Taking a towel, Wyatt wiped his face. He smiled when K. C. came up to him. “Sorry,” he said, “that I didn’t win.”
“You tried.” She patted his arm. “Rachel says that trying is what’s important.”
“Is that so?” Coming to his feet, he was not surprised to see Rachel behind K. C. She would want to keep a close eye on the kid, especially today when her neighbors at River’s Haven were lurking about like vultures. He dropped the towel on the bench and, taking K. C.’s hand, walked over to Rachel. “K. C. tells me you think trying is important. I can guess I’ve been pretty trying for you, honey.”
“More than you can guess.” She laughed. “Look at you! You’ve got mincemeat and cherry-pie filling all down the front of you.”
He grinned wryly as he tried to wipe it away. “It’s pretty stuck. I guess I should go to the boat and change.”
“Walking off some of that pie may help you with eating some dinner, too.” Rachel smiled. “We’ll wait by the tables over there.” She pointed to the middle of the green.
“You could come along with me. If we decide to linger on the boat and are a bit late for dinner, no one would notice.”
Her eyes glowed with the longing that he understood so well, but she said, “You’re wrong. Every move I make is being watched today.”
“By your friends from River’s Haven?”
“Yes.” She picked a chunk of mincemeat off his waistcoat.
The mere touch of her fingers threatened to shove every bit of his good sense aside, to pull her into his arms, not caring who was watching. He fought that temptation, and said, “I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
“Don’t be late,” K. C. piped up. “I’m hungry, and I want to get the biggest piece of cake before Brendan Rafferty does.”
“I’ll be back before they begin cutting the first slice of that cake.” He winked at her. As he raised his eyes to meet Rachel’s, he said, “Later I’ll show you—and your friends from River’s Haven—a few tricks I’ve learned about sneaking away when someone is watching.”
“I’d like that,” Rachel whispered.
He squeezed her hand. “I thought you might.”
Wyatt strode across the green toward Haven’s main street. He began to whistle. Tricking those nosy fools from River’s Haven would be fun, and holding Rachel alone in his quarters later would be heaven.
Twenty-one
Darkness was coming earlier than Rachel had guessed it would. Another bank of clouds was building up in the west. She hoped this rain would hold off until after the fireworks that had been promised for this evening.
Lamps were strung from tree to tree on the green. The light flickered as they rocked in the fitful breeze. Beneath them, the children buzzed about like insects drawn to the radiance.
Kitty Cat ran to join a group of children, from both the village and the Community, playing tag. She was grabbed by a tall boy with carrot-colored hair and squealed with delight as he twirled her about. That was the same boy who had been with Sean on the wagon. Brendan Rafferty, if Rachel was not mistaken. Beside him were two little girls with hair as red as his. The youngest wore glasses that bounced on every step she took. Rachel had not guessed a child that young, she could not be more than three or four years old, would have to wear spectacles.
Rachel saw Mr. Jennings standing beside the cannon set beneath some trees, his glasses that had the same sort of gold rims as the child’s catching the light from the lantern. He was watching the children and grinning broadly. He glanced at her and tipped his hat. She smiled back, then turned to look around the green.
She went to a nearby table and sat. Here she would have a good view of the village’s main street, so she would see Wyatt when he returned. That should be any time now. She could also watch Kitty Cat to make sure the little girl did not find too much mischief.
She heard laughter behind her and turned to see a man and woman sitting on the other side of the table from her. She recognized Miss Underhill, Haven’s schoolteacher, who would lead the exercises for the Haven children later tonight. The man beside her sat very close to Miss Underhill, so Rachel guessed they were courting.
Miss Underhill stopped in midword and stared at her, then looked away, appearing as uncomfortable as Rachel. Wondering if she should say something or just pretend to be watching the other people, Rachel knew every moment she let pass would make it more difficult to break the silence.
“Good evening, Miss Underhill,” she finally said.
