The Haunting of Autumn Lake (21 page)

“Ooo, Mama,” Autumn began, “do you really think there’ll be any evidence of the Specter at the cowboy’s grave?”

“Do you mean like bones sticking out of the ground and such?” Vaden asked.

“Oh, for cryin’ in the bucket, woman!” Ransom grumbled. “You’re gonna give yourself nightmares for a month if you’re not careful.”

Autumn smiled as she felt Gentry’s hand clasp hers underneath the table. It was something he’d taken to doing—holding her hand, pushing at her foot with his, or even letting his hand rest on her knee when they were sitting down to a meal with her family—and Autumn adored it! Maybe they didn’t have too much time for sparking these days—not until the pumpkins were in and harvesting was over, anyway. But just his touch—his simple touch—gave Autumn all the reassurance in the world.

“You ready, Gentry?” Ransom asked with a sigh.

“Yes, sir,” Gentry answered, standing up from his chair.

“Well, you girls have fun on your little ghost-huntin’ adventure,” Ransom said. He kissed Vaden long and hard on the mouth before taking his hat from the nearby hat rack and heading out the kitchen door.

“Oh, for pity’s sake, Gentry James!” Vaden scolded, smacking Gentry on the seat of his pants with her wooden spoon. “We know you and Autumn spend half your free time sparking out at the old bridge…so go on and kiss her good-bye. Don’t pay me any mind at all.”

Autumn blushed, but Gentry grinned like a freshly carved jack-o’-lantern, only with dimples. “Are you givin’ me your permission to kiss your daughter in front of her mother and anybody else who might be watchin’?”

“That I am, you silly cowboy,” Vaden laughed.

“Well,” Gentry began, reaching out to pull Autumn from her chair and into his arms, holding her against him, “who am I to argue with your mama, punkin?”

All at once, Autumn nearly forgot her mother was still in the room—that her daddy had only just walked out the kitchen door—for Gentry’s kiss was consuming her then. Warm, moist, and powerfully driven, it didn’t matter that it only lasted a few moments. The effect of Gentry’s mouth to hers would leave her trembling and weak-kneed for long after he’d headed for the pumpkin field.

“Well done, Gentry!” Vaden exclaimed once Gentry had released Autumn and plopped his hat on his head. “I really do approve.” Lowering her voice and leaning toward him then, she added, “And that’s sayin’ something, you know.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Gentry chuckled as he winked to Autumn and left the kitchen as well.

“Mmmm mmmm!” Vaden mumbled once the kitchen door had closed behind Gentry. “Looks like he’s a good kisser, honey,” she said to Autumn. “I approve of him all the more for that.”

Autumn giggled, “Mama…you’re so scandalous!”

“I am not,” Vaden argued. “I’m just honest. And as soon as we get a few batches of caramel and candied apples finished up for the fair tomorrow, we’re taking a walk out to that old graveyard. I just have to see if there’s anything amiss with that grave.”

Autumn nodded. “I’ve been wantin’ to go out there since all this began this year…especially since I’ve seen the Specter myself. There just has to be somethin’ to it, doesn’t there?”

“Absolutely,” Vaden agreed. “And it all starts out at that grave.”

Autumn grinned and, lowering her voice, said, “You know, Mama…even though I might not sleep for the rest of my life—even though it might scare the waddin’ out of me and turn my hair white—I wouldn’t mind seein’ a bone or somethin’ stickin’ up out of that ol’ cowboy’s grave.”

“Me neither,” Vaden admitted in a whisper. “I hope it wouldn’t be a whole hand or anything though. Maybe a foot or a knee…but a whole hand really would give me nightmares for a month.”

Autumn and her mother both giggled, delighted with the anticipation of adventure.

“Then let’s get to those apples, Mama,” Autumn suggested. “I want to see that grave!”

❦

“What’s holdin’ you off, son?” Ransom asked as he helped Gentry heft a pumpkin nearly the size of Jethro into the wagon.

“What do you mean?” Gentry asked—though he well suspected what Ransom meant.

