The Man from Shenandoah (21 page)

Becoming impatient, and feeling a slow heat creeping up his neck at her continued snub, Carl placed his hand on her elbow to draw her attention. She stiffened, and glanced at him uneasily.

“Hello, Carl,” she said coldly. “Can’t you see that I am talking to my friends?”

A dark-haired young man detached himself from the group and came to Ida’s other side, an air of protectiveness hovering over him. He glanced sharply at Carl and said in an aggrieved voice, “I say, what’s the meaning of this? Take your hand off her arm, your boorish fellow.”

Carl tightened his grip and turned to face this challenge. He looked closely at the Englishman, and saw that the young man was a few years older than himself, slight, and had a long, straight nose, a thin mouth, and a jutting chin. His swaggering manner suited his expensive clothes. Reading disdain in the man’s pale eyes, Carl turned a questioning look on Ida, who avoided his eyes.

“I reckon I have a right to speak to the lady,” he said, trying to get her to look at him. “I have to speak to you, Ida, and we’d best be alone.”

“Say your piece here, Carl. Whatever it is, my friends can hear it, too.” She finally looked at him, then away again, her eyes resting on the young Englishman and his party.

Amazed at her treatment of him, Carl dropped his hands and shifted his weight. “I reckon this has to be private, Ida.” Then realizing the import of his message, he continued. “Hush, if you want your new friends to hear, that’s proper. The whole town will know soon enough.”

He grabbed Ida’s hands, turned her to face him, and looked down at her lowered eyes. “I’ve come for you, Ida. The cabin’s done.”

Ida jerked up her chin and looked at him, then her eyes slipped sideways to look around the room, as though in a panic.

Carl spoke again. “We’ll find a preacher and get wed, enjoy the party, and then we can go home.”

Ida looked directly at him then, a strange light burning through her eyes. “No, Carl,” she whispered, and pulled her hands from his grasp.

Pale Eyes stepped forward, muttering, “This is a muddle. Who is this chap, Ida?”

She waved a hand at the Englishman, stopping him in his tracks.

“Wait, Cecil. I have to tell him.”

Carl focused his attention on Ida’s eyes, trying to read her expression. “Who is this feller, Ida?” he echoed, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why’s he acting so familiar with you?”

Ida flew to the offensive, stamping her foot and fisting her hands. “He has more right than you, Carl Owen. You said you’d visit, and I waited for you ever so long. You never came, Carl Owen, so you gave up any rights to me. Mr. Gilbert, here, came along and asked for my hand, and I figured it was mine to give. I’m getting wed, all right, but to him!”

Chapter 14

Carl staggered backward, as though Ida had buried her small fists in his belly. His jaw dropped, and he took a long shuddering breath.

“What’s this man got that I ain’t?” he shouted, his voice hoarse. Then he read his answer in her hard, glittering eyes, as she looked from him down to the gems sparkling on her finger. “He bought you from me,” Carl grunted. “He bought you with pretty things, and you was fool enough to let him.”

He bunched his fists to swing at the sneering stranger who had put his arm around Ida’s waist, but two pairs of arms caught him from behind, and his father and James hustled him away from Ida and her beau.

“I’ll be a pinch-toed son of a red-wattled turkey buzzard!” James exclaimed when he and Rod deposited a struggling Carl in the hotel lobby. “You’ve been double-damn-crossed, big brother.” James scowled, looking as angry as Carl.

“Rand told us when we got into town, son. Ida convinced him she was free to marry,” Rod said, scratching his head. He looked at Carl, then plunged ahead with the story. “This Englishman came into town and stayed. After a while, he asked Ida to marry him, and she went ahead and accepted him.”

Carl paced the lobby, alternately gripping his hands tightly together and driving one fist into his other hand. He cursed Ida, her love of money, and her shabby treatment of him. Then his voice lowered as he cursed himself for falling prey to her charms. James retreated to the dining room, leaving Rod to deal with Carl.

