The McKettrick Legend (11 page)

Hannah put aside whatever it was she'd felt, seeing Constance, for relief. Tobias would be looked after by a real doctor. He'd be all right now, and nothing else mattered but that.

She would darn Doss McKettrick's socks for the rest of
her life. She would cook his meals and trim his hair and wash his back. She would take him water and sandwiches in summer, when he was herding cattle or working in the hay fields. She'd bite her tongue, when he galled her, which would surely be often, and let him win at cards on winter nights.

The one thing she would never do was love him—her heart would always belong to Gabe—but no one on earth, save the two of them, was ever going to know the plain, regret table truth.

“It's a bad cold,” the younger doctor said, after care fully examining Tobias in a room set aside for the purpose. He was a very slender man, almost delicate, with dark hair and sideburns. He wore a good suit and carried a gold watch, which he consulted often. He was a city dweller, Hannah reflected, used to schedules. “I'd recommend taking a room at the hotel for a few days, though, because he shouldn't be exposed to this weather.”

Doss took out his wallet, like it was his place to pay the doctor bills, and Hannah stepped in front of him. She was Tobias's mother, and she was still responsible for costs such as these.

“That'll be one dollar,” the doctor said, glancing from Hannah's face, which felt pink with conviction and cold, to Doss's.

Hannah shoved the money into his hand.

“Give the boy whisky,” the physician added, folding the dollar bill and tucking it into the pocket of his fine tailored coat. “Mixed with honey and lemon juice, if the hotel dining room's got any such thing on hand.”

Doss, to his credit, did not give Hannah a triumphant look at this official prescription for a remedy he'd already suggested and she'd disdained, but she elbowed him in the ribs anyway, just as if he had.

They checked into the Arizona Hotel, which, like many
of the businesses in Indian Rock, was McKettrick owned. Rafe's mother-in-law, Becky Lewis, had run the place for years, with the help of her daughter, Emmeline. Now it was in the hands of a manager, a Mr. Thomas Crenshaw, hired out of Phoenix.

Doss was greeted like a visiting potentate when he walked in, once again carrying Tobias. A clerk was dispatched to take the sleigh and horses to the livery stable, and they were shown, the three of them, to the best rooms in the place.

The quarters were joined by a door in between, and Hannah would have preferred to be across the hall from Doss instead, but she made no comment. While Mr. Crenshaw hadn't gone quite so far as to put them all in the same room, it was clearly his assumption, and probably that of the rest of Indian Rock, too, that she and Doss were intimate. She could imagine how the reasoning went: Doss and his brother's widow shared a house, after all, way out in the country, and heaven only knew what they were up to, with only the boy around. He'd be easy to fool, being only eight years old.

Hannah went bright red as these thoughts moved through her mind. Doss dismissed the manager and put Tobias on the nearest bed.

“I'll go down stairs and fetch that whisky concoction,” he said, when it was just the three of them.

Tobias had never stayed in a hotel and, sick as he was, he was caught up in the experience. He nestled down in the bear skins, cupped his hands behind his head and gazed smiling up at the ceiling.

“Do as you please,” Hannah told Doss, removing her heavy cloak and bonnet and laying them aside.

He sighed. “While we're in town, we'd best get married,” he said.

“Yes,” Hannah agreed acerbically. “And let's not forget to place an order at the feed-and-grain, buy groceries, pay the light bill and renew our subscription to the newspaper.”

Doss gave a ragged chuckle and shook his head. “Guess I'd better dose you up with whisky, too,” he replied. “Maybe that way you'll be able to stand the honeymoon.”

Hannah's temper flared, but before she could respond, Doss was out the door, closing it smartly behind him.

“I like this place,” Tobias said.

“Good,” Hannah answered irritably, pulling off her gloves.

“What's a honeymoon,” Tobias asked, “and how come you need whisky to stand it?”

Hannah pretended she hadn't heard the question.

She'd packed hastily before leaving the house, things for Tobias and for herself, but nothing for a wedding and certainly nothing for a wedding
night.
If the valises had been brought upstairs, she'd have something to do, shaking out garments, hanging them in the wardrobes, but as it was, her choices were limited. She could either pace or fuss over Tobias.

She paced, because Tobias would not endure fussing.

Doss returned with their bags, followed by a woman from the kitchen carrying two steaming mugs on a tray. She set the works down on a table, accepted a gratuity from Doss, stole a boldly speculative look at Hannah and bustled out.

