by Caryl McAdoo
How could life be so unfair? Why had Charles moved all the way to St. Louis? He’d claimed he loved Texas and would never go back. Rebecca said he waited a whole month before he lit out.
The afternoon and evening crawled by. She wanted to talk with Levi, find out what he planned. Did he even know? But between gifts and leftovers and him huddling with his Uncle Henry, she hadn’t gotten a private moment since arriving.
Then like someone had flashed a signal mirror letting everyone know she needed time with Levi, they all disappeared leaving just him and her in the parlor. He stood with his backside to the fire, warming himself.
Her inclination, what she wanted to do with every fiber of her being—to throw herself into his arms—proved almost too overwhelming, but she quashed the forbidden embrace and stayed out of reach.
“You heard?”
He nodded.
She eased closer, in case he wanted to hug her. “What are we going to do?”
“Uncle Henry says if we take the stagecoach to Memphis, and a steamboat from there we could be in St. Louis in ten days.”
She inched closer. “Oh, Levi! Ten more days.” The words cut like a dagger to her heart. She wanted all the uncertainty to be over. She stared into the fire. “I can’t believe Charles went back to Missouri. I want to be Mis’ess Levi Baylor, not Rosaleen Nightengale.”
He nodded again. “I want that, too, but we’ve got to do it right, or it will haunt us for the rest of our lives.” He laughed. “Uncle Henry mentioned President Jackson, all the trouble he had over his wife not getting a legal divorce from her first husband.”
Divorce. God hated divorce. It said so right in the scriptures, but how could He want her to deny the love that filled her? How could He let her come to know and so admire this wonderful man then expect her to let him walk away? Hadn’t He been the one who’d watched over her all those years with the Comanche? Then sent Levi to rescue her?
She inched closer then leaned forward. “I love you, Levi, so very much.”
He kept his hands behind his back, but looked like he wanted to hold her as much as she wanted him to. “I love you, too, Rose, and I promise to do whatever it takes.”
“There you two are.”
She jerked back and turned around. The colonel and Miss Sue stood in the door. Rebecca hurried around her parents then pulled a rocking chair up next to the fire.
“I put Charley down in my room. He fell asleep sitting in my lap, listening to Wallace’s stories.” She looked to Levi. “You have got to be more careful, quit taking so many chances.”
“To hear Rusk tell it, I’m ten feet tall, and he’s a shade over nine.”
The colonel slid a wingback overstuffed chair next to the rocker then helped Miss Sue ease into it. “No, his account sounded unblemished, much different than the stories in the papers about you two.”
“He claims he’s a changed man, perhaps he really did find God.”
Miss Sue patted Rebecca’s arm and looked to her nephew “Well, I’m with Rebecca. You boys need to stop running all over Texas and settle down, let someone else take care of things.”
“Well, settling down is exactly what I want to do, Auntie, but before I can, we’ve got to make a trip north.”
“We? Henry told me you were planning on going to St. Louis.” Miss Sue looked from Levi to Rose. “You and Charley are welcome to stay for how long it takes Levi and Wallace.”
“That’s kind of you, ma’am, but.…” She studied her lap. “We can’t stay, Aunt Sue. We’re going with him.”
“Sweetheart, that wouldn’t be proper; you two traveling alone all the way to St. Louis.”
“Charley will be with us, and I couldn’t stand staying here. Besides, I have to face Charles. I’ll beg him to set me free if that’s what it takes.”
“A four-year-old isn’t much of a chaperone. Scripture tells us to abstain from all appearance of evil. You and Levi are going to have enough to overcome as it is. Divorce never bodes well. The whole situation….”
Rebecca rocked forward. “I’ll go with them.”
“So will I.”
Rose turned. Wallace stood in the parlor’s double wide opening, Laura a little behind him. She looked as though she would burst into tears at any moment. Or was that an I’m-about-to-kill-someone look? Rose couldn’t be exactly sure.
The colonel faced Rebecca. “Hold it right there. You can’t go. Your mother needs you here to help with this baby and your sisters.”
