Matt (The Cowboys) (14 page)

“I wouldn’t give up without trying a little harder.”

He’d have plenty of time for that, but how did you start when all the cards were stacked against you? Was Ellen the right woman for him? He didn’t really know anything about her except that she was willing to marry a man she barely knew to keep Noah and Tess. Though that was a big plus in her favor, she’d given no indication she wanted to be married. Instead, she wanted to have her own hat shop in San Antonio, live in a rooming house, and probably have someone like Mrs. Ogden take care of Noah and Tess. It didn’t sound like a good life for the kids. They’d be better off staying with him after she left.

She’d only been there a night and a day, but already he found it hard to think of the ranch without Ellen. “She doesn’t want to be a rancher’s wife,” Matt said. “She wants me to set her up in her own hat shop in San Antonio.”

“Does Isabelle know that?”

“No.”

“She won’t like it.”

“This is something not even Isabelle can fix. Let’s talk about something else. You sure you don’t mind staying for a while to help with the horses?”

“Naw. I can always hope one of them will send you flying.”

“You’ll have to sleep in the loft with Toby and Orin.”

“I don’t care.”

“And be shadowed by Noah.”

Will chuckled.

“And don’t start telling him any of your stories,” Matt warned. “He’s young enough to believe them.”

“You take all the fun out of it.”

“Being responsible for these kids is serious business.”

“There’s fun in everything, Matt, even children. If you don’t stop letting the past control your life, you’ll die without ever having had a good belly laugh.”

Matt thought of what lay ahead and couldn’t find any reason to laugh.

“I’m not a baby,” Noah protested. “I’m big enough to sleep in the loft with Will.”

“It’s ridiculous to sleep on a blanket in the straw when you have a perfectly good bed,” Ellen said.

“They sleep in a bedroll,” Noah informed Ellen.

“You can’t leave Tess by herself,” Ellen argued.

“You can sleep with her.”

At the sound of the front door opening, Noah ran from the bedroom. “Can I sleep in the loft with Will?” she heard him asking. “Please. I promise I won’t do anything bad.”

“Have you asked Ellen?” she heard Matt say.

“She says I’m too little, but I’m not, am I, Will?”

“Certainly not,” Will replied. “I’m depending on you to protect me from the bogeyman.”

“There ain’t no bogeyman,” Noah said.

“There sure is,” Will insisted. “I’ve seen him lots of times. Big old fella, ugly and mean. Drools a lot and has arms like a bull.”

Ellen got to her feet. She had enjoyed most of Will’s foolishness, but she couldn’t have him filling Noah’s head with the bogeyman.

“Stop talking nonsense,” she said as she came into the hallway.

“It’s not nonsense,” Will assured her, giving what she could only suppose was his version of how a bogeyman would stalk its victim. “Big old hairy thing. Gave me nightmares for weeks.”

Noah looked like he was caught between believing and not believing. “Will says he wants me to sleep with him in the loft,” he said to Matt. “Can I, please?”

“That’s up to Ellen,” Matt said.

Noah turned to her. “I am
not
too little.”

“I also said you couldn’t leave Tess in a room by herself.”

“You don’t mind, do you?” Noah asked his sister.

Tess shook her head, but Tess would say anything her brother wanted.

“If Ellen lets you sleep with us tonight, do you promise not to plague her about it tomorrow?” Will asked.

“I promise,” Noah assured Ellen.

“What do you think?” she asked Matt.

“I don’t think Tess wants to be left alone,” he said, “but it won’t hurt for him to do it one night. But you’ve got to remember, Noah, this is a treat. You’ve promised you won’t plague Ellen to let you do it again. If you do, you’ll have to do Tess’s chores for the day.”

Ellen wasn’t sure Noah was old enough to understand the responsibility of sticking to a promise. He was a little boy who saw only what he wanted.

“Do you promise no fussing and complaining tomorrow?” Matt asked Noah again.

“I promise,” Noah said, so excited Ellen knew he would have agreed to anything.

