A Headstrong Woman (35 page)

“He can’t do that!”

“Oh, believe me, he is,” Alexandria answered.

“That still doesn’t explain the ad.
I
want to marry you, Alexandria. There is no reason for you to marry a stranger.”

“Actually, Lane, Jonathon helped me see how crazy the idea was,” Alexandria told him.

Lane frowned, Jonathon again; the man foiled his plans at every turn.

“Thank God for small favors,” Lane said under his breath. “Marry me, Alexandria and I’ll see to it that this place is always yours. I was going to build a house but we can live here,” he tried persuading her.

“Lane, you deserve to be loved and love is not something I can give you,” she said gently.

“You could learn with time,” he said as he stepped closer to her and reached out to lightly grasp her arms.

“Lane, I can’t marry you,” she said more firmly.

“Can’t or won’t?” Lane’s voice rose. “Alexandria, I have loved you for three years. Three years! Do you know why I left town? Because I couldn’t stand the thought of watching you with Elijah, that’s why!” he yelled in her face. Alexandria frowned and tried stepping away from Lane. He tightened his hold. “I have waited for you for three years!”

“Lane, I never gave you any reason to believe…” Lane cut her off by kissing her roughly.

“Tell me you didn’t feel that?” his face was in hers.

“Let me go!” panic rose in her as images of Nick in her face surfaced in her mind. “Stop!” she screamed and tried to wrestle free from him.

Lane, confused by her sudden panic, frowned and tightened his grip to try calming her.

“Alexandria, calm down,” Lane urged.

Anna looked at Millie with wide eyes and hurried from the kitchen to go for one of the men. She knew better than to intervene herself. She spilled into the yard and started for the bunkhouse. She stopped and turned when she heard a rider approaching. She nearly collapsed with relief when she recognized Raven. She raised her skirts and started down the drive at a run.
              Jonathon frowned and reined Raven in as he slid from his mount and Anna approached.

“Th…thank God, you’re here. Alexand… Lane is here and Alex…please help!” she panted.

Jonathon bit back a curse and started for the house; Anna was struggling to keep up. He burst into the front door and skidded to a stop at the entry to the parlor.

“Calm down, Alexandria, I’m sorry I scared you, please…” Lane begged as she struggled against him.

“Let go of her you idiot!” Jonathon grabbed Lane by the collar of his shirt. Lane loosed his grip on Alexandria so abruptly that she landed hard on the floor. Anna collapsed by her sister and wrapped her arms around her.

“Get out!” Jonathon shoved Lane toward the door.

Lane glanced back at Alexandria where she sat sobbing in her sister’s arms. Had the woman gone crazy? A glance at Jonathon’s angry face propelled him out the door.

Jonathon returned to the parlor and squatted in front of the women.
              “What happened?” he asked.

“They were arguing and she started screaming. He wanted her to marry him, I caught that much; then things seemed to turn ugly,” Anna told him.

“Alexandria, what happened?” Jonathon asked her.

Alexandria took a deep breath and shuddered from head to toe.  “We were arguing and then he was kissing me… all I could think of was Nick in the barn…” Alexandria closed her eyes. She felt like a fool for the way she had reacted.

“That jerk!” Jonathon stood and paced the room for a moment. “Come here, Alexandria,” he offered her his hand. Alexandria let him pull her to her feet and offered no resistance when he pulled her into his arms. “You okay?” he asked her.

She nodded against his shoulder.

Anna, her heart aching a little, slipped around them. She was trying to come to terms with the fact that Jonathon cared for her sister and not her, but that didn’t stop it from hurting.

Alexandria stood in the circle and safety of Jonathon’s arms for several minutes as she gathered her courage. She really was feeling foolish now that the threat was gone.

“I’m sorry; I overreacted,” she apologized as she stepped away from Jonathon.

He reluctantly let her go. “It’s understandable.”

Alexandria suddenly felt at loose ends and nervous with Jonathon; she clutched at the first thought that came to her mind.

“Oh! Here’s your present,” she rushed to pull the flat wrapped object from the drawer of a nearby table.

Jonathon pulled the brown paper from it; a smile split his face.

“Longfellow!”

“You said he was one of your favorite poets and I came across that in the Morris’s store and had to buy it,” she explained. “It’s got all his best poems and
The Courtship of Miles Standish
. I hope you enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I will. Thank you, Alexandria,” he hugged her.

“Well it isn’t a horse and I don’t suppose it’s practical, but I thought you’d like it,” she joked.

Jonathon smiled and Alexandria noticed the smile lines at the corner of his eyes. A clap of thunder burst overhead and Alexandria startled and stepped closer to Jonathon.

“I think the bottom just fell out,” Jonathon commented and went to peer out the window. “Whatever you ladies are cooking smells great,” Jonathon said as he turned back to her.

“It’s almost finished; it’s your birthday meal.”

“You shouldn’t have done that,” he told her, but his smile said he was thankful.

“Oh it’s not much,” her eyes twinkling, “just chicken, biscuits, mashed potatoes, milk gravy, peas, green beans, okra, fresh brewed tea, and a chocolate cake.”

“Maybe I should thank Moody,” Jonathon’s voice was low and eyes dark. Alexandria swallowed hard. Good Lord! If the man was going to go bizarre on her every time she cooked his favorite foods maybe she shouldn’t, she speculated.

