Tess’s heart broke at the pain in his voice, pain she knew he tried to hide. “I know, Gabe. But don’t you see? That’s why he did those things for Will. He knows he failed you, and this is how he tried to make up for it. You couldn’t care for your son, so he did. He did the very best he could.”
He gave an acidic laugh and glanced away from her. “How do you manage to study the stars wearing blinders like you do?”
“What do you mean?” She stepped back, hurt and confused.
“It’s the same tired question we’ve been batting around for a while now. Tess, if that man was trying to do what was right, then why the hell did he lie to me? Monty lied, dammit! Why didn’t he tell me, at least about you? He’s known for the past four years that I go by the name Whip Montana. So why did he keep y’all secret?”
“I don’t know,” she moaned.
Fury whipped through his voice. “I’ll tell you why. He wanted to keep you for himself. He was being the same old selfish sonofabitch he’s always been.”
“Gabe, that’s not true,” Tess protested. But deep inside herself, she asked if maybe there wasn’t something to his argument after all.
He shot her a dry, pitying look. “You’re smarter than this, Tess.”
“Well, there’s one way to solve the question, isn’t there? We will have to rescue Doc and ask him.”
“Define we.”
Tess froze. Her stare locked on the mean look in his eyes. Oh, Gabe. Don’t do this. “You have to help rescue him.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t. In fact, I’d rather eat a coil of barbed wire than go one step out of my way for Monty Cameron.”
Catching a movement out of the comer of one eye, Tess turned to see her son darting across the yard toward Twinkle’s house, his hat filled literally to the brim with what had been the contents of Twinkle’s pockets. In that instant, she knew she had an argument he’d be hard pressed to ignore. “He’ll never forgive you.”
“Like I give a damn?”
She shook her head “Not Doc; Will. If you run away from this, he’ll hold it against you forever. Our son is a lot like you in that regard—he can hold a grudge like nobody’s business.”
“Our son.” Gabe’s eyes drifted shut and he drew a deep, ragged breath. “That just sounds so…wonderful” Then he looked at her and announced. “I want him to know I’m his father. I won’t be denied on this, Tess. How do you want to tell him?”
“Aren’t you listening to me, Gabe? I know the boy. If you go up to him right now and tell him you are really Gabe Cameron, but you’re not going to lift a finger on your own father’s behalf, then he will hate you every bit as much as you hate your father. Is that what you want, Gabe? Is it?”
“The name is Montana!”
“Well, your son’s name is Cameron!”
Gabe spat a curse and stabbed his fingers through his hair. “I wouldn’t tell him like that. What is it you want, Tess? Do you want me to keep this a secret? Well, I can’t. I won’t. Secrets are your style, not mine.”
Tess covered her face with her hands and said a quick prayer for guidance. Wearily, she rubbed her eyes, then spoke to him. “I’m asking that you give Will a little time. I’m asking that you give yourself a little time. I don’t want to keep this a secret, Gabe. I’ve never wanted that. One of my favorite fantasies has been introducing you to our boy. He needs you in his life, Gabe, but he needs his grandfather, too. You saw how upset he is. What you don’t know is that your son is ordinarily a champion at hiding what he feels.”
“Well, he sure doesn’t get that trait from you,” Gabe drawled.
That’s when Tess knew he finally was listening. Gabe often used sarcasm as a defensive measure. “Look, Gabe, I’ll admit I’m very upset that Doc kept your whereabouts a secret. I can’t imagine what his reasoning might have been, and I’ll be first in line to give him a piece of my mind if he can’t justify it to my satisfaction. But what you must realize is that Doc isn’t truly the problem here. The problem is the future of your relationship with your son. Take some time and get to know him before you tell him you’re his father. Knowing Will, he’ll take the news better if you are his friend before you become his father.”
She breached the distance between them and laid a hand against his chest. “Be a hero, Gabe. Be Will’s hero. Put aside your anger at Doc, and do this for your son if you won’t do it for yourself.”