“Go with Will to get a bedroll,” Matt said. “There’s an extra one in the barn.”

Noah grabbed hold of Will’s hand and practically pulled him out the door.

“You know he’ll forget all about his promise by tomorrow,” she said, irritated that Matt had given in, and even more irritated at herself for asking his opinion.

“He needs to learn there are consequences to his actions,” Matt said. “This is a better way than punishing him for letting chickens out of their pen.”

“He’s only five.”

“That’s old enough.”

Ellen noticed Matt’s gaze shift. She turned to see Tess still standing in the bedroom doorway, her doll clutched in her arms.

“Let’s get you in bed.” Ellen said as she moved toward the little girl.

“Will you tell me another story?” Tess asked Matt as Ellen led her into the bedroom.

“Sure,” Matt said.

“About a birthday party.”

“If that’s what you want.”

Tess made room for Matt to sit down beside her. “Mrs. Ogden wants to hear a story, too.”

“You named your doll Mrs. Ogden?” Ellen asked, surprised.

Tess hugged her doll against her chest. “Mrs. Ogden said I didn’t have to be afraid of the dark. She would let me sleep with her until you got home.”

Ellen felt a rush of guilt that she hadn’t been there to comfort Tess. She felt even more guilty that she hadn’t known the child needed comforting.

“You won’t be alone anymore,” Matt said. “Ellen and I will be here.”

“Always?”

“You won’t want us to be here always,” Matt said, settling down next to her. “One of these days, when you’re a grown woman, you’ll meet a nice man, get married, and want to start your own family.”

“Like you and Ellen?”

“You can even adopt boys and girls if you like.”

Ellen didn’t know how he managed to reassure Tess without making promises he couldn’t keep.

“I don’t want to go away ever again.” Tess threw her arms around Matt and hugged him.

If the light from the single lantern hadn’t been so weak, Ellen would have sworn Matt looked terrified. He took Tess’s arms from around him and placed them around the doll she’d dropped.

“Crawl down under the covers and I’ll tell you a story.”

Tess snuggled beneath the blankets. The sheer adoration in her eyes as she looked up at Matt was like a knife in Ellen’s heart. Tess’ never forgive Ellen for taking her away from Matt.

Ellen settled on Noah’s bed while she listened to Matt’s story. Who would ever have expected a man who could break two dozen wild horses in one day to come up with a story that would enchant a three-year-old girl?

“Jessica lined up her old dolls.
We’re going to have a party,
she said.
I have a new dolly named Mrs. Ogden.”

“That’s my dolly’s name,” Tess said.

“Jessica thought it was a very good name,” Matt said.

Ellen didn’t know what he’d done to earn Toby and Orin’s devotion, but she was certain it wasn’t bedtime stories. There had to be something more, something inside him that the children sensed. She remembered how upset Orin had been when Wilbur Sears threatened to take him away. All Matt did was put his hand on his shoulder and the boy calmed down. All Tess needed was a story. Or was it the sound of his voice?

But even though it was a nice voice—warm and resonant—there had to be more than that. Even Noah responded to him, and Noah never responded to anyone without threats of punishment. She heard Noah and Will come in the front door. They went straight to the stairs and climbed to the loft, Noah chattering excitedly the whole time. Enthralled by Matt’s story, Tess didn’t appear to have heard her brother.

“All the other dolls liked Mrs. Ogden,” Matt was saying. “She promised to help Jessica take good care of all of them.”

That’s it! He made the children feel that no matter what happened, he would take care of them. They were safe. Nothing could hurt them as long as Matt was here. She knew that wasn’t characteristic of a weak or indecisive man. He might be unlike any other Texas cowboy she’d ever met, but he had a strength that had deep roots, roots, so strong and unmistakable that Tess felt it almost immediately.

“Jessica put all the dolls in their beds,” Matt said, “but she let Mrs. Ogden sleep in her bed.
I’ll never be afraid again as long as I have you,
Jessica said to Mrs. Ogden, and they went to sleep holding each other very tight.”

