An Inescapable Attraction

by Sydney Jane Baily

  "Damn straight," Dan agreed. "Sorry for my language, Bel."

  They settled in for some of her delicious coffee, and Thaddeus found her as easy to talk to as Dan ever was.

  "Where did you grow up?" Thaddeus asked, cramming another piece of cake into his mouth and brushing the crumbs onto his plate.

  "Denver."

  He hoped he wasn't picking at a scab by asking questions. "Why'd your parents leave Spring?"

  "Pa needed to go to Denver for a job, though my mother didn't want to leave. She still misses Spring City."

  "What made you come back after all this time?"

  Belinda laughed. "Same reason my dad made us leave. For a job. Aunt Jessie needed help at Fuller's. I love it. Everyone is so nice, in particular the owner."

  Thaddeus knew whose name she'd bring up next.

  "Miss Prentice," Belinda continued, "though she insists that I call her Eliza. What a sweet lady."

  Dan spluttered his coffee onto the table. And Thaddeus swallowed his too quickly, scalding the back of his throat.

  "Danny!" Belinda scolded and jumped up to get a dishtowel.

  Thaddeus locked eyes with his friend, who returned the look with an exaggerated eye roll.

  "I didn't believe Bel either until I went in for pie and had a heaping helping of Eliza's kindness."

  Belinda mopped up the mess, making tut-tut noises.

  "Why are you so determined to paint Miss Prentice as a spoiled, temper-tantrum throwing brat?"

  "Because she always was," Dan said. "Only person who could ignore it was Riley."

  Thaddeus sat up straighter and stiffer. He should have been here to protect her, befriend her, and take the brunt of her temper—especially when, for the way he'd treated her that night in his barn, he was the one she ought to have been angry at her entire adult life.

  "Her temper never bothered me," he said, feeling better for speaking up for her.

  "Cripes!" Dan exclaimed. "I thought she was one of the reasons you left. To get away from the Prentice irritation."

  Thaddeus shrugged. "No. Truthfully, I missed her more than anyone."

  Now, why had he confessed that? Probably because Dan was being so hard on Ellie and because Belinda was leaning her head on Dan's shoulder, looking so tender and loving. Thaddeus wanted that for himself. He'd experienced something like it more than once during the time he'd traveled with Ellie. She was the one woman he could imagine spending his life with, and he was going to proclaim it right here, right now.

  "I'll tell you something more, Dan. I love her. The real reason I left Spring was because she got engaged to Riley, and I couldn't stand the sight of them together."

  "Well, I'll be." Then Dan's face went slack, and he swallowed hard. He and Belinda exchanged a furtive glance, after which Belinda squeezed Dan's arm and nodded encouragingly at him. Dan stared hard into Thaddeus's eyes and looked for all the world as if he was about to be hanged.

  "Eliza has changed her personality some, that's for sure. But I have to tell you something. Something important. Not that I've noticed or that I'm looking or anything."

  His cheeks turned bright red. "Rumor has it—but it's not really just a rumor because, you know, anyone can see with his own eyes—she's with child." He whispered the last words as if saying them too loudly could cause an explosion.

  Thaddeus nodded, unable to stop the cheerful smile from spreading over his face. "I know. It's mine."

  Belinda and Dan both exclaimed aloud. Then she recovered first. "But that's wonderful! You're back in Spring City, and Miss Prentice is here. Neither of you are attached."

  "Are you?" Dan interjected.

  Thaddeus grunted and shook his head. "Not since I laid eyes on Ellie a few months back." No need to mention that he'd never been attached to anyone else before her either.

  Dan leaned forward and said seriously, "Stop beatin' the devil around the stump and ask that girl to marry you."

  Belinda clapped her hands and added more gently, "Yes, go tell her how you feel." Then, in a voice scarcely audible, she added, "We're trying to have a baby, too."

  Dan blushed from his neck up to his hairline.

  Thaddeus ignored her last remark because he could see quite clearly that Dan didn't want to discuss his marital machinations. He looked at Belinda Freeman, however, and decided she would be his ally if he needed one.

