Texas Passion

by Sara Orwig

  “Dan,” she said and he turned. “Last night you said you had something unpleasant to do and—”

  “I didn’t get it done,” he said brusquely. He started to turn away and then he strode back to her, standing only inches from her. “Don’t you know how violently you may have to fight for this place? Did you stop to think about Abigail and Josh and Lissa when you urged your pa to come out here?”

  “Yes, I did,” she snapped. “They had their say about whether to take the offer or not. We’re here and I plan to stay,” she said in a low voice that quivered with anger. “Ride away from here if you don’t want to get caught in a fight,” she said. Suddenly she knelt and picked up a stick to gouge out dry dirt. She scooped up a handful and stood facing him.

  “You said first love makes a person feel all things are possible.” She held out her hand to Dan. “Well, I don’t know much about that because it wasn’t that way with Elias. But this bit of Texas land makes me feel all things are possible. This gives me hope!” She closed her hand over the dry clods and turned to head back to the wagon.

  Dan stared at her clenched fist and hated taking all of her dreams from her. She was a good, strong, beautiful woman. He clenched his fists as he stared at her.

  “Rachel!” Josh exclaimed, rushing up to her. “Pa says we’re on our land now!”

  “We are. This is a day to always remember, Josh. We’re getting another start here.”

  He gave a yelp of delight and sprinted away as Pa walked up with a piece of paper. “Here’s the map Horace gave me.” She moved closer and Dan went around to the other side of Eb to look at the map.

  “I figure we’re here,” Eb said, pointing to a tiny, wiggly line representing the stream. “Horace said we should see a trail to his place when we get within a mile if we come in past this stream. Heading west from here we should ride past a stand of oaks and a lone cottonwood.” Eb folded the map and looked down at her, his eyes sparkling. “We’re here, honey.”

  Rachel listened to the first note of enthusiasm she had heard in Pa’s voice since the war and she felt she had made the right decision to take Horace White’s offer.

  “Thanks to you, we’re on our land,” Pa said in his raspy voice. He hugged her, and Rachel held him tightly, feeling tears of joy sting her eyes.

  “Pa, I’m so happy!”

  “Lord, I am!”

  He released her and smiled at her. “Let’s get going. I’ll lead the way.”

  He strode away, and she looked up to catch Dan watching her intently. “This is a good day for us,” she said softly and was surprised to see a muscle work in his jaw and a harsh look come to his features. And then as swiftly, his expression softened and he strode forward to place his arm around her shoulders and hug her, looking down at her.

  “I’m glad this day is good for you, Rachel,” he said, and she wondered if the emotions that seemed to war in him stemmed from the loss of his family. He kissed her lightly on the forehead.

  She drew a deep breath, curious about the mercurial change him, yet wishing he were this way all the time. As she inhaled sharply, he paused, his eyes narrowing, his gaze intent on her.

  Her heart began a drumroll as she stared at him. Dimly she heard someone yell in the distance.

  “We have to go,” he said in a rough, husky voice. He turned to stride away. She stared at his broad shoulders and then her gaze slid down his back and long legs while her mind was in turmoil. I love him. The thought was staggering, jarring her because Dan had no intention of becoming a permanent part of her life. It’s too late. I love him.

  “Rachel!” Josh called.

  “I’m coming.” Her thoughts churned as she walked back to the wagon and started to climb up when his hands closed around her waist. Dan swung her up onto the seat. She straightened her skirts and looked down at him, feeling tension arc between them, remembering his arms holding her last night while he kissed her until she forgot the world, thinking about the hours on the trail they had spent talking, the moments he had helped her.

  His brows arched. “Anything wrong?”

  “No,” she answered quietly, thinking everything was wrong because he would go out of their lives far too soon.

  “Where’s your revolver?”

  “It’s beneath the seat. Pa’s got us all armed now. Even Abby has a pistol.”

  “If McKissick wants to court you, the trouble won’t start for a while. He’ll come look things over first.” Dan had his long arms stretched out, his hands braced on the wagon. His shirt clung to him damply and she wondered why he wore it when all the time with his people he had gone without a shirt. He seemed a volatile mixture of two worlds and warring emotions.

