Beautiful Bad Man (30 page)

Ethan’s touch on her arm stopped her babbling except for a final, indignant. “Well, we can’t!”

Van Cleve’s color had risen higher with each statement. “They’re lying, all of them. They’re a bunch of lying, dirty sodbusters. What about Preston and his men? You do your duty, Ludlow. Shoot the woman if you have to, but drag that killer down here, throw him across a horse, and take him to town.” Saliva droplets spit from his mouth with each word.

The sheriff put an arm around Van Cleve’s shoulders. The smaller man shrugged him off. “Mr. Van Cleve, let’s step outside a minute and talk. Then you can wait outside and me and my deputies will deal with these people.”

“I don’t want to talk, I.... Oh, all right.” Van Cleve stomped outside, rigid with fury. The sheriff followed, banging the door behind as they left.

“Excuse me, everyone,” Norah murmured, stepping across to the door, easing it open, and slipping through.

Ludlow and Van Cleve had stopped at the bottom of the porch steps, their backs to her. Another few stealthy steps, and she was close enough to hear Ludlow.

“Of course I believe you, but you know as well as I do those same people in there lying for him now or others just like them are the kind that will be on any jury in the county.”

“If taking him to town will kill him, that’s all you have to do. No trial, no jury, no lying witnesses. I hope he bleeds to death in the first mile.”

“Mr. Van Cleve, these farmers have got their backs up. They’ve been all about defending their land, but Sutton’s got them riled up and primed for a fight. Some of them will alibi him for Preston too, and even if we put him in a wagon all careful, if the trip to town kills him, they’ll be after me. I’m willing to do most anything you want, but not risk being on trial for murder with people like that on the jury.”

“You’re a damned coward.”

Ludlow made no answer, and the two stood there in silence until one of the deputies caught the sheriff’s eye and gestured toward Norah. Ludlow turned, saw her, and swore. Van Cleve glanced back, said nothing, and strode toward his horse.

Norah went back inside, kissed Ben on the cheek, said, “Thank you, everyone,” and went back upstairs to help Early keep watch.

T
HE FEVER ROSE
in Caleb that night. Norah followed Granny’s instructions and fought it for three exhausting days. Archie, Ben, and his brothers helped by bringing cold water from the creek, lifting and turning Caleb. Mabel spelled her, brought meals, and bullied Norah into eating some of them. Only Early shared the entire vigil.

When the fever broke, and Norah thought resting in a bedside chair would be safe, Mabel had other ideas. “When he wakes up, do you want him seeing you the way you are? He’s cleaner than you are right now and smells better. I’ve got water for a bath heating on the stove, and the tub in the kitchen. Archie and the boys know to stay out of the house until supper. You get down there and clean yourself up.”

With a firm grip on Norah’s arm and a hand in her back, Mabel pulled and pushed Norah out of the bedroom and shut the door. Norah looked down at herself in dismay. The apron over her blue dress would never be white again. The dress needed demotion to the shabby-old category. She had packed the green dress, but the box with her things was still in the room.

Before she mustered proper indignation and shoved back inside, the door opened. “And take this miserable creature with you.”

Mabel shoved Early out the same way she had Norah and called out over the sound of the closing door. “I set out your clean clothes downstairs and ran an iron over the dress.”

Norah conceded and led the way downstairs. Pushing Early outside much the same way Mabel had evicted him from the bedroom, Norah ignored his soulful look. “If I have to clean up, you have to do something other than sit and whine. Go see Archie and the boys.” She didn’t wait to see if the dog took her advice.

Not until she had scrubbed from head to toe and dressed in clean clothes, did Norah completely appreciate and understand Mabel’s purpose. Cleanliness brought with it a lightness she had lost sometime even before Caleb had reacted so badly to news of a baby.

Optimism buoyed her. He’d beaten the fever. The wound exuded blood-tinged fluid, but not so much, and no signs of purulence had developed.

Early huddled by the door. “You and I are going to go for a walk and get fresh air,” she said, not even embarrassed to be talking to a dog. As if he understood, Early followed her on a short walk to admire Mabel’s garden.

“Thank you,” Norah said to Mabel when she returned to the room. “You were right as usual.”