  "I asked Ellie to marry me yesterday, and she showed me the door. I think she still sees me as the shiftless drifter who ran out of Spring and never looked back." Not to mention a skirt-chaser, if he recalled Ada's comment correctly.

  "Is she right?" Belinda asked, fixing him with a perceptive stare.

  "No, ma'am. I've changed, but I don't know how to make her see that."

  "Where would you live if you married her?" she asked.

  He shrugged. That had been on his mind that very morning. "My house, I guess."

  Dan slapped him on the shoulder playfully. "If you're going to ask a woman to share your life and your home, you better have a place to keep her."

  He gestured around him at the set of rooms they lived in above the store, as if it were a palace. And by the way Belinda glowed, Thaddeus could see it made no matter to her where they lived, but Ellie was different.

  Dan caught his eye and added, "If you don't mind my saying so, your old house is a bit run down. Maybe you could fix it up a bit and then ask her again."

  Dan might be right about that. He remembered Ellie's harsh words for Riley's house and how she'd never intended to live in it.

  "I'll do that," he said, making his mind up to start immediately. At least it would give him something to put his mind to besides fretting over Ellie. The security of knowing he had a large payment coming in from his copper mine had left him at loose ends with too much free time and too little to do.

  "You both know Miss Prentice better than I do," Belinda said, bending her napkin around and around her fingers. "Do you think she'd mind if I called on her? Not as her employee, but as a woman friend?"

  Dan shook his head, while Thaddeus smiled.

  "Yes, I think she'd like that."

  Dan gaped. "But she never had no female friends."

  "About time then," Belinda said, not being put off one bit. "Besides, despite having my Danny here, I'm a bit lonely for the friends I left behind in Denver. Miss Prentice and I are roughly the same age." She looked at Thaddeus hopefully.

  "You have nothing in common," Dan grumbled.

  "I think she'd enjoy your company," Thaddeus said. "Danny can't keep you all to himself."

  In fact, the more Thaddeus considered it, the better he liked the idea of Dan's Belinda becoming Ellie's friend and showing her how delightful marriage could be.

  He started at once on his house. It wasn't a home, and he sure as shootin' didn't know how to make it into one, fit for Ellie and their child, but he aimed to try.

  First, he swept from top to bottom and from inside out. Then he sat for a while and wondered what to do next. He considered sending a telegram to Charlotte, asking her advice. But then he realized he'd never seen his sister do much cleaning or caretaking, either. Maybe it simply wasn't in their blood.

  He went to Fuller's Hotel, looking at Ellie's vacant front porch as he passed. Jessie's restaurant, inside the hotel, was always spick and span. She'd know what to do to clean a house and get it ready for a lady.

  He wasn't expecting her to put her hands on her hips and laugh at him.

  "Really? Thaddeus Sanborn wants to nest?" she mocked.

  "Shush, please, Jessie. Don't be so darn loud about it."

  "It wouldn't be because you've fallen for a certain birdy who already has an egg to lay?" She laughed again.

  He felt himself go red in the face and nearly turned on his heel to leave, but he needed her help.

  "Just give me some pointers, Jessie. I can handle the carpentry." Or could he? He could swing a hammer and just about hit a nail, though he'd never measured and sawed wood, but how hard could it
be? "I need to know what to do to clean. After sweeping, that is."

  He must have looked desperate because she took pity on him and got serious. "All right, come with me. We'll go to the mercantile, and I'll show you what kind of soaps and oils to use to get that place in apple pie order. You'll need paint, too, right?"

  "Ur, right." Paint. He hadn't even noticed what color the house was, inside or out.

  "What condition are the rugs in?"

  "Rugs?" Did it have rugs?

  She stared at him. "Hm, let's start with the cleaning. Then you can worry about the rest of it later, I suppose."

  * * *

  Eliza woke up the next morning feeling antsy. Thaddeus's appearance at her window the night before had reminded her of their younger years, and all her feelings for the wild young man he used to be rushed back, blending with her desire for the man he'd become.

  With difficulty, she'd shut the window on him and turned her back. Lying awake, she'd imagined how it would be if he'd succeeded in climbing the trellis and slipping into her bedroom. More than anything, she wanted to kiss him and run her fingers through his thick chestnut-colored hair.

