By the time they were dressed, Yale was pulling on his brand new black coat, and trying on a broad-brimmed black hat.
He gave the boys a cool appraisal, then started toward the door. “You’re looking mighty fine, boys. Come on. I think it’s time to fetch your ma.”
Cara stayed in the water until her skin resembled a prune. Then, wrapped in a thick towel, she scrubbed her dusty old clothes and hung them around the room to dry.
Unable to wait another minute, she slipped into the elegant new undergarments. They were as soft as a spider’s web against her skin. She stepped into the pale pink gown, taking her time buttoning the row of tiny mother-of-pearl buttons that ran from neckline to waist. Then she turned to examine her reflection in the looking glass.
“Oh, my.” The words fell from her lips as she stepped closer.
Could the woman in the mirror possibly be real? With that cloud of thick dark curls tumbling to her waist, and that sun-kissed skin, she more resembled a Gypsy than the pale, shy woman she’d always been.
She studied the gown. It had a low, rounded neckline and softly-draped skirt topped by a deep rose sash. She picked up the matching shawl and draped it around her shoulders, feeling like a queen. Then, still studying her reflection in the looking glass, she tucked up one side of her hair with the jeweled comb, and stood back to examine the effect.
At the knock on her door she hurried across the room. When she opened the door, Yale and the boys stood staring at her with matching looks of surprise.
“Oh, look at you,” she called. “Don’t you look grand.”
“The barber cut our hair.” Cody danced into the room with Seth right behind him. “And we took a bath in a real bathtub.” He bounced on the edge of the bed, and then, because the excitement was contagious, he and Seth started jumping in the middle of the bed. “And then a man brought us new clothes, and called Yale Mr. Conover and said if there was anything else we needed, he’d get it.”
Cara stared at Yale, who hadn’t moved. He was still standing in the doorway, staring at her in such a way she could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.
“Do I look all right?”
“Oh, Cara.” His smile came then. Quick and dangerous. “You look so much better than all right. You’re…” He shook his head. “You’re so beautiful, you take my breath away.”
She ran a hand down her skirt. “I’ve never had anything this fine before, Yale. It’s so elegant. And I’m so…plain.”
“You, Cara? Plain?” He caught her by the shoulders and stared down into her eyes, unable to believe what she’d just said. “If you believe that, you haven’t seen the woman I’m seeing.”
He looked over at Cody and Seth. “What do you boys think of your mother?”
They stopped jumping long enough to stare.
Cody caught his brother’s hand and helped him from the bed. “We think you look pretty, Ma.”
“Thank you.” She hurried over to hug them both. “And I think you look grand.”
“Come on.” Yale held the door open. “Now that we’re all agreed that we’re just about the finest looking folks in this town, I think it’s time we thought about supper.”
He offered his arm and Cara accepted. With the boys walking ahead of them they descended the stairs. As they did, they were aware of heads turning, and voices whispering.
Cara felt a thrill of pride at the sight of her sons, looking so clean and happy. And then she glanced at the handsome, dangerous man beside her and her heart nearly burst with love. No wonder people were whispering, she thought. Though she knew it was wrong to be vain, she couldn’t help thinking that they looked like such a fine family.
Outside they walked along the street, pausing to look in the windows of the many shops. The barbershop, where cowboys fresh from nearby ranches waited their turn. The mercantile, with shelves neatly lined with bottles and jars, as well as bolts of fabric and even a display of guns. Next door was a dressmaker’s shop. And a few steps beyond was a boardinghouse.
When they stepped inside they were greeted by a woman whose white hair was pinned back in a neat knot. Her apron was spotless. And as Cara glanced around, she found the house to be equally spotless.
“Why, Yale Conover.” The woman’s smile grew. “You never told me you had such a lovely wife.” She turned toward Seth and Cody. “And two such fine-looking sons.”
Cara waited for Yale to correct the woman, but he offered not a word.
