High Mountain Drifter (8 page)

"I suppose he is." Her heart tripped, remembering how tall he was, how he'd shrunk the room with his dominating presence. How dangerous he'd seemed, so well-armed and physically powerful. But there'd been kindness veiled in his eyes. "For some reason I don't feel afraid of him."

"When I saw him walk down the hall, you know, through the doorway, my heart stopped. Sweat broke out on the back of my neck." Penelope, slender and quiet, gave a little shiver. "I tried not to feel that way, it's not fair to judge people based on their looks alone, but there's something about him. Very powerful."

"That's true." She thought of how understanding he'd been over her outburst in the street. How all the anger and frustration for Ernest she'd caged up had just exploded out. Not every man would be as understanding.

"I hope it doesn't take him long to hunt down Ernest," Penelope added. Her lovely oval face was wreathed with sympathy. "It must be so hard to know your sisters are in as much danger as you are."

"Yes, that's exactly my worry." She stared down at the pillowcase she was embroidering and the little stitched flowers blurred. "Back in Chicago when Ernest first became violent, all of us had a discussion on what to do, you know, when I broke it off with him. Because I definitely had to end things. He was getting so controlling, it was scaring me."

"My mother went through something very similar," Penelope said quietly, her eyes filling with sadness. "That had to be such a hard time for you."

"I thought once I'd turned him down gently because of his increasing temper, that it would be over." She took one look at her sisters--Iris was stitching away with laughter in her eyes, Elise and Maebry were greatly amused as Rose and Magnolia bantered away. They were precious to her, beyond price. "We'd decided I'd return the locket he gave me with everyone around. In public. So we all invited Ernest over to our boardinghouse. It was busy, and we assumed he wouldn't want to damage his much-cherished reputation by having a tantrum in public."

"You were wrong?" Penelope's gaze scanned Verbena's face, going from bruise to bruise.

"He got violent. He wanted to hurt me. I was so startled, to see him suddenly so completely revealed, his true self he'd been hiding. My sisters crowded in front of him, trying to keep him back, but he wouldn't stop raging. When he finally left, I thought, whew, that's over, he's gone. I couldn't stop shaking because I couldn't believe how benign he'd seemed in the beginning."

"But it wasn't over, was it?" Concern drew little furrows into Penelope's forehead. She set down her sewing to brush brown little wisps of hair from her eyes.

"No. He came back with a gun." She remembered the chill that had raced through her veins, the absolute horror of seeing that weapon pointed at her. "He strode into the dining room, we were eating supper. Daisy jumped up to try to stop him, but he punched her in the face and she tumbled to the floor."

"That's horrible." Tears gathered in Penelope's eyes.

"My other sisters jumped in to protect me." That had been the worst moment for her. Looking at Penelope, she realized that her new friend already understood that. How seeing those she loved in danger was worse than anything she could face alone. "Iris was traumatized by him, it was a terrible thing to see her so terrified. I begged him to hurt me, not my sisters, but he threw Rose against a wall and knocked the wind out of her. He turned his gun on Magnolia, but she knocked it out of his grip. The gun went off as it fell, other people were coming to see what was going on, so he left. But he said he wasn't finished."

"Oh, Verbena, I'm sorry." Tears stood in Penelope's eyes, glistening there, full of compassion. "And he followed you here. He's still after you."

"He's still hurting my sisters." She blew out a shaky breath, glancing again at the merry women talking about Rose's new beau. She was denying he was her beau--one drive home from church did not make a beau, she argued, but she was hopeful, blushing pink the way she did.

Watching them, she knew what she had to do. There would be no more waiting, no more wondering when Ernest would strike next and who he would harm. Daisy's fiancé, Beckett, was bedridden, so wounded he was still unable to walk. Kellan, one of the cowboys, was back at work but he had twenty-five stitches in his back and side from a knife attack. She let her gaze stray to the window, where Burton walked the perimeter with a rifle resting on his shoulder. Who would be hurt next? Or worse, killed?

