Looking past her at the restaurant, he saw Suzette walking toward them. Her curious features turned to a hostile stare as she came closer.
“What have you done to her, Fletcher?”
Tightening his hold, he whispered in Maddy’s ear before facing Suzette. “I came for answers.”
Settling fisted hands on her waist, she glared at him. “And did you get them?”
“Not all of them, but it’s a start.” Kissing Maddy’s temple, he loosened his hold. Using the pad of his thumb, he wiped tears from her face. “Are you going to be all right, lass?”
Sniffling, she nodded, dropping her arms from around his waist. “I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll be waiting for you when you’re finished tonight. What you told me was a fine start, but I need to know more of it, Maddy. I need to know all you’ve been keeping from me.”
“Madeleine won’t be working past seven tonight. You’re welcome to talk in the house.” She offered a conspiratorial expression to Fletcher. “You’re going to need the privacy.”
Maddy’s eyes flashed with concern. “But what will people think if Fletcher and I are in your house alone?”
Suzette moved closer. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but a good number of people already saw what happened out here between you and Fletcher.” She patted Maddy’s arm. “The fact some already suspect you’re with child, well…I believe being in the house with him won’t be a problem. But if you’d rather wait, Fletcher can come over after I’m finished tonight.”
Chewing her lower lip, Maddy shook her head. “You’re right, Suzette. Fletcher and I will talk when I finish tonight.” Her voice trembled, causing Fletcher to draw her back to him.
“I’ll be seeing you later tonight, lass.”
“Do you want some whiskey, Fletch?” Brodie sipped his coffee, holding baby Shaun while his wife, Maggie, finished with supper.
“Nae. Coffee is fine. I need to be having my mind clear tonight.” Fletcher watched his older brother and his family, feeling the normal pang of wanting, the same as he always felt when around Colin and Sarah, Quinn and Emma, and Sam and Jinny. So many members of the family had married in the last few years, and all were happy, content. He wanted the same, but only if it happened with the right woman.
Brodie settled Shaun on his lap. “Do you think Maddy is telling you the truth, lad?”
Stretching out his legs, Fletcher stared across the room, looking at nothing in particular. “I don’t know. The lass was upset when she answered me, so I’m not sure how much truth was in it.”
He’d shared what Maddy had told him, leaving nothing out. If it was true, and the baby was his, he’d do what was right.
Somehow, Fletcher knew she kept other secrets and he meant to learn every one of them before making a final decision on how much of his heart he’d offer. A marriage to legitimize a child was one thing, and he was prepared to go forward with one. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he’d not shirk his responsibility. Giving his heart to Maddy was something else, a decision Fletcher still had to make.
“What’s her full name?”
Fletcher’s mouth twisted. “Madeleine…” He thought another moment, realizing he still didn’t know her last name. “I’ll ask the lass when I see her tonight. I do know she’s from Kansas.”
“Get as much as you can, Fletch. Her da’s name, ma’s name, the town where the lass was born. I’ll be asking Sam for help and send telegrams to her hometown. Maybe someone will remember her.”
A stab of guilt moved through him. “Maddy will be angry if she learns what you’re doing.”
Brodie let out an unremorseful chuckle. “I’ll not be caring too much what she thinks. My concern is for you, lad, and the type of woman who might be joining the family.”
The front door flew open, crashing against the wall. “We’re hoping you’ve not eaten everything without us.” Bram walked inside, followed by a more reserved Camden.
“Bram MacLaren. You march right back out there and enter as a civilized gentleman.” Maggie moved toward him as she spoke, the large spoon in her hand cutting through the air.
“Ach, Maggie, sweetheart. I meant no harm.”
She glared at him, doing her best not to laugh. “Out with you.”
“And don’t you be calling my wife sweetheart,” Brodie barked out, grimacing when Shaun began to cry.
Maggie looked at her husband before focusing her wrath on Bram. “Now see what you’ve done.”
