Not the Marrying Kind (28 page)

“Brooks, sir.” He hesitated. “From Kansas
City.”

Joshua froze. “Look at me, Benjamin.” When
the boy lifted his chin, Joshua studied him closely. He saw both
fear and defiance in those amber-colored eyes.

* * * *

“What are the chances?” Cody asked, not
looking up from the block of wood he held. His hands moved deftly
with the carving knife, whittling away at the pine.

Benjamin had left a short time before, and
now Joshua sat alone with his cousin, pondering all the boy had
told them. What were the chances, indeed?

“Damned good, I’d say.”

“Brooks.” Cody glanced up. “Common
name.”

“Yeah, but that boy’s the spitting image of
his father. I know now why Benjamin looked so familiar the first
time I laid eyes on him.”

Cody set the wood aside and scooted closer
to the table. He leaned forward on his elbows. “You reckon that
Brooks fellow has come all the way out here looking for you?”

“No reason for him to come after me.” Joshua
shook his head. “It’s Maddie Marlowe he wants. At least, that’s my
guess.”

“Somebody ought to warn her, don’t you
think?” Cody rubbed at his smooth-shaved jaw.

“Yeah, reckon so.”

But Joshua knew it wouldn’t be him. Warning
Maddie Marlowe would be too much like forgiveness, and she hadn’t
asked for that.

On Sunday morning the Phillips family filed
into the little church in Sunset. As so often happened now, all
eyes turned toward them. Heads bobbed, fingers pointed, and a low,
whispered murmur hummed through the congregation. Although both her
mother and father—and even Emily Sue and Benjamin—took it in
stride, the wagging tongues and accusing glances disturbed Kat
greatly. Rumors were still going around about her and about
Reverend Kendrick. Despite her intense dislike for the man, Kat
hated to see the townsfolk casting aspersions upon him. He’d done
nothing wrong. Being an annoying, irritating ass didn’t count in
the larger scheme of things.

On that particular morning, with Joshua and
his cousin in attendance, the whispers were even louder, or at
least, it seemed that way to Kat. Maybe it was only inside her own
head. For that matter, maybe the gossips weren’t even talking about
her. Maybe, like Kat, they’d turned their attention to the two
cleanly-shaven men who’d come down from their cabin in the
woods.

Kat tried her best to focus on Reverend
Kendrick’s message, as always, a message of love and goodness. He
spoke of Jesus raising the dead son of the widow from Nain, and Kat
dutifully repeated the written response from Psalms—

The Lord watches over the sojourners, and
upholds the widow and the orphan.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed
Benjamin stirring at the words and wondered what he was thinking.
She thought, too, of Joshua, a sojourner who’d come into the
territory only a few weeks before. Was God watching over him?

And what of Maddie Marlowe? Kat knew little
about the woman with the scarred face and quiet demeanor. Some
folks claimed she was a widow who’d lost her husband in the war,
but Maddie wore no ring and never mentioned losing a loved one.
Actually, Maddie Marlowe never said anything about herself and
whatever life she’d left behind when she came to Colorado.

When she glanced toward the woman, Kat’s
body tensed. Maddie sat in the same pew as Cody and Joshua. From
time to time, Cody leaned over and spoke a few words to the woman.
A few looks passed between Joshua and Maddie, as well, looks that
Kat couldn’t quite identify.

And then, there was Lucille McIntyre,
sitting two rows behind Joshua with her gaze boring into the back
of his head. Kat sighed. She’d hoped she might have a chance to
speak with Joshua that morning before teaching the children in her
class, but it wasn’t likely to happen.

Her mother tapped her on the forearm, and
Kat turned her attention back to the sermon, but her thoughts
remained fixed on Joshua Barron.

When the service ended at last and Kat
walked toward her class, heavy footsteps sounded behind her. At
first, she walked faster, thinking it must be Reverend Kendrick
wanting a word with her, but then, when Joshua called out her name,
she stopped at once.

“Joshua, it’s good to see you at church. And
your cousin, too.”

He grinned and rubbed his chin. “Do we pass
muster, Miss Kat?” He turned his head from side to side, showing
his jaw from different angles. “What do you think? Better?
Worse?”

