The Texas Ranger's Secret (14 page)

Gage settled the reins and got out just as she exhaled a long, deep breath. She sat in the backseat, quiet and unmoving now as the pair of rascals pressed against her, one under each shoulder and both sound asleep. The half bucket of water and rags she’d used to mop and soothe their faces still sat between her long legs, dampening her skirt.

“We made it,” she whispered. “Before nightfall. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Gage reached for Ollie. “I’ll take this one in and come back for the boy in a few minutes. You just sit there and rest. You’ve got to be tired from trying to keep them clean.”

“I’m okay.” Her eyes met his for a moment and held. “They needed me. I couldn’t do much but offer a rag and some sympathy.”

“It helped. I sure couldn’t have done any better and was glad you asked me to take the reins.” When Gage nestled Ollie against his shoulder, she curled herself into him and snuggled.

He would have never dreamed a feisty handful such as Ollie could feel so delicate and small, her breath brushing against his neck in warm tiny puffs of air. Something inside him softened inexplicably, crumbling a hard edge he’d erected long ago.

“Be right back,” he told Willow, surprised by his reaction and not sure why he had given it any thought, much less let it bother him. Holding a sleeping child was a wonder.

Gage took quick strides to the house. At the door, he managed to knock softly so he wouldn’t wake Ollie and hoped that the cook or Willow’s sister were already aware that the buggy had arrived.

Where were Shepard Hutton and his men? One of them should have already been helping Willow with Thad or, in the least, putting away the team and buggy. Maybe they’d show up before he returned to get Thaddeus.

The door opened and Snow stepped back to let him in. Her eyes focused immediately on Ollie and she rushed up to examine her. “What’s wrong? Is she all right? Is she—?”

“Shh,” Gage whispered. “Lead me to her room.”

Snow stepped back and looked past Gage.

“Don’t worry. The boy’s okay. They’ve just got bellyaches. I’ll tell you all about it once we’ve got them to bed. Now, please, point the direction.”

Her long white braid of hair flipped against her back as she turned and moved upstairs to lead the way. Gage followed, taking the stairs two at a time. Snow opened a door to the right of the second-story landing and he found a sparsely furnished but comfortable-looking room, where he placed Ollie on the bed.

Her aunt quickly took over. Like a wolf making sure each pack member had returned for the day, Gage waited a second to see this little one was in good care before setting out for the boy.

Snow’s palm pressed against both of Ollie’s cheeks and felt the little girl’s forehead before she moved over to the armoire and pulled out fresh clothing. Glancing up at Gage, she whispered, “Go on. I’ll put her in some clean nightclothes. Shut the door behind you and tell my sister to bring Thad up immediately.”

Gage obeyed as if she’d given an order, but her tone was soft. Her eyes, on the other hand, spoke volumes of disapproval he suspected would reach Willow before the night ended. He’d have to make certain Snow understood that Willow was innocent of any wrongdoing in the ice-cream incident.

He passed the cook as he headed out the door. “The kids are sick,” he explained. “Too much ice cream.”

Myrtle wiped her hands on her apron and nodded as she followed him and held the door open for Willow, who approached the porch with Thaddeus in her arms. “This isn’t the first bellyache those two have come home with, I assure you. You’d think they’d learn their lesson by now.”

“It wasn’t their fault. It was mine,” Willow apologized. “I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted.”

Gage took the boy from her arms and headed into the house ahead of her. “I’ll carry him up if one of you will turn down his covers and find him some clean clothes. Snow’s doing the same for Ollie.”

Willow started to head upstairs but she quickly turned. “Maybe you better go ahead of me, Myrtle. I think I know which room is his, but I have no clue what he’d want to wear or where to find it. I j-just haven’t had that much time to get to know him yet. Either of them.”

She’d taken all the blame when it had been only a third hers. The hesitancy in her voice regarding knowing her nephew well enough stirred sympathy within Gage. He hardened his feelings most of the time to people’s persuasions, accustomed to rough customers who tried to take advantage of his sense of justice. But something about Willow won him over easily and he didn’t like being that easy to sway. It felt unnatural. As if his whole system were some kind of river that wanted to change course where she was concerned.