The teacher flinched as if Rachel had snarled at her. “Good evening, Miss Browning. This is my fiancé, Mr. Hahn.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Hahn. There’s quite a crowd here, isn’t there?”
“Yes,” Miss Underhill replied while her companion remained silent.
Rachel was beginning to wish she had kept her mouth shut, because Miss Underhill obviously would have preferred that. The schoolteacher had a stricken expression as her betrothed was called away. He hesitated, then told her he would be right back.
“I’ll move,” Rachel said, “if you wish. I don’t want to ruin your evening.”
Miss Underhill flinched again, then said, “If I gave you the impression that you could ruin my evening, I’m sorry.”
“You seem very uneasy speaking to me.”
“May I be forthright?” She looked past Rachel to where the children were playing.
“You’re curious how Kitty Cat—” She hurriedly corrected herself when Miss Underhill looked baffled. “You are curious how Katherine Mulligan is fitting in at River’s Haven.”
“Yes. Emma Sawyer has told me how many times the child has fled from River’s Haven to come to Haven. I’m not the only one in town who is concerned about her situation.”
Rachel met Miss Underhill’s eyes steadily. “I’ll be as plainspoken as you. She deeply misses her friends from the orphan train, so she likes to come to visit them. However, that doesn’t mean that she has been unhappy at River’s Haven.” Her voice almost cracked on those words, for she did not want to add that she was unsure how happy Kitty Cat would be when she had to go to live with the other children tomorrow. Rather weakly, she said, “She enjoys her friends there as well.”
A hand settled on Rachel’s shoulder. Through her abruptly thundering pulse, a sure sign of who stood behind her, she heard Wyatt say, “And she knows how lucky she is to have found such a loving home with Rachel.”
“Oh,” Miss Underhill said.
Rachel introduced Wyatt, who was now dressed in his usual work clothes of a cotton shirt and close-fitting denims, to the schoolteacher. Miss Underhill introduced him to Mr. Hahn, who clearly had hurried back to rescue his fiancée. As Miss Underhill walked away with him, Rachel shook her head.
“I don’t think she was any more pleased to talk to you,” Rachel said, “than she was to talk to me.”
“I suspect she believes me to be an incorrigible rogue and you to be a libertine of the worst sort.”
“And she may be half right.”
“Ouch!”
Kitty Cat bounced over to them. “Can we get something to eat now? I am so hungry.”
Rachel wondered if it was possible to be happier than she was while she walked with Wyatt and Kitty Cat to where the food was being served. With her right hand on Wyatt’s arm and her left holding Kitty Cat’s, she could not imagine anywhere else she would prefer to be. She reluctantly drew her hands away as they reached the tables that were overflowing with food. In the very middle, she saw the basketful of rolls that she had left here on her way to The Ohio Star.
Helping Kitty Cat, who seemed eager to try everything but had her heart set on a big piece of cake, Rachel balanced both plates as Wyatt spooned food onto them. She let herself be drawn into the conversations around them, laughing along with the villagers about how many children had crowded onto the wagon and how amazing it was that they all had sat still during the parade.
“There are the Sawyers,” Rachel said to Kitty Cat as she p
laced the plates on an empty table. “Run over and tell Mrs. Sawyer that we’ll be sitting here.”
Wyatt set his plate next to hers, then walked with her to where a keg of beer was set next to frosty pitchers of lemonade. Pouring a foaming mug of beer, he smiled at Mr. Sawyer who was tilting back his own mug. Handing Rachel two glasses of lemonade, Wyatt said, “The village of Haven sure knows how to celebrate the Centennial.”
“It’s the only one we’ll ever have.” Mr. Sawyer chuckled. “But the village has a big party every year on Independence Day. You should stop by next year, Colton.”
“I just might do that.”
Rachel hoped nobody heard how her heart lurched. The very thought of Wyatt leaving hurt so much she could barely catch her breath. Although she said nothing, he must have understood, for his hand caressed her back in silent commiseration as they walked with Mr. Sawyer to the table where the others were waiting.