When he started cussing, Tess knew she’d convinced him. It took him a good two minutes, but he finally filtered through a repertoire blue enough to make a bullwhacker blush, then ended by covering her hand with his and asking, “Will you tell me about him in the meantime? Stories of when he was little?”
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
Gabe nodded and gazed toward Twinkle’s house. “I reckon we should go hear the rest of this tale.”
“I reckon we should.”
Hand in hand they started for the house. Halfway there, Tess tugged his arm and pulled him to a stop. “I probably shouldn’t do this, but can I ask you one question?”
“Sure.”
“Why are you holding my hand? Why aren’t you angry at me, storming around, and yelling and cursing me for keeping Will from you as long as I did? Why aren’t you leaving?”
He arched a brow. “One question, darlin’?”
She rolled her eyes and waited.
The smile spread across his face like a love song. He reached up and brushed a thumb across her cheek. “I can answer your singular question with a singular reply. I don’t need to explain that I feel like I’ve been given a very, very special gift. I don’t need to say that I understand why you’ve handled this situation the way you have, I’d have probably done the same thing. I certainly don’t need to address the fact that leaving you and our child is absolutely, positively the last thing I’d do. All I need to say, my dear Tess, is that…” He leaned down and pressed a tender kiss against her mouth. “I love you.”
This time, for the first time, she began to believe it.
Tess floated the rest of the way to Twinkle’s house. As she placed her foot on the bottom step of the porch stairs, her husband tugged on her arm. “Wait a minute. I have one question I want answered, too.”
“Yes?”
He inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled in a rush. “If we’re not telling the boy he’s my son, then I assume we’re not telling him you and I are married, either.”
Tess blinked. “Well, I hadn’t thought about it, but he wouldn’t like the idea that I married a stranger. Not at all. And if we tell him we married years ago, he’ll figure out who you really are. We can’t tell him, can we?”
“That’s what I was afraid of.” When she shot him a curious look, he elaborated. “What does this do to our sleeping arrangements.”
“Oh.” Tess’s stomach sank.
“Yeah, oh.” Gabe sighed heavily. “You know what? Motivation is a powerful thing. All of a sudden I want to get Monty Cameron freed in a double-geared hurry.”
Me too, thought Tess. Aloud, she said, “Don’t pout, Gabe. You’ll give the game away. You and your boy look too much alike when you do.”
He sighed again, then together they climbed the porch steps, prepared to talk with their son. More or less.
HE’S GOT my mother’s nose.
Leaning against the wall in Twinkle’s comfortable and colorfully decorated parlor, Gabe listened to the story Will told with half an ear, caring little for the story, but enthralled by the sight and sound of his son. If anyone thought it curious that Gabe stood grinning while the boy told a tale of kidnapping and mayhem, they didn’t go out of their way to react. Will himself didn’t notice. He was too busy fretting.
It stuck in Gabe’s craw that Monty had so completely sold the boy a possum hide for a rabbit fur. Of course, that didn’t mean his son was soft in the head or anything. Monty had been fooling people his entire life. Hell, he’d fooled Tess for years now, and she was one of the smartest people G
abe knew.
He continued to watch the boy, barely listening, until one particular name in the conversation seared into his consciousness like a hot brand. “Jimmy Wayne Bodine? What was that about Jimmy Wayne Bodine?”
Colonel Wilhoit waved a sheet of paper. “He’s the one who kidnapped Doc.”
“He’s the man who left the letter,” added Will.
Gabe’s heart skipped a beat. Jimmy Wayne Bodine within spitting distance of my son? Then reality reasserted itself and he said, “No, that can’t be. I delivered him to the Walls myself.”
“His letter says he broke out of prison, Mr. Montana. Says he killed a guard by breaking his neck with his bare hands. Then he dressed in the dead man’s clothes and walked right out the gate, slick as bull-snake dipped in hot butter.”
Gabe dragged a hand along the side of his jaw. Surely his son was mistaken. Surely whoever was behind this simply sought to take advantage of Gabe’s history with Bodine. “You never got a glimpse of this man, son?”
