Texas Tender

by Leigh Greenwood

  “I’d like something other than coffee,” Andy said. “How about you?”

  “I really should be out making my rounds.”

  “You’ve got time for a little brandy. Besides, I want to talk with you.”

  Will had wondered how long it would be before someone talked to him, but he smiled and said, “A small one. I can’t arrest a man for being drunk if I go around smelling of brandy.”

  “Nobody in Dunmore begrudges a man the right to get drunk,” Andy said, pouring a deep purple liquid into two glasses. “We just don’t want him to make a nuisance of himself. We’re thinking about making it illegal to wear guns in town.”

  “That’s a good idea. It’ll make the job of your next sheriff much easier.” Will accepted his brandy, raising the glass to his nose to test the bouquet.

  Andy resumed his seat, sipped his brandy, then turned his gaze to Will. “You know, we’re hoping we won’t need to find another sheriff. Everybody thinks you’ve done a bang-up job.”

  “Things have been easy.”

  Andy laughed. “A busted dam, a rustled herd, trouble with Newt, and a stolen bull. Doesn’t sound easy to me.”

  “I haven’t found the bull.”

  “I expect it’ll turn up eventually.” Andy looked down at his brandy. “That’s not what I wanted to talk with you about, though.” He looked over his shoulder, but they could hear the women in the kitchen.

  “You’re concerned about my relationship with Junie Mae, aren’t you?”

  Andy glanced up quickly. “Not the way you think. I’m not about to stick my nose into what’s not my business—”

  “By bringing it up, you already have.”

  “I didn’t mention Junie Mae.”

  “But you were going to, weren’t you?”

  Andy took a deep breath. “We can’t have our sheriff taking care of a woman who’s in the family way but hasn’t got herself a husband.”

  “If that’s all that’s bothering you, you can breathe easy. I’ll be happy to turn in my badge right now.”

  “That’s not what we want,” Andy said. He swallowed the rest of his brandy and got up to refill his glass. “This is damned awkward. Dammit, Jordan and Lloyd ought to be here. It was their big idea that I talk to you.”

  “Well, get it over with so you can sit back and enjoy your brandy.”

  “This isn’t easy to say. I happen to have a great deal of respect for you.”

  “Then let me say it for you. People are upset that I’m paying for Junie Mae to stay in the hotel. Since she hasn’t named the father, they feel I’m the one at fault or I wouldn’t be supporting her. Everybody knows I can talk a woman out of her virtue as quick as you can castrate a bull.”

  “I wasn’t going to say it like that,” Andy said, looking deeply embarrassed.

  “But that’s not all, is it?” Will pushed his brandy away. “They think I’m sweet on Idalou. And as much as they like having me be sheriff, they can’t have me taking up with Idalou when I’ve still got a ruined Junie Mae on my hands. A gentleman would take care of his embarrassment before setting his sights on his next victim.”

  “You make it sound so dirty,” Andy said.

  “What you suspect me of is dirty.” Will leaned forward until his forearms rested on the table. “The real father wants nothing to do with the baby, and Junie Mae wants nothing to do with him. I’m trying to make permanent arrangements for her and the baby, but in the meantime, she has to have somewhere to stay. Since her aunt threw her out and no one in Dunmore has offered to take her in, it has to be the hotel.”

  Will paused to give himself time to rein in his temper. He had known something like this was going to happen. Andy was just putting into words what everybody else was thinking.

  “You’re right in thinking that I’m interested in Idalou, but she isn’t sure she’s interested in me. I should point out, however, that Idalou is staying in the same hotel room with Junie Mae. Do you think she’d do that if I were the father of Junie Mae’s baby?”

  “That’s what I told Delphine,” Andy said, the words escaping him as though under pressure. “No woman with Idalou’s gumption would put up with that.”

