Rose (32 page)

“And you’d make just as good a father,” Rose said, forgetting her potato for the moment. “They’d love being your children.”

“I’ll think about what you said, all but the last part,” George said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “I’m very glad I married you. I wish Ma could have had some of your strength. It would have been better for all of us. She failed us all, even Pa.” He turned Rose around until she faced him. Neither one of them were conscious of the potato or the knife. “That’s part of why I love you. You’re strong enough for both of us. You won’t let me give in. You fight for what you think is right. Don’t ever change. I depend on you.”

“I won’t if you promise to believe in yourself only half as much as everybody else does.”

George kissed her upturned lips. “I promise to try. Now I’d better go check on the boys and make sure they haven’t killed each other.”

Rose would have liked some more positive proof of his happiness, but she was enormously relieved to have finally made some progress. She dipped her now-dry potato in the water and started peeling once more.

“Don’t forget to set a fire under the wash pot before you go. I’m fixing a turkey for Monty. It’s nice to know I don’t have to cook another one for at least two months. I’m sure the turkeys will appreciate the break, too.”

Rose felt she had hardly laid her head on the pillow before it was time to get up again. The boys wanted to leave on the drive before dawn. Tyler had talked them into letting him cook. She
didn’t know why since they all hated his cooking, but the boy seemed to feel he was a natural-born cook, and he was impervious to opinions to the contrary.

She packed enough food to last three days.

The day passed quietly. George and Salty were building a shed for the bull. They probably could have gotten their work done twice as fast without Zac underfoot, but there was no way he would stay in the house with Rose when he could be with his brother.

She sat under the shade of the oak next to the well, rocking and drinking some persimmon tea. She watched Zac helping George with everything he did, slowing him down, but never exhausting his patience. George answered all Zac’s questions, making the boy feel like an equal part in what they were doing.

Without warning, she envisioned George performing the same tasks with his son,
their
son, and her eyes filled with tears. She had to find a way to convince him to have children. And not just because the thought of remaining childless made her infinitely sad.

Because of George. There would be a great hole in his life without them. He didn’t know it yet. How could he with his brothers acting like a houseful of babies? But they’d be gone in ten or fifteen years. Then he’d realize what he’d missed.

George had been almost dancing with excitement all evening. Okay, George never danced with excitement. He probably never would. He was too down-to-earth for that, but he was obviously excited about something. She could see it in his eyes. If she had had any doubts, they were erased when he gave Zac permission to sleep out with Salty.

“I don’t want Salty to get so comfortable that somebody could sneak up on him,” he explained to Rose. “With Zac about, it’s doubtful he’ll get any sleep at all.”

With everyone gone, including the dogs, Salty slept away from the house to prevent a surprise attack.

George and Rose retired to their bedroom to get ready for bed. George’s excitement continued to grow even though he made no attempt to make love to her. She hoped he wasn’t coming down with a fever. She only had a few days left while it would be safe to make love, and she wanted to spend every night in George’s arms.

She put on one of the nightgowns she’d bought in Austin, the one with the yellow ribbon, and sat brushing her hair until it glistened, its rich mahogany hues highlighted by pure ebony. In the dim light her hair looked especially dark and rich. She was glad.

She wanted to look her best for George.

“You through with that mirror?” George asked, a trace of impatience in his voice. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think we were getting ready to go to a ball.”

“I’ve never gone to a ball.”

She was sorry after she’d said it. It upset George.

“But I’m sure I’ll go to hundreds when you’re the richest cattleman in Texas.”

“You deserve to have some fun,” George said. He knelt next to her chair until she could look straight into his eyes. “You shouldn’t be stuck out here working from dawn to dusk, your beauty fading away with no one to appreciate it.”

Rose leaned over and kissed George’s upturned lips. “I hope my looks aren’t fading quite that fast. I don’t want to turn into a hag before I’m twenty-one.” She put her finger on George’s lips when he tried to interrupt. “But I don’t care as long as you’re with me. I’m not sure I’d like going to a ball. I’d hate to embarrass you.”

“You couldn’t embarrass me.”

“I would like to go to New Orleans, however. Zac has piqued my curiosity.”

George looked more serious than ever.

“I don’t know why you married me. I can’t give you any of the things you deserve.”

“I don’t know either,” she said, hoping to lighten his mood.
“I deserve a big house in New Orleans with servants and wrought-iron balconies, balls every night, jewels and gowns, and rank upon rank of adoring lovers.” She sighed in mock distress. “You can’t imagine how disappointed I am that your cows are only going to make you moderately rich.”

