“You stay right here, Johnny Mason. Don’t you try to get up until Doc Baker tells you that you can, you hear me? You just stay right here and let him take care of you. Oh, Johnny. You saved me. Thank you. I don’t know what he would have done to me. The sheriff is gonna wait till you’re okay to talk to us about what happened. I’ll give him my version. He’s gonna have to get someone over to the jail. You did break his nose. Maybe a few other things, too. Rest now. You rest now, Johnny.”
She continued talking.
But Johnny didn’t hear what she was saying.
Chapter 26
Marian pulled a chair around to sit next to Johnny’s bed. She stared at his bruised, beaten face, wondering why she’d never noticed how handsome he was before. She’d been angry with him for several weeks, mostly because he was courting Florence Radcliffe and she saw no real good in that woman. She thought she was better than everyone else, making Marian feel like slapping her every time she saw her. It was the look on her face. It was a very smackable face.
She dropped into the chair and crossed her arms over her chest. She’d considered letting him court her for a few days until she decided that he was really nothing more than a glorified ranch hand on his father’s land. His pa was in good shape, despite the limp and the trouble with his leg. He wasn’t going to die anytime soon.
If she married Johnny, she would be forced to live at their ranch and abide by all of John Sr.’s rules. She didn’t want that. She was used to having things her own way and she didn’t think the military man was going to let her do that.
But now, seeing Johnny jump to her defense like that…
He was very good-looking. They would have beautiful children. She’d asked him to the dinner party only because she couldn’t stand the thought of Florence Radcliffe having a happy life with him when she could have him instead.
She would wait till he woke up and talk to him about his courtship. She was of the mind to convince him that Florence was wrong for him and that he should be with her. He’d been following her around like a little puppy for nearly five years now. Why would he suddenly choose Florence over her?
She crossed her legs and swung the one on top back and forth impatiently. She sighed but tried not to make it too loud, just in case he could hear. Waiting for him to wake up was one of the most boring things she’d ever done in her life.
She shifted in the seat. There wasn’t any real reason to stay. She already had him wrapped around her little finger.
Doubt crept into her mind. If she had him that way, why would he have given that beautiful ring to Florence? Why wasn’t it on her finger?
Because you kept him away from you, she chastised herself silently. What did you think would happen?
She’d never really wanted him for herself, but whenever she wanted to feel scandalous, she sought him out. Especially now that he was courting Florence. It would ultimately make Florence look like the fool she was. How could she ever think he would choose her over Marian? She was his friend, that much Marian knew. She knew they were very close. She was aware of his infatuation with her.
He stirred in the bed, waking her up some. She sat up straight. He turned his head from side to side. She stood up and was hovering over him when he opened his eyes.
“Johnny,” she whispered, smiling. “It’s so good to see you.”
At first, he looked at her like he didn’t recognize her. Then she saw his eyes clear.
“Marian. What… when…”
“You’ve been here in the clinic for a couple hours now. I’m glad you’re awake. I think Doc gave you something to help you sleep. You were in a lot of pain. Are you still?”
He grimaced when he moved his arms and nodded. “Still hurts. But I need to get back to my ranch. I need to make sure Pa is okay.”
“He is,” Marian assured him with no knowledge of how his father was at all. “You’ll see. None of the bandits have been there in the last few hours. You can rest some more if you like.”
“I can’t.” He sat up but winced and lay back on the pillow, groaning. “Maybe I can,” he quipped.
Marian smiled, though she didn’t feel it inside. “Haven’t lost your sense of humor. You really did a number on that outlaw, Johnny. He was really beaten up.”
Johnny moved his one good eye to her. “You see me? I think he did a good job on me, too.”
“You fought like a bear. You’re so strong. I’m so happy you saved me.” She gave him another smile, trying to dig deep inside and find some reason to love him other than the fact that she wanted desperately to get him away from Florence. That wench wasn’t going to win. She wouldn’t let it happen. “I love you so much, Johnny Mason. I want you to be with me.”
She was surprised when Johnny blanched, as if he’d never expected her to say something like that. “You do?” he asked. He sounded suspicious.
“Of course I do, Johnny,” she replied. She didn’t want to sound desperate so she tried to maintain her smile. "You've been trying to get my attention for a long time now. I’m sorry I never saw it before. I would be the happiest woman on earth if you would just be with me.”
