"I've never seen anything like this," she breathed. "Or felt it! It's like winter in here."
Will grinned. "I 'spect I'll be chasin' cowboys out on scorching August afternoons from here on out."
The thought that this would be a good place to cool off on a hot day had already crossed Linnea's mind, and she laughed.
By the time another week passed, Linnea had worked caring for the baby into her daily routine. Rebecca slept an amazing amount of time, as Mavis had assured her she would, giving Linnea sufficient time to cook and serve meals, though Roy and Will often helped.
When she tackled the laundry for the first time, the baby wailed, so she tucked her into a sling she fashioned from dish towels, tied it at her shoulder and waist and carried her daughter as she worked.
Will laughed and called Rebecca a little papoose.
The days passed and Rebecca opened her eyes and stayed awake for longer periods of time. In the middle of the third week, Will got a telegram from his sister and sent Cimarron to escort her and her children to the ranch. Linnea prepared an upstairs bedroom and baked extra bread and a cake.
The baby woke Linnea before dawn the next day. Linnea nursed her, then settled on the porch to enjoy the sunrise and the first signs of activity. In the dense green vegetation to the west of the house, away from the corrals and bunkhouse, a pair of elk fed on root-stocks and new shoots. Linnea watched them until Will strode from the barn toward the house and the animals bounded up the forested incline out of sight.
He built a fire in the stove and started coffee. Linnea settled Rebecca in her cradle while she prepared johnnycakes and sausage.
The men had settled in to their breakfast when the sound of a wagon alerted them to someone approaching.
Will laid down his fork, stood, and moved to the doorway. With one hand raised to the doorframe, he said over his shoulder, "It's Cimarron with Corinne and the kids."
He pushed open the screen door and went to meet them.
Conversation resumed around the table. The men ate and drank their coffee, and eventually headed out. All but Roy, who scraped plates and poured hot water into the enamel basin.
"I can finish those, Roy, if you'd like to get on with your chores,'' Linnea told him.
He scrubbed plates and dipped them in rinse water. "I'm goin' full chisel now, ma'am. I'll have these done in a shake."
Linnea wiped the table and placed Will's uneaten breakfast on the stove to warm. She itched to go look out the door and see what was happening, but Corinne was Will's family and she was the hired help, so she kept to her work.
Finally the door opened and a dark-haired boy wearing a shirt and vest bounded into the kitchen. He glanced around, spotted Linnea and Aggie and greeted them both. "Morning, Mrs. McConaughy, ma'am."
Linnea had met Corinne's children when she'd stayed two nights with them in Saint Louis. This young fellow was Corinne's son. "Hello, Zach. Did you have a good trip?"
"The train ride was great fun, and sleeping out-of-doors last night was a splendid adventure. Cimarron showed me bear tracks! That's why we headed out so early this morning. He was afeared there was a bear close."
"That was wise of him. Are you hungry?"
"Sure am." He slid off his cap and stretched to hang it on a lower peg before approaching the table.
Linnea prepared him a plate and set it before him.
The door opened and Corinne entered, followed by Will, who carried five-year-old Margaret on one arm. The cherubic girl wore a frilly blue dress and matching bonnet, beneath which long dark curls hung over her shoulders.
Corinne was a tall woman with a curvaceous shape and lustrous dark hair in an elegant upsweep, and Linnea couldn't help wondering how she achieved such an elegant appearance after sleeping on the ground and waking beside a campfire.
"Linnea!" she said, and swept forward. "Don't you look well!"
She greeted Linnea with a warm hug, surprising her.
Corinne then turned to Aggie and said politely, "Agnes, how are you faring?"
"Got no complaints today," Aggie replied.
Corinne turned to her daughter, whom Will had just set down. "Margaret, mind your manners and greet your nana."
"Ma'am," little Margaret said with a curtsey.
Linnea's head spun at hearing Aggie referred to as Agnes, then nana. She glanced at Aggie and didn't note a disapproving reaction.
"Where's the baby?" Corinne asked.
Linnea stepped aside and gestured to the cradle.
