Through the smoke, he thought he caught a glimpse of a stranger wandering behind the spectators. Then there was another explosion and Katie stood up, clapping as she jumped around. When she sat again, there was no sign of the man.
“Did you see that, Uncle Jarrod?” the little girl asked, throwing her arms around him.
“Almost,” he said, hugging her.
“I did. It was a fine one.”
There were four outbursts in quick succession, followed by red, white, blue, and gold fire.
Katie stood transfixed. When there was nothing but darkness mixing with smoke and the smell of gunpowder, she turned to Jarrod, for once completely speechless.
He stood up and lifted her into his arms. “What did you think, Katie?”
“It was the most wonderful thing I ever saw,” she whispered reverently. “Didn’t you think so, Oliver?”
Abby stared down at the blond head resting against her breasts, his body completely relaxed in sleep. “It’s been a long day. He’s tuckered out.”
“Must be, if he slept through that.” Jarrod felt a tug in his chest, and emotion thickened in his throat. He cleared it and said, “Best get everyone to the boardinghouse now. I’ll carry him.”
Jarrod set Katie on her feet and lifted Oliver into his arms. As he snuggled the warm little body close to him, he remembered Tom saying on his birthday that it was the best day of his life.
Jarrod knew how the boy felt.
Sitting in her nightgown on the bed, Katie exclaimed, “I loved the fireworks. It was the best thing I ever saw. What makes the colors, Abby?”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe Uncle Jarrod knows. I’ll go across the hall and ask him.” She started to jump down.
“No, Katie.” Her voice was sharper than she’d meant for it to be. “He’s not there.”
“Not in his room with Oliver and Tom? Why would he leave them? Where’d he go?”
“They can take care of themselves for a little while. If they need anything, they just have to come across the hall.”
“Where’s Uncle Jarrod?”
“He had an errand.”
“But it’s late. Why would he do an errand so late?” Katie asked.
Abby sighed. It was the first time she’d ever felt short-tempered with the little girl’s questions. Jarrod was out looking for the stranger who had trailed Lily all day. She couldn’t tell Katie the truth, for fear of alarming her. “Don’t worry,” was the last thing he’d said. That was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard. How could she not?
Where was he? He’d been gone a long time. Hollister wasn’t that big. He should have been back by now. Unless—
“Abby, did you hear me?”
She looked at Katie. “I’m sorry, sweetie. What did you say?”
“Don’t encourage her to ask questions, Abby.” Lily was beside her sister in the bed, and already under the covers. She yawned.
“Did you girls have a nice day?” Abby asked, trying to distract them as well as herself.
Katie nodded enthusiastically. “I liked the fireworks best. Didn’t you, Lily?”
“Not me.” The older girl flushed. “Joe held my hand. Not tight,” she said quickly. “But he fitted his fingers between mine. It was wonderful.”
Abby smiled. “I’m glad, sweetie.”
Doubtful, Katie looked down at her sister. “You think holding hands with a boy is better than fireworks?”
Lily looked knowingly at Abby, then sent her sister a pitying glance. “You don’t understand. Go to sleep, Katie.”
Abby watched the friction between the girls. There were all kinds of ways to make sparks fly, she mused, thinking about her own run-in with Jarrod by the oak tree. She had felt the warmth of his body, seen the sizzle in his eyes. Please God, let him come back tonight unharmed, she thought.
There was a soft sound out in the hall and Abby jumped. Then she shot out of her chair by the window and hurried to the door, hoping it was Jarrod and praying that he was all right.
“Is that you, Jarrod?” she asked, listening carefully. She heard a muffled yes and yanked the door open. She gasped at the stranger standing there.
He held his hat in his hands. “Name’s Rafe Donovan, ma’am. I’ve come for my brother’s children.”
13
Abby stared at the stranger, her heart pounding. “Rafe Donovan? Are you related to—”
“Reed was my brother.” He lifted his hat, indicating the room behind her. “Those kids in there are blood kin to me.”
