“What about it, Jaxson? It’s a land all to itself. Not many whites up there—yet. Lots of good range land. You’re lookin’ for a change, boy. I can feel it in you. How ’bout Montana?”
“Reverend, you planning on going up there alone? Just you and Mrs. Manley?”
“Well, no. Actually, I planned on asking around to see if there might be a few more settlers willing to make the trek. Doctor? Are you interested? Bren? What about you?”
Brendan’s eyes were alive with anticipation. Jax could see before he ever voiced his opinion, his mind was set. He sighed, recognizing his younger brother’s reckless need for danger.
“I’ll be ready, Reverend. March the first. That’ll give me time to wind up business and get everything I need.”
Manley lit his pipe then turned his deep blue gaze to Jeremy. “And you, Doctor? Would you be ready by then?”
“I don’t know,” Jem mused thoughtfully. “I never thought about going north. But, it is an interesting idea, Reverend.” Suddenly, he looked at Jax. “What are you going to do?”
“Talk to my wife,” Jax said as Callie came into the room. “Go wash up, m’ijo.” He laid a hand on Carlos’s shoulder.
Carlos hurried to do Jax’s bidding, and Jax offered Callie the boy’s vacated chair. Jax took a seat on the bench beside his brothers. Cara brought the last of the food platters to the table. “Well, here’s the end of the donuts,” she said.
“These look wonderful!” Callie exclaimed. She took one and passed the plate to Jax.
Reverend Manley’s gaze rested on her. “Callie, how do you feel, child?” His expression was one of deep concern. “I know last night was a terrible ordeal for you and Cara.”
Callie took a bite of her pastry. “I’m fine, thank you, Reverend.”
“Aren’t you gonna ask her, Jax?” Brendan prodded.
Jax gave him a cool look, and Bren grinned at his irritation.
“Ask me what?” Callie raised her gaze to Jax.
“We’ll talk about it later.”
Brendan was quiet, a sure sign he knew he’d pushed far enough.
Talmadge Manley cleared his throat. “I’m afraid all of this tension is my fault, Callie. Cara and I are planning to take some cattle up to Montana. We’re trying to gather some settlers to head up that way with us. We want to start a new settlement back there. Back home.”
Callie turned to Jax, her eyes hopeful. “Jax—” His look stopped her from saying anything more until they’d talked privately.
“Will you excuse us for a moment?” Callie laid her napkin down beside her plate and stood. Jax did the same, taking her hand as they headed for their bedroom.
Tal gave his wife a wink. “Best to get these things out in the open, isn’t it, darling? Get them settled as soon as possible.”
Cara nodded sagely. “I don’t think this will take all that long.”
****
Inside the bedroom, Jax walked to the window and braced his hands on the casing. Callie came to him and hugged him from behind, laying her head on his back.
“We’ll do whatever you want, Jax. I’ll be happy as long as we’re together.”
“You’ve gotta have some preference, Cal.” He turned around slowly, and she came into his arms. “Montana’s harsh. The winters are unequaled. There are few settlers there—” he broke off as she moved back to look up into his face.
It was just as she’d thought, from the rough way his voice sounded. He wanted to go. But he also wanted her to understand what they’d be getting into.
“You love that place, don’t you?” she murmured softly. She already knew the answer.
He started to deny it, then stopped himself. Her eyes sparkled up into his. After a moment, he looked away and nodded. “Yeah. I guess— maybe I do, Callie. I was up there a few years back. I never forgot it—the beauty of it. I always said I’d come back someday.” His voice was quiet, lost in remembrance.
“Let’s go, then. Let’s go see it together.”
“It’ll be a hard place to raise a family, Callie. We’ll be on our own.”
“No, we won’t, Jax. Unless I miss my guess, you are the only holdout. Everyone else is going.”
“What about your house in Washington? Your inheritance? Christ, you could live anywhere you want. We don’t have to go—”
Callie reached up to him and kissed him, slow and hot. His body responded instantly, his arms tightening around her.
