"No, it's from Floyd Pitts." He removed the coat and tossed it over the back of the sofa. "He's the one who tried to choke you. The man has the brilliance of an unlit candle. When Mortimer told him to get Regina read to travel, he panicked over the idea of losing the money he'd been getting for taking care of her."
"I'm sure Mortimer didn't pay him all that much. He's so selfish."
"It was enough, evidently. Lach had told him about you and that it was because of you that Mortimer wanted to get rid of the girl. So he got the brilliant idea to kill you. Never occurred to him or his wife that Mortimer would no longer have a reason to pay them."
"Oh, my. You're right. He isn't very smart."
"Didn't someone say they had other kids?" Franco asked.
"Yes. They have half a dozen they were fostering for pay. Fat pigs, both of them, while the kids were thin as toothpicks."
"Oh, Garrick, how awful," Cady said. "Did you kill him?"
"No. He tried to knife me though and ended up cutting himself. The marshal in Curdy's Crossing has him locked up."
He played with her hair, sniffing it and rubbing it over his lips. "Lach is in jail too. He followed us and tried to kill us. We caught him, and he confessed to shooting me."
"Good to know," Franco said. "How did you get him?"
"We had better luck than he did. A mile short of the town, I returned fire, and the bullet broke his leg. Sam slung him over his saddle and we turned him over to the marshal."
Cady rubbed her hand over his shoulder. She couldn’t seem to stop touching him. "I'm not surprised about Lach. I always sensed something evil in that man."
Garrick leaned over and kissed her.
"I'm eager to get back to Regina, but I need to know you didn't start your wound bleeding again." Cady laid her hand tentatively on Garrick's injured side.
"You're welcome to examine it." He reached for the buttons on his shirt.
Cady slapped his hands away. "You don't need to strip naked."
She pulled his shirt tail and undershirt from his pants and checked the bandage. "No blood. Let's go see Regina now."
"Sure." They wandered back into the kitchen where the little girl was still stuffing herself with pancakes, cookies and whatever else Henri could find.
"Regina," Cady cried. "You're being a pig."
"But it's so nice to have good food to eat, Cady."
Struck at once with guilt for forgetting how the Pitts had starved the children, Cady knelt and hugged her. "Of course. Just don't make yourself sick."
"I won't. I promise."
Cady regained her feet, only to be drawn into an embrace by Garrick. "I've been thinking. What do you say we find those kids better homes? "
"Of course." Cady loved the idea. "We can canvas the people here in Wildcat Ridge for anyone willing to adopt or we could find their parents and make them stand up to their responsibility."
Garrick shook his head. "Mrs. Pitts said they were orphans. Relatives were paying for a couple of the kids, the town for the rest."
"Then we'll find them new homes. I bet Mr. Moon would run an ad in the Ridge Weekly for us."
Alma came in from the other room and leaned against the work table. "You're talking about what to do with the children Regina was with? I wish I could take one of them, but I doubt they allow women like me to adopt children."
Sam cozied up next to her and whispered, "They might if you were a married woman. I happen to know a man who'd like to have you for his wife."
Alma snorted at that. "Who?"
"Me."
Alma gaped at him. "Sam, are you serious?"
"As a bullet. Will you marry an old lug like me and raise a family with me?"
The others present broke into applause.
"Do it," Leda shouted.
"Yes, Alma." Mae hugged Franco to her side. "Marry him."
"Very well. Yes." Alma threw her arms around his neck. "Yes, Sam. I'd be honored to marry you."
Whoopie!" Mae cried. "We can have a triple wedding."
Sam embraced her. "Honestly, Alma? You'll marry me?"
"I said yes. At first, I was afraid of you, but I always thought you were a good-looking man. The better I got to know you, the more I liked you."
As if afraid she'd break, Sam bent and kissed her. "Thank you. I've never been happier."
Everyone encircled the couple, congratulating them.
"Cady?" Regina said, putting down her fork. "Are you getting married too?"
"Yes, darling. I'm going to marry Garrick and you'll live with us until the day you get wed."
The little girl went over to study Garrick. "Okay. He's nice. We'll be like family, huh?"
"That we will," Garrick assured her. "And someday we'll have babies and be an even bigger family."
"Yay! I'd like that." Regina jumped up and down in excitement before remembering the cake Henri had just given her. She rushed back to the table and forked off a bite.
Garrick led Cady to an isolated corner. "Are you glad I'm back?"
"I couldn't be happier than I am this minute."
"Even if I were to kiss you?"
She cocked her head, a sassy smile forming on her face. "I won't know unless it happens, now will I?"
"Then I'd better do it." He lowered his head and kissed her. When they broke apart, he said, "Now, are you happier?"
