Lucky Penny (54 page)

After a boisterous supper that featured tasty dishes, laughter, and a great deal of teasing, David brought out his fiddle. It was so wonderful to watch Ace gently guide his red-haired wife into a dance. Joseph handed Little Joe to Dory and swept Rachel into his arms next. Soon Esa took over playing the string instrument so David could waltz with Brianna. Dory blushed like a schoolgirl when Joseph plucked Little Joe from her lap, handed him to Ace, and bowed over her hand, asking her to take a spin with him. Even little Dory Sue bobbed around the room, looking adorable in a green frock.

When the evening grew late, David collected his family and assisted them into the buggy. Brianna held her two new dresses on her lap. Daphne was squeezed in between them. Sam lay under her feet. It was a glorious early-summer night, the breeze almost balmy and sweet with the scents of wildflowers and prairie grass. Daphne promptly fell asleep. Sam began to snore. Brianna gazed at the sky, trying to follow the point of David’s finger as he showed her the North Star and explained how to navigate.

In that moment, only one direction mattered to Brianna, and that was forward. The future beckoned to her, filled with promise. In all her life, she could not recall ever having been so happy and content.

Over the next few days, Brianna and David lived the blissful existence of newlyweds, sneaking to make love each night after Daphne fell asleep. Brianna was so happy that she felt frightened. What if something happened to spoil it all? David pooh-poohed the notion.

“I’ve waited all my life to meet the woman of my dreams,” he told her, “and nothing and no one will
ever
take you away from me.”

Daphne blossomed in the warmth that now filled the apartment. One evening after supper, she whispered to David, “I’m so glad you decided to spend more time brushing your teeth, Papa. Mama likes you a lot better now. It’s so much more fun when she laughs and acts silly with us.”

Midweek, Brianna accompanied David and the child to the ranch for two overnight stays to join in family activities. Each morning, it was a mad rush for Brianna to get back into town to open her shop. She seriously began to contemplate changing her business hours so she could be with her husband and daughter in a real home environment every single evening. She enjoyed traipsing around behind Daphne, who spent every spare second with her new pony, Blinky, or with the kittens. Sam was the child’s constant companion, and Brianna came to adore the silly dog in a way she wouldn’t have believed possible in the recent past.

David encouraged Brianna to embrace life with him. “I think you should change the shop hours,” he said. “Open later in the morning. It’s not as if you need the income. Designing gowns should be fun, not endless hard work. And why can’t you hire a seamstress to help? There are plenty of ladies in No Name who could use an income.”

Brianna was excited by the suggestion. “If I hire someone, I can assure you of one thing. I’ll be a much better boss than Abigail ever was.”

David hugged her close. “Yes, you certainly will be. Come live with me at the ranch. My deputies are well trained. We’ve driven away almost all the rowdies. It isn’t really necessary for me to stay in town half the week. In fact, I see no reason why I can’t make my nights there the exception instead of the rule as long as I’m in town to pull the day shift Monday through Friday.”

Looping her arms around his neck, Brianna leaned back in the circle of his strong embrace. “That, sir, is an offer I simply can’t refuse. It’ll take me a bit of time to hire and train someone, but I shall get right to it.”

Ever conscious of Daphne, David stole a quick kiss. “Put
a rush on it. I soundproofed the walls of my house, and we can put our daughter in the room farthest away from ours. I’ll teach you how to make beautiful music with mattress springs.”

That was a lesson Brianna anticipated with bone-melting delight.

The next Friday night, Brianna made her grand entrance at the social, wearing her gorgeous burgundy gown, which sported a scalloped neckline beaded with seed pearls, outrageous puffed sleeves that narrowed at the elbow to skim her forearms, and an overskirt with scalloped edges and a flowing bustle that swept the floor behind her in a cascade of shimmering silk. Clinging to David’s arm, she was immediately surrounded by ladies who admired her dress.

“I’m out of here,” David whispered. “I’ll be by the punch bowl.”

Daphne raced away to find Ace, Caitlin, and Grandma Dory. Brianna was left to field eager questions and assure potential customers that she would happily consult with them if they came by the shop on Monday to make appointments. It was a victorious moment for Brianna. Her dream of becoming a respected designer was coming true, and she owed it all to David.

