Eva let the words settle, trying to consider Ma’s point of view, but there were too many other thoughts racing about. “I don’t mean to sound disrespectful, Ma. But you didn’t worry about that with the other boys. You forced each one of them into marriage.”
“Yes, I did.” Not an ounce of regret filtered Ma’s words. “And I’ll tell you why. ’Til my dying day I’ll never forget riding up to that old sod house and finding little Jessie inside. That place wasn’t fit for snakes to live in, let alone someone as sweet and innocent as her. I knew in an instant I was taking her home. There was no way I could let her live one more day in that place. I also knew Kid would know how to treat her. He already thought of himself as a king, he just needed a queen at his side. I knew Jessie would be his queen from the get go.”
“And Lila and Skeeter?”
“Well, now that was a little different. Skeeter brought Lila home, and I thought she was a right fine girl. ’Til I discovered she was pregnant with little Kendra. I had to make those two get married on account of the baby. The good Lord would’ve struck me dead if I hadn’t.”
“And Hog and Randi?”
“Those two were in the same bed together in Dodge City.” Ma’s eyes grew stern. “You and I both know what happens to unmarried women in Dodge.”
Eva swallowed the lump in her throat. If it hadn’t been for Willamina rescuing her that night long ago, Eva would most likely be working as one of Danny J’s girls yet today. Or dead. The options and mortality rate of women in Dodge City wasn’t anything to argue about. “And Snake and Summer?”
“Land sakes, girl. I didn’t marry those two off, Jonas did.” Ma’s gaze was on the painting Eva had made of Snake’s family that hung over the fireplace.
The faint image of Jonas Quinter, Ma’s husband, hung in the air over Summer and Snake. Summer claimed Jonas was her guardian angel, and that he had been since the day he died in her arms when she was but a girl. The rest of the family believed it as well. Too many things had happened for them not to.
“He just did it through me,” Ma whispered.
Thoughts flowed in and out of Eva’s mind. They were a jumbled concoction of all the brothers, their wives, she and Bug, Ma, the children sleeping upstairs. She loved them all, every last Quinter as if she’d been born into the family. A sinking sensation happened in her stomach. Was she in love with Bug, or did she want to be a Quinter so badly, nothing else mattered? She glanced to Ma. “What does this all mean for me?”
Ma leaned forward and wrapped her tender, work-harden hands around the base of Eva’s face.
“First off, Eva girl. I love you like a daughter. I couldn’t love you anymore if you’d been sprang from my womb, and no matter what, that will never change. Same with all the boys, girls, and babies. All I’m asking is that you and Bug take a couple of months to get to know each other. If after that time, you do love him, and want to spend the rest of your life loving him, then we’ll have a wedding the likes this town’s never seen.”
Eva wanted to smile, she truly did at the thought of marrying Bug, but the other notions mingling about wouldn’t let her. “A couple of months?” she asked, knowing Ma waited for her response.
“Yup, if by the time Snake’s done harvesting his wheat, you and Bug are still convinced you want to get married then you shall.” Ma stood and with one hand, encouraged Eva to do so as well. “Come on, I’ll have Kid give you a ride home. I’m sure he and Jessie are ready to call it a night.” Walking to the door, she added, “The rest of those fools will most likely keep on until morning milking. Trust my word, there ain’t a one of them that’s gonna be good for nothing come sunup.”
“I have my horse and buggy, Ma. I can see myself home.”
“Nope. Not tonight you can’t. One of the other boys can drive you, but Kid’ll follow.” Ma’s tone didn’t promote a rebuttal.
Kid and Jessie were ready to leave. By the time Eva helped gather their children, Kid had the wagon ready and her horse, Bracket, hitched to her buggy.
Eva carried baby Oscar while Jessie carried Winifred and Snake carried Joel to the wagon. After Kid settled the sleeping older children into the back, Eva handed Oscar to Jessie.
“There really isn’t any need for you to follow me home. I’ll be fine,” Eva said.
