Jodi Thomas - WM 1 (33 page)
Read Jodi Thomas - WM 1 Online
Authors: Texas Rain
“I don’t know how long the questions will take.”
“Not long, I hope.”
Travis mumbled. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” As he left with Duck, he noticed Mike riding up to the house. Somewhere he’d found a sidesaddle. Travis laughed. Sage had never ridden sidesaddle in her life. It would almost be worth being late for his testing to watch her face when she saw the saddle.
He walked across the street to the courthouse and slowly climbed to the second floor. A secretary told him that Judge Gates was finishing up with a case and would be with him as soon as possible. She pointed down the hallway. “You can wait down by the courtrooms, but make sure that boy doesn’t make any noise.”
He thanked her, then wondered why. If Duck would say something, Travis wouldn’t care if he yelled it to the roof of this fine building.
As he walked down the hall, Travis figured it might be Dottie Davis’s claim on the wine that held the judge up, but decided that would have been over at least an hour ago. To his surprise, Rainey was sitting on the bench outside the judge’s chambers when he got there.
“Mind if I sit down?” Travis wasn’t sure where he stood with Rainey. But then, why should today be any different than others? He never knew where he stood with her.
She looked up, but didn’t smile. “No. I don’t mind.” She moved halfway down the bench, giving him more room than he and Duck would need.
The boy sat between them and to Travis’s surprise patted her hand.
“Problem with the court, or just unhappy to see me?” Travis asked as he removed his and Duck’s coats.
He dug in his pocket for the top string and two other balls of yarn Duck insisted on bringing along. One of the strings was caught on a half a cookie Duck must have crammed in his pocket along with a leaf he’d picked up somewhere along the way. “I swear,” Travis mumbled as he tried to straighten the mess out. “I need a pack mule to take the kid anywhere.”
Rainey smiled as she watched but made no effort to help.
Travis unloaded his other pocket on the bench next to Duck. “He collects everything. Not just food and string, but leaves and nails. I gave him one of the boxes Sage brought home to keep all he collects. He sleeps next to it like he’s guarding his treasures every night.”
Rainey laughed. “I know how he feels. When you don’t have anything, one box seems like a lot. And, in answer to your question, my problem is with the court, not you. The judge is talking to Dottie now. It seems the partner may have a right to the wine. If so, we may be charged. He asked me to wait out here.”
“If I get a license to practice, you may be my first client.” Travis frowned. He wanted to see her again, but not as a criminal he defended.
“I thought you were being tested to be a lawyer this morning,” Rainey said. “I may be running out of time. I may be sentenced and in jail before you finish the testing.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. There’s been a delay.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. No one passing would ever guess that they had shared several passionate kisses the night before. In truth they looked like two strangers waiting.
Finally Rainey broke the silence. “Good luck with the panel.”
“Thanks,” he answered. “Would you mind if I talked to you about something?”
She looked like she might bolt.
“I could use some advice. It’s about my sister,” he quickly added.
Rainey met his eyes for the first time. “All right. If you think I can help.”
While Duck played with his string, Travis explained everything that had happened that morning at the bakery. Rainey relaxed at his side, asking questions, offering comments. By the time he’d finished his account, she was laughing at his threats.
“She’s just eighteen,” Travis ended. “I don’t think she knows what she’s doing.”
“I’m twenty-three,” Rainey said. “And I’m not sure I know what I’m doing most of the time.”
Travis almost forgot about his sister’s problem. Rainey had just told him something personal about herself.
“What do you think I should do?” he asked.
She smiled. “I think you should back away. Trust her.”
He didn’t like her advice, but he didn’t argue. “Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome,” she answered. “You love your little sister very much.”
“True. When she was a kid it was like she had three fathers. It’s hard now thinking of her grown. You have any siblings?”
He waited, expecting her to change the subject, or lie, but she said simply, “No.”
The chamber door opened and Dottie Davis hurried out. There was no more time to talk. Travis heard the judge promise he’d solve their problems with the partner.
The judge’s secretary hurried down the hall and told Travis he could go into the courtroom. She took the time to frown at Duck, then hurried back to her desk.
He leaned close to Rainey for a moment and whispered, “I need to see you tonight.”
She met his gaze. Though her head shook slightly, he didn’t miss a sparkle of passion in her eyes.
Travis stood. When he collected their coats, he lightly brushed Rainey’s arm as if the need to touch her just once was too strong to resist.
Her lips made a circle and he groaned under his breath. The thought crossed his mind that if she didn’t plan to see him tonight, she might as well kill him now.
The doors to the courtroom opened and lawyers were already lining up behind a table to question him. He glanced back and saw Rainey start down the steps. She looked over her shoulder and whispered, “Good luck.”
Travis turned and headed in, feeling less prepared than if he’d been an unarmed man in a shootout. But this is what he’d told everyone he came to Austin to do, and now all he had to do was see it through.
By the time the introductions were over and the questions began, Duck had crawled up on top of Travis’s coat and was sound asleep in the pew behind Travis.
Two hours later when Duck awoke, the lawyers were still asking questions.
CHAPTER 24
RAINEY WALKED HOME WITH DOTTIE. THE WIDOW talked all the way about how the judge promised to do his best to help her, but her dead husband’s partner seemed to have the advantage. No matter how you looked at it, wine was considered liquor, and he did own the half that was a saloon.
“What did he do with the other half after your husband died?”
Dottie frowned. “It’s sitting empty. I’ve tried to sell it, but nobody wants half a place. Jeffrey, my husband’s partner, doesn’t make it any too easy, either. The few people who have looked at it didn’t like the idea of sharing the building with him after they met him. He’s meaner than a snake.”
