Texas Lily

by Patricia Rice

  "Papa-padre-daddy," she crowed, laughing as Cade lifted her and sat down with her in his lap. She liked having several names for everything and everyone, and could chatter incessantly in two languages.

  Cade pointed at an unshaven Travis who glared blearily at their laughter as he untangled himself from his damp bedroll. "Que esta?"

  Unaware of the Spanish niceties as to being addressed as a "what" instead of "who," Travis glared at their cheerfulness until Serena flung herself at him and hugged his neck.

  "Snake-oil man!" she cried.

  Laughter erupted all around—despite the dreary rain, despite their fear and weariness. Welcome waves of amusement relieved some of the tension. Travis growled and tickled Serena until she ran to Roy for help, then grinning, he met Cade's eyes. "Can't you teach her something else to call me?"

  "Tio Travis?" Cade suggested.

  "Tio, tio!" Serena cried, sticking her tongue out at Travis and hiding behind Roy's back.

  "Why do I get the feeling that means 'snake oil' in Spanish?" Travis muttered, reaching for the tin cup of coffee Juanita offered him.

  "It means 'uncle.' Whether you know it or not, you've just adopted a niece. That means you get to carry her today." Cade took his cup and settled back cross-legged beside Lily.

  "I don't think I'm ready for the responsibilities of a family man. I'm not even certain how I got into this." Travis threw Lily a wry look. "You're more trouble than you're worth, you know."

  "Look who's talking." Undisturbed, Lily called Serena to come eat her breakfast. She had spent eight years raising Travis's son. It was time he took on a little responsibility.

  Travis shrugged his shoulders, unabashed. "You could have had a smart, good-looking man like myself and you chose that man-mountain over there. You lost your chance, Lily."

  Lily didn't need to reply to that. She merely looked at his rumpled curls and beard-stubbled face and grinned.

  Relieved that she could still find humor in the midst of her grief, Cade finished his food and leaned over to kiss her before rising to finish packing the horses. Lily watched him go with astonishment. Cade never made public displays of affection.

  Their mood was a little less somber when they set out this time, but the constant drizzle and occasional downpours took some of the light from their day soon enough. The children complained. Lily felt as if she would never stand again. And after some undetected incident at their midday halt, Juanita quit speaking to Travis.

  By the time they reached the rain-swollen Guadalupe River, they were all too exhausted even to consider searching for a place to cross it. Not even bothering to go through the game of moving their camp after the fire died, they set up the tepee and collapsed for the night.

  Gunfire woke them at midnight. The children woke up crying with terror, and Travis didn't bother searching for his shoes as he grabbed his rifle and ran out. Cade was on watch, and Lily clutched the blankets around her as they waited in fear for some report.

  Both men came back a little while later, soaked and cursing but unharmed.

  "They were after the horses. It's all right. No one was hurt," Travis assured them.

  Cade said nothing, but his eyes sought out Lily, telling her there was nothing to concern herself about. She didn't know how he knew she needed this extra reassurance, but she relaxed and nodded her understanding, obediently rolling up in her blankets once again.

  But when they rose in the morning it was to discover that Lily's mule had somehow made its escape, with or without help.

  Travis cursed, but Cade took it in stride, distributing the saddlebags on his horse to the two pack-horses and holding his hand out to Lily. "You'll ride with me."

  Lily looked at the swirling river they had to cross and shook her head. "You'll have to carry Roy and Juanita across first."

  Travis rode up with Serena on his lap to find the reason for the delay. "Much as I hate to admit it, she's right. I can carry the brat here across on my saddle, but the gelding is larger and safer. Do you know a crossing or should I test the river?"

  "There's a beaver dam and some other obstructions just down past the bend. We can cross there." Cade caught Lily by the waist and threw her up on his horse. "You'll ride with me till the crossing."

  The muddy river swirled closer to their feet with every passing minute. Lily didn't see how they could possibly cross without boats. Feeling Cade's arms around her, she tried to tell herself everything would be all right, but she glanced worriedly at Roy. He was trying to look brave, but his face was pinched with cold and fear. Should anything happen to him too...

