“No, we need to take care of it. Come to my room.”
She led the way and told him to sit on the bed while the children watched. She began to clean the wound, and fishing into one of the bags, she found a bit of sticking plaster. She put it over the cut. “There. That ought to do.”
Rena had kept quiet as long as possible. “What are we going to do? We’re not going back to that place, are we?”
“No, you’re not,” Thad said. “What are we going to do? We’re going to go eat breakfast.” He led them down the stairs, into the dining room, and ordered a monumental breakfast for all of them. They were all hungry, it seemed, for Bent and Rena had had nothing to eat. They had eggs, pork chops, and biscuits. Thad kept his eye on the children and saw that they were worried, and finally he looked up and said, “I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to stay in this hotel for a few days. I’ve got a little business here, and we’re going to see all the sights of Baton Rouge. Maybe go to a theater. Go see some of them fancy show girls I’ve been hearing about.”
“We’re not going to see any show girls,” Temperance said. “Maybe there’ll be a concert.”
“Whatever you want. We’re just going to enjoy life.”
“What if Mr. Slaughter comes after you?” Bent said. “They say he’s mean.”
“I don’t think he’ll do that. If he does, I’ll clean his clock for him. Temperance, why don’t you take the girls with you in your room? Bent can stay in mine. How’s that sound?”
Temperance was immensely relieved. She had no idea under the sun what to do. Her plans had fallen apart, and now she was glad Thad had taken charge. “It sounds wonderful to me.”
“Good. You all hang on to your Uncle Thad here, and I’ll show you how to have a good time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana!”
* * *
THE NEXT THREE DAYS passed, and it was the best time in the lives of any of them. The children had never had anyone pamper them, and Thad set out to do exactly that. He took them to see the sights, bought them trinkets, and spent time with them.
Temperance felt as if a mountain had been lifted from her shoulders. Somehow Thad had become responsible, and although she had no idea about the future, at least she was enjoying the present. She saw a side of Thaddeus she had not seen before—a lighthearted, easy-going side—but she also noticed that the children were able to talk him into nearly anything. He spoiled them, but he could be stern when he had to. But they adored him, and this pleased her.
They were sitting in the park, feeding stale bread to the ducks late one afternoon, and finally Rena said, “We can’t stay here and feed ducks the rest of our lives. We’ve got to go live somewhere.”
“That’s right,” Bent said. “It must cost a lot of money to stay in that hotel.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” Temperance said, “but I don’t know what we can do.”
Thad was whittling at a piece of cedar he had found, carefully peeling off long slivers and watching them curl up. “You can’t whittle the rest of your life, Thaddeus,” Temperance rebuked him.
“Why, God’s going to take care of us. Isn’t that what you’re always saying?”
“I know, but—”
“I know what we can do,” Rena said. She turned to face Temperance and Thad. “You and Thad can get married, and we’ll be your kids.”
Temperance’s face turned scarlet. She could not speak for a moment and then she sputtered, “Why, you—that isn’t—”
She was interrupted when Thad suddenly looked up, his eyes dancing with delight. “Now, that’s a fine idea, young lady. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself.”
“Don’t you be ridiculous, Thaddeus!”
“Nothing ridiculous about it. Just look at the economy of it all.”
“The economy? What in the world are you talking about?”
“Well, you ever stop and think about how much it costs to raise three kids like this? You got all the expense of buying clothes and diapers and then there’s doctor bills. Oh, all kinds of expense. We’ll skip all that. They’re mostly through diapers anyway, and I don’t have to go through the trouble of living with a big, swollen-up wife for nine months for every youngun. Why, it’s wonderful!”
Temperance had become accustomed in the past three days to his mild teasing, and that was how she saw this. She got up and stalked away, saying, “I refuse to listen to such nonsense.” She walked to the water and stared out over the lake.
“Thad,” Rena said, “you’ve got to talk romantic to her.”
“Why, shucks, I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do. Tell her how pretty she is and how she smells good and how you love her to death. Stuff like that.”
“I don’t think I can change her, Rena. She’s stubborn.”
“She wants to hear things like that,” Rena said fiercely, “and she loves you. I know she does. You’re just too blind to see it.”