“No problem.” Myrtle led them upstairs to Thad’s room and quickly pulled out a pair of knickers made of fleece. She pointed for Gage to lay him down on the bed. “He hates to wear a nightshirt of any kind, so his ma sews these for him. Spoiled little brat already, even though he’s only been in the family for a short while.”

Though her words were harsh, the cook brushed the boy’s hair back from his brow, her expression soft with affection.

No sooner than Myrtle started changing Thaddeus’s soiled clothing did Snow show up at his door, clearing her throat.

Gage turned the same time as Willow and they collided. She stiffened immediately as he reached out to make sure she didn’t fall, but he couldn’t tell if her reaction was to him or the fact that her sister stood wagging her forefinger at them to move out into the hallway.

He took note that Willow gently closed the door behind her, leaving Myrtle to finish putting the boy to bed.

Gage could sense Willow tensing as she faced her sister again, her shoulders squaring off, her chin lifting.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Care to tell me why these two are so sick?” Snow’s arms folded into each other as her feet braced apart, making her look as though she were a general demanding answers from his soldiers.

“I’ll be glad to, but for the sake of not waking them, let’s move downstairs.”

It surprised Gage that Willow sounded so calm and in control as she swept past her older sister. He didn’t have to be an almost blind man to see that Snow intimidated Willow to no end.

He followed both ladies and offered to take care of the buggy.

“No.” Snow waved him to a chair in front of the settee in the parlor. “I’d like to hear your version of what she’s about to tell me.”

“It’ll be the same as hers,” he said, looking Snow McMurtry squarely in the eyes and not accepting the seat she offered.

She blinked before he did, showing that she hadn’t expected him to defy her or defend Willow so blatantly. Snow, apparently, was a woman accustomed to having her way. Maybe part of Willow’s reason for wanting to learn more was so she could operate more confidently alongside her sister. He’d have to help her any way he could with that. As much as Willow would allow him to.

“Would you prefer I stay, Willow, or put the buggy away?” he asked again. “Doesn’t look like any of your men are around to put away the team. I don’t mind doing it for you.”

“They’ll be back later. We gave them the rest of the day off,” Snow informed him. “I’m surprised you didn’t see any of them in town. I would have guessed you had found them at the saloon.”

“We didn’t go there,” Willow said. “Just the diner and the livery. Another place or two.”

Gage wondered if she’d deliberately not mentioned the mercantile or just didn’t think it was important enough to add to her list of where she’d been. He could have spoken up and told them neither Shepard Hutton nor any of their other hired hands had chosen to spend their time off in the saloon. They were nowhere in sight when he’d checked to see if the thief was there.

Where did men spend their free time other than a saloon in these parts? Holed up playing poker, maybe? They could have done that without going to town. Paying court to some of the eligible belles or widows in the area? Seemed most of them had been over at the diner frowning at Willow.

He needed to check out this group of wranglers a little closer and see how they chose to acquaint themselves with the rest of the community. Maybe after the lesson with Willow in the morning, he could take a better look around and see what he could find out about the wranglers.

Not that it was any of his business, but Gage’s gut instinct said to walk on the safe side and make it his business. Just in case.

He peered out the front door and realized that twilight was throwing a blanket over the sun, setting the horizon afire in a final blaze of golden glory to keep the Texas prairie warm until dawn. “Better get that buggy put away. I’ll see you come morning, Willow.”

“You can stay the night,” she offered. “There’s plenty of room in the barn, if you don’t want to go back tonight. I’m sure we’ve got plenty of supper cooked, if you’re hungry, and you should be. You didn’t eat much this morning at the reception and nothing while we were in town.”

“We have the food left over from the wedding. No problem,” Snow reminded him.

Gage shook his head and pinched the lapel of his new frock coat. “Gotta get out of these and into my usuals. Not the kind of thing to be wearing if we’re going roping in the morning. Everything I own is back in town.”

“So you two are roping tomorrow?” Snow studied her sister. “Did you plan on taking the kids with you?”

