by Mary Burton
The support beams of the barn now wrapped in fire, groaned. The fire snapped.
A horse stumbled through the door. The panicked whinny of horses tumbled out with the smoke. Two more horses fled out the opening.
“That’s all the horses!” someone shouted.
Cole. Cole. Cole.
Rebecca silently chanted his name as she stood with clenched fists. Then Cole stumbled out of the smoke. He collapsed in the barn’s doorway, his face and hands blackened with ash. Rebecca ran back toward the building, now in danger of collapsing and grabbed Cole’s shirt and tried to yank him free. But he didn’t have the strength to move farther and she didn’t have the strength to drag him.
Rebecca’s eyes watered and her lungs burned. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his upper arm as she pulled again. Still he didn’t move.
“Cole, you’ve got to get up,” Rebecca screamed. “Get up!”
Strong arms reached around her and seized Cole by the shoulders. Sheriff Wade. He dragged Cole away from the barn as a portion of the roof collapsed. Hot embers sailed through the air like a burst of fireflies.
With Rebecca following behind, Wade dragged Cole clear of the barn as if he were a sack of flour. “Damn it, Cole,” he muttered. “You best not be dead.”
The brigade of firefighters, sweating from the heat, retreated back from the blaze. In the next breath, the roof collapsed. When the building settled, the townspeople tossed more water on the dying blaze.
Rebecca dropped to her knees, staring at Cole’s soot-covered face. She combed her fingers through his hair, waiting for him to move. “Oh, God, Cole. Wake up.”
“I don’t think the fire got to him,” said Wade. “His lungs got full of smoke, though.”
In a blur of unshed tears, she patted his cheeks with the palm of her hand. “Please, Cole, wake up. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Sucking in a sharp breath, Cole lay on his side and began coughing. Overcome by spasms, his chest heaved up and down. Several minutes passed before he rolled on his back, breathless.
“Are you all right?” Rebecca nodded.
Cole coughed and nodded. “Just give me a minute.”
Rebecca rested her head against Cole’s chest. “I thought the roof was going to collapse on you.” Her tears stained his blackened shirt.
His eyes closed, he lifted his hand and patted her on the back. “I’m no worse for the wear.”
A half hour ago, she’d believed that caring for Cole was foolish, dangerous even. Now she realized how afraid she’d been of losing him.
She turned over Cole’s hands and inspected his palms. “Your left hand is burned.” To her dismay, her voice trembled.
Cole presented her with a lopsided grin. “Figures. That’s the hand I hit with the hammer yesterday.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “This is no time to joke. You could have been killed.”
“It sounds like you were worried about me.”
“I was.”
“Good.”
The townspeople had managed to contain the fire, but the livery was a total loss. The flames had nearly receded. Black embers cracked and popped.
“We’re lucky no one was hurt,” Wade said. His damp shirt was smudged with smoke.
Stan Farthing dragged soot-covered hands through his hair. “All the horses got out.”
Wade turned and looked at Dusty and Jared. They stared at him, their eyes wide with fright, their faces and clothes streaked in black ash. “We was all real lucky. If not for that rainstorm yesterday, this whole town could have gone up like tinder.”
The boys glanced nervously at each other. “We meant no harm,” Dusty said.
Prudence hugged Jared close to her breast. The boy whimpered, grabbed hold of his mother and buried his face in her stomach. “My Jared has never gotten into trouble. That Dusty boy is likely behind the fire.”
Dusty frowned. “I didn’t do nothing. He was the one with the cigar.”
Rebecca rose and took Dusty by the hand. “Were you smoking in the barn?”
“We was just having a little fun!” Tears filled his young eyes. “Jared stole the smoke from Sheriff Wade. We was just gonna light it up and see what it tasted like.”
“Jared doesn’t steal,” Prudence shouted.
Cole sat up. “Dusty, no smart man smokes around a barn,” he said his voice deadly calm.
“We thought we’d ground it out good before we went to pet the horses. The next thing we knew fire had started by the door and we couldn’t get out.”
Prudence glared at her son. “Is what he said true?”