Somehow she forced that sorrow deep into her heart again. She enjoyed the conversation and Kitty Cat and Sean’s enthusiasm as they recounted over and over—as if none of the adults had witnessed it—how they played a part in the parade. The two littlest girls listened in obvious awe.
The third repetition of how one of the boys had threatened to jump off the second wagon and throw firecrackers to startle everyone was interrupted by a distant flash of lightning followed lazily by thunder. Rachel looked up to see the stars and the full moon had vanished.
When Emma came to her feet, saying she was going to get the rest of the food into the grange hall before it got rained on, Rachel offered to help. Other women rushed to carry baskets and bowls and pots of food into the building on the edge of the green. Someone lit the lamps inside as the clouds got even thicker, blocking out the last of the moonlight.
Rachel was making her fifth trip to get food when it began to pour. She suddenly understood the term cloudburst. The clouds seemed to be ripped apart by the lightning and spilling everything within them onto Haven. Grabbing what she could from the tables, she shouted to Kitty Cat to come inside straightaway. She ran as fast as she could without tumbling in the long dress.
At the Grange Hall door, she had to slow as all the villagers tried to crowd through it at once. She heard a shout and saw Emma signaling her to come around the side of the building. As the wind whipped around her and the dust was obliterated by the rain, she went to where Emma was holding open another door.
Rachel sighed with relief when she stepped inside near where a raised platform that, someone had told her during her only other visit to this place, was used as a dais for meetings of the Grange members and for a stage at other times. She set what she was carrying on the closest table and looked around the hall.
The villagers were shaking water off wet hair and clothes, and laughing. The room was already too overheated, and a trio of men were throwing open windows on the lee side of the building.
She looked through the crowd for Wyatt, Kitty Cat, and Horace. She found Wyatt’s partner first and in quick order the others.
Kitty Cat flung her arms around Rachel and whined, “Can we go now?”
“You want to go?” she asked, startled. “Are you all right, Kitty Cat?”
“My throat hurts.”
She smiled. “You probably have been yelling with your friends too much today. Go and get something to drink. It will help, I’m sure.”
“It hurts bad.”
Glancing at Wyatt, she said, “Maybe I should take her home.”
“In this storm?”
As if in response to his question, thunder boomed, shaking the building. Kitty Cat threw her arms around Rachel and clung.
Rachel tried to calm the little girl. It was not like Kitty Cat to act like this. Had someone mentioned to her that in the morning she would have to move in with the other children? Rachel had tried to keep Kitty Cat away from the others who had come from River’s Haven to prevent that.
“Here,” Wyatt said, handing Kitty Cat a cup. “See if this lemonade helps.”
She drank it and then smiled as some of the marching band members began to play what Rachel guessed was supposed to be a waltz. Couples quickly filled the middle of the hall. At the edges, the children paired up, mostly girls dancing with girls and the boys looking as if they would rather be doing chores. Kitty Cat shoved the cup back into Wyatt’s hand and ran to join them.
“Shall we, honey?” Wyatt asked as he set the cup on a windowsill.
“You want to dance?”
“Unless you want to suggest something else …”
Rachel put her finger to his lips, then jerked them back. “Take care what you say.”
“There’s no one else here from River’s Haven.”
Rachel looked around, amazed to see that he was right. She and Kitty Cat were the only ones from the Community in the crowded Grange Hall. “I didn’t see when the others left.”
“Just as the first lightning started.” He hooked a thumb toward where Kitty Cat was now dancing with a friend. “K. C. is having fun. Shall we?”
She put her hand in his. “I don’t dance very well.”
“Neither do I.” He laughed with a low huskiness that scorched her, setting every nerve on fire. “Shall we muddle around the hall together?”
“Take care that you guard your toes from my feet.”
He chuckled again as he turned her in to the pattern of the dance. She matched his steps. He had been jesting with her. He moved with the easy grace he brought to everything he did. As he twirled her around the room, she hoped the song would never end.
