Mary Connealy (60 page)

But Belle was pleased, too. She wondered if she looked just like him.

There was still a bit of dusk left when the thousand head of cattle waded into the grass. She looked at Silas, and he smiled. It was a sweet moment, an intimate moment, shared by the two of them alone. Well, alone except for four children, three drovers, and one thousand cattle.

But sweet.

I
wonder if it’s been claimed,” Silas muttered.

Belle heard him and had a flash of worry. Was he thinking of leaving her? He’d been adamant to Sarah that morning about not getting married. Maybe he’d finish the drive, stake a claim, and come straight back here to live forever.

“Great location,” Buck said. “A short ride to the territorial capital.”

“But still wilderness,” Shorty said, as if
wilderness
was the same word as
heaven.

Belle noticed that Roy didn’t join in the talk. He was sitting on his horse, alongside Lindsay, as he’d taken to doing all the time. They were apart from the group, talking quietly.

Belle marveled at her daughter’s shy smiles and easy conversation with the boy. Belle knew Silas kept an eye on the two youngsters. She’d suggested it, and the serious look in Silas’s eyes as he agreed wholeheartedly helped Belle put her concerns in Silas’s capable hands.

Silas hadn’t let the men go out riding herd with the girls for the first few days, but Belle could see that he’d eased his watchfulness after a bit, and Belle allowed it because she trusted Silas’s judgment.

Lindsay and Roy put up their horses. Belle was busy bending over her coffeepot, and when she straightened, she noticed the two were gone. Curious and uncomfortable with their budding friendship, Belle headed into the wooded area near where their horses stood grazing. She wandered without a direction for a time. Then she rounded a thicket and came upon Roy kissing Lindsay.

“Roy! Lindsay!” Belle cried.

The two of them jumped apart.

Lindsay tried to say something, but her face went crimson and she brushed her hands over her skirt and hair. Finally, to get her hands to stop fidgeting, she clenched them in front of her.

“I reckon I owe you an apology, Miz Harden. I just…Lindsay and me…we were only …” Roy’s voice faded to nothing, and he lifted his hat and pulled it forward on his head until it shaded his eyes.

“Roy, you go back to camp right now,” Belle ordered.

“Miz Harden, please don’t take none of this out on Lindsay.” He laid his hand on Belle’s daughter’s shoulder, and Belle wished for her skillet. “She’s a fine girl and I wouldn’t shame her. Nothin’ happened. We were talking and …”

“Roy!” Belle cut him off and crossed her arms. “I’ll leave your father to talk with you. Right now I’d like a word with my daughter. Alone!”

Roy looked at Lindsay, who glanced at him then looked back at the ground. Roy started to the camp. He had to walk past Belle to get there. When he was only a few feet in front of Belle, he stopped and pushed his hat back. “Lindsay and me…I know we’re young, ma’am, but we have decided we’re gonna get hitched.”

He’d have done less harm if he’d punched Belle right in the stomach. “No you are not. Now go!”

She jabbed her finger behind her.

He didn’t budge.

“I’ll say my piece first. If you’re mad, then yell at me, not Lindsay. She’s a good girl, and I haven’t behaved in a dishonorable way to her.” Roy looked Belle square in the eye.

Although he was young, Belle was reluctantly impressed with his desire to take whatever anger Belle might have upon himself to protect Lindsay.

“We’re getting married in Helena tomorrow if we get into town early enough.”

“You are not!” Belle interrupted.

Roy kept talking as if she hadn’t spoken. “If not tomorrow, then the next day. I haven’t talked to my pa yet, but if he’s agreeable, the two of us will stake claims, along with Shorty, that would cover this whole valley. Pa and I talked about the claims some, but I didn’t say a thing about Lindsay because I hadn’t spoken to her yet. But now Lindsay has said she’ll marry me. We’ll set up our own spread here if the valley isn’t claimed. If not here, then somewhere else close by. We’ve ridden through some likely spots.”

Belle’s heart pounded harder with every word. Roy was determined and Belle was terrified.