  She longed for his touch on her skin, torturing herself with memories of the last time they'd lain together. At Charlotte's house, she'd ridden him, though he'd guided her hips, and then he'd rolled her under his taut body and filled her. And given her a child.

  It would be easy to give in and say yes. But if she put her faith in Thaddeus and he ended up spending his days smoking cigarettes and playing cards, and his evenings in Ada's saloon drinking whisky, she'd want to shoot him. And what about the baby?

  Groaning at the early morning light and her own tortured musings, she got up and dressed. Going downstairs, through her beloved house toward the kitchen, she could hear Mrs. Longwood making breakfast. She paused in the sitting room, picturing Thaddeus on the sofa, feet up on the table, drinking coffee, reading, with her beside him doing the same.

  When they were traveling together, spending endless hours on Lucky, they'd surprised each other with their similarities; he'd even pulled out an identical tattered copy of Mr. Twain's Tramp Abroad from his bag that she had in her own.

  She frowned. Jack Stoddard must have taken hers, she realized, when he'd stripped her on the boat and taken her things. As easily as she'd lost her book, her dream dissolved before her eyes, and doubt trickled down her spine.

  What if Thaddeus got bored with her? That had never been a problem before, but that might have been because they were always running for their lives or jumping off a riverboat. She wouldn't be doing any of those things in her present condition or after, for that matter, not with a baby in tow. Of course, they could play a friendly game of cards. She loved beating him at faro or poker. She loved... him.

  It would destroy her if one morning, he got the urge to hop a boxcar and decided he couldn't take a wife and child with him.

  Eliza might have spent the entire day driving herself crazy, despite Mrs. Longwood's best attempts at distraction, except Belinda Freeman showed up mid-morning. She offered a smile and some rich chewy molasses cookies and professed a need to chat. Bemused, Eliza invited her in, sat her down, and listened.

  For some reason, even though Belinda was a married woman and around the same age, Eliza had thought of her as a girl. Most likely, it was due to seeing her working at the restaurant, all bright-eyed and smiling, just as happy to mop floors as to serve food.

  In her home, at her table, Eliza realized Belinda was bright and innately cheerful, and for some reason, she'd sought out her company. The specter of Charlotte infiltrated Eliza's thoughts as she poured their tea. What had Charlotte said: It was nice to have a friend to go shopping with. She'd been quite right.

  Here in Spring, it would be nice to have a friend other than Mrs. Longwood.

  An hour later, when Belinda rose to leave, Eliza couldn't help saying, "I'm so glad you stopped by."

  "Me, too." And Belinda took her hands in her own. "If you need anything, you let me know. I know your housekeeper is an excellent cook, but I love to bake, so holler if you have a sweet tooth emergency."

  Eliza smiled. "I'll do that. And if you need anything—" Good gracious! What could she offer? She paused uncertainly.

  Belinda nodded. "Getting to know you and being welcomed into your home means the world to me. Next time, you can answer some questions I have about the people in town."

  Then an impish smile spread over her pretty face. "You've known Danny all your life. Maybe next time we visit, we can have a little chat regarding the men folk."

  Another quick squeeze of the hands and she was gone.

  Eliza hummed to herself, pleased that Belinda had indicated they would have another get-together. Then Eliza shook her head: Danny! Never had she thought of solid Dan Freeman as Danny. And what did Belinda mean by "men folk"? Did Belinda know of her history with Thaddeus?

  With a flush of embarrassment, she considered Thaddeus and Dan's close friendship. Would Thaddeus have told Dan anything? Did people already know who the father of her baby was? Because for certain, everyone seemed to already know she was expecting—if the way they stared at her stomach first, then smiled at her face second was any indication.

  That was all right, though. She wasn't ashamed at having a baby though she knew she ought to be. In the earliest days, fretting at Charlotte's, Eliza had feared she'd be an outcast. The townsfolk could so easily have humiliated her and pointed out how far she'd fallen, having a bastard. They hadn't. So rather than shame, she felt excitement and anticipation. For the first time in her life, she was doing something worthwhile.

