Lily's Secrets [Elk Creek 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (3 page)

Lily listened to the exchange as the two women burst out into conspiratorial laughter. She enjoyed their easy rapport and wished she could share it.

Back with the Kiowas, the females in the tribe had initially been wary of her, though more than willing to “help her heal,” as her stranger had put it. Slowly, they’d adjusted to her presence, and grudgingly accepted her into their ranks when it became obvious that she had no intentions of leaving and they evidently didn’t have the heart to kick her out.

Over the years with the tribe she had come to realize that her savior must have held a position of some influence among his people for them to accept her at all. She wondered, however, why she never saw him again, not that she had ever seen him to begin with. Eventually, and especially after she began to show, the women had accepted her on her own merits, particularly doting on her baby as much as she did once he’d been born.

A stone lodged in her throat at the thought of all that had been taken from her. She had just gotten used to being with the Kiowas, feeling as if she belonged. They had been kind and given her a home when she’d had nowhere else to go.

She watched Rebel and Maia acting so friendly with each other. They were two women with totally different life experiences and nothing much in common except their sex and indomitable spirit. Witnessing their bond brought home everything that Lily had lost, specifically the companionship of females who did not fault or judge her.

“You are so beautiful, darlin’. You shouldn’t frown so. You’ll get wrinkles.”

Lily felt Rebel’s touch on her cheek like a feather brushing her skin. Shock flooded through her at the woman’s caress and words. She was used to Wyatt calling her beautiful, though it had been a long time since he had expressed any sort of opinion on her looks, good or bad, much less called her beautiful. Rebel’s words threw her for a loop as much as for their sincerity as that they were delivered by a beautiful woman in her own right.

“I’d ask you to come work for Eartha at Winchester’s saloon. She’s always looking for girls, but I’m thinking your hubby wouldn’t be too amenable to that.”

“Rebel!”

“What?” The woman innocently widened her eyes at Maia and put a hand on her own ample bosom. “Oh please, I didn’t mean for her to work upstairs.
I
don’t even do that. She’d be there strictly for show, a pretty face to brighten up the place. She wouldn’t even have to be a dance-hall girl like me. She could just bring the men drinks.”

“Oh,” Maia said.

“Honestly, Maia, I’m not trying to corrupt anyone, contrary to popular opinion.” She turned to Lily. “At least it’d be something for you to do to get out of your head.”

“Out of my head?”

“I see the way you are around town, almost like a ghost, as if you’re not really here.”

“Must you be so…blunt?” Maia asked.

“Look who’s talking.”

“It’s all right,” Lily murmured, and both women turned to her as if just realizing she was still in the aisle. “I reckon I don’t mind it, the bluntness, I mean. I actually appreciate your honesty.” It was a lot more than she got from the rest of the town, her husband included.

She loved Wyatt, she truly did, but since she’d been back, she got the feeling that he didn’t love her very much. Sometimes, she actually got the feeling that he hated her. Why else would he forego sleeping in their bed at night unless he couldn’t stand the sight of her or unless he found the idea of touching her repugnant? Short of asking him, she’d never know the reason since he was so closemouthed and wouldn’t tell her what he was feeling or what was on his mind. He’d never been very talkative to begin with, even when they were kids and growing up together. Since her return, he’d been acting like a mute. Wyatt had always preferred letting his actions speak for him rather than words. He thought talk was cheap, and most times, Lily agreed with him. Sometimes, however, she just needed to hear certain things from him, like he still desired and loved her and he didn’t blame her for what had happened to her. Of course, it might help if she
told
him what had actually occurred. She certainly couldn’t blame him for being less than enthusiastic at her surprise return. He’d thought she was dead for the last five years, after all. She was lucky to find him well, unattached, and so willing to take her in with almost no explanation of what had happened to her. He could have very well been otherwise attached with a new family. Neither could Lily lay all the blame at Wyatt’s feet for the rift in their marriage since she wasn’t being completely honest or open with him.

She couldn’t tell him, though, not even a little of what she had gone through away from their marriage bed. She’d lose him for sure if she did.

Lily sighed at the thought of all the couples in town she knew, especially the newlywed Malloys. For instance, Lily knew Maia’s husband didn’t treat her the same way Wyatt treated Lily. She’d seen the loving way Doctor Malloy looked at and touched his wife, and he did it no matter who was around to see, evidently not caring about the town’s censure or judgment. She even noticed how affectionate Doctor Malloy’s brother Cade was with Maia, more than was appropriate for a brother-in-law, some thought. The rumor mill in town ran rampant about the relationship Maia shared with the two brothers and had since the mysterious trio’s arrival not quite a year ago when Wyatt and Lily had given them all a ride into town.

Looking back on that day now, Lily realized it was the most excitement she had experienced since her ordeal and living with the Kiowas. Not that she even wanted or needed excitement in her life. She just wanted something to make her look forward to getting up in the mornings and going to bed at nights. Wyatt used to be that something but not anymore.

Lily choked back a sob at the sudden idea of her loss, and Rebel and Maia both converged, each wrapping an arm around her and patting her back in circular motions.

Lily felt her face heat. Goodness, she was mortified! She’d been trying to avoid making a to-do like this for so long, but now that it was upon her she could do nothing but sink into the gentle half hugs and soothing assurances that each woman delivered.

“Oh, honey, it can’t be all that bad. You’ve got air in your lungs and a fine young husband to go home to every night. What woman could ask for anything more?”

Lily only wished that things could be as simple as that, but she didn’t really
have
Wyatt, not anymore. She felt like
Wyatt
was the ghost and not with
her
especially when they were home alone. His body remained present, but he was like an empty shell just drifting from room to room as if in search of all that had been taken away from them. That is, when he wasn’t working his fingers to the bone in the fields “providing for their future,” as he put it. At this rate, they wouldn’t have a future, at least not one together.

