The Brides of Chance Collection Part 6

"If we couldn't keep Polly in drawers and a dress," Logan said, "we sure won't train her or Ginny Mae up so they'll be good women."

Gideon groaned. This is a nightmare!

"Gideon's right," Logan said. "There's gonna be plenty of trouble, keeping her here. Dan's likely to splavocate. Furthermore, we're not gonna be able to shower in the rain or talk without censoring our words."

For a second, Gideon perked up. The tide might turn. Logan's changing his mind.

A breath later, Logan dashed his hopes by finishing his thought: "Then again, with the girls gettin' older, those things would have to come about sooner or later, anyhow."

"Let me grab the bull by the horns," Gideon said. "If you're worried about the money-"

"Yeah, money is another consideration," Paul admitted. "We've got enough to see us through. We've already lost one ranch 'cause Dad borrowed on it. We know he paid back the money, but bankers are good about losing vital papers, and I don't trust Pete Rovel over at the bank."

"Nuh-unh," t.i.tus chimed in. "Not any more than I'd trust a riled polecat not to spray. We empty out the account to buy a ticket and have even one disaster, and Pete's going to own this ranch."

"You're not saying anything I haven't already thought."

"Let me give you one more thing to consider." Paul looked back out the window. "Miriam doesn't want to go back. I doubt it's because life with her parents kept her miserable. Hannah constantly reminisced about how perfect everything was back on the islands."

He swung back around and stared at Gideon. "Miriam was locked in her cabin the whole voyage here. Think about how plum-outta-her-mind scared she was of us at first. How she fought and reminded us it was a sin. Locking her up was cruel as could be, but it was the only way the captain could protect her. She doesn't realize just how lucky she was that he kept her imprisoned. It's been years, but Dan still won't say a word about what went on aboard the ship when he was shanghaied. It was a harsh life for him, and he's a strapping man. What kind of men would we be to put her-a lone, pretty, tenderhearted woman-back aboard a ship full of the dregs of mankind?"

Logan gloated, "The vote stands four to two. Miss Miriam's stayin' put."

Gideon accepted the vote. Though he didn't want the responsibility of having a woman around, his brothers were more than right-the babies needed a woman's touch, and sticking Miriam back on a ship would be a low-down move.

He left the house but wasn't sure where to look for her. The woman didn't have a place to go. He craned his neck to see the graves, but she wasn't there. Since he'd found her in the garden once before, he headed back there. Though the garden lay empty, Gideon spied her sitting on a corral fence. He strode over to her.

Miriam didn't bother to turn around. She hunched forward and had her arms wrapped around herself. The evening air felt a trifle chilly. Gideon scowled. "You left without your shawl."

She nodded in acknowledgment.

"We'll see how things work out, but for now, we'll let you stay."

Slowly she turned to look over her shoulder at him. Even in the meager moonlight, he expected to see her gloating smile. Instead, she looked as somber as a priest. "I'll do my best to help the girls and stay out of your way."

That was what he wanted her to say. Why didn't it make him happy to hear it?

"Could you please tell Daniel I'll try hard to avoid him?"

He nodded. "We'll knock together a cottage for you. It'll be about a week before we can get to it, though. Someone's tacking blankets to make a s.p.a.ce for you so you can sleep closer to the stove and be warm enough in the meantime."

"Gideon?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I chided you about your language in front of the others. In the future, if I have a problem, I'll try to speak to you privately."

"Fine. It's too chilly out here for you. Go on inside."

The next morning, Miriam hastily put her hair up into a respectable bun. After tying the blanket-curtain out of the way with a bit of twine, she set to work. She stoked the fire, had coffee going, and fried her own ham and egg. She'd finished her meal and had the rest of the eggs all scrambled and ready to cook before any of the men came out of the bedroom.

They sat on the benches around the table and yanked on their boots. Miriam had already filled both pitchers with hot water.

Logan started to take the pitcher back to the bedroom.

"Logan," Miriam called softly, "in the islands, the men almost never wear shirts. The bedroom is already crowded, else you wouldn't have had the washstand out here. I'm not offended if you men shave here."

She turned her back on them and finished cooking breakfast. Two at a time, the brothers washed and shaved. Boot scuffle, razor sc.r.a.pe, a chuckle, a splash, and a mixture of Bryce's silliness and t.i.tus's early morning grumpy responses filled the cabin.

