Chapter Three
T wenty-four wagons formed a circle in a dusty clearing some sixty paces from the river’s edge, a campfire burning at its center. Oxen, horses, and cattle grazed, oblivious to the evening din of a fiddler. Boisterous card games. Children playing tag. Where did that energy come from after walking all those miles? They’d gone another twelve today, Levi reckoned. Could’ve done fifteen, maybe, if they hadn’t had to prolong their nooning to repair Quigley’s wheel.
He gazed over at the mountain range that loomed up ahead. The setting sun appeared to melt into the rocky, snow-capped peaks. To reach California, they had to cross them before winter set in or perish. It was going to take a miracle, some divine intervention. August was nearly gone.
“We shoulda listened and left in May.”
Hell, April would have been even better if anyone had bothered to ask him, but no one did. It would’ve fallen on deaf ears, anyway. To his father, Levi was just a kid—seen and not heard—when it suited him.
“Couldn’t. We had to wait for them spring rains to let up.” Elijah threw an arm around his neck. “Imagine the wagons getting stuck in all that muck. Swollen rivers, rising waters churning. I doubt we’d have gotten everyone across ‘em.”
“Not to mention whirlwinds.”
Levi pivoted to stare blankly at an unfamiliar leathery face. Golden eyes. Long wiry hair, more silver than brown, with a beard to match. His shirt and britches sewn from deerskin.
“Twisters.” Chuckling under his breath, the man’s lip quirked up on one side. “My woman called ‘em storm horses. I’ve seen a herd of buffalo swept up into the sky until they were nothin’ but wiggling black specks. Consider yourself favored you ain’t run into one of those yet.”
“You must be Mr. Walker.”
“Josiah.” He tipped his hat, hitching his thumb behind him. “These here are my daughters, Lucy and Fallon.”
Her name is Lucy .
The girl from the river. She was even more beautiful up close. Golden eyes like her father. A hint of a smile. Neither she nor her sister would look at him, though, their gazes downcast.
“Pleasure. Levi Gantry,” he said, shaking Walker’s hand. He proudly turned to the twins who’d come to stand beside him, having returned from bathing little Elizabeth. “And my sisters, Mary Alice and Victoria.”
“Ladies.” His gaze lingering on their like visages, he offered them a polite nod.
“And I’m Elijah Brooks.” Stepping forward, he extended his hand.
Josiah shook it, looking down at the child who clung to Elijah’s knee. “That your little girl there?”
“Elizabeth? No, she’s my baby sister.”
“Where’s your mama and papa, child?” he asked, getting down on his haunches.
The little girl didn’t blink an eye. “Dead.”
Elijah patted the long, wet hair dripping splotches on the muslin of her dress. They all fretted for Elizabeth. She had yet to cry for her mother. “We lost them, and our sister, back in Nebraska territory. There was cholera and—”
“I know. Seen it,” Josiah said, cutting Elijah off, then abruptly he turned to him. “Lost yours, too, didn’t ya?”
Drawing his sisters close, Levi nodded. “And our brother.”
“My condolences to you all. Goin’ on six years since their mother’s been gone.” His lip trembling, he pressed them together. “It’s damn hard tryin’ to raise my girls right out here without her. This ain’t no kind of life for ‘em, ya know?”
“I s’pose not.” Levi’s gaze went to Lucy and her sister.
Josiah oddly grinned. “I seen it comin’.”
“What’s that?”
“All good things.” The mountain man winked, nodding along as he spoke. “Every good thing in the world is born of something not.”
Jake read the words once more and transcribed them onto his laptop. They resonated with him, and not just because Levi underlined them three times.
His phone signaled an incoming text message. Not wanting to be distracted from his work, he’d set the damn thing to silent, but even the slightest vibration was jarring to him.
Two words. They’re hitched .
“Kel.” Jake chuckled with a shake of his head.
Before he could tap out ‘congratulations’ in reply, two photos appeared. Matthew Brooks with a pretty blonde in a short ivory dress and another of a girl holding a camera in her hand. The daughter . Seeming to be lost in her thoughts, she had a far-away look in her eyes.
The new Mrs. Brooks and the future Mrs. Brooks , the caption read.
For Kellan’s sake, and Tanner’s too, he sure hoped so.
Jake closed his laptop. He had a future of his own to get ready for. A house to build. A wedding to plan.
Emily and her mother would be here for dinner soon. Another evening of looking on, pretending to be unaffected, when he was dying to touch her the same way his brother did.
And taste her.
Yeah, he saw them together in the barn the other day. Jake hadn’t meant to spy on them, but when he noticed Emily’s convertible sitting in the school parking lot, long after the dismissal bell rang, he grew concerned.
Her lips parted, breasts exposed, holding Billy’s head to her cunt. She looked so beautiful. Jake couldn’t tear his eyes away. However, upon hearing her coming for his brother, he hurriedly retreated to avoid being discovered as the sick voyeur he knew he was.
He ran home and went straight to his room. With the image of the girl he loved half-naked on a bed of hay, Jake lubed up his dick. Slippery, hard flesh sliding between the circle of his fingers, it was him she held onto. Him she cried out to. Him she came for.
It’s not that he was jealous. There was no reason for it. They were a triad, after all. Meant to be before they were ever born. Emily was his as much as she was his brother’s.
Envy?
Perhaps. While the feeling is similar, it isn’t quite the same, is it? Yes, Jake loved her, and yes, he deeply desired what he couldn’t have yet, but there was no maliciousness behind his discontent.
This was his test.
Five more months and Emily would be eighteen.
And in eighteen months, she’d be his wife.
He just had to wait.
Until then, Jake resolved to give Emily what she needed to feel loved by him. Billy might be only sixteen, but he was keenly astute and so very wise for his years. Their circumstances dictated his brother knew her feelings better than he did.