  They found the jam of old logs and silt and tree roots. Water grew steadily deeper on one side, seeping through in slow eddies and giddy currents in several places, but the dam blocked the flow sufficiently to lower the water level on the far side.

  Lily stood at the river's edge where Cade had lowered her and watched as Travis eased his horse into the current, holding Serena securely in front of him. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until she saw him safely emerging on the other side.

  Cade lifted a terrified Juanita in front of him and leading her mule, set out down the muddy bank. Lily reached for Roy's hand as he sat on his pony, following every movement with his eyes. His small fingers curled in hers, and she wished she had the power to warm him. His whole world had come apart since Jim died. He was holding up remarkably well, but this journey was not one she would wish on the strongest of men. Perhaps she should have accepted Cade's offer to house them in the Indian camp.

  Lily stifled a scream as the gelding lost its footing and slipped into deeper waters, but Cade held on to Juanita and the reins, releasing the mule to make its own way, and managed to steer them to safety. Braying loudly, the mule followed up the slippery bank.

  Giving Serena to Juanita, Travis followed Cade back across. He commandeered the packhorses while Cade took Roy and his pony. Lily wished she could close her eyes, but she couldn't. It was as if by watching she somehow helped them make the crossing. If she didn't watch, anything could happen.

  The dam began to crack when they were only halfway over. Lily could hear Juanita's scream of fright as the massive construction creaked and a torrent of water poured over the place they had just crossed. The water level rose rapidly, but Travis and Cade kept their frightened mounts under control and brought them out on the opposite bank.

  Cade lowered Roy to Juanita, who caught and hugged the boy, before she turned and hugged Travis. He looked thoroughly surprised, but offered no objection, and went about his work grinning widely.

  Just as Cade started back across, a major portion of the dam collapsed beneath the rough stream. Lily stepped farther back up the bank as the water poured under the mud cliff, weakening the ground where she was standing and sending it swirling into the already muddy waters. She looked across the misty river to find Cade determinedly returning his horse to the rushing current.

  It was sheer madness. The water roared as high as the gelding's withers, and Lily knew for certain Cade would be swept away. He hauled on the horse's reins and kept coming.

  A log broke loose and swept dangerously near, and a second followed as the dam fell apart beneath the torrential current. Lily screamed as Cade caught one log with his foot and kicked it aside, nearly losing his seat, but he never faltered as he returned for her. It was like watching an irresistible force meet an immovable object. He was out of the water and up the bank a few seconds later.

  He leapt down and Lily fell into his arms, clinging to his muscular back as he wrapped her in his embrace. Still he said nothing as he lifted her up to the horse. There was nothing to be said. They had to go on.

  He sought a safer crossing, however, following the river until a sandy bar indicated a shallower place in the wide riverbed. The water still poured around them, soaking them to the skin, but the logs were fewer and farther between and the danger less.

  When they finally rejoined the others, Travis had his hands full with two terrified
children and a weeping Juanita, but he managed a shaky smile as they rode up.

  "Couldn't have done it better myself, redskin. I guess you win the fair lady."

  Cade grunted something incomprehensible and swung his horse back to the trail. The morning had just begun. They had a day's ride ahead of them.

  By evening, Lily's raw throat had worsened so much that she could barely swallow, and she knew she had a raging fever. There was nothing that could be done, so she said nothing when they dismounted for the night.

  The rain had turned to a mild drizzle, and Lily simply clung to the saddle while the men set up the tent and the children scavenged for small tinder that might dry quickly. When she tried to walk, her head swam, making it exceedingly difficult to reach a secluded spot where she could relieve herself.

  The trees had become less frequent as they traveled westward. The land was given to rough mesquite and dwarfed oaks. Lily succeeded in reaching one of these as the men worked, but returning, she nearly slipped and fell in the mud. Roy saw her and hollered, and Cade was there in a few long strides, catching Lily's waist and half-carrying her back to the completed tent.