“I had just convinced her to say yes when you came upon us. That kiss is the first and the last one she’ll get from me before we’re married. I love Lindsay, ma’am, and I respect her too much to dishonor her.”

Belle’s mind unwillingly skittered to the way Silas and she had kissed. Without intention to marry.
That
had been dishonor. As their lies about being married had been. Roy’s behavior was better than Belle’s.

“I’ll always see to her safety and happiness above my own. I promise you that.”

Roy stared at Belle for a moment longer, and Belle saw clearly that he wished she’d say something so they’d have her blessing…or at least her permission, however grudgingly given. Belle just couldn’t do it. At last he nodded his head firmly and walked on past her without further comment.

Belle turned to Lindsay who was still fixated on the ground. Belle chided, “Lindsay.”

Lindsay looked up from the ground then stared past Belle’s shoulder. Belle could tell the minute Roy disappeared from sight, because Lindsay suddenly had a huge grin on her face, and with a few running steps, she crossed the distance between them and threw her arms around Belle’s neck. “Oh, Ma, I never knew how it could be. I know now why you keep marrying the low-down varmints.” Lindsay laughed then pulled back to arm’s length to look at Belle. “Only Roy isn’t no varmint. He’s a good ‘un. He is, isn’t he?” Lindsay asked fiercely. “He will treat me right and work hard. I’m as old as you were when you got married. And I think his pa will stay with us, so it won’t be the two of us alone in the world like it was with you and my pa.”

“Lindsay, you’re only fifteen—” Belle began somberly.

“I’m sixteen in a few months, Ma,” Lindsay interjected. “You were fifteen when you married my pa. And now you have Silas.” Lindsay’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I haven’t told Roy about him not bein’ my real pa, and I won’t until after you and Pa are married. Roy won’t mind, but I don’t want I should embarrass you none, what with all your kissing and such.”

Belle was struck speechless by the way Lindsay so casually mentioned the…the play acting she and Silas had been doing. Silas had said he’d talked to her, but what had he really said?

“I wouldn’t want to leave you with no help,” Lindsay went on. “But with Pa around, you’ll be okay. Aren’t you happy for me, Ma? I love Roy so!” Lindsay wrapped her arms around Belle’s neck again and almost strangled her with her enthusiasm. She seemed oblivious to Belle’s dismay. She was walking on a cloud and couldn’t believe anyone could be less than thrilled.

Well, Belle was a whole lot less. “You’re too young to get married.”

Lindsay laughed. “I’m young, I know. So’s Roy. But we’re old enough to start a life together. Roy will be tellin’ his pa right now.” Lindsay turned toward the camp, grabbed Belle’s hand in hers, and towed her along. “I want to go stand by his side when Roy tells him, like Roy stood by me.”

Belle couldn’t think what to say. Hoping and praying Buck or Silas would talk some sense into the young couple, she went along.

They got to camp in time to see Buck shaking Roy’s hand and laughing. Silas was standing beside the father and son, looking very serious.

Belle met his eyes as soon as she saw him and knew he was of the same opinion she was. She went straight to his side, and as soon as Buck’s hearty congratulations were finished, Silas said bluntly, “Belle and I think Roy is a good boy, Buck. But how can he marry Lindsay when he doesn’t have so much as a roof over his head?” Silas’s curt announcement brought the festive mood to an abrupt halt.

“Now we…we
might
agree to Roy courting Lindsay, but we want him to have a start for the two of them before there’s any wedding.

“I have an idea that might work,” Silas continued. “Why doesn’t Roy come on home with us? He’s too young to stake a claim to any land, but he could court Lindsay proper, get to know her this winter. Buck, you and Shorty can stake a claim. In the spring, Roy can come and help you start a herd. When he’s twenty-one and old enough to claim some land, he and Lindsay can get married.”

“I do the work of a man right now,” Roy objected. “Age is just a number you write on paper. I’ll stake my claim now and prove up on it by the time I’m twenty-one. That’s five years from now. We’re not waiting that long. We’re not waiting another week!”