They hurried up the steps of the Askew House. Dottie held the door against the wind. “I may have to move over there and live. The judge said if Jeffrey presses charges, and he will if I know him, I’ll have to hire a lawyer.”
Rainey hung her old navy cape on one of the hooks by the front door wondering where she’d find the money for her lawyer if it came down to a trial. If she didn’t have one, she’d probably go to jail. Maybe she should ask Pearl and Owen if she could work one more day. The extra pies would sell and she could sock back the money just in case. But she felt she was already intruding on their privacy enough by working three days.
The widow turned from putting up her coat. “It’s lunchtime. I’ve got tea and biscuits in my room.”
Rainey smiled. “Texas biscuits or English biscuits.”
Dottie winked. “English of course.”
One of the sisters stepped from the drawing room and frowned at them. When Rainey looked puzzled, the sister smiled. “I’m sorry. I’m glad to see you two in from this bitter cold, but we are expecting a young lady for her final fitting this morning, and it doesn’t look like she’s going to show up.”
“Sage McMurray?” Rainey asked.
Grace nodded.
“I saw her brother at the courthouse. It appeared he had urgent business, and if so, she may have to wait until he can escort her.” Rainey didn’t want to tell the spinster that the girl stood her up to go riding with a handsome young man. They’d never understand.
“Oh.” Grace looked relieved. “I see. That’s quite understandable. A young lady of her breeding and wealth should never go anywhere alone.”
Rainey smiled, knowing that if Grace knew what a wild bunch the McMurrays were, she would never have made such a foolish statement.
Dottie whispered that she’d bring the tea and biscuits up to Rainey’s room and then hurried up the stairs. She enjoyed the three sisters’ conversations, but found them lengthy.
Rainey did her duty and stopped in to say hello to the other two sisters. The German mother and daughter had left two days ago for their farm near Fredricksburg. The house seemed quiet and empty.
Mrs. Vivian was picking up her stationery from the writing table by the window. If there was to be no guest, she had her shopping to do. She didn’t bother to say goodbye to the boarders, but they all heard her yell for Mamie to bring the buggy around. Mrs. Vivian might only be going a few blocks, but she planned to go in style.
By the time Rainey made it up to her room, Dottie was already there with the tea. They pulled off their shoes and ate on the tiny bed, laughing at how improper Mrs. Vivian would think they were if she found them.
After several minutes the conversation turned to the mess they were in. “We were only trying to help Mamie get free, and now we may both be locked up,” the widow mumbled with a biscuit in her mouth.
“Do you really think so?”
The widow smiled a wicked smile and shook her head. “That’s why I asked to speak to the judge alone. I flirted with him outrageously and he never caught on. If trouble comes, I can promise you he’ll be on our side. The only problem is he’s an honest man, and they are always harder to deal with.”
“You’re telling me,” Rainey agreed.
They laughed and talked. Eventually the conversation turned to what Rainey had heard the night before. “Snort and Whiny are still planning to kill their boss, who claims he’s coming into money soon. I talked it over with Travis, and he thinks Haskell plans to collect on the reward money for an escaped outlaw named Seth Norman who is sweet on Whiny.”
Dottie wiggled her eyebrows. “I’ll bet they make a cute couple.”
Rainey laughed. Somehow the widow always managed to make things funny. Rainey opened the window in case they could overhear more. But all they heard was Mamie singing as she threw out the wash water.
Rainey leaned back, not minding the open window, for Mamie’s voice sounded so sweet. “She always sings when Mrs. Vivian is out of the house.”
The widow nodded. “Too bad it’s cold. Our landlord likes to visit on warm days, but when it’s cold she hurries back to take her afternoon nap.” Dottie smiled her sweetest and added, “Which, by the way, you look like you might need a nap as well. Late night?”
She leaned close to Dottie and whispered what had happened last night when Travis had insisted on walking her back to the laundry room window.
The widow giggled like a girl. “He’s got it bad for you.”
“I know. I feel the same. But he’s the marrying kind, and I think that’s what he wants.”
Dottie raised an eyebrow. “Then marry him.”
“I can’t. I promised I wouldn’t tie myself down like my mother did. My father made her believe she would starve without him. Her days were miserable, but she wouldn’t leave, not even when he hit her.”
Rainey took a deep breath and told her what she’d never told another soul. “When I was six, my father’s father died. We traveled all day to his farmhouse. My parents expected an inheritance. But it seems my father’s education was all the old man planned to give his son. My father discovered he inherited nothing, not even his mother’s jewels.”
She closed her eyes as she repeated a memory she’d tried for a dozen years to forget. “My father had too much to drink. He drove far too fast on a rutted road. The carriage rocked and pitched. My mother fell against the side and was bruised badly. I remember how he yelled at her to stop whimpering. When we got home, her skirts were bloody. She’d lost a child and the doctor said she’d never have another.”
“Oh, no,” Dottie whispered.
“My father blamed my mother. For a long time I could hear them arguing at night. The next morning the bruising on my mother always seemed fresh. Until finally the life just went out of her and she became a walking ghost.”
Dottie closed her hand over Rainey’s. “She must have loved you. She must have.”
“I wish I could believe that. All I know is I never want to be in that situation where I have no way out, where someone has control over my life. I love being near Travis. I love the way he touches me. If I could know for sure that I could walk away, I think I’d stay with him forever.” Rainey shook her head. “It makes no sense.”
“But marriage can be grand.”
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