Minerva shook her head slowly. "Now, Abby, you know as well as me that Samuel's claim to the land is the stronger one. You ain't got a chance in hell of winning." She watched Abby's shoulders slump lower. "Besides, if you did win somehow, that'd prob'ly mean losing Samuel. You ready for that?"
"I've already lost him, Minerva. He won't even talk to me."
"Hmmph!" Minerva came over and sat down beside the younger woman. "You can't never be sure about anything as long's there's a man involved. They have the most contrary minds of anything God put on this earth." She patted Abby's shoulder sympathetically. "Appears to me that you picked the Good Lord's favorite knothead, too." Abby leaned against her friend and smiled when Minerva added, "But you know, Abby, I wouldn't be a 'tall surprised if that man o' yours didn't straighten himself out before too long."
Abby sniffled. "I don't suppose there's much chance of that. Besides, I don't know if I want him back."
Minerva laughed out loud. "Hell, sure you do. You just want to make him earn his way back! As well you should. Don't give in too easy, girl. I always say… a little crawlin' never put permanent dents in any man's knees."
Three days, Samuel told himself. He looked in stunned surprise at the cabin. Abby'd been gone three days, and the whole damn place was fallin' down around him.
He glanced over at the table and winced at the pile of foodstuffs and pots and pans. Hell, he'd had to go through every nook and cranny in the cabin just to find a pan to cook him a meal that first night. Don't know why she had to hide everything, he thought disgustedly. Yes, he did. She liked everything to look neat and tidy. Lord knows, she'd told him that often enough.
He snorted and let his gaze wander over the rest of the place. With her gone, the little cabin seemed a helluva lot emptier than it had before. There was no smell of bread bakin'. No soft voice singing. No laughter. No nonstop chatter.
Her bedroom door stood open, and Samuel found himself staring at the big wide bed they used to share. It was just as she left it. Quilt neatly pulled up, pillows plumped, he'd even left the bowl of flowers on the bedside table even though the blossoms in it were withered and dead. For some reason, Samuel hadn't been able to bring himself to change a thing in that room. He'd even been sleeping on the floor in the main room. He was sure he'd never be able to sleep in that bed again.
For the thousandth time Samuel's tired brain recalled everything Abby'd said to him the day she left. In his mind's eye he saw her again, standing toe to toe with him. Her golden eyes flashing, that long, chestnut braid of hers swinging wildly with her every move.
She never flinched when his voice boomed out around her, his anger rushing over her with the force of a flash flood. She shouted back at him, demanding to be heard. To be believed. And then when he wouldn't, she turned from him. But not, he thought, in anger. It was more… disappointment.
She was disappointed in him.
He rubbed his jaw anxiously. Could she re ally have meant all those things? Was it possible that she really did love him? That she wanted to marry him not for his land but for himself? How could she expect him to believe that? Didn't she realize that nobody, save for his mother, had ever cared for him? Hell, until Abby came along, he'd never even had a friend to call his own, let alone a woman!
Could it really be that easy? Samuel stared at her bed through hungry eyes as if he could make her appear just by wishing it were so. Jesus! Had he really held every one of his dreams in his hands and then thrown them away?
Or was he right? Was it just the cabin? Was she saying and doing all this just to claim the home she said she'd always wanted?
Lord, his head hurt.
Maverick limped across the cabin and plopped down beside his master. The dog lay his big head on Samuel's knee and stared up at the man with sad, sympathetic eyes.
"You wonderin' where Abby and Luke are, boy?" Samuel reached down and rubbed the dog's head, scratching the animal behind his ears. "Yeah, it is awful damn quiet around here, ain't it?"
Maverick whined and thumped his tail against the floor.
" You think I'm crazy, dog?" Maverick's tail thumped even louder. Samuel smirked slightly. I must be crazy, he thought — sittin' alone in my house talkin' to a dog and expectin' an answer!
This was all Abby's fault, he told himself. Before she came, he was happy. He didn't have anybody in his life, and he didn't want anybody. Samuel stopped suddenly and frowned. That wasn't true, he admitted silently. Sure, he'd always wanted somebody. Somebody to love and to love him back. But he'd never felt the loneliness of his solitude this deeply until Abby had been here and then left.
