Cowboy Pride

by Lacy Williams

  Now Papa squeezed her shoulders. "Thank you for what you've done for the store—for our family."

  It was the first time he'd ever said so much, and warmth suffused her. "I love you, Papa."

  He squeezed her again. "With Lydia married off and Janie to marry Mr. Bingley, it will take less earnings from the store to support our family. Which means you might consider getting married yourself. There's no one who's caught your fancy?"

  The laughed a little desperately, thinking of Rob and how her assumptions had ruined everything. "Papa—"

  A shrill voice ringing down the boardwalk interrupted her.

  "You! You little conniving—"

  Liza whirled to see Maisey striding toward her. What in the world? She glanced over her shoulder, but there was nobody behind save a few folks outside the general store, which was several blocks away.

  Was Maisey talking about her? Conniving?

  What?

  "Excuse me—" Papa started.

  Maisey didn't even take a breath. "Tell me it's not true."

  Liza knew her confusion must be etched on her face. "What's not true?"

  "I heard a rumor that you've become engaged to Rob Darcy, and I know it's an outright lie."

  The words were a blow directly to Liza's middle. She felt as if she couldn't breathe. If she hadn't been so stupid, she could've been married to Rob by now.

  "I know you started the gossip—"

  "I have never heard anything about it!" Liza cried.

  "Rob is supposed to marry my Priscilla."

  Liza flinched, only hoping after the fact that neither Papa or Maisey noticed.

  "I heard the disturbing rumor and came to hear you confess that you'd spread it—"

  "I did no such thing," Liza said. "And surely you traveling all this distance to confront me has exacerbated the rumors, not quelled them." Had the woman traveled all this way just to confront Liza? Why would she do that?

  Maisey's face went purple.

  "I don't know who you are, but I don't like your accusations against my daughter," Papa said.

  Liza felt bolstered by his statement. When Edna had leveled her accusations again Janie, Papa had been silent.

  "Your daughter is a conniving—"

  "Stop!" Liza said. A woman had come outside and stood on the boardwalk, staring at them. The folks who'd been at the general store had wandered closer, no doubt curious to find out the newest gossip about the Bennett family.

  Papa and Maisey both turned surprised glances on Liza at her outburst.

  "I am not engaged to Rob," she said. The words cut her throat like glass.

  Maisey inhaled deeply, smug satisfaction crossing her expression. "And will you promise to refuse him if he asks?"

  Liza inhaled fire, lungs aching and full of smoke and brimstone. Not at the woman's audacious demand, but at what she'd lost. "I won't. And I think you've insulted me enough. Good day."

  She turned to retreat inside the store, only then realizing that Mr. Collins and Charlotte stood in the store doorway, wide-eyed.

  "Excuse me." She brushed past them and darted to the back stairs.

  She slammed into the apartment. Inside, Mama and Janie looked up from their sewing project—something for her wedding gown, no doubt.

  Janie put down her needle and fabric immediately. "What's the matter?"

  "Nothing." Liza rushed for her bedroom.

  "Liza…" came Mama's voice behind her.

  "Leave me alone!" she shouted, slamming the bedroom door behind her.

  And then when she couldn't hold them back any longer, she dissolved into tears.

  She wasn't engaged to Rob, and she never would be.

  * * *

  "…and then Maisey called Liza a conniving something. I was too far away to hear all of it."

  Rob wasn't one to abide gossip. But the mention of Liza's name brought his head around in the small church, cutting of the conversation he’d been having with Charlie as they’d walked toward the exit.

  He'd missed three Sunday services in a row thanks to a bunch of growing calves and the branding his herd had demanded. They'd pushed the last of the cattle to be sold to the Sheridan train station just yesterday. Even with a good night's rest, he was exhausted.

  And desperate for any news of Liza.

  Had the speaker been talking about his Liza? Charlie waited in the doorway to the sanctuary, but Rob ignored his foreman for the time being.

  He glanced at the woman who'd spoken. Charlotte Collins, the woman whom Liza had come to Sheridan to help.