She wasn't worth that. She couldn’t live with what had happened already. The guilt was too much to bear.

"That bounty hunter is going to take care of this for you." Penelope reached out, touched Verbena's hand with a brief, reassuring squeeze. "I've never seen any man as capable. He looks as if he could move a mountain with a shovel if he had the mind to."

"Agreed." She managed a weak smile. She appreciated Penelope's attempts to comfort her, to try and put her mind at ease. Zane Reed flashed into her mind, the gentleness that had shown in his eyes right before he'd stormed out into the rain.

Gentleness.

She wouldn’t have guessed that from a man like him.

The sound of the back door unlocking echoed down the hallway. A key jiggled in the lock and a burst of damp air breezed through the house.

"It's only me," Daisy, back from checking on her fiancé, called out cheerfully. "Where is everybody?"

"In here!" Magnolia bellowed back. "How's Beckett?"

"He's feeling well enough to be crabby, so that's a great improvement." Daisy's footsteps padded in their direction. "He's frustrated being stuck in bed."

"Sure, when he wants to be out helping find Ernest," Iris sympathized, securing her needle in the fabric and folding up her half-sewn dress. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"What do you mean, so soon?" Daisy blew into sight, untying her hat. Rain dripped from the brim. "It's suppertime."

"Already?" Gemma twisted to get a good look at the mantel clock. "It's after five. We've been talking for hours."

"Time flies when you're having fun," Rose chimed in, folding up her crocheting. "I can't remember the last time I've had such a good time."

"It's the company," Maebry teased playfully. "You've never had me over before."

"Or me," Elise joked as she slipped the mittens she'd been knitting into her bag. "Gemma and Penelope are pretty great, too."

"Why, thank you." Penelope blushed, eyes dancing with mischief. "I think we're all pretty great. I've had the best time. Thank you for having us over."

"Exactly," Gemma and Elise said in unison.

"We have to do this again," Rose declared, bouncing to her feet. "We'll figure it out and be in touch, yes?"

Affirmations peppered the air. Verbena anchored her needle in the fabric and set her hoop aside. Everyone was standing up, ready to leave, giving hugs, extending pleasantries, heading toward the door to don outerwear.

Verbena joined everyone in the large, airy foyer. She hugged Penelope, so thankful they'd gotten a chance to know each other better. Said goodbye to Elise and Gemma, who thanked her profusely for including them. Elise had promised to give Gemma a ride, for she'd walked from town, and was ferrying Penelope in that direction anyway.

"Next time I'll be able to come earlier," Maebry said, the last to leave, as she buttoned up the new coat Gil had bought her. Her appled-cheeks were pink with happiness, her emerald green eyes had never sparkled so brightly before. Marriage looked good on her. "I'm cutting back on my hours. Aumaleigh and I talked about it this morning."

"Of course, you won't need to work now that you're married." Daisy took Maebry's hat off the coat tree and handed it to her. "Aumaleigh depends on you so much. You help cook most of the meals."

"She still has Josslyn," Maebry plopped the hat on her head. "And I won't completely quit until Aumaleigh has hired a replacement. Perhaps there's someone out there somewhere who needs a job. So it will all work out."

"What matters is that you're happy." Iris gave Maebry a hug. "Drive safe. I hope Gil won't mind that his supper will be a little late."

"He's working late tonight," Maebry said, her smile never wavering. "So no worries. He'll eat at the ranch. I tell you, this afternoon has been just what I needed. My curtain is done, and so I can start on my next project. Oh, and I'll look for you in church tomorrow."

"You two come sit with us," Rose invited, following Maebry through the door and onto the covered porch. "Good night!"

"Good night," Maebry called through the twilight. Her steps tapped a snappy rhythm on the porch stairs and then she was gone, her voice faint as she said howdy to Burton standing guard.

Rose closed the door. "Well, that was fun, but I'm starving. What's for supper?"

