Claire

by Margaret Tanner

  “Do you know of a clean hotel near here where I could stay for a few days?” He winked conspiratorially. “Discrete.”

  The man gave a loud chuckle. “Qui Monsieur. Madame Antoinette. Very discrete.” He touched a finger to his nose before pointing to a double story white house a hundred yards up the street.

  “Thank you.” Aaron paid for his purchases, picked up his bag and headed to the white house. The paint had started to peel off; a tiny front yard held several pots full of colorful flowers. He hesitated before knocking on the front door. A middle-age woman opened it.

  “Good morning. The man at the bakery said you rent out rooms.”

  “Yes.”

  “I’d like two ground floor rooms next to each other if possible. Say for two nights.”

  “Twenty four dollars.”

  “Do I need to sign in anywhere?”

  “No. Is that all the luggage you have?”

  “Yes, I’m in town to pick up my kid brother.”

  She looked like she didn’t believe him. After giving her the money, he stepped inside. The place smelled slightly of cooked fish.

  She showed him to a spacious, sparsely furnished room with a double bed, a dresser and matching wardrobe. Basic and clean was his first impression.

  “The other room is identical.”

  “Thank you.”

  He dared not wait around for the shops to open so he could buy boys’ clothing he decided. Claire would have to wear a pair of his pants with the legs rolled up. It was all he could think of.

  The woman handed him two keys. The back door is always unlocked.”

  “Thank you. I’ll go for a walk to get my bearings before I collect my brother.”

  The moment she left him he pulled out his spare pants, the ones he normally wore, not the fancy ones he had on now. He had planned to buy suitable clothing to wear for outings with Lucille.

  At least he had found out what she was like before spending money on clothing he would probably never wear again, and more importantly, they had not been officially betrothed. That would have been harder to get out of. He hadn’t realized how high strung and downright nasty she was. He’d had a lucky escape.

  If he could get Claire back to the Triple K ranch he would be a happy man. He should bring her back as his wife. Would she have him after what his behavior had caused to happen? One foolish act had led to a monumental tragedy. He stuffed the pants in the bag with the bread, locked the door and left the house.

  It would be broad daylight by the time he got to the cave; he dared not leave her alone for any longer. The feel of his twin colts against his thigh was a comfort. At least they wouldn’t be completely defenseless.

  A mile or so from town he came upon a ragged looking boy sitting by the river fishing. He had a tin with a wire threaded through it to make a handle. A make shift fishing rod was clutched in a grubby little hand.

  “Catching any fish, pardner?”

  “No, they ain’t biting.”

  “If I gave you five dollars could I have your fishing line and bucket?”

  “Yes, you sure can. What about the breadstick?”

  “Deal.” He handed the bribe over. Thank goodness the kid hadn’t seen the pastries or he would have wanted those also. With a whoop, the boy dashed off.

  A few hundred yards further on, Aaron realized he wasn’t too far away from the De Rosa place. He had to be careful now if he didn’t want to put Claire in danger.

  He glanced around and couldn’t see a soul, so he made a dash for the tree line. Thank goodness, trees and bushes lined the riverbanks in most places around here.

  The mighty Mississippi River flowed. He had made note of a couple of landmarks when he’d left the cave last night, yet his stomach still churned with nerves. What if he couldn’t find her? What if De Rosa’s men had found her? He edged his way around a clump of trees. Still no-one in sight. Perspiration dripped from his forehead, his hands felt clammy.

  “Claire. Claire.” He risked calling a little louder. “I can’t find you.” He had been worried about leaving footprints around the area last night, there weren’t any, obviously the ground was harder than he’d thought.

  Almost in front of him the bushes shook and Claire’s head popped out.

  “Oh, Aaron.” She burst into tears. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”

  “Darlin’, of course I’d come back.” He wrapped his arms around her and she sobbed into his chest. “I got held up.” Briefly he explained what had happened.

  “Here, I’ve nothing for you to drink, but there’s a pastry each for us.”

