Chapter 20
Cassie’s eyes fluttered open, and she rubbed her hand over Red’s chest and savored the warmth.
Warmth!
She jerked to a sitting position in bed with a cry of fear and fell back because she was anchored by Red’s arm.
“Don’t be afraid, Cass. You’re all right.” Red untangled her hair from around his arm and behind his head.
Cassie looked at Red and started to remember what had happened after she’d gone into that dark little hole to hide from Wade. She gazed into his kind, worried eyes, and with a little cry of anguish, she threw herself back into his arms.
He cradled her and crooned and stroked her arms.
She remembered this from last night. It was so fuzzy, she wasn’t sure what had happened and what she had dreamed. “You came for me. You saved me.” She clung to him and shuddered from fear.
“You’re all right,” he murmured. “We got through it.”
Red brushed her hair back off her forehead and chucked her under the chin so she’d lift her head from where it was burrowed against his chest. “You were so smart, Cass, honey. So brave and strong. You saved yourself. I’m so proud of you.”
Confusion warred with doubt. She shook her head slightly. “No. I was so afraid. I was such a coward. Running and hiding like a stupid?—”
“Cass, honey,” Red interrupted softly.
“Yes, Red?” Her eyes flickered to his lips and back to his eyes.
“Shut up.” Red kissed her.
It worked. She shut up.
Then he pulled away from her. His lips were moist from her kisses. She couldn’t quit glancing at them to see if he might be going to kiss her again.
He rested his hands on her shoulders and firmly moved her back from him. He had to unwind her arms from around his neck, and while he did, Cassie sneaked in another kiss, and he put up with it for a while. Quite a while. Then after a minute or two…or three, he went back to holding her away.
“Now, listen, young lady…”
He sounded like a scolding father, and because that was so unlike Red, whom she didn’t think of as a father at all, she smiled. He tapped her under her chin again, and she realized she was looking at his lips. He seemed to want her to stop that. She really tried.
“I’m listening,” she said demurely, trying to follow whatever order he was obviously getting ready to give.
“You were not stupid, and you were not a coward,” he said sternly.
“But I was, Red. You don’t know. I was so afraid.”
“Being afraid doesn’t make you a coward, Cass. In this case, being afraid is just plain good sense.”
“But I ran. I hid like some wild animal in a hole in the ground. I should have…have shot him or something.”
“Well, the only trouble with shooting someone is that once you’ve done it…” Red hesitated.
“What?” Cassie asked.
“Once you’ve shot someone, then…well, the thing is…then you’ve…you’ve shot someone, if you get what I mean.”
Cassie shook her head, feeling stupid again.
“It’s not something you can take back.”
Cassie stared at him and slowly nodded her head. Thank the Lord she wasn’t living with that on her conscience. But she’d still been so helpless. She’d been alone in that black hole with her terror, so completely at Wade’s mercy. She’d felt so weak and pathetic.
There’d been so many times in her life she’d wanted to fight back, not just against Wade, and she always was left cowering in fear. Red had said she was smart and strong and brave. She was none of those things. But a husband’s word was law, so she let herself enjoy the thought.
“What are we going to do, Red?”
“I don’t know, Cass, honey. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I found you. I can’t ride off and leave you here alone again, not for even a minute.”
“Could I ride with you to check the cattle?”
Red was silent for a moment.
Cassie hastened to embroider details on her plan. “I could ride with you on Buck. When you find a herd you need to work with, you could set me down somewhere out of the way but where we could see each other.”
“It’s so cold,” Red said doubtfully.
“It’s cold for you too.”
“I’m not carrying a growing babe.”
“I’ve got a good coat.”
“It could work. It’s better than the plan I came up with.”
“What was that?” Cassie was prepared to do whatever he said.
“Well, I had this picture in my head of building a corral around the cabin and turning Harriet loose in it.”
“A guard pig?”
Cassie looked at him for a long moment, and then he grinned at her and she started to giggle. She buried her head against his chest, and he held her close, and they laughed until the baby kicked them into getting up.
“You can come with me for today. We’ll try it a day at a time,” Red said as he grabbed Cassie’s dry clothes for her, then proceeded to get dressed.
