Montana Rose (19 page)

He banished Satan by replacing him with love. Pulling back from Cassie just a bit, he laid one big hand over the little tyke and got kicked again. Red smiled down at Cassie’s oversized belly. The babe was stirring so vigorously Red could see Cassie’s flannel nightgown move. Red got the message.

He whispered, “I’m sorry, little one. You don’t need a pa with a mean temper, do you?”

The babe kicked him squarely in the middle of his hand, and Red took that for a no.

“But what are we going to do? How am I going to protect you and your ma from him?” Red asked it of the babe, but the answer came from God.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?”

Who indeed. Not Wade Sawyer.

Easy to say.

“Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”

Wade was in the world, and today, although it had been a close thing, God had protected Cassie. They were safe.

“If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Well, Wade was definitely against them. But who was Wade compared to God? Red almost sat up in bed when he remembered falling practically on top of Cassie. Thinking about it now, he wasn’t sure why he’d stumbled. He’d been walking carefully, holding on to the wall. Yet he’d fallen and his hand had landed on the tiny bit of Cassie’s skirt sticking out of the hole.

Red smiled. God was definitely for them.

Then he thought,
“Love thy neighbour as thyself.”

That one stuck in Red’s throat and his smile faded.

The babe kicked him.

Red hesitated and Satan whispered about justice and hate.

The babe kicked him again.

“Okay, little one,” Red whispered so Cassie wouldn’t be disturbed. “But Wade doesn’t make it easy.”

The babe booted him hard.

Red had to forgive Wade. It grated on him something fierce, but he knew he had to. He pulled Cassie back into his arms, and the babe seemed to do a somersault of approval. Red grinned, and Cassie shifted against him and moaned sweetly in her sleep.

Forgiving didn’t mean trusting someone who wasn’t repentant. But Wade was in worse trouble than the Dawsons. Red closed his eyes.

Thank You, God, for the miracle of life I’m holding in my arms. The miracle of two lives. Bless Wade. Bring light to the darkness that surrounds him. I love him, Lord. I do. He is Your creation. And I forgive him. But I hope You’ll forgive me, Lord, if it’s a sin that I’m not going to trust him.

He caught himself just as he dozed off. He had left Buck bridled and saddled, running loose. His home had been trashed and he still had evening chores to do.

With a quick check of Cassie’s fingers and toes, which looked pink and plump now, Red got up and did his chores at a run. Then he quickly straightened the house, built up the fire, and hung Cassie’s wet things to dry. When he got back to Cassie, she had rolled all the way to his side of the bed as if she were hunting for him to snuggle up against. He shucked his clothes again and crawled right back into bed with her.

Cassie had said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation.” Did she mean it? Had Cassie really made her own commitment to the Lord?

Red prayed she’d moved beyond just saying what he wanted to hear. He prayed for her and thanked God for her every second he had ... until he fell asleep.

Cassie’s eyes fluttered open and she rubbed her hand over Red’s chest and savored the warmth.

Warmth!

She jerked to a sitting position in bed with a cry of fear and fell back because she was anchored by Red’s arm.

“Don’t be afraid, Cass. You’re okay.” Red untangled her hair from around his arm and behind his head.

Cassie looked at Red and started to remember what had happened after she’d gone into that dark little hole to hide from Wade. She looked into his kind, worried eyes, and with a little cry of anguish, she threw herself back into his arms.

He cradled her and crooned and stroked her arms.

She remembered this from last night. It was so fuzzy she wasn’t sure what had happened and what she had dreamed. “You came for me. You saved me.” She clung to him and shuddered from fear.

“You’re okay,” he murmured. “We got through it.”

Red brushed her hair back off her forehead and chucked her under the chin so she’d lift her head from where it was burrowed against his chest. “You were so smart, Cass honey. So brave and strong. You saved yourself. I’m so proud of you.”

Confusion warred with doubt. She shook her head slightly. “No. I was so afraid. I was such a coward. Running and hiding like a stupid—”

“Cass honey,” Red interrupted softly.

