She couldn’t help but laugh. “I can’t say for sure yet, but thanks for offering.” She needed to talk to Johnny first, although he’d seemed so smitten with Eloise, he might want to marry her. As much as Rebecca wanted to live close to Johnny, she didn’t want to be in the way if he married and started a family.
They passed two businesses, their doors wide open and their proprietors moving furniture onto sledges. One hitched mules from the Fordhams’ livery to a fully packed sledge, ready to make the trek. Mrs. Horner was right. Folks were leaving for Silver City already, and Ruby City would look far different soon.
In the livery paddock, Madge the mule stood at the fence, as if waiting for Rebecca. Her soft eyes beckoned like the smile of an old friend. Rebecca reached to pat her broad neck. “Hello, sweetheart.”
Mrs. Horner chuckled. “You and that mule.”
Madge stepped closer to Rebecca, as if relishing the contact, but in an instant her ears rotated toward the yawning livery doors. Rebecca turned. Tad strode toward her, scrubbed, changed, his fresh-shaved jaw clenched tight. When he saw her, his steps faltered.
“Rebecca.” He stared at her.
“Hello, Tad.”
Mrs. Horner chuckled. “Y’all act like you haven’t clapped eyes on each other in days, not hours. I’d say a nap would do you both good.”
Indubitably, but fatigue wasn’t responsible for their responses to one another. This was the first time they’d seen one another since that good-bye on the mercantile porch that felt so final. Rebecca pressed her hand into Madge’s rough coat. It gave her something solid to hold on to, tethering her so she didn’t do something foolish, like cry or break her determination to let Tad go and be who he was supposed to be. Will seeing him get easier in time, Lord?
Tad’s gaze fixed on her hand. “I tried to catch a few winks, but there’s too much to do.”
Mrs. Horner shook her head. “I imagine so, with a full jail and a busy day at the livery, too. We saw the folks down the street, headed to Silver City. Looked like some of your animals.”
It was easier to look at Madge than Tad, so Rebecca smiled at the sweet beast. “But not you, Madge? You didn’t much want to go to Silver City a few days ago, did you?”
“She’s going now.” Tad rested a hand on the gate, clearly intending to enter the paddock. “I’m going to fetch Judge Harris. He should be well enough to travel by now, and there’s plenty for him to do here, with the Gang, Bowe and the Andersons, and the annulment.”
The way he said annulment sounded normal, but it felt as if the word had tenterhooks that sunk into the softest parts of Rebecca’s insides and tore at them.
“You didn’t know?” Mrs. Horner’s hand flew to her chest. “Harris got here nigh on an hour ago. He drove right past my house, sitting up in a wagon bed with his leg elevated on grain bags. No need to make the trip, now.”
Rebecca forced the phoniest smile she’d probably ever mustered. “No need to bother him this minute. I’m looking for Johnny, anyway. We have a lot to talk about.”
“We all do. Even you, Tad.” Mrs. Horner took her arm again, drawing Rebecca into the livery. Inside the barn, she released Rebecca and fisted her hands on her hips. “Giff?”
Uncle Giff popped out of one of the farthest stalls. “Jolene—oh, hello, Becky.”
“Hello, Uncle Giff.” She should probably stop calling him that, since he would never be her uncle now. “Is Johnny here?”
“He’s visitin’ Eloise. Sweet on her, ain’t he? Must be in the air.” Uncle Giff winked. “Tad, you aren’t hitching up yet?”
“Mrs. Horner says Harris is back, so there’s no need. She also said we have something to talk about?” It came out as a question. Tad leaned against the side of the wagon they’d taken to Silver City the day they found Dottie. The day she’d wanted Tad to kiss her again.
Those feelings rushed through her veins. Rebecca flapped her hot cheek, hoping nobody thought she was doing anything more than shooing a horsefly. “Are you well, Uncle Giff?”
“Amazingly so.” He moved to stand beside Mrs. Horner, placing his hand on her shoulder. Both wore grins like toddlers who’d been given cones of candy floss. “Jolene and I are getting married.”
Rebecca rushed toward them, arms open. “Congratulations.”
Mrs. Horner returned her embrace. “That’s what the lace will be for, Rebecca! I may be too old for a wedding veil, but I don’t care.”