Matt tucked the covers around Tess. Her big brown eyes followed his every move. Ellen stood, leaned over, and kissed Tess on the forehead.

“Sleep tight,” she said. “I’ll be in the next room. If you need anything, just call.”

They hadn’t gotten to the door when a small, quavering voice said, “I’m scared.”

Not surprised, Ellen moved back toward Tess. Matt shouldn’t have let Noah sleep in the loft. He should have known any three-year-old child would be afraid to sleep alone in a strange house.

“I guess I’ll have to sleep in here with her,” Ellen said, looking over her shoulder at Matt.

“I want Matt,” Tess said.

“What?” Ellen asked, turning back to Tess.

“I want Matt to stay with me.”

Chapter Eight

Matt didn’t appear as surprised as Ellen felt. Tess was her child; she ought to want her to stay.

“Don’t you want Ellen to stay with you?” Matt asked. “She’s—”

“I want you.”

There could be no doubt of Tess’s decision. Ellen longed to ask why, but she didn’t wish to upset the frightened child. “I’m not sure Matt knows how to take care of little girls.”

“I don’t mind,” Tess said.

She looked at Ellen, but her gaze returned almost immediately to Matt.

“Then it’s Matt you will have,” Ellen said as cheerfully as she could. “Go change,” she said to Matt. “I’ll stay here.”

After Matt had left the room Ellen sat down next to Tess. “You like Matt a lot, don’t you?”

Tess nodded her head.

“He’s a very nice man,” Ellen said.

“Can we live here always?” Tess asked.

“We’ll stay here a while,” Ellen said. “But one day we’ll go to San Antonio. It’s a big city with lots of people. You’ll soon have lots of friends to play with.”

“I don’t want to go to ’tonio,” Tess said. “I want to stay here.”

“Noah and I wouldn’t want to leave you.”

“You and Noah can stay here, too. Matt will let you.”

“We’ll have to talk to him about that,” Ellen said, “but now it’s time to go to sleep. I don’t want you to keep Matt awake asking questions. He has a lot of work to do tomorrow, so he needs his sleep. You do, too. We have to take care of the chickens and milk the cow.”

“I like cows,” Tess said.

Ellen didn’t particularly care for cows, but she actively disliked chickens. They were noisy, ungrateful creatures ready to peck you or fly away when you wanted to catch them.

Matt reentered the room wearing a nightshirt that came to his ankles.

Tess sat up in the bed, looked at Ellen, and pointed to Matt. “He’s wearing a nightgown just like you.”

“That’s a nightshirt,” Ellen said, trying to smother a smile. “It’s what men wear when they go to bed. Noah wears one.”

“I didn’t know big men wore clothes like Noah,” Tess said.

“Big men wear all kinds of funny clothes,” Matt said, coming around to Noah’s bed. “You’ll have to ask Will what he wears.”

“Is it funny?” Tess asked.

“You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out,” Matt said as he got into Noah’s bed. “Now let Ellen tuck you in.”

Tess appeared disappointed there wasn’t going to be any excitement about having Matt share her bedroom, that they would just go to sleep.

“Sleep tight,” Ellen said again, “and don’t be afraid. Matt is right next to you.”

“I know.”

Ellen kissed Tess’s forehead again. It was time to take the lamp and go to bed. There was nothing else she could do, but she didn’t want to leave. She’d failed where Matt had succeeded, and she didn’t like that. “If you want me, I’ll be right next door,” Ellen said.

“I know,” Tess said.

When she entered her bedroom a feeling of isolation descended upon her. She told herself not to be foolish. She didn’t need to share a bed or a bedroom with anyone. She should be relieved to have a room to herself. She had wanted that from the beginning.

As she set the lamp down and began to undress, she realized she didn’t feel that way any longer. She wanted to feel part of this unusual family. They were six people from different backgrounds and families, different ages and sexes, yet somehow a feeling of belonging had grown up among them in less than two days, something so strong not even Toby’s bad humor could spoil it.