Katie loathed Hillary Westover. She’d loathed her ever since the day she’d met her as a child. Hillary did nothing else, it seemed, but try to embarrass and degrade Katie in front of other people. While it was true Hillary was a rare beauty, eyes as green as emeralds and hair the color of honey, her spirit was spiteful and jealous. Most times Katie let Hillary’s cutting remarks roll off her back, but today her wickedness cut deep.
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing Mr. Steele was here to help ya out,” Hillary said, patting Stover affectionately on one arm. “I just knew you’d be the chivalrous type, Mr. Steele.”
Katie looked to Pillar and almost smiled when she saw the look of sarcastic disbelief on the girl’s face as she starred at Hillary Westover.
Katie looked to Stover to see he was still glaring down at her. What he must think of her now! Katie knew the misery of shattered dreams then, for now that he knew the true character of her father, Katie knew Stover would have little if nothing to do with her.
“I’m Hillary Westover,” Hillary said offering a lacy-gloved hand to Pillar.
Pillar grasped the young woman’s hand quickly and said, “I’ve heard of ya, Miss Westover.”
Hillary giggled and tried to appear humble as she said, “Ya have? How flatterin’!”
“Excuse me,” Katie mumbled, making to move past Hillary and Stover. “I—I best find Jared.”
“Yes,” Hillary said. “You should get your pa home so he can rest.”
Ignoring Hillary, Katie turned to Pillar and said, “Thank ya for visitin’ with me, Pillar. It was so nice gettin’ to know ya.” Although she was unable to look up, to face Stover, she turned toward him and said, “And—and thank you, Mr. Steel—for yer help just now.”
“Katie,” he began.
His use of her familiar name did indeed cause her to look up at him. He glanced from Hillary to Pillar for a moment. Then he leaned forward, whispering into Katie’s ear, “Don’t ya be worryin’ about yer pa none. Chances are he won’t remember a lick of it.”
“All—all right,” Katie whispered, entirely distracted by the feel of his warm breath on her neck and cheek. People, even boys had whispered in her ear before, but never had a mere whisper caused her body to break out in goose bumps the way Stover’s had. Her stomach began to twitch, her fingers tingled, and she held her breath for a moment to calm herself.
“Katie!” Jared called as he approached from the other side of the street. “Ya all right? Mr. Sutter said Pa’s been at the saloon today.”
“Oh, ya already missed all the excitement, Jared. As usual,” Hillary said. Her eyes burned with loathing as she looked at Jared.
Katie suspected part of the reason Hillary despised her so was because Jared had brushed off Hillary’s attentions several years before.
“While you were off doin’ who knows what, Mr. Steele here had to step in and save yer sister from a beatin’.”
“Hillary Westover,” Jared said. “Save the St. Hillary actin’ lessons for someone who’ll believe it.”
Katie smiled. She adored the way Jared told Hillary what he thought of her, without coming right out and saying it.
Jared looked to Stover then, offering his hand. “If you were watchin’ out for my sister, I thank ya, sir,” he said.
“Any time,” Stover said, taking Jared’s hand and shaking it firmly. “I’m Stover Steele. I been wantin’ to meet up with ya.”
“Same here,” Jared said. “I been wantin’ to thank ya for not shootin’ Katie’s hind-end full of lead for trespassin’ the other day, too.”
“Trespassin’?” Hillary exclaimed. “My, my, my. You do beat all, Katie Matthews.”
Katie had had her fill of embarrassment, of Hillary Westover and of shattered dreams of a more idealistic meeting with Stover Steele. “Let’s get home, Jared,” she said, planting her foot firmly on one wagon wheel, intending to climb up onto the buckboard.
“Allow me, Miss Matthews,” Stover said, offering his hand to her.
Hillary’s face pinched into an irritated scowl and Katie smiled at her as she placed her hand in Stover’s, allowing him to assist her up onto the wagon seat.
“It was nice seein’ ya again, Miss Steele,” Jared said, touching the brim of his hat and smiling at Pillar.
“Nice seein’ you again, too, Mr. Matthews,” Pillar said.
