Sophie's Daughters Trilogy

by Mary Connealy

  A woman stepped out of the bedroom, dressed and a bit shaky, but not that much considering she’d had a baby all by herself last night.

  Logan was stunned by how much she looked like Sally. They weren’t identical. Sally was two full inches taller, her hair a shade darker. And while Mandy was a pretty woman, she didn’t hold a candle to her beautiful little sister. But the resemblance was uncanny. “How many girls are there in the family?”

  “Four.” Sally walked out right behind Mandy, close, as if her big sister might collapse and Sally wanted to be handy to save the day. Sally held the baby in her arms, so Logan walked over, thinking he could do the big sister catching it if was called for.

  “All as pretty as you two?” Logan was already dreaming about a painting. All four of them. Mandy the pretty little mother. Sally the rugged ranch hand. “You said one of your sisters is a doctor, right?” He could already see the doctor’s bag and the no-nonsense intelligence. It would make a fantastic portrait, catching their similarities and their differences.

  “Yes, and the fourth is almost a woman these days.”

  “She still as prissy as ever?” Mandy asked.

  “Yep, and as pretty. Taller’n me these days. And she’s got men coming around all the time courting. She has a parasol to keep her skin from getting burned. Can you imagine?”

  Grimacing, Mandy said, “Pa must be as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.”

  Mandy and Sally shook their heads in mutual disgust. Logan wasn’t sure if it was over their sister or their pa or both.

  Luther came into the cabin carrying baby Catherine, with Angela dogging his heels and jabbering away. Luther had a free hand to lift his Stetson and scratch his head as if confused. “Strange doin’s.” Luther handed the one-year-old to Logan.

  The tyke came to him easily. But the day was wearing on, and he’d spent considerable time with the little ones this morning. He’d never painted children before, but these were so pretty. He’d love to try, see if he could catch their innocence and softness, the love and trust in their eyes.

  Logan wondered for the tenth time this morning where their pa was. Gone to town, leaving his pregnant wife alone with two toddlers. Then he thought of his own inclination for neglecting people when the sunrise called to him. Would he be any better of a father and husband than Sidney?

  Catherine took that moment to grin at him.

  He smiled back. A furious wolf awakened in him, and it was a struggle to keep that off his face. The thought of someone doing these babies wrong. He’d fight and die for his own child. By golly, he’d fight and die for these children. Yes, he would be a good father. A good husband, too.

  He turned to look at Sally, standing there cradling a baby. Logan waited until she looked up, then he smiled. Her eyes slid to the precious child in her arms, and her brow furrowed. She came to his side, but too slowly to suit Logan.

  What was going on in her female head? Logan leaned down to get a closer look at the little boy, and the baby’s waving hands punched him in the face.

  Catherine giggled.

  Logan almost stole a kiss from pretty Sally, right there in front of everyone.

  “Strange doin’s about what?” Mandy moved to a rocking chair by the stove and sat down with a faint groan.

  “About Buff. “Luther went to her, frowning, with Angela clinging to the fringe on his buckskin coat. “Somethin’ wrong with him.”

  “His leg?” Sally asked.

  “Nope, that seems to be fine, sore but the wound is already closed. It’s just that he was talking with Wise Sister for a while last night when she tended his gunshot. Quiet-like and I couldn’t hear. But they were goin’ on about something for a long time.”

  Logan realized that Wise Sister wasn’t in the cabin. He’d seen her going in and out of the bedroom all morning. She’d fed them all breakfast with Sally’s help. Her quiet efficiency was missing right now from the crowded house.

  “Then Buff spelled Tom at lookout early this morning. Tom set straight out for town without even eating anything. I went to spell Buff and he said—he said—” Luther shook his head.

  “Said what?” Mandy frowned.

  Logan didn’t think it was wise to worry a new mother overly.

  “He said”—Luther swallowed with a gulp so hard it hurt Logan’s throat to watch—“him and Wise Sister are getting … getting … m–married.”

  “Married?” Sally’s voice rose. The baby jumped in her arms and started crying.

