The Texan's Reward (40 page)

smiled back like a boy does when he knows it’s not long before he’l be a man and understand such things.”

Jacob frowned, having no idea what the nurse was talking about. Maybe he’d yet to smile that smile. He looked

at Harrison, but the bookkeeper showed no sign of understanding either.

“He knows he’s not to leave the attic?” Jacob asked.

“He knows,” Nel answered, but she didn’t look up at him.

Nel gripped the seat as Jacob lifted her onto the wagon.

“An hour later,” Mrs. O’Daniel continued as she climbed into the other side of the bench and wrapped Nel in a

blanket, “Hank ate every last bit of his breakfast.”

Jacob glanced up at Nel and smiled, but she wasn’t looking in his direction. “Are you al right?” He couldn’t

stand her ignoring him much longer.

“I’m fine,” she answered too quickly. “Marla said to tell you she’ll leave the back door open if you want to go up

the back stairs to the attic and check on Hank some night. That way you won’t have to wake anyone in the

house.”

Jacob nodded, hearing every word she didn’t say. He wasn’t invited to visit her room.

He wanted to touch her hand when he said good-bye, but Nel had already pul ed it beneath the covers.

“We’d better hurry back before she gets cold.” Mrs. O’Daniel waved at him.

“See you tomorrow,” Harrison said as he took the reins.

A few minutes later, Jacob was alone again. He rode back to his camp by the dugout and wished he were a

hundred miles away in the middle of a range war.

After dark, he fed most of his supper to the dog and leaned back to watch the stars. He wondered if Nel was

sitting by her window looking at the same sky and thinking of him.

Around midnight, he heard someone singing. Fred heard it, too, for the dog’s ears shot up, and he growled.

Jacob reached for his rifle and moved beyond the fire’s light. He listened as the voice grew nearer. Gospel songs,

he thought and put the rifle back in its place beside the saddle.

A few minutes later, Brother Aaron showed up in his old buggy. He climbed down and handed Jacob a half-

empty bottle of whiskey. “I thought I’d report in.” He tried to salute. “And, since I was coming, I brought some of

the devil’s milk with me in case you were sleeping out in the cold. I hate the stuff myself, but I did test it to see

that it was of some worth.”

“Thanks.” Jacob was too lonely to scold the man. “Join me by the fire.”

They talked about the dog for a while, and Brother Aaron introduced himself to Fred as if the animal would

answer back. The old man sat on one of the stools from the house and told Jacob al about what he’d learned in

town.

“It seems that Walter Farrow got real friendly with the head of the posse, a man named Kelly. Everyone thought

the sheriff in Fort Worth had sent them out, but turns out they were hired by the railroad.”

Jacob wasn’t surprised. He’d heard of that happening plenty of times. What surprised him was how fast the men

must have hit the trail. They must have been loading their horses into railroad cars and leaving for the scene of

the robbery within an hour after the news reached Fort Worth.

“One of Parker’s deputies told me they weren’t nothing but a bunch of hired guns. He said he heard one say

he’d take any job as long as there was money involved.” Brother Aaron coughed and asked if he might have a

swallow from the bottle for medicinal purposes.

It must have worked, because he didn’t cough again, and he kept the bottle.

Jacob enjoyed the company. When the reverend wasn’t preaching, he could tel stories with the best of them.

He also had a knack of summing up a man with only a few words. Jacob admired that about him.

“I don’t trust that Farrow,” he said after a short silence. “If he’s such a high and mighty lawyer back in Dallas,

why is he living in that tiny little house everyone said Stockard used to own in town? Some folks claim Stockard

lost it in a poker game one night to an old drinking buddy who let him keep staying there. If that was true, the

man died before filing the debt with the county. Since the house wasn’t in Stockard’s will but was still in his

name, the sheriff says he guesses it goes to next of kin.”

Jacob found the news interesting. Apparently, Farrow planned to settle down in town.

The preacher wandered off to have a talk with nature. When he returned, he held out a coin. “I saw this

sparkling in the moonlight over by the well.”

