Page 11 of A Steadfast Heart (Wind River Mail-Order Brides #2)

W ould she ever see the bottom of this sink?

Kaitlyn ran her fingers around the edge of the basin of soapy water, searching for any piece of silverware from lunch that she had missed in the cloudy water. Not finding anything, she picked up a few plates from the stack on the chair beside her. Some days it felt like she never got out of this kitchen and Drew never got off the range. Today he hadn’t even made it back for lunch, and dinner was hours away.

She’d almost think he was avoiding her, except that when they were together, he smiled more. Shared more about his day. Listened to her share about her own.

“Hey, Marshal.” Ed’s surprised voice floated through the open kitchen window. Kaitlyn had already learned that May wasn’t a good time for visits on a ranch. The work list was long, and spring in Wyoming was all too short. They hadn’t made it to town since the picnic a week and a half ago.

Kaitlyn stacked the plates into the soap-water basin. Dishes could wait. She looked around the kitchen, then snatched the lid off the cookie jar, breathing a sigh of relief. David hadn’t emptied it yet. She piled cookies onto a plate, ladled water into the teapot, and placed it on the stove. They’d have tea shortly.

Rap, rap, rap.

Her first visitor in her new home. Kaitlyn forced herself into a normal pace across the living room to the front door. Skipping would hardly give her visitor a good impression of her maturity, after all. She opened the door, and Danna stepped inside, the end of her dark braid swinging along the waistband of her pants. Kaitlyn gestured toward the parlor. “Hi, Marshal. Come on in. I’ve got tea warming and cookies waiting. I’m so glad to see you.”

“No need to stand on formality. Coffee in the kitchen will be fine.” The marshal didn’t return Kaitlyn’s smile. She stepped inside and examined the room, then her gaze swept Kaitlyn.

Disquiet pinged through Kaitlyn’s heart. Danna was the closest law enforcement officer. Was this not a social visit? She pushed her doubts aside. The marshal had been friendly at the church picnic. Just because she was an officer didn’t mean she was here on business.

Kaitlyn gestured toward the door. “The kitchen is through there.”

Danna’s posture would have made a finishing school graduate jealous as she passed through the dining room, but her walk was businesslike. Kaitlyn’s gaze settled on the gun belt Danna wore around her hips. She bit her lip. Surely this was only a social call.

Kaitlyn followed her through the kitchen door, but she could not bring herself to hurry.

The teakettle whistled. “I’ll just, um, take the teakettle off. The coffee’s always hot.” Kaitlyn grabbed a kitchen towel and moved the teakettle, then grabbed the coffeepot. Danna leaned against the counter.

“Do you take your coffee black?”

Danna nodded. Kaitlyn filled two coffee cups. “It’s so good to see you. Thanks for stopping by.”

Danna quickly scanned the kitchen, as if categorizing evidence in a case. Queasiness tried to rob Kaitlyn of her appetite. She pressed a hand to her stomach but controlled her expression. She was overreacting, surely. She’d left any danger far behind. “Have a cookie?” She nudged the plate toward the marshal.

“None for me, thanks.” Danna took a sip of her coffee, then put the cup back on the counter. “Tell me, Kaitlyn, what brought you west?”

The hairs on the back of Kaitlyn’s neck stood up. How could she answer that? No one around Calvin needed to know what Kaitlyn had left behind. She sipped from her cup, hiding as much of her expression as she could from the too-observant marshal. “I came here to marry Drew. You know that.”

“Were you leaving trouble behind you?”

Her breath caught, but she met Danna’s gaze steadily. “I suspect nearly every woman who agrees to be a mail-order bride is leaving some kind of trouble behind her.”

“Kaitlyn, I got a wire from a man claiming to be your brother.”

The cookie Kaitlyn had eaten threatened to make a reappearance. She wanted to squeeze her eyes closed, wanted to go back in time to lunch and ask Drew if she and the kids could join him on the range. Anything but to be here and realize her hiding place was threatened. She swallowed hard.

Danna’s gaze sharpened. Not that she had missed much before.

Kaitlyn forced her breathing to steady. “Michael Montgomery is my half-brother.” Why did she bother? No one had ever cared about the distinction besides her.

Her attorney must have told him where she was. She had thought that would be privileged information.

Maybe she needed a new lawyer.

“He claims you ran from a fine home,” Danna said. “That you weren’t in your right mind. That you might have been coerced into marriage.”

Coerced into marriage. The words sent a shudder through her. The only person who’d tried to coerce her was Michael himself.

If he knew to wire the marshal in Calvin, he could find her on the McGraws’ ranch. Nearly everyone in town had seen her with Drew and the children at the picnic.

