Texas Lawman Read online

  “We’ll have your first milking lesson after supper,” Colleen told her. Her glance touched on Brace as she spoke. “And you, too, Sheriff. Let’s see if you remember the skill.”

  “I’m game,” Brace said. “Now I want you ladies to come over here and admire the lean-to we built for our new surrey. Not to mention the addition we’ve laid out.”

  “A new surrey?” Sarah asked.

  “I mentioned it before,” Brace told her. “The day your folks arrived. I’ve already ordered it from Amos, and he tells me it should be here by the end of the month.”

  “What about somewhere to store the wagon?” she asked.

  “There’ll be room inside for that,” Brace told her. “We’re enlarging the whole place to double its size.” He bent closer and his words were hushed. “Your father has rather grand ideas, and I’m not about to stop him.”

  “You’d better put a bridle on him,” Colleen said. “He gets carried away sometimes.”

  “We can use all the space he builds,” Brace told her. “Sarah’s mare is next on the list, and a team to pull the surrey.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened. “You’re extravagant, Mr. Caulfield.”

  “No,” he said. “Just providing for my family.”

  Supper was late, what with the flurry of activity in the shed, and it was almost dark by the time the table was cleared and the dishes put in the pan.

  “We’ll do these later,” Sarah said. “I’m anxious to see our first milk produced.”

  The shiny new pail they used was over half full when she carried it to the washroom an hour later. “The cream will rise nicely for butter,” Colleen said. “We can churn tomorrow.”

  “After we take some for our oatmeal,” Sarah said, thinking of Brace’s affinity for the hot cereal. “And some for our coffee. I’ll be so glad not to have to buy it by the pint at the general store. And Stephen can have all the milk he wants to drink.” Her smile told of pride in the new venture, as Brace came in the door.

  “Doesn’t take much to make her happy, does it?” he asked Colleen.

  “Never did,” her mother answered. “She was always easy to please. Sierra was the stubborn one, head-strong and impatient if things didn’t move along as quickly as she liked. Sarah seemed willing to sit back and enjoy every day as it came along.” She looked at her daughter with admiration gleaming in her gaze. “I’ll bet you’ve found that to be true, haven’t you, Sheriff?”

  Brace thought for a moment. “For the most part,” he said. “But you should have been here when we first met. She was dead set on having her own way. I ended up putting her in jail, right off.”

  Colleen looked properly stunned. “In jail? In a cell?”

  “Sure did,” Brace said agreeably. “She spent a night there, while I sorted things out. She was determined to shoot Lester, and I couldn’t let her follow through with that.”

  “No, I suppose not,” Colleen said slowly, “but I wonder if it wouldn’t have solved a lot of problems if someone had aimed a gun at him a long time ago.”

  “Now, that sort of talk will get you in trouble,” Brace said with a grin. “Though I have to admit, I agree with you.”

  “This blood bay is a beautiful piece of horseflesh,” Joshua said emphatically a week or so later as they watched the new addition racing across the pasture. “I wouldn’t mind having one like it myself.”

  “I didn’t know you rode,” Brace said. “And where would you put one in the city, anyway?”

  “I had a horse when I was younger,” Joshua told him. “Learned to ride when I was just a tadpole. My pa put me on a pony when I was about four years old.” He sighed. “I’d give a bundle to have a place out of the city, a few acres where Colleen and I could raise chickens and a garden and have some horses.”

  He looked abashed as Brace smiled. “I’m just a dreamer, I suspect. But it seems that life is passing us by and we’re living in a big old house, rattling around in it all by ourselves. I hate to think about going home and leaving all of you behind.”

  “No one said you had to leave,” Brace told him. “I’ll bet you could find a few acres hereabouts, if that’s what you’d like. Benning is a good place to put down roots, and it’s never too late for that. There are a couple of small places outside of town for sale. It might be worth your while to take a look, see if either of them would be suitable for you.”

  Joshua looked brighter, Brace thought, his eyes gleaming as if an idea were burning to be brought to fruition. “Maybe I’ll just do that,” he said. “If Colleen would be willing to leave her garden club behind and start all over.”

