He laughed again. “Why thank you, ma’am.”
Rocky took the main road through town. The sun cocooned the day in warmth and Mr. Halvorson sat on the bench in front of the mercantile smoking his pipe and jawing with Mr. Reed from the bank. The Halvorson’s coon hound lolled on the boardwalk, belly-up in a patch of sunlight. As they passed the school on the edge of town, the children were out for their mid-morning recess and Victoria caught a glimpse of ChristyAnne and Mera playing jump-rope with the Reed girls in the school’s side yard. Jimmy and Charley Halvorson each stood on one end of the teeter-totter trying to see who would be the first to dislodge his opponent. She spotted the two children she presumed to be the Racklers’ crouched in a group playing marbles in the dirt. She swallowed and turned her focus back to the road stretching out before them.
Rocky seemed to sense her mood. “What do you think of Cade and Sharyah?” he asked, as he smacked the reins down to encourage the horse up the small grade by the school.
“They would be good for each other.”
“He was at the school the other morning when I dropped the children off.”
“Really?”
“Didn’t exactly look like brotherly affection between them when I walked in the door.” The muscle in his jaw pulsed.
“They were there alone together when you arrived that morning?”
He nodded.
“Well,” she shrugged, “you know how Cade is. He never worries about what the gossips will say. But I know he and Sharyah would never do anything improper.”
“He was practically kissing her when I walked in!”
“Really?” She clapped her hands in excitement. “Well! It’s about time!”
Rocky slanted her a glare. “That’s my little sister you’re talking about.”
Victoria laughed. “A little sister who can more than hold her own against the likes of Cascade Bennett. Besides, she’s been in love with him for years and you know it.”
He thought about that for a moment. “Well, that’s probably true.”
“You know it’s true.”
“Kind of like I’ve been in love with you for years.”
She snorted dismissively.
“No. It’s true. You asked me the other day why I’d never called on you. Well, because I didn’t think my heart could handle it if you rejected me. Besides, I knew how you felt about lawmen. That’s why you broke it off with Sky.”
That wasn’t the reason. But he doesn’t need to know that. Then she remembered his comments from the night before. A good marriage started with trust and communication, he’d said. She pressed her lips together. Trust made one vulnerable. Yet… she glanced at him sideways, studying the firm set of his jaw dusted with stubble, the curls of dark hair showing just beneath the brim of his hat, the way the muscles in his forearms rippled as he held the reins. What person in the world would she rather be vulnerable to than the man beside her?
“Um, actually…” she cleared her throat and studied a white spot on one horse’s haunch, “I do worry about you being a lawman. But I broke it off with Sky because courting him didn’t seem to make you jealous.”
“Whoa!” Rocky pulled back on the reins and the horses came to a stop, bobbing and shaking their heads at the unexpected treatment.
Oh, mercy, she’d done it now.
Rocky turned to face her on the seat and warmth crawled over her cheeks. “Those are some very enlightening words.”
She swallowed. Well, she’d started this so she might as well finish it. “I kept reminding myself that you were a lawman. But…” she turned and met his gaze, “nothing seemed to work.”
“Well, you are just full of surprises.”
“So, where are we going?” She slipped it in innocently hoping to catch him off guard, maybe change the subject.
He only grinned and winked as he slapped the reins down and the buggy started forward again. “You really need to work on that patience thing. Nice try, though.”
But a few minutes later when he took the Bennett cut-off she knew exactly where they were going. “We’re going to the Bennett’s, aren’t we? Why are we going out there?”
He chuckled. “You know what they say about curiosity, don’t you?”
“Well, I’m not a cat so I’m not in any danger.”
“Mmmm, a kitten maybe. Cute as one, anyhow. But I’ve never seen a red kitten.” Holding the reins in one hand he settled his arm along the back of the bench and fingered the tendrils of hair by her ear.
She glanced into her lap, trying to ignore the shiver that raced down her spine and then zipped back up to settle in her stomach.
“So you’re adopted. Tell me about it.”
