The Horseman's Frontier Family

by Karen Kirst

  They didn’t immediately dismount. Theo’s upper lip curled. “Well, isn’t this a cozy scene? I have to hand it to ya, Thornton, I underestimated your charm. Our sister fell for your act, hook, line and sinker.”

  “Please, Theo. I don’t want any trouble.” Evelyn edged sideways so that she stood between her brothers and him. She thought she could protect him?

  Gideon could’ve kissed her. Instead, he rested a hand against her lower back and moved to stand beside her. “It’s all right, Evelyn.”

  Worry for him, for herself and Walt, for her brothers warred in her eyes. “You can’t know that,” she murmured.

  Taking in the exchange, Theo growled, “Oh, what, are you a couple now? What are you thinking, Evelyn, aligning yourself with this pile of rubbish?”

  Walt’s expression communicated his confusion. Of course he wouldn’t understand the tension between his favorite adults. “Uncle Theo, Uncle Brett, did you bring me any candy?”

  Both men jerked in their saddles, eyes going wide and jaws dropping. Brett’s gaze shot to Evelyn. “He’s talking?”

  Theo slid to the ground and rushed over to his nephew, crouching to his level and pulling him into a hug. Brett joined them, tenderness wreathing his features as he playfully ruffled the boy’s hair. Their love for Walt shone in their eyes.

  Gideon shouldn’t have been surprised that a Chaucer was capable of feeling. Walt was their flesh and blood. There was a very real possibility he’d be going back to live with them. The thought made him sad.

  I love that little boy as if he were my own son.

  Beside him Evelyn stood as taut as a strung bow, one hand clapped over her mouth.

  Theo stood, his gaze a mix of accusation and hurt. “When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Her hand dropped to her side. “I’m so sorry, Theo, I—” She gestured to Gideon. “There was an accident. Things have been in an uproar.”

  Theo and Brett shared a look. That they didn’t appear surprised bothered Gideon. “You did hear about the accident, didn’t you?” he challenged.

  Theo kicked up a shoulder. “We heard talk in town.”

  Evelyn gasped. “You heard but didn’t bother to come and check on us? Walt nearly died. If it weren’t for Gideon, he would’ve gotten trampled by that wild stallion.”

  “We knew Thornton was hurt,” Brett said, “but we had no idea of the danger to Walt.”

  “Is it possible you stayed away because you’re the guilty party? Someone messed with that fence with the ultimate goal of harming me.” Gideon fished for information. To this day, they still had no idea who’d tampered with the fence. He needed to gauge their reactions to such a suggestion. Ignoring how Evelyn bristled, he said, “We all know how you feel about my family. Me especially. Admit it, you hate that your sister and I have grown close.”

  “Gideon, how can you suggest such a thing?” Evelyn gasped. He risked a glance at her. Betrayal beamed back at him. Anger, too. “These are my brothers. I told you before they aren’t the type of men who would break the law. To suggest they’d put Walt or me in danger is ludicrous. This is low, even for you.”

  “Even for me?” His own temper flared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Walt,” Brett said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, “why don’t you go on over to the tack room and play? We’ll be along shortly.”

  Although clearly reluctant, he did as he was told, calling for Lion and Shadow to follow him.

  Blazing mad, Theo thrust a hand in the air. “You see, Evelyn? You’ve been duped. He may act all friendly and protective, but deep down, he’ll never trust you, because of your heritage. Thorntons and Chaucers don’t mix.”

  Brett rubbed a weary hand down his face. “We should never have let her stay out here alone. That was a mistake.”

  “I never did get an answer,” Gideon snapped. “And while we’re at it, how about we discuss the issue of the stake?”

  Evelyn sucked in a harsh breath.

  “Someone discarded my stake,” he continued, “and replaced it with Drake’s. Was it Reid? Or was it you, Theo?”

  Evelyn slanted him a “how could you” look, a look that pierced the haze of wrath enveloping him but didn’t dispel it entirely. His gut told him the Chaucers knew more than they were letting on. He wouldn’t back down until he got some answers. Not even for her.

