Cade frowned. “Replace it?”
“Whenever you have the hunger to gamble, then you do something else that takes your mind off of it: reading, working, whatever grabs your mind the hardest. I cannot say it always works, but it helps.”
“Sound advice.” Cade nodded, then almost shyly asked, “So how is Rose? Is she … is she happy?”
Jeffries nodded. “It is good to have her back. The dairy felt incomplete without Miss Rose working in the garden or feeding the kittens while milking cows.” He smiled to himself. “She is a good woman, and she deserves a good man.”
“Then why aren’t you insisting I go back to Denver right now?” Cade asked, tilting his head towards Jeffries. “Why instead are you taking me to your home?”
Jeffries gave another jerk to the reins. “I keep firm standards on the dairy. No rough or base talk. Even with the firm rules I enforce, there has been talk among the workers about why Rose is returning with a baby who obviously is not yours. Most think you kicked her out of your home because she was unfaithful and that the story of Miss Nell dying is a cover story to hide the truth.” Jeffries eyes flashed with anger. “I set them straight, but if tongues are wagging on the dairy, I can only imagine what is being said outside of it.”
Cade clenched his fists, remembering what was said at the saloon. “If people really knew Rose, they would not think that.”
“People generally believe what they see, Mr. Cade, and from that they make assumptions. We all do. It is how we put things together. Seeing Miss Rose with a black baby—well, they are going to believe the worst. Seeing Miss Rose with a faithful husband by her side also caring for the baby—that is a different matter.”
A spark of hope flared in Cade’s chest. “You think she will take me back?”
Jeffries shrugged. “Don’t know, but think of this Mr. Cade: If she did, it would not be because you deserve it.”
He nodded. “I don’t expect her to,” he said softly. “Is she home right now, at the dairy?”
Jeffries shook her head. “Went to the Hughs’ party, and was pretty excited about it, too.”
Cade clenched his jaw and was silent the rest of the trip. Excited? Why would a woman be excited about a party? To dress up? To socialize? Socialize with whom? What men would be at the party? What things would be said? Cade looked down at his wedding ring, wishing to heaven that Rose was wearing hers.
Twenty-Three
This was good. Of course going to the Hughs’ party was the right decision. It didn’t matter that she had not heard from her lawyer. Mail often got lost. She would simply send out an inquiry and all would be well. By now, she was most likely Rose Castle, daughter and mother. Not Rose Walker, wife. She would blot out that name from her heart and mind.
She looked down at Daisy who wore an exquisite green gown that made her eyes shine like emeralds. Rose knew things would be said, heads turned away in whispers, but she was prepared. This needed to happen, not only to break her from the melancholy rut of a failed marriage, but also to let everyone know that Daisy was hers and here to stay.
A string of lanterns guided the guests to a prepared dance floor. Daisy cooed in delight at a nearby pond alight with floating candles. An enclosed area of haystacks and crates had been set up for children to play, and behind the dance floor were tables of grilled corn, lemon chicken, mashed potatoes golden with butter, and fluffy rolls. Rose felt her stomach growl; she’d been so nervous about tonight she’d barely eaten.
“Rose!” Eliza’s sweet voice caught her attention as she hurried to her. “You look lovely.” Eliza leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “And you, Anna, look much too young.”
“Good evening, Eliza.” Anna kissed her friend and Clark warmly took her hands.
“Where is Kyle?” Clark asked, scanning the crowd. “I wanted to ask him if he’d go fishing with me next week.”
“Dancing with the kids.” Eliza pointed to the dance floor where Kyle was stomping with his son and Bless.
“He has much better rhythm than I do,” Eliza laughed. “Mr. Hugh is not attending his own party: he is ill. But Jessica Hugh and her son Phillip are over there.” She pointed to the tall, thin woman whose hair was pulled back in a severe bun with a collar tight enough to be a noose.
“That’s Phillip?” Rose asked, nodding to the son. “I barely remember him.”
“Handsome, isn’t he?” Eliza noted. “A shame his mother enjoys trampling on everyone in need.”
