Kaitlin's Silver Lining (3 page)

“What am I gonna do,
Burlap?”

The horse snorted.
Bryce sighed. The gentle motion of the horse’s gait soothed his thoughts.
Kaitlin’s almond eyes flashed in his memory. He hated the idea of any woman
being exposed to danger. But Kaitlin appeared to be the self-reliant type.
She’d impressed him with her dauntless conduct in the face of her rather
humbling incident. None of the women he knew would have reacted with such calm.

As independent as she
appeared, she’d probably rebuff any help he offered. He pulled his coat tighter
against his neck. Call it a quirk of his, but a deep protectiveness stole over
him. He wanted to catch the man or men responsible for her difficulties.

How could he follow
through with his original intentions? How could he leave Charley with Kaitlin?
He shook his head, a self-derisive gesture aimed at the hopelessness of the
situation. Hopeless unless...unless he offered Kaitlin his protection.

His lip curled into a
smile. He could just imagine Miss Kanatzer’s reaction to his proposition. A
spinster who fought for women’s rights wouldn’t care for a man’s interference.
The more he thought about it, the more determined he became. He loved Charley
with all his heart and he meant to do right by her. She needed the loving
attention of a woman, and Kaitlin was family.

He spurred Burlap
into a faster gait. He knew exactly what he had to do. And Kaitlin would have
little say in the matter.

Two

Kaitlin gathered her
molasses-saturated skirt close to her body and trudged the short distance to
the kitchen. No matter how hard she tried to avoid making a larger mess, a
black trail of goo followed in her wake. If they’d lived out in the country, a
bath on the back porch would have been preferable, but such was not an option
here in town. She and Maggie gave the neighbors enough gossip without adding
more.

With a grimace, she
tried to unbutton the front of her dress, but her gummy fingers couldn’t manage.

“Here. Let me help.”
Maggie entered the kitchen and came to her aid. She took charge and worked the
rest of the buttons free.

“Wanna tell me who
Bethany was?” Maggie asked but kept her attention on the row of buttons she was
undoing.

“My sister.”

“Your sister? You
never told me you had a sister.” Maggie reeled as if slapped.

“I don’t.”

“But...”

“Bethany was dead to
the family long before Mr. Stanton decided to bring me news of her death.” It
was not a topic she really wanted to discuss.

“Oh.”

The dress fell to the
ground. The ruined garment would have to be discarded. Such waste left a bitter
taste in her mouth. “Help me with this corset.”

“Kaitlin. You can’t
ignore the fact she was your sister.” Maggie’s fingers picked at the tight cord
holding the corset in place. “You must feel something.”

Kaitlin sighed. She
should feel remorse over Bethany’s passing. But Bethany had disappointed her
family on more than one occasion. “Bethany left the family when she was
fourteen. Do you know how she made her living? She worked in a saloon, and she
served the men a tad more than just drinks.”

Maggie’s fingers
stilled. “Are you going to hold that against the child?”

She squeezed her
eyelids tight. She’d come to the same conclusion. “No.”

Maggie yanked the
loosened corset down over Kaitlin’s hips, her actions less than gentle. Kaitlin
frowned, but made no comment. Maggie stepped back, and Kaitlin peeled the
pantaloons and stockings from her legs.

A cozy fire combated
the wintry temperatures. Naked, she started to step into the hipbath then
scowled. Goose bumps sprouted upon her skin.

“What’s wrong?”

Her teeth clattered.
“It’s cold.”

“Well, it was warm
earlier. Just climb in. I’ll heat up more water for you. You’ll need the warmth
just to loosen up that thick syrup.”

She shivered and
forced her body into the not-so-warm bath, while Maggie filled another kettle
and put it on the stove.

“So, what did you
think of Mr. Stanton?” Maggie returned to Kaitlin’s side and plucked the hair
pins from her hair.

“What do you mean?”

“Right handsome
fellow, if you ask me.”

“For a bean pole,
perhaps. And besides, nobody asked you, did they?”

“Don’t get snippy
with me, miss. You forget, I’m your closest friend, and I saw how you reacted
when you first opened the door and found him standing there. You stiffened up
like a baked brick and just stared at him. When he chuckled, you got all
snooty. You never act like that. You’re usually the model for genteel manners.
’Pears to me, that man caught more than your ire, and you don’t know what to
make of it.”