“No, Ma,” Jared said, his eyes brimming with wide-eyed innocence. “I didn’t do nothing.”
Prudence gloated. “You see my Jared is a good boy. I knew he shouldn’t have mixed with the likes of Dusty.”
“It was his idea,” Dusty insisted.
Rebecca hugged Dusty close. “I don’t care who started it. Don’t you realize you could have been killed?”
Bess and Mac pushed through the crowd. Mac broke away from Bess and ran to his mother. “Mama, don’t cry.”
She knelt down in front of her children. “I won’t, baby.”
Stan grunted. “This is all fine and good, but my barn is destroyed. There’s no way I could ever afford to rebuild. Those boys owe me.”
Prudence sniffed. “I’m not paying one nickel. Jared said he didn’t do anything and that’s good enough for me.”
“I don’t have any money,” Dusty whispered to Rebecca.
“Then I’ll go to your Pa,” Stan insisted.
Dusty’s face paled. “If Pa finds out he’s gonna beat the daylights out of me.”
Rebecca nestled him at her side. “Mr. Farthing, I don’t have cash on hand, but I’ve still got a few bits of silver that belonged to my mother. I’ll sell those and get you your money.”
Tears streamed down Dusty’s face. “You don’t have to do that.”
Rebecca brushed the bangs from his forehead. “Of course, I do. Now stop worrying.”
“You ain’t gonna send me away?”
“Never.”
Cole climbed to his feet and stood behind Rebecca. He dug in his pocket and pulled out the sack that held the ten dollars he’d just won. He tossed it to Stan. “That’s a down payment. I’ll pay the difference in a few days. When you’re ready to raise a new barn, call me. I’ll drive the first nail.”
Stan stared at the leather pouch. “The boy ain’t yours. Why you standing up for him?”
“He’s my responsibility now. Good or bad.”
Rebecca knew then that she’d been wrong to keep Mac’s identity a secret from Cole. Father and son deserved to know each other. She’d keep her vow to God and tell him the truth as soon as they got home. “Cole, you don’t have to do this.”
His jaw was set firm. “Yes, I do.”
She leaned into him and rested her head against his shoulder. “Thank you.”
Cole wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Stan, are you willing to accept the settlement?”
The coins clinked in the sack as Stan jingled it in his hand. “I suppose.”
Wade cleared his throat. “The other half will come from Jared’s ma.”
Prudence stomped her foot. “I will not pay.”
Wade glared at her. “Dusty has had his scrapes with trouble but your boy ain’t as pure as the driven snow, either. You’ll match Cole’s ten dollars or spend time in jail.”
Prudence’s jaw dropped. “I won’t.”
Wade dug his thumbs in his belt loop and puffed out his chest. “You will.”
Prudence shook her finger at Rebecca. “This is all her fault.”
Wade rolled his eyes. “Miss Rebecca didn’t have anything to do with the fire.”
“She took that boy into her home.”
“An act of Christian kindness,” Wade said.
Unhearing, Prudence shook her head. “She’s so desperate for a child, she takes in strays from t
he street.”
Gladys Applegate stepped forward. “That’s enough out of you, Prudence. It’s time to go home and calm our nerves.”
But Prudence wouldn’t be pacified. “No, it’s her fault. We’d be all better off, if she hadn’t taken in Dusty or Lily’s child.”
Chapter Eleven
“Lily’s child?” Cole faced Rebecca. His gaze hardened. His body grew rigid. “Mac is Lily’s child? My child?”
Everyone stood in stunned silence. Only the hiss of the dying fire and the whinny of a horse penetrated the unnatural quiet.
Rebecca scooped Mac up and hugged him close. “Cole, let me explain.”
Cole’s eyes glittered like shards of glass. “Is he my son?” His voice was a hoarse whisper.
“L-let me explain,” she stammered.
“Is he my son?” he shouted.
“Yes, but—”
Cole sliced his hand through the air, silencing her. His gaze shot past her to Mac and he stared at the boy with fresh eyes. Gently, he raised his soot-covered hand to Mac’s small face and caressed the soft skin.