  If they didn’t get to the truth, there could be more accidents. Who knew what the outcome would be then?

  “Why, you sorry—” Theo surged in their direction. “I’ll make you wish you’d never opened that trap of yours.”

  Gideon braced himself, knowing he was doomed but determined to defend himself the best he could.

  “That’s enough,” Evelyn bolted off the porch and planted herself in her older brother’s path, her small hands pushing at his chest. “I won’t have more violence here. Think of Walt, Theo!”

  “You expect me to stand by and listen to this?” Taking hold of her shoulders, Theo moved her out of the way. But she seized his wrist and held on with all her might. “Gideon’s angry. Don’t let him bait you.”

  Her scathing glare cast his way pained him more than the ribs, the head and the back wounds combined. He was propelled back to that first day, easily recalling her animosity, her accusations ringing in his ears. Liar. Cheat. Scoundrel.

  Brett grabbed his brother’s arm and hauled him around. “She’s right.”

  “Please, I’ll pay you a visit first thing in the morning,” she pleaded with her brothers. “I’ll bring Walt so you can spend time with him. We can discuss what happens next.”

  That had an ominous ring to it, Gideon thought.

  The muscles jumping in Theo’s rigid jaw, he jerked a nod. “Fine.”

  Still braced for a fight, Gideon watched mutely as her brothers left.

  Managing to appear irate and sorrowful at the same time, she marched over to the porch, skirts swirling and her hands thrown wide. “I can’t believe you! I thought you trusted me. Trusted my judgment. How could you suggest they’d put us—their family—in danger?”

  “They have motive, Evelyn.”

  “You’re too angry and biased to see they are good, decent men.”

  “Those good, decent men despise me, or haven’t you noticed?”

  “You haven’t exactly made it hard for them, have you?” she retorted. “You’ve made no effort whatsoever to mend the breach between our families.”

  “Right. It’s my fault.” He pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache blooming behind his eyes. “It’s clear where your loyalties lie, Evelyn. Wednesday can’t come soon enough.”

  She jerked back as if he’d struck her. “I agree. The sooner we can move on with our lives, the better.”

  In other words, the sooner she didn’t have to deal with him...

  The fight drained out of him, leaving his knees weak and his spirit weaker. Gideon found he didn’t have the strength to do this, to swap cruel words with her. Wounding her only ended up wounding him more.

  “I think we’ve said enough, don’t you?” he muttered. Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away.

  * * *

  Shaking with emotion, Evelyn stared at the closed door. He’d turned his back on her. Dismissed her. Practically slammed the door in her face!

  Beneath the outrage, hurt wrapped her heart in an excruciating grip. The sense of betrayal rushed through her veins. She was a fool. She’d begun to believe he actually cared for her. His actions today proved that, despite his stirring speeches about being true to herself, he didn’t respect her at all. Just as Drake hadn’t.

  The kicker was her heart hadn’t thirsted after Drake as it did Gideon.

  “I love him,” she whispered aloud, turning and walking
dazedly across the field, leaving the cabin and the man inside it behind.

  There. She’d said it. Put a name to her feelings for him.

  It didn’t change anything, of course. They had always been on divergent paths. Her brother was right. Chaucers and Thorntons didn’t mix.

  In the tack room, she carefully explained to Walt that Theo and Brett had had to return home and that they would visit them after breakfast the following morning. He went to sleep plotting out his day with his uncles.

  Evelyn hardly slept and woke feeling groggy, weary in both body and soul. She went through her morning routine with lethargy and finally readied herself and her horse for the trip to Theo’s homestead. As she and Walt rode past Gideon’s cabin a while later, she couldn’t resist a glance. The rocking chairs sat empty. Concern flared. Had he suffered a setback?

  She tamped it down. Gideon was on the mend. He was fine. Besides, his welfare wasn’t really her responsibility, was it? They weren’t a couple. She wondered now if they were even friends.

