"I'm glad he's had a chance to know his grandfather. I hope you've decided to stay out here. Cade and Travis will push Roy awful hard. He'll need you to spoil him a bit." Lily handed Serena a wooden spoon and bowl, and the child settled contentedly to making dinner for her doll.
Ephraim's drinking had tapered off these past weeks as Lily had found more and more for him to do, and Travis hadn't obliged in joining him at the bottle. With Cade gone and Lily increasingly incapacitated, both men were shouldering more responsibility. It was quite a sight to see sometimes. Lily wondered what Cade would do if she told him he was fired when he returned.
When the child fluttered and turned within her, Lily closed her eyes and leaned back in the rocking chair. If he returned. It had been nearly a month. How long did it take to get to San Antonio and back? The rivers were rising. Travel would be difficult. Perhaps Cade was waiting for the weather to improve. There hadn't been anyone through here in weeks. She had no idea what was going on in the rest of the world. Dear Lord, she thought, make it the weather that delays him.
Lily didn't know when she had gone from hating Cade for leaving her to waiting anxiously for his return. Perhaps it had been when she had finished sewing the linen shirt and wanted him to try it on. Perhaps it had been the day she had felt the baby move. Anything was possible, It was possible that she still hated him. He had a lot to answer for. But she wanted him here to answer personally.
She didn't let any of the confusion show. If anyone was going to take Cade apart piece by little piece, it would be her. She really didn't believe the hateful gossip Ricardo was spreading around with the help of Ollie, but Cade ought to be here to defend himself.
Ephraim's shout of pain brought Lily to her feet without further thought. Coming in the door with a bowl of eggs, Roy dropped them with a splattering crash, dashing to his grandfather's aid.
Flames leapt from the older man's sleeve. Screaming, he tried to find water to douse them. Roy grabbed the pail kept by the stove while Lily tried to get her father to hold still so she could beat at the sleeve with a towel to smother it. She gasped in relief when Roy managed to lift the heavy pail and hit the flames with the first throw. The fire died, leaving the acrid stench of burned flesh.
Where was Travis and his cock-and-bull medicine when she needed him? Together with Roy, Lily led Ephraim back to the house, Serena trailing behind them. Ephraim stoically bit back his moans, but Lily could tell he was in great pain, and it tore at her to feel so helpless. She should have warned him about the dangers of that damned stove. The sparks flew all over the place and caused more burns than Indians caused deaths. There ought to be a safer way to make stoves, but now wasn't the time to complain.
Inside the cabin Lily removed her father's destroyed shirt and found enough lard to smear over the burned area. Ephraim groaned as she applied it, but she knew of no other remedy. When she was done, she handed him the jug of whiskey. It was the best painkiller in the house.
Roy helped her to make a pallet beside the fire where they could keep an eye on their patient. Ephraim protested and refused to lie down until Lily informed him she could hurt herself if she had to lift him when he passed out.
That seemed to occur quite soon after he lay down.
Worriedly, Lily left Roy to keep an eye on his grandfather while she returned to the kitchen to finish throwing together some kind of meal. The men would have to make do with biscuits and ham. They wouldn't be happy, but it was all she had time for.
After she saw the men fed, she hurried back to the cabin. Her father was still unconscious, and Roy's brow was puckered with worry as he tried to keep Serena quiet and watch over the groaning man at the hearth.
"Climb into Travis's wagon and see if there's any medical books in there. Maybe we can find something else to do for him." Doing anything was better than nothing, and it seemed to relieve Roy to be useful.
He came back with an armload of books on anatomy and diseases and a book called Gunn's Domestic Medicine. Lily jumped on the latter and hastily devoured the contents page, cursing when she couldn't find "Burns" and then flipping quickly to the "Scalds" section. She read the pages hastily. She should have applied more cold water. They didn't have ice. They didn't have sweet oil. Would lard work as well? When she came to the recommendation for "Turner's cerate," she pointed it out to Roy.
"See if you can find some of that in the wagon. It says it will cure any burn."
