Give My Love to Rose (36 page)

Kaitlyn’s eyes filled with hurt. She turned
on her heels and fled to Rose’s bedroom, closing the door behind
her.

“
You’re with child?”
Jeremiah demanded, staring hard at Rose’s stomach.

Rose nodded, but her attention wasn’t on
Jeremiah. She chewed her lip with guilt as she stared at her closed
bedroom door. She shouldn’t have lost her temper with Kaitlyn. The
girl hadn’t meant any harm. Rose had just been holding herself
together by threads for too long and now she was coming completely
unraveled.

“
Come on, Rose,” Duke
urged gently as he led her back to the table and helped her sit. He
filled a glass of water and sat it in front of her before taking a
seat himself. Jeremiah sat as well, but his legs hopped and bounced
with pent up aggression.

“
I think you need to fill
us in on what’s been going on around here,” Duke urged. “And who
she was,” he added, tilting his head toward the bedroom.

Rose sighed and stared down into her water.
“Her name is Kaitlyn. Marston found her when he went after
Gilliam.”

Duke and Jeremiah shared a glance. “Yeah, we
heard about Gilliam.”

Rose was too distracted to hear their
admission or question it. “Marston hadn’t been home long, barely
more than a week, when the law rode in and took him… he didn’t even
fight them…” Rose’s voice trailed off.

“
That doesn’t sound like
Marston,” Jeremiah argued. “He always swore he’d never be taken
alive. He dreamed about going down in a blaze of glory like any
self-respecting outlaw.”

Jeremiah stopped speaking and began to rub
his leg under the table while glaring at Duke and Rose had the
impression that perhaps Duke had kicked him. “I’m sure Marston went
willingly because he didn’t want a gunfight around his woman and
kids,” Duke stated pointedly.

“
That’s why he went…”
Rose’s fingertips clutched desperately at her glass—she had to hold
on to something in order to assure herself that this wasn’t just a
nightmare. “We was trying to protect us…”

Duke laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Who came and got him?”

“
United States Marshall
Gilliam Montgomery.” Rose shivered. “I’ll never forget his
name.”

“
That’s Gilliam’s damned
brother!” Jeremiah exclaimed. “We should have figured he’d show up.
Dammit, we should have gotten here sooner!”

Rose let that information digest a moment.
She hadn’t known that Gilliam had had a brother that was a lawman.
It would certainly explain how he’d been able to get by with his
lifestyle for as long as he had.

Duke tapped the table. “What did the
Marshall say when they took Marston?”

Rose fought back a fresh wave of nausea.
“They’re hanging him Saturday…”

“
Shit…” Jeremiah sniffed
and Rose was certain she heard tears in his voice. Without a word,
the man got to his feet and left the cabin.

Rose frowned. “Duke, why are you here? How
did you know about Gilliam?” Duke seemed to be debating whether or
not to answer and Rose slammed her hand on the table. “After all
the hell I’ve been through, Duke, I damn sure deserve to hear the
truth!”

Duke sighed and pulled a cigar from his
pocket. He took his time lighting it before turning his gaze back
to her. “Marston was sloppy when he killed Gilliam. He left a
witness and that’s how they got Marston’s name and a good poster
with an increased bounty. And that’s why we’re here…. Vincent Sharp
was the survivor. We haven’t seen him personally, but he’s got a
real nasty brother and they’re talking about revenge.”

Rose’s eyes widened. She jumped to her feet
and went to the window, pulling back the curtains and staring out
into the night. “Calm down, Rose,” Duke scolded. “Jeremiah won’t
let anyone sneak in. Did they say where they were taking
Marston?”

“
Millerton,” she replied,
letting the curtains fall.

Duke stood up. “I’ll be heading that way
then.”

Rose felt the first spark of hope she’d
experienced in days. She wrung her hands. “Can you save him, Duke?
Can you get him away from them?”

Duke’s gaze dropped to the hand she had laid
over her stomach and he let out a sigh. “It’s not that easy, Rose.
They know who is now and his escape would put you and those
children in danger. Marston won’t do that. Not to mention, Marshall
Montgomery will probably be keeping a pretty close watch on
Marston. Marston killed his brother and from what I hear there
wasn’t anything pretty about it.”