  Her brothers met her with varying degrees of disappointment and resentment. They were seated around Theo’s extra-long kitchen table finishing up breakfast when she and Walt walked through the door.

  Reid popped a sausage patty in his mouth, chewing angrily. “Ma and Pa must be turning over in their graves. Never thought I’d see the day a Chaucer turned on her own flesh and blood.”

  She tossed her reticule on the table and went to help herself to a cup of coffee. Maybe if she had a cup to occupy her hands, she wouldn’t be tempted to strangle them all. On her way she told Walt to take his toys in the bedroom to play.

  “Don’t be so hard on her,” Brett said. “She’s recently lost her husband. Of course she would be lonely over there all by herself, vulnerable to Thornton’s advances.”

  Theo snorted. “You’d think she’d be too heartbroken over Drake’s passing to give Thornton a second thought. But that didn’t seem to faze her one bit.”

  Evelyn set the mug down with a thump. Please, God, help me not to lose my temper. Twisting to face them, she said, “Don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room. You want to know why I wasn’t heartbroken? I’ll tell you why. It’s because I didn’t love Drake. I married him for the wrong reasons. I wanted to please you and, like other young girls with stars in their eyes, I was eager to experience married life for myself.”

  “You didn’t love him?” Reid demanded, stunned.

  “He didn’t love me, either. He spent the bulk of our marriage in other women’s beds.”

  Brett paled. Theo slumped in his chair, dumbfounded. “Why didn’t you say anything, Evelyn?”

  Reid looked ready to burst. “I would’ve put a bullet through his cheatin’ heart.”

  “That’s why.” She pointed at him. “I kept quiet because I couldn’t risk such an outcome.”

  “I can’t believe it.” Theo hung his head as if it were his fault.

  “I’m sorry, sis,” Brett pushed his chair back and pulled her into his arms. “You deserve better than that.”

  Tears stung her eyes. Considering everything that had happened since she moved out to Gideon’s, she’d half expected them to call her a liar. Hope sprung up. Maybe her moving back here would work out after all. Maybe they could move past this and find peace. She loved her brothers dearly and hated the discord between them.

  Reid hurled his napkin on his plate. “To think we plotted with that snake to take Thornton’s claim out from under him.”

  Brett’s hand rubbing her back stilled midmotion. He stiffened and pulled back, apprehension brewing in his dark eyes as he searched her face.

  Evelyn’s breath caught. Dread pummeled her temples. “W-what did you just say?”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Pushing out of Brett’s arms, Evelyn looked at each of her brothers in turn. They actually looked scared.

  “Please tell me you didn’t just say what I think you said.” Fists clenched, her entire body shook and her face felt hot.

  Reid held up a hand. “Calm down, sis. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

  “Tell me the truth,” she bit out.

  Her twin shot a questioning glance at Theo, who gave a reluctant nod.

  Shifting from one foot to the other, Reid had trouble holding her gaze. “About a week before the land rush, Drake found out the Thorntons had scouted out plots on the survey maps. We discussed it and came up with a plan. Drake was to follow Gideon to his claim and challenge him for it. Not only would he get a claim on a well-chosen parcel of land, he’d get rid of a Thornton in the process.”

  “Drake didn’t anticipate his horsemanship letting him down,” Theo inserted. “He underestimated Gideon’s abilities.”

  Reaching blindly for the nearest chair, Evelyn sank into it and buried her face in her hands. Nausea threatened. From that first day when she and her brothers had ridden onto his land, an army soldier in tow, Gideon had proclaimed his innocence. He’d insisted all along that he was the one who’d planted that first stake. But she’d chosen not to believe him...because he was a Thornton.

  She’d bought her brothers’ theory—that Gideon had actually plotted to steal a dead man’s claim. Infected by their lies, she’d accused an innocent man of vile crimes. Angry tears slipped down her cheeks.

  A hand settled lightly on her shoulder. “Don’t cry.”