She stiffened. Then sighed. She’d started down this road of vulnerability, so she might as well finish the journey. She gave a little shrug. “There’s not much to tell. My mother took me to the foundling hospital in New York when I was just two days old and dropped me off. I’ve never seen her or my father again…until the other day. I was sent away on one of the orphan trains just two days after I arrived at the hospital, and Mama and Papa adopted me at a stop in Nebraska. From there we moved here.” She swallowed before she spilled the whole sorry story about how the children at school had taunted her because of her status.
Rocky wrapped the curl around his finger. “So that partly explains your tender heart for other children that ride the orphan trains.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “Must be some reason you haven’t told anyone you were adopted for all these years….”
Pushing down the lump that rose in her throat she looked out across the field. Just tell him the whole ugly truth. “Lots of people look down on adopted children. I needed some time to heal when we first arrived here, and then it just never seemed the right time to bring it up.”
“Time to heal from what?” There was a hard edge in his voice when he spoke.
She glanced at him, but she could tell that the hardness was directed at the people who had hurt her. “People’s meanness, mostly.” She picked at a thread in her skirt. “One girl always claimed that my birth parents must not have loved me, to drop me off and abandon me. Then all the children would chime in with how ugly I must have been, that they took one look at me and ran me to the nearest foundling hospital.” She sighed. “Every day for the first year of school, I put up with the jeering. Icky Vicky, they called me.” She grimaced. “Then I started fighting back.”
Rocky dropped his hand to hers and squeezed. “That’s my girl.”
She shook her head. “It did me no good. It only spurred them on. My parents tried to talk to the school master, but he must have felt the same way as the children because he would only smirk when he heard their comments to me and then turn his back and walk away. After awhile the children didn’t even try to conceal their ridicule anymore. They would goad me until I finally blew up and attacked one of them. It was their entertainment. Most of the children were older than me and knew I wouldn’t be able to really hurt them. The day I came home and asked my mother the meaning of ‘vile whore’, was the day my father finally paid the school master another visit. We left town the next day, but I remember as we drove by the school house, Mr. Habersham stepped out onto the porch to ring the bell and his face was all swollen and black and blue.”
“Good for your dad!” He paused for a moment then tightened his grip on her hand. “Thanks for telling me about it.”
Victoria nodded. “At least now I know why I was given up for adoption.”
He cleared his throat. “If the story Baxter Cane told was true.”
She sighed and nodded, wondering if the man really was who he claimed to be, even as she realized they had come to a stop by the side of the road and the Bennett’s ranch lay just ahead. “Oh, you didn’t have to stop for me.”
He laced his fingers through hers and leaned toward her. “I would do anything for you.”
The magnetic pull of his gaze captured and held hers and she took solace in the wonder that he cared for her ev
en after all he knew about her. After the heaviness of her story she felt the need to lighten the mood. “Anything?”
He nodded. “Anything.”
“How about telling me why we are going to the Bennett’s?”
He threw back his head on a laugh then winked at her. “Anything but that, Kitten Red. Anything but that.”
With a deft flip of his wrist he set the buggy in motion again and within moments they were pulling to a stop in the yard of the Bennett’s ranch. Rocky came around to her side and reached up to help her down, his hands cupping firmly around her waist.
As her feet settled on the ground, she whispered, “See, I knew we were coming to the Bennett’s ranch.” She gave him a teasing poke.
He tapped the end of her nose. “Not only a cute kitten, but a smart one as well. Come on Miss Curiosity, and I’ll show you why I brought you out here, because after what I said last night about communication and trust, I realized I haven’t been completely open with you, either. There’s something about me that I haven’t shared with you.”
Really? Her mouth gaped open but before she could form a reply, Brenda Bennett stepped out onto the back porch of the ranch house drying her hands. “Rocky and Victoria! How nice to see you two out here. Congratulations, by the way. I was so pleased when Smith came from church and told me your exciting news. I was home with a terrible headache that morning, and I was so sorry to have missed giving you my best wishes.”