Somehow, the quiet was louder now. The mountain was colder. The night was darker.
Samuel's head fell slack against the chair back. If he kept this up, he was gonna go right out of his mind. How had all this happened?
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried to remember how it was before he loved Abby Sutton.
# # #
The next day Samuel was in the barn, trying to keep busy, when a voice hailed him from the yard.
"Samuel! Samuel! You here?"
Samuel walked outside and grinned. He'd never been so glad to see anybody in his life. " 'Lonzo! Good to see ya! Come on in and set for a while!"
Alonzo's eyes widened as he studied the big man. "Lord, man! What in hell's happened to you?"
Samuel glanced down at his dirty wrinkled shirt and brushed at it self-consciously.
"I ain't talkin' about your clothes!" Alonzo went on. "You look like you ain't slept in a week, and that beard you got rid of is about back!"
Rubbing at his jaw, Samuel tried to think of something to say. He could hardly admit to the man that he hadn't done much of anything since Abby left. Just like he couldn't admit that since she'd gone, nothin' was worth doin'.
Finally Samuel decided to ignore the man's statements. " 'Lonzo, what are you doin' up here?"
Alonzo stayed in the saddle and shrugged. None of this was his business anyway. "Come to tell you. Judge is in town. Says he'll hold the hearin' tomorrow."
Samuel's face tightened. Bowing his head, he asked, "Abby know?"
"Hell, yes, she knows." Alonzo screwed his face up. Hadn't he been listening to Abby and Minerva talk about nothing eke since the night before? He looked at Samuel again. The man looked almost as bad as Abby did. Didn't seem to make much sense, he told himself. If they was that miserable apart from each other, why didn't they just get back together? In fact, it seemed so simple to Alonzo, he risked Samuel's annoyance by saying, "Why don't you come back to town with me and talk to that woman? Get this mess all straightened out?"
"No." Samuel shoved his hands in his pockets. Even after all the thinking he'd done the night before, Samuel couldn't face her. If he was right, he never wanted to see her again anyway. And if she was telling the truth, how could he face her? "No, best just leave it be till tomorrow."
"As you say." Alonzo sighed heavily and rested his hands on the pommel of the saddle. He'd done all he could. No man appreciated another man buttin' in. "But I surely will be glad to have this dang hearing over."
"Why're you so interested?"
"Oh, hell, I don't give a hoot which of you ends up with this cabin" — Alonzo leaned down and chuckled tiredly — "but I'll tell you somethin', the Good Lord didn't mean for a man to live in a house with two women!" Straightening up again, Alonzo added, "Don't get me wrong none. They're both fine women… but just a mite headstrong, if you know what I mean."
Samuel grinned in spite of himself. Then he realized just how long it had been since he'd smiled. Since that last trip to town with Abby. Shaking his head to clear it of her image, Samuel said eagerly, "Why don't you climb on down and come have a cup of coffee?"
"No, but thank you just the same." Alonzo shifted position in his saddle uncomfortably. "The sooner I get back to town and off this durn horse, the better I'll like it." He pulled at the reins and turned the animal for town. "We'll be seein' you tomorrow, Sam." Alonzo raised his right arm in a wave and started off.
Samuel watched the other man until he'd disappeared in a bend of the road. Alone again, Samuel looked over his shoulder at the cabin and knew he didn't want to go in there and listen to himself talk to the dogs again. Instead, he walked back to the barn, hoping to find something to do. He just had to get through one more day.
One way or another, it would all be settled tomorrow.
Chapter Twenty
"Lady," Judge Hackett proclaimed solemnly, "court ain't in session till I say so." His gaze swept up Abby's small form until he reached her hat. His eyes widened slightly, and he stared at her bonnet when he continued. "And I sure as hell ain't sayin' so until after I get me a cup of coffee."
Abby nodded forcefully, sending the one-eyed dove into a thrashing dive. It hung, suspended by one leg, over the brim of her bonnet until she reached up and patted it back into place. Smiling, she said blithely, "Oh, I completely understand, Your Honor, and ordinarily, I would never think to bother you — particularly this early."
"Yes, yes…" His eyes narrowed in his attempt to tear his gaze from the incredible bird. Finally he succeeded. Shaking his head, he asked, "Well, now that you're here, young woman… what is it that's so durned important?"
