Chapter Nine #2
"Papa, you are embarrassing Helene. Besides, she was riding Molasses... Helene was perfectly safe. She wasn't injured riding," she added, giving Whitey a meaningful look that spoke volumes.
"It wasn't Whitey's fault, Amanda. It was mine. You know Whitey... If I'd told him I was injured, he never would have put a hand to me, no matter if I did deserve it." Whitey gave Helene a grateful smile as she defended him.
"Okay, who is hurt?" Doc asked as he made his way into the room. "Goldie let me in and pointed up here," he said when Matt looked at him questioningly. "Miss Helene, you don't look like you're dying," he said with a smile.
"That bastard Ted Fox hit her, Doc. She's got a few bruises, but the worst one is on her ribcage," Whitey spoke up.
"And how would you be knowing this, young man?" Doc demanded, looking over his glasses at the young man.
"I checked when I realized she was hurt," Whitey answered. "Don't you be thinking anything improper happened. Helene is not that sort of girl."
"That is what I am saying to you, Mister, and best you don't forget that, or you'll be marrying this young lady at the end of a shotgun." Doc had five daughters, and he wasn't about to see an innocent girl taken advantage of if he had anything to say!
"Doc, I have it all under control," Matt said firmly.
"Then control everyone out of this room so I can examine Miss Helene. You can stay, Miss Amanda; the rest of you get!" he gruffly ordered, and then pointedly ignored them as they filed out of the room.
Whitey waited until they were downstairs in Matt's study before exploding.
"Helene didn't do nothing wrong, Boss. I don't like what Doc is thinking. I just pulled out her shirt and unbuttoned a couple of buttons to see where she was bruised. I sure didn't do anything to insult Helene; I wanted to help her."
"I know that, son. Calm down."
"If Doc tells her Uncle that, he'll expect me to marry Helene, and you know as sure as sin I can't marry nobody. I don't even know my real name, damn it!"
"We can do some digging, Whitey, and find the answers," Matt offered.
"No." The answer was firm and final, and then Whitey said, "I got work to do." He stomped from the room and a few seconds later the front door slammed.
While they waited for the Doctor to come downstairs, Rob told Matt about the shooting in the saloon.
Matt was clearly upset, but knew that Rob was doing everything in his power to figure out who was behind the plan to kill Rob.
"I think it best if I refrain from seeing Amanda right now, sir. I will not put her in danger, and that is precisely what I am doing when I take her riding, or into town for a meal, or to a dance. It is not safe for her to be with me."
"She is in love with you, Rob."
"I feel the same about her, Matt. That is why I cannot put her in danger. I would rather have her think my feelings for her have changed than tell her the truth. She fears nothing."
"I know what you mean, son." Matt shook his head when Rob walked out of the room and out of the house. He would keep his own eyes open and see if he could find out who was trying to bushwhack his young neighbor. His Mandy was going to be hurt by Rob's sudden departure from her life.
Helene's uncle arrived, clearly shaken by the news that Helene was in some way injured.
Matt was blunt as he explained the situation, and once Doc was done examining his niece, he made his way upstairs to see her.
"Why didn't you tell me the truth about this, young lady?"
he demanded. "I've a good mind to take your hairbrush to you!"
"Why should I tell you about my private life when you won't discuss your private life, Uncle Peter? You have never once mentioned your feelings for Roxy." Helene was hurt by this and let him know how she felt. "Are you ashamed of me?" she tearfully asked.
"Lord, girl! No, I'm not ashamed of you! Well, I didn't think you'd get along with Roxy. She works in a saloon," he admitted, his face a bright red.
"I know all about her. She's a nice lady; I talked to her in the mercantile one day. She helped me pick out some nice dry goods to make a tablecloth. Uncle Peter, do you have any idea of how hurt she is that you won't bring her home to meet me properly?"
"She's never said so!"
"Just because she doesn't say so doesn't mean I am wrong," Helene insisted.
When he gave her an angry look she said softly, "I am not trying to be disrespectful, Uncle Peter. I know the last thing you wanted to do was take me in when my Papa died, but I had nowhere else to go. I love you, and I think you do love me.
Please talk to Roxy and go ahead with your plans to marry her. It will make me feel less of a burden to you."
Peter nodded and smiled, but then added, "That still doesn't explain why you didn't tell me about Fox. I am your guardian and I have a right to know these things. No more secrets, young lady," he said firmly, and then had the grace to add, "from either of us."
"I agree, Uncle Peter," Helene said with a bright smile.
It was arranged that Helene would stay at the ranch until Doc thought her healed enough to make the trip into town.
During the next week, Peter came to visit and he brought Roxy to formally introduce the two women to each other.
If he was relieved that they seemed to genuinely like each other, he didn't let on.
He told Helene the wedding would take place when she could be a witness, and Helene was happy with the news.
What she wasn't happy about was the fact that Whitey did not come and visit her...
not even once before she left the ranch.
Amanda was just as unhappy. It was as if Robert Thorne had disappeared off the face of the earth.
When she was recovered enough from the beating Ted Fox gave her to ride Glimmer, she headed toward Rob's ranch, only to be overtaken by her father and given orders she wasn't to ride over there.
Amanda demanded to know why. Matt gave her the standard, "Because I said so, that's why!"
answer. Amanda glared at him, but she turned her mount back and went home, pouting and sulking.
Helene was nearly sick at heart when she heard nothing at all from Whitey.
She happened to come into the mercantile while Whitey was in there, trying on hats.
He tipped the hat at her, but ignored her completely while he paid for his new hat and then left the store.
Helene felt her temper snap and she marched after him and knocked his new hat off his head and into a water trough!