  She wolfed hers down like a starving dog, and after he had taken a couple of mouthfuls he handed his to her.

  “I didn’t have supper last night. Michael….he wanted ….”

  “Don’t say anymore, darlin’. I could rip him apart with my bare hands for the way he treated you.”

  “Bad and all as he was, he was nothing compared to Mr. Percy, the boarding house owner.” She shuddered. “He was the most disgusting man I ever met.”

  “Don’t talk about it. Don’t even think about it.”

  “You think I want to remember what happened? What I am?”

  “There will be plenty of time for recriminations later, we have to get you out of here. I couldn’t wait for the shops to open to buy you clothes. I’ve been thinking, it might be best if you pretend to be a boy for a while.”

  He handed over his pants. “They’ll be much too long, we’ll have to roll the legs up and hope for the best.”

  He stepped away and turned his back. “Put them on, I won’t peek.”

  She could have said it didn’t matter, men had seen her naked before. It was dreadful to feel so used and degraded. Something stopped the words from falling out of her mouth. The pants were miles too big. She could roll the legs up, but the waist was so loose they wouldn’t stay up.

  “They’re too loose,” she wailed.

  “Here.” He swung around. “I borrowed a cord from the curtains in the hotel.” He handed over a cord. “I’ll help you.”

  He threaded it through the belt loops and tied it up for her. “With the shirt worn out over it, you’ll do. Now the legs.” He squatted down.

  She placed her hand on his head as he rolled up one leg of the pants then the other. His hair felt soft under her palm, and the longing for him returned a hundred-fold. A snowflake in hell had more chance of survival than she did of ever gaining his love. Being his mistress was the best she could hope for, and he probably wouldn’t even want her for that.

  “Come on, we have to get out of here. Push your hair up under my hat, boys don’t have long, beautiful hair like yours. I bought a bucket and fishing line off a kid I met. I thought it would help with the disguise, and I told the woman at the hotel I was picking up my kid brother.” He laughed. “I’m not sure she believed me. The man at the bakery said the hotel was discrete. De Rosa’s driver dropped me off at the Centurion Hotel, only I thought it was too risky to take you where he was obviously known. Sonofabitch probably owns the place.”

  After the darkness of the cave, Claire blinked in the sunlight. What a sight she must look. What kind of fool was she worrying about her appearance at a time like this?

  She pushed her hair up under Aaron’s hat, the bulkiness of her long tresses holding it in place.

  “Swing the bucket as you walk along and hold the fishing rod in your other hand. Try to look nonchalant; if anyone sees you from a distance you’ll look like a kid going fishing.”

  There was no-one around here, once they got closer to De Rosa’s mansion danger lurked everywhere.

  They finally made it to the hotel, Aaron breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn’t have admitted to Claire, for a king’s ransom, about the fear gnawing at his gut.

  She was white as death, trembling and on the verge of collapse. He took the bucket and fishing rod off her and placed them at the side of the porch and with a hand at her shoulder they walked inside.

/>   “This is your room, I’m next door. I’ll see if I can rustle you up a drink. Coffee? Water?

  “Water please, I’m parched.”

  “I’ll bring it in to you.” You can’t let the people here see you yet, I’ll tell them you aren’t feeling well.”

  She nodded, too weary and spent to speak. It wasn’t a lie, she did feel sick. Sick of loving someone who didn’t love her. Sick of the life she had been forced to live. What was to become of her?

  After he strode off she didn’t even bother to remove her clothing, just climbed on to the bed and pulled the quilt over herself.

  Aaron tapped on the door. No answer. He unlocked the door and stepped into the room carrying a jug of water. Claire was in bed her head turned away, her beautiful hair covering her shoulders like a cape.

  “You awake, darlin’?”

  “Yes, I felt too weary to stay up any longer.”

  “I know, you’ve been through hell, but you must drink this water or you’ll dehydrate. I’ll go out in a minute and see if I can buy you some clothes and a train ticket. The train goes to Houston.”