The woman offered her hand to Cara. “I’m Margaret Thistle. And you must be very proud of this man of yours, my dear. Whenever he comes to town he always eats his meals here. I have to tell you. In all the years I’ve known Yale, I’ve never known him to be anything but a gentleman. And the other folks in Bison Fork will tell you the same. To the rest of the country he may be a rogue and a gambler, but to us he’s a welcome guest. We’re always so glad to see him.”
Without waiting to take a breath she said, “Come right in and makes yourselves at home. Supper is almost ready. If you’d like, you can refresh yourselves in the parlor. I’ll have some elderberry wine brought in, and some lemonade for your sons.”
She bustled away, leaving Yale to lead the way to the parlor, where a settee and several chairs were arranged around a fireplace, where a cozy fire burned on the hearth.
Almost at once a young woman wearing an equally spotless apron entered the room and offered wine to Cara and Yale, and lemonade to Cody and Seth.
When she was gone Cara moved around the room, her hand trailing the smooth wood of the chair, the soft fabric of a fancy pillow.
Seeing the thoughtful look on her face Yale touched a finger to her cheek. “Are you upset that I didn’t tell Margaret the truth about us?”
She shook her head. “Oh, Yale. Don’t think that. It’s just…” She glanced at the two boys who were lying on the hearth, shoulder to shoulder, leafing through the pages of a book. “It’s been so long since I’ve been in a real house. I’d forgotten what it felt like to smell food cooking, and to see my children happy and clean and dressed in shiny new clothes. I think I’d even forgotten what it felt like to be a family.”
She sipped her wine and felt the way it warmed her. “Hearing Margaret Thistle speak of you…” She ducked her head. “It made me realize that I don’t really know you. I don’t know anything about the way you’ve lived your life. I imagined you in dark saloons, drinking with outlaws and…” She shrugged, not wanting to tell him all the things that had gone through her mind. “And now, seeing you like this, it all seems so…civilized.”
He couldn’t help the grin that touched his lips. “Our lives are what we choose to make them, Cara. Now.” He caught her hand and lifted it to his lips. “What do you say we sip our wine, and then enjoy Margaret’s wonderful cooking.”
She returned his smile. “I’d say that sounds like a lovely way to spend the evening.”
Just then the housemaid returned to invite them to the dining room, where they were treated to thick slabs of roast beef so tender it fell off the bone, along with potatoes swimming in gravy, and tender garden vegetables.
As Cara spread strawberry jam on a biscuit, she glanced at Cody, who was wiping his milky mustache on his sleeve. Just then he caught sight of Yale touching a napkin to his mouth. The little boy did the same, and Yale winked at him across the table.
There was that lump in her throat again, threatening to choke her. But it couldn’t be helped, she realized. She was, quite simply, too happy to take it all in. She wanted to hold this moment in her heart forever.
An hour later, as they made their way back to the hotel, Cody remarked, “That was the best supper, wasn’t it, Yale?”
Yale nodded. “Especially the apple pie.”
“You had two slices,” Cody said with a giggle.
“I almost had a third, but then I figured I’d better leave room for my special treat.”
The two boys, who were walking ahead, stopped.
“What special treat?” Cody
asked for both of them.
Yale gave them a mysterious smile and beckoned them into the mercantile. Inside he led them to the counter, where the man called, “Welcome back to Bison Fork, Mr. Conover.”
“Thanks, Jeremy. I think you know what I’m looking for.”
“Yes, sir.” The man lifted the lid from a jar of striped candy sticks and held it out to Yale.
Yale turned to Cody and Seth. “Which one would you like?”
Their eyes were as round as saucers.
“You mean we can have whatever one we want?” Cody asked.
“That’s right. Go ahead and choose.”
Yale watched as each of the boys took more than a minute to make a selection. Then he nodded. “Good choice. Jeremy knows which one I’ll take. I always have the peppermint stick.” He helped himself to a red and white striped stick, then turned to Cara. “How about you, Cara? What’s your flavor?”
