The Independent Bride (6 page)

“Am I getting you in trouble?”

Abby decided the child’s look of innocence was genuine. She hadn’t reached the age when she realized truth could be dangerous.

“No,” Abby said, “but if you had, he’s more than compensated for it by inviting us to stay here until we can make our living quarters habitable. Now it’s time for us to get our bedclothes.”

“And time for you to go to bed,” her father said.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” Pamela said. “I get up very early.”

“I like those ladies,” Pamela said as she allowed her father to pull the covers over her. “I’m glad they’re going to stay with us.”

“They’re not
staying
with us,” her father corrected. “They’re just spending the night to give them time to get their living quarters cleaned up.”

“Is it right for nice ladies to live in the trading post?”

There were times when Bryce wished his daughter hadn’t spent virtually her whole life surrounded by adults. He’d have been much happier if she’d been thinking of her dolls instead of the Pierce sisters. But though he was uncomfortable with his daughter’s perspicacity, he was also proud of her. “It’s not ideal, but they own the store, so it’s their home.”

“They could live with us.”

“That would be even more unsuitable.”

“Why?”

Bryce tried to answer all his daughter’s questions truthfully, but he often didn’t know how much to say or how to say it most effectively. At times like this he wished there was a woman he could turn to for help. “If everyone only thought good things about each other, there wouldn’t be a problem. But people aren’t all good. When a man and a woman are together too much, people start to think they’re doing something they shouldn’t.”

“Like making babies?”

Somebody had been giving Pamela more information than she needed at her age. He’d always encouraged her to be open with him, but apparently she’d been open with someone else as well. He sat down on the side of the bed. This might require more than a simple answer.

“Yes, like making babies. But nice people wouldn’t think other nice people would do that.”

“Why can’t everybody be nice?”

A good question for which he had no good answer. “I don’t know. Maybe some people aren’t made nice to start with.”

“You said God was nice. Why would he make bad babies?”

He was in trouble now. He glanced at the picture of her mother Pamela kept on her bedside table, but he knew Margaret wouldn’t have known how to answer her daughter’s questions any better than he. “I’m sure God doesn’t make bad babies. He made, you, didn’t he?”

“You said I’m a termagant. Miss Wallace said that was bad.”

“I was teasing.”

“Do you think Miss Pierce—me one who did all the talking—is a termagant?”

“Why would you think that?”

“You said I’m a termagant because I try to tell you what to do. She does, too. I listened on me stairs.”

The last thing he needed was Pamela announcing to everyone at the fort that her father thought Abby Pierce was a termagant. That would be almost as bad as an Indian uprising.

“I think both ladies are very nice. They’re in a very difficult situation. I think they’ll go back home before long.”

“I don’t want her to go. I like her. Don’t you like her?”

If he said he didn’t like Abby, Pamela would undoubtedly whisper it to at least five people before noon tomorrow. If he said he liked Abby, she’d announce that to even more listeners. There were times when it would be better if he didn’t say anything at all to his daughter.

“I’m certain she and her sister are very nice women.”

“Do you think she’s pretty?”

Bryce could feel the quicksand under his feet. “It’s not suitable for a man in my position to go around saying he thinks women are pretty.”

“Why? Will she think you want to make a baby with her?”

“She might, but this isn’t something you should talk about with anyone except me.”

“Okay, but do you think she’s pretty?”

“Yes, I do, but if you breathe a word to a soul, I’ll trade you for a little Indian girl who’s been brought up not to make trouble for her father.” He pinched his daughter’s cheek, and she giggled.

“I wish I had a sister.”

“I wish you did, too.”

“Do you think Miss Pierce—the Abby one—would like to be my momma?”

Something akin to panic coursed through Bryce faster than a rifle bullet could hit its target. “Under no circumstances are you to mention that to anyone. It would be very improper and make Miss Pierce—the Abby one— very unhappy.”

“Why? Wouldn’t she like to be my momma?”

Bryce wondered why his life had suddenly become so complicated. “If she were your momma, she’d have to marry me. If people thought she wanted to do that, they’d say things that would make her so unhappy she would leave.”

“But you said you wanted her to leave.”

“I don’t think she’s suited to run the store, but I wouldn’t want her to leave because of anything you or I had done. That would be unfair.”

“I don’t want to make her unhappy.”

“I know that, so promise you won’t tell anybody what we’ve talked about tonight. It’ll be our secret.” Pamela liked having secrets because it made her feel grown-up.

“I promise.”

“Good, now go to sleep.”

Bryce kissed his daughter and left her bedroom, feeling rather unsteady on his feet.

Whatever could have made Pamela think about Abby being her mother? Abby was attractive, intelligent, and kind, but she seemed too independent to want to be a wife, and far too businesslike to want a perpetually curious seven-year-old as a daughter. He wanted a mother for his daughter, but he also wanted a wife who shared his background, was part of his social world, believed in the traditional values and goals of his family. That was why it was essential he be posted back East as soon as possible.

“Colonel McGregor didn’t invite us to stay more than one night,” Moriah said to Abby as they walked back to the colonel’s house from the store. “I doubt he would have suggested even that if his daughter hadn’t offered for him.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Abby replied, “but that room will be vacant if we don’t use it. I see no reason to give it up until our living quarters have been thoroughly cleaned, everything washed and aired.”

It was a long distance between the store and the colonel’s house. The fort was arranged on four sides of a very large open square. Abby didn’t know why it had been built with so much open ground. It made everything far apart. She didn’t pretend to know anything about fighting, but she would have thought such a layout would make the fort hard to defend. It didn’t have a surrounding wall. The fort was set right down on the plain at the foot of the mountains with nothing to keep anyone who wanted to from walking in. The only fortifications were around the store. Abby had been informed that was more to protect her supplies from theft than from any danger to herself or her sister.