Katie smiled as she saw the blush pink up Pillar’s cheeks.
“That would be Jared to you, Miss Steele,” Jared said.
“Very well, Jared,” Pillar said, almost giggling with delight.
Katie noticed the way Stover simultaneously frowned and smiled as he looked from his sister to Jared and back again.
“Y’all have a nice day,” Hillary called, waving.
Katie frowned, irritated with Hillary until she looked to Pillar to see her eyes rolling with disgust at the girl’s syrupy antics. She giggled as Pillar shook her head. With one last glance at Stover Steele, Katie sighed, rather pleased by the way he stood staring at her as the wagon pulled away. Heat filled her bosom as she thought of his coming to her rescue. It had all happened so quickly, she hadn’t really had time to consider on it. Now, however, she realized how magnificently her prayer for deliverance had been answered. Stover Steele had actually laid out her own father for her sake! It was astonishing! People just did not interfere with family business the way he’d done. Most people were just too plain cowardly. But Stover hadn’t been. In fact, he hadn’t paused in helping her. Handsome and a hero, he seemed just too good to be true—like some fairytale prince liberating an imprisoned princess from her tower.
“You’ve taken a likin’ to that man, haven’t ya?” Jared asked as he drove the wagon down the main street of town.
“He’s very handsome,” Katie said. “But he’s more Hillary’s type of prize. Not mine.”
Jared chuckled. “Oh, don’t try to pull the wool over my eyes, Katie. I seen the way yer eyes lit up when ya looked at him.”
Katie didn’t feel like being teased, even by Jared. “Well, what about you?” she asked him. “Ya gonna try and tell me you ain’t the least bit dazzled by his sister?”
Jared shook his head. “Nope—I admit it—she’s a mighty pretty gal. Can’t figure why she ain’t married and settled down somewhere yet.”
“She’s missin’ an ear and thinks no one will have her,” Katie blurted out.
“Missin’ an ear?” Jared asked.
“Apparently, a dog gnawed it off when she was a child,” Katie explained. “I haven’t seen it for myself though. Not yet.”
“Well, she seems to be a sweet little gal,” Jared said. “Can’t figure why someone hasn’t snatched her up.”
“You could snatch her up,” Katie suggested.
Jared smiled at her and snapped the lines. “Maybe I just will,” he said.
Katie smiled. She wanted Jared to snatch up Pillar Steele. Maybe she couldn’t hope to capture Stover’s attention, but she was sure Jared had captured Pillar’s. At least maybe one of the Matthews children could find happiness and escape.
Just outside of town, Jared pulled the team to a halt. Katie had pointed out a group of children scuffling about in a mud puddle.
“I think those are the Steele girls,” Katie said, suddenly very concerned.
“And them’s the Sutter boys,” Jared said shaking his head. “I better get a handle on this—whatever it is.”
Jared hopped down from the wagon and Katie followed. She glanced quickly at her father, engulfed in his drunken slumber in the back of the wagon.
“Hey, hey, hey!” Jared hollered as he approached the children. “What’s goin’ on here?”
Instantly, the four Sutter boys, who ranged in age from five to ten years old, ceased in throwing fistfuls of mud at the Steele triplets.
“They pushed us in the mud!” one of the triplets exclaimed. Again, Katie was uncertain as to which of the girls was speaking. The three identical triplets were even harder to t
ell apart covered in mud.
“You boys better quit yer bullyin’,” Jared growled. “One of these days somebody’s gonna tan yer hides!” He reached out and took hold of the oldest boy by the scruff of the neck. “Winston, get yer brothers on home now—and tell yer pa what ya been up to. Otherwise, I will—and he won’t like hearin’ it from me.”
One of the triplets sat square in the middle of the mud puddle sniffling miserably. Katie shook her head and lifted her skirts, inching slowly into the mess in order to assist the girl.
“Bonnie don’t like to be dirty,” one of the girls said.
“I don’t know anybody who does,” Katie said, offering a hand to Bonnie. “Come on now, Bonnie. We’ll get ya home and all cleaned up before…” The next thing she knew, Katie found herself face down in the large mud puddle next to Bonnie.
