West Texas Weddings

by Ginger Chambers

  The two older girls couldn’t wait for her to finish. They whooped and danced with excitement, with Gwen trying to join in.

  “We’ll show you everything we do,” Erin promised, trying to cheer up the younger girl. “And you can help me with my homework. Every night!”

  Gwen brightened at that and the three girls skipped away.

  Harriet grimaced. “It looks like Gwen’s going to start school next year, doesn’t it? Whether I’m ready or not. LeRoy and I aren’t going to have any peace, otherwise.”

  “I’d say it looks that way,” Delores agreed. Then the older woman focused on something over Christine’s shoulder, and she smiled.

  Christine twisted around and saw that Morgan had come to stand right behind her. She froze. All except for her nerve endings, which clanged like warning bells. She tried to step out of the way, but he caught hold of her shoulders and didn’t let go.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt you ladies,” he drawled easily. “I just came by to see if Mom needs help gettin’ Dad home—before I head out again.”

  His hands seemed to burn through the material of Christine’s shirt. She was consumed with the need to turn around and dissolve against him, to feel the assurance of his kisses, to become a part of him.

  She caught Delores’s long look-at the positioning of her son’s hands, at what must have been, for anyone even remotely sensitive, the dead giveaway of Christine’s expression.

  Delores’s eyes fluttered, then without revealing anything of what she was thinking, she answered mildly, “We’ll be fine, Morgan. Rusty can help him into the truck. He’s done it before.”

  “And we’re all here,” Harriet said. She, too, was looking at Christine and Morgan a little oddly. As if something unusual and unexpected was taking place before her eyes and she was trying to decide if what she was seeing was real or not

  “I won’t worry, then,” Morgan murmured, and let go of Christine.

  “No, I think you already have enough to concern

  you,” his mother said.

  Morgan paused for a second, as if he’d picked up a message in his mother’s words. Then he tipped his hat and left them.

  Harriet whistled lightly under her breath and lifted her eyebrows. “Has something been going on that I don’t know about?” she asked curiously.

  Christine’s cheeks pinkened. Something they rarely did.

  Delores got to her feet. “Don’t you think it’s time we make sure those kids clean up your backyard? Jessica told me your arrangement.”

  “Oh, yeah, sure,” Harriet agreed, getting to her feet, as well.

  Christine knew her curiosity had not been satisfied.

  AS SHE HOPPED into bed that night, Erin sighed happily. “This was fun today, Mommy. I really do like it here.”

  Christine tucked the covers under her daughter’s chin. “I know you do.”

  “I even like most of the people. Do you know what Morgan told me? He told me Mae was the little girl Ira used to play with when Ira visited the ranch as a boy. Isn’t that funny?”

  “It is.”

  “And he said Mae’s like Grandma—she doesn’t know how to show people she loves them.”

  “My, my, you two certainly did have a nice talk.”

  “We did!” Erin responded enthusiastically. Then she grew quiet for a moment. “Mommy?” she said eventually. “Who’s my daddy? Gwen’s daddy lives with her, and Jessica’s going to go live with her daddy in Colorado. But I.”

  Christine’s heart contracted. Erin’s words were an echo from the past. Her mother had always put her off; she wouldn’t do the same.

  “You’ve never asked me before,” she murmured.

  Erin wriggled under the cover.

  Christine smoothed her daughter’s hair away from her forehead and said softly, “Your daddy was a really nice boy I went to high school with. He had brown hair a little lighter than mine and dark blue eyes, and he played on the varsity football team.”

  “Why didn’t…Why isn’t…”

  Erin wasn’t mature enough to form the proper questions or to receive the stark truth for an answer. But Christine knew more questions would follow as the years went by. For the time being, though, Erin deserved some sort of answer. There was no telling how long she’d been wondering.

  “We were both very young. I think…he was too young to know what to do. You can understand that, can’t you? When something scares you,.you pull the covers up over your head and hide?” She put action to her words by playfully covering Erin’s face with the sheet.