Abby took the older man's arm and swiftly guided him to a corner table, far from the interested ear of the Lucky Lady's bartender. When they were settled and the judge had taken a few sips of his strong, black coffee, Abby took a deep breath and said, "It's about the hearing."
"No, no, no. I'll not listen. T'wouldn't be fair to the other party…" The judge smoothed his gray mustache down and took another gulp of his coffee. It was much too early in the day to be dealing with all of this, he told himself. This was supposed to have been a simple case.
"But that's just it, Your Honor." Abby leaned on the table, gave a quick look around, and whispered, "If you'll just listen to me, a hearing may not be necessary."
His bushy silver brows shot straight up. Abby watched him and waited. His weathered, lined face was deeply tanned from the sun, making his sharp blue eyes seem even more piercing than they actually were.
"All right, Miss… uh.. ."
"Sutton." She held out her hand and smiled. "Abby Sutton."
The judge signaled for another cup of coffee, then said, "Say what you want to say, Miss Sutton."
"Simply this." She delved into her string bag and pulled out a piece of paper. Sliding it across the table to the judge, she said, "Last night I wrote this out and signed it. Minerva Mullins also signed it as a witness."
The man lifted the paper and squinted at it. Moving it first close to his nose, then as far away as his arm would stretch, he finally set it down and sighed. "Don't have my spectacles with me. What is it?"
"Simply a note saying that I give up any claim to the land that Samuel Hart's cabin stands on."
He cocked his head. "Why?"
Abby shrugged and laced her fingers together. "Well, Your Honor, there was never really a chance of my claiming that land. I had hoped that…" She sighed and looked away briefly. "But you don't want to hear any of this."
"On the contrary, young lady, I'm very interested." The older man picked up his coffee cup and leaned back in his chair. "Why would a person back out of a land dispute at the very last minute? Has this Hart fellow paid you a sum for your interest?"
"No…" Abby took a deep breath. She'd thought about this decision for most of the night. It hadn't been an easy one to come to. But she knew it was the only thing to do. Minerva was right. She'd never really had a claim on that land. She'd known that since the first night, when she'd found out about Samuel.
And then, after falling in love with the man, Abby had hoped that she'd never have to leave. That she'd finally found the man and the home she'd always dreamed of.
But since that wasn't going to be, she'd just as soon leave. Quickly. Before she had to see Samuel. She'd already waited for three days, hoping he'd come to his senses. He hadn't. Abby frowned. Samuel obviously believed that she was a no-good, conniving, scheming hussy! Seeing him again wouldn't change his mind.
Besides, if nothing else was gained, at least if she left town, the big knothead would realize that she'd been telling him the truth. That she hadn't wanted his cabin — if he didn't come along with it.
Abby glanced up at Judge Hackett. His vivid blue eyes seemed softer now, more sym pathetic. And suddenly she decided to tell the man the whole story.
"You sure this is what you want to do?" Luke slouched against the wall of the store room and stared at Abby.
"Yes… well, no… All right," Abby conceded. "I'm not sure." She looked at the boy and forced herself to look excited by their coming adventure. "But, Luke, I can't stay here. Not now."
" 'Cause of Samuel," he whispered.
"That's right." Abby straightened up. How could she find the words to explain herself to the child when she really didn't understand any of this.
"Don't like him no more?"
"No, that's not it." She walked over to him and knelt down. Hands on his shoulders, Abby waited for the boy to look at her. "I like him fine, Luke." She touched his cheek. "In fact, I love him. Expect I always will."
Luke squeezed his eyes shut and groaned. "Then why're we doin' this, Abby? Why don't we just go home? Back to the cabin?"
Abby pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him. When he laid his head on her shoulder, she stroked his hair gently and said, "Because he doesn't love me. I can't go back to the cabin, Luke. Samuel doesn't want me. You'll just have to trust me to know what's best." She pulled away slightly and tipped his chin up with her fingertips. "But you can go back, honey. You know that Samuel would love to have you at the cabin again… it's all right with me. I would understand."
The boy wiped his tears away with the back of his hand and shook his head. "No'm. It just wouldn't be the same with you gone. I figure to stay with you… if you want me."