“You’re never too old. I’ll help you. When is the wedding?”
“As soon as Orr can do the officiating, I suppose. We want things legal before we move to Silver City.” Uncle Giff looked at Tad. “Son? You’re awful quiet back there.”
“I was just waiting my turn, Pa. Congratulations.” He looked tired but happy, hugging his father and Mrs. Horner in turn. “Pa’s a blessed man, Mrs. Horner.”
“Call me Jolene.” She patted his cheek. “I always wanted a boy of my own. Now I’ve got one.”
Tad’s smile was sad. Was he thinking of his mother? Or maybe of the coming changes. Either way, he hugged her again. “Thank you, Jolene. That means a lot to me.”
Rebecca swiped a tear.
Tad shook his father’s hand. “I’m pleased for you, Pa, and I won’t be as worried about you being alone.”
“What sort of fool talk is that?” Uncle Giff’s head hung forward. “You’re still welcome in the house.”
“Of course,” Mrs. Horner insisted. “You’re our boy.”
“Thank you, truly,” Tad said. “But I’m not moving to Silver City, Pa. You know that.”
Rebecca’s stomach tightened as Uncle Giff’s expression hardened.
“It’s Fordham and Son, Tad. This livery is your heritage.”
“Pa, let’s not talk about this right now. This is a happy occasion—”
“It’ll be happier when you come to your senses.”
Rebecca and Mrs. Horner exchanged glances. The desire to defend Tad rose hot in her chest, but he didn’t need it.
“Pa, let’s talk about it later, please?”
“How are you going to be a deputy if you aren’t in Silver City? Everyone knows it’s a matter of time before the county seat transfers there.” Uncle Giff gripped the wagon bed.
“It’s a big county, Pa.”
“Ranching is too big a risk. It could fail and you’d be up to your neck in poor soil and dead stock. Everyone thinks it’s a bad idea. Even Becky here.”
Maybe she should keep her mouth shut, but she loved Tad and that meant she wanted his best. Besides, Uncle Giff was incorrect about her opinion. “I’m sorry, but I disagree, Uncle Giff. Tad needs to do this.”
Tad folded his arms, but the look in his eyes was more amused than irritated. “I do?”
“You have to be who you are, Tad. It might be a risk, but so is starting a new livery in Silver City, Uncle Giff.”
Uncle Giff’s grip on the wagon bed tightened. “If I stay here, I won’t have anybody left to rent rigs and animals to.”
“True, but I think you understand my meaning. I’m sorry. Please don’t let my overstepping ruin your happy day. I’m pleased beyond words for you both, but Tad wants to ranch. I hope you can give him your blessing. And when Johnny comes back, would you tell him I’m looking for him, please? He and I have plans to make, now that I’m not marrying Theodore, and I’m sure neither of us wishes to impose on your family’s hospitality anymore.”
She rushed outside, imagining the angry looks on their faces. She’d apologize later for expressing opinions that hadn’t been sought, if not for the opinions themselves.
Not that she didn’t understand Uncle Giff’s reasons. She’d wanted Tad to conform to her vision of security, too, but that wasn’t fair to him or who he was.
She dashed in Mrs. Horner’s house to—what should she do? Clean? Cry? Was Mrs. Horner upset? Would she want her packed and gone? No, she wouldn’t be as harsh as all that, but Rebecca still fretted. She needed something to occupy her while she waite
d for Johnny. Maybe she should bake something to help with supper. What had Mrs. Horner left on the stove? She found a pot of fragrant lamb stew, gave it a stir, and pulled a mixing bowl from the cupboard. A batch of biscuits would be just the thing to accompany it.
When she finished, she scrubbed the sticky dough from her hands, using her fingernails to scrape a persistent splotch from the ring finger of her left hand, bare of Tad’s ring. Oh, that ring. She must return it to truly be able to let him go. If she went to bed tonight and found it winking at her from the dresser, as it had for the past weeks, the pain would be horrible. It would be best to hand it over and end things, neat and clean.
She mounted the stairs, put on the ring for safekeeping, and grabbed her bonnet. She’d deliver the ring to the county office, since no one at the livery was probably ready to see her just yet.