  “Junie Mae and Idalou warned me this would happen, but I decided to go ahead anyway.” He leaned back in his chair and let some of the pressure ease from him. “Twenty years ago, an incredible woman plucked me and my brother off the streets. We were only two of eleven orphans she and her husband took into their home and adopted. After what they did for me, how could I possibly turn my back on Junie Mae when the father of her child walked away and left her crying in the alley behind her aunt’s store? No one in my family would do that. My brother has adopted five kids. One sister, three more.” He let the last of the tension drain away and stood. “Tell Lloyd and Jordan that I’m leaving at the end of the month, with or without the bull.”

  “I never believed you fathered Junie Mae’s baby,” Andy said. “Neither does Lloyd’s wife. She says no man who’d risk himself and his horse to save a little dog would ruin a woman just for the fun of it.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Will said, even though it really did. “I was never going to be here long.”

  Andy got to his feet. “I wish you’d reconsider. After all, you’ve invested money in a ranch here now.”

  “That ranch belongs to Carl and Idalou. Catching the person behind their trouble is the only reason I’m still here.”

  “Do you have any idea who it is?”

  “I’m pretty sure I know, but so far I can’t prove it.”

  “Maybe the trouble’s over. Maybe nothing else will happen.”

  “I wish I could believe that. I just hope I can stop it before anybody dies.”

  “I know why I have to go to Mara’s birthday party,” Idalou said to Carl, “but I don’t see why you do. Don’t you have any pride?”

  “You’ve got enough for both of us,” Carl said. “At least you had the good sense not to refuse to go with Will.”

  “I promised Junie Mae I’d stay with her as long as the rumors were flying about her and Will, but they seem to have calmed down, so I plan on moving out to the ranch in a few days.”

  “You’ve got nowhere to stay.”

  “Van said I can use his tent.”

  “I don’t like him paying attention to you. You’re not putting Will off, hoping Van will marry you, are you?”

  “I’m not hoping either one of them will marry me.”

  “Will would if you’d stop thinking there’s something between him and Junie Mae. No need to color up,” Carl said when she felt the heat in her face. “I know you too well. You’re so damned scared of being vulnerable, you’ll use any excuse not to let yourself fall in love with him.”

  Carl had met Idalou in town so they could take a ride together. He reported that he had found the horse, the cow, and the pigs but had let them continue to run wild because he had no way to feed them. The corral still stood, but it would be at least a month before the grass recovered enough for grazing.

  “I’m not scared of falling in love.” Idalou’s agitation was communicating itself to her horse. She patted him on the neck, hoping it would calm both of them. “You don’t understand.”

  “You’re the one who doesn’t understand.”

  Carl’s horse was becoming agitated as well. In unspoken agreement, they rode off the trail to the little patch of shade offered by a lone live oak. They dismounted and let their horses graze. Idalou walked about with short, quick strides, while Carl sank down to the ground and leaned against the tree trunk.

  “A few weeks ago I asked you what you wanted,” Carl told his sister. “Basically, you said you wanted a family. You didn’t say you wanted this ranch.”

  “What I want doesn’t matter. All we have is this ranch, and we owe Will a bull or a lot of money.”

  “You can walk away right now.”

  “I can’t leave you with all this debt.”

  “Why not? I’ll get the ranch. It
’s only right that I get the debt.”

  Idalou couldn’t explain to Carl how or why she felt at such a disadvantage when it came to Will. Everything that had happened since he’d arrived in Dunmore had served to put her deeper and deeper in his debt. Marrying Will would cancel the monetary debt, but it would leave the question hanging in the air as to whether she’d married him only because she loved him. And the issue with Junie Mae just complicated things.

  “I don’t want the ranch,” Idalou told her brother, “but the debt is as much my responsibility as yours. If we can’t find that bull, then we’ll have to sell the ranch to pay Will back.”

  “He won’t care about the money.”

  “You may not understand it, but I simply can’t marry a man I’m in debt to.”

  Carl got to his feet. “Come on. I have to find that damned bull.”

  “Why don’t you do that instead of going to the dance?”

  “Because I’m in love with Mara and want to marry her. She hasn’t figured it out yet, but she’s still in love with me.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Will told me.”