“And me.” Jarrod moved past the man and stood beside her in the doorway. The roar of blood in her ears had kept her from hearing his approach. Relief flooded Abby at the sight of him.
Jarrod’s face was haggard as he scowled at her. “I thought you knew better than to open the door unless it was me.”
Abby’s eyes widened at the angry expression on his face. “I thought—”
“My fault, Blackstone. I told her I was you. She’d never have let me in otherwise.”
“You tricked me into opening the door. I didn’t let you in,” she corrected. She looked up at Jarrod, glad to have his reassuring presence beside her.
Rafe Donovan was a big man, not as tall as Jarrod, but wide in the shoulders and chest. Deep-set blue eyes, nearly hidden by shaggy brown hair, dominated a face that was all angles and crevices and sharp lines. Whiskers dusted his upper lip and jaw.
“Who is it, Uncle Jarrod? Who’s there?” Katie asked from behind them.
“Get her to bed,” Jarrod said in a low voice rife with tension. He moved into the hall and shut the door as Abby stepped back into the room.
Satisfied that she could handle the children, Jarrod took the man’s measure. The calluses on his hands indicated he worked hard for a living. Worn denim pants and a plaid shirt gave the same impression. Hard as he tried, Jarrod couldn’t find fault with him. At least not on the outside.
“What do you want, Donovan?” he asked. “Only a man up to no good sneaks around. Why were you following my niece?”
“She’s my niece too.” He looked down for a moment, then met Jarrod’s gaze. “I can’t say exactly why I waited. Just wanted to see the way of things before I came forward.”
“Now you have. Why’d you wait so long? I don’t mean here in Hollister. Sally passed on over two months ago. Why are you only just showin’ up?”
“Just found out about it,” Donovan said. “I’m from New Mexico. Took a while for me to get the news. Soon as I did, I came for the kids.”
Something tightened in Jarrod’s chest. “No.”
“Look, Blackstone, I think you ought to know I’m not like my brother. I didn’t approve of him or his ways. It was liquor and gambling that took him down. Fact is, I tried everything I could to stop him. But because of his bad habits, I have clear title to the land we worked. I bought him out so’s he could pay off gambling debts. What was left he used to move his family to Arizona.”
“So you’re a better man. I’m glad. But I don’t see what that has to do with my sister’s children.”
“I was sorry to hear about Sally. Always liked her. I never favored the way my brother lived. Not that he cared what I thought. Soon’s I met your sister, I knew if anyone could get through to Reed, it was her. He did change, at first. For her.”
Surprisingly, that brought Jarrod some comfort. He was glad to know that Sally hadn’t completely misjudged her husband. That there had been some good in Reed Donovan.
“Are you married?” Jarrod asked him.
“Nope. Never did marry.” Rafe shook his head regretfully. “Between the ranch and Reed, there was too much to do. We had a spell of bad luck on the ranch, a couple years after he married Sally. It sent him back to the bottle. In the end, he wouldn’t listen to her any more than he did me.”
“I don’t give a damn about your brother. If he had acted like a man and faced his responsibilities to my sister and those kids, Sally would be alive today. You’ll never convince
me otherwise.”
Donovan looked at the hat brim rolled in his hands, then back up. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’m not here to argue with you about the past. I’m here on account of those kids.”
“Then things are real simple,” Jarrod said. “They’re with me.”
The other man tossed his head to clear the hair from his eyes. “I’d think you’d welcome the chance to hand them over. It can’t be easy taking care of ‘em.”
“It’s not. Which makes me wonder why you want them. I should think you’d be grateful someone else has stepped in to do it.”
“I am. But the thing is, I promised Reed if anything happened to him, I’d take care of his kids.”
Jarrod sneered. “He didn’t think enough of his children to provide for them day to day. Why the hell should I believe he cared enough to think about their future?”