David felt as if he might burst with pride as he watched his wife hold court. She was breathtakingly beautiful in the burgundy gown. Over the last week, she’d fretted that the red in her dark hair might clash with the dress, but David could attest to the fact that it didn’t. She shimmered like a bright flame, making the women around her look like drab hens. He felt certain that every lady at the social would be begging for Brianna’s dressmaking services before the night was over, and he already had a plan in mind for advertising in Denver to net his wife a wealthier group of customers.

David ladled himself a cup of punch and scanned the hall to find Daphne. He spotted her waltzing with Little Ace at the edge of the crowded dance floor. Sam circled the children as if he were dancing, too.
Damn.
In nine or ten
years, Daphne would be a handful of trouble with those perfect features and huge blue eyes and that glorious golden hair. The boys would be following her around like besotted puppies. David smiled as he watched her try to guide her cousin. Little Ace was all feet and as clumsy as a five-legged goat. Brad and Bess Thompson stood near David’s family, Bess looking lovely in a pink gown, Brad bursting with pride when people came over to admire his infant son, Tobias, only a couple of weeks old.

“You stupid, pathetic imbecile!”

David jerked and nearly slopped punch down the front of his birthday shirt, his only concession to formal wear. He looked down to find Hazel Wright, up on her tiptoes, trying to get nose to nose with him.

“What put a bee in your bonnet?” he asked.

Wrong question. Hazel sneered. “I
know
,” she said. “I know
everything
.”

She held a cup of punch in her hand and was shaking so badly that David feared for her pretty yellow dress. “Doing right by a woman over a child that isn’t even
yours
? You, David Paxton, are a fool, a stupid, gullible
fool
.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“The Pinkerton report—that’s what I’m talking about.” Hazel’s voice had risen to a shrill pitch. “I’ve read the entire, outrageous thing.”

David’s stomach felt as if it had plunged to his ankles.
Oh, dear God.
Hazel had found the spare drawer key and snooped in his desk. Rage snapped through his body like jolts of electricity. But before he could speak or control his reaction, he glimpsed a flash of burgundy at the corner of his eye and jerked around. Hazel turned with him.

Brianna stood there. The noise level in the hall was so high that David doubted she had overheard anything Hazel had just said, but it was obvious to anyone looking that the schoolteacher was on a rant. Brianna’s face had gone pale, and the luster of happiness in her green eyes had vanished.

Hazel narrowed her gaze. “Ah, so here is the conniving little
harlot
and fiancé stealer! How delightful.”

Brianna flinched at the words. “I have no idea what you’re talking abou—”

Hazel stepped toward her. For David, everything slowed down. He saw Hazel lift her cup, saw her shoulders tense, and knew what she meant to do, but he felt like a bug trying to slog through cold honey. Before he could step in to protect his wife, Hazel tossed her punch in Brianna’s face. Brianna jerked, squeezed her eyes closed, and stood there with her shoulders braced. The crimson punch beaded on her dark lashes, trickled down her cheeks, and cascaded in streams onto her bodice, possibly ruining the fabulous dress she’d worked so many hours to create.

“How
dare
you try to pass off your sister’s bastard child as David’s?” Hazel shouted. “Were you stupid enough to think he’d never learn the truth? And now just look at the mess you’ve caused, you conscienceless little
bitch
. David loved
me
. We were planning to marry. Now he’s chained to a liar and schemer who isn’t worthy to kiss his feet!”

David couldn’t quite credit his ears. Hazel was the schemer. She’d gotten into his desk on the sly and read a report meant for his eyes only. No one was allowed in that center drawer, not even his deputies, and Hazel had visited him at his office enough to know that. His brain felt frozen. He set aside his punch. His fists knotted at his sides. What the hell could he do? He’d never struck a woman in his life, and he wouldn’t allow himself to knock Hazel Wright on her pompous ass. But, boy howdy, it was tempting.

He sent Brianna an encouraging look, trying to let her know she would have his complete support if she decided to let Hazel have it, but she kept her eyes squeezed closed.
Come on, Shamrock, let that Irish temper kick into play.
If Brianna decided to empty the entire punch bowl over the other woman’s head, David stood ready to help her lift the damned thing. If ever a female had deserved a public setdown, it had to be Hazel Wright.

