“I hope she don’t love ’em. I hope she hates ’em. Then she won’t hurt when he dies. ’N I hope he does fer what he done to her ’n Henry.”
Vanessa pondered Mary Ben’s logic while she dried the dishes. Ellie had told her one time that love and hate were the two most powerful emotions. They rested side by side in a heart fighting each other. That was the reason people were able to hurt loved ones the most. Like Mary Ben, she hoped that Ellie’s love for the man she thought was Henry Hill had turned to hate. For if ever there was a man on earth who deserved Ellie’s hate it was Adam Clayhill.
* * *
That evening after the supper dishes were washed and John and the Hookers had gone back to the bunkhouse, Ellie made an announcement that astounded them all.
“I have decided that Henry, Mary Ben and I are going to the Clayhill ranch, and that I am going to take my place there as Mrs. Clayhill.” Her sincerity was unmistakable.
“Aunt Ellie!” Vanessa sat up straight on the sofa and looked disbelievingly at her aunt as she fiddled with the fringe on the table scarf beside her chair.
“Before anyone says anything, I want to tell you why I have decided to do this. This afternoon, I thought back over the twenty years since Henry Hill left me. I thought of how desperate I was when I knew that I was going to have Henry. I had no money. My parents had died and I had no home to go back to. I had only my sister and her husband to turn to. Thank God they welcomed me. Henry was born there, and my brother-in-law attended me.” Ellie’s soft words dropped into the silent room. “I stayed on, raised my son and Vanessa after my sister died. My husband, Henry’s father, dismissed us as if we were less than nothing. He read my letters begging for a word about the man I thought was my husband and ignored them. All these years he had been here while I wasted my life grieving for him.”
Ellie looked at each of the faces before she spoke again. Her fine eyes misted when she looked at her handsome son, sitting quietly, his young wife on a stool beside his chair.
“That man owes Henry and me twenty years of support. I mean to see that he pays it.”
Henry leaned forward anxiously. “You want us to go live with him, Ma?”
“That’s exactly what I mean. I am Mrs. Clayhill. Regardless of how I feel about him, I am entitled to be the mistress of his house; you are entitled to live there. He owes it to us. I will see to it that he is taken care of. I am sure that I can do it as well as a Mexican woman and a servant.”
“But, Ma. He don’t want us—”
“I don’t care a fig about what he wants. He is flat on his back, and according to law, I am his legal wife. I will run his home and take care of him as I see fit. I plan to go in the morning.”
“Aunt Ellie—” Vanessa looked at Kain for help and was puzzled by the strange little half smile on his face. He picked up her hand and gave it a little squeeze. She turned back to her aunt. “What about Della Clayhill?”
“Della DeBolt,” Kain said. “She calls herself Clayhill at times.”
“How will Ellie deal with your sister, Kain?”
“She’ll not have a thing to say about it.” Ellie’s confidence seemed unshakable.
“That’s right, she won’t.” Kain’s words brought Vanessa’s head around again.
“Kain?”
“It seems like Ellie has made up her mind, sweetheart.”
“But she’s no match for Della.”
“I think she is. Besides, we’ll go with her.”
“Thank you, Kain. I was hoping you’d say that.”
“Do we pack up everything?” Henry asked.
“Absolutely. There’s no point in doing things halfway, son.”
“But I don’t like him. I don’t want to see him. He’s mean. I want to stay here with Kain.”
Mary Ben saw the distress on Ellie’s face and pulled Henry’s head down so she could whisper in his ear.
“I don’t like him, either, but yore ma knows what she’s doin’. We got to stay by her ’n help her ’n not give her no sass. If’n she can stand that old bastard, we can too.”
Henry looked down into Mary Ben’s face and his creased with one of the dazzling, beautiful smiles that slid over it when he suddenly understood something that had puzzled him.
“Mary Ben, you’re just so smart. I never even thought of that. Ma, Mary Ben says we got to stay by you and help. She says if you can stand that old bastard we can too.”
“Henry!” Mary Ben hissed and threw a hasty glance at Ellie.
“What are you all up in the air for, honey girl? That’s what you said.”
