“I’m sure, too.” Beulah grinned at her.
“I have an idea,” Drina said. “Beulah why don’t you go ask Gus to come in here for a minute so Milly can show him her new dress?”
“Why, I’d be more than happy to.” She turned toward the kitchen.
Drina looked at Aaron. “Do you mind going into the kitchen with me?”
A puzzled look crossed his face and he shrugged.
“Good.” She stood and handed him his crutches. “I’m sure you’d like a cup of coffee, wouldn’t you?” When he still looked puzzled, she added, “And I’d like a fresh cup of tea.”
They entered the kitchen and she motioned for Aaron to sit at the kitchen table. “You do want some coffee, don’t you?”
“Of course, but I don’t understand why we had to come in here. Beulah would’ve got the drinks.”
Drina chuckled and sat a cup of coffee in front of him. “I figured Gus and Milly would want some privacy. It’s kind of hard to talk about things with people in the room.”
Aaron was still a little confused. “What would they want to talk about?”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, Aaron. They’re in love and it doesn’t really matter what they want to talk about. Just drink your coffee and read your letter and leave the romance to them.”
“I guess I do need to read this letter.” He picked up his coffee.
Beulah and Gus entered the kitchen. She asked, “Where’s Milly?”
“Waiting for Gus in the sitting room.” Drina smiled at them. “Go on in, Gus.”
“Thank you Miz Drina.” He headed toward the door.
“It was nice of you two to give them some privacy.” Beulah poured herself a cup of coffee. “Hope you don’t mind if I join you. It’s getting mighty cold out there. Looks like it might start sleeting or snowing by nightfall.”
“You can join us anytime, Beulah.” Drina sipped her tea.
“It was Drina’s idea to leave them alone. Dumb old me would have set right there and listened to every word they said.”
Beulah took a chair at the table and glared at him. “I figured as much. You’ve never had a romantic thought have you?”
“I wouldn’t say that.” He folded the letter, put it in his pocket and winked at Drina. “Lately, I’ve been getting some romantic notions.”
Drina blushed and looked away.
Beulah sipped her coffee and grinned.
* * * *
As Zane and Win tracked the hoof prints leading from the Wilcox ranch the weather began turning colder. When they got into the hills, a fine mist began to fall. Zane was sure he felt the sharp point of an ice particle every now and then. He hoped it wouldn’t turn into a heavy sleet or snow before they reached their destination; though he wasn’t sure where that would be.
Win reined his horse to a stop at the clearing in the woods at the foot of the mountain, dismounted and got to his knee. Zane stopped beside him and climbed out of the saddle.
Win pushed his hat back. “Sheriff, it looks like whoever this rascal is, he’s headed toward my cabin.”
“How far is your cabin from here?”
“Across this patch of woods and up the next mountain. It’s on the other side of it. It won’t take more’n half hour or so.”
“Do you think we should go straight there and stop trying to follow the tracks?”
“Yeah, I think we might as well. Ain’t nothing else in this direction ’cept mountains and trees. If he wants shelter, he’ll go to my cabin.”
As water trickled down his neck, Zane turned up the collar of his coat. “I wonder how he knew about your cabin.”
“Aaron thinks it’s the last one of them Kellers. If he’s right, they’s the ones who tried to kill me, so they’d know where it is.”
“Then let’s get going. It’s getting colder, and we don’t want to get caught out here if it turns bad.”
Win nodded.
They mounted their horses and guided them toward the woods at the foot of the mountain. Win led the way.
Zane realized Win had been right about the time it would take. In about thirty minutes, they were on the path leading down the back of the mountain toward the cabin. They had to go slowly because they didn’t want to take a chance on the horse slipping on the wet leaves and needles or the covered limbs and rocks.
When Win came to an abrupt stop, Zane rode up beside him. “What do you see?”
Win’s voice quivered when he said, “It’s all gone.”
Zane frowned. “What’s gone?”
“My cabin.” He pointed with a shaky finger and his eyes misted. “There’s nothing left ’cept part of the chimney.”
Zane stared straight ahead. Sure enough, only the remains of what had once been a cabin stood there. He moved his horse up to the edge of the destruction and dismounted. He threw the reins around a chard limb and moved forward on foot.
Win followed.
“Some of these ashes are still warm. It looks like this must have happened in the last day or so.”
“Why in the world would he want to burn it down?”
“I have no idea, Win. Maybe he’s just mean.”
“He’s shore that.” Win picked up a stick and started stirring in the ashes near the edge of the burned structure. “I guess there ain’t no need to look for anything. Couldn’t be nothing here that wouldn’t have burned up.”
Zane heard something and frowned. “Sounds like a horse snort.”
“I didn’t hear nothing. I think…” A snort interrupted him. “It is a horse, Zane.”
“I’ll go see what his trouble is.” Zane walked around the rubble and found a horse hitched to a tree below the hill out of sight of where the cabin had stood. He loosed the reins and led the horse back to where he had tied his.
Win walked up. “Do you think he’s still around here?”
“I hate to say this, Win, but I think the Keller boy perished in the fire. I don’t know how it happened, but he must’ve been asleep or drunk or something when the fire broke out. He either couldn’t get out, or the smoke got him before he woke up.”
