Whispers on the Wind (7 page)

“I think you’re right But
she’s just going to have to get in line. I want to know many things
about our Mary. The sooner her memory returns, the
better.”

Chapter Four

Carter was awakened by the
morning sunshine pouring in through the window, which meant if they
were lucky, warmer weather was just around the corner.

He had to admit that last
night had been the best sleep he’d had in a long time. He
stretched. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he didn’t have to
worry about being shot in the middle of the night while he slept,
or maybe it was because this was really home. No matter how far he
roamed, a part of him would always be here at the ranch.

Time to get moving. He
threw off the covers and strolled to the window to look out. The
room was chilly since the fire had burned down, but the sky outside
was clear. No snow today. Carter’s mood improved
greatly.

He dressed and went
downstairs to the dining room, where he found Rick and his mother
already at breakfast. Since when did Rick beat him out of
bed?
I must be getting soft,
Carter thought

Judith Monroe looked at
Carter with pride. She couldn’t help admiring her son. He’d grown
into a handsome man with good, strong features. She’d bet he had
turned many a woman’s head since he’d been away. However, knowing
her son, he probably hadn’t noticed. He was too focused on his job.
He’d managed to build a wall around himself, which she didn’t like,
either, but if she said anything, he would deny the truth and
withdraw more. If nothing else, Judith wanted his time at home to
be pleasant

However, if she could show
him that there was more to life than work and the insistent wish
for revenge that drove him, she might have a chance to turn her son
into the loving man he could be.

She missed her daughter,
too, and always would, but after a while the pain of her loss had
finally receded to a dull ache. Now, it was time to put the past
behind them.

As Carter took his seat at
the table, Judith admired his stubborn chin and those wonderful
black eyes. Sometimes he was too much like herself, she thought.
She smiled at him with a mother’s pride.

Once she’d expected him to
take over the ranch. It had looked hopeful, until his sister
was—well, Judith didn’t want to think about that. Not this morning,
when she was so happy to have her son home again where he
belonged.

“The girl hasn’t come down
yet?” Carter asked as he served himself a large helping of
scrambled eggs and sausage from the plate on the
sideboard.

Judith took a sip of hot
coffee, swallowed, and thought,
Could it
be that he might care just a little for the girl?
Since those had been the first words out of his
mouth, she wondered. “I just sent Maria up to check on her. How
long are you staying?”

“Not sure.” Carter reached
for the yellow crock of butter. “How is Sheriff O’Tool?”

“On top of the bullet
wound,” his mother said, frowning that Carter hadn’t answered her
first question, “now he has influenza. It’s hit the town pretty
hard.”

Rick was buttering his
toast when he glanced up. “That’s too bad. At least he won’t have
to worry about anything now that we’re here.”

“Very true. "Judith
frowned again. “But I hate to know that the town has to have a
catastrophe before I can get you to come home.”

Carter noticed that she
was looking directly at
him
as he finished off his eggs. “I hear you, Mother.
I have not forgotten about you. I’ve been busy. And I have a
lead—”

He didn’t finish because
the girl came through the door and stopped. She looked nothing like
the waif he’d rescued. Her blond hair was soft and shiny, tumbling
around her shoulders. She wore one of his sister’s gowns, but it
had never looked like this on his sister. It was a royal blue color
that complemented her complexion, and made her eyes just that much
bluer.

“Have a seat, dear,”
Judith said, motioning to a chair next to her and directly across
from Carter.

Mary felt funny walking
into a room full of strangers. It was as if her life had only begun
two days ago. And, in a sense, it had. She wasn’t the same person
she’d been before, and she definitely wasn’t in the same location,
but since her money had disappeared along with her horse and the
life she’d once known, she didn’t have much of a choice but to play
along until she knew what had really happened.

Noticing that everyone was
still staring at her, Mary felt as if she were walking in a cloud
of uncertainty. If she took the wrong step, she’d fall through a
hole, go tumbling into nowhere, and never be heard from again. How
long had it been since she’d even resembled a woman?

“I’m not dressed
properly?” Mary asked when they continued to stare at
her.

“You are lovely, my dear.”
Judith smiled. “Come in. We won’t bite.”

Mary smiled slightly at
that and stepped toward the table. A big Mexican woman swept
through the door with a bowl brimming with scrambled eggs and
tortillas and set it down at Mary’s place.

“Oh my,” Mary said as she
looked at all the food in front of her. There were eggs, toast, and
large slabs of ham. And in a separate bowl was a large portion of
home fries waiting for her.

“I thought you might be
hungry this morning,” Judith said with a bright smile. “When was
the last time you ate?”

Mary opened her mouth to
say something, then thought for a moment It has been at least two
days ago. She could remember cooking for Big Jim and—someone else.
But who? And why couldn’t she remember eating?

“That must be a hard
question,” Judith chuckled.

Mary smiled. “I was trying
to remember. It must have been before I was hurt, because I’m
starving as if it’s been days.”

“Good. I’m glad to hear
that,” Judith said. “Not that you haven’t eaten, but that you have
an appetite. That’s a sign your body is healing.” She picked up a
brown earthenware pitcher and poured Mary some milk. “Now that
we’re all here, tell me how you and my son came to be
together.”

“She really doesn’t know
much, so I’ll answer,” Carter said as he sat back in his chair,
holding his coffee cup between his hands. “When we came across
Mary, she was upside down in a snow bank. We thought she was dead.
From the looks of her she’d been there several hours. She was
unconscious and barely alive. As you can see by the lump on her
head, she has a concussion. I’m glad to see the swelling has
finally gone down some.”

