Holding the sack at arm’s length, Alicia opened Jason’s bag and emptied out the contents. It was about as she’d figured. Clothing soiled with grass stains, mud and more than a touch of food spills met her eye. She dumped the lot in the laundry basket that was kept in the back room, just off the porch. The wash lady earned her money, and more, she decided, shaking her head.
“Alicia?” Jake called her, his usual demanding tone apparent today. If she’d expected a miraculous turnaround in his behavior, she’d have been disillusioned. Jake was Jake, and would always be the same temperamental, obstinate creature she’d met last spring. That he had softened in the important things was all she expected of him. His eyes had touched her with warmth this morning, his hands had learned her body with patient loving care during the long hours of the night, and his lips had blessed her with an abundance of kisses several times today already.
She crossed the kitchen and went to his room, standing in the doorway, smiling as he beckoned her toward the bed. “Come on over here,” he said. “Tell my son that I’m fully recovered from my bout. He won’t believe me.”
“He’s still in bed, Miss Alicia,” Jason said, his expression begging for reassurance. “If he was feeling all right, he’d be up in his chair. Wouldn’t he?”
“I made him stay in bed a little longer, Jason,” she told the boy. “He would have gotten up and dressed this morning, but I knew he needed another day to recuperate.”
“Recuperate?” Jason asked. “Is that a new word like exemplary was?”
“It means to get better, to become the same as he was before,” she told him.
Jason tilted his head and looked searchingly at his father. “I don’t know, ma’am. He looks pretty good to me already. Maybe even better than before he got sick. I’d say he’s all recuperated already.”
“I’m feeling mighty fine,” Jake said, emphasizing the words as he looked up at Alicia. His smile seemed carefree, she thought, his hair tousled, and his eyes sparkled with laughter. The unspoken message being sent in her direction was giving her the credit for his recovery, and she felt her lips curve in a bashful smile as she responded to his foolishness.
“I want you to do something for me, son,” Jake told the boy.
“Sure, Pa. Do you need a drink of water? Or one of your books from the shelf?” Jason was poised for action, Alicia thought, willing to fetch and carry for his beloved father at the drop of a hat. And then Jake made a request that stunned Alicia and brought a soft exclamation from Jason’s lips.
“I’d like you to go upstairs with Alicia and help her move her things down here to my room,” he said. “I don’t want her carrying the heavy things by herself. You’ll have to lift one end of her trunk for her.”
“What for, Pa?” the boy asked, truly perplexed by the request. “If you’re not sick anymore, why does she need to bring her stuff to your room?”
Jake looked at Alicia, his expression guarded, and his reply said it all, she decided. “Alicia is my wife, Jason. She should have been in my room from the beginning. We’re going to set that to rights today. She belongs here with me.”
“But this was yours and Mama’s room,” Jason said, his eyes wide, his voice quavering.
“Your mama is no longer with us, son,” Jake told him quietly. “And she would want Alicia to use this room. Wives and husbands share a bedroom.”
“But…” The boy looked at Alicia and she was stunned by the resentment she saw in his face. “I don’t want her in my mama’s room,” Jason said with stubborn determination. “I’m not gonna help her bring all her stuff down here.”
“It’s all right,” Alicia said quickly. “I’ll take care of it, Jake. We can talk about it later on.” And she’d make certain Jake knew that his decision should have been discussed with her first, before springing it on the boy.
“Jason will help you,” Jake said forcefully. “We’ve talked about this before. He needs to obey, Alicia, whether or not he chooses to agree with the order. If either of us asks him to do something, he’ll do it. Or I’ll know the reason why.”
She shook her head in silent reproof, aware that Jason could not see her, his attention focused on his father.
“Now, Alicia.” Jake would not back off from this thing, and she refused to argue with him in front of his son.
With a shrug, she turned aside and left the room, hearing Jake speak in a firm tone. She’d begun cooking supper and so she returned to the kitchen, where she was stunned to find Rachel at the big round table.
