door. They'd been back three days; he had to move on though his heart wasn't in the decision. She glanced up from the magazine she was reading. He flashed a grin. “Hello sleepyhead.”

She returned the smile. “Did you stop by earlier?”

“An hour and a half ago.”

She laid the magazine aside. “You should have had Audrey waken me. I've grown quite lazy of late.”

“I figured you needed your rest. May I come in a minute?”

The moment she'd been dreading was here. She motioned him to a Queen Anne chair.

Removing his hat, he entered the room and sat down. “Staying off that foot, I see.”

Nodding, she said, “I'm doing exactly as I'm told.”

“I'll believe that when I see it.” Their eyes met and they locked gazes. So much, and yet so little, was said in the brief exchange.

“You're leaving.”

He nodded. “I can't delay any longer. The doctor is settled, you're on the mend.” His features softened. “If there were a choice…”

“I know.” He didn't have to say the words. They both knew he would be willing to stay, explore the feelings that were confusing, exhilarating, and useless. She knew so very little about him, and he knew everything about her. Not a promising state of affairs. Leaning closer, he picked up her hand. “I'll write.”