Come the Spring

  “What makes you think you can do what the doctor couldn’t?”

  “I’m going to try. That’s all. I have had some experience nursing the sick. My grandmother was ill for a very long time.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “She died.”

  “So much for your nursing expertise.”

  She lost her temper. “Will you stop being so sarcastic? I simply don’t have the time or inclination to deal with it. Come over here and help me. One way or another, Marshal Cooper is going to swallow the medicine.”

  “I don’t think—”

  She wouldn’t let him finish. “Either help me or stay out of my way. Understood?”

  Daniel was astonished by her burst of anger. This was the second time he’d seen her lose her composure. Lady Winthrop, he decided, definitely had a dark side. The discovery made him smile.

  Between the two of them, they were able to get most of the medicine down him. She then pulled a chair up next to Cooper’s side and began to apply cold compresses to his forehead.

  “Your fever was just as high as his,” she remarked.

  “Maybe, but I didn’t have a bullet hole in my side, and I wasn’t riddled with infection. The doctor says that’s what’s going to kill him.”

  “When did you become such a pessimist?” she asked.

  “When my wife and daughter were gunned down in a bank.”

  The horrifying admission stunned her. She dropped the compress she was holding and watched Daniel restlessly pace in front of the window. She didn’t know what to say to him, and all she could think about was not crying in front of him because she knew her reaction would make him angry.

  Neither one of them spoke again for almost an hour. Then Grace finally broke the silence. “Do you blame yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “I wasn’t there to protect them,” he whispered. “That’s why.”

  “I see.”

  “Aren’t you going to argue?”

  She picked up the soaked cloth from the basin, wrung the excess water out, and gently placed it on Cooper’s forehead.

  “What would you like me to say, Daniel? You’ve already made up your mind and condemned yourself because you couldn’t stop it from happening. Isn’t that right?”

  “I wasn’t even in town when they died.”

  “Were you working?”

  “Yes.”

  “But if you had been in town, then you would have gone to the bank for your wife? Would you have done that?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  He sprawled out in the chair on the opposite side of the bed. “I should have been there, and I wasn’t. It’s as simple as that.”

  “Did you always do the banking business for your wife?”

  He shook his head. “No.”

  “Did you do other errands?”

  “Like what?”

  She shrugged. “Like going into the general store to shop or—”

  He interrupted impatiently. “No, Kathleen did all the shopping.”

  “I see.”

  “What do you see, Grace? Enlighten me.”

  She ignored his hostility. “If your wife and daughter had been killed while they were shopping or while they were walking down the street, you would still blame yourself. I think I understand why. It’s because you’re a lawman, and it’s your duty to protect the innocent.”

  “Yes. I should have prevented it from ever happening.”

  “By staying with your family day and night and never letting them out of your sight?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Yes, you did.”

  He bowed his head. His eyes burned, and he rubbed them with one hand. Then he reached over and turned down the lamp on the table next to him. The orange glow from the flame was irritating him. “You don’t need all this light, do you?”

  “No.”

  She was stroking Cooper’s brow while she thought about their conversation. She still hadn’t recovered from the stunning news that his family had been murdered.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t hand your badge back to your superiors,” she remarked. “Or turn to drink after your wife died. Some men do.”

  “I didn’t. I wanted to die all right, but I figured it would take too long if I tried to drink myself to death. One night, I got my gun and I put the barrel up against my temple…”

  “Stop it. I don’t want to hear this.”

  He didn’t realize he was breaking her heart by telling her what he had attempted to do. He didn’t know how much he meant to her. How could he? She had been cold and so appallingly proper from the moment she’d met him. Ladies never revealed their true emotions. It wasn’t acceptable to let others see a burst of anger or passion or joy. Grace had been well trained by experts, and there were times when she honestly didn’t know what she was feeling.

  “I obviously didn’t have the courage to kill myself,” he said dryly. “I’m still here, aren’t I?”

  “Courage has nothing to do with it,” she snapped. “Killing yourself is a coward’s way out. It takes courage to go on.”

  “Maybe,” he allowed. “I even thought about trying to get Cole riled up enough to shoot me, but that was before I heard all the stories about him. He’s far more honorable than I am,” he added.

  “Sheriff Sloan told me he shot a woman in Abilene. Is that true?”

  “Ah, he just winged her,” Daniel replied.

  She gasped.

  “It was the only way he could get the man who was going to kill her,” he said.

  “Then it was necessary?”

  “Yes.”

  “Daniel … do you still think about … it?”

  He knew what she was asking. “No, I don’t think about it anymore. Thoughts about doing myself in happened right after I buried my family. I was pretty much out of my mind then.”

  “Yes, I think maybe you were.”

  “I figure there has to be a reason I’m still around.”

  “I think so too,” she whispered.

  He was warmed by the fact that she was worried about him. It had been a long time since anyone had been concerned about his welfare. The world had been such a cold place for the past two years … until Grace.

  “When this is over…”

  “Yes?”

