Dusty Britches (27 page)

“
A pervert! Oh, please!
”
she mumbled, entering the house and not allowing herself to dwell on that incident five years ago.

“
Who
’
s a pervert?
”
Becca asked unexpectedly
. S
he
’
d been standing at the sink cutting up berries when Dusty had entered.

“
Uh…nobody, Beck,
”
Dusty stammered, waving her hand in a gesture Becca should forget Dusty had ever said it.

“
But you said,
‘
A pervert! Oh, please!
’
 
”
Becca prodded, undaunted.

“
Must be a man she
’
s talkin
’
about,
”
her father answered from his seat at the table
.
“
Perverts. The whole lot of
’
em. Ain
’
t that right, Dusty?
”

Dusty rolled her eyes, thinking her father was making fun of her.
Yet
when she looked at him to see his face completely serious, no sign of mirth whatsoever apparent there, she realized what he thought she must be thinking.

“
I…I wasn
’
t speakin
’
of…
”
she
insisted
.

Her daddy slid his chair back and stood up. Reaching up and retrieving his hat from the hat
rack behind him, he told her,
“
Ain
’
t all males of the species as low as them fellas in town, Dusty. As low as Cash Richardson, for that matter! It
’
s way past time for yo
u to be believin’ that they are.”
Hank was always grouchy when he was tired, and tonight he must
’
ve been done in.

“
But, Daddy
,
I wasn
’
t…
”
she stammered again.
Still,
he left by way of the front door.

Becca stood looking at her sister
with blatant disapproval
.
“
It upsets Daddy when you dog all men. And it upsets him even more that y
a
let it ruin your life!
”

“
I wasn
’
t talkin
’
about t
oday
, Rebecca,
”
Dusty said
, irritated
. She
sensed
the hot sensation of anger and humiliation rising within her. Her face felt warm and red
,
and he
r hands began to perspire. Y
et how else could she expect everyone to interpret her actions? She
’
d
behaved this way for so long—
what else did she deserve?
“
And it didn
’
t ruin my life! He
—”

Becca threw the knife
she’d been using into the sink, exasperated. “
It did so! You
’
ve been nothin
’
but prickles and burrs to every fella
who comes anywhere near to ya
ever since Cash done y
a
wrong. Won’t smile at anybody…w
on
’
t talk to anybody longer than absolutely necessary
.
You
’
re even mean to me and Daddy half the time…sulkin
’
every minute of the dang day
,
sittin
’
around feelin
’
sorry for yourself! Workin
’
like a horse to keep
yourself
so tired and miserable that y
a
don
’
t have time to remember you
’
re a girl who likes to smell nice and look pretty! There
’
s other people hurtin
’
in the world, Angelina. Hurtin
’
a whole lot deeper than you
.
And it
’
s time you quit bein
’
so selfish and…and downright chicken…and started livin
’
life again! Heaven knows Daddy and I would be a lot better off!
”

Had everyone in her family
lost their ever-loving minds
?

“
What do you even know about how hurt I am, Rebecca? What do you even know about life and how
it can burn you?” Dusty shouted,
tears filling her eyes
. F
or all her holding in her emotions and heartache, she
’
d held in everything else too. All her need to talk to someone, to be comforted
,
had been bound up.

“
I know that for two years I
’
ve lived my life in the shadow of the great Dusty Hunter
,
who had her heart broken! I spend half the time with the new hands or with friends in town explainin
’
why someone as pretty as my sister is so miserable and cold. Dusty, Dusty, Dusty! That
’
s all I hear! Heck, for the first year after you caught Cash with that saloon girl, I spent every Sunday doggin
’
him after church so
’
s he wouldn
’
t spend all afternoon beggin
’
me to win y
a
back for him!
”

Dusty tried to ignore the tears
escaping her eyes,
streaming over her cheeks. She
’
d never
considered
how her own misfortune affected her family. She
’
d been so wrapped up in her own
heartbreak, in her own grief, she’
d been selfish and blind to what it had done to those around her.