Ransom chuckled, leaning back against the wagon for a moment. “Gentry, when I decided I was good enough for Vaden—well, in truth, I still haven’t decided that. She decided for me, I guess. But when I decided to risk my heart and try to be the man she deserved, well, waitin’ around any longer to have her all to myself just wasn’t gonna do. So I need to know…are you just stringin’ Autumn along? Or are you wantin’ to—”

“I ain’t stringin’ her along,” Gentry interrupted. He was miffed. No—he was angry. How could Ransom think he was the kind of man to string a girl along? How could he think, for one moment, that Gentry James was the kind of man that would get a father’s permission to court a girl, spend every free moment he could sparking with her, and not have serious intentions toward her?

“Oh, now…now don’t go gettin’ your pride involved,” Ransom chuckled. His eyes narrowed as he studied Gentry for a moment and added, “Though I think it’s too late for that. Am I right?”

Gentry inhaled a deep breath, pulling off his glove and his shirt to try and cool himself off. “Yes, sir,” he answered humbly at last.

“I figured as much,” Ransom mumbled.

“I don’t have anything, Ransom,” Gentry said. “I own my horse, my saddle rig, and I’ve got enough money to live on for maybe a couple of years. That’s it. I don’t own any land, no house…and all I’ve ever done is cowboy. I know everything there is to know about cattle, but when it comes to anything else…” He shook his head. “Hell! All I know about farmin’ is what I’ve seen you do from the harvestin’ end. What girl would want that for a husband?” He looked up to Ransom, adding, “And what father would want that for his daughter?”

“Well, forgive me, but I disagree,” Ransom said. “There’s two reasons I have what I have, Gentry. The first reason is because my family was slaughtered by outlaws on the move from Georgia out this way. I knew where the money box was hid with all my daddy’s money and his property deeds in it. That’s the first reason.”

Gentry frowned—horrified at the loss Ransom Lake had just revealed to him. Sure, it had been hard and lonesome being raised an orphan, but it hadn’t been tragic.

“And the second reason I have what I have is because the most beautiful woman God put on this earth
ever
managed to convince me she loved me.” He shook his head, smiling. “Somehow she still manages to convince me of it,” he mumbled. “And that’s why I want to say somethin’, and I want you to hear me out. I don’t want your temper flarin’ up or nothin’ like that, all right?”

“I can try,” Gentry chuckled. “It all depends on what you’re plannin’ to say…’cause if you’re gonna suggest that I marry your daughter and then live with her daddy and mama—”

“Nope. Nope,” Ransom interrupted, shaking his head. “That wouldn’t do at all…not for you and Autumn…and not for me and Vaden,” he added with a wink. “So swaller that pride of yours a little longer, and hear me out.”

“Ransom, I can’t take any more charity from you,” Gentry said. “I can’t. My manly pride may be a weakness, but—”

“I haven’t ever given you charity, Gentry,” Ransom rather growled. “Without your help, I could never have finished up gettin’ that apple crop in. And you’ve seen what a job it is with these pumpkins. So I don’t wanna hear that again.”

Gentry nodded. “Go on then, sir. I’ll hear ya out. I owe you that.”

Ransom nodded and said, “All right then. Now…I got this old house about a mile and half away from here. It hasn’t been lived in for over thirty years. There’s an orchard over on that property—not as big as mine here, mind you, but a nice size. And though it needs some lookin’ after, it still produces well enough. The house needs work. Vaden and I have fixed it up here and there, but it’s needin’ a bit of elbow grease all the same.” Ransom shrugged. “I offered the place to Cole when he got married, but he had plans of his own…and I’m glad. Sawyer was the same. And even my youngest boy, Price…he’s a thinker, not a farmer. Which leads me to you, Gentry James.”

But Gentry shook his head. “I said no charity, Ransom,” he began.

“Well, sellin’ it to you wouldn’t be charity, now would it?” Ransom asked. “It’s a good piece of land, with a good orchard and a fine house on it. I’ll sell it you, Gentry. I’ll sell you that house, orchard, and the property it’s on…for a fair price.”

