“So why didn’t you go?”
“Dagmar would have been too worried about me and our first baby. I think the fresh air would have been good for my morning sickness, but he would have been trying to take care of me instead of the herd. After we have a handful of kids, he’ll expect us all to help with cattle drives like his family did while he was growing up,” Cora chuckled.
“I look forward to meeting their mother when his parents return to Kansas. I’m wondering if she’ll be outspoken and wild like her daughter, Hilda, or quiet and reserved like Hilda’s twin Rania,” Darcie mused.
“From Dagmar’s tales, Annalina Hamner is a little of both. It will be interesting to see what she thinks of me, a former Boston socialite, as her daughter-in-law,” Cora laughed.
“Want down,” Tate squirmed trying to get out of Darcie’s grasp. “Want cookies,” he looked up at her with a pout on his face.
“Dagmar’s parents will enjoy having you in the Hamner family,” Darcie said as she looked back at the herd moving west.
“And I think the Shepard family, meaning Reuben and Gabe, would enjoy adding you to their family, too, seeing the kiss Reuben gave you a few minutes ago,” Cora said with a teasing smile.
“It was for Tate’s benefit, not mine.”
“Would you like it to mean something between the two of you?” Cora’s voice turned serious.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to marry again. I should, for my children’s welfare, but Curtis still haunts my thoughts at the oddest times,” Darcie squeezed her eyes shut thinking of the abuse the man had dealt her and Tate.
“Most men are not like your former husband. Do you think Reuben is interested in you?”
“I’m not sure. Reuben is scarred from his marriage, and the war, too. I don’t know if he could ever let someone into his heart and life again,” Darcie replied, as she looked at her friend.
“Don’t give up on him if you’d like to pursue a marriage to him. I think Tate already has the two of you paired up in his mind.”
Tate looked up and studied her and Cora, catching on they were talking about him. “Then I think it’s time to distract T-A-T-E with you know what,” Darcie announced while lowering Tate to the porch floor and opening the screen door for Tate to run into the house.
***
Reuben had looked back as the men left the ranch. Specifically, to the porch where Darcie and Cora stood, watching them move the herd away from the corrals. Darcie still held Tate, but he didn’t seem to be bawling or causing a fuss as they left.
Tate calling him Poppa Reuben still shocked him hours later. He was gone for a month on his trip to New York, but the kid latched back onto him as soon as Reuben was back on the ranch. It was flattering the toddler looked up to him, but it made things tough between him and his own son. Tate wanted him to be his daddy, and Gabe did not, simple as that.
Reuben’s face heated up thinking of what Tate whispered in his ear before Reuben handed him back to Darcie. You kiss momma, you married. I suppose he got at impression living with Adam and Millie, and all the other couples he’d seen kiss in church at their marriage ceremony.
He’d meant to kiss Darcie on her cheek, but her pretty face turned up at him made his lips zero in on her mouth instead. It had been so long since he’d kissed a woman, it’s a wonder he remembered how.
His impulse reminded him of kissing Mattie when Gabe was Tate’s age. A dozen years changed so many lives. What if the war hadn’t disrupted their lives? Would he have gotten restless from doing nothing but living off his in-laws’ wealth?
No. Reuben was committed to Mattie and his son, and he would have done anything to take care of his family. Why hadn’t Mattie believed in his love and vows?
Looking back now, he was fairly certain Ringwald had courted Mattie before she picked Reuben for her groom. Apparently she had regretted doing so, and found the war a convenient way to switch husbands. Reuben guessed Mattie never did love him, just used him as a pawn.
At least now that Reuben had seen Gabe, he knew Mattie and Ringwald didn’t get together until after Reuben left for the battlefields. Mattie and Ringwald were similar in hair color and eyes, but Gabe’s facial features exactly matched Reuben’s dark features. It was like looking in the mirror, twenty years ago, since he and his son looked so much alike.
Time had faded Reuben’s broken heart over his shattered marriage. Instead of being bitter at Mattie, he should be glad she had some years with the man who she truly loved, but he wasn’t. Ironic that Rueben, though “dead” lived longer than Ringwald. He snickered at that recollection.