  Erin giggled, as Christine had hoped she would. But the girl quickly returned to her subject “But why was he scared? I was just a little baby!”

  Christine shrugged. “People are funny about what scares them. Do you remember how Mrs. Tobin was afraid of frogs?”

  Erin giggled again. “I know. It was so silly. A frog wasn’t going to hurt her!”

  “Exactly,” Christine said.

  Erin let her mother readjust the covers under her chin, then, smiling, closed her eyes. “Sing to me, Mommy,” she requested.

  Christine started to hum. Then, in a soft clear voice she sang a song she’d learned in elementary school, one that Erin had always loved. She sang it until she thought Erin was asleep, then started to move away.

  But Erin wasn’t asleep yet. She opened her eyes after Christine stood up. “You know what I wish, Mommy?” she murmured.

  Christine sank back onto the side of the bed. “What?” she asked, smiling.

  A moment passed, then in a sleepy voice the little girl whispered, “I wish Morgan was my daddy.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  IF CHRISTINE HAD FELT at loose ends when Erin first went to Harriet’s house to play, it was nothing compared to how she felt after dropping her daughter off at Little Springs to catch the school bus with Jessica and Rusty. She was consumed with misgivings and wanted to drive Erin into town herself, but Erin had rebelled. Half the fun of the day seemed to be the long ride with the other children. And in the face of Harriet and Delores’s confidence that everything would be fine, Christine found it difficult to refuse her.

  “Don’t worry, she’ll enjoy herself,” Delores had assured Christine, standing by the car.

  “But her teacher…I should meet her teacher, shouldn’t I?”

  “There’ll be time for that in the next few days. Rafe called the principal last night and I spoke to Erin’s teacher this morning, so that part is under control. And Erin will get the lay of the land quicker and feel better about the other kids if she meets them on equal terms. No other child is going to have their mother bring them to the classroom today.”

  “But her papers…At her other schools I’ve had to fill out—”

  “Rafe’s word is good for a few days. Don’t you worry about that.”

  Rafe’s word, Morgan’s word… These people were big on going by a person’s word.

  So she’d driven back to the ranch with a memory of Erin setting off with Jessica and Rusty, talking hap pily, almost bouncing as she walked.

  Very different from the little girl who’d arrived here. And part of the credit had to go to the Parkers. They might doubt her mother’s story, but they’d never made an unkind comment to Erin. They attached no blame to her. Because they believed there was a possibility she was a Parker? Or because that was just the way they were, and they’d treat any child in a similar manner? Christine was coming to believe that it was the latter. As Morgan had said, they were good people, at least in that regard.

  She thought about telling them the truth about Erin. That Erin wasn’t Ira’s child. But she knew they’d find out soon enough, anyway. A good investigator would surely learn everything there was to know about her and her past.

  In the meantime, let sleeping dogs lie. Wasn’t that the saying for what she was doing? For the moment it made perfect sense.

  SHANNON, CHRISTINE realized over breakfast later that morning, was restless, too. Rafe and some of the hands had g
one out to the far reaches of the ranch for a few days to gather the horses that would be used in the roundup. The final countdown for all the big events—the month-long spring roundup, Shannon and Rafe’s wedding, the annual Parker family meeting—was beginning. And Shannon’s nerves were beginning to fray.

  “I don’t know why I let Mae talk me into a June wedding,” she said. “I could have put my foot down and said no. And she’d have listened—I think. Rafe certainly didn’t care. It wasn’t his idea to have a wedding this big right when everything else was happening.” She groaned, chasing a strawberry around on her plate before successfully capturing it. “I thought, get it all over with at one time. Let Mae have her way, make her happy, and then Rafe and I can settle into our place with everyone’s blessing. But I didn’t know quite how…difficult it was all going to be!”

  Shannon hadn’t appeared at breakfast in the main house since Christine’s arrival. Was it because, as she’d promised, she was staying out of the way? Or was it because she usually breakfasted with Rafe? Christine had no idea what kind of living arrangement the two of them had. If they stayed together nights, they were very discreet. But then, under Mae’s eagle eye, who wouldn’t be?