Fletcher knew better than to jump between his sister-in-law and anyone. She might seem quiet and reserved, but give her cause and she’d transform into a formidable opponent. One you didn’t want to cross.
Holding his hands in the air, Bram bowed before stepping back outside. Knocking, he waited until Maggie invited him inside.
Sweeping his hat off his head, he bowed. “Well, good evening to you all. Did you save any supper for Camden and me?”
Laughing, Maggie motioned them to chairs at the table. “Sit down, you miscreants, before you hurt yourselves.”
Camden clasped Fletcher on the shoulder as they all sat. “Did you speak with her, lad?”
“Aye. Did you two talk with Frankie?”
Camden nodded. “Aye, we did.”
Bram rested his arms on the table. “The lad knows quite a bit about the fair lassie.”
Fletcher wanted to groan. Rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, he gestured for Bram to continue.
“Tell us what the lass said first, lad.” Bram reached into the basket on the table, quickly removing a biscuit while Maggie had her back to him.
He’d already repeated Maddy’s confession to Brodie. Fletcher had no desire to share the same intimate details with Bram and Camden.
“I’ll be meeting the lass after she’s done at work. Tell me what you learned from Frankie.”
Shrugging, Bram sat back in his chair. “She’s from Abilene. That’s where Frankie met her. He said her da was a Union colonel during the war.”
“An uncle was also a colonel,” Camden added. “Her da and ma are dead, but the uncle is still alive.”
Brodie shifted Shaun to his other arm. “Where’s the uncle now?”
Camden shrugged. “Frankie didn’t say anything more before it got real busy.”
“Did he tell you Maddy’s last name?” Fletcher asked.
Bram’s brows lifted. “The lass may be carrying your bairn and you don’t know her last name?”
Pushing away from the table, Fletcher stood. “I need to be meeting Maddy.”
“Not until you’ve eaten.” Maggie set a plate of stew in front of him. She glared at Bram. “Leave him alone. He’s got enough on his mind without you making him feel worse.”
Lowering himself back down, Fletcher ate in silence, thinking of what his cousins had learned. Looking up, he lifted a brow. “Did Frankie say if she has any brothers or sisters?”
Camden glanced at Bram, who shook his head. “Nae. We can go back after supper and see what else the lad is willing to share,” Camden offered.
Brodie rubbed his chin while rocking Shaun in his other arm. “Fletch, you still need to be getting her last name and her da’s first name from the lass. With what Bram and Cam learned, Sam and I’ll be able to find out more about her.”
Other than a brisk nod, Fletcher didn’t respond. He didn’t do much more than move his food around the plate before standing again. Letting out a resigned breath, he shoved the chair back under the table.
“This isn’t how I expected my life to go.”
Maggie tossed down a towel, walking to him. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she looked up at him. “You’re a good man, Fletcher, and a good judge of character. If you like Maddy, I’m sure it’s because she’s a good woman. We all fall on hard times, especially women. We do what we must to survive.” They all knew the hardships Maggie faced, including kidnapping and spending time in jail, before falling in love with Brodie. “If you love the girl, so will the rest of the family. M
y instincts tell me if Maddy says the child is yours, then it is. You just need to learn enough about her to believe it. If it’s all true, no one doubts what a good father you’ll be.”
Giving Maggie a peck on the cheek, he nodded at the others before walking out. He did believe he’d make a good father. Fletcher was less certain of the type of husband he’d be.
Maddy couldn’t control the waves of nausea rolling through her. She knew it had nothing to do with the baby. Her horrible mood and sour stomach were all due to Fletcher MacLaren and the talk they were to have when she stepped out the back door.
She’d promised herself to tell him everything, the entire sad tale of her family and her life after leaving Kansas. Some of it might be hard for him to hear. It would also be difficult for her to voice aloud. Frankie knew much of it, but even he didn’t know everything.
“Are you going to be all right talking to Fletcher by yourself?”
Maddy hadn’t heard Suzette come to stand beside her. Straightening, her mouth twisted into a grim smile.
