Change of Heart (4 page)

“I’m frozen and famished.” She stared up at
Jase a moment before she looked at Zack. “But we can take care of
both of those problems. Can’t we, Mr. Kent?”

Jase set Zack down. “In due time. I’ll light
a fire, but it may take me a while to find game in this storm.”

“I have supplies in my bags,” she said. “Not
a lot, but I do have fixings for biscuits and some jerky as
well.”

Jase’s brows lifted. “You do?”

“Yes. On my way to Fort Kearney, I wanted to
be prepared in case we were stranded on the trail. If you’ll bring
in the bags, we’ll have more clothing, food and perhaps Zack even
has a toy or two among his belongings.”

“I do,” Zack said, “but I’m too cold to
play.”

Jase focused on Marietta. “There are blankets
on the bunks over there,” he said, pointing toward the north wall.
“Plus a few extra in the closet next to the fireplace. Wrap the boy
so he doesn’t get any colder, and wrap yourself as well. I’ll bring
in the bags and put the horse in the lean-to. When I finish, I’ll
lay a fire.”

“All right, Mr. Kent.”

Marietta took Zack’s hand and led him to the
bunks. She pulled off his boots and helped him get under the
blanket. While Jase went about his chores, she found extra blankets
and put them over Zack.

She knelt next to his bed and rubbed her hand
over his curly blonde hair. “Is that better, Zack?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Are we going to be all right?”

“I think so.”

“When I got so cold, I thought maybe Ma was
coming to take me with her like I asked. When people die, they get
very cold.”

“Yes, they do, but your ma can’t come to take
you away, Zack.”

“Are you sure? You asked Ma to take you. If
she could take a grown person with her, couldn’t she take a little
boy?”

Marietta bit back a tear and caressed Zack’s
hair again. “When people grieve, they sometimes say silly,
impossible things. I asked Kathy to take me with her because it’s
so hard for me to be without her, but she can’t really take me to
where she is.”

“I love Ma,” Zack said slowly, “but I don’t
really want to die, Aunt Marietta.”

She took him into her arms and squeezed him
tightly. “Neither do I, darling. We’re going to be fine.”

Zack snuggled with his aunt a moment longer
before he squirmed deeper under the covers.

“You rest.” Marietta smoothed her hand over
Zack’s lemony curls. “I’m going to start laying the fire. Soon it
will be warm as July in here.” She kissed his cheek and touched his
hair once more. “You’ll see, Zack. We’ll be fine.”

Marietta went to the hearth and took kindling
from the box near the fireplace. She put it in the firebox and lit
it with matches she found on the mantel. The dry wood burst into
flames, and Marietta added larger pieces of kindling. When she felt
the door open behind her, she spun around. Jase had brought in the
bags while she took care of Zack, and now he was returning from
caring for the horse.

“You’ve started the fire.” He came to her and
crouched down beside her, taking a small log from the wood box to
lay on the fire. “Good work, Miss Randolf.”

His compliment and the warm look in the gaze
he sent her toasted her insides, and all signs of a chill within
her were gone.

“This is nice,” she whispered.

“Yes,” he said softly.

“It feels so warm.” She looked into the
flames. “I love the glow of a fire.”

“It beautifies everything around it.”

Marietta glanced around the shack. She smiled
and set her gaze on Jase. “It even makes this humble home
attractive.”

He took her hand and stood, helping her to
her feet. “If you’ll see to those biscuits you promised, I’ll check
on Zack. I brought a bucket of fresh water in from the well.”

“There’s a well? I thought we might have to
melt snow for our water.”

“We use it for the livestock mostly, but it’s
good, clean water for anyone who needs it. I made sure we found
good water before I located and built the cabin.”

“This is your cabin?”

“Yes. It’s at the far end of my property,
near the Morgan holdings. Storms come up quickly in this land. In
both winter and summer the storms can be quite fierce, even life
threatening. I put the shack up for emergency shelter, but we also
use it to rest in when we’re moving or working cattle in this part
of the range. It’s come in handy many times.” He stopped talking
and stared at her a moment. Then he grinned and said, “Now, how
about those biscuits? I’m hungry.”

Marietta smiled back at him. “I’ll have them
ready before you know it.”