Anna suppressed a smile. “Oh Eliza, how I admire you,” she laughed.
Eliza did a little bow. “Well ladies, my husband is motioning me to join him. Don’t laugh too hard at my irregular footsteps. I have come far in the art of dancing, but I still have a ways to go.”
“I suppose we must go say hello.” Anna inhaled deeply. “If I start to become riled up, then pinch me,” she whispered to Rose who smoothed Daisy’s hair.
“Jessica!” Anna put on a bright smile and extended her hand. “So good of you to invite us. You know, your party is a huge attraction to those not just in Tall Pine but all around. It takes a great deal of talent to host an event like this.”
Jessica gave a weak smile, her eyes darting to Daisy then to Rose, holding her gaze while she silently assessed the situation. Then with a subtle nod to herself, she looked away from Rose with blank eyes, as if putting up a wall between them.
“Well, people will come to anything if there is free food,” she said dryly.
“That’s the truth, isn’t it?” Anna laughed, refusing to fall into the trap of pessimistic gloom. “And the lanterns are beautiful. Where in heaven’s name did you get them?”
“I had to order them from Boston. Colorado still seems so rustic sometimes when one is planning a party.” Her left eye flinched as it cast a degrading look at Rose. “A railroad in Tall Pine would have brought in superior merchandise and business.”
Rose cocked an eyebrow. “And would have run through our ranches and farms. Maybe even leveled a mountain.”
Jessica Hugh slowly turned towards Rose, her mouth tightening. Her son Phillip let out a forced laugh.
“Miss Rose, I am Phillip Hugh. I don’t believe we have had the pleasure of meeting, although I have heard wonderful things about you.”
His mother shot him an incredulous frown.
Rose broke her stare with Jessica Hugh. “You’re right, I don’t believe we’ve met.” She lifted her hand to his open palm, but instead of a handshake he lifted her fingers to his lips, pressing them warmly on her skin.”
“Charmed,” he said, softly lifting his gaze slowly. “And who is this lovely lady? I heard that there was a new beauty in town.” He lifted Daisy’s hand and kissed it, melting Rose’s heart.
“My cousin Nell’s daughter, though I consider her my own,” Rose said proudly, keeping her head high even as Jessica Hugh let out a sound of disgust and walked away.
Phillip chuckled. “Excuse my mother, ladies. She is a good woman, but I would love to see a few bottles of moonshine in her so I can see her loosen up for once in my life,” he laughed bluntly.
Anna chuckled in surprise. “Well, it is stressful having such a large event in one’s home. I can only imagine she has a lot on her mind.”
“Oh, Mrs. Castle, you can’t say that.” Phillip took her hand affectionately. “Your summer ball is the highlight of the season, and every year you are the perfect hostess.”
Anna tilted her head. “You know something, Phillip, I like you.”
He chuckled and then sighed when his mother called his name and nodded for him to join her. He turned to Rose. “Let me make my rounds, and then, if I may request your company, I would like to hear more about this lovely little girl.” He smiled at Daisy.
“Of course,” Rose said, feeling her cheeks warm. Was he paying attention to her out of pity, politeness, or something more? She couldn’t help but smile, though she was chagrined by the action. For all she knew, she was still married, and still bound to another man. She cer
tainly had not expected this.
“Handsome young man,” Anna noted. “Gentle manners.”
Rose knew what her mother wanted to say without saying it. Phillip’s soft smile, his slender frame, and unobtrusive mannerisms were starkly different from that of Cade’s.
“He seems kind enough,” Rose said disingenuously, trying to hide her delight in a man taking notice of her. It had been a long time since she’d had that of attention. While Rose had at first ached to be noticed, she thought she’d overcome such feelings. But the need to be loved, to have a man grow weak at the sight of her, strong at the thought of her—that need was still latent in her.
Anna looked around. “Well, it is time for me to be a grandmother,” she said affirmatively.
“What do you mean?” Rose asked, swaying Daisy on her hip.
Anna reached out her hands. “I am taking Daisy around to brag about her and make people say how gorgeous she is.”
