Montana Surrender

by Simmons, Trana Mae

  Prudence had to tug on Storm's arm for a second to get his attention. When Storm translated Prudence's hand movements for Jessica, his voice remained flat.

  "She says that she realizes you have friends back in Wyoming, but you've also made new friends here. She wants to know if your experiences here have upset you so much you can't accept your new friendships. And she says she's sorry you had to kill that man to protect her."

  "It's not that, Prudence." Jessica couldn't meet the other woman's eyes and stared over her shoulder. "I'm sorry I had to kill that man, but I would do it again to save your life." Suddenly she turned away. "I don't want to talk about it right now. Please."

  Prudence stepped around Jessica and held out the paper she had taken from Elias, urging Jessica to accept it. When Jessica stared questioningly at her, Prudence looked at Elias and nodded her head.

  "It's a deed giving you a half interest in that mine,, Jessica," Elias said. "I don't know how legal it is, but Prudence asked me to draw it up this afternoon."

  Jessica sighed resignedly but refused to accept the deed Prudence held out. "Let me think about it, Prudence," she said finally. "We haven't even found the mine yet. I'll...I'll let you know my decision after we do."

  Prudence shook her head and looked over to where Storm had stood to see him walking away from the group around the fire. She frowned at his retreating back for a second, then thrust the paper into Jessica's hands and hurried after him.

  "I think you've got yourself half of a gold mine, whether you want it or not, Jessica," Elias said with a soft chuckle. "You didn't know Prudence before she...well, before anything happened to her. She was a stubborn brat at times when we were growing up. And I think she's getting some of her old spunk back."

  "I'm glad," Idalee said. "I thought Tobias's death might just send her over the edge, but it seems to have made her stronger."

  "She's going to have to be strong," Elias said. "It's not going to be easy for her to make it on her own."

  "She'll always have us, Elias. And Storm." Idalee rose to her feet to stand by Jessica. "Don't worry about Prudence, Jessica. Storm told us that you promised Tobias you'd take care of her, but you don't have to feel guilty because you have your own responsibilities."

  "The best thing I can do for Prudence, I've already decided to do," Jessica said tightly. She handed Idalee the map and deed and turned away with a sob, heading in the opposite direction from the barn.

  Ned's voice stopped Idalee when she started after Jessica. "Don't, Idalee. Let me talk to her. I think there's something she needs to know."

  A moment later, Ned leaned on the corral fence beside Jessica. "Pretty night," he said after glancing up at the stars overhead. "The moon's already waning, but a man could almost reach out and grab a handful of those stars."

  "Y...yes, it's beautiful, Ned. If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone for a while now."

  Ned ignored her and propped his hat on the post beside him. Reaching up, he scratched his graying head and mused, "How long we been here, Jes? Over a week, I guess. Going on three weeks since we left the ranch. Lordy, seems like a lots happened in such a short time."

  "What are you trying to get at, Ned?"

  "Just thinkin' out loud, Jes. Did I ever tell you how I met Mattie?"

  "Ned, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm not in the mood for one of your stories tonight. And yes, I know how you met Mattie. She told me. It was at a barn dance."

  "Bet she didn't tell you we eloped two days after that dance, did she?"

  "No," Jessica admitted. "She didn't tell me that part. That seems like an awfully short time to know someone before you get married."

  "Happens like that sometimes, Jes. 'Course, sometimes it take a couple people years to get together, like Elias and Idalee. But I've never been sorry Mattie and I didn't pussyfoot around each other and waste a lot of years we could have been together."

  "You've been happy, Ned. I know that. Maybe some day...."

  "Maybe some day what, Jes?"

  Jessica gripped the fence rail under her hands tightly. "Maybe some day I'll find a man I can be happy with like Mattie did, Ned."

  "Thought maybe you already had, Jes."

  "If you mean Storm...." Jessica choked on a sob and fell silent.

  "Don't mean no one else, Jes. Thought you two loved each other. What happened?"