  "She's burning up. What have you got in your medicine bags for that?" Lowering Lily to a bedroll, Cade held a hand to her head and sent his cynical question toward Travis.

  Travis knelt on her other side, and Lily tried to shake them both off by sitting up, but Cade caught her shoulder and held her down while Travis grabbed her waist and sought her pulse.

  "She should never have been out in this damned rain. Her whole system's weak. She needs to be confined to bed for a month or so."

  "Don't be ridiculous, Travis," Lily croaked. "See if we can't make some hot tea and let me be. I'll be fine." Lily could see the children gathering behind Cade, and she meant to firmly impress on them that there was nothing wrong with her. There was too much turmoil in their young lives as it was. She sat up again.

  "You look like hell, and if you don't take care of yourself, you'll lose that child. Now sit there quiet and don't move a muscle until you're told to." Rising, Travis ordered Juanita to look for the tea while he went outside to rummage in his saddlebags.

  Grimly, Cade brushed Lily's hair back from her face and pulled a blanket around her drenched clothes. "Change," he ordered. Then, gesturing to Roy, he led the boy outside, giving Lily the privacy she needed.

  "'Don't move,'" Lily mimicked. "'Change,' he says." Tugging at the soaked trousers she wore half-fastened under her old dress, she pulled them off. "I'm going to throw the two of them back in the river."

  "Babies scare them," Juanita offered pacifically, handing Lily a tin cup of the brandy she had hidden in the cooking supplies. "The fire isn't hot enough to boil water yet. This will do you good."

  The brandy burned all the way down, but it helped. By the time Cade let anyone back in the tent, Lily had changed into only slightly damp long underwear and her flannel nightgown. She hadn't come away with a large wardrobe.

  "The books never tell you what to give a pregnant patient," Travis complained as he sat down beside her with a bottle of Professor Mangolini's Cure-All. "But a hot toddy never hurt anybody, and this stuff comes close enough to that. We can warm it up with some hot tea when the fire gets going."

  Lily looked over at Juanita, who giggled, making Lily giggle too. She lowered her head and tried to hide the sound against her knees. Travis looked worried and threw a look to Juanita. "Are you ill too?"

  That made them giggle more. Hearing the sound, Cade entered the tent to find both women on the verge of laughter and Serena happily toddling between them, urging them on.

  "Magic cure you have there, professor. Is it contagious?"

  It hurt to laugh, and Lily tried to calm herself, succeeding only in developing a case of the hiccups. Holding her head to her knees to keep it from spinning, and hiccupping, she swung her tin cup airily. "More, Juanita. We'll teach this child to be a Texan."

  Cade grabbed the cup and sniffed. Holding it out to Juanita, he demanded, "I'll have some of that, too, if you please."

  Travis jerked the cup out of his hand and handed it back to Juanita. "That's just what we don't need, a drunken Indian. Tea, and now, Juanita. We'll drink it cold if we have to."

  That sobered Lily, and she lifted her head. She could see the fury bubbling up inside Cade, but no one inexperienced in observing his impassive mask would have noticed. She held her breath, waiting for the explosion to come.

  Instead, Cade glanced down at her, read the pain in her eyes, and stalked out.

  Chapter 28

  Horrified by the long line of uniformed soldiers marching down the road not a day's ride behind the wagonloads of settlers fleeing for their lives, the small party lay low behind a small outcropping of rock and tried to stay quiet. They had stumbled across the road and its dangerous occupants at the wrong time, and it was too late to try to run. Any movement was almost certain to draw the attention of the troops marching across the horizon.

  Even the children were sensible enough to know they should be quiet, but the mule wasn't. Its bray brought a quiver of interest from the ranks, and Lily watched in horror as a few of the soldiers peeled away from the line and looked in their direction.

