Catching Kent (5 page)

“
It’ll be alright,” Adam
assured him. “Men like that will get what’s coming to them. Maybe
not in a place where you can see it, but they’ll get it all the
same.”

“
I’m not interested in
revenge,” Kent replied. “I just want to live my life in
peace.”

“
That’s a good way of
looking at it.” Adam knelt next to the bed and pulled out a chamber
pot. “Do you need to use this?”

“
Yes, I should.”

“
Do you need any help or
can you do it yourself?”

“
I think I can do it
myself.”

Adam nodded and headed for the door.
“Call out when you’re done, and I’ll be back to help you wash up
and get in clean clothes.”

As he closed the bedroom door, Kent
thought of how repulsed his parents would be if they could see him
now. Bound to a bed, unable to do most things on his own, looking
as poor as a church mouse. Well, at the moment, he had nothing to
his name. He didn’t even have his own clothes. But it probably
worked in his favor that no one knew how much he was worth. Two men
saw his uncle’s pocket watch and came for it. He rubbed his eyes
and let out a bitter laugh. Things hadn’t changed at all since
leaving Virginia. He couldn’t help but wonder if coming back to
America had been a mistake.

***

“
Did you talk to him? What
did he say?” Rose asked, jumping up from the porch swing as her
mother opened the front door.

Her mother jerked and let the storm
door slam behind her. “Rose, I almost dropped this.” She motioned
to the pitcher in her arms. “You should be careful when you say
something. I didn’t even know you were there.”

“
What are you doing with
the pitcher?” Rose followed her mother down the porch
steps.

“
Kent needs more
water.”

“
Kent? Is that his
name?”

“
Yes. It’s Kent
Ashton.”

Rose’s smile widened and she clasped
her hands together. That was a lovely name. And she’d one day be
Rose Ashton. It sounded equally as lovely, romantic
even.

Her mother stopped at the well and
shot her an uneasy look. “What’s going through that head of
yours?”

Heat rose to her cheeks.
“Nothing.”

“
I don’t know. You almost
seem like you’re besotted with someone.”

“
That’s silly. I don’t even
know him.”

Her mother’s eyes grew wide. “Rose!
You can’t be thinking of Kent in that way. As you said, you don’t
even know him.”

She offered a slight shrug then
glanced at the pitcher. “You want me to get the water for you? I’m
between chores and have nothing to do.”

“
If you’re bored, Harriett
could use some help with the laundry.”

She grimaced but quickly smiled when
her mother looked expectantly at her. “That’s a wonderful idea.
I’ll do that after I get some water.”

Her mother stopped her before she
could grab the pitcher from her. “Nice try, Rose, but I know what
you’re up to. You said you’re behind on the chores and I gave you
something to do.” She hesitated and narrowed her eyes at her.
“Didn’t I tell you to help your sister with the laundry an hour
ago?”

“
Oh, well, yes. And I
did.”

“
You two can’t be done so
soon.”

“
I had to go to the
privy.”

“
I don’t recall the privy
being in the house.”

Rose bit her lower lip and tried to
explain why she had to go into the house. “I had to get something
for Harriett, so I went to our bedroom.”

“
Oh?”

“
Yes.” Inspired, she
nodded. “Pins for her hair. You know that bun of hers is always
falling apart. She didn’t want to get her hair wet in the water.”
She grinned, impressed with her ability to think quickly in an
awkward situation.

“
And I suppose while you
were getting pins, you checked on our guest to see if he was
awake.”

“
Of course. Everyone else
was out of the house except for you, and you were busy cleaning up
after lunch.”

“
I also suppose you put the
pins in your pocket because I didn’t see any pins while you were
telling Kent your life story.”

She laughed, not sure if her mother
was baiting her or helping her with her lie. “It wouldn’t have made
sense for me to wave the pins in front of his face, would
it?”

“
Did Harriett hang up the
blanket on the stronger clothesline like I asked her
to?”

“
I don’t know. I haven’t
been back yet.”

“
So Harriett has been in
need of new pins all this time, but you still have them. Show them
to me, Rose.”

Her smile fell. Drats! Her mother had
been baiting her. Curse her inability to think fast
enough!

“
Rose?”

With a heavy sigh, she said, “Alright,
so I wanted to see how Kent was doing and snuck away from the
laundry to do it. But there was no one up there to see if he needed
something.”

“
Enough excuses, young
lady. I want you to get back to the laundry right away.”

“
Yes, Ma.”

Shoulders slumped, she trudged to the
other side of the house where her sister was scrubbing a sheet on
the washboard. Rose glanced at her brothers’ bedroom window. At the
rate things were going, she’d never learn all about Kent and what
he was doing in Omaha.

“
That was the longest trip
to the privy I’ve ever seen,” Harriett called out.

Turning to her sister, she knelt by
the large tub and took the washboard and sheet from her. “I’ll wash
the rest of the sheets and you can hang them up.”

Her sister indicated her agreement and
stood up so she could stretch. “I hate laundry day.”

“
I do, too. If only there
was something that would wash it for us so we could sit back and
let it do all the work.”

She chuckled and gathered a clean
sheet from the basket. “Did you check on the young man in Adam and
Eli’s room?”

She thought about saying she’d been
detained with another chore but knew Harriett would see right
through her lie, just as her mother had. “Yes. Aren’t you curious
about him?”

“
Of course, I am. It’s not
every day Pa brings home someone who’s been hurt.”

“
I want to know everything
about him. You think he has a love interest he’s on his way to
meet?”