“
And I know a whole lot more about heartache than you think!
”
Becca continue
d, though she lowered her voice—though it cracked
with emotion. Rebecca
’
s compassion for her sister was spent that day as far as patience was concerned, and all the things she
’
d wanted to say to Dusty
—
all the things Dusty had needed to hear
—
burst out of her mouth.
“
You go on and cry, Angelina! It
’
s time you felt somethin
’
!
”
B
ursting into tears of her own, Becca ran out of the kitchen and into her bedroom, slamming the door behind her
.

Dusty stood for a moment
,
wiping the tears
from her cheeks
. When
she couldn’t stop more tears from escaping her eyes, she turned and
grabbed a lantern from the front porch
. Quickly lighting it, she fled the house. She ran and ran—
tears raining
over her face—until
she
’
d reached the banks of the
stream. This was
where
it
fed the big pond
by way of a serene
waterfall. She leaned against a tree as she tried to catch her breath. Somehow the stars didn
’
t look as bright
or as
beautiful overhead
. S
he didn
’
t care that the wa
ter was beginning to cool off. S
o what if she caught her death of cold! She loved an evening swim
,
and
in that moment,
it was the only thing in life
that didn
’
t
cause her grief
.

Crying, sobbing harder than she
’
d cried in
so very long
, she leaned back against the tree as the truth of what her sister had spoken sank in. Angrily
,
she unla
ced her boots and removed them,
stripping her stockings off as
well. She unfastened her skirt, letting it
fall t
o the ground around her ankles. Lifting her petticoat as she stepped out of her skirt, and
holding the lantern high to light her way
, she nimbly
made her way along the bou
lders leading to the waterfall
.

Setting the lantern on a nearby boulder,
Dusty
stepped through the cold water and into the small alcove
behind the waterfall. H
undreds of years of the waterfall eating away at the rock
had created the alcove—the perfect place to hide—to be alone
.
Dusty
cried bitterly for
long moments
, plunging her face into the water before her as it cascaded down from above. The cold water felt good on her face. It soothed the heat of
her
tears and calmed her. She wiped the excess water from her eyes, smoothed her wet hair
,
and leaned against the cool, wet slab of rock behind her.

Closing her eyes
in trying
to hold back
more
tears, she thought on what Becca had said. It had all been true. All of it! She couldn
’
t fault her sister for having an insight to her pain and selfishness. The lantern light burned low and reassuring on the other side of the waterfall, but even its light did nothing to comfort her. Closing her eyes again, she tried to clear
her mind. What Becca had said had all been true, except for one thing: i
t hadn
’
t been Cash Richa
rdson who had broken her heart.
Cash had only driven the final nail into her coffin of heartbreak. It hadn
’
t been Cash she
’
d cried
over
after she found him with the saloon girl. It had been Ryder. Dusty had cried years of tears
—
her heart breaking because there had been no handsome Ryder Maddox to rescue her from Cash. She
’
d
merely
gotten in
volved
with Cash because Ryder was the only man for her and he was gone
. S
he
’
d convinced herself she
’
d have to settle with whatever came along. It was Ryder
who’d broken her—Ryder—not Cash
.

“
You all right?
”
Ryder asked
,
stepping
into the alcove from one side of the waterfall. I
t wasn
’
t necessary to walk right through the cascading sheets of water as Dusty had done. Dusty
was startled by
his sudden appearance
. I
mmediately
, she began wiping at the water
trickling over her face
from her wet hair.
He set his own lantern down on the wet slab of stone beneath their feet.

“What are you doin’
?
”
she asked him.

“
I saw y
a
leave
 
the house…and y
a
looked upset,
”
he
replied. He stood next to her,
leaning back against the rock and looking out at the water rushing ov
er them. “I came to apologize…f
igured I
’
m the one who upset y
a
.
”
He
wore
an expression of
both
guilt and regret.

A
t that very moment
,
Dusty realized she wore only her
shirtwaist, petticoat, and
pantaloons.
I
n an
effort to convince him to leave—to leave her to her own thoughts and
her
humiliating lack of attire—
she said,
“
I
’
m fine. It wasn
’
t anything you said.
”