  “Today.” Luther looked dizzy. “He said he was sorry I couldn’t go, stand up with him.”

  “Buff?” Mandy asked.

  “W–We decided I’d better stay here and help out. He promised to be back in two days.”

  “Wise Sister is getting married?” Logan felt a sufficient flash of shame to stop himself from shouting that he needed her.

  Bouncing the baby, Sally’s brow lowered then it cleared. She exchanged a look with Mandy, and they both smiled. “That’s wonderful.”

  “It is?” Logan was losing his biggest helper and a true friend who actually respected his work. Except now Sally was a mighty good friend. Still—

  “I guess they knew each other way back. He trapped alongside Babineau in the early days. Babineau was always going off and leaving her for months on end. Sometimes he’d get snowed away from her for the whole winter. Buff got so he’d stop by her cabin, almost more often than Babineau, when she had little ones hanging onto her skirt. He’d stay awhile, do some hunting. Help with the chores for a time. He says he loved her even back then but never spoke of it, seeing as how she was married. She cared for him, too, I guess, because she said yes.”

  “Well …” Logan cleared his throat. He’d be happy for her if it killed him. “Buff’s a lucky man.” An impulsive need to stake his claim to Sally, before he lost another friend, made Logan turn to her. “We should have ridden along to town. Made it a double wedding.”

  Mandy gasped out loud. “I asked you about Logan. You never said anything about a wedding.”

  Sally gave Logan a surly look, and he considered that she might have wanted to make the announcement herself. Well, too late for that. “This is no time to discuss something like that.”

  Logan’s stomach sank at the look in her eyes. She was measuring him. He knew it. She compared him to Sidney and thought she saw a bleak future.

  “I’m not leaving Mandy alone to run off with you.” Sally made it sound definite and permanent.

  “How ‘bout if we get married, then come back here and stay with Mandy.” Logan was willing to agree to almost anything Sally wanted, as long as they managed to include a wedding in there.

  “I said we’d discuss it later.” Sally’s face was stiff with annoyance.

  Logan wondered if by pushing her, he’d pushed her away.

  Luther cleared his throat loudly. “I think you ought to wait awhile, Sally girl. You haven’t known Logan all that long and—”

  “Hey.” Logan cut him off. “Don’t try and talk her out of it. She already thinks I’m strange enough.” He looked down at Sally uncertainly.

  She softened a bit. “I’m a little strange myself.”

  “I’ll let you wear cowboy clothes all you want.” Logan leaned close and whispered, “And I’ll let you wear ribbons and lace, too.”

  Her eyes warmed. Logan thought he saw agreement in her expression.

  The door burst open, and Sidney barreled in. He had a black eye. “Mandy, do you know what Tom Linscott did to me? I’ve got half a mind—” Sidney fell silent at the sight of so many people.

  No one spoke.

  Logan wondered how long it would take the idiot to notice that his family had grown in his absence. He was tempted to blacken his other eye, but holding a toddler in his arms dissuaded him.

  “So, Sid,” Mandy’s voice sounded distant, cold, hard, “I see Cooter didn’t kill you.” She didn’t sound one bit relieved.

  “Of course not.” Sidney
sniffed like an overconfident bull right before butchering time. “I fired him and that was that.”

  Logan looked from Mandy’s chilly frown to the soft light in Sally’s eyes. Could that coldness one day be aimed at him if he was a bad husband? He couldn’t imagine the day he wouldn’t notice, and Sidney didn’t seem to.

  Shaking her head, Sally said to her brother-in-law, “Hi, Sidney. I got here just a few minutes after Mandy had the baby all alone.”

  “Baby?” His eyes roamed the room and landed on the squirming infant in Sally’s arms. His eyes widened in surprise. “Tom said something about me being gone from home when I was needed. I suppose he was referring to the baby. Is it a boy this time?” Sidney sounded petulant.

  Logan clenched a fist.

  “It is a son, Sidney,” Mandy said from where she rocked. Logan noticed that a rifle had somehow ended up on the floor right beside her rocker.

  Sidney came over to look down at the little mite. Unwise, considering Logan’s uncertain control of his fists.