  Rob waved Charlie off and sat on the empty pew near them, hoping to overhear more. The Sunday service had wrapped up nearly a quarter hours go, but several families still stood inside the little church building, conversing with neighbors and friends. Spring was a busy season for the farmers and ranchers, and they had to take every opportunity for human conversation instead of bovine.

  "I was shocked to see her in Calvin at all," Charlotte went on.

  Maisey had gone to Calvin? To what purpose?

  "She said she'd heard some rumor that Liza was engaged to Rob—"

  His heart leapt.

  "—but of course Liza denied it."

  And fell again.

  He'd seen Nathan only four days ago and expected a letter any day announcing Nathan's happy news. He was confident his friend had been able to win Janie back, and he wanted an invite to the wedding.

  "I have an idea that Priscilla started the rumor, if there even was one. You know she's tired of her mother's meddling..."

  If he could get close enough to speak to Charlotte, he could discover a clue as to whether Liza's feelings for him had changed. But he didn’t move. He’d never been one for eavesdropping, and doing so now made him feel like a lovesick school boy. Maybe he could pass Charlotte a note when the teacher wasn’t looking.

  He knew he was a fool, but the knowledge didn’t get his rump off the pew.

  "And then Maisey demanded Liza say she'd say no if Rob ever asked for her hand" Charlotte’s voice dropped—"and Liza refused."

  At this, he stood, whirling and clutching the back of the pew behind him. Stunned.

  Charlotte caught sight of him and flushed, lowering her eyes as if she hadn't just been gossiping about the woman he loved.

  If Charlotte's gossip was to be believed, Liza wouldn't refuse him if he proposed again.

  Pulse thudding in his temples, he mashed his hat on his head and tipped it to Charlotte. He couldn't help grinning.

  Her eyes widened, and no doubt he'd just given her something else to gossip about.

  He didn't care.

  He had to get to Calvin.

  To Liza.

  To find out for himself.

  Chapter 27

  That same Sunday evening, two days after Maisey’s scene on the boardwalk, Liza set the table while Janie checked on her pie for the fifth time.

  William and Charlotte had only stayed for a single day, Charlotte anxious to get the baby back home.

  Liza hadn't slept well, her mind whirling with thoughts of Maisey and her accusations and whether Rob wanted to marry Priscilla after all.

  Probably Priscilla wouldn't reject his suit.

  Mama and Janie had tiptoed around her, but now both were distracted by Nathan coming to supper.

  The train whistle blew, muted from the edge of town, as Liza dusted behind the counter, and she closed her eyes against an onslaught of pain and memories.

  Janie flitted around, adjusting the cushions on their tiny sofa and then leaning over Liza's shoulder to check on the roast she'd pulled from the oven. The pie cooled on a rack on the counter.

  When the knock came and Janie opened the door, a tall figure stood behind Nathan on the landing.

  Rob.

  He'd swept his hat off, and his hair was rumpled and a little crazy. What looked like his Sunday suit was wrinkled, and one lapel was askew.

  Her stomach swooped. She nearly dropped the dish but managed to push it o
nto the stovetop with shaking hands. She clutched the towel between her hands.

  He watched her over Nathan's shoulder, his eyes burning with an intensity she didn't know how to read.

  Nathan brushed a kiss across Janie's cheek. "I hope you don't mind another guest at the table. I ran into this cowpoke on the boardwalk. He'd just arrived on the evening train." The men exchanged a glance.

  And of course Janie was a consummate hostess. "What a lovely surprise. Come in, both of you."

  "I hear congratulations are in order," Rob said. His smile for Janie was genuine and held no hint of the doubts he'd expressed to Liza so long ago.

  Liza turned her back on them for only a moment, attempting to compose herself.

  Her heart was racing with hope and love, and there Rob was, standing with Janie and Nathan, making small talk.

  Voices on the landing preceded Mama and Papa and Kitty, who were arriving from an afternoon visit to friends across town.

  Liza pasted on a smile as she carried the roast and vegetables to the table.

