by Sara Orwig
Wade dismounted and shook hands with Travis. “Good to see you. I thought I’d better come talk to you folks. You haven’t been in to your livery stable.”
“No, I reckon not,” Travis drawled. “I thought the reception in town might not be good yet.”
“Afternoon, Crystal. My, the little fellow is growing.”
Crystal smiled warmly, and Travis moved to her side and slipped his arm around her waist. He pulled her close to him and suddenly wanted Wade Hinckel to state his business and go so Travis could have his wife to himself. He was falling more in love with her each day.
Inviting Wade inside, Crystal put on a pot of coffee. As they sat at the table, Wade’s blue eyes rested on Travis. “I guess your brother is gone.”
“He never came home with us. He rode away that afternoon.”
“Good idea. Lots of high tempers at first, but a new witness has surfaced—Rupe Peters. He saw several men with Kendrick before the shots were fired. That calmed a lot of men down because it backed up your brother’s story.”
“So, Brett was telling the truth!” Crystal exclaimed. “Thank heavens, I ruled as I did.”
“Dammit,” Travis said, anger coiling in him. “Why didn’t Rupe come forward sooner?”
“Scared to. He was afraid of Whit Odell. Anyway, it settled some of the men down who were worked up. Most of them don’t want to hang the wrong man. I thought you ought to know. Now you can come back to work at your stable.”
“Sure?”
“What’s absolute out here? But it should be as safe as it was before the trial.”
“Good. Thanks. Did you ride all the way out here to tell me that?”
“No. I also want to talk to Crystal.”
She raised her head in surprise, her green eyes widening. “What is it?”
“You haven’t been in to hear your cases.”
“I tried to tell you when we left town, I’m resigning.”
“I heard what you said, and I know you haven’t come back to town, but I need to have it officially in writing.”
She removed two sheets of paper from a cabinet and handed them to the sheriff.
“Here’s what you need. My official resignation. There are two copies. One for your office, one for the governor.”
“Judge, you were good at your job. And you drew some families to Cheyenne. I know the governor is going to ask you—I think he’ll ride out here himself to try to persuade you—and I’m going to ask you: Will you finish off your term? Please.”
“No, I won’t,” she said, feeling Travis’s eyes on her.
“Just a little while. Only a few—”
She shook her head. “No. When I left the courtroom that day, I wanted to resign. I don’t ever want to go back or try a case. If you desperately need me, I’ll come in this week and next while you find someone else to take over. I’ve sacrificed enough for that job. I know my own feelings.”
“I’m sure you do.” He smiled and leaned back in his chair. “In that case, we might as well enjoy ourselves. We’re having a boxing match tonight,” he told Travis. “’Course, there will never be another one like John Hardy and John Shaugnessy. One-hundred-and-twenty-six rounds.”
“That’s barbaric,” Crystal commented. “And I hope that day goes down in history for the planning of Cheyenne’s first public school instead of everyone remembering a fight!”
Travis grinned and squeezed her shoulder. “Darlin’, it’s just something you’ll never understand.”
“Indeed not, and if you gentlemen will excuse me, I’ll tend to Jacob and get supper. Talk all you want about fighting.”
Travis grinned as she moved away. Crystal listened to the men talk about things they enjoyed while she put a roast in the oven and played with Jacob. She thought about the job she was giving up. She would never miss it. It had been wonderful when she received the appointment, but now she had other plans for her future. Her gaze slid to Travis, who was watching her. His dark eyes made her pulse jump. God willing, they would have another baby. She longed to be alone in Travis’s arms, where each night was pure rapture.
That summer Travis shipped his first load of cattle to the East. When he received payment, he came home early one afternoon. Crystal saw him riding toward the house from Cheyenne. He led a riderless horse behind him. Looking very much the Comanche, Travis wore a headband, an eagle feather in his black hair. The sleeves of his blue chambray shirt were rolled high and he wore buckskins.
“Papa’s home, love,” she told Jacob, who got up and ran as fast as his short legs could take him to the porch. She took off her apron and smoothed her blue-gingham dress, glancing at herself in the mirror before she went outside.
Travis swung his long leg over the horse and dropped to the ground. He lifted heavy bags off his mount and she noticed that the horse he was leading was loaded with bags.
Travis’s dark eyes sparkled as he dropped the bags and picked up Jacob to hold him high and greet him. She heard the clink of the bags when Travis set them down and Crystal’s curiosity jumped. Then she forgot about the bags as Travis set down Jacob and pulled her into his arms to hug and kiss her.
Dazed, she looked up at him when he released her. “You’re home sooner than I expected.”
“I took my payment for the cattle in gold.” He hoisted a few of the bags onto his shoulder and they went inside, where he dropped the bags on the table. She stared at them.
“You made that much money?” she asked, stunned as he opened the first bag and poured it onto the table. Jacob climbed onto a chair and reached pudgy fingers out to pick up a handful of gold coins that glinted in the light.
“My heavens!”
“Crystal, the cattle market is booming. The stockmen are talking about forming a club, and we’re going to need one. Look at what we made!”