“What’s going on?” Rachel asked. “Jake sounds like he’s on the warpath. I assume he’s better.” Her smile was rich with understanding, and Alicia felt the sudden urge to cry.
She settled across the table from her sister-in-law and folded her hands before her. “I don’t know what to do, Rachel. Jake told Jason he has to help me move my things downstairs, into his room. And the boy put up a fuss.”
“You’re moving into Jake’s room?” Rachel asked, filled with surprise. “What on earth happened over the past day or two?” Then she coughed as though she’d choked on something too big to swallow and began to laugh. “Never mind, it’s none of my business,” she said. “But I’ll tell you this. It’s what I’ve been hoping for all summer long, Alicia. I told you not long ago that—”
She came to a sudden halt as Jason burst through the kitchen door and stomped his way past the table. Alicia reached out to grasp his arm. “Whoa there, young man!” she said firmly. “What do you think you’re doing? That sort of rude behavior is not allowed and you know it.”
“You aren’t my mother,” he said, his face twisted in a scowl.
“I never said I was,” Alicia told him, feeling her heart pound.
“Well, my mama used to sleep in that bedroom with my pa, and she wouldn’t like it if you was to move in there instead of her.”
“Your mama is dead,” Rachel said quietly. “And I beg to differ with you, Jason. She would approve whole-heartedly if she knew what your father has proposed.”
“Well, I’m not gonna do it.” The boy planted himself before them and his bottom lip formed a stubborn line. “Miss Alicia moved in to look after me and to cook and stuff like that. I heard my pa talkin’ to her a long time ago about what she was gonna hafta do after they got married.”
He shot an angry look at Alicia. “Now you think you’re gonna be my mother, but you’re not. You’re just a teacher, and you’re lucky we let you live with us.”
Alicia was stunned, her hand falling from Jason’s arm as she attempted to digest the words he’d spoken to her. Across the table, Rachel rose hurriedly and followed Jason as he tromped his way to the back screened door and allowed it to slam behind him. Alicia heard her call the boy’s name, and then Cord’s strong tones joined in.
She hadn’t known Cord was out there, had assumed that Rachel’s arrival had been a quick trip to town for the purpose of returning Jason home. Now she stepped to the door and looked out into the yard. Rachel was clinging to Cord’s arm, looking up at him and telling him something. She glanced back at the house and caught Alicia’s eye.
“I think he went into town,” she said, releasing Cord and hurrying back to where Alicia stood, just inside the kitchen. “Cord will go after him.”
“He won’t want to come home,” Alicia said dully. “And I don’t know what to do about it.” From behind her, the sound of Jake’s chair rolling across the floor caught her ear and she turned to face him as he crossed the kitchen. His trousers were only halfway buttoned, the pant legs lying unpinned, and he was bare-chested.
“Where’d he go?” he roared, pushing his way to look out the door.
Cord looked back from the edge of the yard and waved at his brother. “I’ll find him,” he called. “Rachel, stay with Alicia and Jake. This shouldn’t take long.”
“What did he say to you?” Jake asked, his dark eyes piercing, his tone harsh. “Damn it, Alicia, answer me. I want to know what he said to you. You look like a ghos
t—like someone just walked across your grave.”
“Well, thank you, sir,” she said. “I know I’m not the prettiest girl in town, but that description beats all, if you ask me.” She turned away from him, unable to repeat the words Jason had uttered, unwilling to tell Jake how cruel the boy had been.
“I’ll tell you,” Rachel said. “Alicia doesn’t want to get Jason in any more trouble than he’s already in, but I have no such qualms, brother dear.”
Jake leaned forward in his chair and his jaw jutted stubbornly. “Let’s have it.”
Rachel reached for a chair and nodded at Alicia. “Why don’t you sit down?” she suggested. “Jake’s right. You look terrible.”
Alicia pulled a chair from the table and sat on the edge of the seat. With swift movements, Jake was beside her, his hand touching hers, clasping it in his palm. “All right, Rachel,” he said. “Tell me.”