“I’ll be fine. He’d never hurt me or intentionally upset me. Fletch is a good man. I’m sure it’s hard for him to learn the woman he believed to be nothing more than a saloon whore is someone very different.”
“And carrying his child,” Suzette added.
Maddy sucked in a weary breath. “Yes. He needs answers. I hope to give him all he needs to finally believe the life we made is a part of him.”
“If you need me—”
Maddy held up her hand. “Thank you, but I’ll be fine. In fact, I’ll be glad to put it all behind me. Once Fletcher knows, he can make whatever decision is best for him. Then I’ll know what my baby and I will face as a future.”
“If he accepts what you have to say, Fletch won’t walk away from you. Something tells me you already know that, Maddy.”
Pursing her lips, she turned toward the back door, wanting to believe what Suzette said. Squaring her shoulders, Maddy pushed open the door, her gaze landing on Fletcher standing at the bottom of the steps.
He draped an arm around her shoulders, neither speaking as they walked back to Suzette’s. Once inside, he followed her into the parlor, turning up several lamps.
“Do you want me to make coffee?”
Fletcher shook his head. “Nae, lass.” He sat on the sofa, patting the spot beside him. “Come sit by me.”
Hesitating a moment, she worried her bottom lip.
“I’ll not bite you, lass. Unless you want me to.” When he smiled, it felt as if he’d opened the heavens for her.
Lowering herself next to him, she studied his much too handsome face, remembering the times she’d held it in the palms of her hands before kissing his lips. He was all she wanted, now and forever, and she couldn’t help herself from praying he’d believe what she had to say.
Reaching over, Fletcher picked up one of her hands, clasping it between his larger ones.
“You know, lass, I don’t know your last name.”
“You never asked.”
Fletcher felt a pang of guilt at how he’d never thought of asking. She must think him a selfish prig to never be curious about her life the way she’d been about his.
“I’m asking now, lass.”
Sucking in a breath, she closed her eyes for an instant, praying for strength. “My last name is Colbert. My father was Byron Colbert, and my uncle is—”
“Dob Colbert,” he interrupted, blowing out a disbelieving breath. “The Colbert gang.” Fletcher wondered if it could get much worse. Later, he’d realize it did.
Chapter Twelve
Standing, Fletcher paced to a window, staring into the dark sky littered with stars. Scrubbing a hand down his face, he couldn’t help questioning what else he didn’t know about Maddy, admitting it was doubtless a lot.
Would he also discover the woman was a liar, someone who’d tell a man she carried his baby when it belonged to another? The idea stung.
Being from Kansas made sense, knowing her father was part of the Colbert gang. Not just a part, but one of its leaders. Even those living in the far west had heard of the group who terrorized towns after the war ended. His da had told him the difference between the Colberts and other guerillas was the men in their gang were northerners, not from the south. It didn’t make any difference to Fletcher. Being from the north or south didn’t make one group of murderers better or worse than the others. They were all killers, men Fletcher hoped never came to Conviction.
Turning, he crossed his arms. He stared at Maddy a long time before his questioning gaze bored into hers.
“Why did you come to Conviction?”
Wrapping both arms around her stomach, she thought of the truth. A group of horrible men—murderers, rapists, and kidnappers—searched for her with no intention of letting her get away again. A shiver ran through Maddy. Nausea almost doubled her over at the thought of what the men would do to her once they learned of the baby.
“Their life wasn’t what I wanted. My father and mother were already dead…” A lump she always tried to ignore formed in her throat, closing it. Maddy shut her eyes, squeezing them until the image of her father’s lifeless body vanished. From experience, she knew it wouldn’t leave her for long. Neither his body nor the image of her mother’s, both bleeding out, would ever be erased from her memory.
“They’ve been gone almost two years.” She didn’t want to talk about her sweet, kind mother, a woman who’d stood behind her husband, even when the horrors of the war changed him into a man no one recognized. Sometime, far in the future, she’d tell Fletcher about the woman who gave birth to her and an older brother Maddy hadn’t seen in years.
