by Chloe Carley
“They don’t hate me for burning down the mercantile and getting some men hurt?” Riley asked.
“Of course not! Sweetheart, why would you think that? You didn’t hurt those men. You didn’t start the fire that burned the mercantile down.”
“But my brother…”
“Was an adult who made bad choices,” Gideon assured her. “Look, if the town can forgive me my past, why would you think they would do less with you?”
Riley hung her head. “I guess I didn’t think of it that way.”
“You are not responsible for the things your brother did. Just like my parents aren’t responsible for all of the things I did.” Gideon paused. “Want to know how much the reward is?”
“Not really,” Riley answered. She truly didn’t want anything to do with money gained because of her brother’s actions and death. She just wouldn’t feel right taking it or spending it.
“Well, I’m going to tell you anyway. Three thousand dollars.”
Riley’s eyebrows disappeared beneath her bonnet, and she shook her head, sure she’d heard him wrong.“Three thousand dollars? But … that’s a small fortune.”
“Not quite, but it’s certainly enough money to get you to wherever you want to go and help you start a new life.”
Riley’s spirits sank at Gideon’s words and she looked away as tears filled her eyes. She’d planned to make Rio Arriba the place to start a new life, but now it seemed as if Gideon was showing her the door and it felt horrible.
“Hey! Riley, whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong,” Gideon grabbed her shoulders and turned her back around to face him. “Wow! Sweetheart, tell me what I said.”
Riley shook her head, not able to give voice to her thoughts lest she start balling like an infant.
Gideon pulled her into his arms. She put up a token fight, but he won, and feeling his arms surrounding her broke through the dam and she started crying like she hadn’t cried since her parents had died. She cried for Roy. She cried for being so alone. She cried for the loss of her new dreams.
“Shush. I promise it’s going to be okay. Just stop crying and talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong,” Gideon pleaded.
It took Riley fifteen minutes before she was able to get control of her emotions enough to tell him, “I thought maybe I’d stay in Rio Arriba, but I understand that no one wants the reminder of what happened every time they see me. Maybe I’ll keep going west and see the ocean …”
“Wait a minute!” Gideon pushed her back at arm’s length and shook his head. “I will never understand the way a female thinks. Never. No one wants you to leave, just the opposite. Everyone is hoping you’ll stay here. Everyone. Me included.”
Riley frowned and stammered, “But … you said ... I could start a new life …”
“Because I didn’t want you to think you had to make your life here because you had no other choice. I only want you to stay here in this area to build a new life, if it’s what you want. Because you choose to stay here.”
Riley stared at him and then started crying all over again.
“Woman, you’re killing me with your tears. Now why are you crying?”
“Because I’m … so … happy!” Riley flung herself back into his embrace and Gideon’s arms surrounded her while he chuckled.
“Never gonna understand a woman.”
“Good. Sara Jane says we need to keep you all guessing.”
“Do me a favor and don’t listen to half of the stuff that comes out of my sister’s mouth,” Gideon asked.
“I like Sara Jane.”
“And she likes you right back. Now, without crying, tell me what you want to do with the reward money.”
“I don’t want it. I truly don’t. But … well, I mean … do you need it? I mean, if I stay here I could give it to the ranch …”
Gideon placed a finger over her lips and shushed her. “I don’t need it, nor does the ranch. Try again.”
Riley was silent for a long moment and then it dawned on her. “The town. The money could be used to rebuild the mercantile and telegraph office and to some other things that will benefit everyone.”
Gideon smiled . “Perfect.”
He was looking at her that special way again, and she found herself trapped in his eyes. His hand lifted to cup her jaw and then slid behind her neck. He lowered his eyes to her lips and murmured, “No to take care of unfinished business.” Riley watched as he lowered his head and gently placed his lips over hers. At the first touch of skin upon skin, she let her eyes slide closed, savoring the feel of his lips against her own. Warmth. Tingling. A feeling of being wrapped up in his protection and care.
Love.
That’s what she was feeling. Love.
Gideon slowly moved his lips over hers and Riley wrapped her arms around his neck. Now that she knew what she was feeling, she held nothing back. She put all of her feelings behind the kiss and when Gideon deepened the kiss, she followed his lead.
When they broke apart long moments later, Riley knew her face was flushed and her breathing was coming a little fast, but she’d never felt so alive and … euphoric. This was what love felt like!