  “She can have flowers here,” Brace told him. “And I’d say Benning is about ready for a garden club. I’ll bet she could organize these ladies in no time flat.”

  “You really wouldn’t mind if we did such a thing?” Joshua asked. “We wouldn’t be in your way?”

  “Not as long as you know how to use a hammer and saw, and remember how to be a grandpa to Stephen.”

  “That’d be the best part of the whole thing, I suspect,” Joshua said slowly. “Stephen could spend time with us, and Colleen would be in hog heaven, baking cookies for him and sewing shirts and pants. She’s missed him terribly for the past months, ever since Lester came one day and marched off with him.

  “I thought Sarah was going to fall apart. She’d been taking care of the boy ever since Sierra died, and it was like losing her own child.”

  “Well, she considers him her own now,” Brace said. “Mine, too. I don’t think a child of my own blood could mean more to me.”

  “Speaking of which, is such a thing in the offing?” Joshua asked hopefully.

  “One of these days,” Brace said confidentially. “I sure hope so, anyway,” he added slowly. “Sarah would be a wonderful mother.”

  “She already is,” Joshua told him. “She was born to be a mother, and being with Stephen has her well trained for raising her own.”

  The men worked on, sorting out the tack room, setting aside bits and pieces of leather to be mended and cleaned. A secondhand harness for the team to draw the surrey had been purchased, and Brace was eager for its use to begin.

  “Shall we go in and put your idea to a vote?” he asked Joshua.

  “You mean about living here permanently?” the older man asked.

  “The very one,” Brace said with a laugh. “I suspect it will meet with rousing approval from the rest of the family.”

  His opinion proved to be valid. Colleen leaned to kiss her husband fervently as he spoke of moving from Big Rapids to Benning. “I believe she likes my scheme,” he said, grinning widely.

  “Just stay where you are,” Colleen told him with a laugh. “I’ll hug you later.”

  “Promises, promises,” her husband said ruefully. And then he cast her a look that held a vow of intent. “I’ll hold you to it, sugar.”

  “You never called my grandma that before,” Stephen said, all agog as the adults bandied words back and forth.

  “You’d be surprised what your grandpa has called me over the past years,” Colleen told the boy. “He’s quite a romantic fellow when he gets going.”

  “Sugar?” Stephen said, rolling the word on his tongue. “My pa calls Aunt Sarah his sweetheart sometimes. I suppose it means about the same thing, don’t it?”

  “Just about,” Brace agreed with a quick look at Joshua.

  The adults sat at the table for an hour, discussing the possibilities of the move, until Stephen finally spoke his mind. “I think we need to just decide you’ll move here, Grandpa, and then we can go in the parlor so Aunt Sarah can read to us.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Brace said. “Let’s all lend a hand clearing up and we can get our book in about ten minutes flat.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I’ve written something I’d like you to look at, Sarah.” Brace held a sheaf of papers in his hand and sat down across the table from his wife. To her surprise, his hand trembled a bit as he handed her the resu
lts of his endeavors.

  Sarah placed the epistle on the table before her, for indeed that was what Brace’s efforts had produced. It was a letter to his family, and under the date June 15, 1901, was the salutation “Dear Mother and Dad.” The handwriting was a bit sprawling, but each letter had been carefully formed, and the sentences he’d written were lined up meticulously on the unlined paper as if he’d taken special pains to be neat.

  It was not standard cursive writing, but a blend of printing and the use of formed letters such as they’d practiced during long hours at the kitchen table.

  Sarah read it quickly, her heart pounding in her chest, her smile giving away her absolute pride in her star pupil. As she reached the final line, she sighed and her index finger traced lightly over the words he’d put together.

  “I’m so proud of you, I could burst,” she said, her voice breaking on the words as she tucked the pages into her pocket. And then she rose and walked to where he sat, bending to hold him close.

