Over the Edge (15 page)

Callie looked at Audra sharply, expecting horror. In truth, Callie probably wouldn’t actually
kill
Seth, but she might well make the man wish for death before she was done. That idea held a strong appeal.

“I’ve done some work on your clothes.”

Callie looked down and realized she was wearing her own soft, white flannel nightgown.

“I found what must be your satchel and a riding skirt and blouse. There were some faded bloodstains, but I could see that someone put time into washing and mending them for you.”

“The parson’s wife, though maybe the hotel owner might have helped. He and his whole family were uncommonly kind to me.”

“Has your head cleared?”

Callie nodded. “Yes, I’m steady now.”

“Do you feel up to trying to stand?”

Callie smiled at Audra, and the smile alone set a few muscles to protesting. “It’ll hurt like blue blazes, but it’s just aches and pains. I’m not bad hurt.”

“A hundred small injuries take a toll on a woman.” Audra stood, a head shorter than Callie. She might look like dandelion fluff, but then a dandelion was a tough little flower. “Let’s get you to your feet.”

Callie found each move to be easier than the one before, which didn’t mean they weren’t all torment. It was slowgoing, but Audra remained patient and soon had her dressed and sitting in front of the soup. Callie took the first bite and her stomach threatened to rebel.

“I think I’ll leave eating until later.” Callie fought to keep from casting up the contents of her belly.

Resting one surprisingly strong hand on Callie’s shoulder, Audra said, “Just give it a second to settle. Take slow, steady breaths.”

It took a minute, but Callie won the battle with sickness and risked another bite. “It tastes good, but I’ve got the collywobbles.”

“No great surprise after all you’ve been through. Just try eating only the broth.”

The second bite set more easily and her appetite roared to life. She ate the soup while Audra combed and braided her hair.

“You’ve got stitches on your scalp in four places. Seth said the doctor wants them to stay in for a week. Then we can cut them out.”

The soup was heavy with meat and vegetables, and every bite warmed her stomach and seemed to ease the shaking out of her bones. “Seven days for the stitches.” Callie glanced back at Audra. “Aren’t we close to that already?”

Gently but firmly turning Callie’s head so she faced forward, Audra said, “They’ll be gone before you know it. The doctor cut the hair away around the injuries.”

“I reckon I look like I’ve been rode hard and put up wet.”

“I’ve pulled your hair back so the wounds are covered. Your hair is beautiful, so long and thick. It covers the clipped spots. You look fine.”

“I hope you don’t have a mirror in this house.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Good, then I can’t call you a liar.” As suddenly as she’d been starving, Callie’s stomach felt stretched to the limit.

Audra gave a short, quiet laugh as she fussed with Callie’s hair. “You’re healing well. No infection.”

Callie had to force down the last of the soup. “I reckon I’m ready to see Connor now.”

And her husband, but she didn’t mention him. She figured the lunatic would come along with the child.

Chapter
14

“Seth’s got a son?” Rafe heard himself screech and clamped his mouth shut. He prided himself on being in control, and that included his voice.

“Yep. Eth was afraid you’d ride out looking for Seth’s wife again, so he sent me over to stop you and tell you about the . . . the, well, your family has done some mighty fast growing in a short time, I reckon.”

“And a brother who is
how
old
?” Rafe felt his temper building. His pa was lucky to be dead and beyond Rafe’s reach. “How could Pa—?”

Steele cut him off. “I didn’t get no details, Rafe. I said he looked about ten or eleven. Don’t start in. I don’t know nuthin’ ’cept Eth says you probably had oughta come.”

Rafe turned to Julia, who was already banking the fire on the cookstove.

“We’ve been looking for Callie for so long I’d almost given up ever finding her.” Julia took her apron off and pulled her coat on.

His wife’s activities helped Rafe get past the shock and get moving.

“And Seth doesn’t remember the baby?” Julia asked.

“Like I said, ma’am, I don’t know nuthin’.” Steele tugged on his gloves and hat as if they were in danger of blowing off in a windstorm. Not that easy, considering they were standing inside Rafe’s cabin. Steele wasn’t a talkative man on the best of days.

They left through the tunnel on the east side of their mountain meadow and rode in the snow toward Julia’s old cabin.

“Can you believe it snowed so hard?” Julia said. The horses waded through ankle-deep snow on occasion, but the sun was strong and the snow was mostly blown off the heavily wooded trail. “Some of it is already melting.”

Rafe hadn’t been around women much, but since he’d gotten married to one of the little critters, he’d noticed they seemed to have to say out loud every thought in their head. Including stuff everybody already knew. It’d snowed. Today it was real nice. It was called weather. What was there to talk about?

“Yep, it’s a real nice day.” He’d also learned a woman didn’t like men ignoring them or telling them they were wasting their breath when they said out loud something anyone with one working eyeball could see. “Weather can be like that in the Rocky Mountains. Winter comes early, but there can be nice days too, even after the snow starts flying.”

Steele gave Rafe a look that clearly told him his ears were weary from all the talk.

Rafe didn’t smile. He knew if Steele had a chance to marry a woman as beautiful and smart and sweet and warm as Julia, he’d have talked up a storm to keep her happy.

“So, Steele,” Julia said, “did the boy say . . .”

Steele was a few steps ahead and he picked up speed and didn’t answer. He did a good job of acting like he hadn’t heard.

