Читать книгу A Man for Glory - Carolyn Davidson, Carolyn Davidson - Страница 9

“Get out some bowls and small plates, Essie.” Glory issued instructions as she brought a kettle of soup to the table, then sought out a ladle to use. Filling the bowls Essie provided her, she placed one before each chair and spoke again to the girl who watched her.

“Get some butter in the pantry, please, and bring out some jam,” Glory said quietly, and Essie moved quickly to obey. A container of jam in one hand, the plate of butter in the other, she paused by Cade’s chair and shot him a quick grin as she arranged the table. Glory sliced bread with a steady hand and filled a plate with the remains of a loaf she’d unwrapped from the kitchen dresser where she stored her bread.

A coffeepot sat on the back burner of the kitchen range and Essie ran to find a cup for Cade, then brought it to him and placed it by his bowl. “I’ll get you a glass for milk, Glory, and one for me and for Buddy, too.”

Glory took a pan of biscuits from the oven and dumped them into a bowl, then put them in the warming oven. “We’ll have the strawberries atop the biscuits for dessert, Mr. McAllister. We have lots of cream to serve with them, and we have them often thataway, for biscuits and strawberries are a favorite of the children.”

They all took their places at the table, then Glory spoke words of thanksgiving for the food, the children folding their hands while she prayed. Buddy looked up at her as she buttered his bread and scooped honey from the dish and spread it atop the butter.

“Glory, my pa’s not ever coming home, is he?” Buddy asked in a quiet voice.

Glory lifted her gaze to the boy. “Buddy, we’ve talked about this before, and as tough as the answer is, we have to move on with our lives. Your pa is dead and gone, buried in the churchyard. Now we can only do our best to go on as he would have wanted.”

“I just feel like he should be here,” the boy said quietly. “Every time I look out in the hay field, I think I should see him there. And when I come in the house, I expect to see him at the dinner table or washing up in the sink.”

Glory nodded at his words. “I think you’re just grieving for your pa, Buddy. It’s all right to wish he were still with us, but the truth is that he’ll never be back and we have to go on. We’ll have to take up the slack and work hard to make him proud of us, won’t we? And we won’t forget to pray that he’s in a better place now.”

The boy tore his piece of bread in half and offered it to his sister, who took it with a smile that seemed to be thanks enough for the lad.

The meal was simple, but the four people around the table ate it with relish and then sat back while Glory prepared the strawberry dessert.

“Sure looks good, ma’am,” Cade said with a grin.

“Glory cooks good for us,” Essie told him, sucking a berry from her spoon, earning a quick look from Glory. “I think I kinda remember the day she came here, but I was pretty small back then.”

“Well, I’ll never forget that day,” Buddy told them. “She was sure pretty, and she washed Essie’s hair and made her a braid and tied a red ribbon on it.”

“I do remember that, after all,” Essie said with a quick smile at her stepmother. “I’d forgotten the braid and the ribbon.”

“I’d say you two have more good memories of Glory than you could ever count. Your pa sure was lucky to have her here with you.”

“He married her so she could be our stepmother,” Buddy said.

Glory looked at Cade squarely. “It was more to make certain that I would inherit and have this place should anything happen to him, I believe.”

Cade nodded his agreement with her words and dug into his dessert. “The children were right. This is delicious, Miss Glory. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate a home-cooked meal. I’ve been riding from town to town, kinda on a quest for a place that would appeal to me and hoping I’d feel a sign of sorts when I saw a spot that would be right for me. But I’ll tell you true, any man would want to sit at this table once he’d had a sample of your cooking, Miss Glory.”

Glory smiled at him, her gaze assessing. He was a man to be admired, for according to the papers he’d given her to review, he was not only honest and forthright, but had a fund of money available should she want to sell any portion of her farm to him. But if she was to be proven wrong, if this Cade McAllister was not all that he seemed to be, she could be making a big mistake. But then again, if she was right, if the sheriff was correct in his thinking, then Cade might be the salvation she sought, for she was weary of carrying this load alone. He might prove to be a mentor for Buddy, an older brother for Essie, perhaps a friend for herself. Maybe even a man to look out for her and the children on a permanent basis. A man who would be willing to take on the work here and make a success of Buddy’s inheritance. Who might consider being a partner in the farm.

