Spirit of the Wolf (40 page)

Tiny and pink, with fingers so small they reminded him of
catfish
whiskers, the baby seemed more fragile than an autumn leaf, more delicate than a
the
ice
that
skim
s
a wintry pond. For an instant, an exhilarating possibility crossed his mind:
D
are he hope
this was his child
?

Then logic
reared its ugly head, forcing him to consider the alternative.
The baby looked brand new. He
did some quick arithmetic, and the sum of his mental ciphering added up to heartbreak
. Baby that young couldn’t be his.

He slapped a hand to the back of his neck and shook his head.
What a fool he’d been, thinking she’d wait more than a year for him.
"Boy or girl?" he asked, m
ostly t
o get his mind off the awful facts.

"Girl
, a
nd I've named her
—“

He didn't want to hear what she'd named
some other man’s baby
. "She's a beauty,"
Chance
interrupted, "just like her mama."

"
Chance
," she began, a hand on his forearm, "how long have you been back?"

He pretended to have an itch that needed scratching, so he could free himself of her grasp. "Just rode into town." He forced himself to look away from the baby, into Bess's face. Motherhood,
Chance
decided, agreed with her. She was even lovelier than he remembered. Something about her had changed, for she glowed with serenity, seemed to be at peace with her new life.

"I wish you'd written...."

It wasn't an accusation. He could tell by the sweet light emanating from her eyes. So why did he feel he was being held accountable for some wrongdoing?

If only he could have stayed
in touch with her, instead of working toward his goal of
clearing his name so he could come home and pick up where they’d left off
.
He’d
told
her to go on without him. But
the
notion that she had? And that she’d given herself to
another man
?

Chance
took a clumsy step backward. "I, uh, I have a few things.... I, ah, promised her I'd...ah, before I head out."

Her dark eyes narrowed. "Head out? But
Chance
, you just got here. Pa and the twins would love to see
you, welcome you back.
"

Pa and the twins?
he ranted inwardly.
What about you, Bess. W
hy haven’t
you
welcome
d
me home?

Exactly
how did he expect her to accompl
ish that, when she had a baby and a husband who no doubt waited for her
at Foggy Bottom
. Did the man
share her room overlooking the corral? Or had he built her a house of her own?
Does she look at him the way she used to look at me?

"Everyone will be thrilled to see you,
Chance
. As luck would have it, I've been cooking your favorite stew all day. Why don't you
follow us back to Foggy Bottom and—“

The picture of her moving about the house, cooking
his
stew for another man proved too much to bear. He held a hand up to silence her. "Can't talk now, Bess," he said around the lump in his throat. He glanced at Mamie, pawing the dirt. "My, um.... I should get her some.... She needs me to...."

Trembling from Stetson to boots, h
e
half-ran t
oward his horse, hoisted himself into the saddle, and thundered away without another word.

***

Bess drove the team hard, crying all the way home, as if she thought with every jostle and jolt of the wagon she might shake the painful ideas from her heart, dislodge the agonizing images from her mind. She'd hadn't expected to see
Chance
again, and her joy at the sight of him had been all-encompassing. But he'd put a quick end to that! He'd made it clear there was someone else, someone he'd made promises to, someone he needed to take care of.

"What's wrong, Bessie-girl?" Matt asked when she parked the wagon near the front gate.

"Nothing," she spat, scooping the baby into her arms. "Put the groceries away for me, will you?"

Standing with arms crossed over his chest, he blocked her path. "I'll take care of that soon as you tell me what's ailin' you, big sister. You've got the horses lathered up like they've run a race, and both you and Li'l Bit there," he added, nodding toward the baby, "look like you've seen a ghost."

Shoulders slouching, she handed the baby to her brother as his twin joined them. "What's goin' on?" Mark wanted to know.

"Tell us, Bess, or we'll send you to bed without any supper."

It was a threat she'd used on them dozens of times, unsuccessfully for the most part, but it inspired a sad little smile. "
Chance
's back," she said, slumping onto the bottom porch step, "and he brought a woman with him."

"A woman!" Mark demanded, fists clenched at his sides. "He
has a
woman, and he's got responsibilities to her, right here at Foggy Bottom!"

"Somebody needs to teach that polecat a thing or two about doin' the right thing." Matt shifted the
squirming
baby from one arm to the other.

"If we leave right now, we can probably catch him." Mark pounded a fist into an open palm. "Beat some sense into him."

Matt made a move to hand Bess the baby, but she grasped his sleeve instead. "Please, boys," she said, taking Mark's hand in her own, "haven't I been humiliated enough? Some folks in this town have labeled me a harlot, a brazen hussy for having had a child out of wedlock
, when all I did was take an orphaned baby into our home when her mama died
. And
because I swore on her mama's deathbed that I'd take her secret to my grave, this
sweet, innocent child," she continued, nodding toward her daughter, "has been branded
, too
." She shook her head vehemently. "If he doesn't want
us, then we
don't want him, either."