Rachel repeated what the boy had said. In her calm voice the words didn’t seem nearly as harsh and cruel, until she told Jake how Jason had designated Alicia’s place in the home. “He said Alicia was lucky that the two of you let her live with you.”
“I didn’t think he’d feel that way about Alicia taking her rightful place in my life.”
“Moving into your life doesn’t seem to be the problem,” Alicia said quietly. “What he objected to is my moving into his mother’s bedroom.”
Jake’s expression turned stormy with anger. “Well, he’ll just have to get over it, Alicia. He isn’t going to tell me, or you either, what we should do with our lives. This is an adult decision, and not up for discussion. A nine-year-old boy is not going to run my household, no matter if he is my son.”
“Maybe we should put off my making such a move for a while, Jake,” she said, her voice trembling. “We could give him time to get used to it.”
“That isn’t going to work, either,” Rachel said quickly. “He needs to know that his word is not law, that he doesn’t make the rules. He’s not allowed to speak to you the way he did.” She bit at her lip. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place to make a statement like that. It’s not my business, actually.”
“Yes, it is,” Jake told her. “We’re a family, Rachel. You’ve been involved in my life for a lot of years, most of them good years. And throughout the bad times you didn’t give up on me, did you?”
“Never,” she said vehemently.
“Well, I value your opinion, sister of mine, and I totally agree with what you said. The boy owes Alicia an apology, and I owe him a good trouncing.”
“Cord may have already done that by the time he hauls him back here. He was furious when I told him what Jason said to Alicia.”
“He’ll have my blessings, then.” Jake patted the back of Alicia’s hand and rolled his chair to the back door, looking out through the screen. “Which way did he head?”
“Toward town,” Rachel said. “He could be anywhere by now.” Then at Alicia’s soft sob, she backtracked a bit. “Of course, Cord may already be on his way back with him. I doubt Jason will go far.”
“Should I find the sheriff and let him know that Jason is missing?” Alicia asked, feeling a degree of helplessness she’d never before known. “I feel like I should be doing something, not just sitting here.”
“Let’s give Cord a half hour or so and see what he comes up with,” Jake said, turning his chair and moving to face her. He bent forward and cupped her cheeks with his hands, brushing at the tears she could not control. “This isn’t your fault,” he said forcefully. “It’s mine, in that I didn’t talk to the boy after we got married and prepare him for the eventuality of this happening.”
“My moving into your room?” Alicia asked in a whisper, her eyes wide with surprise at Jake’s words.
He looked at her with a softening in his gaze that touched her heart. “I knew for the past couple of months that this would come about, Alicia. I just didn’t know when, and I didn’t have any idea how it would happen.”
“You knew?” She felt stunned by his disclosure. “I didn’t know,” she said. “It didn’t even enter my mind.” Then she blushed. “Well, that’s not entirely true. I wondered what it would be like to…” She whispered the final few words and then decided she’d said enough. This might be confession time for her and for Jake, but getting Rachel involved in their conversation was probably not a good idea.
Rachel seemed to share her thoughts, for she rose and walked to the back door. “Don’t pay me any mind,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m going out in the yard.”
Jake moved his chair, rolling it to sit beside Alicia. His arm circled her shoulders and he tugged her against him. “Kiss me, sweetheart,” he said, and she turned her tear-stained face toward him. “I need to know you care about me.” His words were husky, as if they were hard to come by, and she recognized the amount of pride he’d shed in order to admit his need.
She reached up to touch his face, then her lips met his, and she put her heart and soul into the kiss. His big hand cupped the back of her head and he held her in place for a gentle assault. She may have begun the kiss, but Jake was taking control, and doing it well, she decided. Her mouth was invaded by his tongue and she opened to him gladly, having learned well the intimate play he instigated.
Then he leaned back a bit. “Does that tell you anything?” he asked. “Do you believe what I’m telling you, Alicia? I need you in my life, I want you in my bed, and my son is not going to lead me around by the nose.”