“But ya didn’t have to say that word!”
“It’s all right, Mary Ben,” Ellie said calmly. “I think your description of Mr. Clayhill was perfect.”
* * *
Kain blew out the light, slipped into bed, and gathered Vanessa into his arms.
“I’m worried for her.” Vanessa continued the conversation they had started while getting undressed.
“I think you’re going to be surprised, sweetheart. That woman’s got backbone and dignity to go with it.”
“But Kain, they’ll say terrible things to her.”
“You mean Della will say terrible things to her. Ellie can take it. Della doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
“But if Mr. Clayhill dies and leaves everything to her, she will.”
“If that happens Ellie will have to go to court and get a fair share for herself and Henry. Don’t worry, sweetheart. Logan and Cooper would see to it. Now stop thinking about it and think about me.” He lifted her arm and pulled it up and around his neck.
Lying in his embrace, drugged with the sweetness, she marveled at how the whole world changed to a dazzling, beautiful place when they were fully entwined, cocooned in warmth, when he was closer than her very heart. She lifted her mouth for his kiss. With closed eyes she perceived his strong, delicate fingers stroking the quivering small of her back. Every stroke, every gesture was marked with grave reverence. He moved his other hand and clasped her head to his chest, murmuring, “My love, my love.”
His gentle fingers continued to stroke her hair. She turned her lips to his shoulder to kiss the blessed flesh. She lifted her fingers and touched his face. She could feel him smiling.
And with what surely was a greater passion than ever before, they came together in sweet, familiar, excruciating contact of heated skin, drumming pulses, and shuddering limbs.
Chapter Twenty-one
“Clay, you and John keep an eye out for Tass.” Kain was in the barn saddling Big Red. “I don’t understand why he hasn’t made his move.”
“Killin’s one thin’, Kain. Stealin’ a woman’s somethin’ else. If’n he’s smart, ’n I think he is, he’s doin’ some careful plannin’. Ya’ve spread the word on ’em ’n folk’ll be lookin’ fer him. If’n Miss Vanessa come up missin’, folks’ll be on his trail like flies on cowshit.”
“It was Griff’s idea to spread the word he was after Vanessa. If he stays around town with that hair around his neck he’ll find himself being looked over.”
“Hit’s the same in Texas. Ya can get yoreself hung quicker botherin’ a woman ’n ya can killin’ a marshal.”
Kain swung into the saddle. “We’ll see which way the wind blows out at Clayhills. It could be that Jeb can come on back, and it could be we’ll all come on back.”
“Ain’t nothin’ to worry ’bout here. Me ’n John’ll hold down the fort.”
Henry and Jeb tied the traveling bags on the back of the buggy John had overhauled. He stood proudly by while the women praised his work.
“Well, who’d have thought that rickety old thing could be made into such a handsome buggy,” Ellie exclaimed. “You’ve even put new spokes in the wheels and mended the seat and the top. Isn’t this nice, Vanessa? It surely beats riding in a wagon. You’re a jim-dandy, John, when it comes to fixing things.”
“I tole ya Mr. Wisner could do jist anythin’, anythin’ a’tall.” Mary Ben smiled at him
proudly and moved over close so she could speak just to him. “Ya be careful while I’m gone. Don’t ya let that sneaky litle ole bastard get up close to ya, hear? Ya carry that old buffalo gun with ya, even when ya go to the outhouse.”
“Ya ain’t to be worryin’, gal,” he said gruffly. “Ya mind what Mrs. Hill tells ya.”
“I wish ya was comin’, Mr. Wisner. I ain’t been away from ya since ya come to the Cimarron.”
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere, Mary Ben. Nowhere a’tall. Ya go on with yore man.” There was a tender gruffness to his voice now. “Me ’n this ole yeller dog’ll be right here. It might be me ’n Clay’ll take us a ride over to see that fancy place, if’n yo’re thar awhile.”
“All right, but ya be careful. Ya stay here with Mr. Wisner, Mister, ’n don’t ya let nobody sneak up on him, hear?”
“Come on, Mary Ben.” Henry was waiting to help her into the buggy. “Van will drive you and Ma.”
