Linda Ford (18 page)

She sat beside Lane and looked at the pictures of his home and family. He came from a seemingly well-to-do family of good breeding if he did say so himself. As she commented on the pictures and listened to his detailed description, she heard Roper’s voice as he called to the children.

Yes, she echoed to herself, that’s what she wanted—to be with the children...and Roper.

Chapter Thirteen

E
ven over the laughter and screams of the youngsters, Roper caught snatches of the conversation between Cassie and Lane. Lane had a family. A good family. He had something to offer. Cassie, smart woman that she was, no doubt recognized it.

Roper’s only claim on her was on behalf of the children.

She’d made it clear she welcomed Lane’s attention. And would allow no interference from Roper.

Why should he think it would be any other way? A familiar ache reared its head and squeezed his heart until he wanted to groan.

They played a rowdy, noisy, vigorous game of tag. He ended up on his back as the children tackled him. They pounced on him, tickling him unmercifully. Finally they settled down, hopefully as exhausted as he.

“Is Cassie going to marry Lane?” Billy asked.

“Of course not.” Neil’s voice was full of disgust.

Billy wasn’t convinced. “I think she likes him.”

“She’s just being polite.” But Daisy’s voice conveyed a healthy dose of doubt.

Roper wished he could assure them Cassie was going to marry
him.
But they’d agreed it was best not to tell the children of their plan. Besides, their agreement came with no assurances.

“I don’t think he would make her happy.” Neil had drawn his own conclusions.

Roper grabbed the notion and clung to it. He only wanted Cassie to be happy. Seems the only thing that would make Cassie happy was being independent.

He’d never noticed before how dismissive the word sounded.

Peeling the children off him, he scrambled to his feet. His horse might welcome a flat-out ride but he couldn’t walk away and leave the children.

Neil poked his head over the bank. “The man is gone.”

“Let’s go home.”
Home is where I kick off my boots.
And yet this rough little plot of land—with the shack made half of wood and half of canvas, the table only a rough slab of wood out in the open and an almost-finished house nearby—was as close to home as anything he’d known.

The children followed him up the hill.

He’d only meant to help her. But he had no right to interfere. As soon as the children were tucked in, he approached Cassie. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to suggest I had any right to order things in your life.”

“Apology accepted.” She said the words and yet he felt as if a great barricade of logs and rocks and dirt had been piled high between them.

Soon after, he said good-night and returned to his camp.

Over the next few days he devoted every minute to completing her house. The only thing that kept him from putting in longer hours was consideration for Neil who tried to match Roper’s efforts. He would not drive the boy that hard.

Cassie was everlastingly polite, but distant, and he missed the closeness they’d shared for a few days.

And every day Lane came by with more and more evidence that he was a fine, upstanding young man with family roots and something to offer. He brought flowers, a picture of his family that he gave to Cassie. He told of attending school. From all accounts—his own—Lane had been an excellent student.

Roper knew his cynicism was unfounded. Understood it was due to the fact that Roper had not had such opportunities. He hadn’t even completed fourth grade because he was always needed to help at the orphanage, or when he was a little older, hired out to local farmers and businessmen. Schooling, after all, was not important for a nobody kid left behind when he was only a few days old.

A wagon approached. Roper looked up and recognized Linette and Eddie. He set aside his tools.

“Neil, no more work this afternoon. Run and play with the others.” Roper barely waited for the wheels to stop rolling before he jogged over to the wagon. “Need a hand, boss?”

“Yup.”

Roper climbed to the seat and waited as Eddie escorted Linette to Cassie’s side and Grady joined the other youngsters.

Eddie returned to the wagon and took the reins. “How are things going?”

Roper almost blurted out how bad things were but it seemed foolish to be sulking because a better man was interested in Cassie. “Be done here soon. House is almost finished.”

“Good. I hope that means you’re coming back to work.”

“Depends on what we hear from the uncle.”

“Right. Linette told me about it. It’s good to know the children will be taken care of properly. I suppose then you wouldn’t be coming back to the ranch?”

“Cassie has her business to run. It’s important to her.”

