Wild Rain

by Beverly Jenkins

  Due to his bandaged shoulder and the wounds beneath, he remained unable to lift his right arm to feed himself. He’d been able to use his left hand for solid foods like eggs and bacon, but soup needed a preciseness his left hand couldn’t manage.

  Seated on the edge of the mattress, she spooned up a bit of the soup and raised it to him. “Here.”

  He couldn’t decide whether he enjoyed being fed or not. On the one hand, he enjoyed her nearness and being fussed over, but on the other hand, he felt like a weak child.

  She spooned up more. “Never fed a man before. Being around you is one new experience after another.”

  He’d missed her humor, too.

  “What’s going to be next?”

  “Something much more substantial once I’m able to walk and talk at the same time,” he quipped.

  “I’m looking forward to your substantial attention.”

  His body was warming to the wordplay in a way that couldn’t be satisfied in his present condition. “How about we talk about something else? I’m in no shape to be riled up.”

  She gave him a mock pout. “You’re no fun, but okay. What would you rather we talked about?”

  “Tell me what I’ve missed.”

  She began with the burning of Mr. James’s mill. Hearing that the fire appeared to have been deliberately set left Garrett angry and concerned. “I’m glad he wasn’t hurt. Was this Jarvis’s doing?”

  “Odell and I wondered the same thing.” She then informed him of the meeting Jarvis was having.

  Garrett asked, “Are you going to attend?”

  “No. I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

  “I can tend myself, Spring. It’s not like you’ll be gone overnight.”

  She studied him. “What if you need assistance getting out of bed?”

  “I’ve managed twice on my own today.”

  She didn’t appear impressed. “You’re supposed to ask for help, mister.”

  “I didn’t need any.” He thought it best not to mention almost falling headfirst into the tub. “Go to the meeting. I know you’d rather be there in person than have Odell or someone else tell you what transpired.” He knew her well enough to be certain he was correct.

  “Okay, but if I come home and find you passed out on the floor, I’ll be feeding you to a bear.”

  “Noted.”

  When he finished the soup, she set the bowl aside. “A wire came from your sister. She sends her love and prayers. Odell said she wanted to know the distance between here and Cheyenne. Do you think she’s coming to visit?”

  He was surprised by that. “I don’t know. Did the wire contain anything else?” That Melody might indeed visit was exciting to think about.

  “No, but Odell promised to let me know if she wires again.”

  He thought again how pleased he’d be to see her. “You’d like her, Spring. She and I have different fathers, but she’s my sister through and through.”

  “I’m sure I would.”

  “What are you going to do for the rest of the day?” he asked.

  “Hopefully make more headway plowing my garden so I can get the seeds put in. There’s fences needing shoring up, wood to chop. Other than that, not much for a lady of leisure like myself.”

  “Yet another boring day.”

  “Exactly. Is there anything you need before I go back outside?”

  “Yes, but I can’t have it, at least not presently.”

  She gave him another soft, stirring kiss. “We’ll make up for it soon. I promise. Get some rest. I’ll be back later.”

  Buoyed by the soup, the kisses, and her promise, Garrett slept.

  Chapter Twelve

  The Jarvis meeting was being held at the bank and when Spring arrived, most of the chairs in the room were filled with ranchers and other landowners. She nodded greetings to those she knew before finding a place in the back to stand. A few minutes later Odell entered and joined her. Jarvis made his entrance shortly after, along with Matt, Hazel, and Swan. Spring watched Swan set up an easel and a large map of the area on it. He then withdrew a stack of papers from a leather bag and set them on the table nearby. While he attended to that, Hazel sat silent and Spring again wondered what these people were really up to. Jarvis spent a few moments speaking with Arnold Cale, Matt, and Randolph Nelson before turning to assess the crowd.

  Banker Cale started the meeting. “Evening. Thanks for coming. Many of you have seen Mr. Jarvis here around. He and his lovely daughter are visiting from back East where he’s a very important man. He’s called us all together because he has a few proposals he thinks we might be interested in.”

