Kentucky Bride

by Norah Hess

  D'lise wanted to make a sharp comment about that remark, but there was a look in David's eyes that kept her silent. She said instead, "Come on in and see my new home and have a cup of coffee." The boys stepped in behind her, and after she untied the bag and set Scrag free, she asked, "How did you fellows know where to find me?"

  "Old Tom came by this mornin' and told us," Johnny answered. "He's still at the cabin, I expect. He was jawin' at Kane somethin' fierce when we left."

  As D'lise poured the coffee, she noted David's eyes roaming around the room and she waited to hear what he would say about her new quarters. When he spoke, however, it was not about the room.

  "When are you comin' home, D'lise?" he asked.

  Home, D'lise mused. How good the word sounded. But the cabin halfway up the hill was no longer her home, and she, as well as David and Johnny, might as well get used to the idea. She looked at each of them in turn. "What explanation did Kane give you two for my leaving?"

  "He said that the two of you had had a misunderstanding," David answered.

  D'lise stared down into her coffee. Trust Kane to put it that way. There was no misunderstanding. Raven had said it clearly enough. She was carrying his baby, and Kane could not deny her claim with a clear conscience. Her lips curled contemptuously. A fine misunderstanding.

  When D'lise didn't affirm or dispute Kane's claim, David said with some asperity, "I always thought misunderstandings could be worked out. I didn't know that one person had to leave home."

  D'lise laid a hand on David's clenched fist lying on the table. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, David, but this so-called misunderstanding can't be worked out. I had to leave."

  David jerked his hand from beneath hers. "His leg is bleedin' again. He needs you."

  D'lise's first instinct was to hurry to Kane, to tend his leg, to look after him. She remembered in time why she was here and not with her husband and hardened her heart against him.

  "I'm sorry to hear that, David. Stop by Dr. Ashley's office and ask him to look in on Kane."

  His eyes snapping angrily, David stood up. "Come on, Johnny," he said shortly, "it's time we left."

  Johnny hung back, reluctant to leave D'lise so soon. He had grown used to her gentleness, her smiles, the hugs she sometimes gave him—something he hadn't had since his mother and father died.

  D'lise knew from the longing in his eyes that the youngster needed that contact now, that he was worried about the future. When David stepped outside without a word of goodbye, she gave Johnny a big hug and a kiss on his cheek. "I hope you can come visit me every day. I'm going to miss you."

  Johnny swiped at the tears that had escaped his eyes. "I'm gonna miss you too, D'lise, and I'll be here every day even if I have to come by myself."

  She walked outside with him, her arm across his shoulders. She looked down at the crate of chickens David had placed next to the porch. "I don't know what I'm going to do with them," she sighed.

  "Oh, I forgot to tell you," Johnny said. "Old Tom is comin' over here later to build a pen for them. He said that you can keep the mare and cow at the livery stable." Then, with a wave of his hand, Johnny ran to join a disapproving David.

  The boys were barely out of sight, and D'lise was crumbling some bread for the squawking hens, when Tom arrived, his mule clumping along behind him. It carried a load of rough planks and mesh chicken wire. Her old friend looked down at her, a frowning, pensive look on his wrinkled face.

  "Are you sure you did the right thing, girl?" he asked. When D'lise nodded, he asked, "Where do you want me to build the chicken coop?"

  D'lise skimmed a gaze over the small area of cleared trees. "I think close to the schoolhouse so that I can hear them if any creatures come around at night."

  "I'll build it right up against the schoolhouse, then," Tom said and began to unload the mule. D'lise hurried to help him. She wanted to ask about Kane's leg. Had the bleeding stopped? Did the stitches look all right?

  The mule was unloaded before she managed to say off-handedly, "The boys said that Kane's wound started bleeding again. Did he say anything to you about it?"

  "Not much," Tom answered briefly as drove a wooden stake into the ground. "He seemed to have somethin' more important on his mind."

  "Like Raven carrying his child." D'lise sniffed contemptuously.

  "Oh, that's on his mind all right, but only because he thinks the bitch is lyin'. And so do I."

