Meadowlark

by Carolyn Lampman

  “What did you do that for?”

  “We have something very important to discuss. I don’t want to be interrupted.” She gave him a speaking glance. “And I don’t want anyone stomping out of here in a snit before I’ve had my say.”

  He nodded and stuck the piece of metal he was working into the coals. Pumping the bellows, he waited for her to speak.

  “You didn’t come home last night,” she said as she came to stand beside him.

  “No.”

  “I suppose you think you had a good reason?”

  “Ja.”

  Becky sighed in exasperation. Honestly, sometimes she was tempted to throttle him. “Look, Garrick, we both know our marriage was one of convenience. I was willing to settle for that at the time, but there are certain things a wife has a right to expect. I understand it’s not your way to say much, but—”

  “It’s over, Becky.” He winced at the baldness of the statement, but he found he really didn’t want to hear about the grand passion she’d found with her one true love.

  “—I can’t tolerate the way you close up to m—What did you say?”

  “I said it’s over.” He gritted his teeth as he pulled his iron out of the forge and laid it on the anvil.

  “What is?”

  “Our marriage, or actually the pretense of it.”

  “I…I don’t understand.”

  “It’s quite simple, really,” he said, carefully avoiding looking at her as he struck the metal with his hammer. “We were never legally married.”

  “But...but how can that be? We went to the Justice of the Peace. We even had a witness and signed the papers.”

  “The papers say you’re married to someone named Garrick Swenson. That man doesn’t exist.”

  “Y-you’re not—”

  “No, I’m not. Swenson is the first Swedish name that occurred to me.”

  “But why?”

  “It was the only solution I could think of. You needed a husband. I knew if you were desperate enough to marry a complete stranger that way, you were capable of anything.” As he thrust his metal back into the fire, Garrick hardly noticed that he’d pounded it too flat for the single tree he was supposed to be fixing. “I hoped this was just a temporary measure until you got your feet under you again, but I wasn’t sure until I talked to a lawyer in Rock Springs. He assured me all we have to do is walk away.”

  “That’s why you wouldn’t sleep with me,” Becky said in a whisper. She had the irrational desire to cover her ears, to block out the words that pounded her as mercilessly as his hammer pounded the iron on his anvil.

  “I never meant for that to happen, Becky. I’m sorry, I truly am.”

  “Oh, Garrick, I’ve been so stupid. I thought…I thought…” It was all too much. She scooped up Alaina and backed toward the door. “I’m so sorry Garrick, so very sorry. I...Oh, God.” She pushed the door open and escaped into the bright sunlight.

  Garrick had never felt such pain as he watched her run down the street. Where was her elation at being released from a loveless marriage? She was supposed to be happy. Instead, she seemed more anguished than before.

  A horrible thought flickered through his mind. What if Cameron hadn’t found her yet? He tried to remember what she’d been saying before he dropped his bomb. Something about him closing up to her? His stomach tightened into a knot as he realized it hadn’t been about Cameron at all.

  Suddenly, the words he’d just spoken became unbelievably cruel. She probably thought he’d talked to that lawyer this trip rather than back in October. It must have sounded like—Oh, Lord. He was out the door with the next breath.

  Becky was vaguely surprised she could run with her heart shattered into a million pieces the way it was. A sham. The most wonderful year of her life and none of it was true. That’s why he’d never said I love you.

  Hot tears scalded her cheeks as she remembered the shameless way she had seduced him. It was only after she’d broken his resistance that he couldn’t seem to get enough. He’d come home the other night to tell her he was leaving, and she’d thrown herself at him yet again. No wonder he was angry. If she got pregnant again, Garrick would think he had to marry her for real.

  Her feet took her unerringly to The Green Garter. Angel might not be overly sympathetic, but her pragmatic attitude was what Becky needed right now.

  Blinded by tears, Becky didn’t even see the man in front of The Green Garter until she ran right into him.