Cade helped clear up the table, then watched as she and Essie made short work of the dishwashing. Glory wiped up the table and hung the dish towels on the short line on the back porch, then shook the rug that lay by the back door. Essie put it back in place, a final chore that seemed to end the evening’s ritual.

Cade stood and stretched, then pushed his chair back under the table. “I’ll be heading for the barn, ma’am,” he said. “I’ll put my bedroll up in the loft if there’s enough hay left up there.”

“Enough for a man to sleep on,” Glory assured him, watching as he made his way across the yard to the barn. Their usual bedtime came at dusk and tonight was no different, for the children were weary from a long day, and even Glory sought her bed as soon as darkness enveloped the farmhouse. She settled into the feather tick and closed her eyes, but found that sleep eluded her. The man in her barn appeared before her as if he were there in her bedroom, a vision she beheld as she thought of what might be in her future. It would surely be a blessing to have a man to do the chores and work the fields. After turning from one side of the bed to the other, the bedclothes tangling about her body, she rose to find her dressing gown. Tying it firmly at her waist, she slid into her house shoes, then descended the stairs and went out the back door, seeking the silence of the night and the familiar sight of the fruit trees in the orchard.

As she had in the past, she walked among the trees, admiring the blossoms that filled the air with a faint scent. She lifted her eyes to the sky, seeking some bit of wisdom perhaps in the stars that pierced the darkness. Change hovered in the air that surrounded her, and she stood as still as a statue, her gaze upward, thoughts of Cade McAllister filling her mind again. There was about him a sheen of honesty, and she was drawn to him, her body almost seeking out the warmth of his whenever she was near him.

The future loomed before her and she was fearful of what it held, for she was mighty tempted to accept the offer of the man who lay in her hayloft. It was a given that keeping the farm intact for Buddy to inherit one day involved seeking help. Perhaps Cade could be persuaded to work as a partner. She turned from her stargazing and headed back toward the house, hoping she would find Cade agreeable in the morning.

The barn was warm with the body heat given off by the animals, and in the hayloft Cade rolled up in a quilt and found a lush bed beneath the eaves. From below, the cow lowed contentedly, the horses nickering to each other from neighboring stalls. From the house, he heard the closing of the back door, and he quickly rolled to his feet and went to where the door swung easily open over the front of the barn.

Below him, in the moonlight, Glory walked toward the garden, and then beyond that to where a half dozen fruit trees bloomed. Her hair hung long against her back, freed now from the dark braid she’d confined it in during the day. It rippled in the moonlight, a cloud that reached her hips and swung with each step she took.

He watched her for perhaps a half hour, until she turned finally from her stargazing and pondering and made her way back past the fruit trees and through the garden to the back porch. As she turned toward the house, she looked at the barn, her gaze moving across its door, up to the roof and finally to the window in the loft where he stood, watching her.

“Mrs. Clark, wait up a minute. We need to talk.” His voice was pitched low, but it apparently carried to where she stood, for she nodded, sliding her hands into the pockets of her dressing gown as she turned to sit on the edge of the porch, waiting silently.

He climbed down from the loft and approached across the yard to stand before her. Glory touched the porch beside her, a silent invitation for Cade to settle there. He sighed as he took a seat next to her, then cleared his throat.

“Glory, I hesitate to bring this up, but I’m gonna be blunt. I’ve heard the whole story from the sheriff, about Mr. Clark being in jail and sentenced to death. I know about the hanging in Green River and him leaving you with two children to raise on your own. The sheriff said you were married to the man a couple of years back when you were looking for a place to live and he needed someone to tend his house and family.”

“That’s all true, Cade. I was looking for a place to stay and he took me in.”

“And now the positions are reversed, Glory, for I’m the one looking and you’ve given me a place in your hayloft to sleep for the night. Sound kinda familiar to you?”

She looked up at him for a long moment and then with a curt nod, agreed. “I can see what you mean, but I don’t understand why you’ve chosen to settle in this area. What reason do you have for wanting to work a farm here in the middle of nowhere?”