  Jarvis glanced around the room. He didn’t say anything at first, making Spring wonder if he’d expected applause to greet his introduction.

  He finally began. “As Banker Cale stated I’m Avery Jarvis from New York City.”

  Silence greeted that also.

  He cleared his throat. “I met Matt Ketchum here a few months back and he told me what a fine community this was. He also told me about the acres and acres of lumber here, something those of us back East are in dire need of. I’m a lawyer and also a member of a group of investors who’d like to tap into those resources and offer you an opportunity to access what we’re sure will be a promising enterprise.”

  The audience waited.

  “First, I’d like to build a new mill to replace the one lost in the fire. It would be more cost effective to cut the trees into board length and ship the wood east than paying the freight for heavy uncut trees. A new mill would also give you access to a local business as opposed to having to patronize one that’s not. My investor friends and I see this new enterprise as a partnership, and we’d match the funds that you raise.”

  Odell bluntly asked, “Who’d own it?”

  “My people, and those who choose to invest. Now, the second opportunity I’d like to discuss is the planned railroad line that will run from Paradise to Cheyenne—” and he used a pointer to trace the proposed route on the big map resting on the easel, adding “—which is good news to the ranchers wanting to ship their beef, and to those who partner with our mill. In order to make this come about, the railroad needs to buy up the land along the route.”

  “How much are they paying?” someone asked.

  Jarvis appeared thrown off by the interruption. “I’ll get to that in a moment.”

  “Must be pennies if he’s not telling.”

  A few people laughed.

  Another voice responded sarcastically, “Okay, Jarvis, feed us more line. Let’s see if we’ll swallow the hook on this, too.”

  Spring wondered what Matt had shared with Jarvis that led him to believe this land buy would be an easy sell. Everyone acknowledged the benefits the railroads offered, but the companies were wholly hated. The trains killed livestock, the coal ash fouled streams, and more than a few landowners had been forced into foreclosure by the railroads’ shady practices of selling bonds that weren’t worth the paper they were printed on. She didn’t see this going well for Jarvis if he couldn’t prove this was an offer to be trusted.

  Randolph Nelson asked, “So what are you selling, Mr. Jarvis?”

  “Bonds in exchange for the land. The more profit the railroad makes, the higher the return on your bonds. You can cash them in once that profit is on the ledgers. I have brochures here that further explain the details.”

  Spring shook her head in response. Back when the railroad first began laying tracks, people were willing to offer up their farmland and everything else they owned for a shot at the promised profits. Now, after numerous scandals tied to fraud, government waste, and outright theft, people were now less gullible.

  Nelson stood and said, “Thank you, Mr. Jarvis. Not interested.” He started to the door. A few others followed. Spring watched Jarvis’s eyes widen in shock and fright.

  “Wait! Where are you going?”

  “Home,” Nelson replied.

  “But I’m offering you the opportunity
to reap a grand profit.”

  “Fleecing is for sheep and that’s what this is going to be.”

  Jarvis said angrily, “What I’m offering is better than what you’ll get if I sue you for the theft of Ketchum land. Once I’m done, you’ll have nothing.”

  Nelson turned back. “What did you say?”

  “Matt Ketchum is retaining my services to have the sale of his family acreage declared illegal and the land returned to him.”

  By then, every eye in the place was trained on Matt, who said defiantly, “My pa’s land was stolen—”

  “Wait one damn minute!” Arnold Cale interrupted angrily. “I conducted that sale. It was legal in every way. I did my best to get word to you when the land reverted to the bank, but you were nowhere to be found.”

  “You obviously didn’t look hard enough.”

  “I didn’t look under rocks if that’s your meaning.”

  Nelson added, “I paid for that land fair and square, as did everyone else that day. If you’re willing to believe Ketchum over the banker who conducted the sale, you truly are ignorant.”

