"Minerva," she said suddenly, "are there any dressmakers in town?"
"Hmmph!" The other woman snorted and shook her head. "Not hardly, Abby. When we want something like that done, we either stumble through it our ownselves or go on down to Wolf River. There's a woman there. Charges too damn much for my tastes, though."
"What if there was someone right here in Rock Creek to do dressmaking? Do you think folks would be interested?"
Minerva straightened up and stretched her back. "Reckon so. I know I would be. Between the boys, the store, and Alonzo, I purely ain't got the time to be sewin', too."
"Wonderful!" Abby slapped her hand down on the counter top. "You can be my first customer!"
The bag of coffee slipped from Minerva's suddenly nerveless fingers. The woman's eyes widened, and her brows shot straight up. "You, Abby? A dressmaker?"
"Certainly." Abby grinned and walked to the pile of material. "Perhaps I've already told you, Minerva, but back home in Maryland… why, folks there thought I was the finest hand with a needle and thread that they'd ever seen. Of course, I didn't do just dressmaking. I also make shirts for men and children. Why, I could do quilts, curtains, tablecloths… there's just no end to the business opportunities!"
Minerva sighed heavily when the younger woman lifted the same godawful red-and-yellow-striped material she'd purchased before as shirt material for Samuel. For some un known reason, Abby Sutton seemed unerringly drawn to the most hideous fabrics. Minerva told herself that she should have known this was coming. She should have been paying more attention. But when Abby got to talkin', sometimes a body just lost count of what she was sayin'. Now what was she going to do? Minerva thought frantically. She could hardly tell the poor little thing no. Not after all she'd said about how nice it would be to have a seamstress in town!
But still, visions of The Hat, as Minerva had come to think of it, danced before her closed eyes. If Abby could do all that to a plain old bonnet, imagine what she might do to a dress!
"Well, Minerva?" Abby asked excitedly. "What do you think?" The young woman stepped up to the counter, lifted the lid of the closest jar, and took out a piece of rock candy. Then suddenly reached for another one. "For Luke," she said.
Minerva snatched at the boy's name like a drunk after the last bottle of whiskey. "Luke! My, Abby, that's a fine boy. You know, he was so kind to the little ones last night. Obadiah could learn a few things from him, I can tell you."
"Well, I'm glad to hear he was no trouble." Abby smiled. "He is a pleasure. I've always loved children, you know. I've missed being around them. It's strange, though, Minerva, he still hasn't said anything about where he came from. About where he belongs." Her smile faltered when she added softly, "He used to cry in his sleep."
Minerva shook her head slowly. "It's a puzzle, all right. Lord knows there's too many orphans runnin' around unchecked in this country. Reckon most of 'em don't have no place to belong. But he surely seems happy up on the mountain with you and Samuel." Her brow furrowed, and she cocked her head. "You give any thought to what's gonna become of the boy after you and Samuel get this land mess all cleared up?"
"What do you mean?" Abby licked at her candy.
"Well" — Minerva picked up the bag of coffee, then moved behind the counter — "just what I say. Once the judge comes in and you two figure out who owns what, where'll Luke be? You figure he'll just head for the hills? Find a new place? New folks?"
Abby moved the candy around in her mouth thoughtfully. Truth to tell, she was ashamed to admit she hadn't given the matter a single thought. Luke had simply become a member of the household. He was there. He belonged with them. Abby was almost positive that Samuel felt the same.
Oh, certainly at first, he hadn't been any too pleased with the boy… but then, their first meeting hadn't been a perfect one, either. Abby hid a smile when she remembered Luke's well-placed kick. But more and more often, the two of them would go off together. Why, she'd even seen Samuel allowing the boy to help with the animals. Which was more than he'd let her do.
The too-sweet candy suddenly turned bitter-tasting. Heaven help her, she hadn't spent much time thinking about the judge, either. And though she loved Samuel, she couldn't very well depend on his loving her enough to share his home with her. After all, he'd never said anything about love or marriage.
She fished a hankie out of her string bag and took the candy from her mouth. Suddenly worried, Abby told herself that maybe seducing Samuel hadn't been the right thing to do.
But she'd needed him so much. Yes, she added silently, but what if you got with child? Then what?