“Well, that’s it Winston!” Jared shouted. “You get yer hind end on home and tell yer pa I’ll be by to see him in a while!”
“He pushed ya!” Bonnie exclaimed as Katie sat up, covered in mud. “That oldest one—he plum pushed ya in!”
“I seen him do it, too, Katie,” one of the other girls said. “He put his boot square in the seat of yer britches and pushed ya in!”
“Beat the livin’ daylights out of him, Mr. Jared!” one of the girls hollered.
“No, wait!” another squealed. “Here comes Stove! Let him help ya!”
Katie’s heart landed with a thud in her stomach when she looked up to see Stover Steele approaching, astride a bay stallion.
“What in tarnation is goin’ on now?” Stover grumbled as he reined in and dismounted.
“It seems these boys have been pickin’ on yer sisters,” Jared exclaimed, swatting one of the young Sutter boys on the seat of the pants as he pulled him out of the mud puddle. “But from the looks of ‘em…I’d say yer sisters held their own perty well. As for Katie…”
“We didn’t do nothin’ wrong, Stove,” one of the girls began. “We was just catchin’ tadpoles and these here boys come along and started slingin’ mud at us!”
“And ya couldn’t help but sling it back, right Berty?” Stover sighed.
“And then that big ugly one there…” Bonnie began, pointing at Winston Sutter. “He put his foot right in Katie’s seat and shoved her in, too!”
“You boys better get on home, for Stover and I beat ya raw,” Jared threatened, pushing Winston ahead of him and kicking him soundly in the seat.
As Winston made to move past Stover, the man took hold of his arm and said, “I ain’t sayin’ my sisters are completely innocent in all this, boy—but girls is little women, and ya need to be treatin’ ‘em as such. Ya hear? And you sure as hell—heck don’t treat a grownup woman like this.”
“Yes, sir,” Winston said.
Katie could see from her seat in the mud that between Jared and Stover, Winston Sutter was shaking in his boots.
“Now, you boys get on home and tell yer pa what ya been about,” Jared said. “Go on now…Winston, Paulie…take yer little brothers on home.”
When the boys had gone the triplets burst into excited explanations.
“Honest, Stove…we was just catchin’ tadpoles…mindin’ our own business…” Bonnie began, standing up in the middle of the mud puddle.
“All at once, these boys come out of nowhere and start slingin’ mud at us,” Berty added.
Katie recognized Berty now.
“It hurt, too, Stove,” Bunny said, wiping mud from her face.
“Well, if you girls would stay closer to Pillar and me, we’d have an easier time of watchin’ out for ya,” Stover said, pulling Bonnie out of the mud puddle and setting her feet firmly on the ground in front of Jared.
Jared smiled then chuckled and said, “The crick’s just a ways off, girls. Why don’t ya run on down there and wash up a bit. It’d be a mighty mean thing to do—trackin’ all that mud in on yer sister’s clean floor.”
“As for you, Miss Matthews,” Stover said, smiling at Katie and offering his hand to her. “Seems trouble finds ya mighty easy.”
Horrified that Stover Steele should find her in yet another ridiculous situation, Katie took his offered hand, grateful for his assistance in helping her out of the mud. He smiled at her, taking a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping at the mud on her face.
Chuckling he said, “Little sisters. What’s a man to do with ‘em, eh, Jared?”
Katie heard Jared chuckle, too, but she certainly felt nothing close to amusement at the situation.
“You better run on down to the crick with them other three, Kate,” Jared said. “Ma will have a fit when she gets a look at ya.”
Katie wanted to burst into tears. Could the day have gone any worse? As she made her way down to the creek, she shook her head, entirely discouraged. Why couldn’t she have been born with some grace or at least some good luck? Bullied by her father, covered in mud—no doubt Stover Steele thought her a complete nincompoop, and all she had wanted was to see him—just a chance to gaze at his good-looking self.
“Katie,” Berty said as Katie approached the creek. “Do ya think we’re cursed or somethin’? Us triplets, I mean.”
