Chapter Fifteen
The sound of the rasp on the hoof of Cody’s new riding horse was soothing in its rhythmic nature.
Unfortunately, the young mare clearly felt otherwise, as every time she was asked to pick up a hoof so that Arthur could take the rasp to her feet, she would go as rigid as a post and apparently forget how to stand.
She leaned heavily on Arthur, who dropped her hoof and wheezed.
“Now, see here!” he said.
Cody sighed. “Nothing for it,” he said. He stood behind Arthur, and at a nod, the foreman picked up the mare’s foot again. As she had every time before, she went rigid. This time, Cody put his shoulder into her, refusing to let her get her way.
She was a pretty mare, young but showing promise, according to the horse dealer.
Cody had liked her coat, a black and white tobiano, and her sturdy conformation.
The horse dealer had sworn that she had good cattle sense, and she did seem to at least have that going for her.
What the dealer had neglected to mention, however, was that she was as stubborn as could be, and clever to boot.
Cody didn’t mind a clever horse; he did mind one that put its brains to use to attempt to open its stall door or get out of having its hooves seen to.
Time was not on their side—dark, heavy clouds had been hovering about the horizon all day, and Cody wanted to get finished before the storm broke.
He’d been secretly hoping to spend the duration of the storm indoors, his feet up on a stool in the sitting room while Amelia puttered about in the kitchen.
It was hard work, and all three were quickly getting frustrated.
It was turning into a battle of wills, with everyone unsure of who would break first. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Cody had wanted to ride out to check on the herd and see how the cowboys were getting along.
He’d assumed it would be a quick and easy task to rasp down the mare’s hooves, but that quickly proved to be a fool’s errand.
So he was not in the greatest of humors when he heard feet approaching at a rapid pace that was just this side of a jog. “Someone’s comin’,” he said, his voice strained from supporting the horse. With a grunt, Arthur let the hoof drop back to the ground, and all three let out a chorus of groans.
Rubbing at his straining back and still half-stooped over, Cody looked up and saw Amelia coming toward them. She was still dressed for town in her dark red polonaise. Her face was lined with barely contained anxiety, and her teeth flashed out occasionally as she bit her lip.
“Ma’am,” Arthur said politely, touching the brim of his hat. Amelia smiled at him briefly, but the expression was forced and didn’t reach her eyes. “You look like a picture today,” Arthur added.
“Flirt on your own time,” Cody snapped.
Arthur rocked back on his heels. “I think I’ll just take Miss Petunia here out for a walk, see if her heels are let down properly,” he said, untethering the horse and moseying off with her, muttering to her the whole time about “women troubles.”
“I’m sorry about him, he doesn’t—” Cody began.
“I need to speak with you urgently,” Amelia interrupted.
Taken aback, Cody inclined his head and motioned for her to continue.
“It’s… it’s about our situation,” she said, lowering her voice and stepping a little closer.
“People are starting to talk,” she continued.
“I don’t know how, but there’s a rumor going around that we aren’t properly wed. ”
Cody grunted. “That’ll be ol’ Carter’s doing. Society gossip can’t hold a candle to him when it comes to passing along rumors.”
“Regardless,” Amelia said, “it’s out there now. The parson is being consulted and town officials, who obviously haven’t had a marriage registered with them.” She paused, biting her lip again. Her hands were tightly wound into fists. “We need to get married, and quick.”
Cody stared at her for a moment. The question was so unexpected that he couldn’t even begin to guess at the reason for the sudden urgency. He hadn’t imagined that Amelia was the sort of person to be bothered by gossip. “No,” he said simply.
“No?” Amelia repeated, blinking rapidly.
“No,” Cody confirmed. “I have no intention of wedding you, or anyone else,” he tacked on, lest she feel offended.
“That is… It’s not personal.” He had no idea how to soften the blow and was moderately irritated that he felt he needed to.
He wanted her to stay; he didn’t want to go and get himself married.
Unfortunately, this was not the right tack to take. “What do you mean, ‘No’?” she demanded.
“It’s not a complicated concept,” Cody drawled. She glared at him, and rather than continue to be under the fire of those hazel eyes, he turned and walked into the shade of the barn under the pretext of finding some work that needed doing.
After only a split second’s hesitation, she hurried after him in a rustle of skirts. “And why, may I ask, have you decided this with so little consideration?” she demanded.
“I was already married once,” he said, hefting a bale of straw and moving it arbitrarily from one side of the aisle to the other.
“That’s more than enough for me. I had a wife; I’ve no wish to be disloyal to her.
” He glanced up and saw Amelia staring at him.
“If this is a problem for you, you’re free to leave, of course,” he added.
“I’d be sorry to see you go, as would the children, but I understand if you wish to keep your reputation intact. ”
A blush crept into her cheeks as she stared at him.
“This isn’t just about my reputation,” she said, glancing around to ensure they weren’t being overheard.
“It’s yours, too, and the children’s.” Cody dropped another bale of straw, sending up a cloud of motes, and stared at Amelia.
“Ruby is a young woman about to enter society,” she continued.
“She will need a proper chaperone. You don’t want her to be tainted by association, do you? ”
Cody glared at her. “I’m perfectly capable of acting as her chaperone.”
