Cate Corrals a Cattleman

by Linda K. Hubalek

  ***

  “Grandpa, who’s the ring for?” Maggie asked as she jumped up to sit on the porch swing beside Cate.

  Isaac officially became a grandpa when Marcus and Sarah adopted eight children. But right now he didn’t want to play the role of an older man, he wanted to be a special woman’s husband.

  Unfortunately, the six–year–old’s timing couldn’t have been worse.

  He should have known better than propose to Cate where any number of children could interrupt them. His being on his knee in front of a now giggling Cate was not what he planned for his romantic proposal. Shouldn’t the children be in bed for their afternoon nap? He waited to talk to Cate for that very reason.

  “Maggie, come back here. You’re not supposed to…” Sarah stopped short, realizing what Isaac was trying to do.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry! I’ll grab Maggie and you can get back to…what you were doing.”

  “No! I want to stay and try on the pretty ring! Please?”

  Sarah, her face red with embarrassment, pulled the protesting child off the swing, and backed to the door while keeping a firm grip on the youngster’s arm. “Sorry! I’ll try to keep the kids off the porch…so you can…continue.”

  “Thanks, Sarah. I think I’ll start over,” Isaac chuckled at Cate’s wide smile. “Cate, I’ve loved you since we were children growing up in Illinois. I know you and Moses had a wonderful life together and I deeply appreciate you sharing it with me. Watching your children grow up and being a part of their lives made me feel like a special uncle to them.

  He took a deep breath before continuing because he had to say this. “If you’re worried what Moses might think…he urged me to ask for your hand in marriage, when I thought you’d accept it. I never wished for Moses to suffer and die from cancer, but he knew I loved you as much as he did, and he gave us his blessing.”

  Tears glistened in Cate’s eyes, remembering her husband, but her face beamed with pleasure knowing what was coming next in her life.

  “Now that all the children are each blessed with a special spouse and starting their own families, I sense you’re ready to find your own happiness again.”

  Isaac took Cate’s left hand, feeling it tremble as much as his own. “I must admit I bought this diamond solitaire ring for you years ago hoping you’d say ‘yes’ to my proposal of marriage. I was crushed when Moses asked for your hand first. But I’ll never regret the years you had with Moses, because I know you loved him deeply, and I’ve always wanted you to be happy.”

  “I realize this ring may not fit three decades later, but it’s a symbol of my undying love for you—to keep as a memento. I can get this one sized by a jeweler, or buy you a new ring before our wedding.” He poised the ring at the tip of her finger, ready to slide it on—as far as it would go—as soon as she answered “yes” to his question. It barely registered there were horses coming up the lane, but he was determined to propose before they got interrupted again.

  “Cate Wilerson, would you give me the honor of...”

  Cate shrieked and pulled her hand away before he could complete the rest of his sentence. Isaac turned on his knee to see what caused her negative reaction, then fell over in disbelief.

  Sitting in a buggy next to Adam was...Sarah? But Sarah took Maggie back inside the house a minute ago, and she sure wasn’t dressed like that. Cate’s other sons, Jacob and Noah, stopped their horses on either side of the wagon. All three men were grim faced, staring at their mother sitting on the porch swing.

  Isaac rose from the porch floor and looked at Cate. She stared at the young woman, shocked as he was at seeing a young woman identical to Sarah. Cate’s hands covered her mouth, but he still heard her murmur, “No, it can’t be...”

  “Well hello, Uncle Isaac, aren’t ya gonna welcome me to your home?”

  Who is this young woman? She kind of looked familiar, beside the fact she was a match to Cate’s daughter with her almost black hair and blue eyes.

  “I know you haven’t seen me since...oh I’d say when I was about ten years old,” she replied sweetly.

  “Faye!?”

  “You guessed right! Since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I’d come visit,” Faye’s voice dripped with honey, but Isaac knew it wasn’t sincere.

  “Why are you here? Does your grandmother know you’re not in Chicago at boarding school?”

  “You’re bein’ a poor host, Uncle. How about making introductions and invitin’ me in?”