“
Unlikely. Usually, it’s
the woman who travels to be with the man.”

Rose hoped so. She hated to think he
was already promised to someone. “He’s handsome, don’t you
think?”

“
It’s hard to tell with his
face bruised.”

“
I can tell. He’s got a
wonderful masculine beauty about him. In that book we saw in
school, our teacher showed us pictures of some princes and kings.
You remember that book?”

Harriett shot her an amused grin.
“That book also had pictures of princesses and queens.”

“
Who cared about
them?”

“
I cared. Their gowns were
exquisite.”

“
Well, so were the men.”
She paused while rinsing the sheet and sighed. “There was one man
in particular who haunted my thoughts for weeks. I snuck into the
schoolhouse during lunch to take another look at him. His name was
Philip and he was the best looking one in the book.”

Rolling her eyes, Harriett
selected another clean sheet to hang up. “Don’t remind me. I had to
listen to all your daydreams about him.” After a moment, she added,
“Please tell me you haven’t saved any of the letters you wrote to
him and
from
him.”

“
It’s no fun to write a
letter unless you get a reply.”

“
I don’t even want to know
if you still have those. At least you’re no longer fantasizing
about him.”

“
Do you think it’s wrong I
pretended to have a courtship with him?”

“
Not wrong. Just
ridiculous.”

“
I like to think it was
good practice.” Yes, that’s what it was. Just practice for when the
right man finally came along. With a mischievous grin, she said,
“Kent is much better looking than Philip.”

“
Is that the guest’s
name?”

“
Yes. Kent Ashton. It
sounds noble, doesn’t it? Ashton. It’s classic and regal. It
matches him very well. Do you think he might be a prince who is in
hiding?”

“
Oh, Rose! You need to
spend more time in the real world.” Harriett laughed and threw a
pillowcase at her.

Chuckling, Rose returned her attention
to the wash.

Chapter Five

The next day, Kent was able to sit up
in bed without assistance, though he had to be mindful of his sore
ribs. After Adam took away his breakfast, someone knocked on the
bedroom door.

He called out for the person to enter
and the young blonde woman came into the room, carrying a couple of
books in her arms. “I heard you were more alert so I thought you
might like something to read.” She paused and glanced at the books.
“Can you read?”

“
Yes, I can read,” he
replied. He studied her as she approached the chair by his bed and
sat down. “Forgive me. I know your mother said your name, but I
can’t remember it.” He knew it was the name of a flower but not
which one.

“
Rose Larson.”

He offered a slow nod. He didn’t
understand what she wanted with him. He’d had no past dealings with
her, and yet she seemed strangely interested in him. His gaze went
to the books. “You wanted to give me some books to
read?”

“
Yes.” Instead of showing
them to him, she smiled and added, “I’ve lived here my entire life.
My ma didn’t, though. She came out here from Maine. I’ve never been
to Maine. Have you?”

“
No, I can’t say I
have.”

“
My pa said you came off
the train. Mind if I ask where you came from?”

Though he wasn’t sure why she cared,
he decided to oblige her since her family had taken good care of
him. “I came from Ireland.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes. I arrived here on a
ship and got on a train heading west.” She didn’t look satisfied
with his answer, so he asked, “You don’t believe me?”

“
Well, it’s not that I
don’t believe you, but I met someone from Ireland a couple years
ago and they sounded different.”

“
I wasn’t born there. I
didn’t even grow up there. I’m from the East but I spent the past
few years in Ireland.”

She seemed satisfied with that reply.
“So, where back East did you grow up? Did I mention my mother’s
from Maine?”

He shifted uncomfortably on the bed
and winced when his sides ached in protest. “I was born in New
Jersey but grew up in New York.”

“
And?”

“
And what?”

“
How did you get to
Ireland?”

He took a deep breath, not wishing to
dwell on that part of his life. He’d left Virginia and all those
unpleasant memories behind him when he went to Ireland to live with
his uncle, and he had no desire to share that part of his past with
a stranger. “My uncle wanted me to visit him,” he finally hedged.
It was the truth, and it was all she needed to know.

“
What about your
parents?”

He clenched the sheets, and her gaze
lowered to the bed. Feeling the heat of her curious stare, he
released the sheets and slowly exhaled. “I’d rather not talk about
it.”

“
Alright.” She paused. “So
you came here from Ireland. Where were you going? Are you staying
in Omaha?”

“
I was heading for
California. And no, I’m not staying in Omaha.”

Her smile faltered for a bit but then
returned. “I hope you’ll stay for a while. There are many wonderful
things about Omaha. I think it’s the best place to
live.”

“
I thought you haven’t been
anywhere but Omaha.”

“
Oh. Well, yes, that’s
true.”

“
Then how can you know this
is the best place to live?”

She shrugged. “Because it just is. If
it wasn’t, I’d find somewhere else to live.”

Her reasoning confounded him. “That
doesn’t make sense. You have nothing to compare Omaha
to.”

“
I don’t need to compare it
to anything else. I just know it’s true. I think after you stay
here for a while, you’ll learn that, too.”

“
I don’t think so,” he
muttered low enough so she didn’t hear him. He had no desire to get
into an argument with her, not when her logic only served to give
him the beginnings of a headache. “Can I have a spoonful of
medicine?” He gestured to the bottle by his bed.

“
Oh, of course!” She set
the books on the bed and turned to do what he wished. “Are you in
pain?”

“
Yes, it’s my
head.”

“
You poor man. Don’t you
worry. We’ll have you feeling better in no time.” She held the
spoon to his mouth. “Open wide.”