Reuben thought of Darcie and the little bit he’d heard about her marriage. Why would a man hurt his wife and child? Curtis Robbins took a vow before God to love and protect his bride forever. Reuben could tell the mental damage Darcie’s husband inflicted on her still plagued her at times when he saw her involuntarily cringe around a certain type of man.
Would she remarry again if asked? Probably, for her children’s welfare if she trusted the man who asked. Apparently Tate, in his two-year-old mind, thought he and Darcie were married now because of the kiss the boy had conned him into giving her.
He had to admit it, the simple kiss stirred some feelings in his heart that had been dormant for a long time.
“Hey, Reuben, the beans smell like you’re burning them. Got something else on your mind besides cooking our supper?” Zach asked as he walked up beside Reuben. “Maybe thinking about a certain woman and toddler we left behind this morning?”
Cate had traded places back a while; she was riding his mount and he was driving the wagon team. Reuben had driven the chuck wagon ahead and around the herd to set up camp by a creek where they had stopped on a previous cattle drive. His mind had wandered while he fixed their meal, so Zach asked a legitimate question.
“Thinking about my son,” Reuben answered, not wanting to say what he’d really been daydreaming about. He leaned over to stir the pot though, because he smelled the beans scorching, too.
Cate walked up while taking off her riding gloves. “Need any help with the meal, Reuben?”
“Thanks but I’m fine, Cate. I’m sure you’d like to walk around to get the kinks out of your legs,” Reuben replied, as he continued to stir.
“I must admit I’m feeling a bit bow-legged. Lately I’ve been chasing grandchildren on foot instead of wayward cows on horseback.” Cate’s face was covered with dust and her shirtwaist soaked with sweat, but she still looked happy. Marrying Isaac and helping with Sarah’s adopted family had given Cate a new purpose in life.
“We’ll be doing neither in a few days when we get on the train for our honeymoon,” Isaac reminded her, taking off his hat and hitting it against his thigh to knock off the dust. Isaac and Cate were boarding the train at Russell to travel to California to visit Cate’s sister. Their trunk was in the chuck wagon, ready to be dropped off at the train depot. Their horses would travel back to the ranch with the drovers and wagon after delivering the herd to the buyer.
“It was nice to meet your son in church last Sunday,” Cate continued the conversation after sitting on the wagon tongue and stretching out her legs in front of her. “Did you plan to bring him back to Kansas with you?”
“No, but my showing up for a visit was his mother’s excuse to pawn him off on me. Unfortunately I don’t know what I’m doing, except I need to make up for the twelve years I wasn’t in his life,” Reuben said shaking his head.
“Give yourselves time to get to know each other. Be genuine and ask about his life at home, what was his favorite class in school last year. Ask about his friends, what he did for fun,” Cate gave Reuben her advice.
“If you start with easy topics, the hard stories will come out eventually. Has he talked about his family?”
“Just a comment or two until he realizes it and clams up again,” Reuben answered while filling a plate of beans and bacon for Cate.
“Want a corn pone, too?”
“Please. I�
��m hungry enough, I could eat two,” Cate sighed as she stood up to take the tin plate from Reuben. “I’m so glad you thought of bringing some folding camp stools along. I don’t think I could get back up off the ground in my current shape.”
He and Isaac chuckled at Cate’s remark because they were tired and sore, too, and they weren’t done with their day yet. Dagmar, Zach and Peter were quietly walking their horses around the herd to settle them down for the night. Reuben, Isaac and Cate would take a turn in a few hours so the other three could eat and rest.
“And another part of Gabe’s problem is Tate, whether he wants to admit it or not. I’m sure it hurts Gabe that Tate and me are close. He didn’t get to have the connection Tate and I have built, almost as father and son.”
“Then it’s natural for Gabe to compare Tate as a sibling, whether it is in a good way or bad. When Sarah was born, my sons were at odds on how to deal with a baby. Adam, at age six, thought she should get up right away in the morning to help with chores. Five-year-old Jacob tried to play with Sarah like she was a puppy, and Noah was four and mad about being displaced as the baby of the family. But they’d do anything for each other back then, and still would now as adults.”
