Give My Love to Rose (12 page)

Marston glared at him. “Mama should have
drowned you as an infant.”

Jeremiah laughed. “Hell for all we know she
probably tried!”

Marston chuckled. “Let’s go play some
cards.”

The brothers made their way to a back poker
table and tipped their heads to the four men already playing. “Mind
if we play a few hands?” Jeremiah asked, swaying a bit on his feet
as if he’d had twenty beers instead of half of one.

Marston placed his own smooth grin on his
face. “Yeah, we ain’t never had much luck at the game but it sure
does pass the time.”

The four men at that table shared predatory
glances before nodded. “Well come on then, gentlemen. Sit down and
play with us.”

***

“
Was it good?” Jeremiah
asked as the two men met back out on the boardwalk of the saloon.
Their pockets were full of their poker winnings and Marston had
just gotten done paying a visit to that real friendly lady from
earlier in the night.

He smirked as he lit a rolled cigarette. “A
gentleman never kisses and tells.”

“
But we ain’t gentlemen,”
Jeremiah winked.

Marston took a long draw. “She was decent,”
he admitted.

‘
I think there’s a certain
woman back in Louisiana that wouldn’t be a bit happy with you right
now,’ that damn voice spoke up.

Marston grumbled under his breath. Marston
didn’t want to think about Rose or Langley or even the entire damn
state of Louisiana. He didn’t have a heart to give to them and even
if he did Rose wouldn’t want it. Not once she learned that he’d
stolen their money. Money that they could have used to get through
the winter. Money that would have taken some of that giant burden
off Rose’s shoulders.

Marston growled as he tossed his cigarette
down and snuffed it out beneath the toe of his boot.

“
Hey, Marston, check that
out,” Jeremiah nudged him with his elbow. Marston followed his gaze
and saw the sharply dressed gentleman and his fancy lady friend
exiting a gilded wagon across the street. Marston had never seen so
much damn money and pomposity glittering in one place
before.

“
What are folks like that
doing in a place like this?” he inquired.

“
I don’t know, but that
chest that man is attempting to lift looks awful heavy.”

Marston grinned. “Well, what do you say we
just head over there and help lighten the load a bit?”

“
Howdy, folks!” Jeremiah
greeted cheerfully as the brother’s crossed the dark
street.

The woman instantly moved closer to her man
while his grip tightened on the chest in his arms. “We don’t want
any trouble, sirs.”

“
What makes you think
we’re trouble?” Marston asked with a chuckle as he hooked his
thumbs through his belt loops and rocked back on his heels. “That
hurts our feelings a bit, doesn’t it brother?”

Jeremiah circled behind the couple. “Sure
does.”

Marston raised a brown when Jeremiah leaned
in close and sniffed at the woman’s powder blond hair. “Step away
from my wife,” the man shakily warned.

“
That’s a heavy looking
trunk you’ve got there,” Marston noted as he pulled his knife and
tipped his head.

The woman let out a gasp and squeezed her
eyes shut tight while the man’s gray eyes widened. “It is heavy,
but there’s nothing of real value inside.”

“
Why don’t you let us be
the judges of that?” Jeremiah whispered as he leaned in close and
let his lip brush against the woman’s ear. She gasped and jerked
away from him and the man tossed the trunk to the
ground.

“
Help yourselves!” the man
insisted before grabbing his wife’s arm and pulling her body closer
to his.

Jeremiah circled the trunk and used his own
knife to break the lock. As he rifled through the contents, Marston
focused on the couple. “I don’t have much in the way of monetary
comforts,” Marston mused. “And here you folks are all dressed up in
finery with more than you need. I’d be much obliged if you could
give me any jewelry you might have and empty your pockets.”

“
But…” the woman gasped as
she lay her hand over the large emerald at her throat.

“
You can’t be wearing
those kinds of things around here, ma’am. You better be glad I came
along when I did.” Marston used the blade of his knife to lift the
giant stone from her skin. “Now give me what you have.” He shrugged
one shoulder. “Please?”

***

“
Damn, we made out good!”
Jeremiah exclaimed as the brother’s climbed on their horses with
heavier pockets and saddlebags.