Cole held out his hands to Mac who, unmindful of the turmoil, willingly leaned toward him.
Rebecca tried to cling to the boy, but Cole pulled him from her arms. Her throat tightened. The physical separation stirred panic inside her. “I want to hold my son.”
Anger clouded Cole’s gaze. “He’s my son, not yours.”
Mac, content to be in Cole’s arm, was more interested in the soot covering Cole’s face than old lies. “Dirty.”
“That’s right, partner,” Cole said softly, his voice full of emotion. He touched the boy’s face, inspected his hands, his body. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
Rebecca’s heart shattered. “I was going to tell you.”
Cole’s eyes glittered with raw anger. “But you didn’t, did you?” He studied the faces of the people around him. Collectively, people stepped back and pretended interest in the ruined livery. “Did the whole town know?”
Tears streamed down Rebecca’s face. “Yes.”
“All of them lied for you?”
“Yes.” She reached out and took Mac’s foot in her hand but Cole stepped back, breaking the contact.
Wade laid his arm protectively on Rebecca’s shoulder. “She’s done right by the boy, Cole. He couldn’t have asked for a better mother.”
Cole snorted. “Mac has a right to know his father. I have a right to know him. How could you all lie to me?”
“We thought we was doing right by the boy,” Mrs. Applegate said. “You never seemed the kind to settle down and a child needs a steady home.”
“I was going to reopen the mine! What the hell more commitment would it have taken to make you happy?”
Mrs. Applegate flinched. “We were hoping you and Rebecca would get together, marry one day. Everyone would have won then.”
“He is my child, damn you! You had no call to make such a judgment.” He glared at Rebecca. “How did you end up with Lily’s child—my child?”
Rebecca stepped closer to him. “Can’t we talk about this in private?”
He jerked away. “The town knows our business so there’s no reason to hide anything now. How did you get Mac?”
“Lily came to me when she was pregnant. My husband had just left me and I was expecting as well. She knew I needed money and offered to pay me if I wrote you a letter.”
“What happened to her?”
“She stayed on with me at the Shady Grove. Two months after she moved in, she went into labor. She died hours after Mac was born.”
He stood silent, absorbing all she said.
“I did everything I could to save her, but there was so much blood. Days earlier I’d lost my baby. My breasts were full of milk and my heart ached from my loss. It seemed only natural to nurse Mac. I promised myself it would only be temporary because I thought you’d come any day. But it felt so right to hold him in my arms and then you never came. After a time, I couldn’t imagine my life without Mac.”
“So you decided to keep him for yourself.”
“He’s not my son by birth, but he is in my heart.” She pressed her clenched fist to her chest. “I love him.”
“Mama,” Mac said, grinning at her.
She reached out to him and he leaned forward, ready to return to her arms. Cole held on to him. “He is my son.”
Rebecca’s arms ached for her child. “You can’t just take him away.”
Cole turned and started to walk away from the party. “The hell I can’t. Come on, Dusty.”
Mac started to whimper and squirm. “Mama.”
Rebecca followed. Dread tightened her chest. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the Shady Grove.”
Hope glimmered. “Then we can talk. Thank God, you’re starting to see reason.”
Cole kept walking. “The time for talking is over. I’m going to pack bags for me and the boys and then we’re leaving.”
Her throat burned with tears. “You can’t take my son! And this is Dusty’s home now.”
Mac, sensing his mother’s fear, reached out to her. “Mama.”
Dusty hurried to keep pace with Cole. “I don’t want to leave.”
Cole stopped. He shoved out a sigh as he stared into the boy’s face pinched with worry. “We have to.”
“You don’t have to leave,” Rebecca wailed.
Mac started to whimper. “Mama.”
Cole faced Rebecca. Pain mingled with anger. “If you’d told me the truth, likely I’d have worked out some kind of arrangement with you. But you lied to me. You told me my son was dead. And I will never forgive you for that.”
Tears pooled in her eyes. “I did what I thought was best for Mac.”
“Thank you for your help, but I’ll take over from here.” His voice, deadly calm, carried so much force he might as well have been yelling.
