He knocked softly, and when there was no response, knocked louder. A voice called to come in, and Travis did so. He was more convinced than ever that Rebecca lived there, and that gave him boldness to open the door.
Rebecca was not in the mood for company. The boys had just run off, and because they’d been naughty, dumping wash on the floor as they wrestled, Rebecca had two extra loads of washing to boil before nightfall. She was tired and hungry and ready to scream. However, she remembered that someone had come in.
“Just put your bag on the floor and tell me your name,” she called from the laundry area that had once been the dining room. From where she was standing, she did not have a view of the front door.
Travis stood very still, letting the sound of her voice wash over him. He didn’t answer her but let his eyes take in the front room until they went to the gated-off archway that led to the laundry room. While he watched, Rebecca swiftly stuck her head around the partition and froze. Their eyes locked. At least Travis thought they might have locked. He was having a hard time seeing her eyes behind the glare of her glasses.
As he stared, she put her hand on the gate and pushed it wide open. She walked through, clearly not able to believe he was here. Travis felt a little uncertain of that fact himself. She didn’t look the same, but it was Rebecca. His Rebecca.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” she finally said softly, and again Travis felt pleasure at hearing her voice.
“I got your letter.” His voice was rusty with emotion.
“I wasn’t sure if you would. I mean, I didn’t even know if you were still in Boulder.”
“I’m still there, and we’re still married,” he said evenly, working hard to keep his voice steady.
Rebecca nodded, still looking bewildered. Travis was there, in her living room. And he looked absolutely wonderful. His eyes were clear, and he was as tall and handsome as ever. For the first time since she ran, Rebecca regretted the way she kept herself. It was with effort that she didn’t pluck at her ugly dress and try to offer some sort of explanation. However, the sound of childish voices and the back door slamming put all such thoughts from her mind. She looked over in time to see Wyatt fly into the room.
“Mama, I’m not playing with him anymore. I hate Gary! I—” Wyatt cut off when he saw the very tall man at the front door.
“Just go out and make the best of it,” Rebecca said swiftly to her son when she saw Travis’ stunned look.
“Who’s that?” Wyatt asked, but Rebecca had a hand to his back.
“Go now, Wyatt. Do as I tell you.” Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief when he looked around her only one more time and went out the kitchen door. Rebecca turned back to the room to find Travis’ eyes pinned to her.
“You have a son?”
Rebecca swallowed. She had sent the letter, so certain he would no longer be at the ranch, or just as certain that he would reply and tell her to stay out of his life. But here he was in her living room. Deal with this, Rebecca. You deal with everything else; now deal with this!
Her chin came in the air. “Yes.”
Travis’ mind had run in many different directions, but never to this. How old had the child been? He couldn’t tell; he didn’t know that many children. But that wasn’t the difficult part—obviously Rebecca had found someone else with whom to share her life. No wonder she wanted to know if they were still married.
“Well,” Travis said inanely, but nothing else would come. He stood wishing he could turn back the hands of time and just write Rebecca the answers to her questions. Travis had never known such pain. He’d told Robert he was going without expectations, but clearly that had not been true. He had never thought Rebecca would turn to someone else. Travis had no idea how long he’d been standing mute when another child came in, another boy, this one with dark hair.
“Mama,” he bellowed loudly, “Wyatt says there’s a stranger. I want to see him.”
“No, Garrett, now run and play.”
Garrett didn’t argue as he usually did, but he stood and looked at Travis for a few seconds before turning and going out the door.
Travis felt worse than ever, but he wouldn’t have let Rebecca know this for the world. He forced himself to sound normal and interested.
“How many children do you have?”
“Two,” Rebecca said softly. “Twin boys.”
The word “twin” made something like a bell ring in Travis’ head. His mind was asking questions he could barely fathom, so his voice was low and soft when he said, “Twin boys?”
“Yes.” Rebecca’s was equally low.
“How old are they, Rebecca?”
His heart sank when her eyes went to the floor.
“They’ll be five next week.”
Travis thought for a moment, and then his eyes slid shut. He felt as if someone had just slugged the air right out of him.
“I have twin sons?” He forced the words past a throat that was closing fast, and Rebecca nodded miserably, suddenly ashamed at the way she’d kept them apart.
Travis turned away from Rebecca for a moment, his hand going to his face. I have sons. I have two boys. Did you hear that, Lord? Twins. What will I do? The question had no more formed in his mind than Travis knew the answer. He turned back to Rebecca and moved toward her so swiftly that she backed up. He stopped just a yard in front of her.
“Come home with me, Rebecca. I want you and the boys to come home with me. I want them to see the Double Star.”
Rebecca was so stunned that she couldn’t move or talk, but she wasn’t given time.
“What are their names, Rebecca?”
“The boys?” she asked stupidly.
“Yes. What did you name them?”
“Garrett Wagner and Wyatt Andrew.”
Travis held his breath. “Buchanan,” he managed. “Do they go by Buchanan, Rebecca?”
“Yes. Garrett and Wyatt Buchanan.”
Travis nodded. “They’re fine names. Almost five, is that what you said, they’re almost five?”