"But,
Bess…if you tell him the truth…
!" Matt insisted, jabbing a finger into the air. "
I
know
he'd love
Li'l Bit
every bit as much as if she were his own.
"

The
clock in the front hall gonged three times. Bess stood, took the baby from Matt's arms. "Do you love
me
, Matt? Mark?"

The twins exchanged a worried glance. "'Course we do,"
Matt
said.
"And that's
exactly
why we're gonna
find Chance and tell him—"

"
I
f you love me, you'll leave well enough alone. Now, please, unload the wagon, will you?
” She took the baby from her brother’s arms. “
I'm going to put
her
down for a nap while I get supper on the table."

"Way you look," Mark
muttered
, "you oughta take a nap
,
yourself."

She sent them a sad, weary smile and kissed each of their cheeks, then trudged inside and slowly climbed the stairs.

At the sound of her closing bedroom door, Mark elbowed Matt. "Betcha I can
tell him before you do
."

"You're on!"

***

He'd been in the Freeland saloon all afternoon. Between swallows of whiskey,
Chance
wondered if Bess had made it back to Foggy Bottom safely.

'Course she did, he
told himself.
She kn
ew
that road like the back of her hand. Besides, it
was
barely more'n an hour's ride from here to the farm....

Drumming his finge
rtips on the counter, he signal
ed the barkeep. "Just leave the bottle this time,"
Chance
said, slapping a silver dollar on the counter, "it'll save us both a heap of time."

"Didn't your mama teach you
that
you can't drown your sorrows in whiskey?"

"Maybe I can't drown 'em,"
Chance
snarled, grabbing it, "but I can numb 'em...if I'm lucky."

The man leaned on the bar. "Woman trouble?"

"You could say that...." He carried the bottle to a table near the door, used the toe of his boot to pull out a chair. "...but it'd be better all 'round if you
didn’t
say it."

The bartender held up his hands in mock surrender. "Just tryin' to do the Christian thing," he told another customer.

"The Lord helps them what helps themselves," the drunken patron slurred. "Leave 'im with his booze an' the she-devil that drove him to it."

He should tell them that Bess
was anything
but.
He downed another gulp of the alcohol, hoping it would deaden his ears to their ridiculous banter
,
deaden his heart to th
e news of Bess and her child.

He'd just tossed back his another jigger of whiskey when the twins barged into the saloon. "
Chance
Walker," one said, "we have business to discuss with you."

"Well, would you look at what the wind blew in."

The Beckley boys stood beside his table, arms crossed over their chests, feet spread wide on the dusty floor.

"You've grown a lot in a year,"
Chance
said, smiling. "Why, when I left here, you were barely bigger'n
—“

Mark spoke first. "
B
ig enough to hurt you, if we have to."

Chance
chuckled and poured himself another jigger of whiskey. "Now, now, boys. Why would you want to try an' do a fool thing like that?"

"'Cause you hurt Bess, that's why," Matt said. "And we're here to tell you, you've hurt her for the last time."

"
I've
hurt
her
?"
Chance
slammed a fist onto the table. "Don't make me laugh." He waved a hand in their direction, as if shooing away an annoying mosquito. "Now, git
. L
et me drown
my sorrows in peace."

Matt leaned into
Chance
's face. "You think you've got sorrows? Let me tell you something about sorrows!" In a whipstitch, he grabbed
Chance
’s
shirt collar and brought him to his feet.

The men at the bar were on their feet, too, circling to watch the brewing fight. "My money's on the twins," said one.

"How much?" asked another.

"A dollar!"

And the barkeep shoved
Chance
's silver dollar forward. "Double or nothin'!"

"Put your money away, men,"
Chance
growled. "I never fought a boy in my life, and I don't aim to start now."

"We ain't boys!" Matt insisted, tightening his hold on
Chance
's arm. "We're fifteen! What's the matter
,
you still yeller?"

Mark leaned in close, lips curled back in disgust and fury. "Yeah, are you still a coward?"

Still
a coward?
Still
yeller?
"Look,"
Chance
began, "I don't know what you're all riled up about, but
—“

"Don't know what...." Matt
slapped
the hat
from
Chance
's head. "I'll tell you what! You left Bess alone, to deal with those hens in town callin' her
a—“

"Matthew!"

Everyone turned toward the saloon's swinging doors, where Bess stood, babe in arms.

"I thought I told you two to mind your own business
!
" she huffed. "You promised me you'd stay out of this."

Chance
looked from the twins to Bess and back again. The baby began to fuss, and
Chance
shook his head. He hadn't had time to drink enough whiskey to make him this confused, and yet....

Bess gently propped the child against her shoulder and patted its back. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, turning her wrath on
Chance
. "I thought your
woman
needed you?"