He nodded and went to see to Zack.

Marietta knew her biscuits and jerky wouldn’t
compare to the previous night’s feast at the Carsons’. The
bountiful meal had rejuvenated her in one way but had disheartened
her in another. She knew she’d be leaving in a day or two for
Chicago. A long trail lay ahead of her--a path of discomfort,
meager meals, and tiring, endless days. Meals like the one Amy
Carson had served wouldn’t come her way again for a very long
time.

After they’d eaten, Jase took his gun and
went out to find fresh game. He tied a rope to a post on the
lean-to outside the shack and held on to the rope as he went out
into the storm. It would be his lifeline to the cabin. He’d told
Marietta, men got lost in blinding snowstorms and died if they
weren’t careful.

With Jase gone and Zack content to play with
the few toys he had in his bag, Marietta took a book from her
belongings and began to read. When an hour had passed, she went to
the one window of the cabin and peered out. Jase was nowhere in
sight, but neither was anything else. The storm was thick and
blinding, and Marietta began to worry. What if Jase got lost? What
if he never came back? Another hour passed, and Marietta’s worries
turned to extreme fear. Jase finally returned thirty minutes later
with two rabbits.

“It looks like we’ll have something real
tasty to go with the rest of those biscuits,” he told her,
smiling.

Thank God he was safe, but did he have to
bring rabbits for their supper? Marietta knew she should be
grateful for the food--rabbit was definitely better than jerky--but
she’d eaten so much rabbit on the trail from the Missouri River
that she was afraid she’d start to grow fur.

“That’s wonderful, Jase,” she said, rising
from the floor where she’d been reading. “I’ll help you clean
them.”

~ * ~

Over the next two days, Jase and Marietta
spent time reading and discussing the books she’d brought with her
from Chicago. Such activities helped the time to pass bearably. She
was amazed by his interest in literature. She’d never dreamed a
rancher would enjoy books as much as Jase did.

On the afternoon of the third day, the storm
had calmed, but it was still not safe to travel. Marietta stood by
the window and gazed into the whiteness with Jase standing close
behind her.

“Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”
she asked drearily.

He placed his hand on her shoulder. “It won’t
be long now, Miss Randolf. You’ll see.”

“I don’t know,” she said hopelessly.
“Everything has gone so wrong for me. Two months ago, except for
missing Kathy, I was one of the happiest women in Chicago. I had a
good job at the library, all the social activities I could make
time for.” She glanced up at Jase. “Mother always told us social
activities defined a woman’s purpose in life.” She looked outside
once more. “Good advice is the one thing Mother left us before she
died. I’ve always acted on what she raised us to believe and was
happy to live as she’d said I should, but how can I be happy now
when my life has changed so much? Sometimes, I don’t know what I’m
going to do.”

“You’ll be happy again, Miss Randolf,” Jase
said. “You’ll be back in Chicago in a few weeks. Everything will
look different to you when you return to your old life. You feel
bad now because you’re tired, and you’ve been thrust into a very
difficult situation.”

She shook her head. “It isn’t just the
difficulties I’m facing here and now. My life in Chicago is as dead
as my sister. A week before I got word of Kathy’s death, I was
fired from my job at the library. My employer has a sister who was
recently widowed and needed a job, and since she has three children
and I had none, she got my job.” She glanced at Zack and turned to
look up at Jase. “Now I have a boy to raise myself and no job to
support him or me.”

“What are you going to do?”

“My aunt will take us in, and I’ll look for
another job.”

“Do you have money to tide you over until you
find work?”

Marietta shook her head. “I used every cent I
had left to make this trip, but that isn’t the worst of it. I’m
confident I’ll acquire another job, but how will I ever become a
mother to Zack? I don’t even know how to be his aunt. Though I’m
quite fond of him because he is a part of Kathy, I barely know the
boy.”

Jase touched her chin and smiled softly at
her. “You’re already mothering him, Miss Randolf. I’ve watched the
two of you the last few days. You knew how to calm him when he
fretted, you fed him when he was hungry, you cuddled him when he
slept and kissed him and tucked him in. I heard you pray with him
too, Miss Randolf.” He touched her hair then drew back his hand.
“Don’t say you don’t know how to be a mother. Whether you realize
it or not, you’re a gentle mother and a loving woman. Zack is very
lucky to have you.”

