“Bite my ear? Ooooh, now I’m scared, Curly-Birdie.” Gabe wrapped his arm about her waist and lifted her off her feet.
She kicked and screamed.
He tightened his grip. One arm around her middle and the other going behind her head, he pulled her face into his and put his mouth on hers.
Protesting, she thrashed, kicked, and squealed against his lips to little avail. His mouth, warm and demanding, shattered her resistance. Sensations, the tingle in her belly and the rush of desire obliterated the world around her. Her arms twined around his neck like a clinging vine to a tree trunk in a gale. Hungry for him, she hooked her legs around his hips pulling him closer, wanting everything he had to give.
Adjusting her in his embrace, his arms supporting her, going under her hips to cradle her he rocked her, kissed her, and she kissed him back.
At last, Gabe lowered her to her feet.
Breathless and light-headed, Birdie slumped against his chest. “Why did you have to go and do that? Why Gabe? If you and Edditha are back together, then why torture me this way?”
“You haven’t been listening, Birdie,” Gabe said, his lips close to her ear.
Edditha approached both of them and put her hand on Birdie’s arm. “We aren’t together, Birdie. Gabriel and I will always be friends, but never lovers. My heart is with Cornell, Birdie. Cornell and I were on our way to be married this morning when we were waylaid by those men.”
All the fight left her, and her legs started to wobble. If not for Gabe holding her up, she would’ve fallen to the ground. “Cornell? You and Cornell? You want to marry Cornell?” Hysteria had her now, she giggled, then doubled up laughing, unable to catch her breath.
»»•««
Adella hooked her arm through Buck’s and laid her head against his forearm. “Well, I guess the children have made their choices.”
“Yep, I’d say.” He patted her hand and looked deep into her eyes, giving himself a warning, you’re a damn fool if you let her get away.
Beside him, Rafe broke into his thoughts. “We’ve got a problem, Buck.”
“Yeah, I know.” For a second or two, he thought Rafe read his mind.
He then realized Rafe referred to McDaniel and his compatriots. “I know, we’ve got a wagon full of skunks in the barn and no way to be rid of ’em until tomorrow.”
Van nudged him in the back. “Looks like two more skunks comin’ in.” His hand pointing up the road toward the canyon, Van drew Buck’s attention to the two men on foot rounding the curve on the canyon road.
Van said, “I believe Tom and Ronnie have come looking for their horses. All I gotta say is, they’ve got guts. Or they’re damn fools, maybe a little of both.”
Buck growled, lips curled, eyes dark and cold. “The sons-a-bitches, they’ll get more than their horses. I’m gonna give ’em both a swift kick in the gonads, and then I’m gonna cut their tongues out and break all their fingers.”
“Wait a minute—you gotta leave something for me,” Rafe said. “Let me have one of ’em. There’s two, one for each of us to tear apart.”
Buck nodded and shook Rafe’s hand on the deal.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The kidnappers, Tommy sporting a bloody nose compliments of Rafe, and Ronnie out cold from a punch to the jaw compliments of Buck, sat secure, lashed to the wagon tongue. Both men nursed bruised shins thanks to Birdie and Jo.
Gabe dusted his hands, ready for supper. The rest of the skunks lay stretched out in the wagon-bed like sides of beef, bound hand and foot. The poor bastards barely had enough room to wiggle.
Rafe suggested they put the wagon up on wooden blocks. If the prisoners wiggled around too much, the wagon would crash down on its wheels and alert whoever might be standing guard, should they happen to fall asleep.
“You sure you’re okay out here?” Gabe asked Van. He had to shout over the threats and curses McDaniel and his men continued to broadcast.
“I’m fine. Jo said she’d send out some supper. I’ve got a blanket spread out in the corner here where I can keep an eye on the coyotes in the wagon. I’ve got a new penny dreadful to read. We checked the ropes, gave the cruds a drink of water. Rafe gave me his rifle—he’ll be out around midnight to relieve me.” Van flapped his arms out to the side like a big bird. “I’m good, now, go get your supper.”
Gabe nodded, “All right. Fire the rifle, and we’ll come runnin’,” he said, over McDaniel’s recommendation he bugger himself with a sharp ax.