But, no, Brianna, always so controlled and conscious of propriety, merely opened her eyes, lifted her chin, and swept past Hazel with regal disdain.

“Oh, that’s rich!” Hazel shrieked. “Try to run from the ugly truth! It won’t work, I tell you. Before the night is over, everyone in this town will know what a lying, conniving whore you really are!”

David started to go after his wife, but then he remembered that, unlike Brianna, he hadn’t been raised by nuns. He rounded on Hazel. “When did you sneak into my office?” he demanded. “And what gave you the harebrained notion that you had any business snooping through my paperwork?”

Shaking with anger, Hazel glared up at him through shimmering tears. “You have no call to take me to task. You’re a cheating skunk! You broke my heart and made me look like a fool before the whole town. For weeks, everyone has been staring at me. I can’t go into a shop without people whispering behind my back. I had
every
right to know before today why you left me in the lurch, and before this night is over, every person in this town will learn the truth. You didn’t forsake me because you had a wife and patched things up with her. You were hoodwinked by a pretty, immoral opportunist who shackled you into marriage by leading you to believe you were the father of a child that isn’t even hers!”

“Well, I sure as hell thank my lucky stars I never married
you
,” he retorted. “Under that sugary act, you’re as venomous as a snake.” All Hazel cared about was saving face, and she didn’t give a rip how many lives she destroyed in the process. “You even hit my dog! People like you disgust me.”

“I disgust
you
?” Hazel said in a hoarse whisper. “You’re nothing but a two-bit marshal in a dusty little town. That badge doesn’t make you anybody. At least I have an education.”

From the corner of his eye, David caught another flash of burgundy, and the next instant, Brianna stepped into view with an apple pie balanced on the upturned palm of her hand. Scarcely able to believe his eyes, David watched his wife pause in front of Hazel and silence her by slapping the pie dead center in her face. Hazel gasped. Apples clung to her shocked countenance, a chunk of crust dangled from the bottom lip of her yawning mouth, and blobs of gooey fruit decorated the bodice of her yellow dress.

Brianna smiled, set down the pastry plate, daintily dusted her palms, and said, “Perhaps in the future you will
think twice before you cast slurs upon another lady’s reputation.”

Then, head once again held high, Brianna made another regal exit, her magnificent gown looking spotless from the back.

Hazel sputtered and squealed, wiping apple from her cheeks. David realized that a dozen people nearby had seen Hazel get the pie in her face, and their laughter was spreading around the room. It took all his self-control to gulp back a guffaw himself. Hazel had gotten precisely what she deserved, and David was so proud of Brianna. His Shamrock had finally come out of hiding.

There had been so much noise in the hall with the music, conversation, and the thumping footsteps of dancers that he felt sure only a few individuals had overhead Hazel’s diatribe. Dripping chunks of pie, Hazel would flee for home to at least wash up and change clothes before she repeated the story to anyone else. He searched the crowd for Daphne, saw her still dancing with Little Ace, and spun on his heel to go after his wife. His family would look after his daughter. Right then, Brianna needed him most.

Typical of June near the Rockies, the night air embraced David with chilly arms, but he barely felt the bite. With three chinks of his spurs, he loped across the street and gained the opposite boardwalk. He was at the dress-shop door in thirty seconds. Recalling Hazel’s insults, he smiled bitterly, thinking it didn’t take long for a two-bit marshal to cover ground in a dusty little town. If she thought so little of the community that paid her teaching wages, why the hell had she moved there in the first place?

David let himself in and locked the door behind him. Taking the stairs four at a time, he reached the landing, opened the apartment door, and immediately spied Brianna, sitting rigidly at the kitchen table facing him. Pale and expressionless, she didn’t look up. She sat as still as an alabaster statue. As David drew closer, he could see the tracks of tears on her cheeks, which had left white trails in the crimson punch that had dried on her skin.

“Oh, David,” she whispered, her glassy gaze fixed on the tablecloth. “You’re still in love with her, aren’t you? That’s
the only reason I can think of for you to tell her the truth about Daphne’s father.”