  “We can do better than that,” he said, laughing as though something had pleased him immensely. For indeed it had. Sarah saw the look of satisfaction on his face, noted the pride in himself he could not conceal and found herself close to tears.

  Brace pushed his chair back from the table and pulled her into his lap. He held her close, her face pressed next to his, his mouth speaking against her ear, even as his lips found tender flesh there to bless with his kisses.

  She curled against him, content to be close to the man she loved, uncaring if the rest of the family should find them so engrossed in each other. In fact, she had discovered over the past weeks that her own parents found great pleasure in each other’s company, something she had heretofore not been aware of, at least on a conscious level. She’d always known that there existed a great deal of love in their family, but the relationship between her parents had remained a mystery to her, as though she could not allow her mind to accept their loving each other in the same way she and Brace found joy in their marriage.

  Now she took her ease in his embrace, proud of the man he was and even prouder of the intelligence that had allowed him to progress so far in his education. “Can we mail it out tomorrow?” she asked, and was pleased by his quick nod of assent.

  She took it from her apron pocket and unfolded it with care, then read again the words he’d taken such pains to write.

  It was a summation of his life, wrapped up neatly in a logical fashion, beginning with his taking the job representing the law in Benning, and continuing on to his marriage to Sarah. He spoke with pride of Stephen, gave the details of the arrival of Sarah’s parents and their plans to stay on in Benning. But the highlight of his letter was his description of Sarah herself, of her beauty, her abilities and the happiness she’d brought to his life.

  Sarah read it for the second time, more slowly than her first perusal of it, and felt her eyes fill with tears as she folded it again and slipped it back into her pocket.

  “I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Brace told her, wiping her eyes with his white handkerchief, freshly ironed that very morning.

  “I’m so proud of you,” she whispered. “Your mother will be pleased by this, you know.”

  “I hope so. I’ve sent mail home before, but always had to have someone else write the letters for me. In fact, a year or so ago, my family was talking about sending me a wife. I suspect they thought I wasn’t bright enough to find my own bride. I think maybe that’s why I wanted to let them know how happy I am with you, and what a wonderful woman you are.”

  “You flatter me,” she said, and then grinned and kissed the tip of his nose. “But I love it.” Her mouth caressed his then, and it was several seconds before the sound of her mother’s voice penetrated her concentration.

  “Sarah?” Standing in the kitchen doorway, Colleen looked at her daughter hesitantly. “Am I interrupting?”

  “We can continue this discussion later,” Brace said quickly, and Sarah was very much aware of the crimson that ridged his cheekbones and the measure of his arousal that pressed against her bottom. He held her firmly where she sat, and she did not quibble with him, satisfied to remain in place.

  “What is it, Mother?” Sarah asked, aware that Colleen was excited about something, given her gleaming smile.

  “Stephen’s dog has arrived,” Colleen said. “Nicholas just drove up in their buggy and brought him around the back.”

  “Where’s Stephen?” Brace asked, apparently changing his mind about Sarah’s spot on his lap, lifting her to stand beside him.

  “Out in back. Where did you think he’d be?” Colleen asked. “Sitting on the ground with a lap full of puppy, all shiny eyed and happy as a lark.”

  “It’s a good thing he’s out of school,” Sarah said with a laugh. “He’s going to be one busy boy training that dog for the next little while. At least it will take a load from my shoulders, teaching him where to do his duty.”

  “Well, that’s a polite way of putting it,” Brace said with a lifted brow. “Let’s go take a look, ma’am. I think he’ll be wanting to show off a little.”

  Indeed, the boy wore a look of pride, his hands full of a wiggling, squirming pup. It had grown considerably since their first encounter—it was almost five weeks old now, Nicholas said, and very smart.

  “I thought he might be too young to take from his mother, but he’s caught on to eating from a pan and seems quite independent to me,” he said. “I knew that Stephen was anxious to get his hands on him, so I told Lin I’d bring him into town with me.” He cut a quick glance at Brace and grinned. “She had to tell him goodbye and shed a few tears over him. It’s going to be hard on her when the last one goes to a new owner.”

