Deborah Camp (24 page)

“No, I didn’t say nothing like that. I said I saw him in the bank and as far as I know he’s a bank robber.”

“Cassie, quit talking in circles!”

“I saw his picture, Jewel!” Cassie wadded her bonnet up in her fists as the sting of betrayal made her wince inwardly. “He’s wanted by the law for bank robbing and no telling what all, and the reward that’s offered could buy me more than chickens and garden seed.” Cassie narrowed her eyes and her insides grew cold and hard. “You lied to me, Jewel Townsend. Now I want the truth, or I’m collecting that reward.”

“Are you back to that?” Jewel’s lips gathered into a bud of disapproval. “I swear, you’re the money-hungriest girl I ever did know.”

“Okay. Have it your way.” Cassie rose from the chair. “I’m going to the sheriff.”

“No!” Jewel grabbed Cassie’s forearm with fingers that felt like talons. Her puffy-lidded eyes widened with alarm. “Don’t do that, Cassie.”

“Are you going to talk straight to me?”

“Yes, yes!” Jewel nodded vigorously and her tangled curls bounced. “No more fibbing. I promise. Now sit down again and we’ll talk this out.”

Cassie sat in the brocade chair and studied Jewel, obviously
in a state of agitation. She’d expected many different reactions from Jewel, but fear hadn’t been one of them. Jewel’s complexion was pale, almost chalky white. Her green eyes were red rimmed and watery. Her hands shook as she raised the cup to her colorless lips and drank the coffee as if it were a shot of whiskey.

“I’m sitting and listening, but you’re not talking,” Cassie said after another few moments of silence.

“I don’t know where to start.”

“Start by telling me why you asked me to shelter a bloodthirsty outlaw under my roof.”

Jewel shook her head vehemently. “No, I didn’t ask that of you.”

“Jewel, I saw his picture in the—”

“No, you saw his brother’s picture. Not Rook’s.”

“His brother’s? That Blackie fella is his brother?”

“Yes. Blackie Colton. He’s the wanted one. Not Rook.” Jewel set the cup and saucer on the serving tray. “I wouldn’t ask you to harbor Blackie. I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy! Blackie’s bad. I hate to say it, but he’s got the hand of the devil on his heart.”

“You know Blackie too?” Cassie asked, and when Jewel nodded Cassie regarded the older woman skeptically. “You telling me that both of these fellas are your customers?”

“Maybe,” Jewel said, evasively.

Impatience brought Cassie to her feet again. “I told you I’m tired of your lying. I’m leaving.”

“No, Cassie!” Jewel turned panic-stricken eyes on her and grabbed Cassie’s arm again, but Cassie jerked away.

“I’m going to the sheriff, Jewel. I don’t like playing the fool. Not even for you.” She turned sharply and started for the door, but Jewel’s shrill voice stopped her.

“They’re my sons, Cassie! My boys!”

Cassie’s hand fell from the doorknob, and she turned to see the plain truth in the other woman’s eyes. “Your sons?” she repeated as wonder drifted through her. Jewel was a mother? Jewel was somebody’s wife? Jewel was his—? “Rook’s your boy?”

Jewel’s eyes filled with tears and she swallowed convulsively.

Cassie went to her and placed a comforting hand on Jewel’s shoulder. She smiled when Jewel bent her head and pressed her cheek against Cassie’s hand. A few moments passed, moments filled with a profound sharing that made Cassie feel all the more close to Jewel because she sensed that Jewel had confided something to her that few knew and no one suspected.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you had a family? Is your husband dead?”

Jewel nodded and her cheek rubbed against Cassie’s hand.

“Is he the one you loved like a rock?”

Jewel nodded again, and Cassie felt the woman’s tears on her hand.

“You okay?”

Jewel laughed shakily and lifted her head. “I’m f-fine. You’re the only one I’ve told other than family, Cassie. You’ll keep my secret, won’t you?”

“Why keep your sons a secret?” Cassie asked, sitting beside Jewel on the sofa. “Is it because Blackie’s an outlaw?”

Jewel wiped her eyes with pudgy hands. “No. It’s because I’m a whore.”

“Jewel—” Cassie shook her head. It was one thing to think it or to know it, but for some strange reason Cassie didn’t like to hear Jewel say it right out loud. “Don’t. You’re not—”

“I am, honey.” Jewel sat up straight and flicked crumbs from her dressing gown. “No use fooling each other. I’m a whore, pure and simple. It’s made me a good living and a bad reputation, but nobody held a gun to my head and made me lie down with strangers. I did it of my own choice—and got paid handsomely for it, I might add.” Her smile was fleeting and brittle. “But I don’t want my choices hanging over my children’s heads like a black cloud. Life’s hard enough without starting out as a whore’s bastard children.”

