Outlaw Bride (Lawmen and Outlaws) (9 page)

His words were soft, almost love-filled, but when he stopped talking, Jessy Belle heard the words anyway.
Nab your brother and claim a reward
. Same as he could with her. But she loved him. Tinker Lewis would stand up for her.

She had to try to get Redd to love her back. He might be her only chance at a good decent man. And Sister herself had said the sheriff might go easy...

But Sister Adelaide gasped, and it wasn’t a good sound.

“Redd, that can’t be a good idea!” She grabbed the beads hanging from her belt. “Jessy Belle’s assured us that her brother protected her virtue. For that reason, I could not allow her off alone with a virile man.”

The insult stabbed Jessy Belle. “Why, Sister, Mister Redd protected my virtue just fine alone on the trail.”

“I
assure
you, Sister.” Redd hissed hard but tossed Jessy Belle a glance full of gratitude. “I am a true gentleman. You got my word. Jessy Belle is perfectly safe with me.”

Tied as it was with her black veil, only an itty bit showed the nun’s face, and it turned purple. “I know that. I assure both of you I know that. But Ahab Perkins does not. We want to draw him out for capture. Not avenge any perceived wrong against his sister.” Her lips pursed like a tight string had a hold of them, and she glared. “Meaning: Kill you, Mister Redd, to avenge her honor.”

“The gang don’t kill, Sister.” Jessy Belle spoke up, loud as she could for her condition. “You have my word on that.”

Now Sister glared at Jessy Belle, reminding them all of Elena being killed in her own home. But that wasn’t one whit important now.

“Well, if I can’t be a nun here, or on the run, or in jail, or at Mister Redd’s ranch, just what’s left?”

Sister Adelaide gazed off toward the sunset, hummed to herself for a long while, fingers praying again. Jessy Belle couldn’t resist a prayer of her own, now that she knew how. Whether or not Redd would ever love her, she would lament forever if she had to leave him.

“What...what do you think she’s considering?” Jessy Belle whispered to Redd, ’Gade’s eyes wide.

“I can’t imagine,” Redd said. He shrugged, close enough to Jessy Belle for her to feel it. She tingled. “She’s very wise. I reckon we ought to trust her.”

“Here is it, Redd, Jessy Belle. My plan. You two post banns in Pioneer Meadows, and anywhere else pertinent. Jessy Belle, your true name will be revealed, as well as your intention to wed Cleeland Redd. Here at our chapel. Padre Cardeñas will marry you.”

“Marry?” Redd and Jessy Belle shouted at once. Well, he did. She still spoke soft as a mouse.

****

“Yes, Redd,” Sister said. “It’s a wise idea if you think it through. We let loose Jessy Belle’s real name, and yours. Your location, too. Arrange protection. A posse. Perkins will have no choice but to head into the trap.”

Redd considered the sense of the nun’s words. After all, the padre was a U.S. Marshall, no true churchman. Sister Adelaide ran an entire enterprise of successful fakery. He’d trust her. A sham marriage over with soon as Ahab met his Maker, being that Redd was still vowed to Tawana.

“I see your sense. And I’ll do it.” Of course he’d agree, if it kept Jessy Belle safe. Something he hadn’t done for Tawana. Grief grabbed his gut but it went easier this time. Whether or not it meant he was starting to love Jessy Belle.

For a while, nobody said a word. Jessy Belle didn’t look at him, busied both hands in kneading the back of Renegade’s head, then starting in on her own. Her hair sparkled down her back like sun’s rays glistening with dust motes. Redd wanted to touch it, touch her, but the marriage meant nothing. It was all to be fake, no matter the love knots starting to knit up in his heart.

“Well, I suppose it’s a sensible plan. I could talk some wisdom into Ahab should we meet up.” Jessy Belle nodded. “No matter any of this, he is my mama’s son.”

As Sister Adelaide’s teeth worked inside her cheeks, Redd scratched his head at this outlaw gal’s tender heart for the man who had left her behind.

Something he’d done with Tawana. Pain started up again, like always, but diluted somehow. Like he was healing fast.

Like Tawana had forgiven him and wanted something more for him.

Sister Adelaide stood up. “Let’s get Will saddled up. If he hurries, he can make Pioneer Meadows tonight. It’s a full moon. He’ll get the news spread. Padre will be back by noon tomorrow. You two will be safe in Whisper Ridge by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Not Will.” Jessy Belle stood up, too, face washed with worry. “No. Not him. Not alone...out there.”