Katie looked at Berty. She was ankle deep in the creek and near to tears. Bonnie and Bunny nodded and looked to her as well.
“Of course not,” Katie told them. For a moment her thoughts of Stover were overshadowed by her compassion for the three young girls. “Why would ya say such a thing?”
Bonnie shrugged her shoulders and said, “Oh, we’re always in a pickle. Stover and Pillar are forever havin’ to drag us out of one mess or the other.”
“We know it’s so hard on them—raisin’ us alone,” Bunny said.
“It’s why Pillar ain’t married and why Stover’s such an old sour berry all the time,” Berty explained.
“Pillar’s so purty—even if she only has one ear,” Bonnie said.
“And don’t ya think Stove’s the handsomest thing in the world?” Bunny asked.
Katie felt her cheeks go crimson and was glad for the mud caked on them to hide the color there. “Yer brother and sister love you girls,” Katie said, reaching out and placing a hand on Berty’s arm. “They love havin’ ya in their lives—carin’ for ya, laughin’ with ya. I bet ya don’t have any idea how much joy you three give them.”
“But we’re always causin’ trouble!” Bunny exclaimed.
“You didn’t cause this trouble, now did ya?” Katie reminded the child. “Tadpole huntin’ is just a regular thing—I do it all the time.”
“Still?” Bonnie asked. “Ya still like tadpoles—as old as you are?” Katie laughed.
“As old as I am?” she repeated. “How old do ya think I am?”
“Old enough to blush whenever Stover looks at ya,” Bunny said.
“I expect any girl blushes whenever yer brother looks at her,” Katie said, stooping and brushing water over her arms. These little sisters of Stover Steele were far too insightful.
“Not the way you blush,” Bunny said. “You always look as if yer gonna faint clean away.”
“I’m—I’m just nervous around new folks,” Katie lied, splashing water on her very warm face.
“Do ya think ya could get yer brother to marry Pillar, Katie?” Berty asked.
“Yes! Yes! He’s almost as handsome as Stover and seems so nice and all,” Bonnie exclaimed.
“Pillar would make him a good wife, Katie,” Bunny added. “She’s a good cook, and a good ironer.”
Katie couldn’t help but laugh out loud. The Steele triplets were adorable, and she found in them feelings, ideas, and other qualities all too familiar in herself.
“Come here, girls,” she laughed, gathering them into her arms. “You three are the sweetest sisters anybody could have. And I’ll tell ya what,” she said. “I’ll do my best to get yer sister to marry my brother and live happily ever after. Okey-dokey?”
The three girls smiled and Bunny said, “Like in the stories the Grimm brothers wri
te?”
“Just like in those stories,” Katie told her. Then, lowering her voice she added, “But ya can’t say one word to anybody about our plans. Otherwise somethin’ will interfere and ruin it.”
All three triplets nodded in unison and Katie smiled, amused by the suddenly serious expressions on their faces.
Stover stood some distance from the creek watching Katie Matthews giggle and hug his little sisters. He liked the way she knelt down when she talked to them—the way she cupped Bunny’s cheek with one hand and smiled at her. And who would’ve thought a girl could look as pretty covered in mud as she did freshly scrubbed?
He frowned, angry with the way Katie’s father had treated her. It had taken every ounce of self-control he could find within himself to keep from beating the man to a pulp. No woman should be treated the way Bart Matthews had treated his daughter in town. Furthermore, the girl was obviously a kind, light-hearted little thing, full of spunk and a joy for living. Stover knew that enough time in the company of Bart Matthews would taint all that.
And yet, what could he do about it? His suspicions were that Jared Matthews hadn’t married or taken up a place of his own simply because he didn’t want to leave his sister in such terrible circumstances. Jared’s plight was much like Stover’s, for Stover felt a deep obligation and desire to see Pillar and the girls settled and happy before following his own dreams. He’d have to be careful, for a new town always brought out the pretty young women looking for husbands, and he didn’t have time for courting and such.
The Prairie Prince Page 4