“That’s a bad way to go.”
“I agree.” The saddlebag was still on the horse. Inside Zane found proof the horse belonged to Art Keller. His name was carved on the inside flap of the bag. He also found a stick of dynamite Art must have missed when he blasted off the side of Aaron’s house.
Holding up the dynamite, he said, “Well this proves to me Art Keller was the culprit.”
“I never doubted it.”
Zane took a deep breath and turned back to the ruins. “I guess I better poke around in those ashes and see if I can find his body.”
The sheriff and Win searched for a long time, but the only thing they found in the burned timbers were a gun still in part of a holster, a few charred bones, an iron pot and the poker that once hung beside the fireplace.
* * * *
By the time Zane and Win reached the ranch and explained to Aaron what had happened at the cabin it began to snow hard. As he left for town, Zane insisted Win keep Art’s horse, its rigging and the saddle. He said it wouldn’t replace what Win had lost, but it was better than nothing.
As Zane reached town, the snowstorm was fast turning into a blizzard. He went into the livery stable and called out to the owner as he dismounted.
Cain came out of the small room in the back. “Hey there, Sheriff. Must be somethin’ awful bad happening to get you out in weather like this!”
“It’s all taken care of now.” He held the reins out to Cain. “Ranger and I have had a rough day. Could you give him a good rubdown and some extra oats?”
“Be glad to, Sheriff.”
“Thanks, Cain.” Zane flipped him a coin and headed to the door. He pulled his hat down over his face to keep the blowing snow from hitting his eyes. He walked down the street with his shoulders bent against the wind, thinking of a good, hot meal. He wished now he’d accepted Beulah’s invitation to eat with them, but he was trying
to beat the bad weather back to town. Now, he would face a cold house where he’d have to build a fire and see if there was some bacon he could fry and maybe beans he could heat up. Beulah’s good-smelling beef roast would have been so much better.
Shrugging, he slugged on. Then, the light in the upstairs window of the Vance home caught his eye. While he was out, he might as well check on Adeline. If the weather continued in this way, he wouldn’t be able to get out his door tomorrow. He took a deep breath and headed for the front door.
Fanny answered his knock. “Come in, Sheriff. Let me have your coat and hat.”
He handed her his hat and surged out of his coat. “Is Mr. Vance in?”
“Yes, sir. He’s upstairs with his wife. Poor man. He spends a lot of time in her room.”
“How is Mrs. Vance?”
Fanny shook her head. “The same. She just lays there. She don’t speak or nothing.”
“Do you think it’d be all right if I went up and spoke to him?”
“I think it’d do him good. Come with me.” She headed up the stairs.
When Brit acknowledged the knock on the door, she pushed it open. “The sheriff is here to see you, Mr. Vance.”
He nodded and stood as Zane entered the room. “I could have come downstairs.”
“I didn’t mind coming up.” Zane took his extended hand. “I hear there’s no change.”
“None whatsoever.” He shook his head and motioned to where three chairs sat around the fireplace. “I don’t understand it, and the doctor hasn’t any answers, either.”
“I guess all you can do is wait and see what happens.”
“I wired her father to let him know. He wired back saying he was bringing a specialist from San Francisco. I expect them by Saturday. Of course this weather may delay them.”
“It could do that.”
“Speaking of the weather, what are you doing out in it?”
“Went out to investigate the explosion at the Wilcox ranch. Just got back into town.”
“Did you find out what happened?”
“I sure did.” He went on and explained what he and Win had discovered.
When he finished, Brit looked into the fire and said, “I guess that served Keller right, but it’s a bad way to die.”
“I agree.”
There was a knock on the door. “Yes,” Brit said.
Fanny came in with a tray containing two coffee mugs. “I’ve brought your coffee, Mr. Vance, and I thought since the sheriff was out in this bad weather, he’d like a cup, too.”
“I sure would, Fanny. When it’s this cold out there you can’t get better than a good cup of coffee and a blazing fire.”
She grinned.
Brit asked. “Have you finished supper, Fanny?”
“Almost, sir.”
“Good. Since our sheriff is so cold, I’m going to ask him to join me.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get it on the table.”
“You’ll stay to eat, won’t you, Zane?”
“Yes. I appreciate the invitation.” Though he wasn’t looking forward to having supper with Brit, a good hot meal would be worth it. He could then go home and build a fire, but his stomach would be full.
* * * *
As Aaron slowly and carefully climbed the steps to his upstairs bedroom, Drina carried a lighted lamp behind him. He said, “Do you realize if I fall, I could knock you down and you’d drop the lamp and maybe set the whole place on fire?”
“I have faith you’re not going to fall.”
He smiled and shook his head. More and more he was realizing his wife was a special woman, and he wondered if someday he’d be compelled to thank his uncle for arranging this marriage like the older man had said he would. He doubted it would ever come to pass, but strange things happened sometimes.
He reached the landing, and Drina came up beside him and said with a chuckle. “See, I told you, you wouldn’t fall.”
He didn’t answer as she pushed open the bedroom door and walked past him to place the lamp on the bedside table. She then moved to the window and looked out.