“You want this, Jax. So do I. We can sell the house and bank the money. If we decide we don’t like Montana, we’ll have something to fall back on,” she teased.
Jax met her eyes. “You’re sure this is what you want?” He looked away again. “If we go, it means our child will most likely be born in a tent,” he mused, almost to himself.
“If we stay, he’ll never know his family—Brendan and Jeremy. And the Manleys,” Callie countered. She rested her head on his chest. “Jax, this is our chance. A dream you want—”
“I have my dream already,” he answered. “Whether I stay or go. It’s—It’s a matter of what you want, Callie.”
“I don’t want to go if you have doubts.”
He raked his dark hair back impatiently. “My doubts are only for you and Carlos, not for myself. I want to go. If I was single, I would go. But I have you and Carlos, and the baby, to think of now.”
She looked up at him quickly, and could see the indecision in the depths of his eyes, tearing at him. It was easy for her to see the yearning there, as well. He was right about the dangers and hardships. She wasn’t so naïve as to believe this journey would be an easy one, in any respect. But the way his voice changed when he talked about it and the way the light came into his eyes—how could she claim to love him if she didn’t agree to go? There truly was no reason to stay behind. Going north into new country was appealing to her adventuresome side.
“Well?” Jax questioned at her silence.
When she looked up at him, he knew the answer before she ever spoke. “I want to go,” she said simply.
He kissed her, rough yet tender, and she felt his controlled excitement, the sweetness of his thanks, as his mouth came over hers. He lifted his head, reluctant to release her, and she smiled up at him.
“As long as we’re together, that’s all that matters.”
Chapter 32
“Hello, the house!” Brendan called.
Dolly Ames stuck her head out of the barn, her eyes narrowing. She grinned broadly and set down the bucket. “Come on in.” She motioned them down from the little rise beyond the stand of cottonwood trees.
Brendan kissed her cheek as he dismounted, and she smiled again.
“Come on inside.”
Jax tied the horses to the hitching post, then followed Dolly and his brother through the door.
Dolly took off her coat and went to wash up. “You all in one piece, boy?”
“I’m all right. You stitched me up good—and pretty.”
She laughed. “You’re sitting a saddle all right, I see. ‘Good’ is what counts—not ‘pretty’.”
Jax sat down beside Bren.
Dolly reached for a hand towel. “Speaking of pretty, where’s that little girl you were traveling with?”
“Still got her.” Jax’s smile widened. “She’s a McCall now.”
Dolly turned to him, speechless.
“Well, don’t look so shocked,” he teased. “You always warned me that some woman would catch me—someday.”
Dolly nodded, finding her voice. “She seems like a good one, Jax. Maybe she’ll settle you down some.”
“It’s the rest of the story that’ll settle him down,” Brendan crowed. “Being a daddy.”
Dolly put a hand to her throat, tears welling suddenly in her eyes.
Jax threw his brother a quick glance. He rose and crossed the room to where Dolly stood, frozen, hesitating just for an instant before he enfolded the small woman in the shelter of his arms. “You want to be a grandma so much?”
>
She nodded against him, and he was sorry all over again for not having brought Carlos here before when it had occurred to him.
“Then you’re gonna have to pull up stakes and come with us, Mama,” Jax murmured, using the endearment he’d never used more than a handful of times in all the years he’d known her.
She leaned back in his embrace and met his steady perusal.
“Come where, Jaxson?”
“To Montana.”
“Montana!” She stepped back as Jax released her. “Now, Jaxson, I don’t know.” She came around to sit at the table beside Brendan.
Jax’s lips quirked. Dolly could be muleheaded, Jax knew, but he was even more stubborn; a fact she recognized.
“Montana…that’s—that’s a long way from here.”
Instantly, Jax knew she was thinking of the little cemetery on the hillside where five headstones stood. Joe Ames lay there beside their sons. Dolly would have a hard time leaving them.
“Yes, I know,” he answered. “But it’s still fresh, Dolly. Not many settlers there—”
“There’s a reason for that, boy.”