Jacob turned the coin over in his fingers and rubbed some of the dirt off. “It’s a twenty dollar gold piece.”

Brother Aaron moved closer. “You think it’s part of that old buffalo hunter’s stash that disappeared several years

back?”

Jacob shook his head. Everyone in the state had heard the tale of Zeb Whitaker and his saddlebags of gold. He

believed until the day he died that three young women robbed him of the treasure, and he almost kil ed them

and Nell trying to get one of them to admit it. “I think more than likely, it fell out of old Stockard’s pocket when

he was too drunk to notice. Just because Whitaker and Stockard were friends doesn’t mean the gold is around

here. If it were, don’t you think Stockard would have bettered himself with the money and not died begging

food off Fat Alice?”

“Maybe. Maybe not. Who died first, Stockard or Whitaker?”

“Stockard’s been dead a couple of years at least, I don’t remember. But Whitaker died right after Nell was hurt

last summer.”

Brother Aaron scratched his beard. “Maybe Stockard was too afraid to touch Whitaker’s gold. Maybe he thought

his friend would get out of prison and come after him.”

Jacob shook his head. “Whitaker couldn’t have put the gold here. He died not knowing where it was.”

The preacher laughed. “Maybe only Stockard knew.”

Jacob shrugged. “Maybe so. Someone had to have picked up the saddlebags the night Whitaker was knocked

out. But, if it had been Stockard, the money had never done him any good.”

The preacher looked over at the wel . “You think Nel would mind if I rode back out here in the morning and took

a look in that well?”

Jacob shook his head. “Right now I have no idea what she’s thinking. You’l have to ask her.”

Brother Aaron climbed in his buggy. “Until tomorrow,” he yelled as he pulled away.

JACOB MADE UP HIS MIND THE NEXT MORNING THAT he would have to talk to Nel , and he needed to do it

alone.

When the preacher hadn’t shown up by noon, he began to worry. What if something had happened to the old

man on the way back home? Or what if there was trouble at Nel ’s? Several things could have happened. She

could have fal en again. Hank might have been discovered. Walter Farrow could have even gone nuts and

showed up at the ranch with a gun. Jacob already figured the man to be about four hundred pounds of crazy. He

didn’t seem the type of man who understood the word no.

Jacob rode to the river and waited. He told himself he’d done so in case they came early, but he knew that he

simply could not stay put any longer.

He walked the banks of the river and found a place where the water circled around lazily in a small cove. There,

the river looked as clear as glass and probably measured about five feet deep.

When Nel and Harrison pul ed up, Marla was with them and not the nurse.

“What’s wrong?” Jacob asked even before the bookkeeper touched ground.

Harrison frowned. “It seems Brother Aaron had another wrestle with the devil in the dark last night. He claims

the devil shoved him off the porch, but it looks like he may have simply fal en. We found him out cold in the

flower bed this morning.”

“Is he all right?”

Harrison nodded. “The preacher swears the devil stole a coin out of his pocket. He also says his leg is messed up,

but he won’t let Mrs. O’Daniel look at it. Plans to wait until Nell’s doctor comes in from Cedar Point tomorrow.

They were arguing when we left.”

“So no swim?”

Harrison looked uneasy. “Nel insisted on coming. She said she’d go in with you holding onto her, if you’re

willing. If you don’t feel comfortable, Marla says she’ll try, but she’s as afraid of the water as I am.”

Jacob looked back at Nell, still in the buggy. “You agree to this, Two Bits? You’ll let me take you in?”

She nodded.

“And Mrs. O’Daniel, she’ll turn over her duties?”

“We agreed it would be best for her to stay with Brother Aaron.”

“It doesn’t make sense, but if you’re wil ing, I’m here to help.” He stripped down to the bottom of his long johns.

He hadn’t worn an undershirt because the morning was so warm, and he’d thought about taking a swim while

Nell and Mrs. O’Daniel were in the water. Now, with Marla’s cheeks reddening, he wished he’d worn more. He

thought of wading in with his clothes on, but he didn’t look forward to having to ride back to the Stockard place

dripping wet.