“Yes, Red?” Her eyes flickered to his lips and back to his eyes.

“Shut up.” Red kissed her.

It worked. She shut up.

Then he pulled away from her. His lips were moist from her kisses. She knew because she couldn’t quit glancing at them to see if he might be going to kiss her again.

He rested his hands on her shoulders and firmly moved her back from him. He had to unwind her arms from around his neck, and while he did, Cassie sneaked in another kiss and he put up with it for a while. Quite a while. Then after a minute or two ... or three, he went back to holding her away.

“Now, listen, young lady...”

He sounded like a scolding father, and because that was so unlike Red, whom she didn’t think of as a father at all, she smiled. He tapped her under her chin again, and she realized she was looking at his lips. He seemed to want her to stop that. She really tried.

“I’m listening,” she said demurely, trying to follow whatever order he was obviously getting ready to give.

“You were
not
stupid and you were
not
a coward,” he said sternly.

“But I was, Red. You don’t know. I was so afraid.”

“Being afraid doesn’t make you a coward, Cass. In this case, being afraid is just plain good sense.”

“But I ran. I hid like some wild animal in a hole in the ground. I should have ... have shot him or something.”

“Well, the only trouble with shooting someone is that once you’ve done it...” Red hesitated.

“What?” Cassie asked.

“Once you’ve shot someone, then ... well, the thing is ... then you’ve ... you’ve
shot
someone, if you get what I mean.”

Cassie shook her head, feeling stupid again.

“It’s not something you can take back.”

Cassie stared at him and slowly nodded her head. She was glad she wasn’t living with that on her conscience. But she’d still been so helpless. She’d been alone in that black hole with her terror, so completely at Wade’s mercy. She’d felt so weak and pathetic.

There’d been so many times in her life she’d wanted to fight back, not just against Wade, and she always was left cowering in fear. Red had said she was smart and strong and brave. She was none of those things. But a husband’s word was law, so she let herself enjoy the thought.

“What are we going to do, Red?”

“I don’t know, Cass honey. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I found you. I can’t ride off and leave you here alone again, not for even a minute.”

“Could I ride with you to check the cattle?”

Red was silent for a moment.

Cassie hastened to embroider details on her plan. “I could ride with you on Buck. When you find a herd you need to work with, you could set me down somewhere out of the way but where we could see each other.”

“It’s so cold,” Red said doubtfully.

“It’s cold for you, too.”

“I’m not carrying a growing babe.”

“I’ve got a good coat.”

“It could work. It’s better than the plan I came up with.”

“What was that?” Cassie was prepared to do whatever he said.

“Well, I had this picture in my head of building a corral around the cabin and turning Harriet loose in it.”

“A guard pig?”

Cassie looked at him for a long moment, and then he grinned at her and she started to giggle. She buried her head against his chest and he held her close, and they laughed until the baby kicked them into getting up.

“You can come with me for today. We’ll try it a day at a time,” Red said as he grabbed Cassie’s dry clothes for her then proceeded to get dressed.

“Yes, Red.” Red had his back politely turned, so Cassie quickly slipped out of her nightgown and into her chemise, then grabbed for her dress.

“And I’ll show you a better cranny to hide in that’s not so cold, and we’ll put the buffalo robe in it if I ever go off even for a second.”

“Yes, Red.”

He glanced over his shoulder to give her a disgruntled look, and she wondered what she’d done. She thought with the tiniest spark of annoyance that she really could hardly be any more obedient.

Red’s expression cleared. “How did you sneak into the passage without Wade catching you?”

“I saw a flash of light high up on the hill. It scared me. I just grabbed the rifle and went straight in. I’d been in there quite a while before he came.”

Red was silent for a long while. “I think you were scared because God was warning you.”

“You do?” Cassie asked in wonder. If God had talked to her, it was her very own miracle.