“I think Ma wants to make sure you don’t have a night time visitor.” Jessie nodded her head toward Eva’s wagon and horse.
Bug stood beside Bracket, running a hand along the liver-colored spots on the paint’s stout neck. Ma, as well as Skeeter, Hog, and Kid stood near him.
Their conversation was intense. Eva hitched up her skirt, and hurried to the buggy.
“I’ll hitch up another wagon,” Skeeter said as she arrived.
“Another wagon? What for?” Eva asked.
Bug had his arms folded across his chest. As did Ma. There was definitely a showdown happening.
Ma was the one to break. Without taking her eyes off Bug, she said, “To give Bug a ride back here after he drives you home.”
“That’s not—”
“Just get in the buggy, Eva,” Kid whispered near her shoulder.
Bug was at her side then, assisting her into the buggy. The seat bounced on its springs and had barely slowed before he jumped in from the other side and snatched up the reins. By now there were several other wagons and buggies hitched to teams or single horses, yet a large crowd still decorated the lawn. Greetings of farewells echoed as the wagons fell in line behind her and Bug.
She’d never been shy around Bug. He’d always been the one person she could talk to. Maybe the first day they’d met, she’d shied away from him, but later, after she and Willamina moved into the soddy, she and Bug had become friends. The kind that could talk and laugh together with no uneasiness, so why was her stomach flipping and flopping now?
“Nice rig you got here,” he said.
The little black awning prevented the moonlight from landing on his face. She had no idea if he was smiling or frowning. “Thank you. Kid helped me pick it out.”
“Good looking animal, too.”
“His name is Bracket. Buffalo Killer gave him to me.” “Buffalo Killer?” His grunt wasn’t very telling.
“Yes, you remember Buffalo Killer, don’t you?”
He laughed. It was the clear, clean laugh of the old Bug, and it brightened her insides. “Yes, I remember him,” he agreed. “How’s he doing anyway?”
“Good. He shows up every now and again. Just out of the blue, but it’s usually when something is happening and his help is needed.” She watched Bracket’s white mane flay in the wind as she added, “Chief Red Elk has even come out a couple times to see Summer.”
“Really, that’s a long trip for an old man.”
“Not with the trains running daily. It’s not a long ride at all. Just a few hours. And Chief Red Elk has gotten back some of his youth since finding his daughter. He really loves Summer. All of the family for that matter. I was a little surprised he wasn’t here to welcome September home.” The thought made her frown. “I hope nothing has happened.” She shook off the ounce of dread trying to seep in. She already had enough to worry about. “I’m sure Summer would know if something had. Buffalo Killer would have contacted her.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” he agreed.
The silence was back then, hovering between the two of them like thick soup. The jingles of harnesses, clomps of hooves, and rattles of the rigs behind them, as well as the happy shouts, and murmurs of other passengers, floated on the evening air, but none of it was conversation worthy in their buggy.
Stars twinkled, all the way down to where the sky met the earth in the far ahead horizon. Eva did have things to say, but where to start eluded her.
Bug broke the silence. “Ma said you talked to her.” “Yes,” she admitted. “I did.”
“And that you agreed we wouldn’t get married until after wheat harvest.”
“Yes.” H
er insides grew heavy.
“Why?”
It was a simple question, so why wasn’t an answer available? The moonlight glistened off the gyp road they traversed along. The white glow laid a never ending path ahead of them. Staring at it didn’t help her conjure up an answer.
“Don’t you want to marry me, Eva?”
She grabbed his arm. It was solid and thick, and she relished the sense of having something to hold onto. “Yes, Bug, I want to marry you. That has never changed, and it never will. But we can wait a few months, can’t we? If it’ll make Ma happy?”
“What about us? What about making us happy?”
“I’m happy that you’re home, Bug. So happy.”
His arm slipped out from her hold and a second later it wrapped around her shoulders. He may have tugged her close, but she was already scooting across the seat, plastering her side against his.
“I’m happy, too, Eva girl, very happy.” The little kiss he pressed to her temple was so soft and sweet it seeped all the way into her soul.
