Eden Page 15

  Katie could hardly contain herself on the long ride back to the ranch, so keen was she to begin the planting on the following day, for Berta had said that the tomatoes must go into the ground right away. It would be a daily task to water them for the first little while, at least until they got a good spring shower to dampen the whole garden.

  Their arrival at the ranch was accomplished in time for preparations for supper, as Berta said when they turned into the long lane that ran toward the ranch buildings. She began telling Katie what they would fix, letting her know that she and John were more than welcome to join with the ranch family for the evening repast. But Katie’s mind was seized by another matter as the wagon turned the corner of the house and the porch appeared in her line of vision.

  Upon the back step of Bill Stanley’s big house sat a young girl, brown-haired and thin, seeming to shrink within the dowdy, homespun bit of apparel she wore. Her head was bent, her hands folded in her lap. A single word passed by Katie’s lips and it brought John’s attention to her with a swift motion of his head.

  “Jane.” She swallowed hard and then repeated the name, more loudly this time. “Jane.” The speaking of the word caught the attention of the child, for surely she was not more than fifteen years of age, John thought, and she looked up at the approaching wagon. Her eyes lit with pleasure as she caught sight of Katie and she stood, unmoving for a moment, as if she were unsure of her welcome, and then as Katie uttered a cry of happiness, Jane ran to the wagon and Katie almost fell off the seat, so eager was she to be on the ground.

  They hugged and whispered excitedly together as John watched, Berta alert to a major occasion here, and then Katie turned Jane to face the couple who sat on the seat and observed their reunion. “John, Berta, this is Jane, my sister.”

  “Didn’t know you had one,” Berta said shortly, but her brusque words were tempered by a smile as she nodded greetings at the newcomer. John grinned and dropped to the ground.

  “Hello there, Jane. Good to meet you. Katie’s told me about you, but I’ll have to admit I’m a little surprised to see you here.”

  The girl shivered and her eyes filled with quick tears. “Can I stay? At least long enough to see Katie for a bit? I’ve missed her a lot, mister, and I just couldn’t stand it no more without seeing her.”

  John was puzzled. Whether or not Jane was here as a runaway or had come for a visit, he wasn’t sure, but he suspected that the Schraders were not aware of her presence here. And said as much.

  “Your folks know where you are, Jane?”

  She paled and shot a quick look at Katie. “I ran off. I was afraid of what—”

  Her sudden pause alerted John and he touched her shoulder, a touch she flinched from, causing his eyebrows to lift a bit. And yet, it was a familiar reaction, he realized, for Katie had been in much the same condition when he’d first found her.

  “What were you afraid of, Jane?” he asked quietly, lowering his voice so they would not be overheard. Berta sauntered to the back of the wagon and called out to Ben, one of the hands who had walked up from the barn to get the wagon and team, and asked his help in taking the supplies into the house. Leaving Katie, Jane and John to their discussion, she directed proceedings and in short order the wagon was emptied, the tomato plants on the porch and the foodstuffs in the kitchen.

  Jane trembled as she looked up into John’s face, and even as he watched, her skin pebbled as chills ran over her body. “I was afraid to stay there any longer, sir. Things were getting mighty bad and I was afeared of what old man Schrader was gonna do to me next.”

  “Was he beating on you?” Katie asked quickly, touching Jane’s arms and bending close to check the young flesh that was discolored and stained with dirt. She brushed at a dark spot and looked up with fire in her eyes. “He hit you with a board or something, didn’t he?”

  Jane only nodded and tears began to flow, as if she had held them in as long as was possible, and the simple query had been enough to prime the pump and turn the deluge free. She bent her head, making no attempt to halt the waterworks, and Katie reached for her, holding her close and whispering gently in her ear.

  And then she looked up at John, and her eyes pleaded silently for that which was the cry of her heart. “John, don’t make her go back. Please, John.”

  “Katie, don’t you know me better than that? I wouldn’t do such a thing. She’s your sister. Of course she can stay,” he said.