Willow started to speak up, but Gage interrupted her. “I was hoping maybe you’d let them sleep in awhile, Miss McMurtry. Particularly since they are so sick tonight. We’ll be finished by eight or nine at the latest. Then she can resume helping care for the children. That way, I don’t upset anybody’s schedule.”

Snow mulled it for a moment and nodded. “That sounds fair enough, and making those two stay in bed for a few hours longer would give me and Myrtle a chance to get some other things done we need to do around here. You can plan on it, Will.”

That was the first time he recalled Snow saying her sister’s name with any hint of affection.

Willow certainly didn’t look as if she were happy about how she’d been addressed. In fact, her cheeks turned a shade darker than her hair and her eyes shone as if someone had lit a fire in them.

“I didn’t know I had to get permission.” Willow’s voice came calmer than her features appeared. “I already told Gage I would meet him. If you need me to take the children with us, we will.”

Snow frowned and held a palm up as if trying to hold back the argument. “No need to get testy about it. There’s no reason we can’t swap watching the children every other day so each of us has time for ourself. I was going to suggest that once we had a moment to really sit down and discuss it more. You’ll remember that neither of us have had any time to do that yet. May I ask why he’s teaching you to rope or whatever it is you’re planning?”

Gage wanted the real answer to that question, too.

“I’m trying to fit in and learn Texas ways I don’t know of or am unsure about, particularly if I decide to settle here in High Plains. I hired him to show me a few things I thought you or Daisy might not have time to teach me and, frankly, the differences in the way a man versus a woman might handle them. I’ve forgotten a lot of what Grandfather taught us over the years, and I wanted to really know how much of his life was real or made up. Is that so wrong?”

It seemed there was an emotional reason involved. Gage sensed something deeper had compelled her actions. She was trying to hold on to the idea that her grandfather was nothing less than who she’d made him out to be.

Living up to her hero’s imagined perfection might explain her fierce desire to do things better.

“He always had you fooled.” Snow finally sat down. “You thought he could do no wrong. Grandfather was a great storyteller, sis. We all loved his tales. But nobody’s life is as perfect or adventuresome as he made it out to be. There’s no measuring up to that. He lived and spoke his truth the way he saw it. The best he could. Can’t you see? That’s all any of us can do.”

Was Snow right in telling Willow that? Gage wondered if he was guilty of doing the exact same thing. Was he pretending that nothing was amiss by hiding his fading eyesight from others so that he could remain a Ranger for as long as possible?

Was there another way to go about living his own truth even when he could not see it anymore?

Had God, who he thought had forsaken him when Hodge pitched the lye into his face, sent him here to High Plains not only to find the man he tracked but to hear these sensible words tonight?

For the first time in six months, he thought he saw an answer glimmering in the darkness he feared would become his future. Maybe God still walked beside him even when Gage hadn’t taken the time to talk to Him.

With tomorrow’s dawn, he would try walking out of the shadows of wishful speculation and challenge himself to find another path of worth for himself.

God would help him find the right way; all he had to do was listen.

Chapter Ten

T
he crow of a rooster jarred Willow awake. She was late!

Throwing back the covers, she glanced out the bedroom window as her bare toes reached for the hardwood floor. Dawn poured through the curtains.

As fast as she could, she grabbed the first thing in the armoire that made any sense to wear for an outing throwing loops. Fastening herself into a brown riding skirt and butternut-colored blouse, she decided there was no time to be choosy this morning. Might as well be comfortable.

One glance in the oval mirror attached to the armoire put her in an even worse panic. Her hair looked as if she had wallowed against her pillow like a dog trying to itch himself free of a flea. She did what she could to straighten out the tangles before brushing the strawberry-colored mass away from her face and gathering it at the back of her head with a saffron-colored ribbon. The only style she could manage was letting her hair hang freely like the undocked tail of a pony.

A quick search yielded her kid leather boots scooted far beneath the four-poster bed. Good thing she was long armed enough to reach them without having to take time to find the broom and sweep them out from under. That was one advantage to inheriting her mother’s extraordinary height and slender bone structure.