This Loving Land - Dorothy Garlock [93]
“I know. It’s all right. We’ll go home just as soon as . . .”
They moved away from the window and Sadie’s stomach did a slow turnover. Her dreams were slowly floating away.
Fifteen
When Jesse appeared in the doorway, Sadie looked at him with hostile eyes. He came into the room, glanced at Summer, who ignored him, at the open trunk, then at Sadie with questioning eyes, but didn’t voice the question. Mary ran to him and wrapped her small arms about his legs.
“Hello, punkin. How’s my girl?” He lifted her up into his arms for a moment, then gently set her on her feet. “Is this what you’re after?” He handed her a stick of candy after carefully picking off the fragments of tobacco that clung to it. Mary looked at him adoringly.
Jesse looked at Sadie for a long while before he spoke. It was still there . . . the wanting to hold her, protect her. She was holding herself away from him . . . forcing herself to be cold. He understood. It was Ellen
“I came to tell you that Travis is riding in.” Sadie seemed to freeze. Her green eyes grew large and frightened. “Jack and Tom and two strangers are with him. You’ll be all right. Stay out of sight and keep Mary and the boy away from the doors.“ He glanced at Summer again. “Is she sick?”
Sadie shook her head. “Just tired.”
“And you? You been all right?”
“Course.” She tried to stop her eyes from looking in his direction, but she was helpless to control them. She was too nervous to say more, her throat dry. The silence seemed to elongate.
He continued to look at her until outside sounds reached them. Jesse stood back from the door and looked out. He didn’t want to bring his quarrel with Travis out in the open at this time: Better for the two of them to settle it alone, with Ellen out of the way.
The men halted their horses back from the porch, well behind Summer’s flower beds. Jack and Tom moved to the side and slightly in front of the other three. All had somber, quiet faces, except Travis. He was the only one that dismounted.
Ellen, with her arm wrapped about the porch post, called out to him.
“Travis, darling. Have you come to take your mama home?”
He grinned at her, but didn’t answer. He had pushed his hat to the back of his head and his face wore that devilish, reckless expression that said his blood was high and he was in one of his devil-may-care moods. He swaggered to the front of the horse, the reins dangling carelessly over his arm, stood with straddled legs and rolled a smoke.
To Ellen, who knew him so well, he was putting on a show. She smiled indulgently at him. He was so handsome, this boy of hers. Someday, he would be the richest, most important man in Texas.
“What makes you think that, Mama?” He scraped the head of a match on his boot heel and let the flame flare for a second or two before holding it to the end of the smoke. “I didn’t even know you were here.” His voice was lazy, his attitude confident. He was very much the man in charge and he was enjoying it.
Ellen laughed. “Well, you know now.” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at the men with him. They were strangers and didn’t look like the sort of company her son would keep. A little prickle of uneasiness came over her. “Tom,” she called, “hitch up my buggy. Travis and his friends will escort me home. I knew that was a bunch of hogwash about a band of men riding on this ranch. You didn’t see them, did you, Travis?”
Travis flipped the half-finished smoke into the dust, looked up at the two men who sat their horses, silently, expectantly. Confidently, he crossed his arms over his chest and rocked back and forth on his heels.
“Yes, I did, Mama,” he announced. “But I don’t think they’re going to ride in here. There’s no need for it.” He waited a moment. His eyes shifted from his mother to Jack. “All of a sudden, there’s been some changes made around here.” His eyes moved back to Ellen and he grinned broadly. “You see, Mama, the Keep belongs to me now.” The grin left his face and he snarled at Jack. “You got