Abby swallowed heavily. Good Lord, in all the excitement of that wonderful moment, she'd never even considered that possibility!
"Abby?" Minerva touched her friend's arm. "You all right?"
"Hmmm?" She shook her head and stared at the older woman across from her with new determination. Now it was more important than ever that she begin to make a little money for herself, for Luke, and God help her, possibly a child. "Yes, yes. I'm fine, Minerva. You know, why don't I come back into town tomorrow? Then I could get your measurements, and you could have time to pick out the fabric you'd prefer. There are some lovely things over there!"
Minerva groaned helplessly as Abby picked up her packages and headed for the door. There was at least one small thing to be grateful for in all this, Minerva told herself. At least Abby hadn't insisted on picking out the material herself.
Abby cut the fresh bread into generous slices, then stacked them on a small plate before setting it in the center of the table. Here it was, suppertime, and she hadn't seen Luke or Samuel for hours.
As soon as they'd returned from Rock Creek, Luke had raced to Samuel's side, eager to "help." And, Abby told herself with a smile, judging by the incessant pounding of hammers, they'd done quite a bit of work on the new room they were building. Though she hadn't wanted to interrupt their work, Abby had enjoyed listening through the cabin walls to the conversations between Luke and Samuel.
No matter how many questions the boy asked, Samuel never lost his patience. She'd overheard him explain the proper way to hammer a nail several times and wasn't sure if she herself could have remained so calm and even-tempered. Abby was positive that Luke's "help" had been much more of a hindrance to the room's progress… especially considering how many times the boy had coerced Samuel into playing with Harry and Maverick.
And yet, she was just as sure that the boy would never have reason to suspect it.
She lifted the heavy skillet off the fire grate and carried it to the folded towel in the center of the table. When the poor old lopsided thing didn't even rock, Abby congratulated herself. All it had taken was a small piece of leather folded up and stuffed under the short leg. She hadn't had to bother Samuel with it at all.
"Somethin' smells good, Abby," Samuel called out. Luke was right behind him, nod ding his agreement.
"It's only stew again, I'm afraid," Abby said as she ushered the two of them to their chairs. "But what with getting such a late start into town and all… " She glanced at Samuel. His pale green eyes caught hers and seemed to glow with the memory of how they'd spent the morning.
"Don't matter to me," Luke said and reached for the serving spoon. "Your stew's almighty good, Abby. Best I ever tasted."
The two adults smiled at each other over his head, then Samuel grabbed a slice of bread and tore off a piece. He popped it into his mouth and after a moment said, "Nothin' better than fresh bread, Abby. Can't remember when I've ate so much of it, either." He tore off another piece. "When I was doin' my own cookin', I only got fresh bread in town. Didn't seem hardly worth the trouble to make it just for me."
Abby served him some of the stew, handed Luke a slice of bread, then filled her own plate. Smiling, she told herself that Samuel had un wittingly given her the perfect opportunity to tell him of her new plan.
"Speaking of bread, Samuel," she said softly, "in town today I was talking to Minerva… " "Yeah?" He grabbed the coffeepot and filled both of their cups. "Well, she was remarking on how much flour and what not we're going through… "
He snorted. "That should please her."
Abby smiled. "Of course it does, but… " She waited for him to look at her. "It doesn't seem quite fair to me, Samuel."
"What?"
"The money you've had to spend on sup plies in the time I've been here." His brow furrowed. "What do you mean?" "Only that since I arrived, we've gone through so much flour and sugar and — so many other things. It must be costing you so much money."
"Don't matter."
"It matters to me."
"Why?"
"Because, since we're sharing this cabin, we should be sharing the expense of running it." Samuel glanced at Luke and found the boy following the conversation with great interest. "I told you before, Abby, don't worry about the money. I got plenty enough stashed aside." "For now." She set her fork down and leaned her elbows on the table. "But how long can it possibly last, Samuel, if you’re spending so much of it to keep us all eating?"
From the corner of his eye, Samuel watched Luke set his fork down, too. Eyes downcast, the boy let his hands fall to his lap. Samuel frowned. Why the hell was she sayin' all this now and upsettin' the boy?