“Tell me, Eva, tell me everything I’ve missed the last couple of years. Start with the kids, how many of them are there now?” He sounded like the old Bug. She giggled, and resting her cheek on his shoulder, she began to share all of the wonderful blessings that had bestowed the Quinter’s since he’d left. He knew it all from the letters everyone had sent, she included, but she was happy to tell him about the little sweet and silly things that may have been missed. Like the birdhouse August made her for her birthday, as well as the way he’d been expelled from school for putting a snake in the teacher’s desk drawer.
They were laughing by the time they pulled into her yard. Really laughing in a way she hadn’t since he’d rode away for Pennsylvania. He brought the buggy to a halt. She sat up, and followed the trail of his gaze.
“Nice house, you got, too, Eva.”
“Thank you.”
The smile slipped from his face like melting snow falling off a roof. “You’ve done real well, for yourself, haven’t you?”
There was more behind his statement. The quiver in her bones said so. “I’ve had help. Your brothers and Buffalo Killer and Jack.”
“But not me.” His solemn, almost lost gaze met hers. “You didn’t need me at all, did you?”
The bone shivers spread to her nerves. “I needed you, Bug. I still do. I just had to keep busy while you were gone, or I’d…” He was gone, had jumped from the buggy and disappeared behind the leather side wall. Eva spun, scooting to her side of the seat to climb down. Bug was already there, holding his arms out to help her down. She put her hands on his shoulders, and he grasped her waist on both sides.
When he lifted, he didn’t set her down. Instead, he hoisted her clear of the wagon and held her suspended in the air. “Well, I’m here now, Eva girl, and I’m gonna find us enough oil to make old Rockefeller take notice.”
His lips caught her open mouth. The way his tongue collided with hers sapped the strength from her system. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life as the sensations carried her away.
The kiss may have lasted minutes, or hours, she had no way of knowing. All she understood was that she didn’t want to quit kissing him—ever. He was the one to break the contact, and after a couple other small pecks to her throbbing lips, he lowered her to the ground.
She stumbled, and fell against his solid frame until her legs remembered they were needed to hold her upright. Lifting her head, she encountered the brothers, all of them except Hog. He’d stayed behind to control the crowd still at the farm.
“Come on, Eva, I’ll walk you in while Bug puts away your horse and buggy.” Kid took her arm.
“I can walk her in,” Bug insisted, tightening the one arm still around her.
“After you put away Bracket,” Snake said.
Skeeter slapped Bug’s back. “I’ll help you little brother. You easterners don’t know how to handle good horse flesh.”
Bug stiffened. “Like hell, I don’t. I wasn’t gone that long.”
Laughing, Skeeter winked at her before he tugged Bug from her side. Kid and Snake, one on each side of her, walked her to the house. She couldn’t deny she wanted Bug to walk her inside, but was thankful for the moment to talk to Kid and Snake. After they entered the house, and while Snake was lighting the lamp on desk near the door, she said, “Please don’t tell Bug about the oil well.”
“Why not?” Kid asked, closing the door behind him. Because he thinks I don’t need him. She shook her head, knowing she couldn’t tell them that.
“Because I don’t want him to know right now.”
“Eva, we did as you asked when it came to Willamina’s death, but he’s gonna see that derrick.”
Snake replaced the glass chimney and turned around.
“I know,” she admitted. “But I want to be the one to tell him.” When the time is right, she added to herself.
“All right,” Kid agreed. “We won’t say a thing.
Don’t worry about it.”
“Thank you,” she offered, sighing.
Snake patted her cheek. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Kid wrapped her in a solid hug. “Don’t worry, it’s all going to work out just fine.”
She hugged him back. “I know. Thank you, for bringing me home.”
“I thought I was the one that brought you
home,” Bug said before the door swung all the way open. He glared at his brothers. “I’ll be out in a minute.”
Snake and Kid shook their head, not in denial, but as if they’d just seen something they couldn’t believe. They both said good-bye as they walked out the door, leaving it open in their wake.