“You know, I don’t know how close Gabe and his sister are, since he hasn’t mentioned her much yet. The old fairy tale Cinderella came to mind when I helped Gabe pack for his trip. Not that he was forced to be a servant, but I bet Mattie, like the bad stepmother in Cinderella’s story, favored her child with Ringwald over Gabe.
“I’m sure Gabe never had to worry about monetary needs, but Ringwald never adopted him, even though I was supposedly dead.”
“That’s got to give the boy a chip on his shoulder, whether he knows what it is or not,” Isaac shook his head while giving his observation.
“Yes, unfortunately. Gabe has the bad attitude of a rich boy who deserves everything money can buy, yet he’s lonely because money didn’t buy him love from his own family,” Reuben continued.
“So he’s a confused young man now, stuck in a place that is very foreign to him, Reuben,” Cate said, pointing a finger at him to stress the point. “But this is your opportunity to show him how to be a good man, because he’s only a few years away from being on his own.”
“Yeah, and I don’t feel qualified to do that,” Reuben hated to admit out loud.
“Then this is your opportunity to let other people help you both out. Get him involved in school and church,” Isaac suggested.
“Our ranching families blend together so much that Isaac and I are ‘Grandpa and Grandma’ to all of them, even though we’re not related to any of them. We’ll naturally give Gabe the structure of family I think he craves. In fact, Gabe is going to spend a few days in town with our family while you’re gone.”
“And I bet I’m the last to hear about this, aren’t I, Cate?” Reuben worked hard not to growl at the woman.
“Didn’t Darcie mention it to you?” Cate asked, as if she was surprised.
Isaac shook his head at his wife. “Apparently not since Reuben didn’t know about it. What did ‘Saints’ Catherine and Flora and their committee plan for Gabe”? Isaac arched his eyebrows at Cate, challenging her to confess their strategy.
Reuben inwardly groaned. Cate and Flora Davis Donovan, nicknamed “The Saints”, helped Millie and Darcie through their difficult situation when Millie was hiding Tate from Darcie’s abusive husband.
“Ennis and Flora have an empty room in their boarding house so Gabe will stay in town with them next week. That way he can, for example, play ball with other kids his own age, help ‘Aunt Millie’ deliver pies to the hotel, or walk with ‘Uncle Adam’ when he does his early evening check around Clear Creek.”
“Cate, I can see the little ones call Adam and Millie their uncle and aunt, but Gabe’s a little old for that, don’t you think?” Reuben asked.
“No, not when Ennis and Flora become Gabe’s grandparents, too,” Cate said with a straight face.
“What? No, Darcie’s parents are Tate and Amelia’s grandparents, not…” Reuben looked at Cate, who still looked innocent, but next to her Isaac was trying his hardest not to burst out laughing.
“So you two and your ladies’ committee, who I’m sure is involved, have planned for me to ask for Darcie’s hand in marriage, so the five of us can become a ‘happy family’?”
“What? We never thought of such a thing…but that’s a brilliant idea. If you can wait for a short time, we’d love to be at your wedding. Isaac and I should be back in about three weeks, so plan the wedding a month from last Sunday.”
When had the women gotten together and planned his future? He and Gabe only arrived ten days ago. Poor Gabe, alone in town, with a band of good but scheming women. Well, he’d either love Clear Creek by the time Reuben arrived back to the ranch, or would have hopped on a train to New York already.
And Cate’s remarks would make him think about Darcie every day he was away from her—and the simple “Baker’s Kiss” they’d shared.
Chapter 5
“Gabe, why’d you change into your Sunday clothes to eat supper?” Jim Gibson asked as Gabe joined them at the dining room table in the ranch house.
Gabe moved into an upstairs bedroom this morning when Cora suggested it instead of staying in the bunkhouse without his father. Darcie was sure it was more similar to what he was accustomed, and they could keep a better eye on him.
“Jim, back East, proper gentlemen dress for dinner, instead of just splashing water on their face to look half-way presentable at the evening meal,” Cora tried to ease Gabe’s mind, because he had assumed he had to change for the evening. Gabe’s face had turned red with embarrassment at Jim’s question. “You might consider at least changing your shirt, too, Jim, before coming for suppers in the house.”