“Drink up,” Doss said cheer fully, handing one mug to Hannah and carrying the other to Tobias, who sat up eagerly to accept it.

Hannah sniffed the whisky mixture, took a tentative sip and was surprised at how good the stuff tasted. “Where's yours?” she asked, turning to Doss.

“I'm not the one dreading tonight,” he answered.

Hannah's hands trembled. She set the mug down, beckoned for Doss to follow, and swept into the ad joining room. “What do you mean,
tonight?
” she whispered, though of course she knew.

Doss closed the door, examined the bed from a distance and proceeded to walk over to it and press hard on the mattress several times, evidently testing the springs.

Hannah's temper surged again, but she was speechless this time.

“Good to know the bed won't creak,” Doss observed.

She found her voice, but it came out as a sputter. “Doss McKettrick—”

He ran his eyes over her, which left a trail of sensation, just as surely as if he'd stripped her naked and caressed her with his hands. “The preacher will be here in an hour,” he said. “He'll marry us down stairs, in the office behind the reception desk. If Tobias is well enough to attend, he can. If not, we'll tell him about it later.”

Hannah was appalled. “You made arrangements like that without consulting me first?”

“I thought we'd said all there was to say.”

“Maybe I wanted time to get used to the idea. Did you ever think of that?”

“Maybe you'll
never
get used to the idea,” Doss reasoned, sitting now, on the edge of the bed he clearly intended to share with her that very night. He stood, stretched in a way that could only have been called risqué. “I'm going out for a while,” he announced.

“Out where?” Hannah asked, and then hated herself for caring.

He stepped in close—too close.

She tried to retreat and found she couldn't move.

Doss hooked a finger under her chin and made her look at him. “To buy a wedding band, among other things,” he
said. She felt his breath on her lips, and it made them tingle. “I'll send a wire to my folks and one to yours, too, if you want.”

Hannah swallowed. Shook her head. “I'll write to Mama and Papa myself, when it's over,” she said.

Sad amusement moved in Doss's eyes. “Suit yourself,” he said.

And then he left her standing there.

She heard him speak quietly to Tobias, then the opening and closing of a door. After a few moments she returned to the next room.

Tobias had finished his medicinal whisky, and his eyelids were drooping. Hannah tucked the covers in around him and kissed his forehead. Whatever else was happening, he seemed to be out of danger. She clung to that blessing and tried not to dwell on her own fate.

He yawned. “Will Uncle Doss be my pa, once you and him are married?” he asked drowsily.

“No,” Hannah said, her voice firm. “He'll still be your uncle.” Tobias looked so disheartened that she added, “And your stepfather, of course.”

“So he'll be
sort of
my father?”

“Sort of,” Hannah agreed, relenting.

“I guess we won't be going to Montana now,” Tobias mum bled, settling into his pillow.

“Maybe in the spring,” Hannah said.

“You go,” Tobias replied, barely awake now. “I'll stay here with Uncle Pa.”

It wounded Hannah that Tobias preferred Doss's company to hers and that of her family, but the boy was ill and she wasn't going to argue with him. “Go to sleep, Tobias,” she told him.

As if he'd needed her permission, the little boy lapsed into slumber.

Hannah sat watching him sleep for a long time. Then,
seeing snow drift past the windows in the glow of a gas street lamp, she stood and went to stand with her hands resting on the wide sill, looking out.

It was dark by then, and the general store, the only place in Indian Rock where a wedding band could be found, had probably been closed for an hour. All Doss would have to do was rap on the door, though, and they'd open the place to him. Same as the telegraph office, or any other establishment in town.

After all, he was a McKettrick.

A tear slipped down her cheek.

She was a bride, and she should be happier.

Instead she felt as if she was betraying Gabe's memory. Letting down her folks, too, because they'd hoped she'd come home and eventually marry a local man, though they hadn't actually come out and said that last part. Now, because she'd been foolish enough, needy enough, to lie with Doss, not once but twice, she'd have to stay on the Triple M until she died of old age.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and she wiped it away quickly with the back of one hand.

“You made your bed, Hannah McKettrick,” she told her reflection in the cold, night-darkened glass of the window, “and now you'll just have to lie in it.”

By the time Doss returned, she'd washed her face, taken her hair down for a vigorous brushing and pinned it back up again. She'd put on a fresh dress, a prim but practical gray wool, and pinched some color into her cheeks.

He had on a brand-new suit of clothes, as fancy as the ones the doctor's nephew wore, and he'd gotten a haircut and a shave, too.

She was strangely touched by these things.

