Charlene Sands (10 page)

“H
ey! Lookee here, Miss Meggie, you can’t just go throwing flour in anybody’s face,” Kate said, pinching up some of the white powder and flicking it onto Meggie’s face.

She giggled. “Yes, I can.” Meggie’s chubby fingers took up a small batch of flour and missed Kate’s face. Instead the flour landed on her throat and down the front of her dress.

“Okay, you got me!” Kate glanced at the rosy hue on Meggie’s face. She’d made a full recovery from last night. Thank heavens.

When Kate had woken up on Cole’s sofa early this morning, she’d risen quickly to check on Meggie. There she found both father and daughter in Meggie’s bedroom, Cole draped rather uncomfortably in the chair, only partly awake, and Meggie sprawled out in her bed. But Cole had roused rapidly when Kate entered and she’d witnessed the lines of fatigue on Cole’s face. She guessed he hadn’t slept much last
night and insisted that she take Meggie for the day so that he could get a bit more rest before going to the jail later that morning.

Cole had been too tired to argue. She could read the indecision on his face, but he’d relented, agreeing to let Meggie spend the day in Kate’s care.

Now they sat in Kate’s kitchen, baking cookies. Kate was sure to keep Meggie from too much activity, and baking was something that Meggie could do while resting.

“What kind of cookies?” Meggie asked.

“Oatmeal with raisin bits.”

“Daddy’s favorite.”

Kate smiled. “Is it now? Well, we’ll have to bring him a batch later. Some of the ones you baked, right, Meggie?”

She bobbed her head up and down. “Right.”

After dumping the measured flour into a bowl, Kate instructed Meggie on how to crack eggs. The child did a pretty darn good job and, as a reward, Kate allowed Meggie to stir up the batter, then add the raisins. “Your daddy is going to love these. Especially since they’re from you, Meggie.”

“I got two daddies. One daddy is up in heaven. And I got one at home, too.”

Kate’s heart stirred. Meggie was such a sweet child. “I’d say you’re a lucky girl.”

“How many daddies do you got?”

Kate hesitated. She didn’t enjoy speaking of her father, not even to Meggie, the pain of his betrayal
always with her. She’d never gotten over his leaving. As a young girl, Kate had tried dismissing his abandonment with many reasons, but in the end she’d only come up with one. He hadn’t loved her enough to stay. It had been a hard fight to regain her trust and believe she was worthy of love. Kate never quite knew if she’d accomplished that goal. “I have one daddy. But he’s not at home.” Meggie stopped licking batter off her fingers and looked up askance. “He left when I was very young.”

“Is he in heaven?”

“Well, I’m not so sure.”

Kate showed Meggie how to spoon the cookies on the pan and the subject was dropped, thankfully. Kate put the cookie pan in the cookstove and then fixed the lunch meal for Meggie. She warmed up barley soup and lathered biscuits with apple butter.

“Let’s make a deal. We eat up all our soup then we get to have a cookie straight out of the oven,” Kate coaxed. Cole had told her Meggie wasn’t a good eater, being extremely particular in what suited her tastes, but Meggie didn’t complain. She ate everything up, while Kate finished telling her the story of the golden bear.

After lunch, Kate put a hand to Meggie’s forehead and was gratefully relieved to find the fever hadn’t returned. Kate didn’t mind that the child’s blue pinafore was smudged with batter or that remnants of their little flour fight was evident on Meggie’s hair and face. The child felt cool to the touch, and that
was all that mattered. “I promised your daddy I’d take you home for an afternoon nap. We’d better get going.”

Meggie frowned, a distinct downturn of her little lips. “I’m not tired.”

Kate cast her an understanding smile. “I know, but you were very ill last night. It’s best not to overdo.”

“Can we go by the creek first? Daddy always takes me. He likes it there.” Meggie’s eyes lit. Her entire expression changed and Kate saw no harm in taking a slight detour by way of Crystal Creek.

“I like it there, too. Sure, we can walk down to the creek.”

“Yippee!” Meggie jumped from her seat and wrapped her arms around Kate’s middle. Kate hugged her back affectionately and tender feelings welled up inside her.

“I’ll even show you how to skip rocks over the water.”

“Daddy already teached me.”

Of course, Cole would have taught his daughter one of their favorite pastimes.

“Well, good, then maybe you can show me a thing or two. It’s been so long, I might have forgotten.”

Meggie grasped Kate’s hand and together they ambled pleasantly along to the creek.