Drew. The kids. The ranch. They were all in danger now.

Her first instinct was to run, and she found her gaze already out the window, whirling with wild thoughts.

If Michael could find her here, was anywhere safe?

Drew. Where are you? I need you.

Danna rested a hand on her shoulder. “I’d ask if you’re in trouble, but I think the answer to that is clear.”

Kaitlyn nodded. Her voice seemed frozen.

“Did Drew force you to marry him?”

“You know him better than that.”

It’d be closer to the truth to say that she’d cajoled Drew into her way of thinking, but admitting that wouldn’t help the situation.

Danna’s tension eased. “I do, but I had to ask. How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-three.”

Danna studied her. “Old enough for the wedding to be legal, then. Why would your brother think you were coerced?” She took another sip of coffee, then put the cup on the preparation table. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

The words were steady, comforting, but she’d no doubt be like all the others, seeing only the smiling surface of Michael, never understanding what lurked beneath.

Except…everyone else had watched Michael grow up. Remembered the charming little boy he’d been, when it had suited him. And it suited him with most everyone outside of family. But Danna knew Kaitlyn first.

Hope rose within her too fast to be squelched. Maybe this time she had a chance. Michael had only just started spreading his lies.

Besides, hadn’t Drew said something about Danna? The snippet of conversation floated just out of reach for a moment before it came into focus. The marshal can be trusted, he’d said.

Kaitlyn’s eyes burned, but she refused to dash the foolish tears from them, instead blinking them away. They wouldn’t serve her here. “My brother is…difficult. In public, he pretends to be a concerned brother, but in private he is anything but. He’s struck me before. Locked me in a closet.” Her pulse raced as memories of the times Michael had left bruises on her skin, spread lies about her, or locked her in a confined space flew through her mind. No one had ever listened to her.

Except Drew. Her husband had heard her story and called Michael worthless. Maybe Danna would listen too.

She forced herself to meet Danna’s eyes. The marshal was still listening, anyway. “Everything my father left—it’s all gone. Michael gambled it away. We were living on the allowance my mother arranged from my own inheritance.” She straightened a bit. “The money that she left to me, not him, but our lawyer controls it until I turn twenty-five. Unless I marry.”

Danna’s eyes narrowed. “I’m guessing he didn’t like the idea of you controlling it.”

Kaitlyn nodded.

“And he tried to get you declared incompetent?”

Incompetent? Where had Danna come up with…oh, the wire. “No, he had a better idea. Seems his friend held most of his debts. He agreed to forgive them if I, well, if I married him. I couldn’t though. I just couldn’t. He’s a vile man. So I left.”

Danna straightened from the counter. “And you figured if you became a mail-order bride, your brother wouldn’t be able to touch you.”

“Yes. Especially if I lived far enough away, I didn’t think he would travel there.” Kaitlyn shrugged. “In person, Michael seems so reasonable, so honest. When you meet him, you’ll doubt everything I said. I promise you will.”

Danna’s head tilted, and she gave a slight nod. “Oh. He’s one of those. I’ve met a few in my career.” She thought for a moment. “But maybe you should send him a wire. Nothing much. Just let him know you’re happy here. It would help settle the gossip around town as well.”

Kaitlyn sank into her chair. “Gossip? What did the telegram say?”

“Only what I told you, but I’m afraid our telegraph operator isn’t as discreet as he should be.”

“So now everyone is talking about Drew forcing me to marry him.”

Danna nodded.

Kaitlyn’s heart turned to lead inside her chest. After Drew had worked so hard to overcome the rumors about Amanda, she’d landed him in a new pile of gossip. When would she learn? Michael always got his way.

Danna took a cookie from the plate. “I need to get back to town. If you give me a message, I’ll see that it’s sent today.”

Kaitlyn’s throat burned and thoughts raced through her mind almost faster than she could register them. Confirm her location to tame the gossip? Or continue to hide and hope for the best? Maybe her brother had sent that wire to multiple law offices. She shook her head. “I need time to decide.”

Danna said goodbye, and Kaitlyn returned to the kitchen. She pulled a plate from the soap-water basin, then wiped it with the dishrag. If only she could clean up her life as easily. Her stomach churned and her mind spun.

What would Michael’s next step be? He’d implied she wasn’t in her right mind. There had to be a reason for it. To ruin her reputation? Deprive her of friendships and support in the area? An image of the family walking into church next Sunday and all the people who had been so friendly at the picnic now turning their backs to her seared her heart. She’d lived that particular torture once before.

Except, it wouldn’t be her alone that was affected this time.

What if the townspeople turned their backs on the McGraws?