“Playing matchmaker
again?” She grabbed a bar of soap and lathered her skin and hair.

“No, I wouldn’t dare.
I know how you feel about men in general, but you can’t deny something about
that man appealed to you.” Maggie lifted a bucket of clean water and poured it
over Kaitlin’s hair.

Kaitlin decided to
ignore Maggie’s observation. Her immediate reaction to Bryce Stanton was of
little consequence. So what if she found him attractive? Just because she never
planned to marry didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate a handsome man when one
crossed her path. She hugged her body and shivered. “So what happened to that
warm water you promised?”

“You never did have
any patience.” Maggie checked the kettle then used a dishtowel to lift it from
the stove.

Kaitlin sighed when
the hot liquid warmed her bath. She closed her eyes and thought of Bryce. When
she had opened the door to find him standing there, her whole body seemed to
tense with sudden awareness. But when he reached out and touched her cheek, she
froze. Watching him lick the molasses off his finger in a seemingly innocent
gesture ignited images within her imagination that were highly improper. The
sooner the man left, the better off she would be.

“I wonder how he
ended up with Bethany’s daughter. She called him ‘Uncle Bryce’. Maybe Bethany
married, and Bryce became her brother-in-law. Or maybe even a step-father.”

“Guess you ought to
ask him.” Maggie poured more water over her hair.

“Hmm.”

“Looks like we got
most of the molasses off. Why don’t you wrap up in a towel and sit while I dump
and refill? It shouldn’t take me long.” Maggie held out a large towel that
Kaitlin gratefully stepped into.

“I should help you.”
She held the towel tighter against the sudden chill of the room.

“Nonsense. I can get
this. You just sit and rest.”

Rest? It would be
hard to relax with that man waiting in the parlor for her return.
Stop
thinking about him.
She couldn’t understand her sudden fascination for the
lanky cowboy. Rarely did a man turn her head so quickly, and certainly not some
two-bit drifter.

What was she going to
do about Charley? Keeping the girl would prove difficult. She knew next to
nothing about children and even less about raising young ladies. Her lifestyle
might not contribute to the girl’s overall welfare. She would just have to make
Mr. Stanton understand exactly whom he planned to entrust with Charley’s care.

Maggie returned,
interrupting Kaitlin’s troubled thoughts. Deciding she’d kept her surprise
guests waiting long enough, she quickly finished her toilette.

The sound of
shattering glass gave her a start. “Hurry and help me dress. Charley must have
broken something.”

A few minutes later,
Maggie and Kaitlin rounded the corner to enter the parlor. Charley sat on the
settee, a forlorn, lost look upon her pretty face. Her hands twisted the hem of
her dress. Kaitlin surveyed the room, but found Mr. Stanton to be strangely
absent.

“Charley, where’s
your uncle?”

“Gone,” she
whispered. “He left me just like my momma did.”

Gone? Kaitlin and
Maggie both ran for the front door at the same time. Maggie shrieked. They both
skidded to an abrupt halt when their shoes crunched on broken glass.

“What in the
world...” Maggie began only to be cut off by Kaitlin’s explosion of temper.

“That low down,
good-for-nothing drifter brought us a child out of the blue and took off. He
must have slammed the door in his rush to leave. But why leave us the girl,
break our window, and vanish? It makes no sense. If I ever get my hands on that
scoundrel, I’ll tell him a thing or two. He can’t just show up with a young
girl and drop her off like that.”

Spent, Kaitlin turned
on her heel and came face-to-face with Charley. The girl stared at her with
eyes the size of gold nuggets. Kaitlin’s tirade died in the face of such hurt
and disillusionment. She knew how her words must have sounded. She never meant
to imply she didn’t want Charley. Never would she purposefully cause a child
such pain.

“Well, look what
you’ve done now.” Maggie’s admonishment only made her feel worse.

“Charley, I’m so
sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it sounded. Truly. I was just airing my lungs.
You’re more than welcome in this house.” Kaitlin held out her hands as if to
take away the pain.

Charley’s gaze held
Kaitlin’s before traveling upward to a point just below her hairline. In a
flat, unemotional voice, Charley said, “You missed a spot.”

Complete silence
followed Charley’s quiet observation. Kaitlin touched the drop of molasses and
frowned. The damage to Charley had been done and would not be easily repaired.
With a deep sigh, Kaitlin turned toward Maggie.

