A Kiss for Cade (6 page)

A
light breeze filtered from the open door Saturday morning, turning the overhead fan blades in Bradshaw General Store. Zoe was balanced on a ladder, dusting the top shelf of canned goods when the mayor’s wife came in. Next to Addy, Gracie Willis was Zoe’s closest friend, despite the twenty years’ difference in age. Gracie, with her silver hair and cheerful nature, was as young in mind and spirit as a schoolgirl.

Giving a cobweb a final swipe, Zoe turned with a smile. “Morning, Gracie. You’re out and about early today.” Gracie usually did her shopping in the afternoon.

“Didn’t sleep well last night,” Gracie conceded. “Kept seeing Addy, lying there in a pine box next to John—I can’t get her out of my mind.” She took a handkerchief from her handbag and wiped her nose. “I’m sorry. I know you miss her too.”

The emotion in Gracie’s voice brought a lump to Zoe’s throat. She took a deep breath, willing her tears away. She’d already cried herself dry. “Losing Addy is going to take some getting used to, all right. We were together nearly every day of our lives. The longest we were ever apart was when Jim took me to Wichita on a buying trip.”

During Addy’s and John’s illnesses, she’d gone to their house three times a day, fed and bathed them, washed their sweat-drenched bed-clothes, and watched them die. There was nothing anyone could do but try to make them comfortable. The fear in their voices as they agonized over the children’s welfare still haunted her.

When she closed her eyes, she saw Addy’s worried face and felt her fevered hand in hers. She heard her weak voice pleading with her to send for Cade. Addy’s faith in her brother had never wavered.

Zoe watched Gracie inspect fresh ears of corn heaped in a bushel basket beside the counter. “Heard about your visitor yesterday.”

Climbing off the ladder, Zoe tucked the dust cloth into the waist-band of her apron. “I expect everyone in town’s heard about him.”

“How does it feel to see him after all these years?”

“Haven’t thought much about it.”

Gracie glanced up from perusing a china teapot. “You were real smitten with Cade Kolby when you were young.”

“Was I? Well, you know what they say about schoolgirl crushes. Here today, gone tomorrow.”

“I wish his mother had lived to see this day.” Gracie sighed. “Senda was proud of her boy, though she didn’t approve of his doings.” She dropped three ears of corn into her basket. “Lawrence was talking about Cade just this morning, surprised he turned out as good as he did.”

“If you call killing men for money good.”

“Senda and Pastor Mac were fine people, just dirt-poor. Most of us have to watch our pennies, but after Mac took sick, that family lived hand-to-mouth. Cade wanted a better life for his folks. That was evident when he quit school to work for Clarence Redding, God rest his soul. Cade chopped wood and hauled hay fourteen hours a day for whatever Clarence saw fit to give him.”

“I understand why he took to the job, I just don’t approve of it.” Zoe frowned as she rearranged bags of sugar. “He used to look at Pop’s wanted posters all the time and talk about what he’d do if he had money. It really didn’t surprise me when he didn’t come back. What surprises me, though, is that he’s still alive. I thought he’d have been gunned down by now.”

Nodding, Gracie added a tin of sorghum to her basket. “He certainly tried to make life easier for Mac and Senda. Not a month went by without Cade sending money home. Just before his ma died, Cade sent her a brand-new Home Comfort cook stove. Law, I was so envious I thought I’d die. It had a warming oven twice the size of mine. Pastor Mac didn’t want her to accept it, but Senda stood up to him. Said if her boy wanted her to have it, so be it.”

Zoe smiled at the memory.

“I never tasted anything as good as that first pan of cornbread Senda baked,” Gracie continued, shaking her head. “We ate the whole pan between us. Mac came in and asked what smelled so good, and Senda told him she’d ruined the cornbread and thrown it out to the hogs. He caught right on to the joke, asking how the ‘hogs’ enjoyed it.”

Zoe nodded, grinning. “I miss Senda.” Her merriment slowly faded. “She was like a mother to me.”

“I always thought it was good the way the Kolbys took you under their wing after your ma died. I know it wasn’t easy on you, being an only child and your pa being gone so much.”

“Papa worked himself into an early grave for me. Selling Bibles was a hard way to make a living, though he never complained. But I did get lonely. I guess that’s why my years with Jim were so good. He was always here, and home and family meant a lot to him.”

“It’s a shame you two never had children.”

The thought pained Zoe. Jim would have liked to have had many, but he’d known it would never happen.

