Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold (47 page)

They spun back through town, Leona driving and speeding up again, waving and halloing to everyone she saw whom she knew. The two women laughed gaily, and Reynard was decked out in flowing red and green ribbons from foretop to tail. Cord tugged his hat down so low he could barely see. It was as embarrassing as hell - and fun. They unhitched and put the horse up in his new home in the little barn behind the Wells house and headed in for coffee, Leona hugging them both like a happy child.

They surprised Rob hunched over coffee at the kitchen table. He stood uncertainly, discomfited by the daggers in his sister’s glare, and quickly disappeared.

Anne said, “I thought he’d be over at Weinerts’ or something.”

Leona said, “Actually, dear, I don’t think your brother will be seeing any more of Miss Weinert.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. He won’t tell me.”

“Hmp. He probably did something outrageous, like tried to kiss the prim little bitch.”

“Anne!” Leona gasped.

“Mother, have you noticed that whenever I say something like that you have a ladylike conniption, and when my husband says something twice as bad, you smile indulgently?”

“Well, no, dear, I haven’t.”

“Strange. Everyone else for twenty miles in all directions has.”

Leona smiled at them both. She looked more like her daughter all the time Cord thought.

Christmas Eve was one of things even better than he remembered. Of course, this year when Anne turned her face up towards him in the light of the candles on the tree he had no reservations about kissing her thoroughly.

He asked, “Next year will we need a fence around the tree? Because of the baby, I mean.”

“No, I don’t think so. The year after that will be a problem, I think.”

Year after next. Last year he had hoped for another few months with her. Now he could really believe in year after next. He felt a fleeting pity for every other man in the world.

ANNE HAD MADE THE SUITING
material she had bought in Denver into a black suit for Cord that looked every bit as good as she had imagined. So did the snowy white shirt that went with it. The suit and shirt weren’t his Christmas present this year, though. A black Stetson and silver hatband were. Leona had also given him a silver belt buckle, and as they dressed for Christmas dinner with the Bennett family, Anne could tell he was half-embarrassed by the abundance of finery.

He had given Anne a brooch made especially for her, a gold tigress with eyes of silver. Armand LeClerc’s sketches that were part of the present enchanted Anne as much as the pin itself. Armand had started by copying a drawing of a tiger from a book and worked from that until he came up with a version that was feminine and yet still obviously a tiger.

She had modified a dark green dress with white lace inserts to fit over her expanding waistline, and looked at Cord shyly when she was all dressed.

“Do you like it?”

“You look like you should be going to some palace for dinner with a prince, not to Frank’s with me.”

Anne looked at him, considering. “Come here.” She took his hand and pulled him over in front of the mirror on top of the bureau. “Look.”

He did stare into the mirror, but at her, not himself. “You look grand, Annie.”

“Not me. You. Us.”

He looked again and so did Anne. She was more than a little pleased at what she saw. Her color was still high from his outrageous compliments, and all the work she had done on her dress had been worthwhile. Sometimes she even admitted to herself she saw glimpses of what made some friends insist she had a glow to her these days. And Cord! No matter what his sister might say about black suit and white shirt, he looked so handsome she was glad the only other women who would see him today were family. His eyes met hers in the mirror. Warm, light brown eyes that reflected nothing but love.

After a quiet moment, he said, “All right, I see it. We kind of fit, don’t we?”

“Kind of. Tiger and Tigress.”

Anne turned in his arms for a kiss then hid her face against his shoulder. “I was wrong to accept the invitation without asking you, wasn’t I? They’re all sure there’s going to be another terrible scene, and I’m going to ruin Christmas for everyone, aren’t they?” She pulled out of his arms and went and sat on the bed. “Maybe you should go and visit with them a while and I should stay here. You can tell them I don’t feel well. They’ll believe that.”

Cord leaned back against the edge of the bureau, crossed his arms, and gave her a hard look. She’d been fussing over their clothes and everything else to do with this visit for weeks. Now she looked like a child offering a friend her only piece of candy and claiming she didn’t like sweets anyway.

He said, “What the hell have they been telling you about my sister?”

“Well, you know.”

“No, I don’t. Tell me.”

“That her marriage was unhappy and it made her bitter and that she has a sharp tongue and you’re her favorite target.”

“Mm. You thought about what they’re probably telling her about you?” She stared up at him, the dismay on her face almost comical.

“She had a damn good marriage for over twenty years - only the last few were bad. Maybe Jim Reading wasn’t one of the strongest men ever born, but he was one of the nicest. They lived here on the ranch till I was more than half grown, you know.”

Anne shook her head.

“She goes at me about the same as Frank, and for about the same reasons. Whatever the whole bunch of them have been telling her ever since she got here will have her wondering, and when Hannah wonders, she comes up with better answers than Frank or Eph.

He walked over and sat next to her on the bed. “Martha wasn’t the only one who mothered Marie and me, you know. After my mother died, Hannah did a lot of the comforting. She bandaged cuts and scrapes, nursed us through sicknesses and did most of the schooling. Hannah was the one figured out how I felt after the Hatch business - the whole family almost bankrupted themselves to buy me out of that mess. Said when I had children of my own I’d understand - everything wouldn’t have been too much.”

He rubbed her swollen belly gently. “Took a long time, but I understand now what she meant. There’s no reason you shouldn’t like each other, Annie. You’re both pretty likable.”

“You don’t mind that she scolds?”

“Doesn’t curse as bad as Frank or Eph.”

She gave him a real smile then, and he knew he’d accomplished his purpose.

Anne hugged him. “All right, Dr. Bennett, you’ve fixed me. Let’s go meet your sister.”