The thought pained Lily to no end.

“Would you see your way clear to letting me help out around the shop here occasionally? It wouldn’t have to be a real job or anything official, just something to…fill my days.”

“What about the schoolhouse?” Maia asked. “I heard you were a teacher once…before…what happened. I’m sure they’d love to have you back. Dedicated teachers are always hard to find.”

Lily knew that Maia was trying to be helpful, but if the woman knew what she was suggesting, she wouldn’t. Lily just couldn’t face all those young folk turning to her for guidance and knowledge,
counting
on her to nurture them for the time that they were in her safekeeping. Besides, she highly doubted their parents would be enthused to have her teaching their kids now. She had been tainted by the “savages” and was no longer trustworthy enough to handle children, not their lily-white youngins anyway. Lord knew what sort of ideas she had picked up from the Kiowas during her time living among them and would spread to the youngins of Elk Creek. Oh sure, the town folk professed their relief at her escape from “those savages.” They even acted glad to have her back, conveying their sympathy and dismay at her ordeal, but not a one of them would be first in the line when it came to giving her the responsibility of teaching their kids.

“I couldn’t,” Lily finally croaked.

“Couldn’t what?”

Lily started and turned toward the mouth of the aisle with the other two women to see none other than Wyatt standing there.

He had his legs planted and braced apart, fists on his hips, and his Stetson tipped back on his head as he stared at her.

The sight of him never failed to take her breath away, and now was no different. From his slightly long, golden-blond hair to his size-twelve boots, the man plumb made her go all liquid inside with just a word. It was like she was looking upon him for the first time, all excited about being in his presence and happy that he took notice of her, even if he didn’t exactly look happy to see her surrounded by the other women.

Maia wrapped an arm around Lily in a protective gesture and Wyatt’s azure gaze glinted as if he was angered by the idea of someone else feeling the need to protect his wife. “We were just discussing the possibility of taking Lily on here at the shop.”

“We were?” Lily asked.

“Work with me, Lily,” Maia whispered out the side of her mouth.

“Take Lily on here?” Wyatt dropped his fists from his hips and glanced around at all the well-stocked shelves and the customers roaming the floors before he returned his gaze to Lily. “Lilybelle doesn’t need to work if she doesn’t want to. She’s got me to provide for her.”

Lily could just hear the disdain in Wyatt’s voice at the idea of someone offering to take care of his wife in any way, shape, or form.

“No offense, Wyatt, but there’s more to providing for your wife than keeping a roof over her head, food in her belly, and clothes on her back. And what if she
wants
to work?”

Wyatt looked at Maia as if she’d just spoken in tongues, and Maia laughed. “Don’t look so bewildered, man. She’s
your
wife.”

“I know that.”

“Well then, act like it and treat her right.”

“No disrespect, Mrs. Malloy, but I know how to treat a woman.” Wyatt took two long strides down the aisle and stood before Lily.

She was tall for a woman but still had to crane her neck to look him in the eye. She could feel the heat of his gaze like a physical touch and shuddered.

“Let’s go.” Before she could object, he grabbed her hand and steered her toward the exit.

Lily followed Wyatt out of the aisle, glancing back over her shoulder at Maia’s and Rebel’s concerned expressions.

They needn’t have worried. Wyatt could be abrupt, frank, and gruff, sometimes all three at the same time, but he’d never hurt her.

Not physically anyway.

Wyatt had known better than to let Lily go gallivanting in that highfalutin store all alone. Now those women had put fool ideas in her head about working.

He’d only let her go in alone as he couldn’t see himself surrounded by so much sweet-smelling perfume and lotion. Not to mention so many tittering women with nothing better to do than exclaim over all the colorful, magical healing potions within. He wouldn’t have come in when he had if he hadn’t been worried about Lily being without him for such an extended period of time. Since the abduction five years ago, he didn’t trust his wife being out of his sight for too long, not even if she was in town surrounded by people with whom they had basically grown up.

Heck, he’d only made the particular trip into town because Lily had made a special request and he was hard put to deny her anything, especially now. She’d wanted to show her support for Maia’s and Sabrina’s new venture and, like everyone else in town including him, she was curious about what exactly “healing magick” meant.

Wyatt knew he should have had more faith in Lily’s abilities to take care of herself. She had never been a shrinking violet, and her parents had raised her to be self-sufficient. Aside from her mother and father instructing her in the basics of maintaining a home and farm, her father had taught Lily and her mother how to use a gun and rifle. Lily was a crack shot, fairly putting him and other cowboys to shame. Before the abduction, he had no reservations about leaving her to her own devices. Whenever she did accompany him into town it was because he wanted and enjoyed her company, not just because he feared for her safety or didn’t trust her to be alone.

“You didn’t need to be so rude to Maia and Rebel,” Lily said.

Wyatt glanced at her from the corner of his eyes as he jerked on the horse and buggy reins and clucked his tongue. The carriage took off with a little jolt as the horse trotted forward and Wyatt’s heart stuttered at the hint of his wife’s spirit. That was the woman he used to know and loved. So many times in the last several months he’d wondered where she had gone. He’d wondered what those savages had done to filch her fire.

Five years ago he would have thought nothing of Lily wanting to work. He had been proud of her accomplishments as a teacher and her ability to stand by his side and work with him in the field. He encouraged her independence. Since the abduction, all that had changed. He’d become an overprotective mother hen. He knew it was wrong to mollycoddle her so. He knew it was even worse for their marriage, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. It was as if he was possessed with the idea of cosseting her in a shell to which only he had access. He’d allow nothing or no one else in that could harm her.