  Isaac sighed, guessing Faye had poor manners as her grandmother did. “You’ve met the Wilerson brothers.” He turned to take Cate’s hand to pull her out of the porch swing, but she ignored his offer. “Cate, this is my step–brother’s daughter, Faye Longoria. Faye, this is Cate Wilerson, the mother of the men who brought you here.”

  He turned back to Cate, surprised to see the shock and fear in her eyes as she stared at the young woman. “What’s wrong, Cate?” was all Isaac got out before Cate shoved out of the swing and ran through the front door, slamming it behind her.

  Isaac turned to look at the brothers for a clue about their mother’s behavior. They looked ready to hang him from the cottonwood tree, using the kids’ swing as his noose rope.

  The silence was broken with a baby’s pitiful cry, coming from the back of the wagon.

  Adam turned to stare at Faye, but she ignored him and the fussing baby.

  “Oh, I forgot, Uncle. I brought ya a present. Maybe a ‘little one’ will change Cate’s mind and she’ll marry ya after all.” Isaac opened his palm to look at the ring he still had clutched in his hand. Why did Cate run off, besides being surprised there was another woman who shared Sarah’s features? Did he lose his chance to finally put this ring on Cate’s finger?

  “Isaac, what happened?” Sarah called as she stepped out on the porch, “Why’s Momma so upset?”

  Isaac watched Sarah look at him, then to the wagon occupants. He barely caught her under her arms as she stumbled. He couldn’t imagine the shock of seeing one’s face on another person.

  “Why didn’t someone tell me I had a twin?!” shrieked Faye. Then she started laughing like it was a joke. “So, father’s ‘harlot’ had twins and ya kept one, Uncle?”

  The baby whimpered louder and Faye rolled her eyes, but didn’t look back at it. “That thing is so annoying,” Faye scoffed.

  “You have a baby in the back who you’re ignoring?!” Sarah pushed Isaac’s hand away, stiffened her spine, marched down the steps and pushed Jacob’s horse, Duncan, out of the way when Jacob didn’t rein him away fast enough.

  Before anyone could react, Sarah looked over the wagon side, and tried to reach a box which must have been tucked under the wagon seat. She stared at Faye, who did nothing but stare back. Pick up that child and comfort it, or get out of my way,” Sarah said to Faye through gritted teeth.

  “You can have it,” Faye stated as she rolled her eyes.

  Sarah reached up and tried to yank Faye off the seat, which caused Faye to scream and slap at Sarah. Jacob jumped off his horse to grab Sarah while Adam tried to keep the surprised horse team from bolting.

  “That’s enough!” roared Isaac and pointed a stiff arm toward the house. “Faye, pick up that baby and get in the house. You too, Sarah. Boys, put the horses in the barn and join us. We’ve got some serious talking to do.”

  Chapter 2

  “What’s all the commotion outside? I could hear it from upstairs,” Marcus asked Cate as he walked into the parlor.

  “Be ready to take care of Sarah when everyone comes in. There’s something I hoped to never have to tell Sarah, but I’m afraid...I’m afraid I have to do it this evening.” Cate couldn’t look at Marcus when she said it. Sarah was going to hate her for keeping this a secret, but she and Moses thought it was best at the time.

  Marcus loudly sucked in his breath when Sarah stomped in, followed by someone—who looked like his wife? The woman slowly took in the room, as if mentally trying to tally up the cost of the furnishings in
it.

  Cate had heard a baby wailing outside so wasn’t surprised when Faye carried in an infant—be it boy or girl—in the crook of her arm like it was a sack of flour. The girl probably planned to dump the baby here and leave without it.

  Cate noticed both newcomers hadn’t had enough to eat. The very low neckline on Faye’s soiled red satin gown revealed her bony collarbone. Anyone within ten feet of the baby knew it needed its diaper changed, plus it didn’t have a shirt on its thin torso. Even though the infant looked to be only a month or two old by its weight, it had to be at least three months old because it was trying to hold its head up.

