This Loving Land - Dorothy Garlock [72]
Jesse was standing when she went back into the kitchen.
“Little gal’s sleepin’.” He held the child as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to do, and his smile made her heart lurch. Her voice stuck and it took effort to bring it out matter-of-factly.
“I’ll put her to bed.”
“Show me and I’ll do it.”
She pulled the curtain back and Jesse lowered the sleeping child to the bunk. He pulled the quilt up over her and stood looking down at her for a moment. A picture of the big four-poster bed with its thick mattress and soft down pillows in his room at the Rocking S flashed through his mind. His quick glance took in two dresses hanging on the wall and a well-worn valise beneath them.
Sadie saw the look on his face and yanked the curtain shut.
“You don’t have to be a feelin’ sorry for me!”
“You jump right in with both feet, don’t you, Sadie?” His eyes held hers for several seconds, and some of their hardness left. Her heart kept thumping in her neck. Jesse’s mouth twitched, broke into a slow, uneven smile. He cupped one big hand under Sadie’s chin, gave it a shake and said, “You didn’t get that red hair for nothing.”
His low, chuckling voice surrounded her and warmed her. Entranced, she stared at the transformation of the stern-faced man before turning away to hide her confusion.
She struggled for something to say. “If John Austin can sleep through this storm, he could sleep through a stampede.”
“There’ll be no crossing that creek tonight. The water must be halfway up to the house by now. They won’t worry about you and the young’uns. They’ll know I’m here. Let’s get those rugs wrung out and put back . . . or better yet, come hold the lamp and I’ll wring the rugs.”
Later, after they had talked of Summer and Slater’s approaching marriage, Jesse asked her if she planned to stay on here in the cabin.
“I . . . don’t think so. I can’t do enough to earn my keep.”
“You could marry. Has anybody come courtin’?”
“I ain’t takin’ no man to take care of me if’n there’s any way a’tall I can take care of Mary and myself.”
“Has Slater said anything about you leaving?”
“No! They ain’t did nothin’ like that. They’re the best folks I ever knowed. I just can’t stay on here, and I don’t want to talk about it no more. You ask an all-fired lot of questions.”
A long quiet slipped past following her outburst. Sadie leaned her head against the high back of the rocker. There was almost a domestic tranquility between them. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, his bushed voice came to her ear.
“It took a right smart amount of spunk to shoot that man.”
Sadie’s head turned and her chin raised. “He warn’t no man . . . a buzzard’s what be was.”
“Did Travis bother you when he came to the house?”
In spite of herself, she gave a shudder of revulsion. “No!”
“Did he catch you away from Summer and threaten you?”
Wide, frightened eyes swung back to him, and she pressed her lips tightly together.
“Why are you askin’ me? You wouldn’t believe me no more than anybody else if’n I told you.”
“I’d believe you, Sadie. I know Travis. I know what he uses to get what he wants. He blamed you for the beating he got, didn’t he? He had to have revenge, and because he isn’t man enough to stand up to me, he came to you.”
“Ain’t nothin’ you can do.”
“Tell me and let me decide.”
He said it so kindly, so sincerely. His steel-gray eyes between the sun-bleached lashes watched every expression that flicked across her face. She wanted to tell him, wanted to unload the heavy burden of fear that had been eating away at her. The picture of Ellen smiling up at Jesse, her hand constantly on his arm and the vision of him tenderly lifting her into the buggy as if she were made of china, caused her to squirm. And because she was suddenly disillusioned with him, rage bubbled up inside her like a fountain.
“Yore . . . lady wouldn’t take it kindly if’n you took my side against her darlin’ boy! You saw what she thought of the likes of me. She’d not ever let you help me, so why are you askin’? I ain’t got no one to depend on but myself, and I’ll tell you,