  With Lydia gone, their dinner table had felt larger. Now, with Nathan and Rob joining them, the entire room felt as if it had shrunk like a piece of tanned leather.

  Liza ended up across the table and one seat over from Rob, who sat between Papa and Nathan. Papa struck up a lengthy conversation with Rob about his land and the family's heritage in Sheridan County.

  Janie was careful to include Liza in conversation, but she couldn't have said later what they’d talked about.

  She felt too anxious to choke down much food and had no idea what it tasted like.

  She was aware of every glance Rob sent her way. The pointed intensity of his gaze never wavered, though he held his own in conversation with Papa and even teased Nathan several times.

  And as Janie rose to fetch the cherry pie she'd spent an hour getting just right, Rob leaned back in his chair, hands clasped over his midsection.

  And something touched her foot beneath the table. His boot?

  Pulse pounding in her temples, she dared glance across the table at him.

  "…had twins,” he was saying to Papa. “I've got my foreman bottle-feeding one of them because the mama rejected it."

  The man wasn't even looking at her.

  But was that tiny smile playing at the corners of his mouth for her benefit? Or for Papa's?

  His boot slid along the side of hers, a slight pressure that told her the touch wasn't coincidence after all.

  And her heart continued to hammer.

  The pie was eaten, though Liza mostly used her fork to push hers around on her plate.

  And then the men were standing. Rob was leaving.

  "Take a stroll with me?" Nathan asked Janie.

  She nodded.

  And Nathan turned a friendly gaze on Liza. "Come with us, Liza. You can keep Rob company."

  "You don't have to go with him if you don't want to," Mama muttered behind Liza's back as she carted two plates to the sink.

  Liza’s face burned.

  Something passed between the men again, a glance.

  Liza didn't care. She rose from the table trying to steady her wobbly knees. "I'll get my shawl."

  * * *

  Rob touched the small of Liza's back as their boots hit the bottom step before the boardwalk.

  He'd felt a strange mix of anticipation and urgency sitting in her family's apartment. Sort of like the feeling he'd had getting ready to get on a bull for the first—and only—time at a cowboy competition.

  He wasn't unaware of the covert glances and appreciative, shy sparkle in Liza’s eyes. That, plus what he'd overheard this morning, had his hope flying as high as a boy's kite.

  It was pure luck he'd run into Nathan as he'd been making tracks from the train station to Liza's home. It had only taken a few sentences to get Nathan on board with wrangling an invitation for him to supper and a request to walk out with the two women.

  That her mother disliked him was obvious, but he couldn't find it in him to care.

  He was with Liza.

  And she wouldn't say no to his proposal.

  Hopefully.

  If he didn't muck it up again.

  "Would you…?" He extended his elbow, and a wave of relief and warmth rushed through him when her small hand slipped in and rested in the crook of his arm.

  They wandered down Main Street as evening fell, the sun streaking the sky with orange and scarlet hues. The boardwalks were empty, all the businesses closed for the evening. Even the saloons at the end of the thoroughfare. He allowed Nathan and Janie to outpace them. He didn't particularly want an audience for what he had to say.

  "I'm sorry," he said, then fumbled his words. "I meant to come sooner, but with the end of spring calving and then branding and the cattle sale..."

  Her head tilted, and she slanted a glance at him. "As I understand it, you've been busy tracking down my little sister and helping her wedding along."

  He grimaced. "I should've known she wouldn't be able to keep a secret."

  Liza grinned. "Yes, you should've." She paused. "Thank you."

  He frowned. "It was what she wanted, but I hope it wasn't a mistake."

  "And thank you for whatever you said to Nathan that inspired him to propose."

  He shook his head. "That was mostly Nathan. He’s a fool over her."

  "My mother is delighted by both events."

  He chose not to respond to that.

  Liza slanted another glance at him. "I'm sorry she wasn't very welcoming tonight."

  He'd have sat on a fire ant hill in the hot summer sun if it meant Liza would smile at him the way she had at supper.