Gentry chuckled, however. “And just how am supposed to pay you, Ransom? It ain’t like I got a pocketful of diamonds or somethin’.”

“I know, I know,” Ransom said. “I figure with the price I have in mind, it’ll take you about six years of farmin’ and apple harvests to pay me…and still have enough to live on otherwise. This ain’t charity, Gentry. Before you showed up, I was seriously considerin’ sellin’ that piece of property to Jasper Wyatt in town. He’d asked me about it, but I just couldn’t let it go to Jasper for some reason. It just didn’t seem right…so I held onto it. I wanted someone good on that property. It belonged to my aunt and uncle who were killed with the rest of my family, and part of me just didn’t want to let it go…unless it was to family. Do you understand?”

Gentry studied Ransom for a long, long time. He could see the man was sincere. Ransom Lake was a good man—a great man. The fact was Gentry had never come across another man like him.

“You’d sell me that property just so I could marry Autumn?” Gentry asked.

Ransom grinned. “Fact is, I had already decided to offer it to you before I ever sent you out to fetch Autumn home that day in the rain. You’re a good man, Gentry James. A rare men among men. You’ll take that land and that orchard, and you’ll do what you have to do to prosper by it. I know that for certain. And as far as Autumn is concerned…I ain’t gonna lie to you. Havin’ my baby girl livin’ so close to home would be a blessing to me…and to her mother. It’s hard for us to have our boys so far away, even though that’s what we raised them to be…their own men.”

Ransom chuckled then, winked at Gentry, and quietly said, “But you can still marry Autumn and keep her sheltered, warm, and protected with nothing but a slicker and your body for a time if you want to.”

Gentry laughed. He realized then that Ransom Lake wasn’t just the father of the woman he loved, nor was he just a great man with a desire to help others. Ransom Lake was Gentry’s friend. In fact, he’d never had a friend he felt so akin to.

“Then do I have your permission to ask Autumn to marry me, sir?” he asked.

“The sooner the better, Gentry James,” Ransom said, slapping Gentry on the shoulder. “Do we have a deal then?” he asked, offering a hand to Gentry.

Gentry struck hands with Ransom. “All those years I spent hoppin’ over the orphanage wall snitchin’ apples off ol’ man Boyd’s trees…I never figured it was because I’d end up an apple farmer.” Ransom chuckled, and Gentry added, “Though I can say the idea gives me a feelin’ of hope and lookin’ forward to workin’ through life that I never have had before.”

“It’s a good life, son,” Ransom assured him. “And you know how Autumn loves apples. It’ll probably be a dream come true for her…knowin’ she’ll always have apples just outside the front door the way she always did.”

“Of course, I think you best come clean to Autumn about that other thing, though,” Ransom added, returning his attention to the pile of pumpkins near the wagon.

“What other thing?” Gentry asked, perplexed. Then, as realization struck him, he said, “Oh…that other thing.”

“Mmm hmmm,” Ransom mumbled.

“Yeah…I guess I better iron that out if I expect her to say yes when I ask her to be my wife and sleep under that slicker tied to a tree…ain’t that right?”

“That’s right.”

Gentry nodded. His mind, which had been so hopeful, elated, and joyous a moment before, was a bit tainted with worry now. Ransom was right. He’d better come clean about that other thing before proposing marriage to Autumn Lake.

❦

“I’m sure glad you came with us, Aunt Myra,” Autumn said as she, her mother, and her Aunt Myra walked rather slowly toward the old graveyard just outside of town. “There’s always comfort in numbers.”

“Safety too,” Myra added.

The breeze was cool and crisp, and Autumn was glad she’d brought a shawl. The sun was already sitting low in the west, and she rather wished she and her mother had been able to finish up their apples a little earlier in the day. But the Lakes’ caramel and candied apple table at the county fair was one of the most popular every year, not to mention being quite lucrative. Therefore, it had been a priority to get as many apples finished as possible. But being productive had left Autumn, her mother, and her Aunt Myra heading out to the old graveyard at a less desirable time of day.