Promises Kept (26 page)

“Thank you, but I must insist on preparing dinner,” Mrs. Wellington told him.

Colt winked at her. “Why do you think I asked? Helen is not coming tonight, and I didn’t want to eat my own cooking.”

Mrs. Wellington laughed. “It would be my pleasure after what you’ve done for Bandit. I should tell you, though, my cooking isn’t as good as Victoria’s.” She turned to Bartholomew. “I think you should—”

“I was just going to say the same thing,” Bartholomew responded.

Colt looked from one to the other. “What?” He thought the two of them had become fast friends. They were already acting like an old married couple, finishing each other’s sentences. His mother and father had done the same thing.

“Victoria should be back soon, and if you don’t mind including her in your invitation, Bartholomew will bring her back. I really don’t want her staying there alone, especially with Mr. Wall—” She glanced at the boys and decided not to finish her sentence.

Seems like Mrs. Wellington has the same feelings about Wallace as I do
, Colt thought. “Of course she’s invited.” He glanced at the boys. “I have some chores to do. Why don’t you boys come help me?”

“Sure thing!” They were so excited they raced to the door.

“Mrs. Wellington, I’ll send Tate in from time to time to check on Bandit and to see if you need anything.”

“That’s fine. Now you boys mind what Colt says,” she instructed. It brought tears to her eyes watching the two boys hanging on to Colt as they made their way to the stable. They adored the man, and she hoped she wasn’t wrong in her estimation of his feelings for them and Victoria. Those boys would be devastated if she married Wallace.

Having kept the twins busy to keep them from worrying about Bandit, Colt thought they would be worn out just trying to keep up with him. Their short legs worked hard trying to keep pace with his long strides. Over three hours later they were still going strong and chattering away. Colt was checking on a sick pony and the boys were sitting outside the stall watching his every move.

“How do you know so much about horses?” Cody asked.

“I learned from my pa. He owned this ranch before me and taught me and my brothers everything he knew.”

“Your pa sure knew a lot of stuff,” Cade said.

“Yep.”

“Where are your brothers?”

“One is in Texas, and I’m not sure where the other one is right now.”

“Do they ever come home?”

“They haven’t been home in a long time.”

“Do you miss them?”

“I sure do.”

“Are you twins?” Cody asked.

“They can’t be twins ’cause he has two brothers,” Cade told his brother. “That’s . . . uh . . . what’s that called?”

“Oh yeah,” Cody agreed. “What are they?”

“That would be triplets. No, but we all look alike. You can tell we’re brothers,” Colt told them.

“Your name starts with a C, and our names start with a C,” Cody said.

“That’s right.” Colt smiled, unaware where this conversation was going.

“Maybe that means you’re our pa,” Cade remarked.

That pulled him up short. He stopped what he was doing and placed his arm over the railing and looked at them. “Don’t you know who your pa is?”

“No.”

Colt was puzzled why Victoria wouldn’t tell the boys who their pa was. He figured every boy had a right to know who sired him. “Did you ever ask your mother?”

“We don’t know our ma.”

At first Colt thought they were teasing him, but they weren’t smiling. “What do you mean?”

“We can’t remember our ma,” Cade said solemnly.

“Cade,” Cody said in a warning tone.

“Colt’s our friend, we can tell him,” Cade replied, his small face turning serious.

Colt watched as the two boys communicated with each other without words. “Victoria isn’t your ma?”

That made the boys laugh. “No!”

“Well, if she’s not your ma, who is she?”

Colt watched as the boys stared at each other.

“She’s our . . . sister,” Cade answered.

“Cade!” Cody shouted.

He didn’t believe for a minute that she was their sister. There was more to the story than the boys were telling, and Cody wasn’t happy Cade was sharing the information. When he thought about it, Victoria had never actually said she was their mother. She referred to them as
my boys
, and he’d just assumed she was their mother. “I just thought she was your ma.”

“She knew our ma,” Cade told him.

“Where does your ma live?”

“We don’t know.”

“Doesn’t Victoria know where your ma lives?” This story was getting stranger and stranger.

“No.”