ANNE STILL FELT A LITTLE
nervous as Cord drove to the main ranch. He didn’t stop near the entrance to the house but in front of the barn. He got out and opened the big doors and closed them again after she drove Willie inside.

Anne wore a hooded gray wool cape. As he helped her down from the buggy, Cord said, “We may never get to the house the way you look in that hood thing.”

Seconds later Anne had lost track of where they were and why they were there. The strong December wind made the loose barn doors creak and groan so loudly sounds of the doors actually opening and closing were lost. She might not have caught the slight sound of a cleared throat either, but Cord stiffened and straightened instantly.

Still slightly dazed from the kiss, Anne turned in his arms to see Luke and Pete leaning one on each side of the barn doors, grinning like a matched pair. Luke was as irreverent as ever. “Gosh, Anne, hasn’t anybody told him he can stop bothering with that kissing and hugging stuff until after the baby comes?”

The two of them always made Anne feel like laughing, but she tried not to show it. “No, and if you convince him of any such thing I’m going to stop practicing my shooting on inanimate objects and take up animate ones.”

Pete’s grin was fading as he eyed his uncle nervously. “We just came to hurry you along because Aunt Hannah’s about to chew the front door down she’s so eager to meet you. Next time we’ll knock or something.”

Anne felt Cord relax finally. He let her go and headed for Willie to start unhitching. “Might not do much good. World kind of narrows down sometimes.”

For once his nephews had enough sense to let a subject go.

Luke said, “We’ll unhitch and put the horse up. If you don’t get in the house soon, she’s going to knock Pa and Uncle Eph out for trying to keep her from coming out here to get you herself.”

The two got busy without waiting for permission, and with a final glare Cord put an arm around Anne and led her towards the house.

Anne and Cord were only just inside the door when Luke and Pete came in, out of breath from racing across slippery, frozen ground Cord had guided Anne across carefully. They weren’t going to miss anything if they could help it.

Luke said, “Wow, Anne, you look like a Christmas jewel. You look fantastic, really.”

Pete added, “Cord you don’t look like a rancher, you look like a
rich
rancher. Where’d you get that buckle? Is the hatband a Christmas present?”

Their boisterous enthusiasm left Anne breathless with laughter by the time she was introduced to Hannah. Hannah Bennett Reading was a strong-looking woman with dark blonde hair barely touched with gray and bright blue eyes. She favored Frank in her looks and greeted Anne with a female version of Frank’s best smile.

Martha was the one who had admitted to Anne how much concern there was in the family over Hannah’s visit. Anne thought that Martha might even have told her the story in hopes that she would decide to avoid the family Christmas dinner. Martha also confided that Judith was irritating the whole family with her unshakable conviction that everything was going to be just fine. She emphasized the gravity of the situation by reporting that Frank and Judith had quarreled over it. Evidently that was a rare event, although Anne privately thought anyone married to Frank Bennett ought to be in a constant state of war.

After her introduction to Hannah, Anne went along to the kitchen with the other women, noting Martha’s worried frown. As she began helping with the last of the dinner preparations, Anne answered Hannah’s probing questions with good nature, buoyed by Cord’s words before they left home and the kiss in the barn. Soon Hannah finished her rather gentle questioning and left the kitchen, murmuring something about “a chat with Cord.”

Martha had a tight look on her face as she watched Hannah disappear through the doorway. She said, “As soon as she realized Judith and I don’t agree with Frank and Ephraim about you, she stopped listening to us. She’s always said I have no ability to see any of my own except through a mush-minded haze of emotion.”

Martha did not often sound cranky. Anne looked at her with surprise. “She must have a way with words all right. But she can’t say that about Judith.”

Judith turned from the stove and said, “The whole family has been saying that about me lately - since I began to agree with Martha.”

Anne asked curiously, “When did you begin to agree with Martha?”

Judith told her. Anne was amazed. “He never told me!”

“He was worried about what I might do when it happened, but later - he’s embarrassed that I caught him so we’re pretending it never happened.”

Anne grinned at her sisters-in-law. “Luke and Pete caught us kissing in the barn, and he wasn’t embarrassed. He was angry.” She sobered then, feeling almost wistful. “Do you think he’ll ever get over that?”

Martha’s unhappy look had been replaced by her more usual calm, pleasant expression. “My dear, he’s already having trouble hiding how he feels about you. It’s only a matter of time until he realizes he doesn’t have to hide it.” Then she said, “Now tell me why you’re here with us instead of off defending him from Hannah.”

Anne managed an innocent look and said, “He says he doesn’t need defending. His sister is a nice woman and I’m going to like her and she’s going to like me, and there isn’t going to be any fuss.”

Anne didn’t miss the look of absolute triumph Judith gave Martha, or Martha’s rueful headshake in response. The three of them continued working in friendly silence, Anne refusing to show concern.

After the greetings in the hall, Cord sat on a small sofa in what the family called the “great room.” Huge, high ceilinged, with a floor of plain pine boards and pine paneling, the room could have seemed cold and stark. However, brightly colored braided rugs on the floor and wall decorations of cowhide, branding irons, and spurs gave it a casual warmth.

The rest of men in the family stood in a group on the other side of the room, as far from Cord as they could get. The tension was so thick, Cord almost wished he had something at hand he could drop on the floor just to watch them jump. They were all waiting for Hannah, and they all knew it.

What Cord told Anne before they left home was the truth, but it was an incomplete truth. When he returned from New Mexico he didn’t see his sister until after the Boggs fight, and until after Frank and Ephraim gave Hannah their version of that fight. The first time he saw his sister after over six years, she walked up to him, slapped him hard, and said, “I never thought I’d live to see the day I’d be ashamed of you, but I am ashamed.”