Judith turned to Mary.
“What in the world were you doing out in that kind of weather? And
all alone?”

Mary hesitated. “I don’t
know.”

“The doctor said she might
have temporary memory loss from the knock on her head,” Rick
supplied.

And it’s going to stay
that way,
Mary thought. She did feel bad
lying to this nice woman, but she also didn’t want her neck
stretched for something she didn’t do. At least, she didn’t think
she’d murdered anyone.

Judith reached over and
patted Mary’s hand. “How scary that must have been for
you.”

Mary nodded, then turned
her attention back to her plate. She hadn’t been kidding—she was
starving. And the busier she looked eating, the less likely they
were to keep asking her questions that she couldn’t—or
wouldn’t—answer.

“You are welcome to stay
here until your memory returns.” Judith offered. “Surely your
family is very worried about you.”

Mary nodded again, too
overwhelmed to speak. Besides, her mouth was full with the first
bite of juicy ham. Yes, her family, Brandy and Thunder, would be
worried, that is, as soon as they found out. She’d promised to
return home next week for a visit When she didn’t arrive, would
they come looking for her?

Everybody else at the table
had entered into an animated conversation, so it gave Mary time to
enjoy her food without having to answer questions. It also gave her
a few minutes to think about what she would say when she did
finally answer.

Mary didn’t have a normal
family. Hers was a very unusual group made up of misfit orphans no
one wanted. But together, after much struggle trying to make it on
their own, they became close.

Along with Mary, there were
Brandy, Billy, Scott, Ellen, the baby Amy, and her newest little
brother, Willie. It was the family that Mary had joined when the
women of Independence, Missouri, had placed her in the parsonage
run by Father Brown, who’d died soon afterward.

At first she hadn’t really
gotten along with any of them—none of the kids had, and they’d all
hated Brandy. She had been the oldest the smartest, the prettiest,
and Father Brown’s favorite. When Father Brown died and left Brandy
in charge, their safe world had fallen apart. The parsonage had run
out of money and would close in a month. They would have been out
in the streets if it hadn’t been for Brandy’s quick thinking of
becoming a mail-order bride. Of course, at the time Mary thought it
was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard.

Still Mary had hated
Brandy. Now Mary realized she had been very jealous and perhaps a
little rebellious, but she’d been young then, too.

Finding no way out of their
situation, Brandy answered an advertisement for a mail-order bride,
and they soon found themselves on their way to the Wyoming
territory. That’s when the whole family met Thunder.

However, he didn’t want any
part of them.

How Brandy managed to rope
Thunder into helping them with their wagon as they went west still
amazed her. Somewhere along the way Brandy and Thunder had also
managed to fall in love, though neither would admit it for a long
time. Finally they all became a family.

Mary wished Brandy and
Thunder were here now to help her. Even her brother Billy’s help
would be welcome. They would know what to do. But they were far
away, and Mary once again found herself among people she didn’t
know and wasn’t sure she could trust. And she really didn’t want
them to know anything about her until she was ready.

She’d just finished the
last of her breakfast and placed her fork on the plate when an
uncomfortable feeling shuddered through her. Mary looked up to see
everyone watching her.

“Are you all right, dear?”
Judith asked.

Mary realized she hadn’t
said a word since she’d started eating. “I’m fine. As you can tell,
I was very hungry. I’m sorry for not joining in the
conversation.”

“We can get you something
else if you’re still hungry,” Carter said.

For the first time since
they’d been together, Mary looked directly at him. There was
something about the man that disturbed her. He was handsome with
dark, unreadable eyes. He also had an air of authority and the
appearance of one who demanded instant obedience. The problem was,
Mary had never been obedient in her life. And she didn’t intend to
start now.

The lines in his face were
much softer today than yesterday. He seemed rested. Evidently, it
had done him good to come home. Maybe he could be a nice person,
but she wasn’t going to stick around long enough to find out—Carter
was the law.

And until she was certain
she hadn’t broken it, she was planning to give Carter Monroe a
wide, wide berth for the moment. She also didn’t like the way he
was looking at her as if he was trying to peer into her
mind.

Carter leaned back in his
chair and watched Mary. “Have you remembered something?”

“I—I don’t remember
anything,” she replied, her eyes shifting quickly away from
him.

Like hell she didn’t,
Carter thought Why did he feel she wasn’t exactly telling him the
truth? It was plain to see from her evasiveness that she was
holding something back. “Perhaps in a few days you can tell us
something about yourself, so we can get you back to your
family.”

“I hope so,” she replied,
meaning it sincerely. Then she changed the subject. “Is this where
you live and work?”

“This is my mother’s
home,” Carter emphasized. “Rick and I came back home on temporary
assignment. The local sheriff is feeling poorly, so we’ll be here
until he’s fit for duty.”

“I see, but what should I
do in the meantime?”

“You can help me around
here,” Judith said. “And maybe once you’re rested and healed,
something will help you regain your memory.”

Carter shoved back from the
table and so did Rick. “Mother, we’re going to ride into town,”
Carter said.

“You’ll be home for
dinner?”

“Hope so,” Carter assured
her, then they found their hats and sheepskin-lined coats before
heading out.

Mary watched the two men
leave. Again, something about Carter puzzled her. She felt
different when she was around him, both giddy and scared. Could she
be coming down with some ailment? It sure felt like it

Even though she couldn’t
read his expression or tell what he was thinking, he seemed to be
able to see into her mind even if she didn’t want him to. And he
kept looking at her in a strange way. It made her feel both guilty
and giddy at the same time.