One side of Amelia’s mouth screwed up into a wry smile. “Really? You intend to accompany her to afternoon teas and sewing circles, do you?”
Cody opened his mouth to reply, then snapped it shut again. He grabbed another bale of straw and hoisted it over next to the others.
“The ladies of Gunnison are not as forgiving as some other locales,” Amelia continued.
“You are free to go back to where you came from,” Cody snapped. “If our society here is so caustic to you, you don’t have to stay. You’ve made no promises, and I’m sure you’d be happier somewhere they’re more permissive.” He straightened and put his hands on his hips, glaring at her again.
Amelia glared right back for a minute and then crossed her arms over herself. She looked away, her jaw tight. Cody lifted his chin, pleased that he’d managed to win at least one battle of wills today, petty as it was.
“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Amelia mumbled.
Cody frowned and leaned in. “What’s that?”
“I don’t have anywhere else to go!” Amelia hissed, snapping back around to resume their staring contest. “I have no family, no home, no one to go back to. I don’t even have a somewhere to go.”
His frown deepened. “What do you mean? You must’ve come from somewhere, you didn’t just spring into being.”
“Well, of course,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“I had a family, but they’re all… And that doesn’t even matter!
The point is that I spent every last penny I had to get here.
Coming to your ranch was my last chance for—” She cut her words off sharply.
She paced away a few steps, then turned back around.
Her face, while still stony, was changed, sadder somehow.
“It doesn’t matter. If I need to go, I will, and I’ll do it on my own. I’m used to surviving alone.”
She whirled away as if to do that very thing, and Cody had no reason to doubt her. “Wait!” he said, darting forward and touching her arm. “Wait,” he said again. “What do you mean?”
Amelia’s eyes searched his for a moment.
He got the sense that she was struggling with an internal conflict, deciding whether she could trust him.
“Not all of us are lucky enough to be the sons of wealthy ranchers,” she said at last. “When my parents died, we had nothing. We had to scrape by on our wits. You’ve never had to wonder where you were going to lay your head at night, or listen to your own stomach try to eat itself from hunger. ”
She spoke flatly, almost dispassionately.
She didn’t sound bitter; she was merely stating facts.
Cody let this information wash over him, turning it over in his mind.
His own upbringing had been far from ideal, what with his unreachable oak of a father and absentee mother, but he’d never really considered what it would’ve meant to have absolutely nothing.
“We?” he asked.
“What?”
“You said, ‘we.’ Who is ‘we’?” he inquired.
Amelia turned her face away again for a moment and closed her eyes just an instant too long to be merely blinking. “My sister,” she said quietly. Though it was only two words, there was a lifetime of pain in them. Cody understood that in an instant—he knew pain.
“Older or younger?”
“Younger,” Amelia answered.
“That explains it,” Cody said with a nod. Amelia turned back to him and raised an eyebrow. “You’re used to caring for others,” he clarified. “It’s why you’re so good with Ruby.”
Amelia’s face softened. “I am fond of her, and Logan too. It’s not the same, but… Life feels less empty with them around.”
Cody knew exactly what she meant. He’d have been lost in his own wilderness if he hadn’t had them to anchor him in place.
Though he didn’t know how to be soft and affectionate with them as they might have deserved, he’d be lost without them.
Something shifted in him, a kind of realignment of sorts, in which he understood that Amelia was a person with feelings.
“Look,” he said, opening his hands up in a gesture of peace.
“I can’t give you what you want, not so far as getting married.
It really is nothing against your character—you’re a fine enough woman—but I just can’t.
It wouldn’t be right to Anne,” he said. It felt weird to speak her name out loud, and it made him frown briefly.
“But you can stay as long as you like. I won’t say anything about it ever again,” he continued.
“This is your home now, too, as far as I’m concerned. ”
They stared at each other, but this time it was a shared look of understanding. He couldn’t help but note a certain disappointment in her expression, but she quickly buried this and nodded, accepting his terms.
Outside, a peal of thunder suddenly cracked across the range, echoing into disappearing rumbles. Amelia started, and Cody automatically put out a hand to steady her, gently taking her arm. “Seems like those clouds are finally breaking,” he said.
Together, they walked to the large doorway of the barn. The clouds had finally muscled their way past the warm air of the range and were parked above Gunnison. Lightning struck from the clouds, and sheets of rain obscured the sun in the distance.
“Nice to get a proper rain,” Amelia said. “I was beginning to wonder if it ever would.”
Cody nodded. “It’s like that in spring and summer. Dry as a bone, then sudden storms. Have to watch for flash floods and trails being washed out.”
“I’m going to go check and make sure the children are both home and dry,” Amelia said.
Fear gripped Cody for a moment. His first impulse was to run up to the house himself, to drag them both home if needed.
He checked himself; however, Amelia was seeing to them, and he had no reason to doubt her ability to care for them and keep them safe.
The way she’d spoken of her sister implied that she had plenty of experience in that regard.
He watched her as she walked back to the house, her figure becoming smaller. There was an unpretentious grace about her as she walked, with her long neck and quiet air. She seemed unhurried even as she moved quickly, somehow.
Cody leaned his shoulder against the doorway of the barn, crossing his arms as the first drops of rain plopped into the dust. How did a woman like that come to be so desperate as to answer an ad for a wife in a newspaper? he wondered.