  “I’m sure everything’s going to be fine. It wouldn’t dare not be, would it? I mean, since Mae has a hand in all the arrangements.”

  Shannon’s eyes crinkled in a smile. “You’re beginning to understand how things work around here.”

  “I was left in very little doubt.”

  A silence followed, then Shannon said, “I asked you this before, but at the time.” She took a breath. “Do you type? Because if you do, I could certainly use your help: With everything that’s happening, the family history just isn’t getting done. And I promised Mae—”

  “I type. What do you want me to do?”

  “Help me put in the corrections! Mae’s changed her mind about three different times, but I made her promise this was it. That is, if she wants the material to get to the publisher in time for a Christmas-gift printing.”

  “I’ll be glad to help,” Christine said. “It’ll give me something to do, other than worry about Erin.”

  “Oh, that’s right. She started school today, didn’t she?”

  Christine nodded, unable to prevent a frown of concern.

  “She took the bus?” Shannon asked.

  “Yes. I’m not worried about her in school. Erin loves school, enjoys learning. It’s just…I didn’t expect…It all happened yesterday afternoon at the picnic. One thing led to another and today’s she’s gone. I don’t even know where, really. Or what the school looks likes. Or who her teacher is.” Christine’s voice faded momentarily. “And I won’t see her again until the bus lets her off out front sometime this evening.”

  Shannon gazed at her from over her empty plate. “I have an idea,” she said. “Why don’t we go into Del Norte ourselves? We can drive to the school and let you have a look around. We don’t even have to get out of the car if you think it would embarrass Erin. But you can see the school and the town, and maybe that’ll help you feel better. Would you like that? Then in the afternoon we can work on the history.”

  Christine brightened.

  “We’ll take Mae’s Cadillac,” Shannon continued. “That way, if the kids are out on the playground, Erin won’t recognize the car. You wouldn’t want her to wonder if something’s wrong.”

  “Mae won’t mind?”

  “Not unless she has some plans for the car I’m unaware of. I’ll go check.” Shannon smiled at her as she left the room. Within minutes, she was back. “Mae says its fine. So. When do you want to go? Now?”

  Christine stood. “Why not?”

  THE ROUTE THEY TOOK leaving the ranch was the reverse of what Christine should have used on the day she and Erin got lost. The roads turned this way and that, the same as indicated on her map, but Ira had mistaken which road to turn onto from the main highway. She could see now how very off course she’d been.

  “Erin likes school?” Shannon asked.

  “She loves it. Gets all As.”

  “I was weird that way, too.” Shannon grinned. “The teachers loved me, because I didn’t cause any trouble and my homework was always done on time.”

  “Sounds familiar,” Christine. said. “Sometimes I wish Erin would get into a little trouble once in a while. Just to show she’s asserting herself.”

  Shannon laughed. “If she hangs around Jessica long enough, you might get your wish. If ever there was a little girl who asserts herself—”

  Her words broke off as she sat forward and slowed the car. Up ahead, a dark pickup truck that had been towing a livestock trailer was parked on the side of the road. A man with a friendly smile emerged from some nearby rocks as they drew closer. “I suppose we should see if he needs help,” Shannon murmured, frowning. “Let’s just pull up alongside and ask.”

  The man ambled over and propped his elbows on the open passenger window. Close enough for Christine’s nose to twitch at his sour smell of perspiration.

  “Do you need some help?” Shannon asked, leaning across Christine.

  His smile broadened. He was a young man, but already weatherbeaten. And his rather unkempt brown hair could use the same wash as his clothes. “Well, I s’pose that could depend on what kinda help you’re offerin’,” he replied in a broad drawl.

  Shannon’s mouth tightened. “I meant with your truck. Has it broken down? Do you need us to send someone to look at it?”

  “Naw, I just had some trouble with a tire, but I got it fixed. No problem. But can you tell me. You live around here?”