The sun had gone down behind the house, but the heat soaked the hard-packed dirt. Gabe, leaving the barn, welcomed the evening breeze, although it carried a skiff of fine dust that jumped in the eyes.
Birdie stepped off the porch, a covered basket in her hand. She smiled and waved. “I know, Buck didn’t want us to feed them,” she said, lifting the dishcloth to give Gabe a peek, “but Jo and I figured a few biscuits wouldn’t be too much. She’s bringing Van’s supper.”
He shook his head at her. “Give me that, I don’t want you getting anywhere near those thugs. They’re in there growling and snarling like a pack of rabid dogs. They’re animals, and that’s how we’re gonna treat ’em. We’d have to untie them or hand feed ’em, and we’re sure as hell not going to do that. They can go a day without food. Van and I gave them some water.”
“We can hear them from inside the house. Buck says he and Daddy will haul them into town in the morning. I guess we could save the biscuits for morning.”
She paused and tipped her head to the side. Gabe knew Birdie well enough to know she was about to bring up a touchy subject, probably Edditha.
“Did you know Edditha and her mother are talking of leaving in the morning?”
He took the basket from her and steered her toward the house. “What? No.”
“I wish they could stay a while longer.”
“Yeah, I’d planned on escorting them back to Portland. I wonder why they want to leave so soon?”
“Edditha and Cornell want to get married as soon as possible. They want to travel, Edditha says.”
Gabe wished he didn’t have a basket of biscuits in his hands. He wanted to take Birdie in his arms and kiss her—beg her to marry him right now, this minute. He didn’t want to wait one second longer. He had to have her. Make her his, forever. “Birdie, will you marry me?”
They’d come to a standstill in the middle of the yard between the house and the barn. She opened her mouth. Her lips moved but no sound came out, and her big brown eyes blinked and blinked.
“I love you, Birdie. I don’t know what I’m doing. I have no Idea where we’ll live. We could settle in Portland, or we could live here at the hot spring or in town. My practice? I don’t know what to do. We’ll talk it over. Whatever we decide, let’s decide as man and wife.”
“Yes, Gabe,” Birdie said, her voice a whisper.
He held the basket in one hand and put his other hand behind her head and pulled her in for a long kiss. When they came up for air, he said, “Sorry, my proposal wasn’t very romantic. I’ll do it over in the moonlight.”
“Yes, Gabe.”
Their foreheads pressed together, Gabe got lost in her eyes. “Can you think of any reason why we should wait?”
She shook her head.
“Then I’ll talk to Dad. We have to get the skunks into town. We could bring a preacher out here to marry us as well as Cornell and Edditha.”
Birdie snapped out of her daze and slapped his shoulders with both hands. “We’ll have a party,” she said. “Make it a real celebration. Edditha and Adella can’t leave, not when we have weddings to plan.”
With a hop and a skip, she whirled around and headed for the house leaving Gabe holding a basket of biscuits. He chuckled and made his way to the front porch. Being married to Curly-Birdie was going to be a hell of a lot of fun. Thank God he’d come to his senses in time.
Birdie had Adella, Doreen, and Edditha all excited. They stood in the kitchen jabbering like magpies. Gabe deposited the basket
on the kitchen table and interrupted them to ask, “You know where I can find Dad?”
“He’s upstairs. Jo’s up there,” Birdie said. “She’s finally telling him about her news.”
“Ah, good. I’m gonna go up and talk to him.” Gabe exited the kitchen, leaving the ladies behind him to plot out their strategy.
Upstairs, he raised his hand to knock on his father’s bedroom door but hesitated, stopping to eavesdrop on the conversation on the other side of the half-opened door.
Jo sounded uncertain and apologetic. “I received this letter, Dad. I need to send them a reply. Since you’re going into town in the morning, would you do it for me, send a wire.”
Gabe heard his father grunt and the paper rustle. “This date, Jo, the date on this is almost a month old. Why didn’t you show me this?”
A big silence filled the space. Gabe waited.
“No,” Buck said, “you don’t have to say it. I know why you didn’t want to show me this, you think Van and I can’t handle things around here without you.”
Jo made a quick response. “Well, you can’t.”
Gabe didn’t have to see his sister to know she had her chin up and her shoulders back on the defensive now.