“It’s still snowing.”
“Looks like we’re in for a big one.”
“I’m glad Zane and Win got off the mountain before it got bad. Do you think Zane made it back to town before he was caught by the weather?”
He grinned at her. “I’m sure he did. It didn’t start snowing hard until after supper.”
“It was too bad about the Keller boy. I’m sorry for anyone who dies in a fire.”
“I know, but at least I’m glad they found out who tried to hurt us.” He moved to the bed and sat on the edge.
She moved close to him. “Let me get your boots off.”
“Wait a minute. I have something to show you.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “See those packages over there on that chair in the corner?” When she nodded, he went on. “I had Salty pick up a few things for you when he went to town the day of the shootout.”
Drina was confused. “You bought things for me?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to. Now, are you going to look in the packages or not?”
She moved to the chair and reached down. The first package she opened contained a blue bathrobe with a satin tie and collar. “Oh, how lovely.”
He grinned. “I thought you needed something besides the worn one you have.”
She held it up to her. “I can’t believe you did this.”
“There are other parcels to open.”
Putting the robe aside, she opened the wrapped items one at a time, gasping and expressing words of amazement and gratitude.
He smiled as he watched her. He could tell she was delighted and excited about the items she pulled out of the wrappings. When she got to the stack of material, she looked at him in disbelief. “Why in the world?”
“I figured you’d never go into town and buy that much for yourself, even though I told you to.”
“You’re right. I wouldn’t have.” Staring at the yellow cloth printed with flowers, she muttered, “This is perfect for a spring dress. I can’t believe Salty would choose something so lovely.”
“I have a feeling Geneva Ragsdale did most of the choosing. Salty was at a loss when I told him what I wanted him to buy.”
“Whoever picked this out has good taste.” She sat it aside and opened the next one. Then the next and the next. After all the packages were open, she turned and looked at Aaron as tears ran down her cheeks. She whispered, “I don’t deserve this.”
He held his hand out to her. “You deserve so much more.”
Moving beside him, she took his hand. “I’ll never be able to thank you for all this.”
Aaron felt a little embarrassed. He thought she’d like the items, but he didn’t expect her to be so emotional. He squeezed her hand. “I didn’t do it for you to thank me, Drina. You’re my wife. It’s my responsibility to provide for you.”
“I’ll try to always be a good wife to you, Aaron.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Not because of the presents, but because you’re a good man, and I’m lucky you’re my husband.”
“Let’s say we’re both lucky.” He squeezed her hand again, afraid to do what he wanted to do—which was to take her in his arms and kiss her where he ached to – her lips. Instead he said, “It’s cold in here. Why don’t we get ready to go to bed?”
She nodded and stood to slip off his boots. In a matter of minutes and wearing her new nightgown, she blew out the lamp and slipped under the covers beside him.
Aaron reached over and took her hand. He smiled into the darkness when she didn’t flinch. He thought about putting his arm around her, but he didn’t want to rush her. Just lying here in bed beside her would have to suffice for the time being, but he did want to talk with her before they went to sleep.
She stirred a little, and he held his breath. Was she going to move closer to him?
“Aaron, I still
can’t get over all the things you had Salty buy for me. It was a sweet thing to do.”
He chuckled. “I know you’re pleased. You’ve told me a dozen times.”
“But I want you to know how grateful I am. How can I show you?”
He wanted to tell her she could turn to him and lay in his arms as a wife is supposed to do, but he wasn’t about to. Though the stirrings in his loins told him how badly he wanted to taste her lips and make love to her, he wasn’t sure he was physically able to do it tonight. And too, he didn’t want her to think he was trying to buy her favors.
He did give her hand a gentle pull and she slid closer to him. He let his chin rest on her head, breathing in the smell of her silky hair. Finally, he answered her question. “Just continue to be your own sweet self, Drina. That’s all the thanks I need.”
She snuggled against him. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Aaron.”
Stunned, he didn’t answer. Did she realize what she said? Could it be possible this woman wanted him as a husband, or was she just appreciative of the things he’d bought her?
Long after Drina had fallen asleep, Aaron still pondered this question.
Chapter 24
The snow storm lasted three days. Since the outside repair was complete on the house Gus, Win and Salty came inside daily and worked on finishing up the inside while the rest of the men took care of the ranch. To cut down on the building noise, Aaron had them put a door in the end of the hall so the sitting room could be shut off. Aaron spent time doing what he could do to help the men and the women stayed out of the section.
“Sawdust makes me sneeze,” Beulah explained. “I’d rather be cooking.”
Drina and Milly spent their time sitting by the fire sewing new dresses. Since one of the pieces of cloth was similar to the one Drina had already made up, she gave it to a thrilled Milly. “I’m going to make this one to get married in,” she told the others.
“And just when is this wedding going to take place?” Beulah put a log on the fire and took a chair beside Drina.
“I was hoping we could get to the preacher this week as soon as we can travel.”
“Then we better start planning a wedding.”
“There won’t be that much to do, Miss Beulah. I’m gonna finish this dress and we’ll ride over to the preacher’s if the weather breaks.”
Drina’s Choice Page 25