“That was absolutely amazing,” Gideon said . “I knew it was worth waiting for.”
Riley’s heart was so full, she said the first thing that came to mind, “I think I love you.”
When she heard her own words, she dropped her arms from around his neck and covered her mouth with a hand as embarrassment swamped her. Gideon merely laughed and pulled her hand away, kissing her quickly on the lips before giving a loud shout that startled birds and other wildlife into silence. “Yes!”
Riley started giggling and couldn’t seem to stop. Gideon joined her. Soon she was clutching her sides as the giggling had turned to full laughter.
She collapsed back on the rock and looked up at the sky peeking through the canopy of trees overhead. She’d been so depressed this morning that she’d foregone going to church services, and now … she couldn’t imagine ever being happier. At least, not on the Earth.
Her heart was overflowing, and she knew this was all an answer to her earlier prayer. “Thank you.”
Gideon sat up and leaned over her. “For what?”
“Not you. I was thanking God for answering my prayers.”
He leaned down for another short kiss. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“Not you. I was thanking God for answering my prayers. You are that answer.”
Riley blushed again and froze when a loud scream rent the air. Gideon bolted to a standing position, his eyes scanning the area for signs of danger.
“What was that?” Riley asked, coming to a standing position beside him.
“That was the cat. She’s close. We need to head back, right away. I’ll bring some men back out and we’ll track her down.”
Just then, they both spied the large cat slinking through the brush at the pond’s edge. She was limping badly, and her back flank was streaked with blood.
“She’s hurt,” Riley whispered.
“Yes. That makes her even more unpredictable. The humane thing to do is put her out of her suffering.”
The cat disappeared in the brush before Gideon could even think about retrieving his rifle. “Let’s go.”
Riley nodded and they mounted Storm. The ride back was harried and mostly silent. The good mood of moments earlier was overshadowed by the need to eliminate a threat to both creature and man alike. This time, the big cat needed to be found and put down. For everyone’s safety.
Gideon seemed relieved to find everyone had already returned from town. He lifted Riley from the saddle and pushed her toward the house. “I’ll see you tonight, or tomorrow. I don’t know how long this will take.”
Riley hugged him spontaneously before turning and hurrying up the front path. She wouldn’t keep Gideon from doing his duty, but she also wouldn’t sit idly by doing nothing.
She’d be praying for his safe return and that of the othe
r men. In this regard, she was exactly like her mother: a pillar of prayer standing in for her loved ones. Riley might like to wear trousers, but she also knew that the prayers of a righteous woman worked miracles.
She entered the house to find Pearl by the hearth, her Bible open on her lap. The older woman held out her hand and invited her, “Join me?”
“Yes.” Riley did so and after sharing with Pearl the news about the cat, they joined hands and together prayed. In that moment, Riley knew this was exactly where she was supposed to be and precisely what she was supposed to be doing. No more questions. No more doubts. Gideon had asked her to stay here and share his life with him. She was finally home.
Chapter 29
A month later…
Life at the ranch had slowly returned to normal after dealing with the Johnston gang and then hunting down the big cat. After leaving Riley at the house, Gideon and the other men had gone back out to the pond and tracked the animal. They’d found her later that same day, lying beneath some trees and obviously in pain.
When she’d heard them approaching, Gideon said she’d tried to get up and flee, but her back leg was injured and she was too weak. She’d screamed at them. Shawn had ended her suffering with a single bullet.
Having heard the big cat’s wailing cry at the pond, Riley was glad she’d not been there to witness her death. The men had returned home that same night, somber and yet relieved that another threat to their livelihoods had been dealt with.
“Riley, Lily’s here,” Pearl called into the kitchen.
Riley placed the bread she’d just finished kneading back into the bowl and covered it with a towel. “This will be ready in a few hours.”
“I’ll keep an eye on it. Sara Jane is hooking up the wagon right now and said for you and Lily to meet her in the yard.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?” Riley asked.
“I’m positive. You girls go and enjoy yourselves. I’ll go into town to see the new mercantile with James later in the week.”
Riley wiped her hands on her apron before taking it off and hanging it on the designated hook. “We’ll be back for supper.”
“We’re all eating together. We have so much to celebrate.”