“I think you look very nice.” Very nice,
indeed. She eyed him from top to toe, then brought her gaze upward
again to stop at the cloth bundle he held in his hands. “What’s
that?” she asked as he thrust it toward her. “More socks?”

He nodded. “You did such a fine job on those
first ones, Miss Kat, I was hoping you wouldn’t mind darning a
couple more pairs for me. I do intend to pay you. I don’t expect
you to do all this mending for nothing.” He glanced down at his
well-polished boots. “I guess it’s these big feet of mine. For some
reason, I seem to go through socks awful quick.”

“Well, you know what they say about men with
large feet.” She smiled and looked up, but just then Joshua began
to cough and choke. “Are you all right?” she asked. “Can I get you
something?”

Joshua sucked in a deep breath, held it,
then peered down at her from his six-foot-two height. “Just what do
they say, Miss Kat?” He seemed barely able to get out the words.
“About a man with big feet?”

The way he looked at her made her face heat.
In fact, her whole body seemed to suddenly be on fire.

“You know,” she replied, unable to look at
him. “That they’re hard on socks.” Obviously she’d guessed wrong.
She had the distinct impression that whatever it was they said, it
wasn’t anything she should be thinking about in a place of worship.
“I’ll get these back to you as soon as possible.”

She turned away and, head down, set off for
her classroom, nearly colliding with Maddie Marlowe.

“Excuse me,” she said.

Maddie nodded. “Don’t worry about it.”

Kat walked on. Behind her, Maddie called out
to Joshua, telling him she’d like a word with him.

What was that all about? Kat resisted the
urge to look over her shoulder. Clutching the bag of socks close to
her chest, she kept her eyes straight ahead and walked on.

* * * *

Joshua heard the woman calling his name but
he had nothing to say to her. He walked away without a word. She
followed.

“Mr. Barron, please.”

On second thought, maybe he did have a few
things on his mind, none of which would be appropriate to discuss
then and there. He stopped and nodded in her direction. “Let’s step
outside,” he suggested, taking her arm and leading her toward the
door.

Once outside, he looked around for Cody, but
his cousin must have already headed back to the cabin. He wasn’t
much for crowds.

“Reverend Kendrick knows about the time you
spent in prison, Mr. Barron.” Maddie Marlowe tugged at a lock of
dull brown hair, pulling it toward her face to hide the ugly burn
marks along her jaw. “I don’t know how he found out, but I want you
to know I wasn’t the one who told him.”

“The hell you weren’t. You’ve lied before,
you’re lying now, and I’m sure you’ll tell more than a few more
lies before you’re laid to rest. It’s your nature, Maddie.”

She shook her head. “Once, maybe. Not now. I
told you, I’ve changed.”

“I have a hard time believing that.”

“Did he talk to you about it? Did he ask you
for the particulars?”

Joshua looked down at the woman. “He
mentioned it, but he didn’t seem too interested in the details.” He
hadn’t bothered to set the man straight, either. Let Kendrick
believe what he wanted. It made no difference.

“He found out about me, as well,” Maddie
said in a quiet voice. “He knows where I came from, what I did, how
I earned my keep.”

“Don’t mince words, Maddie. He knows you
were a whore. That’s what you’re saying, right?”

She looked up at him, anguish written in
every line and scar and burn on her once-pretty face. “Were you the
one who told him? Why would you do it, Mr. Barron? I trusted
you.”

“Yeah, well, we all have to pay for our
sins.” He tipped his hat and took a few steps, then paused to look
back. “For what it’s worth, no, I didn’t say a word to Kendrick
about you, but I don’t expect you to believe that, and frankly, I
don’t give a damn what you think.”

Maybe somebody should warn her…about
Brooks
.

His cousin’s words rang in his ears. Yeah,
right. Maybe somebody should warn Maddie, but it sure as hell
wouldn’t be him.

Moments later, he caught sight of Lucille
McIntyre smiling and waving. What the hell did she want? In no mood
for chit-chat or any other social niceties, he headed toward the
hitching post where he’d tethered his horse. He hardly knew the
dark-haired young woman. He’d seen her, of course, on his trips
into town for supplies. He knew, too, that Lucille and Kat were
friends, but at that moment he wasn’t feeling too friendly.

