“I’ll be right back,” he muttered as he stepped out the door.
Lauren’s heart was in her throat. He had barely glanced in her direction, yet she felt his presence in the room as strongly as if he had touched her. Conversation went on around her as everyone waited patiently for Jared to come back.
He returned, having discarded his chaps, leather vest, bandana, and spurs. He wore a clean shirt and his hair was still damp from the recent dunking in the bunkhouse washbowl.
He crossed the room to Maria and kissed her proffered cheek. Her greeting was the only warm one he received. His kiss intended for Gloria’s cheek landed somewhere in the air as she turned away quickly, and Rudy shook his hand with none of the usual banter between them. He took his seat beside Lauren and only then did he turn to her. “Hello, Lauren.”
“Hello, Jared. Was your… trip… successful?”
“I shot two bobcats and visited some of the nesters we allow to use our water. It was basically uneventful.”
There seemed to be nothing more to say, and everyone commenced eating. The food stuck in Lauren’s throat. She was jittery and breathless, and when one of the children called from the bedrooms, she jumped up to go to him, anxious to get away from the dominating individual beside her.
“I don’t know what we’ll do when Lauren has to go back to Coronado with you, Jared. We have all come to love her so much.” Gloria wanted to slap her brother-in-law as he shrugged indifferently. She continued undaunted, “The children adore her and she has been such a help around here, hasn’t she, Maria?”
“She’s a wonderful girl, Jared. You’re lucky that Ben brought her here.” Jared growled deep in his throat.
Rudy chuckled. “I know at least a dozen of the hands who would love for you to have a fatal accident, Jared. They’d whisk her away in no time flat.”
Jared scowled at him. “When the hell has she been around any vaqueros?”
“Every day when she goes out riding. You’d be amazed how eager they’ve been to answer her questions. She’s a fast learner.”
“I’ll bet,” Jared grumbled around the food in his mouth.
Lauren came back and sat down. Rudy stood up for her; Jared stared sullenly at the bowl of chrysanthemums in the center of the table.
“One place Lauren hasn’t seen is Pecan Creek. You really should take her up there before the weather turns too cold.”
Gloria took her cue from Rudy. “Why don’t you go tomorrow? You could take a picnic and enjoy being alone.”
“I don’t think—” Lauren began.
“Not tomorrow,” Jared interrupted. “I’ve got too much work to do around here.”
“Nonsense,” Maria interjected. She wasn’t going to sit idly by and see one of Ben’s best plans thwarted by Jared’s obstinacy. “You’ve been gone for almost two weeks. You deserve a day off. You’ll leave first thing in the morning, and I’ll supervise packing your lunch. I know just what you like.
“Be sure to take a gunnysack and gather some pecans for me. We’ll be needing them for Thanksgiving and Christmas baking. Remember when I used to send you and Rudy there each fall? Ben would give you a penny for each nut you brought back. Those were such happy days,” she said wistfully. She cleared her throat. “Yes, you’ll go tomorrow.”
The matter seemed settled. Jared glared at Rudy with a withering look. Rudy smiled back, the epitome of innocence. Maria and Gloria smiled at each other conspiratorially. Lauren fumbled with her watch, which trembled on her breast.
* * *
“Goddammit, what do you expect me to do, Rudy? I’ve tried every argument. They want that power plant and we want a railroad. They’ve got us by the balls.”
“I don’t know, but you’ve got to do something! Ben would have gone to war before letting those sonsofbitches on his land.”
The ladies in the main room looked at each other as the voices, raised in frustration and anger, reached them from the front porch where Jared and Rudy had retired after dinner to smoke a cigar. Maria put aside her mending, Gloria paused in stringing some beads she had promised Lucy, and Lauren dropped the book she was reading into her lap. She alone knew what subject had brought such an outburst from the brothers.
The voices outside returned to normal, and the women resumed their activities. Every once in a while, a word or phrase would carry back to them, punctuated in emphasis or urgency.
When Rudy and Jared came back inside, their mouths were set and grim. Each looked immediately toward Lauren, Jared with hostility, Rudy with something akin to pity.
So, Lauren thought, Jared has told his brother the circumstances of our marriage. For a moment, she feared that Rudy’s opinion of her would alter, that he would condemn her for the decision she had made. But one look at his face—open, friendly, compassionate—assured her that this wouldn’t be the case.
“If we have to go to Pecan Creek tomorrow, be ready early.” Jared stalked out the door after addressing Lauren with all the enthusiasm of a prisoner awaiting execution at dawn. No one challenged his sleeping arrangements this time.
Gloria and Rudy went to their room. Lauren placed her book back in the shelf and, taking off her eyeglasses, walked to the window. She saw the tall, lean figure striding toward the bunkhouse with his broad shoulders hunched defensively.