Blue Moon Promise (21 page)

“I’ve noticed that about her.” For a little lady, she had a will of iron. He wondered where it came from.

“She’s more like a mom than my real mom.” The lad dismounted and led his horse toward the barn.

“Hang on.” Nate leaped to the ground and handed his reins to Jed. “Curry them and do the chores. I’ll be inside.”

Jed straightened and smiled as he realized Nate was giving him full responsibility. “Yes, sir. I mean, thanks, Nate!”

Still smiling, Nate knocked the mud off his boots at the door, then entered the cabin where he caught a whiff of something that made his mouth water. “Beef stew?” he asked when he saw Lucy at the stove.

She turned and wiped her hands on the checkered apron that covered her blue dress. “It’s nearly ready. Where’s Jed?”

“Doing chores. Where’s Eileen?”

Eileen’s face peeked around Lucy’s skirts. “I’m here.”

“Want to help Jed with chores?”

“Can I get the eggs?”

“Yep. Be careful not to break them.”

“I’ll be careful,” she promised.

Lucy grabbed the egg basket and handed it to her. Once the door slammed, Nate pulled out a chair. “Coffee?” He hated to launch into questions. It would do his heart good if Lucy would willingly take him into her confidence.

She poured him a cup of coffee and set it in front of him. “Is something wrong?”

“You tell me. Jed came back to get me a rope about midday.”

She flushed. “I know I said I wasn’t going to meet my family today, but I changed my mind.”

He hadn’t even been wondering where she’d gone. “You went to Larson’s?”

“No. I went to see my Aunt Sally. I met Fanny too. My uncle wasn’t around.”

At least she hadn’t spent any time with Larson. “Your aunt is a sweet lady. It’s not her fault that her brother is the way he is.”

“You’re not mad?”

He shook his head. “Your uncle and I are at odds, but I have no quarrel with your aunt and cousin.”

He took a sip of his hot coffee. “Jed interrupted an intruder.”

She’d started back to the stove, but she whirled to face him again. “Was he hurt?”

“He got the gun out of the barn and ran him off. I was proud of him. He found the guy peering in the back window, then stopped him as he entered the back door.”

“D-Did Jed know what he wanted? Maybe he was looking for food?”

She wasn’t going to tell him about the coins. But why would she? They were still strangers. She had to wonder if some of the lies Larson had told her might be true.

He held her gaze. “You know what he was looking for, Lucy.”

She went scarlet, then white. “He was from Indiana?” she whispered.

He nodded. “He tried to get Jed to tell him where the coins were.”

“Jed told you.”

“I wish you would have.”

Her blue eyes pleaded for understanding. “I didn’t want to worry you until I figured out what to do.”

He took her hand. Soft yet so competent. “We’re married. It’s a husband’s duty to figure things out and shoulder the burdens. You need to let go a little of that iron control.”

“I’ve always been the one to decide how to handle problems. Asking for help doesn’t come easily.”

Stubborn woman. Even now she wasn’t admitting she should have come to him. “Where are the coins?”

She hesitated. “Safe.”

He pressed his lips together. “I’m not going to steal them, Lucy.”

“Of course not. I-I’d rather leave them where they are.”

“And where is that?”

She caught her lower lip between perfect white teeth. “In the pickle barrel.”

A bark of laughter escaped his throat. “Only a woman would put something that valuable in pickles.”

“I thought I’d talk to the sheriff and see if he could telegraph the Wabash police. Maybe we could find out who they belong to.”

She didn’t want to keep them? He studied her transparent expression and saw only concern to do what was right. “It sounds as though they belong to you. Your father purchased them for a price the owner was willing to sell.”

She turned back to the stove and stirred the stew, then turned toward him again. “I’ve been thinking about that. What if the man who sold them to my father had stolen them? And the real owner is trying to get them back?”

“There’s one hole in your theory. If whoever is after them is the legitimate owner, he would have shown up with the police and would have proven his ownership.”

Her expression fell. “I didn’t think of that. So whoever broke in today knows their value and wants to steal them. But how would he know?”

“I don’t know. I’ll see what I can find out.”

“You’ll go with me to talk to the sheriff?”

She still didn’t trust him to take charge. He suppressed his irritation. “I don’t trust the sheriff. He’s friends with Larson. This needs to be kept very quiet or you’ll have every thief in Texas creeping around in the dark.”

She shuddered. “Then what?”

“I’ll talk to Pa and get his advice. Let me handle it, Lucy. Just let go of your worry.”

She chewed her lip. “I’ll try.”

NINETEEN
 
 

L
ucy could almost feel the coins vibrating from their place in the cellar.

Eileen and Jed were both asleep, and the lantern’s dim glow left shadows dancing in the small room. She cast surreptitious glances at Nate as he sat reading his Bible by the fire. She’d seen his disappointment in her failure to tell him about the coins. How did she make it right? This problem involved events that had happened long before she’d ever met him. He shouldn’t have to shoulder a burden like this. She wanted him to like her—to think she was capable and strong. Asking for his help undermined her competence.

She chewed her lip and sighed. Maybe she needed to bend a little here. Without interrupting him, she went to the back porch and lit a candle. Holding it aloft, she went out the back door and lifted the cellar door.

