A Kiss for Cade

by Lori Copeland

  Patting the child on her head, Cade grinned at Zoe. “On second thought, I’ll sleep with the boys. Your bed is a little short for me.” He eyed Zoe. “And a little cold.”

  “Uh-uh,” Missy said. “It’s wawm…weal wawm.”

  Zoe lifted a brow. Sleep with the boys? That quick, and he’d moved in. Taking her for granted, never thinking she might have enough on her hands as it was. She didn’t like it, but there was no point protesting. She was outnumbered.

  “No one would get any sleep if you slept with the boys.”

  Cade grinned. “What a dilemma.”

  Zoe threw a dirty towel on the table. “Jim kept a cot in the mercantile. He favored naps. For tonight only, you can sleep there. Be careful. I keep my mother’s figurines close by.”

  Brody smiled. “We ain’t allowed to play near them cause they cain’t be bought again. Ever.”

  “On account we might break something,” Will clarified.

  “A tiny cot?” Cade asked.

  “There’s the floor. Take your pick. You’re only going to be here one night.” She strode past him, speaking in a low tone. “Don’t get too comfortable.”

  After dosing the children with castor oil to ease their bellyaches, Zoe rounded up an extra pillow.

  Leading Cade to the cot, she warned again, “Be careful of my figurines.”

  He glanced at the assortment of delicate angels, swans, and butterflies sitting on a table to one side.

  “I heard you.”

  “Just so you understand.” She closed the door. A second later she heard something hit the floor. Clamping her eyes shut, she held her breath before yanking the door open.

  Cade was down on his knees in front of the counter with the broken lid to the pickle jar in his hand. “I’m hungry.”

  Slamming the door shut, she went to bed.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Fierce wind battered the old store with the force of a gale. Cracks of lightning lit the room. Zoe got up several times to put vinegar on the fretful children’s sunburned shoulders. She tried to stay calm, but the store’s worsening financial situation upset her.

  Sporadic thunderclaps shook the tiny rooms. She heard can goods falling off the store’s shelves. It had been years since a storm like this had raged through Winterborn. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a limb split off the huge oak in the backyard and slammed against the porch. Butch howled and scratched incessantly at the back door, wanting to come in. Romeo’s meows escalated to frantic yowls. She couldn’t remember spending a more miserable night.

  Around four o’clock, nerves frazzled, she finally fell exhausted into bed.

  She’d closed her eyes only a moment when a clap of thunder roused her. She was barely aware of Missy sliding out of bed and whispering something to Holly. The two girls left the room, and Zoe dropped into a deep sleep.

  Toward dawn she rolled over and found Missy’s side of the bed empty. She shot up and noticed that Holly was missing.

  Donning her robe, she glanced out the window toward the outhouse. Maybe they were still sick. She groaned when she saw that the outhouse door had blown off and half of the back fence was down.

  Alarmed, she stepped into the kitchen, and her heart leaped to her throat when she saw that the boys weren’t on their pallets, either. “Brody! Will! Holly! Missy!”

  She ran through the kitchen and opened the door to the mercantile, coming to an abrupt halt when she saw Cade, the kids, Butch, and Romeo clustered in a heap around the cot, all sound asleep.

  Her hand went to her throat when she saw Bud, the children’s pet tarantula, out of his jar and perched in the middle of Cade’s chest. Missy must have taken off the lid again.

  Zoe stood for a moment, uncertain what to do. She could let Cade wake naturally and…no, that was plain mean. She’d wake him quietly without disturbing Bud.

  Tiptoeing to the cot, she whispered, “Cade.”

  He opened one eye and smiled at her. He opened the other eye and came face-to-face with Bud. Jerking upright, he flailed his hands at the tarantula, knocking it into the center of the room.

  Stunned, Zoe couldn’t believe how quickly a man could vacate a cot. Before she could explain, he was chasing the creature around the room, trying to smash it with stocking feet.

  Butch sprang to life, barking and leaping over the end table. His tail caught two of the figurines and sent them to the floor with a crash. Romeo yowled and shot like a streak across the room.

  The girls scrambled toward Cade, hanging onto the seat of his long johns. Missy squealed, “Quit dancing, Uncle Cade! You’we scawing Bud!”

