“No. I have no claim on this place. My brother built it before he found her. I was going to college and being, shall we say, a playboy at his expense. Things that Fernando never got to do because he was too busy building this hacienda. He finally had the money to do anything he wanted. So he went and found her. Really he kidnapped her, then took her home, married her on the way, and consummated the whole thing that night.”
Chet smiled tightly. “I heard that story from her side. He must’ve been a powerful man.”
Manuel nodded. “That is what got him killed at the door, I believe. He had no fear, and they knew that. They shot him down when he opened the door. But they thought this pampered, rich man’s wife would be easy prey. She wasn’t. And so she gunned them down. It was a bloody mess. It took me three days to get up here. There was still blood all over. The people who worked for my brother were so shocked—like God had died on them.
“But Elizabeth soon had them back to working. I helped her. I never thought she would find another man, though. Some sorry ones came by. And some rich, powerful ones, as well. They wanted her, but she shook her head at them and sent them packing.” He smiled. “Next thing I knew, she came home babbling about golden horses and the man who washed her feet in sparkling sunlight on the banks of the Santa Cruz. I had seen the golden horses at the hacienda she spoke of. But she talked about this hombre who stood ten foot tall and was so nice. I knew then unless you didn’t want her, she was yours.”
Chet reined up his horse in the shade of some great gnarled cottonwoods. “She wanted to go riding. I had no palomino horses there. It was just a ranch we used for headquarters for my men on the Force down there.”
“She said that disappointed her,” Manuel agreed. “All that talk about such a powerful force, and you had hammocks and canvas tents for offices.”
“We were chasing bandits,” Chet said simply. “All we needed was a base to work out of. Anyway, we went riding. There were some wonderful reflections filtering down through those big trees and she asked to go wading. I was pleased to sit and watch this beautiful woman who fascinated me kick water up. I had a million questions I wanted to ask her but didn’t dare to for fear I might spook her. I knew she was a widow, and I could tell how special she was. When she finally had enough wading, I got a towel out of my saddlebags and dried her feet just to touch her. Nothing was on my mind about Jesus or the apostles when I did it. I knew the story, but it never entered my mind until she told me later.”
They both laughed.
“She came home and told me her story. I didn’t know, but I suspected she must have sampled you. That worried her. She confided in me that you might think she was a loose woman.” Manuel shook his head. “But when your letters came, she immediately began making plans for me to run the hacienda. I knew then I had to shape up and learn it all. Her mind, her body, and all the rest of her would soon belong to this big hombre in Arizona. She really was upset about joining you at Tubac, though. She was too proud. If she had not been a widow for so long, it might have been easier for her to think I will go to him.”
“I was shocked,” Chet admitted. “But I agree. She had convinced herself to be the martyred widow.”
Manuel disagreed. “Those suitors came to run her hacienda. They told her a woman could not possibly do so. That made her mad as hell. ‘Oh, I can run this place much more efficient than you are, marry me.’ Not a one came and courted her like a man would have. It was you who did that. You never even asked about her business down here. You wanted her as a person and a wife.”
“When she climbed out of that stage, I was in a fairy tale I once read. We fit so well as a man and woman. I never considered her consent as any more than a gift she gave to me alone.” Chet got choked up, remembering. “I helped her bathe that day. She wanted me to see her and what she really looked like. My heart has to be strong, or it would have busted then and there. We made love that night in a haystack. I’m never around the smell of hay anymore that I don’t think about that night with her. She did that on purpose. And she wears cinnamon, too. She denies doing it, but I know better.”
He agreed. “Help me if you can, please, Chet. I would like to own this place for my children. If she ever has a child, you have plenty to provide them.”
“Yes, I do, thank the Good Lord.”
“I love your story. I met my wife at a festival. Her aunts chaperoned her. Of course, I do not have my brother’s force, and I did not attempt to steal her. But she and I had fun playing the proper way and she is mine now. She is not Elizabeth, but she is a good, dedicated woman, and all I could ask.”
“Beautiful lady. But she’s not a snob. That’s one of Liz’s best traits, too. She can talk to anyone and they accept her open heart.”
“I have been blessed. Running this hacienda has been a challenge, but now I feel I am doing the right things and making it work. Remember, before you took her I was just the playboy who had few responsibilities. After his funeral, I began to learn the business and settle down. That was good for me. But I knew when she went to meet you that I had lost my boss and I was the one in charge—she wasn’t coming back.”
“Only to see you and wish you and your wife a good life.”
He and Liz talked that night in bed. She agreed he needed something for his family to inherit and would consider selling.
“I want you to know something,” he whispered. “You’re not having a child is not stressing me. I love our life and I love you. Don’t you worry one more minute about that.”
“I won’t. I love you, big hombre. And I always will.”
He was finding a goose down bed when they got home for sure.
CHAPTER 14
Mexico was a quiet time for them. They rode back to Nogales in three days without a single incident. The morning they boarded the stage, he shocked Paulo and Cisco by paying the brothers twenty dollars apiece for their services. They shook hands in parting and headed back for Rancho Diablo with the ranch horses they’d borrowed for the trip south. He sent a thank-you note to JD and Bonnie with them, as well.