Her hand was on the doorknob when a knock rapped on the other side. Johnny? She swung the door wide.
Tad stood on the porch, the brim of his beloved Stetson Boss crumpled in his hands, his face lined with torment. “Rebecca?”
Oh no. She’d made Uncle Giff so angry he’d collapsed. Or Mrs. Horner was in tears. “What happened?”
Tad stepped closer. “Is it true, what you said? You’re not marrying Theodore?”
Tad waited, his heart pounding so hard in his throat it was a wonder it didn’t break his neck.
After what seemed forever, she nodded, making her loose bonnet slip backward. “You were right. Theodore and I are not well suited. For all my talk of risks this afternoon, it sure took me long enough to see that I’d taken a few already, and marriage to him wasn’t a risk worth taking. We’d have tried, and we might have grown to be happy enough, but—”
“You both deserve better than happy enough.”
“Theodore does, at least. I think he’ll find it, too.” She bit her lip, as if suddenly self-conscious.
“You were on your way somewhere?” He glanced at her bonnet. “Can I take you, or will you do something with me first?”
Her eyes widened. “What do you need?”
“I want to talk to you about what you said at the livery.” He stuffed his Stetson back on his head. It probably looked awful, the way he’d shredded the brim in his fingers, but he didn’t care. He didn’t care about much of anything right now except getting Rebecca out of the house. He shut the door behind her and gestured at the two horses tethered to the porch.
“Whose are these?”
“I borrowed them, since Solomon and Patches are worn-out. Their given names are Old Sardine and Pole-cat, so don’t get after me for calling them that.” His chest lightened when she laughed.
She patted Pole-cat’s neck. “They’re nice horses.”
“I hope so, because we’re going to ride them.” He stretched out his arms. “I found a sidesaddle, and Sardine seems the tamer of the two, so I’ll ride Pole-cat.”
She bit her lip, but then she stepped into the circle of his hands. She fit so well there that he almost forgot to hoist her into the saddle.
“Why are we riding?” She fussed with her red skirt, covering her legs just so.
He climbed astride Pole-cat and nudged him forward. “I thought it might be a better way to talk than sitting on the porch where everyone can listen in. Come on.”
She urged Sardine into a trot that matched Pole-cat’s, and it wasn’t long before they reached a crest of jagged land dotted with sweet-smelling junipers. He dismounted and reached for Rebecca. “We have to walk the rest of the way. It isn’t far, but there’s something I want to show you.”
She slid into his arms, and this time, he didn’t let go. Her eyes were wide under the brim of her bonnet. “We rode quite a distance for you to tell me everyone at the livery is upset with me.”
“You caused a stir.” At her blanch, he groaned inside. “That is, Pa and I came to an understanding because of what you said.”
“I shouldn’t have meddled in your family business.”
“Sweetheart, you’ve been in the middle of our family business since you stepped off that stagecoach.”
She looked down, somewhere in the direction of the place where he usually pinned his deputy badge. “I’m sorry—”
“Don’t be. You were right about so many things.” He hated to let her go, but he’d brought her here for a reason. His hands dropped from her waist, but then he took her dainty fingers. “Come see why I brought you here.”
“Wasn’t it to argue with me where no one would overhear?”
“Plenty of people have overheard us arguing already.” He laughed.
To his relief, she did, too. The climb was steeper here, and he had to lift her over sharp rocks a time or two. He should’ve thought about what sort of shoes she was wearing, and the pair she wore now had pointier toes and higher heels than the boots she’d worn with her trousers. “You all right?”
“Quite. The view is stunning.”
It was indeed. They looked north over the steep slopes and beyond, miles distant, where a strip of yellow-green valley stretched onward. From this distance, it looked all one color, smooth and flat, but Tad knew up close how the grasses clustered in variegated shades of emerald and gold. A man could stand still among the grass, shut his eyes, and hear nothing but the cluck of quail and the chip-chip-trill of black-throated sparrows, and the sound of his own heart. A heart that beat for the woman beside him.
Rebecca pushed back her bonnet, a habit he’d realized came from wanting to cool her neck, and loose tendrils fluttered around her cheeks. He reached to take one delicate strand and tuck it behind her ear. She flinched and spun to face him.
