Sins of Summer (34 page)

When they told Odette, she was delighted. She hugged Ben, then Dory. Jeanmarie, her nightdress dragging the floor, came in
rubbing sleep from her eyes. Odette scooped her up in her arms and danced around the room.

“Will Baby be my sister?”

“Your stepsister.” Dory spoke slowly. When Odette beetled her brows, a sign that she didn’t understand, Dory wrote it on the
tablet.

“I don’t like
step.
Sister!”

Ben and Dory laughed. She reached for his hand. It was a natural, unconscious gesture—and it felt so wonderful to be free
to touch him. Although she hadn’t tried to explain their new situation to Jeanmarie, the child seemed to know. She went from
Odette’s arms to Ben’s and wound her small arms around his neck.

“Odette’s papa. Jeanmarie’s papa.”

An emotion flooded Ben’s heart like none he had felt before. He hugged the child tightly to him and kissed her soft cheek.
His eyes met Dory’s, and he silently vowed that he would love and protect them for as long as he lived.
Love.
He was looking into Dory’s green glistening eyes when the word popped into his mind.
He loved her! He loved them!
Love was a new word for him. But, by God, he loved her!

Ben wanted to set the child down, go to Dory and tell her, but the little arms were wound tightly around his neck. As if knowing
he wanted her close, Dory moved over beside him. He put his arm around her and pulled her tightly to him. Over her head he
spoke silently to Odette, who watched with large questioning eyes.
Come here, sweetheart.

With his arms around the two women and the child, Ben felt as if he had the entire universe in his arms. Right here was everything
he had ever hoped to have. This woman would be the hub around which his life would revolve. He lowered his face into her short
tight curls, breathed deeply the clean, sweet smell, and promised to do everything in his power to keep her safe and happy.
He wanted her never to regret her decision to give herself to him.

Finally Odette moved away and Jeanmarie wiggled to be let down. Ben held Dory to him for a little longer, reluctant to lose
the joy of holding her.

Odette dressed Jeanmarie while Dory cooked breakfast. Her hand shook as she poured water into the cornmeal. She couldn’t prevent
her eyes from seeking Ben. When she caught him watching her with tender amusement, he smiled. The thrill of that smile reached
all the way to her toes, and her heart leaped with joy.

It was the same throughout the morning as they went about the chores of everyday living. Ben filled the wood box and chopped
a supply of kindling. He set the iron wash pot up in the yard, filled it with water and built a fire under it. Dory gathered
the clothes to be washed while Odette churned and amused Jeanmarie.

When Ben was near Dory, their eyes caught and clung as if they shared a glorious secret. It seemed to her that nothing could
happen to dampen her spirits. But something did.

Louis arrived at mid-morning. Dory was at the washtubs on the porch. She saw him the instant he came out of the woods and
toward the house. Odette, in the yard poking at the clothes in the boiling water with a long stick, was unaware of him until
he rode past her on a sweaty horse. Her frightened eyes searched for her father. With relief she saw him come out of the barn
and toward the house.

Dismounting and leaving his horse loose to wander to the watering trough, Louis came to the porch. He had an ugly scowl on
his face.

“Where in the goddamn hell is that damn James?” he demanded. “Is he here?”

“Hello, Louis. Nice morning.” Dory continued to rub the neck of Wiley’s shirt against the scrub board.

“Goddammit! I asked you a question. I want an answer. Where’s James?”

“He’s not here.”

“He ain’t at the camp. Ain’t been there fer a couple a days.”

“He isn’t here,” Dory said calmly.

“Damn you! You know where he’s at. He don’t take a piss without tellin’ you. He left them men on their own ta get them logs
to the river an’ most of ’em don’t know shit ’bout that engine.”

“You’ll have to discuss that with James.” Dory twisted the water out of the shirt and dropped it in the rinse water.

“Is that goddamn Waller still here? Or did you take in that dummy of his?”

“What I do in my own house is my business.”

“Yore house! Yore house! Why you… you—”

“If you say it, I’ll do my best to knock every tooth out of your head.”

Hearing Ben’s voice behind him, Louis spun around. “I told ya to get off Callahan land. I ain’t tellin’ ya again.”

“I told him to stay.”

Louis turned back to Dory and shouted, “I ain’t talkin’ to ya, so keep your mouth shut.”

