Brave the Wild Wind

Chapter 7

JESSIE didn’t usually sleep late, but she woke to find her room quite bright. Several hours of the morning were gone. Why? Usually, if she wasn’t up by seven o’clock, Kate would come in to wake her. Maybe Kate had assumed she was up and gone.

As Jessie dressed, she wondered what Kate thought about all the uproar in their lives. But then, Kate probably wouldn’t have told her even if she’d asked. For as long as Jessie could remember, the Indian woman had been there, like so much else on the ranch. But she had never gotten close to Kate. The older woman never encouraged overtures. Often, especially lately, she was downright sullen. Had Kate ever been her father’s mistress? Jessie knew she’d never learn the answer to that. She often felt sorry for Kate, wasting her life there, having no family. But any time she had ever asked Kate why she stayed, Kate had replied that Thomas needed her. And even after he died and Jessie offered to settle Kate anywhere she liked, Kate declined. There was nowhere she wanted to go. The ranch was all Kate had anymore.

Jessie let it go then, grateful that the Indian woman was there to see to the house, for Jessie certainly didn’t have the time. And the house was kept immaculate, Jessie’s bed always made when she returned at the end of the day, her clothes washed and hung in her wardrobe, hot meals waiting.

As soon as she was dressed, Jessie hurried to the stable, furious with herself for being late. She barely noticed Rachel’s voice coming from the porch, but stopped when she heard Chase Summers’s raised voice. For once, he was angry with someone other than Jessie.

“Rachel, I wouldn’t marry that spoiled brat of yours if you paid me! Where in hell did you get such a fool idea?”

Jessie froze.

“From you,” Rachel replied calmly. “You said I ought to find her a husband if I wanted her off my hands.”

“But I was angry, not serious. She’s just a child. She needs a father, not a husband.”

“She had a father. A lot of good it did her,” Rachel retorted bitterly. “And you know perfectly well she’s old enough to marry.”

“Age has nothing to do with it. She still acts like a kid. Forget it, Rachel. Find someone else to dump her on if you must, but I want nothing to do with that brat.”

“Won’t you at least think about it?” Rachel’s voice turned soft and appealing. “You’ve been wandering for years, Chase. This is nice country to settle down in, and the ranch is established, a fine spread.”

“With a debt,” he reminded her.

“I would pay off the debt,” she said quickly. “She wouldn’t have to know!”

“Would you listen to yourself, Rachel?” Chase snapped. “I hope you don’t make that offer to anyone else! Another man would jump at it, and you wouldn’t be doing the girl any favor. Now, I’m willing to help you, but not to the point of human sacrifice. And you’re not that cold-blooded, either, so just pretend you never had this idea.”

“Then, for God’s sake, tell me what I’m supposed to do!” Rachel started crying. “I can’t take much more of this. I’m not used to such hostility, and from my own daughter—it’s unbearable! She doesn’t want me here. She walks away whenever I talk to her. She would be happier if I left, yet I can’t leave her here alone. I just can’t do that. She has to have someone to look out for her.”

“Take it easy now, lady.” Chase began to comfort her. “Perhaps it’s time you considered paying someone to be her guardian so you don’t have to do it.”

“But who could I trust with the responsibility? Who wouldn’t take advantage of her? ...” She brightened suddenly. “I could trust you, Chase. Would you—”

“No, I wouldn’t! I couldn’t handle it, Rachel. For some reason I lose my temper every time I talk to that girl. I’d end up wringing her neck if she were left in my charge.”

Jessie left then, horrified and humiliated beyond anything she had ever felt before. An agony of pain swelled in her chest, constricting her throat, pain of contempt and scorn, pain of utter rejection. It hurt, it hurt so bad she wanted to cry. But she wouldn’t cry because of them, she told herself. She wouldn’t.

The tears were blinding as she reached the stable. She was about to collapse when a child’s voice said, “What’s wrong, Jessie?”

She couldn’t bear for anyone to know, let alone Rachel’s son.

“Nothing’s wrong,” she snapped. “I just got some dust in my eyes.”

“Can I help?”

“No! I’m fine. The watering washed away the dust.”

She walked past him to Blackstar’s stall, but Billy followed. “I didn’t know you were still here.”

“Well I am, aren’t I?”

He was not put off. “Are you going out on the range now?” he asked as she saddled Blackstar. When she didn’t answer, he persisted. “Can I go with you this time?”

“No!”

“But I won’t get in your way, Jessie, I promise I won’t. Please?”

The pleading eagerness in that voice broke through, somehow, and she relented.

“All right.” Then she added sternly, so he wouldn’t think she was easily swayed, “But only this time. You can use that sorrel over there, if you know how to saddle him.”

Billy let out a whoop of delight and ran to the horse. But the fact was, each time old Jeb had showed him how to saddle a horse so he could ride around the valley, Jeb had actually put the saddle on himself. Billy found himself stumped.

He couldn’t even get the heavy saddle off the railing, let alone onto the horse’s back. The horse was higher than he was, and so was the railing.

Jessie finished with Blackstar and led him over to where Billy was struggling, shaking her head in amusement. The saddle he was fighting with was an old forty-pounder. Yet there was no other saddle in sight. She had to admit, the kid had determination.

She helped him tug the saddle down from the railing. “Now, together... one, two, three.” They swung the saddle up into place, and Jessie stepped back. “Can you manage now?”

“Sure. And thanks.”

Jessie waited impatiently as he tried to do the girth that was tucked under the saddle. His short arms couldn’t reach it. He finally went around the horse and carried the strap under him, then buckled it too loosely.

“Honestly, can’t you do anything?” she said gruffly as she came forward again to help.

Billy watched her stern expression as she finished the job. He grinned, happy. What she was doing spoke better than words.

“You don’t really hate me, do you, Jessie?”

She looked up, startled. Why was he able to see through her like that? “Of course I do.”

But Billy persisted, still grinning. “I think you like me just a little.”

“Well, that just goes to show how much you know,” she said lightly. She’d meant only to tease, but when she looked at him, there were tears glistening in his eyes. “Oh, Billy, I was only teasing. Honestly. Of course I like you.” He looked relieved, and she added, “But don’t you dare tell your mother I said so, you hear?”