  Jessica stood frozen beside Ned, staring unseeingly before her. She jumped slightly when Cinnabar walked up to her and butted his head against her shoulder. When she turned her head, her cheek met the soft muzzle of the horse and she gripped a handful of Cinnabar's mane as she steeled herself to speak.

  "Storm is going to marry Prudence, Ned. He told me that soon after I met him. And Prudence confirmed it this afternoon."

  "Why, that son of a bitch," Ned said angrily. "Maybe he's not as much like his daddy as I thought he was."

  "What do you mean, Ned? Storm doesn't even know who his real father was. He told me so in...in the cave."

  "Guess you might as well know, Jes. I've had my suspicions ever since he came into town dressed as Jedidiah. Didn't you notice how much he looked like your Uncle Pete in them old buckskins? And when I saw him without that disguise — when Elias and I found him shot in the hills — I was pretty damned sure I was right. He was the right age. 'Course you don't remember Pete when he was young, but Storm looks just like him."

  "Uncle Pete never had a son, Ned. He and Daddy were such close friends, surely one of them would have told me...wait a minute. Uncle Pete told me about a woman named Caroline the night he died. Is Storm...?"

  "Pete and Caroline Russell's son?" Ned finished for her. "Yep, I'm finally sure he is. Caroline died in childbirth and Pete left his son with Caroline's sister while he worked off his grief. Only thing is, when he came back for the boy a few months later, he couldn't find them. Spent the rest of his life off and on trying to, too. I found out the rest of the story from Idalee."

  "Idalee? Why hasn't she told Storm?"

  "She will soon. It's not something you just blurt out to a man."

  "I did the right thing, then."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "You said Uncle Pete searched for his son for years, until the day he died, I'm sure. Some of what Uncle Pete said when he was dying is starting to make sense. I didn't mention it before, but he saw a vision of Caroline at...at the end. He asked the vision if she had brought anyone with her. He must have meant his son, because he'd said a few minutes earlier that someone he'd been searching for must be dead. So when Storm and Prudence marry, Uncle Pete's son will have the gold he found."

  "Yeah, I guess you're right, Jes. But I'll bet old Pete wouldn't be very proud of his son right now."

  "It's not our business, Ned," Jessica said as her shoulders slumped and she leaned her head against Cinnabar's neck. "Storm's doing the honorable thing. After all, he was committed to Prudence long before I met him and she needs him m...more than I do. We can't hurt Prudence."

  "Now what asinine poppycock are you spouting, Jessica?" Idalee asked as she came up behind them. "I told you Elias and I would see to Prudence. Where in the world did you get the crazy idea your and Storm's love would hurt Prudence?"

  Chapter 23

  "I'm sorry, Ned," Idalee said. "I know you said you wanted to talk to Jessica yourself, but...well, I care about her, too, and...."

  When Ned cocked a quizzical eyebrow at Idalee, she clasped her fidgeting hands to still them and lifted her chin a little.

  "Oh, hell," she admitted around a little puff of breath. "All right, I was curious as to how Jessica reacted when you told her about the diaries. But I do want to see Storm and Jessica as happy as Elias and I are."

  "Diaries?" Jessica asked.

  "You haven't told her yet?"

  Ned shook his head. "Not that part, just who Storm's father was. Go ahead and tell her the rest, Idalee. I was just about to."

  "My mother kept diaries all her life, Jessica," Idalee hastened to
explain when Jessica frowned at her. "After she died, I put them away. I guess I just didn't feel right prying into her life after she was gone. But when Ned started asking Elias questions about Storm, Elias told him he should talk to me. After all, Storm and I grew up together on the Lazy B."

  "So the diaries were what confirmed Ned's suspicions?"

  "Yes, Jessica. My mother and Mary, the woman who raised Storm for the first five years, were very close. Mother nursed Mary through a couple miscarriages and she said in one diary that Mary knew she wasn't going to make it after the last one."

  Idalee shook her head. "Mary felt guilty over what she'd done — taken her sister's son and kept him from his father — but she'd lost so many babies and Storm was all she had. Mother wrote it all down, in case Storm wanted to know some day. When Father adopted Storm, he asked her to wait until Storm was older to tell him. It's all there — even the fact that Mary's sister's name was Caroline Russell. We haven't had a chance to tell Storm since I dug out the diaries a few days ago."