  She felt a pang of sympathy for the young mother who obviously had rough luck and no place else to go. Even though Sarah’s conception came in the worst way possible, she and Moses had given her a good childhood. Cate hoped Sarah would remember that when she had to tell Sarah what happened twenty–two years ago.

  Isaac stalked in behind the young women, agitated that the group upset his marriage proposal to Cate. But the man was still clueless of the connection between Sarah and Faye. How would he handle the news?

  “Marcus,” Cate had to wipe her eyes to see him, because tears were freely flowing down her cheeks, “could you take the baby and put a clean diaper on it—for Faye—while we wait for my sons to come in, please?” Cate wanted to add ‘for the baby’s sake’, but didn’t want to rile the young woman.

  “A man who can handle filthy diapers? I think I like you,” Faye beamed as she practically tossed the baby when Marcus held out his hands to take it.

  “What’s the child’s name?” asked Marcus.

  “She don’t have one. Thought whoever took her could figure that out,” Faye shrugged her shoulders.

  “And how old is she’?” Sarah said through gritted teeth. Sarah looked ready to shake the girl for abusing the child.

  “Let’s see...August, July, June...yeah, about that old,” she smirked, realizing she was ruffling Sarah’s feathers with her nonchalant remarks.

  Cate’s three sons silently walked into the parlor. She guessed Jacob told the other two what he knew about Sarah’s parentage, but that was only half of the story.

  “I’m sorry, Ma, but after seeing Miss Longoria at the train depot, I felt I had to tell Adam and Noah,” Jacob confessed. “Do you want us to leave so you can talk to Sarah alone, or do you want us to stay?” Cate felt so proud of her son’s thoughtfulness. Jacob had been the only one besides Moses who knew the truth about Sarah. Cate told him because his wife, Rania had gone through a similar situation as she had, and Jacob needed to show Rania compassion, and accept how it would affect their lives.

  When Marcus came back into the room, Cate wiped her dripping nose with the back of her hand and looked down at the floor. Where was a handkerchief when she needed one? “I only want to say this once, so everyone, please stay until everything has been said. And no questions until I’m done.” Now Cate looked up at those standing and sitting around the room.

  Cate cleared her throat three times before she could speak again. It hurt to think back to that day, but Sarah needed to know the truth. Sarah was a mother herself now, so maybe she could understand what Cate had to do to protect her children.

  “Faye, how old are you?” Cate asked the girl, who was clearly trying to act defiant when she was clearly shaking in her worn–out shoes.

  “Uh, eighteen, why?” Faye answered, looking confused as to why that had anything to do with what Cate was trying to say.

  “Sarah is twenty–one so this happened before you were born, Faye.” Cate wiped her face again, trying to think of the best way to tell what happened that day.

  How could she say this out loud? Should she take Sarah aside and tell her first?

  Her stomach roiled with nausea and she needed to get this said before she passed out from shock. Cate took a deep breath, but her voice still caught as she tried to speak. She cleared her throat and looked at her daughter.

  “Sarah, one day when your father wasn’t home, a man forced his way into our house. He was drunk, belligerent, and I was scared he’d hurt your brothers, who were quite young. I sent the boys out to look for some new kittens, which I don’t think we had at the time, and told them not to come back to the house until they found them.”

  Cate realized she was rubbing her throat when she looked around to see Jacob’s sad face. Whenever she thought of that day, she felt the man’s hand on her throat as he held her down as she fought in an attempt to push him off.

  “The man attacked me, but left before the boys came back into the house because they had been out a long time looking for those kittens.” Cate squeezed her eyes tight, trying to forget the memory of that day.

  “Sarah, we always considered Moses your father—and I always will—because he raised and loved you until his dying day.” She took a long breath before continuing. “But after meeting Faye, I’m guessing you two have the same father, as it was Felix Longoria who attacked me that day.”

  There was complete silence in the parlor as everyone absorbed the shock of the attacker’s name, and how it affected them.

  “My stepbrother attacked you? Why didn’t you tell me?!” Isaac hissed as he staggered back against the living room wall.

  Sarah collapsed on the settee, covered her face with her hands, and started rocking back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably. Marcus handed Faye’s baby to Adam and sat down beside Sarah, pulling her to his chest as she cried.