“But are you prepared to give up your life? What’s important to you?”

Roper shrugged, though the question ricocheted about in his head. He hadn’t let himself think that far ahead. “We work well together and more important, the youngsters seem happy enough to be with us.”

“I see. Well, if you change your mind please come back. I’m thinking I might need a foreman to help run the ranch. You’d be my first choice.”

“Thank you.” He’d like the job. Eddie was a good man to work for, and the ranch was growing. Roper wouldn’t mind having a hand in that. “I’ll give it some thought but it will depend on the uncle.” And if Cassie continues to show interest in Lane.

The first stop was to pick up the mail. Eddie glanced through the handful of letters, paused at one in particular. “If I’m not mistaken this will be from Grady’s father. Linette has been waiting for it. I fear she will again be disappointed by the man’s response.”

“He still refuses to acknowledge his boy?” Cassie had said Roper didn’t understand the dark side of family. This certainly proved it. He couldn’t understand how a parent could abandon a child. Yet he was living proof such things happened.

The men continued to talk about ranching things, the others at the ranch and general news as they loaded up supplies. Before they headed back to Cassie’s place, Eddie drove down the road to a pretty spot close to a bend in the river. “Linette is keen to see a church established in the community. At first I didn’t see any need. There were too few people, too scattered about. But every time I turn around, I see more people coming in. That young fellow, Lane Brownley, and a young family over there—” He pointed in the general direction of the place Roper had seen when he took Cassie and the youngsters to the buffalo jump.

He smiled as he recalled the event. Then his smile slid away. How had he gone from the happy contentment of that day to this restless uncertainty in such a short time?

“I haven’t met them but I’m told their name is Schoenings and they have four very small children. As Linette points out, we need to draw together in worship. She says this will be an ideal place.”

Roper agreed it would, though he wondered about the possibility of drawing together. From what he’d seen, even in the orphanage, differing religions often caused division rather than unity.

They turned back toward Cassie’s place and Eddie collected his wife and Grady then headed home.

He noticed the stark longing on Cassie’s face as she watched the wagon depart. Did she miss the ranch?

A suspicion mounted in his brain. One he wished he could deny. But it refused to be ignored.

Did Cassie see the love between Eddie and Linette and wish for the same for herself? Was she ready to forget the many cruel years under her grandfather and accept love? Believe in it?

Another unwelcome notion took root.

Perhaps what she wanted was what Linette and Eddie had—a nice home, a ranch to support them—all the things Lane could offer her.

He spun away and stalked down to the river, murmuring something about taking care of the horses.

* * *

Cassie watched Roper disappear. The man had gotten so moody the past few days she feared to talk to him. He helped when it came time to serve the men a meal but without the usual joking and teasing. And it seemed he couldn’t wait to be out of sight as soon as the men finished eating. Had she offended him so badly he couldn’t even bear the sight of her? Had he expected her to change her mind about who she was, what she wanted? Was that why he was angry?

Not that she could change her mind even for the sake of peace with him.

Thanks to Roper, her house was almost finished. Her dream was about to come true.

But she didn’t want to be friendless. They must mend this rift. For the sake of the children who watched them warily when they were together. And if the uncle refused to take them, they must learn how to be a family.

But she didn’t know how to fix things. Every time she started to bring up the idea that there seemed to be a problem between them, Roper found an excuse to leave. He couldn’t seem to wait to get away from her. About all she could do was pray things would improve.

Roper returned a while later and Cassie watched for a chance to speak to him, but the afternoon slipped past without her finding an opportunity. Not that she didn’t try. Roper just ducked away every time she took a step in his direction.

As usual, Lane came by early and brought something. Sometimes it was a gift. Other times it was a letter or something from home he wanted to show her. Today he had a bit of burgundy fabric. “What do you think of this for curtains for the front room?”

She sighed back her impatience at his repeated interruption of her work. “It’s very nice. Do you like it?”

“It’s similar to what Mother has at home so it should be appropriate.”

“I expect it’s fine.”

“If you saw the place you could better judge. My description is very inadequate.”