  “Why don’t you keep one?” Sarah asked. “A place as big as yours could use two dogs, I’d think.”

  “I’ve already got two dogs,” Nicholas said flatly. “That female is going nowhere. Wolf is quite smitten with her, and Amanda has claimed her as her own. She calls her Sweetie-Pie, and woe be unto anyone who tries to take that female away from us.”

  “Well, then,” Sarah said logically, “three dogs would work, I’d think.”

  “I may keep one and give it away down the road a ways,” Nicholas said. “We got Wolf when he was full grown, and there are those folks who’d rather have a dog already trained to be a watchdog. And with Wolf as his daddy, it shouldn’t take him any time at all to catch on.”

  “I’ll bet Lin will have something to say about that,” Sarah said quietly to Brace, but her words were picked up by Nicholas’s sharp ears, and he shot her a quick grin.

  “You may be right, but then dogs don’t cost a whole lot to have around, and Lin sure has a good time with them. I like to keep the woman happy.”

  “Well, you’ve made our boy happy,” Brace told him. The men watched as the pup used his tongue effectively on Stephen’s face and then sniffed at his shirt before curling up to sleep in the youthful arms that held him.

  “I think he’s found a good home.” Nicholas looked at the boy and his pup with tenderness, and Sarah saw another side of the man. Not that Nick hid his gentler streak, but this glimpse of the man Lin loved with such passion made Sarah appreciate him even more.

  “How much do we owe you?” Brace asked.

  “Nothing,” Nick said. “This is worth a million dollars right here.” He pointed at Stephen and smiled. “I’m hoping my boy will grow up to be as terrific as yours.”

  “He will,” Sarah said confidently. “He can’t miss.”

  The supper table was alive with a discussion of the new pet. Joshua spent an hour making a collar from a piece of harness that was worn in spots, and Bear wore it, but not with pleasure.

  “He’ll get used to it,” Joshua predicted as Stephen watched the puppy with a worried expression. “It takes a couple of days sometimes for a dog to settle in, Stephen. He’ll do fine. Now, he might be lonesome for his littermates when it’s time to go to bed, but if you sit with him till he goes to sleep and
leave him something warm to cuddle up with, he’ll be all right.”

  “How do you know so much about dogs, Grandpa?” Stephen asked. “I didn’t know you had any pets.”

  “I did when I was a boy,” Joshua told him. “And when we find a place to live hereabouts, I may be in the market for a dog, myself.”

  “Maybe Nicholas will still have pups then,” Stephen said hopefully. “Or maybe the female will have a new litter.”

  “It takes a while for that to happen,” Sarah said carefully. “It seems more likely that the pup Nicholas hangs on to will be ready for a home by then.”

  Bedtime found Stephen curled around his dog, both of them nestled on a piece of quilt behind the cooking range where the banked fire kept the space almost too warm for comfort. Although summer was well under way, the nights were cool, and Stephen had to be persuaded that the pup would be comfortable without a blanket to cover up with.

  “Dogs have a coat that keeps them warm,” Brace explained carefully, ruffling Bear’s fur to show Stephen the dense growth that covered the pup. Satisfied that all was well, the boy went to bed, followed closely by his grandparents.

  Within an hour, Sarah and Brace were settled in their bed, and suddenly Sarah sat up, her hand covering her mouth.

  “What’s wrong?” Brace asked. “Are you all right?”

  Sarah nodded her head, and Brace realized that she was laughing and stifling the sound behind her palm. “I just heard Stephen leave his room. I’ll warrant he’s gone downstairs to sleep with that doggone puppy.” As if torn between hauling the boy back to bed and leaving him to his own desires, she drew up her knees and hugged them. “Do you think—”

  “No, I don’t think,” Brace said quickly, cutting her off, aware of what she was about to propose. “You’re safe leaving him with the dog. It won’t hurt either of them for Stephen to sleep on the floor tonight. We can talk about putting the quilt next to his bed tomorrow. Will that suit you, sweetheart?”