  Still, the next time she saw Belinda, she'd ask her what people already knew and what they were saying. Meanwhile, she decided to pay a visit to the doctor. Her questions were piling up mighty quick. Were her breasts supposed to become tender as they were, and why was she suddenly desperate for Jessie's lemon cake when she'd always despised citrus?

  Eliza took a leisurely stroll down Main Street to Dr. Bell's. No one was in the outer office, no friendly Miss Taylor to greet her. That wasn't surprising, given it was noon, and she'd already found out that Marie liked Jessie's turkey pie midday. Just as she turned to leave, Eliza heard a noise in the back room and noticed the door was ajar.

  Probably Dr. Bell was cleaning instruments as Riley always used to do. Pushing it open, she gasped at the sight.

  Thaddeus stood, unclothed to the waist, with Dr. Bell seated in front of him, clasping one of his hands, while her other hand rested on his naked torso. Her head was bent over the hand she held, and he was looking down at her.

  At Eliza's entrance, he'd ceased to move though his fingers were outstretched as if he was about to run them over the doctor's glossy red hair.

  Even as his surprised gaze swung her way and before the doctor lifted her head to see who had barged in, Eliza backed out with a mumbled apology.

  She fled the practice, unsure what she'd seen, thinking she heard Thaddeus call out her name. But deep inside, fear coiled like a vicious snake—fear that Thaddeus was already smitten with the beautiful new lady doctor.

  After all, it had taken only a single encounter for Riley to fall for Sophie Malloy. True, he'd fought his attraction for Eliza's sake because he was the most honorable man she'd ever met. In the end, however, even he had succumbed to his desires. And one terrible day, he'd sat in public with Sophie, sharing a meal at Fuller's restaurant, embarrassing Eliza beyond words.

  Obviously, no one in town knew of her brief association with Thaddeus, except for Mrs. Longwood, so it wasn't embarrassment she felt. No, it was nasty, painful jealousy mingling with the fear that she wasn't enough for Thaddeus Sanborn.

  Unthinkingly, she found herself ducking into the feedstore, catching sight of Dan who was standing behind the counter with a stack of papers and who gave her a puzzled smile. When was the last time she'd set foot in his store?

  Nodding in greeting, she pretended to examine the various types of grain he k
ept in large burlap bags. Inside of her, utter turmoil reigned, making it hard to catch her breath.

  "Can I help you with something, Miss Eliza?" She looked up to see Dan's bemused expression as he wandered over, and she let the handful of seeds filter through her fingers back into the bag.

  "Actually, I came in to thank you for tending my gardens. Mrs. Longwood told me you did, and I'd like to compensate you for your troubles."

  "Oh, no," he said, a bashful smile crossing his attractive face. "No need for that. I did it for the love of the land, Miss Eliza, plus you can see your backyard from the deck out behind the store. It's just the way the land angles away. I hated to stand here day after day and watch it all go to hell... uh, I mean, heck."

  He paused. "Do you want to see your yard from the deck?"

  "Um." No, she didn't particularly want to, but then a shadow fell across the window. Thaddeus, with his shirt back on, walked along the sidewalk, craning his neck and scanning the street. Was he looking for her?

  She did not want to meet him in the middle of town and have another heartfelt discussion. Wouldn't everyone see as easily as Mrs. Longwood had how much she cared for him?

  "Yes, Dan, I would." She grabbed a hold of his arm and half-dragged him to the back of the store.

  They looked at her well-kept garden. "You really did a splendid job," Eliza said. "Oh, I had a lovely visit from your wife today. It still seems so strange that you're married," she added.

  "Don't I know it," he agreed, and his eyes sparkled at the mere mention of Belinda. "And it's strange, too, that you're going to have—"

  Eliza's lips formed a perfect "O" at the same time as he cut himself off, his own mouth gaping open in horror at what he'd started to say. They stared at each other in mutual mortification until the bell on the door rang, indicating another customer. She could only pray it wasn't Thaddeus.

  "I... uh... I'm sorry," he whispered.

  Just walk away, she prayed.

  "My mouth has a mind of its own," he continued, backing away from her. "Or maybe it needs one. One of us does, me or my mouth." He turned and bolted.