Tom's Angel (17 page)

“
Just the minute Hannah can travel that far, you can count on it. We'll bring the bull.”

Mentioning the bull brought back a whole wagonload of memories Tom preferred not to dwell on right now, so he changed the subject to choosing a date for the wedding.
Trina monopolized the conversation, insisting on participating in the event.

“
Late spring would be best, of course, so you can have the ceremony in the garden. Gabriel and I will come in plenty of time to see that everything is perfect. What about June?”

Rosalie squeezed Tom's hand.
“Can we wait that long?”

“
Hell, no. The sooner the better. How about today? Marietta has a fancy garden.”

Trina
gave him a look that silenced his nonsense, then took over, listing everything that would have to be accomplished and declared June the best time. She commenced counting days on her fingers, trying to decide which day in June the first Sunday would be.

Tom shook his head at his sister, then whi
spered to Rosalie, “We'll do this however you want it done. It's your wedding, not Trina's. She'll remember before long.”

“
It's all right,” Rosalie whispered back. “She's having fun. I wouldn't spoil that for the world.”

              <><><><>

An hour later, buggies and carriages pulled out, one after the other, until only the five of them remained. Trina couldn't seem to bring herself to say good-bye again. Hannah, soundly asleep, rested in her father's arms, blowing milk bubbles through tiny lips.

Trina
drew Rosalie off to the side. “I know it's none of my business, Rosalie, but I'll shrivel up and die if you don't tell me.”

“
Not until we're married, Trina.” She felt her cheeks warming. “I offered, but Tom said he wanted to wait.”

Trina
's eyes rounded until Rosalie feared they might pop out of her face.

“
My brother? He actually said that?”

“
He wants everything to be entirely proper between us. It's a long story. Believe me, he couldn't have said anything to make me love him more.”

Trina
nodded. “Then that's the way it should be. We'll see you in the spring, then, for the wedding.”

“
There are some things we have to take care of first. We'll let you know when we choose the exact date.”

“
Of course.” Lightning flashed in Trina's eyes. “I have one more question. You don't have to answer if you'd rather not.”

“
What on earth could it be?”

“
Is my brother a good kisser?”

Rosalie burst out laughing.
What an imp! “Incredibly skillful. I couldn't imagine anyone kissing better.”

“
Well, Gabriel has always been exceptional at kissing. So we’re both lucky in that respect.

<><><><>

Everyone left the Mallory home after copious thanks and compliments had been expressed for the incredible weekend they'd spent, along with congratulations for Tom and Rosalie's engagement.

In the buggy, Tom seemed preoccupied.
Rosalie, too, felt pensive and almost guilty for confessing their plans to be married. In the light of reality, as the sun blazed down upon them and the temperature soared beyond the century mark, she knew they'd been play-acting in a way, pretending everything would turn out all right when facts pointed to a totally opposite conclusion.

But Rosalie had grown used to disappointment and sorrow triumphing over success and happiness.
Pretending had been fun and exciting. But now, the time had come to go home.

They got into Fort Worth just before five o'clock.
The hottest day yet in August, Rosalie knew without a doubt the temperature had reached at least a hundred and four. When Tom reined in at The Yellow Rose, Sadie came to the back door.

No urgency colored her expression this time.
Only profound sadness.

Rosalie hurried down from the buggy.
“Sadie, what's happened?”

She stared at the ground for a moment, then back at Rosalie.
“We found her yesterday morning. Lizzy drank a whole bottle of laudanum. She's dead.”

Chapter
13

“But she can't be! She was so much better! Looking forward to going to Denver...”

Tom recalled the day they left,
seeing the far-away expression in Lizzy's eyes. She'd made up her mind even then. Her apparent serenity had come from the decision she'd made. To die. He wrapped his arms around Rosalie while Sadie explained what happened.

“
The doctor finally came by. He examined her hand and told her he couldn't fix it, that she'd never use it again. He left her a bottle of laudanum and told her to sip it whenever the pain got real bad. After he left, she fell asleep. In the morning, we found her dead, and the empty bottle under the covers.”

Rosalie felt as though part of her had been ripped away.
How could the doctor be so cruel? Yet, he'd told the truth. Perhaps they should have told her. In her heart, she knew it wouldn't have made any difference.

