Lorraine Heath (10 page)

“Why the hell didn’t you rush up and claim her once you understood what they all thought?”

Their eyes clashed, black against brown, challenging, questioning, slowly easing into forgiving. Shaking his head, Charles grinned heartily. “The expression of horror on your face once
you
realized what they thought—” He laughed. “Oh, Jesse, if only you could have seen yourself. I’ll never forget the look on your face as long as I live.”

The words, a careless reminder, sobered Charles and took the anger from Jesse.

“It didn’t mean anything,” Jesse said. “What happened out there.”

“Means something,” Charles said as he turned around and helped Hannah step out of her coveralls. “Means my good habits are starting to rub off on you, and you’re not thinking things to death before you do them.”

Jesse expelled the breath he’d been holding. “I’ll help Aaron get ready.”

Walking out of the room, he wished to God he
had
thought it through before he’d kissed her.

Throwing open the wide double doors of the parlor, Jesse invited everyone inside. The majority of the people had known Charles for years and felt comfortable making themselves at home. Someone hauled in a large table, and the women spread an assortment of cakes and pies along its length.

The men helped themselves to the cabinet stocked with liquor. In between pouring themselves a drink, they tossed good-natured jibes Jesse’s way. Easing his way across the room, he smiled and accepted the ribbing that was his due. When he reached the barren fireplace, he perched his elbow on the mantel and had a clear view of the stairs.

Tromping down the stairs, Aaron smiled as his best friend, Billy Turner, broke free of the crowd and rushed toward him. The towheaded boy grabbed Aaron’s arm and whispered in his ear. Aaron’s face lit up like an autumn bonfire. In unison, the boys raced toward the door. Jesse forcefully cleared his throat, and a heavy silence descended over the room. Aaron and Billy froze.

“You need to wait until your pa and Miss Maddie come down before you run off,” Jesse said.

“Ah, Uncle Jesse, Billy says he’s got puppies in his wagon. Do we hafta wait?”

Jesse gave a curt nod. Aaron trudged over and leaned against one of the doors. Billy took his place beside him. Both boys glared at the man who was punishing them for no apparent reason. People who had turned into human statues released their breaths and once again filled the room with laughter and conversation.

Jesse smiled as the girls worked their way to the bottom of the stairs where the women smothered them with attention. Then he lifted his gaze to the top of the stairs and felt as though someone had delivered a good solid blow to the center of his chest.

It was difficult to believe the woman gracefully descending the stairs with her arm linked through Charles’s was the same one who’d been wallowing in the mud all afternoon. She’d swept up her hair and left a few strands loose to frame her face. The sleek dress hugged her slim waist and narrow hips. The emerald green silk enhanced her amber eyes, accentuated her sun-kissed cheeks, and brought out the highlights in her honeyed hair.

Compared to the other women, dressed in their homespun and calico, she was a rose blossoming among dandelions.

In spite of the people crowded within the room, Maddie knew exactly where Jesse stood as she walked down the stairs, her fingers clutching Charles’s arm. She hoped to disguise her awareness of him by glancing around the room, but when her gaze completed half its journey, it fell on him. His dark features were more prominent against the stark white of his pressed shirt, and she felt as though he’d reached out and touched her. Her step faltered, and her pretended indifference made a mockery of her true feelings. Charles steadied her. Gratefully, she smiled at him and hoped he’d blame her clumsiness on her nervousness at meeting his friends and not on the unfamiliar emotions flittering through her heart.

Walking beside him into the parlor, she was surrounded by faces that had weathered the harsher aspects of life, people who knew the joys to be found in the simplest of things because often it was all they had. Their faces were not the type into which she was accustomed to looking. Their roughness was limited to the outer surface and did not extend inward to their hearts. She didn’t know how to react to these people who were so eager to welcome her into their midst.

Knowing she’d remember few names, she smiled hesitantly as introductions were made. As she strolled through the room, she was acutely aware of Jesse’s gaze following her, almost like a caress.

Her smile became genuine when she recognized the woman who’d served them at the restaurant. Jean Lambourne ushered them to the table laden with food.

“Now, before we start to eating and celebrating, we have a small gift for you.” She reached behind a chair and set a large box wrapped in brown paper on the table. A triumphant smile graced her features as she stood with her fingers intertwined across her stomach.

