Give My Love to Rose (28 page)

“
Duke, why don’t you and
Jeremiah take that new saddle on out to the barn?” Marston
snapped.

Duke nodded knowingly and stood. He motioned
for Jeremiah to do the same. “It’s damn cold out there!” Jeremiah
argued. “I want to keep my ass in the warm house.”

Duke took a sputtering, cursing Jeremiah by
the arm and hauled the skinny man to his feet. “Marston would like
some damn alone time with his woman and boy.”

Jeremiah glared at his brother. “My ass
liked you better when you let it stay warm,” he grumbled.

Marston saw Rose cover her mouth in an
attempt to hide her amusement but Langley did no such thing as he
laughed loudly.

Duke threw open the door and cold wind
assaulted the cabin. Rose shivered as her red curls danced and she
moved in closer to Marston who was more than happy to wrap his arm
tight around her and grace Jeremiah with a smug grin.

Jeremiah was mumbling something about
shooting him again soon as Duke dragged him out the door and then
closed it quickly to ward off the chill.

Once the trio was alone in the cabin,
Langley could no longer contain his excitement. “What did you get
me?” he exclaimed, bouncing up and down.

Rose opened her mouth to scold him but
Marston chuckled and kissed her hair to silence her. He stood and
walked to his saddlebags, pulling out the revolver tucked safely in
a leather satchel and Rose’s necklace still wrapped tight in soft
white cloth.

He held the satchel out to Langley and the
boy snatched it and jerked it open faster than Marston had ever
seen him move before. His blue eyes nearly fell from their sockets
as he pulled the shining revolver from inside. “Is this mine? That
old one?” he whispered, his voice full of wonder.

Marston felt his heart swell with pride when
Langley smiled up at him. “Sure is.”

“
But how did you get it to
look like this?” Langley demanded, holding up the gun and studying
it intently. “It wasn’t good for much other than a doorstop
before!”

Marston shrugged. “Just took a little oil
and elbow grease.”

Langley’s brow furrowed as he frowned up at
him. “Elbow grease?”

“
Hard work,” Marston
chuckled.

“
Gee thanks!” Langley
exclaimed before jumping forward and wrapping his thin arm tight
around Marston’s waist.

Marston swallowed hard to fight back emotion
as he patted Langley’s head. “I’m glad you like it.”

“
Like it? I love it! It’s
perfect. It sure is nice to have a pa around here!” Langley’s
excitement faded a bit as he glanced up at Marston and swallowed
hard. “You are gonna stay around and be my pa, aren’t
you?”

“
Um…” Marston cleared his
throat and struggled desperately to control his emotions. Never
before had he ever felt like this. He’d never felt a happiness so
overwhelming that it clogged his throat. “I would be honored to
stay around and be your pa, Langley.”

Marston’s eye burned. He reached to his
cheek and swiped his hand across it and, with shock, he realized it
was damp.

A tear.

Crying?

Marston Jacob’s had never cried. He’d never
cried as a man nor as a child. This innocent ten-year-old boy had
just done something that no bully, headmaster, whip or backstabbing
outlaw had ever managed to accomplish.

Langley didn’t seem to notice the state
Marston was in. The boy went to the window and threw open the
shutters before taking aim and looking down the revolvers
sights.

Marston felt Rose’s tiny hands on his back
and he sniffed before swallowing hard and letting out a sigh. His
chest was still tight but Marston was fairly certain that no more
tears were going to fall—he couldn’t quite wrap his head around the
fact that a few had already fallen.

Rose stepped around him and looked up into
his eyes. “Thank you, Marston.”

Marston shifted his feet and shook his head.
“Those words again….” he grumbled. “You know I don’t like
them.”

“
Well too bad,” Rose
countered, her stubborn chin stuck out. “You’re going to hear them
today.”

“
Here,” Marston mumbled
gruffly. He stuck the folded cloth in her hand. “I got you
something too.”

Rose held that folded cloth as if it were a
newborn babe. “You didn’t have to get me anything,” she assured
him, even as she pulled back the folds. “You’ve already given me so
much…”

“
Just open it,” Marston
growled impatiently.

