Texas Lily (33 page)

The elder one, the one who looked most like Cade, touched her arm and gestured with his hand. The seriousness of his dark eyes brought Lily to her senses. She wished it hadn't. She would have preferred to go on babbling mindlessly a little while longer.

Instead, she turned in the direction he indicated and stepped toward the man lying on the muddy ground. Travis was already bent over him, breathing into his mouth, pumping on his chest, and cursing in between. Lily tried not to make a sound, tried to do nothing to distract him, but tears poured down her face. She stumbled to her knees before she could stop herself.

"Daddy! Wake up, Daddy! It's me, Lily! You've got to wake up now. You're scaring me, and it's not funny. Please, Daddy. I'll play for you. There's a piano back in town. You haven't heard me play it. I'm sorry I haven't had time to play it for you yet. We'll go tomorrow night. Or maybe Saturday if you're not feeling up to it. Please, Daddy..."

Someone pulled her away. Someone else half-carried, half-led her to the barn and out of the rain that had started again. Lily knew Roy was sobbing, heartbroken. She could hear Serena crying and Juanita hushing her. Someone was speaking to her, handing her a cup of something. But she couldn't taste it. She couldn't see them. She had to see that her father was all right.

Lily tried to get up and go to him again, but they held her back. She screamed and fought them, but there were too many. When Travis entered, he shook his head as he looked at her. That's when Lily knew it was over.

Weeping openly, she collapsed on the hay and cried for Cade, and for herself, and for the father she would never know again.

Chapter 26

Cade thought he saw flames leaping on the horizon as he rode his exhausted horse out of the woods. His heart nearly stopped in his chest.

They had been riding for twelve hours or more. He was soaked to the bone and should have found a camp hours ago. But the thought of spending the rest of the night in bed with Lily had been too compelling for common sense.

Cade tried to focus his gaze on the flickering flames, but they were already fading below the horizon. Perhaps it had been lightning, but he hadn’t heard thunder. The direction was too uncomfortably close to the house. No campfire would reach that high. Something was wrong.

Sensing home and shelter, the gelding responded to Cade's urging with one last surge of energy. They raced across the prairie in the direction of the ranch.

* * *

She wasn't even aware he was there until he gathered her in his arms. Weeping hysterically, Lily fell on Cade's shoulder and poured out all her fear and sorrow.

Holding her, Cade glanced at the men standing helplessly about.

"Smoke inhalation. He was dead before we carried him out. I tried, but it was too late." Travis shrugged and watched Lily’s hysteria with bewilderment.

Cade had already taken in a white-faced Roy and a sobbing Serena. His gaze drifted to the long body covered in an old horse blanket. Ephraim. First her husband. Now her father. The gods were exacting their price.

"It's all my fault,” Lily sobbed. “I shouldn't have let him take the bottle to bed. He would have seen the fire, smelled the smoke, if he hadn't been drinking. He's been doing so well... He was just telling me how proud he was of Roy, how he'd always wanted a son. Why, Cade? Why does this have to happen?"

"Because he'd made his peace with the world, Lily, and it was time for him to go. Don't fault yourself. There was nothing you could do." Cade glanced back at Travis. "Is there anything habitable? She's shivering. We need a fire."

"The roof is gone on the main cabin and rain is going through the loft floor. I'd be afraid to use the chimney. The other two bedrooms weren't touched." He hesitated, then offered, "I think Ephraim had one of his cigars before he went to sleep. He'd been in pain earlier, and he'd told me he slept better after a good cigar. It could have fallen in the blankets and smoldered. He was probably asphyxiated before the flames started."

"No, no." Lily shook her head against Cade's shoulder. "Daddy wouldn't have smoked in bed. I told him it smelled too much, and he said he wouldn't smoke them anymore."

Travis and Cade exchanged glances. The old man had smoked a cigar every night before he went to bed. He just waited for Lily to leave the room or took it upstairs with him.

"Let's get you inside where it's warm." Cade helped Lily to her feet, then glanced at a grief-stricken Roy. "Would you rather sleep downstairs with us? There's not much of the night left."

Roy looked uncertainly to his mother, but Lily was too caught up in her grief to comprehend his need right now. Travis dropped a reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder. "Let's you and me go back to my place and fix up something hot to warm our insides. Your mom will feel better in the morning."

When Roy went off with Travis, Cade spoke to his half brothers, who had grown restless and uneasy with the number of strangers staring at them. They replied in their native tongue, and Cade gestured with his head to Jack. "Fetch the boys some blankets. They'd rather sleep out here in the barn with the animals. I don't want them trying to ride out tonight."

Jack looked from Cade to the two young Indians, then went off to carry out his orders.

Lily had managed to follow this much of the conversation, and she tugged anxiously at Cade's poncho. "It's too cold out here, Cade. There ought to be room in the bunkhouse."

"If I tried to make them sleep in there, they'd bolt. I don't want to have to hunt them down in the morning. Come inside. You can't stay out here any longer."

Wrapping Lily in a blanket, Cade led her back into the night. He stared bleakly at the scorched remains of the main cabin. All Lily's prized possessions were in there: her table and chairs hauled all the way from Mississippi, her crates of books, her new sink and pump, all the things that came so dearly out here. The front window would no doubt be shattered too. Caught up in the more devastating loss of her father, she hadn't noticed this lesser loss yet, but it was coming.