Leaning down, Charles whispered in Maddie’s ear, “Open it.”

She glanced at him. “You should open it. They’re your friends.”

“But they want to be yours. Besides, I think it’s customary for the bride to open the wedding gift.”

She gave him a tremulous smile. The only time she’d ever been in a room with this many people had been the night she’d stepped into Bev’s parlor.

With trembling fingers, she pulled the string holding the paper around the box. The paper fell away. She lifted the lid on the box and touched a block of cotton scraps in various shades of blue pieced together into a log cabin design.

“We give all the new brides a quilt when they get married,” Jean said. “That one was supposed to go to Mary, but she ain’t getting married for two more months so we decided to give it to you. We’ll just make her another one. Course, we all thought this was going to you and Jesse, which is why men shouldn’t take on the women’s job of gossiping.” She gave Angus McGuire a hard look. “But truth be told, we’re all right fond of Charles here. Glad to see him take a wife.”

Maddie wanted to die when the sob escaped her throat. Charles put his arms around her. “They’re just trying to make you feel welcome,” he assured her.

She shook her head. “They don’t understand,” she whispered. “They think our marriage—”

“Is a happy occasion.”

She could hear the murmurs and wished she was anywhere but where she was. “I don’t deserve their gift, Charles. Please tell them—”

Jesse cleared his throat. Her eyes swimming with tears, Maddie jerked her head up and glared at him.

From across the room, he held her gaze, and she felt as though he was standing right beside her. He gave her a warm smile and lifted his glass. “I’d like to make a toast. To my brother, Charles, and the woman who can make him happy.”

He touched the glass to his lips amid approval and applause, and Maddie realized she’d been given a gift more precious than the quilt. And she couldn’t accept one without accepting the other.

Charles handed her a glass. Smiling shyly, she sipped the fruit flavored drink. He sipped from the same glass before inviting people to help themselves to the food spread before them. Then he turned slightly and lifted his glass in a silent salute to Jesse. Jesse returned the gesture and downed the liquid remaining in his glass.

Aaron charged across the room, Billy close on his heels. “Uncle Jesse, can we go now?”

Jesse gazed at the expectant faces. “Yeah, but don’t get any notion you can keep one of those dogs.” He watched the boys run off before turning his attention back to the newly wedded couple.

The girls worked their way free of the admiring ladies. Charles hefted Hannah into his arms. Maddie lifted Taylor and settled her on her hip.

Slipping his free arm around Maddie, Charles escorted her through the room, stopping occasionally to exchange pleasantries with one person or another.

Standing by his side, almost a silent shadow, Maddie was amazed at the ease with which he carried on conversations with different people, discussing crops with one man, a new foal with another. She had never known a man such as Charles, with a gift for putting people at ease, an ability to offer friendship unconditionally. As she came to understand the deep affection the townspeople held for her husband, she reaffirmed her vow to make certain he never regretted the night he’d asked her to marry him.

Excusing himself, Charles walked to the liquor cabinet where an elderly, stoop-shouldered man captured his attention and prolonged his stay.

With Charles no longer at her side, Maddie felt the loneliness weave around her even though she was surrounded by people. Taylor squirmed. She set the child on the floor and watched her walk to the table, where an elderly woman promptly filled a plate for her. Maddie made her way over to the doorway. She had often dreamed of a life that included other people, had somehow expected it to ease the loneliness with which she’d grown up. Glancing across the room, she saw Charles laugh. Then she slipped away into the night.

Maddie had come outside seeking a few moments of solitude. Instead, she’d discovered shadows from her past lurking behind the barn. Rushing across the backyard in a vain attempt to outrun her conscience, she came up short at the sight of Jesse sitting on the porch steps.

“What are you doing out here?” she asked, her tone clipped, her breathing labored.

“Needed some fresh air. Too many people inside. What are you doing out here?”

Forcing her fists to unclench, her body to relax, she took a deep breath, then spoke with a calmness she didn’t feel. “Same thing.”

“You’re not used to being around many people, are you?”

She glanced quickly around the yard, then up at the blackened sky. “No.”

Stretching out his long legs, he leaned back and propped his elbows up on the porch. “Neither am I.”

She looked at his sprawled body, the length of which had been pressed against hers earlier. She felt the alarm she’d experienced behind the barn dissipate in his commanding presence and wondered at his ability to allay her old fears while stirring to life her new ones. She intertwined her fingers and pressed her sweating palms together. “I would have thought you’d spent a great deal of time around people.”