  The child had a dusting of dark hair. Logan was afraid the little guy was going to be the image of his father. Hopefully only on the outside.

  “I have a son.” Sidney smiled and touched the baby’s hand. The infant clutched Sidney’s finger.

  Catherine, in Logan’s arms, said, “Papa!” and nearly threw herself out of Logan’s grip.

  Logan held on, and it was a good thing because Sidney only had eyes for his baby boy. He didn’t even look at his reaching, smiling, yelling daughter.

  He picked the baby up out of Sally’s cradling arms. Logan saw Sally’s scowl, but she didn’t stage a tug-of-war, which showed some self-control.

  The little boy’s eyes opened. His arms jerked and he opened his mouth and wailed by way of saying hello.

  “We’ll call him Sidney Gray, Jr.” Sidney didn’t ask Mandy about it; he just pronounced it. Sidney took the child and went to the table to sit down and continue staring. Angela ran to his side and pulled on his pants leg. Sidney didn’t seem to notice.

  “Sidney Jarrod Gray,” Mandy said. “My grandpa who lived in these mountains was named Jarrod.”

  “Fine.” Sidney didn’t even give his wife a single look. It would have forced him to quit staring at his son.

  Sally gave Mandy a worried frown. “Are you all right, Mandy? How are you feeling this morning?” Logan knew Sally was hoping to jar black-eyed Sidney out of his fixation on the baby and remind him there were others in this family who needed attention.

  “No, I have everything I need.” Mandy’s voice lowered, and it sounded as strong and unshakable as the mountains. “I’ve got my own strength, a charitable God, and my children are safe. I don’t need a thing.”

  Logan thought he saw an almost irrational fervor strike Mandy. She really didn’t need anything. She brought that baby into the world without a doctor or another woman or her ma or her husband. She didn’t need anyone.

  That expression held an almost crazed sense of power.

  The baby thrashed its little fists, and Mandy looked at him as Angela gave up on her papa and ran to climb onto Mandy’s lap. “Sidney Jarrod Gray for his father who couldn’t be bothered to be home when his first son came into the world.” She settled Angela on her lap.

  “Huh?” Sidney looked up for a second then went right back to adoring his son.

  Mandy didn’t repeat herself. But when the baby started crying, Logan noticed that Mandy, the independent, powerful warrior, hugged her daughter close and cried, too.

  Sidney didn’t notice.

  Sally did, and when she looked between her big sister and her brother-in-law, her eyes went hard.

  Logan felt her slipping away.

  Thirty

  Logan handed Catherine to Buff, then turned and grabbed Sally’s hand.

  “Hey, what are you doing?” Sally didn’t have time to react before they were outside.

  Logan strode along, dragging her and her only recently un-plastered foot.

  She thought of using it as an excuse, but it didn’t really hurt. “What are you doing?” Could this be one of his artistic quirks? “I don’t like what I saw in your eyes.”

  She must have been moving too slowly to suit him, because he turned and swept her into his arms, then continued walking.

  “What you saw?” Sally’s temper rose. She was going to insist that Logan quit reading her mind. She slid her arms around his neck, just for balance, not because she wanted to cuddle up to the big dope.

  Logan stopped walking and turned to face her, but he held on tight. “Yeah. I saw you comparing me to that worthless Sidney. Like you think I’d neglect you.”

  “You already told me you’d neglect me.”

  “Well, I take it back.”

  “You can’t take something like that back.”

  Logan ignored her and kept talking. “I would never leave you when you were set to have a baby. I would never favor one of my children over the other. You know me better than that.”

  Sally let go of his neck and shoved against his chest. “Put me down.”

  “I’m not letting you go until we have this out.”

  She quit fighting and glared. Their eyes locked. Then her anger wavered. “How do I know?”

  “What?”

  “Mandy was completely in love with Sidney when they got married. He ended up being the wrong man for her in every way, but she didn’t know that until after she’d married him and followed him halfway across the country. He lied about being married. He lied about being a lawyer. He lied about having a job waiting. Now here you are, wrong for me in every way. And asking me to follow you.”

  “But you just said it yourself.”