Riley agreed. She’d given all of the reward money to the town. It had been spent rebuilding the mercantile, and fixing the side of the telegraph building.
A large gazebo had been constructed in the city circle, and the other funds had been deposited in the new bank for future needs the town might have. All the townsfolk had decided that they would accept the reward money if Riley agreed to stay and help approve the way it was spent. She’d gladly accepted those terms.
“Ready to go buy some fabric?” Riley asked Lily.
“I am.” Lily was almost eight months pregnant and they were headed to town to purchase fabric to make baby clothes, but also a few new dresses for Lily that were adjustable. Right now, she had taken to wearing one of Jace’s shirts over her blouses because the button gaped indecently. “I’m thinking Jace looks much better in his clothing than I do.”
Riley smiled, not even trying to convince Lily that she might enjoy wearing men’s trousers and shirts. Lily was a prim and proper young lady who always wore a dress, always wore a bonnet, and was the textbook definition of a genteel lady. Riley and Sara Jane were content to let her fulfill that role while they forged their own path.
Today, in deference to James’ decree that the women dress like women when going into town, Riley had donned one of her two everyday dresses. It was a matching skirt and blouse with lace trim around the neck and cuffs.
The cornflower blue fabric had little peach and pink flowers spread across it, and a light blue bonnet completed the outfit. She hadn’t put the bonnet on and wouldn’t do so until they were almost to town.
Sara Jane was waiting with the wagon, also in a dress, one of green plaid. No lace trimmed Sara Jane’s dress, and if she had a bonnet, it was shoved in the pocket of her skirt.
She’d argued fiercely at the supper table the night before to be allowed to go to town in her trousers and shirt. But James had held firm. Riley truly didn’t mind wearing a dress now and again, as long as she wasn’t going to be doing anything that required strenuous exercise or climbing.
Or fishing, or riding, or… well, she might as well admit that she’d much rather be wearing boy’s trousers for every activity. Except for church. Riley did draw the line there and believed that women should dress as such, bonnet included, when heading into a house of worship.
Jace and Gideon came from the barn to help Lily and Riley get into the wagon. Gideon greeted Riley with a grin and a quick peck on the cheek, causing her to blush bright red when she saw everyone else watching the two of them.
“Stop that,” she chided him.
“Why? They all know how I feel about you.”
“But … it’s not …”
“If you tell him it’s not seemly, I’m going to make you walk back from town,” Sara Jane threatened her with a smile. “We make our own rules out here, remember?”
Riley smiled, holding her head up high and making sure everyone was watching as she leaned forward and aimed a kiss at Gideon’s cheek. He must have read her intent because he turned his head at the last minute and her lips met his.
She pulled back in shock as Gideon and everyone else chuckled. “You …”
“Handsome man you can’t imagine living without?” he finished her sentence.
Riley slapped him lightly on the shoulder and grinned. “No. That’s not what I was going to say.”
“Because I said it for you.” Gideon laughed as she tried to slap him again and he moved to the side, so her hand met nothing but air.
“We should get you ladies on your way before Gideon gets himself in even more trouble,” Jace suggested.
Gideon handed Riley up into the wagon on one side of Sara Jane, and Jace did the same with his very pregnant wife on the other.
“Drive careful, Sara Jane. I don’t want Lily coming back bruised and battered,” Jace warned.
“I will be very careful. Now, move so that we can get this show on the road.”
The trip into town was completely without incident. After a small stroll through the new mercantile building, the three girls settled down to look at fabric.
With the addition of the reward money, the mercantile had been able to double in size, and the Robertson family had taken suggestions from the townsfolk about what additional merchandise they should carry in the new space. Fabric and lots of it had been a request from all of the ladies in the community--and the owners hadn’t disappointed.
“Have you ever seen such a large selection?” Lily asked in awe.
“Only in the larger shops in Missouri,” Riley said. “They have entire stores dedicated to nothing but fabric, thread, and all kinds of buttons and such. Walls and walls of fabric.”
Lily gave them a dreamy smile. “That sounds like heaven. I love to sew and already have quite a few patterns for delightful little baby clothes. Little dresses with aprons and bonnets.”
“What if the baby is a boy?” Sara Jane asked.
Lily just gave her a blank look and both Sara Jane and Riley burst into giggles. “Never mind. Forget I asked such a silly question,” Sara Jane said.