“Bye, Mr. Wisner.”
“Bye, gal.”
“Henry, put this rifle in the saddle scabbard and stay by the buggy so you’ll be with the women.” Kain, mounted on Big Red, rode close and handed him the gun. “Jeb and I will scout a little and be back. Keep to the trail, sweetheart.”
“Y’haw!” Vanessa slapped the reins against the back of the horse and they moved out of the yard. As they turned down the lane leading to the road, Mary Ben and Ellie waved to Clay and John.
The silence that followed the leave-taking was broken only by the jingle of the harnesses and the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves. The terrain that opened before them was a succession of valleys divided by ridges crested with pines, their slopes sometimes dotted with clumps of aspen. Large yellow leaves floated across the trail, pushed by a cool autumn wind. As they traveled in a westerly direction the trail narrowed in places. The scattered boulders grew fewer, the trees thicker.
Ellie was quiet. Vanessa knew that her aunt was terribly nervous. It was evident in her stiffness as she sat in the seat and in the way she kept her hands folded in her shawl. Vanessa wondered what was going on in Ellie’s mind as she sat there between her and Mary Ben. She was on her way to a husband who had deserted her, to his home where she would not be welcomed, to take care of a man who despised her. Poor Ellie.
As sorry as she was for Ellie, the danger this trip represented to Kain was foremost in her mind. The old dread she had felt on the trip to Junction City returned tenfold. In a near stupor of fear, she scanned the trail ahead. There were a hundred places where a man could hide and shoot an unsuspecting traveler. She had to believe that Kain knew how best to deal with this situation, that he was doing all he could do to protect himself. Danger to herself from Primer Tass didn’t enter her mind. Kain. She prayed to God that nothing would happen to him. A numbness swathed her; she heard nothing of what Ellie and Mary Ben were saying. She saw her hands on the reins and from long training automatically did what a driver would do while she strove to keep panic at bay.
* * *
Kain rode to the crest of the hill, trusting more to his horse than himself, and sat there searching every foot of the landscape with his glasses, as Jeb was doing on the other side of the wagon track that wove among the rocks and trees. He was glad he had Big Red. The horse was spooky, and Kain had deliberately chosen him for just that reason. The animal could hear every sound, and could both see and hear better than a man. If there was a living thing nearby, Big Red would know it.
His horse’s ears began to twitch and Kain reached for his gun. A deer darted from the brush and raced toward the cover of thick trees. He nudged the horse and moved down from the hill and up another. He came out onto a bench and saw Clayhill Ranch backed up to the rugged mountain at the far end of a meadow. From where he sat he could see over a far stretch of country.
He took his field glasses out once again and watched the buggy approach. He focused them on Vanessa. Vanessa, his love, his life. Just looking at her made his pulse quicken! She reminded him of a bright new penny. But there was nothing hard and rigid about her. He had never seen a woman who was so beautiful—feminine and soft, sensual and exciting. She was all warm tones from the top of her flaming red hair and brilliant blue eyes to the white skin of her face and hands. And when they were wrapped in each other’s arms, when they were one, she was the most giving, most loving—He lowered the glasses and his hand automatically went to his stomach. Every day was precious to him.
When Ellie had announced her plans to take her place in Adam’s home, he couldn’t have been more surprised but realized it was a damn good idea. Old Adam was flat on his back and couldn’t do a thing about it, and possession was nine points of the law. Kain had no doubt that Ellie was in for a bad time with Della, but she had the law on her side or would have as soon as Randolph in Denver set the records right. In the meantime Ellie would run her bluff. Kain chuckled with admiration for the spunky little woman. Adam had finally met his match—if he was still alive. The doctor had said he was in bad shape and was unlikely to recover fully. But if the old bastard just lived long enough for Ellie to be in full possession when he died, even if he left everything to Della, the court would give something to Ellie and Henry.
Kain wondered who was running the business end of the ranch. The roundup would be over by now, but the business end was something he could help Ellie with if she got past the front door.