Through the door, he heard his father’s deep-chested laugh, the one he would always hear whenever Gabe thought of his tough, soft-hearted father. “Jo, you are so right, Van and I’ll be lost without you. But…I think we can find someone to come stay if we offer them one of the cabins in lieu of wages. There has to be a woman somewhere who needs honest employment. We’ll make out fine. I should’ve gotten you help right after Petra passed away.
“I’m sorry, Jo, I am sorry. I wasn’t thinking. You’ve tied yourself to this place, you’ve sacrificed your own life, wasted some prime years of your girlhood here slaving away. Well, no more girl, you have to take this position. You go for your dream. Your mother would want you to have your dream, Jo.”
“Daddy,” Jo said. “I miss her.”
“Me too, honey, me too.”
In the silence, Gabe counted to ten and then knocked on the door.
“Yeah,” Buck responded.
Gabe opened the door.
“Hey, Gabe. Did you know about this letter?” Buck asked.
“She told us last night.”
“Mrs. Mertes,” Jo said, dabbing at her tears. Gabe didn’t know a Mrs. Mertes, or what she had to do with anything. Buck, his bushy, salt and pepper brows pulled together, head slightly to one side appeared confused as well.
Jo shook her head at both of them. “Mrs. Mertes, she and her daughter Juana do house cleaning around Baker City. Her husband Orlando left her to hare off to the gold fields of Alaska. I know she needs work and probably a place to stay. She’d be grateful for employment, a roof over her and her daughter’s head.”
Buck slapped his thighs. “Done, I’ll track her down tomorrow.”
“About tomorrow, Dad,” Gabe interjected.
Buck held up his hand to stop him. “I have one more thing I want to say to Jo.” He turned and took Jo by her shoulders. “I’ve told you this before, but I’m going to say it again. You have your mother’s trust, the trust her father set up for her from the profits from the coal mines in Missoula. It’s in your name. You use it to keep yourself while you’re away from home. I know you haven’t touched it, but it’s yours, Jo, to use as you see fit. Petra made sure of it before she died. She didn’t want you to have to depend on me or anyone else for your livelihood. You are an independent woman of modest means—very modest means.”
“You could use it here, Daddy,” she said.
“No, I couldn’t. Jo. It isn’t mine.”
Sniveling, she nodded. “Thank you, Daddy.”
Buck gave her a pat on the back. Holding her close to his side he said to Gabe, “Okay, son what about tomorrow?”
“Birdie told me Adella and Edditha were talking about leaving tomorrow because Edditha and Cornell want to get married as soon as possible.”
Buck started for the door. “What? No. I won’t stand for it. They just got here. They can’t leave.”
Gabe reached out to hold him back by his arm. “Wait, Dad, I think we can keep them from leaving if we can convince Cornell and his father we have a better plan. Birdie and I want to get married as soon as possible too. Since you’re going into town you could get a preacher to come out here to marry us—we’d have a double ceremony. Birdie’s downstairs talking to Doreen, Adella, and Edditha. When I left a few minutes ago, it sounded as if they were agreeable to the plan.”
Buck wrapped his arms around him and gave him a big squeeze. “You and Birdie-Alice…you made the right choice, son.” He waved Jo out the door and shoved Gabe ahead of him, head shaking and grinning. “Kids.”
As they moved down the hall, Buck expounded, saying “Now Gabe, you know there’s Petra’s house in Baker City. It’s vacant right now. No renters in there. Which makes me wonder if McDaniel didn’t have a hand in that too. Anyway, you and Birdie could move right in. It’s yours, you know. The deed is in your name. We mortgaged it to get you through school. There’s a bit left on the balance, I’m sorry to say, but it’s your house to do with as you please. You could sell it, I guess,” he said as they started down the stairs.
“You know, I should have a talk with Van, let him know this place is his. I put his name on the title. Petra and I wanted all our children to have something of their own and for just this reason. Life happens, and you need resources. We wanted our children to have resources.”
»»•««
Buck had no problem convincing Nils and Cornell the hot spring was the perfect place to hold a wedding, reception, and honeymoon. Convincing the ladies that they should stay at the hot spring and enjoy themselves while the men hauled the miscreants into Baker City was where Buck ran up against the hard-to-dispute women’s logic.