“
They don’t’ care about
the truth,” Rose sniffed, her fists clenching at her sides. “They
arrested him for killing Gilliam and for kidnapping Kaitlyn.
Kidnapping her!”

Duke shook his head. “Gilliam Montgomery is
a worse monster than Marston ever thought of being even on his
worst day. But since he’s wearing a badge, his is forgiven. I gotta
get going now.. I feel like I should be there when they….” Duke’s
voice trailed off.

“
I should be there….” Rose
whispered, knowing that she couldn’t. If she saw the man she loved
die before her eyes it would destroy what little fiber of strength
she was still holding onto.

“
No, you shouldn’t.
Marston wouldn’t want you there and it wouldn’t be good for the
babe.” Duke reached out and laid a tender hand on her stomach. “At
least we’ll always have a little piece of Marston.”

Rose couldn’t speak. She breathed deep,
fighting to stem off the tears that were building. When she felt
steady enough to open her mouth without crying out she said, “What
am I going to do about Vincent?”

“
Jeremiah is going to pack
you and kids up in the morning and take you up to the Dakotas.
That’ll be your new home.”

“
The Dakotas?” Rose
demanded. “What’s in the Dakotas?”

“
Jeremiah won a homestead
in a card game during the time Marston rode with us after he met
you. Marston acted like he wanted it but then got mad and said he
didn’t. We didn’t understand his reaction back then, but we
understand now. Jeremiah was going to give it to Marston as a gift
but now…. Now he’ll give it to you.”

Rose glanced around the tiny cabin that held
all of the happy memories she had ever had and all her memories of
Marston. “This has been home for so long...” she whispered. But
Rose knew it would never be home again.

Duke nodded and stepped toward the door.
“You’ll have a new home and you’ll be safe there. Vincent won’t
find you. You really are going to be okay, Rose.”

Rose shook her head because she wasn’t at
all sure that she would. Duke kissed her hair in a tender, nearly
fatherly way, and patted her arm. “Jeremiah and I will see that you
and the youngins are taken care of. Now I gotta be going.”

Rose watched Duke leave and kept her hands
over her stomach. She wanted nothing more in the world than to have
her family back together, but she knew that Marston wasn’t coming
home. Her only hope for her children rested in Jeremiah and Duke’s
ability to keep them safe from Vincent.

Rose closed her eyes and prayed.

***

Langley lay in his bed with his eyes
squeezed tight against his tears. He heard Uncle Duke leave and he
heard his mama crying softly.

His pa was going to die. Langley had never
seen anyone hang, but one of his storybooks had pictures of a
hanging and Langley couldn’t wrap his head around something like
that happening to his pa. Marston had seemed so strong and
indestructible!

It wasn’t fair that they were losing him.
His mama needed Marston—Langley needed his pa. Who was going to
take him hunting now? Who would help patch up the cabin? What would
happen with the gun shop? Who would smoke that pipe Langley had
given Marston for Christmas? Who would cook watery eggs, mess up
his hair and wink at inside jokes?

Langley’s tears broke free and streamed down
his cheeks. He didn’t know what to do so he did what his mama had
taught him to do when everything seemed lost; Langley prayed.

“
Dear God, it’s me again.
I want to pray about a couple of things. First I pray that You’ll
let my pa figure out some way to live through this and come back to
us. We all need him real bad around here. But if You can’t do that
then please give my mama the strength she’ll need to carry on and
give Duke and Jeremiah the strength to keep us safe from
Vincent—whoever he is.”

Langley’s voice grew tight, but he forced
himself to continue as he stared up at the rough planks on the
ceiling. “And Lord, I pray that if pa does die, if You decide that
now is his time, could You please let him into heaven? I know he’s
done some bad things in his life and some things that are pretty
hard to forgive, but he always did right by me and mama and Kaitlyn
too. Mama needs to be with him again someday and I’d sure like to
see him again too and if he dies then that’ll have to be in Heaven.
I know You can hear me, God, and if You just grant me that one
wish, I’ll never ask You for anything again. Amen.”