Rocky’s boots thudded on the boards as he bounded up the steps and pulled the woman into a hug. “Thank you, Mrs. Bennett. We know you would have been the first to wish us well if you had been there.”
“Of course I would have. I just can’t wait to meet those three children. I’m sure they are all just as cute as kittens.”
Rocky grinned, met Victoria’s gaze and dropped one eyelid. “Yes, ma’am, they sure are.”
“Well, come in, come in.” She gestured Rocky past and pulled Victoria into a quick hug. Before following them into her cheery red and white kitchen, she gave the dinner bell dangling at one end of the porch three quick whacks that rang out across the yard with a loud clang. Coming through the door she pushed the coffee pot into the center of the stove. “I just pulled a cherry pie from the oven. Sit. Sit.” She flapped her hands toward the kitchen table and then set about slicing enormous pieces of pie.
Rocky held out a chair for Victoria and then took the one next to her as Mrs. Bennett placed the tangy scented confection before them along with a pitcher of heavy cream. She was back in a moment with steaming cups of coffee and the sugar bowl.
Mrs. Bennett leaned heavily on the table as she eased herself down into her chair and Victoria felt a prick of worry. “Are you okay, Mrs. Bennett?”
The woman waved her hand. “Now that you are married you best call me Brenda, dear. And yes, I’m just fine.” She lifted the cream pitcher and started to pour some into her cup just as the back door flew open and Cade burst in.
“Ma!” He stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed with relief on his mother sitting at the table. “You’re alright.”
“Of course I am dear. But look what you’ve made me do.” She gestured to the table where she’d sloshed cream.
“I’ll get it.”
Cade plucked a rag from the kitchen sink. He met Rocky’s gaze for a moment and Victoria could see that they both had yesterday morning’s incident at the school on their minds. It gave her great pleasure to see Cade’s face color before he finally looked away, wiped up the cream and tossed the rag back into the sink.
“Mmmm, pie. Do I get a slice, Ma? Or is that only for special guests.”
“It’s only for the guests,” both Brenda and Rocky replied together.
Victoria chuckled and added a slosh of cream to her own coffee and a drizzle to the top of her pie. The first mouthful eased across her tongue, sugary sweet tartness smoothed out with the flavor of the cream. Like the taste of heaven on a fork. She closed her eyes and savored the melding. “This is delicious, Mrs. Ben—Brenda. I’d love to get the recipe from you.”
“That was my grandmother’s recipe. Of course dear, I’ll get it for you.” She started to rise, but Cade motioned her back to her seat. “I’ll get it, Ma. You just sit.”
Victoria noticed a slight frown on Rocky’s face when she complied without so much as a protest. “Thank you, dear. It’s in the tin on the counter by the stove. Just bring the whole tin, I’ll find it.”
Cade set the recipe box before her and plunked himself into a chair pulling his slice of pie closer. His gaze focused on Rocky. “So, you here about the horse?”
Victoria’s eye brows peaked as she slipped another delicious morsel from her fork.
Rocky’s eyes found hers and crinkled at the corners. “Yep. Sure am.” He gave her a bold wink and then turned back to Cade. “And kittens. Got any kittens?”
Victoria almost choked on a cherry. Hurriedly, she downed a sip of coffee.
He patted her on the back and bumped her with his shoulder. “You still breathing?”
She narrowed her eyes and gave him a ‘we’ll discuss this later’ look to which he replied with an unrepentant grin just before shoving a huge bite of pie into his mouth.
Cade glanced back and forth between them with a speculative gleam in his eyes.
“Here it is.” Brenda produced a recipe card. “Get me a paper and pencil from the desk in the study, would you dear?”
Rocky shuffled his feet and looked from Brenda to Cade with a small V of worry between his brows.
Cade gave a nearly indiscernible shake of his head to quiet any questions from Rocky as he stood and replied, “Sure, Ma. Be right back.”