He left and returned with three more bags that he set on the floor by the table and she sat down, breathless, unable to grasp that he made such a fortune from selling his cows.
“How could anyone pay that much?”
“Cattle are in demand. I have to take out Turtle River’s share and Zachary’s share. And now, maybe the Blairs will pay more respect to him.”
“My heavens!” Crystal leaned forward, examining the pile of coins. “Turtle River lives in a tipi. He doesn’t need one of these coins a year.”
Travis laughed and leaned across the corner of the table to kiss her. “We can build a house in town.”
She considered the option. “If you want,” she agreed slowly, “but I’m content to stay here.”
“Someday, Jacob will go to school. It might be easier to have a house in town as well as here.”
“I suppose,” she reflected. “Travis, I’m amazed.”
“I’m surprised myself. All the long hours and hard work have paid off. Of course, a lot of this will go right back into the ranch. I want to get another bull and keep improving our stock. And if you’d like, I’ll take you and Jacob to Saint Louis and you can buy new dresses and get Jacob new clothes.”
She laughed and shook her head. “I don’t think we need new clothes yet. Jacob will soon, but I don’t. But a trip with you sounds like great fun.”
“I’ll even take you back to Baltimore if you would like to go.”
She smiled and moved to sit on his lap. “I don’t really care, Travis. Baltimore was so long ago. It’s not part of my life now. I just want to be with you.”
He slipped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissed her, and the money was forgotten.
When Travis finished the additional room on the house, the men built another room onto Zachary’s small cabin. With Travis’s and Turtle River’s help, Zachary built a buckboard.
Crystal blossomed, looking prettier than ever to Travis. She had two new dresses and was learning to sew, but it was going as slowly and disastrously as her cooking.
In the middle of July he came in to find her wreathed in smiles. Dressed in a new blue cotton, she raced across the room a
nd flung herself into his arms. He braced his legs and caught her, lifting her up as he kissed her. Desire flashed white-hot in him at her exuberant welcome; and when he released her, he wanted to lock the door and take her to bed.
“That will make me want to get home more than ever,” he said softly, his hand stroking her throat.
“Travis, I think I’m carrying our baby!”
Twenty-three
“Oh, God, Crystal!” Travis wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him, holding her tightly so she wouldn’t see the terror that clutched at his heart. There was no way he could share her joy. He had expected this, knew she had wanted another baby, but the reality hit him like a huge fist plunging into his middle.
He lost his breath, unable to get his feelings under control. She had become a part of his life, like air and sunshine. There was no way he could face a birth calmly or with any degree of certainty. He clamped his jaw shut until it hurt. She wriggled in his arms, then pulled his head down so she could kiss him.
He kissed her as if it were the last kiss they ever would share. His tongue plunged into her mouth and he held her tightly until she pushed gently against his chest.
“Travis.” She looked up at him with a puzzled frown. “Oh, no!” She framed his face with her hands, so warm and soft. “Travis, the very first time when we loved, you knew this could happen.”
“I know,” he acknowledged, his emotions tearing at him. He didn’t want to ruin her joy, and another baby would be grand; but he was terrified. He wound her hair through his fingers. “You’re my world, Crystal,” he said in a rough, husky voice.
“Travis,” she whispered, standing on tiptoe and pulling his head down so she could gaze directly into his eyes. “I love you. You’re not going to lose me. I prom—”
He placed his hand over her lips and kissed the word away. “You can’t promise,” he reminded her. “Not when it’s something you have such little control over.”
“I feel so strongly about this baby. And I’m a strong woman. I’m a big woman.”
“You’re tall, Crystal, but you’re slender with slender hips. There can be so many complications.”
“Don’t worry,” she chided.
“We could move to Saint Louis,” he suggested frantically. “There would be lots of doctors there to choose from.”
“You can’t run your business from Saint Louis!” She stared at him with worry clouding her eyes. He hated that he was ruining what should be one of the most joyous moments of their marriage, but he was too scared to think clearly. He looked at her shining eyes; her joy was unmistakable. She was his life and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. He ran his fingers through her auburn hair, feeling its softness and relishing its flaming color.
“I can sell the livery stable and pay Turtle River to run the ranch. I’d want to keep the ranch because the cattle business is booming.”
“So is the livery business. There’s no need to sell out and move somewhere else. Cheyenne has two doctors now; both of them are good. It’ll be all right.”
“You don’t know.” He spun away from her, rubbing his forehead. “Damnation, I know I’m ruining this for you.”
Crystal watched him pace across the room, distraught. She slid her arms around his narrow waist. His dark eyes were trouble-filled, clouded with fear. “I’ll be all right. Babies are born every day.”
Travis looked at her, and she saw the change in him as his fear was replaced by a love so overwhelming that her heart missed a beat. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed her against his chest. She clung to him.
“I need you, Crystal. I love you.”
“I love you, too, Travis. And this will be good. This baby will be such a delight.” She leaned back and placed her hands on his cheeks. “Let go of your worries.”
“I’ll try,” he answered grimly.
She stood on tiptoe to kiss him and then smiled at him.