Lily checked the unbandaged arm as she waited. She didn't see any signs of infection yet, but it was red and swollen. Perhaps if Roy found the medicine, she could start all over, wash off the lard and soak the arm in cold water, then apply the salve. Or would that just serve to wake her father to the pain?
The rain began to fall again, and Lily wanted to cry with frustration. The skies had been like lead for weeks. Couldn't it let up for just a little while? If only Cade would come home.
She heard the ox wagon pulling up and almost cried with relief. Travis and Juanita hurried in with Roy a moment later.
"Let me take a look at him, Lily. You go sit down. My God, you're white as a sheet. Juanita, get her something to drink."
Travis moved briskly through the room, taking command, and Lily let him. She was terrified she had already done all the wrong things. Ephraim shouldn't have passed out so quickly. The burn wasn't that serious, was it? There ought to be something more that could be done.
"Here, drink. Travis will make him well." Juanita poured some of the whiskey into a hot cup of coffee and handed it to Lily.
Juanita's saying a good word about any man was cause to wonder, but Lily didn't even notice. She sipped at the coffee and watched anxiously as Travis went to work.
He actually did seem to have some idea of what he was doing. He mixed some potion to clean the wound, causing Ephraim to wake up cursing. When Ephraim sat up, Juanita handed him a cup of the potent coffee, and he sipped at it while he warily watched Travis.
The salve Travis dug out from his store of supplies apparently stung, for Ephraim howled and cursed when it was applied. But when Serena woke and started wailing, he quieted and beckoned the child to crawl in his lap. He told her some wild tale about a rabbit that talked while Travis finished bandaging his arm.
"It's going to hurt like hell for a while, but you'll be as good as new in a few weeks. Give you a taste of what you're in for if you don't repent your sinful ways." Travis stood up and cleaned his hands in the bowl of water Lily kept by the hearth.
"You're expecting enough for me to believe a snake-oil salesman knows anything about doctoring. Don't ask me to listen to your preaching, too." Grumpily, Ephraim accepted Travis's hand and stood up, weaving unsteadily until he found a chair.
"I'm about ready to believe anything Travis tells me right now, so you'd better treat him nice." Relieved, Lily scolded as she found a pillow for her father's arm and one for his back and fluttered around him until she was certain he was almost back to normal.
Dinner was a fairly quiet meal. Surprisingly, Juanita kept up much of the conversation, telling of the silk ribbon Travis had bought for her, the arrival of a new shipment of fabrics, and her conversation with her cousin. Travis encouraged her by drawing her out about the Indians they had seen boldly walking through town in their leather leggings and shirts and hideous tattoos. When Lily asked if there were any news of the war, Travis shrugged and changed the subject.
That did not bode well, but Lily was too tired to argue. Swearing he was well enough to retire to his own bed, Ephraim dragged himself to the dogtrot and up the stairs early, carrying a jug with him. Lily made no objection to the liquor. His pain was too evident.
When everything was cleaned away and the children in their beds, Lily asked to borrow the medicine book and took it to her room with her. The supply of candles was running low, but she would indulge herself for one night. She wasn't sleeping much anyway. The bed was too empty.
She read the section on pregnancy and wished Cade were there to discuss it with h
er. She wasn't certain what to make of the doctor's treatise on the woman who felt compelled to steal when pregnant or the one who stopped stealing only when she was pregnant. Did that mean the child was controlling their behavior? Perhaps the one child had inherited a tendency to steal and was showing his true nature by forcing his mother to do so. She wished the doctor had gone on to observe the children that resulted from this strange behavior.
Maybe she would talk to Travis about it in the morning. It was hard to believe that Travis actually had some skills behind all his talk. Cade might be relieved to know he was worth more than the few coins he paid in rent.
Blowing out the candle, Lily settled down to listen to the sounds of night. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. The child stirred, and she covered her growing stomach. There wasn't anything in the book about how long a pregnant woman could make love before she had to give it up.