Miriam caught sight of Gideon's black eye and gasped. The set of his jaw and the way he stared at her dared her to comment. She bit her lip and turned away. I came to help my sister, but I'm turning brother against brother. She swallowed hard, then took her lead from him. If he wanted to pretend nothing had happened, she could play that game...up to a point.

Miriam set the meal on the table, then took the egg basket and left. She hoped Daniel and the girls would slip in during her absence. She also prayed the other brothers landed on Daniel so he'd behave. Bad enough he was nasty to her; he had no call to take his temper out on Gideon.

After all, Gideon didn't want her here any more than Daniel did.

Waking up to the smell of coffee and sizzling ham posed no hardship. Walking out to see a comely woman at the stove struck Gideon as pleasant enough. The matter-of-fact tone she used in commenting on shirtless men astonished him, seeing as she acted downright shy with his brothers most of the time. Come to think of it, he was the only one she ever looked in the eye. Miriam Hanc.o.c.k seemed more puzzling each day.

The sick look on her face when she saw his black eye let him know she was a sympathetic woman. Intuitive, too, since she'd not breathed a word about it. He hoped she wouldn't say a thing to Daniel.

Daniel didn't show up for breakfast at all. Polly skipped in all by herself. "Daddy said we get a picnic. Somebody's 'posed to put breakfas' in a basket."

Gideon turned to the side so the little one wouldn't see his shiner. Paul stepped up to block the view. "You skip right back and tell your daddy someone will bring the picnic in just a jiffy."

Bryce stuck food in a crate and carried it to the door. Gideon ordered, "Tell Dan he shows up and sits at the table, or he doesn't eat. He'll act civil, too."

A rascal's smile lit Bryce's face. "I don't expect that's going to be much of a problem for very long. Cold eggs and a jar of colder coffee won't suit him one bit."

"What about the coffee cake and ham?"

"I reckon the rest of us forgot Dan hadn't gotten his portion yet. It's all gone."

"I see."

"Yeah. Does Dan's face match yours?"

Gideon shook his head once, decisively. "Not with the babies around. One of us had to be smart enough to stay in control."

It was Daniel's day to watch the girls. The rest of the brothers got to work. Gideon rode out and inspected fences. No need to keep an eye out for trees they could fell to use for Miriam's cottage-Dan's way of handling his anger and grief had been to chop down trees and keep them in firewood. An enormous pile of logs was stacked behind the barn-more than enough for Miriam's cabin and to expand the barn to twice its width.

Thinking of a cabin for Miriam tightened Gideon's jaw. He'd been outvoted, and he'd live with the decision. But he didn't have to like it. Being responsible for a woman-and a bitty one at that-didn't set well. He'd been careful to make sure that though they didn't eat fancy foods, the girls always had plenty of good, healthy meals, sunshine, and thick blankets. They were hearty little snippets, but accustomed to tropical weather and an exotic diet, Miriam didn't have the same physical reserve. Maybe he ought to put a little potbelly in her cabin. That way, she could make some tea during the winter to warm up from the inside out, too. Besides, a little stove would save them the time of collecting stones and building a fireplace.

By chance, he spied Todd Dorsey. Though neighbors, they often didn't see each other until they went to town. Todd tipped back his hat. "Heard tell you've got Hannah's sister visitin' and she's quite a looker."

"Miss Hanc.o.c.k is spending time with her nieces."

"You could be sociable and give me an invite for supper. A woman's cooking and company would be welcome." The whole time he spoke, he studied Gideon's shiner. "Must be a real pretty sight if you men are coming to blows over her."

Gideon hitched a shoulder.

"She visitin', or is she stayin'?"

"For the time being, she's staying. You can pa.s.s the word that we'll be raising a cabin for her come Friday."

"Friday, huh? That's quick."

"Chances were never men to jaw around when work needed doing." Gideon jerked the front of his hat brim lower on his forehead and rode off.

Todd Dorsey's interest served as fair warning. Men in Reliable were woman-hungry. The storekeeper and his wife had a daughter of marriageable age, but they were the only decent women in the whole of the township. The rest of the place consisted of men struggling to tame enough land to finally bring families out or to start a family, but the greatest number of men fell into the latter category. They'd gotten squared away enough, and they were itching to have a decent meal and a dainty missus.