  Katie released Jane from her embrace and stepped closer to her husband, reaching to touch his face—her fingers against his lips.

  “Don’t say any more, John. I should have known better than to doubt you for a minute. You’re so much a part of my life, sometimes I forget how much I depend on you to always do the right thing. I know you’ll take care of both of us—both me and my sister.”

  John bent a bit, dropping a quick kiss on her forehead. “You’ve got it right, Katie. I’ll always be here for you.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  IT WAS LATE EVENING before the tub of water was drained off onto the ground by the back porch of the little cabin. John had filled it with hot water from the reservoir on the cookstove and Katie pumped cold water from the kitchen sink’s pitcher pump to cool it for Jane’s bath, and then John had disappeared. The two girls spent an industrious half hour, with Jane in the tub, Katie washing her hair and using her new bar of soap to ensure that her sister would look clean and smell good by bedtime.

  The thought of such luxury was obviously an unknown to Jane and she made much of the soap, sniffing the suds on her hands and then washing her face until her eyes watered from the soap that would not stay out of her eyes. With tender, gentle touches, Katie helped her to dry off, frowning as she caught sight of several large bruises on Jane’s backside and upper legs.

  “He had a good time whacking at you, didn’t he?” she muttered, not needing an answer to her accusation to know the truth of the matter.

  “Wasn’t too bad,” Jane said sullenly. “I’ve seen a lot worse on you in the old days.”

  “No more of it, though,” Katie said sharply. “I decided the night I walked away from there that I’d die before I went back, and if by some chance he ever got ahold of me again, I’d shoot him, right where he stood.”

  “That’s murder,” Jane said, stricken, as she lifted her head from the towel that had been drying her hair.

  “Just a good payback, to my mind,” Katie said. “The man ought to be gut-shot and left to die, to my way of thinking.”

  Jane considered that idea for a moment and then nodded firmly. “Guess I’ll have to agree with you. He sure is one nasty man.”

  “He’s not a man. He’s no more than a worm,” Katie said with fire in her voice. “John is a man, and let me tell you it’s like night and day to compare the two of them.”

  “I didn’t want to be nosy, Katie, but I gotta know how you met him, and how come he brought you home with him like he did.” Her laughter rang out, clear and spontaneous. “You shoulda heard the hubbub when the Schraders found out what had happened. They thought you’d run off, sure enough, when you weren’t there in the morning, but it took ’em a couple of days to find out that you’d got tied up with John Roper and were living out here on the Stanley place. And then when she came back from town after you had to go see the judge, she was having a regular fit, saying that John was gonna force you into marriage and you was nothing but a slave for him.”

  Nudging a chair into place, Katie put a towel-wrapped Jane onto it and then worked at drying her hair. Within ten minutes, she had divulged the whole of her story, leaving private portions where they belonged, in the secret places of her heart.

  “So after they found out that they couldn’t get me back from John, old Jacob got himself tossed in jail for a week and we came home,” she finished with a flourish, pulling her brush through Jane’s tangled locks.

  “And was Agnes ever mad,” Jane repeated with a muffled laugh. “She had a pea-pickin’ fit over the whole thing
. Told me she’d get you paid back, one way or another.” And then her laughter quit, and she looked up at Katie with fear on her face. “You don’t think she’ll hurt you, do you? Can she get to you?”

  Katie shook her head. “Not so long as John’s alive, and he’s not about to lay down and die anytime soon, barring an accident.” That thought sobered her as she spoke and she slid another chair nearby and sat by her sister. “I worry about him some days, but he says not to, that he’s got something to live for, what with me here with him and our house all getting fixed up and having everything so nice.”

  “You’re sure enough lucky, ain’t ya? But I’m not jealous, Katie. I promise you I’m not. I just think it’s grand that you got out when you did. I’m afraid that old Jacob had plans for you that weren’t nice at all. He was so mad when you left, said he’d just got you raised to a good age and now you were gone when you coulda been some use to him.”