Eli and two other ranch hands, Jim and Ker Lundgren, joined them for the meal so Darcie didn’t have to cook two separate meals. All three of them glanced down at the fronts of their shirts to see how clean their clothes were.
She had fixed a typical evening meal with vegetables from the ranch garden, canned meat from last winter’s butchering, homemade rolls and an apple pie for dessert.
The men passed the serving dishes to get their plates full of food and commenced to eat wholeheartedly. Darcie was glad to see Gabe noticed their hunger for food and followed suit. She knew he hadn’t eaten much the first week in the bunkhouse, so maybe he’d start now if around people other than his father.
“Beans!” Tate yelled while hitting his spoon on the front tray of his high chair to get some attention.
“Tate, you need to say ‘Please pass the beans’,” Darcie corrected him, while Cora, on the other side of Tate, put a little dollop of mashed potatoes on the toddler’s plate as that bowl came around.
“Gabe didn’t,” Tate stuck his chin out in protest.
“That’s because Gabe politely waited until the bowl was passed to him,” Darcie patiently said. It was surprising how jealous Tate was of Gabe, but then he’d acted the same way when he had to get used to his baby sister.
“Gabe, I think Tate is a little jealous of you,” Cora observed. “I assume you and your sister tease and fight every now and then, too?”
Gabe didn’t reply either way.
“You haven’t said much about your sister, Gabe. How old is Mary?” Darcie inquired.
“She’s twelve.” Gabe laid his fork on his plate, looking like he just lost is appetite. Darcie guessed he was missing his family. “I…didn’t get to say good-bye to her before I left,” Gabe quietly added.
Everyone was quiet when Gabe made his last statement. Why didn’t he get to talk to his sister before he left with Reuben?
“I still sorely miss my brothers and sisters at times,” Ker said as he stared intently at Gabe. “I left Sweden about your age, and haven’t seen my family for ten years now.”
Gabe stared at Ker as his words sunk in. “Why did you leave?”
“Too many of us in
our family and not enough food. I had to strike out on my own so my parents could feed the younger children,” Ker shrugged his shoulders and moved the food around on his plate with his fork. “There were railroad agents from America who could connect young people with jobs here, so I took advantage of the opportunity.”
“How’s come no one else in your family have moved here since then?” Gabe was apparently curious now about Ker’s move.
“I send part of my paycheck home to my family every month so they can stay together. I’d love to have family with me, but I chose to help them with cash instead.”
“That’s true of so many immigrants who traveled to America. It was a way to give themselves, and sometimes others, a better life,” Cora added. “Dagmar’s family was able to leave Sweden and move to Texas, because a rancher offered to pay their passage in exchange for working for him.”
“My parents came from Ireland, too,” Darcie added. “You’ll hear several languages in towns in this area.”
“It’s not that way in Rochester,” Gabe said. “You don’t hear different languages where we lived. Everything is built a century or more ago, big trees, no backwards people.”
Cora laughed. “Cities back East were as primitive and wild back when they started as Kansas towns are now. Think of it as getting to live in the frontier, Gabe.”
“Well, I hope I get to see my sister again before ten years have passed,” Gabe grumbled while looking down at his plate.
Darcie wanted to put an arm around Gabe’s shoulders. Not only was Gabe taken from Rochester, but Reuben had to leave him on his own while on the cattle drive.
“You don’t have to cross a sea to see your sister again,” Ker reminded him. “Your pa will be sure you keep in touch. He’s a good man, one you can count on.” Ker pointed his fork at Gabe to make the point.
Darcie and Cora looked at each other at the same time. Reuben was a good man, but would he be able to give Gabe the love and guidance the young man needed?
“You know, Gabe, you can talk to any of us, anytime, if you’re wanting to talk about your family or the situation you find yourself in. And if not someone on the ranch, talk to Pastor Reagan. He’ll keep any conversation between the two of you,” Darcie said, trying to steer Gabe in the right direction in case he wanted to talk to someone about his step-father.
Darcie Desires a Drover: A Historical Western Romance (Brides with Grit Book 7) Page 5
