Matt (The Cowboys) (27 page)

“You just want Orin’s money,” Wilbur accused.

“I took Orin before I knew there was any money.”

“You can’t be trusted with it,” Wilbur said. “Who’s to say you won’t use it for yourself?”

“If that’s your only worry, let the Randolph bank in San Antonio handle it.”

“They’re friends of your family.”

“They have an impeccable reputation,” the judge said. “I think that’s a good solution. Now, young man,” he said to Noah, “show me that horse of yours. And you stay here,” he said to Wilbur when he started to follow them. “Ask Ellen to take you inside and give you some coffee.” He turned back to Matt. “Tell me what you have in mind for this ranch. From what Toby says, you plan to be the biggest horse breeder in the state.”

“I’m not that ambitious,” Matt said, relieved to be able to direct the judge’s attention to something he felt was in his favor. “I plan to breed cattle like the rest of my family, but my sister”—it was easier to call Drew his sister than to keep explaining about them being adopted—“and her husband are working with me to develop a cow pony especially for working cattle.”

“Matt says my horse is the fastest horse on the ranch,” Noah said, impatient with this talk about breeding. “You can ride him if you want.”

“Why don’t you and Orin bring him up to the small corral so the judge can see him?” Matt said. The boys didn’t wait to be told twice.

“They seem to get along okay,” the judge said.

“Noah’s a pain,” Toby said, “but I guess he won’t be so bad when he grows up.”

“You’re not happy about having a younger brother and sister?” the judge asked.

Matt felt his stomach clench. The boy knew what was at stake, but he was still so centered on how everything affected him, he couldn’t always be trusted to say or do the right thing.

“You trying to trap me?” Toby asked, looking up at the judge. “I know that preacher fella hates my guts, but I thought you were fair.”

Matt’s stomach muscles firmed into a hard knot. No telling what the boy would say next.

“I’m not trying to trap you,” the judge said, “but I do need to know whether letting Mr. and Mrs. Haskins adopt the four of you is a good idea.”

“First, they ain’t adopting me,” Toby said. “I work for my keep. Second, you’re crazy if you don’t let them adopt Orin and those kids. No matter what that preacher says, nobody wants us. I don’t know why, but Matt and Ellen do. I keep getting into trouble because of girls, but Matt always looks out for me. No matter how mad I make him, he backs me. Ellen takes up for me, too, and she doesn’t even like me.”

Matt grimaced.

“But they’re nuts about Orin and the kids. You shoulda seen Orin when he came here. Scared of his shadow and jumpy as a filly around her first stallion.”

Did the boy have to use such earthy descriptions?

“It took me and Matt half a year to calm him down. I never seen him smile until a month ago. Then his grandfather left him all that money, and he’s been scared as crap ever since that somebody’s going to take him away. It’s that preacher you ought to take away. It’s not right that he can go around scaring Orin like he does.”

“Reverend Sears has Orin’s best interests at heart.”

“If he did, he’d leave Orin right where he is. How would you like knowing people only wanted you for your money? Matt don’t care nothing about that money. His family’s rich. They got ten times that much money. Maybe a hundred times.”

“I think that’s a slight exaggeration,” Matt said, but he had to let Toby talk. It would look worse if he tried to stop him. He was saying some things Matt couldn’t. “Besides, Jake and Isabelle’s money doesn’t come into the question here.”

“Sure it does. Isabelle says we’re family. If anything happens to you, they’ll take care of us.”

“Is that true?” the judge asked Matt.

“Yes.”

“Isabelle’s already got Tess calling her ‘grandmama,’” Toby said. “And Noah thinks Will can do everything bettern Matt. It ain’t true, but I ain’t saying nothing if it makes the kid happy.”

“So you really don’t mind the kids?”

“Not really. Besides, we bastards have to stick togther.”

Matt grimaced. Toby did have a way of cutting to the heart of the matter.

“That’s important?” the judge asked.

“You ever seen anybody wanting to take in a bunch of bastards that was bound to cause them nothing but trouble?”

“Can’t say I have,” the judge replied.

“Well, Matt and Ellen are. They don’t even think of us as bastards. Ellen says Noah and Tess are her kids. And she means it. I bet she’ll run away to California or one of the territories if you try to take her kids. And Matt’s given Noah a horse and Tess a kitten. He even tells her stories at night. He’d probably go with them.”

Now Matt wished he had cut Toby off. He was like a drunk who couldn’t stop talking.

“What would you do if that happened?” the judge asked.

“I’d go with him,” Toby said.

The judge turned to Matt, his expression impossible to interpret. “Is what this boy says true?”

Chapter Sixteen

Matt didn’t know what to say. Toby had given the judge too much insight into the family to attempt to fool him.

“Ellen and I believe we have a good life to offer the children,” Matt answered, avoiding the question. “They’ll have a normal home, plenty of room to flex their muscles, and a family that loves them.”

“It looks like adopting kids is getting to be a tradition in your family.”

“Ellen and I were both orphans. We understand what it’s like.”

“And you can make them feel safe and loved?”

“No point in asking him,” Toby said. “You gotta ask us.”

“The others want to be adopted,” the judge said. “But you don’t?”

“It’s hard to say, Judge.”

Matt’s heart sank. When Toby started digging for truth, he always came up with something startling.

