Frank Butler and Hank Tall Bear approached him. Will handed them each a cigar. "Miss Annie Oakley and Princess Blue Cloud will attempt to shoot the end off a cigar held in the teeth of a man at fifty paces!" Will shouted.
Rain Shadow watched as Frank and Tall Bear separated several feet. Will called out the paces as they took long-legged strides away from the women.
Rain Shadow glanced at Annie. She was watching her husband and Tall Bear, her rifle cradled in her arms like a baby. Rain Shadow caught Will's gaze as he finished counting, "Fifty!"
If Annie was going to miss at any of these last events, it would have been the walnuts. They would have to reschedule the contest after all.
"Quiet, please!" Will shouted.
Frank Butler puffed on the cigar and turned to face the crowd, the cigar jutting from his mouth. Annie swung her rifle up and took aim. The arena had grown silent. Rain Shadow felt the sun on her shoulders and the light breeze tickling the hair at her nape. The moment hung suspended like a dream.
Annie fired. Frank flinched as the cigar flew from his lips. The crowd burst into applause.
Rain Shadow glanced from Annie to Will. She gave the stands of cheering onlookers the once-over. Somewhere in that ocean of faces, Anton watched her at this very moment. Wondered if she'd make this shot. Hopeless man. He'd traveled all this way to offer her a home with him if she lost. There was no way she could lose now.
If he'd told her he'd loved her months ago, would she have continued with the contest? Probably. They both knew she wasn't the woman he was looking for.
But he'd come for her. He loved her.
Rain Shadow realized the crowd had quieted. All eyes focused on her. She drew a cleansing breath and faced Tall Bear. He smiled and turned toward the crowd, the cigar held between his teeth.
Rain Shadow raised her rifle.
Chapter Eighteen
Above Tall Bear, an eagle soared in the radiant spring sky. Rain Shadow waited for the distraction to fly out of range before she raised the barrel. A horse neighed. A baby cried, reminding her of Anton's dreams. Feverish from his wound, he'd cried out for the baby. She remembered the anguish in his voice, and now she knew why.
She couldn't imagine the hurt and suffering he'd experienced. All he'd wanted was his family and a wife to love him.
She was his wife, and she loved him.
In a startling moment of clarity, Rain Shadow realized they'd both wanted the same things all along-roots, stability, two parents for their children. Her heart pounded.
Anton had said he needed her, loved her, wanted to become her family. What more did she want? What more could he offer?
Rain Shadow took a calming breath, released it and aimed.
Steady.
Slow.
Squeeze the trigger nice and easy.
Tall Bear's jaunty feather snapped and hung over his eye. He jerked his head toward her in surprise.
It took a few startled seconds for the crowd to realize what had happened. A mixture of remorse and joy rippled in their voices.
Will Cody shouted into the megaphone, "Ladies and gentlemen, the reigning champion sharpshooter of the world, Miss Annie Oakley!"
Annie raised her rifle above her head. Frank ran to hug her. From the stands, hats flew into the air. The cowboy band broke into a victory song. The noise was deafening.
Someone touched Rain Shadow's elbow, and she turned to look up into Tall Bear's unsmiling face.
"Why did you do that?" he shouted. "You had what you wanted."
She shook her head. "I don't think so, Hank." She touched his arm and he bent to press his cheek to hers. "Thanks."
He handed her the unlit cigar and disappeared into the crowd.
The arena became a crush of well-wishers. Rain Shadow caught Annie's attention and saluted her. Absently tucking the cigar into one of her empty ammunition bags, she ran to the back gate and found Two Feathers with Jack.
His dark eyes assessed her knowingly. "Well done, daughter."
She threw her bags over Jack's back and slid her rifle through a loop. "What are you thinking?"
"I want only your happiness."
She studied his sly expression. "If I could imagine any possible way, I'd think you had something to do with this."
He merely returned her gaze. His attention flickered beyond her. She glanced over her shoulder.
