Stephen’s Bride (9 page)

He crossed his arms over his chest and drawled, “Yessss.”

“John came in here this morning, calling you ‘boss’ and talking to you about the creek being dammed up again. You both made your plans to deal with it and totally ignored me.” She took in a deep breath. “Then you asked me when breakfast would be ready!”

He dropped his arms do his side and rested his hands on his hips. “You are being downright foolish.”

She saw red. “Why, because I’m a woman?”

“You’re the one who seems to be so concerned about that. One thing to remember, Calliope, I’m not your father. I don’t expect to ‘take over’ your farm. Hell, I don’t even want to be a farmer. But you needed protection, and I needed to get out of my brother’s home. I kind of thought we might come to some type of compromise on that, but you’re so stuck on being ‘in charge’ of
your
farm, you can’t see anything beyond it.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He waved his arm in the direction of the fields beyond the house. “We could add a horse farm and in a few years double the amount of money we’re bringing in.”

She gritted her teeth. “I don’t want a horse farm.
We
are not going to bring anything in. This is
my
farm.”

“You want, you want. Has it occurred to you that you sound just like what you’ve accused your father of being?”

“And what is that?”

“Pig-headed. Not open to new ideas. Wanting everything the way it’s always been.”

Her jaw dropped. How dare he compare her to Papa who would never listen to her ideas? She was very open to new ideas. She certainly had plenty of them, and now that she was in charge she would implement them.

This was getting them nowhere. She walked to the desk in the corner, near the fireplace and opened the middle drawer. She withdrew the envelope she’d tucked in there yesterday afternoon. She crossed the room and held out the envelope to him.

He frowned, but didn’t reach for it. “What’s that?”

“Your pay envelope.”

“What!?”

She drew herself up to her full height. “I told you that you were only an employee. I own the farm, you work for me.” She pushed the envelope at him. “Employees get paid. This is your pay from the time you arrived until yesterday.”

If there ever had been a time when she thought there might be a reason to fear her husband, it was now. The look on his face, the fury in his eyes almost had her snatching the envelope back. Instead, she stood firm as he took the money, stuck it in his pants pocket and left the room.

Stephen wiped the sweat from his forehead with his bandana and pulled the reins on Topaz, bringing the animal to a stop. He tucked the kerchief in his back pocket and leaned on the saddle horn, looking out over the rolling hills toward Daniel and Rosemarie’s farm. He knew he’d done the right thing in leaving Calliope, but he was not looking forward to the conversation he would need to have with his brother and his wife.

Daniel had warned him he was making a mistake, and he didn’t relish hearing the words ‘I told you so,’ but that was better than having his wife hand him a pay envelope because he was merely an employee. His pride would never allow him to live there under those circumstances.

Even if he wasn’t living there, she was still married, and therefore Melrose couldn’t force her to marry him. As far as he was concerned he’d lived up to his end of the bargain. Now he would move on with his life, look for land to buy for his horse farm, and if he didn’t have enough right now, he would take on any job he could get in town to save quickly.

He should have known women were not for him. If he hadn’t learned his lesson years ago when the letter from Jenny had arrived to tell him she’d married someone else, this latest debacle with Calliope proved it. The bachelor life was for him. He’d left Calliope a note, telling her where he was going if she needed to reach him. The only reason he could think of that she would need anything from him was if he’d managed to impregnate her the one and only time they’d made love.

No matter what he felt for her—which he assured himself was nothing—he would not abandon a child he’d helped create. He squeezed his thighs to get Topaz moving. Sitting and staring at the house wasn’t going to get him any closer.

Little Amelia hopped off the swing Daniel had hung onto a sturdy branch and raced toward him. “Uncle Stephen! You came back.” He barely made it off the horse before she flung herself into his arms.

“How’s my little sweetie pie?” He hugged her close, inhaling the sweet child smell of her.

“Fine. I missed you.” She leaned back. “I lost a tooth. See?” She opened her mouth and he grinned at the space in the front of her mouth where a tooth used to live.

“So you did. Did the tooth fairy leave you a penny?”