“You can’t take them!”
“Mama!” Mac cried.
“Yes, I can.” With that, he stalked away from her with Mac crying in his arms and Dusty hurrying to keep pace with him.
Cole’s mind, full of colliding emotions, couldn’t focus. He hugged his crying son close to his chest. Gravel crunched under his boots as he crossed the inn’s drive path in quick, purposeful strides.
He was vaguely aware of Rebecca’s cries and Dusty’s valiant attempt to keep up with his hurried pace as he strode up the front steps of the Shady Grove. But he didn’t stop.
Mac squirmed in his arms. “I want Mama!”
“Later, partner.”
“Cole what are we gonna do?” Dusty asked. Worry filled his young voice.
“For now, we’ll get cleaned up. I need to think a spell.”
Think. He didn’t know where to begin.
All the years he’d dreamed of a life with Rebecca. He’d never taken his fantasies too seriously, until today when they’d danced and he’d thought that they had a chance. But it had all been a lie.
Cole squeezed Mac closer. The boy felt small in his arms and an overwhelming urge to protect him welled inside him. He knew he’d sacrifice his life for Mac.
He strode with the boys through the door, climbed the stairs and retreated to his room. Unmindful of the soot on his clothes, he sat on the peach-colored quilt smoothed neatly over the brass bed he’d used this last week.
Mac squirmed to get down. Fussing louder he arched his back and tried to slide out of Cole’s grasp. “Mama!”
“Hold on, partner. Stay here a bit longer and let me get a look at you.” He tried to hold the boy up so he could study his features.
“No!” Mac wailed.
“I’ll give you a silver dollar,” he said, desperate.
Mac slapped Cole’s hand. “No! Mama!”
Cole dug a silver dollar out of his pocket. He held the shiny coin out for the boy to see.
Mac’s crying slowed, but his expression remained mutinous. He stuck his thumb in his mouth. “Dollar.”
&n
bsp; Cole flipped the coin in the air, catching it easily. “It’s mighty nice.”
A ghost of a smile touched Mac’s lips. He tossed the coin again, then pressed it into Mac’s meaty little fingers. “Have a look at that, Mac.”
The child stared at the silver coin, fascinated by the way it caught the light. He hiccuped. “Money.”
“That’s right,” he said, grateful the child’s cries had stopped.
As Mac studied the coin, Cole stared at the boy, marveling. He’d seen the child dozens of times but now he looked at him as if for the first time. Lily’s eyes—bright, brown, full of questions stared up at him. He looked at the curve of the boy’s lips and the set of his jaw. Masculine pride welled inside him. That was pure McGuire.
How could he have sired such a perfect child?
Cole touched the top of his son’s head. Tears welled in his eyes. “I’ll do right by you, boy. I swear.”
“Coin,” Mac said.
“That’s right.”
Dusty sat next to Cole on the bed, his young mouth drawn tight. “What are you gonna do?”
Cole wrapped his arm around Dusty’s narrow shoulders. “Everything’s gonna be fine, Dusty. Don’t you worry.”
Dusty’s lip trembled. “That’s what Pa said right before he left me in town.”
Cole hugged the boys tight. “I’ll never desert you or Mac. You can stake your life on that.”
Dusty’s eyes brimmed with hope and worry. “Are we gonna leave here?”
“Yes.”
“I like it here.”
Cole sat stiff. “I did, too,” he said honestly. “But we can’t stay anymore.”
“Because of what Miss Rebecca did.”
“Yes.”
“What if she says she’s sorry? Then can we stay?”
“Sorry isn’t enough.”
Bitterness tightened around his heart. Rebecca had betrayed him and ruined any chance for them. Damn her! If she’d been honest with him it could have been so good.
The inn’s front door opened and closed with a bang. Rebecca. Her hurried footsteps clomped up the stairs and down the hallway to his room. After a moment’s pause, he heard her soft knock. “Cole, are you in there?”
“Mama!” Mac shouted. The coin clutched in his hand, he jumped off the bed and ran to the door.