  “And you believe everything he says?”

  “Why not? He hasn’t been wrong about anything yet.”

  In her mind she knew Will wasn’t the father of Junie Mae’s baby, but the emotional part of her wasn’t completely convinced he didn’t feel something for Junie Mae. She was beautiful and in love with him. Junie Mae would never argue with him or even question him. She’d work her fingers to the bone for him and think it a privilege. Why should Will be in love with a woman who’d caused him trouble from the moment he’d arrived, who’d questioned his character and his veracity, who seemed incapable of appreciating his help?

  “It’s not as easy as that,” Idalou told her brother.

  Carl had caught up their horses and brought them to the shade. “It is as easy as that. All you have to do is follow your heart. That’s what I’m doing, and that’s why I know I still love Mara and she still loves me.” He helped his sister mount up. “You think too much. You have to look at everything from every possible angle.” He swung into the saddle. “You think so much you don’t know what you think.” He nudged his horse’s flanks and started toward the trail back to town. “At least stop thinking enough to enjoy the party.”

  Idalou made one last adjustment, then turned to Junie Mae. “Are you sure I don’t look silly in this dress?”

  “You look beautiful,” Junie Mae said. “I can’t wait to see Will’s expression when he gets a look at you.”

  Idalou had almost refused Will’s invitation because she didn’t have anything to wear. She’d finally given in to Junie Mae’s insistence that she borrow her best party dress.

  “There’s no point in it staying in the closet and you staying in the hotel,” Junie Mae had said. “As fat as I’m getting, I couldn’t wear it even if I was going to the party.”

  Junie Mae had been invited—nearly everyone in Dunmore had—but she said she had no intention of going just so people could gawk at her and gossip behind her back. Idalou had offered to stay with her, but Junie Mae had told her if she didn’t accept Will’s invitation, there were plenty of other women who’d be glad to take her place. So Idalou had spent the last two days altering the dress to fit her. She’d let Junie Mae fix her hair. Instead of being in a knot at the base of her neck or pulled back into a ponytail, she had allowed Junie Mae to curl it and style it so it framed her face. She’d hardly recognized herself when she looked in Junie Mae’s small mirror.

  “People are going to stare,” Idalou said. “I’ve never dressed up like this before. I look strange even to myself.”

  “Nobody’s going to think you look strange,” Junie Mae assured her. “They’re going to be too busy being jealous or wishing they were the man at your side.”

  It gave Idalou a thrill to know she looked nice. For once, she would be wearing a dress that was just as pretty as anything Mara or her mother would wear. She was even wearing some of the expensive perfume Junie Mae’s aunt had given her. It felt strange to be enveloped in a cloud of scent that smelled like a spring garden.

  “Maybe I should pull my hair back.” Idalou stared at her reflection in the mirror, worried she might look too much unlike herself. Will had invited her to the dance, not the woman staring back at her from the mirror.

  Junie Mae took the mirror from her and laid it face down on the dressing table. “It’s perfect like it is. Trust me,” she said when Idalou continued to feel unsure. “I know what men like in a woman.”

  All of Idalou’s attention had been so consumed by the ranch, she hadn’t had time to worry about making herself attractive to men. After Webb died, she’d sort of assumed she’d never marry. Will’s interest in her had changed that assumption.

  “Will is different,” Idalou said.

  Idalou smiled. “He’s still a man.” A very polite knock sounded at the door. “Unless I’m mistaken, your Prince Charming has arrived.”

  All the tension and uncertainty gathered in a ball in the pit of Idalou’s stomach. What if Will didn’t think she looked pretty? What if he didn’t like her dress or her hair? Even though she knew she’d never looked this pretty in her life, she worried she wouldn’t be pretty enough for a man as handsome as Will. She took a deep breath and opened the door.

  She’d thought it was impossible for Will to look any more handsome, but he simply took her breath away. A navy-blue suit, white shirt with high pointed collar, and a tie transformed him into any woman’s version of a prince.