  He shook his head. “Never mind.”

  She’d been sitting by Cooper’s side for so long her back was aching. She moved the basin of water out of the way and stood up to stretch. What she needed, she decided, was fresh air.

  The window was on Daniel’s side of the bed. As she tried to walk past him, he reached out and took hold of her hand.

  “I thought I’d open the window.”

  He gently pulled her down onto his lap. She was caught off guard and put her hands around his neck before she realized what she was doing. Then she pulled back.

  “You don’t want me to open the window?”

  “I want you to sit here with me.”

  “It probably isn’t very proper.”

  “And you’re always proper, aren’t you?”

  The yearning in his eyes was her undoing. She gently stroked his cheek with her fingertips. “I try to be,” she whispered. “May I ask you something?”

  “Anything at all.”

  He wanted to wrap her in his arms and hold her for the rest of the night. He didn’t know what had come over him, but maybe it was all the talk about Kathleen that made him melancholy and lonely. No, that wasn’t true, he admitted. Grace made him feel this way. He had been wanting to hold her from the moment he’d walked into Tilly MacGuire’s kitchen and seen her standing at the counter.

  He was tired of fighting the attraction.

  “Grace, what I said to you on the train … about wanting you. Does that offend you?”

  She didn’t answer him. He cupped her chin with his hand and leisurely ran his thumb back and forth across her lower lip. “Does it?
” he asked again.

  She studied him. His eyes were captivating, and she wondered if he had any idea how amazingly handsome and virile he was.

  “I’m sorry … What did you ask me?”

  He laughed softly. “What were you thinking about?”

  “How handsome you are,” she admitted. “I’m glad you want me,” she blurted out. “But I’m not Kathleen.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “I can’t replace her.”

  “I don’t want you to replace her. I just want…”

  “Yes?”

  “You, Grace. Just you.”

  His hand moved to the back of her neck, and he pulled her toward him. “I want to kiss you. Is that all right?”

  She loved the fact that he’d asked permission. “Yes, Daniel. I want you to kiss me. I’ve waited for such a long time.”

  He was stunned by her honesty and felt a tightness in his chest when she shyly put her arms back around his neck.

  His mouth captured hers in a kiss that was anything but proper. His touch was possessive, almost violently so, and yet there was a tenderness in the way he coaxed her into responding. His tongue swept inside to taste the sweetness within.

  The kiss was long and thorough, but when it ended, he wanted another.

  She pulled away and walked to the window, staring vacantly for a full minute before she remembered what she’d wanted to do. Her hands were trembling, and it took considerable effort to get the lock un-latched and the window up.

  When she passed Daniel again, she hoped he’d grab her once more, but he didn’t. His eyes were closed, and his head rested against the back of the chair.

  She resumed her vigil by Cooper’s side. Daniel slept until the middle of the night and came awake with a start when Cooper began to thrash about. Grace was sitting on the bed, trying to calm him. Her soft voice did the trick, for within seconds Cooper was quiet once again.

  “How’s he doing?” he whispered.

  “I can’t tell,” she answered. “He’s fitful, but the fever doesn’t seem to be as high.”

  “I’ll sit with him, Grace. You should try to get some sleep. You look worn out.”

  “I’ll rest in a little while,” she promised. “My mind is racing now. I’ve been worrying about Rebecca. Do you think she’s still alive? I pray she is.”

  “I doubt it,” he said. “My mind’s also racing with questions. I can’t figure out why the compartment was empty. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  He leaned forward and braced his hands on his knees. “The porter said the compartment Cooper and Rebecca shared looked as though it hadn’t been occupied.”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  “So where are her clothes?”

  “Cooper’s things were also missing, weren’t they?”

  “No,” he answered. “His saddlebags were in the luggage compartment.”

  “Maybe Rebecca’s satchels were thrown out the window.”

  “The sheriff assured me that he and his men searched the area. They were looking for Rebecca, and they would have found her bags. They didn’t.”

  “Maybe the men who shot Marshal Cooper let her take her things with her,” she said. “That would be a good sign, wouldn’t it, that they plan to keep her alive?”

  “But they wouldn’t want to do that,” he argued. “They’d want to silence her as quickly as possible.”

  “Because they think she’s the witness?”

  “Yes.”

  “How awful,” she whispered. “Poor Rebecca. She wasn’t even there.”

  The matter-of-fact comment caught his attention. “She told Cole and me she was.”

  “She what?” Grace asked, clearly flabbergasted.

  “Rebecca said she witnessed the robbery. She gave us a detailed accounting of what happened and descriptions of the men she saw.”

  “She couldn’t have,” she argued, shaking her head.

  “She could have and she did.”

  “If you’ll remember, I told you I was in the bank too. Rebecca was probably just trying to protect Jessica and me and she lied to you.”

  “Why are you assuming she lied?”

  Before Grace could answer the question, he said, “Jessica also told us she was the witness. She didn’t give us any real details, though, but Rebecca did. She told us everything.”