He looked down at her, admiring the vision of loveliness before him. “I’ve been looking for a long spell for a place to settle. My family’s in Oklahoma and I could go back there and find some land and live close to home, but there’s something about Green River that appeals to me. I spoke to the sheriff about the available places hereabouts and he said yours was the best of the lot, but that you weren’t interested in selling. But he did say that your place was needful of a man to work it, and you and the children were having a tough time keeping things going. I asked him to bring me out here to meet you, and maybe come to an agreement with you. This farm sounded like the sort of place I was looking for. Two hundred acres, a sturdy barn, a house that’s been tended over the years and only needs a coat of paint to bring it up to snuff. A woman and two children who’d benefit from a man around the place to keep an eye on things and keep them safe.”

“Sounds like you’ve got everything all sorted out, mister,” Glory said sharply. “You sound like you’re ready to settle in and be a part of the picture.”

“I’d like to at least talk about it with you, Glory. You’re a woman alone, and I’m a man looking to invest in a farm. I surely do admire you and respect you for the job you’ve done here. I don’t expect you’ve looked at me and seen enough to warrant inviting me to stay for a spell but I think we might be able to make a go of it, and hold this place together. Make it into a prosperous holding for Buddy to inherit. I like a challenge, Glory, and this farm seems to be offering just such a challenge to me. I’m not trying to push you into making a decision right this minute, but I’m willing to give it a chance to work out. Should you take me up on my offer to invest here and help you make a success of the place, we’d have to present a united front. Between us, we’d be supplying a good home in which to raise these two young’uns you’ve been caring for. They deserve a family surrounding them, and you and I could give them that very thing.”

Glory looked shocked by his words. “If you’re talking about marriage, I’ll tell you right now, I’m not ready for that, Cade. I know these children need a father figure in their lives, but for now, we’re doing all right on our own. The question is, would a marriage be the best thing for them? Or for me? Might not a partnership work better?”

“Look. Glory, since you’re not willing to sell your place outright, might you agree to me investing my money here and become half owner of the farm? I’ll work hard in the fields and teach Buddy how to handle horses and give him a chance to become a horse trainer himself if he’d like to learn the trade.”

“The children and I are used to working hard, Mr. McAllister. I’ve carried my share of the load over the years and done whatever I had to in order to provide for Buddy and Essie.”

“You earned your way here, if I see things straight, ma’am. You’re an intelligent woman, for you’ve had schooling beyond the ordinary, I’d say, from your speech and the ability you have to express yourself.”

She nodded. “I went to college back home for two years. In fact, I have enough schooling to teach, should I ever want to. For now, just doing lessons with Buddy and Essie is satisfying enough for me.”

Cade thought again of the man whose death had brought him here. “I can’t help but think that Mr. Clark would be pleased to have me here, ma’am. He thought enough of you to marry you and leave you with this place. I’d say you both gained from your bargain. What I don’t understand is why no one from town stepped up to offer for you after your husband died.”

Glory pressed her lips together as if thinking of her reply. And then she sighed. “When the sheriff took Harvey in to jail, the story made its way around that he was a bank robber, and I had a couple of the hired hands from ranches west of here stop by and offer to look for the money Harvey was accused of stealing. I sent them off without much of an answer, just the shotgun in my hands. I don’t know if Mr. Clark did what he was accused of doing or not. But I don’t think there’s any money around here, for it seems that in three years I’d have found some trace of the gold he was supposed to have stolen somewhere around this house. And he sure didn’t seem to have any extra to spend. He was a thrifty man, but he took care of his own.”

She looked up at him then, and her words were a warning. “If you’ve got any ideas about gold here, mister, I’ll tell you right now, there won’t be any digging around or searching my house for a treasure. The only thing worth having in this place is those two young’uns upstairs in bed. I don’t believe that Mr. Clark left anything more precious than that. He’d have told me otherwise.”

Cade nodded thoughtfully, preparing the lie he was about to speak. “That may very well be, ma’am. At any rate, I’m not looking to find any gold. I don’t consider it important enough to be digging holes or searching through your attic in the hopes of finding a treasure. I’m looking for a place to work and make my way and maybe make something of what I’ve been offered.”

Cade cleared his throat, considering the lie he’d just spoken so readily. He’d traveled the country in his job, for being a Pinkerton man paid well and he’d never come out empty handed at the end of a quest. Still, he felt guilty for lying to Glory.