“Yes, on Tuesday.”
Travis nodded, his heart swiftly growing possessive. His next words came out as more of a command than he intended, and he found out in a hurry that he no longer knew his wife at all.
“You’re coming back with me, Rebecca—you and the boys. It’s not right that you’re not with me. We’ll start packing you today.” Travis began to glance around the room as if looking for crates to do the job, but Rebecca’s voice came coldly to his ears.
“I don’t think so, Travis.”
He slowly turned back to her. Her face was as frigid as her tone.
“You’re not really in a position to be telling me what to do. The boys and I will be staying right here in Pine Grove.”
Travis’ mind backpedaled swiftly, but he was far from through. His voice was kind, but he now wanted answers.
“Why don’t you want to come back?”
“That is none of your business.”
“I disagree with you. You are my wife, and those boys are my sons. Everything about you is my business.”
“Get out, Travis.” Her voice was still cold. “You’re not wanted here. When you’re gone, I’ll file for a divorce settlement myself.”
Her words shook him to the core, but still he asked her, “Why did you leave, Rebecca?”
“I don’t care to discuss that with you, Travis. Now leave.”
Travis thought fast. “I will go, Rebecca, if you give me a reason for why you left me.”
Her eyes glared at him from behind the glasses, and again her chin went in the air. She was very angry now, and he steeled himself.
“I’ll tell you why I left,” she nearly hissed. “I left because I found out the real reason you married me! I was in the barn that day Biscuit accused you of marrying me for the ranch. I waited and waited for you to deny it, but you just walked away. I was a nightly diversion for you, as well as your ticket to owning your own ranch. You never loved or wanted me!”
Travis wasn’t surprised at her thoughts, so he did nothing to deny them. It wasn’t true, but she would have to learn that for herself.
“Well, I asked, and you told me.”
Rebecca nearly blinked at his calm tone.
Travis’ eyes went around the room and then beyond her shoulder to the kitchen before he heard the door slam. He spoke almost conversationally.
“It’s funny I didn’t find you the first time I searched for you.”
Rebecca did blink then. “You searched for me?”
“Yes.”
“In Pine Grove?”
“Yes, but no one had seen you.”
Rebecca took some time to drink this in. Why would he go so far out of the way, unless …
“Where else did you look?”
“Name a town.”
Now it was Rebecca’s turn to feel like the air had been punched from her.
“Good-bye, Rebecca,” Travis said calmly. He put his hat on his head and left without another word.
Rebecca’s entire frame shook with the magnitude of her feelings. He’d searched for her, and she had sent him away. Wyatt and Garrett were both calling her to the kitchen because they were fighting over a cookie, but Rebecca walked out the front door after her husband. She could see where his horse’s hooves had been, but he was gone. Were it not for those marks, she might have wondered if she had dreamed Travis’ visit.
Whenever Rebecca found herself on her own, her chin would rise in the air and she would stoutly convince herself that she needed no one. But it wasn’t working this time. She wanted to cry Travis’ name and chase him down the street. Eventually turning back, Rebecca found the boys destroying the kitchen. She didn’t scold them or say a word about the incident, not then or at any point that evening. She was too busy trying to decide if she’d been a fool to write the letter in the first place—or a fool to let Travis leave.
28
Travis walked into his room at the Pine Grove Hotel and immediately lowered himself into the room’s one chair. He didn’t know how he had managed to walk out of that house, but the look of stunned surprise on his wife’s face told him he’d done the right thing.
“My wife, Lord, I’ve found my wife,” Travis’ joyful heart whispered to God. “I’m not leaving here without her or the boys. I don’t think You would want me to do that. Maybe You want me here—obviously she has a business she’s running—but we have to be together. The ranch waits for us. Please give me the words to help her see.”
He felt physically drained but knew he would have to rouse himself for the bath he’d ordered. He remembered the time when Jesus had fallen asleep in the bottom of a boat that probably had water standing in it. He’d been so tired that He would have slept through the storm if His disciples hadn’t wakened Him.
Travis prayed on for some minutes and then finished by saying, “You know all about fatigue, Lord. Just give me the strength to go on. I know now what I’m supposed to do; just keep me going until I can get the job done.”
The water was delivered by two of the hotel staff, and when he was alone Travis sank gratefully into the steaming tub. He was as hungry as he was dirty, but he knew he needed sleep more than anything. A young boy had come back to check on him just as he was finishing. Travis slipped a coin into his hand and asked him to tell the cook that he would need to eat early.
Rebecca’s heart nearly stopped in her chest. It was the next morning when she heard the boys shrieking with laughter, a sure sign that they were up to no good. Hurrying to the front porch, she arrived in time to see Travis giving them a ride in a wagon. She could not make herself move as he pulled away from the front of the house and moved down the street, but just as she was getting ready to shout, he turned the team around.
Rebecca watched as Travis halted the team in front of the yard and then stepped down from the porch to have her say. However, her sons’ eyes were glued to their father, and Rebecca stood on the fringe of their conversation for a few minutes.
“What’s your name?” Wyatt wanted to know.