Mabel examined her with approval. “You look like a new woman. Why don’t you lie down in my room until supper. I’ll keep watch.”

That was too much. “No. I can nap in the chair. Really I can. It’s quite restful, and I need.... If it were Archie you wouldn’t leave. I’m sorry we’re still here, taking over your house.”

“We hardly see you. You’re no trouble. I’ll bring supper.”

Norah leaned back in the chair, shaking her head a little. No matter Mabel’s reassuring words, exhaustion had changed her face from handsome to heavy these last days and made the gray that usually blended into her blonde hair stand out.

Caleb wouldn’t be clean and smelling better than Norah had smelled earlier except for help from the whole Carbury family, and every one of them was paying a price in extra work, lost sleep, and worry.

Someday she and Caleb would find a way to repay such friendship. Someday.... She dozed off and woke to a room dim with fading light.

“Norah.”

His voice was a hoarse whisper. Not needing the sound of his name to wake him, Early already stood with his chin on the mattress, tail waving joyfully. Norah scrambled to join him, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed, pulling Caleb’s hand to her lap, reaching to caress one bristly cheek.

He turned on his side before she could stop him, grunting with pain.

“You’re not supposed to move like that,” she said. “It might start the bleeding again.”

“How long has it been?”

“Almost a week.”

“I won’t bleed, and I need....”

She helped him with what he needed and pressed water and broth on him until he rebelled, making her put the cup down and sit back down beside him, holding both her hands.

“You look pretty. I like your hair down like that.”

“I washed it and left it down to dry.”

“I can smell the soap. You smell good.”

Bless you, Mabel.

“I’m not leaving,” he said. “Not without you.”

He’d come all too close to leaving not just her but the world. She didn’t remind him. “You can’t leave me. I’ll follow you.”

He closed his eyes, his hands relaxed around hers. “I love you,” she whispered. He didn’t react, his breathing deep and even.
Asleep
, she told herself.
He’s not unconscious, just asleep
.

Caleb woke twice more in the night, saying a few words each time, sounding stronger and more like himself. As bright sunshine illuminated the room the next morning, he sounded as good as healed.

“What is this room? Does Archie run a brothel on the side?”

For the first time Norah really looked at Becky’s room, with its white-washed walls, frilly pink curtains, ruffles and bows pinned on, hanging from, and adorning every surface in some way.

When she stopped laughing, she said, “Don’t you dare say anything like that in front of anyone else. We’re in Becky’s bedroom, and we are not making life easier for any of the Carburys.”

“Then let’s go home.” He hesitated a second. “Van Cleve’s probably razed everything to the ground by now. I didn’t kill him.”

“I know. He was here with the sheriff to arrest you.”

“What stopped them?”

She told him.

“Archie lied?”

“No, Ben lied. Everyone else said something true that sounded as if they agreed with what Ben said, but no one else lied. It was enough to scare the sheriff.”

He closed his eyes, fatigue showing in the lines of his face. “Let’s go home.”

She wanted to remind him about the bounty, beg him to leave and go somewhere safe. The time for that would be later. Until he was stronger, they couldn’t leave. Part of her wanted to go home too, another part knew they were safer right here.

C
ALEB’S STRENGTH RETURNED
steadily, which was a good thing because he needed it. The Carburys took it on themselves to keep Caleb company whenever they could. Archie helped him shave. Ben and his brothers brought the room alive with their chatter.

Norah sat beside Caleb the next morning, worrying over how prominent his collar bone and ribs had become and the fatigue lines etched in his face in spite of the long days abed.

Exhaustion dogged her too, as much from tiptoeing around someone else’s house feeling like a burden as from lack of sleep, although a full night’s sleep in a bed with Caleb right there beside her would be heaven.

As if he heard her thoughts, he said, “You can stop worrying about me painting the walls with blood if you’re not here to stop it, you know. At least the dog’s got enough sense to curl up on that rug. Go find a quiet place and get some decent sleep. Sitting in a chair all the time can’t be good for that thing inside you.”

She drew breath to snap his head half off for saying the dog was smarter than she was. After that she’d decide whether to shriek at him for referring to their baby as a “thing inside” or never speak to him again.