Now that he’d touched her, he didn’t want to stop. Ever. His hand trailed her impossibly soft earlobe, down the side of her neck to curl around her nape. He smiled, certain that the love in his heart was there for her to see. “I’m not going to be a deputy anymore, Rebecca.”
Instead of smiling, her eyes filled with tears. “Yes, you are.”
Tad’s hand froze at the back of Rebecca’s neck and his lazy smile disappeared, but she couldn’t allow him to quit being a deputy. “You heard what I said at the livery.”
“Every word.” His hand didn’t fall from her neck. In fact, he pulled her closer.
“Then you heard me say you must be who you are.”
“Your blessing means more than you know.” He pulled her into his side so her forehead pressed into his cheek, which made her heart batter her rib cage. “See that grass, a few miles thataway?”
“It’s pretty grass.”
His chuckle rumbled in her ear. “You want me to be who I am? That’s it. Well, not all of it, of course, but several of those acres of grass are my claim, and the cows are on their way to fill it. Old Sardine and Pole-cat are two of the cow ponies that I’m eyeing for purchase. I hadn’t ridden them yet, though. So what do you think? Should I buy ’em?”
That made her laugh, even though her heart squeezed with so much pain and joy she could hardly breathe. “You hadn’t ridden them before putting me atop one? What if they were neck-or-nothing terrors?”
“Sardine’s about as spirited as Patches.” He laughed harder. Then he tucked another errant strand of her hair behind her ear. “I want roots, and that land down there is how I’ll set them down.”
Roots—what she’d wanted all along, but she’d confused them with comfort and material security.
“I even ordered a brand from the smithy, a back-to-back R, because I thought I’d call the spread Ruby Ranch after the town where my life changed. It’s where I met you and married you—and where I fell hopelessly in love with you, all out of order, but I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“You wouldn’t?” None of the frustration or fights or guilt?
“How could I, when it led me to you? I was drawn to you from the first, but I had Rebekah and you had Theodore, and I wanted to be an honorable man. My feelings for you didn’t lessen, though, they intensified—or got worse, as I thought. I fought against it, be
cause of Theodore and your wishes, but somewhere along the way I realized it was too late. I’m yours, Rebecca. I always was. I love you more than my own life.”
She couldn’t hide it anymore. “I love you, too, and that’s why I told you good-bye. I can’t let you give up being a deputy for me. That isn’t love, dictating what you do and who you should be.”
“I haven’t finished my speech, sweetheart. See, right now I have everything I love in sight. My land, my future, and you. Not the badge.”
“But your pa—”
“Of course I love him, too. But the livery is his path, not mine. Besides, while we were out in the posse, I realized how quickly we’d had to move out. When the county office moves, I won’t be accessible to the sheriff unless I live smack in Silver City, which I am confident I’m not called to do. It won’t be hard to replace me. Jeroboam has already made himself comfortable at my desk. You should see him, rocking back in the chair.”
Her fingers covered her lips. “You’ll miss it.”
“I’ll miss the livery, too, and I’ll help Pa from time to time. I’d like to say the same to the sheriff, if he has need of me, but that’s something you and I can work through together, just like we’ll have to work through the challenges of starting a ranch. There will be risk, just like you reminded me a while back, but this is what I want: roots, ranch, and my sweet Rebecca Rice. All those Rs tied up in Ruby Ranch. Will you work with me on every hard thing that comes our way for the rest of our lives? It won’t be easy, but I don’t want to go through life with anyone but you.”
“Tad.” Her fingers moved from her lips to his, her thumb a hair’s breadth from the split Flick Dougherty had inflicted this morning. The man she loved stood before her, offering her a home, a future, and his heart. When she was in Missouri, she’d prayed for rescue and a home of her own. God had provided so much more. “Yes—”
Anything else she might have said was lost to his kiss. At first she feared hurting his lip, but then she forgot about everything. This was nothing like their wedding kiss. His arms pulled her into his chest, where one of her hands pressed against his thumping heart. One of his hands cradled the back of her head, drawing her deeper into his kiss, and her hand copied his, snaking around his shoulders and gripping the soft brown hair that curled at his nape.
My Heart Belongs in Ruby City, Idaho Page 25