  "When you tell him," Jessica said quietly, "make sure he knows he had a wonderful father. And make sure he knows that Uncle Pete never gave up looking for him."

  "I think you ought to be the one who tells him, Jessica," Idalee said sternly. "After all, you're obviously the one who loves him."

  Not wanting Idalee to see the ravagement stealing over her face, Jessica whirled to put her back to the other woman. "And Prudence is the one he's going to marry, Idalee. She can't tell him as easily as you can, can she?"

  "Jessica, that can't be true...."

  "Maybe I can't communicate the way you're learning to with Prudence, Idalee, but I can understand her. And this evening she only confirmed what Storm had told me earlier about their marriage plans."

  "Well, this is the first I've heard of it," Idalee said huffily.

  The sound of hoofbeats interrupted their conversation and the three of them turned to see the paint stallion disappearing around the side of the barn. A second later, Elias joined them.

  "Storm says he's going to stand guard tonight," Elias informed them. "I told him I'd take a shift, but he almost bit my head off. Do any of you know what put a burr under his saddle?"

  "I want to talk to Prudence," Idalee said, shooting Jessica a perplexed look.

  "She's already asleep," Elias said. "She's been holding up pretty well, but she's really exhausted. Storm spent a few minutes with her before he settled her into her bedroll, and I think we ought to turn in, too, Idalee."

  Idalee sighed in compliance. "I guess it can wait until morning." She allowed Elias to take her arm and walked away with him.

  "Elias is right, Jes," Ned said. "We're all tired. Let's turn in and we'll get an early start in the morning to find this mine."

  "I'll be along in a minute, Ned."

  As soon as she was alone, Jessica gripped the railing again and stared up at the hill behind the ranch. She thought she caught a flash of white from Spirit's rump on the hillside before a cloud scuttled across the dim light of the waning moon. She scanned the crest of the hills after a while, hoping to see the outline of a horseman along the ragged ridge, though she knew Storm would be foolish to give away his presence while he stood guard.

  After she finally gave a tired shrug and turned away to walk toward the barn, a sensation crawled up her spine, much like when she had taken the peaches out to her hands. She resolutely straightened her shoulders and kept walking. His ghost would be with her always, she knew. And she had lied to Ned. There would never be another man in her life after Storm.

  "I think Pete would want you to be there, Jes."

  "I know, and I will, Ned. But please come with us. I just...I don't want to be alone with...."

  "All right, Jes. I'll get my horse ready."

  As Ned moved away, Jessica poured the dregs from her coffee cup into the fire. The flames sputtered and hissed for only a second before the heat evaporated the moisture and they blazed merrily again. If only she could pour out the misery in her heart and get rid of it that easily.

  An unpleasant chill stole over Jessica and she whirled to find Storm standing within a few inches of her. The flat stare in his black eyes chased away the morning warmth, intensifying the icy fingers on her spine.

  "Ned told me he's going with us," Storm said in a harsh voice. "What's the matter? Did you think I might steal your precious map and keep the mine for myself?"

  "Of course not, Storm," Jessica denied, confusion at his obvious distrust of her crowding her mind. "Why on earth would I think something like that?"

  "I've had a long time to think — all night. I guess some women might enjoy a little adventure with a man they think's an outlaw. But when it comes right down to letting the whole world know they've been consorting with a man who's an ex-convict, that's a different story."

  "You know I don't believe you're the one who hurt Prudence!"

  "Doesn't matter, does it? A thing like that follows a man all his life, even after he clears his name. I know how people are."

  "Ned says he's ready," Elias said as he walked up to them. "How long do you think you'll be gone, Storm?"

  Storm tore his eyes away from Jessica's astonished gaze and shrugged his shoulders. "Probably not more than two or three hours, Elias. By the way, keep your rifle with you. I saw some tracks out there this morning that I don't think came from our horses. They're probably from that horse Red was riding — it's been wandering around here. But keep on your toes."

  "Right."

