Fired Up (27 page)

The jailhouse had been reconstructed. Well, mostly it was still a wreck, but when Vince kicked Porter out of the cell and dropped a sleeping Lana down on the tattered cot,
she shifted onto her side and tucked both hands under her face like an innocent child. An innocent child with prison in her near future.

Jonas had stayed with Dare.

“You should've never wrecked my jail like this.” Mitch Porter was a poor excuse for a man, let alone a lawman.

“I didn't wreck it. Greer did when he blasted Simon Bullard out. And it's not your jail. I'm the law in Broken Wheel now.” It was a job with no pay because no one wanted to chip in, but Big John had sworn him in so it was official.

Porter got a look at Vince's determined glare. “This ain't over. You aren't Broken Wheel's sheriff.”

“Big John Conroy, the Texas Ranger, deputizes me whenever he's on the road.” Over Vince's fierce objections. He didn't want to be sheriff. Right now, though, Vince had to admit it'd come in mighty handy. And fun besides to thwart this coyote.

“You know, Porter, a lawman would question you about what happened last night. Should we do that now? You were next door to Mrs. Bullard. Did you hear her get up and move around?”

“I was asleep. And I don't have to answer any questions.”

Vince ignored Porter's refusal to be questioned. If Porter didn't want to talk, he could leave. “You came out of your room dressed and wearing your boots.”

“I heard you coming up the stairs. I knew someone was out there. I got ready for trouble.”

“You got fully dressed mighty fast and quiet.” Vince decided he had a knack for prying questions that came in handy at a time like this.

“Yep, now that you're a
lawman
,” Porter said, “you'll learn how to get ready for trouble fast and quiet, too.”

“If you want to stay on the outside of that cell, Porter, get out of here.” Vince headed for the door, shoving Porter ahead of him, now that his prisoner was under control. “If I told my story right and convinced a judge you were covering for a would-be murderer, you might end up seeing things through bars for a lot of years.”

Tina cooked for the diner that morning and she did a good job of it. Glynna wondered if she'd be available to work for her full-time. Lana was a better cook, to be sure, and Tina wasn't half as skillful with a knife, but both women definitely had Glynna beat in the kitchen.

Glynna had helped a little with serving breakfast, yet the job of checking on Dare had fallen to her and that was what occupied her thoughts right now. Or maybe she'd grabbed the responsibility and refused to let go. Vince and Jonas were splitting their time between the jailhouse and Dare's side, though Glynna didn't trust them to be as careful as she would be.

However it had happened, she had to check on Dare throughout the morning, leaving Paul, Janny, and Tina shorthanded at the diner.

She hurried back to work whenever she got a free minute, until she went in and saw Dare awake. Sitting up in bed. Vince and Jonas were sharing a cup of coffee with him.

Dare turned to look at her. Pain etched lines in his face. He was pale and shaky, but he was all right. He'd proposed
last night. Maybe in the heat of the moment, Dare had thought marrying her was a good idea. Maybe now he was sorry. Maybe . . .

“You two get out of here for a while.” Dare cut into her worries. “And, Jonas, don't go far. You're going to need to speak some vows between Glynna and me in a little while.”

Vince grinned bright enough to blind a woman. She knew in a detached way that Vince was one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen, but it didn't seem to affect Glynna overly. She only had eyes for Dare. His hair, always in need of a trim, and his scruffy face that always needed a shave touched her heart in a way no man, certainly neither of the ones she'd married, ever had.

Jonas said, “I read a book that said a couple should be betrothed for a while before they marry, Dare. And I've done some studying about the things a man and woman ought to talk about before they wed. I don't think you should rush in to this.”

“Get out.”

Jonas smiled over that rude order, for some odd reason. “I think you two, and probably Paul and Janny, should counsel with me for at least a couple of months before you get married.”

Even Glynna could see Jonas was just teasing.

“The wedding is before we eat the noon meal. Now leave us alone.”

“I'm not speaking any vows until you've had this out with Paul.” Jonas had turned dead serious all of a sudden. “It's the right thing to do and you know it—to tell the children what you're planning to do and then give them at
least a little bit of time to adjust to the idea. And I'm not going far. I'm not leaving the two of you alone in here for long. It ain't proper.”