  Cade shouted, “Bud who?”

  “Bud, the bug,” Zoe yelled.

  “The bug?” Cade ceased prancing and dropped into a chair. Running a shaky hand through his hair, he let out a breath. “That thing is a pet?”

  Sickened, Zoe slumped to her knees, staring in despair at her broken figurines. She should have known to put them away.

  Brody and Will raised sleepy heads. “Is it still storming?” Will asked.

  Missy ran to Bud and scooped him into the jar. Screwing the lid on, she looked at Zoe. “Did the stowm scawe you too, Wed?”

  Zoe struggled to keep a straight face. The very idea of Missy calling her “Wed”! She finally burst out laughing, slapping her hands on her knees. “No, Sunflower. The storm’s over. I just wondered where you all were.”

  Once the excitement had died down, Zoe carefully picked up the broken pieces of a swan and a butterfly.

  “I’m sorry about your figurines,” Cade said, stooping to help.

  “It’s my fault. I should have put them away.”

  “I’ll buy you new ones.”

  “Don’t be silly. They’re irreplaceable.”

  Zoe kept her eyes averted. The sight of him in his long johns distracted her more than she cared to admit. Who would think a man in his underwear could evoke such provocative feelings, even if he did look silly in stocking feet? “The storm was pretty bad. The backyard has a lot of damage. I haven’t looked out front yet.”

  The children scampered out of the room and ran to the back door. Will hollered, “The outhouse is tore up.”

  “There’s a big tree limb in the yard!” Holly said. Zoe and Cade joined the children, surveyed the damage, and then they walked back to the front of the store, where Cade opened the door.

  “What’s it look like?” Zoe asked, trying to see around him.

  “Looks like I’ll be sleeping on the cot a couple more days.”

  “Why?”

  Her first glimpse of Main Street answered her question for him. The jail’s roof had been blown off and was now perched on top of Woodall Thompson’s sycamore tree. Surrounding businesses had missing shutters, and the street was strewn with signs and boards. Ben Pointer and Sons was stuck in GloriLee’s window box. Mayor Willis, in his nightshirt, surveyed the carnage.

  Cade called to him. “Anybody hurt, Lawrence?”

  Zoe was mortified when she saw Lawrence glance up and do a double take at Cade standing at the door in his long johns and her in her robe.

  Lawrence glanced away. “Not that I know of. Is that you, Cade?”

  Cade stepped back. “I’ll be out shortly.”

  Lawrence shook his head. “No hurry. Take your time.” Frowning, his eyes slid back to the long johns.

  Appalled, Zoe yanked Cade back inside and slammed the door. “Why didn’t you explain?”

  “Explain what? That I slept on the cot in a mercantile with four kids, a dog, a cat, and a tarantula?”

  Wheeling, she marched to the kitchen, knowing the incident would be reported all over town before breakfast.

  By eight o’clock, the sounds of hammers and saws rang up and down the street. According to Lilith, it would take days for the town to return to normal.

  Missy shot in the back door, dancing on her tiptoes. “Uncle Cade, I gotta go.”

  Cade glanced up from his breakfast plate. “Go where?”

>   Zoe dished two eggs out of the skillet and put them on Brody’s plate. “She needs to use the outhouse.”

  “It don’t have no doow on it. Evewybody will see me!”

  Cade scraped his chair back from the table and got up.

  Zoe frowned. “Your breakfast will get cold. Can you wait a moment, Missy?”

  She hopped on one foot and then the other. “Noooooooo! Now!”

  “Give me just a few minutes, Sunflower, and I’ll have you back in business.”

  Missy skipped out behind him, and the screen door banged shut. Zoe carried Cade’s plate to the warming oven. Raising the window for some air, she paused with her hand in mid-motion when she noticed Cade stripping off his shirt. Powerless to look away, she stood frozen to the spot, drinking in the sight of his muscular back glinting in the morning sun. Sinewy cords rippled as he lifted the heavy outhouse door into place. Seeing him this way brought back memories of the night that had changed her life forever.