“Don’t get me wrong, I think Matt’s a great guy. Ain’t nobody else woulda took me in and put up with all the trouble I cause. I was a pretty mouthy kid when I got here. I didn’t take to being told what to do even when I knew it was good for me. But Matt had a lot of patience. He finally made me see I was my own worst enemy.”

“So why don’t you want to be adopted?” “I’m not a kid anymore. I can’t stay here forever.”

“Both Ellen and I want to adopt you,” Matt said. “Either way you know you can stay as long as you want.”

“You’ll be having kids of your own. You don’t need no trouble-causing half-breed like me, even if I am the best-looking young guy in the whole county. Matt’s brother, Will, is the best-looking,” Toby told the judge. “Women practically faint when they clap eyes on him.”

They were near enough to the corral that Noah’s piercing voice broke into their conversation.

“Hurry up,” he called. “You gotta see my horse.”

“I’m coming as fast as a fat old man can,” the judge called to Noah before turning back to Toby. “You can tell your foster parents—I guess I can tell them that without insulting your independence—that I’m going to approve the adoption of Orin, Noah, and Tess. If I were you, I’d consider letting them adopt you. Not many kids like you get a second chance.” The judge stepped away purposefully. “I’m coming,” he called, responding to Noah’s impatient urging. “If I go any faster, I’ll have to borrow your horse just to get back to the house.”

Ellen didn’t want to go to bed. She wasn’t the least bit sleepy. The adoption process would take weeks before it was official, but they had passed the most crucial test. Despite Wilbur and Mabel Jackson’s best efforts, Noah and Tess would be hers in a few months. No one would ever be able to take them away.

And Orin. She had to remember to include him. He would be just as much her son as Noah. She wasn’t comfortable with that yet, but Orin was a nice boy, and he clearly wanted her to like him. He turned to Matt whenever he felt threatened, but he was beginning to act like any normal boy, turning to his father at certain times, to his mother at others. Just like Noah.

She reminded herself that she planned to take the children and move to San Antonio as soon as the adoption was final. She hated the way that made her feel so guilty. It wasn’t fair. She’d told Matt from the beginning what she planned to do.

But she hadn’t told the children. They thought they had a permanent home with two parents who would love them and stay with them forever. She would be the one to destroy their dream. Orin’s, too. She couldn’t tell herself that Matt didn’t want her to stay. He didn’t love her—as far as she could tell, he didn’t have any feeling for her at all—but he did want her to stay.

But she couldn’t. Doing so would make her feel like part of the furniture. She would be staying because she was useful, because it was easy. She didn’t mind being useful. In fact, she wanted to be useful, but that was no reason to marry. Having no husband at all was better than being little more than a live-in housekeeper.

“It’s time to stop celebrating and get to bed,” Matt announced. “This is still a ranch, and we have work to do.”

“Can I help with the horses?” Noah asked. “The judge said I must be a big boy to have such a fine horse.”

“You can help when they’re a little more used to people,” Matt said. “Right now they don’t like anybody very much, even me.”

Ellen got to her feet. “I want you both in your night clothes and washed behind your ears by the time I finish cleaning up.”

“Are you going to check behind my ears to make sure I washed?” Orin asked.

“Absolutely,” Ellen said. “I insist that all my children have clean ears.”

“What about me?” Toby asked. “Do you want me in my night clothes?”

“I leave you to Matt,” Ellen replied, uneasy with the look in Toby’s eye. He’d never wanted her here, but he acted like he felt left out. All evening his participation in their fun had seemed a bit forced. She was certain Matt had noticed, too. She’d have to ask him what was wrong. He always understood Toby.

Everyone had eaten too much cake, custard pudding, and berries covered in cream. It seemed a wasteful indulgence, but nobody had wanted to stop talking about what they were going to do now that their future was secure. Every time Noah and Tess said something that indicated that they thought they’d never leave the ranch, Ellen felt guilty all over again.

“The boys and I can clean up,” Matt offered.

“It won’t take but a few minutes. You’d better hurry and see to the animals. Tess was nodding over her berries. She’ll be upset if she falls asleep without telling you good night.”

She welcomed the silence, the tasks that kept at least part of her mind from focusing on the future. She had worked so hard for this adoption, looked forward to it with such desperate hope. It wasn’t fair that she should now feel so terrible.

Like Toby, she felt she was on the outside looking in. Not until today did she realize how much she wanted to stay at the ranch, too. But as much as she’d come to like Matt, to respect him, to depend on his judgment, she couldn’t give up her freedom. She’d been dependent on other people her whole life, and they’d taken advantage of her. She didn’t think Matt would, but—

“We’re ready,” Noah said, sticking his head in the kitchen. “I washed especially good.”

“Be there in a minute. I just have to dry this last bowl and put it away.”

“I’m going to hide from Matt,” Noah said. “Don’t tell him I’m in the wardrobe. Tess is hiding, too, but she just put the pillow over her head. That’s stupid. He’ll know where she is.”

But Matt would search all over that room, wondering aloud where Tess could be hiding, looking behind chairs, curtains, anything until she was so excited she’d take the pillow off her head and jump up and down, delighted she’d fooled him. Then he’d do the same thing with Noah, even though he knew the only hiding places in the room were under the bed or in the wardrobe. He always knew exactly what to do for the children.

But he didn’t know what to do for her. Or if he did, he didn’t want to do it.

That’s why she couldn’t stay at the ranch.

She walked out into the hall and nearly ran into Orin.

“You gonna check behind my ears?” he asked. He grinned up at her so broadly she felt like hugging him.