Thaddeus stared at the young girl and said, “Well, you may be right. She’s too mad to talk right now, but later tonight I’ll give it a shot.”
* * *
TEMPERANCE HAD REFUSED TO eat dinner with the others in the restaurant and had gone straight to her room. She felt humiliated that Thad would make such talk about marriage to her. It was getting late now, she knew, and she wondered where Rena and Bess were. They should be coming in. A knock came at the door, and she assumed they were there. When she opened it, she saw Thad. “Where’s Bess and Rena?”
“They’re down in my room. I had to talk to you. Can I come in?”
“I don’t want to talk to you, Thaddeus. Go away.”
He stepped inside and shut the door, ignoring her. She stared at him and said, “You’ll never know how you hurt my feelings, talking like you did. You don’t know how a woman can be hurt, Thaddeus, about—”
“About what?”
“I’ve never had a man. No man ever wanted me, and here you make all those jokes about getting married and saving money on kids. Oh, it was humiliating.”
Thad moved toward her, and she twirled and started away, but he caught her by the shoulders and turned her around. He held her firmly. His face was totally serious. “I don’t know how to go about this, but I have to tell you three things. If you want me to leave after that, I will.”
“What three things?”
“Well, one thing is I love those kids. You don’t know it, but that’s a miracle. I’ve never been around kids. I thought they were pesky, but these have gotten to me. I couldn’t love them any better if they were my own blood. Can’t bear the thought of anything bad happening to them.”
“That’s—that’s a good thing, Thaddeus.”
“Well, I’m glad you believe that, and I hope you’ll believe this.” He hesitated and cleared his throat, and his hand tightened on her arm. “The second thing is I love you, Temperance.” He watched her face. He pulled her forward, kissed her gently, and ran his hand down the back of her hair. “That’s the second thing. Do you believe it?”
And suddenly Temperance Peabody knew that this man, so hard in some ways, who had struggled for his whole life, meant it—that he did love her. She had never had a man say this, and it seemed to sink into her inner depths. “Yes,” she whispered, “I believe you. What’s the third thing?”
“Well, the third thing. I want us to get married. I want us to go on a honeymoon.”
“A honeymoon? What are you talking about?”
“I want to take passage on a ship all the way around the cape to Africa. I want us to take the kids with us. They’ll be our kids, yours and mine. I want to change their names to Brennan. We’ll be Mr. and Mrs. Brennan. We’ll go to California. I always had a hankering to go to Santa Fe and get into the freighthauling business. You can sell your farm and give me all the money. You can be a silent partner.”
“But what about the man you shot?”
“Oh, that’s the business I had here. I’ve been saving it. I sent a wire to Joe Meek the
day we got here. That fellow Simons got well. Meek pulled some strings with his senator daddy, made a deal somehow. He said I’m a free man.”
Suddenly joy filled Temperance Peabody. She smiled broadly and put her hand on his cheek. “You won’t be free with a wife and three children.”
“Oh, it won’t be three for long.” He winked lewdly at her, and she laughed but shook her head. “I’m too old to have children.”
“No, you’re not. I want at least three more. Now, you can do it any way you please,” he said and pulled her closer. “You can have them one at a time, or you can have a single and a double, or you can have a triple. It makes no difference to me.”
“You fool! That could never happen!”
“Anything can happen when you’re on God’s side. I found that out about moving mountains.”
Temperance Peabody put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down. She kissed him and felt a freedom and a joy she had thought would never be hers. When she pulled her head back, she said, “Oh, Thaddeus, can we really do it?”
“Can we do it? As sure as a cat’s got climbing gear!” He laughed and then turned her around. “Come on, let’s go tell the kids they’ve got a new mama and daddy.” He opened the door but kept his arm around her as he closed it.
Augustus the cat had come all the way from Walla Walla. He felt neglected lately, and now he looked up from the bed where he had been lying as the two left the room. Gus stared at the door, yawned, and stretched out on the bed, digging his claws into the coverlet. Then his eyes closed, and the sound of his purring filled the room.
A Man for Temperance (Wagon Wheel) Page 28