“But Victoria is like our ma. We just need a pa. She said she was going to keep us forever, so we need a pa.” Both boys nodded their heads like they were connected.

“Do you think you could be our pa?”

There was a hopeful note in Cade’s question that wasn’t lost on Colt. He wanted to say the right thing. He wasn’t inclined to make their pa look like a no-account in case the man ever showed up, but he wanted to be honest with them. “Any man would be proud to be your pa. But if I was your pa, I would have been with you since you were born. I would never have left you.” He smiled at them. “Look how dark I am. I have black hair and you two are blond.”

“You would be a good pa ’cause you know a lot of things. Do you think you would ever want some boys?” Cody asked.

Bartholomew walked into the stable, interrupting the conversation. “Mrs. Wellington said to tell you men that dinner is almost ready. She wanted to know if you are at a stopping place, or if she should keep it warm.”

“I didn’t know you were back,” Colt told him. He was relieved that Bartholomew walked in when he did. He needed to have a talk with Victoria so he would know what to say to the boys.

“Victoria was already at the farm when I got there, so we’ve been here for an hour,” Bartholomew replied.

Leaving the stall, Colt lifted a boy under each arm, carrying them like sacks of potatoes. “We’ve worked up quite an appetite, haven’t we?”

“Yep!” the boys chimed in, trying to sound like Colt.

“Victoria made a special dessert for you,” Bartholomew told them.

The boys made a game of guessing what they would be having for dessert as they washed up outside.

Chapter Twenty-Five

After dinner the boys quickly fell asleep, and Bartholomew and Mrs. Wellington insisted on cleaning the kitchen. They pushed Colt and Victoria to the front porch. Colt had a feeling this was a prearranged plan between the pair in an effort to leave him alone with Victoria.

“Thank you for taking care of Bandit. Are you sure he will be okay?” Victoria asked.

“Yes, he will be fine in a day or two. I’d like him to stay here so I can keep an eye on him.” He pulled a cigar from his pocket and held it in front of her. “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Victoria responded. “I like the smell of a cigar.”

“You are an unusual woman. I thought most women just tolerated a man’s cigar.” His eyes remained on her as he lit his cigar. She always looked beautiful and tonight was no different. No matter how many times he told himself he was going to stay away from her, circumstances kept throwing them together. They chatted for a while before he decided it was time for some truth. “The boys told me they don’t know their father.”

Her head snapped around to face him. She was stunned the boys had been so open with him. “No, they don’t.”

“Do you have a reason for not telling them?”

“I don’t know who he is,” she said honestly.

“I thought you were their mother.” She hesitated so long Colt thought she might not answer. He waited.

For whatever reason, she knew she couldn’t lie to him and she wanted to stop all of her lies. “No, I’m not.”

“You’re not their sister.” He made the statement as a fact, not a question.

“No.”

“Do you know their mother?”

“Yes, I do.” She had spent so many years afraid to tell anyone the truth for fear of losing the boys that it was a relief to finally be honest.

Colt noticed her hands were tightly clasped in her lap, a habit of hers when she was nervous. “Why do you have them?”

She raised her eyes to meet his. “Why are you so interested?”

Taking a long pull on his cigar, Colt considered what he wanted to say. “Victoria, it seems to me you wanted me to think you were their mother, and I admit I did at first, but a lot of things didn’t add up. For one, you don’t look old enough to have boys that age. Then there’s the fact that they call you Victoria. And of course, they look nothing like you.” When she didn’t respond, he continued. “You are a woman with a lot of secrets and for some reason you think you can’t confide in anyone. I doubt even Mrs. Wellington knows what you’re hiding. I’m interested because I think you need a friend.”

Tears welled in her eyes, threatening her fragile composure. She wondered if he really knew how much she wanted a friend, how much she needed a friend. She’d come to Promise hoping to find a friend in Mr. Barlow. It was tempting to confess her whole past to Colt, but how could he possibly understand her life? She didn’t want to be judged for her past, she wanted a fresh start. Just thinking about telling him the truth made her want to run away again.

“Does Mrs. Wellington know you aren’t their mother?”

“She thinks I’m their sister.”