Tess shot him a glare, but Gabe ignored her. He always called boys “son.” Lots of men did. Will wouldn’t think anything of it, and Gabe would get a hell of a lot of pleasure from it. Sure enough, Will didn’t so much as pause, simply started talking.
“No, sir. I didn’t. But the letter says if you question his identity to tell you he thinks of you every time the scar on his right cheek gets to itching.”
Oh, hell. Gabe had given Jimmy Wayne that knife wound while wrestling with him during that last capture.
The thought that Bodine had the opportunity to take his son as hostage turned Gabe’s knees to water and he had to sit down. Since the parlor chairs were all taken, he slumped to the floor. Will gaped at him, and Gabe would have laughed had he not been so busy fretting. Guess the boy hadn’t expected this reaction from the so-called Hero of Cottonwood Hollow. “Let me see the letter.”
Colonel Wilhoit handed him the page and Gabe quickly scanned it. Quickly he realized that Jimmy Wayne—or whoever had penned the paper—wanted two things from this plot of his: gold and Gabe’s hide. “This doesn’t prove anything except that the author knows a little of my history with Bodine. Anyone could have written this. He could have learned about the scar from a number of places. Hell, we don’t even know that Bodine can read and write.”
“Were details like the scar ever written up in any of the newspaper articles about you and that outlaw?” Tess asked hopefully.
“Not that I remember,” Gabe admitted. “I didn’t read all of them, of course. Maybe this fellow went and spoke with Bodine at the Walls. That makes more sense than Jimmy Wayne killing a man in a prison break, tracking me to out here, and creating this elaborate plot.”
“You don’t think he could escape the Walls?” Jack asked.
“That’s the only part I can believe. Bodine is a violent man; an evil man. But he’s stupid. Dumb as dirt. If he came up with a kidnapping and blackmail plan all on his own, then you can shoot me for a squirrel and call me dinner. Nope, I’m willing to bet that Bodine is still behind the Walls and someone else is pulling our strings.”
Twinkle pushed up from her chair and started pacing the room. “Your theory makes sense. If Bodine wanted to kill you and he knew you were here in Aurora Springs, all he needed to do was wait with a rifle up on the canyon rim and pick you off at his leisure. And if he wanted Jasper’s gold, he could easily have sneaked in here and stolen it. We’re not much on guarding our belongings.”
“We don’t guard them at all,” observed the colonel in a rueful tone.
“Twinkle, what about your knee?” Will asked.
“Oh.” She stopped abruptly and pink stained her cheeks. “Isn’t that wonderful. Amy, your chocolate cake worked miracles. I’ve always been a believer in the healing powers of chocolate, and this certainly proves it.” With that, she took her seat and folded her hands primly in her lap.
Busy thinking during the nonsense, Gabe said, “Even if it is Jimmy Wayne, he has a partner. I’m certain of it.”
“Who could it be?” Tess asked.
“Well…” Gabe drummed his fingers against the wooden floor. “Could be whoever is behind the railroad vandalism. Could be this is connected to that gang of thieves my friend Mack has come out here to deal with.”
“That makes sense,” Amy said. “Maybe the same person or group of people is behind most of the trouble happening in southwest Texas these days.”
“That’s a good point, Amy.” Twinkle tapped her lips with a forefinger.
Another possibility occurred to Gabe, and he opened his mouth to say it, then stopped himself when he caught sight of his boy. Frustration painted Will’s face.
“What does it matter who’s behind it?” his son demanded, throwing out his arms. “Let’s just get the gold and do what he says. It’s a long ride to the Big Bend. We don’t have time to waste. We have to save Doc!”
Maybe or maybe not. Gabe had a bad feeling that Monty Cameron might just be the man behind this and all the other trouble.
The idea made a scary sort of sense. Despite his failings, the man was smart. Monty possessed a mind sharp enough to develop and implement a plot of this intricacy.
“Our young man is right,” Colonel Wilhoit agreed, pulling out his pocket watch “We can discuss the ins and outs of this and formulate a plan of action on the way to Eagle Gulch. I suggest we ready our things and meet at the wagon in say…half an hour. That should allow sufficient time for us to make the trip into town before dark.”
