Wolf had bowls of stew waiting for them. While Morgan fed and watered the horses, Wolf told Kara theyd be on Catlin land by nightfall. He spoke of the place as though it were another country they were going to and not just a ranch.
Back on the road, she wanted to stay awake and watch, but the meal, the winter sun and her lack of sleep combined. As the day aged, Kara began to fight to stay awake.
The sun disappeared behind clouds that looked like a mountain range banking one side of the endless prairie. The horses trot beat an endless rhythm against the low whine of the wind moving across the land.
Jonathan pulled a lap quilt over her without saying a word. She tried leaning against the side of the buggy, but couldnt get comfortable. Finally, half asleep, she leaned against his shoulder and gave way to dreams.
TEN
JONATHAN UNHARNESSED THE HORSES IN THE DARKENED courtyard. The Catlin Ranch Headquarters was a fortress with several buildings inside a thick adobe wall. Since he first saw the place years ago, hed had the feeling of being locked inside more than locking out the world. The main house had been built in the early 1800s to withstand attack from Indians or Santa Annas army. The bunkhouse was added later, then added on to, as the number of hired hands grew through the years. Inside the walls were wells and stores of food and ammunition to last a full siege.
If a man had to be closed in on the plains, there were worse places than here, he guessed. A fountain bubbled in the center of the yard. Smells of winter sage and evergreen had replaced the heavy fragrance of flowers that weighted the air all summer. The faint sounds of the horses in the corral and the cowhands in the bunkhouse were little more than a whispered melody in the night air.
As he turned the team over to a hand, Jonathan glanced at Jason Newton, the foreman. All well on the place? It was the same question hed asked once a day since hed taken over.
Newton nodded. Some trouble, but nothing that cant wait until morning. Except old Gideon tumbled over a harness left on the back door and broke his leg while you were gone. He swears the harness fell on him, but I dont see how that could have happened.
He all right? Gideon had been the caretaker for almost fifty years. His granddaughter, Angela, ran the house just as her grandmother had until she died. Gideon and his wife were from Mexico City, but Angela had been born on the ranch.
Yeah, Newton answered Jonathans question. It was a clean break. Luther set it for him. Newton hesitated. Strange thing was no one remembers putting the harness there. It dont make no sense, it just appearing. A man would have had to make a special trip from the barn to put a harness there.
Accidents happen, Jonathan said, puzzled by the same thoughts.
Maybe. Newton didnt say more as the two men walked toward the house.
Jonathan heard Luther Ice and Willis Miller whispering as they curiously peeped inside the buggy. Like all the retired lawmen and rangers who acted as guards, they saw everything on the ranch as being their business.
What dyou reckon she is? Luther asked. Age cracked his voice.
Wolf said she was a wee little bookkeeper, Willis answered. His deep tones had matured into hollow sounds as if he were speaking from the bottom of a well. Aint guess I ever seen one before.
She sure is pretty. You think shes alive? Luther sounded worried, but then folks said Luther caught a case of worry back in 61 and never recovered. The few times he hadnt been worried about the state of the world, he was surprised hed survived to be so old. Like an old cottonwood, hed twisted considerably with age.
Course shes alive. They wouldnt bring us a dead bookkeeper. Williss laughter made a hiccuping sound in his throat.
Well, they brought us a dead baby, didnt they? Wolf said thats what was in the box he set on the porch.
Youre right about that, Willis conceded as he glanced at the coffin Wolf had carefully place on a bench by the front door. Touch her. See if shes alive.
I dont know about that. Luther shook his head so hard it appeared loose. Maybe we could holler at her?
Willis jingled as he shifted nervously. You holler and youll scare her for sure. I heard of women being scared plum to death.
Luther sounded frustrated. Well, I aint never heard that. And I aint gonna sing to her.
Jonathan had listened to enough from the two retired Texas Rangers who lived on Catlin land. His grandmother used to call the worn-out lawmen, who drifted in from all parts of Texas, the Old Guard. Jonathan never thought to question their presence. They just came with the ranch he inherited. He saw them as his responsibility, just as they saw him as theirs.
Moving between them, Jonathan said, If you two gentlemen will step aside, Ill take care of our wee little bookkeeper.