“
Where is she?”

“
We had to bury her yesterday, Rosie, right after we found her. With it so blasted hot, and...well, she'd been gone since before midnight. Your paw insisted we do it quick, before you got back. I wanted to send somebody to fetch you, but he wouldn't let me.”

“
He didn't want me to know?” The news stunned her.

“
I guess he thought it would be easier on you this way. I'm so sorry.”

Rosalie's tears dried and her body tensed.
Tom sensed this betrayal pained her almost as much as Lizzy's death.

“
Where is my father now?”

“
Don't know. We ain't seen him since yesterday. He...he didn't come to the funeral.”

“
Take me to where Lizzy is buried, please, Sadie.”

“
She's lying beside your mother.”

Rosalie's stricken expression verified this, too, came as bad news.

“
Where is that?” Tom asked quietly.

“
I'll show you.” Sadie led the way to a small cemetery, overgrown with weeds, largely untended, behind an abandoned house. Rough crosses marked some of the graves. Others had only a pile of stones at the head. A pauper's grave yard.

Tom shuddered.
Without question, these graves lay on unhallowed ground.

A pile of dirt
that stood taller and darker than the others marked Lizzy's final resting place. Rosalie stood apart from it, her eyes strangely dry, hands folded in front of her, displaying no visible emotion at the sight of her sister's grave.

Another woman rested beside Lizzy.
Rose Elizabeth Montgomery.

“
She's at peace now.” Sadie dabbed at her eyes with the hem of her skirt. “They both are.”

“
No. Not Mama. She won't ever be at peace...because I broke her heart.”

“
No more of that.” Tom turned her to face him. “She wanted propriety and honor for you, and that's how it's going to be from now on. Listen to me, Rosalie. I'm taking you to Denver where we'll be married. If that isn't enough honor for your mother, then it doesn't exist.”

She nodded, her eyes glassy.
Tom wished again that he could get her out of this wretched place today. This minute!

Kincannon
's gruff voice intruded.

“
I'm real sorry about Lizzy.”

Rosalie turned slowly to face her father.
“Are you, now?”

“
She just couldn't take life no more, so she ended it. It's better this way.”

“
Better for her, or for you?”

He seemed puzzled.
“For her, of course. Don't make no difference to me. Dance halls girls are always easy to come by.”

“
And when they aren't, you just seduce your own daughter and increase your stock. Right, Paw?”

Tom stared at Rosalie.
“What are you saying?”

“
Tell him, Paw. Tell him how you lusted after your own daughter to the point of forcing her to—” The words caught in her throat until she couldn't speak. She turned her back on her father and sobbed.

Tom glared at
Kincannon, feeling hatred for this excuse for a human being welling up inside him. “You sorry son of a bitch.”

Rosalie faced them again.
“Why didn't you send for me, Paw?”

“
Ah, it weren't no reason to spoil your party. It didn't take half an hour to dig the hole and get her planted. No need for a funeral when it's just a whore.”

Rosalie ran at her father, screaming and crying, clawing at his chest.
He grabbed her wrists, trying to protect his face from her fingernails.

Tom started to intervene, but she twisted away, breathing hard, swiping at tears, trying to swallow her sobs.

“
You never loved us! The only things you've ever cared about are yourself and those horses. Those miserable horses.”

“
I loved your mother.”

“
Then why is she here, instead of in the church yard, where decent folks are buried? Was it cheaper just to 'plant' her here? Easier and cheaper. How could you have buried her here if you loved her?”

He shuffled his boots in the dirt and stared off toward town.
When he looked back, his eyes were bright with tears. “Aw, now, Rosie, you'll feel better in the morning. Besides, I got some good news for you. I made enough in that last race for you to have some folding money to take with you to Denver.” He dug in his pocket. “See? Fifty dollars. All yours.” He held out the limp bills.

Rosalie folded her arms beneath her breasts and stared at him.

“I'll just put it in your pocket.”

She slapped the money away, ground the bills into the dust with her heels, then walked away

Tom followed, with Sadie behind. Kincannon dropped to his knees to pick up the money, mumbling curses under his breath.