“But I’m talking to you,” Ben said. “I’m staying until James and Dory tell me to leave. Even if they did that, I’d still stay
until I got the money coming to me.”

“Ya didn’t finish the job.”

“I did what I said I’d do.”

“Ya caused more trouble than it was worth. I wish I’d never heard of the goddamn machine.”

“I’m glad you did.” Ben’s eyes flashed a secret message to Dory.

“Where’d James go to?” Louis demanded in his loud voice. “I can’t be runnin’ both places. I got to get to the mill.”

“Why can’t you run both places? You’ve been interfering at the cutting camp for years.” Dory’s tone of voice showed her contempt.

“Keep outta this! Ya done already gone an’ got a man killed!”

“A worthless no-good little weasel who was going to rape me!” Dory’s aroused voice overrode that of her half-brother, who
was spitting and sputtering with rage. “And look what happened to me because I resisted.”

“Rape? Ha! Ya wanted it! It’s what ya get fer swishin’ yore tail an’ gettin’ a man stirred up.”

“You stupid lout! I don’t know what holds your ears apart. It sure isn’t brains.”

Louis looked at Dory with a face distorted with pure hatred. His eyes were wild.

“Ya got what ya had comin’. If we’d done our duty an’ whipped ya in line long ago ya might not a turned out like ya done.”

“If either of you lift a hand to me again, I’ll blow your head off.” Dory’s expression said that she meant every word.

Louis was so angry that spittle came from the corner of his mouth. He stood first on one foot and then on the other.

“Yore just like
her!
Ya ain’t nothin’ but a… slut!”

Ben hit him.

He had kept out of things up to now. He landed two blows before Louis fell: a tight fist to his stomach and an uppercut to
his chin. Louis reeled back a step or two, then hit the ground like a fallen timber and sat there with a look of disbelief
on his face. The only sound above his labored gasps for breath was Jeanmarie’s tinkling childish laughter, which stopped when
she darted behind her mother’s skirts.

With more patience than he realized he possessed, and in spite of the storm of anger that flowed through him, Ben waited for
Louis to get up. He had hit him mainly because of what he had called Dory, but also because he didn’t like him or his attitude.
He was glad Louis had given him the excuse.

“Be careful how you talk to my
wife
or about her from now on,” Ben said, his voice icy cold, his eyes iron hard.

Almost choking on his fury and keeping his eyes on Ben, Louis rolled to his knees, then stood and backed away. He rocked on
unsteady legs, holding his belly. His mouth worked and his chin quivered.

“I thought as much. Ya want it all, just like
her,”
Louis hissed, his small bright eyes fixed on Dory with an icy glare that reminded her of a poisonous viper. With a jerky
stride he went to his horse and mounted, then yanked on the reins cruelly. The animal squealed in protest, then dug in its
hooves and took off toward the mill.

“There’s a few things I wish I’d said to that mule-brained, stupid, block-headed jackass. He’s rotten buzzard bait and a pissant
to boot!” Dory sputtered.

Ben stepped up onto the porch, a teasing sparkle in his eyes.

“Honey, I think you’ve said everything that needed to be said.”

“By jinks damn! He makes me so mad! He’s always comparing me to my mother. He hated her, so he hates me. I’m glad you hit
him. I wanted to hit him myself.”

“You’re like a feisty little rooster when you get riled up. I’m going to have to watch my step.”

“Men like Louis and Milo think women are nothing but dumb heifers to breed and take their pleasure on.”

“Cool off, sweetheart.”

“Oh, Ben.” Dory dried her hands on her apron. “Are you sure you want a bobbed-haired wife who shoots off her mouth like a
drunken river pig?”

“I’m planning on getting me a big old hickory switch and putting it over the door. I’ll use it when my wife calls me a mule-brained
stupid jackass.”

“Oh, you!” Dory’s arms went around his waist. Her insides warmed with pleasure when his arms tightened around her and a delicious
joy invaded her innermost being as it did each time she was close to him.

“I like your spunk,” he said close to her ear. “I’m proud of the way you stood up to him.” He pressed his lips to the curve
of her neck. The warm moist lips traced a line to her jaw. Love and tenderness welled within her. Aware, but not caring, that
Odette and Jeanmarie were watching, they stood quietly as if to absorb the feel of each other. When Ben pulled back he lifted
her chin with a forefinger.