“I’m serious,” George said, a smile cracking his face.

“So am I. I don’t give a damn, if I may borrow a phrase from Monty, about balls and jewels and servants as long as you love me.”

“Then I don’t suppose you’ll want this.”

She didn’t know what he was talking about until she glanced down at his open hand. Nestled in the deep cup of his palm was a ring set with a golden stone.

She gasped.

“Where did you get this?”

“I found it hanging on a mesquite bush.”

“Don’t be absurd. It’s just that it looks exactly like the…”

“…like the ring you saw in McGrath and Hayden’s window.”

Rose nodded.

“That’s because it’s the same ring. I had Jeff buy it on his way back from King’s ranch.”

“But it was so expensive.”

“That doesn’t matter—”

“I know it’s depressingly unromantic and ungrateful of me, but it
does
matter. You wouldn’t spend the family’s money. How did you pay for it?”

George looked uncomfortable. She hated to ruin his fun, but she had to know.

“Tell me. Please.”

“I sold my sword.”

Rose was stunned. To a man who had fought in the war, no memento was as cherished as his side arms. Her father would have died before he parted with his.

But George had sold his sword to give her a wedding ring.

She felt like crying from pure happiness. The silly man,
didn’t he realize this meant he loved her at least as much as his family? Didn’t he realize she would save and scrimp, for the rest of her life if necessary, to buy his sword back for him?

George took her hand in his and slipped the ring on her finger. It was all she could do to keep from throwing herself in his arms and dripping tears all over him. She couldn’t even see the ring for her swimming eyes. She could barely make out his dear, precious features.

For once she could look at him without thinking of how handsome, or how strong, or how big and safe he looked. He was a man,
her man
, who needed her and didn’t even know it. He was so strong and invincible and brave. But inside he was just as vulnerable as any child. He didn’t know that. Neither did anybody else. And she wasn’t about to tell them.

It was enough that she knew.

Yet her happiness was not without alloy.

She knew he gave her the ring because he loved her, because he wanted to give her something she had wanted very much. But she also knew he gave it to her out of guilt. He had denied her children. This was only a token payment.

She could see him making payments for the rest of his life, and she renewed her vow to change his mind. It was bad enough that he was afraid to let himself have something he really wanted. It was intolerable that he would feel guilty about it.

But that was for another time. Tonight she wanted to bask in his love, to let her soul spill over with happiness knowing he loved her enough to make such a sacrifice for her.

“It’s beautiful,” she told him, “but you know I didn’t expect a ring.”

“That’s part of the reason I wanted to give it to you,” George said. “You never expect anything, but you’ve given me so much more than I ever thought possible. It’s about the only thing I can do for you.”

Rose drew him to her, nestling his head between her breasts.

“I don’t know what I have to do to convince you I’m happy just as I am.”

“I’ve made you live in a dog trot, forced you to cook and clean for half a dozen men, do without female companionship, give up any hope of having a family. There wouldn’t be a long line forming at the marriage bureau if every other woman was to get the same.”

“They would if you were thrown into the bargain,” Rose assured him. “You couldn’t get rid of me no matter how hard you tried.”

“I still don’t understand that,” George said, his mouth nuzzling her breast through the thin material.

“I hope you don’t expect me to explain it with you scrambling my wits like you are.”

“I can do a much better job than this,” George said, hunger and amusement cavorting in his eyes.

“I hope so,” Rose said, her voice growing a little unsteady. “I’m counting on it.”

For the next half hour Rose forgot all the questions plaguing her, all the arguments she needed to marshal to change George’s mind, even the significance of his sacrifice for her ring. She was only conscious of what he was doing to her body. She yielded happily to his every suggestion.

It was so hot they couldn’t sleep. They got up and took chairs out to the yard. The moon flooded the landscape with light, but the night was virtually soundless. Even the crickets down by the creek had fallen silent. Everything seemed to be saving its energy for the coming day. The breeze rustled the brittle leaves in the trees along the creek and in the endless brush. Rose could imagine a wolf or panther stalking its prey somewhere in the night and was thankful for George’s presence.

It was hard to believe that after spending her whole life in a town she could feel safe out here, miles from anyone, unknown dangers lurking in the vast distance. Even the threat of Indians didn’t bother her.

Not as long as George was here.

She didn’t know what other women might think of him. She had grown up without girlfriends and had exchanged no confidences. Still, she imagined that many a young woman, attracted by his looks and the aura of command about him, would be disappointed to find him so quiet and thoughtful, so content to stay at home.

Rose found it reassuring.

