by Linda Bridey
Chuck studied her. But he didn’t take his arms away from her the way she feared he would. In fact, he didn’t withdraw from her at all except to stop kissing her. “It’s gonna be awful hard to wait until Friday. Maybe we shouldn’t sneak off alone together anymore.”
“Why not?” Violet asked. “Don’t you want me anymore?”
“Sure, I want to,” Chuck replied. “But if we’re gonna do things we shouldn’t—or almost do things we shouldn’t—then maybe we shouldn’t go off alone. That’s all I’m sayin’. It would be like a refined form of torture, to be so close to you and not be able to touch you and kiss you.”
“But….” Violet stammered. “But….but….I want to.”
His head flew up. “You want to what?”
“I want to be alone with you,” Violet exclaimed. “We don’t have to get carried away with anything. That’s not what I mean. But I want to go off alone with you. I’ve waited all this time for you to come, and now you’re here. I don’t think I could stand it if we didn’t. I don’t think I could stand to stay apart from you for the next three days.”
Chuck smiled. “All right. We’ll do it. But let’s just stick to the basics—holding hands and maybe kissing. Promise me we won’t get all hot and heavy before we’re married.”
Violet smiled. “I promise. We’ll keep calm.”
They kissed again, and again, and again, but calmly and tenderly. Violet rocked in her feather-soft cradle, all her cares forgotten.
“What’s going on tomorrow,” Chuck inquired.
“What do you mean?” Violet asked.
“Do you have anything planned?” he asked. “Any plans for getting ready for the wedding?”
“I don’t think so,” she replied. “Like Iris told you at supper, Rita’s making the cake. Everything else is done. Our dresses, the parlor—it’s all ready. We just have to wait for the minister to get here. What about you? What are you doing tomorrow?”
“I guess I’ll just have a look around,” Chuck told her. “I’ll ride out and have a look at the stock. I might talk to your hands about the operation. That sort of thing.”
“You could talk to Iris, too,” Violet suggested. “She knows as much as anyone about what’s going on.”
Chuck looked away. “I might.”
“You really can trust her,” Violet insisted. “Even though she’s a woman, she really does know a lot about running the ranch.”
“I never said she didn’t,” Chuck replied.
Violet saw him set his jaw and dropped the subject of Iris.
“Mick and Jake are going out hunting tomorrow,” Chuck observed.
“That’s what they said,” Violet replied.
“If they haven’t left by the time I finish looking around, I might go with them,” Chuck told her.
Violet lowered her head. “Okay.”
“I guess it’s time to walk you home,” Chuck remarked. “The others’ll be coming back soon.”
“I guess so,” Violet replied.
“Come on.” He got up off the settee.
“I can find my own way back,” she told him. “You don’t have to come. You could stay here. That would help fool the others.”
He peered at her in the candlelight. “I don’t think they need any foolin’. They know very well what’s goin’ on.”
“I guess you’re right,” she replied. “But you don’t have to walk me back if you don’t want to. I can find my way.”
“What if you meet Cornell again?” he asked.
“I think he’ll stay out of our way from now on,” she told him.
“You mean you hope he does,” Chuck shot back.
“I hope he does,” Violet agreed. “For his sake, I hope he does. You know, I feel kind of sorry for him. He just doesn’t understand that he’s outmatched now. He’s still fighting with the same weapons he used when we were children. He doesn’t understand that we’re grown women now. And now that you men are here, he doesn’t stand a chance.”
“He’s a blasted fool, is what he is,” Chuck grumbled.
“He’ll just keep throwing himself at us until he breaks himself,” Violet continued. “And he’ll do it all because he just doesn’t understand.”
“He doesn’t want to understand,” Chuck corrected her. “Jake is right. There’s no reasoning with a man like that. Once he loses control of himself, the only thing to do is to get rid of him.”
Violet stared into the darkness. “I only wish it hadn’t come to that.”
Chuck regarded her. “Jake was right about you, too.”
“In what way?” she asked.
“He was right about you thinking everyone is like you,” Chuck explained. “You know what I think? I think you’re probably the most innocent of the three of you.”
“Innocent!” she snorted.
“That’s right, innocent,” Chuck repeated. “You wish it hadn’t come to that, but he made it come to that. You did everything you could to prevent it, but he just wouldn’t quit until it did come to that. You let him walk all over you for too long. That’s why he thought he could get away with man-handling you and making you do what he wanted.”
Violet thought it over. “Do you want to know something else?”
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I don’t think I would have reacted the way I did if he hadn’t struck out at you,” she told him. “I only went after him when I saw him strike you. Something in me wanted to protect you from him. I don’t think I ever would have done it to protect myself. If I’d been alone, I probably would have let him drag me to my room.”
“He wouldn’t have dragged you to your room if you weren’t with me,” Chuck reminded her.
“But you know what I mean,” Violet insisted. “I snapped, because of the way I feel about you.”
“And what is that?” Chuck asked. “How do you feel about me?”
Violet stepped closer to him and put her arms around his waist. “I guess I love you. I did it because I love you.”
“You do?” Chuck asked.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” Violet remarked. “I only met you a few hours ago. Is it possible to love someone in such a short time?”
“I don’t know,” he told her. “I’ve never loved anyone before. But I know I love you now. I’ve never been so certain of anything before.”
“Me, too,” she replied.
Chapter 28