  Storm turned and strode away.

  "Aren't you going with them, Jessica?" Elias asked.

  "You're damned right I am! How dare he act like this whole mess is my fault because I'm some snippety fool who can't see over my turned up nose?"

  Elias took a step back when Jessica turned her furious, gold-flecked eyes on him for a second before she stomped after Storm.

  "Whew," Elias breathed after Jessica got out of hearing. "Maybe Storm should marry Prudence instead. I wouldn't want to try to keep a saddle on that filly if she didn't want to be ridden."

  "Your saddle's already spoken for, Elias," Idalee said as she placed a hand on his arm. "And don't you forget it."

  "Morning, honey," Elias said as he dropped a kiss on her lips. "I thought you were still resting."

  "I've been talking to Prudence," Idalee told him. "Well, not talking. Communicating with her, I guess you'd say. I knew I was right. Somehow Jessica's got the wrong idea about Prudence and Storm. And as soon as they get back, I'm going to have a talk with our new friend, Miss Jessica Callaghan."

  Ned pulled his gelding to a halt to give it a breather and turned to Jessica when she stopped Cinnabar beside him.

  "What the hell ails him, Jes? He's gonna kill these horses if he keeps going at this pace."

  "I guess he just wants to get us out of his hair as soon as he can, Ned. The anxious bridegroom, you know."

  "Well, I ain't killin' my horse for no man. Storm!" Ned called when Storm drew Spirit to a halt to look back at them. "We need to rest these horses!"

  "You can rest them over here," Storm called back. "Come on!"

  Ned growled a soft oath under his breath, but lifted his reins to urge the gelding forward. When he and Jessica rode up beside Storm, Ned looked down the hillside and shook his head.

  "This is a far as I'm going. These horses will never make it down there, and neither will this leg of mine."

  Jessica stared down the shale covered area before them. A rock slide had washed out the trail, and several large boulders blocked their path. The horses couldn't possibly make their way around them.

  "Is there another way to where we're going, Storm?" she asked.

  "Where we're going is just about a half mile past this slide. If we ride around, it'll take us another hour or two. There's canyons on both sides of us."

  Jessica dismounted from Cinnabar and handed her reins to Ned. "Then I guess we better leave the horses here with Ned and get going. I wouldn't want to hold you up an
y longer than we need to."

  Besides, she told herself a moment later as she slipped and slid down the shale covered slope, as soon as they got to the mine site, she was going to have a private talk with Mr. Storm Baker...or Russell!

  She followed Storm down through the slide zone, gritting her teeth each time he held out his hand to help her around a rough spot. Once they had made their way to the bottom of the canyon, Storm led her around a bend and further into the depths of the canyon. A small stream ran by their feet, but left plenty of room for them to walk beside it.

  "Wait up, Storm," Jessica finally said. "I'm thirsty."

  She leaned down and cupped a handful of water to her lips. As she started to reach down for another swallow, she heard Cinnabar neigh behind her and turned. She couldn't see around the bend to where Ned waited.

  "I guess he's having some trouble keeping those two stallions apart. We should have thought of that and tied them instead."

  Storm shrugged and moved away without answering her, leading the way down the canyon before he began scaling the side of the wall.

  A lot sooner than Jessica would have thought possible, Storm halted and knelt beside a scattering of small, smooth stones. He picked one up and and rubbed it between his fingers, then ran his eyes over the other stones lying around him.

  "Someone's been here before us," he told Jessica.

  "How do you know?"

  "These stones were a claim marker. And right over there's your mother lode. I guess your uncle rolled that big boulder in front of his diggings so no one would notice them. He probably started that rock slide years ago, too, so the stream wouldn't wash the gold down to lower ground."

  "Why would he do that?"

  "That's usually how men locate a mother lode, Jessica. They find flakes or even nuggets downstream and follow the stream up into the hills to see where the gold came from. Pete made sure no one would find this one until he was ready for them to."

  "But that boulder's just lying against another bunch of rocks."

  "Not there, Jessica. The boulder slipped in a mud slide. That's probably why someone riding by here could see the excavation. It's up there."