“I reckon I can understand why you’d feel that way. But much as you want to believe otherwise, he wasn’t all bad.”
“Tell that to four kids who had nothing all their lives, including a father.”
“I’m prepared to be that for ‘em. My spread does a fair to middlin’ business. They’d never want for food or shelter. Have to work, though.” He shook the hair from his eyes again. “No gettin’ around that. They’d have to earn their keep. Builds character, that’s what my pa always said.”
“God knows it worked for your brother,” Jarrod said dryly. “When I got those kids, they were hardly more than skin and bone. Clothes were patched and worn-out. Sally did the best she could, but it was your brother’s fault that they were wanting. You think I can forget that? You think I can turn them over to the brother of the man who let that happen to them? Even if I wanted to give them up, why should I believe that you’d do better by them than Reed?”
Abby opened the door. “Keep your voice down,” she whispered. “I just got Katie to sleep.”
“Sorry,” Jarrod said, drawing in a calming breath.
She slipped into the hall and quietly closed the door. “What’s going on?” she asked, her gaze settling on the other man.
“Like I said, ma’am, I’ve come for my brother’s children.”
Jarrod grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him against the opposite wall. “Maybe I didn’t make it clear. The kids are staying with me. It’d be best for everyone if you’d go back where you came from and forgot about them.”
Donovan looked him straight in the eye without flinching. “How come you never did anything for them before, Blackstone? You got more money than God. If they were in bad shape, you coulda helped out.”
Jarrod knew he was right. Maybe he’d never wanted to see that things hadn’t worked out for Sally and her kids. Maybe that’s why he’d never gone to see her, using the ranch as an excuse. He tightened his grip on Donovan’s shirt.
“What about you? How come you’re just showing up?”
His voice rose.
“Jarrod,” Abby said, pulling on his arm. He hardly felt her touch as the rage squeezed out rational thought. “Let him go, Jarrod. This won’t solve anything.”
Rafe Donovan swallowed hard. Other than that, he didn’t show fear. It made Jarrod madder when he found something to respect in the man.
“Your wife’s right, Blackstone. It’s late. Guess I was wrong to spring this on ya the way I did. I’d best go. We’ll talk again in the morning.”
Abby tightened her grip on Jarrod’s upper arm. “I think that would be best, Mr. Donovan.”
Jarrod dropped his hands from the man’s shirt, not bothering to correct the man’s mistake about him and Abby. “Don’t bother to come back in the morning. We won’t be here.”
“You’d best be talkin’ in anger, mister.” Donovan’s eyes narrowed on him.
“I’m tellin’ you not to waste your time.” Jarrod’s gaze never left the other man’s. “There’s nothing more to say. I’ve got a ranch to run. So do you. I suggest you get back to it.”
Donovan continued to stare at Jarrod. “I’ll go when I get what I came for. Ma’am.” He nodded to Abby. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said to Jarrod. Then he turned and walked away.
Fists clenched at his sides, Jarrod watched him go. “Have the kids ready to travel just before first light.”
“But, Jarrod—”
He glared at her. “Do it.”
Abby finished washing up the supper dishes. She looked through the kitchen window and felt a tug at her heart when she looked at Jarrod. It had been two days since his run-in with Rafe Donovan. He’d been out there on the porch for over an hour, just rocking in that chair.
Now he sat forward, hands on his knees, giving her a clear view of his back. His strong shoulders, the ripple of muscles beneath the material pulled tightly across them, the broad expanse tapering to his narrow waist—the sight never failed to stir her blood and steal her breath away. What’s he thinking? she wondered.
He’d hardly said anything to her since they’d returned to the ranch. She knew he’d directed the hands to keep their eyes open for Rafe Donovan. If the man showed up, she wasn’t sure what they were supposed to do. The anger, worry, and danger she saw in Jarrod’s face made her wonder if he’d ordered the man shot on sight.