Jax smiled. “I know. But hear me out. Reverend Manley and his wife are heading up this trip. Manley’s half Sioux, and he knows that country like the back of his hand. He wants to drive some beeves up there and start a settlement.”
Dolly smiled. “When do you plan to leave?”
Jax didn’t miss the thoughtful quietness in Dolly’s tone.
“March the first,” Brendan answered. “Reverend Manley says that’ll give us time to get provisioned and he’ll have to buy the beeves, hire the crew—”
“And recruit more settlers,” Jax interjected. “It won’t just be us going up. He’s hoping to convince several more families by the time we leave.”
“When is your child due, Jaxson?”
“August.”
“It’ll be awfully hard on Callie. You know that, don’t you?”
“I know,” Jax said seriously. “We’ve talked about it. The baby will most likely be born in a tent. We won’t have had time to build cabins by then.”
“And?”
“She insists.” Jax knew what Dolly was aiming at. “This was something we both wanted to do, Dolly. I made sure she understood we could go later, but—she wants to go up with everyone else.”
He leaned forward, holding her gaze. “We want you to come along with us. I know that when the baby comes, Callie would welcome the comfort of a woman who’s been through it.” He grinned. “She says men don’t understand, and I imagine she’s right. Not until we start having babies, anyway.”
Dolly gave him a reluctant smile. “All this talk of babies makes it hard to resist.”
Jax decided to try the other subject that he knew was dear to her heart, his ace in the hole.
“I have another surprise for you, too.”
“As good as a new baby?” Dolly teased.
“How about a ten-year-old boy?” Jax took a deep breath before he went on. It was still new to him, and wonderful, the idea of Carlos being his own flesh and blood. “I have a son, Dolly. A boy I never knew was mine until just recently.”
“Are you sure he’s yours?” she asked bluntly.
“I’m sure,” he answered quietly. “When you see him, you won’t doubt it, either.”
“Another lady-killer, huh?” She looked from Jax to Brendan.
Brendan took her hand in his, giving her an enigmatic grin. “That’s why we need you, Dolly. You’re the only one who can keep us McCall men in line.”
****
Two days later, Jaxson rode out for Fort Smith leaving Brendan behind at Dolly’s. Jax carried his brother’s badge in his shirt pocket, just under his own star.
It had been hard for Brendan to relinquish the star, Jax knew. Just as hard as it would be for him to do the same when he reached Fort Smith. But it was necessary.
Brendan had agreed to stay with Dolly through Christmas, and see to doing the mending, patching and readying that would be needed before the next station owner took over. Even though Dolly had not consented to give up the station and go north with them, Jax knew she would, in the end.
When Jax arrived in Fort Smith, he went immediately to Judge Isaac Parker’s office. There was something he wanted to take care of before he turned in his badge.
With a cursory knock, he opened Parker’s outer chambers door. The judge turned from where he stood at the window. “McCall, looks like you’ve got something on your mind, son. I—was watching you as you came into town. C’mon in here.” He motioned to another door that opened into a small office. “It’ll be more private.”
Jax smiled at the older man. “You’re not in court today?” He followed Parker into his inner chambers and shut the door behind him. The judge sat down and motioned Jax to sit, almost impatiently.
“It’s my lunch hour. In any case, we’re not in court, you and I, Marshal, so sit down and let’s talk—man-to-man.”
Jax eyed him coolly from across the massive oak desk as he pulled out a chair.
“I’ve an idea as to why you’re here,” Parker continued. Jax was surprised, but kept a poker face. The judge pursed his wide lips. “It has to do with your prisoner, I think. That little girl you were tracking.”
“I married her.” It was a gamble, but one he had to take. The judge would probably have heard already, and Jax knew how fond Parker was of playing these cat and mouse games.
“I can un-marry you in a hurry, McCall.”
Jax knew Parker prided himself on always being in control. Probably why he hanged most everyone he tried in court.
“That’s not why I’m here,” Jax answered, pretending to misunderstand, as if he thought the judge was offering him a favor. “We’re heading up to Montana in March. I’m here to turn in my badge—and Brendan’s.”