She remembered the ache whenever her father had left, his happiness whenever he was assigned to a new outpost, his restlessness during furloughs at home, her feeling of always being second-best.

She would never feel that way with George. There was no place he’d rather be than with her.

“I’ve been thinking,” George said. He was standing, looking back at the house. “We ought to add on. One room isn’t big enough for five boys.”

Especially if Madison returned. George didn’t say that, but she knew he thought it. He would never give up hope that his brother would come back.

“How much more room do you think you need?” Rose asked.

“You need a room of your own, one besides the bedroom or the kitchen. And we need someplace to eat that isn’t right next to the hearth.”

“This isn’t Virginia,” she said, laughing. “Texas ranch houses don’t have parlors and dining rooms.”

“We will, even if nobody else in Texas does.”

Rose smiled indulgently. “And what else do you want?”

“I don’t know. It’s hard to say how long the boys might be here. If some of them decide to live here with their families, well, it’s hard to say.”

It would depend on how many children they had. George wouldn’t say that because he knew it would hurt her, but Rose knew what he meant.

“They might prefer their own homes,” Rose said.

“We could build them on the ridge along the creek,” George said, pointing to a small rise that extended for several hundred yards.

“In that case, you won’t have to enlarge the house.”

“We’ll see.”

Rose’s body tensed, and she looked up quickly. There was something different about George’s tone of voice. Something different about his expression, too. He turned to the corrals.

“I think we ought to build a barn, too. The bull is too valuable to leave out as long as there are wolves and panthers about.”

Was he talking about barns because he wanted to or because he wanted to keep her from asking what he really meant about enlarging the house? It was on the tip of her tongue to ask when Zac came running up. He was so out of breath it was several seconds before he could utter a sound.

“The McClendons are coming,” he gasped at last. “They’ve already crossed the creek.”

“How far are they from the house?” George asked. He instinctively looked down the lane as though he expected to see them come riding up.

“I don’t know. We saw them at the oaks where Monty hunts turkeys. Salty was showing me what to do when we heard them,” Zac explained.

“At two o’clock in the morning?”

“I couldn’t sleep. Neither could Salty.”

“Not with you peppering him with questions, I’ll bet. Where is he now?”

“He’s watching them.”

“What are you going to do?” Rose asked.

“Try to talk them into leaving. Zac, you stay here and help Rose.”

“That’s not fair. I want—”

“This has nothing to do with fair,” George cut him off. “Rose needs your help.” You didn’t question George when he used that tone of voice, and Zac knew it.

George hurried to their bedroom. He took down a jacket and filled the pockets with shells. He also took down an extra rifle.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can, but don’t expect me before dawn.”

“You will be careful, won’t you?” Rose asked.

“Very careful. There’s a great deal I’m looking forward to, and I don’t mean to let the McClendons cause me to miss it.”

George decided to go on foot, but he soon regretted his decision. His boots weren’t made for walking, much less running. But he couldn’t afford the time to saddle a horse or the sound of its hooves.

He didn’t have to go very far. The McClendons were hardly a half mile from the house.

“Pssst!” Salty hissed from the midst of a thicket along the creek.

George darted into the shadows.

“How many are there?”

“Six. The old man’s leading. They’re coming slowly. They’ve even wrapped their horses’ hooves. They’re trying to get close enough to surprise us.”

“Good. I’ve got a surprise for them.”

“Something else you ought to know. Silas is with them.”

“Silas! But he left on the drive to Corpus Christi.”

“He must have sneaked off and come back.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I figured you might.”

“How would I know? I never talked with him more than in the ordinary way.”

“He must have a reason.”

“I know, and that worries me.”

“What do you mean to do?”

“Ask them what they’re doing here.”

“Wh—” Salty started to chuckle. “I’ll bet you didn’t learn that tactic in the army.”

“No, but this is one battle I don’t want to fight. This might be only a decoy. I’m hoping the main group isn’t coming up behind the house right now.”

“I don’t think so. They wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to muffle their approach if they were trying to divert your attention.”

“That’s what I’m betting. Let’s hope we’re both right. Now let’s head back toward the house. They’ve got to take this path through the brush. When they reach the bottleneck, we’ll stop them. You on one side, me on the other.”

By the time George and Salty had retreated the two hundred yards back toward the house, George was certain there was no other attacking force. It was just old McClendon, his four sons, and Silas. For some reason, nobody else from the clan was included. George and Salty took up their positions in the brush and waited. It wasn’t long before they were close enough for him to hear them talking.

“How do you plan on making him tell you where the gold’s hid?” the old man was asking Silas.

