"But —"
"Oh," Minerva went on, "I don't want you to think the man's got no mind of his own. He does, and we've had some rip-roarin' fights over the years… but all in all, it's been a real good life." She leaned over and patted Abby's knee. "And with five kids runnin' around… I guess that proves right enough that he's a mite fond of me, don't it?"
"I guess you're right." Abby bit her lip and began to think.
Luke and Obadiah raced through the parlor, headed for the front door, but Alonzo's voice stopped them.
"What the hell you tearin' through this house for, boys?"
"Sorry, Pa." Obadiah glanced over his shoulder toward the connecting door to the Mercantile, then back to his father.
"Well?" Alonzo waited.
The connecting door flew open, and the four other Mullins boys ran into the parlor. As one, they skidded to a stop in front of their father.
"Obadiah and Luke're goin' down to the livery to watch 'em break horses," Nimrod complained, "and they won't let us go along!"
Alonzo and Samuel looked at the two oldest boys, who managed to look everywhere in the room but at the adults.
"Obadiah, I reckon you can take the little ones, too." "Pa… " "Hush." Alonzo waved one hand at his oldest son. "Go on, now. But first you can go through the store and each of you can have two licorice whips."
All six boys grinned.
"Mind you, I said two."
"Yessir, Pa." Obadiah turned back for the store, his brothers hot on his heels.
Luke paused for a moment. "Thank you, Mr. Mullins," he said, then ran to join his friends.
Once the door was closed and quiet was re stored, Alonzo turned to Samuel.
"That's a fine boy there."
Samuel smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, he is."
"He gonna be stayin' with you permanent?"
"I think so. I already told him he was welcome." Samuel stretched his long legs out and crossed them at the ankles. "Abby feels the same. No matter what happens about the cabin… Luke can stay."
"That's good. That's good." Alonzo carefully packed tobacco into his pipe, then reached for the matches on the table beside him. "Speakin' of the cabin and all…" He paused, held the flame to the pipe bowl, and sucked at the stem until the tobacco caught.
"What?" Samuel turned in his seat to watch the other man.
"Well, telegram came last night," Alonzo said slowly. "Judge is gonna be here early."
He puffed at his pipe. "Appears he ain't got as much to do on the circuit as he figured he might."
"When? When's he gonna be here?" "Next week some time. Prob'ly not till Thursday or so."
Samuel ran one hand over his face and tried to think. Next week? That soon? But he wasn't ready. He still had to arrange to get a copy of his deed sent up from the county seat. He snorted. What the hell was he thinkin'? Worryin' over land deeds when the most important thing was… what would happen between him and Abby? He knew good and well that her claim would never stand up in court. He owned the land and the cabin. And he was pretty sure that she knew it, too.
But once the judge said so official-like… then what? Would she just up and leave? Oh, he knew that the cabin was the only reason she'd come to Colorado in the first place, but was it the only reason she'd stayed?
No. He shook his head slowly. No, he couldn't believe that. She cared for him. She did. She'd as much as said so lots of times. But, his brain reminded him, she'd never actually said so out loud, had she?
Shit. What should he do?
"Sam?" Alonzo's voice brought him back from his mental wanderings.
"Huh?"
"I said, you give any thought to the town's proposition?" "What proposition?" Alonzo rolled his eyes and sighed. "For godsake man! You get so many job offers, you can't remember 'em ah?" Job offers? Samuel thought for a moment. "Oh. The sheriffin' job."
"Yeah. You thought on it any?"
"No, 'Lonzo. I ain't had the time to think on it." Samuel frowned and told himself since Abby's arrival he hadn't had much time for anything… except her.
"Then you best start thinkin'." Alonzo took his pipe from his mouth and studied it. "Townfolks is serious about this. They want you. They're even willin' to help build you a place here in town." He smiled wickedly. "Never needed no sheriff house before. Pete, he just nods off in one of his cells with the other no-goods… like the ol' sayin' — Birds of a feather…"
Samuel smiled absently and stood up. "All right, 'Lonzo. I'll think on it."
"You do that." Alonzo waved his pipe stem at the big man. "Best remember somethin' else, too."
"What's that?"
"If you're plannin' on keepin' that youngster with you, you'll be wantin' him to get some schoolin', won't you?"