Instead of Florence Radcliffe, she thought, but wasn’t about to say that out loud.
“Marian…” Johnny looked uncomfortable. She could remember all the times he had followed after her, the way he’d looked at her across the room when she was flirting with someone else and was supposed to be with him. He’d looked like a lost puppy then. He didn’t look like that now.
She pouted, her lower lip puckered out slightly. She batted her eyes and gave him a sad look. “What’s wrong, Johnny? I… I thought you loved me. All this time I was sure of it. And then you went and gave Florence Radcliffe a ring and I realized that… well, I don’t want to let you go. I am in love with you. You should be my husband. We are the perfect match. Not you and her.”
Johnny blinked a few times, studying her face. She wondered what he was thinking. She leaned forward suddenly and pressed her lips on the corner of his mouth that wasn’t bruised up. A stab of resentment slid through her when he jerked away from the kiss. She looked at his face and realized that even the unbruised side still hurt. She could see the pain on his face.
The thought ran through her mind that she could try to kiss him again, just to cause him the pain he was causing her by ignoring her advances. But she thought twice and decided hurting him wasn’t the way to win him over.
She pulled away from him, turning to grab the chair and drag it closer. She sat in it, taking his hand in both of hers and smiling at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just… couldn’t help myself. I… I don’t know what else to say except… well, I love you.”
She could see Johnny’s jaw clenching and unclenching. He turned his head to look at her briefly before turning it back and staring up at the ceiling. She could tell he was slowly coming back to himself. The pain powders the doc had given him must have been powerful.
“You look like you’re feeling better. Your eyes are shaper.”
“I can only see through one,” he said, turning his head once again and staring at her. She couldn’t read his expression. There were too many swollen places on his face. Over his right eye and the right eye itself were swollen badly. His left cheekbone and jaw were swollen.
She wondered if he’d lost or loosened any teeth.
She decided she didn’t want to know.
“What are you thinking, Johnny? I hope it’s good. For me. I hope you are thinking you want to be with me.”
She opened her eyes wide when Johnny suddenly pushed himself to a sitting position. He grunted but stayed in that position. He turned his head to look at her.
“I don’t think that’s going to work for me, Marian. I don’t want to hurt Florence. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time and… well, you aren’t the woman for me. You’ve been using my affection to make other men jealous. Haven’t you?”
A strange look came to his face and he swung his legs over
the side of the bed. She watched him get to his feet.
“I don’t think you should go yet, Johnny,” she said, standing and looking up at him. He was staring down at her with what was probably a blank expression if she had to take a guess. She swallowed.
He really had changed his mind. She had waited too long.
“Please, Johnny, I…”
She stopped when he put one hand up and shook his head, his eyes closed briefly. “I don’t want to hear it, Marian. You had no response to that question, which can only lead me to believe I’m right. I don’t appreciate being treated like a lapdog. But then again I did it to myself, didn’t I? I actually thought you would love me eventually. I was wrong.”
He shook his head again.
“Boy, was I wrong. I’ve got to go. Please leave my room. I want to get dressed. I don’t think my future wife would appreciate you seeing me in my skivvies. Go on now. Get out.”
He jerked his head toward the door.
Marian’s heart pounded in her chest. She felt anger rising up in her and was about to explode on him when he took her roughly by the back of the neck, spun her around and shoved her in the direction of the door.
Rage filled her. She turned to glare at him.
“If you feel this way, why did you save me? You realize I can go tell them all they want to know about you, right?”
He chuckled, wincing at the pain it must have caused. “You never paid enough attention to me to know anything to tell them. And I’ve done nothing to report. So take your bullhickey and get out of this room. I’m sure you’ve got some other man to fool.”
Marian sucked in her breath and breathed out heavily through her nose, wrinkling it in disgust. She spun around and stomped out, wondering what she could do to have her revenge.
Chapter 27
A month ago, Johnny would have jumped at the chance to hear Marian say she loved him. He would have followed her around and done whatever she wanted.
But now, things were different. The doubt he had in her love for him was palpable. Yes, she had been loyal to him and his father by refusing to talk to Kyle. But what really did she know anyway? What was there to tell? That his father had served with Bekker in the Mexican-American War and that he was one of the men who Bekker thought had betrayed him? Everyone involved already knew that.
