Rose(144)
“Do you think they’ll come back?” Rose asked.
“Not anymore,” George said, feeling almost like his old self. “That man is different from his father. Where have you hidden Zac? I didn’t see him when I went to get my pistol.”
“I don’t know,” Rose answered. “I was looking for him when McClendon caught me.”
“Do you mean he went off without telling you?”
“I’m afraid I fell asleep.”
“When I find him, I’m going to take every inch of skin off his hide,” George swore.
“He didn’t mean—”
“I know, but he nearly caused you to get killed. I can’t excuse that.”
But George didn’t have to look for Zac. At that moment a tiny form propelled itself out of the brush and straight over the creek bank into George’s arms.
Before George could say any of the things boiling in his brain, Zac shouted, “Look, George. I brought the army.”
George looked up to see an army officer on horseback, covered in general’s braid and dozens of ribbons, emerge from a side path through the brush. A patrol of eighteen men followed.
“I’m Phil Sheridan,” the man announced. “Can you tell me where I can find George Randolph? I’ve got a pardon for him.”
Chapter Twenty-three
George stared at the smoldering remains of their home. The logs were too thick to burn, but the roof was gone. Virtually everything inside had been destroyed. Every inch of floorboard had been ripped up. Chests and cabinets smashed. Every pot and cupboard emptied. Tins and boxes ripped open and cast on the floor. There were so many holes in the yard it looked like a prairie dog town.
They had even dug into the graves of Mrs. Randolph and young Alex.
“You can’t live here,” Sheridan said.
“No,” George agreed. “We’ll move to Austin.”
Rose’s gaze flew to George’s face.
“I’ll have my men clear away the debris,” Sheridan offered. “It’ll give them something to do while they’re waiting for Cor-tina’s men to strike again. You don’t have to worry about those McClendons, either. That’s something else we’ll clean up.”
“You can’t give up,” Rose pleaded to George. “Not after you’ve worked so hard.”
“I’m not. We have a parade to attend, or have you forgotten?”
Rose had never imagined a smile could be so cheerless. But it made her proud of him. Very proud.
“Besides, you can’t stay here while we build another house, a real house this time. It’ll take too long. It has to be big enough to hold at least a half dozen Yankee brats.”
Rose felt her heart lurch violently in her chest. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’m positively looking forward to the responsibility. I welcome the challenge of guiding their teetering footsteps along life’s treacherous path. I long to sit, Solomon-like, in judgment of their disputes. I’ll be a repository of wisdom, a fount of knowledge, a treasure chest of counsel.”
“You sure it’s a bunch of kids you’re after?” Salty asked. “Sounds to me like you’re running for governor.”
Rose and George laughed.
“You do know I can’t stay in Austin after the parade,” Rose told George. “And there’s no use arguing. No woman in her right mind would stay away while her husband was building her house.”
“But there’s no place for you to live.”
“I’ll live where you live and sleep where you sleep. In the open or in the cave. It doesn’t matter, but I’m not staying in Austin.”
“Maybe I’d better give this idea of having children a little more thought,” George said with an attempt to appear serious. “I don’t know if I can stand a houseful of girls as stubborn as you.”
Rose’s face softened with emotion. “You’re not doing it for me, are you?” she asked.
“Of course I am. They’ll be my gift to you for all that you have been, are, and ever will mean to me. But they’ll also be my gift to me. They’ll be my belief in the future, in myself, my triumph over the past. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.”
“For an ex-army man, he’s sure given to a lot of high-flown sentiment,” Sheridan remarked to Salty.
“Sounds like it,” Salty answered, grinning. “I guess it’s a good thing he didn’t reenlist.”
“Reenlist?” General Sheridan directed a penetrating look at George.
“Yeah. For a while he thought about going west to fight Indians.”
“You think he would? Any man who can hold off forty men practically by himself could make colonel in no time. And if Grant took an interest in him, there’s no telling how high he could go.”