“
Sure did,” Marston
agreed, feeling better than he had in weeks.

A commotion broke out from the hotel and
cries of alarm filled the air. “Get them!”

“
They stole from those
fine folks!”

“
Thieves!”

Jeremiah grinned. “Reckon they’re talking
about us?”

Marston smiled as he grabbed Buck’s reins.
“I reckon I don’t want to stick around and ask.”

A gunshot blasted and Jeremiah’s wispy blond
hair blew in the air as the bullet passed dangerously close to his
head. “Yeah me either!” he agreed.

The two brothers were laughing as they rode
off into the dark of night. They continued at a quick, steady pace
until they were sure that no one was following them. They’d had
plenty of practice in learning how to remain elusive and evade
capture. It came as natural to each brother as breathing.

“
That’s the most fun I’ve
had in a while,” Marston admitted as the brother’s stopped their
mounts and looked out at the star filled sky.

“
See! We still got it,
little brother,” Jeremiah said with a friendly smack to Marston’s
arm.

Marston let out a hiss of pain. “That’s the
arm you shot me in, you bastard.”

Jeremiah flashed a sheepish grin. “Oh
yeah…”

“
Glad to see you boys are
still at it.”

Jeremiah and Marston shared a smile when
they heard that unmistakable voice and turned to see Duke riding up
behind them. Duke was six feet tall and rangy lean. His face was a
mess of scars and his black hair and beard were full of gray. Duke
had been the man to take both brother’s under his wing when they
had left the orphanage and he had taught them all about
surviving.

“
Well, how the hell are
you, Duke?” Marston asked, holding out his hand. “It’s been a
while.”

Duke shook the offered hand and nodded.
“Yes, it has. But I got a proposition for you boys.”

“
What’s that?” Jeremiah
asked.

“
I got some jobs lined up
and a few empty spots in my gang. I could use some men that I know
can handle themselves to ride along with me this time.”

Marston and Jeremiah glanced at each other
and shrugged. “Sure,” Jeremiah replied. “It’s not like we have
anywhere else we need to be.”

The three men rode off together and with
every step Buck took Marston’s memories of Rose, Langley, and
Louisiana and the man they seemed to believe he could become became
more and more distant.

Chapter Eleven

“
I don’t have another
payment for you yet,” Rose whispered on the porch as she pulled her
threadbare shawl tighter around herself and shivered in the
cold.

The slick dressed banker from Millerton
simply shook his head. “I have to have a payment, Mr. Howell, or I
am going to be forced to take what you owe in collateral.”

Rose glanced at the cabin and felt a touch
of panic. “Mr. Winston, please, you can’t take our home! Not in the
middle of winter!”

A fit of coughing overtook Rose and her
lungs began to burn as her breath left her. Her throat was sore and
her chest burning when the coughs finally began to subside and she
gripped the porch banister tightly.

“
You should see a doctor
over that cough,” Mr. Winston noted, his thick black brow
raising.

“
I have no money for a
doctor,” Rose countered. “Just as I have no money for your payment.
Please, Mr. Winston, give me until the spring and I’ll think of
some way to pay you back. You can’t take our home from us in the
winter.. we have nowhere to go!”

“
That’s not my problem,
Mrs. Howell,” Mr. Winston replied with an uninterested shrug as he
glanced at the two mares in the corral.

Rose clutched at her shawl and turned her
face away from the burning wind. “Please, Mr. Winston, have a
heart,” she pleaded. “I’ll do anything to keep a roof over my son’s
head.”

Mr. Winston’s gaze returned to her and the
lust in his gray eyes caused Rose’s heart to thunder with fear as
she took a quick step back. “Anything?” he whispered.

Rose nearly tripped over the rocking chair
as she took another quick step back and grabbed the wall to steady
herself. “I’ll get you your money,” she vowed.

“
One month,” Mr. Winston
replied, his gaze trailing down her body and causing Rose to feel
exposed, vulnerable and sick. “You have one month to pay me and if
you don’t have the money when I return then I will take my payment
however I see fit.”