He threw his leg over Bronco’s back and
headed toward the cabin. Coming west hadn’t worked out quite like
he’d planned. He’d thought he could leave the lies, the
back-stabbing, and the nightmares of the past far behind. It seemed
as though all of it had followed him right there into the quiet
beauty of Colorado.

* * * *

Kat sat with her hands folded neatly in her
lap as her father drove the family home from church. He was being
uncommonly quiet, she noticed, unsure whether that was a good thing
or something she should worry about.

Mama wasn’t saying much either. That
definitely was a cause for concern. Even Emily Sue seemed more
subdued than usual, and Benjamin, who rode alongside them on one of
the pinto ponies, looked grim-faced and tight-lipped.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

Her father kept his eyes on the road. “We’ll
talk later.”

Kat glanced toward her sister. If anyone
would let something slip, it would be Emily Sue. But she just
shrugged and looked away.

When they reached home, Kat’s mother drew
her aside as the others went into the house. “Your father’s quite
upset,” she warned. “He heard a few things this morning.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s just more
gossip. More lies.” Kat thought back to all the tongue-wagging that
morning.

“Maybe so, but your father is tired of
hearing it. He’s made a few decisions, honey. First, of course, he
doesn’t want you talking to Mr. Barron for any reason.” She took
Kat’s hand in hers. “He’s afraid the man might be a bad influence
on you.”

Kat thought about the bundle of mending he’d
given her earlier. She’d quickly passed it on to Lucille as soon as
Joshua was out of sight. Thank goodness Mama knew nothing about
it.

“I don’t think—”

“There’s more,” her mother continued, not
giving Kat a chance to express any objections. “He spoke to
Reverend Kendrick today. He’s given him your hand. You’ll wed him
in September.”

“Mama, no! I won’t! I can’t!” Kat grabbed at
her mother’s arms as the woman turned to walk away. “You’ve got to
do something, please.”

“There’s nothing I can do, honey. Your
father’s mind is made up, and he’s not going to change it. You’re
going to marry Reverend Kendrick, and that’s that.” She heaved
another sigh, shook her head, and walked slowly toward the house,
leaving Kat standing alone.

That’s that?

If either her mother or her father thought
it was as simple as
that’s that
, they had a lot to learn
about their daughter. No way in hell would she willingly walk down
that aisle. She would not meekly accept her fate simply because her
father decreed it.

She saw it as war, a war for her
independence. For now, she’d let her parents think they’d won this
battle. Meanwhile, she’d plot her strategy.

Her father didn’t want her spending time
with Joshua Barron? Kat laughed and put a bright smile on her face
as she headed toward the house. She knew precisely what her first
objective would be.

* * * *

Kat was up before dawn the next morning.
Slipping away from the house, she threw a saddle on Sadie’s back,
then mounted and rode toward the foothills.

Her place. Her refuge. Her salvation.

She sat on the smooth, sun-kissed rocks,
soaking up the warmth of the June morning. Her life would soon
change. It seemed only fitting that she should come there to the
hills to mark this momentous occasion.

Or maybe she came there to draw courage for
what she was about to do. Finally, knowing the time had come, she
came down from the hill again, swung up on her horse’s broad back
and headed toward the cabin across the creek.

As the horse waded through the shallow
water, Kat thought again of Robb and his untimely death as she
always did when she crossed this stretch of water. No point asking
why it had happened. She’d never find any answer that satisfied
her. So much of life was like that. So many questions, so few
answers. All anyone could really do was just keep going.

Crossing the creek that morning was like
crossing some line of demarcation, a point at which there could be
no turning back. She knew what she must do, and when she saw Joshua
standing outside the cabin, bare-chested as he washed in the
rainwater from a cistern, excitement swelled within her. She
brought Sadie to a halt in a nearby grove of trees and for several
moments she sat quietly, content to enjoy the view. Joshua’s taut
muscles rippled in the morning light. Droplets of water formed
rivulets that coursed down his chest. She watched in fascination,
imagining her fingers tracing those same lines. Her tongue felt
swollen, her throat went dry.