“You get your hands on that kid and his woman, and he’ll tell you anything.”

“I wouldn’t turn over no gold for no woman,” McClendon said, scoffing at such reasoning.

“Neither would I, but George Randolph isn’t like you or me. He thinks people are more important than gold.”

“Fool,” McClendon said.

“You sure there’s as much as you say?” one of the boys asked. “Don’t seem likely they coulda drug all that much from Virginia without nobody knowing.”

“There’s half a million, and they brought it with them. Where
do you think they got all the gold they’ve been flashing about Austin?”

“I’m heading for New Orleans the minute I get my share,” one of the boys said. “I mean to have me a whole room full of women. And I won’t let them put on nothing but them black stockings.”

“I want one of them fancy houses chock full o’ servants to do anything I want.”

“Including jump in the bed with you?” another giggled.

“That, too,” his brother agreed.

“Can’t none of you spend that gold till we get our hands on it,” the patriarch declared. “You’d better be remembering what you’re supposed to do when we get to the house. Tell ’um again,” he directed Silas.

“We leave our horses at the corral,” Silas began. “George and his wife sleep behind the kitchen, Salty and the kid across the breezeway. Two of you circle around until you get—”

“It’s a little dark out for a pleasure ride, McClendon,” George called when they came abreast.

“I guess that accounts for you wandering so far off your land,” Salty called out from the other side of the trail.

Realizing they could be caught in a cross fire, the raiders involuntarily jerked on their reins and reached for their weapons. Their mounts responded by throwing up their heads, snorting, and dancing nervously about, turning one way and then the next. They had been riding in close formation, and the ensuing confusion made it impossible for the McClendons to do more than be a danger to each other.

“What do you want here?” George demanded. “You didn’t come in the middle of the night for a friendly visit.”

“We’ve come for the gold,” Silas replied.

“What’d you go and tell him that for?” old man McClendon hissed. “Now he’ll be on his guard.”

“We had to tell him sooner or later,” Silas replied. “You can’t hold a man up without telling him what you want.”

“Particularly when we don’t know where he’s got it hid,” one of the boys added.

“I don’t have much more than a hundred dollars left,” George said. “Why do you think the boys have gone to sell some of the herd?”

“I’m talking about that Union payroll,” Silas said.

“I don’t know anything about a payroll.”

“I mean the one your father stole.”

“You must be drunk, Silas,” George said. “Do you know what he’s talking about, Salty?”

“Your father captured a Union patrol that was supposed to be escorting a half-million-dollar army payroll,” Salty called back. “The money was never found. Your father said it was a decoy patrol, that the gold went some other way.”

“His father stole that gold,” Silas insisted. “George spent nearly a year in Virginia after the war. I figure he found it. The gold he’s been spending in town is part of it.”

“You figured wrong.”

“How would an ex-Confederate like you get his hands on gold?”

“From the sale of a small piece of land left us by an aunt,” George said. “You can check the court records if you like.”

“I don’t believe you. You brought that gold back and hid it. You don’t have to worry. We won’t take all of it.”

“How much would you take, Silas?”

“Half. You won’t get to keep any if we tell the Reconstruction people about it.”

“And once you get the first half, you won’t want to come back for the second half?”

“Half is enough for me.”

“What about the McClendons? Maybe they think stealing gold would be easier than stealing cattle.”

The younger McClendons, muttering curses, showed signs of wanting to charge the hidden voices.

“Don’t get riled,” the old man ordered his sons. “They can shoot you out of your saddle before you get ten yards.”

“If I did have this gold, I’d rather turn it over to the army than you,” George said. “At least I could sleep easy in my bed.”

“There’s no need to feel uneasy,” Silas assured him. “There’s six of you and there’s six of us. Half seems fair. It’ll give us all something to start over with.”

“Silas, I don’t have any gold. I never had any. If I did have it, I’d turn it over to the army.”

“I told you there weren’t no gold,” one of the boys hissed.

“He’s just trying to make you think he ain’t got it,” another said. “Them Randolphs is slick as muskrats.”

“You boys hush,” the old man ordered. “I ain’t believing nobody, not until I see for myself.”

“It would save a lot of trouble if you would just give us the gold,” Silas called. “We won’t bother your wife or your little brother. We’ll just ride out of here and you’ll never see us again.”

“For the last time, I don’t have any gold, and I don’t know anything about it. Second, if I did have the gold, I don’t believe you’d ride out and leave half of it here. You wouldn’t be satisfied until you had it all. Not when the McClendons are too lazy to work cattle in a country where cattle practically take care of themselves. Men who’ll steal cows won’t walk away from gold.”