She was about to refuse when she saw the looks on her sons’ faces. Then she dipped her hand in the jar and chose a peppermint stick.
Minutes later they were strolling toward the hotel, busily licking their candy.
When they finally climbed the stairs and paused outside the door to Cara’s room, she waited while Yale unlocked her door and stood aside.
“Are you coming in?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I promised Cody and Seth I’d teach them a couple of card tricks.” He glanced down at the two boys, still finishing the last of their candy. “Say good-night to your mother.”
She bent down to receive sticky kisses from each of them. As she straightened, Yale surprised her by brushing his mouth over hers.
“Good night, Cara. Sleep well.”
“I…” She wondered if he had any idea how endearing he looked, with a peppermint stick in his hand and her sons standing on either side of him. “You, too, Yale. Sleep well.”
She closed the door and heard them talking as they moved on to the next room. She undressed quickly, then wearing only her chemise, climbed beneath the covers and felt the softness of the feather mattress beneath her.
It had been the most amazing day. She’d seen yet another side of Yale Conover. A side she would have never known, had it not been for the strange circumstances that had brought him back into her life.
As silence settled over the town, she fell asleep, still smiling.
Chapter Eighteen
Cara awoke and lay very still, her mind muddled. What was this softness beneath her? She touched a hand and remembered. The big feather bed.
She opened her eyes. The bright sunlight outside her window told her it was already morning. Had she slept the entire night away? She couldn’t even remember falling asleep. But here it was, a new day.
She climbed out of bed and washed herself, then dressed in the new gown and soft kid boots. Then she rolled her old clothes, which were now dry, into a bundle.
Before she could decide whether or not to go looking for Yale and the boys, she heard a knock on the door.
She opened it to find the objects of her thoughts standing in the hallway, all wearing matching smiles of excitement.
“Good morning.” Yale stood behind Cody and Seth. “How did you sleep?”
She was nearly dazzled by the sight of him. So tall and handsome and elegant in his black suit and boots, the wide-brimmed hat in his hand. Gone was any trace of the tough, bearded hero who had saved them from so many disasters along the trail. He looked, instead, like a man who’d been born to wealth and comfort.
“I don’t remember a single thing after my head touched the pillow.”
“Good.” He gave her an admiring look. “That’s what you needed.”
“And you two?” She bent to kiss her sons. “Did you sleep at all? Or did you keep Yale awake all night pestering him for more card tricks?”
“We slept some,” Cody admitted. “But we learned some really neat card tricks. Can we show her, Yale?”
“Maybe later. Right now I think we ought to load our things in the cart before seeing what Margaret Thistle has for our breakfast.”
Again Cara took Yale’s arm and felt the stares from those gathered in the hotel lobby as they passed through. When they stepped outside Yale placed the bundles of clothes in the back of their cart.
Cody pointed to a beautiful black stallion hitched alongside their horse and cart. “Yale took us to the stable this morning, where he bought Jackpot.”
“Jackpot?” Cara halted. “You bought a horse?”
“Not just any horse.” He smiled when he took her arm. “With a name like that, I figure he was meant to be mine.”
As they continued along the street, Cara glanced back over her shoulder to see the stallion toss his head. She was forced to admit that the horse seemed to suit the man. Larger-than-life. Mysterious. Spirited.
At the boardinghouse they were greeted by a smiling Margaret Thistle. “Good morning. I was hoping I’d see you for breakfast.” She stepped aside. “Come in.”
Again Cara was swamped by the wonderful smells of meat sizzling and breads baking. Smells that would always remind her of her own childhood.
They were ushered into the dining room where the boys were offered cold milk and Cara and Yale were served hot, strong coffee. Over a breakfast of bacon, sausage and beef, eggs, potatoes and biscuits, Cody regaled his mother with tales of their nighttime antics.
“I can make a card disappear, and Yale says if I practice, I should be able to shuffle the cards like him in no time.”