“Maggie, I’ll go
fetch a policeman if you stay here with Charley. I think the authorities need
to know about Mr. Stanton’s behavior, not to mention the damage to our front
door.”

“I have a better
idea.” Maggie gave her a very pointed look. “You stay here with your niece,
while I go for the police.”

“Of—of course.”

Maggie shook her
head, grabbed her coat, and sailed out the door before Kaitlin could call her
back.

The last thing she
wanted was time alone with Bethany’s daughter. The thought struck fear in her
heart. She knew more about shooting a gun than she did about raising a child.
Through no fault of Charley’s, the water-under-her-bridge seemed to be flooding
at the moment. She couldn’t stem the rush of emotional insecurities pushing
their way to the surface of her normally calm demeanor.

Every bad word, every
cruel deed, every jealous seed ever caused by Bethany flashed through Kaitlin’s
mind. She had struggled to put the past behind her, to compose herself into a
confident young woman with strong convictions, and an even stronger ambition to
see those opinions brought to light. But an image of Bethany stood before her
in innocent supplication, reminding her of a past not so easily forgotten.

Charley moved. Glass
crunched beneath her feet. The sound brought Kaitlin out of her reverie and
back to the matter at hand. Whatever difficulties she’d had with Bethany should
not taint the relationship she would soon forge with Charley.

“No, Charley. Don’t
walk there. You’ll end up dragging glass everywhere. Why don’t you go back to
the parlor and wait while I sweep the floor?”

“I’m hungry.”

“I’m sure you are,
but I’ve got to clean up the glass before I can fix us some refreshments. Be a
good girl, now.”

Charley started to
leave, but turned back to give Kaitlin a look of innocent resignation. “You
don’t know the first thing about children, do you? You’d rather I leave and not
come back, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, Charley. I do
want you. The broken window upset me, and the words came out all wrong.”

“It’s all right, Aunt
Kate. My mom told me all about you. She said you would hate me on sight just
because I was her daughter. I didn’t wanna come, but Uncle Bryce made me.”

Kaitlin could think
of no reply to Charley’s shocking words. She kept reminding herself Charley
wasn’t Bethany, but their similarities in coloring made it difficult. Charley
left before Kaitlin could contradict her. Even if she tried to tell Charley how
she really felt, the child wouldn’t believe her. She would just have to show
Charley through her actions how much she wanted this chance to change the past.

Retrieving a broom
from the kitchen, she tackled the littered floor. Absorbed in the chore, she
was startled by the front door banging open. She whirled around, broom raised
high. A tall, lanky figure swept off his hat and dusted snowflakes from his
trench coat. Bryce Stanton had returned.

“You’d better have a
good excuse for breaking my window and running off like that.” She raised the
broom higher.

“Holster your
six-shooter, lady.”

She gave him a
puzzled frown.

“The broom.” He
nodded at her weapon.

She lowered the
broom, but kept it in hand. He hadn’t done anything yet to earn her trust. “I’d
like an explanation now.”

He shrugged out of
his coat, keeping a suspicious eye on the broom. His caution pleased her. She
wanted him to know just what kind of woman he dealt with. As president of the
newly formed Mountain Ridge Chapter of the Colorado Suffrage Association,
Kaitlin could not afford a weak front before this man. She had to set an
example for all womankind. And—she had no desire to repeat the same mistakes
she’d once made with James Latham.

Before hanging up the
coat, Bryce dug around in the pocket. Slowly, he pulled out a rock. Digging
deeper, he withdrew a scrap of paper.

“Here’s your
explanation.” He handed her the rock.

“A rock?”

“Yep. It sailed
through your window with this attached.” He unfolded the wadded up paper and
held it for her perusal. She reached for it but caught his hand instead. The
sudden contact made her uncomfortable. As Bethany had reminded her time and
again, she was a homely version of Adam’s rib. She snatched at the paper with
more force than she’d intended. Her odd looks hadn’t bothered James. Except,
she’d discovered too late he’d only been attracted to her land.

The paper crinkled.
You’ve
ignored previous warnings. Maybe this one will carry more weight. Leave Denver
or else.

She lowered her hand,
the note still gripped between tense fingers. There had been many such warnings
this past year, but none had ever resulted in violence.