"Yeah, I guess."
"Well, it ain't likely he'd be able to go up and down that durned mountain in the wintertime to get to school, is it?"
"No, reckon not." Samuel hadn't considered schoolin' for the boy. And of course, there was Abby. If she did stay, he couldn't see her snowed in for months at a time. What if she needed a doctor or somethin'? What if somethin' happened to him? Hell, she'd never survive in the winter. Alone. Just her and Luke.
Samuel began to silently recite the ABCs. He needed something familiar to do. Suddenly there was so many different things to consider. A mental image of Abby, struggling through waist-deep snow just to get to the barn sprung up in front of him. And Luke. Hell, boys was always breakin' somethin' or other. What if he broke a leg or an arm? Would he, Samuel, know the right things to do so's the boy wouldn't be further harmed?
His heart pounded, and his brain raced with visions of all kinds of disasters. The ABCs weren't working. With a snort, Samuel acknowledged that they rarely did work when the problem was Abby.
"Sam?" Alonzo asked. "Sam? You all right?"
Samuel started, looked down at the other man and forced a smile. "Yeah. Fine." No point in tellin' any of this to Alonzo, he thought. "It's just time we was headed back for the mountain, is ah. Don't care to be gone too long."
Alonzo started to push himself to his feet. "I'll fetch Abby for you."
But Samuel was already moving. "Don't worry. I'll go get her. If Luke and Obadiah come in, hold on to Luke for me, will ya?"
The other man nodded, but Samuel saw him lean his head back against his chair and knew that Alonzo was settling in for a nice Sunday nap. Couldn't blame him none, either. In fact, Samuel smirked, if his mind wasn't so busy hoppin' from one thought to the next, he'd like nothin' better than gettin' home and maybe convincin' Abby that they all needed a nap.
He walked quietly through the Mullinses' living quarters at the back of the store. As he moved down the long hallway, he studied the flowered wallpaper and the framed portraits of Mullin family members. There were even a couple of daguerreotypes taken of the children not long ago.
It was a real nice place. He smiled as he realized that for the first time he could remember, he wasn't jealous of someone else's home. Because finally he, too, had a home. A woman. A family. Samuel pulled a deep breath into his lungs. At least, for now.
Maybe it was about time he did something permanent about his new family. Maybe, he told himself, he should take the chance that Abby did love him as fiercely as she loved Luke. Every time she looked at him, he could swear he saw love in her eyes. It was there in her touch. In the things she did for him. Maybe it was finally his turn to love and be loved. But what if… his mind started.
No. He shut down on that thought firmly. He couldn't think about that now. If he started in thinkin' on all the reasons Abby had to re fuse him, he'd never work up the nerve to ask her anything. And one thing he knew for certain, the reward of having Abby's love was worth the risk of pain.
Samuel stopped short. He would do it. To night. He would ask her to marry him.
Then he heard the voices. Soft, teasing, with a little laughter. Minerva and Abby. He moved closer to the partially opened door, raised his hand to knock, and paused. He heard Minerva say, "Course I'm right, girl. Now, do you want to marry him and stay at the cabin or not?"
He held his breath.
"Certainly I'm going to marry him, Minerva! I don't want to leave that cabin ever!" Abby laughed quietly. "Now all I have to do is convince Samuel!"
Samuel's heart stopped. His mouth dry, his insides twisting, he turned away from the door. She didn't want to leave the cabin. She had to "convince" him. "Certainly" she was going to marry him — and he hadn't asked her. The cabin. It all came back to the cabin.
Had she really done all of this to get the cabin? Was a home that important to her? So important that she was willing to bed a man to keep it?
Hurriedly he walked back down the hallway. He had to get outside where he could breathe. What a fool! What a stupid, blind fool! What was he thinking? How could he have imagined even for a moment that a woman like Abby would actually love him!
Of course she bedded him for the cabin! Why the hell else would a woman as beautiful as her bother with a big, ugly, ignorant man? She could have anyone. Anyone at all. Why would she pick him?
Samuel slipped through the kitchen, out the back door, and across the road to the livery stable. Luke and Obadiah were sitting on the top fence rail feeding carrots to the horses. The other boys were nowhere in sight.