  She smiled as Missy held her hands between her legs and jumped on one foot. Cade hoisted Will up on his shoulders to get the fallen limbs off the roof of the outhouse, while Brody and Holly hammered nails into a cross board on the door. There was no denying it. Cade loved the kids. Zoe nearly laughed out loud when he set Will down and chased him around the outhouse. Cade was a kid at heart.

  Family. This was her family now. Her smile faded when she realized their child could have been helping repair the outhouse. How old would the child be? Almost sixteen? Approaching adulthood, almost the same age Cade had been when he left. She quickly looked away, swallowing the lump crowding her throat.

  Missy’s impatience grew. “Huwwy, Uncle Cade! Huwwy!”

  Cade grabbed a hammer and started pounding. “I’m hurrying, Sunflower—can’t you use the bushes?”

  Zoe grinned when she heard Missy’s indignant, “No!”

  In a few minutes, the outhouse door had been repaired enough for Missy to seek relief, and within an hour nearly all the broken limbs had been cleared from the yard. Brody, Will, and Holly worked like beavers alongside Cade, while Missy issued orders with the gusto of a cavalry officer.

  Around noon, Cade stuck his head in the kitchen doorway and called to Zoe, “I’ll be at the jail.”

  She glanced up from the ironing board, her gaze meeting his and catching until she smelled a scorched odor coming from the chemise. She quickly folded the garment and put it back in the dirty clothes basket. “Are the children going with you?”

  “They’re going to help Lawrence Willis clear Main Street.”

  “Tell them not to get in the way.”

  “You tell them. Missy would court-martial me.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Crossing the street, Cade spotted Pop standing in front of the jail assessing the damage.

  “Boy, wind took her off slick as a whistle.” Pop stared, hands on hips, at bare rafters where once the spare room had been. “Ain’t got the money to build it back proper-like.”

  “The town doesn’t have the money for a new roof?”

  “Nope. Never thought about having it blown clean off,” Pop confessed. “Suppose we’ll just do enough to keep the jail dry and not worry about that room overhead. Hardly ever used it anyway.”

  “I was sleeping there,” Cade reminded him.

  Pop’s eyes widened. “You weren’t in there during the storm, were you?”

  “No. By then, the bunk was so wet that I stayed the night with the kids in the mercantile.”

  Pop chuckled. “The kids?”

  “Zoe wasn’t crazy about the idea, but she let me sleep on a cot.”

  “Women. They can be merciless, can’t they?”

  Cade stuck Pop’s hammer and nails in his back pockets, and then he grabbed a rung of the ladder leaning against the building. “Round up a couple of extra hands to help me put on a makeshift roof before it rains again.”

  “You got time to do this?”

  “I’ll have to pick up Pearson tomorrow.”

  “Hope they got him in an ice house. You be sure and remind Mooney that Hague’s death’s on his record, not mine. Don’t let him pull one over on you.”

  “Not many men pull one over on me, Pop.”

  “I’d go myself, but I got more troubles. I broke out in hives. Can’t quit itchin’.”

  Cade nodded, noting the angry red patches on Pop’s face. “What did you eat now?”

  “Hard tellin’,” Pop said, scratching his hip.

  “Maybe the Pointer boys will help with the roof. If you’ve got a minute, can you get them for me?”

  Pop hurried off, and Cade climbed the ladder. His “brief” stop in Winterborn was getting longer every day.

  Toward dark, his head was throbbing from the ring of hammers driving nails through wood. Signs had been reattached to storefronts and broken windowpanes replaced. It was gratifying to see small children lugging wooden carts through town, picking up scattered branches and other debris. Brody and Will piled their cart high, and then they hauled it to the end of town and dumped it.

  The jail had a roof again, though it was nothing to brag about. The salvaged shingles were old and would probably leak like a sieve. The overhead sleeping space had been torn down and used to patch a hole in the town hall.

  Cade returned to the general store that night sunburned and with blistered hands. The aroma of frying chicken scented the air. When he opened the screen door, a fly buzzed past him.

  Zoe jammed her fists to her hips. “Where’d that fly come from? I told you kids to watch that back door!”

  “Don’t blame the kids. I let it in.”

