Chapter Seventeen
Jackson rode Horse in a wide circle around the herd of grazing cattle, counting as many of them as he could. He’d just had to drive a handful of steers back through the fence line because they had broken through again in an attempt to get to the nearby creek.
He swung off Horse and hooked his reins over a fence post. On foot, he examined the length of the broken fencing, his eyes scanning the ground for footprints. If there had been any indication of human interference, the cattle’s hooves had long since covered it up with mud.
Jackson sighed wearily and walked back to Horse to fetch some wire and nails. At least the job would give him time to think. Hope had been acting so strangely ever since he’d bandaged her burn, and he was beginning to feel like she was avoiding him.
Granted, he’d done the same to her in the first few weeks, but since then he’d started to look forward to their strange talks that would begin awkwardly, then lead to deeper conversations that helped him understand her better.
He’d felt comforted by Hope’s sincere reaction to his failure as a lawman.
Of course, he’d not told her the entire story, but he wasn’t ready for that yet, and Hope had very kindly not pressured him.
He snorted in disbelief as he hammered a nail into the post. And now to think Hope had the cheek to dart out of the kitchen as soon as breakfast was cooked, making the excuse that she needed to start on chores.
There were practically no chores left because Hope meticulously took care of every single one.
He’d even crept into the barn, hoping to find her with the cats, but Hope was not so easy to find when she didn’t want to be, apparently. He’d started to miss seeing her around the ranch, quietly watching him from behind the laundry line, or chatting with one of the animals.
Jackson froze. He’d started to miss Hope?
He shook his head and started hammering harder.
He was a man who had promised himself never to marry, never to draw close to a woman, and never to take on what he couldn’t protect.
And now here he was, skipping around his own ranch, longing to catch a glimpse of her.
Jackson tried to give himself a stern talking to, but it was no use. He couldn’t get Hope out of his mind, and the more time he spent with her, the harder it became not to be around her. He almost didn’t notice when Horse snorted loudly at him and stomped his hooves against the ground.
“What is it?” Jackson asked before catching sight of a rider in the distance.
He squinted at the approaching horse and immediately knew that it was not one of his own.
The horse was far too thin, and even at a distance he could tell that its gait was tired and uneven.
It looked as though its rider had overshot the road to the ranch and gotten lost. Jackson mounted Horse in a hurry and kicked at his flanks so that he could catch up with the rider.
“Boy!” Jackson called as he galloped after him.
There was no response except for a head that lolled as if the rider was barely conscious.
He watched the rider slide sideways, then fall off the horse into the grass.
Jackson hurried to his side, lifting him up off the ground.
It was a young man, easily in his late twenties or early thirties, with light brown hair that touched his collar and gaunt features.
There was something familiar about him that Jackson could not quite place.
The man suddenly opened his eyes and rasped a single word at him.
“Hope.”
Jackson froze at the sound of Hope’s name.
How did this man know her? He lifted the man and placed him on Horse, realizing that he was more skin and bones than actual flesh.
The man’s clothes smelt of smoke and stale whiskey.
Whoever he was, the man was in poor condition.
How he knew Hope, Jackson didn’t dare to guess, but the thought of it sent a shiver down his spine.
Jackson walked the near-dead horse back to the ranch along with his own, steadying the rider the entire time. The only word he could say, over and over, was Hope’s name.
“Jackson?” Margaret called when she spotted the group. “What’s going on?”
She hurried to open the gate, and watched in horror as Jackson led the horses through.
“Where’s Hope?” Jackson called.
To his surprise, Hope stepped into view immediately, her face a mask of concern as Jackson walked Horse towards her.
“Hope,” the rider said, lifting his shaggy head. “Hope!” he called louder when he laid eyes on her.
Jackson watched Hope’s face contort with alarm and shock. Her mouth opened, and she remained speechless as the man collapsed off the horse and staggered forward, gripping onto her desperately.
“Now just a minute,” Jackson warned, stepping closer to protect Hope.
“It’s okay,” Hope said, her voice tight.
“I’m…Daniel Caldwell,” the rider informed him.
Hope looked up at Jackson. “My brother.”
Daniel dropped to his knees, the last of his strength failing him, and he nearly pulled Hope down with him. Jackson stepped in, helping Daniel to stand.
“We need to get him inside,” Jackson ordered.
“There, there,” Margaret said, taking Daniel from her son. “Let’s get you fed and cleaned up in the house. Hope?”
Jackson quickly led Daniel’s horse to a trough of water and feed before returning to the porch. Hope was still standing there in shock.
Jackson touched Hope’s elbow and she jolted out of her daze, nodding belatedly at Margaret’s orders. She followed them inside, apparently still in shock as she watched Daniel.
“Heat up some stew, Hope, while I get some hot water and a cloth,” Margaret instructed. “Don’t forget the coffee!”
“Whiskey,” Daniel rasped at Jackson’s Ma.
Jackson watched his mother freeze, her green eyes fixing on Daniel. He knew there’d been a reason why Hope had left Daniel in Dodge City to flee so far west. Seeing Daniel made him realize just how bad things must’ve been for Hope to leave him behind.
“Oh no, dear, we’ll have none of that here,” Margaret said.
Jackson watched as Hope hurried back into the room, almost frantic as she fed her brother stew with a spoon.
“Easy, Daniel,” she said, “your stomach probably isn’t used to this much food at once.”
Daniel gulped the stew down like an animal that had tasted starvation before.