  Katie was puzzled. “What do you suppose he meant by that?” And then her face cleared. “I’ll ask John what he thinks. Maybe he can figure it out.”

  “Well, whatever it was, I’ll doggone guarantee you it wasn’t something good,” Jane said bitterly. “He was already startin’ in on maulin’ on me. Tried to climb in my bed the other night. That’s when I knew I had to get out of there. One of the boys at school was talking about stuff one day and the boys were laughing about pokin’ at girls and what they’d do to some girl who was willing to let them.”

  “Pokin’at girls? What on earth are they talking about?”

  Jane gave her a long look. “I swear, Katie. For such a smart girl, you sure don’t have much of any idea how men’s minds work, do you?”

  “Only John’s,” Katie said with a warm smile. “And I like the way he—Oh, my.” The memory of what might be involved in the poking process occurred to her suddenly, and she felt her face redden and then shivered with distaste at the thought of such a thing in connection with Jacob Schrader.

  “You don’t think Jacob would have…” She shuddered again and buried her face in her hands.

  “I think he would have done a lot of things, given a chance. If old Agnes didn’t keep such an eagle eye on him, he’d probably have been even worse than he was.”

  Katie’s eyes lit with a militant light. “You’re not going back there, no matter what. You’ll stay here or something, but you’ll not be back in that house again.”

  “We can’t always do what we want, Katie. I don’t relish the idea, but unless I have somewhere to go, I might get dragged back.”

  “Not if we have to go live in a cave in the hills,” Katie said stoutly. “I’ll talk to John. Maybe he’ll have an idea. Besides, won’t they be wondering where you are at school when you don’t show up pretty soon?”

  “My teacher said I’m doing real good,” Jane said with a trace of pride. “I told her I wanted to learn how to be a teacher someday and she said I could go to Normal school and get a certificate to do the job. Said it wouldn’t take long, not more than two years at the most. But I know the Schraders won’t hear of it. And it costs a lot of money, I’ll warrant.”

  “Well, you need to be back in school. Land sakes, you’re almost ready to finish, and heaven knows you’re a smart one, Jane. I’d be so proud if you could be a real teacher.”

  “I sure wish I’d thought to bring my schoolbooks with me when I left there yesterday,” Jane said. “I just skedaddled with the clothes on my back and a sackful of stuff I could carry.” She looked stricken for a minute. “I left it under the back porch when I got here. Maybe I can sneak out after a while and collect it. I’ll scrub stuff out in your bucket if I can. My things need washin’ real bad.”

  “We’ll get the washtub out in the morning and fill it with good hot water,” Katie said. “I’ve got John’s things to do up anyway and we’ll put up a line between the trees out back if it’s nice out. If not, they’ll dry on the porch.”

  “You sure got it nice here,” Jane said, looking around the neat kitchen, running an admiring hand over the cheery oilcloth Katie had put on the table, the first thing she had added after moving into the cabin. And then she ran her hand over the six yards of fabric Katie had brought home for new curtains.

  “I’ll cut these to length tomorrow and sit down and sew them up first thing, once we get your clothes into some hot water,” she told Jane.

  “You done a good job, Katie fixing this place up. Looks real homey, like.”

  Katie preened silently and then couldn’t resist a bit of bragging. “My John says he never had it so good. He’s proud as can be.”

  “Your John is a lucky man,” came a low, deep voice from outside the back screened door.

  Katie jumped up and spun around. “John. You scared me to death.”

  “Serves you right for talking about me when I can’t even defend myself,” he said with a grin, opening the door and stepping into the kitchen.

  “I was just telling Katie how nice you’ve made it for her,” Jane said quietly, her eyes unable to meet the gentle blue of John’s gaze. As though she had been well trained to keep her eyes downcast and her thoughts to herself, she spoke hesitantly, yet her words were sincere.

  “Katie’s done her own nesting, Jane. I just gave her a place to do it in. What you see around you is the result of her skill.”