Rose’s eyes widened when she saw the
necklace. “Marston…!” she gasped as she ran her fingertip gently
over the delicate pink cameo and ivory roses. Tears filled her
eyes. “I’ve never owned anything this beautiful…”

Marston took the locket from her hand and
motioned for her to turn. Rose lifted her hair as she did so and
Marston fastened the dainty chain around her pale neck. He slid his
arms around her waist and rested his chin on her head as they
watched Langley pretended to shoot at critters only he could
see.

“
What do you think of
having a family, outlaw?” Rose whispered.

“
It feels damn good,”
Marston replied, filling with pride. Never in his life had he
imagined he’d be a family man but now these two people were his
reason for living—Marston would have nothing without
them.

A knock came on the cabin door, interrupting
the quiet intimacy of the moment. “Can we come back in now?” Duke’s
deep voice rumbled.

Jeremiah grunted. “Yeah, I got icicles
hanging off my ass.”

Langley turned away from the window and ran
toward the door. “Oh, this I gotta see!”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Two days later found Marston in the barn
attempting to clean the stalls but bumping elbows with Jeremiah who
was filling the water troughs. “Why are you still here?!” Marston
demanded, tossing down his rake.

Duke looked up from the ground as he lounged
against the doorframe. “Are you eager to get rid of us?”

Marston was quiet a moment as he listened to
the sound of Rose scrubbing clothes and Langley whistling tunes as
he gathered eggs. “It’s not that…”

“
Then what?” Jeremiah
asked, setting his empty water bucket down.

Marston swiped his sleeve across his sweaty
brow. “I just can’t figure out what the hell you’re still doing
there. I appreciate you riding in to save my family but I know damn
well you only stayed for Christmas because Rose demanded it and I
sure as hell can’t understand what’s got you sticking around and
getting domesticated.”

Duke took a long draw off the cigarette in
his hand and blew out the smoke slowly. “I’m not sure why I’m still
here,” he admitted. He kicked at a piece of hay on the ground. “I
guess somewhere inside this ruthless, old outlaw there’s still a
little boy that wants a place to call home.”

“
Damn Duke..” Jeremiah
batted his lashes and feigned a sniffle. “That was
beautiful.”

Marston shoved his brother, who stumbled
sideways and nearly fell in the newly filled water trough. “Duke,
there was a day I would have told you that you were brain addled
for even thinking something like that but now… Hell, I never
thought I wanted any of this but now I couldn’t see my life without
it. It’s nice to have a home and it’s even nicer to have folks who
care to come home to.”

“
Well, that’s just about
the nicest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Jeremiah mused. “Why it
sounded almost soft.”

Marston growled as his hand inched toward
his revolver and Duke quickly stepped in. “Hell, Jeremiah, even
soft Marston could still wipe the floor with just about any other
man alive. That’s what happens when you’re seven foot tall and
about as dainty as a hundred-year-old oak.”

Marston snatched up his rake and went back
to work. “Are the two of you leaving soon?”

“
Yeah, tonight,” Duke
replied, tossing his cigarette out of the barn.

Marston finished up spreading a bit of
sawdust in the stall and leaned his rake against the wall as he
nodded. “Good,” he grumbled, glaring at his brother.

Marston stepped out of the barn and headed
straight for Rose where she stood at a rickety table scrubbing
clothes on a washboard. A bright smile lit up her face when she saw
him, but Marston frowned. “If you’re not going to let me do it for
you then you at least need to be inside with all this,” he
grumbled. “You spend the day in this cold air with your hands in
water and you’ll turn bad sick again.”

Rose’s eye swept upward dramatically. “Yes
sir,” she quipped.

Marston hefted up the wash basin full of
soapy water and strode to the door. “Care to open the door, love?”
he called over his shoulder at Rose. “My back ain’t as young as it
used to be.”

Marston sat the tub of water in front of the
fire and pulled Rose against his chest. “Now get that list of
supplies written up and I’ll head to town and pick them up after I
finish carrying the clothes in.”