Inside the
Kincannon house, all the doors and windows stood wide open against the stifling heat. How it could keep getting hotter in Fort Worth exceeded comprehension. Then she remembered she lived in Hell.

Rosalie sank into a chair and covered her face with both hands.
Oddly, no more tears came. Perhaps she'd cried the last of them.

Tom came into the house, wishing he could do something to ease her suffering.

“What can I do?”

She shook her head, refusing to look at him.
“Nothing. I told you before, this is hell. There's nothing anyone can do to change what's happened. Or what's going to happen.”

Gun shots rang out, close by from the sound of it.

Tom raced out the front door and joined several people running down the street toward the pauper's cemetery.

Kincannon
lay face down on the ground. He'd been shot in the back.

Tom felt for a pulse.
Nothing.

Rosalie pushed her way through the crowd and stared at her father.

Tom started toward her, but her eyes, wild and fierce, stopped him. He'd never seen this expression from her. There wasn’t a trace of love or regret, only shock and disbelief. It chilled him to the bone.

She stood there for a long time.
Finally, she turned her back on the corpse and said, “I want the watch in his pocket.”

Tom knelt beside the body, turned
Kincannon over and felt in his watch pocket, but it was empty, except for a raggedly torn fob. Someone had jerked the watch free. Searching other pockets, he came up with nothing.

“
It isn't here. The murderer must have stolen it.”

Rosalie took a deep breath and straightened her spine.

“Bury him next to Mama.”

<><><><>

Midafternoon, the next day, Tom knocked on the front door of the Kincannon residence. Rosalie had asked for time to be alone, and he'd granted it, reluctantly. She'd refused his offer of taking her to the El Paso, insisting she had to sort things out at home before leaving for good.

She came to the door wearing an old dress, so faded it must have been washed dozens of times.
It made her appear older. Or, maybe the fatigue and anxiety etched in her face had robbed her of the bloom of youth.

“
Are you all right?”

“
Come in. I have something to tell you.”

A hollow opened in the middle of Tom's gut.
He didn't like the sound of finality in her voice, the dullness in her eyes.

“
Sit down, Tom.”

He sat, even though every nerve in his body jumped, making him want to pace
, shout, shoot something!

Or someone.

“I've come to a decision.”

“
I can see that.”

“
You must go back to Denver and forget about me.”

“
Are you daft? You want me to leave you?”

“
Yes. Leave me to whatever fate is mine. I've endangered your life too much already. I couldn't bear it if I lost you, too.”

Tom took her in his arms before she could protest.
Her body sagged against him, limp, as though she'd given up completely. He wanted to shake the life back into her, make her see how much he loved her, wanted her, that he'd never abandon her as everyone else had done.

“
This has been a hell of a week. Tomorrow, things will be better.”

“
It's because of me your family is in jeopardy. Richard Strickland wouldn't have called in your father's notes if you hadn't come to Fort Worth and gotten mixed up in my problems. And, you wouldn't have come to this God-forsaken place at all if my father hadn't asked for an escort to take me to Denver. It's all because of me. It has to stop. I cannot tolerate being the cause of so much misery.”

“
Rosalie, listen to me. I've never found any use in worrying about how things should have happened instead of how they did. There's no changing the way things are. There's only today and the future, and we can control what happens if we try hard enough.” He gripped her shoulders and felt her tremble.

“
I wish I could approach the future with hope, but I can't. There's no way out of this for me that I can see. But you can go home and convince Richard Strickland not to call in those notes. You can go on with your life.” She locked her fingers behind his neck and kissed him lightly. “Can't you see, Tom? I've been nothing but trouble and bad luck for you.”

“
Bad luck? There's no such thing. You make your own luck in this world, and when times get tough you find your way out. There has to be a way out of this. For both of us. I intend to find it. I won't let you give up. I'm going to marry you and we're going to have a good life together. You have to believe that as much as I believe it, if we're to make it come true.”

Rosalie wanted to believe, but the weight of reality had crushed all hopes and dreams she might once have had.
Time had come to face truth, and to set him free of his obligation to her.

“
I won't marry you, Tom. I can't. Not while I'm chained to Zane Strickland. My father owed him two thousand dollars and I'm payment for that debt.”