  Christine didn’t like the way he looked at them.

  “Reason I’m askin’ is,” he continued, “you didn’t see no truck carryin’ ten, twelve steers on it in the past few days, have you? Probably comin’ from this way and goin’ that?” He motioned from his left to his right.

  “I’m afraid not, but we don’t get out here a lot. What’s the problem?” Shannon asked.

  He grimaced. “Fella stole ‘em off me, that’s what! I’m runnin’ ‘em for a friend of mine, and the next thing I know, when I go to check ‘em they’re gone! Fence posts cut and then put back up, pretty as you please. Nobody’d knowed it happened, ‘cept for me checkin’.”

  Shannon and Christine looked at each other. That sounded exactly like the work of the rustlers Rafe and Morgan were watching out for.

  “What you need to do,” Shannon said, “is talk to Sheriff Denton or his deputy, Tate Connelly. One or the other of them should be in Del Norte-that’s the next big town up this road. You just keep going and you can’t miss it. What you’re describing is something I’m sure they’d be interested in. Maybe they can help you find your missing steers, too.”

  The man smiled again. “I’ll do that,” he said, straightening away from the car. “Sheriff Denton, you say?”

  “Or Tate Connelly,” Shannon repeated. He nodded, then waved them on. “Thanks for stoppin’,” he said, as they rolled forward slowly, so as not to smother him in dust.

  Once back up to speed, Shannon murmured, “He reminds me of someone—Jodie’s Rio. Not as handsome and definitely not as clean, but something in his attitude’s the same.”

  “Jodie told me about Rio.”

  Shannon nodded. “Rio hurt her a lot. She’s just now getting over it—at least, enough to start thinking about the future.”

  “It takes a while,” Christine murmured, remembering her own past.

  Shannon’s gaze left the road for a second to join hers. “Yes,” she said softly, “it does.”

  THE DRIVE TO DEL NORTE took well over an hour and a half to complete, even at speed. They then relaxed over a cold drink at a local café, and briefly toured the rather quaint downtown area before driving into a nearby residential area where the high school, middle school and elementary school all shared the same large block.

  Each redbrick building—the high school being the largest—looked solid and well cared for. Young chil
dren played in the fenced-in elementary school yard, older children were shooting baskets on an outdoor court, and a few teenagers were doing laps on a track. It was an ordinary scene, safe and secure, and Christine felt much better.

  On the way back to the ranch she turned to Shannon. “1 really appreciate this. I know it seems silly now, seeing how normal everything is, but.”

  “I know all about the games a mind can play. I had nightmares for months after the plane crash. Terrible things. Finally, after I came here, they went away. Well, mostly went away. I still have the odd bad dream, but they’re nowhere near as frightening.”

  “Still, I appreciate—”

  “I enjoyed it. Getting away from the ranch and all the weight of what’s coming up is a relief. Rafe’s been so busy lately we haven’t been able to go anywhere.”

  “I’ll help out anywhere I can,” Christine volunteered. “The wallpaper for the dining room, when it arrives…I’ve never put any up before, but I’m willing to learn.”

  Shannon smiled. “If you can help with the typing, that’ll take a huge load off my shoulders.”

  Christine smiled back. “Now that’s something I can do.”

  “I WONDER IF WE SHOULD tell Morgan,” Shannon said as they turned into the road leading to the garage.

  “About the man who had his cows rustled?” Christine asked.

  Shannon nodded, then answered her own question. “We probably should.”

  When the car was parked and Shannon was ready to set off for the ranch’s business office to find Morgan, Christine said, “I think I’ll go on to the house. There’s something I forgot to do. You don’t mind, do you? Telling him yourself?”

  Shannon frowned, obviously puzzled. “No, of course not”

  Christine tried to smile, but knowing she was acting like a coward made it difficult. She had worked hard not to think about Morgan all morning, but Erin’s whispered confidence had rung in her ears for hours last night. I wish Morgan was my daddy. Now, confronted with the prospect of seeking him out, she just couldn’t do it!