Cindy Holby (22 page)

“Like I said. Stubborn. You know what you get when you’re stubborn? You get to live with a busted pump.” He pulled the blanket over her and tucked it in around her arms.

Dodger looked up expectantly from his unexpected treat. Cade squatted beside him and picked up the broken pieces of her dishes and mopped up the spilt coffee with the napkin. “Hope she’s not mad at me when she finds out I broke her dishes.”

Dodger nosed the floorboards for missed crumbs and followed Cade to the kitchen. He’d made a big mess while cooking her breakfast but he’d been proud of the outcome. Dodger seemed to have enjoyed it. He placed the unbroken things in the sink. A small crock sat on the sill and he opened it. The scent of roses filled his senses.

“So that’s where it comes from.” He inhaled deeply, smiled, and put the crock back where he found it.

Cade peered out the window. The snow had let up since dawn and streaks of blue appeared in the cloud-strewn sky. It looked as if the weather was going to take it easy on them for a while. Remind them of what a beautiful winter’s day looked like before hitting them again with another punch. That meant the townsfolk would be out and about. Wanting to visit, wanting to get to know him. But that would be impossible since the house was quarantined.

He’d already shoveled out a path to the outhouse, fed the chickens and collected the eggs. Leah’s little rooster had been indignant at his invasion and pecked at his ankles until he left. He’d done it all before dawn lit the sky.

With the exception of Leah’s bedroom he’d also been over every inch of her house, including the loft. It wasn’t that he was looking for anything in particular, he was just looking. He’d only caught a few hours of sleep after his exploration of the town. He was tired and his ribs ached painfully. It would take forever for them to mend. He needed to sleep. He needed time to heal.

Cade walked back to her room. Leah had already torn the blankets away with her restless jerking. The fever was heavy upon her. What should he do?

His memory of having the measles was cloudy, either from time, or the fever that came with the disease. He was only seven when it struck the Cheyenne village they lived in.

He remembered the stink of the dying and the mass grave his father prayed over.

He was immune. He could take care of Leah with no risk of catching it. He could get her through and the town and her son wouldn’t be exposed. It was the least he could do. He owed it to her for taking care of him.

He owed it to Timothy.

Dodger barked with the pounding on the door. Someone had come to check on her. He opened the door to a man he’d never seen before, but he knew the type. The cut of the man’s coat was similar to Fitch’s.

“You must be Jake Reece,” he said.

“I am. Where’s Leah?”

Cade could not resist. “In bed.” He didn’t even try. He’d read a book about Proverbs one time that said, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” He couldn’t say the same about his path to hell. His was paved with deliberate actions that he knew, good and well, were wrong.

Cade arched an eyebrow at the rancher as he walked into the house and straight back to Leah’s room. Jake stopped at the doorway as if he was afraid to go in when he saw her fretful tossing and turning on the bed.

“Have you had the measles?” Cade joined him.

“No.” The rancher looked him up and down. Sized him up. “You?”

“Yes. When I was seven. Once you have them you can’t catch them again. I’m immune.”

“Someone needs to take care of her.”

There it was. The challenge. The summons. God’s payback. Cade crossed his arms. If he stayed then he’d be caught in his lie sure as he was standing here. There would be hell to pay. Wasn’t there always, where he was concerned?
Wasn’t that how he wound up in this predicament in the first place?

Cade looked at Leah. Her braid had come loose from her movements and tendrils of it stuck to her face. He should wipe her skin for her. Cool her down as she had him.
I thirst…
“I will.” He felt the noose tighten around his neck. He was neatly trapped. He could practically hear God laughing at him.

Jake’s sigh of relief was audible. “I’ll tell the Martins to keep Banks until it’s over.”

“You don’t think she’s going to make it?”

“If you’d seen what I saw up at that camp…” Jake turned to look at him. His eyes were a steely gray. Piercing. He was a man used to having his own way. A lot like Fitch, except without the inherent meanness. “You’re not what I expected.”

Cade knew he shouldn’t meet him eye to eye. Knew there was a chance the rancher would see him for what he was. But the alternative was looking away and then Jake Reece would know for sure he wasn’t who he claimed to be. Instead he fell back on one of Jasper’s tricks. Just as he’d done with Ward he put Jake on the defensive. “You can tell that much about a man in five minutes’ time?”

“Out here you have to.” Jake met his challenge head-on. “Five minutes can mean the difference between life and death.”

Something Cade knew well enough. That direct attack didn’t work with the rancher so he went with distraction. “You have feelings for her.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed with something. Possession? Fear? Jealousy perhaps? “That’s between me and Leah,” he said.

Cade already knew the answer to his question. Leah admitted Jake had feelings for her the night before and her reasons for not reciprocating. He thought her foolish when she said she didn’t love Jake Reece. He didn’t say, because it wasn’t any of his business, but he thought she should
marry the man. She’d be provided for. She’d have a home and a pump that worked and she wouldn’t have to worry or work. And her son would have a decent father. That was more than most had.

But she didn’t love Jake Reece. And Cade didn’t feel like analyzing why that made him so happy.

“I’ll be back to check on her later.” Jake turned to go. “Do you need anything? I can have food left for you.”

“That would be helpful.” He walked Jake to the door. The rancher stood for a minute as if he didn’t know what to do.

“I reckon you’ve seen how special Leah is,” he finally said.

“I reckon I have,” Cade replied. He stood for a moment, considering things. Things he didn’t know, things he had no business knowing. “What happened to her husband?”

“He died four years ago.” The answer was vague and cryptic and something Cade already knew. Jake really didn’t want to share any part of her. Cade pushed onward, suddenly desperate to know.

“She told me that much. I want to know how he died. How she wound up here alone.”