“
In jail, he forfeits all rights. Including the right to collect.”

“
Would you have me renege? In essence, I'd be a thief, no better than he is.” She took a deep breath. “If I'm to be an honorable woman, as my mother wanted, then I must pay what I owe.”

Tom had run out of arguments.
But then something occurred to him. “You own everything now.”

She frowned, confused.

“You have no other living relatives, isn't that right?”

“
I'm the only Kincannon left.”

“
Then you own everything. The Yellow Rose, this house, and the horses. Give everything to Strickland. Then come with me to Denver. You can sell the house and the Yellow Rose and the horses, too. If that isn’t enough, we'll borrow whatever it takes to pay off that bastard. Please, Rosalie. Think about what I'm telling you.”

For the first time since they'd returned to Fort Worth, a ray of hope pierced the gloom of defeat in her muddled mind.
Why hadn't she realized it? Everything hers. Everything.

Tom saw in her eyes that he'd reached her with this incredible fact.
The sparkle he'd come to love returned, and the limpness of her body disappeared as hope-filled energy pushed aside the despair she'd accepted as unchangeable.

“
Tom, could it be true? Could it actually be so simple?”

“
I love you. It's as simple as that.”

She came into his arms gladly, willingly, seeking confirmation the revelation wasn't just another dream, but actually existed as possibility.

Tom kissed her, captured her within the safety of his arms, knowing, beyond all else, he must have this woman in his life, or forfeit the joy of life itself.

“
Let's see how much money Paw had in that can under the bedroom floor.”

Tom had forgotten about the stashed money.
If only there could be enough.

Rosalie found the loose board and pried it up.
Reaching below the floor, she felt around, becoming more and more frantic when she couldn't find anything. “I know he kept it down here. I saw him putting it back once, when he didn't know I was watching.”

“
Let me see what I can find.” Tom flattened on the floor to gain the best advantage possible. Just within fingertip reach… “I found something. But it isn't a can. It feels more like saddle bags.” He pulled over, up and out. “How long ago did you see the can?”

“
At least two years. Does that mean the money got to be too much for the can?”

“
We'll soon find out.” He handed the bag to her.

Rosalie opened the buckle with shaking fingers and lifted the flap.
Her spirits soared when she saw a bundle of what appeared to be money. She removed it from the bag. Her elation faded quickly.

“
IOUs. Bills of sale. Totally worthless.”

“
What else is in the bag? Look in the other side.”

She found a
Bible, and a hundred and fifty dollars in cash.

“
That's all?” Tom couldn't believe it. “What happened to the money he won in the race? It has to be here somewhere.”

Rosalie nodded, closing her eyes.
“I'll go through everything. I need to do it anyway, now that it's mine.”

Tom picked up the Bible and blew dust from the cover before opening it.
“This Bible belonged to Rose Elizabeth Montgomery.”

Hearing the name, Rosalie shivered.

“Did you know she had it?”

“
Paw told me he buried it with her.”

“
Why would he want to keep it hidden from you after she died?”

Rosalie took a deep, shuddering breath.
“I wonder what he didn't want me to see.”

She opened to the center pages where records of births and deaths were kept.
Her name had been written there, between Elizabeth's and Penelope's. Nothing out of the ordinary. She turned to the marriage record page.

The names, Rose Elizabeth Montgomery and William
Kincannon, were there, but nothing more. The space for the preacher's name remained blank, as well as the date of the marriage.

“
How odd. Why would Mama write in their names but not the rest of the information about when and where they were married, and by whom?”

The obvious truth came like a clap of thunder.
Her headstone. The name in the front of the Bible. Rose Elizabeth Montgomery. Not Kincannon.

“
They were never married.”

“
Rosalie, you don't know that for sure.”

His tone said he believed it, though, just as she did.
One more piece of the puzzle had been filled in, the reason her mother had been so adamant about wanting Rosalie to be “proper” and “respectable.” Because Rose never had been. Had he refused to marry her? A thousand questions jammed Rosalie's mind, but no one remained to answer them.

Tom took the Bible from her and laid it carefully on the bed, then eased her into his arms, worried that losing her sister and her father
, then finding the Bible, might prove to be more than she could cope with.