His Force had come back in while they were in Mexico and went out again to look for stage robbers. He left them a note, too, telling them to wire him if they had any trouble.
A sharp wind whipped up the desert dirt, and it was a sharp cold day for that far south as the stage clattered across the dusty landscape. There was no letup in the chill at Hayden’s Mill and Ferry, when they changed back over to the Black Canyon Stage for Preskitt.
“It’ll be good to get home,” Liz said, wrapped in her blanket.
“I may become a bear and hibernate till spring,” Chet told her. She laughed.
“Cold as it is here, it won’t be any warmer up the hill,” Cole put in.
“I know! That’s why I wanted to be a bear,” Chet said with a chuckle.
The trip went through the night and on into the cold pre-dawn. Two ranch buckboards met them at the stage stop east of town—one to take Cole to his house in Preskitt, the other to take Jesus, Liz, and Chet to the ranch in the valley. By the time they got home it was spitting snow, and Monica welcomed them to the house with food and coffee.
“Any problems arrive while I was gone?” Chet asked. Sure as the wind howled, she handed over a stack of letters. Opening them one at a time with his jackknife, he read them under the lamp over the table. Every time he looked up from a letter, the snow outside had increased. The wind began to batter the house in waves.
Dear Chet Byrnes,
I am sad to announce that my mother Kathren died a few weeks ago. The doctor said she had pneumonia. We were all shocked because she was always so strong. I was recently married to Tom Acuff, and I still have my grandmother to care for. But I know you would never know and she would not ever write and tell you, but my mother conceived a son with you before you left for Arizona. We all know, but she swore us to secrecy. He is now going on four. Tom and I would gladly keep him and raise him as our son, but I felt since he is your progeny, you might want to raise h
im.
Please let me know your desires. I know this is a big shock to you. I also know why Mother never told you. She knew you had a life to live out there and this boy was her memory of the love you two shared. He can grow up in our house or yours. I wanted to offer your son to you if you feel you want him. Now I won’t say I won’t cry if you claim him. May God be with you, sir.
Cady Hines Acuff
“You look upset,” Liz said, seeing his face. “What’s that letter about?”
“Oh, my.” Chet struggled to find words. “I’m thinking how to start to tell you the entire story. There . . .” he sighed. “There was a woman in Texas I was very close to before I came out here. Her name was Kathren. When I had to move the family, her father had a heart condition that she felt he couldn’t stand the trip. I even warned Marge that if she’d come out here, I was obligated to her. Kathren had a teenage daughter then named Cady. She wrote this letter. Her mother had a son by me after we left Texas that she’s kept secret all this time. But Kathren died of pneumonia, and Cady has offered me my other son.”
“What’s his name?” Liz asked.
“I’m sorry, she just says a four-year-old boy that’s mine.”
“Can we go get him?”
“We can do anything we need to do. I can tell by this letter it’ll break her heart if I take him, but yes.” Chet nodded, tears in his eyes. “I want him.”
“Oh, Chet, I want him, too. I know he might make me stay at home, but he’s your son.”
“Oh, I don’t doubt that and knowing her—” he swiped at his eyes. “She knew before I left he was inside her. Like her daughter said, it was her piece of me and she held on to him.”
She was up and hugged his neck. “I am so sorry, Chet. This must tear your heart out. But just think! You have two sons now.”
“You’re right, though. Let me think on it. I want him here. If his mother was alive I would leave him be there with her. She was a great lady. And even greater than I imagined keeping that secret from me.”
“She loved you,” Liz said quietly.
“Yes, she did, despite our stormy times. Big story to tell you when I am not so challenged by this new fact and what to do about it.”
He kissed her and she went back and sat down. With shaking hands, he opened the second letter.
Dear Chet Byrnes,
My name is Albert Hannagen. I am trying to establish a stage line on the Marcy Road from Gallup to a stop on the Colorado River. There is a stage line from that point to the coast in operation, but none beyond. However, due to outlaws and other problems, I am having trouble establishing stage stops, feed, and the rest to go with this development. I have been told you own property all over Arizona territory and enforce the law, as well.
When and where could we meet? There are some lucrative mail contracts available for this operation. I am prepared to offer you a share if we can get this operation under way in nine months.
Sincerely yours,
Albert Hannagen
“Who’s that one from?” Monica asked, refilling his coffee.
“I guess my new partner.”
“Doing what?” Liz asked.
“Building a stage line from Gallup to the Colorado River on the Marcy Road.”
“Well, if the railroad won’t come it would be a good idea,” Monica said.
“What are you thinking about now?” Liz asked.
“Who’ll head up that operation for me. But first I need to send him on another project.”
The two women traded confused glances. “What are you talking about?” Liz asked.
“When this snow lets up, I’m going to send Cole and his wife to get my boy. When they get back, I may be a partner in the stage line business, and if so, Cole will be my point man.”
“I think it’s a much better idea to send those two after him.”
He stood up and studied the blizzard swirling outside the window. His wife joined him.