Gracie glanced around the store. “Where is Cade this morning? I thought he’d be here with the kids.”

“He’s been and gone. The children are playing out back. They didn’t want to go with him today. I think they’re a little frightened of him.”

“Well, I’m disappointed.”

“I told him you would supervise his visits with the children. I have other things to tend to—”

“Zoe Bradshaw! I’ll do no such thing. It won’t hurt you to spend some time with him—not that I don’t want to see him. Walt said it took an hour and a half to get him shaved, barbered, and cleaned up. Lilith saw him ride into town and said he was as good looking as ever, even with all the trail dust.” Gracie turned. “Is he?”

Lifting a shoulder, Zoe fibbed. “Looks the same to me.” When he’d shown up that morning, clean shaven, hair cut to a respectable length, wearing fresh clothes and smelling of Edna Mews’s homemade soap, she’d had to remind herself to stay calm. But when he’d helped himself to the biscuits and jam without being invited, she’d snatched the biscuit away and given him a tongue-lashing, reminding him that Glori-Lee served breakfast at seven.

“Didn’t notice he’s changed a bit, huh?” Gracie dropped a tin of peaches into her shopping basket. “Lilith says he’s a fine figure of a man. Strange you missed that.”

“Sorry. Didn’t notice.”

“Goodness, I think you’ve been taking Reverend Munson’s ‘shalt nots’ too much to heart.”

Zoe busied herself rearranging a display of cast-iron skillets, refusing to rise to the bait. Cade was a perfect “shalt not.” He was a fine-looking man, but who wanted someone who was here today and gone tomorrow? A killer. There was more to a man than the way he looked. Her husband had not only been handsome; they’d shared the same values. He’d been there when she needed him. Jim was a godly man.

Pausing before the rutabagas, Gracie tested them for firmness. “So you didn’t notice? ‘Thou shalt not lie.’ That’s what the Good Book says.”

Finally Zoe couldn’t stand it anymore. “All right!” she blurted out. “Yes, he’s so good looking it makes my teeth ache. Is that what you want to hear?”

“If that’s how you feel.” Gracie dropped the vegetable into her basket and moved to the linens.

“So he’s matured. He’s still Cade.”

Perusing the shelves, Gracie mused, “Refresh my memory on why that’s so disturbing. What’s wrong with him? Pop says he goes out of his way to bring a man in alive.”

Zoe hardened herself to Gracie’s words. Whether he brought them in dead or alive, he collected money on other people’s miseries. “They’re not always alive, are they? If you want to quote the ‘shalt nots’ don’t forget ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”

Gracie dropped the pillowcase she was holding. “He’s just doing what the law requires, no more. You know as well as I do that outlaws must be stopped.”

“There are marshals and sheriffs for that.”

“And a bounty hunter is different how? He doesn’t have a badge?” Gracie moved to a shelf on the far side of the store and changed the subject, calling over her shoulder, “Is he going to keep the children?”

“I doubt it. That would mean settling down, and I can’t picture that.”

Gracie examined a jar of fancy jelly. “How much?”

“Fifty cents. You ask that every week.”

“I keep hoping you’ll lower the price.”

“Can’t. It comes all the way from Kansas City.”

Gracie set the jar back on the shelf. “Lawrence thinks Cade will probably find a good home for the children and move on.”

A dark premonition flooded Zoe. Of course he’d move on. Didn’t he always? “It’s hard to believe he’d give away his own flesh and blood.”

“Well, to be fair, he can’t take them with him.”

“He’d have to give up bounty-hunting.”

“Give up bounty-hunting? Lawrence says a man can’t just walk away from something like that, especially a man with Cade’s reputation. There’s no telling how many he’s angered.”

Zoe sighed but said nothing.

“Lawrence’s cousin was a bounty hunter,” Gracie went on. “He always sat with his back to the wall when he came to visit. Said he slept with one eye open and his gun under his pillow. I remember telling Lawrence it must be sad to be always looking over your shoulder. No sane man would involve innocent children in that way of life.”

Zoe stared out the front window, trying to imagine Cade as a father, let alone a “sane” one. It was like trying to imagine Reverend Munson as a saloon dancer.

What would happen to the children? She was a second mother to them. If Cade took them away from Winterborn, it would break her heart, yet she knew it was his right.

“There are always the Brightons,” Gracie offered. “They’d give the children a good home, and you know how much Bonnie wants them. It would be a shame to take them away from everything they’ve ever known.”