Laura stepped around Wallace. “Me and Lacey can go. Maybe I ain’t been no chaperone before, but sure as a hog wallers, I can handle it.”
Miss Sue tilted her head and smiled. “You don’t know what you’re volunteering for, sweetheart. Stagecoaches are horrible things, racing down the road. It’s constantly rocking side to side, and much harder travel than mules pulling a slow moving wagon. There’s no place for a newborn baby to sleep like in a wagon, either. No, you and Lacey will stay here.”
“Mother, they really don’t need anyone to go with them. Since when did we care what the old biddies said anyway? Levi and Rose have already been traveling together for, what? A month or more? What’s another ten days?”
Miss Sue grabbed her belly and faced her husband. “No, there needs to be someone that goes with them. At least five hundred folks are wanting you to run for president—or governor if we wind up joining the Union. I will not allow any scuttlebutt over anything to lessen your chances of winning office.”
Wallace stepped into the room. “There you go, and the captain could take over after the colonel’s done.”
Nodding, Miss Sue continued. “Yes; absolutely. Now see? Levi is ours, and Rose will be, too, soon as this mess gets all straightened out. They need to be above reproach for your sake as much as their own.” She held out her hand, and he took hers. She patted his. “I’ll be fine, my love. The baby’s got another month at the least. Rebecca would be back in plenty of time.”
Miss Sue’s words of acceptance into their family warmed Rose’s heart, but she didn’t want to wait another two minutes, much less two more weeks. She still couldn’t understand why Charles had to move away. She closed her eyes.
“Oh, Lord, help me stand it.”
Rebecca stood and smoothed her skirt. “We’ll be going through Memphis, won’t we? I can stop by to see Grandfather. We could probably all spend one night there. Could you write him a letter, Mother?”
“I’ll be glad to. I’ll tell him if not on the way there, maybe you can pay a visit on the way back.” She clasped her hands around her unborn. “I know these two probably don’t want to wait any longer than they have to.”
Clearing his throat, Wallace smiled. “So it’s settled then. In the morning, Levi and I will go first thing and book passage for four, plus Charley. I suppose they charge for children, don’t they?” He turned to Rebecca. “How soon can you ladies be ready?”
She looked to Rose. “Would you prefer a few days of rest?”
Oh, how she would love that; she hated the thought of being on the road another two weeks. But more than her comfort, she wanted her destiny decided and healing for her heart—Levi’s, too.
No chance for that even existed until they could be together, rightfully before God and the world. She wanted to belong to him forever, but that could never happen while married to another.
“A few days here would be so nice, but whatever it takes, I want to get this over.” She turned toward the colonel. “Might there be one that leaves tonight?”
The man she hoped would soon be her uncle grinned. “Noon tomorrow’s the next one.” He faced Levi. “I’ll take you all in the morning, no need to make a special trip.”
“What if it’s all booked up?”
The colonel laughed. “Not a problem. You’re part owner in the Clarksville Belle.”
“When did that happen?”
“Last year. Seemed to me like a good investment. Come home more often, and you’ll find out all kinds of interesting infor
mation.”
Rose loved the relationship Levi had with his uncle and would have enjoyed listening to them talk all evening, but Becky stood and ushered her and Laura out as though it had been prearranged for Levi and Wallace to have time alone with Aunt Sue and Uncle Henry. No doubt they wanted to convince him what a mistake he was making.
He owned interest in a stage line. Levi loved it. No telling what all he, or rather his money, had gotten involved in. Henry pulled the parlor doors together from their hiding places in the wall then returned to his seat next to Auntie. He faced Wallace. “I got you a piece of the Belle, too.”
“Thank you, sir. I knew it was a smart move to let you manage my little daub of money.”
Sue leaned over and patted his hand. “It’s more than a daub now. We appreciate you watching out for our Levi.”
His partner laughed. “More the other way around.”
“Enough of that.” His uncle-dad faced him. “You sure about Rose, son?”
“Yes, sir. I love her.”