Jake had the power to change that, though. He could talk to her more, be with her more. Meaningful conversation and showing affection weren’t against the rules—so long as he didn’t let it go too far. That right there was the problem. He didn’t trust himself not to. And he certainly didn’t trust her.
“They’re almost here, bro,” Billy said, poking his head inside his room. “Em just texted me.”
“She texts me too, you know.”
“Yeah, but I also know how good you are at forgettin’ to turn your phone back on.” He plopped his ass down on the bed. “Just lookin’ out for you.”
“Appreciated.” Smiling to himself, Jake buttoned up his shirt. “Want to go over to the site with me tomorrow?”
Billy grinned up at him. “Sure do.”
“I just want to set out some stakes. Get a feel for where we want to put the house come spring.”
A home of their own. For Emily. And he and his brother were going to build it.
“I wish we didn’t have to wait ’til then.”
“Me, neither.” Tucking in his shirt, Jake let out a loud breath. Sometimes, it seemed like waiting was all they ever did. “But we’d never get the framing up before it snows.”
“We’re supposed to get some flurries tomorrow.” Impeccably dressed as always, their father, Justin, appeared in the doorway, a mischievous grin on his face. “Your mother asked me to come for you.”
The Gantry family dynamics differed from most. Their father’s husband and their mother’s brother, Justin Sawyer was their uncle biologically, but he was as much a dad to them as Victor. And more like a mom than their mother was. He was the one who got them ready for school, helped them with homework, and tucked them in at night with a bedtime story.
“Well, what she actually said was, it would be rude if you weren’t downstairs when Emily and Mrs. Keough arrived.” With a click of his tongue, his hand swirled through the air. “Appearances. You know how she is.”
Jake exchanged a glance with his brother. Oh, they knew.
Carrie Sawyer Gantry needn’t have worried.
Her hair half up, Emily looked so beautiful. Rich, deep hues of red and brown framed her features, with long, loose curls flowing down her back. His fingers itched to pull the clip from her hair and run them through the silky strands while he kissed her senseless. But Jake itched to do so many things he couldn’t. Instead, inhaling her wildflower scent, his lips brushed across her cheek. He let them linger there a moment as he brought her in for a hug. It was the most he could do right then.
Emily sat between them at the dining room table, he on her right and Billy to her left. While her mother complimented his on the herb-crusted sirloin medallions, the pearl onion red wine sauce, and garlic mashed potatoes, only to learn it was Justin who deserved all the accolades, Jake allowed his palm to rest upon her thigh. Fingertips unfurling over the smooth fabric of her skirt, he imagined the warmth of her flesh beneath it.
“Matthew did it then?” Carrie asked Kimberly, dabbing a napkin at her lips. “He married her?”
“They’re going to have a baby.”
“That’s no reason to get—”
“Carrie.” Across the table, Victor’s golden eyes widened, his tone a warning.
“My brother loves Jennifer. He told me so, and that’s reason enough.”
“But…”
“Carrie.” His father glared at his wife, then turning to Emily’s mother, his features softened. “Matt is my dearest friend. You know that, Kimberly. I want nothing but love and happiness for him. He deserves it after everything he’s gone through, as do you.”
Jake squeezed Emily’s knee beneath the table. Victor’s gaze may have lingered on his future daughter-in-law’s mother just a bit too long.
“We have our children’s wedding to talk about, now, don’t we?” Clearing her throat, Carrie changed the subject. “Let’s go have some coffee. What did you make us for dessert, brother dearest?”
“Cheesecake, sister dearest,” he said, rising from his chair. Winking at Emily’s mom, he offered her a hand. “Trust me when I say, Mrs. Keough—”
“Kim.”
“All right, then.” Justin’s tongue swiped across his lip and he smiled, his somewhat effeminate voice just above a whisper. “It’s almost better than sex.”
On the way to the family room, or the parlor, as his mom liked to call it, Jake clasped Emily’s hand in his while his brother held on to the other. He noticed the drop in her shoulders, her neck tipping back as she studied Justin’s paintings and the photos of them as children displayed on the walls, a tender smile lighting her face as if she’d never seen them before. She had. Countless times.
“I’m only gonna insist on one thing.” Billy paused, tugging on her arm. “We get hitched on the very first Saturday after I turn eighteen. Ain’t waitin’ longer than I have to.”
“Nope, not Saturday. Wednesday is the luckiest day for a wedding.”
“Fine, the first Wednesday then.” In a quick, fluid movement, his brother pulled Emily to his chest and he kissed her.
When their lips unlocked, she bit her lip, fingertips rubbing his pec. “Why is your mama so…I dunno…out of sorts over Uncle Matty getting married?”
“C’mon, Emily, you know the answer to that,” Jake said, tucking a glossy curl behind her ear.
Justin came up behind them. “He married an outsider.”
“So? Plenty of folks have. My grams was an outsider once.”
True, but then that wasn’t the actual issue here.
“Melinda Brooks is one of a kind. It takes a special person to embrace our way of life. It seems as though your uncle has cast aside what we hold sacred—to my sister, at least.” Justin squeezed Emily’s shoulder. “She fears he could lose favor, and that, as you well know, would affect every last one of us. I don’t believe so, of course.”
Bingo . That’s what Jake feared, too.
“Finding love again, Arien, and a new baby? He saw all of this, you know. So, the way I figure, he’s gained favor, if anything.” Emily glanced up at him. “Right, Jake?”
He wanted so badly to agree with her, but he couldn’t.
“I think so, too, dear girl.” Justin opened his arms wide and wrapped her up in a great big hug. “After all, is there any greater gift than that?”
Jake couldn’t think of one.
Every good thing in the world is born of something not.
Yeah, maybe she was right.