Rose laughed. “Is that what grandmothers do these days?”
“Rose, that is what grandmothers have done since the beginning of time.” Anna took the baby and floated into the midst of the party. Rose watched her, admiring her mother’s fearlessness as she introduced Daisy, kissing the baby each time she did. The kiss was a statement that Daisy was her own, that she was adored and a treasure to be valued, accepted, and cherished.
Phillip chuckled, jogging back not two minutes later. “I changed my mind about making social rounds. You see, I have not yet danced tonight. Would you do me the pleasure?”
Rose’s heart skipped a beat. It felt wrong to dance with another man. She had only danced with Cade for the past few years. Now another man was offering his smooth hand; it filled her with guilt and excitement. Looking at his hand she noticed a large ring. “What is your ring?” she asked, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her to the dance floor.
“A lion’s head. My ancestors were nobility in England; their family crest was a lion’s head.” He laughed shyly. “A bit ornate, don’t you think?”
Rose allowed herself to be guided into a dancing position. “Not if you like it,” she smiled.
“You have everyone’s attention tonight.” Phillip laughed, placing a hand high on her back and holding her at a respectable distance. He was so different from Cade who’d want her pressed into him, his finger burning through the fabric on her back, trying to sear her skin onto his while he whispered unmentionable things in her ear.
“I think it’s because I am a spectacle.” Rose shook her head. She did feel like a spectacle as she saw surprised faces turn away in whispers while she danced with Phillip.
Phillip pressed his lips together in disagreement and shook his head. “I don’t think so. A monkey on a horse is a spectacle. You are a vision.”
Rose wondered if her face was as red as it felt. Was he flirting with her? Why? Did he not know her situation? She needed to tell him, tell that she had been—maybe was still—married. Heaven forbid he think he was courting an innocent ingénue.
As if reading her thoughts, Phillip continued to sway her and looked out in the distance. “I am to believe that you left Denver, possibly a marriage?”
“Ah, so you have heard,” Rose said with relief.
“I hear different things, but I do have contact with some of the Walkers. I was at court in Denver over a week ago and ran into Cade Walker’s cousin. He alluded to the fact that Cade’s beautiful wife had left. So then I hear of you being in Tall Pine, and the story here is quite different from the one I heard in Denver.”
“I can imagine.” Rose tried not to snort. “Did his cousin say anything about Cade?”
Phillip lifted an eyebrow. “Worried about him?”
Yes.
“No. I just want to know if he’s proceeded with the divorce. I simply want it over with.”
I feel naked without him.
Phillip nodded in understanding. “Was the marriage that bad? Forgive me for saying, but for a woman to risk the consequences of divorce, it must have been very trialsome for you.”
Rose nodded. It was not her place to expose Cade’s weaknesses. “It was trialsome.”
So very hard to see someone you loved and respected throw everything away.
“I am sorry it didn’t work out for you.” Phillip smiled compassionately.
Rose smiled back, enjoying the easy way he held her. Nothing was easy with Cade. He had her angry or laughing. Disgusted or passionate. There was no tepid emotions with him; it was ice or fire. Feast or famine. Exhausting.
“Is it my turn to ask personal questions?” Rose asked with a slight arch of her brow.
Phillip laughed and gave an easy shrug. “I suppose I deserve it for prying. What questions do you have?”
“I have heard, let us say, disturbing rumors about how your family procures so much land.”
Phillip’s lips tightened slightly. “I wish I could say those rumors were untrue.”
“So you are aware that the Indian reservations are reduced in land every year so there is more land for cattle grazing.”
Phillip sighed and shook his head. “My father would like to see all the Indian land reduced to a small puddle infested with disease. He has threatened numerous times to fire me as an attorney and disown me as a son because I, well, I temper his hunger for land.”
Rose lifted her brows in surprise. “I did not expect that; I assumed—”
“That I was behind it?” He pursed his lips. “Sadly, it seems that way. I can’t control my father or put out the fire of greed as it were, but I can temper it. I simply wish there was more I could do. I thought that my father’s sickness might give him some humility and compassion. Instead, it has fed his festering hunger for land.”