“Why, Pa?” Carl turned to his father, his voice rasping. “I was good enough for her in Virginia. Why ain’t I good enough for her now?”

“I don’t have an answer to that, Carl. You cool off, and if you feel like you can keep your temper in check, you can stay and try to salvage this party. There are plenty of pretty girls here. But if you feel like making trouble, you go on home.” He waited for a moment, then added, “I know you’ll be angry at me for saying this, since I arranged your marriage in the first place, but now I think you got off luckier than Mr. Cecil Gilbert over yonder.”

Carl glared at his father. His father stared back, waiting for Carl’s decision.

The young man breathed hard, resumed his pacing, then after several minutes had passed, he stopped in front of his father and nodded his head. “I’ve come this far, so I’ll take hold of Rand Hilbrands’ party with both hands.” He shook his fists in illustration. “That two-faced little fox won’t get the best of me.”

“If you can’t hold your tongue, you’d best leave right now,” Rod warned.

Carl slumped into a nearby chair. His body shook with released tension. After a few minutes he said, “I’ll mind my manners, and I’ll hold my tongue, but you can’t expect me to smile.”

“No man will ask that of you, son” Rod answered gently. “Come in and find a pretty-looking gal to dance with. The night is plenty young.”

Carl nodded grimly and followed his father into the dining room. A dance was in progress, a waltz, and his eyes glanced over the swirling couples to find Ida. They found Ellen, encircled by James’s arms, gracefully moving in three-quarter time around the room. She was smiling, then laughing at James’s joke, then her eyes met Carl’s and she looked away, face gone white.

He tore his gaze from her face, disgruntled that she was occupied when he wanted her company. But he could not keep from watching her, and when the waltz ended and James went to get refreshments, he was ready.

He came up behind her in the corner where she stood, apart from the rest of the party-goers, and placed his hands on her shoulders. She stiffened, and he bent over to whisper in her ear.

“I reckon I can ask you to dance now, and have no anger betwixt us.”

Something in his shaky whisper made Ellen whirl around and stare up at him. Her eyes searched his face. “What do you mean?”

Carl closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked straight into Ellen’s. “I’m a free man, Ellen. Ida found somebody more moneyed than me, and she kicked me loose.”

Carl saw the flame of joy that leaped into her eyes before she could lower her head. He said, “Pa said I should come in here and find a pretty girl to dance with. You’re the prettiest one I know. Will you take a whirl with me?”

“James went—”

“Forget James. He’ll be gone a while. Dance with me.”

A shadow crossed her face, then she straightened and smiled a bit. “I’ll do it.”

“Thank you,” he said.

~~~

Carl was able to dance with Ellen one more time before he came across Ida in a corner kissing Cecil. Anger rose up in his throat, threatening to choke him, and he knew the time had come for him to leave. He shook as he turned his back on all that he had worked for, and walked slowly toward the lobby door, his eyes glazed, fists clenched.

Someone reached out and touched his arm, and he started to shake off the hand, then realized that Ellen was standing there, trembling at the sight of his glowering face.

“Carl?”

“I’ve got to get out of this place. I can’t mind my manners any longer.” He turned his red-rimmed eyes on her, and she gave a little cry at the wildness in his face. “Come with me,” he pleaded. “Come help me ride the meanness away.” Then he turned and bolted through the door.

~~~

Ellen, shaken, jumped at the touch of a hand on her arm. She turned to see Marie standing next to her, smiling.

“I told you a time would come. Go with him. It’s just his pride that’s wounded. He calls your name in his sleep.”

“Oh,” Ellen gasped, and ran out the door.

The lobby was empty. Ellen grabbed a cloak from a coat rack beside the dining room door, and swirled it around her as she walked out into the darkness of the street.

Pausing to get her bearings, she looked down the street toward the livery stable. A lantern burned beside the big front doors, and she stepped off the hotel porch and hurried toward the light. The stable boy was asleep beside the open door, and she ran past him into the barn.