Anton stood watching them, his hat brim shading his features.
"I must help with the horses." Two Feathers moved away.
Jack walked behind Rain Shadow as she started toward the encampment. Anton fell into step beside her.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Perfectly fine."
He hooked one arm around her neck and drew her loosely against him. Oh, his smell. A little bay rum, a lot male. She wanted to turn to him and be absorbed by that smell.
"I'm sorry you lost."
"Are you?" She walked without looking at him.
"Of course I am. Rain Shadow, I didn't want you to lose," he said in a husky voice. "I just wanted you to know it didn't matter to me one way or the other. I still want you to come back with me."
She said nothing.
"Will you?"
She stopped, turned and met the anguished look in his beloved eyes. He held so much remorse for his first marriage, it was no wonder he'd been terrified to ask her outright. She saw the genuine fear in his eyes. Their relationship had shot holes in his armor, and yet he now placed himself in the position for her to pierce his newly mended heart. What courage he possessed.
She slipped out of his easy grasp and opened one of the leather bags. "Do something for me, Anton."
He watched her. "All right."
She slid out her Winchester and reloaded it. From one bag, she withdrew the cigar. "Got a match?"
He looked at her as if she'd lost her mind. "No."
"It doesn't matter." She thrust the cigar toward him.
"What are you doing?"
"Humor me. Put the cigar in your mouth and walk to that little stump out there." She pointed.
Anton's eyes followed her hand. He stared at her, and recognition touched the blue depths. "You want me to walk out there and hold this cigar in my teeth so you can shoot at it?"
"That's the idea."
"Why?"
"Don't you trust me?"
He stared at her, a sandy brow raised.
"I haven't killed anyone yet." She couldn't suppress a smile.
He drew himself up and stuck the cigar between his teeth. Without moving his lips, he said around it, "I trust you to take care o'my son if I'm maimed."
She wanted to laugh, but watched his tall form as he walked away. He stopped in the spot she'd indicated and turned to face her, removing the cigar. "This is farther than that last shot, isn't it?"
"Precisely." She raised the rifle.
"Woman, don't you think-"
"Turn to the side, Anton. Take off your hat." She squinted down the barrel. "And stand still!"
Resigned, he removed his hat and turned. Sticking the cigar in his teeth, he poised, motionlessly.
Rain Shadow drew a breath and released it. She aimed. Slowly, she squeezed the trigger.
The shot echoed. Anton took the cigar from his mouth and stared at the frayed end. "You did it," he said quietly. Then louder, "You did it!"
Rain Shadow slid the rifle into its loop and met him halfway.
His gaze probed her face, and she watched him struggle with dismayed recognition. "You lost on purpose?"
She tilted her head in a half nod.
"Why?"
"Why do you think?"
"I don't know. You wanted to win so badly. You practiced so long and hard, and you believed winning would bring your family to you. I don't understand."
"Maybe I was looking the wrong way at the right time. I thought you wanted someone like Annette or Lydia or Sissy."
He offered her a wry shrug. "So did I."
"I knew I wasn't like them."
"None of that matters anymore."
"Anton, I never sat at a table with a family until I ate with yours. I never saw a meal served on fancy platters with a lace tablecloth under it. I wanted to die that day Annette asked me to set the table."
"I helped you, didn't I?"
She looked at him curiously. "You knew?"
"I suspected."
"I've never had a bath in a tub. We either bathed in streams or heated water in the lodge."
"Want to try it?" He smiled with his eyes.
"Anton, I've never been to church or school. Everything that you take for granted is awkward for me."
"It doesn't matter."
Her heart skipped an uneasy beat. "Doesn't it?"
"No." He set his hat atop the bags on Jack's back and took her shoulders in his easy grasp. "None of those things make a person who they are. I love you just the way you are. But you want to learn all those things, don't you? You want Slade to be comfortable with our ways, to go to school and probably even college. I want those things for him, too. But mostly, I want you."