"I'll get Paul to put a steer on the spit. Barbecue's decent enough meal," Gideon muttered to himself as he squinted toward the house. "As for a decent missus, the men are going to have to search elsewhere. I'm going to have to watch out for that obstinate woman until she finally sees reason and decides to go back where she came from."

"Men coming Friday." Gideon bit into a rib and tore off a big hunk of meat with his teeth yet still managed to add, "Building a cabin-a little one."

Miriam barely kept from dropping the bowl of mashed potatoes on the table.

"No need to." Daniel glowered at Gideon. "This is a very temporary situation."

"You never could tell time." Gideon shot him a smile, then took another bite.

I've managed to set brother against brother. That fact made Miriam seek a way to make peace between them, but she knew she was the worst person to intervene. Gideon wouldn't appreciate her meddling, and Daniel wanted nothing to do with her, let alone her opinion.

Bryce stuck his elbow on the table and rested his sand-papery chin in a saucesplotched hand. "If you two was dogs, I'd knock your heads together and dunk you in the trough to cool you off."

Logan grabbed a rib from Daniel's plate and bit into it. "I'd help him. I'd hold you under longest, Dan. You got some nerve, coming to the supper table and eatin' a woman's good cookin' when you're speaking ill of her."

"I didn't say anything about her at all." Daniel reached over and swiped back the rib. He scowled at the missing chunk.

"She has a name, and you'll use it." Gideon's voice rivaled a thunderclap. "You'll help build Miriam's cabin, too."

"Daddy, Auntie Miri-Em maded me pretty panty-lettes. Are you going to make her a pretty house?"

"Eat your supper, Polly."

It didn't escape Miriam's notice that Daniel avoided answering the question. She served herself a small dollop of potatoes and pa.s.sed them on.

"Daddy says we don't get taters very much 'cause they used them all to make our fireplace." Polly smiled at Miriam. The rib the little girl had been nibbling from the center had hit both sides of her cherubic cheeks, painting her face with clownlike charm.

"Your fireplace?"

Polly nodded. "Daddy picked them out of the ground and piled them. Up, up, up!" She raised her messy little hands high. "Mama made gravy and poured it over the taters, then Daddy builded a great big fire."

"Imagine!" Miriam could scarcely fathom Daniel concocting such a tale.

"Turned those potatoes rock hard," Bryce chimed in.

"So no one can take a nibble out of them." Gideon gave Polly a pointed look and shook his head from side to side.

Her little head wagged in agreement. "We gots to leave the 'tato stones all alone."

Miriam looked from brother to brother. Daniel glowered at her, the rest looked rather sheepish, but Gideon-he simply gazed into her eyes. She said, "A grand fireplace like that would warm hands and hearts."

Gideon's lips relaxed into a heart-melting smile.

"Unca Gideon, how come you didn't wash your face? Auntie Miri-Em says we gotta wash 'fore we eat."

"It's an ouchie."

He told the truth, but he didn't implicate Daniel. Gideon's an honorable man.

"Auntie Miri-Em kissed my ouchie finger today and maded it all better." Polly licked her finger and held it up to prove her point.

Bryce and Logan started to snicker.

Polly pointed at Gideon's eye. "Ask Auntie Miri-Em to kiss your eye all better."

Gideon's brows rose. He turned toward Miriam.

He wouldn't. He couldn't.

The corner of his mouth took on an impish slant. "Well, Miss Miriam?"

Chapter 10.

The man is a rascal. Miriam handed her napkin to her little niece. "Polly, you should kiss your uncle better. Here. Wipe your face first."

"Why? You're closer." Polly gave her a puzzled look.

Gideon's brothers all started to chuckle-well, all except for Daniel. Daniel finished ripping the last bite of the rib from the bone and concentrated on his plate.

Mortified, Miriam stammered.

"It's not going to hurt anything," Paul said in a stage whisper.

Miriam rose from the table. "Does anyone else want more coffee?" Just as she turned away, she brushed a fleeting kiss on Gideon's temple and scampered to the stove, sure her face was hotter than the coffeepot.

Mirth filled Logan's voice. "Gideon'll take a refill, but he's had all the sugar he needs now."

Gideon cleared his throat. "Sugar's on the list of supplies we need. I'll go to town tomorrow. Anything anyone needs?"

"Whaddya doin', Giddy?" Bryce flopped down on the back porch. Within seconds, two dogs and the barn cat all vied for his attention.