She refrained from saying it was more than adequate.

“Why don’t you let me take you out for a visit? Say Saturday afternoon?”

“I’m sorry, Lane, but who would cook for the men?”

He studied her long and hard.

Cassie thought his look very demanding and she had to stifle a reaction. He was not her grandfather. He had no hold over her.

“Seems you could arrange something. Let the others take care of it.”

She kept her voice as gentle as possible but felt the sharpness in her words. “It’s
my
job.
My
responsibility.”

“You should be taking care of a home and family, not feeding a bunch of strangers.”

She forced herself to give a little laugh. “Most of them aren’t strangers. Take yourself for example.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do. Need I point out that this is what I want to be doing?”

Lane made a noise of exasperation. “You’ll change your mind some day.”

She thought it best not to deny it. “I need to tend to the meal.” She waved her hand in the general direction of the table where he would sit and wait as she escaped into the shack. She wished Lane would take her hints and leave her alone.

She would have to be clearer with him. Somehow convince him she wasn’t interested in his attention. And she had to find a way to ease the tension between herself and Roper.

The next afternoon she still sought for a way to accomplish the latter. She prayed. She contemplated a dozen different scenarios. She even approached him twice but both times he’d suddenly found something he needed to do twenty feet away. Once it was to arrange some wood in the woodpile.

“Thought I saw a snake,” he explained.

The other time he held a tape measure and kept consulting it. “Sorry. I have to mark a board before I forget the measurement.”

He was making it very difficult.

But when he stepped out of the house and stood back to study it she decided this was the time. She put down the basin of potato peelings and headed across the yard. She barely reached his side when she heard footsteps heading their way.
Oh, please. Let it not be Lane. Not this early in the day.
But it was Constable Allen.

Daisy had been tidying up the little yard and straightened to watch him. Billy, assisting her, jerked about as if feeling the tension in the air and stared at the Mountie. Neil stepped out of the house, holding a hammer against his chest like a shield. Only Pansy, playing nearby, seemed oblivious to the importance of this visit.

“Hello,” the Mountie called out.

Cassie couldn’t find her voice to respond.

Roper jerked into action and reached out to shake hands. “Howdy.”

“I expect you all know why I’m here.” No one answered. “Why don’t we sit down?” He sat at the table, put his Stetson before him.

They slowly joined him. Cassie pressed in close to Roper needing his comfort. Thankfully he didn’t slide away. The children crowded in beside Cassie and Roper, all of them sitting across from the Mountie.

Roper cleared his throat before he spoke. “I think we know why you’re here but perhaps it’s best if you just say.”

“Very well.” He directed his gaze toward the children. “I was able to contact your uncle.”

None of the children appeared to breathe. Cassie twisted her hands in her lap, aching to reach for Roper, to hold tight and find courage.

He must have felt her nervousness for he wrapped a hand about hers. She flashed him a tight smile then concentrated on what the Mountie said.

“He responded immediately saying he wished to come and see you.”

Cassie couldn’t swallow. Her muscles clenched. It was the news she’d hoped and prayed for. The children should go to their relatives. But she’d miss them terribly. And now there would be no reason for her and Roper to marry.

The Mountie continued to speak and Cassie forced herself to focus on his words.

“He wants to meet you right away.”

“Right away?” Daisy squeaked.

Cassie knew her voice would sound every bit as strained if she tried to talk.

“Yes, he’s at the store waiting.”

Daisy and Neil turned as one toward the store. Billy watched his brother and sister, gauging their reaction to see what his should be.

Constable Allen leaned forward. “He realizes this is scary for you. He said he doubts any of you remember him.”

“I do,” Daisy managed to squeeze out.

“He doesn’t want to make any of you uncomfortable so he said I was to inform you. He’ll wait until you are ready before he comes over.”

No one spoke. Cassie knew this must be the children’s decision. She must have turned her hand into Roper’s at some point because they were palm to palm, their fingers intertwined. He squeezed her hand encouragingly. Despite the strain that had been like a wall between them the past few days she glanced up and held his gaze, seeking and finding a common interest in the well-being of these children.