"Maybe if you do it about a thousand times more," she said, reclaiming his lips with hers.
Epilogue
One Year Later, Wildcat Ridge, Utah Territory
"Cady, you're getting fat. Like Aunt Mae," Regina said, a look of censure in her eyes. "I'm not sure either of you should eat Thanksgiving supper."
"Is that so?" Cady laughed and the others at the table joined in.
Franco, Mae, Alma and Sam had all come to share the holiday with them at their new house on the hill.
Regina's brow furrowed. "Yes."
Garrick looked at his beautiful wife and winked. A soft smile played on her face. She looked so serene and content, he wanted to kiss her. Heck, he was always wanting to kiss her. A year of marriage hadn't changed that.
Cady met his gaze, forked up the last bite of goose on her plate and chewed. "Mae, you did such a good job on the goose. It's delicious. And moist. If I'd cooked it, I have no doubt it would've been dry as toast."
"I have a secret recipe," Mae said.
"Well, isn't she fat, Uncle Garrick?" Regina persisted.
"No, Poppet, although she is getting rounder, like Mae. I suspect they'll become even bigger before we see them slender again." He chuckled and winked at Cady again. "Get used to it. I plan to keep her in this condition."
Cady almost choked on the bite of mashed potatoes she'd just taken. "Is that so?"
The others at the table chuckled but his wife didn't look pleased. Garrick decided not to pursue that line of conversation.
"Why isn't Leda here?" Regina asked, pushing a carrot off her plate.
"She's in California now." Cady reached over and forked the carrot back onto the plate. "She has a new job there. I invited her to join us, but she said it was too far to travel in winter. I think she's gotten spoiled already being where there's no snow and she's not eager to re-experience it."
"But snow is so fun," Regina said.
Sam helped himself to a second helping of potatoes. "I like these almost more than the goose. A man can always shoot a goose, but he can't mash potatoes."
He cast a tender look at Alma. "I'm glad I have a wife who makes really good ones."
Alma grinned, her cheeks pinkening a bit.
"Mashed potatoes would be easier to prepare than the dessert waiting in the kitchen," Garrick pointed out.
"Dessert I plan to eat two pieces of," Cady said.
"You'll get fatter." Garrick winked at her. The others laughed.
Regina stood, a pout on her small face. "You treat me like a baby. What's so funny about Cady being fat?"
"They aren't laughing at you, sweetheart," Cady exp
lained. "You're right, I am getting fat. But it's because I'm carrying a baby inside my tummy."
"A baby?" The little girl's eyes widened.
"Yes." Cady curled her fingers in a come here gesture. "Put your hand here."
Regina slid off her chair and went to put her hand on her sister's stomach.
"Oh!" She snatched her hand back. "What was that?"
"That's the baby kicking inside me."
"Why is it kicking you? Doesn't it know that's naughty?"
"You must have made it angry," Franco teased.
"Stop it." Mae gave him a light slug.
Sam slipped an arm around his wife. "I hope Alma and me have lots of kids."
"We'll see," she answered.
"Mae, you should let Regina feel your stomach." Franco reached over and demonstrated. Mae would be giving birth any day now. Cady not for two more months.
"Ignore Franco," Garrick told the little girl. "He's only teasing you. And the baby kicks to exercise his limbs. He's too young to know it's naughty. After he's born, he'll need you to teach how to do things like walk and talk."
"Borned? Like Molly and Rooster's kittens were borned?" Excited now, Regina felt Cady's belly again.
"It's sort of like the kittens."
Regina's brow furrowed. "I thought people babies were found under cabbage leaves."
Laughter rattled the room.
"Who told you that?" Garrick asked.
"Mrs. Pitts."
"Well, I suspect she simply didn't want to discuss the subject with you. Babies grow from seeds planted inside a woman."
"Who plants them?"
"The father does."
"You mean Rooster did something to Molly and that's why she had kittens?"
"That's right."
Still laughing, Sam looked at Alma who sat next to him. "We're getting quite a lesson here. Are you listening? Might be useful later."
She frowned at him.
Regina pinned Garrick with an accusing glare. "Are you the father of Cady's baby?"
"Yes, Poppet, I am, and proud of it."
Cady stood up from the table. "This discussion is getting rather personal. Why don't you ladies help me with the dishes while the men pretend to smoke those awful cigars? Then we can have dessert by the fireplace."
"Good idea." Franco tossed his napkin on the table and stood, patting his own abdomen. "I think I'm fatter now after that wonderful meal."
"Do I havta help with the dishes?" Regina asked.
Cady glanced at her. "You're a lady aren't you?"
"No. I'm a little girl. They don't do dishes. They just play."
"Well, since I have other help tonight, I'll let you off the hook," Cady told her. "But don't get the idea that your ruse will work tomorrow."