He’d also forgotten how ugly the knife wound on his back must look. He was thankful when Nell asked for

Marla’s help and he could put some distance between the shy cook and his bare skin.

Harrison helped Nel out of the buggy, and Jacob carried her to the water. He stood waist deep before he let her

legs into the water. “Just tell me what you want me to do,” he said near her ear.

She laughed at the cold, then her feet touched bottom. She could stand when she didn’t have to bear al her

weight.

Jacob let her hold on to him for support, but he kept his hands close in case she missed a step. They half walked,

half floated into deeper water.

He glanced back at the shore and noticed Marla and Harrison had climbed up an incline and looked to be

spreading a picnic out on the blanket between them. He was too far away to hear what they were saying, but

once, he heard Marla’s laughter on the wind.

Nel circled around him, lightly keeping her balance with her hands touching his shoulders. Her touch was as

easy and relaxed as it always had been.

He didn’t know how to talk to her. Jacob couldn’t bring himself to go back to two nights ago when he’d rol ed

atop her and hurt her. He could hardly look at her without wanting her so badly he feared his heart might stop in

mid-beat. But touching her and talking about it were two different things.

“Why’d you agree to this?” he finally asked, guessing she felt as awkward as he did about coming face-to-face

again after what had happened between them.

“I wanted to be alone with you.” Her fingers brushed along his shoulder as she moved as Mrs. O’Daniel had

taught her. “We can’t go the rest of our lives without talking to one another.”

He smiled. “I know.” The girl . . . the woman . . . he knew was back. The girl that could never keep anything from

him. The woman who liked to reason out problems as she talked to him, even when the problem this time

seemed to be him. “I never meant to hurt you.” He said the words before he thought.

She looked up at him then, her eyes wide and sad. “I know, Jacob. Don’t you know that I would never think

you’d hurt me on purpose?”

He felt one of the weights that had been around his heart disappear. At least she didn’t blame him; that was

something.

She leaned back and floated. “I love the water,” she smiled into the sun. “Can we forget everything for a while

and just enjoy being together?”

“All right,” he said letting the gentle current relax him as well.

After a while he was afraid she might be getting too much sun, so he slowly backed up until they moved into the

cove he’d discovered earlier. The sun blinked between leaves, making the water sparkle, and she drifted across

it, gliding with only his slight touch between her shoulder blades.

They’d been silent for several minutes, and Jacob knew he might never have a chance to talk to her alone again.

“Nell, I’ve been thinking.” He tried to keep his voice easy as if they were just talking. “Harrison told me you said

you wanted a marriage in name only. I didn’t know that was part of your plan, but if that’s what you want, I’d

have no objection.”

She stopped swimming. “But don’t you want a wife, a real wife?”

“Well, yeah, but if you want to marry, I still think I’m the best man. We could just see one another like we do

now. There wouldn’t have to be anything physical between us.” He had to make the lie convincing. If he planned

to protect her for the rest of her life, he’d have to make her believe that he could be happy with never touching

her again. For the rest of his life he’d have to be willing to look at her, knowing that he could never touch her . . .

not the way a man touches his woman.

“You mean you’d be satisfied with never making love to me?”

He took a deep breath. “My name would protect you.”

“But we wouldn’t sleep together.”

“I’d come running whenever you needed me, just like I always have.”

“But you wouldn’t hold me.”

He stared at her, hating the words he knew he had to voice. “I can never hurt you again like I did. I don’t think I

could take the blow.”

She met his stare. “You’d take other lovers?”

“No.” The resolution in his voice surprised even him. He knew without any doubt that if he couldn’t have her,

he’d spend his life alone.

She lowered her head. “I can’t.”

He held her gently with one arm. “You can’t what? Marry me?”

“I can’t be with you without touching you. I can’t. I think you’d try, maybe even be able to never hold me again,

but I’m not sure I could stay away from you.”

Jacob closed his eyes. He felt the same, but he was wil ing to try. He thought he was being the strong one, but