“An admirable goal.” Cara couldn’t help smiling as she said it.
Just then Margaret Thistle bustled in to serve slices of her sugared coffee cake. “Will you folks be staying on in Bison Fork another day?”
Yale shook his head. “I’m afraid not. We leave right after breakfast for Misery.”
“Ah.” She filled his cup and for good measure placed a second serving of coffee cake on his plate. “You’ve a lovely day for traveling. You should be in Misery well before supper.”
A short time later they shoved away from the table and made their way to the front door.
When Yale had paid Margaret Thistle for their meals, she offered her hand. “I hope the next time you’re passing through Bison Fork you’ll bring your wife and lovely family.”
Cara thought again about correcting her. But it was such a lovely myth. It seemed the most natural thing in the world to merely smile and wave goodbye as they walked down the porch steps and started toward their waiting cart, with the boys giggling behind their hands.
Yale tied his horse behind the cart before helping her up to the seat. With Cody and Seth tucked in the back, he climbed aboard and flicked the reins.
Cara turned for a last glimpse as they rolled out of town and started across yet more prairie wilderness.
Yale caught her hand. “Sorry to be leaving all that luxury behind?”
She shook her head. Her eyes danced with unconcealed excitement. “How can I be sorry when I’ll soon be home?”
The lowing of cattle alerted them that Aaron Smiler’s ranch was near. In the distance Yale saw the simple shack that had been home to him in his childhood. And though he told himself it didn’t mean that much to him, there was no denying the way his heartbeat quickened when he caught sight of the old man seated on the porch.
As their horse and cart rolled to a stop, Aaron reached for a cane and got slowly to his feet. He’d barely gone two steps when Yale leapt from the cart and raced toward him.
He stopped. Stared as if seeing a ghost. “Yale? Is it really you, son?”
“It’s me, Aaron.” Yale opened his arms and the old man hugged him fiercely.
When they stepped apart, Aaron studied him for a long, silent moment. Then he put his fingers to his lips and gave a whistle that would carry for a mile.
Within minutes a buckskin-clad creature came galloping up on the back of a mustang. Horse and rider looked as though they might plow right into the two men. But just inches before the
collision, the horse stopped abruptly and the rider leapt from the saddle.
Yale grinned broadly. “Hey, Kitty. Where’s my kiss?”
“Yale?” With a screech, she launched herself into his arms with such force she would have flattened a lesser man.
He laughed and swung her around and around before setting her on her feet. Then he stood back and studied her. “When did you get all grown-up and pretty?”
“While you were off doing whatever it is you do in all those saloons.”
“I gamble.” His smile widened. “And I happen to win more often than I lose.”
She nodded toward the woman and boys who were watching in silence from the cart. “You win them in a poker game?”
He walked to the cart and offered a hand to Cara. When she and her sons were standing beside him he said, “You used to know this pretty lady years ago as Cara McKinnon. Now she’s Cara Evans. And these fine boys are her sons Cody and Seth.” He led them closer. “This old coot is Aaron Smiler, the closest thing I ever had to a father. And this wild woman is my sister, Kitty.” He winked at Cody and Seth. “Better watch her, boys. She can out-ride, out-shoot and out-fight most men. Except me, of course.”
“A dandy like you?” Kitty gave a snort of laughter. “After all those years sitting in a saloon doing nothing more challenging than shuffling a deck of cards, why, I bet even these two boys could take you in a fight.”
That had Cody and Seth giggling behind their hands.
Aaron stepped forward to take Cara’s hand. “Welcome to our ranch, Mrs. Evans.”
“Please.” She smiled. “Call me Cara.”
He nodded. “I knew your father and mother, Cara. And I remember hearing that you’d returned to Misery to nurse them through their illnesses. I was sorry to hear about their ranch.”
Cara felt the heat rise to her cheeks and was grateful when Yale smoothly changed the subject.
“Is that a new barn and corral?”