Bug had both hands on her upper arms. “Why is it every time I see you, you're in another man’s arms?”
“I—” She puckered her lips and folded her arms across her chest. “That was Kid. Your brother.”
He cracked a smile. “I’m just teasing.”
Her ire dissolved, leaving her more than willing to plummet into his embrace. He kissed her again, but the shouting from the yard cut it short.
“Hey, Bug!” Overly loud yells echoed into the house. “My beer is empty!”
“Mine, too!”
“Say good-bye, Buggie-boy!”
Eva had to smile. A good half dozen men filled the back of the wagon Snake and Skeeter drove.
“I’m coming!” Bug yelled.
“Will it be tonight?” one recanted.
“Go,” Eva said. “Jessie needs to get the babies home, and Kid won’t leave until you do. Ma made him promise.”
“I know, but I gotta say something first.”
The shouts came again.
“Then talk fast,” she instructed.
“I don’t want to wait until after wheat harvest. I don’t want to wait long at all. We don’t need Ma’s approval. We can ride down to Garden City and get married tomorrow.”
She was tempted, oh, so very tempted, but she couldn’t. Not only had she promised Ma, she had some thinking to do. “We can’t do that.”
“Yes, we can,” he insisted.
“Yoohoo, Bug? I’m coming to get you!” A thud followed the shout. She couldn’t tell if someone jumped or fell out of the wagon.
“Don’t answer me right now,” Bug said, kissing her cheek. “Just think about it. I’ll be by tomorrow morning.” With that, he was gone. The glass in the front door rattled as the door snapped shut.
Eva didn’t move. The click of his heals ended as he left the porch. Her heart plunged to her toes. His homecoming had a part of her reeling with delight, the other part wallowing in dread.
Bug leaped off the porch and bounded across the yard. He shouted a farewell to Kid and Jessie as he grabbed the sideboard of the wagon with both hands and leaped in the back.
“Let’s go!” he shouted to Skeeter. “Gerald still has barrels of beer for us to sample.”
He plopped down on the bed before be
ing jostled out. The hoots and hollers were deafening, not that it mattered. Neither did Gerald’s beer. He’d just pretended to drink the last few. The brew wasn’t needed to create the good feelings making his insides dance. Why hadn’t he thought of it earlier? He and Eva would elope. By this time tomorrow night, they’d be married.
Chapter Ten
Bug opened one eye, but quickly closed it, flinching at how the sunlight tried to blind him. His head was heavy, and his stomach woozy. He ran a hand through his hair and scratched his scalp. What the hell? He hadn’t consumed enough beer to have a hangover, yet it sure felt like one—a bad one.
“Hey, are you going to sleep all day? You already missed breakfast.” Skeeter sounded way too happy.
“Shut up,” Bug grumbled.
The whistling was worse than the shouting had been.
Bug sat up, holding his head with both hands.
The smell of hay and animals registered. Opening his eyes cautiously, he glanced about. Skeeter forked hay into the cow’s feed bunk.
“What time is it?”
“Going on noon. You should be glad Ma did the milking. If I had, you’d have been up hours ago.”
Skeeter stabbed the pitchfork into the haystack and walked over to pick up a cup. “Here,” he said, holding out the cup as he walked closer. “Summer sent this out to you.”
Bug took the cup, and sniffed the contents.
“What is it?”
“Don’t know.” Skeeter patted his belly. “But it’ll cure what ails you.”
Bug downed it. His stomach gurgled and rumbled, but stayed put. “Thanks.” Setting the cup down, he gradually stood. “What the hell happened?
I didn’t drink that many beers.”
“No, you switched to the punch.”
“Yeah, I did. I didn’t want to have a hang—”
“It was spiked.”
Bug rubbed at the throb in his temples. “I’d say.”
He needed to be at his best today, it was his wedding day. His plan had been to be at Eva’s long before now. Skeeter dumped some oats beside the hay and put the can aside. “Elmer Burnett makes it from corn mash. It’s as clear and tasteless as water, but boy, oh, boy, does it have a punch.”
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