“What kind of improper thing do you think's gonna happen with my back slashed open?” Dare fairly growled the question.

“I don't underestimate you, my friend.” Jonas turned and followed a grinning Vince out the door. When it swung shut, Glynna heard them both start laughing.

“Your friends are—”

Dare stood up.

“Stop!” Glynna rushed to his side.

“I'm not in the mood to be lectured about my friends right now.” Dare let Glynna ease him back onto the bed. Sitting side by side, he said, “I suppose he's right. We should have a long talk with Paul.”

Glynna knew that was exactly what they should do—they should tell her son. She smiled, then shook her head slowly. “Let's get married, Dare. I think this is too big a decision for a child to make.”

Dare sat up straighter. “What? I don't get it. What about your promise to him not to get married without his blessing?”

Glynna slid her hand around Dare's back, down low so she wouldn't bump his wound. “I think the way he worked with us last night is his blessing, don't you?”

Turning to face her, Dare leaned over and kissed her. The kiss lingered for a long time. He didn't seem all that injured anymore.

“If he's ready to accept us,” Dare said, “then he'll take
the news well. I'm not going to ask for his blessing—at least I'm not going to change my mind if he withholds it. You're right. It's too big a decision, even for a mostly grown boy.”

“The breakfast crowd has thinned out. I'll go get Paul right now.” Glynna stood and then was dragged right back down beside Dare.

He smiled at her, and she was amazed at how attractive a shaggy man could be. “There's no rush, is there?”

“I thought you wanted to get married right away. I thought you were in a hurry.” The man confused her, but that didn't stop her from smiling right back at him. Of all the things they'd gone through together, deciding whether they were in a hurry to get married seemed like a very simple choice, mainly because neither answer changed anything. They would marry. And soon.

Dare leaned in closer to her until he blocked out the whole world. She closed her eyes and saw him inside her head. His lips warmed her all the way to her soul.

The door banged open in the way only one person in the world ever banged it.

“Ma!”

Glynna pulled back, shrugged one shoulder at Dare, and stood. He struggled to stand too, but she pressed a hand on his shoulder to keep him seated. Then she faced her frustrated, confused son.

“Come on over here, Paul.” Glynna turned her back and sat again, figuring Paul would come around to vent his anger.

He did just that.

“Dare and I are getting married,” she told him.

“You promised!” When he spoke, he sounded like a child. Glynna's heart ached for him. “You swore you'd ask for my blessing.”

She looked at her son, a boy in a man's body. “I'd love it if you were happy about it, but I should never have made that promise.”

“You don't need another man, Ma. You've got me.” He wasn't a child, but he was still far from an adult. There was a chair close to the bed, and he stomped over to it and took a seat. “We're doin' fine in the diner. We don't need anyone else to take care of us.”

It struck Glynna that this was the most rational anger her son had shown in a long time. He was actually talking.

“We're not getting married because your ma needs a roof over her head, Paul.” Dare's deep voice came out rocky, but it soothed, like a brook rumbling over stone. “We're getting married because I love your ma and she loves me. I love you too, Paul.”

Paul shot Dare a glance loaded with such suspicion that Glynna despaired of her son ever trusting anyone again.

Dare went on, “You've had some mighty bad luck in your life, and I don't blame you for having doubts, real serious doubts. But I'll be a good pa to you. I'll always be kind to your ma. I'll treat Janny like she was my own child. I want to be in your family, and I'd love it if you welcomed me in, son.”

Paul opened his mouth, his eyes flashing with anger. Glynna knew what he'd say.
I'm not your son.
He wanted to blast those words out like bullets. Then, to her surprise, he clamped his mouth shut. He was listening. She thought
that maybe she even saw the smallest trace of longing in his eyes. What boy didn't want a good man for a father?

Paul looked down between his splayed knees. Glynna noticed his pants were too short. Again. The boy was growing faster than long-stemmed grama grass.

“I reckon you'll do as you want,” Paul finally said.

Dare leaned forward and rested a hand on her boy's sagging shoulders. “I'll take on the job of caring for this family and lift the weight off your shoulders. I think the day will come soon when you're glad to have me around.”