He shook his head. “For too long, the only company I had was a campfire burning brightly into the night.” He shrugged. “Or something like that.”

The moon was but a gleaming sliver in the sky, yet it cast enough light that within the shadows of his face, she could see the barest of smiles. Remembering their conversation in the restaurant when she’d described her life in similar terms, she eyed him warily. “Are you making fun of me?”

“No.” He drew himself into a sitting position, planting his elbows on his thighs and dangling his hands between his knees. “Why don’t you sit down?”

She glanced longingly at the steps. She wanted to prolong her time outside, but wasn’t certain she wanted to prolong her time in his company. The crickets chirped with a resonant cadence. A bullfrog croaked in the distance, and she was reminded of Jesse’s warning sound. “Why do you clear your throat when the children misbehave?”

“Because I tend to look a lot meaner than I am when I yell. If I clear my throat, will it make you sit down?”

She forced back her smile. “I’m not certain it’s a good idea for me to sit out here with you.”

He waved his hand over the porch. “Plenty of room. We won’t even be touching.”

The crickets fell into silence as she walked over and sat on the porch. Taking a deep breath, she listened as the creatures became comfortable again and resumed their nightly sounds. She wished she could adjust as easily when things around her changed.

She heard the warmth of laughter and glanced over her shoulder. “I can hear Charles laughing.”

“Yeah, he’s been laughing a lot more since he brought you home.”

She slipped her hands between her knees and pressed them together. “You don’t laugh very much. Your laughter at the creek this afternoon surprised me.”

“Yeah. Surprised me, too.”

They sat in companionable silence for long moments, the scent of honeysuckle wafting through the air. She peered over at him. “Did you explain to Charles—”

“Yes.”

“Do you think he understood?”

“Seemed to.”

Thoughtfully, she nodded, wondering if she should ask him to explain it to her so she’d understand why he’d even wanted to kiss her—as a practical joke or otherwise. The woman she’d seen standing before the cheval mirror as she prepared to take her bath had mud caked on almost every exposed surface of her body. Strands of her hair were sticking out like the prickles on a cactus. Her clothes were soiled, her feet bare. She certainly understood why Charles hadn’t charged forward to claim her. But why Jesse had taken her in his arms to begin with baffled her. There had been nothing attractive or appealing about the woman standing on the back porch. As for the reason why she hadn’t shoved him away and the feelings that had surfaced during the kiss, it was best not to contemplate those. She had made her choice in Fort Worth. If she could not have fulfillment as a woman married to Charles, she would at least find fulfillment as a mother and a dutiful wife.

Shifting onto one hip, Jesse rested back on an elbow. “Was your father English?”

His voice, though low, startled her from her reverie. His question was safer than the ones she’d been asking herself. She offered him a small smile. “And my mother. She was the firstborn daughter of a duke. My father was the seventh son of an earl.”

He said nothing, simply watched her.

“Do you know what that means?” she asked.

“That if your mother had been a guest here, she would have wanted to sleep in the Princess room?”

She laughed, and Jesse wished he understood the secret that caused her laughter to flow.

“It means she wasn’t supposed to marry him.”

“Why not?”

“Because he had no title, and she was destined to be a duchess.”

“But she did marry him.”

She brought her feet to the top step and wrapped her arms around her knees. “She loved him that much. They ran away, got married, and left England. Then he brought her to Texas. She believed his promises, accepted his dreams.” Gazing out, she rested her chin on her knees and sighed wistfully. “In spite of everything, she never stopped loving him.”

“What was
everything?”
he asked, his voice blending in with the sounds of the night.

She lifted a shoulder. “Loneliness. Disappointment. My father’s occupation kept him away a great deal of the time. Mother was always happiest when he was home telling her how we’d live once things worked out for him. He had such grand plans. Mother taught me all the things a lady should know so I’d be comfortable in our new life when it arrived. Father would hold me on his lap and tell me some day I’d marry a fine man.”

“And you did.”

Smiling, Maddie glanced over at Jesse. “And I did. I’ve never known anyone like Charles. He has a good heart.”

“He’s definitely one of your better people.”

Reaching out, she touched the bruise on his jaw. “He didn’t strike me as the kind of man who would hit another.”