  “That’s what I expect. And when he sees you and the others, he may leave us alone.”

  Dan turned to glance at the men who were mounted again. “It depends on how tough they are and how good with a gun.”

  “It may never come to that,” she said, feeling confident that McKissick would leave them alone.

  Eb hollered to go, and they began to move. She watched Dan mount easily, swinging his long leg across the saddle. He urged his horse forward and caught up to ride beside Eb.

  Abigail climbed up to ride beside Rachel with Lissa on her lap and Josh between them. They started moving, the wagon wheels creaking. The men and horses came behind them.

  “We’ll be in our new home tonight, won’t we?” Josh asked her, wiggling on the seat and standing up.

  “Sit down, Josh before we hit a bump and you fly out. We have a long way to go before you can see the house.”

  “Pa said it has a bedroom for each of us!” Abigail exclaimed. “Oh, Rachel, suppose it’s as big or bigger than home!”

  “This will be home, Abby.”

  “We’ll be in a big house?” Lissa asked, twisting around to look up at Abby.

  “Yes, love, we will,” Abby said, kissing the top of Lissa’s head. “A great big house.”

  “Pa’s going to build a barn,” Josh added. “I’m going to help and Mr. Overton said he would teach me to use the pistol Pa bought and Mr. Murdock said he’ll show me how to break a wild horse to saddle.”

  “I wish you didn’t have to learn how to do either one!” Abby exclaimed. “Rachel, can’t we go faster?”

  “If we did, we’d leave Pa and his horses and the men behind. We’ll get there soon.”

  She shared their excitement and watched for landmarks, spotting the trees as Dan turned and waved his arm to indicate the stand of oaks in the distance. Long before they passed the oaks, she spotted the lone cottonwood.

  In another quarter of an hour, she saw a dark stretch of land and wondered if she were looking at the ranch house. As she strained to see, Josh stood up.

  “I see it, Rachel!” He gave a whoop while Abby grabbed his shirt and yanked him back down on the wagon seat.

  Her pulse raced with eagerness and she wanted to urge the team to a run and get there as quickly as possible, but she knew she had to wait and go along with Pa and the others.

  The distance narrowed and as it did, Rachel’s gaze locked on her destination until her eyes hurt and she blinked, realizing how she was staring. She could not discern a house. The land was cleared, but where she had thought there was a house, the land looked dark, but she could not make out any shape of a home.

  “Rachel, I don’t see a house,” Josh said, standing again. When Abby tugged on his belt, she glanced around. “I won’t fall.”

  She felt her breath catch as she realized she was looking at a long stretch of burned grass.

  “Rachel, there’s not a house!” Josh repeated. “It looks burned!”

  Chapter 15

  When they gained a few more yards she could see the blackened ruins and a lone figure and a horse. Horace White waved and Pa and Dan returned the wave.

  Josh sat down, becoming as still as Abby as the wagon drew up and stopped. “It’s all burned,” White said.

  While Rachel stared at the ruins, disappoint
ment welled up, tears stinging her eyes. They had set such hopes on this house and it was gone.

  “Rachel, there isn’t a house!” Abby cried. “It’s burned down! We won’t have any place to stay! We shouldn’t have come out here. We should have stayed in town.”

  Unable to answer, Rachel struggled to get her emotions under control. Dan turned to ride back toward the wagon. As he did, her gaze shifted to Pa. He was riding ahead without coming back for her opinion. She wiped her eyes and drew herself up.

  “Abby, when we came to Texas, we expected to start with a tiny herd and to build a house. We still have land and a herd and we’ll build a place. It will be all ours and brand new!”

  “But we’ll have to live outside until we get a house!”

  “It might not be so bad, Abby,” Josh said, brightening and looking up at Rachel. “We do still own a lot, don’t we?”

  “That’s right, Josh. We have more than we expected even if the house is gone.” She met Dan’s searching gaze as he rode toward them and she took a deep breath, wondering if he was going to tell her the same thing Abby had.