That brought Gabe back to his feet. “Hold on just one minute. We aren’t going anywhere. It’s me he wants. I took care of Bodine by myself once before and I can do it again. I’ll go alone.”
“No, you won’t,” the Aurorians spoke as one.
Gabe’s mouth gaped open in disbelief as Amy added, “Doc is family. If he’s in trouble, we’ll all do our part to help him. And Gabe you are…Her gaze cut to Will and she amended her statement. “You are already one of us. We wouldn’t think of letting you do this alone.”
“Letting me?” Gabe sputtered, searching for words tame enough to say in polite company. The best he could come up with was, “But Amy, you can’t go. You have a baby on the way.”
“You do?” Will broke out in a smile. “That’s great!”
“Montana is right, sweetheart,” Jack said, frowning. “I’d worry myself sick if you made the trip with us to the Big Bend. It might be better for you to stay here, or at least in Eagle Gulch.”
“Now, why would she stay in Eagle Gulch?” Twinkle asked.
“So she isn’t alone in Aurora Springs,” Jack replied.
“She won’t be alone in Aurora Springs.” Gabe glared his way around the parlor, skipping Will, but giving Tess a double dose.
She stepped forward and said, “You need someone to take the gold or at least act as a decoy for the gold. You need someone to watch your back. You need someone to show you where to go.”
“Don’t insult me. I track folks for a living, remember?”
“But you’ve never tracked anyone into this part of the world. The land bordering the bend in the Rio Grande is as rough and primitive as any you’ll ever see. I’m not doubting your abilities, Gabe. I know you could rescue Doc on your own. But why should you? You don’t have to do everything by yourself anymore. You have us to help you; you’re not alone. We’re your friends, and if you’ll but allow it, we can be your family.”
Family. He gazed slowly around the parlor. Colonel Wilhoit stood, looped his thumbs around his suspenders, and nodded sagely. Jack and Amy Baker rose, linked their fingers, and nodded. Andrew rolled to his feet and braced his hands on his hips. And nodded. Twinkle sailed across the room, grabbed him by the shoulders, and planted a fat kiss on his mouth.
Recovering, Gabe looked at Tess. She went and stood behind their son, placed her hands upon his shoulders, and offered a smile of such hope and encouragement, of such love, that his heart all but cracked right in two.
Family. Damned if t
he woman didn’t cut right to the nut. Damned if she didn’t fight dirty. She knew that having a real family had been a secret wish of his. Now she offered him one—a strange one—but a family nonetheless. Too bad these poor, innocent Aurorians didn’t realize they’d taken a skunk into their midst when they made Monty Cameron one of their own.
Gabe had no choice but to chase down the truth of this kidnapping plot. And it looked like the liberty of going alone on the trip had been taken from him, too.
Next thing you know, they’ll want to bring the pig.
“First thing we’ll need to do is find out whether Jimmy Wayne has escaped. Since we must go to Eagle Gulch anyway, I won’t argue with y’all coming along that far. What we discover there will determine whether I allow you to go any farther or not.”
Twinkle swelled up to argue, but Tess stopped her with a gentle squeeze of the older woman’s shoulder and a wink. She might as well have come out and declared they would win that battle later, the hell of it being the woman was probably right.
Disgusted, Gabe turned to Andrew. “I’ve an idea in mind for you and your Regulus if you would consider it.” After explaining how Mack Hunter’s skills could be extremely useful in this situation, Gabe asked Andrew if he’d be willing to ride out immediately in the hopes of catching the westbound train due to come through Eagle Gulch that evening. Andrew readily agreed and Gabe addressed his son. “I know you must be plumb wore out, but I need to ask you some questions. I need to know more about your campsite and what Doc had been doing shortly before he disappeared.”
“I’ll do anything I can do to help, Mr. Montana. We’ve gotta save Doc. I’d lie down and die if something happened to him. You see, Mr. Montana, he’s the only pa I’ve ever had.”
“One problem at a time, son,” Gabe said with a sigh. “I gotta take ‘em one problem at a time.”
CHAPTER 14
The Kissing Stars Page 23