  “Said what?”

  “Sidney lied. I haven’t lied. You know exactly who I am.”

  “Yes, I do. I know you’re all wrong.”

  “But you fell in love with me knowing who I am and what I do. Would Mandy have fallen in love with Sidney if she’d known the truth?” Logan’s eyes widened, and he let her slide down to stand on her own two feet as if his arms couldn’t hold her anymore. “He was already married?”

  “Yes. Sidney’s first wife died before the wedding, but Sidney didn’t know that.”

  “Well then, would Mandy have fallen in love with a married man?”

  Her jaw tightened, and for a second Sally thought she might slug him. “My sister is an honorable woman. Of course she wouldn’t have fallen in love with him. He courted her, wooed her, flattered her, charmed her, showered her with presents and attention. She’d have never let any of that happen if she’d known. Plus Pa would have shot him right out of the saddle, so it wouldn’t have mattered what Mandy thought.”

  “You’re making my point, Sally. Sidney lied. I haven’t. You may think we’re not right for each other, but you love me.” He leaned down and took a quick kiss.

  Sally let him and knew she’d miss him terribly if she used her God-given common sense and sent him away.

  “And I love you. Knowing exactly how different we are, I still fell in love. And you fell in love with me.” Logan slid one strong, artistic hand along the side of her face and tilted her chin up. “Didn’t you?”

  He looked so vulnerable. So in love. And he was right. She knew almost too much about Logan—the good and the bad—because he’d warned her long and hard about what he wanted in life and how much he cared about his strange bend toward painting pictures.

  She couldn’t lie to him, which meant she couldn’t lie to herself. “Yes, I did. I fell completely in love.” She closed the inches between them and felt Logan’s shoulders slump with relief, even as he slid both arms around her waist and lifted her to her tiptoes and kissed her. She clung to his shoulders then to his neck. His warm, thick hair was like silk beneath her fingers.

  “No more doubts, Sally. We get married with our eyes wide open. Knowing how different we are, respecting those differences, and working hard to get along despite them. Whatever happens, we make this work because
I never want to be without you.”

  “I never want to be without you either.” Tears flooded Sally’s eyes.

  He leaned down and kissed them away.

  “Do you mind much a woman crying?”

  Logan pulled away to meet her gaze. “I love every emotion in you. I love that you’re capable of love and rage, tears and tenderness. I love how you looked staring down at that new baby. I want every bit of how you feel to always show in your face. It’s the most beautiful, expressive face I’ve ever seen. I don’t even need Yellowstone or soaring eagles or snowcapped mountains. If you marry me, I’ll have all the beauty I can bear, right in my arms.”

  His eyes studied her in that deep, detailed way, and she realized she’d gotten used to being stared at. She’d even learned to love it. “You mean you don’t mind if I cry?”

  “I never want to miss one second of what you’re feeling.”

  It didn’t sound true. No man liked a crying woman.

  “I hate the idea of you being hurt by me or anyone, so if I caused any tears I wouldn’t like that, and I promise to do my best to never make you cry.” He snuck in a kiss.

  Sally noticed she wasn’t fighting him off, which must mean she liked the whole idea of being with Logan, no matter how outlandish it was.

  “Besides, my mom raised four boys, and she cried at the drop of a hat. She cried when she was happy, when she was sad, when she was scared or tired or mad or … hungry. I swear that woman was always crying. I got real used to it and learned not to panic.” Logan smiled then kissed her again.

  It made a certain amount of sense. Her pa hadn’t been around women as a child, out here in the Rockies. He might have grown up with no experience. Sally decided then and there to tell Mandy it might be fine to cry if she was of a mind. It might even be good and honest. And, unless Pa came to visit, there’d be no harm done.

  Before today, Sally had never seen her big sister in tears, and she suspected Mandy had never seen Sally cry. Sidney didn’t appear to notice. So maybe Mandy should save the salt water for someone who cared.

  Then Logan broke off kissing her, and Sally realized she’d missed part of it for all her fretting about tears. She decided not to fret anymore. If she felt like crying, she’d cry and that was that.