  Before she realized what he meant to do, Cade was on his horse, towing the mule while riding at right angles away from the road and the army on the move. The rain had let up and the air was warm, and Cade wore only the white full-sleeved shirt and tight trousers he had worn every day since they had left. The shirt was open halfway down his copper chest and accented by a bright-red sash at his waist that held his knife. Lily thought he looked a pirate or worse, but the soldiers striking out after him weren't reaching for their weapons.

  "He looks like a damned Spaniard," Travis whispered at Lily's side. "How does he do that?"

  With years of practice and an Indian talent for deception—but Lily didn't say that out loud. She was gradually learning that Cade was like a chameleon, able to blend in with his surroundings for safety.

  She didn't like to think of the child he must have been to grow up that way, but it certainly helped to survive in this chaos that was Texas.

  Lily restrained a gasp of terror, and Travis reached for his rifle as one of the officers lifted his musket and aimed it at Cade with a hoarse shout. Cade turned around, but made no move toward his own weapon. He merely slowed his horse and replied in Spanish that Lily couldn't catch.

  Although they could see this little tableau from their position behind the rocks, Lily was aware that Cade had led the officers far enough away from the road that the army marching out of sight over the horizon couldn't see. She was equally aware that Cade's American rifle could reach farther and with more deadly accuracy than the old-fashioned muskets of the soldiers. Between Travis and Cade it would almost be possible to pick off all three soldiers and have no one the wiser. But Cade didn't reach for his weapon, and Travis was forced to lower his to protect their hiding place.

  "Doesn't he know what that damned gun is for?" Travis asked irritably as Lily grew tense. If the soldiers chose to take Cade prisoner, they couldn't fight an entire army to rescue him.

  Lily relaxed a moment later as the men exchanged words and the soldier lowered his musket again. To her amazement, the one soldier gallantly swept off his hat and offered his hand in friendship and Cade accepted it with an almost regal nod. She had the sudden urge to grab Travis's rifle and shoot the arrogance out of him. Didn't he realize he was fraternizing with the enemy? Who in hell did he think he was?

  When the soldiers turned and galloped off after the departing army. Cade kept up his charade of riding in the opposite direction until they were out of sight. Then wheeling his animals around, he galloped back to his hidden family.

  "What in hell did you tell them?" Travis asked irritably as he stood and tried to mop some of the mud from his clothing.

  Cade reached to help Lily up, but she stood without his aid, ignoring his outstretched hand. He could very well have
just saved their lives, but her suspicions mounted higher, and she needed answers first.

  When Cade showed no inclination to answer Travis, Lily wiped her hands off on her bedraggled skirt and confronted him. "How did you know you could talk them into leaving? Wouldn't it have been safer to shoot them or tie them up or something? What if they had decided to shoot first? Or take you prisoner?"

  Throwing Roy back into his saddle, Cade answered without emphasis, "They knew my grandfather. They would not wish to incur the wrath of a de Suela."

  That made about as much sense as anything else she had seen or heard this day. As far as Lily could understand, Cade was the barely legitimate son of an Indian and a woman whose family had deserted her. Perhaps invoking the de Suela name was a type of incantation that frightened off the superstitious Mexicans with just its utterance.

  She said nothing more as Cade took her up before him. Her fever hadn't lessened, but without the constant drenching rain she felt better and didn't complain. If she allowed herself to admit it, being held in the security of Cade's arms against the formidable strength of his hard chest was as good as lying in bed and pampering herself. His closeness was a source of comfort, and his calm assurance had the benefit of pushing all her fears into a box where she didn't have to confront them. It was foolish to put herself and her family into a man's hands without question, but she had been foolish from the first moment she had seen this man with a kitten in his lap. She couldn't fight it now when she was so weak.

  "Do you think we'll be home in time to have the baby?" she murmured as she rested her head against the bulk of his shoulder.

  Cade's hold tightened as he set his gaze on the horizon ahead. "We'll be home," he assured her. He didn't say which home he meant.

  * * *

  By the time they rode into the ranchero, Lily had no awareness of their arrival. Even curled inside the blanket that Cade had wrapped around her, she shivered, and she remained unconscious as Cade lifted her into the hands of Travis and climbed down.