Amelia nodded. “Yes. And papa said every time a tooth falls out I’ll get another penny. I’ll be rich!” She threw her hands out, almost tumbling from his arms.

“Let’s go inside and say hello to your mama and papa.” He might as well get this over with. He couldn’t stay out here discussing teeth for the rest of the afternoon.

Rosemarie was rolling out a pie crust when he walked in the door, holding Amelia’s hand. His sister-in-law looked up and gave him a bright smile. “Stephen! What brings you here?” She looked behind him. “Where’s Calliope?”

“Ah. I’ll talk to you about that later. Is Daniel around?”

She continued to roll her dough. “He’s at the training area. He brought in a new wild Mustang three days ago. He felt it was enough time for her to settle down so he could work with her.

“Thanks. Is it all right if I drop my stuff here?” He nodded to his saddle bags resting near the door.

“You’re staying?”

“Yes. For a while, anyway. But I’ll sleep in the barn. No need to disrupt the kids.”

He took her lack of response to mean leaving his things behind and sleeping in the barn were acceptable. He tousled Amelia’s hair and left the house.

His brother’s low voice soothing the frightened animal reached him before he actually saw man and horse at work. He’d always admired how Daniel could handle horses. They were both raised on a horse farm in Kentucky. As well as Stephen worked the horses, Daniel always had some type of magic with the animals. He grinned as he climbed up on the fence and sat on the top rung to watch his brother at work.

The mustang was a beauty. Once Daniel trained her, she would bring a good price. Watching them work, the horse fighting her master every inch of the way, but Daniel definitely in charge, gave him an itch to get his own horse farm started. He patted the bulge of money in his pocket which brought him full circle to his last conversation with Calliope.

Most likely he did act in haste, although he wasn’t sorry he’d left. Once he left the room with her ‘pay envelope’ in hand, he took the stairs two at a time up to the bedroom. It hadn’t taken long to clear out his things and stuff them in his saddle bags. He found a pencil stub in the bottom of his bags and wrote a quick note on the envelope after removing the money.

It appears this is not going to work. I’ve held up my part of the bargain. You are protected now from Melrose’s threats since you are married. If you wish to contact me for any reason, I will be at my brother’s farm.

I wish you well and happiness.

Stephen

He had studied the note for a while, wondering if he should add anything. Deciding there really wasn’t anything more that needed to be added, he left the house. Calliope had been nowhere in sight when he gave instructions to John and saddled up to leave.

“You sure you’re doing the right thing?” John asked as Stephen tightened Topaz’s girth. “I know Mrs. McCoy can be stubborn at times, but deep down she’s a frightened lady. Never measured up to her papa no matter how hard she tried. And that Melrose fella sure scared her.”

Stephen had hesitated at man’s words, but then continued to saddle up. “She’s just fine now. She has you to help her, and Melrose has no hold over her anymore.” He stopped and leaned his forearm against the horse’s body. “She prefers it this way. There is no room here for her and anyone else.”

John just spit on the ground and shook his head, then stuck out his hand. “It’s been a pleasure working with you. But I guess there isn’t anything I can do to change your mind.”

Stephen hoisted himself onto the horse. “Take care of her, John. Even though she doesn’t believe it, she needs someone.”

He turned Topaz and rode off, leaving behind a billowing dust cloud.

His ruminating came to a halt when Daniel slapped the Mustang on the rear and she trotted off to the barn. His brother strode toward him, a big smile on his face. “What brings you here, little brother?” He climbed up alongside him and gave him a brotherly punch on the arm.

“I figure I’ll say it before you do. You were right. It was not a good idea and it didn’t work out.”

Daniel stared out at the skyline and didn’t say anything for a minute. “It gives me no pleasure being right.” He turned to look at his brother. “Are you sure you can’t resolve whatever problems you have? Marriage is forever, you know.”

“Once we scared off the man who was threatening her, she made it clear I was no more than a hired hand. Even gave me a pay envelope.”

Daniel let out a slow whistle between his teeth. “If I remember correctly, you were quite the romancer at one time. You mean to tell me you couldn’t charm her out of the idea?”