"Hey, Samuel," Luke called. "Want to see —"
"Ain't got time," Samuel managed to say. "Go fetch Abby. We got to get back to the mountain."
"But Obadiah and me, we were gonna —"
"Do it now, Luke."
Even seeing the boy's face dissolve into worried lines and creases wasn't enough to stop Samuel. If he could, he'd go back to the mountain alone. But he couldn't just ride off, no matter how he felt. Somehow, he would have to face Abby and not let her see that he was dead inside.
He had to get back to the mountain. Back to the woods. Where he could think. Where he belonged.
Deliberately Samuel reached into the back of his wagon and picked up his coat. Then he pulled it on over the red-and-yellow shirt and buttoned it up to the neck.
Abby watched Samuel walk out the front door without a backward glance.
Even during supper, he'd hardly said a word. Oh, he'd been polite. Giving one-word answers to any question she posed him. Listening to Luke tell him about the day's ad ventures. But since they'd left Rock Creek, something had been terribly wrong.
Abby dropped the dishtowel to the tabletop, wiped her hands on her apron, then untied it and tossed it on the nearest chair. She glanced at Luke, still seated at the table.
"I'll be back in a moment, Luke. I want to talk to Samuel about something."
The boy looked up and nodded. Abby could see the worry in his eyes and knew for certain that she wasn't imagining things. Samuel's polite distance was affecting the boy, too.
To think, she told herself as she walked to the front door, only this afternoon everything had seemed so simple. Outside, her gaze moved over the cabin yard until she spotted the big man out by the animal cages. Determinedly she started walking.
She came up behind him silently. He was just closing the door on the empty wolf cage.
"Samuel?"
He barely glanced at her. "What?"
"Samuel, why did you let the wolf go? Is he ready?"
Samuel straightened up. He stood, back to her, legs spread wide, his head tilted back as he stared at the sky. "Ready enough."
She went closer and touched his arm. He pulled away. Swallowing heavily, Abby asked, "What do you mean, ready enough? Wasn't he well?"
Samuel took a step aside. "Well enough to get by, I reckon."
"But —"
"Abby," he ground out, "the animals are my lookout. I say when it's time for 'em to be set free. Not you."
"I know that, Samuel, but —"
"No buts." He stared off into the distance as though he could see right through the surrounding pines and aspens. As though he were watching the wolf make its own way back to its home. Its world. "He's better off out there. Much longer in that damned cage and he would'a died." His voice softened, and Abby had to strain to hear him. "Some animals got to be free to wander. Don't belong in no cages."
Abby reached out to touch him, then let her hand fall to her side when he took another step away. "Samuel," she said, her throat convulsing slightly, "can't you tell me what's wrong? What's happened?"
Samuel finally turned to face her, and she wished he hadn't. His familiar features blank, unreadable, he simply stared down at her as if waiting for something. Abby wanted to touch him, reassure him somehow, but she was stopped by the look in his eyes. His pale green eyes were shadowed. Sad and haunted. In fact, Samuel looked much as he had when she first came to the mountain. Only this time he wouldn't talk to her.
In the face of his silence, Abby turned and walked to the cabin, her feet dragging at every step.
When the last light was blown out and Abby was in her bedroom, the door closed firmly behind her, Luke lay awake in the darkness. He heard Samuel shoo one of the dogs away and wasn't surprised when Harry jumped up onto his bed.
Luke swallowed back his nervousness and whispered a question into the dark. "Samuel, why was Abby cryin' a while ago?"
"Don't know. Reckon you'd have to ask her that."
"But, Samuel —"
"Luke" — he drew in a deep breath and tried to keep his voice level — "this don't have nothin' to do with you. I already told you. No matter what else happens, you're welcome here. I want you to stay."
"What about Abby?"
Samuel cringed a little at the boy's wistful tone, but there wasn't anything else to be said. Nothin' was gonna make the child feel better, Samuel told himself. Hell, there wasn't anything that'd make him feel better, either. It was best the boy understood that right off.
"I don't got nothin' to say about Abby, boy.
Reckon what she does now is up to her."
Luke didn't answer, and after a few minutes Samuel was almost positive he heard the child sniffling. His jaw clenched tightly, Samuel tried to ignore the sound. Just as he tried to ignore the solitary tear that rolled down his own cheek.