“I’m helping Wiley put a rim around a wagon wheel, but I’ll keep an eye out.”

“I know. We should know in a few days what’s best to do. James thought it would take about three days for Howie McHenry to
get to Judge Kenton and back.”

Before it was time for the noon meal, the clothes were drying on the rope line that had been strung from the porch post to
the windmill and back to the corner of the house. The tubs, except for the one containing the soapy water to be used to scrub
the kitchen floor, were emptied and hung on the nails on the porch.

Odette had been unusually quiet and Dory wondered if she were uncomfortable with the display of affection between her and
Ben. As one side of her mouth was still swollen and it was hard for Odette to understand her, Dory got out the pencil and
tablet.

Do you mind that I love your papa and he loves me?

“No, Dory. Papa is happy. I’ve not seen Papa so happy. He smiles.”

You are dear to your papa. He loves you like I love Jeanmarie. The love between a man and a woman is different.

Odette read quickly. “I know that,” she replied. “I am a woman. I love James. James loves me. I don’t think Papa will like
for me to love James.” Dory gave Odette a hug then began to write:

James will talk to him. Ben might think James too old for you. He is almost twenty-five.

“I will soon be seventeen. Eight years is not so much.” A worried look crossed Odette’s face. “I wish that papa would be happy
for me.”

After the noon meal, Ben and Wiley went back to work in the barn and the women scrubbed the kitchen and hallway. The house
needed to be thoroughly cleaned, the windows opened and the curtains washed. In other years Dory had enjoyed spring cleaning,
but not this year. She couldn’t get into the mood for it.

The possibility that she and Ben might be going away from here weighed heavily upon her. But where her husband went, she would
go. James was in love with Odette. Dory had known it almost from the time he had tended to her when she was sick. If Ben didn’t
approve of James for his daughter, would she be able to go away with them, leaving her brother broken-hearted?

James returned in the late afternoon, sooner than Dory had expected him. He unsaddled his horse, turned him into the corral
and went into the barn. Minutes later he came out followed by Wiley and Ben. The men came toward the house.

James’s eyes found Odette the minute he stepped into the kitchen. He winked a greeting. Flustered, Odette began to wash the
dust from the fireplace mantel.

“Give me some coffee and something to tide me over till supper, Sis. I haven’t had a bite since I left here.”

“For heaven’s sake! Why didn’t you stop at Bessie’s? You know she dotes on you. She always gives you big helpings.”

“I didn’t have time. She’s got her potato vine out and spread across the front of the restaurant.”

“That’s the sign that spring is here. It wouldn’t dare get cold after Bessie puts out her potato vine,” Dory explained to
Ben. Then to James, she said, “Why were you in such a hurry you couldn’t take time to eat?”

“I wanted to get back.” He looked at Odette, who was lingering by the fireplace. “Come sit,” he said when she looked at him.
Odette took a chair beside Ben and across from James so she could see his face.

Dory set a plate of bread and apple butter on the table in front of her brother, then sat down. She wished that she were near
Ben and could hold his hand. She was afraid that what had brought James back in such a hurry was something unpleasant.

“I went to the burying,” James began. “Chip was quite decent. He said to tell you to take good care of his granddaughter.”
Dory raised her brows in a noncommittal gesture and James shrugged. “Howie left for Coeur d’Alene this morning before I got
there. McHenry sent him to buy goods for the store. While I was at McHenry’s he pulled me back into a corner and told me that
Steven was there. Someone laid for him and shot him three times. He’s in bad shape.”

Dory drew in a trembling breath. “Oh, my goodness! Who would do such a thing to Steven?”

“I talked to him. He thinks it was someone who thought he was going to Judge Kenton to get the property divided.”

“It’s my fault,” Dory exclaimed. “I should never have taunted Louis with that possibility.”

James continued. “I doubt it was robbery. Steven never carries cash money to speak of. Whoever shot him wanted to kill him.
They shot four times.” He repeated word for word his conversations with McHenry and Steven. “No one knows he’s there except
the McHenry family and now us. Steven doesn’t want it reported to the marshal. Of all people, he doesn’t want the marshal
to know where to find him. He said he would explain later.”