“I think the idea of romance, or any emotional ties, was precisely why she put the distance between us. Her father controlled her mother and her all their lives. She wants independence, to be able to make all the decisions with no input from anyone else. Even though she condemned her father for doing that to her, she took up his reins and did the same thing to me. Or tried to.”

Daniel slid from the fence and Stephen followed him. They walked back to the house. “What are you plans now?”

“What I’ve always wanted. A horse farm. I think I’ve saved enough over the years to buy a piece of land—not too far from here—and have a go at it. If it turns out I don’t have enough, I’ll help out here for room and board, and take any job in town I can get.”

“You can always throw in with me.”

“Nah. You have Jace and Chandler who you will bring into the business when they’re old enough. I need my own place. Be my own boss.”

“Sorta like you wife, eh?”

***

Calliope stared at Stephen’s note in her hand. As soon as she had handed him the envelope with his ‘pay’, she regretted her actions. The look on his face would be with her forever. Hurt, anger, pride. All rolled into one, each emotion cutting her heart.

Two days had passed since he’d left. She tried numerous times to tell herself she didn’t care. She’d gotten what she wanted. The ability to manage her own life and her own farm with no threat of a force marriage to Rupert. She was happy with her life now. She wasn’t lonely, didn’t miss Stephen’s slow smile, didn’t miss his touches, the way he made love to her.

It had all happened at the right time, too. After a night of making love she felt her guard slipping. Felt feelings she did not want to feel swamping her. If she was stupid enough to fall in love with the man she would lose all control. Mama had done that, and she’d learned from her lesson. If you let a man into your heart, he will take over your life.

When Bertha had returned the day after Stephen left, she’d given her a tongue lashing which had Calliope thinking it was time to retire the woman and get a young girl in to do the cleaning and cooking. John had been overly formal with her since her husband departed, but he bowed to her wishes.

That’s what she wanted.

She stared at the note one more time. The only reason she would need to contact Stephen was if their one night together had produced a baby. Something she didn’t have to worry about since her monthly flow had started that morning. She quickly pushed her disappointment aside as ridiculous.

Later that evening after supper, she tried unsuccessfully to entertain herself with a book. When that hadn’t worked, she picked up her darning basket and was brought to tears when the item on top was one of Stephen’s socks. How had she become so used to him in such a short time?

The house seemed quieter, her bed colder, her meals lonelier, her work load harder. Had she really done all of this by herself since Papa died? She tossed aside the darning and decided on an early bedtime. Her stomach was sore with cramps from her flow. She filled a water bottle with hot water and took it upstairs.

After changing into her nightgown, she ventured back to the kitchen for a cup of tea. With the warm tea and hot water bottle, she should be able to sleep. She told herself that at nine o’clock, then at ten, then eleven, and finally shortly after the clock struck twelve she drifted off to sleep.

The next morning she sat at the kitchen table pretending she had an appetite when a knock the front door caught her attention. Bertha was upstairs changing the bedding, so Calliope put aside the newspaper she was trying to concentrate on and wiped her mouth with her napkin. Her heart sped up when she thought perhaps Stephen had returned. She stopped at the mirror by the door and checked her appearance, feeling silly since she doubted if Stephen would knock when he’d always just walked into the house.

Her smile faded quickly when she opened the door to see Rupert Melrose and Gregory Traynor, the man from the local bank, standing on her doorstep. It hadn’t taken long for the weasel to re-appear on her steps once Stephen had gone. It confused her how he knew.

“What do you want?” She didn’t open the door any further than it took for her to speak with them.

“My, my, Calliope, where are the good manners your mama taught you?” Rupert grinned, while Traynor looked uncomfortable.

“Miss Bender—“

She raised her chin. “—Mrs. McCoy.”

“Oh, yes, sorry, Mrs. McCoy,” the banker wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “We would like to speak with your husband, if you please.”

So they didn’t know that Stephen had left. Since she had no idea what brought them to her door, she felt it best to hold that information from them. “I’m afraid he is not at home. He had some errands to run in town.” She began to close the door. “I will tell him you called.”