“I came in early from checking the cattle because I couldn’t shake off worrying about you. I think God was speaking to me, too,” Red said with calm assurance.

“He took care of us,” Cassie whispered. She knew it was true, because the fear she’d felt at that little flash of light went beyond a normal reaction.

Red said quietly, “Let’s remember to always trust our instincts. God is watching over us, and if we’re open to His leading, I think we’ll be safe.”

“Yes, Red. I will, Red,” she said fervently.

Red looked annoyed again and she stood quietly waiting for him to reprimand her, but he never did.

Red shook his head as if to clear it. “I think the babe talked to me last night.”

“The baby and God? All in one day?” Cassie said with what she hoped was well-concealed teasing.

“Yep.” Red slung his arm around her and led her out to the kitchen. “It was quite a day.”

“So what did she say?” Cassie noticed they’d gotten dressed in the same room at the same time. They’d never done that before.

“Well, first off, she said she’s a he.”

“She did not!” Cassie protested.

Red told her a silly story about being scolded with a series of kicks and twists while they made breakfast and did the morning chores together.

“Instead of checking the herd this afternoon, I want to ride to town and tell the sheriff about this.” Red ate his steak at noon, but his stomach did back flips when he thought about Cassie so cold, so near death.

“Yes, Red. That’s a good idea.”

Red hated that obedient tone. But they were going to town regardless of her tone, so it would be stupid to growl about it.

“I doubt the law will step in, but I want a formal complaint so if Wade comes around again, we’ll have some proof that he’s been a problem before.”

Cassie began cleaning as if he’d shouted at her to hurry. Red shook his head at his submissive little wife then hurried to do a few chores. They rode to town, and though the town marshal didn’t sound like he planned to pursue the matter, Red insisted on going through the motions.

Since it wasn’t a Saturday, they went to pick up a few things at the general store, planning to rush home.

Muriel insisted on hearing the whole story of Cassie’s plight. “Humph. That marshal is bought and paid for by the Sawyers. He won’t do a thing.”

“Well, there’s not much he can do, really. All Wade did was walk around in our house a might clumsily, broke a few things. And no one saw his face, though Cassie identified his voice. If Wade could be found and forced to admit he was there, he’d just say Cassie should have come on out. He had no idea of harming her.” Red’s chest hurt when he thought of the way his cabin had looked. The violence in the damage. The strength of the fear God had placed on Cassie’s heart.

Muriel snorted.

A group of Sawyer hands came into the store just then.

“You know Wade was out at the Dawson place today?” Muriel asked.

The closest man, Red knew he was the Sawyer foreman, shook his head. “He’s quit the country. I saw him get on the stage to Denver myself.”

“He’s not in Denver.” Red stepped in front of Muriel, not wanting the feisty woman to draw down the ire of the Sawyer bunch on her. “I recognized his tracks and Cassie heard him. She hid because she knew he was up to no good. Where is he?”

The burly cowhand scratched his grizzled chin. “We haven’t seen him for a while or more. Him and his pa had it out, and Wade took off. The boy had a pair of black eyes and a split lip when he left. His pa don’t put up with mouth offa his kid, and Wade had used up all his chances.”

Red inhaled slowly as he thought of a father who’d hurt his son like that. He stared at the man, looking for shifty eyes. But the man seemed to believe what he’d said about Wade being gone. All that meant was Wade had lied to them, too.

“As far as we know, Wade is still in Denver.”

Red and Cassie headed for home in the fading light of Montana’s early evening. This time Red knew he’d never relax his guard.

“I need to warn you girls what I’ve done.” Belle waved her girls closer.

It wasn’t hard to catch them without Anthony around. Being not around was the usual state of things.

Lindsay, Emma, and Sarah drew close, the whispered words drawing them in. They were in the barn shortly before it was time to eat dinner.

“I’ve decided it’s a sin the way I treat Anthony.”

Emma’s brow puckered. “You mean feeding him and washing his clothes and picking up after him and giving him money to go to town twice a week? That’s a sin?”