Willis jumped, always skittish of anyone standing too close. From the rattle of his spurs to his watch chain, he jingled. He reminded Jonathan of an old cat someone tied a bell around to give birds fair warning.
Luther took longer to move aside. He relied heavily on a cane as he shifted his left hip that no longer cooperated as part of the whole. Like many of the men, hed been wounded in his younger days and now the mended body suffered.
Jonathan debated whether to awaken Kara. Shed spoken to him a few times, asking questions before she fell asleep, but he wouldnt exactly say they were on friendly terms. When hed carried her before, she hadnt known. She was sure to guess this time when she woke up in a strange room.
Carefully, he lifted her from the buggy. As shed done the first night he met her, she curled into his chest without waking. He found himself wondering how many hundreds of times a father or brother must have lifted her while she was growing up.
With Luther and Willis as escorts, Jonathan carried her up the steps to the huge ranch house built by Catlins three generations before.
The ranch foreman leaned against the front door as Jonathan neared. Though the two men were within a year of the same age, Jason Newton was a head shorter than Jonathan and twice his width. He wore a twin set of Colts which added even more to his girth. Might want to toss her back. The foreman couldnt hold in his laughter. And hope for a bigger catch next time.
Quiet down. Luther swung at Newton with his cane. You dont want to wake up the bookkeeper, do you, Jason?
Newton ignored the advice. So thats what she is. I know the ledgers are in bad shape, but did you have to knock her out to get her way out here?
No. Jonathan frowned as he passed. She just sleeps soundly, thats all.
Newton joined the procession up the stairs. My grandmother slept soundly like that. We buried her.
Jonathan had the strangest feeling that he wanted to protect Kara. He wished he hadnt pushed so hard to get here early. Maybe he could have carried her in peace if theyd arrived after midnight.
Where we gonna put her? Luther asked. I dont know if Angela fixed up one of the spare rooms. She didnt say nothin about anyone coming. And you know Angela. If she knows anything, she shares it with the world.
Hold her head up more, Willis grumbled at Jonathan. She cant breathe the way youre carryin her.
Jonathan groaned. Everything on the ranch had to be a committee decision. If Snort and H. B. were here, theyd be adding their advice to the mix. Ill put her in my room. I know its ready. Ill sleep downstairs on the couch tonight. Tomorrow, she and Angela can pick out a room for her.
Everyone nodded, happy to share a plan. Newton held the door, Willis jingled over to light the fireplace and Luther watched from the doorway.
Jonathan laid her carefully in the middle of his own bed, then frowned. She wouldnt have to worry about him kissing her again. With the Old Guard around, there was little chance the two of them would ever be alone again anyway.
Jonathan removed her shoes and spread a quilt over her. Everyone else backed out of the room as if turning around might cause undue noise. He brushed his finger lightly along her cheek, wishing he had the nerve to kiss her there. Strange thing about this woman… she could drive him crazy with her questions, but damned if he didnt think the idea of kissing her again sounded good. And tonight he was stone-cold sober.
Thoughts of her drifted through his mind as he moved about the shadows of the barn an hour later. He saddled a horse and roped a mule, then carefully tied the tiny coffin and a shovel onto the mule. The moon would provide all the light he needed for what he had to do.
He rode out silently, but Jonathan couldnt shake the feeling that the guards were watching him and knew what he was about to do. Deep into Catlin Ranch the land turned rocky and veined with canyons. It would take him hours to find the right place for Quils son, but find it he would. A place high on a bluff where all four views were endless. A place where the wind would blow across the grave and the sun would shine without shadow from dawn until dusk.
A place where Quil would know his son would forever be free.
* * *
Dawn melted into the room between slats of huge oak shutters, awakening Kara slowly. A chill thickened the air, daring her to move from beneath the covers. She smiled at the whispered tick of a clock half a room away and the distant aroma of coffee.
Stretching, she looked about. Books were everywhere. Piled on tables, crammed into shelves, arranged like tiny foothills surrounding an armchair near the floor-to-ceiling windows. Big books, little books, old books with their covers falling off, new ones with oiled leather bindings. In her home in Pittsburgh, they had only borrowed books. From the time she could read, Kara would first borrow her teachers books and then go to the library. For an only child left alone, books were like friends.