  "He thinks she's lying, but he's not sure. I saw the look on his face that said it might be true." Tom opened his mouth to speak, but D'lise rushed on. "Claudie Jacobs was there. She saw the guilt on his face too."

  "Yeah, and by now that flappin' tongue of hers has spread it all over the hills that Kane's gonna have a half-breed young'un."

  "I expect so," D'lise retorted sharply and marched into her two rooms. "Men," she muttered, gathering up the cups her young visitors had used. "No matter what, they always take up for each other."

  D'lise was making up her bed when a welcome voice called from the door, "Are you home, D'lise?" She rushed into the main room and straight into Ellen Travis's open arms. The young widow let her cry until only an occasional sob shook her slender shoulders.

  "Are you all right now?" Ellen released D'lise and guided her to a chair shoved under the table. She sat down next to her and said quietly, "Like everyone else in Piney Ridge, I've heard about Kane and the Indian woman. It's so hard for me to believe it's true."

  "I guess you can believe it, Ellen." D'lise smiled weakly. "When Raven told him, he only half-heartedly denied it." She looked uncomfortably at her hands clasped on top of the table. "That day when Tom and Samuel delivered the new furniture, Kane went into a rage when he saw me and Samuel talking and laughing together. Right after Tom and Samuel left, he rode into the village and didn't come home at night."

  D'lise paused, as if gathering the strength to go on with her story. "From what I could piece together, Kane really got drunk. At any rate, the next morning I saw him and Raven together at the old cabin. They'd obviously spent the night there.

  "I wanted to leave him then, but I had no money, and at the time I didn't remember these rooms, so I didn't think I had anywhere to go. The next thing I knew I was letting him make love to me again." She looked up at Ellen, tears forming in her eyes.

  "I feel like such a fool. I feel used, no better than the village whores."

  "Now you just hush up such talk," Ellen ordered angrily. "You're a good, honorable woman. If anyone's a fool, it's that husband of yours. He doesn't deserve you."

  She turned D'lise's tear-swollen face toward her. "However, I sincerely think the big, dumb trapper truly loves you. Didn't you tell him that Samuel and I are getting married this fall?"

  "I did not!" D'lise answered hotly. "There was nothing wrong with my talking to a friend. I never threw a fit when he joked around with Milly Patton. I trusted him, and I feel he owed me the same respect. What kind of marriage would we have without trust between us?"

  "You're absolutely right, honey," Ellen soothed. "It takes some men and women time to realize that, though. And sadly, some never do. Now," she added, standing up, "bathe your face and brush your hair. I'm having a little luncheon for you. I've invited all the ladies so that they can, once and for all, talk about and express their views on what happened. That way you won't be deluged with visitors every day and have to go over and over your separation from Kane. I have found that to be the best policy. Meet unpleasant things head on."

  "Oh, Ellen, I don't know if I'm up to it yet. What if I break down and cry in front of them?"

  "You won't. You've got too much pride."

  Ellen had been right, D'lise thought that night as she prepared for bed. She hadn't cried, but it had been hard not to defend Kane against some of the harsher things said about him. A couple of the women had made him sound no better than a rutting buffalo before he met and married her. According to them, he had spent all his time taking a squaw or a whore to bed. That she did not bel
ieve. Basically, Kane was a man's man. He enjoyed the other trappers' company and was content when he could hunt all day or fish for hours in the Ohio. She imagined he was no worse and no better than most men when it came to women.

  Later, however, curled up in her narrow bed, D'lise had no answer for her husband's seemingly continued interest in the Indian woman.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kane limped across the kitchen floor to gaze out the window. He could see David and Johnny in the garden, filling a basket with vegetables to take to D'lise. Every day they took her something, maybe only a few string beans. Their late garden wasn't going to have time to produce a great deal.

  Kane shook his head. And every day he waited impatiently for the boys to return home, hungry to hear any little scrap of information about his wife.

  It was a dark day, though, when one of them would mention nonchalantly that Samuel Majors had been visiting with D'lise, that he had brought her something from his store. He wished it was safe for the boys to be out at night. He'd send them to the schoolhouse to see how often the storekeeper visited D'lise after dark.