“Slowly, Daniel, please,” Hope begged, trying to help her brother.
Jackson had never seen her so worried and panicked before, not even when Ethan had refused to marry her.
He now understood why Hope’s response was always ‘I’m fine’.
Her brother had clearly taken all of her attention in the past, leaving none for her own needs.
Jackson knew he needed to step in and help Hope before Daniel’s problems consumed her.
“Hope,” he said, gently tugging at her sleeve.
“I’m busy, Jackson,” she said, briefly glancing up at him.
“Ma can see to Daniel,” Jackson assured her. “Step outside with me.”
Hope hesitated, eventually wiping her hands and slowly walking away, looking back twice to make sure Margaret had things under control. This was not the calm, capable Hope who laughed with ease at his Ma’s stories and who apologized to the chickens when she took their eggs.
“Hope,” Jackson began, trying to draw her focus to him. “Are you alright? And don’t you dare say you’re fine.”
“It’s my brother,” Hope said, the very mention of him making her pace.
Jackson followed her, leaning down so that he could take her hand. He led her to a tree a little distance away from the ranch house so they could speak more privately.
“Tell me,” Jackson urged, her hand still in his.
“Oh, Jackson,” Hope said, her eyes instantly welling with tears. “I don’t know where to start. My brother…I didn’t think he’d come all this way, and now he’s here and I don’t know what to do! I have no money and he has nowhere to stay-”
“Hope,” Jackson soothed, his chest tightening at seeing her so distraught. “If he needs somewhere to live, Daniel can stay here.”
Hope’s eyes widened with surprise, but her tears only increased. She cried into her sleeve until he produced yet another one of his handkerchiefs.
“You don’t understand,” Hope sobbed.
“I can give him work here, too,” Jackson assured her. “Daniel can start a new life, just like you did.”
“No, no.” Hope shook her head and pulled away from him.
“Hope,” Jackson said, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. It trembled beneath his touch. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Daniel is not trustworthy,” she said, wiping her tears. “He’s not like you or your ma. He lies and he cheats and he steals. He stole from me over and over so that he could play cards and drink away his problems.”
“Hope-” Jackson attempted to say.
“It gets worse,” she continued. “Daniel started working with a gang that stole cattle from the ranches. He got into big trouble in Dodge City, Jackson, and I was always the one to pay his way out. But I just couldn’t do it anymore.”
“Hope, it’s alright-”
“I couldn’t,” Hope cried. “And I know that’s awful and selfish of me, but he just took and took, and I didn’t have anything left to give, and that’s why I came here, away from it all,” she rambled on, pausing only to suck in a desperate breath.
“Jackson, I abandoned him. You saved broken things all your life, but I ran away from him! I left him to die!”
Jackson was stunned by Hope’s words. He could not believe that a woman so capable could believe the worst of herself.
It pained him to think of the burden she had been carrying alone for so many years, all the time blaming herself and believing that she was the problem. He needed to set things right.
“You can’t save something that doesn’t want saving, Hope,” Jackson said firmly. “Now listen to me, please. You’re the kindest, most caring person I know. I don’t believe you would’ve left him unless your situation had been desperate.”
Hope opened her mouth to protest, but he placed a finger over her lips.
“I’m not finished talking,” he said to her. “Daniel will stay here on the ranch. He’ll work with me and I’ll keep an eye on him. He’s far away from any gambling tables and gangs, so this will be a good break for him.”
“I can’t ask that of you,” Hope said stubbornly.
“And why not?” Jackson asked.
“Because you don’t owe me anything, Jackson. I can’t ask you to take in another stray Caldwell,” Hope declared, pursing her lips.
“Is that how you see yourself?” he asked her. “Hope, you are my wife, and I made a vow to you to hold onto you through the good times and the bad.”
“It’s just a marriage of convenience,” Hope shot back at him.
“I still meant every word of those vows, Hope,” Jackson assured her in a low voice. “You are my wife, and your family is now my family. I’ll help you with Daniel.”
Hope looked up at him, and he worried that she was going to start crying again. Her bottom lip trembled and her eyes glazed over. Jackson didn’t know what more he could say to convince her that he was on her side.
That was when Hope launched herself at him, her shoulders catching him in the chest. He looked down and found her arms wrapped around him and her cheek against his chest.
“Oh, Jackson,” she whispered quietly. “I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you for this.”
Jackson was too stunned to speak. After chasing her around the ranch for just over a week, Hope was now wrapped around him like Kitten on a cold winter morning.
He folded his own arms around her and drew her closer, feeling her warmth become his own.
Her hair smelled of flowers and cinnamon, and her arms held him tightly.
Jackson closed his eyes, briefly resting his cheek on top of her head.
When Hope slowly withdrew, her eyes were wide with shock.
He had never hugged another woman before other than his mother, and Clara when they were kids.
It felt strange, yet at the same time completely natural.
He had to remind himself that Hope was his wife, and so such a display of affection was completely normal.
“Don’t run away this time,” he murmured, thinking of how she had left him stranded a week ago after he’d fixed her up. He’d had to drink both cups of coffee, though the two slices of apple pie had been no problem.
“Jackson,” Hope said, her eyes filled with light again. “I will never forget what you’ve done for us.”
With that, she did run away, leaving Jackson alone under the tree. He could still feel her arms hugging him and her face pressed to his chest, a moment he felt he would also never forget, but certainly not for the same reasons.