  She shook her head again. “No, that isn’t possible.”

  “I’m telling you she gave us specific details,” he insisted. “What’s wrong?”

  “It doesn’t make any sense. That’s what’s wrong…”

  She was exasperating. He held on to his patience and asked, “Why doesn’t it?”

  “Because she couldn’t have given you details. I promised I would keep silent…. I gave my word … but that was before … and now…”

  “Grace, what are you trying to tell me?”

  “Rebecca isn’t the witness. Jessica is.”

  Thirty-Four

  Daniel was white with anger. “Do you realize what you’re saying? I swear to God, if you’re lying now…”

  “I’m telling you the truth,” she insisted. “Jessica was in the bank during the robbery, not Rebecca.”

  He was pacing about the room like a caged animal. He kept telling himself that shouting at Grace wouldn’t accomplish anything, but the urge was nearly overwhelming. He took a deep breath and then asked in a chillingly soft voice, “Why didn’t you tell me the truth before? Why in God’s name did you wait so long?”

  “I promised Jessica I wouldn’t tell anyone. I gave her my word.”

  “Dear God,” he muttered. He threaded his fingers through his hair and sat down.

  “Try to understand,” she pleaded. “Jessica was terrified.”

  “Does Rebecca know that Jessica is the witness?”

  “No, she doesn’t.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.” She turned away then so that she wouldn’t have to look at the fury etched on his face. She had never seen him this angry before, and it frightened her.

  “Now do you understand why I was so bewildered when you told me Rebecca gave you specific details?”

  “Ah, Grace,” he whispered as he tried to control his anger.

  “Daniel—”

  He cut her off. “Tell me how you know Jessica was in the bank,” he demanded.

  “I watched Caleb for her,” she explained. “She had taken him with her to the bank earlier that afternoon, and he was cranky and out of sorts. She put him down for his nap and then went back.”

  “Why?”

  “She had tried to close her aunt’s account, but she’d left one of the signed documents on Tilly’s kitchen table. That’s why she went back.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “It was awful,” she whispered. “She’d run all the way, and when she got to the back door, she started throwing up. She was barely coherent,” she added. “I tried to get her to calm down, but she was out of her mind with terror. I put her to bed and stayed with her until Caleb woke up.”

  “Was Tilly there?”

  “No. She had gone out to do some errands. I told her that Jessica had come down with influenza and that she needed to stay in bed and rest.”

  A tear slipped down her cheek, and she impatiently wiped it away. “I took care of Caleb the rest of that day, and when it was his bedtime, I took him upstairs and found Jessica frantically packing. She wanted to leave Rockford Falls that night, but I was finally able to convince her to stay.”

  “Did she tell you exactly what happened while she was in the bank?”

  “Yes, she did. After Caleb fell asleep, we went out on the porch and she told me everything but their names.”

  He erupted in rage. “Are you telling me she knows their names?”

  Grace gripped her hands together. She knew how wrong it had been of her to keep silent and how she had magnified her culpability by adding the lie that she was the witness. Dan
iel would never forgive her. He should arrest her and put her in jail, but she didn’t think that would be half as horrible as the guilt she now felt.

  “She heard the man in charge call the others by their names. She didn’t see all of them … or hear all their names … just some.”

  “Why in God’s name didn’t she tell Cole or me?”

  Desperate to make him understand, she stood up to plead with him. “She couldn’t trust anyone.”

  “She trusted you.”

  “Yes, she did. I don’t know if she would have told me what happened, though, if I hadn’t been there in the kitchen when she came back. I saw the condition she was in. She couldn’t control her panic, and all she could think about was keeping her son safe. Can you blame her? I would have done the same thing.”

  Daniel nodded, for he did understand. “What happened then?”

  “Jessica was sure that the authorities … you … would apprehend the men and wouldn’t need an eyewitness. She desperately wanted to believe that would happen.”

  “When she wanted to run … is that when you suggested she go with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “When did she remember she’d left her bag behind?”

  “Not until we heard that one was found under the desk.”

  “Why was it empty?”

  “When the men came in, she stuffed the money in her dress. She was afraid they’d take it. She didn’t realize they were going to…”

  “Massacre them?”

  “Yes.”

  Daniel closed his eyes for a moment. “If Jessica hadn’t left her bag behind, Cole and I would never have known she saw it happen.”

  “I don’t know if she would have eventually come forward or not,” Grace said. “It wasn’t her bag, though. It was mine. She borrowed it so she would have something to put the money in to carry it home.”

  “It was your bag?” He didn’t know why that information infuriated him so, but it did.

  “Honest to God, you and Jessica have obstructed this investigation from the very beginning. I ought to lock the two of you in a cell and let you grow old together.”

  “Will you please lower your voice? You’re going to wake up Marshal Cooper.”

  “We want him to wake up,” he roared.

  She had had enough of his temper and started for the door. “I won’t let you shout at me, Daniel. I know what I did was wrong, and if you want to arrest me, then do so.”