"Like I said, Abby, that's for me to worry about."
"No, Samuel."
He dropped his fork and stared at her. "No, Samuel?"
"Until the judge comes to town and makes a decision on this property, we are both the owners. And I think it's only fair that I con tribute my share."
"Your share?"
"Well, mine and Luke's of course." Abby smiled at the boy and didn't seem to notice his woebegone expression. "Since it was my idea for Luke to stay here with us, it seems only right that I take on the responsibility for him."
Samuel's mind whirled. Where did all of this come from? She'd been fine that morning. Better than fine. One trip into town and she wants to turn everything upside down? He looked at the boy again and ground his teeth together. Couldn't she see what she was doing to the child's pride? For God's sake. Bein' talked about like he wasn't there was bad enough. But the way she was sayin' it, the boy prob'ly felt like a beggar at a weddin'.
"Abby," he finally said as his mind raced through the ABCs, "I don't know what got you all het up like this, but I'm tellin' you one thing right now. Ain't you or me payin' this child's way."
"What?" Confusion etched on her features, Abby stared at him. Samuel noticed that Luke's eyes were studying him, too.
"Luke," Samuel said, turning toward the child slumped in his seat, "do you feed the chickens?"
"Yessir."
"Collect the eggs?"
"Yessir."
"Muck out the barn?"
"Yessir."
"Help me with the sick animals?"
Luke smiled. "Yessir, when you let me."
Samuel nodded briefly and shot a glance at Abby. "That there is what I mean. You got no need to pay for that boy. He pays his own way."
Luke straightened perceptibly and began to eat again. Samuel nodded his approval and turned to Abby. "And you. You do all the cookin', cleanin', sewin', and everything else you can lay a hand to. I ain't never lived this good." He looked at the boy. "Have you?"
"No, sir," Luke answered and reached for another slice of bread.
"See, Abby?" Samuel said, his voice softer now. "We all pay our own way around here." He picked up his fork again and bent to his supper.
Abby's gaze moved from one to the other of them and finally rested on the big man across from her. He seemed to think everything was settled. She laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them.
Well, she wasn't finished yet.
Chapter Fifteen
"I understand what you're saying, Samuel," she began, "but I don't agree."
Man and boy stared at her.
Well, for heaven's sake, she told herself, she hadn't meant to stir all of this up. And goodness knows, she'd had no intention of insulting Luke, though she admitted silently she could see that she'd managed to do just that. If not for Samuel, she'd have hurt the boy's feelings badly, if unintentionally. So, before they could misunderstand her again, she went on.
"Oh, you're perfectly right about Luke. I should have said that myself." She turned to the child. "Luke, you work just as hard as any of us, and Samuel is quite right. You more than pay your way here."
Luke grinned happily. "Thanks, Abby," he said on a rush. "Samuel and me, we was workin' real hard today tryin' to finish up your room for ya. And Samuel taught me how to hammer a straight nail and how to saw, and he says I can paint the whole room all by myself seein's how I done such a good job on the rest of the cabin… "
She nodded, took a breath and tried to interrupt, but Luke was too fast for her.
"Course, it was too late to finish up the room tonight, so we strung up a canvas roof over the whole mess so's in case it rains we won't have no mud in there."
She glanced at Samuel. He shrugged his massive shoulders and sighed. "That's a good idea, Luke," Abby said quickly.
"Oh, the canvas was Samuel's doin'." The boy looked up at his hero with wide eyes. "He can do just about anythin'."
Samuel frowned self-consciously and picked up his coffee cup. "Well, we'll get that roof on for you tomorrow, Abby. Matter of fact, we could maybe use your help."
"I'm sorry, Samuel, but I won't be able to tomorrow." "Why not?"
"Because I have to go back to town tomorrow." She stood up and carried her plate to the small wooden counter behind her. "I'm going to be a dressmaker, Samuel. And tomorrow I have to meet with my first customer. Minerva."
"What?"
"Yes." She turned around to face him. "That's what I was talking about earlier. I've decided on a way to help out more around here. I'm a fine seamstress, Samuel. And the money I make will be my contribution."
"But —"
"No buts." He threw a quick glance at Luke, then turned back to Abby. "I said I got plenty to see us through."