Tracie Peterson - [Heirs of Montana 04] (18 page)

“Like what?” Faith asked as she tried to skim through the letter and carry on a conversation at the same time.

“Like leaving Cole.”

Faith’s head snapped up. “Leave her husband? That doesn’t sound like Dianne at all.”

Charity nodded. “I fear she just might. She’s bitter, angry, and unhappy. I’ve never known Dianne to sit still for long in that kind of misery. I think we need to pray for her, Faith. Even Ben is worried.”

“I have been praying, but I see what you’re saying. This letter doesn’t sound at all like our Dianne. Perhaps there are things entirely too painful for her to tell us on paper. We both know she wasn’t happy leaving Montana.”

“We must agree to bathe this in prayer day and night. Ben will be praying and fasting on this—in fact, he started yesterday.” Charity paused and tears came to her eyes. “I fear for her … for her and the children. I even find myself burdened with sorrow for Cole.”

“Poor man is caught between the devil and the desert,” Faith said sadly. “He loves Dianne, but she’s been unhappy with him since the ranch burned down. Now this. I’m sure he feels the situation is impossible.”

“It feels impossible to me,” Charity admitted, “but I know God holds the future and all things are possible with Him.”

“Are you sure this is the safe thing to do?” Mara asked Zane as they packed some things for Elsa in his saddlebags.

“It’s the best we can hope for right now. Maybe after we’re married we can take her to live with us in Butte.”

“You’d do that for her … for me?” Mara asked. The expression on her face revealed how deeply this had touched her heart.

He shrugged. “It would be the right thing to do … or at least offer. Your sister will be my sister.”

Mara went to him and embraced Zane tightly. “You are such a good-hearted man. I know we’ll be so very happy.”

“If wishing would make it so,” he began, “then I’d know it too.”

“Are we ready?” Elsa asked impatiently. “If we don’t hurry up, we might meet Father on the trail.”

“Remember what I told you?” Zane asked. “You’re to take your bags and walk down the street to the freight yard, making sure that you’re well seen. Then you’ll get on one of the wagons leaving for Corrine. Hopefully the local gossips will talk about this enough to give your father the wrong impression of where you’ve gone.”

Elsa nodded. “I’ll do it. I just think we’d better hurry or it’s not going to matter. He was due home from the cattle drive today.”

“Yes, I know. I also know a few back roads and trails. He won’t find us, Elsa. I promise you that.”

“If he does,” she warned, “he’ll shoot first and ask questions later.” She shook her head. “I take that back. He won’t ask questions at all.”

Mara clung to Zane. “Please be careful. I worry for you.”

“See what falling in love has done for you?” he teased.

“It’s done more good than harm,” Mara replied. “I don’t see anything wrong with caring about a person’s well-being. I’ll be praying for you all the time you’re gone.” She rose on her tiptoes and he kissed her lightly on the mouth.

“We’ll practice this some more when I get back,” he whispered in her ear.

Mara blushed as Elsa came to her. “If Father shows up here, you’ll have to stall for time. Joshua will surely know what to do.”

“We’ll be fine—don’t you worry.”

“All right, Elsa,” Zane said. “Go get your things and take your walk. I’ll be heading out and maneuver around so I can meet up with you just south of town. I’ve instructed the men to wait with you until I get there.”

He longed to kiss Mara again. He felt a brief sensation of worry as he realized how dangerous the trip could prove. If Chester and his boys had returned early to the ranch, they would be approaching town even now. “I’ll see you soon,” he told Mara, then mounted his horse.

“I love you,” she said, unashamed.

“I love you too.” It was the first time he’d spoken the words to her. It warmed his heart to see Mara break into a radiant smile. He knew she would always cherish this moment. But in truth, he would cherish it as well and fondly remember the day he had made Mara’s face light up in pure delight.

CHAPTER 13

“S
HE’S GOING TO BE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE
,” J
AMIE SAID AS
George introduced Elsa.

“I beg your pardon?” the young woman responded. She glared at the nineteen-year-old. “I’ll have you know I’m quite capable of tending to my own needs. I’m certain I’ll not trouble you.”

Jamie shook his head. “Women your age are always trouble.”

George wanted to laugh out loud but didn’t. “Now, Jamie, that’s no way to treat our houseguest.” His nephew was a nononsense kind of man who liked things to stay even and routine. George had known bringing Elsa Lawrence to the ranch would be a risk to everyone, but he knew Jamie in particular wouldn’t take well to the idea.

“She isn’t staying in our house. Ma’s put her in the Selby cabin.”

“Nevertheless, she’s a guest on the ranch and needs our help. Her father can be pretty cruel; you know that full well.”

“That’s what I said, she’s going to be trouble.” Jamie turned to go, hitting his dusty pant legs with his gloved hands.

“You have no right to accuse me,” Elsa called after him. She stormed over to where he’d stopped and turned. “I’ll have you know that this wasn’t my idea. I’m not any happier to be stuck on this no-nothing ranch with you than you are to having me here. However, I’m in a fix and your family generously offered me the solution.” She was nearly nose-to-nose with Jamie, and George thought he’d never seen anything quite so funny.

Jamie pressed his face toward Elsa’s. “I don’t care who invited you—you’re trouble and that’s just the way it is. Mark my words. There’s going to be more problems having you here than getting Montana into statehood.”