The Rocky Mountains looked magnificent against the backdrop of the western sky. The peaks were snow covered, the rough-looking slate-gray flanks covered in a few places with the green of trees. Abby had marveled anew at them each day of her trip from Denver, especially in the evening, when the setting sun changed the sky from red to orange to pink to purple and every color in between. She’d seen the Appalachian Mountains when they moved from South Carolina to Missouri, but she’d never seen anything like this massive wall of granite that rose from the floor of the plains like a colossal curtain. There was no gradual ascent, no hills preparing the viewer for the mountains. It was like running into a wall that closed off the rest of the world. She liked looking at them. Something about their strength helped shore up her spirits when she felt despondent and on the verge of giving up.

“You can’t force your way into a man’s home,” Moriah protested.

“I won’t, but I see no reason to leave until we’re ready. We have no other place to go, so stop worrying about it. It’ll probably be the best bed we’ve slept in since we left St Louis.” The journey had been a nightmare she hoped to forget someday. “I’ve got to remember to give Pamela a special present. Help me think of something.”

“I have no idea what a little girl would like.”

“She was a
little girl
when she was six. She’s seven now.”

Moriah didn’t smile. “She’s still a child.”

“And a very sweet one.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t leave her back East with his family,” Moriah said. “This is not a suitable place to bring up a daughter, especially one as quick-witted as Pamela.”

“He wouldn’t want to leave his only child. Think of what it was like for us to live without Father.” She had kept hoping her father would invite them to join him, but he never had.

“We were older.”

“I wouldn’t want to leave my only child, even if it meant she had to be in a terrible place like this. Apparently Miss Wallace used to take care of Pamela I’m sure he’ll get someone to replace her soon. We may be living in the middle of the Great American Desert, but the colonel has managed to set up a more than adequate household.”

“I’m sure his family was anxious to see he was comfortable.”

“Moriah, comfortable is having enough food, warm clothes, a decent bed, and a roof that doesn’t leak. The colonel’s house is better furnished than Aunt Emma’s.”

“I don’t believe fancy furnishings are an adequate substitute for civilized company.”

“We don’t know anything about his company. I expect the other officers are just as nice as he, and their homes as comfortably appointed.”

“We’ll see,” Moriah muttered as Abby raised the knocker on the colonel’s door.

He opened it promptly. Abby knew Bryce was tall, but seeing him standing like a shadow in the doorway, the light coming from his back, made her feel she was facing a giant Maybe it was the uniform that gave him the appearance of being so powerful and well-muscled. Maybe it was that she was standing on a step below the level of the floor. Whatever the reason, for a moment Abby was breathless.

“I hope we didn’t keep you up too late,” Moriah said.

“I have work to do.”

“We won’t keep you,” Abby said, collecting her wits and stepping inside. “We’ll go to bed as soon as we wash up.”

“I put a basin and a pitcher of water in your room,” Bryce said. “I believe it’s already furnished with towels.”

“Thank you,” Abby said. “You’re really very kind.”

“It’s no trouble,” he said.

Maybe it wasn’t any trouble, but she got the impression it wasn’t something he was happy to do. “We’ll do our best not to disturb you in the morning.”

“I’m sure you won’t”

She stood there feeling foolishly tongue-tied, unable to think of anything else to say, so she murmured a good night and followed Moriah up the stairs and down a short hall to a nicely appointed room. “I wonder what happened to Miss Wallace.”

“Pamela said she got married a few months after she arrived.” Moriah poured some water into the basin and began to wash. “Pamela said her father has employed two women and both have gotten married. She said he decided to use only enlisted men until he’s posted back East.”

Abby didn’t know why she’d assumed Bryce would always be here. Any sensible person would want to live back East rather than in this remote outpost of civilization. Maybe because she knew she didn’t have anywhere else to go, she wanted to feel someone she could depend on would be nearby. That was foolish. He was much more interested in convincing her to return to St. Louis than in helping her.

“Did she say when he expected to return?” Abby asked.

“Soon.” Moriah finished washing and moved to give Abby access to the basin. “She said his mother is already picking out ladies for him to marry.”

Another unpleasant jolt. Really, she was behaving very foolishly. Naturally a man with a young daughter and a career would want to marry again, for his own satisfaction as much as for his daughter’s sake. A wife with the right connections could give his career a powerful boost.

“Pamela says his family has been doing everything possible to get him home ever since he got here.”

“Is Pamela looking forward to it?” Abby turned her back to her sister as she washed. She didn’t want to have to meet her gaze, to let her know she had more than a passing interest in Colonel McGregor’s future.

“I don’t think so. She says her grandmother disapproves of everything she does.” The bed groaned softly as Moriah got into it and pulled up the covers. “The child is precocious and dangerously curious. The sooner the colonel finds himself a wife, the better. That child needs a woman’s supervision.”

“I find her self-assurance refreshing,” Abby said.

“I find it unfitting in a child so young. However, I’m glad she was forward enough to offer us this room. This is a very comfortable bed.”

“Good. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

It didn’t take long for Abby to finish washing, change her clothes, and climb into bed. It took longer to fall asleep. Despite her exhaustion, stark fear of what might happen in the coming days kept her awake. It would take months to organize the store properly, become familiar with all the merchandise, and stock everything people wanted. She didn’t know if Bryce would allow her that much time.