“More land means more cattle?” Rose asked. “I’m a dairy girl, not a rancher,” she reminded him.
Phillip’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “I understand. Sadly, I don’t know much of the cattle business myself. I decided to be a lawyer, remember, not a rancher.” His eyes rested on Rose for a minute. “I don’t know Cade Walker well, but I must say, seeing you like this makes me think he is a fool for letting you go.”
Rose tucked a nonexistent strand of hair behind her ear and looked away.
“I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Phillip apologized softly.
“One does not need to apologize for welcomed compliments.” Rose looked up at him. “I am sorry you have to deal with your father in such a manner.”
Her dance partner looked past Rose to his mother eyeing him and Rose disapprovingly. “My parents provided me with many things: education, a comfortable home. I rarely wanted for anything material.” He enunciated the last word. “I do wish I had more of their attention. Which is something I will give my own children one day.”
“A worthy goal,” Rose agreed, feeling a bit disappointed when the dance ended and Phillip released her. “Thank you for the dance.”
He did a slight bow. “I should be thanking you. For allowing me the pleasure of standing beside such a lovely woman.”
“Phillip!” The demanding voice of Jessica Hugh snapped into the pleasant harmony between Rose and Phillip.
“Duty calls.” Phillip gave a helpless smile and left Rose on the dance floor.
Rose pondered her dance with Phillip as she walked towards her mother who was letting Daisy sample some custard. She’d felt elated at Phillip’s attention. Not that she was already enamored with him, but his attentions represented a hope. Maybe she could find love again if she could find a good man, a gentle man, without debilitating habits. She had thought when she left Cade that she was swearing to a life alone. Though she knew her choice was right and had made her peace with it, there was an ache resting in her chest that she would never marry again. Yet, tonight seemed to show that maybe she could start anew. As Rose took Daisy from her mother’s arms, two young men eyed her disapprovingly.
“Negro lover,” one hissed loudly with spit slicing through the air. “What them colored men
got that we don’t?” His words were audible enough for others to cease talking and look at her.
Rose swallowed and glared at the young men sneering at her. They looked related, brothers most likely, cowboys who had invited themselves to the party.
“Please be civil to my daughter and me,” Rose said the words clearly. She could see Jessica Hugh taking a few steps towards her.
The taller of the two laughed, his nose looking freshly broken. “Daughter? He slapped the back of a man next to him. I told you she’d been fooling around. No wonder her husband was losing so badly. I wouldn’t be myself if my pretty wife chose a colored man over me.”
Snorts of laughter thrummed in Rose’s ears. She searched her mind for a retort. She was not at a loss for words. She knew exactly what she wanted to say to these swine. She knew she wanted to curl her fingers into a fist and punch them the way Cade had shown her. Yet, aggression coming from a woman would look tacky, not noble—and she hated that truth.
“You are lucky my husband is not around,” she said softly. Cade had his faults, but he did not allow others to insult her.
The cowboy scoffed. “So you haven’t heard?”
Rose frowned in confusion. “Heard what?”
“He won’t have you, ya know,” the boy ignored her question, “not with being tainted and all.”
Feeling a strong hand on her back, Rose reluctantly allowed her father to lead her away from the music, the food, and the curious faces of the crowd. She caught Phillip’s eyes who offered her a helpless shrug and a compassionate smile before she walked out of sight.
Rose felt her mother stroke her hair as they rode home, an action that had always calmed Rose when she was little. “Idiot!” Rose growled. “That man was an idiot. And Jessica Hugh!’ Rose shook her head. “How could she allow them to humiliate Daisy, me, our family like that?”
Anna shrugged, her face solemn. “I would imagine the hate of others, be it Indians, blacks, whoever she deems insignificant, makes her feel powerful. If she doesn’t have that hate to boost her up on a pedestal of self-proclaimed importance, then she has nothing to feed her arrogance.”
The Ways of Heaven Page 13