He eyed the woman before him and knew that his plan was more tempting than it might have been had Glory Clark not been so lovely a woman, had she not appealed to him so much. Offering her the story he’d halfway conceived in his mind, he began, knowing he would be living a lie with every breath he took.

He doffed his hat, and his gaze on her face was hopeful. “I’m thinking if you marry me, we could kinda work things out for everyone’s benefit, ma’am. I never planned on this sort of thing, And if it’s any comfort to you, I’ll make a vow to you that I won’t be looking for gold while I’m here. I’ll be too busy with working and fixing things up the way Mr. Clark would have wanted it.

“I’m changing topics here, ma’am, but I think it’s important to settle one thing. Did anyone ever come looking for your husband? Maybe strangers who might have known him from the past? It seems like he’d have been the object of a search of sorts over the years.”

“Not that I know of,” Glory said slowly, her thoughts scanning the years past, seeking answers to his questions. “We lived from one day to the next, not a lot of money to do with, but enough to get along. He didn’t seem to have any secrets that I could tell. But he did seem to keep a good eye out, making sure no one was around that didn’t belong in the area.”

“Well, keep thinking about it, Glory. You may remember something that seemed unimportant at the time. And in the meantime, consider my plans for our future.

“My father died when I was but a child, about Buddy’s age—ten, I think—and left my mother with a place to keep up and bills to pay and no cash coming in.”

“I’d say that sounds familiar,” Glory said softly.

“Yeah, well, it’s what happened, and we were left in a tough spot. There was a neighbor man, a widower, who came by a few days after the funeral and spoke with my mother, told her he was willing to take on the job of husband and father if she was agreeable to it. To make a long story short, she took him at his word, and he became my stepfather. He didn’t adopt me—my name is the same as my natural father’s, but in every way that counted he was our dad, me and my brothers’. He raised us, took care of my mother and ran the farm for her. I don’t know if he loved her to begin with—probably not—but he saw a need and knew he could fill it. So he did. He made a success out of the place, made good money, and best of all, they were happy together.”

“And did you see the same sort of need here?” she asked, studying the ground beneath her feet.

“Yeah, you could say that, I suppose. I could almost hear my dad speaking in my ear. Telling me this was my chance to show my gratitude for what he’d done for my family all those long years ago. I won’t tell you any tall tales, or make up a glowing picture of our future together. But I will tell you I’ll be faithful and honest and do my best to help you and the children, just the way Harvey Clark would have wanted.”

Glory looked up at him, admiring his height, the broad shoulders that pulled his shirt tight over his chest. He was a good-looking man, surely a man most women would admire, and she was no exception. But she needed to be sure that he was on the up-and-up before she made any drastic decisions.

“I’m not sure I want to be an object of charity, Cade, but I suspect I can see better why you’re doing this. It made me wonder about you, why a man would take on a family and be responsible for two children the way you’ve said you would.”

He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “I’ll admit that the idea of having a place of my own appeals to me. This is your farm, but if I stay here, it won’t be just as a hired hand. There’s the matter of marriage to be settled, Glory. It won’t work any other way.”

He lifted his hand to her face, tilting her chin up so that she met his gaze. His voice softened as he spoke. “I will tell you that you’re a woman who’d appeal to any man with eyes in his head. I don’t understand why half a dozen men haven’t asked you to marry them.” And then he hesitated.

“The town will no doubt look askance at me being here, living with you and the children, without a wedding taking place. I’ll not cause you to fret about that part of it tonight, but we need to be making a decision right quick.”

“I’ll think about it, Cade. In fact, I probably won’t be thinking of much else.” With but a moment of hesitation, Glory slid from her seat on the edge of the porch, and then climbed the steps and went into the house.

The man took her breath. He made her tremble deep inside where her heart dwelt.

She made her way in the dark, through the kitchen and up the stairs, to where her bedroom was tucked beneath the eaves. She’d slept alone there for three years, dependent upon Harvey Clark for a place to live. He’d been good to her, and though he’d probably made mistakes aplenty in his life, he hadn’t caused her any grief. He’d only done as he’d promised. She tossed her dressing gown over a chair and crawled into bed, clad in her long white nightgown. There to sleep fitfully, her dreams filled with visions of the man who slept in the barn. A man who tempted her as had no other.