“For heaven’s sake, the man’s a doctor. He took an oath, he won’t spread gossip.”
“I’ll think about it. I don’t want to go right away.”
“You know, Tori, I’m beginning to think when you say, ‘I’ll think about it’, it’s your way of saying, ‘The answer is no, but I don’t want to argue about it now.’”
She grinned and changed the subject. “Tell me some more about your childhood.”
Jesse’s hand tensed on the reins. “Why?”
“I don’t know. I had a boring one. Me, Aunt Martha, school.” She shrugged. “I never even knew my brother, because we were so far apart in age. Did I tell you how he died?”
Jesse glanced at her. “No. What happened?”
“He worked in a bank. One morning a robber came in, shot him in the head. And the yellow-bellied scum did that after Henry handed over the money. Michael, at least, knew about me because Henry and I wrote back and forth, so the authorities wired me. I met the four children the day of the funeral.”
“That’s rough. Poor kids.”
“Yeah, a pretty dark time.”
“And their mother?”
“She died two years ago of influenza.”
“I imagine this hasn’t been too easy for you, either. I give you a lot of credit for taking them on. It must have been difficult being thrust into the role of parent to four children. Especially with two of them adolescents. Many people would have sent them to an orphan’s home.”
“Never.” Her eyes flashed. “I know what it feels like to be unwanted, a burden. Even if we didn’t make it, I would go down fighting.”
“You’re an amazing woman, Tori Cochran.” He paused. “I like the sound of that.”
Tori rolled her eyes.
They rode several miles in silence before Jesse glanced at her. “I’d gotten and given so many beatings defending my mother, the school authorities invited me to leave by the time I turned thirteen.”
“What did you mother say?”
Jesse snorted. “I don’t think she even knew. Or cared.”
Tori’s stomach dropped. At least Aunt Martha, in her own strange way, had loved her. And cared what happened to her.
“What did you do with your time?”
“I spent a couple years drifting around town, not doing much. Then I discovered the library and spent most of my days reading everything I could get my hands on.”
Tori nodded. “That’s good. Most kids would have gotten into trouble.”
“Oh, I did a little bit of that, too. But I became friends with the librarian, Miss Tanner.” His lopsided grin released the butterflies in her stomach. “She was very old, and started off hating me. I guess she expected me to hide books in my shirt and walk off without checking them out properly. After a while, we became friends of sort, and she helped me get scholarships to both college and law school. I never had a whole lot of money in my pocket while in college, but I earned enough sweeping out stores and loading wagons to keep myself fed.”
Tori squeezed his hand. “Did you ever see your mother after that?”
Jesse hesitated. “No.”
Jesse put his arm around Tori’s shoulder, hugging her close. He’d told her enough of his childhood, more than anyone else on earth knew. Over the years, he’d trained himself to block out most of it. Kept reminding himself he wasn’t Jesse Cochran, the whore’s kid, but Jesse Cochran, the attorney and upstanding citizen.
There was no point in revealing the worst moment of his life, the last time he’d seen Rosie. He had just graduated law school, had been away for years. He entered the brothel and spotted her right away across the garish room. Nothing had changed. The odor of stale tobacco and liquor hung heavy in the air. A picture of the naked lady sprawled on a couch still hung on the wall. The scantily dressed and heavily made up whores were gathered in a corner, waiting for business.
Rosie broke away from the group and sauntered toward him, her hand on her hip, a smile on her aging face. A black and red dress hugged her curves, the hem barely covering her private parts. Bright red nails ran up and down his arm. “Hi, cowboy.” She gazed at him through heavy lidded eyes. “Want some action?”
His stomach churned and bile slid up the back of his throat. His mother didn’t even recognize him. He’d turned on his heel and left.