What Anthony did in town was most definitely a sin. But Belle had caught him stealing a few times, and when he was cornered, the man had a dangerous look in his eyes that made Belle want her skillet handy. Even though it sickened her to think what Anthony did with that dollar, she’d taken to giving him a dollar about twice a week, which seemed to be enough to keep him calm. Besides, she liked having him gone from the ranch, so it was like she was paying to have a couple of days without his brooding presence. Money well spent.

“No, it’s a sin that I’ve treated him badly.”

“How, Ma?” Sarah asked, her face worried as if her mother’s confessing to sin scared her.

“Well, I’ve ... I’ve been bossy and unkind and hostile. He says his back hurts, and instead of feeling bad for him, I’ve treated him like a liar, and a lazy one at that.”

“He is a liar, Ma.” Lindsay scowled.

Belle knew they’d all seen Anthony ride away on his horse, as fit as could be. His back only hurt where there were chores. The man
was
a liar, and no Christian charity could change that simple fact.

“Yes, I agree.” Except that wasn’t what Belle wanted to do. She needed to encourage her children to give the man the benefit of the doubt. “I mean, it’s not for us to judge him.” Belle pulled her flat-crowned hat off her head in frustration. “What I really mean is Anthony’s sin is between him and God. We are still called to treat him with kindness and”—she wasn’t sure she could choke out the word—“l–love.”

All three girls inhaled sharply and straightened away from the little circle they’d formed.

“You’re saying you’re in love with him, Ma?” Lindsay shook her head. “I think that’s a bad idea.”

“No, for the love of heaven, I’m not saying that!” Belle felt sickened by the very thought. “I’m saying God called us to love our neighbor as ourselves. I’m saying I learned something when I went and visited Cassie Dawson.”

“Who?” Sarah twisted her mouth as if the conversation was a nuisance, which it was. Sarah had supper to get and Belle knew it.

“She used to be Cassie Griffin. I told you how they forced her into a marriage. You remember that, right, girls?”

“So you’re saying it’s okay to let someone force us into marriage?” Emma started wringing her hands.

“No! Now listen to me. Don’t you
ever
let someone force you into marriage.” Belle whipped her hat against her leg, wondering why she’d ever started this. “I’m saying I’m going to try and love Anthony as a neighbor. As a child of God. No, good heavens to Betsy, I don’t love the wretched man.”

That probably wasn’t the thing to say if she was going to try and be a better Christian when it came to Anthony. “What I mean is, Anthony’s lies, Anthony’s laziness, those are between him and his Maker. And our behavior is between us and God. That’s all we can control. I’ve been sinning by being unpleasant to the man, and I’m going to try and change. You know, I worry for Anthony’s soul, though it’s wrong to judge.”

Belle had judged him as belonging to the netherworld before she’d been married to the man for two weeks, but that was her own sin. No sense spreading that to her children. Although she had to admit that realization had come a bit late.

God forgive me.

“I’m saying maybe we can ... reform him. Show him how Christians are supposed to act. That’s part of being a good Christian. Being a good example and behaving in a way that draws others to our faith. And I’ve been less than a good Christian to Anthony, and worse, I’ve been a poor example to you girls. I don’t know if he’ll come, but I told Anthony I wanted him to join the family. Even if he doesn’t work, he can be with us, talk to us, join in with things besides meals. And I just wanted to warn you girls because I’ll no doubt be saying things to him you don’t understand. You might even find them shocking.”

“What kind of things, Ma?” Sarah shifted her weight.

“My plan is to be ... to be...” Belle shuddered and she knew the girls could see it, but she soldiered on. “Nice to the lazy coot.”

All three girls gasped in shock.

Belle nodded. “I knew you wouldn’t understand. That’s why I had to warn you. And if you can possibly do it, try and be nice, too.”

Lindsay shook her head, not in disobedience but rather as if she couldn’t imagine a single nice thing she could say to her stepfather.