Corinne swept forward. "Cimarron told us she was a beautiful little girl." She caressed the sleeping baby's tiny fist with one finger and smiled. "So sweet and innocent. I can hardly remember when my babies were this little. Matter of fact, I don't think they were ever this little." She grinned and looked up at Linnea. "Rotund, they were."
Corinne glanced toward Roy and straightened. The ranch hand was drying plates and stacking them, but at her notice he stopped and gave her an awkward nod. "Hello, Mrs. Dumont."
"Roy," she replied with high color in her cheeks, and Linnea wondered if it had been there all along and she hadn't noticed, but she didn't think so.
Roy averted his gaze.
Will glanced between the two of them, then at Linnea.
"Margaret, would you like to join Zach at the table for breakfast?'' Linnea asked.
Margaret said she would and Will helped her onto a bench near his seat.
Linnea prepared plates for Margaret and Corinne and placed Will's unfinished meal before him, then poured coffee.
Quickly finishing the dishes, Roy grabbed his hat and left.
Corinne was talking to Will at the time, but her gaze slid briefly to the door.
The encounter puzzled Linnea, and she couldn't figure out why Corinne's reaction to Roy seemed odd.
"You sounded highly agitated in your telegrams," Corinne said to her brother. "I had business to attend to, but I came as soon as I could. Whatever had you in such a snit?"
Embarrassment heated Linnea's skin. As angry as he'd been upon her arrival, she could well imagine what Will had written to his sister. She had food to prepare for the noon meal, but it could wait while she left them alone to talk. She started toward Rebecca's cradle.
Will glanced at Linnea, then back at his sister. "I may have been a little hasty in my first reaction," he said. "I thought you'd hired someone completely wrong for the work."
"I had a feeling the two of you needed each other," Corinne replied with unabashed frankness. "Was I right?"
Chapter Twenty-Three
Needed each other?
Linnea had bent over Rebecca to check her flannel. Corinne's words caused her to pause and stare at Aggie.
A twinkle lit Aggie's eyes behind her spectacles but she said nothing.
An eternity passed as Linnea waited for Will's reply.
"Things have turned out better than I thought," he said finally.
Corinne laughed. "That's a pretty big admission for a mule-headed man like you! She must be a wonderful cook!"
"Linnea, come sit with us," Will called over. "I don't like talkin' about you like you're not here."
"I was just going to go out and pick beans for supper while it's still cool," she replied.
"The beans will still be there," he said. "Sit a minute." Then he added, "Please."
Linnea turned in time to see Corinne's eyebrows raise and a smile touch her lips. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat with Zach between her and Will.
"So you've found your niche on the Double T rather nicely," Corinne said. "And from what Cimarron said, you're quite popular among the hands."
"They're good men," Linnea replied.
"My brother always made wise choices." Corinne glanced at her brother and back. She turned to Aggie then, "Agnes, will you join us for coffee?"
Linnea started to rise, but Corinne waved her back down. She assisted Aggie to the table and poured her a cup of coffee.
Eventually the children were finished a
nd asked to go outdoors to play. "Uncle Will will bring our trunks in. You must change clothing first," their mother told them.
"May we play with our shoes off, Mama?" Zach asked.
Corinne smiled. "Yes. And you will remember everything that Uncle Will has taught you about safe places to play, and you will stay close by."
Will went out for the enormous trunks that had already been placed on the porch, and carried them up the stairs, one at a time.
Corinne said to Linnea, "This is their time to be carefree and have fun. They can't go barefoot in the city, you know."
Linnea had grown up in a family where shoes were a luxury and worn only in winter, so she didn't share the Dumont children's excitement in being able to go without. She merely nodded as if she understood.
"You've visited the ranch before?" Linnea asked.
"Just once last summer," she replied.
"I had the feeling that you and Roy already knew each other."
Corinne slid her gaze away and picked up plates and cups. "I've known Mr. Jonjack since we were…well, a lot younger. He's from Indiana, where Will and I grew up."
