Jodi Thomas (16 page)

“If he’s alive ... ?” She couldn’t make herself finish the question.

Riley shrugged and grinned. “Then I give the money back to all three husbands, and you ladies are free to go.”

“You mean if Zeb’s alive, I’m not married?” He couldn’t be serious. He had to be lying again.

“Seems to me the fair way to do it. ’Course, if he’s alive, he’s probably coming to kill you. When he does, I’ll have to arrest him and hang him, so he better stay dead.” Riley smiled tolerantly. “Stop worrying about Zeb.”

“Aren’t you?” Bailee watched him closely. “And don’t tell me you just like to shop. You’ve been guarding me for the past hour as though you feared someone might shoot me or kidnap me right off the street.”

Bailee’s blood froze as she saw the truth show for an instant in Riley’s face. Then, just as quickly, he covered his reaction with a fatherly frown. “Of course not. No one is going to shoot you.”

“But someone might kidnap me?”

Riley caved in at her question. “Smith seems to think whoever robbed the train will try to get the kid. Her being the only witness and all. We tried to keep it quiet about Carter coming in, but someone in town is bound to know. If one person knows, there’s not any telling who else might know. The robbers might all be from here and watching our every move. Waiting for a chance to get to the child.”

“Carter would never let anyone kidnap her.”

Riley agreed with a nod. “But if they can’t reach her, they might try snatching you and bargaining.” He took a deep breath. “Smith’s right. All three of you would be safer at the jail.”

Bailee didn’t answer. She held the packages tightly against her and ran toward the hotel. The sheriff did his best to keep up.

When they reached the room, she stopped long enough to take a deep breath and slowly turned the knob.

Carter sat in the chair, holding Piper on one knee. His arms circled her as his hands moved in a swaying motion in front of her.

“What’s going on?” Riley asked between breaths.

Carter smiled. “I’m singing her a song.”

The old sheriff looked as if he were about to pull his gun and shoot Carter for going completely mad. On a good day he didn’t understand most folks, and today didn’t seem a good day.

Bailee quickly stepped between them and dumped her packages on the bed. “I bought her a dress and a nightgown. Would you tell her?”

Carter’s hands moved in front of Piper once more. This time there was no swaying action.

The little girl nodded.

“The gown has pink bows and lace along the cuffs.” Bailee rummaged through the packages without stopping her chatter. “I’m sure she’ll like them, and I hope I guessed the right size. I’m not used to buying things for children. I tried to remember how tall Piper was by where she came to when she stood beside me.”

Riley turned his stare to Bailee, as if reconsidering using a bullet on the insane Carter and putting Bailee out of her misery from terminal chattiness. The woman had driven him loco while she was in his jail with her endless statements and planning. Maybe he should just let the train robbers capture her. They were sure to give her back within the hour. He glared at Carter for help, but Carter didn’t appear to be listening. The man seemed to think hearing, as well as talking, was an option he controlled.

Riley finally interrupted Bailee. “Would you two reconsider moving back to the jail?” True, his plea was not as demanding as it might have been, but after all, he’d been shopping for over an hour, and that could take a great deal of the determination out of a man.

“No,” Bailee answered for the third time.

Riley’s shoulders dropped an inch. “Well, I’ll go tell Sheriff Smith. We’ll give the kid another hour or so to have her bath and eat something, then we’ll be back to ask a few more questions.” He spotted Bailee’s mouth opening and quickly added, “And I’ll have no discussion about it, miss. As it is, we could put you both in jail for interfering with the gathering of important information.”

“And how much information would you have gathered without Carter, Sheriff?” Bailee spliced in the question while he took a breath.

Riley frowned at her. “I’ll be back,” he stated quickly and hurried into the hall before he lost a fight.

True to his word, Riley and Smith returned in an hour. Carter had given Piper and Bailee time alone while they bathed. He’d spent ten minutes taking a bath at the barbershop and the rest of the time watching their hotel window from across the street. When Bailee opened the curtain, he knew it was safe to return.