“I'd have bought you a dress for the wedding,” he told her, staring at her as though he'd never seen her before,
“but I didn't know what would fit, and whether you'd think it proper to wear white.”

She smiled, feeling a tender sort of sorrow. “This dress will do just fine,” she said.

“You look beautiful,” Doss told her.

Hannah blushed. It was nonsense, of course—she probably looked more like a schoolmarm than anything else in her stern gray frock with the black buttons coming up to her throat—but she liked hearing the words. Had almost forgotten how they sounded, with Gabe gone.

Doss took her hand, and there was an uncharacteristic shyness in the gesture that made her wonder if he was as frightened and reluctant as she was.

“You don't have to go through with this, Doss,” she said.

He ran his lips lightly over her knuckles before letting her hand go. “It's the right thing to do,” he answered. She swallowed, nodded.

“I guess the preacher must be here.”

Doss nodded. “Down stairs, waiting. Shall we wake Tobias?”

Hannah shook her head. “Better to let him sleep.”

“I'll fetch a maid to watch over him while we're gone,” Doss said.

Now it was Hannah who nodded.

He left her again, and this time she felt it as a tearing-away, sharp and prickly. He came back with a plump, older woman clad in a black uniform and an apron, and then he took Hannah's hand once more and led her out of the room, down the stairs and into the office where she would become Mrs. McKettrick, for the second time.

At least, she thought philosophically, she wouldn't have to get used to a new name.

Present Day

T
HE WEATHER HADN'T IMPROVED,
Sierra noted, standing at the window of Liam's hospital room the next morning. Orderlies had wheeled in a second bed the night before, and she'd slept in a paper gown. Now she was back in the sweats Travis had bought for her, rested and restored.

Dr. O'Meara had already been in to introduce herself, check on Liam's progress and do a work-up of her own, and she'd signed the release papers, too. Sierra liked and trusted the woman, though she was younger than expected, no more than thirty-five years old, with delicate features, very long brown hair held back by a barrette and a trim figure.

Armed with a prescription, Sierra was ready to take her son and leave.

Ready to face Eve, and all the emotional spade work involved.

Or not.

Just as she turned from the window, Travis entered the room, wearing slacks and a blue pullover sweater that accentuated the color of his eyes. He'd said he owned a house in Flag staff, and Sierra knew he'd gone there to spend the night.

There was so much she
didn't
know about his life, and
this was unsettling, although she didn't have the time or energy to pursue it at the moment.

“Travis!” Liam crowed, as though he hadn't expected to see his friend ever again. “I get to go home today!” The word
home
caught in Sierra's heart like a fish hook. The ranch house on the Triple M was Eve's home, and it was Meg's, but it didn't belong to her and Liam. They were temporary guests, and it had troubled Sierra all along to think Liam might become attached to the place and be hurt when they left.

Travis approached the bed, grinned and ruffled Liam's hair. “That's great,” he said. “According to reports, the power is back on, the pantry is bulging, and your grandmother is waiting to meet you.”

Sierra felt a wrench at the reminder. So much for thinking she was prepared to deal with Eve McKettrick.

Liam inspected Travis speculatively. “You don't look like a cow boy today,” he declared.

Travis laughed. “Neither do you,” he countered.

“Yeah, but I
never
do,” Liam said, discouraged.

“We'll have to do something about that one of these days soon.”

Sierra bristled. She and Liam were committed to staying on the ranch for a year, that was the bargain. Twelve months. The time would surely pass quickly, and she didn't want her son put ting down roots only to be torn from that hallowed McKettrick ground.

“Liam looks fine the way he is,” she said.

Travis gave her a long, thoughtful look. “True enough,” he said mildly. “My buddy Liam is one handsome cowpoke. In fact, he looks a lot like Jesse did, at his age.”

Another connection to the storied McKettrick clan. Uncomfortable, Sierra averted her eyes. She'd already gathered
Liam's things, but now she rearranged them busily, just for something to do.

Half an hour later, the three of them were in Travis's truck, headed back to the ranch. Liam, buckled in between Travis and Sierra, promptly fell asleep, but his hands were locked around his DVD player. Mentally Sierra clutched the new inhaler, prescribed by Dr. O'Meara, purchased at the hospital pharmacy and tucked away in her bag, just as anxiously.

She had been silent for most of the ride, gazing out at the winter landscape as it whipped past the passenger window.