“Cole comes from Texas, but no one back there knows he works for me. He can go in there, get the boy quietly, and come right back. He’s the best man to do that for me. Plus, his wife will get to see some country she’s never seen and help him care for the boy.”
“Who will raise him?”
“That we’ll have to see about. But you, my lady, as long as you’re not housebound by a child, ride with me.”
“I would raise him, but you’re right, I love traveling with you and want to continue doing so.”
What in God’s name would he do without her? He hoped he would never have to do that.
CHAPTER 15
The snow piled up deep before it quit, and the drifts were tall. All Chet could think about was the water going into the good earth, the snow melting from beneath because the ground was still warm. As soon as the road was passable again, he would send Jesus with a buckboard to go get Cole and the mail. Monica wrote out a long list of things she wanted as well, and warned Jesus not to return until he had it all.
While he waited, Chet wrote a letter to Cady that he was coming or sending a responsible party to bring his son out to Arizona. He thanked her sincerely for her honesty and goodwill, and told her how anxious he was to see his son.
After sealing that letter, he wrote another. This one was for Mr. Hannagen, the stage tycoon. Chet gave his compliments and offered to meet the man at the Windmill Ranch when things cleared up some and he could spare the time. Hannagen could wire Chet at Preskitt when he was on his way.
Then he wrote one more letter, to Susie, about his new son. She and Kathren had been close when they were in Texas, but he doubted she knew about the boy, either.
He put all three envelopes into the ranch mailbag. That steep mountain road was not open yet, so the mail would have to wait to go out. He’d bet the snowfall from this storm had beaten all the past weather records by a mile.
Later that day, Raphael reported that the road to town was open. Instead of sending Jesus, Chet and Liz decided to go themselves. The next day they drove into town huddled together against the cold. They found Cole at the café, and his man looked shocked to see the two of them in town.
“Something wrong?” the young man asked. “You look very . . . business-like.”
“Several things,” Chet said, dead serious. “Let’s find someplace and talk while the women visit.”
They slid in an empty booth and the girl working brought them cups of steaming coffee. Chet shed his wool-lined jacket and loosened his collar.
“So what’s going on, boss?” Cole asked, his face neutral.
“I got a shock when we made it back from Mexico. Turns out I have a son back in Texas I was never told about. He’s four now. His mother and I were deeply engaged in a romance and I would have married her, but she couldn’t move out here because of her father’s ailing heart. Now she’s dead. Obviously, she must have been with child when I kissed her good-bye, but she kept it all a secret. She had a teenage daughter who wrote to tell me about him. Offered me the option to come get him or she would raise him.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’d like you and Valerie to go to Texas and get him,” Chet said flatly. “Liz is concerned that the Reynolds, that crazy gang that was the cause of us moving here, might make an attempt on my life if I go back. I’m not afraid, obviously, except for the idea of that young boy getting hurt. No one back there knows you as my man, so you should be able to get in and bring him out here with no one the wiser.”
“Valerie’s back in the kitchen,” Cole said, standing up. “Let me get her. I’m certain she’ll go, but you need to be the one to explain all this to her. What’s his name?”
Chet spread his hands wide. “I don’t know. She never told me in the letter. Like she expected me to know or something.”
The younger man shook his head. “I’ll be right back.”
Pretty as ever, Valerie slid in across from him a moment later, with a dollop of pastry icing for him to taste off her finger. “Cole says you’ve go
t a job for us.”
He took a deep breath and repeated the story for her. By the end of his description, her eyebrows had come together in confusion. “Why didn’t she ever tell you?”
“All I can think was she wanted a piece of our affair to keep with her after I left.”
Valerie nodded slowly, like she agreed. “I think you knew her better than any of us and probably have the right idea. If Cole left me, I might do the same thing.”
“Darling,” Cole said. “I’m not ever leaving you.”
“You better not,” she said threateningly. Then she laughed. “When should we go get him?”
“Can Jenn spare you?”
“I’m sure she can. And she’ll want to see this little guy as badly as we do.”
“Will Rhea raise him, too?” Cole asked.
Chet looked hard at them. “I know you two are having your own soon, but I wondered if—”
She turned pale. “Oh, Cole we want him.”
“Oh, hell yes. We’d be honored to raise him.”
“Okay,” Chet continued, holding back tears at the depth of the love he felt for these two lovely people. “Part two. A man wants to start a stage line across the northern end of the territory from Gallup to the Grant Ferry on the Colorado River on the Marcy Road. He says he wants it set up in nine months. That’s near impossible, and you and I both know there are no towns hardly at all on that route. I’m guessing he’ll need twenty stations, at least. I’ve not talked to him yet, but I would headquarter it at the head of the military road up at the base of the San Francisco Peaks. You know I have land up there, right?”
“Sounds like a good prospect as slow as the railroad’s coming,” Cole observed. “You’d have it right on their tracks.”
“Exactly.”
“Where do I fit?”
“If I can see how to make money at it,” Chet said, “I want you to superintend it.”
“Oh, my”—she clamped her hand over her mouth—“Cole, did you hear him?”
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