His aunt rubbed her big belly. All women must do that, maybe because it’s so uncomfortable to be stretched like that. He couldn’t imagine. “What about the baby, sweetheart? It won’t be easy with so much prejudice.”
He stood and walked over behind her then gently massaged her shoulders. “With Charley for a big brother, and me for a daddy, the baby will be fine.”
“No, no, dear. I’m talking about you, not the little one. How are you going to feel about having a half-breed?” The only mother he’d ever known rolled her shoulders into the pressure. “Oh, you always had such a touch.”
“Auntie, Rose didn’t run off, she was stolen, and I’ll love that baby as much as Uncle Henry loved me and Beck.” He looked to his uncle. “How could I not?”
Sue patted his hand. “Well said. You’re certainly a grown man, and without a doubt, you have our blessing. I’m so proud of you and thrilled that you’ve found true love.” She looked at Henry and squeezed his hand. “Of course, it’ll be our pleasure to throw you two a big wedding. The girls will all love that. What do you think? Mid-spring? The wild flowers will make a grand setting for a beautiful prairie ceremony.”
Levi laughed. “That’s a bit longer than we’d want to wait.”
She twisted around in her seat and faced him. “But you’ll have to, dear. It wouldn’t be proper to marry so soon after Sassy, I mean Rose, divorces Nightengale.”
Chapter
Thirty
The matched pair of blacks pulled the enclosed buggy away from the house. They was about as fancy as any horses Laura ever saw. She hated watching it go though; the pretty princess riding off in her Cinderella carriage.
Stealing Laura’s Texas Ranger right there under her nose. Of all the nerve. Should of been punkin orange, not a boot black even darker than the two stallions hitched to it.
Tears escaped and ran down her cheeks. She swiped them away, glancing around to make sure no one saw her cryin’. It weren’t fair. She’d gone and done everything but get down on her knees and beg him not to go.
She hated the Prissy Missy Rebecca and her sweeter than honey smile and her oh so micey nicey ways. Probably still had all her teeth, too.
It were enough to make a body downright sick. How could a person be that happy and sugary all the time, every minute of the day? It just weren’t right.
Laura wished she and Wallace never of come to the high and mighty Buckmeyers. Iffin she only knowed the truth ahead of time, she would of done talked Wallace out of it, no matter what it took.
Now she couldn’t talk him out of nothing. He’d done gone and met his dream girl. How could she ever compete with the likes?
The grand lady-of-the-house’s petticoats ruffled as she strolled toward her. Laura didn’t want to smile, didn’t feel at all like makin’ friendly—what with everything going on.
Still, her ma always said two wrongs never made a right. She faced the captain’s auntie and showed her choppers. Might not of looked much like a good smile though. How could it?
Her life were ruined, and now she’d never get married. Who’d ever want her and her half-breed baby? Little Lacey would never have a daddy.
The woman stopped beside her and wrapped her arm around Laura’s waist. “It isn’t over, sweetheart.”
Although she heard them encouragin’ words slip past Miss Sue’s lips, she didn’t believe a one of them. Of course it were over. What female in her right mind could resist Wallace Rusk?
Other than the captain hisself, her ranger were about the finest kind of man ever drawed a breath in the whole Republic. Unable to end the dreadful tears, she wiped more off her cheeks.
“Miss Sue, Wallace told me he were dreaming about the captain’s sister for years, and.…” She looked to the perfect face of her baby girl. “Why would he want me after he done seen her? Your gal—she’s about the most beautiful lady in all of Texas I s’pect, maybe the whole world.”
The older lady rubbed her belly from top down to the bottom then lifted it. How many times had Laura done that exact same thing? She never would of thought to have something so simple in common with a woman so grand.
At the same time, she squeezed Laura’s waist with her other arm.
Miss Sue laid her head over on Laura’s shoulder then laughed real soft like. “I know Wallace Rusk would be a fine catch for any young lady, dear, but there’s always the possibility Rebecca might not choose him for whatever reason. Why, no fewer than twenty eligible bachelors have come calling since she turned sixteen, but she’s not picked one yet.”