“Yes, Red.” Red had his back politely turned, so Cassie quickly slipped out of her nightgown and into her chemise, then grabbed her dress.
“And I’ll show you a better cranny to hide in that’s not so cold, and we’ll put the buffalo robe in it if I ever go off even for a second.”
“Yes, Red.”
He glanced over his shoulder to give her a disgruntled look. What had she done? The tiniest spark of annoyance ignited. She really could hardly be more obedient.
Red’s expression cleared. “How did you sneak into the passage without Wade catching you?”
“I saw a flash of light high up on the hill. It scared me. I just grabbed the rifle and went straight in. I’d been in there quite a while before he came.”
Red was silent for a long while. “I think you were scared because God was warning you.”
“You do?” Cassie asked in wonder. If God had talked to her, it was her very own miracle.
“I came in early from checking the cattle because I couldn’t shake off worrying about you. I think God was speaking to me too.” Red spoke with calm assurance.
“He took care of us,” Cassie whispered. She knew it was true, because the fear she’d felt at that little flash of light went beyond a normal reaction.
“Let’s remember to always trust our instincts. God is watching over us, and if we’re open to His leading, I think we’ll be safe.”
“Yes, Red. I will, Red,” she said fervently.
Red looked annoyed again, and she stood quietly waiting for him to reprimand her, but he never did.
Red shook his head as if to clear it. “I think the babe talked to me last night.”
“The baby and God? All in one day?” Cassie said with what she hoped was well-concealed teasing.
“Yep.” Red slung his arm around her and led her out to the kitchen. “It was quite a day.”
“So what did she say?” Hm. They’d gotten dressed in the same room at the same time. They’d never done that before.
“Well, first off, she said she’s a he.”
“She did not!”
While they made breakfast and did the morning chores together, Red told her a silly story about being scolded with a series of kicks and twists.
“Instead of checking the herd this afternoon, I want to ride to town and tell the sheriff about this.” Red ate his steak at noon, but his stomach did backflips when he thought about Cassie so cold, so near death.
“Yes, Red. That’s a good idea.”
Red hated that obedient tone. But they were going to town regardless of her tone, so it would be stupid to growl about it.
“I doubt the law will step in, but I want a formal complaint so if Wade comes around again, we’ll have some proof that he’s been a problem before.”
Cassie began cleaning as if he’d shouted at her to hurry. Red shook his head at his submissive little wife, then himself hastened to do a few chores. They rode to town, and though the town marshal didn’t sound as though he planned to pursue the matter, Red insisted on going through the motions.
Since it wasn’t a Saturday, they went to pick up a few things at the general store, planning to rush home.
Muriel insisted on hearing the whole story of Cassie’s narrow escape. “Humph. That marshal is bought and paid for by the Sawyers. He won’t do a thing.”
“Well, there’s not much he can do, really.
All Wade did was walk around in our house a mite clumsily, broke a few things.
And no one saw his face, though Cassie identified his voice.
If Wade could be found and forced to admit he was there, he’d just say Cassie should have come on out.
He had no idea of harming her.” Red’s chest hurt when he thought of the way his cabin had looked.
The violence in the damage. The strength of the fear God had placed on Cassie’s heart.
Muriel snorted.
A group of Sawyer hands came into the store just then.
“You know Wade was out at the Dawson place today?” Muriel asked.
The closest man—the Sawyer foreman—shook his head. “He’s quit the country. I saw him get on the stage to Denver myself.”
“He’s not in Denver.” Red stepped in front of Muriel, not wanting the feisty woman to draw down the ire of the Sawyer bunch on her. “I recognized his tracks and Cassie heard him. She hid because she knew he was up to no good. Where is he?”
The burly cowhand scratched his grizzled chin. “We haven’t seen him for a while. Him and his pa had it out, and Wade took off. The boy had a pair of black eyes and a split lip when he left. His pa don’t put up with mouth offa his kid, and Wade had used up all his chances.”
Red inhaled slowly as he thought of a father who’d hurt his son like that. He stared at the man, looking for shifty eyes. But the ranch hand seemed to believe what he’d said about Wade being gone. All that meant was Wade had lied to them too.
Red and Cassie headed for home in the fading light of Montana’s early evening. This time, he’d never relax his guard.