Descending into the darkness with only a small flame was like walking into a black hole. The dank odor rushed at her and left her feeling off balance. She reached the bottom of the rickety stairs and held up the candle so its puny light pushed back the shadows. The pickle barrel didn’t appear to have been disturbed.

She set the candle on a shelf, then pried off the barrel lid and thrust her hand into the pickles. The pungent aroma filled her nose. For a moment she feared they were missing, then her fingers snagged the oilcloth. She pulled it up and unwrapped the cloth. The coins were all there.

She heard the stairs squeak and whirled. A large shape moved toward her. “Who’s there?”

His figure loomed in the shadows. “It’s me. What are you doing?” Nate’s voice was husky.

“Getting the coins.”

“No need. They’re safe where they are for now.”

The steps groaned one last time, then he was beside her. She held them out to him, but he closed her fingers back over the coins. “You don’t have to give them to me.”

“I want to. I’m sorry if I made you feel I didn’t trust you.” She stared at the money in her hand. “I’m beginning to realize I am much too fond of being in charge.”

“We have a lot of adjusting to do. It’s not going to happen all at once.”

Nate’s presence made the cold air feel warmer. Though the cellar was hardly a romantic spot, Lucy found herself wanting to move closer. To rest her head on his chest. To relinquish her solitude. Was that what becoming one meant? When one bled, the other cried out? Though she loved her siblings, she’d never felt that sense of union.

“Last chance.” She held out the coins.

He gave them a cursory glance. “Put them back. It’s too dark to see them anyway.”

She turned back to the barrel and replaced the coins, then dropped the lid back into place. She wiped the vinegar from her hands on her apron, then took the candle in her right hand.

His warm hand gripped her left one. “Let’s get out of here. There are better places to talk.”

His tone was so prosaic that she couldn’t help the disappointment that shot through her. Did he have no desire to hold her, to brush his lips across hers? “As you wish,” she said, keeping her voice impersonal. She left her hand in his and allowed him to lead her up the stairs. He so unsettled her that she lost her balance until he steadied her.

“Careful.” He gripped her hand. “I need to build new steps. These tilt. I don’t want you to take a tumble with your hands full.”

At least he cared a little. Enough that he didn’t want her hurt. In the yard she tilted her face up to him. “Why don’t you want to at least see the coins? After all, they are worth a fortune.”

The moonlight illuminated his grin. “Maybe I should have looked at them. Jed says they look like regular silver dollars. Nothing that special. I can’t imagine someone paying that kind of money just to put them in a drawer somewhere. That kind of hoarding doesn’t make sense.”

“When does acquiring more and more land translate to hoarding?” she countered. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to snatch them back.

He stiffened and dropped her hand. “Land has a use. We can run more cattle and expand our business.”

“Why?” She tried to ask her question in a genuinely curious tone without any condemnation. “If we have enough to live, why do we need more?”

He opened his mouth, then shut it again. “Good question, Lucy. Pa has always drilled it into my head that the Stanton spread is going to be the biggest cattle ranch in Texas.”

“So it’s all about power?”

“Maybe. More land meant more cattle. More cattle meant more jobs for men and a productive life. I’ve never analyzed it.”

She started to ask him if he didn’t trust God to provide when it struck her that she was the same way. If she was going to talk to him about his trust issues, she needed to work on her own first.

NATE STILL CAUGHT a whiff or two of vinegar from Lucy’s small hands even though she’d washed them the minute they got back inside. He poked at the fire and added two more logs before joining her on the rug in front of the fire. “Why aren’t you in the chair?”

She sat watching the flames with her knees hugged to her chest. “I like to sit on the floor. It feels more homey.” She scooted over to make more room for him.

He stretched out his legs and leaned back on his elbows. The braided rug was rough against his palms. “You miss Indiana?”

The firelight illuminated her pensive expression. “Not really.” She hesitated. “It feels like we belong here. I know that sounds odd when we’re still strangers to the area, but it was like coming home.”

He sat up and scooted around to face her. “You asked me in the cellar why I wanted more land. What are your dreams, Lucy?”

Her eyes widened and she caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I’ve never had time to have a dream. I tried to keep my brother and sister safe from one day to the next, to feed and clothe them and make sure they were content.”

“I think something more than their welfare pushed you to agree to my father’s suggestion. If you dare to uncover it.” He studied her expression as he issued his challenge. So beautiful and yet he still hadn’t learned much about her.

She pulled her knees more tightly to her chest and propped her chin on them. “I want a family,” she said after a long pause. “I love Jed and Eileen, but they will go off on their own someday. I’ve never felt as though I belonged anywhere. I want a family and a home where I belong.”

He absorbed her words. “You’ve never felt you were in a place of permanence?”

Her eyes brightened. “That’s it exactly. I’ve felt that whatever state I’m in is bound to change soon. The very uncertainty has made me long for security. For a place that is all mine. A family I can nurture and love.” She swallowed.

Her words stirred something inside him, a nameless longing for what she talked about. “I’ve only had my father and my brother. Three grumpy men trying to rub along together as best as we could.”

She released her knees and knelt in front of him. “We want the same thing then, Nate. I think we can find it together if we try. We’re both—lonely.”