A smile started in her heart, but didn’t quite make it to her mouth. The carriage drove out of sight. He didn’t even look back at her or little Lacey Rose to wave or nothing.
Wallace never should of laid his peepers on that better-than-everybody-else gal, and Laura were being special nice ‘cause a whole lot of more uglier names to call Rebecca raced across her mind.
“But was any of them suitors a brave and famous Texas Ranger that were so good looking you had to use a crow bar to pry your eyes off him?”
Miss Sue smiled. “I can’t recall any rangers at all, but some powerful good-looking young men have hoped to court our Becky.” The grand lady eased over and sat in a high-back willow chair that rested next to the wall.
Looking just like a queen on her throne, she patted the one next to her inviting Laura to sit. “And think how much gumption it took for them to get past her daddy? My Henry can be very intimidating.”
She joined her and tickled Lacey who grinned the sweetest little grin she figured any baby ever did. Were right nice to sit and chew the fat on the fancy porch early of a mornin’.
Could thangs go her way? Her own smile made it after all. “Sure as a rooster crows of a mornin’, I’d hate the colonel bein’ upset with me, but Wallace don’t seem to worry about it much. Not that Mister Buckmeyer would get upset. Seems to treat my Wallace like he were his own kin.”
The lady laughed and nodded. “Yes, Henry’s been known to do that. But I’ve been on the receiving end of my husband’s wrath a time or two.”
But she prob’ly spit back more’n were throwed her way. Laura smiled at the thought of Miss Sue standin’ up to the colonel. She didn’t figure the lady were scared of nothing.
“Anyway, the reason I said it wasn’t over is that there’s one thing you can do that I believe will make a big difference in how Wallace sees you.”
“Really?” Laura gave the woman her whole ‘tention. “Is it a secret? Can you tell me what it might be?”
“Well, we are Texians, and live in an untamed country, but we still speak the King’s English. Henry’s mother taught English at a college in the east, and my Daddy—he lives in Memphis—is a judge. So we grew up with it. Have you been to school at all, sweetheart?”
Laura looked to her lap. “Went a few times, but I mostly stayed home and helped my Mam and Pap.” She looked back up into the woman’s eyes. “Miss Sassy were teaching me to read some though, a
nd Wallace even learned me a bit.”
“That’s wonderful.”
“Yes, ma’am, but see, my pap—he didn’t cotton much to us young’uns skipping out on chores to go sit in no schoolhouse all the day long.” She looked up. “What king, Mis’ess Buckmeyer? Mister Sam Houston ain’t no king, is he?”
She smiled and patted her hand. “No, no, dear. He’s our president, but when someone speaks of the King’s English, they’re referring to the King of England.”
“England, English. That makes sense.”
“Although I suppose the Queen’s English might be more appropriate since Queen Victoria is the reigning monarch now, and she’s barely older than my Rebecca. Can you imagine such a thing?
“Anyway, you and I will start at the beginning, and if you’re as smart as I think you are, a month will make a big difference. Are you willing to work at it?”
“Oh, yes, ma’am! Hard work never made me no never-mind. Pap always said I could hoe two rows to them lazy no counts’ one.” She sat back. “I’ll do anything if you think it’ll make a difference to my Wallace.”
Rose loved it, spending a night in a fancy feather bed and now riding in a grand buggy pulled by two high stepping black stallions. If only.…
She stopped herself and focused on Levi and Charley. The captain’s littlest partner sat on his lap with his arms folded across his chest staring out the window. She smiled.
Her boy would get over not wanting to leave all the Buckmeyer girls, but not taking him just wasn’t an option. It may be the only time he would ever see his real father.
Oh, Lord, don’t let Charles make a fuss over the boy.
What would she do if he did? Images of Levi jamming his big pistol in her husband’s face danced across her mind’s eye, but she tossed it aside and refused to continue thinking along those lines.
No such thing would happen. All would go fine. And just like Levi advised from the beginning of all this, she simply would not borrow trouble. She had enough guilt gnawing at her most the time.