  “Houston!” She shot up in the bed. “I’ll never set foot in that place again after everything that happened to me there.”

  “I don’t expect you to. I thought if I buy tickets to Houston we can get off at any stop in Texas. Beaumont would be all right, then we could ride home, even if it did take us a few days to get to the ranch.”

  ‘I can’t go to the ranch.”

  “Why not?”

  “You know why not?” She clasped her hands over her chest and rocked from side to side.

  “Does it hold too many bad memories?” He sat on the bed and unclasped her hands.

  “No, it’s not that. I can’t stay there with you.”

  “Why not? Pa and Estelle are both dead. The ranch is mine now.”

  “You know what I am, what I’ve done.”

  “So, who’s to know except us?”

  “What if it ever got out, the Kirby name would be tainted. Your reputation would be ruined. I couldn’t let it happen.”

  “Forget the Kirby name, it’s already tainted by my father’s behavior.”

  “No-one knows what he did except us.”

  “You’re wrong. Do you think your mother was the only woman he treated badly? There are at least two in Range End I know of. Everyone knew or at least suspected what he was like. When I was young I used to cringe walking down the main street.”

  “I didn’t know.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “It must have been awful for you. Randy told me how bad he felt about your father. Would he have known about the other women?”

  “Yeah, he knew. The stupid thing is, if Pa had married one of those women instead of Estelle, he would have found happiness.”

  In between talking, she drank the water, and it did feel good trickling down her throat.

  “Claire, if you’ll be all right, I’ll go and buy the clothes. You can’t stay hidden in the room here all the time. You need to at least come out to eat. You’ll have to keep the hat on, though.”

  “Buy scissors and we can cut my hair.”

  “No, not while there’s even one breath left in my body, will you cut even an inch off your beautiful hair.”

  ****

  As he strode out of the hotel, Aaron cursed under his breath. Why hadn’t he asked her to marry him when he had the chance? What’s wrong with me? Claire was the gal he had always loved. Bad things had happened to her. Did he subconsciously want a virgin bride? What kind of hypocrite was he? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t had liaisons with women over the years just like most other unmarried men his age.

  Even Randy had been to the local cat house on a few occasions. He had actually caught him there once, sitting on big Sal’s knee, his face buried in her melon-like breasts. He had nearly crept by without being noticed except Sal had coughed and Randy turned his head and saw him. They often used to laugh about that little episode.

  If only he could turn back the hands of time. Randy had suffered, Mrs. Wainright also. Claire had suffered most of all, yet all she could think about was sullying his name and leaving him open to gossip.

  Why should he care what people thought? Was it jealousy because she had been with other men, or that she might find his performance lacking? Worse still, what if he turned out to be like his father, a womanizing, unfaithful husband?

  As he stepped through the door of a men and youth’s clothing store, his hands trembled. He glanced around to make sure De Rosa or some of his minions weren’t around. The place was empty, any wonder at this early hour. He purchased a couple of shirts and a pair of pants for himself, the same in a youth’s size for Claire. Drawers, he better get a couple of pairs of those.

  Once they reached Beaumont perhaps he could give her the money to buy women’s clothing. He waited, trying to curb his impatience as the man wrapped up his purchases.

  Before stepping out into the street he checked to make sure the coast was clear. He hated having to act in such a furtive skulking manner. He had never shied away from his enemies, always stood his ground and fought them, most times winning.

  Although it went against every instinct he possessed he had to do it for Claire. Her life depended on it. He had no illusions, Claire would die if De Rosa caught her for two reasons. One, because he was a vicious bully who didn’t like being thwarted, the second and more important, she had heard him plotting to murder one of the women who worked for him.

  He found his way to the train station and bought two tickets to Houston on the first train out in the morning. The quicker they left New Orleans the better he liked it.