  “Whoa now,” he said, catching her in his arms and setting her back on her feet. “Sorry ma’am, I didn’t see you coming. Are you all ri— My God, Becky?”

  Startled, Becky looked up and gasped in astonishment. Unable to believe her eyes, she reached up to the dearly familiar face that was still handsome in spite of the red skin and blisters across his nose. “Cameron? Is it really you?”

  “Yes, my love, it’s me!”

  “What happened to your face?”

  “Too much sun a couple of days ago.” Cameron put his hand over hers where it lay on his cheek and brought her fingers to his lips. “I’d just about given up finding you,” he said softly. “They said your father had died. I thought you’d be long gone.”

  “You were looking for me?”

  “I should never have left you, Becky. I realize that now, and only hope you can forgive me.”

  Alaina whimpered slightly as she woke up. For the first time, Cameron glanced down. His eyes widened in shock when he realized what Becky was holding. For a long moment, father and daughter stared at each other. A man would have to be blind or stupid to miss the resemblance between them. Cameron was neither.

  At long last, he looked at Becky. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I was going to, but…but you left.”

  Cameron closed his eyes. “I have more to make up for than I thought.”

  “You didn’t even say good-bye.” There was a catch in her voice.

  “There was no time. I was called away unexpectedly in the middle of the night.”

  “You’ve been gone over a year, Cameron. I haven’t heard a word from you.”

  “I know.” He sighed. “Stupid as it sounds, I didn’t realize I was in love with you until after I left.”

  “But you said it every time we were together.”

  Cameron had the grace to look embarrassed. “Yes, but I didn’t understand the difference.”

  “What difference?”

  “I don’t know how to explain it, Becky, but I never felt this way before. It’s the first time I’ve ever really fallen in love. I thought I would forget you, but I haven’t. I didn’t understand how very much I cared until two days ago when I looked death in the face, and all I could think of was you.”

  “Death from a sunburn?”

  “I was captured by a band of renegade Indians. If it hadn’t been for a half-crazy mule-skinner and a very large Swede, I wouldn’t be here to tell the story.”

  Becky felt dizzy. Cameron was the nameless stranger Garrick had risked his life to save? Did he realize Cameron was the one who—of course he did. That’s why he’d picked today to tell her their whole life together was a lie.

  Fascinated with the miniature features so like his own, Cameron’s attention was focused on Alaina, and he missed the impact his words had on Becky. “You know I’ve never been much for babies, but he really is beautiful.”

  “Wh—what?”

  “I said our son is beautiful.”

  “Alaina’s a girl.”

  “A daughter?”

  Cameron clearly hadn’t considered such a possibility. Becky almost smiled at how like him to assume any child he produced would naturally be a boy. “Would you like to hold her?”

  “Well I...” Cameron shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe later. I’ve never been around babies, and, to be honest, they make me a little nervous.”

  “Neither had I,” Becky said with a touch of irritation. “You get used to them pretty fast.”

  “She’s just
such a surprise.”

  “I wasn’t exactly prepared for her myself.”

  “I know. It must have been hell.” He reached up and traced the curve of Becky’s cheek with the back of his fingers. “Can you ever forgive me?” he asked softly.

  “I’m not sure.” Becky shifted Alaina to an upright position.

  Her answer seemed to surprise him. “Becky, we created a child, for God’s sake. You can’t just turn your back on what we had.”

  “Why not? You did.”

  “I was a fool. Becky, I love you. Once, that meant something to you; or have you forgotten?”

  No, she hadn’t forgotten. He’d made her feel wanted for the first time since her mother’s death. As she looked up at him, she remembered how very much she’d loved him, enough to do whatever he wanted. A dozen images of them in the deserted mine shack Cameron had found for them tumbled through her mind. He’d been so....wonderful. “I’m not a stupid sixteen-year-old any more, Cameron. You won’t find me so easy to fool.”

  He sighed. “I guess I deserved that. Will you give me another chance?”

  “I…I don’t know.”