Fletcher didn’t change his stance, presenting a somewhat menacing pose, features distrustful. “How did he die?”
The look on his face told Maddy he wasn’t going to accept anything she said with ease. She’d learned trust played a huge role in the MacLaren family. Broken, it might never be given a second time.
“He was murdered by, um…” She swallowed. “One of the men in the gang murdered him.” She could see her answer didn’t make sense. “His brother ordered the killing.”
“Dob?”
Maddy nodded. “They didn’t get along. My father was older, but Dob started the gang, so he became the leader. He selected all the men, and they were loyal to him.” Her watery gaze met his. “My father was a good man, Fletcher. The war changed him. When he returned home, Father seemed lost, had a hard time completing his regular chores.” Stifling a sob, she refused to look away. “He didn’t deserve what Dob did to him.”
Although it almost killed him, Fletcher refused to go to her, draw Maddy into his arms. He couldn’t let himself forget there were still too many questions needing answers. With what she’d already told him, Fletcher could go to Brodie, have his brother and Sam work their magic to verify if the information was true or a lie. A way for Maddy to cover her background, loosen his defenses. Until he knew she’d been truthful, he’d keep a tight grip on his trust and his heart.
“I’m sure your da didn’t deserve to die, at least not at the order of his brother. You were there when it happened, lass?”
Nodding, she clasped her hands together. She ached to have Fletcher come to her, offer his arms as comfort, but understood his hesitancy. He still had doubts. Opening her palms, she rested them on her stomach.
“The baby is yours, Fletcher. Yours and mine.”
The lifting of his chin, lips pressed together, gave the only indication his hard exterior might be crumbling. A full minute passed before he dropped his arms, settling into a chair several feet from Maddy.
“You still haven’t told me how you ended up in Conviction, lass. Of all the towns between here and Kansas, why here and not Austin or Denver?” Fletcher thought he knew the answer, at least one of them, but needed to hear it from her.
“Do you remember Frankie, the bartender at Buckie’s?”
He nodded.
“When my family moved to Ka
nsas, we became friends. Frankie was twelve and I was ten.” She stopped herself from saying her older brother and Frankie were close. No need to mention his name yet.
“Frankie was a friend?”
She cleared her throat. “He was always there when I needed a friend. After leaving Abilene, Frankie let me know where he ended up and invited me to come out. I’m sure he didn’t think I’d ever do it, but…” Shrugging, a humorless smile tilted up the corners of her mouth. “I needed a change and this was the only place I knew to come.”
A muscle in his jaw ticked. “So your friend encouraged you to take a job in a saloon?” Fletcher couldn’t imagine recommending such a job to any female, certainly not one he cared about.
Straightening her back, chin jutting out, Maddy glared at him. “Frankie arranged a job so I would only be required to talk to the customers, encourage them to drink, and serve whiskey. Nothing more.”
Fletcher choked out a disbelieving laugh, running a hand through his hair. “As you did with me?”
Intense pain sliced through Maddy, making it hard to breathe. If he’d intended to hurt her, he’d succeeded. She offered him a resolute shake of her head. “No. You were different. I…” She sucked in a breath, allowing the agonizing thump of her heart to ease. A bitter chuckle escaped her lips. “I made an exception for you.”
Fletcher matched her harsh chuckle with one of his own. “Because I’m a MacLaren and you thought I’d be easy to fool?”
She couldn’t hold back the gasp. Pressing a hand to her mouth, Maddy shook her head.
Ignoring the slight twinge of doubt, Fletcher continued. “Do you believe I’d be believing I’m the only lad who bedded you at Buckie’s?”
Her pale face and the pain in her eyes sliced through him, but not enough to stop his next words.
“Whose bairn is it, Maddy?”
It couldn’t hurt any more than if he’d kicked her in the stomach. Maddy wanted to run from the room, never look back, never be in the same space as Fletcher ever again.
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