Cole Bradshaw found himself just outside town in a field of wildflowers. He bent and picked a bouquet of pale pink primroses. The color suited Kate, matching
the rosy hue of her cheeks. Cole frowned. What in hell was he doing? He wasn’t courting Kate, yet he wanted to show his appreciation for her help last night and today. She’d given up an entire day to spend with Meggie.

“No harm in showing appreciation,” he muttered. “They’re just wildflowers.” Kate’s favorite.

Cole strode out of the field with the batch of flowers under his hat. No sense getting the entire town curious about his comings and goings. He walked along the sidewalk until he came up on the millinery. Mrs. Whittaker had the prettiest ribbons displayed in her window. Meggie would love a pair of colorful ribbons for her braids.

Cole entered the millinery and nearly did an about-face. But it was too late—he’d been caught. “Why, Cole, what are you doing in here?” Patricia Wesley walked over to him, Mrs. Whittaker just a step behind. “Not that I’m not tickled to see you.”

“Good afternoon, Patricia,” he managed cordially. “Mrs. Whittaker.”

The ladies returned his greeting. “Were you looking for me, Cole?” Patricia asked coyly.

“Uh, well, actually,” he began, glancing at Mrs. Whittaker then down at the hat he held in his hand. That had been his second mistake. The first was coming into the shop in the first place.

“What’s that you’re hiding under your hat?” Patricia asked with curiosity. She peered at his hat so
hard that he thought she’d likely bore a hole straight through it.

Patricia gasped. “Flowers? How positively lovely.”

Mrs. Whittaker cast Cole a look of approval. “The sheriff followed you in here to give you the flowers, Patricia. Isn’t that nice?”

“Cole? Really? How very thoughtful.”

Cole brought the flowers out from hiding. He stared at the primroses meant for Kate and, with great reluctance, presented Patricia with the bouquet. “Here you go.”

“Why, thank you. What a pleasant surprise.” Patricia brought the flowers up to her nose. “These are lovely.”

Kate would have thought so, too.

Cole pointed to the ribbons in the window, explaining that Meggie had been sick last night and the ribbons would surely cheer her up. Both ladies agreed. He made his purchase then handed Mrs. Whittaker the money. She glanced outside toward the Silver Saddle, then captured Cole with a sharp gaze. “You know, that woman intends to ignore the ordinance and open up that saloon anyway, regardless of the law.”

“I’m aware of the situation, Mrs. Whittaker.”

The stout woman shook her head. “They’ve been working night and day, making a terrible racket, trying to hurry up the construction. Why? I’ll never understand. You’ll just have to arrest her soon as she opens her doors.”

Cole grimaced, a knot twisting in his gut. “She knows the consequences.”

“But do you?” Mrs. Whittaker leaned over her cash register and whispered, “We all know about your friendship with Miss Malone, Sheriff. But the town council is counting on you to do the right thing.”

Cole didn’t need to hear this right now. He’d spent the entire night awake, worrying over Meggie and thinking about kissing Kate again. Doing more than kissing Kate. Hell, how had things gotten so dang complicated? “I’ll do my duty as a sworn officer of the law, Mrs. Whittaker. Like I always do.”

The white-haired lady’s eyes beamed with satisfaction. “Good. We didn’t place our faith in you by electing you over that Sherman fella without knowing you’d do your duty. No matter what.”

Cole nodded solemnly and turned to leave. Patricia waited for him by the front door. She smiled sweetly. “Would you walk me to the livery, Cole? I’m due to take another riding lesson today.”

“Sure thing, Patricia. No problem.”

Patricia took his arm as they headed down the sidewalk, her gay laughter floating through town. Cole didn’t think anything he’d said was particularly clever, but Patricia surely did.

They’d almost reached the livery when Cole spotted Meggie. She ran straight into his arms. “Daddy!”

Cole bent down, studying his daughter. She appeared to be fine, all smiles and giggles, although she
looked as dirty as a prairie dog who’d just tunneled his way to town. “Look at you, Megpie, what did you get yourself into?”

“We had a flour fight, Daddy, and we made cookies. Miss Kate letted me put the raisin bits in and I made up a batch just for you. Then we went down to the creek and skipped rocks on the water!”

“Did she now?” Cole brought himself up to full height as Kate came forward. She held a basket filled with cookies. Her smile was radiant and she, too, had flour on her clothes. A dusting of fine powder remained on her throat then dipped down lower to the hollow between the swell of her breasts. Cole fought off the temptation to stare, lifting his eyes to hers, but his wicked mind had already conjured up images of how he’d like to remove that flour from her chest.