“Well, son”—Silas tilted his hand low over his eyes—“maybe you don’t need to wait
five
years to marry, but you could wait Say…two years. Lindsay’s only fifteen. She’s not—”

“Ma was fifteen when she got married,” Lindsay interrupted. “I’ll be sixteen in a couple of months. And Roy is going to be a lot better for me than—”

“Lindsay!” Silas cut off Lindsay’s yelling and threw her a warning look. Lindsay covered her mouth before she blurted out something about Belle having a different husband than Silas all those long years ago.

Then a gleam appeared in Lindsay’s eyes that made Belle nervous. “And how old were you, Pa? You and Ma are about the same age. Ma was fifteen and you were…sixteen if I remember. Same age as Roy. And you had nothing or the next thing to it. Didn’t you say, Ma, that Grandpa Tanner gave you two hundred dollars and the two of you set out and crossed practically the whole country? Ran fifty cattle across most of the Rockies because you’d heard of the gold strike in Helena and heard they were hungry for beef and paying prime dollar for it?”

Belle felt Silas clutch her hand tightly. She said, “We did start out that way, Lindsay. That’s why we know it’s hard. I’d like something better for you.”

Buck added his voice to the mess. “The boy and I talked about claiming that high valley. The two of us’ll do it, and Shorty will throw in and get himself another one hundred and sixty acres right next to it. We’ve been riding the grub line long enough. We can have a roof over our heads by snowfall, and I can make it tight and comfortable. I’ve got enough money to buy a few head of cattle to start up a herd, and with all of us working together, we’ll be okay. Now, I know they’re young. But folks marry young out here. My Caroline and I were settled young, and I think that’s the best way to do it. Having Lindsay with us, well, that would make starting a home something worth doing. Silas, I’d help Roy take care of your girl. You have my word on it.”

“Maybe in the spring we can—”

“I don’t want to wait until spring…Pa,” Lindsay said with clenched fists.

Belle heard the threat in Lindsay’s voice, but she wasn’t going to let her daughter threaten her into doing something Belle thought was wrong, no matter how much disgrace she brought down on her own head. Silas squeezed her hand again before Belle could angrily confess their lies. She looked sideways at him.

“Folks
do
settle young out here, Belle.” Silas looked over at Lindsay and said with open longing, “I don’t want to let her go. I wanted to spend more time with our girl. I’m not ready to give her up. But however much we don’t like it, Roy’s a good boy, and Buck and Shorty will be there to take care of her.”

Lindsay’s eyes filled with tears as Silas spoke. She took two uncertain steps then ran the short distance between them and threw her arms around Silas’s neck. “I don’t want to leave you either, Pa. I love you.”

Lindsay cried into Silas’s neck, and he hugged her tight. Then Lindsay let go of Silas and turned to cling to Belle.

“I love you, Ma. I don’t want you to be unhappy, but my heart is telling me to go with him. You know I do the work of an adult woman. I have for years. I
am
an adult woman. And adult women get married. What I feel for Roy—it’s so strong and good, I don’t want to let him go, not even for the winter.”

Belle looked over Lindsay’s shoulder to meet Silas’s eyes.

Silas seemed to have made up his mind for both of them.

Belle felt a scream gathering deep in her belly.

Wade shoved Glowing Sun behind him as he whirled around.

It was one of the men who’d held her captive. With a shotgun out and level and cocked.

A distressed moan came from Glowing Sun.

Wade didn’t move his hand toward his gun. This man had the draw on him, and not even a fast draw—which Wade wasn’t—could beat a pointed shotgun.

You wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger anyway, coward.

An inner voice reminded Wade he was a weakling. He’d been no different before he turned his life over to God, but the cowardice had tormented him back then because his measure of a man was whether he had the guts to kill. Now Wade found comfort in knowing he didn’t have a killer instinct. He’d shoved away the knowledge of his yellow belly and mostly forgotten it.

Until now.

Now, when his ability to pull the trigger might be the difference between life and death, not for himself, but for the woman he’d just realized he loved—that taunting voice came back and reminded him he had no guts.