Colt turned his chair so he was facing her and leaned forward, placing his forearms on his thighs. “I’ve told you before you can trust me. I know you are not telling me everything. I also know that you have met Gage Hardy before.”

That statement drained the color from her cheeks. By the look on her face, he no longer questioned that Gage Hardy knew her true identity. “Am I right about that?” He waited a beat and still she didn’t respond. “Well, you need to tell someone your secrets. If not me, why not tell Mrs. Wellington? She cares for you and the boys, and I’d say she deserves the truth.” Seeing she had no intention of opening up, he leaned back in his chair. “Well then, why don’t you tell Wallace? You’re spending enough time with him, he should know the truth if things are serious between you two.”

“Things are not serious between us.”

“The way I see it, you are making two mistakes. Number one, you should know by now you can trust me. I really don’t know what else I can do to make you see that.”

She waited for him to tell her the other mistake. When he didn’t continue, curiosity got the better of her. “The second?”

“Getting involved with Wallace.”

She reddened from the neck up. “I told you we are not serious. He is a neighbor just as you are, and he’s treating me kindly as a newcomer to the town. That’s all.”

Colt stared at her, wondering if she truly believed what she said. “I think you know he has plans for something more. Tell me, do you think he gives one hoot about those boys? Or Bandit?”

She returned his stare. Part of her knew what he was saying was true. Wallace had been more forceful in his attentions for the last two weeks, and had made it clear he wanted more than friendship. He’d put pressure on her to go to town with him today. She’d already told him she couldn’t go, but this morning he stopped on his way and wouldn’t take no for an answer. Since she needed some supplies from the mercantile, it was easier to give in than to argue with him. She was going to have to deal with Wallace in her own way. Right now she needed to tell Colt the truth about the boys.

“Their mother was going to put them in an orphanage,” she whispered.

“She didn’t want them?” Colt was shocked. It was difficult for him to believe any woman would just walk off and leave her two boys.

“She wanted nothing to do with them.”

Colt moved even closer until his face was scant inches from hers. “Why?”

She pulled back just a bit. “I can’t tell you. I just want people to think they are mine so no one tries to take them away.”

“Okay, that answers one question, and we need to talk about that. But right now I want to know why you are seeing Wallace.”

She wasn’t sure she could answer that. She wasn’t attracted to Wallace like she was to Colt, but he seemed safe to her. He didn’t frighten her as much as Colt. Wallace didn’t seem to care about her past; at least he didn’t ask many questions. “He seems safe, and—”

“And what?” Colt fairly snapped.

“Well . . . I do want a good future for the boys.”

“Safe? Future for the boys?” Colt could barely contain himself from bellowing his response. “You haven’t believed a word I’ve told you about him, have you?”

“I’ve told you before, he’s been kind to me.” At least, he had been until this morning. She’d asked him if the boys could go to town with them, but Wallace wouldn’t hear of it. He said they needed time alone and refused to include the boys. After they arrived in town, he wouldn’t let her out of his sight. But it was when they arrived back to the farm that she became truly concerned. As he was leaving, instead of his usual peck on the cheek, he’d pulled her close and kissed her on the mouth. It was a brief kiss, but she didn’t like it. She shivered just thinking about how his mouth felt on hers. She’d made a vow then and there that she would never be alone with him again.

“What?” He saw her shiver.

His question jolted her back to the moment. “Nothing.”

“What happened today?”

What was it about him that he seemed to know what she was thinking? “Nothing.”

“You’re a terrible liar. What did he do?” he demanded.

She could see he wasn’t going to leave it alone. “He seemed a bit too possessive today in town.”

As a man, Colt could understand why a man would be possessive of her. “Have you let him believe there is more than friendship between you?”

“Certainly not!”

He pinned her with his black eyes. “Has he kissed you?”

She waited too long to respond, and Colt said, “So you have encouraged him.”

“I have not!” She turned away from him. “And this is none of your business. And besides that, he’s not a . . . cowboy,” she blurted out.

Colt couldn’t believe she’d said that. “And what’s wrong with cowboys?”

“Let’s just say they are only interested in . . . let’s just say I’m not interested in cowboys and leave it at that,” she said with finality.