  “And you’ll be eating crow when he wins.”

  Randolph laughed. “Bring your suit and I’ll tie you up in court so long my grandsons will be representing my estate before it’s over.”

  Although the matter was a serious one, Spring thought this was better entertainment than the traveling stage shows that came through town every now and again. She glanced at Odell. He whispered, “They should’ve sold tickets.”

  She agreed.

  As the squabbling continued, Nelson told Jarvis, “If I were you, I’d go back to New York. There’s been nothing but trouble since you and this piece of offal—” and he glared directly at Matt “—came to town. First, McCray gets backshot, and then the mill burns down. Coincidence? Maybe. Either way, you need to leave.”

  Jarvis snapped, “Are you threatening me?”

  “No. I’m telling you to go sell your snake oil somewhere else. We’ll build our own mill without your help.” And with that, he exited.

  Cale said, “Your meeting’s over, Jarvis. Get the hell out of my bank.”

  “I’ll see you in court.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Jarvis glanced around at all the angry faces and apparently realized he had no support. Grim, he and Swan packed up the easel and map along with the stack of brochures, and he and his party left.

  Arnold Cale was still fuming when Spring, Odell, and everyone who’d remained exited. Outside, Jarvis and his group could be seen walking swiftly back to Dovie’s. Randolph Nelson, watching the retreat angrily, asked Odell and Spring, “Do you believe this?”

  “I do,” Odell said. “But only because Spring told me Jarvis approached her about selling her land.”

  “He did?” Randolph asked, sounding surprised. “When was this?”

  Spring told him about the visit.

  Randolph replied, “So he tried pressuring you first. Did he think you’d quake because you’re a woman?”

  “I got that impression.”

  “Then he doesn’t know you, does he?”

  “No.” He wasn’t the first man to think her gender was synonymous with weakness.

  Nelson asked, “Matt doesn’t actually believe that land was stolen from him, does he?”

  Spring shrugged.

  By then some of the others who’d been at the meeting drifted over and gave their opinions on what had transpired. Spring listened to a bit of it, but McCray, alone in her cabin, was on her mind and she wondered how he was faring. Needing to find out, she offered her goodbyes and rode for home.

  In light of the attack on McCray, she kept an eye out as best she could for ambush. That Ketchum had turned what was once an uneventful ride into one that might cost her her life made her curse him inwardly. With any luck, the guilty would be found, tried, and jailed, and things would go back to being slow and peaceful again, but she didn’t count on it being anytime soon.

  McCray was in bed reading. His smile at her entrance touched her heart in a way that had become familiar as of late. Rather than question or ignore it, she chose to enjoy how it made her feel. He’d come into her life in the middle of a blizzard and proceeded to quietly challenge many things she thought she knew about herself. “Glad to find you in one piece.”

  “Welcome back. I told you I’d be fine.” He set the book aside as she settled into the chair by the bed.

  “What are you reading?” she asked. Other than Colt, she knew very few men who read sheerly for pleasure.

  “The third installment of Fred Douglass’s autobiography. How’d the meeting go?”

  She gave him a quick rundown of the events, adding, “And Banker Cale was hopping mad having his integrity questioned.”

  “What do you think will happen next?”

  “I have no idea. I do know that Randolph Nelson isn’t going to be bullied by a big-city charlatan who thinks we’re a bunch of ignorant small-town rubes. Nelson’s wife, Audrey, has ties to people in the territorial government and they might be helpful getting this resolved. Jarvis should probably take Nelson’s advice and leave town.”

  “He’s probably not smart enough to do that.”

  “No. He seems hell-bent on getting his way.”

  “Are you worried about the lawsuit he’s threatening?”