“Rachel?”
As his breath brushed her hair, she raised her head. Silvery heat blazed in his eyes when he drew her closer. She forgot the music, the other dancers, everyone else in the hall while she stared up into his eyes.
“Yes?” she whispered.
“Come back with me to The Ohio Star tonight. You know that you want to be with me as much as I want to be with you.”
“Kitty Cat—”
“She can come to the boat with us. You know she’ll love to spend the night there.”
“No.”
He halted in midstep. As the others danced around them, he said, “Rachel—”
“Listen to me.” She glanced around, then took his hand and drew him toward the raised platform at the back of the hall. “Wyatt, this is where I first saw Kitty Cat. Right here. Tonight is the last night I’m going to have her all to myself. Don’t ask me to give that up, although heaven knows how much I want to be with you.”
His smile was a gentle one that thrilled her heart. “I understand why you want to spend time with her tonight, honey.” He sighed. “What I don’t understand is how you can let her go.”
“I don’t know if I can.”
Shock sharpened his voice. “What?”
“I don’t know if I can.” She looked toward where Kitty Cat was spinning about on her tiptoes. “I stand here, and I think of the day the orphan train arrived. There were so many children here, but I saw only one. Kitty Cat might as well have been the only child here.”
“If you don’t give her up, you won’t be able to stay at River’s Haven.”
“I know.”
“Then what will you do?”
She took a deep breath before saying, “I honestly don’t know.”
“Honey, can we talk about this somewhere else?”
“The Ohio Star?”
“Yes.”
“But if we go there, I don’t want to talk.” She ran her fingers up his chest. “I want you to hold me and kiss me.”
“I thought you didn’t want to stay on the boat tonight.”
“Maybe a short visit will be all right.” She smiled. “Then I’ll take Kitty Cat back to River’s Haven and hold her all night.”
Wyatt nodded and remained where he was as she went to get the little girl. He understood. Rachel could not bear to say goodbye to both him and K. C. the same night. If they had even a single hour on the boat, they could pretend
that he would not be leaving soon. Rachel was usually so honest with him and herself, but this was one falsehood he must afford her.
When they reached the boat, K. C. was happy to curl up in one of the rocking chairs. She mumbled something about not having her doll with her and her throat still hurting, but was asleep almost before Rachel pulled a blanket up over her. Then Rachel slipped her hand in his.
“I do need to talk with you,” she said quietly.
As they walked out of the saloon, he waved to Horace, who was sitting at the front of the boat, smoking his pipe. They turned toward his quarters. He was surprised to find a lamp glowing there, then guessed Horace had lit it.
He paused in the doorway. Looking into Rachel’s dark eyes, he wondered if she knew how that soft warmth could shred every bit of his self-control.
“Rachel—”
“Please, Wyatt. I need to talk to someone.” She closed her eyes. “Wyatt, I need to talk to you.”
He closed the door behind him. Holding out her fingers, she brought him to sit beside her on his bed. Here she was where he had wanted her to be since the first time he had seen her. In his quarters, on his bed aboard The Ohio Star. Slowly he slid his hand along her left arm. The fine material of her dress hid little of the texture of her skin from his questing fingers.
“Talk, Rachel?” he asked as he fought the enchantment of her sweet seductiveness. “Talk about what?”
“I thought I wanted to talk about what I’m going to do when both you and Kitty Cat are out of my life.” Her eyes revealed the pain in her heart as she whispered, “I was wrong. I don’t need to talk. I need you, Wyatt.”
He swept her to him. Her hungry lips thrust him into a maelstrom of pleasure. Through her thin dress, her curves were so feminine, so enticing. Her fingers boldly loosened his shirt and slipped up along his chest. Every inch of him reacted to her touch.
When he leaned her back against the pillow, her arms drew him over her. He rolled onto his back, pulling her over him. He captured her lips. He wanted to taste all of her. She arched her neck to give him free rein to pleasure.
Moonlight on Water Page 24