  He called in at the bakery and bought two apple pies and another long roll, and just about had to beg the man to cut the roll and spread it with butter. He might be able to get the woman at the hotel to provide supper for Claire, if he couldn’t, at least this was something.

  When he’d gone to collect the water for Claire, the coffee pot was on the stove with a near-by black board stating – ‘Help yourself to coffee anytime.’

  What he wouldn’t give for a big, fat, juicy Texas beef steak with lashings of mashed potatoes, greens and gravy. He almost drooled thinking about it. The first thing they would do on arriving in Texas was find a diner and buy a decent meal.

  The food here had been French inspired and too spicy for his tastes. Well, with so many different races, Haitians, French, Creole, Negro, English and American any wonder. It was a real melting pot. Fancy foods were not for him. Plain wholesome meals were all he ever wanted.

  “Good morning.” He smiled at the woman who was polishing the brass on the front door of the hotel.

  She eyed his parcel. “You’ve been shopping?”

  “Yes, my brother needed a few things. Don’t stop what you’re doing, I’ll go through the back way, I don’t mind.”

  When Aaron tapped on Claire’s door there was no answer. He hesitated before inserting the key into the lock. As he stepped inside the room she was still lying on the bed, this time asleep.

  How pale and thin her face had become, but oh, so lovely. Her suffering over the last two years had somehow given her features a haunting beauty. Her eyes were the mirror of her soul, so poignant, he wanted to weep for all she had been through.

  His plan to feign interest in Joybelle had been a monumental failure. It had set into motion a chain of events leading to tragedy of such magnitude he would never get over it, neither of them would.

  Could they overcome the past to carve out a future for themselves after all that had happened? Could he forget how Claire had kept herself alive over the last two years? Forget that he was his father’s son and might be prone to the same vile behavior? Was the Kirby name cursed?

  His head ached, his eyes burned from the unshed tears he could not shed as an all-consuming tiredness overwhelmed him. He didn’t have the strength to walk to his own room, didn’t want to leave Claire. He unbuckled his gun belt, removed his boots and waistcoat an
d crawled under the quilt. Resting his hand on her hip he closed his eyes.

  Chapter Six

  Claire woke up wondering why she felt comfortable and safe. Aaron was asleep beside her, his chin resting on her shoulder, his hand at her waist. He was fully clothed, his breathing soft and even. It was probably around midday, she could tell by the position of the sun as it streamed through the half drawn curtains.

  Aaron muttered something and she rolled over to face him. This movement must have disturbed him, as those beautiful moss green eyes of his stared into her face.

  “I must have dozed off,” he said, giving a rueful grin. “I shouldn’t be in here like this, but I didn’t want to leave you alone. I never want to leave you alone, Claire. Let’s get hitched once we reach Texas. I’ll bring you back to the Triple K as my wife.”

  “Once I would have said yes, a hundred times, yes. I always wanted to marry you. I guess I’ve loved you most of my life, that’s why I can’t.

  “Why can’t you? I love you, Claire.”

  Those words would have been music to her ears once, now they only made her sad because she loved him too much to let him risk his good name by marrying her.

  “You know why, Aaron. You’re a wealthy, respectable rancher and I’m….”

  “Don’t you dare use that word. It doesn’t make any difference to me. Everyone has skeletons in their closet. There would hardly be a soul living in Range End who wouldn’t have a deep dark secret. Towns like Range End draw people who come to hide and start afresh.”

  “What if anyone found out about me?”

  “How many people from there ever visit Houston or New Orleans? Besides, I don’t care if they do. I know what a beautiful gal you are, and that’s all that matters.”

  She kissed him on the lips. His mouth closed over hers. For an instant she tasted him then he pulled away and climbed out of bed, leaving her feeling hurt and upset at his abandonment.

  “Why?” she asked brokenly.

  “Tarnation, you make it hard for me to do the right thing.” He ran trembling fingers through his hair. “I wouldn’t be able to stop at a few kisses if it went on for much longer. I want you to be my wife before I make love to you.”