  “I’m not all that good at stuff, John,” Katie said, chastising him abruptly. “You’re just trying to make me look good to my sister.”

  “I don’t have to do a thing to make you seem what you are, Katie,” he told her with a smile that belied his scolding words. “You are talented and smart. I’m not telling tales when I say that, and I’m sure that Jane would agree with me. She knows you probably far better than I. She knows what strength and courage it took for you to leave the place where you lived and strike out on your own. And I’ll guarantee she’s more than aware that you’ve made your own way here, with me. That you’ve been the best wife you could be to me and taken care of me.”

  Jane laughed aloud and her eyes crinkled with the sound of her happiness for her sister. “You surely do know a lot of pretty words to say, John. No wonder Katie’s so taken with you. She’s thinking the sun shines right out of those blue eyes of yours, and I can’t say as I blame her. You’ve made her into a new person, what with her smiling all the time and being so happy. I’m thankful, and more than pleased for her.”

  For the second time in his life, John Roper was smitten. Smitten to the core, by the lissome charms of a young woman who had not even achieved eighteen years of age, whose stature was small, whose frame was slender, but whose heart was as big as the back forty, and maybe even measured larger than that. And if he wasn’t careful, he’d be letting this little girl gain a place of too much importance to him. It wouldn’t pay to accept her at face value, any more than he would any other person in his life. But allowing her the presence of her sister in her life would surely be a small thing to do for Katie.

  Perhaps he could see if Bill Stanley would allow him to keep Jane here. Katie would be able to offer her sister the shelter the girl so desperately needed. And it was possible that Jacob and Agnes Schrader would keep their hands off the pair of girls and allow them the freedom they had fought so hard to gain.

  And maybe pigs would fly.

  He smiled at his own foolishness. It was gonna be a tough row to hoe no matter what he did about the situation. First off he’d better check with Bill, then know what he could offer to Jane before he made any promises to Katie concerning her sister.

  Bedtime found Jane on a pallet in front of the cookstove, a pillow offered by Berta beneath her head and a warm quilt pulled up over her shoulders. Katie eyed her with concern. “Sure wish we had another bed to offer you, but this is the best we can do for tonight. It’s either this or the sofa.” And Jane had turned down that offer, seeking the warmth of the big stove instead.

  Berta had offered a bedroom in the big house, a plan to which Bill Stanley had nodded his approval after a l
ong, searching look in John’s direction. But Jane had turned hands down on that idea, stating that she’d rather be near Katie, where she could keep a good eye on things. And made John wonder privately just how long Jane had been doing such a thing, for the girl seemed to have an almost maternal instinct where Katie was concerned. Their relationship was a mutual thing, it seemed, for Katie’s concerns were real and valid, and the assumption that they would tend to each other seemed deeply ingrained in each.

  The bedroom door was closed, a condition they had not set into place before, instead allowing the heat from the main room to raise the cold temperature in the room they slept in. But John wanted his privacy, and he wanted to be able to speak with Katie if needed, without the benefit of an audience.

  And so, in the dark they found each other beneath the covers, the big man with gentle hands and the girl with a desperate need for those hands to touch her and assure her of her position in his life. He might say the words, and say them well, but it was the warmth of John’s caresses and the strength of his tender touch that assured her of his need and made her yearn toward him nightly.

  He held her close in the middle of the bed, his mouth touching her hairline, there where her temple smelled sweet and fragile, where her life’s blood throbbed in a steady rhythm. His lips touched the skin, brushed through her thick eyebrows and then made a fanciful trail down to the tip of her nose.

  She giggled softly and scolded him. “John, don’t be doing foolish stuff tonight. You don’t want Jane to hear you making monkeyshines in here, monkey-doodling around like you do.”

  His whisper was a vibrant temptation in her ear. “And why not, young lady. You’re my wife and I like to monkey-doodle around with you. And what does that mean anyway? Monkey-doodle, indeed. What a word to attach to what we do in this bed.”