  He turned to ride close to the wagon, studying her as she looked at him. He gave her a crooked smile and reached over to squeeze her arm.

  His smile and touch were reassuring and she smiled in return, knowing they could cope with this setback.

  As soon as Dan released her arm, he urged his horse to a canter and caught up with Pa, and she wondered if he had just ridden back to see how she was taking the loss.

  She saw Horace White with two horses, one packed with sacks and belongings, the other saddled and ready to ride. He stood with his hat pushed to the back of his head and as Pa and Dan reined and dismounted, he strode forward to shake their hands.

  As soon as she halted, she climbed down off the wagon and hurried to join them. When she walked up, White glanced at her.

  “Good day, Mrs. Johnson,” he said perfunctorily, turning back to Pa.

  “There were four of them and they rode in here last night. We couldn’t fight them, because two of my men had already quit and gone. They killed Mose,” he said in a low voice. “I buried him up on the hill,” he said, pointing to the north.

  She glanced around and saw a rise in the land in the distance and guessed that was where he was indicating.

  “You think this was McKissick?” Dan asked.

  “It was. It was the same bunch. No one else has given me trouble. McKissick wasn’t with them, but I think I recognized one of his hands, a man named Monte.” While he answered Dan, Horace White opened a pouch in his hands and thrust money at Pa.

  “Mr. Kearney, here’s some of your money back. You bought a house and now it’s gone. I stayed behind so I could give this to you and tell you what happened.”

  “You keep your money,” Pa said firmly in his whispery voice. “We made a bargain and when the place was burned, it belonged to me, not you, so it was our loss.”

  “No, sir. I don’t want to sell a man something and then when he goes to get it, he discovers it’s gone.”

  “Keep your money. We’re getting more than I’d expected.”

  She listened to them argue and turned around to walk away, suddenly feeling better, because Pa was making this decision on his own. Every since they had arrived in Texas, little by little, he was beginning to act more like the man he was before the war. Dan’s fingers closed on her arm.

  “I want to talk to you, Rachel,” he said solemnly.

  She nodded and they walked away from everyone, Dan leading her past the ruins and toward the shade of the trees. They stepped into cool shade and he turned to face her.

  “McKissick burned this house to the ground. You can influence your Pa. Talk to him and urge him to turn around and ride back to town and sell what you have left here. You’ll never be able to fight McKissick if he decides to give you trouble.”

  “No,” she answered quietly, looking into dark eyes that seemed to bore through her with the sharpness of an arrow. “You heard Pa. This is still more than we expected to get. This is a new start for us. I’ll fight anyone to keep this place and that includes you!”

  He inhaled sharply and looked away as if he were trying to control his temper. When he looked back at her, he firmed his lips and shook his head. “Lord, you are stubborn!”

  “This is a chance we won’t get elsewhere.”

  “The house is gone. Take the herd and move on to other land. There’s land out here for the taking.”

  “This is ours and here we stay and I’m willing to fight McKissick for it if necessary. Pa is getting more like he used to be with every hour we’ve been here. We’re not giving this up without a fight. Now I need to get back,” she turned and strode swiftly toward Pa and Horace White. Dan caught up with her, his long legs covering the distance easily while he remained silent.

  Horace White mounted his horse, looking down at Pa. “I wish you luck, Mr. Kearney. I’m leaving Texas and I don’t want to ever come back.”

  He turned the horses and rode away. Pa looked at her. “Rachel, I’d like to camp here tonight. Get settled and get supper on for everyone while we ride out and look over the land. Since we have to build a house, there might be a better location. I’ll take a couple of men with me and the others will stay close here.”

  “Fine, Pa.”

  “Dan, mind riding with me?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Can I go, Pa?” Josh asked and Eb nodded. In minutes she had the wagon in the shade of a spindly twisted oak and as she passed belongings down to Abigail, she watched Pa, Dan, Josh, and Oscar Nolan ride to the south along the creek.