Kate’s gaze flowed over him, then to Patricia, who stood close holding those damn flowers. Kate revealed nothing in her expression, but Cole wondered what she was thinking.

Meggie grabbed the basket out of Kate’s hands. “Here’s the cookies, Daddy.”

Cole peered into the cloth-trimmed basket. “Oatmeal with raisins. Thank you, sweet darlin’.”

“Miss Kate didn’t know they was your favorite,” Meggie said innocently.

Cole pierced Kate with a knowing gaze. They’d grown up eating oatmeal cookies together, oftentimes fighting over who got the last one. “No, she probably didn’t.”

Kate shrugged and averted her eyes.

“Cole, this child is absolutely filthy!” Patricia reeled. “Why, she’s full of flour. It’s in her hair, on her clothes. What is that sticky stuff on you, child?”

Meggie looked down and with a finger swiped a bit of the sweet stuff from her dress then licked her finger. “Cookie dough.”

Kate laughed.

Cole laughed.

Patricia gasped. “Oh dear!” Then she continued on with her softly spoken tirade. “Look at her legs, Cole. She’s green with grass stains. It’ll take a month of Sundays to clean this child up properly.”

Meggie’s mouth turned down and her happy expression vanished.

“No harm in a little dirt, Patricia.” Cole needed to put the smile back on his daughter’s face. “Meggie, why don’t we go on home now and see about having some milk and cookies?”

“Cole,” Patricia reprimanded quietly, “that’s not the way to discipline her. She needs suitable tending. She needs to know about ladylike manners.” Patricia darted her gaze over to Kate, a distasteful look on her face.

Cole swept Meggie up into his arms. His daughter had had a rough night and now she was the picture of pure joy. He saw no reason to discipline her. In truth, he hadn’t seen Meggie so happy in a very long time. Cole knew Patricia had good intentions. She’d been schooled in the East. She knew about manners
and such, so why did it rub at him crosswise when she tried to help out with his daughter? “Patricia, looks like Jethro is waiting for you.” He gestured with a nod of his head.

All eyes turned back to the entrance of the livery. Jethro Cable stood wearing a frown and holding on to the reins of two mares.

“Oh, all right,” she said quickly. “I don’t want that man getting into one of his foul moods because I’m late.”

“Have a good lesson, Patricia,” Cole offered kindly.

Kate watched Patricia walk away in a huff swinging the bouquet of wildflowers like a weapon, as though she meant to do Jethro harm with them. Poor Jethro, Kate thought, then she turned to find Cole staring at her.

“Well, I’d better get home,” Kate said, her heart still hurting from seeing Cole arm in arm with Patricia, holding that lovely batch of primroses just moments ago. It shouldn’t shock her seeing them together. Kate had no claim on Cole.

It was clear what he wanted in a woman. Kate simply didn’t measure up, but it still smarted like the dickens whenever she bumped into them together. She’d rather not be witness to their courtship.

“Goodbye, Meggie. You stay healthy, okay? And take that nap like you promised.”

Meggie’s big eyes rounded, a woeful expression on her cherubic face. “Do ya hafta go?”

On a regretful sigh, Kate offered, “I’m afraid I do.”

“Wait, Kate,” Cole said urgently. “I wanted to thank you for last night and for taking Meggie today.” He grinned. “From the looks of her, she clearly had a great time.”

Kate smiled at Meggie and stroked her floured hair. A sadness Kate wouldn’t dare show consumed her now. At the moment, she had two Bradshaws in her heart. “We had fun, didn’t we?”

Meggie bobbed her head up and down.

Cole held Meggie tight in his arms. There was such genuine love between them that it warmed Kate’s heart, but it also reminded her of all she’d missed as a young girl, not having her father’s love. She’d vowed to never again allow anyone to make her feel unworthy of love.

Cole flashed her a beautiful smile. He still had the power to make her insides tremble with a show of just a little Bradshaw charm. “Kate, you’ve been a good…friend. Let me show my appreciation by taking you ladies out for supper after Meggie’s nap.”

Kate didn’t want to spend more time with either of them. It hurt too darn much. She looked into Meggie’s hopeful eyes, hating to disappoint her. She couldn’t bear to look at Cole, so she found the flour stains on her boots real interesting and shook her head. “I couldn’t possibly. I, uh, lost a bit of time today. I really have a great deal of work to do at the saloon.”