The three had barely had time to eat lunch before Carter let the sheriffs in. Carter knew he had to do all he could to help them catch the robbers. Men who were willing to kill everyone on the train to commit a robbery wouldn’t stop at killing a child if they thought she could identify them.

Carter worked with Piper the rest of the afternoon, talking of every detail before the robbery and afterward. It was after dark when the two lawmen left with little more information than they had that morning.

Carter was relieved when Piper let Bailee help her into her new nightgown. The little girl played with her rag doll in the center of the bed. Carter pulled his chair as close as he could to the window and tried to read, but Bailee was like a butterfly, fluttering about the room as though there was something to do. She used the damp towels from Piper’s bath to scrub dirt from the child’s carpetbag, then replaced everything inside three times before she was satisfied.

Carter watched her movements from the comer of his vision. He forgot what he’d been reading and had to flip back a few pages and start again. The day had been endless and talking through Piper’s tragedy had been like reliving his own parents’ deaths over again. But, true to her word, his wife has stood by his side, helping wherever she could. Now there was a peace in watching her that surprised him.

She continued to walk about the room as the street below clamored into evening. Businesses closed their doors. Strolling couples replaced shoppers. The wind increased, promising a storm as it whistled between the buildings.

Bailee took down her hair. The dark richness of it surprised him as she let it tumble to her waist.

Carter turned back three more pages and tried to focus on the words in his book once more.

About the time a piano’s music drifted from somewhere on a side street, Piper curled around her rag doll and fell asleep. Voices wafted up like smoke through a chimney, mingling, changing from courting whispers to good-time joking.

Bailee tied back her hair with a ribbon and began loosening the buttons along the back of her dress.

Closing his book, Carter tried to stare out the window. At this rate, he’d unread the entire book if he didn’t stop.

She stood with her back to him, her dress loosening as it opened to reveal a slim sliver of skin trailing from her neck to her waist. Her black hair swayed across the space as she worked.

He tried not to look, but his eyes saw nothing out the window no matter how hard he pretended to be looking in that direction. All that registered in his mind came from the corner of his vision where she stood.

While he studied her without appearing to watch, she did the strangest thing. With her clothes still covering her, she slipped her nightgown over her head.

Carter gave up pretending and stared. Like a turtle slowly moving from one shell to another, Bailee slipped an arm out from her dress and moved it into the sleeve of the nightgown. Next the other arm. The gown glided into place at the same time the dress worked its way to the floor.

He’d never seen such an action in his life. In the entire process, very little flesh was revealed. Not that he wanted to see her bare, he lied to himself. But her action was practiced to perfection. He wouldn’t have been surprised to learn she did such a performance at the circus side-show. Everything was so proper ... and yet.

And yet, what? he scolded himself. What had he wanted her to do? If he’d been any kind of a gentleman, he would’ve excused himself for a few minutes to allow her some privacy. She might be his wife, but she probably didn’t want to be gawked at.

Carter stared out the window watching lamplight flicker in the wind as the air grew colder with the promise of rain. Why couldn’t he ever think of what to do before something happened and he’d already done the wrong thing? He could have walked down to the lobby and sat in one of the uncomfortable chairs as easily as he sat in this one upstairs.

The thought occurred to him that she was already ready for bed, and he was sitting by the window fully dressed.

C
ARTER OPENED HIS BOOK AND TRIED TO LOOK LIKE he was reading. He wore his good trousers and the white shirt Bailee had washed and pressed for him. If he slept in his clothes, they’d be wrinkled come morning. If he didn’t, at some point he’d have to climb out of his uncomfortable ladder-back chair and take them off. There would be no nightshirt to hide inside of as Bailee had. He hadn’t worn a nightshirt since he ran away from the preacher’s. Never saw any need for them, at least not until tonight.