As soon as Rocky finished his slice of pie, Victoria subtly pushed her half eaten piece toward him. Mrs. Bennett’s attention was still on her recipe box, and while the pie tasted wonderful she simply couldn’t eat that much. Yet she didn’t want to hurt the woman’s feelings.
Rocky switched their plates quickly and set to eating again. With a grin he reached over and snagged the coffee cup out of her hand. His was empty.
“You two are acting just like old married folks,” Mrs. Bennett said, peering up at them through her eyebrows.
Victoria grimaced inwardly. “The pie was delicious, Mrs. Bennett, really. I just—”
Rocky reached out and squeezed her hand, stilling her apology. “She just noticed me eyeing her pie and saw it as a way out of having to fix me lunch in an hour.”
Cade appeared with paper and pencil and set them on the table by his mother.
“Thank you, dear. Now,” she gave him a piercing look, “I’ll be just fine, so you go on and show Rocky that filly you’ve been bragging all over about and quit your worrying.”
Cade dropped an affectionate hand on her shoulder. “Yes’m. And thank you for the pie.” He lifted the last portion of his slice from the plate in a jaunty salute. “I hope you aren’t sending the rest of this home with Rocky. You still make the best cherry pie of any woman I know.”
Mrs. Bennett huffed and slapped him on the arm. “You say that to all the women and of course the rest will go home with them. I can make you another one tomorrow.”
Cade dramatized the look of hurt on his face and his mother chuckled.
“Go on with you now. And don’t you think that we mother’s don’t talk. Especially about you two charmers.” She glanced back and forth between the two men.
Rocky smiled as he rose to follow Cade out the door. “Thanks so much for the pie, ma’am. Your pie comes in second only to Ma’s in my book and if you don’t mind, you can tell her I said so the next time you get together to talk about Cade and me.” He reached to help Victoria with her chair.
Mrs. Bennett gave a soft chuckle, even as a far away thoughtfulness leapt into her gaze. But after only a moment she seemed to shake it off and chuckled again. “Get on with you now.” She shooed him out the door. As Victoria walked past her, she added, “You’re going to have to keep an eye on that one.”
Victoria smiled. “Yes, ma’am. I believe you are right. Maybe even two.”
Rocky placed a hand to his chest looking hurt but he jabbed her in the ribs as they headed out the door and then took her hand to help her down the steps.
Victoria tried to ignore the way her stomach pitched into a pleasant roll as the warmth of his fingers wrapped around her own.
Just ahead of them Cade shoved the last section of his pie into his mouth and gestured for them to follow him.
Victoria slowed her steps purposely and leaned toward Rocky. “We are not taking home a kitten!”
“Awww, come on!” he whispered. “Just think of the joy on Mera’s face when we bring a cute little guy home. Then maybe, if all works out with the Racklers, she can take it with her when she goes. Might help with the transition.”
Victoria gave him her best ‘I’m not convinced’ face. “I’m going to be the one who has to take care of it at home. Feed it. Make sure it isn’t jumping up on the table and side-boards!”
He pulled back and looked at her. “He’s going to live outside in the barn! Catch mice and maybe get a squirt or two of milk in the mornings.”
“We can’t bring a poor little kitty home and make it live outside! What about in the winter? It would get cold!”
He grinned. “Oh good. I was hoping you’d feel that way. We’ll just bring the horses in during the winter too.”
“Rocky!” She smacked his arm.
He rubbed his shoulder. “Ow!”
“You are impossible. There is a big deal of difference between a horse and a poor little kitty.”
“Are you two coming? Or are you going to stand there looking moony-eyed at each other all day long?” Cade called from across the yard.
With surprise Victoria noted that they had come to a halt as they talked.
Rocky slipped his arm behind her so that their joined hands rested at the small of her back and tipped his head towards her. “I’d rather stand here looking moony-eyed all day long. What do you think?”
Victoria chuckled. If she were honest she’d admit that’s what she’d rather do, too. Instead she said, “I want to see this oh-so-secret horse that you wouldn’t tell me about.”
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