The Fire in Ember - DiAnn Mills [45]
“I’ll not run off.” Her passive voice indicated her resignation.
“Thank you. Now go on to bed. You’ve been enough trouble for one night.”
Bert turned and walked back to the house. She didn’t ask for her clothes. Neither would he have given them to her. Now he had Evan to deal with. Would this night ever end?
“You can’t believe she’s a cattle rustler,” Evan finally said.
“Have you forgotten she was caught as a horse thief?”
“You and I know there’s a reason. You and I also know she’s running from somebody who’s trying to hurt her. She’s too good and kind to be on the other side of the law.”
“Evan, please. I’m tired, and I don’t want to argue. This situation is beyond us. It’s the law.”
“Sounds like an excuse to get her off the ranch so you can court her yourself.”
John rubbed his face with the sleeve of his shirt in an attempt to wipe the exhaustion, frustration, and all of the other things plaguing him from his mind. “Evan, my family and the law come first. It’s my responsibility. I don’t want to keep you from a girl you care about, but I do want to keep you safe. And her too. I’m done talking tonight.”
He left Evan standing alone in the barn in hopes his brother would listen to reason. But after a few steps he swung back around. “I’ve got her clothes in case you two have any ideas.”
CHAPTER 18
Leah heard Bert slip back into the dark room, just as she’d heard Evan shouting at John outside. The other boys probably knew more about the details of the argument than she did. Leah wrestled with getting up to find out the problem or allowing her sons to settle their differences like grown men. Except sometimes they acted more like scraping toddler boys fussin’ over a toy. But this time the object was not an item to tug back and forth with a shout of “mine” but a seventeen-year-old girl.
Obviously John had returned from Rocky Falls.
Obviously he and Bert were discussing something outside. And why was she out there in her nightgown? Mercy, do I even want to contemplate such a scandal?
Obviously Evan had walked into whatever had compelled them to meet at midnight.
And obviously her sons had argued about Bert.
Dear Lord, can this get any worse? The words barely left her mind before she realized that yes, a whole lot more things could go wrong. And she’d better be prepared for it. Might as well begin now. If only she could see Bert’s face, but that couldn’t be helped unless she got up and lit the lantern. Sometimes a person could talk easier in the dark.
“Did John and Evan get into a fight?”
Bert climbed into bed and released a sigh. “Almost.”
“Do I want to know why?”
“You probably already do. Part of it anyway.”
Keep going. The situation would eat at her until she did. “What were you doing out there in your nightgown?”
“I … I wanted to leave. Didn’t expect John to be there.”
“Do you have feelings for either of my sons?” Silence. Bert was so good at saying everything with nothing. “I assume the answer is yes. And I think I know which one.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“He’s a hard man to understand.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“And he hides his feelings. Instead of voicing them.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Leah took a deep breath and realized the burden of guilt she carried because of John’s temperament. “And he’s eaten up with a worm called responsibility.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“He’d do anything for us. He was born with a purpose of caring for his family. Even before his father died, he looked after his brothers and me. But no one’s ever done it for him. He won’t allow anyone to wait on him. Says he doesn’t need lookin’ after.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Does John have any idea how you feel about him?”
Silence. Poor Evan was about to get hurt. Maybe John too.
“How could I tell him in one breath and not give him my last name in the next?”
Oh, my dear girl. What stalked her like a grizzly?
“There’s more and it’s not good,” Bert said.
“I figured as such. You could make life easier on yourself and those who care about you by telling what you know.”
“That’s what I