“Travis Buchanan.”
“Our name is Buchanan,” Garrett told him.
“Your mother told me. Now, who’s Garrett and who’s Wyatt?”
“I’m Garrett, but Wyatt calls me Gary.”
“What do you like to be called?”
The dark-haired twin shrugged. “Garrett or Gary.”
“You must be Wyatt.” Travis turned to the blond, who nodded. “Do you like to be called Wyatt?”
“Yeah. Mama called me another name when I was a baby. I don’t like it now.”
“How do you know our mama?” Garrett now asked.
“I’m married to her,” Travis said with quiet conviction. He forced himself not to look at Rebecca.
The boys stared at him with new eyes. He could tell that he’d shocked them, but that he was also something of a fascination.
“Mama,” Wyatt spoke when he saw her. “Are you—”
“Go play,” Rebecca cut him off. Something in her voice got their attention. “Both of you, go play.” Surprisingly, the boys scrambled down from the back of the wagon and moved off. Rebecca waited until they had gained the front porch before opening her mouth to let Travis have it.
“Did you file for divorce?” The question was put so calmly that some of Rebecca’s fire left her.
“What?”
“Did you file for divorce?”
“No.”
They stared at each other.
“I thought you were leaving,” she said at last.
“I did leave. I left your house.”
“I thought you were leaving Pine Grove.”
“Not without my wife and sons.”
Rebecca looked away in frustration.
“You’re not wanted here, Travis.”
“Then why did you write to me?”
Rebecca didn’t answer him. Her attention seemed to focus on the wagon.
“You didn’t come here in a wagon, did you?”
“No, I bought it this morning. The wagon and the team.”
“Why?”
“How else are we going to get your things back to the Double Star?”
Rebecca’s face took on a longsuffering look. “You just don’t get it, do you, Travis?”
“Of course,” Travis went on as if she hadn’t spoken, “I could wire Lucky and tell him to run things for the winter, since I’ll be living here with you.” His head went back to study the sky as if he had all the time in the world. “In fact, we might just be stuck here if we don’t leave soon. I think it could snow anytime.” Travis’ head dropped back down, and he stared at her.
Rebecca felt panic claw at her throat. What in the world would she do in this small house with this huge man? And there were only two bedrooms!
She tried a new tactic. “You had no right to tell the boys we’re married.”
“Why did you write me?”
Rebecca shook her head in frustration. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me.”
Rebecca’s eyes closed, but she admitted softly, “I got sick and nearly died. When that happened I found out that no one would take the boys if anything happened to me. I was afraid for them. All you ever wanted was the ranch, but I was afraid for my sons, so like a fool I wrote to you.”
Travis was off the wagon seat in a flash. Before she even saw him coming he was standing in front of Rebecca, her upper arms in his hands.
“Don’t you see, Rebecca? We need to be together. It’s not right that you’re not with me, and the boys need their father. What if something should happen to me? The Double Star is theirs, but they wouldn’t be there to claim it.”
Rebecca felt almost faint as all of her beliefs, beliefs she’d clung to for five years, crumbled to her feet. But it wasn’t that easy. They couldn’t just pick up where they had left off. It would never work.
“We can still try,” Travis told her when she offered him the argument.
> “And you’re willing? You’re willing to take us home with you on my terms?”
“As long as you don’t ask me to go along with something I think is wrong.”
“Such as?”
“Rebecca, we don’t know each other any more. We never really did,” he said reasonably. “I don’t know what situations will arise, but whatever tomorrow brings I would hope we could talk things through.”
Travis bent his face lower to hers and transferred one hand to her jaw.
“Come home to me, Rebecca. I won’t leave here without you.”
The clothing and hair don’t mean a thing to him. Not even the glasses. He still looks at me with desire. I’ve managed to put off every one of my male customers, but in just a few minutes Travis has stripped it all away.
That was still the last thing Rebecca wanted. She took a step backward, and Travis immediately dropped both hands.
“I don’t want that kind of relationship, Travis. Let’s be perfectly clear about that. I don’t need a man. The boys need their father—I’ll go along with that—but I don’t need a husband.”
She was so hard. He had watched her eyes soften for just an instant, but now the wall was back up.
“None of that changes the way I feel, Rebecca. I still want you and the boys to pack your things today.”
She hadn’t known what he would say, but this was a surprise. He was completely serious about them packing up that minute. He watched her vacillate.
“Say, yes.”
“I don’t know if I can do that.”
“That’s all right,” he said, startling her again. “I’ll head to the telegraph office and send word to Lucky about the ranch and to Lavena so she can send my things down.”
Again Rebecca felt panic. She thought of the huge space at the ranch—the ranch home with more bedrooms than they needed and acres for the boys to run in and explore.
“We’ll go with you.” Rebecca’s rush of words halted Travis in his stride. He had not been bluffing, so he was truly surprised that she’d changed her mind.
“That’s great,” he told her sincerely. “The boys will love the ranch.”
Rebecca took a huge breath. “I was thinking the same thing.” I also know I’m going to love having a house big enough to keep you at a distance.