Salvation in the Rancher's Arms(44)

Kirkpatrick had made reference to Rachel’s mother, but Rachel had never elaborated. It seemed a painful subject and not one he wanted to pry into. Now curiosity whetted his appetite, and he couldn’t resist the lure.

“How did her family end?”

“In a bad way.” Freedom shook her head and resituated herself more comfortably on the wooden seat before she continued. “Rachel’s daddy kilt himself when she was jus’ fourteen and left the land to her. After his passin’, her mama got sick. That’s where I come in. Kirkpatrick done hired me to care for the woman, but he wanted me to spy on Miss Rachel, too, tell him everythin’ she was doin’ and thinkin’. Well, I ain’t no spy and I told him so. I quit that day and Miss Rachel took me in. But ain’t nothin’ we did could save her mama. That woman had more things weighin’ on her than she could carry. When she passed away two years later, that left Rachel with Brody. He was a small boy, younger than Ethan is now. That’s when Mr. Robert and the sheriff came callin’. Sheriff is a good man. He’da been the right choice, but Mr. Robert jus’ dazzled her till she forgot everyone else, makin’ promises he never kept.”

“You said her pa left the land to her, not Brody?” Seemed to him a man would pass the land to his son, regardless of the boy’s age.

For a moment Freedom said nothing, her face void of expression. The silence was punctuated by birds warbling just outside the window. Sunlight poured into the room and pressed against Caleb’s back.

“Her pa left the land to her, and rightly so,” Freedom said. It wasn’t much as far as explanations went, but Caleb knew it was all he would get.

“And how does Kirkpatrick figure in all of this?”

“Kirkpatrick wants her land. They share a border, but he needs more space for his cattle and Rachel’s land is rich for grazing. He offered once to marry her, ’afore she settled on Mr. Robert, but she turned him down. I’m guessin’ he’ll start sniffin’ around again now.”

The idea set his teeth on edge. He’d only met the man once, but it was enough to know he was a first class bastard who would no doubt take great pleasure in breaking someone as strong and spirited as Rachel.

“I take it Mrs. Sutter doesn’t want to marry Kirkpatrick?”

“Might be she don’t have a choice now, seein’ as she don’t own the land no more and has no way to pay off the debt she owes.” She gave him a pointed look.

Caleb set the plate down on the table and stood, walking over to the window. He stared out into the yard beyond. It wasn’t hard to see why Rachel mourned losing this land. The valley was rife with rich soil and the snow-peaked mountains in the background took your breath away. It was like a small oasis in the middle of a harsh land. He closed his eyes and breathed in the fresh air, letting a sense of calm sweep over him.

If things were different, this would be a nice place to call home.

But things weren’t different. He needed to keep that in mind.

He opened his eyes and turned back to Freedom.

“She told you about me ownin’ the land.”

“She did.”

“Why are you telling me all this?” Freedom didn’t strike him as a gossip, and he’d known when she walked into the room she had a point to make.

“Figured if’n you had a good sense of what Miss Rachel has been through you’d do right by her. She’s suffered enough misery.”

He nodded. Freedom was right. He knew it. He’d known it from the first moment he laid eyes on her at Sutter’s funeral and watched the stoic strength with which she held things together, only to be brought down when he told her the news of the deed. The yoke of responsibility hung heavy on his shoulders.

“I plan on makin’ things right.”

“Mmm. And how you plan on doin’ that, Mr. Beckett?”

Caleb placed his hands on his hips and let out a long, slow breath as he watched Ethan chase a stray chicken around the yard, trying to corral him back into the coop.

“Damned if I’ve figured that one out yet,” he muttered.

His plan to make his sojourn in Salvation Falls a brief one crumbled with each passing day. He should have signed the deed over to Rachel on the first day and ridden straight out of town as he’d planned. Before he knew about Kirkpatrick, before he’d met her family. Before he’d known what type of woman she truly was. If he’d left before he learned all that, his conscience would have been clear. Ignorance would have been his bliss. But he hadn’t done that. Instead, he’d lingered too long, and now, knowing the scope of what Kirkpatrick wanted and sensing Rachel’s vulnerability, well...