Johnny wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to make something up. But it didn’t matter what she told them; if they were trying to get him in trouble with the law, they were going to have to work a lot harder than that. He wasn’t an outlaw and didn’t break the law. He was respectful of lawmen and did his part to bring down bad guys if he had to.
He dressed slowly, denying how much pain he was really in. He filled his mind with thoughts of Flo, wondering where she was, what she was doing, who she was with. He hadn’t seen her for too long. He wanted to go to her, but could he really tell her how he felt and that he’d just told Marian how anything that might have been between them was over?
He went to the door, looking around for his hat. He spotted it on a shelf by the window and took it, plopping it on his head as he went out the door into the lobby. It was eight in the morning according to the clock on the table by the door. Early, but not too early to go find Flo.
No one was in the lobby. It seemed no one was in the clinic at all. He would have wondered about that but as he stepped out onto the clinic porch, he saw two men sitting in chairs. They were both deputies he knew. They saluted him with two fingers, standing up.
“You leavin’?” Mark Anderson, a young man of 20 who Johnny knew as a brash, bold and courageous deputy, asked him.
He nodded. “Yep. Bout ready to get back to the ranch and make sure everyone there is okay.”
“Sheriff had some men go out there with a report. They’re on guard, I’m sure.”
“Did the men come back?”
“Nope, they weren’t supposed to. They stayed to help stand guard.”
Johnny nodded, wondering if Marian even knew how his father was. “Well, I reckon I better go find out.”
“Your fiancé is there waiting for you,” Mark said, looking directly at him.
Johnny hesitated before saying, “She didn’t come to see me?”
“Well, she ain’t here.” Mark sounded sympathetic. “So I reckon not. But she probably knew Marian was in there with you. She knew you saved Marian from Kyle.”
Johnny’s chest tightened with apprehension. Was Flo mad at him now? Would she be jealous of what he’d done? It wasn’t like he could have let Kyle hurt Marian, whether she’d been pulling the wool over his eyes all this time or not. She was still a woman and didn’t deserve to be hurt, especially since the source of that was someone who wanted his father. She had nothing to do with it. He’d done what he had to do.
But would Flo see it that way? There was a good chance she wouldn’t.
“Thanks for letting me know,” he said. He touched the tip of his hat and they responded in kind. The three men walked down the few steps to the road and the deputies went one way, toward the jail, while Johnny went the other, toward his wagon, which he hoped would still be in the alley. He was sure Kyle didn’t know that wagon was his, even if they had fought in front of it.
He was relieved to see it where he’d left it. Someone had come and put grain bags on the horses and gave the animals a brush down. He climbed up in the seat and took the reins, releasing the brake lever.
All the way back to the ranch, he thought about what he would say to Flo. He thought about when they first met and she’d practically ridden her horse right over him, then quipped about how he didn’t see her when he stood taller than most of the horses.
He didn’t, of course, and they both had a laugh about that.
He thought about the many times they’d gone on picnics together, caused just a bit of mischief for the older folks in town, eaten dinner in the restaurant together, and traveled to the nearby town of Martinsville for a new scene. She laughed at his jokes and he comforted her when she was upset.
Johnny suddenly realized he and Flo had been acting like a couple since they made friends. And now he was to tell her they didn’t have to play act anymore. She could go back to doing what she wanted to do. What would be her reaction to that?
He pulled up in front of the stables and got out of the seat. He left it there for one of the men to get.
As he walked to the house, he glanced over at the half-barn that he was surprised to see still had a few smoldering parts. He hadn’t thought any of the fire was left, and it had been five days ago. Turning away from the devastating sight he looked at the house, dragging his eyes past the spot where they had buried Kit.
His heart squeezed and he went up the porch steps two at a time.
Once he was inside, he glanced from left to right before calling out, “Anybody here?”
He heard a commotion from the parlor and turned in that direction to see his father and Flo come rushing out to greet him.
When he laid his eyes on Flo, such a feeling of relief went through him that it surprised him. He held out his arms and she moved into them, wrapping hers around his neck.
“Johnny,” she whispered in his ear, sending tingles up and down his spine and legs. “I’m so glad you’re okay. I’m so sorry you got hurt.”
Johnny shook his head, pulling back to look into her green eyes. “I’m okay, Flo. Don’t worry. I’m okay.” He turned to shake his father’s hand but John Sr. pulled him into a hug all of his own.
True Love Leaves no Doubts: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book Page 16