  "I overheard something interesting after church services this morning," he murmured. "Mrs. Collins was telling a story about Maisey. And you."

  She colored, averting her eyes. Finally, she said, "Yes, she was here."

  His heart was racing, but he couldn't quit now. Nathan and Janie were far enough ahead, and they didn't notice when he stopped and turned to face Liza. He took both her hands in his.

  "I'm sorry if she was unkind to you, but what Mrs. Collins said has given me the deepest hope." He inhaled deeply. "If your feelings for me remain what they were in May, stop me now. I won't say another word."

  He let the pause linger between them, was gratified when she only gazed up at him with shining eyes.

  He let go of her hands to clasp her waist gently. "My love for you is even stronger now than it was then. I still want to marry you, if you'll have me. Brownie misses you. I miss your smile at all hours of the day. I can't promise that I'll always know the right way to woo you or the perfect words to say, but my love for you will never fail."

  Her smile turned tremulous, and she took a deep breath. "How could I refuse a proposal like that?"

  Joy thrilled through him, and he lowered his head to take her lips in a sweet kiss. Emotion wracked him, and he broke off the kiss but hugged her close.

  Her hands went behind his neck, and she threaded her fingers into the hair at his nape, sending fire down his back straight to his gut.

  "I've regretted my response to your first proposal every day," she whispered. "Can you forgive me for my callousness?"

  He squeezed her waist. "I could've handled things better."

  Her chin moved against his shoulder. "You'll have to speak to my father."

  Anticipation and dread mixed again. She was worth the trouble.

  "Janie and Nathan are getting married two weeks from today," she said. "Perhaps we should make it a double wedding?"

  He grinned. "Done."

  Epilogue

  "Mama will be upset about the rain," Janie said softly.

  They were the only two in their bedroom, so there was no worry of being overheard. They'd rushed home after the Sunday morning service to don the dresses Mama had splurged on. Rob and Nathan waited at the church with their wedding guests.

  Liza caught Janie's eye in the looking glass as she checked that her hair hadn't c
ome out of the braided bun Janie had so carefully designed and grinned.

  "Will you miss Mama fussing over you?" Liza asked.

  Janie considered the question, her head tilting slightly. "Maybe a little."

  Mama's hovering had been even more persistent in the two weeks before the double wedding. Rob had stayed overnight with Nathan that first night but then had to return to Sheridan. He'd arrived on yesterday's train and spent all afternoon with the Bennetts.

  Liza had apologized to Rob on more than one occasion, like when Mama had attempted to make a four-course meal, most of which had been inedible.

  Rob had borne it with a patient smile, and when she'd brought it up again on a private walk, he'd kissed her to distraction and reminded her she'd be far away from Mama soon enough.

  Janie's lips quivered slightly. "I can't believe you'll be in Sheridan."

  Liza turned to her sister, reaching for her hand. "It's not so far. We'll come down for Christmas. Maybe sooner."

  Janie sniffled. "And Nathan and I can come to you."

  "See? It'll be fine. Besides, Nathan is so besotted with you that he won't allow you time to be lonely for me."

  Janie giggled. "I never knew it was possible to be this happy."

  "Shall we return to the church before the men wonder if we've changed our minds?"

  Janie nodded. "Let me check your skirt once more."

  Liza whirled, the pale blue fabric she'd chosen for her wedding gown floating around her.

  "It's perfect," Janie said.

  "Now you."

  Janie turned, the pale pink gingham hugging her slender curves in all the right places, the skirt flaring around her ankles.

  "You're beautiful," Liza said.

  Janie clutched her hands. "Promise you'll write once a week."

  Liza laughed. "I'm not sure I'll have that much news to share. I expect Rob won't make me cross quite that often."

  He'd felt badly about the ranch calling him away in light of their engagement and had returned with a stack of letters hand-delivered. She'd only had time to read two before exhaustion had overcome her last night. She couldn't wait to read his words of love in the rest.

  She pulled Janie through the bedroom door, where Papa and Mama and Kitty waited to walk with them to the church.