“Oh!” Elsa barely gasped the indignant exclamation out. “Of all the … well … all the—”

“Insults?” he asked smugly. “I don’t want you here. I don’t want old man Lawrence coming to hunt you down and causing trouble for my family. I don’t want to see my sister or my mother killed in the wake of one of your father’s tirades.”

“Jamie, enough,” George declared. “Both of you stop acting like wild cats tied up in a bag. If all goes well, Mr. Lawrence isn’t going to know anything about Elsa being here. After all, why would she come here? It would make more reason for her to join her brother and sister in Virginia City. When Mr. Lawrence sees that she’s gone from there and hears the rumors of how she took a freight wagon south to Corrine, perhaps he’ll give up.”

“But she didn’t take a freight wagon south to Corrine,” Jamie protested. “She came here.”

George grinned. “Only after she was clearly seen riding a southbound freight wagon out of Virginia City.”

Jamie shook his head. “I suppose I have no say in this. I’ve never had a say in anything.” He stomped off, causing the dust to rise.

Elsa turned to George. “Is he always like this?”

George nodded. “Sometimes he’s even rude.” They both broke into laughter.

Dianne was glad that September was over. The heat of Kansas had abated, and the nights were quite chilly. With the cooler weather, Lia’s asthma seemed to lessen in severity. She breathed easier and gained a little color back into her cheeks. That had done much to rally her spirits, but there was still the awful truth of facing a winter away from home. This, coupled with the fear that they might never return to Montana, continued to wedge itself between Dianne and Cole.

Dianne was putting away the last of Cole’s freshly ironed shirts when he appeared at their door. She looked at the clock and noticed it was bedtime. “I didn’t figure to see you here this early.” She tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice.

“I know. I was hoping maybe we could have a sort of truce,” Cole said softly.

Dianne looked at the hopefulness in his expression and her anger melted. “I’d like a truce.”

Cole closed the bedroom door behind him. “I’d like to talk, if you feel up to it.”

“I don’t want to fight,” she admitted. “I haven’t the energy for it.”

“I’ve noticed you’re wasting away. It’s had me worried. I don’t remember ever seeing you this thin. Even Ma commented on how your clothes are just hanging on you.”

Dianne started to react to that comment but forced her retort back down. “I’m sorry I’ve worried you, but it’s been very hard to care about food with so many other things on my mind.”

“I know,” Cole said, nodding. He pointed to the chair across the room. “Why don’t you sit there and I’ll sit on the bed.”

She went willingly to do as he suggested. She could tell he wanted very much to share his thoughts with her. It was the first time in a long, long while that he had made any move to open the lines of communication between them.

“Dianne,” he began as he took his seat on the edge of the bed, “I’ve never meant to hurt you. I only wanted to do the right thing … to be a good man and care for those who needed me. I know you’re unhappy here. I know you were unhappy in Virginia City. I’m sorry on both accounts.”

She sighed. “I know I didn’t make it easy on you. I feel like I spend so much of my time getting angry and repenting that little else gets done.”

“My choices haven’t always been right … but, Dianne, I need to be the man of this family. My mother believes you to be interfering and dominating, and I know that is sometimes the case.” He held up his hand as she started to protest. “Please hear me out. I defend you constantly to my mother. You don’t hear it, I know, but I’m always telling her to stay out of it. I tell her you’re a good wife and mother, and I point out all the help you’ve been to her.”

This took her by surprise. She honestly didn’t think he ever defended her to his family. She folded her hands together and allowed herself to ease back into the chair. “Go on.”

“My mother has her way of doing things. She has always been the one to run our family. She was never satisfied with my father’s decisions, and she constantly undermined his authority. We children had little respect for our father because it was clear he had little respect for himself.” He looked up and met her gaze with an intense expression. “I can’t let that happen in my own family. I can’t see my boys raised to feel toward me what I felt toward my pa.”

“I’ve never told the boys you were anything but a good man and father. Sometimes they don’t understand why you’ve turned away from us,” Dianne said. “In fact, sometimes they think you don’t love them anymore.”

Cole frowned. “With my father’s death and then the harvest … it was hard to have much time for them. But now that winter is coming, it should be easier.”

“But with winter coming, why can’t we just go home?” Her voice was soft, pleading. She didn’t want to anger her husband and break the tender truce, but the question had to be posed.

“My mother needs us. I can’t just leave her. Dianne, can’t you see how torn I am? I know you want to go home. I know the children want to go home.” He got up and began to pace. “God knows I want to go home.”

“You do?” She couldn’t help but ask. She’d honestly believed that he had come to think of this farm as his home.

Cole stopped and looked at her with an expression that suggested disbelief. “Of course I want to go back. I don’t like it here any more than you do.”

She felt tears come to her eyes. “You could have at least told me that. I might not have felt so alone then.”

“It seems I tried to tell you at least a million times. But every time I started to share, you got mad at me and started arguing about leaving.”

Again Dianne wanted to protest, but she held her tongue. The Lord was convicting her of the truth in his statement. She had been argumentative and harsh. She hadn’t wanted to hear a word he had to say on any matter, with exception to one, and that was when they would return home.

“I’ve needed to talk to you about all of this, but I didn’t feel like I could. Ma demanded I talk to her, and while I try not to speak to her about things that concern you and me, she has a way of getting information out of me.”

“She has a way of controlling everything she touches,” Dianne said, holding back any display of emotion.