That explained a little more, but still left Linnea curious. Her life experiences were on the other side of the moon from this woman's. "Oh."
"I'd love a bath once the children go out," she said, "to wash off the grime from the train ride and hopefully ease the aches from sleeping on the ground."
Linnea knew exactly how she felt and told her so.
"Will you ask one of the men to set up the tub and heat water?'' Corinne asked.
"Right away."
Corinne hurried upstairs to help the children change.
Will had come back downstairs and plucked his hat from a peg. "One of the men will help with the noon meal," he said, and left.
Nash arrived to help Linnea with both the noon meal and supper that day. Since Roy was always the one to assist with meals, Linnea found Nash's assignment odd. Nash wasn't nearly as efficient or helpful, and she ended up sending him away after dinner, so she could clear the dishes and set things straight herself.
The sounds of children's laughter floated in through the open door, and she paused in the doorway to watch Will playing with Zach and Margaret in the yard. The sky was beginning to turn dark and fireflies already danced across the landscape.
Margaret rode on Will's shoulders as Zach chased them around a clump of rabbit bush. The child's dark hair was a wild tangle of curls about her shoulders, her once-white apron grass-stained, and the soles of her feet dirty. She laughed joyously, jumped up and down on Will's shoulders and grasped his hair for balance. He grimaced in pain but didn't halt the frivolity.
Both uncle and niece laughed when Zach caught up to them, and Will let Zach tackle him, careful to cushion Margaret's fall. Immediately Will pounced upon Zach and tickled the boy mercilessly. The three romped on the grass like playful puppies.
As she observed, a hollow awareness crept over Linnea.
Zach jumped up and darted away, frightening a rabbit from beneath a bush. The lightning-fast creature bounded into the nearby woods.
"I didn't even see him there!" Zach shouted.
"That's why they call it rabbit bush," Will explained. "See the olive-green leaves and gray branches? The colors blend with the rabbit's fur so he can hide."
Although Corinne was a widow, her children had once known a father's love, and still had an uncle who adored them so much, he'd seemingly changed personalities when they'd arrived. Who, besides Linnea, would Rebecca have to play with her, teach her things… to love her?
"What are those bushes by the porch?" Zach asked.
"Sweetbriar roses," Will answered.
"I saved water for you to bathe," Corinne called to her children. "I'll add a kettle of hot to it now, so brush yourselves off. You first, Margaret."
"Oh, Mama, do we have to take a bath now?"
Zach asked. "We're just going to play again tomorrow."
"Yes, you do," she replied. "Mrs. McConaughy keeps a fine house with freshly washed bedding, and you will not be placing your dirty feet under her sheets."
"Zach can bathe with me," Will suggested, brushing off his trousers.
"In that cold stream?" Corinne asked with a shudder.
"Feels great on a hot night," he replied. "Come on, boy, I'll get soap and toweling and you bring clean pants."
Linnea turned back to set a kettle to boiling. She poured it into the water in the tub just as Margaret and Corinne reached the bathing room.
"Thank you kindly, Linnea," Corinne said.
"There's more soap and towels," she told her, pointing to a shelf, then left them.
Down on the stream bank, Will stripped and plunged into the refreshing water, and Zach followed, squealing at the temperature. Will laughed and lathered the boy's hair.
"When I get big, will I have hair all over me like you, Uncle Will?'' he asked with his nose inches from Will's chest.
"You can bet on it."
"I want to let my hair grow long like yours, but Mama says it's uncivilized."
Will chuckled. "You'll be old enough to wear your hair any way you like soon enough, until then you do as your Mama says. She knows what's best for you. Dunk your head and rinse now."
Zach dunked and sputtered and came up talking.
"Mama says Mrs. McConaughy is just what you needed, do you think that's so? Do you know what she means by that?"
As they washed and dried and dressed, Will listened and answered questions, but his thoughts kept returning to Linnea and his sister's words. I had a feeling the two of you needed each other. Was I right?