  Faye’s bravado vanished, when she realized how Cate’s story affected her. “I have a sister? You mean she’s been living in this rich house, while I’ve been living upstairs in saloons?!”

  Isaac rounded on her, pointing his finger and shouting, “What do you mean living in saloons?! I sent plenty of money to your grandmother so you could have a nice life—even though I didn’t have to!”

  “Why not? My grandmother was married to your father...”

  “For thirteen days before he died, and besides that, her name was not listed in his will! Your parents should have raised and provided for you instead of me!”

  Everyone watched in shock as the two faced each other. Cate never knew where Felix went after that fateful day, nor did she realize he had another daughter who Isaac had been supporting this whole time.

  “I never got a cent of that money—if you sent it to grandmother! She tossed me back to the house my mother ‘worked in’ right after you left Illinois!”

  Isaac’s face turned ashen and fell as the girl’s words penetrated his anger. “You mean to tell me you’ve been living in brothels the past eight years?”

  “Look at me! Do I look like a prim debutante, schooled in one of Boston’s best finishing schools?! My mother left one night without telling me where she was going, and I’ve been working on my back for the past four years to survive!” she wailed as she confessed the dire situation she’d been living.

  Cate cringed listening to Isaac’s and Faye’s versions of their stories. Oh, what a mess! It was time to defuse this fight, because no one else was speaking. Cate sniffed back her grief and quietly said, “It’s good you came to Kansas to get out of your bad situation then. So how did you know where to find your uncle?”

  Faye stared at the floor, not looking at Cate when she answered. “I’ve always kept the first letter he sent to Illinois, telling us where he settled in Kansas.”

  “Why did you come now, and how’d you get the money for the train ticket?”

  Tears trickled down the poor girl’s eyes as she looked up at Cate. “The ‘house’ owner was going to take my baby away from me, so I stole money from one of my customers’ wallets while he was sleeping after we...and I grabbed my baby where she was stashed for the night and took off.”

  Cate walked closer to the girl, but didn’t touch her, afraid she’d bolt like a scared rabbit. “Do you know where your father is now?” Out the corner of her eye, Cate saw Sarah sit up to hear Faye’s answer.

  “No. I saw him now and then when I liv
ed with my grandma, but I haven’t seen him since,” Faye said looking first at Cate, then Isaac.

  “Isaac, when’s the last time you saw or heard from your stepbrother?” Cate asked him, but he shook his head like he didn’t want to say.

  “Where is he, Isaac? I want to know where my father is,” Sarah glared at him with her red swollen eyes.

  Isaac looked at the floor when he softly said “Last I knew, he was in prison for a robbery and waiting for his sentence, which was probably to hang.”

  Cate hated to admit it, but she was glad—for the girls’ sakes and hers—that the man was probably dead. There was no way she wanted to face him again, nor have the girls learn what their father was like.

  “My poppa’s…dead?” Faye sounded like a ten year old who just lost her father.

  Cate walked forward and wrapped her arms around the girl, holding her tight while Faye sobbed for the loss of her father.

  Sarah stood, staring hard at her mother for giving comfort to this intruder, before running out of the living room and up the stairs. Marcus sighed and followed her, knowing there was going to be some hard hours ahead for them.

  Cate’s tears flowed down her cheeks. The painful day of the past burned her insides, but she kept herself calm because of the crying girl in her arms.

  “Boys, before you leave, would you please draw and heat some water so Faye can take a bath? I’m sure she would appreciate it.”

  Cate wanted to be sure her sons respected this poor girl, because Cate guessed Faye and her baby would be living at the Cross C for a long while. How am I going to face the past again? She’d have to, because there were two young women traumatized by what she had to reveal to them.

  ***

  Hours later, Isaac was still in shock after hearing Cate tell Sarah about her parentage. But, strong Cate faced the past and told the truth to everyone when she realized Sarah was Felix’s daughter instead of her husband’s. And now she was inside the house, taking care of his step–niece and her baby—while he hid in the night shadows of the barn.