“You’re making a big mistake.”

“No, you are. You’re taking a chance on getting killed for something that doesn’t exist. Now I’m tired of talking. Turn around and start back toward the creek.”

“We’ll be back,” old man McClendon said.

“I figured you would,” George said, “but when you do, know I mean to kill as many of you as I can.”

“There’s more than forty of us,” the old man said. “There’s only one of you.”

“There’s only one of you, too,” George replied, “And I mean to get you first. Cut off the head of a snake, and the body dies. You’re the head, McClendon. You’re the evil which infests your family.”

“I’ll kill you, Randolph,” McClendon shouted. “I’ll kill you and every one of your kin.”

“A few hundred thousand Yankees tried and failed. I figure any one of them was a better man than you.”

George put a bullet into the ground in front of McClen-don’s horse. The animal reared in fright, throwing the old man, then galloped off into the night.

“Now get out of here.”

McClendon hobbled after his retreating party.

“You think they’ll come today?”

Rose had taken George his dinner out in the brush overlooking the trail. He had decided the middle of the afternoon was the safest time to eat.

“I expect they’ll come tonight. They’ve got to capture us alive. They need me to tell them where the gold is, and they need you and Zac to force me to do it.”

“I tried to tell Silas there wasn’t any gold,” Rose said.

“Once people get it in their heads there’s a fortune to be had just for the taking, they won’t believe it doesn’t exist, no matter what you tell them. That would mean they would have to give up hope, and people will do just about anything to keep hope alive.”

“Well, you can tell Silas and that evil old man I have hopes, too, and I don’t mean to give them up.”

“And just what are they?”

George motioned for Rose to sit down next to him. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the trail, but he liked having her close. Rose obliged by settling herself next to him while he ate his dinner.

“I dream of living here for the rest of my life. Of years and years of seeing you ride up to the house ready for your dinner, of seeing your sons riding all around you—”

“We’ve been over that already.”

“This is my dream,” Rose reminded him. “I’ll dream what I like.”

“Okay,” George said, going back to his food. “What else?”

“I dream of girls, too. There are too many men around this place. You need a few daughters. They would make you feel like a new man.”

George grunted. Rose doubted it was in agreement.

“I dream of evenings when we sit on the porch and watch the sun go down, of winter nights spent before the fire, of summer days spent picking wild plums or having a picnic in a pecan grove. I also dream of seeing all your brothers here with their wives and children.”

“The house wouldn’t be big enough to hold them.”

“It’s summer,” Rose said. “The children play half the night while the grown-ups sit outside, catching up on the news, reminiscing about the times they had when they were young.”

“You really are caught up on the idea of children, aren’t you?”

“I can’t help it. A future without children seems so empty.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure I can explain it. I know they’re a lot of work, that they’ll bring heartache and sorrow, but I can’t imagine anything more wonderful than facing the last years of my life surrounded by my children. But that’s only part of my dream.”

“What’s the rest?”

“It’s mostly about you.”

“Don’t I get to hear it?”

“If you want.”

“I want,” George said, giving her a quick kiss.

“It’s nothing much out of the ordinary. Just things I like about you.”

“Tell me.”

Rose chuckled contentedly. It was hard to believe she could be so complacent in the midst of trouble. Maybe after Indians, bandits, and rustlers, she was getting used to danger. But then things always seemed less dangerous when she was with George.

“I like watching you with your brothers. You’re never so happy as when they’re around you, usually all talking at once,
arguing for their point of view. Of course you know they’ll do whatever you say—”

“I’m not that bad.”

“—so you can enjoy it. I also enjoy watching you with Zac. You never seem to be too busy for him even though he can be annoying.”

“Is that all you like about me? George the patriarch, George the indulgent big brother?”

Rose ducked her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at him. “I also like George the lover. I doubt I’m very good at it yet, but I do like it.”

“You’re more than good,” George said, giving her a nuzzle. “If I weren’t afraid there were McClendons lurking about even now, I’d show you just how good.”

Rose sat up with a jerk. “Not here, you wouldn’t, not in the dust and the briars.”

“Even here.”

“You’re not going to treat me like one of your old cows,” Rose protested. She sounded indignant, but she was secretly pleased. It thrilled her to think George could be so strongly attracted to her he would make love to her in the brush. She had started a treasure chest of memories, the times when George had been so moved he had done something completely untypical. So far she only had his knocking down Luke Kearney and asking her to marry him. Making love out-of-doors would make a nice addition. She’d have to see what she could do about arranging a picnic.