Marietta gazed into the softness of his eyes
a long moment. What a special man he was. He’d awakened feelings
inside her she couldn’t begin to understand. At the moment, he was
touching her more deeply than he should, and she needed to put a
stop to it before she did something foolish like stretch up and
kiss him the way she’d wanted to for the past two days.

“I’d... I’d better make fresh biscuits. I’m
sure Zack is hungry again.”

~ * ~

The sun shone brightly the next day, but the
buckboard’s fight over and through the drifted snow still lasted
the entire day. The sun was just beginning to set when the three
storm victims laid eyes on Fort Kearney.

Will Carson came out to meet them some
distance from the fort. “Thank the sweet Lord you’ve returned
safely,” he exclaimed. “Amy has been beside herself with worry that
you’d all perished in the storm.”

“We stayed in the shack near the edge of my
property line.” Jase gave Marietta a quick look before he turned
his attention back to Will. “It was a rough few days, but we made
out all right.”

“That’s good news, Jase,” Will said. “You’d
best take Miss Randolf and Zack straight to Amy. She’ll be wanting
to feed them and clean them up and fuss over them. You know how she
is.”

Jase smiled. “It’s been my pleasure to be
fussed over by your lovely wife myself a few times.”

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten that,
Jase.”

The two men laughed at their secret joke,
then Will’s expression sobered, and he focused on Marietta. “Miss
Randolf, I’m afraid we’ve got some bad news for you.”

Her heart stopped, and she swallowed hard.
Bad news? Was there any other kind? “What is it, Lt. Carson?”

“When the sky turned gray and it looked to
start snowing, Jackson and his party decided to leave for the
Missouri River at once. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until the
next stage comes through before you can return home. That’ll be
near the end of December.”

Marietta’s head began to spin, and she felt
herself slump into Jase. An arm circled her just before everything
went black.

Jase pressed Marietta close to him.

“Maybe I was too rough with the news,” Will
said.

“Is she dead?” Zack asked from his place in
the back of the buckboard.

Jase turned around. “No, son, she’s not dead.
She just fainted.”

“Why?” Zack craned his body to get a better
look at his aunt.

“Because Lt. Carson gave her some bad news.
He told her you’ve lost your ride back to the Missouri River, and
you’ll have to wait several weeks for the next stage.”

Zack stroked Marietta’s cheek with his tiny
hand and gazed down at her. “I hope she’s all right.” He lifted his
eyes to Jase and added, “But it isn’t bad news to me, Jase. It
means we can stay another month with you.”

“We’d better get Miss Randolf inside so Amy
can take care of her,” Jase said, ignoring Zack’s conclusion. As he
held the beautiful woman who’d taken his breath away so many times
during their confinement, he tried to determine just what his own
reaction was to Marietta’s news. Zack was happy to stay on in
Nebraska, but the news of her delayed return had snuffed the breath
out of Marietta. What did Will’s proclamation do to him?

With Marietta pressed close to his heart as
she was at the moment, Jase was torn between hope that he’d have a
chance to spend more time with the lovely lady he’d come to admire
in the past few days and the resentment he felt at her making him
miss his meeting. But maybe the meeting hadn’t taken place. If the
storm had been as bad at Red Rock Junction as it was in the Fort
Kearney area, no one would have been able to attend the meeting.
The thought comforted Jase. Maybe his opportunity hadn’t been lost
after all.

Marietta stirred and moaned.

“Is she all right?” Zack asked as he
continued to watch his aunt.

“She’s all right, Zack,” Jase replied. “I
told you she just fainted. She’s probably exhausted. She’s been
through more than a woman can take these last weeks.”

“We should have sent a detachment to meet her
at the Missouri River.” Will shook his head as he rode beside
Jase’s buckboard. “This wilderness is too harsh for city women. My
Amy had a terrible time adjusting.”

“But she did adjust, Will,” Jase said.

“By the grace of God she did, and I guess
Miss Randolf will adjust too.” Will picked up his pace. “Jase, I’m
going on ahead to tell Amy we’re coming.”