The Fire in Ember - DiAnn Mills [106]
Ember cast her big brown eyes his way. “Now, why did you offer to dry dishes?”
“I wanted to talk.”
“We could have taken a walk once Leah and I were finished.”
“But then you might have been tired or the other boys would want to join us.”
She studied him for a few moments. “This has to do with finding the lawbreakers, right?”
He nodded. “I have a few questions about Simon, because I’m beginning to think he was taking orders from someone else.”
She handed him a wet plate. “Not Simon. He wouldn’t take orders from anyone.”
“Would he pretend to if enough money was involved?”
She hesitated and tilted her head. “Possibly. What are you thinking?”
“Let me ask you a few questions first, then I’ll explain myself.”
She smiled, and his knees felt like jelly. “But then I want to see Davis lasso a fence post.”
“All right,” he began. “Remember when you said you rode with your brothers up through this area some time back?”
“Yes. It was almost two years ago. Simon had me ride along in case I decided to take off.”
“Do you know why he came to this part of Colorado?”
“He had business with a man here. But I never heard the man’s name.” She handed him another wet plate. “I figured he lied about it.”
John couldn’t get the timeline in his head straight. “Simon must have made a second trip here to steal Oberlander’s mare.”
“Right,” she said. “Sorry I didn’t make myself clear. When I asked him about stealing the horse, he said the owner gave it to him. As if I’d believe him.”
He allowed her final words to sink deep into his mind. “Anything else he might have said that you found unusual?”
She appeared to be thinking through her answer. “Simon always bragged about getting rich and folks respecting him. Honestly, John, I never paid much attention. His bragging got old.”
He brushed a kiss across her cheek. “For sure he won’t bother you again.”
“Right. Now all I’ll have to contend with is you. And I love it.”
He frowned but couldn’t hide the smile. “Don’t forget it either.”
As they returned to the dishes, John couldn’t let go of a gnawing notion.
Will you sing at my wedding?” Leah scrubbed a pair of jeans on the washboard.
Bert startled. “Are you sure?”
“I am,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I’d like it even more if you’d write Wirt and me a special song.”
Bert had already been forming words for a song ever since she learned the two planned to marry at Thanksgiving. “All right, since I have a few months to work on it.”
“Oh, a song from you would be a wonderful gift.” Leah giggled, reminding Bert of a schoolgirl. “Unless you and John want to make this a double wedding.”
“Leah!”
Leah’s eyes widened, accenting her freckles. “Don’t tell me you and John haven’t talked about marriage.”
“He’s not asked. We … we haven’t gotten to that point.”
“Mind you, he’s thinking about it. Knowing John, he’ll want a house built and a garden dug and a barn raised, then expect you to say ‘yes’ without hesitation.”
Bert raised her chin and nodded. “You’re probably right.”
Leah tossed the jeans into a barrel of rinse water. “I still like the idea of a double wedding at Thanksgiving.” She picked up one of Davis’s shirts. “Wirt said he had a surprise for me. Wouldn’t say what or when.”
“Knowing Mr. Zimmerman, he’s probably got a half dozen orphan kids on their way here, all of them dirty, hungry, and crying for a mama.”
“Merciful beans and cornbread, Ember. We have fallen in love with two men who’ll make sure we never have a dull moment.”
Ember Rose Timmons. The name had a pretty ring. John hadn’t asked her officially, but he’d said he wanted her in his future. And he loved her. And he never said anything he didn’t mean.
She felt like a princess in a child’s story.
CHAPTER 50
On Thursday evening, John sat near the middle of the crowded church between Bob and Wirt, and Mama sat on the other side of Wirt. Victor Oberlander had called a town meeting about the cattle rustlers and killings. Only the church could hold that many men and women.
John figured Oberlander planned