She dropped the plate she held, the water splashing her dress. She placed a hand on the dry sink to steady herself.

How could she bring ruin to this family? To little Tillie, who wouldn’t understand why her friends ostracized her. To David, whose friends had been determined to be next to break a horse. To Jo, who was already having difficulty with girls her age.

And to Kaitlyn’s husband, who was trying so hard to be everything his family needed.

Husband .

She sank into the nearest chair. Michael had mentioned marriage, somehow knew about Drew, so he knew she was here. Which meant she couldn’t stay.

* * *

Drew rounded the corner of the fenced-off garden spot and approached the backyard. The marshal had just left. Kaitlyn would serve visitors refreshments, so he’d have to hustle if he wanted to find any cookies left in the jar after Danna stopped by. He grinned. He wasn’t sure if Kaitlyn still thought the kids were to blame for her baked goods disappearing or if she only pretended she didn’t know that Drew and his brothers also swiped them when given half a chance.

“Told ya she’d leave.”

Drew paused at the sound of Jo’s voice coming from the backyard. The gloating tone that could only be aimed at one of her siblings. He sighed. Not again.

“She is n-not. You’re l-lying, Jo!”

Tillie, Jo’s favorite target, and near tears, no less. Drew moved close enough to see the girls taking clothes down from the line and piling them in baskets. He might have to intervene, but Tillie needed to learn to stand up for herself.

“I saw her packing. Good riddance too. We don’t need her.” Jo stretched to reach another clothespin. Tillie wiped her eyes, her shoulders shaking.

Drew squared his shoulders. Much as he might like to ignore the squabble, Kaitlyn had taught him better. He joined his daughters and laid a hand on Tillie’s shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“Jo s-said—” Tillie wrapped her arms around his leg and hid her face. “Jo said—” The little girl dissolved into tears.

He smothered a sigh and looked sternly at his older daughter. “Jo said what?”

“I told her Kaitlyn’s leaving.” Jo’s voice sounded serious now, but her expression remained smug. “Ma left. Why wouldn’t Kaitlyn?”

That didn’t make sense. Just last night she’d told him her plans for the kids’ lessons for May. She’d even asked when she and the kids could help with the herd again.

Drew shook his head. Those weren’t the actions of a woman looking to escape but of a woman planning ways to better the place she lived. “What makes you think she’s leaving?”

“I heard her talking to Miss Danna. Then I saw her packing.”

Tillie sobbed harder. He rubbed his hand across her back, slow and steady, just like he’d do with a frightened horse. Who knew his skill with animals could help him comfort his children? “Jo, the problem with eavesdropping is you don’t get the whole story. And I know you didn’t see her packing.”

“I did too.”

“How can you stand there and lie to my face?” Drew struggled to keep his voice level.

Jo stomped her foot. “I’m not lying. Kaitlyn’s in the house packing. If Ma wouldn’t stay, why’d you think Kaitlyn would? Ma was lots better than her. She loved us.”

Drew wanted to stamp his own foot. “Jo, be quiet.”

Jo ran from the yard, heading toward the woods.

Tillie hiccuped. “Is she really leaving, Pa? I don’t want her to go.”

“Kaitlyn isn’t leaving, Tillie. I’m going to go inside and figure out what’s going on. Are you all right?”

Two more tears tracked down Tillie’s face, but she nodded.

Drew glanced at the path Jo had taken, then shook his head. He didn’t have time to track her down right now. Besides, he still had no idea what Jo needed from him. Tillie was easier.

Since when do you take the easy way, McGraw?

Since talking to Jo might mean telling her what her mother had really been like. He shuddered. No child should have to know that her mother hadn’t wanted any of them.

He moved through the silent kitchen, then passed the dining room table, where Kaitlyn and the kids worked on lessons. The parlor chair where she curled up, enjoying his copy of Tom Sawyer . He’d never have to wonder what to get for her birthday. Twain had written a lot of books.

Her birthday. When was it, anyway? He’d have to find out, make sure her day was special. And Christmas. She’d want to do something special for the kids that day, no doubt. It’d be his job to make sure she wasn’t forgotten. It’d take a few years before he’d have to find another author.

He stopped in the parlor. Since when did a business deal include worrying about Christmas gifts? Probably about the same time it started including sharing stories of their days and the kids’ exploits.

He set his jaw. Somehow, friendship had snuck through the fences he’d erected, but it stopped there. Not that Kaitlyn was likely to fall in love with him. No one had thought he was worth a lifetime commitment.

He knocked on the door to her room.

She opened the door a foot, just wide enough for him to see into the room behind her.

Her trunk lay half filled on her bed.