Paul raised his head and studied Dare. “I heard what you said about forgiveness. I was behind Lana, listening. It's a hard truth. God forgave all those people who killed Jesus. . . .”

Frowning, Paul was silent for a long stretch, and neither Glynna nor Dare broke the silence.

“Is it right that I'm supposed to forgive a man like my pa, who was a thief and a traitor? Are you saying I'm supposed to forgive Greer, who hit my ma? He never asked for forgiveness. If I'd have said ‘I forgive you' to him, he'd have spit in my face. Does God really want us to forgive a man like that?”

At that moment, Glynna realized she'd never forgiven either of her husbands, and she'd never wanted to, never even considered it. Didn't a person have to ask? Didn't they have to be sorry about what they'd done?

“I was locked up in prison for a long time,” Dare said. “The camp commander took pleasure in our suffering. The guards too seemed to take pleasure in causing us pain. I think there's a difference between forgiving and trusting. If
an unrepentant man is around, I don't think God expects us to trust him. For someone like Greer, the forgiveness is more for you. It does a lot of damage to carry hate around inside.”

Paul sat up a bit straighter. “It does?”

Dare nodded. “Giving up the hurt and anger would leave space in your head for something better. You work hard at the diner. You take care of Janny and protect your ma. Hating those men poisons your thinking, Paul, and takes up too much of your time and energy. I think if you can forgive those men, you can have room in your heart to be happy.”

Dare gave the boy a choice between the angry life he'd been living for so long and simple happiness.

After a while a hesitant smile bloomed on Paul's face. There were still shadows, still doubts, but the smile was genuine.

Awkwardly the boy reached out his hand and offered it to Dare to shake. “Welcome to the family, Doc.”

Dare's eyes blinked, startled by the extended hand and the shy smile. He grabbed hold of Paul's hand, feeling like he'd passed muster. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm gonna stop being a doctor.”

Paul shrugged. “Stop if you can, but I think you're probably stuck with healing. You can't seem to resist it.”

Dare turned to Glynna. “Now that we'll be married, I won't have to buy Greer's land. You can quit worrying about selling it. We can just move out there. I think the cabin is a shack we'll have to—”

“No, I'm not moving to Flint's place,” she said, cutting him off. “I can't believe a man who wants to marry me doesn't know me better than to believe I'd ever live on land that man owned.”

Dare, aggravated, exchanged a look with Paul. The boy seemed to commiserate with him, and Dare realized the boy knew this woman better than he did.

“Ma, I thought we were supposed to forgive Greer.”

“I'm not going to profit from a marriage to that rat snake of a man.”

“Now, Glynna, honey, calm—”

The door behind them swung open, and Vince strode in carrying a stack of papers and books. “Your latest medical publications arrived, Dare. Guess what it says here?”

“Stop reading my mail.”

“I was bored waiting for you to talk things out with Paul.” Vince wasn't an easy man to shame. “Don't you want to hear what it says?”

“I'm not in the mood to read right now.”

“Not even an article that says you're an honest-to-goodness doctor right like you are now?” Vince rounded the bed and slapped the paper in Dare's hand. “You don't have to go to school at all. Turns out the experience you had in the war is enough.”

Dare's eyes landed on an article with the title
Irregular Doctors
. He read the first few paragraphs and immediately felt his spirits soar. He shoved the article at Glynna. “They say there are all sorts of doctors. I qualify. My service counts as an apprenticeship if a doctor who's a commanding officer—which the doc at Andersonville was—recruits me and watches over my work for long enough a time. I'm well over the requirements.”

“Does this mean we don't have to move to that awful shack and starve until you learn how to rope a longhorn?” No doubt about it, his soon-to-be wife had a sarcastic streak in her.

“Let's split the land between Luke and the Fosters. It borders both of them. We'll give it to them, and it'll be at least a little repayment for the damage Greer did.”

The smile that spread on Glynna's pretty face made Dare
forget about doctors and ranches and knife wounds and even sullen young men. He would've dragged her into his arms right then and reminded her of just how happy he was to be marrying her if he hadn't had so blasted much company.