“Birdie will need a dress. She didn’t bring anything suitable with her,” Doreen said while helping herself to the potato salad making its way around the table.
“I’d love to have dinner at the Geiser Grande again. Gabe treated us to supper there the day we arrived in Baker City,” Adella said. “We never had money or the opportunity to dine there when I was a girl. My mother dreamed of dining there.”
Jo didn’t help by adding her two cents, which sounded like a plea for release from bondage. “I’d love to go into town. It’d be like a holiday. I haven’t left this place for months. I’ll need some new things if I’m going to be leaving soon for school: a new skirt and blouse, and some underthings. Dining at the Geiser Grande sounds wonderful. I’d be nice to have someone serve me for a change.”
“Well count me out,” Van said, standing at the back door with a cool drink in his hand. “I’d be glad of a little solitude and quiet. I’ll stay right here and mind the home fires.”
Buck held up his hands in surrender. “All right, all right. Counting a day in and a day back and two whole days in town, four days from now, Thursday, we’ll be back here. We could hold the weddings as soon as Saturday. Does that suit everyone? The question is, will two days give you ladies enough time to get your shopping done?”
They nodded and smiled at him. And well they should, for he’d fallen in with their wishes. “Good, then we’re off to town in the morning. An hour before sunrise, ladies. I’d like to get to town before dark, relinquish our guests in the barn into the custody of the sheriff before supper.”
He placed both hands on the table and posed the next difficulty. “If we’re all going, we have a logistical problem. We have two buggies and a wagon full of hooligans. You’ve got your horse, Cornell, but I think you should drive one of the buggies. Edditha and Adella can ride with you. Rafe and I’ll man the wagon. Gabe can take the girls up in the buggy and team he borrowed from the livery in town.”
Buck, upon receiving no objections declared problems solved and invited the men out to the barn for a snort.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Gabe stom
ped onto the back porch of Petra’s house in town with the heat of the late afternoon sun at his back. Buck turned to greet him, but at the sound of the slamming of the screen door, he hid his jolly greeting. “Problem?” He took note of the deep scowl on his son’s face.
“Birdie insists we attend this damned social. With you dining out with Adella and Jo at the social and out of the house, I…well, I thought we’d have the place to ourselves for a couple of hours.” Cheeks flushed, he qualified his statement, saying, “We have a lot to talk about—where we’re gonna live, that sort of thing.”
They’d all spent a day and a half with lawyers and the judge filing complaints, giving testimony. They were all exhausted and ready to clear their heads, relax a bit. Rafe and Doreen had gone to their home and taken Birdie, Jo, Edditha, and Adella with them.
“Uh, huh, I know your problem. I’m having the same difficulty. I really want to be sure McDaniels spends the rest of his miserable life behind bars. His minions are singing their hearts out, giving evidence against him, bargaining to lighten their sentences.
“Tommy and Ronnie are going to do some serious time for their part in all of this. I feel for their folks. Birdie didn’t want to press charges against them, and neither did Jo, but I couldn’t let them walk away scot-free. They put those girls in real danger. They could have died.
“The sheriff, the judge, and the lawyers are finally satisfied with Rafe’s, mine, Cornell’s, Edditha’s, Adella’s, Doreen’s, and Nil’s statements. We’ll have to wait and see about a court date. I hate it Jo and Birdie will have to testify before a jury. I hoped our lawyer could talk the judge out of it.”
He heaved a weighty sigh. “So, now we wait, and like you, I’d like to get on with the more important things, like weddings and the rest of our lives. I hoped to finally get Adella alone and all to myself. But she’s got her heart set on a dinner at the Geiser Grande. We’re leaving tomorrow. Our dinner date has to be tonight, can’t disappoint the lady.”
Gabe stood at the kitchen counter, a scowl on his face, staring out the window into the back yard. “I can’t get anywhere near Birdie. Doreen’s parlor is packed with chirping, clucking females morning noon and night talking weddings. Every old tabby and her daughter is falling all over themselves to meet Adella and Edditha, and fuss over Birdie. If they’re not in the parlor, they’re looting the shops in town, shopping for one frippery thing or another. When I tried to drag Birdie off for a sarsaparilla, Doreen shanghaied me. She turned me into their lackey, assigned to carry parcels. I won’t make that mistake again.”
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