  “Well, shut the door before we have a houseful. I suppose you’re hungry.”

  “I’m worn out, and I don’t feel like going over to GloriLee’s.” Cade watched her eyes soften, and he knew it was a dinner invitation.

  “Wash up. Supper’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

  Missy raced around the table and pulled out his chair. “Aftew you wash youw hands, Uncle Cade, you sit by me.”

  He stepped toward the sink as Zoe moved away from the stove. They bumped hips. She spun to face him.

  “Sorry,” he muttered.

  He sat down at the table and removed his hat. Holly had buttered his corn and poured him a glass of milk. “Thank you, sweetheart.” His gaze focused on Zoe’s as she slid a pan of biscuits out of the oven and carried it to the table. She still had that little wiggle when she walked.

  Taking her seat, Zoe reached for Brody’s hand and bowed her head. “Holly, I believe it’s your turn.”

  “Dear Lord, thank you for this good food. And for Zoe letting Uncle Cade sit at the table. Amen.”

  After grace, Zoe passed the biscuits while Brody doled himself a hefty portion of potatoes. “When are you going to teach me to shoot a pistol, Uncle Cade?”

  Will grinned. “Me too.”

  Spooning string beans onto his plate, Cade could feel Zoe’s eyes on him. He knew how she felt about guns, so the subject was a delicate one. “You both need to be older before you shoot a pistol, but I’ll show you how to handle a shotgun.”

  Zoe ladled gravy over her potatoes. “At their age, why do they have to know how to shoot any gun?”

  “They need to know, Red. Boys turn into men. Men feed their families.” He winked at the males.

  Zoe passed the butter. “I saw that.”

  Grinning, he reached for another biscuit. “Remind me to have a discussion with you about men being men.”

  Without looking up, she said, “I know about men being men.”

  He bit into his chicken. “What is it with you and guns?”

  Brody craned his neck in Cade’s direction. “Ma said she’s been like that ever since Jim got shot in that bank holdup.”

  Cade switched subjects. “You gonna eat all those potatoes? Pass a few to me.”

  Seth Brighton was mending harness when Cade drove into his barnyard early Wednesday afternoon.

  He swung down from
the buckboard, and the two men shook hands.

  “Well, I declare. Cade Kolby.” Seth grinned from ear to ear. “We heard you were back.” The man’s eyes moved to the pine box lashed to the wagon bed. “What you got there? A man with a price on his head?”

  Cade fell into step with the younger man as they walked toward the house. A couple of towheaded kids played in a dirt pile near the back.

  “It’s Hague Pearson. He was shot and killed in Suffox County. I’m picking up the body for Pop.”

  Seth shook his head. “That’s too bad. Hague never caused no trouble around here. Kept to himself.”

  “That’s what I hear. By the way, one of your hogs was out. A couple of your boys helped me chase it back into the pen.”

  “That’d be Eddie Lee and Bruce. They’re a big help. Storm blew the fence down, and the hogs got loose,” Seth said as they climbed the steps to the porch. “Sure was sorry to hear about John and your sister. They were good people.”

  “Yes, they were.”

  “Say, I’ll bet you’re parched. How ’bout a glass of lemonade? Got some cooling in the spring.” He raised his hands and called to one of the kids, “Jimmy! You go on down and fetch the lemonade!” He turned back to Cade. “For a boy jist gettin’ over the measles, he can run like the wind.”

  “I can’t stay, Seth. The business in Suffox County took longer than I thought, and I still have one more stop. I’d like to get back before dark, but I wanted to talk to you.”

  “Then maybe we’ll just sit in the shade a spell.” Seth ushered him to a chair on the side porch. “Sue Ann,” he called, “you run in and check on your mama.”

  Seth settled in the seat next to Cade’s. “Guess I know what you’re here about.”

  “Pop said you and your wife were interested in taking in Addy and John’s children.”

  “We sure are. That’s a fine bunch of kids. John and I were friends a good many years.”

  Jimmy returned with a jug. He sat it down and ran up on the porch to stand in front of Cade. “Are you Will and Brody’s uncle who shoots bad guys?”

  Seth took the lemonade and set a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You go on back and play, son. Your pa’s talking business.”