Jim had not made love to her until a long time after she had delivered Roy. It was one of those things that had made her worship him. But with Cade it was different. She wanted him to make love to her. She needed the reassurance. But if she grew any bigger, it didn't seem possible, and all that business about the womb pressing downward—she should never have read the book.
A whistle split the night air. There was nothing heart-stopping about a whistle unless it came in the middle of a quiet night when everyone should be in bed. Lily sat straight up, aware that she had dozed off. Had she dreamed the whistle?
She smelled smoke. It had to be her memory of earlier that day, when the stench had been hideous. Surely not twice in one day.
A shout had her leaping from the bed and hunting for slippers and robe. More shouts, and thundering feet on the stairs outside. What was happening?
The stench of smoke nearly rocked Lily back on her heels when she threw open the bedroom door. Running outside to the dogtrot, she could see the flames leaping from the cabin roof, and she screamed.
Her first urge was to run toward the house where Serena and Roy slept, but someone jerked her away from it. Lily struggled, and Jack's curt tones woke her further.
"There's others as can carry the children out faster. Don't give us another one to hunt for."
Juanita came running from her kitchen pallet, hair streaming in ebony lengths behind her. She caught Lily's arm and stared in horror while men pumped water and handed it up the chain forming to the roof. Abraham rushed out of the main cabin with Serena in his arms at the same time Travis climbed into the loft and handed a sleepy Roy over the railing to a waiting ranch hand.
That left only one person unaccounted for, and Lily held her breath as figures appeared through the smoke pouring out of the big loft. They weren't figures she recognized immediately. Slight and erect, they carried a heavy burden between them. Her urge was to rush forward and give them aid. But the men on the stairs were already catching the unconscious man, hauling him downward, releasing the two young Indians from their burden.
Indians. Lily expelled a breath and, shaking free of Juanita, ran to them. Some of the men were already glaring at the youngsters with suspicion.
"It was your whistle I heard! Thank you. I owe you more than horses this time. Cade isn't here. I'll tell him..." Near hysterics, Lily tried to reassure the two boys Cade had called his half brothers while letting the men know that the boys only meant to be helpful. She didn't even know why they were here. It didn't matter. They could have all burned in their beds if the boys hadn't seen the flames and warned them.
The elder one, the one who looked most like Cade, touched her arm and gestured with his hand. The seriousness of his dark eyes brought Lily to her senses. She wished it hadn't. She would have preferred to go on babbling mindlessly a little while longer.
Instead, she turned in the direction he indicated and stepped toward the man lying on the muddy ground. Travis was already bent over him, breathing into his mouth, pumping on his chest, and cursing in between. Lily tried not to make a sound, tried to do nothing to distract him, but tears poured down her face. She stumbled to her knees before she could stop herself.
"Daddy! Wake up, Daddy! It's me, Lily! You've got to wake up now. You're scaring me, and it's not funny. Please, Daddy. I'll play for you. There's a piano back in town. You haven't heard me play it. I'm sorry I haven't had time to play it for you yet. We'll go tomorrow night. Or maybe Saturday if you're not feeling up to it. Please, Daddy..."
Someone pulled her away. Someone else half-carried, half-led her to the barn and out of the rain that had started again. Lily knew Roy was sobbing, heartbroken. She could hear Serena crying and Juanita hushing her. Someone was speaking to her, handing her a cup of something. But she couldn't taste it. She couldn't see them. She had to see that her father was all right.
Lily tried to get up and go to him again, but they held her back. She screamed and fought them, but there were too many. When Travis entered, he shook his head as he looked at her. That's when Lily knew it was over.
Weeping openly, she collapsed on the hay and cried for Cade, and for herself, and for the father she would never know again.
Chapter 26
Cade thought he saw flames leaping on the horizon as he rode his exhausted horse out of the woods. His heart nearly stopped in his chest.
They had been riding for twelve hours or more. He was soaked to the bone and should have found a camp hours ago. But the thought of spending the rest of the night in bed with Lily had been too compelling for common sense.
