Where the Wind Blows (15 page)

With all his willpower, Chase tried not to stare at the picture Jessie made sitting atop the little chestnut mare they’d named Cricket. They were heading into town to bring Lonnie to justice, but Chase wouldn’t let the unpleasant task ruin watching his wife so clearly enjoying her first ride on her new horse.

His wife.

That was a mind-boggling thought.

She somehow managed to look fetching in her oversize blue herringbone coat. It was so large on her, he felt certain it must be a hand-me-down from Nathan. Even with her swollen lip, she was a delightful sight.

His legal wife.

There it was again, that dangerous thought. He’d better guard himself from thinking of her in those terms.

Her petticoat ruffles were blowing in the breeze, and she kept yanking at them to try to cover up her comely legs. He was thankful she didn’t own a pair of trousers like those some women rode in. He was enjoying the unusual treat.

“How’s she feel?” Chase asked, looking over at Jessie.

“Just fine. I haven’t ridden much, but she seems to be gentle enough. I wonder if she knows how scared I am?”

“She knows,” Chase said matter-of-factly. “Horses can sense those kinds of things, but she’s a sweet mare and will take good care of you if you’re kind to her.”

“I’ll try,” she said sincerely. “But I don’t know too much about horses. You’ll have to watch me and make sure I don’t do anything that will hurt her.”

“Don’t worry, Jessie,” he said, trying to hide the smile he felt coming on. “I won’t take my eyes off you.”

Silent minutes slipped by, but Jessie didn’t seem to notice. Chase decided to ask the question that had been on his mind since the first time she’d opened her door.

“How’d you and Nathan get together?” At Jessie’s startled look, he quickly added, “I mean, you two just seem like an odd match, him being so much older and all.” Not wanting to lose the easy rapport they’d built, he shook his head. “Sorry, it’s none of my business.”

“No, that’s all right. I think you’ve earned the right to ask some questions. After all, you did me the favor of marrying me.”

Chase rode on patiently, not wanting to rush her, but curious all the same.

“I came out on an orphan train when I turned sixteen. That was the age you were sent away if you hadn’t been taken in by a family. Mr. Hobbs looked for placement in homes in other towns. If that didn’t happen, you were expected to find a job in one of the places you were traveling through.”

Jessie nervously patted her mare’s neck.

“I was taken in by a family of four who had a little farm. They lived a few miles out of town. At first it seemed like it would work out fine. I helped Mrs. Parks with the cooking and cleaning and watched after the two little ones, too. When planting time rolled around, Mr. Parks had me help in the fields.”

Chase smiled his encouragement. He knew it must be hard for her to share her story.

“Then Mrs. Parks got with child again.” Jessie’s face turned crimson, and she kept her eyes trained straight ahead. “The other two girls were still so little, and I just didn’t see how she would bear up through harvest, expecting and all.”

Lonnie moaned.

When Jessie shivered, a fresh surge of anger shot through Chase. “Go on,” he said more harshly than he’d meant to. He didn’t like the direction this story was headed.

“The night Mrs. Parks told her husband she was going to have a baby, I heard arguing in their room. I went over to the girls and held them, because they could hear it, too. We were all scared. I heard him hitting her and her crying. I went to their door and knocked, but it was locked. He shouted for me to mind my own business.

“The next day Mrs. Parks wasn’t feeling well and stayed in bed. She came down with a fever. I did everything I knew how to do to cool her down, get her well. But she just kept getting hotter, until she was burning alive.”

Jessie was whispering, and Chase had to step Cody closer so he could hear.

“Mr. Parks wouldn’t let me go for the doctor, even though I begged him. I think he was afraid I’d tell them that he’d beaten her.”

Her face was etched with guilt and sadness. She looked up and scanned the top of the trees as if searching for the right words. The wind had picked up a bit, and it played with the wispy strays of her hair. They reminded Chase of little bits of fool’s gold glittering in the bottom of a stream.

“She lost the baby, and the next day she died. There was no comforting the girls, and I was afraid that Mr. Parks would get mad and beat them, too.”

Chase never could understand a man beating a woman, or a child. It wasn’t right, any way you circled it. A man who found pleasure by beating someone weaker than himself was a mule’s ass. There’d been times when he found himself wanting to wipe the grin off the face of many a braggart who admitted to it. And he had, a time or two.