Rose bit her lip and looked up at him. “I
feel guilty ordering such things,” she admitted. “We don’t need
them… I just said I wanted them one day.”

Marston smoothed her hair from her face and
kissed her cold nose. “And from now on you’ll have what you want as
well as what you need. Now write that list and I’ll bring the other
things in.”

***

“
I’m surprised that boy
didn’t want to come with you,” Duke admitted as he and Jeremiah
rode their horses beside the cart Marston was driving.

Marston snorted. “He had his nose buried in
that book Jeremiah stole for him.”

“
It doesn’t matter if it
was stolen,” Jeremiah grumbled. “It’s the thought that
counts.”

“
I’m gonna raise that boy
different from how we were raised,” Marston argued. “I’m gonna
teach him to work hard for what he wants, that stealing is never
right and that killing is wrong…” Marston grinned. “Most of the
time.”

Duke didn’t say a word in response, but
Jeremiah spent most of the remainder of the trip to town grumbling
about how Marston was ruining the boy.

Marston pulled the cart to a stop at the
H&H mercantile and hopped to the ground. He frowned when Duke
and Jeremiah dismounted as well. “We’re coming in with you.”

“
Why?” Marston demanded,
feeling more than a little tired of having two new
shadows.

“
Because it’ll piss you
off,” Jeremiah grinned.

“
And because we want to
meet the fine women that we borrowed those lovely presents from,”
Duke added.

Marston simply shook his head and entered
the store with the duo on his heels. “Oh look, Hattie,” Hester
sneered from behind the counter. “It’s our favorite and most loyal
customer..and he brought a couple of his smelly friends with him as
well.”

“
Hello there, Hester,”
Marston greeted with a tip of his head. “I see you’re just as
charming as always.”

Hattie waddled in from the backroom and
nearly collapsed when she took in the sight of Duke grabbing some
jerked beef from a barrel while Jeremiah absently flipped through
the pages of the catalog in his hands.

“
You’ve done it now!”
Hattie hissed at her sister. “You were rude and now he’s brought
his gang back to kill us.”

Marston grinned over at Duke who was
frowning. “You told her it was your gang?”

Marston shrugged. “I never mentioned a gang.
I suppose I just have a certain leadership quality that you
lack.”

“
Damn oak tree,” Duke
grumbled before tearing off a piece of the dried meat with his
teeth.

“
So what can I do for you,
gentlemen?” Hester inquired, pulling off her spectacles and wiping
them on her apron before settling them back over her cow
eyes.

“
There’s that friendly
service that folks come for miles just to experience,” Marston
chuckled. He pulled out the list Rose had written. “I need you to
get these things ready for me.”

Hester peered down her hooked nose at the
list he placed in her hand. “Well, I must say this isn’t Rose’s
usual shopping list. I never have known the woman to be quite so
frivolous.”

Marston wondered what the hell was so
frivolous about getting a bit of extra fabric and a few treats for
the kitchen. He tapped the counter with his fingertips. “Well, I
must say that it’s none of your concern. Your only job is to gather
up the things the woman wrote down.” He moved away from the counter
and paused. “Just lay them on the boardwalk when you’re done. I’ll
save myself the loading fee and do it myself.”

Marston was heading for the door when Hester
cleared her throat. “You know a rather odd thing happened.”

Marston turned back to her, plastering that
false smile on his face. “The anticipation is killing me.”

She licked her thin lips and laid the list
on the countertop. “My sister and I came in the day after Christmas
to find that we’d had more merchandise stolen.”

“
That is terrible” Marston
agreed.

“
That’s the danger in
owning a business in this day and time,” Duke mused tossing a coin
on the counter to pay for the jerked beef he was gnawing
on.

“
You should invest in a
guard dog,” Jeremiah added as he tossed the catalog
down.

Hester’s eyes narrowed and she pointed a
long, bony finger up at Marston’s face. “I have my eyes on you,
Marston.”

Marston leaned stepped back to the counter
and stooped down, leaving very little distance between them. He
could see the fear the instant it came to her eyes and victory
coursed through his blood. “And I have mine on you, Hester,” he
warned quietly.