Langley curled up beneath his covers and let
his pillow dry his tears. He heard Uncle Jeremiah come inside and
tell his mama to get some sleep. He heard his mama curl up on the
couch and then the door opened and closed again letting him know
that Uncle Jeremiah had gone back outside.

Langley fell asleep with prayers for Marston
echoing in his mind. Prayers that God would forgive his pa and let
him into heaven so that Langley, Kaitlyn, and mama could see him
again someday.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Jeremiah was up with the dawn the next
morning after a sleepless night in the rickety rocking chair on the
porch of Rose’s ramshackle cabin. Jeremiah jabbed his fingertips
into his temples and rubbed hard as if hoping he could stop his
mind from thinking.

He had failed his little brother.

No matter how many times the duo had stolen
from one another, hurt one another, cursed each other’s souls to
the fiery pits of hell—Jeremiah loved his brother with all his
heart. Marston might have been the larger of the brother’s, but
Jeremiah had been older and it had been his duty to see his brother
stayed safe…

Now Marston was going to hang.

Jeremiah gripped the arms of the rocking
chair until splinters pierced his skin. He had wanted to leave last
night, to go to Marston, but Duke had forced him to stay here,
reminding him that Marston would want his wife and children looked
after and kept safe.

Did Jeremiah want an instant family? Hell
no. But he owed it to Marston to at least get them to the Dakotas
and settled into their new home and so that’s what he was going to
do.

Jeremiah stood slowly and stretched his
stiff and aching back as he looked out over the dew covered grass
and misty woods. Part of Jeremiah wanted to stay right here and
face Vincent down whenever the man showed up. But facing down
Vincent, his brother and whatever men they had with them would do
nothing other than possibly get Rose and the children hurt or
killed and that was something that would bring Marston out of his
grave and looking to bring Jeremiah back to hell with him.

What Jeremiah hated the most about this
whole mess was that Marston was going to go down with a rope around
his neck and a bag over his head. Marston deserved an outlaws
death. He deserved to die standing toe to toe with the law and his
gun blazing. He deserved to have his heart cease beating as he fell
to the ground in a pool of blood that wasn’t only his.

Marston didn’t deserve to go down as a
broken necked spectacle. Then again, maybe his neck wouldn’t break
and he would slowly choke to death as his body twitched, his tongue
swelled and his face turned blue….

The horribly detailed scene in Jeremiah’s
head was cut short when Rose burst from the cabin. She ran to the
outhouse and slammed the door as she disappeared inside. Jeremiah
heard her losing her stomach inside and wondered what he was
supposed to do. He wasn’t any damn good at taking care of
someone.

Marston would have probably gone to her and
held her hair back but that wasn’t Jeremiah’s way so he simply
stood on the porch and shifted his feet as he waited for her to
come out. It took nearly ten minutes and her face was a nice shade
of green.

Rose wiped the sleeve of her worn dress
across her mouth and attempted to smooth her messy red curls which
were contrasting sharply against her pallor.

“
You gonna make it?”
Jeremiah quipped.

Rose’s head snapped up and the glare her
blue eyes fixed him with had him back peddling. “I mean.. uh… are
you okay?”

She nodded but instead of softening her gaze
simply turned sad. “I’ll be fine.”

It was Jeremiah’s turn to nod as he headed
toward the door. “Good. Come in and cook us some breakfast and then
we’ll get everything packed up and head out.”

Rose stomped barefoot across the damp grass
and shoved past Jeremiah as she strode into the cabin. She felt
like death warmed over, but that wasn’t stopping Jeremiah from
barking out orders. He still expected her to cook and pack!

Rose scolded herself. Of course, she was
expected to do those things. The world wouldn’t stop for her upset
stomach or her broken heart. She had simply gotten spoiled during
her time with Marston.

Jeremiah watched Rose storm inside and he
decided against joining her. He didn’t understand much about women,
but it was clear she wasn’t in a great mood and he wanted to avoid
that. Not that he could blame her for her foul temper. Hell, she
was handling herself better than most woman would in her situation.
Most women were weak and would have long ago broken, laid down and
refused to move again but not Rose.