Last night, in Lacy’s tiny apartment, it had been so dark Carter figured Bailee didn’t even notice he removed his clothes before lying on top of the bed. He was up before dawn and dressed. He spent most of his life dressing and undressing in total darkness. But tonight was different. The lamplight from across the street shone through the windows so brightly he’d never get to sleep even if he found the nerve to take off his clothes and lie down.

Bailee lifted sleeping Piper from the center of the bed and tucked her beneath the blanket on the cot. Carter watched as she leaned over and kissed the child’s cheek. He couldn’t help but wonder if his mother had once done the same thing to him. The memory of her death had polluted all other memories. He’d never told anyone the details, he never would, but no matter how hard he tried to remember her living, her dying always trumped on his thoughts.

Bailee lifted the bedcover and crawled beneath.

Carter tried to guess how long he could sit there acting like he was reading. An hour? Two? All night? His body already ached to stretch out. He’d slept little last night, and the day had seemed endless. He felt as if his nerves had been running double time for hours.

Carter stood. He’d never considered himself a coward, and he wouldn’t start now. This wasn’t some strange woman he was spending the night with. This was his wife. A wife that he would be sleeping beside often in the years to come. If she panicked at the sight of him undressing, he might as well find out now.

He pulled his shirt from his trousers, unbuttoned it, and hung it on the chair. His underwear was made of unbleached cotton. Carter cut the cuffs off the undershirt when he bought it so the sleeves only went to his elbow. Since he had no idea how to sew a seam, the sleeves were frayed and the cotton thin from washing. But until this moment, he’d never cared about how they looked, only that his clothes were relatively clean. Summer underwear was just something he ordered four for a dollar every spring, then tossed in the rag bin come fall when it was time to order four winter pair.

He debated taking off his socks, but decided against it. He wasn’t sure why, but it seemed indecent to sleep in the same bed with a woman and be barefooted.

Carter reached for the thin blanket and sheet. He slipped into bed before he did any more thinking. If he wasn’t careful, he’d think himself back in the ladder-back chair and out of any sleep.

Bailee didn’t move. For a moment he thought she might be asleep. But before he could get his body to relax, she rolled over to face him. Carter tried to act like he didn’t notice she was two inches away, staring at him.

“Will you sing the silent song to me?” she whispered.

“What?” Carter closed his eyes and swore. Why’d he say that? She must know he heard her. She was only two inches away.

But she was kind. “Would you sing to me with your hands like you did to Piper?”

The request was so foolish, he almost refused. Why would anyone who could hear want to
feel
a song?

Carter didn’t say anything. He’d already said one word and that was a dumb one. He thought for a minute, then opened his arm.

When she didn’t move, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and rolled her against him. Her back pressed against his chest as he circled her with his arms and took her hands in his.

He formed her fingers just above his hands so that when he moved she could feel the words he signed. It wasn’t a comfortable position, but he wasn’t about to sit up in bed and have her sit on his knee.

Slowly he began to move his hands, swaying back and forth as if his fingers were directing a melody as they moved. He could only remember parts of songs his mother used to sign to him. Phrases, some of which made little or no sense, but they lingered in his memory.

After a while, she turned her face so that her cheek brushed his. “Would you tell me the words?” she asked. “Help me understand?”

Resting lightly against her hair, Carter whispered the words he could remember into her ear. “Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, don’t you cry.”

Her body was warm against his and somehow comfortable in a way he’d never expected. Her fingers lightly caressed his hands as he repeated the movements for each word.

She laughed when her fingers got tangled up in his hands. He liked the sound of her laughter and the feel of her as she wiggled, trying to get back into place so he could continue.

He slowed his signing so that her slender fingers could brush along his hands, touching the silent words. When her palm pressed against his, he stopped completely and their fingers slowly intertwined.

Bailee turned in his arms and faced him. They were now so close her breath mingled with his.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered as she touched his lips with her fingers. “Afraid I’ll never feel for the rest of my life the way I feel when I’m close to you.” She brushed her lips lightly against his.