Recognizing the provocative glint in his eye, she let the breath back out. Stuck in bed, weak as a kitten, tiptoeing was proving too much for him too.

Instead of snapping, she smiled sweetly. “I think it’s a good sign that you’re already starting to worry about the thing inside me. You’ve still got months to get used to the idea, and you’re going to be a very good father.”

“I’m not going to be any kind of a fa.... I’m not doing it. I can’t do it, and you know it. You’re going to have to do it all yourself.”

Squirming around like that probably wasn’t good for him. It reminded her of his reaction when she’d first mentioned marriage.

“Caleb, when we got married, what kind of husband did you think you’d be?”

“Rotten. I knew I’d make you miserable.”

“I’m not miserable. Except for the trouble Van Cleve’s caused, I’m happy. You’re a very good husband.”

At least that stopped the wriggling around. “I can’t be. You only just promoted me from evil to very bad.”

“You’re a very bad man, but you’re a good husband.”

“That doesn’t make sense. It’s not possible.” He paused and eyed her thoughtfully. “You said ‘very good husband’ the first time.”

“Did I? I’ll have to think about that some more. We’ll be fine. You’ll see. We’ll be fine.”

He shook his head, but not as if disagreeing. “Ah, Norah. I like that dress on you, you know.”

“You’d like it better if I hadn’t been wearing it for days. The blue one will never be the same.”

“We’ll get you a new blue one. Two. Three even.”

“I’d like that. For right now, I’ll take a nap on a real bed if you will.”

He reached for her and gave a gentle pull. “This bed’s too narrow, but I’m game if you are.”

Twisting free, laughing, she said, “Not with so many people in this house who walk through the door without knocking. Granny’s coming tomorrow. If she thinks you’re ready, we’ll go home.”

“We don’t need anybody to tell us a few miles in a wagon won’t kill me, but seeing what’s left of the place might. Why should he settle for running cattle through the crops when he can burn them?”

Caleb didn’t need to tell her how that sight would affect him. “It doesn’t matter because we’re leaving. Please. Even if they can’t arrest you, there’s still the bounty.”

He eased down flat on his belly. “If that’s what you want, we’ll go as soon as I can. I’m the one who messed up and didn’t kill him.”

The bitterness of his words bothered her, but surely he’d get over it. Leaving was the only sensible thing now. It wasn’t the same as running. It wasn’t.

She kissed him and went to ask Mabel if there was a spare bed she could use to keep her promise of taking a nap.

N
ORAH WOKE THAT
afternoon refreshed. Sleeping in a chair for more than a week made any bed a luxury. Archie and Mabel’s quiet corner room must be their haven from the rest of the family.

Without a frill or bow in sight and with a quilt on the bed featuring blues and tans on a cream background, the room was a peaceful place. Caleb would like this room. Maybe someday they’d have something like it for their own.

A soft knock sounded at the door, and Mabel stuck her head in. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” she said, carrying a pitcher of water to the washstand and laying the blue dress and clean underclothing across the bed. “It’s not as good as new, but I did the best I could with it. Here’s one of my aprons. It will hide the worst stains.”

Tiptoeing or not, Norah felt a flood of affection for her friend, who had recovered to her old self in the last few days.

“I don’t know what we’d have done without you, Mabel. All of you. And we have no way to repay....”

Mabel made a face. “Don’t speak of it. I wouldn’t wish that man of yours on anyone, and I’ve been hating him for giving Archie hope, but the other day? It felt
good
to look Van Cleve in the eye and deny him what he wanted. Did you see Granny’s expression when she heard about the fire in Van Cleve’s fancy house?”

“Caleb didn’t set the fire. The wife dropped a lamp.”

“It doesn’t matter. Don’t you see? He’s taking the fight to them, and even if he can’t win.... Just seeing Van Cleve standing in my parlor spitting mad because we stopped him from doing what he wanted felt
good.
Don’t you ever worry about repaying anything. We’d be happy to do it for you because you’re a friend, and for him because he’s — whatever he is. But the reason I came to see if you were awake is that the Suttons are here. Archie’s keeping Jason and Eli company in the parlor. They want to see Cal, and Archie thought I should make sure you’re agreeable.”