“Bastard … ?” Cassie sat back, stunned. “You mean to tell me you never married their father?”

“That’s right, but we were common-law husband and wife.” Jewel lifted her double chins. “He was my husband in my heart.”

“Wouldn’t he marry you?”

“That’s none of your business!” Jewel caught her temper and held it. “Anyways, marriage isn’t for everyone, you know.”

“Who is he?”

Some of the pride went out of Jewel and her voice was a near whisper. “Dubbin Colton.”

Cassie released her breath in a rush. “I was afraid of that. How’d you get mixed up with that kind of varmint?”

“He wasn’t … to me, at least. Dub was a gentleman around me, and he loved me like no other.”

“But he wouldn’t marry you like any other.”

“Cassie, don’t keep scratching at this,” Jewel said warningly, her voice growing as hard as hailstones. “What went on between me and Dubbin is private and nobody’s business. We loved each other and we had three beautiful children to prove our love was good as gold.”

“Three? You got three sons?”

“Two sons. One daughter.”

Cassie shook her head, half in wonder and half in disgust. One child she could understand, but
three
children out of wedlock? That was plumb stupid. “This’ll take some getting used to, Jewel,” she admitted. Then, as an afterthought, she asked, “Where’s your daughter?”

“She’s married and lives in Chicago. Her name is Margaret, but we call her Peggy Sue.”

“I’m glad she got married,” Cassie said. Then she saw the thunderbolts in Jewel’s green eyes and changed the subject before Jewel could lash out like lightning. “Peggy is Margaret and Rook is Reuben. What’s Blackie?”

“Bartholomew. We used to call him Black Bart, and then we shortened that to Blackie and—” Jewel’s teeth clicked as she snapped off the rest of her answer. “How’d you know Rook was named Reuben?”

“He told me. Said his granny hung Rook on him.”

“Yes.” Jewel smiled wistfully. “You know what Reuben means? ‘Behold, a son.’ That’s what it means. All my children were pretty babies. Black, thick hair. Dark eyes. Rosebud mouths. Olive skin. Like their daddy. Dub had the prettiest skin and hair I ever did see, and his eyes could make you melt like butter.”

“So why are you making Rook hide out if it’s Blackie everybody wants behind bars?” Cassie asked, interrupting Jewel’s musings.

“You took one look at the poster and decided it was Rook, didn’t you? Well, that’s what everybody would do. They’d shoot him first and find out they were wrong later. I can’t take that chance. Rook’s my shining hope. If he was killed, most of me would die with him.”

“Well, where’s Blackie? Why don’t you turn him in, collect the reward, and get Rook out of danger?”

Jewel bit into the buttered roll and threw Cassie a bewildered glance. “Turn Blackie in and collect the reward? Honey, Blackie’s mine too.” She smiled sadly and shook her head in a regretful way. “No, I couldn’t do that.”

“But he’s a bank robber! The law wants him.”

“So?” Jewel shrugged helplessly. “The law will get him someday, but I won’t be the one to hand him over. Not me, or any of my kin, or anybody who calls me friend.” Her green eyes bored into Cassie’s, and Cassie felt her heart shrivel up a little. “Once Rook is strong enough and this place isn’t crawling with hired guns, he can leave your place. Rook will handle it. He’s always been good at handling things.”

Cassie made a sound of contempt. “Yeah. I sure like the way he handled getting shot in the back.”

Jewel grimaced as if she’d been poked with a hot iron. “Blackie was the one that shot him.”

“Wh-what?” Cassie felt her mouth drop open. For a fleeting moment she despised Blackie Colton and wished him dead and buried. An eye for an eye, she thought with a hard smile. Like the Good Book says. “Don’t that beat all?” She laughed at the irony of it. “I’ve been thinking that the Colton gang was hiding out in Pa’s mine and that
one of them shot Pa and mighta shot Rook. Guess I’m smarter than anybody thought, huh?”

“ ’Twasn’t Blackie that shot Shorty,” Jewel said with authority. At that, Cassie grabbed Jewel’s wrist on its way up toward her mouth. Jewel stared at the roll in her hand and then at Cassie. “What’s the matter? Let go of me.”

“You know who shot Pa and you didn’t tell me?” Cassie demanded, her voice as unrelenting as her hold on Jewel’s arm.

“No, I don’t know who shot him! I only know it wasn’t Blackie.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Blackie wouldn’t shoot an old defenseless man in the back.”