“
I’ll have your money,”
Rose vowed, squaring her shoulders bravely even as she trembled
inside.

Winston reached out his hand and ran a long,
slender finger down her cheek. Rose’s knees shook with fear as the
man removed his hand, tipped his hat and left the porch. “One
month,” he repeated as he mounted his waiting horse.

Rose watched him ride away before collapsing
in the rocking chair. Despite the coldness of the morning, Rose was
covered in a thin sheen of sweat and her heart was beating far too
quickly. Her every breath sent knives into her chest and her head
was dizzy.

Rose was sick.

There was simply no getting around that
fact. And there was no getting around the fact that there was
nothing she could do about it. Rose didn’t have time to be sick.
Rose would not build up another credit at the docs for herself—and
what money she had left from Langston had to be saved to get them
through until she could make more.

Rose rarely fell sick and generally when she
did, she got better in time without the aid of medicine. She had to
believe this time would be just the same.

Rose had too many other worries. She had no
idea how to come up with another payment for the banker. He wasn’t
happy with only part of what she owed—he wanted the entire amount
and Rose simply did not have it. Even if Rose cleaned twenty houses
and patched one hundred pants, she wouldn’t have the three-hundred
dollars that Winston Meade was demanding.

Rose knew that the next time, Mr. Winston
rode in, she would have to greet him with her rifle. After his
threats, Rose new the next meeting wouldn’t be a professional one.
If Winston Meade thought that he was going to touch her, he had
another thing coming.

There had only been one man in her life
whose touch hadn’t scared her to her core but that man was long
gone now and Rose would do well to forget about him.

Rose coughed into her hand several times and
whimpered at the pain in her chest. She rose to her feet, weaving
slightly on her weak legs. The scent of freshly baked biscuits,
gravy and eggs filled her nose. Rose sighed. At least there was
plenty of food in the house and Langley had new warm clothes and
boots on his feet.

She owed that to Marston. If he hadn’t
brought that money when he had they would have surely frozen or
starved to death by now. Thoughts of Marston filled Rose with a
pain and longing so deep that she was forced to push them away.

Langley was sitting at the table reading a
story book and Rose offered him a smile before wrapping her shawl
tighter around herself and beginning to prepare them both a plate
of food. The inside of the cabin was drafty and chilled. The fire
in the cook stove was dwindling and the wood box beside it was
empty.

“
Langley, go and fetch
some wood from the woodshed. Your food will be cooled off the way
you like it by the time you’re done.” Or have a sheet of ice over
it at judging by the temperature in this cabin. Rose hated this. It
was rare for a winter to be so cold here in Louisiana but they were
certainly getting a taste of the north this year.

“
Yes mama,” Langley
quickly agreed. He stood up, grabbed his wool cap and scarf from
the counter and left the house. Rose sat their food on the table
and sat down to wait for her son. He returned several minutes later
with only a few small chunks in his arms. “It’s empty, mama,” he
said sadly as he tossed the wood into the cook stove and poked at
it with the poker.

Rose took a steadying breath just before
another round of coughing took hold of her and she cried out with
the pain of them. A tear slipped down her cheek.

“
Mama, you’re sick,”
Langley whispered, his face pale. “Let me go get the
doc.”

“
No,” Rose snapped
sharply, wincing at the harsh tone. “I’ll be just fine, Langley.
Eat your breakfast and I’ll go cut more wood when we’re
done.”

“
Okay, mama,” he
whispered, his gaze going down to the scarred tabletop.

Rose sighed. “Go ahead and say grace,
Langley.”

“
Dear God, thank you for
the breakfast me and mama is about to eat. Thank you for making the
hens lay again and thank you for making mama such a good cook.
Please, help my mama get better and please look out for Marston
wherever he is. Keep him safe until he comes back to visit.
Amen.”

Langley dug into his food, but Rose
continued to stare down at her plate as she fought her rising
emotions. Rose had lied to Langley the morning after Marston had
left so long ago. She had told the boy that he had left in the
night because he had an emergency he had to take care of and that
he would be coming back to visit them as soon as he could.