“After the funeral things calmed down. Mr. Parks went
about his business like nothing happened. Like he hadn’t killed her. But I was always scared he’d turn on Hannah and Heather. The little girls tried real hard to do some of the household chores so I could help more in the fields, but they were little, and not much was getting done.

“Then he started looking at me…differently.”

Jessie shivered violently, and Chase knew it wasn’t from the cold.

“It made my skin crawl, so I stayed as far away from him as possible.”

Town was just up and over the next slope. Chase reined Cody to a halt, and Jessie looked at him questioningly.

“I want you to have as much time as you need. We’re in no rush.” He unwound his scarf and sidestepped Cody closer still to Cricket. Gently he wrapped the scarf around Jessie’s neck. “Besides, I don’t think I could get much done today if you didn’t finish your story.”

Nodding, she continued. “Soon he began to bump into me and touch me for no reason at all. I was young, but I knew what he was leading up to. One night after he’d had a good dose of his corn scotch and was good and drunk, I took the girls and walked to town.

“There was a lady there who’d been nice to me, so I went to her house and told her what happened to Mrs. Parks and why I couldn’t stay there any longer. She told the sheriff and said she’d make sure the girls didn’t go back to him. I didn’t want to leave the girls, but I was afraid to stay in the same town as Mr. Parks.”

The horses stood side by side, each resting a hind foot as if they’d been stablemates for years. Chase reached over and took her hand in his. She didn’t resist.

“Ah Jess, I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’d like to come face to face with that Mr. Parks. We’d see then how he liked gittin’ the life beat outa him.”

“Shh…Chase. Don’t talk like that. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“Maybe not, but it’d sure make me feel a whole lot better.” Chase gave her a wink. “Go on,” he said, this time gently.

“That lady, Mrs. Blackstone, gave me enough money to make it to the next town. She told me of a friend there who owned a laundry business. She said she’d give me a job. But when I got there, the woman had died, and I didn’t know what to do. My money was gone. I had just enough for one small meal.”

Here Jessie stopped. Chase felt there was something she didn’t want to tell.

“Don’t worry, Jessie. There’s nothing you could tell me that would make me think less of you. I’ve lived on the streets all my life. You’d be shocked if you knew one quarter of the things I’ve done to survive.” He hoped he could make her understand. He’d never been very good with words, never wanted to be. But this was important.

She took a breath, and Chase braced himself. He figured he knew what it was she didn’t want to say. Even though he said it wouldn’t bother him, he didn’t like to think of her having to sell herself to survive.

“A few days went by. I slept anywhere I could. After I went to every business in town looking for a job unsuccessfully, I found myself at the last place on the street. It was a saloon, the kind where men go to meet women.”

Chase nodded at her innocent description of a whorehouse.

“I didn’t want to go in. I stood in front for a long time just looking at the door. Finally a woman came out and asked me if I wanted to come inside. Have something to eat.”

Chase was still holding her hand. He rubbed his thumb back and forth across her small fingers.

“I went. I was cold. I was hungry. I hadn’t seen a smiling
face for days. The woman was kind, and even though she was a wh—you know, she seemed to want to help me. After a hot meal and bath, she let me borrow some clean clothes while she put mine in a bucket of hot water to soak.

“Her name was Rosalind, but the man she worked for called her Sweet-smelling Rose, which she hated. He was big and fat and sweaty. He said he had a room for me if I wanted to work for him. His last girl had run off and started a laundry business but had caught something and died. He said it served her right for leaving.”

Jessie glanced up at Chase. “You sure you want me to finish?”

His stomach was tied up tighter than a ball of rattlers, and felt twice as deadly. He knew what was coming, but it was hard to believe. Jessie seemed so innocent, not the kind of girl you’d find entertaining men. “Go on.”

“He said I could keep half of what I made. At the time that sounded like a fortune. I didn’t think I had any other choice.”

With a smirk and a shake of her head, Jessie continued sarcastically. “Said I could start that night, being it was Saturday and they were sure to be busy.”