Carl stood beside Sherando, saddling the gray gelding by the light of another lantern. His face was gaunt in the lamplight. She walked toward him, and he looked up, surprising her with a wan smile.

“Good girl. I figured you’d come.”

“What?”

“You’re a stayer.”

“Is that something good?”

“Means you stick to a task.”

Ellen shivered. “It’s cold tonight.”

“We can leave right now,” Carl said, ducking under Sherando’s neck and going into the next stall. His voice floated back over the side of the wooden enclosure. “We’ll get some exercise and warm you right up.”

He returned, leading Dun Baby, already saddled. A grin spread over his face. “I took a chance on being ready, but I wasn’t wrong about you.”

~~~

The horses were rested and willing to run. Carl gave Sherando his head as soon as they were clear of the town, and the gray galloped off into the prairie. Dun Baby did her best to catch the bigger horse. After two miles, Carl pulled the horse up and let him breathe. He looked up into the night sky, and figured it was about ten o’clock.

Ellen reined in her horse when she caught up, and slid off onto the ground. She stood with her arms outstretched and turned slowly around, as if embracing the whole sky.

The moon slid out from behind a cloud and shed silver light on the radiant girl. Carl noticed the joy in her as she lifted her arms to the moon.

“I love you,” she cried out. “Colorado, you’re beautiful.”

So are you, girl
, he thought, and swallowed hard.
She looks like Ma did the day we came into the meadow. So different from Ida
. He scowled and said, “You’d best get in the saddle. It’s a long ride to the Greenhorn.”

“The Greenhorn? Ain’t we going back to the dance?”

“No. I thought getting out into the air would help, but I can’t abide seeing that double-dealing fox again.” He stopped, and set his teeth for a moment. “Pa told me to go home if I couldn’t mind my manners. I reckon I’m heading back home.”

Ellen walked over to Sherando and looked up at Carl. “It’s beautiful out here, but I don’t favor being left alone in the prairie.”

“I don’t figure to leave you. Come along and keep me company.”

He watched her face as she took a step backward, concern in her eyes. “That ain’t fitting, Carl. I can’t go that far alone with you.”

“I don’t aim to do you no harm,” he said firmly. “It ain’t in me to punish you for what she did to me.”

She put a hand over her mouth and gasped. “What about my folks? What about James?”

He gritted his teeth. “James! You don’t love James.”

“I owe him my hand.”

“You owe me your life!”

She sighed and backed away. He dismounted and caught her by the shoulders.

“Your folks will be along when the party is over. You can stay with Mary and Rulon. She’ll be pleased at your company.”

“Marie knows I came with you,” Ellen said. “She’ll know what to say to Ma and Pa.” She pursed her lips and blew out a breath. “Folk’ll talk, but I don’t care. I would just be a mound of earth in the graveyard if you hadn’t plucked me out of the way of those Yankees in Mount Jackson. I’ll go with you.”

Carl dropped his hands to his sides. “Thank you.”

He went after Dun Baby, grazing on dry buffalo grass on a nearby hillock, and brought the mare to Ellen. He bent and made a stirrup with his hand for her and she swung into the saddle. Her frisky horse sidestepped, and Ellen pulled her up short.

“She’ll run for me now, and you can’t catch me!” she challenged. Then she was racing over the moonlit plain, and Carl scrambled for Sherando.

It seemed vastly important to catch her, to draw up even with her. Carl flung himself onto the gelding’s back, and urged the horse forward with little grunts and mutters, as though all his energy was focused on the fleeing girl before him, leaving him with few words.

She had a good head start on him and held onto the lead for a half-mile, then the big gray started to catch up with the mare. Ellen turned to look back at Carl, her face alive with excitement as she drove her horse to keep up the pace.

Carl ducked lower over his horse’s neck, willing Sherando to catch the mare. Then he was alongside, and stole a glance at Ellen.

She was grinning, and looked at him in triumph, hair streaming back from her face. She reined Dun Baby down to a trot, then cooled her off at a walk. Carl kept pace with her horse, patting the lathered Sherando.