* * *
As the buggy approached the ranch Ellie was thinking the same thing. Would she get past the front door? She wasn’t prepared for the elegance of the white frame two-story house. The many gabled house was a splendid example of nineteenth-century architecture. Wide, railed verandas were supported by graceful columns decorated with elaborately carved cornices. Long windows opened up onto the verandas on both the lower and upper floors. Stained glass panes adorned the upper part of the windows as well as the doors. Shrubs and a carefully attended lawn surrounded the house as well as a white picket fence. The elegant house looked as if it belonged on a shaded street of any large city rather than this isolated area. Behind the house was a large barn, various outbuildings and a vast number of pole corrals.
In a glance Ellie knew beyond all doubt Adam Clayhill was a very wealthy man. Resentment burned like a flame in her and solidified her determination that she and her son would no longer be cast aside. They would stay and take what was due them.
Kain and Jeb came down out of the hills and rode with Henry alongside the buggy as it approached the ranch. Vanessa breathed more easily and smiled her relief at her husband. Her ordeal was over for the time being and Ellie’s had just begun. As she pulled the horse to a stop beside the front gate, the ranch hands at the outbuildings watched; but none approached. Kain, Henry and Jeb rode to the hitching rail and dismounted. Jeb attached a lead rope to the halter of the horse pulling the buggy and tied it to a iron ring in one of the fence posts, then climbed up into the buggy to wait.
Ellie stood for a long moment before she opened the gate and led the party up the cobblestone walk to the wide veranda. Vanessa had never seen her aunt carry herself with more dignity and determination.
A few minutes after she rang the bell, the heavy oak door was opened by a Negro man wearing a black, long-tailed coat and stiff white shirt.
“Yas’m?”
“I’m here to see Mr. Clayhill.” Ellie’s voice at first held a slight tremor, but strengthened at the end.
“Mastah done took to de bed. He sick, he doan see nobody.”
“I know that. How is Mr. Clayhill?”
“He jist lay dare. Doctor man says he ’spect he gwine ta die.” He rolled his eyes upward. “I ain’t ta let nobody in.”
Kain stepped forward and pushed on the door. “Step aside. We’re coming in.”
“But, suh, Mis Della say nobody—”
“To hell with Miss Della.” Kain pushed him back with a firm hand on his chest and stepped inside. “Come on in, Ellie.”
Ellie walked into the wide hallway and immediately took off he
r wrap and her hat and hung them on the halltree as if she had been doing it for years. The servant stood against the wall. His eyes went from Kain to the top of the stairs and back, and there was a frightened look on his face.
“What is your name?” Ellie asked.
“Joseph.”
“Joseph, ask Miss Della to come down. Who else is in the house beside Mr. Clayhill?”
“Miss Cecilia. De rest of ’em gone.”
“Who is Miss Cecilia?”
“She be . . . She be . . .”
“Is she one of the servants?”
“Yas’m.”
“Tell her to come, too.”
“Yas’m.” He scurried away and disappeared through a door at the end of the hall.
Ellie turned to the others still lingering beside the door. “Take off your coats. We’re here to stay. Henry, in a few minutes you and Jeb can bring our things in.”
“What the hell are you up to, Kain? Why have you brought her here?” Della stood at the top of the wide staircase that rose from the center of the hall to the second floor balcony. She wore a flowing, white peignoir. Her hair was down around her shoulders and she had a hairbrush in her hand.
“As to what I’m doing, I brought the lady here. As to why, she’ll tell you herself.”
Della started down the steps. “You’ve no doubt heard about Adam’s fit of apoplexy from that spineless, backwoods doctor. What do you hope to gain by bringing another one of Adam’s bastards here? Heaven only knows how many more will turn up. He’s screwed enough women to populate the Colorado Territory.”
Joseph and a Mexican girl emerged from a room at the back of the hall. They stood with their backs to the wall, watching Della.
Ellie had moved down the hall by the time Della reached the last step. She confronted her there.
“I’m Mrs. Adam Clayhill. I’m here to run my husband’s house and to take care of him. If you wish to stay until sundown, I advise you to keep a civil tongue in your head.”
Dorothy Garlock - [Colorado Wind 03] Page 33