Had he needed Linnea? He'd never questioned that she'd needed his help and security, but what about the other way around? Something about her had drawn him from the very start. He'd felt an overwhelming protectiveness and later an unmistakable attraction. Maybe he was the one who'd needed her all along, not the other way around.
He and Zach approached the house, their hair already drying in the breeze. Will escorted his nephew to the house and wished him good-night, then sauntered to the corrals.
He'd already decided to ask Linnea to stay. Had been prepared to propose to her the night before Rebecca had been born. What good were fine horses, prime cattle or a sturdy house if he had no one with whom to share his dream and his life? No one to love and love him in return?
That foreign thought threw dirt on his fire. What could make a fragile china doll like Linnea fall for a coarse cranky man like him?
Perhaps he needed to rethink his plan—not rush headlong into asking her until he was sure she felt something for him. She should have more of a reason to stay than for only the security of a home for her baby.
A light in the upstairs bedroom revealed that his sister was busy with her children. He walked back to the house and found Linnea in a rocker on the porch. Rebecca slept on her lap. "Care to take a walk?"
Linnea stood, and he met her at the bottom of the stairs to take the baby from her. Cradling Rebecca in one arm, he offered the other to Linnea and led her away from the house.
They walked along the stream, where moonlight glistened off the bubbling water and gurgled along the banks.
"Is the water really cold to bathe in?" she asked.
"I only notice the cold in winter," he replied. '"Course, the ice is a clue."
She contemplated his teasing grin.
"Put your feet in and see for yourself," he suggested.
She regarded him. "Really?" she asked, her tone hopeful.
"Go ahead."
She sat and removed her shoes and stockings, rolled up the legs of her drawers, and while holding Will's hand for balance, took a step into the water. It was cold, but not uncomfortably so. The sensation felt wonderful on her feet and ankles, but the stones hurt her feet.
"Wade up here," he said. "There's a rock where you can sit."
She did so, and sat with her feet dangling in the cold water. Alter a few minutes it didn't feel so cold anymore
. Will settled behind her, holding Rebecca.
Some time later she turned and placed her feet flat on the rock, which was still warm from the sun. Will regarded her in the moonlight, once again contemplating how he could win her affection.
With the baby safely nestled on his lap, he reached for Linnea's foot. The skin was damp and cool, the bones small and delicate to his touch. She seemed surprised, but she didn't pull away. He massaged the sole and stroked each toe, then gave her other foot the same attention. "Does that feel good?"
Her reply was a whispered "Yes."
"Move closer."
She scooted up beside him, her knees to the side, and he wrapped one arm around her, his other hand securely on the sleeping baby.
Will threaded his fingers into her hair, reaching to the back and bringing her braid over her shoulder to stroke it.
He touched her face with one finger, ran it across her lips and over her brow. His finger tingled, and his body responded. Her lips parted and she leaned forward.
Covering her mouth with his, Will let himself be absorbed by the explosive sensations her lips created against his. He wanted to kiss her more deeply, pull her against him and lose himself in her, but he held back, keeping their embrace light and the kiss gentle. He had frightened her in the past, with his curses and his angry outbursts. He was aware that a man, or men, had frightened her at some time in the past; her reactions had revealed that long ago. He didn't want to be another man who scared her.
A shiver went through her body. On his lap, the baby stirred.
Will drew away. "I think she's waking up."
Linnea observed Rebecca yawn and stretch. "It's time for her to nurse."
She donned her stockings and shoes and they strolled back to the house. By the time they reached the porch, Rebecca had begun to cry.
"Here's your mama, little one," Will told her, handing Linnea the baby.
Their hands grazed as Linnea accepted the bundle, and she glanced up at his face, lit by the light from the kitchen. She'd once thought his face so hard, his eyes dark and angry, but now she found him strikingly handsome, his eyes filled with stormy passion.
He backed away and she carried Rebecca to her room, where she nestled on the bed to feed her. By the time an hour had elapsed, the baby slept again, and Linnea had gone for water, washed, changed and slid into bed. Thinking of the delightful children in the bed upstairs, she smiled.
The Tenderfoot Bride Page 19