All through supper, Crystal caught Travis staring at her. Once she saw Turtle River watching Travis, and she knew that Turtle River had noticed the undercurrents.
She passed a bowl of steaming carrots and tried to eat what she should. Their baby! Another precious baby. A brother or sister for Jacob. He was toddling now and growing more adorable to her with each stage of his development.
She was filled with a humming excitement, but shortly after they started eating, she noticed Zachary was barely eating. Zachary, not eating? He had waded through the worst of her cooking, chomping down every burned bite. Yet now he merely pushed his food around his plate.
“Zachary?” He looked up. “Is something wrong?”
He glanced around the table and his face turned a deep crimson. “I wasn’t going to say anything until I knew for certain, but I’ve asked Agnes to marry me this summer and I talked to her father again. He said he was pleased with my progress in opening an account at the bank, buying my own mount, and the buckboard and he knew I had built on to my house here on the ranch. He’s going to discuss it with her mother and give me an answer Friday.”
“Oh, Zachary, if it’s what you and Agnes want, I hope her father consents to let you marry!” Crystal said.
“I wanted to wait to tell everyone.”
“This is Wednesday. You’ll know Friday. Friday isn’t far away,” she encouraged him, and Zachary gave her a weak smile.
Hugging her own secret news close to her heart, Crystal forgot about Zachary until late that night when she lay in Travis’s arms. “When shall we tell the others?”
“Not until you are absolutely certain,” he admonished. “One more month—although I imagine Turtle River has already guessed.”
“My husband, I am so happy! Oh, Travis, it’s marvelous!”
He pulled her close and kissed her, but he didn’t reply. Then she remembered Zachary. “Travis, I pray that the Blairs give Zachary their consent.”
“We will know without a doubt by the way he rides up toward the house,” he noted. “We will not have to wonder.”
“That will leave Turtle River more solitary than ever.”
“Turtle River does as he damn well pleases.”
“If you hadn’t needed a mother for Jacob, you would have done exactly what Turtle River is doing. Look how solitary and alone you would have been and what you would have missed in life.”
“Everything wonderful,” Travis said, pulling her close against his chest and showering kisses on her. Crystal clung to him, closing her eyes and raising her mouth for his kisses.
Friday afternoon, Crystal remembered Travis’s words when she heard a gunshot. She went outside, and Travis ran around the house, his pistol drawn.
“Well, hellfire,” he said, tucking his pistol into his belt and placing his hands on his hips. Following his gaze, she saw it was Zachary, riding wildly and waving his hat and yelling. She had to laugh and Travis joined her, shaking his head.
“He will be unlivable until he gets his Agnes married to him and living here. And probably daft for another year after the wedding!”
“He’s in love.”
Travis slipped his arm around her waist. “And so am I. That makes two of us who can’t think straight and forget to do what we should because we’re in love with our women.”
“Is that right? I didn’t know I had that effect.”
“The hell you didn’t! Let’s go inside and I’ll show you.”
“You will do no such thing!” she said, pushing against him. “Here he comes.”
“He doesn’t have to say a word.”
“But he’s going to and you’re to be polite and listen to him.”
“Yes, ma’am, Judge. I hope he doesn’t start in on any of his damned poetry to Agnes.”
“He’s too excited for that.”
Zachary reined in near them and looked down with a wide grin. “She’s marrying me! Agnes is marrying me one month from today!” He gave a whoop and jumped off his horse. “I’ll get to work, but I wanted to tell you.”
�
�Congratulations, Zachary,” Travis said, shaking the boy’s hand, and Crystal hugged him. She was happy for him, happy for herself and Travis. She let her hand slide to her stomach and felt a glow of joy. Their baby. As Zachary rode to the barn, Travis put his arm around her and they headed back to their tasks. She heard Jacob cry.
“He’s awake.” She hurried to the house and Travis let his gaze run over her. She seemed to feel better than he would have guessed possible. She glowed with happiness, but he couldn’t shake his fears and worries.
Several nights later, when Travis came in, she was in her gown and wrapper, knitting a baby blanket.
He picked her up and sat down with her on his lap. Crystal slipped her arm around his neck.
“I’ve been thinking, Crystal. Now’s the time to build that house in town that we’ve talked about. This baby is due in April; we could still have snow. I don’t want you out here where a doctor will have a long ride to get to you or weather might keep him away altogether.”
“We have talked about a house before,” she said, knowing it might be wise to build one because she might have to live in town part of the time when Jacob started school.
“If we could get one built by the holidays, that should be in time.”
She laughed. “I don’t think you can have one built that quickly, but I think you can have one before April. And furniture—”
“We’ll manage,” he said.
“Which means you will bully and bribe some people to get what you want.”
“Is that right? You can’t ever accuse me of bullying you into anything. A little bribery perhaps. Crystal, I remember a promise about paying your way to California—”
“Only if you and Jacob and all our children go.”
“All our children? Oh, damnation, don’t say that now.”
She grinned at him. “Very well, but maybe you should plan on building a sizable house.”
“Little did I know that my life would never be peaceful again.”
“Ah, but it’s exciting, isn’t it?” she asked, tilting his chin up to kiss him.