Travis said little or nothing, concentrating on navigating the icy roads, but Sierra was fully aware of his presence just the same, and in a way that disturbed her. He'd been a rock since Liam's asthma attack, and she was grateful but she couldn't afford to become dependent on him, emotionally or in any other way, and she didn't want her son to, either.

Trouble was, it might be too late for Liam. He adored Travis Reid, and there was no telling what fantasies he'd cooked up in that high-powered little brain of his. He and Travis riding the range, probably. Wearing baseball mitts and playing catch. Going fishing in some pristine mountain lake.

All the things a boy did with a dad.

“Sierra?”

She didn't dare look at Travis, for fear he might see the vulnerability she was feeling. All her nerves seemed to be on the outside of her skin, and they were doing the jingle-bell rock. “What?”

“I was just wondering what you were thinking.”

She couldn't tell him, of course. He'd think she was attracted to him, and she wasn't.

Much.

So she lied. “All about Eve,” she said.

He chuckled at the flimsy joke, but Sierra gave him points for recognizing an obscure reference to an old movie. Maybe they had a thing or two in common after all.

“I imagine the lady's on pins and needles herself, right about now. She wants to see you and Liam more than anything, I'd guess, but it won't be easy for her.”

“I don't
want
it to be easy for her,” Sierra answered.

Travis hesitated only a beat or two. “Maybe she has good reasons for what she did.”

Sierra's silence was eloquent.

“Give her a chance, Sierra.”

She glanced at him. “I'm doing that,” she said. “I drove all the way here from Florida. I agreed to stay on the Triple M for a full year.”

“Would you have done it if it weren't for the insurance?”

Damn it. He
was
a lawyer. “Probably not,” she admitted.

“You'd do just about anything for Liam.”

“Not ‘just about,'” Sierra said. “
Anything
covers it.”

“What about yourself? What would you do for Sierra?”

“Are we going to talk about me in the third person?”

“Stop hedging. I understand your devotion to Liam. I'd just like to know what you'd be doing right now if you didn't have a child, especially one with medical problems.”

Sierra glanced at Liam, making sure he was asleep. “Don't talk about him as though he were somehow…deficient.”

“I'm not. He's a great kid, and he'll grow up to be an exceptional man. And I'm still waiting to hear what your dreams are for yourself.”

She gave a desultory little chuckle. “Nothing spectacular. I'd like to survive.”

“Not much of a life. Not for you and not for Liam.”

Sierra squirmed. “Maybe I've forgotten how to dream,” she said.

“And that doesn't concern you?”

“Up until now, it hasn't been a factor.”

“That's unfortunate. Liam will pattern his attitudes after yours. Is that what you want for him? Just survival?”

“Are you channeling some disincarnate life coach?” Sierra demanded.

Travis laughed, low and quiet. “Not me,” he said.

“You're just playing the cowboy version of Dr. Phil, then?”

“Okay, Sierra,” Travis conceded. “I'll back off. For now.”

“What are
your
dreams, hotshot?” Sierra retorted, too nettled to let the subject alone. “You have a law degree, but you train horses and shovel out stalls for a living.”

This time there was no laughter. Travis's glance was utterly serious, and the pain Sierra saw in it made her ashamed of the way she'd spoken to him.

“I guess I had that coming,” he said quietly. “And here's my answer. I'd like to be able to dream again.
That's
my dream.”

“I'm sorry,” Sierra told him, after a few moments had passed. The man had lost his brother in a very tragic way. He was probably doing the best he could, like almost every body else. “I didn't mean to be unkind. I was just feeling—”

“Cornered?”

“That's a good word for it.”

“You must have been burned pretty badly,” Travis ob
served. “And not just by Eve.” He looked down at Liam. “Maybe by this little guy's dad?”

“Maybe,” Sierra said.

After that, conversation fell by the wayside again, but Sierra did plenty of thinking.

When they arrived at the ranch, all the lights in the house seemed to be on, even though it was barely noon. A glowing tangle of color loomed in the parlor window, and Sierra squinted, sure she must be seeing things.

Travis followed her gaze and chuckled. “Uh-oh,” he said. “Looks as if Christmas sneaked back in while we weren't around.”

Liam's eyes popped open at the magic word. “Christmas?”

Sierra smiled, in spite of the knot of worry lying heavily in the pit of her stomach. What was Eve up to?

Travis pulled up close to the back door, and Sierra braced her self as it sprang open. There was Eve McKettrick, standing on the top step, a tall, slender woman, breathtakingly attractive in expensive slacks and a blue silk blouse.