Abby couldn’t find it in her heart to fault him. One of the reasons he mattered so much to her was that he’d truly become a father to the children. That meant protecting them, which was what he believed he was doing.
She sighed, hoping the kids knew how lucky they were.
Abby wondered if things would be different for her now if her own father had been able to stay and hold the family together. Could she have stayed at the Blackstone Ranch and given in to the longings she felt for Jarrod? She shook her head. Things were what they were. She’d carried her dream around for too long. It was pointless to wish for something that couldn’t be.
She set her cloth over the dishes drying on the drain-board and went outside. The sun hadn’t gone down, but it wouldn’t be long. Deep shadows crept closer to the porch. A pleasant breeze cooled her cheeks, which were warm from cooking and cleaning up.
Abby sighed and brushed the wisps of hair back from her face as she took the chair next to Jarrod. A small round table separated them. Still, she could smell the masculine scent of the soap he’d used to wash up before supper. In the weeks she’d been there, that smell had come to remind her of Jarrod. It never failed to stir the fluttering in her stomach.
She looked at him, deep in thought. “Jarrod? Sooner or later you have to talk about this.”
He drew in a big breath. “Why? It’s over as far as I’m concerned.”
She noticed he didn’t ask what “this” was. Rafe Donovan was on his mind whether he would admit it or not. And whether he wanted to or not, they were going to air what they were both thinking. “It’s not over as far as he’s concerned.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“The man came from New Mexico. You think he’s going to turn around and go home because you say so?”
“If he knows what’s good for him, he will.” He looked at her, and she flinched at the intensity of his gaze. But someone had to make him see that not only was it probable the man wouldn’t give up, there was another issue to consider.
“Have you thought about what’s good for the children? The fact that they might want to know him?”
“I have always thought about what’s best for them. Have you considered the fact that the man might be up to something?”
“What?”
“Money. Reed Donovan was after it when he came sniffing around Sally. My father disinherited her. But her children stand to gain. Maybe he wants to get his hands on Blackstone land through them. What makes you think Rafe is any different from his brother?”
“Everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.”
“You’re too trusting, Abby.”
“You’re too skeptical, Jarrod.”
The ghost of a smile hovered on his lips for a moment, then vanished. “I w
ish I could see only the good in people like you do, but I can’t. I don’t trust him. And I don’t understand why you want me to give him a chance.”
“Because he’s blood kin to them. They have a right to get to know their father’s family. Maybe they have a need to know.”
“No good can come of it,” he snapped.
“You can’t be sure of that. From what you told me, it sounds like he’s a decent man.”
“If he was telling the truth.”
“Don’t sell your sister short, Jarrod.”
He frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Sally was a Blackstone. That tells me she was nobody’s fool. She would never have picked a man that she didn’t see some good in.” She sighed. “What she didn’t see was that his weakness overshadowed the good. But Rafe Donovan has given you no reason to believe he’s a good-for-nothing. He came a long way for those children.”
“Doesn’t that make you wonder why?” He stood and walked to the railing, leaning a shoulder against the support post. “He has a ranch to run. He left it to come after his brother’s children. He’s after something besides the kids.”
“You don’t know that.” She decided to try another way to get through to him. “Have you talked to the children about this?”
“No.”
“Maybe they want to get to know him.”
“They’re kids. They don’t know what they want.”
“What if they resent you someday for keeping them from family?” she asked.
His eyes narrowed. “Having kin around doesn’t make life perfect, Abby.”
“I never said it does. It’s just that closing your mind to possibilities can come back to haunt you. Could you live with their resentment if you deny them this opportunity, Jarrod?”
She felt his hesitation.
He scowled at her. “There’s not much I could refuse them.”
Abby thought he was weakening. “If he’s like his brother, they’ll see through him. He won’t be able to hide it.”
“Reed hid it from Sally.”
“She was in love with him. They were both young. Give Rafe a chance to show his true colors. Just think about it.”
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