Jake looked at him for a moment, and then walked into the parlor. Cade had been negligent and let the fire burn low. He wanted to conserve her wood. Winter had just begun and she’d been going through it at a fast pace. Jake went to the window behind the worn sofa, pulled the lace panels aside and looked out to the street.

“Nate Findley was our sheriff. He showed up with Leah eight years ago. They were young, Leah was fresh off the farm and still glowing from the wedding. Nate was from Kansas. His father was a U.S. marshal and had fought in the border wars.”

“That was some bad times,” Cade said. While the rest of the nation was fighting a war, his family had been with the
Cheyenne. His mother and sister died in 1864 at Sand Creek. Dead at the hands of the U.S. Army. Meanwhile Kansas and Missouri were having their own problems, which became more violent during the Civil War.

“He answered an advertisement, just like you did. Showed up all full of himself, ready to bring law to our little town. I think he was kind of disappointed that the only thing we needed him for was to round up the boys when they got especially rowdy on a Saturday night. Sometimes they’d get into it with the miners. We just needed him to keep the peace.” Jake dropped the panel and turned to face Cade who stood up after feeding the fire.

“He built this house.” Jake pounded his palm against the wall next to the window. “He sure knew what he was doing when he built it. Then Banks was born and things were going pretty good around here. The town was growing.”

Ashes poked her head up from the mending basket beside the fireplace and noisily yawned at the interruption to her nap. Jake smiled and shook his head at the kitten’s obvious disdain at being awakened. Dodger, who was watching the two men closely stuck his nose in the basket and snuffed loudly. Ashes, over her earlier disdain for the dog, rolled over and swatted playfully at his nose. “Nate got Dodger from a family that settled here. He made sure he met everyone who came through town. Always made the rounds, checking on the ranches and the mining camps.”

And then came home to his beautiful wife and baby boy.
Cade looked at the rocking chair. Imagined Leah sitting in it, holding Banks in her arms, and waiting for her husband to walk through the door. Having dinner prepared and putting the baby to bed and then opening her arms…Such things he could only imagine. Jake must have imagined it also. He walked over to the chair and pushed it gently so that it rocked. Ashes left the basket and curiously watched the rocker move back and forth.

“One day this kid rode into town. He was a cocky little son of a bitch. Fast with a gun. Had a couple of kills notched on his belt. Trying to make a name for himself.” Jake ran a finger over his upper lip. “There are a lot of those types out here.”

Cade couldn’t admit that he knew the type. That he was running from a man who sounded exactly like the one Jake described.

“Ward spent most of his time searching for the bottom of a whiskey bottle at the time. So he wasn’t much use when this guy beat Janie within an inch of her life.”

“Janie?” Cade asked.

“She was the…soiled dove at the Heaven’s Gate.” There were things ministers were supposed to turn a blind eye to in towns such as Angel’s End. Prostitutes were one of them.

“It was late at night. I wasn’t here, but there was talk that you could hear her screaming. Someone came and told Nate and he went to call him out.” Jake shrugged. “Guy just up and shot Nate before he could even think about drawing his gun, and then he lit out. Nate was gut shot…bad. It took him awhile to die. A good long while.” Jake knelt down and took Dodger’s head in his hands. “Dodger howled like he was being skinned alive when Nate passed. I’ve never heard anything like it. I hope never to hear anything like it again.”

Cade shook his head at the story. He’d probably heard hundreds like it. Knew men on both ends of it. “He died here?”

Jake nodded. “Leah attempted to take out the bullet, but she couldn’t. Nate tried his best to bear it but he was in agony. We don’t have a doctor here, or a sheriff since Nate.”

Or a pastor…
It must have been hell for Leah.

Jake stood and stretched as if he’d just awakened from a deep sleep. “Leah won’t abide a gun now. She hates them. Won’t let anyone even mention anything about shooting in front of Banks. Going to be hard on that kid when he gets
older.” He stood before Cade now with his gray eyes boring into him. “I’m all for peace and goodwill but you’ve got to know that things are different in the west than they are in Ohio. There are men who would just as soon shoot you as look at you, and they’ll do it in a heartbeat.”

He waited, for what Cade didn’t know. What was he supposed to say? Jake wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. But then again, Jake thought he was talking to a minister. What would Timothy say? That he’d be praying for them? No help there. The last thing he wanted was for God to play one of his jokes on Leah. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Jake must have liked his answer. He nodded as if in agreement. “I’ll tell the Martins what’s going on.” He went to the door. “Someone will bring food and check in on you later.”

Cade shut the door behind him. Dodger whined and lay down in the middle of the hall. “What?” Cade asked. The dog stared at him with those dark eyes that saw everything. It was probably a good thing that dogs couldn’t talk.

“D
rink.” Leah felt Cade’s hand behind her back, felt him lift her, easily until she was almost upright. Why shouldn’t it be easy? She was boneless. There was nothing within her body to support her. She weighed nothing more than a feather, yet she felt as if she were nailed to the earth. That had to be why she ached so much.

“You need to drink more,” he said.

Why didn’t he just leave her alone? She pushed at his hands and the cup, but he was persistent. He was stronger than she was and more stubborn, if that was possible. Anything was possible yet nothing could be done. She was powerless to stop Cade and yet grateful when cool water trickled down her throat. It gave her such wonderful relief even though swallowing was so very painful. Leah had to concentrate with all her might to open her eyes, and immediately regretted the effort. The lamp on the table by her bed glowed as brightly as the sun and her eyes teared up with the pain.

“Banks?” Her voice sounded strange, deep and harsh, as if it didn’t belong to her. It hurt to speak. Everything hurt.

“He’s fine.” The strong arms gently lowered her to the mattress and caring hands pulled the blankets over her. “He’s at the Martins’.”