"Why are you looking at me?" Daisy wanted to know, hands in the air, palms up. "I'm not the only one who can cook around here. Let's go take a look in the pantry. We can warm up roast beef and gravy."

"I'll put on some potatoes to boil," Iris offered, waltzing down the hallway.

"I'll whip up some biscuits," Rose offered. "Magnolia, set the table, will you?"

"Let's eat by the fire," Verbena suggested, standing by the door, thinking about the chill in the air and how cold it must be for the men outside. "And we should make enough for Burton and the guys."

"Absolutely," Daisy called from the kitchen.

Verbena intended to join them in the kitchen and help, but her feet stayed rooted to the floor. She drew back the curtain on the window by the door and peered out into the deepening shadows. A few stray, fallen leaves rattled across the porch, driven by the hard wind. Rain beat against the side of the house with a vengeance. And somewhere in that vast, growing dark was Zane Reed.

Zane. She couldn't explain the tug on her heart, how she felt for him out there in the cold. She couldn’t explain why she felt something for him at all.

It felt good to be out of the house again, even if it was only on the way to town. Verbena gripped her cane, breathed in the morning air, a little rainy, but it smelled like late autumn. The mix of cold, snowy mountain air, wood smoke curling from the many chimneys on their way through town, and wet, damp fallen leaves.

She'd spent half the night sleeping fitfully, her senses fully tuned for any slight sound out of the ordinary, and the rest of it wide awake, staring at the ceiling. So she yawned again, covering her mouth with her gloved hand, and leaned back against the cushioned buckboard seat.

"That's the third one this morning," Iris commented beside her. "I'm concerned about you. You're not sleeping, are you?"

"No," she said lightly, not wanting Iris to worry. Honestly, what she'd been through was small compared to what Iris endured. "I couldn't sleep at all and it's Magnolia's fault."

"Not mine!" Magnolia denied playfully from the front seat where she reined sweet Marlowe down the road toward the church. "I slept like a rock."

"Which was the problem," Rose pointed out, full of mischief. "You're a snorter, Mags."

"A big snorter," Verbena confirmed. "No one can get a good night's sleep with you snorting away."

"Says the mumbler," Magnolia countered brightly. "Besides, I don't snort all that loudly. I hardly ever wake myself up."

"At least you'll be moving into your own room in a few days," Iris said, the sensible one, as the buckboard rolled to a stop. "As soon as Tyler's crew finishes the last touches on the room at the end of the hall, we can move you in."

"It won't be a minute too soon," Rose teased as she launched off the seat and stepped around a mud puddle. "Finally, for the first time in my life, I'll be able to sleep without the covers over my head."

"No snorting," Verbena agreed, scooting to the edge of the seat. "I don't know how I'll get through the night with it so quiet."

"But I will miss you talking in your sleep," Magnolia said fondly as she climbed down from the front seat. "Just think of a room all to myself. It's exciting, plus it's starting to sink in that we're really home. Home to stay."

"Until you get married," a woman's voice said from the front lawn. Their aunt Aumaleigh gave a little wave, elegantly gorgeous in a navy wool coat and matching hat. The shade brought out her striking bluebonnet blue eyes and enhanced the shine in her mahogany hair, not yet touched by gray. Although in her early fifties, she stood slim and willowy. "I can't believe we have two weddings to plan."

"Please, I'm not quite ready for that." Magnolia blushed happily, though. "I'm still getting used to being engaged, it's too new. I can't think about a wedding yet."

"Then I guess we'll have to start planning Daisy's." Aumaleigh's lovely heart-shaped face blushed with pleasure at the idea. "Speaking of Daisy, I thought she was going to come this morning."

"That's what we heard too," Iris spoke up, circling around the front of the vehicle and horse to join Aumaleigh on the wet lawn. "She was going to bring little Hailie with her."

"I hope that they're lateness doesn't mean Beckett took a turn for the worse." Concern dug little lines around the corners of Aumaleigh's mouth. "If they don't come, I may leave you girls and head out there, with Beckett's condition still so serious."