And there was worse yet to follow; he could feel it. That was a topic best left for morning.

Juanita carried Serena off to the safety of her cabin. The dresser with all the child's clothes would be in the charred wreckage of the main room. It was only a miracle that Serena had been saved from the same fate. Cade offered his thanks to Whoever watched over them as he helped Lily into their room.

Jim Brown had neglected to build a fireplace for this side of the house. It made sense, for it was dangerous to leave a fire burning all night in these timber-framed chimneys, but Cade cursed the lack now. The house would be uninhabitable for the winter without any means of heat.

Gathering Lily in his arms, he carried her to the bed—blanket, robe, and all. He pulled up the quilts at the bottom of the bed and tucked her in, then discarded his own damp clothes. Leaving them lying on the floor, he climbed beneath the covers and hugged Lily's huddled body into the curve of his own.

He could feel her sobs lessen as exhaustion claimed her, and as she quieted, Cade allowed slumber to cover his senses. There would be time enough in the morning to survey their choices.

Lily woke feeling thoroughly ill. Her head hurt. Her throat was raw. But there was nothing wrong with her nose. The disgusting smells of wet, charred lumber filled her nostrils.

Her stomach stirred in protest, and she squirmed in the cocoon of wrappings around her legs. She needed the chamberpot. A hand pulled at the quilt muffling her head, and Lily leapt fully awake.

Cade bent over her, concern evident in the depth of his eyes. The previous night flashed through her mind, and she stared back at him, grief-stricken.

"Are you well enough to get up? I can carry you to the kitchen where it is warm."

She didn't want to get up. She didn't ever want to get up again. Why couldn't her father have been taken when there were a thousand miles of distance between them? Why did it have to happen now, just as they were coming to know each other again? Just as he seemed ready to start a new life?

Lily's eyes hurt too much to cry, and she shook her head. "I need to get dressed." There were certain demands of the body that had to be met. She couldn't linger here feeling sorry for herself.

The child within her stirred in agreement, and she realized she was hungry. Unwrapping from the cocoon of covers, Lily pressed a hand to her restless insides. Cade's hand instantly covered hers.

"The child moves?"

"Can't you feel him? It is early yet, but already he uses my stomach for a kicking post. I think he will be as large as you when he is born." It made Lily feel better to speak of the babe. She had wanted another child for so long, she couldn't lose her joy in this life even in the presence of death.

Cade burrowed his hand beneath her robe and covered the hard pear shape of her abdomen with his palm. He stroked her there, and the child eagerly responded.

"Let me bring you breakfast. There is no need for you to get up now. It is early yet."

He swung out of bed before Lily could register surprise. She watched as Cade pulled on one of his old chambray shirts and searched for his denims. Someday she would have to buy him some long johns. He kept his back to her, but she could very well imagine what he tried to hide. It had been a month since they shared a bed, but her needs were buried beneath grief right now. Cade was doing his best to respect that.

She would have to match his thoughtfulness. If she wanted this to be a partnership, she would have to shoulder half the burden. She could do it. It was just a matter of setting her mind to priorities and not wallowing in guilt and grief.

"I want him buried on the rise near the oaks." Lily threw back the covers and stood up. She wouldn't think about the empty, charred room across the dogtrot. There were more important things to consider. "We need to find some way to thank your brothers. They saved our lives."

Safely buttoning his pants, Cade watched her worriedly. "I have promised them a buffalo hunt. They do not expect more than that. If you are truly grateful, you might give my father permission to camp where he is now for as long as he likes. I think he is ready to accept the fact that he cannot fight both Comanche and white men."

"How could I object?" Embarrassed by her distorted body, Lily pulled her drawers up beneath her nightgown. "Your brothers have saved Roy and now everyone in the household. I do not understand why they were out in such miserable weather, but I am grateful for their quick actions."

Cade didn't think she would appreciate knowing his brothers had been watching her since he left. He merely nodded agreement and then impulsively reached for her nightgown and pulled it off before she could hide any more of herself beneath it.

Cade stared in satisfaction at the fullness of her breasts and the slope of her belly. "Don't hide yourself from me. Your beauty is one of the pleasures of my life."

He bent and kissed her, then left her staring after him. Lily looked down at herself, then back at the door Cade had closed behind him. The man was definitely mad.

She tried not to look at the ruin of her lovely house as she scurried through the slashing rain to the privy. She needed to talk to the children and see that her father had a decent burial. Then she would need to notify her sisters. There would be time to take stock of the situation when all that was done.

She kept herself going, one task at a time. The men had to be fed. She ignored the way Travis and Cade talked in low tones between each other, leaving her out. She was getting work done. She would find chores for them to do soon enough.

The men built a coffin out of scrap lumber, and Travis scaled the dangerous upper story to see if any decent clothes could be salvaged from Ephraim's wardrobe for his laying-out. Lily scrubbed the ones he brought her and methodically hung them in front of the kitchen fire. The tiny kitchen would be crowded if they all had to stay in here for warmth, but rebuilding the fireplace was far down on her list of things to do.

The rain let up enough by afternoon for the men to carry the makeshift coffin and its heavy burden out to the grave that had been dug in the mud that morning. Lily concentrated on holding Roy's hand and the words she wanted to say. She couldn't break down again. Too many people depended on her.