  “I’d be naive to say no, but Odell and the others are certain his case won’t hold water, so I’m choosing to believe them—at least for now.” If she lost her land she wasn’t sure what she’d do. More than likely, Odell and Ben would allow her to carve out a small piece from their extensive holdings, but she didn’t want to start over someplace else. She’d worked hard to be able to afford the place she now called home, and after a decade of ownership, her roots ran deep.

  “As a lawyer, I agree with Odell. If the bank owned the land, Cale had every right to sell it as he saw fit.”

  “Jarvis disagrees. I have to wonder how long he’s known Matt to have put such faith in his side of the story.”

  “Sounds to me like there’s some things we aren’t being told.”

  “Wish we knew what it was so we could send the lot of them packing.”

  “The truth always rises.”

  “I’m hoping you’re right. In the meantime, I’m hungry. Do you want a sandwich?”

  “A few kisses would be better.”

  Amused by that, she said, “I thought you didn’t want to get riled up?”

  “I’m willing to risk a little commotion. It’s helping me heal.”

  She laughed softly. “So kisses are medicinal?”

  “Yours are.”

  Leaning close, she brushed her lips over his. “I wish I could give you more . . .”

  The kiss was gentle at first, a short whispery reacquaintance that soon bloomed into the desire that had been left to simmer since his attack. They knew there’d be no full expression of their mutual passion, but she savored the tastes of him, the slide of her tongue against the parted corner of his mouth and the heat that slowly rose in her blood. He moved a bent finger teasingly over her nipple, reminding her how much she loved his touch and she murmured, “You really need to hurry up and get well, McCray.”

  “Open your shirt for me . . .”

  Spurred by his tone and the intensity in his eyes, she moved closer to give him access. The slow licks and seductive tugs that followed made her melt and moan softly in pleasure-filled response. Reaching down, she found his hardness hidden beneath the blankets and once again sought his lips. Her hand played, he groaned. He raised his hips for more. Pain instantly tightened his face and his frame. “Too much,” he panted.

  She stopped. Feeling terrible, she laid her cheek against his brow and felt the slight sheen of perspiration on his skin. “I’m sorry.”

  “You’ve nothing to apologize for,” he ground out, distress still evident. “Probably should’ve had the sandwich instead.”

  Concerned, she caressed his stubble-shrouded
cheek. “No more kiss medicine for you.”

  He gave her a mock pout. “I suppose.”

  Once his breathing lost its harshness and slowed, she placed a kiss on his cheek. “I’ll get your sandwich and make you some tea.”

  When she returned, Garrett used his left hand to take the small plate from her and set it on his lap.

  “Better?” she asked, setting the steaming tea on the nightstand.

  Seeing that she hadn’t done up all the buttons on her shirt, giving him a partially veiled view of her small breasts, his smile was rueful. “I won’t be better until I can show you how much I miss sharing a bed.” He was pleased that she’d brought her food in, too, though. He missed her company as much as he did making love to her.

  She moved her chair a short distance away from the bed. “I’m going to sit over here so I don’t tempt you.”

  “Especially since your buttons are still undone.”

  “That’s incentive for you to heal up.”

  With her wit and sass, Garrett thought men should be lined up outside her door for a chance at one of her smiles. Never mind that she’d probably shoot them all first.

  Her voice brought him back. “Since we can’t discuss or do anything substantial, what shall we talk about?”

  Before he could think on that, she said, “I know. Tell me about being in the navy. You’re the only sailor I’ve met.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Where you went on the boat. What kind of work you did. That sort of thing.”

  “I was on a ship called the Kearsarge. Ever hear of it?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “It was in one of the most famous sea battles of the war, the Battle of Cherbourg.”

  “Where’s that?”

  “Off the coast of France in the English Channel. The fight took place in July of sixty-four between our ship and the Confederate war sloop, Alabama.”

  “What were the ships doing in France?”

  “The Alabama was there looking for a dock to make repairs. It had made a name for itself attacking Union merchant ships all over the world. We were docked in Holland.”

  “Why were the Rebs attacking merchant ships?”