Belle patted her on the shoulder. “Just try. I know it goes against the grain.”

All three girls nodded as if Belle had just ordered them into a war zone ... unarmed.

She decided to arm them somewhat. “There’s a Bible verse I heard once that said being kind to people who are bad to you is like heaping hot coals on their heads. So maybe it’ll help to imagine you’re doing that while you be nice.”

Emma shrugged. “That might work.”

“It’s worth a try.” Lindsay started pulling her gloves on.

“I’ll do it.” Sarah squared her shoulders and stuck out her chin. “But they’re gonna be red-hot coals.”

“Whatever it takes. Now go get supper on while we finish the chores.”

“Will Anthony be coming in to help us with the chores?” Lindsay was being sarcastic.

Belle recognized the attitude. It came straight from her. “I doubt it. I saw him coming down from the Husband Tree and climbing up on the roof.” Belle shook her head in disgust and tugged her hat back onto her head, pulling the flat black brim low over her eyes. “I’m going to go see if I can talk the idiot into coming down so I can get started being nice.”

“She’s turning somersaults again.” Cassie rested her hand on her stomach as she settled into bed.

Red grinned and laid his hands beside hers. “He’s still talking to me, just like that day you got cold.”

“
She
can’t talk yet.” Cassie shoved at his hands, but Red held on.

“Be still, woman, so my
son
can tell me how he’s doing.” Red loved feeling the baby move and telling Cassie there was a little boy growing in her. It was closest she’d come to sassing him.

He quit letting her lie apart from him when she came to bed. He’d always pulled her close after she’d fallen asleep, but now he pulled her into his arms the minute she lay down. Better still, she came without protest.

Checking the cattle together worked better than Red had hoped. Occasionally there was an injured longhorn that needed doctoring, and after scouting around to make sure Wade wasn’t in the vicinity, Red would find a sheltered spot and set Cassie down to watch from a safe distance while he roped and hogtied the beast and tended it. Every day there were a few head of cattle that needed something special. If possible, Red drove them back to the ranch and worked with them while Cassie did her outside chores.

That worked until the day Red came into the house and Cassie wouldn’t face him. She always turned around from where she was working on supper to smile hello. Red hadn’t thought much about it until she didn’t do it. She stayed hovering over the fire with her back turned to him. He surely did miss her cheerful greetings.

“Hi, Cass. Supper ready?” He waited expectantly for her to warm his life with her hello.

She said, without turning around, “Hi. Meal’s almost ready. Go ahead and sit down.”

Red couldn’t say a thing was wrong with the way she was stirring at the pot of stew she’d made, but he kept a sharp eye on her. She had the plates beside her on the sink, and she reached over for one with her back still turned. She started scooping up a plate of stew, and when he went beside her to wash from the basin of hot water on the sink, she turned away from him and set the plate on the table. He washed as she fussed with setting the plate just so. Then he went to the table and she turned back to the fire and got the other plate.

He waited for her to sit down until she said in an overly casual voice, “I think I’d better just tend this stew a bit more. Go ahead and eat without me.”

Red surged up out of his chair and grabbed her arm. She cried out in pain and he let go immediately. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rough.” Then Red thought about what he was saying. He hadn’t been rough!

He said sternly, “What’s going on here, Cassie Dawson?”

There was a long silence as he stood behind her and she faced the fire. Finally, with tortuous slowness, she turned around.

“What happened to your face?” Red reached to touch her then pulled back. She had a scrape across the whole side of her cheek and down her neck. He thought about the pain he’d caused her when he took her arm. “Let me see the rest of it.”

Cassie started shaking her head. “Red, it’s not as bad as it looks. It’s just a scrape!”

“I want to see your arm. Right now!” Red stepped so he was behind her and started unbuttoning her dress. As he did he noticed a dozen slits in her sleeve that had been carefully mended.

“Red, please! You’re overreacting!” Cassie turned to look over her shoulder at him in alarm as he clumsily undid the buttons down the back of her dress.