“Oh, I see.” Cassie let go of Jewel’s arm with a smile of disdain. “He’d just shoot a
young
defenseless man in the back, one who happened to be his own brother! Jewel, you’re blind! You can’t see nothing straight. Blackie’s your son, but he’s also a murderer. I’d bet the farm that he was the one who shot Pa.”

“Why would he?” Jewel demanded. “Listen to me. It wasn’t Blackie. Shorty was shot the day before Rook was, and Rook was gunned down in Fort Smith. Blackie’s got a fast horse, I imagine, but not
that
fast.” She brushed crumbs from her dressing gown and sighed. “Besides, he hasn’t been around to see me, and he always comes to see me when he’s in town.”

“Even when bounty hunters are lining the streets waiting for him?” Cassie asked.

“Well …” Jewel frowned and then shrugged. “He’d find a way to see me.”

“This is a big mess.” Cassie closed her eyes and massaged her temples with the tips of her fingers. “And you dragged me right into the middle of it. Thanks very much!”

“Hold on there, little miss! I didn’t exactly drag you. Rook passed out on your property, and I’ve been paying for his room and board.”

“Why didn’t you come out and tell me that he was yours?” Cassie opened her eyes and flung out her hands
in a beseeching gesture. “Why keep it a secret? Why make me think he was a paying customer of yours?”

“I didn’t know what you’d do if you knew.”

“We’re friends! I woulda liked it better if you’d come clean with me.”

“You were grieving over Shorty and all upset,” Jewel explained, her tone softer and more maternal than before. “I didn’t know what frame of mind you were in at that time. Besides, I’ve been lying about my kids for so long it just came natural. Like I told you, nobody but my closest kin knows I’ve got three children.”

“Who raised them?”

“My sister and brother-in-law.” Jewel looked around the room in a helpless way, then stood up and crossed to the window. She was quiet for a spell as she gazed down at the chestnut horse tethered in front of her house. “They couldn’t have children of their own, so they took mine. I visited when I could and sent money every month. I made sure they got everything they needed.”

Cassie smiled at Jewel’s back, thinking of the tenderness and unselfishness the woman had always shown her. It wasn’t so hard to see her as a mother and wife, Cassie decided, and it wasn’t hard to feel Jewel’s sadness and regret either. She wore it like a shroud.

“Blackie was always as wild as a March hare. Peggy was sweet as sugar. And Rook …”

“And Rook?” Cassie repeated when Jewel’s voice faded to a point where Cassie could
no
longer hear it.

“Rook was …” Jewel turned, Cassie saw a sunny smile that brought color to Jewel’s face. “Rook
is
my pride and joy. The answer to a mother’s prayer. He’s a good man, Cassie. I never would’ve left him out there with you if I didn’t trust him. He wouldn’t hurt you and I knew that. In fact, I felt better about you with him out there. I knew he’d keep you out of harm’s way.”

Out of harm’s way, Cassie thought with an inner smirk of irony. Yes, but what about keeping her out of temptation’s way? She looked around the tastefully appointed room, seeing all the things temptation had paid for in Jewel’s life. A woman’s room, she thought, for the room reflected
Jewel’s love of lace and frills, plump pillows and overstuffed cushions, ribbons and bows, and white and bright pink. The small parlor led into a much larger bedroom that was dominated by a four-poster bed with a canopy of French lace and watered silk. The bedroom was done in eggshell and toffee with an occasional splash of pearly pink.

It wasn’t tacky or gaudy as Cassie had thought it would be; it was, instead, pretty and warm like a woman should be—not a whore’s den of sin but a lady’s lovely boudoir.

“Cassie? What are you thinking about?” Jewel asked, touching her gently on the forearm. “You still thinking about turning my boy in?”

“No. I was thinking about how I feel womanly when I’m in this house. I don’t much feel it anywhere else but here.” Cassie averted her gaze as her thoughts veered to a night not long before, when lightning and an inner thunder had shaken her very soul and opened a Pandora’s box of feminine urges within her. She’d felt womanly then, more womanly than she’d ever felt in her life. All because of him. Jewel’s son.

“You going to turn him in?” Jewel repeated.

Cassie blinked away the memory and became aware of Jewel’s worried expression. “No, I won’t turn him in,” she promised, but she added, when Jewel started to thank her, “But I don’t want trouble. I got enough of that already. I sure don’t want his bad brother coming around looking for him so’s he can finish the job he started. He’d probably miss Rook and kill me.”

“How would Blackie get wind that Rook was at your place if you don’t tell anybody else but me?”