  Will Murdock strode to the wagon and climbed up beside her. “You tell me what you want out of here and I’ll hand it down,” he said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Murdock,” Rachel said, lifting her hair off her neck. It was hot with the bonnet and she longed to fling it aside, but she didn’t want her skin to burn.

  “Ma’am, you call me Will,” he said with a broad grin, and she smiled in return, glad to find someone who was cheerful in spite of the situation.

  When Pa and the others returned, they led a steer. As soon as it was butchered, Rachel and Abby hung up strips of beef to dry in the sun while Rachel cut pieces to cook for supper that night.

  As the men were eating, Rachel heaped a plate and walked toward a stack of lumber where Pa and Dan were eating. They scooted apart, giving her a place to sit.

  “This is the best beef I’ve had in months,” Dan said.

  “Thank you. It’s also probably the freshest.”

  “Rachel, I found a site that I think would be a good place to build a house. In the morning we’ll load the wagon again and go about a mile south of here. We’ll camp there. That’s where we’ll build our home.”

  “Fine, Pa,” she said, surprised, because it was the first major decision he had taken on himself in a long time. Feeling a promise of hope, she inhaled deeply, loving the fresh air, the grassy scent. She caught Dan watching her, his dark eyes unfathomable.

  After supper while she and Abby cleaned, the men watered and picketed the horses and got out bedding for the night, so she wasn’t alone to talk to Dan the rest of the evening. He took the first watch and when she stretched out to sleep, she saw him leaning against a tree trunk far from the rest of them, his rifle across his knee. She remembered the closeness on the trail and wondered if it was gone forever.

  Before dawn she and Abby cooked breakfast. When everyone had been fed and things packed back into the wagon, Pa mounted. Dan and Josh rode beside him as she flicked the reins to follow. The hands brought the horses and they headed south. As they passed the burned ruins, she gave them a glance, wondering if McKissick or anyone else would try to run them off the land.

  Rachel knew before Pa stopped and pointed to her, the site he had chosen as a place to build a house. It wasn’t what Dan Overton would have picked, because it was in a slight valley, nestled near cottonwoods along the creek bank, but the land wasn’t too
low; the surrounding area could still be seen, and it was a pretty, picturesque place with water at hand.

  “What do you think about settling here, Rachel?” Eb asked as he climbed down from the wagon.

  Glittering in the sunlight, cottonwood leaves fluttered in the breeze. Through the trees she glimpsed the silver rush of water in the creek, and she felt a sense of welcome. “I think it would be grand.” The area was as beautiful as anything at home. The ranch seemed a haven of safety and a new opportunity.

  “I’m glad we don’t have to build where Mr. White’s house burned,” Abby said with a shudder.

  “Then this is our place,” Pa said as he waved to the men coming up behind. He dismounted. As soon as Dan dismounted, Josh took the reins to lead the horses back with the others while Dan came over to swing her down off the wagon. His hands closed on her waist and she placed her hands on his strong forearms, feeling the muscles flex as he swung her to the ground.

  “We’re home,” she said with determination.

  “This will be the start of the K-Bar Ranch.” Pa waved his hand. “When I looked at this earlier, I tried to decide about the barn and buildings. I think the barn should be to the north where the ground is level.”

  “That’s fine, Pa.”

  Nodding, he pulled out a surveyor’s map he had purchased in San Antonio and knelt, spreading it on his knee to mark it.

  With buoyant spirits, she walked to the water’s edge. So much work to do—build a house and a barn and corral. She walked back to the wagon to get supplies. Pa had stopped the wagon close to the site where they would build the house while the barn was three-hundred yards away to the north.

  Within minutes everyone was working, Dan and Will unloading the wagon and placing things where she directed.

  By nightfall men worked by the light of coal-oil lanterns to get branches chopped and in place for a fence for a corral. Once she passed Pa as he was carrying a load of lumber from the wagon.

  “Rachel, I’m glad we’re here. I never thought we’d make it, never dreamed we’d have this chance.” He gazed beyond her into the distance. “If we can get through this first year and turn a profit, we’ll survive.”