Parker raised his bushy eyebrows, and Jax went on. “The wedding was legitimate enough. Our child will be born in August.”
“Well congratulations! Congratulations, Jax. Here, son, have a cigar—”
Jax took it from him and put it in his shirt pocket.
Parker closed the cigar box. “What’s the problem, then?”
“The warrant for Callie’s arrest.”
“Ahhh. That. What’s the story?”
Jax told him what had happened, from Callie’s flight west after her attempted murder of Dunstan Treadwell to Treadwell’s actual death at Jax’s hands in the church.
“So,” the judge said, leaning back in his chair. He steepled his fingers thoughtfully. “You want me to pull those posters and drop all charges.”
It grated on Jax having to ask Parker for anything. He’d always gotten along with the judge, but didn’t really like him on a personal level. Parker was power hungry, uncomfortable if he wasn’t in control. Jax swallowed hard.
“Yeah, Judge. That’s…about the size of it.”
Parker gave Jax a wolfish smile that set his teeth on edge. “That was hard for you, wasn’t it, McCall?”
Jax kept his face impassive. He wanted those charges dropped, to ease Callie’s mind, but he would not grovel at Judge Parker’s feet. The familiar obsidian curtain veiled his smoldering eyes, but Parker kept his smile in place.
“I’m not sure I understand, sir.”
“Asking me to pull that warrant. That was hard.”
No, Jax thought. ‘Hard’ was keeping a civil tone now. Not going across the desk and choking this pompous excuse for justice into the gray carpet under his chair.
“She’s innocent.”
“She still attempted.”
“Self-defense.”
“Well,” Parker shrugged, “that’s debatable.”
“Would be, sir, if Treadwell was alive. But even then, it would be her word against his.”
“Is…that why you killed him?”
“No, dammit!” Jax pushed his chair back and came to his feet in one fluid motion, startling the judge. “I killed him because he was holding th
ree people hostage at gunpoint! When he came at me—I did what I had to do.”
“Well, you should’ve warned him, Marshal,” Parker said mildly. He looked up into Jaxson’s thunderous dark gaze. “Damn fool should’ve realized then, he didn’t stand a chance.” He shook his head. “Oughtta be killed for being so dumb, I guess.” He paused, then reached for his pen. “All right, Marshal. I’ll grant your request. On one condition.”
Jax’s elation plummeted abruptly. He felt his blood freeze. “What’s that, Judge?”
“You keep your badge, son. You and Bren both.” Parker shook his head, his bright blue eyes seizing Jaxson’s. “Hate to lose the both of you. You’re my two best Marshals. Best trackers. Best…everything. You decide Montana doesn’t suit, you come on back. There’ll always be a place for you here. Take those badges with you. You want to marshal up there, that’s your bona fides to the Montana law. Proves you’re who you say you are.”
Jax nodded.
“I’ll write your wife a full pardon—just in case the need arises to show it.” Parker’s pen scratched across the paper with a flourish. He folded and sealed it, handing it over to Jax. Then, he stood and extended his hand.
Jax gripped Parker’s palm and shook. “Thank you, Judge.” He smiled. Now, that had come a little easier.
Epilogue
Jax knew he should stop back by Dolly’s place on his way back to Conway, but if he did, he’d never make it home by Christmas Eve.
Callie wouldn’t be expecting him yet—which would make their reunion just that much sweeter.
The weather had turned bitter, an icy wind blowing cuttingly from the north, and he had ridden the last twenty miles in a heavy snowfall. It was almost midnight as he dismounted wearily and put his horse up in Jeremy’s stable. He started for the back door, figuring it would be unlocked.
He turned the knob slowly, entering, then sat and pulled his boots off to avoid waking everyone. The fire had been banked in the fireplace, and Jax went to it and knelt, stretching out his numbed fingers. Although the leather gloves had provided protection against the elements, he’d been riding in the cold so long his hands and fingers felt like useless blocks of wood. He smiled to himself. When he went into the bedroom he shared with his wife, he didn’t want any part of him to be cold—or useless.
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