Chase slammed his hand down on his saddle horn, making Cody jump. Looking off into the distance, he avoided her gaze. He’d thought he could take this, listen so she could get it off her chest, but now he wasn’t sure.

“That’s enough. You don’t want to hear the rest.”

“No, go on. Finish it,” Chase bit out.

“That night I met Nathan. He was my first customer. He’d had a lot to drink and picked me, being I was a new face.”

Jessie looked at him apologetically. “I was very nervous, but Rosalind said not to worry, because Mr. Strong was nice, that he’d be gentle, me being young and all. She said he wasn’t the kind who’d hurt me.

“We went upstairs, but as he started to undress”—she blushed—“he couldn’t. Said I looked too much like his baby sister. She’d been ruined by some no-account. He didn’t want the same to happen to me.

“When I told him I didn’t have a choice, he said that the next day he’d take me over to the next town where a group of mail-order brides were meeting up with prospective husbands. He’d heard that there were a lot more men than women to go around. Then at least, if I found a husband, I wouldn’t have to work in a saloon.”

Jessie looked wilted. Drained. Chase assumed this was probably the first time she’d ever told this to anyone. She continued softly. “I jumped at the offer. At least I wouldn’t be a prostitute, even if it was a scary thought to marry someone I didn’t know.

“So, the next day I went with Nathan over to Cool. There were seven women wanting to find husbands. Some were very young, and two were widows. A woman came in and asked if any of us had anything unusual to be disclosed to the men before they would agree to marry us.”

Jessie looked away. She was quiet for several minutes. “I’ve been badly burned on my back. You saw only a tiny portion. It happened at the orphanage. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you sooner—before we were married.”

“That doesn’t matter to me, Jessie.” Chase was taken aback. Shocked that something so superficial could make her feel so terrible. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think.”

She looked him solidly in the eyes. “It is. Anyway, after seeing it, no one was willing to marry me. I was left standing there all alone on the stage. That’s when Nathan stepped forward. He’d never said he was looking for a wife, but I think he felt sorry for me. He was a little old, not the man I envisioned I’d marry, but he was clean and nice and had a kind face.”

Jessie smiled.

With a semblance of pride, she announced, “I was a shady lady for only half a day. We were married that night by a justice of the peace.”

Chase was so relieved, he felt like he’d died and gone to heaven. She hadn’t had to bed sweaty, drunken men. He was happy, elated, on top of the world.

Reaching over, Chase slung his arm around Jessie and pulled her over close to his saddle. To keep her balance, her hands came up and clutched at his jacket, holding tight, her lips almost brushing his.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to give my wife a little kiss. It won’t mean anything except that I’m happy how your story ended, and grateful my good friend Nathan was there when you needed him most. Is that agreeable with you, Mrs. Logan?”

She nodded.

“By the way,” he whispered against her lips. “You didn’t have to make me sweat that out quite so long.”

He pulled her closer still, breathing in her light scent, the one that had haunted his dreams since the first night he’d come to her cabin. Her hair tickled his face, and his smile faded. He brushed his lips featherlight against hers.

Jessie winced when his lips touched her split one, and he pulled back just far enough to see into her eyes.

“I wish I’d gotten there sooner, before he had a chance to hurt you.” His fingers traced down her temple to her chin. “Ah, sweetheart,” he mouthed as he moved his face closer and pressed his cheek to hers.

Never had anyone affected him so. Not even Molly, whom he had thought he’d loved with every fiber of his being. Even she now seemed to pale in comparison.

Jessie was…different. She pulled at the heartstrings he’d thought he didn’t have. Made him yearn for so much more
in his life. Not only physical closeness—yes, he admitted to himself that he was thinking about her more and more in that way—but plain old-fashioned goodness. Doing what was right. Sacrifice. There was something deep in her eyes he couldn’t describe.

She innocently turned her face so he could have access to the other cheek, which he covered protectively with his own.

“Oh, Chase,” she breathed, a warm puff of breath kissing his face. “That feels so wonderful.”

Cricket put her muzzle next to Cody’s and let out an earsplitting squeal. She pinned her ears and jumped away from the gelding, almost spilling Jessie on the ground. Grabbing for the saddle horn, Jessie regained her balance and then reached for the reins.