Cade tried to focus his gaze on the flickering flames, but they were already fading below the horizon. Perhaps it had been lightning, but he hadn’t heard thunder. The direction was too uncomfortably close to the house. No campfire would reach that high. Something was wrong.
Sensing home and shelter, the gelding responded to Cade's urging with one last surge of energy. They raced across the prairie in the direction of the ranch.
* * *
She wasn't even aware he was there until he gathered her in his arms. Weeping hysterically, Lily fell on Cade's shoulder and poured out all her fear and sorrow.
Holding her, Cade glanced at the men standing helplessly about.
"Smoke inhalation. He was dead before we carried him out. I tried, but it was too late." Travis shrugged and watched Lily’s hysteria with bewilderment.
Cade had already taken in a white-faced Roy and a sobbing Serena. His gaze drifted to the long body covered in an old horse blanket. Ephraim. First her husband. Now her father. The gods were exacting their price.
"It's all my fault,” Lily sobbed. “I shouldn't have let him take the bottle to bed. He would have seen the fire, smelled the smoke, if he hadn't been drinking. He's been doing so well... He was just telling me how proud he was of Roy, how he'd always wanted a son. Why, Cade? Why does this have to happen?"
"Because he'd made his peace with the world, Lily, and it was time for him to go. Don't fault yourself. There was nothing you could do." Cade glanced back at Travis. "Is there anything habitable? She's shivering. We need a fire."
"The roof is gone on the main cabin and rain is going through the loft floor. I'd be afraid to use the chimney. The other two bedrooms weren't touched." He hesitated, then offered, "I think Ephraim had one of his cigars before he went to sleep. He'd been in pain earlier, and he'd told me he slept better after a good cigar. It could have fallen in the blankets and smoldered. He was probably asphyxiated before the flames started."
"No, no." Lily shook her head against Cade's shoulder. "Daddy wouldn't have smoked in bed. I told him it smelled too much, and he said he wouldn't smoke them anymore."
Travis and Cade exchanged glances. The old man had smoked a cigar every night before he went to bed. He just waited for Lily to leave the room or took it upstairs with him.
"Let's get you inside where it's warm." Cade helped Lily to her feet, then glanced at a grief-stricken Roy. "Would you rather sleep downstairs with us? There's not much of the night left."
Roy looked uncertainly to his mother, but Li
ly was too caught up in her grief to comprehend his need right now. Travis dropped a reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder. "Let's you and me go back to my place and fix up something hot to warm our insides. Your mom will feel better in the morning."
When Roy went off with Travis, Cade spoke to his half brothers, who had grown restless and uneasy with the number of strangers staring at them. They replied in their native tongue, and Cade gestured with his head to Jack. "Fetch the boys some blankets. They'd rather sleep out here in the barn with the animals. I don't want them trying to ride out tonight."
Jack looked from Cade to the two young Indians, then went off to carry out his orders.
Lily had managed to follow this much of the conversation, and she tugged anxiously at Cade's poncho. "It's too cold out here, Cade. There ought to be room in the bunkhouse."
"If I tried to make them sleep in there, they'd bolt. I don't want to have to hunt them down in the morning. Come inside. You can't stay out here any longer."
Wrapping Lily in a blanket, Cade led her back into the night. He stared bleakly at the scorched remains of the main cabin. All Lily's prized possessions were in there: her table and chairs hauled all the way from Mississippi, her crates of books, her new sink and pump, all the things that came so dearly out here. The front window would no doubt be shattered too. Caught up in the more devastating loss of her father, she hadn't noticed this lesser loss yet, but it was coming.
And there was worse yet to follow; he could feel it. That was a topic best left for morning.
Juanita carried Serena off to the safety of her cabin. The dresser with all the child's clothes would be in the charred wreckage of the main room. It was only a miracle that Serena had been saved from the same fate. Cade offered his thanks to Whoever watched over them as he helped Lily into their room.
Jim Brown had neglected to build a fireplace for this side of the house. It made sense, for it was dangerous to leave a fire burning all night in these timber-framed chimneys, but Cade cursed the lack now. The house would be uninhabitable for the winter without any means of heat.
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