  “We were good together, Becky. What will convince you to let me try again?”

  Two things occurred to Becky at the same moment. Cameron Price, the most irresistibly handsome man she’d ever met in her life, still had the ability to move her. And Garrick, whom she loved with her whole heart, had played her for a fool. She lifted Alaina to her shoulder. “You’re going to have to prove to me that you can be trusted.”

  “I’ll be the most steadfast suitor you’ve ever had.”

  Why not? With Garrick gone, she had nothing more to lose. “All right, Cameron, but if I tell you it’s over, it is.”

  “Fair enough.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her with the practiced charm he was famous for. More experienced women than Becky had been completely swept away by his kisses. She was dismayed to discover she wasn’t immune to them, either.

  Neither of them paid any attention to Alaina, who looked over her mother’s shoulder and smiled at the familiar figure standing at the end of the street watching the tender little scene. “Daaa!”

  She wasn’t the only one who noticed the man with knotted fists and clenched jaw. More than one passerby breathed a sigh of relief when Garrick turned and stalked back to his shop. It was pretty hard to ignore a Scandinavian giant who looked like he had murder on his mind.

  Chapter 26

  “Do you have a minute, Swede?”

  Garrick paused in the process of cleaning his shop for the evening. Cameron Price was the last person he’d expected to see here. “What can I do for you?”

  “I brought your clothes back.” Cameron set the neatly folded pants and shirt on the cottonwood stump. “I really don’t know what to say. Thank you doesn’t seem quite enough for saving my life. It’s a debt I don’t know if I can ever repay.”

  Garrick shrugged. “Anyone would have done the same. How’s your sunburn?”

  “It doesn’t hurt too bad anymore. I spent the whole day yesterday in bed at The Green Garter with Angel and her girls coming in every so often to put vinegar and some kind of lotion on it.” He grinned. “Best injury I’ve ever had, if you want to know the truth.”

  Garrick thought of the salve Becky had used on his back after the hailstorm and grinned back in spite of himself. “Ja, Dr. Caldwell’s a good one for prescribing pleasant cures for things like that. The man’s worth his weight in gold.”

  Cameron laughed. “I was just going to get something to eat. Care to join me?”

  Garrick was instantly wary. The last thing he wanted to do was spend any time with Cameron Price. “I already ate,” he lied.

  “Then how about a drink?”

  “Too early for me.”

  Cameron sighed. “I guess I don’t blame you. Collette told me about you and Becky.”

  “Collette has a big mouth.”

  “She has her uses,” Cameron said with a shrug. “You knew the day you saved me, didn’t you?”

  “Ja.” Garrick turned away and started to hang tools on the wall. “Alaina looks like you.”

  “I wondered. One minute we were having a pleasant conversation, the next I thought I might have been better off taking my chances with the Indians.”

  “I’ve spent a year wondering what kind of man gets an innocent young girl like Becky pregnant then walks away without a backward glance. I wanted to tear your head off.”

  “If I’d had even an inkling she was with child, I wouldn’t have left. I guess she had a pretty rough time.”

  “After her father died, she sold off everything she owned a piece at a time. When I met her, it was all gone, and she was trying to get up the courage to become a prostitute. Even though she hadn’t eaten in three days, she wasn’t sure it wouldn’t be easier just to starve to death.”

  “God.” Cameron ran his hand through his hair. “I deserve to be horsewhipped.”

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  “So, you married her.”

  Here was the moment of truth. Garrick closed his eyes and fought the urge to lie. “No,” he said quietly, “I pretended to marry her. It wasn’t legal. That way I could protect her but not hold her in a loveless marriage if she wanted to leave. I never had any intention of consummating it.”

  Cameron looked startled. “You didn’t sleep with her?”

  For the first time Garrick looked him straight in the eye. “That would have put me in the same category as the scum who made it necessary for her to get married in the first place, wouldn’t it?”