Redd’s heart had been happy because even a fake marriage might lead to another kiss or two, but disappointment clogged his veins. Inside his head danced the recollection of the handsome young lad kissing Jessy Belle’s hand. Was it Will she loved? Had she been dissembling once more about loving Redd?

Grumbling deep down, he reckoned Sister could hear.

She ignored him. “Will’s a talented rider, Jessy Belle. Smart and safe.”

But Redd above all knew what she meant. He was needed to stay behind as protection. Who knew where in hell the marshal was.

Or Ahab himself.

“But Will’s alone. And lost.” Jessy Belle almost sobbed. “I know the type. Been around kids like that my whole life. Run into the gang and, well, he’ll catch Ahab’s fever. He’ll stick around and...do bad things.”

By this time, Sister Adelaide had reached Jessy Belle’s side and drew her close. “Will is the best we’ve got, dear. He’ll be safe in the Lord’s hands. Now come. Let’s plan your wedding.”

Jessy Belle’s gullet moved.

“Are you ill again, child? Some water?” Sister Adelaide pushed the pitcher across the table.

“No.” Jessy Belle’s gaze pointed past Redd’s. “I..need some fresh air, Sister. That’s all,” she whispered. “Just for a flash. If you please.”

After she dashed out the door, Redd half-rose to follow.

“No, Redd. Stay seated. She’ll be all right.”

“What if she takes off?” He whistled for ’Gade to stay.

“She won’t. This plan has overwhelmed her, that’s all. I’ve seen the...light of interest in the way she looks at you. Please remember she almost lost her life just days ago. Life is rushing quickly at her. Give her a few minutes.”

Redd’s flesh goosed. Sister could sense Jessy Belle’s love for him? Did everybody else see it, too? “Sister, I...

She held up her hand again in her schoolteacher way. “It might do you well, Redd. To tame her. She’s got natural gumption. Bring her to a good life. You’re a fine man, and life will get lonely without someone at your side.”

“An outlaw girl..?”

“A full grown
woman
, Redd. And she’s renounced her ways. Truth to tell, my friend. I’ve seen the same light in your eyes as well when you look at her.”

Something terrible and wonderful gurgled in his gut. “I...I don’t deny the Ridge gets lonely at times. But I lost someone who still lives in my heart. I don’t know...” Natural gumption rang in his thoughts. Sounded like they could make a good match but...

“I’ve lost loved ones, too, my friend. For many years, I couldn’t bear to celebrate New Year’s Day.” Sister smiled at him even with her sad words. “I lost my husband on that date in Galveston County under General Magruder. But the day came again when I could.”

“But your Elena?”

“It’s not revenge I want, Redd. It’s justice. She knew the love of a fond husband before...she died. I treasure such goodness.”

“But Tawana...the one I loved.” He tried to see Jessy Belle out the window but had no luck. For once, though, Tawana didn’t paint a picture behind his eyelids. “If I’d taken her to wife, made her a home, she’d been far away from the danger. But I didn’t. I wasn’t there for her when the Cavalry came and massacred her village.”

Across the table, Sister Adelaide took his hand like a true friend. “Well, Redd, you’re here for Jessy Belle now.”

He squeezed her hand, then pulled his fingers away. Hesitated. “I’ll protect her, sure enough. You got my word. But wedding up with her? Not certain, Sister, I’m meant to be a husband.” He peered at the tabletop, seeing where somebody once had carved a name.

“What do you mean? You seem a healthy man.”

“I...evaded vows with Tawana,” he said with new pain. “My pa left my ma the day I was born. His blood runs deep in my veins. Her second man who raised me up killed her dead. Same as happened to Jessy Belle’s ma.”

“Not all men behave so. I knew true love. And as I see it, you’ve learned the kind of man
not
to be.”

How could he not recall almost those very words of Jessy Belle, who with her natural gumption had professed to Teresa? How getting let down by a grown up taught you how do to right by your own kids.

And he furthermore recalled the thought, the longing, out on the trail. Him and Jessy Belle a true couple camping out with their dog. Staggered, leaning weak against the rickety chair...how might it be, Jessy Belle his wife nurturing his child deep inside?

Were knots of love already tied up?

“You might consider making the marriage real some day.” Sister Adelaide interrupted his contemplation.

He hesitated. “I admire and trust you, Sister. I make that plain. But that day won’t be tomorrow. I need time. And Jessy Belle needs the truth.”

“The truth?”