  “Who are you, and where is Idalou?” Will asked.

  Before Idalou’s stupefied brain could process what he’d said, Will gave a low whistle and broke into a broad smile. “Who’d have thought that a nice-looking boy like Carl could have a sister beautiful enough to make him look downright plain? You sure you want to be seen with somebody like me?”

  Will wasn’t the kind of man to give flowery compliments, but he did have his own way of expressing his surprise and pleasure.

  “Well, you have cleaned up a bit since I saw you last, so I guess I won’t be too embarrassed to be seen with you,” Idalou said.

  “Quit it, you two,” Junie Mae said. “You’ll be the most handsome couple at the party.”

  “Do you really think I look nice?” Idalou asked Will. “You don’t think the way Junie Mae did my hair makes me look peculiar?”

  “I think you look beautiful regardless of how you do your hair,” Will said. “You make that dress look right smart, too.”

  It wasn’t the way most men gave compliments, but Idalou thought she could grow used to it.

  “Let’s hurry. I can’t wait to show everybody that the prettiest lady in Dunmore is my date for the evening.”

  Idalou decided she just might take Junie Mae’s advice more often.

  Jordan and Alma McGloughlin certainly knew how to throw a party. The interior of the ranch house blazed with lights, while the porch and portions of the yard were illuminated by more than two dozen kerosene lamps. Alma must have borrowed nearly every lamp in Dunmore. A small band of banjo, guitar, and fiddle produced a twangy, nasal music Idalou found slightly melancholy despite the upbeat rhythm.

  “I’ve never seen such a display,” she said to Will.

  “A daughter turns eighteen only once. You should have seen what my family did for our younger sister this spring. We practically set the entire Hill Country ablaze. For the first time in years, everybody in the family was there.”

  Idalou had spent so many years feeling she carried the weight of the family alone that she couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be part of a huge, supportive family. In a way, the idea frightened her. She might get lost, lose her way. At the same time, she would have the emotional, physical, and financial support of a large network of families. Dunmore had been like that when they first moved here. Then ambition for the next generation got in the way, and friendships weakened, loyalties broke down.

 
; “Carl wouldn’t let me give him a party when he turned eighteen,” she told Will. “He said it was a waste of money.”

  “I didn’t want one, either,” Will said, “but I got one then, and again when I turned twenty-one.”

  “Welcome, Sheriff,” Alma McGloughlin said with a smile that made her look ten years younger. “I’m glad you were able to persuade Idalou to come with you. We haven’t seen much of her recently.”

  Idalou could have told Alma why that was so, but she had put rivalry and trouble out of her mind so she could enjoy the party.

  “It’s hard for just two people to keep a ranch going,” she told Alma. “It seems we’re always a day behind.”

  “Now that the dam is broken, you and Carl ought to sell that place and move into town. Ella says you were the best shop assistant she’s ever had.” Alma laughed self-consciously. “Listen to me giving advice about things that are none of my business. Come in and enjoy yourself. There’s plenty of food in the house, and we’re going to have dancing when it gets cooler.”

  Mara hurried over when her mother moved away to welcome other guests. “Thanks for coming,” she said, looking at Will before turning to Idalou and asking, “Where’s Carl?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  “He’s coming later,” Idalou told Mara. “He wouldn’t miss the biggest party since Webb’s twenty-first birthday.”

  “I thought he’d be with you.” Mara peered anxiously over Idalou’s shoulder.

  “He thinks he’s too old to be seen with his big sister.”

  Mara eyed Will in a speculative manner. “Is that why you asked the sheriff to come with you?”

  “I asked her to come with me,” Will said.

  “It’s okay for a woman to come to a party alone in Dunmore. The town’s small enough that we know everybody.”

  Mara sounded a little jealous, but she seemed more upset about Carl’s absence. Was she hoping to make one man jealous of another? That didn’t seem likely, since Van was already here—he was talking to Mara’s father—but Mara changed her mind so often these days, no one knew who she’d think she was in love with next.