Rafe eased closer to his wife. “So what do you think might be going on?” It was a question he used on Julia many times to keep her talking so he wouldn’t have to talk back. It gave him spare time to think about important stuff like the ranch.

They rode up to Julia’s ramshackle cabin about the time Julia quit making things up that could’ve happened. A corner of the roof had collapsed under the weight of the snow.

“I wonder if this place will stand through the winter if we repair it.” He doubted it.

Julia swung down off her horse and stepped close enough to Rafe that he saw her shudder.

“We could have been stuck in that cabin.” She turned. Her long red braid came around until it hung down one shoulder. Her green eyes were shining right at him. “I’m so glad I married you.”

Yep, Rafe’d be glad to talk until his lungs went bone dry to earn a look like that from his wife. And she always liked to know what he was planning, for some reason. “I’m going to need a line shack out here. You won’t mind if I rip down your cabin, will you?”

Julia scowled at the miserable little building. “Tear it into a thousand pieces if you want.”

“I’d like to get to it before winter closes down on us.”

“You’re running out of time.”

“Yep.” Rafe looked at Steele, who had released the horses into a sturdy corral. “We can get busy with the line shack as soon as we figure out who that boy is and how he got his family mixed up with ours.”

“I can send some men over anytime you’re ready.”

They climbed across the fast-moving creek that separated the abandoned Gilliland cabin from the dangerous opening into the cavern Julia loved so much. Down into a steep gully, across the stream and back up, everything now slippery with snow and ice. They never used this cavern entrance anymore, not since they’d found the easier entrance near Rafe’s ranchland.

They mounted the horses Steele had corralled and rode hard for Ethan’s place, which kept the chattering to a minimum. When they got home, Steele took the horses as Julia beat Rafe to the house. The woman was crazy to see Seth’s baby.

Which set Rafe to hoping he didn’t have to wait too long to have a little one of his own. Ethan had two and now Seth had one. As the oldest brother, he wasn’t holding up his end of things.

He decided he’d commit himself even more to hurrying along that day. When he stepped inside Ethan’s very crowded house, he had a smile on his face.

“Hey, big brother.” Seth smiled at Rafe from the kitchen table. He held up Connor, who had wolfed down a flapjack and a whole egg. “Meet my son.”

“And meet your brother,” Ethan added, looking grim. Seth was more used to Ethan grinning.

Rafe turned to study the stranger at the table.

Seth saw the stunned expression on his brother’s face. “I told Steele to tell you about him.”

“He did. I just thought . . .”

Ethan stood from the table, holding Lily, now three months old. “Julia, have a seat. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

Julia snatched Connor out of Seth’s arms. Seth took a second to make sure his son was happy with the new arrangement. His boy was uncommon fond of his pa.

Connor didn’t even give Seth a backward glance.

Seth rose and stood beside Ethan. When Seth turned to look at the table, he realized he stood shoulder to shoulder with his brothers, looking at the madness their lives had become.

“This is Heath.” Seth nodded at the boy, who looked so much like a Kincaid there was just no way to deny that he was their brother.

Heath had gone through his share of flapjacks. Earlier, Audra had had her hands full keeping the food coming until she’d abandoned the room to take care of Callie.

“You forgot you had a son?” Heath asked with abundant hostility.

Seth felt his smile melt away, along with what little pride he had. “Well, no, not really. I didn’t know he was on the way when I left. Callie says I didn’t know.”

“And you ran off and left her? Like Pa ran off and left you?” Heath seemed to have a burr under his saddle. Seth couldn’t say he blamed the boy.

“I never really thought Pa ran off and left us.” Seth could see now that it was true. “He was just gone a lot.”

“He was gone a lot from us, too.” Heath cut through a stack of pancakes like he was attacking something . . . or someone.

“He’s a fine boy, Seth.” Rafe studied Connor and his wild blue eyes for a minute, then looked back at the table. “You’re a Kincaid.”

Defiance flashed in Health’s eye as if he was waiting to be thrown out.

“That means you’ve got a home here. This is the Kincaid Ranch, so you’ve got a share in it.”

“I don’t want a ranch.” Heath’s eyes went hard, the shining blue of them flashed, and Seth wondered if the boy ever had nightmares. Heath was close to the age Rafe had been when Seth had the accident in the cavern. And Rafe had been a man from that day on. But Heath’s eyes were of a type with Seth and Pa. He felt like the boy was a true brother already.

“I want my share sold, then I’ll be on my way.”

A troublemaking brother. Which made him even more like Seth.

“Not a chance,” Rafe said. “We can’t sell the ranch. It ain’t worth much and no one would buy it. I bought a huge stretch just a couple of months ago for a few pennies an acre. Its only value is to make a home for us. The part that belonged to Pa isn’t that big, anyway. I added to it with money I made selling beef to gold miners in the rush of ’59. But that’s my land. Seth and Ethan have added to it with homestead claims besides what I bought and it’ll take five years to prove up on that land. It’s a good stretch now, but the part you’ve got a claim on is mostly woodlands. I could buy you out, but you wouldn’t get far on a quarter of its worth, and no one else wants it.”

“You wanted it.” Heath scowled.

“Yeah, but Kincaids don’t have a lick of sense,” Seth said.

There was a long silence, then Rafe said, “How old are you, Heath?”

“Eleven.”

“So our pa was married to your ma about a year before our ma died, is that right?” Rafe’s voice brought every noise in the room to a halt. Even Connor, who was jabbering at Julia, fell silent and gave Rafe a wild-eyed look.