Had she asked Jonathon what caused the reaction, which she didn’t, he would have explained that it was the effort she had put into it and her bothering to know what his favorite foods were. It made him believe that maybe she could come to care for him. They joined the others in the kitchen and were soon seated at the table, a feast spread before them. After dinner, Alexandria sat Lilly down with pencil and paper to keep her entertained and started cleaning.

“I hope the men are dressed for this messy weather,” she fretted as more thunder rumbled overhead.

“Don’t worry, Alexandria. They’re more prepared than you are,” he teased her.

“Funny,” she shot at him, her look was annoyed.

He smiled.

“Want a poem?” he offered as he thumbed through the book. Alexandria nodded and Jonathon settled on one.

“The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the moldering wall,

But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains and the wind is never weary;

My thoughts still cling to the moldering past,

But hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

And the day is dark and dreary.

Be still sad heart and cease repining;

Behind the clouds the suns still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary,” Jonathon read with perfect inflection.

He had a nice reading voice, Alexandria decided.

“How depressing!” Anna exclaimed.

“No, it isn’t,” Alexandria protested. “It promises brighter days. Everyone goes through difficult times but only for a time. That’s what it means.”

“Hope, I believe, would be the theme,” Jonathon added.

“Exactly!” Alexandria nodded.

“Melancholy,” Anna argued with a shake of her head.

Alexandria threw her hands up and turned back to the sink.

“Happy birthday,” Lilly handed Jonathon a picture. “That’s Mommy an’ Anna. That’s Millie, me, and this is you, you eat a lot,” she said seriously as she explained the picture.

Alexandria chuckled and moved to glance over the picture. Jonathon was wearing his hat in the picture; something he never did in the house, and had a circle full of scribbles in front him.  Apparently it was Lilly’s rendition of his healthy appetite. Alexandria laughed a full hearty laugh and hugged her daughter.

“I think it’s perfect,” she told her.

Jonathon scowled and tried and failed to bite back a smile. “Have fun at my expense,” he growled playfully, then added more seriously, “thank you for dinner.”

They assured him he was welcome before Alexandria invited him to share a quiet evening in the parlor with them. He smiled and followed Alexandria and Anna into the shadowed room. Anna lit several lamps and curled into an armchair before pulling a light throw over her lap as she opened a book. Alexandria moved to the window and watched as a drop of rain slid down the window slowly, met another drop, sped up, then slowed again. She sighed.

“What a dreary evening,” she commented restlessly.

“Care for a game of poker?” Jonathon asked.

“I don’t gamble,” she informed him.

“You don’t have to gamble.”

“Oh, well I don’t know the game,” she shrugged.

“Surely you learned it on one of your visits to the saloon,” his teasing elicited a laugh from Anna and look of mutiny from Alexandria.

“Will you ever allow me to live that down?” she asked him.

“Haven’t decided,” he teased.

Alexandria rolled her eyes; then smiled as she noted her sleeping daughter. “Lilly is sound asleep.” Lilly had climbed into his lap, placed a thumb in her mouth (a habit Alexandria had thought she was through with) and had fallen sound asleep.

“Lead the way and I’ll carry her up,” Jonathon offered.

“Let me have her. I think I’m going to go to bed early, it’s the perfect evening for it and I’m exhausted,” Anna said as she stood and put her book away. Jonathon carefully shifted Lilly into Anna’s arms. After Anna had left the room Alexandria suggested they move onto the front porch. Jonathon nodded agreement and lit two lanterns that hung on the porch.

“Care for more Longfellow?” Jonathon offered as Alexandria kicked her shoes off and pulled her knees to her chest.

“Please,” she agreed and closed her eyes as he read
The Village Blacksmith
. By the time he had finished, she was feeling drowsy herself.

“You look ready to fall asleep,” he noted.

Alexandria smiled, stretched and lowered her feet back to the porch.               “This weather would make anyone drowsy,” she commented as she moved to lean against the porch railing. The rain had slowed to a light drizzle and Alexandria lifted her chin to enjoy the fine mist that blew back into her face. “This weather is good for reflecting isn’t it?” Alexandria asked as she leaned her cheek against the damp porch post.

“What are you reflecting on?” he asked as he propped himself on the rail so he could see her face.

“That I love this place. As difficult as it was with Elijah and then after his death, I wouldn’t change it. It’s become a part of me, this ranch I mean. And I know it sounds crazy, but those men out there are like my children, even though some of them are older than me.”

“So we’re all big kids huh?” his tone was teasing.

“No not you; I could never think of you as a kid, not with your knack for rescuing me.”
              “With your knack for finding trouble someone needs to,” he told her.               Alexandria smiled.

“Anything you would do different?”

“No, even though it was painful every time we lost a baby and then losing Emily… I’d do it all again for the good times.”

“That’s what matters isn’t it? That you’d do it again? ‘Thy fate is the common fate of all, into each life some rain must fall’,” she quoted.

Jonathon smiled. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“I doubt anyone could have,” Alexandria agreed. “His poems are full of wisdom.”

“Do you think people will still be reading his poetry a hundred years from now?” Jonathon mused.

“I think so,” she smiled up at him.

Jonathon smiled back at her. He hesitated to change the subject and break the peace of the evening.

“Alexandria, I’ve been thinking. In light of the fact that word is spreading about your advertisement, I think we should marry tomorrow. If Moody gets word of this you’re in trouble,” Jonathon pointed out and watched her nod.

“You have a point,” she admitted.

“Are you okay with that?” he asked her and watched her closely.

“I’m fine,” she assured him.