“What happened to you? How did you...” Red quit talking and gasped as he pulled her sleeve down. The scrape went down her neck, over her shoulder, and the length of her arm.

“Cassie,” Red whispered in dismay. “Was it Wade? Did he hurt you?”

Cassie clutched the dress to her front. “No, I haven’t seen Wade at all. I ... I just fell.”

“Fell where?” Red said in alarm. “I was around the place all afternoon. I never saw you fall.”

Cassie didn’t answer.

Red, unaccustomed to anything but complete obedience from his little wife, looked away from the nasty damage to her arm and neck and saw a stubborn expression on her face. “Ca–a–assie,” he said gravely. “Tell me.”

“You’ll be upset.” Cassie turned to face him, pulling her dress back into place. “It was my fault. I don’t want you to...”

“
Now, Cassandra Dawson.
Tell me
exactly
what happened and
do it right now!
” Red thought he sounded just like his father used to when Red was naughty. But Red didn’t want to treat his wife like a naughty child.

That stubborn look settled more deeply on her face. Red had the feeling that Cassie was saying some unpleasant things to him inside her head. He almost smiled. He’d wanted her to stand up to him. The trouble was, now that she was thinking about doing it, he didn’t want it at all. What if Wade
had
come and somehow scared Cassie into keeping it a secret? What if he’d snuck up on the house somehow and gotten to her when Red was—

“I fell watering Buck!” Cassie said with a scowl after she’d finished fastening her buttons. “I just slipped is all, and I don’t want you saying I can’t...”

“I saw you take him down to the creek. He was walking ahead of you like always.” Red let go of his worst fears as he thought about his cantankerous horse.

“He’s getting better, Red. I’ll be more careful.”

Buck had never forgiven Cassie for flapping her skirts the first morning she’d lived here. And he
wasn’t
getting better. If anything, he had learned he could bully Cassie and was worse than ever.

“That horse has taken to dragging you along behind him,” Red said. “You’re too long on belly and too short on legs to make him mind.”

“It’s not Buck’s fault I fell.” Cassie crossed her arms and glowered.

“Yes it is. You shouldn’t be watering him.” Red felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead, picturing Cassie falling on that steep slope to the creek.

“Now, Red, don’t say that.” Cassie raised her hands in front of her as if asking Red to stop. “Please don’t say I can’t do it. It’s not his fault. My hand just got twisted in the lead rope and I ended up sliding a ways. He didn’t—”

“How far?” Red interrupted.

“How far what?” Cassie said, twisting her hands together.

Red knew she was ducking the question. He said through clenched teeth, “How far did he drag you after you fell?”

Cassie’s jaw firmed and her lips clamped together. Red thought she was going to tell him to go soak his head. He had another quiver of humor go through him, but then he thought about Buck dragging her.

“
You tell me right now, wife, and that’s an order!
When did you fall? And how far did he...”

“I fell right over the crest,” she almost shouted.

“How far?” Red stormed at her.

“The rest of the way to the creek,” she snapped back.

Dead silence reigned for just a second while Red contemplated his beloved Cassie being dragged down that treacherous path.

Speaking barely above a whisper through a throat nearly swollen shut with fear, Red asked, “And you thought you could hide this from me because you’re worried about losing one of your precious chores. Right?”

Cassie’s stubborn expression faded, and she looked like the worried, obedient little wife he was used to. She nodded.

Red leaned down so his nose almost touched hers and bellowed,
“You should be worried! You’re losing all of them! You are going to mind me, woman!”

He watched her fight to keep her temper from overflowing. She opened her mouth to speak a dozen times, but each time she stopped.

He wanted to goad her into fighting because it would do her good to stand up for herself. But this wasn’t the time. He wasn’t going to give on this. And maybe she was just too submissive to argue, or maybe she could see the stubbornness on his face just like he could see it on hers.

In the end she just said through clenched teeth, “Yes, Red.”