She was breathless, her mouth feeling swollen by the thoroughness of his kiss. “Yes,” she murmured. “I believe you, Jake. I also believe that Jason is terribly hurt right now and we need to try to understand his side of this.”
“I married you so that he would have a stable home life,” Jake told her. “But everything changed over the summer, and our own wants and needs became just as important. Jason has not suffered by our marriage.”
“He misses his mother.” Alicia spoke the simple words, remembering Jason’s contempt as he spoke his mind. “You’re not my mother.” He’d been so vehement in his statement, effectively putting her in her place. “I can’t take Rena’s place with him.”
“Nor with me,” Jake said quietly. “But you’ve made a place of your own. I’ll always have a spot in my heart for Rena. But life goes on—and if that sounds trite, I can’t help it. It’s the truth. I mourned for more than two years and what did it get me? A lousy reputation in town and a dirty house. A boy who was the town terror and a whole string of housekeepers and cooks who were half afraid of me and refused to work here.”
“And how has Jason coped with the loss of his mother?” she asked. “He was crying out for his father’s attention, doing everything he could to make you sit up and take notice, Jake. He was destructive and mischievous. He was mean to the little girls and fought with the boys. Then what did we do? We gave him someone to take care of him and see to it that he had a stable home life. Now we’ve asked him to set aside the memory of his mother and watch me take her place.”
“That’s not true,” Jake said. “I don’t want him to forget Rena.”
“Nor do I,” she told him, “but he thinks we do. So long as I was upstairs, I was the cook and the housekeeper. Once you decided I should sleep in your room, I became a threat to him.”
“You’re making too big an issue of it,” Jake told her. “It’s much simpler than that.”
She rose and walked to the kitchen window, looking out into the yard. Rachel stood by the back fence, looking down as if she were deep in thought…or perhaps praying, Alicia thought. The sun was sinking below the horizon and the moon was a faint glow in the sky.
And Jason was not yet home.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“HE’S IN JAIL.” CORD stood in the kitchen, tired and irritated after the day’s events. “I can’t believe what the boy did. Went up to the sheriff’s office and banged on the door. Somebody told him the sheriff was gone home for supper, so Jason just broke in the door, anyway, and g
ot inside.”
“How’d he do that?” Jake asked. “Why would he do such a stupid thing, anyway?”
Cord shrugged. “Who knows why kids do the things they do sometimes? As to how, he picked up a rock and smashed the lock. I shudder to think that our jail was secured by a lock that a nine-year-old managed to break so easily.”
“Were there prisoners in the cells?” Alicia asked, already dreading the reply.
“Oh, yeah,” Cord said. “There sure were. Three of ’em. And they’re all on the loose right now. Jason took the keys from the sheriff’s desk drawer and unlocked the cells. They all skedaddled like white lightning.”
“Have you seen him?” Jake asked, his face pale and drawn as if he could not bear the message Cord had brought him. “Is he all right?”
“Cocky as hell,” Cord said. “When the sheriff came running back after somebody went and dragged him away from his supper table, he found Jason perched on his desk. Apparently he admitted right off what he’d done, and asked the sheriff what he was gonna do about it.”
“He put him in jail.” Alicia said the words before Cord could repeat them to Jake. “Now what do we do?”
“He’s only nine years old,” Rachel said quietly. “Can they do this to him?”
“He broke the law,” Jake said. “This isn’t just mischief any longer, Rachel. He’s in real trouble, I’m afraid.”
“I’d say so,” Cord agreed. “I talked to the sheriff and he’s got six men out right now trying to follow the tracks of the men who walked out of the jail.”
“Why were they there to begin with? Are they really bad men?” Alicia asked, hoping against hope that charges levied against the prisoners were along the lines of drunk and disorderly, rather than cattle-rustling or murder.
“Well, Tom Erickson struck his wife once too often and she filed charges. Another is one of the rustlers who stole horses from Simon’s place. He was still waiting for the judge to show up and sentence him. The third fella was arrested for a shooting at the saloon the other night. They don’t know if the man he shot is gonna live or not.”
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