"Okay." Regina rose and took her plate into the kitchen.
With the baby coming, Garrick had decided the flat over the photography shop no longer had enough room. Sales were going well, not only of his photographs but also of Cady's portrait drawings. Hence, the new house.
For Garrick, tonight was a break in routine. He usually dried while Cady washed. Joining the men in the parlor, he passed out cigars instead.
"Hey. What is dessert?" Franco called out.
"Yes, what are we having?" Sam asked. "Since this is Thanksgiving, it should be real special, right?"
"I hope it's punkin pie," Regina shouted.
Franco shook his head. "Apple's better."
Mae peered at them from the doorway. "That's not what you said about my cherry pie last week."
"Uh, oh." Franco busily lit his cigar.
"Regina, would you like to pass out the pie?"
The girl took the two dishes Mae held out. "Yay! Punkin."
"Sound good to me." Garrick motioned for her to give the treats to Franco and Sam. She did and then scamper off to the kitchen for more. "Do I get mine next?"
"Yes. Here it is, and this one is for Uncle Garrick." Cady gave her the dishes.
"He gets lots more than me."
"That's because he's a lot bigger than you."
Mae and Alma joined the men, bringing their desserts with them. Last, Cady sat next to her husband.
"Delicious, sweetheart," Garrick said.
She kissed his cheek. "Thank you."
"It's real good," Regina said, "but I'm trying to figure out how Uncle Garrick put those seeds inside you."
Cady glanced over at her husband, a soft smile on her face. "Very skillfully, Poppet. Any more discussion on that topic will have to wait until you're older."
"Why?"
"Because it's complicated and we have guests tonight who don't need to hear it."
"Oh." Regina concentrated on her pie for a while. "Will the baby be a boy or a girl?"
"We won't know that until it's born," Cady said.
Regina frowned again. "How will that happen?"
Cady reached over and flipped a strand of hair out of her sister's eyes. "You'll find out in about two months when the baby is ready to join the world."
Blowing out a frustrated breath, Regina set her empty dish aside and pulled Rooster into her lap. "I don't think I'll grow up. It's too complicated. I'm gonna stay a kid."
About the Author
Charlene likes to say she began her fiction career in the third grade when she told the class, during Show and Tell, that a black widow spider came down from the garage roof and bit her (non-existent) little sister to death.
After two years of college as a fine arts major, she moved to Utah, planning to wow the world with her watercolor landscapes—until her sister introduced her to romance novels. After that, instead of creating pictures with a paint brush, she's done it with words. She also designs book covers.
Originally published by Kensington in the ‘90s, Charlene is now an Indie author. Her books are all western historical romance, except for one unpublished contemporary fantasy. It’s a frog princess story about a man napping beside a pond. He awakens when a frog jumps on his chest. The frog kisses him. Suddenly, he has a naked medieval princess sprawled over him. Charlene has a vivid imagination and a romantic soul.
Please excuse her now. A husky whisper is coming from a dusty, shadowed corner of her office. Someone long, lanky and lascivious lurks there, beckoning to her. She has no intention of playing coy.
Visit Charlene on Social Media
Website
https://charleneraddon.com
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https://silversagebookcovers.com.
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http://www.amazon.com/Charlene-Raddon/e/B000APG1P8
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author/show/1232154.Charlene_Raddon
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Upcoming Releases
The following are the books of The Widows of Wildcat Ridge in order of their release:
Book 1 Priscilla, by Charlene Raddon
Book 2 Blessing, by Caroline Clemmons
Book 3 Nissa, by Zina Abbott
Book 4 Gwyneth by Christine Sterling
Book 5 Dulcina, by Linda Carroll-Bradd
Book 6 Josephine, by Kit Morgan
Book 7 Thalia, by Charlene Raddon
Book 8 Eleanora, by Pam Crooks
Book 9 Garnet, by Caroline Clemmons
Book 10 Grace, by Tracy Garrett
Book 11 Rosemary, by Kristy McCaffrey
Book 12 Clair, by Kit Morgan
Book 13 Cadence, by Charlene Raddon
Book 14 Diantha, by Zina Abbott
Book 15 Hazelann, by Linda Carroll-Bradd
Book 16 Ophelia, by Charlene Raddon
Other Books by Charlene Raddon
Steamy:
Forever Mine
Tender Touch
Taming Jenna
To Have and To Hold
The Scent of Roses
Sensual:
Maisy's Gamble
Sweet:
A Ride Through Time
Sierra's Tumble
Ride for a Bride
Priscilla, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge #1
Thalia, The Widows of Wildcat Ridge #7
Short Stories:
Christmas Seduction
The Reckoning (from The Posse)
Cadence Page 15