  Kane bent his head in black despair. He hadn't been surprised that Majors would start going around D'lise.

  From the very first, there had been an attraction between them. They were both educated, shared a love of books, could talk about things he had no idea of. And the fancy man from Boston could give her a big home, nice clothes, even servants to help her around the house.

  He turned his head to look at the plain furniture he had bought for D'lise. She had seemed very pleased with it then, but he imagined it compared badly with what Majors could give her. He had heard the talk of how grand the man's home was. Hell, he even had a piano. And could play it.

  Well, by God, there was one thing he didn't have, and that was D'lise. And the bastard would never have her because Kane Devlin would never give her a divorce. She might think she had grounds for one, but time would prove that she didn't. He knew damn well that baby Raven was carrying wasn't his.

  "And another thing," he muttered, turning from the window, "I'm goin' to that bastard's store and pay him for everything he's given D'lise. I take care of my own, even if it's not wanted."

  Kane got fully dressed for the first time in two weeks. His buckskins didn't fit him as snugly as they once had; he had lost weight. After he shaved a week's stubble off his face, he limped out to the barn. The boys came running up when he led Snowy outside.

  "Where are you going', Kane?" Johnny asked.

  "Into the village. I have some business to take care of."

  "Do you think you should?" David asked anxiously. "What if your leg starts bleedin' again?"

  "The leg is fine, David. I won't be gone long. Meantime, you fellas stick close to the cabin until I get back."

  "Are you gonna bring D'lise home?" Johnny asked hopefully.

  "I doubt if I will this trip, kid, but she'll come back to us eventually."

  Kane found that his leg wasn't as fine as he thought it was. By the time he reached the village, it was throbbing painfully. He was thankful to swing out of the saddle and stretch the muscles that had stiffened from disuse the past three weeks.

  As he tied the stallion to the hitching rack in front of Samuel's store and ran through his mind what he would say to the owner, Claudie Jacobs and Sarah Patton came through the door. He smiled at them and started to speak, then didn't. After one cold look at him, the ladies stuck their chins in the air and sailed right past him.

  Well, he thought ruefully, staring after them, it's plain to see whose side they are on. He stepped up on the porch and walked into the store. Samuel looked up from filling small bags with coffee beans and, after a startled look, smiled at him genially.

  "It's good to see you up and around, Devlin. How's the leg?"

  Kane stalked over to the counter and, ignoring the inquiry about his leg, said coldly, "I've come to settle up for whatever you've taken over to my wife."

  "It's not a great deal." Samuel reached under the counter and brought up a slim ledger. "She's been charging everything to you. It will just take me a minute to total it up."

  Primed to have an argument with Majors, to warn him not to give his wife any more gifts, Kane was at a loss what to say now. It appeared there hadn't been any gifts after all.

  He knew a warm feeling that D'lise was still depending on him to support her. His spirits lifted for the first time since she left him. He handed over the money requested and limped out of the store without another word.

  Twice, as Kane walked to Buck's fur post, he was snubbed by females. First by Claudie Jacobs, then of all people, Abbey Davis. Shy little Abbey, mother of two daughters who weren't everything they should be, seldom looked at anybody, but she cut him cold. His lips twisted in a half smile. What kind of treatment would he get from their husbands? he wondered.

  When he walked into the tavern, he was greeted mostly as he'd always been, certainly by his fellow trappers. There was a little coolness from some of the men, but at least they didn't look at him as if he was lower than a snake's belly. Inquiries were made about his leg, but nothing was said about Raven's charge, or about his wife's leaving him because of it. Buck, however, handed him a surprise a little later on.

  "You wanna pay up your bill today, Kane?"

  Kane gave him a startled look. "Pay my bill? I don't owe you anything."

  "You sure as hell do." Buck mopped at the bar. "D'lise has been buyin' some things and chargin' 'em to you." He looked at Kane quzzically. "It's all right I let her, ain't it?"