Now, she saw hundreds, and all looked like theyd been here forever. She could think of no more welcoming sight. Suddenly, the year didnt seem so long if she could read.
Slipping from the bed, Kara felt along the nightstand for her glasses. She couldnt remember putting them there last night. For years, the last thing she did before going to bed was to place her glasses within easy reach. At dawn, when the light was poor, she needed them more.
But this morning, Kara couldnt remember arriving at the ranch. It mustve been late. She tiptoed around the room, letting her fingers glide lightly over everything. The thin-framed glasses would be hard to see against the dark wood in the shadowy light. Years ago, she learned to find them by touch each morning.
The furniture, simple in design, was well made. Kara didnt have to ask; she knew she was at the Catlin Ranch. The place where she would serve out her year before going home. That is, if there was a home to return to. Another few weeks and she could send the first telegram or letter. With luck, her father would respond.
Since she was still fully dressed, she knew someone must have carried her in here. Kara fought down the blush that threatened her cheeks. There was no real question of whom. Her bag sat next to Jonathans just inside the door.
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. This had to be his room. It smelled of leather and wool. The books, though, were a surprise. He didnt seem the kind of man who could sit still long enough to read.
She pushed the door open. Maybe someone had carried in her handbag and ledger case. She would probably find her glasses downstairs with them.
Kara didnt bother to look for her shoes. She didnt want to be responsible for waking anyone.
Dark shadows haunted the hallway, angling across like barricades, warning her to stay put. A light shone from below, flickering through the carved spindles of the staircase.
In a strange way, she liked the look of the world without her glasses. All lines were softer; tiny imperfections were invisible.
Kara wondered why no one had opened the shutters. She saw the long thin outline of windows closed to any light. Surely the house wasnt meant to remain in darkness all day.
Moving slowly down a wide staircase, she felt a chill, as if the house were occupied more by ghosts than flesh and blood. The wind murmured through tiny cracks in doors and windows, fabricating a conversation just beyond the forming of words.
May the saints and guardian angels watch over me double today, she whispered, suddenly remembering the frightening stories her cousins used to tell around the fire late at night. If every person was only allowed a part-time guardian angel, shed wear hers out before half her life was done.
The stairway spilled into a wide passage bordered with doors. Thick rugs were warm beneath her stockinged feet. Two massive doors stood open, inviting her into a great room with its carved, backed chairs and needlepoint cushions, rich oak paneling and a fireplace almost tall enough for her to stand in.
Kara walked around the shadowy room, seeing it more clearly by touch than by sight. Fine furnishings greeted her, still perfection even though aged.
She brushed the wood-carved design of the hearth. Most of the fire had died within the fireplace, but the warmth still penetrated her clothes.
With a start, Kara noticed Jonathan sleeping on one of two long couches several feet away. Hed removed his boots and used his coat as a blanket. He looked like hed just collapsed there moments before. In his vest pocket she could barely make out the tip of her glasses.
Kara crept toward him, planning to get her glasses and be gone without waking him. But when her hand brushed his coat, Jonathans fingers closed over hers.
She looked at his face and saw no sign that hed been asleep.
What do you want? he asked without turning loose her hand.
My glasses, she answered calmly over the pounding of her heart.
He let go of her hand and sat up. Oh. He handed them to her. I forgot I had them.
Karas cheeks burned as she adjusted the glasses on her face. Im sorry I fell asleep before we arrived. If it ever happens again, please wake me. There is no need for you to carry me. Im not a child.
Jonathan grinned. And how does one wake you?
Grab me by my shoulders. She reached to demonstrate, but his cold stare made her hesitate. Just shake me while you call my name, she finished in a whisper.
He swung so swiftly off the couch, she rocked back. The man had a way of moving quickly without giving any hint that he was about to do so. He crossed to the fireplace and stood, his back to her.
His coldness iced the air between them. Kara changed the subject. Do we bury the child today?
I already did, he said without turning around. I found a place deep into a part of the ranch we never use.
Kara brushed her hand along his shoulder. I would have helped if I could have.
His muscles tightened beneath her touch and she pulled away. For a while he was silent and she wondered how often hed been comforted in his life. An ocean of pain seemed locked inside him and he wanted no one to share it.
