Dusty Britches (32 page)

“
Berries, huh,
”
Ryder stated as he looked at the empty tub.

“
Pies for supper tomorrow,
”
she told him. It was light, trivial conversation.
Still,
at least she
hadn’t snapped
at
him
,
scowling like she
’
d done
before
.

“’
Member how much time me and you used to spend talkin
’
?
”
he asked, reaching down and
yanking a
foxtail
out of the ground. He put it between his teeth and began to chew on it a little
. Dusty
nodded but remained silent
.
“
Near to every night after supper we
’
d sit out there by the pit with your mama and daddy and the other hands and talk about…whatever there was to talk about.
”
Still she was quiet and looked away when he looked to her for response.
“
You ever spend much time talkin
’
anymore?
”
Without waiting for an answer
,
he added,
“
You used to talk the hind leg off a horse.
”
He smiled.
“
Sometimes I wondered how y
a
didn
’
t pass out cold
…’
cause y
a
hardly
ever
stopped for a bre
ath. Rem
ember?
”

“
Yes,
”
she admitted.
“
I rambled on for days at a time
. I really did.” She smiled
and laughed a little.
“
How
’
d y
a
ever tolerate me?
”

He chuckled.
“
But it was always
so
interestin
’
…whatever you were goin
’
on about.
”

“
I
’
m sure it wasn
’
t!
”
she argued.
“
You were just nicer than everybody else and tolerated me
more
.
”

He grinned down at her, still
chew
ing
on the foxtail stem.
“
Bet it was hard on your daddy when your mama died,
”
he
sighed. He turned and began walking
toward the house.

Dusty fell into step behind him. She nodded.

“
I really wondered if he
’
d make it without followin
’
close behind her. I couldn
’
t believe how lost he was. Mama was everything to him.
”

“
Yep. I remember how he doted on her. Course, she could
n’t
a been everything
. H
e had you and Becca. That probably kept him goin
’,
I
’
d imagine.
”
Ryder looked up
into the
sky
. He frowned
and mumbled,
“
She was a wonderful woman.
”

Their conversation was light—nothing
intimate
about it
. It was conversation he
’
d made with her because somehow he
’
d found himself talking to her.
Still,
she wasn
’
t ready to leave him, and when they reached the back porch
,
she sat down
instead of entering the house.
She hoped he would join her—and he did
. His voice was soothing, comforting. She remember
ed
so many
nights
spent in conversation
around the fire. They had been wonderful, some of her warmest, fondest memories.

“
Did y
a
ever find your aunt?
”
Dusty asked him
. She’d suddenly remembered his having an aunt somewhere—that he’d spoken of trying to find her
.
“
The one y
a
lost track of?
”

Ryder
’
s parents had died of the fever when he was thirteen. Tha
t’s how he’d started cowboying—
out of necessity for survival.
He didn’t have any brothers or sisters, and the only family he ha
d known was an aunt.

“
My Aunt Milly?
”
he asked.
“
Oh, yeah! I tracked her down right after I left here. Found her over in
Flagstaff
,
Arizona
…
if you can believe it. She died about a year back.
”
He was pensive for a moment and mumbled,
“
She was a good ol
’
gal. I really miss her.
”

Dusty felt suddenly empty
herself—s
ad for him and horribly lonely. How odd it mus
t be not to have any family. How terrible! She felt rather depressed in the moment,
wishing she w
ere
still t
hat Dusty Hunter from years ago—the Dusty Hunter who
would
’
ve hugged him
with reassurance
. Instead, she clutched her hands together in her lap and stared out at the horizon.

The silence hung too heavy in the air between
them, and R
yder
finally
said,
“
Well, I guess you
’
ll wanna be gettin
’
in to finish up.
”

Dusty craved his attention
,
and desperation drove her to
keep their conversation going—by any means
she could think of. She was nearly as surprised as Ryder looked when she blurted out,
“
What did that drifter say about the family that made you light into him?
”

“
What?
”
Ryder asked. His expression was of
utter confusion—and well it should’ve been,
for he had no way of knowing what memories she
’
d been dwelling on of late.

“
That time y
a
beat the sauce out of
—
what was his name
?—
Larry. Larry Williams. Remember? You beat him up
,
and Daddy sent him packin
’
?
”

“
Oh, yea
h
!
”
he chuckled.
“
Where the heck did that come from?
”

Dusty shrugged.
“
I don
’
t know. I was just thinkin
’
about it the other day. Mama and Daddy never would tell us girls what it was all about. All I knew was it had to be bad for Daddy to let
you
stay after brawlin
’
and yet send him away.
”

“It was bad,” Ryder mumbled. He covered
his mouth
as a yawn overtook him
.
“
That boy was a snake i
n the grass, I’ll tell ya that.”

“What did he say?” Dusty sensed
he was avoiding giving her an answer. He
’
d
avoided giving difficult answers
all the time when she was younger. He was always leery of telling her things he wasn
’
t sure she should know.
Yet
when she was younger, she wouldn
’
t let hi
m squirm away without an answer—and she surely wouldn’t now.
“
Tell me. You do remember?
”

“Well, yeah,” he confessed, shifting
his
broad
shoulders
. He seemed unsettled
.
“
But I don
’
t know if I should…
”

“Oh, come on. T
ell me.
”

Ryder
looked at Dusty—seemed to study her
for a long moment. It was obvi
ous he didn’t want to tell her—
that
whatever Larry Williams had said
made him uncomfortable.
Still
, as
he ever had in the past whenever Dusty pressed him
, he relented.
“
He said…he told some of the other hands that…that…
”

“
That
…”
she prodded.

“
That your mama was a
-
hankerin
’
after me…if you
want the ugly truth of it.”

Dusty’s
mouth
gaped
open in astonishment.
“
What?
”

Ryder sighed and shifted
, his discomfort obvious
.
“
He was sayin
’
she treated me
different than the other hands…that I was her favorite. And—
and he was tellin
’
the other boys that she wanted to…to…that sh
e had a hankerin’ for me but that I
wasn
’
t interested in the mama for
bein’ hot after her little girl.”
He grimaced and nearly whined,
“
For Pete
’
s sake, what does it matter now
, Dusty
?
”

“
You gotta be lyin
’
to me!
”
Dusty exclaimed. She
was oddly delighted—as if
some lewd secret
had just been
revealed to her.
In truth, it had!
Someone had noticed her mother
’
s favoritism
toward Ryder and his toward her
self?
“
Why would he say somethin
’
like that?
”

“Your mama sort
a took me under her wing. I guess that ol
’
boy didn
’
t like
it
. I
’
ll tell you what,
”
he continued,
“
if Feller hadn
’
t be
en in town that day, I wouldn’t
a been the only one to whup up on that idiot! And I know your daddy would just as soon a shot him th
an let him go.
As far as the other goes…
”
He looked at her and lowered his voice
.
“I
f nothin
’
else
…
he was too right on
where
my feelin
’
s about you
were concerned for me to let it go
. You know what I
’
m sayin
’
?
”

Dusty looked away from him for a moment
, embarrassed somehow
.
Yet
the fact someone would accuse her mother of anything wrong
tweaked her temper
.
“
You
earned
your place as Mama
’
s favorite,
”
Dusty told him.
“
You worked hard. And you were always the one
who
helped her out with things, regardless of the fact you were keeping me out of trouble all the time.
”

“
That
ol’ boy
was a weasel,
”
he mumbled.
“
I would
a
like to have beat on him a little longer, but your daddy came upon it and made me stop.
”
He shook his head and chuckled.
“
Boy! Did I have a temper back then or what?
”