  "Oh, sure," Kane answered promptly. "Give her anything she wants. How much do I owe you?" He reached into his pocket, ready and eager to spend his last dime on his wife.

  When he saw the cost of the totaled items, he wondered if that was what D'lise had in mind. She certainly wasn't stinting herself.

  But that was fine. Her action told him that all was not lost between them. By now, she'd had time to think over Raven's charge and remember that the woman was a troublemaker.

  As Kane poured himself another whiskey, he cursed the day the Indian woman had come into his life. If ever there was a more vengeful, more conniving bitch, he'd never seen her.

  He remembered the day he was putting the roof on the new cabin and Raven had come by. She had wheedled him into showing her the inside of the cabin. He hadn't wanted to take the time, because he was anxious to get the roof finished, to move D'lise in. But for old times and a sense of guilt for pushing her out of his life, he had showed her through the cabin.

  It was as they were walking back outside that he saw from the corner of his eye D'lise watching them from across the next hill. Why he hadn't acknowledged her presence, he didn't know. He could have waved to her, called her to join him and Raven. But for some perverse reason he hadn't. Maybe he had thought she was spying on him. Then later, as they ate supper, when D'lise hadn't mentioned Raven, he hadn't either. He had figured that she didn't think it was important.

  He had been mistaken, he knew now. That incident had only added to the suspicions D'lise already had.

  Kane's elation began to wane, and he felt the strain of being on his healing leg too long. It was time he got home and rested it. Besides, he didn't like leaving the boys alone too long. Johnny had a habit of getting into mischief.

  The two lads had become very dear to him and made him want a son of his own. Would that ever happen? he asked himself as he finished his whiskey and set the glass down. It didn't look to be in the cards very soon. He ignored the nasty little voice that sneered, Don't forget Raven. She may give you a son.

  Protests were sounded when Kane announced he was leaving. "You can stay out as long as you want to now, Kane," a trapper at the end of the bar said. "Ain't no little woman sittin' up there on your hill to tell you no."

  "Much to my sorrow," Kane answered, loud enough for everyone to hear as he limped to the door.

  He stepped outside—and straight into D'lise. The weight of his body made
her stagger, and his hands went out to steady her. His eyes moved hungrily over her delicately carved features, and he fought the urge to draw her into his arms. It had been so long since he had felt her softness crushed up against him.

  D'lise felt the same desire as she gazed back at Kane, noting the fine line fanning out at the corners of his eyes. Had they been so deep the day she left him? She could almost believe that he had been grieving. Don't be dimwitted, she told herself and tried to pull away.

  Kane didn't release his hold. He continued to gaze at her, his thumbs rubbing the softness of her inner arms. There was a raw sound in his voice when he asked, "How have you been, honey? Are you gettin' along all right? Do you have everything you need?"

  Her heart thundering against her ribs, D'lise forced herself to say coolly, "I'm getting along fine." She gave a little jerk of her head over her shoulder. "My friends are looking after me."

  Kane lifted his gaze at her gesture, and for the first time saw Samuel Majors and Ellen Travis a few feet behind D'lise. His insides knotted and his body grew rigid in the icy silence that developed. His fingers bit into D'lise's arms a split second before he scornfully pushed her away from him.

  "You mean a friend is takin' care of your needs?" he sneered, then turned on his heel and walked away.

  D'lise watched Kane limp down the dusty street and wanted to run after him, ask about his wound—had it healed properly, did his leg still hurt him? She remembered then why she didn't know all this first-hand and hardened her heart against her unfaithful husband. When Samuel nudged her arm and asked, "Are you ready to go?" she nodded and they walked on.

  Ellen was having her and Samuel over to her home for lunch and to discuss plans for the wedding that was fast approaching. Ellen's wedding gown had arrived last week, the loveliest creation D'lise had ever seen. Piney Ridge would probably never see a lovelier bride.

  But D'lise Devlin wouldn't look bad either, D'lise remembered with a pleased smile. She was going to be witness for Ellen, and her friend had ordered her a dress from Boston also. She repressed a giggle. Wait until Kane had to pay that bill. His angry roar would be heard all through the hills.