"I agree, Uncle Peter," Helene said with a bright smile.
It was arranged that Helene would stay at the ranch until Doc thought her healed enough to make the trip into town. During the next week, Peter came to visit and he brought Roxy to formally introduce the two women to each other. If he was relieved that they seemed to genuinely like each other, he didn't let on. He told Helene the wedding would take place when she could be a witness, and Helene was happy with the news. What she wasn't happy about was the fact that Whitey did not come and visit her... not even once before she left the ranch.
Amanda was just as unhappy. It was as if Robert Thorne had disappeared off the face of the earth. When she was recovered enough from the beating Ted Fox gave her to ride Glimmer, she headed toward Rob's ranch, only to be overtaken by her father and given orders she wasn't to ride over there. Amanda demanded to know why. Matt gave her the standard, "Because I said so, that's why!" answer. Amanda glared at him, but she turned her mount back and went home, pouting and sulking.
Helene was nearly sick at heart when she heard nothing at all from Whitey. She happened to come into the mercantile while Whitey was in there, trying on hats. He tipped the hat at her, but ignored her completely while he paid for his new hat and then left the store. Helene felt her temper snap and she marched after him and knocked his new hat off his head and into a water trough!
"What the heck did you do that for, little girl?" Whitey demanded.
"Because I felt like it, that's why! I don't like being ignored. If you changed your mind about me, then you should have come to me and simply said, 'I don't feel the same way I did, Helene.'" She burst into tears and turned her back to him.
"Don't cry, Helene," he said, his voice full of emotion. "This is hard on me, too. I can't offer you my name because I don't know it. I can't offer you anything because my past could come lookin' for me. I could be a bank robber, or a killer. You deserve better than that." He fished his hat out of the water trough and ran for his mount. In less than five seconds he was galloping out of town.
Helene dried her tears, and then squared her slender shoulders. It was time for Whitey to confront his past so that they could have a future together. Helene simply knew that Whitey was not an outlaw of some sort, and she was going to prove it. She walked to the telegraph office and conferred with Mr. Quigley. He made a few suggestions, caught up in helping the young woman. It wasn't long before they sent wires to several law offices around the area, looking for answers. Now all she had to do was remain patient. Whitey would thank her when he had the truth.
Whitey reined in his mount and swiped the tears from his face with the backs of his hands. He wanted nothing more than to regain his memory and learn that he hadn't done anything wrong. But, there was the good chance that he was shot during a holdup, and then left behind when the gang made their escape. He'd seen the papers from that time period, and he knew that a gang of outlaws robbed a train of an army payroll. It was reported that one of the gang members was shot during the attempt, but the body was never recovered, and there was no trace of any of the robbers. Whitey was sure he was somehow involved in that whole mess, and he didn't want to go to prison for something he couldn't remember doing. While he hated the thought, perhaps it was time he moved on... He couldn't bear running into Helene and having her look at him so reproachfully. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving her, either. Cursing under his breath and calling himself a fool, he headed back to town. He spotted Helene leaving the telegraph office. A feeling of foreboding descended on him as he dismounted. Helene was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't even see him. He walked inside and spoke to Mr. Quigley, and what he heard made his blood boil.
Whitey stomped after Helene and caught up with her just as she went up the steps in the alley to the rooms above her Uncle's gun shop. He wasted no time in running up the steps and knocking on the door. When she answered, he stomped inside, shutting the door behind them and finding himself in the kitchen with Helene. "What did you just do, Helene?" he asked harshly, putting his hands on her shoulders and giving her a single hard shake. "What did you do that for?"
"I am going to prove to you that you aren't a thief or a murderer, Whitey!" Helene answered defensively, not bothering to wonder how he knew about the telegrams she just sent. "I care about you and I'm not going to let you think such horrid things about yourself."
"What if those horrid things are true, Helene? I'll go to prison. Is that what you want?" he demanded, unable to believe that she'd dared to go behind his back.
"You are not a criminal!" Her dark eyes flashed dangerously. "You stop saying things like that!"
"I ought to turn you over my knee for going behind my back!" he growled, taking a step closer.
"You should be thanking me!" she argued heatedly.
"It wasn't your decision to make, Helene," he stated, and then he grabbed a wooden spoon from the work area beside the stove. "I'm going to blister you good, little girl. You don't make decisions like this for a man without at least talking it over first!" To his surprise, Helene didn't put up a struggle when he reached for her. He was careful of her bruised ribs as he bent her over his lap, and then he reached down and lifted her skirts, pushing them up until all that was protecting her bottom was her pretty drawers. "I won't have my woman doing things of this sort behind my back, do you hear me, Helene?"
"Does this mean that you really do consider me yours, Whitey?" she asked hopefully, her heart singing and the world righting itself once again.
"You are mine, Helene Patterson, and you'd best never pull a stunt like this again!"
"Oh, darling, I know everything will work out. I just know it will!" Helene stated, laughing happily. Her laughter was promptly brought short when the wooden spoon landed on her backside. "Owwwwww!" she complained. "Please, Whitey... I did it for us!" she wailed.
"And I am doing this for us," he stated, and then spanked her in earnest, the wooden spoon landing with hard splats on the thin cotton of her drawers.
Downstairs, Helene's Uncle Peter heard the commotion, picked up a gun, and ran up the steps to save his niece.
Chapter Ten
Amanda wanted and needed answers from one Robert Thorne, and this was the perfect time to get those answers. Her father was dealing with a problem on the far side of the ranch, the end that was furthest away from Robert Thorne's place, and he could not insist that she ride in the opposite direction, or offer to ride with her. Whitey was in town delivering some papers for her father, and he was not here to stop her from saddling Glimmer and riding in the direction she wanted to ride. He also could not tattle on her to her Dad if he was not here to do so. Amanda decided she was going to take advantage of the situation to go to Rob and ask him what was going on in his mind. If he had changed his mind about her, then she wanted to know what she did to earn his abrupt dismissal. If he no longer loved her, it would hurt, but if he was simply feeling guilty that she was beaten by Ted Fox, then he needed to get over it... and fast! The man was mentally ill, and it was no one's fault that the mad kidnapped her and whipped her raw with his belt.
Amanda dressed carefully, putting on the tightest pair of pants she owned. If Rob was going to ignore her, then he could not very well insist she wear riding skirts. And if he was simply ignoring her because he was busy, then she would give him a reason to notice her. If he was done with her, then she was going to tell him what she thought of him for leading her on when he had no intention of following through. Unfortunately, Amanda loved Robert Thorne, and it hurt that he no longer seemed to return her affection. The pretty redhead blinked back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes and she urged Glimmer to a faster pace, anxious to see the Englishman and have it out with him once and for all! Amanda was unaware she was being followed.
Helene could not help yelping each time the heavy wooden spoon landed on the seat of her drawers! The spanking hurt terribly, and while she might deserve the punishment, she could not be sorry for what she did to earn it. Whitey deserved the truth, and he deserved to know he was not some evil criminal. Nothing would ever convince her that someone so very special could have done something as wrong as robbing a train of an army payroll! Still, the man was very angry with her, and every smack of the wooden spoon on her tender bottom reflected that anger. "Please stop, Whitey! I hurt something awful! I just wanted to help you!" she pleaded for mercy.