Sighing again, Zoe walked behind the counter. “Nothing against the Brightons, but the children would be better off with me. Good heavens, Gracie, they’re little people, not sacks of flour.”

Gracie frowned. “You can’t keep them, Zoe. Why, you’re barely holding on now. How could you think of taking on the responsibility of raising four young children alone? Those kids need a father.”

Zoe’s chin came up. “And a mother.”

“Then maybe you and Cade ought to give those children a home.” Gracie quirked a brow. “Have you thought about that?”

“You’re out of your mind.” Zoe turned her back on her friend and straightened the coffee bin.

“My, my, aren’t we huffy today?” Grinning, Gracie picked up a spool of ribbon. “I don’t think it’s such a strange idea. Cade is single, you’re widowed—why do you suppose he never married?”

“I didn’t ask.” Weary of the subject, Zoe grabbed the jar of fancy jelly. “Here. You can have it for thirty-five cents.”

“Bribery? I like that in a person.” Gracie dropped the jar into her basket and put it on the counter. “Is he going to be taking his meals here?”

Writing up Gracie’s purchases on a pad, Zoe kept her temper in check. Gracie was trying her best to ruffle her feathers, but it wasn’t going to work. She was onto her tactics.

“Gracie, you didn’t come here to shop. You’re here to be nosy. Okay. No, Cade will not be taking his meals with us. His coming back has not sent me into a girlish titter, nor do I stay awake nights pining over lost love. His return to Winterborn will not change my life, other than to make it easier. When he rides out in a few days, which he no doubt will, I don’t think I will even notice, other than to wave goodbye to the children, should he choose to keep them. There. Have I answered all your questions?”

A smile crept over the older woman’s face. Sampling a cracker, she mused, “These are a little stale. Would you sell them for half price? Lawrence does so love soda crackers.”

Moving around the counter to the barrel, Zoe scooped up a bagful and stuck it in her friend’s basket. “Here. My gift to the mayor. Will that be all?”

Walking over to a stack of yarn, Gracie said, “I hate to miss the dance tonight, but I don’t think it’s proper for us to go so soon after Addy’s death—even though I promised her I wouldn’t mourn for her. Much. What about the checkers game Thursday night? Do you think Addy would mind? She never missed one until she got sick.”

“She told me she didn’t want us missing anything, and she said for you to keep a close eye on Lilith Wilks. She cheats.”

“No!” Gracie exclaimed, turning toward Zoe.

“Addy saw her king her own checker. Twice.”

“Why, imagine! A woman her age cheating at checkers.” Shaking her head, Gracie dropped baking soda and brown sugar into her basket on the way back to the counter. “Now that we’re on the subject, I’ve had my suspicions about Willa Baker.”

Zoe totaled the purchases, shaking her head. “Willa doesn’t cheat. She’s just forgetful.”

“She’s also the champion and as sly as a fox. I say she bears watching.”

Zoe handed the bill to her. “Two dollars and fifty cents.”

Leaning close, Gracie whispered, “You’ve shorted yourself. You know I was just trying to get a rise out of you, asking for bargains. I’ll pay full price for the jelly, and the crackers are perfectly fresh.” Straightening, she sobered. “That’s your problem, dear heart. You are too giving. No wonder you’re going broke.”

“A little off the jelly and free crackers aren’t going to change my financial situation.”

Unfortunately, the store ledger contained more debts than Zoe had assets, but she couldn’t deny credit to needy families. Times were hard. When the gristmill closed down last year, many a man was caught unawares. She didn’t intend to sit by and watch children go hungry. When desperate neighbors came to her looking for credit to feed their families, how could she refuse? Jim had never turned anyone away, and she didn’t have the heart to start now.

“Jim was the most caring man in the world,” Gracie sympathized, “but he was a poor money manager. His daddy was the same way.”

Shaking off a feeling of impending doom, Zoe wrapped Gracie’s purchases. “I’m falling farther behind every day.”

“And you think you can feed four kids and keep them clothed?”

“I’ll do what I have to.”

“Have you thought any more about selling out? Frank Lovell wants your store. He’s not my favorite person, but he has the money to buy it.”

“Where would I go? I have no family.”

“It’s a shame Addy and John couldn’t have helped with the kids’ expenses, but after the mill closed, John could barely feed his family. If they’d asked, Cade would have helped them out.”