“Vince!” Dare hadn't meant his voice to crack quite like such a whip. “Go get Jonas and let's get this wedding over with.”

“What about Luke? He'll want to come, too.”

“Don't you think we should tell Janny first?” Paul arched a white-blond brow.

“Dare, lie down before you fall over. We can let you heal up for a few days before—”

Dare shot a look at Vince. “Find Luke. You've got two hours to get back here. Now go.”

“Yes, sir.” Vince gave a casual salute, flashed a grin and headed out, the door slamming shut behind him.

“Paul, go get Janny.”

“I think she's busy pouring coffee.”

“Get her over here.”

Paul rolled his eyes and then left the room.

“Now, Dare, you can't just order me to . . .”

Silence reigned in the room while Dare did his very best to demonstrate that he was fully up to the task of getting married—so long as he got to sit down during the ceremony.

Glynna was clinging to him by the time he left off kissing her.

Dare smiled. “I'm a decent cook, too.” Decent compared to her, at least. “I can work in the diner. Heaven knows you make more money than I do.”

Smiling back at him, she gave him a nice thank-you kiss. “I'd appreciate the help.”

Of course the customers were going to have to stop staring at his wife. Dare intended to make that as clear as glass. He hoped that didn't hurt business any.

Dare decided he should probably rest until Luke got back. He needed a nap and some food and a lot of water to replace his blood supply and to get his head to stop spinning—though he blamed some of the spinning on Glynna's warm kisses.

Before he could ask Glynna to get him some water, the door swung open again, this time with a lot more force.

Vince came back far too soon. He'd left smiling, but now his face looked like a storm cloud getting ready to shoot lightning all over everyone.

“I thought you were going for Luke.”

“I sent Jonas.”

“What's the problem?” Dare knew his friend too well to think it was anything small. Vince didn't let little things bother him.

Vince held up a sign that Dare hadn't noticed him holding. It said
Don't Put a Thief in Your Mouth to Steal Your Brains
. He turned the sign, and on the other side it said
Demon Rum
.

“Where on earth did you get that?” Dare asked. He changed his mind. This was mighty small indeed.

“Tina Cahill has decided we need to close the saloon,” Vince answered.

“Isn't she busy cooking?” Glynna asked, casting a worried glance in the direction of her diner.

As if Glynna would be of any help if she went over there.

“It seems she's capable of cooking and making trouble all at the same time.”

“Talented woman,” Dare said quietly. “I don't see why you care. You don't ever go in the saloon.”

“It's the principle of the thing!”

Dare shook his head. Maybe Vince just made no sense, or maybe Dare was honestly dizzy. “And what principle is that?”

Vince scowled. “Don't be stupid.”

Tina came rushing in. “Give me back that sign!”

Vince dodged around the bed so he was in front of Dare. Tina chased after him as Vince raced out the back door, Tina hard on his heels.

“Well, I'd better get myself back over to the diner.” Glynna was halfway to her feet when Dare pulled her right back down beside him.

“Go close up for the day. You can take your wedding day off, I'd think.”

Glynna grinned. “Good idea. I'll get the children and we can talk about our new life together.”

“I like the sound of that. Have I mentioned yet that I love you?”

Glynna's smile faltered, and for a moment Dare was afraid he'd said the wrong thing.

Women could be very confusing.

Then her smile turned into a glow so bright, the sun looked dim by comparison.

“No man has ever said that to me before.” She threw her arms around his neck and almost knocked him over.
He almost let her. Then she kissed him hard, and with her eyes brimming with tears, she said, “I'll go close the diner and we can get on with being husband and wife just as soon as Jonas gets back.”

He kissed her again. “If Luke's not riding right along with him, he's gonna miss the ceremony.”

Speaking against Dare's lips, Glynna said, “He is indeed.”

She was slow in going after Janny and Paul. So slow, in fact, that Luke and Ruthy were back in plenty of time for the ceremony.

Janny and Paul had time enough to cook the noon meal without Tina's help, as she was too busy painting a new sign when Vince got away with her other one.

And Dare found kissing Glynna got his strength all fired up. In fact, he gained enough strength to participate fully in the wedding, and had plenty left over for the wedding night.