  Cameron winced, and Garrick continued. “Actually, it wasn’t a problem. She was scared to death of me,” he said as he hung his leather apron and sleeveless shirt on a nail. “After the way her father treated her, I’m surprised she even agreed to marry me.”

  “Why are you telling me this?” Cameron asked. “You obviously don’t think much of me.”

  “No, I don’t have any love for you, but Becky does, and Alaina’s your daughter.” Garrick dunked his head in the slake trough and came up shaking the water free. He leaned his hands on the edge of the metal tub and looked directly at Cameron. “Just remember, Price, I’ll be watching. If you don’t do right by them, I’ll make you wish I’d left you in that renegade camp.”

  “Understood.” Cameron watched Garrick sluice water up his arms and across his chest. “You know, Swede, if things were different, I’d be damn proud to call you friend.”

  Without another word, Cameron left the smithy, and Garrick stared after him in surprise. After a moment, he went back to washing. To hell with friendship. He’d rather bury the S.O.B. up to his neck in a red anthill.

  “Hello, Swede. Want some company?” Angel said an hour later as she leaned on the bar next to him.

  “Not particularly.”

  “My, my, aren’t we the surly one this evening?”

  “If you don’t like it, leave.”

  Angel smiled. “Nice try. I’m not leaving until we have a little chat.”

  Garrick took a swallow of whiskey. “I was afraid of that.”

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  “I’m having a drink.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m thirsty.”

  “Then what are you going to do?”

  “Play some poker.”

  “I happen to know you haven’t been home for two nights.”

  “So?”

  “How come?”

  “It’s none of your business, Angel.”

  “No, I don’t suppose it is, but then I feel like living dangerously tonight.”

  Garrick didn’t bother to answer as he took another drink.

  “Becky told me a very interesting story this morning.” Angel surveyed the room. “Interesting hoax you set up last spring. There wasn’t a one of us realized that wedding wasn’t the real thing.”

  “It was necessary.”

  “Why?”

 
“You know very well why.”

  “No, actually, your logic escapes me, Swede.”

  “She was pregnant.”

  “Yes, and?”

  “Come on Angel, she was desperate. I had to create a situation to protect her until she had the baby.”

  “So, why not really marry her?”

  “I made it possible for her to leave. I knew the time would come when she’d want out.”

  “Or you would.”

  For the first time he looked at her. “Is that what you think?”

  Angel shrugged. “Pretty convenient excuse if you ask me, Swede. It sounds good, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense when you take time to think about it.”

  “Just what are you getting at?”

  “For one thing, Alaina was born almost seven months ago. You didn’t get around to telling Becky you weren’t married until today after you’ve been gone for three weeks. We both know the two of you didn’t part on the best of terms.”

  Garrick was incredulous. “You think I told her the truth about our marriage because of a stupid fight we had almost a month ago?”

  “Becky does.”

  “How could she believe that?”

  “Maybe because you spent one night with her then didn’t go back.”

  Garrick frowned. “I had my reasons, and they didn’t have anything to do with our fight.”

  “I know. Cameron Price is back in town.”

  “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “I wonder,” Angel said sarcastically. “Don’t try to play stupid with me, Swede. I’ve known that baby was Cameron’s since last winter.”

  “Becky told you?”

  “Not intentionally. She doesn’t even realize I know. The point is, you’re letting your damned nobility get in the way of what you and Becky both want.”

  “Nobility has nothing to do with it. She’s in love with him, not me.”

  Angel sighed in exasperation. “What makes you so sure about that?”

  Garrick glared at her. “She slept with him, Angel. Becky would never do that unless she loved a man.”

  “She slept with you too.”

  “That’s different.”

  “Why? Because she thought you were married? Come on, Swede. There are only two reasons a woman will try to entice a man into her bed. Either she loves him, or she wants to control him. Becky wasn’t after control when she set up that very elaborate game of seduction she played on you. And yes, I know all about it. She was so desperate to have you she came to me for advice.”