“Is
that
my grandma?” Liam asked. “She looks like a movie star!”

She
did
look like a movie star, a young Maureen O'Hara. And Sierra was suddenly, stunningly aware that she'd seen this woman before, in San Miguel, not once, but several times. She'd been a periodic guest at one of the better B&Bs when Sierra was small, and they'd had ice cream together at a sidewalk café near the
casita
, several times.

For a moment Sierra forgot how to breathe.

The Lady. She'd always called Eve “the Lady,” and she'd secretly believed she was an angel. But it had been years since she'd given the memory conscious house room.

Now it all came flooding back, in a breathtaking rush.

Travis shut off the truck and opened the door to get out. “Sierra?” he prompted, when she didn't move.

“Hello!” Liam yelled, delighted, from his place next to Sierra. “My name is Liam and I'm seven!”

Eve smiled, and her vivid green eyes glistened with emotion. “My name is Eve,” she said quietly, “and I'm fifty-three. Come here and give me a hug.”

Sierra finally came unstuck, opened the passenger-side door and climbed down, planting her feet in the crusty snow. Liam scram bled past her so quickly that he generated a slight breeze.

Eve leaned down to gather her grandson in her arms. She kissed the top of his head and met Sierra's gaze again as she straightened.

“I'll see to the horses,” Travis said.

“Don't go,” Sierra blurted, before she could stop herself.

Eve steered Liam into the kitchen, watching with interest as Travis rounded the front end of the truck and stood close to Sierra.

“You'll be all right,” he told her.

She bit her lower lip, feeling like a fool. It was still all she could do not to grab one of his hands with both of hers and cling like some crazy code pendent girl friend about to be hustled out of town on the last bus of the day.

So long. It's been real.

For a few long moments she and Travis just stared into each other's eyes. He was determined; she was scared. And something
else
was happening, too, something a lot harder to define.

Finally Travis broke the impasse by turning and striding off toward the barn.

Sierra drew a deep breath and marched toward the open
door of the kitchen and the woman who waited on the threshold.

“There's a surprise in the living room,” Eve said to Liam, once they were all inside and she'd shut the door against the unrelenting cold.

He raced to investigate.

“You're the Lady,” Sierra said, stricken.

“The Lady?” Eve echoed, but Sierra could see by the expression in her mother's eyes that it was mere rhetoric.

“The one I used to see in San Miguel.”

“Yes,” Eve said. “Sit down, Sierra. I'll make tea, and we'll chat.”

“Wow!” Liam yelled, from the living room. “Mom, there
is
a Christmas tree in here, with
major
presents under it!”

“Oh, Lord,” Sierra said, and sank on to one of the benches at the table.

“They're
all
for me!” Liam whooped.

Sierra watched her mother take Lorelei's teapot from the cabinet, spoon tea leaves into it, fill and plug in the electric kettle. “Christmas presents?” she asked.

Eve smiled a little guiltily. “I had seven years of grand-mothering to make up for,” she said. “Cut me a break, will you?”

Sierra would have tallied the numbers differently, but there was no point in saying so. “I thought you were an angel,” she confessed. “In San Miguel, I mean.”

Eve busied herself with the tea-brewing process, stealing the occasional hungry glance at Sierra. “You've certainly grown up to be a beautiful woman,” she said. Finally she stopped her puttering, clasped her hands together and practically gobbled Sierra up with her eyes. “It's…it's so wonderful to see you.”

Sierra didn't answer.

Liam pounded in from the living room. “Can I open my presents?”

“If it's all right with your mother,” Eve said.

Sierra sighed. “Go ahead. And calm down, please. You just got out of the hospital, remember? Over excitement and asthma do not mix.”

Liam gave a shout of delight and thundered off again, ignoring her admonition completely.

The electric kettle whistled, and Eve poured the contents into the antique teapot, and brought it to the table. She selected two cups and saucers from the priceless collection and carried those over, too. Then, at last, looking as nervous as Sierra felt, Eve sat down in the chair at the end of the table.

“How's Liam?” she asked.

“He's fine,” Sierra answered. “But he's just getting over a crisis, as you know, so he's going to bed as soon as he finishes opening his presents.” The bear and the balloon were in the back of Travis's truck, under the heavy plastic cover, and she imagined her mother ordering them for a grandson she'd never seen.

“So many things to say,” Eve fretted, “and I haven't the first idea where to start.”

Suddenly Sierra was tired. And
not
so suddenly she was over whelmed. “Why didn't you tell me who you were—when we met in San Miguel?”