“Aw, I won’t spill it, you being fake and padre a marshal. I know you’ve got the rest to keep safe. I’ll tell her I’m just going along for show. Until Ahab’s caught.”

****

She was getting married tomorrow! Jessy Belle spun like a dust devil until she came to rest against a lonely mulberry tree. She missed Renegade but she missed Redd more.

The heat of the day was chilling fast, but excitement was the reason for the tingles that raced across her neck. Her heart beat her ribs like a fist. Breath heaved her chest so hard she wrapped her arms across it. Thinking the thought of Redd’s fingers wrapping there, too, started hot blood in her veins.

A blush fired her body. Redd would soon be her man, and she’d spend tomorrow night in his arms. Even with the kindness of this place, a convent full of prayerful women wasn’t the life for her. She was far more accustomed to men. Now that she knew Cleeland Redd, was betrothed to him, she fully realized the flaws in the males of her previous acquaintance. He was kind, smart, handsome. The man she deserved in her new life.

The wind slapped Mama’s pearls against her leg. Tomorrow she’d rip them out of her hem, wear them at her neck for her vows. Likely the nun dress would be ready for the ceremony. True it was ugly, but it was new. The pearls would shine fine against the gray.

A wedding! Hers. She peeked across the wilderness. Truth to tell, wildflowers had all bloomed out with summer long over, but she ought to find cattail along the creek. Maybe cocklebur. Tie a pretty ribbon and it would make do for a bouquet.

“Jessy Belle?”

Redd’s voice covered her like a cloud. Her heart clobbered itself. How had he come upon her without her knowing? In her past, she could hear a hay straw fall half mile away. Those ears had made her a good scout for her brother. And...she flushed. The gang had found it easy to rustle an entire corral, her on the watch, even with a ’hand sleeping in the barn.

She turned, ran to him. Raised her mouth. “I’ll die if you don’t kiss me right now, Redd.”

“Jessy Belle.” Redd ignored her outstretched arms. “It’s not what you think.”

Her heart sank into the dust. “What isn’t what I think? How do you
know
what I think?”

“It’s a fine plan, but a fake marriage.” He wasn’t looking at her, and she held off a kick. “Padre won’t really perform the rite. It’s all to be a masquerade. Once Ahab is caught, Sister and I will see to your future, somehow. But it...it just won’t be a true union.”

Her dreams dashed. But she refused to let him see her cry. “Why not? You don’t want me?”

Peeking close into his eyes, Jessy Belle longed to see herself, like a mirror. To read a happy ending. But Redd turned away.

“I wanted you since I first found you. Found out you were a full-grown female, that is. That night, holding you in my arms, well, I had many manly thoughts. But you needed me to keep you safe. You still do. I can’t forget any of that.”

“Why not?” she asked again. The wind turned cold.

“My ma.” He looked at his feet. “And Tawana.”

“I’m not seeing it.”

He started to walk down the dusty path, out toward the wilderness, and she reckoned that meant he wanted to be alone. But she kept right up with his fast pace. “Tell me, Redd. I don’t imagine by now there’s anything about me you don’t know.”

“Ma and me.” He didn’t slow down. “She got with child. Her pa tossed her out, but her gram-maw snuck her a gold locket with many diamonds. She sold it, kept us in good money. We were all each other had. Until she married the devil himself. He found the money almost run out and killed her dead. I should have stopped him.”

Jessy Belle pivoted in the dirt and faced him down. “You were a child. Kids can’t always do the right thing.” She tried to meet his gaze but he turned away. “I lived it first-hand. Look at me and Ahab.”

“Well, I was no kid with Tawana.” Then Redd looked hard at her but not with those black pebble eyes. “She was Chiricahua. I was a scout. I should have taken her to civilization. A regiment attacked her village. Me miles away.”

“That’s not your fault either. You were doing your job.” She grabbed his hands else she fell. “Same as me and Ahab.”

Sobs she couldn’t stop ripped out hard and loud, making her throat ache. But she didn’t prevent them. She didn’t care. When Redd reached for her, she fell against his chest, hearts and souls merging. His arms closed around her, and she had no qualms he could keep her safe. And his pain melted into her as well.

“We’re quite a pair, aren’t we?” he whispered finally into the top of her head.

“Yes, we are. And so we should be for real. I love you, Redd.”

Hands on her shoulders, he stepped back. “I like hearing that, Jessy Belle. I can’t deny my feelings are growing and I’m not saying no. I’m saying I need time. You need time yourself. Maybe you’ll find a better man.”