  Shying away from Brett’s attempt at comfort, she glared at them through her tears. “I trusted you. All of you. Like a mindless idiot, I ignored my own qualms regarding our family’s allegations against the Thorntons and accused Gideon of horrible things.” Her voice broke.

  Gideon. Although innocent of any wrongdoing, he’d endured her intrusion into his life with amazing equanimity. Images scrolled through her mind’s eye.... Gideon rescuing her from her miserable attempt to erect the tent, stepping in to defend her against the too-familiar soldier, searching the prairie for Walt as if he were his own son. Moving her things into the tack room so that she and Walt would be safe and dry. He’d treated her far better than she deserved...eventually treating her as a friend, worthy of his time and regard.

  How could she ever face him again?

  “I would’ve expected such a mean-spirited plan from Drake, but not from you. Our parents taught us better than that.”

  “It wasn’t mean-spirited.” Reid sat down in the chair opposite her. “It was a matter of strategy.”

  “But you accused him of something you knew he didn’t do.” She threw her hands wide. “I defended you three to him.”

  Reid’s fist hit the table. “We didn’t tamper with that fence.”

  “What about the stake? Did one of you switch it? Was that in your grand plan, too?”

  Theo spoke up. “We didn’t touch the stake. If you recall, the three of us were busy staking our own claims.”

  Sincerity blazed from his eyes. It was true. The day of the land rush, they’d raced to stake these plots—on the opposite side of town from the Thorntons—and hadn’t left until a soldier arrived to inform them of the accident, summoning them to identify Drake’s body. She’d been here with them the entire time.

  “When you went to identify the body, you didn’t switch it then?”

  “No.” Her oldest brother managed to look hurt at the suggestion. “The stake was the furthest thing from our minds. All we could think about was you and Walt and what would happen now that you’d lost Drake. We didn’t know about...” His gaze slid away.

  The affairs. The sorry state of their marriage.

  “Besides, we couldn’t have even if we wanted to. Clint Thornton was there, and he watched us like a hawk. He didn’t trust us any more than we trusted him.”

  “Who did it, then?” Brett said quietly. “Drake was injured.”

  “Yes.” Evelyn smoothed nonexistent
wrinkles in her skirt. “But to what extent? I know him. To Drake, winning was everything. He would’ve done everything in his power to make sure he triumphed over Gideon.”

  “You think he switched them out himself?” Reid asked Theo.

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  Better than anyone, Evelyn knew Drake was cunning. Cunning enough that he would’ve replaced the stake and, after discarding Gideon’s, dragged himself back to his original position. By using up his energy and straining his injuries, he had probably pushed himself too hard and died before medical help could reach him. Getting one over on the Thorntons had driven him to his death.

  “This feud has poisoned our lives for too long. It’s time to let it go. We have to stop blaming others for our own misfortune.” Making eye contact with Theo, she said, “Haven’t we inflicted enough suffering on ourselves? On them?”

  Theo appeared to waver. Then Reid snorted. “This land dispute issue is an isolated incident. So Gideon was in the right this time. So what? That doesn’t mean he or his brothers deserve our respect. This feud ain’t over, Evelyn. As long as there’s breath in my lungs, I’ll hate what they did to our family.”

  Evelyn sagged with disappointment, the futility of trying to change their minds weighing on her spirit. “That’s just the thing. They didn’t do anything to our family.”

  * * *

  Gideon was watering his horses when Elijah rode up in his wagon. His brother’s grim expression filled him with dread. He dropped the bucket and strode to intercept him, ignoring the pain shooting along his rib cage.

  “Has something happened to Evelyn?” He’d woken to find them gone this morning. “Is Walt okay?”

  Swinging down from the high seat, Lije pulled an envelope from his pocket and held it out. Gideon took it, stared at his name scrawled across the ivory paper. “What’s this?”

  “Evelyn came to us this morning. She was very distraught.” He paused, his eyes dark with concern. “Gideon, she’s asked to stay in the infirmary until she can arrange for a more permanent living situation.”