Change of Heart (3 page)

Marietta could see she had no chance to win
this argument with her determined new friend. “Thank you again,
Amy.”

After Amy left the room, Marietta lay back on
the sofa and enjoyed the comfort that would be so short-lived. It
wasn’t long before she dosed and began to dream. When Amy roused
her from her nap, she informed her guest that supper would be ready
in less than an hour. Marietta needed to freshen up right away to
be on time for supper.

As she scrubbed herself, it seemed as though
Marietta were seeing the alabaster color of her skin for the first
time. Trail grime had adhered itself to her delicate, soft flesh.
When she’d finished bathing, she chose the best dress she’d brought
from Chicago to wear for supper. The black woolen dress with a full
skirt and long, slightly puffy sleeves hung loosely on her because
she’d lost weight on her journey. It was impossible for a woman to
keep a nice, full figure living the rough life and eating the
unpalatable food Marietta had experienced the past weeks. But,
tonight she would eat well. She loved beef stew, and pumpkin cake
was her favorite dessert. What a feast!

Marietta looked at herself in the large
mirror in the corner of Amy’s bedroom. Her dress didn’t hang right
anymore, but her dark cinnamon hair was stunning against the black
frock. A bath with Aunt Mamie’s lilac soap and freshly combed hair
made Marietta feel like a woman once more. She took a deep breath,
full of confidence and femininity, and smiled at her reflection
before going to meet the Carsons and Zack in the kitchen.

“Look who’s come to join us for supper,” Amy
said, delight in her voice.

Marietta’s gaze lifted to meet Jase’s. He
seemed to freeze the second he laid eyes on her.

“Mr. Kent,” Marietta said, “I thought you
were joining the colonel.”

“I… I was, but, when I brought the rest of
your things from the stage, Amy asked me to stay to supper.” He
cleared his throat, but his eyes never left her. “I never turn down
beef stew.”

“I see.”

“Miss Randolf...” Jase cleared his throat
again.

“Don’t be shy, Jase,” Amy said. “Take the
lady’s arm and escort her to the table.”

Jase hesitated a moment then moved toward
Marietta, offering her his arm. Marietta took it and walked the few
feet to the table in the center of the kitchen.

Jase continued to stare at her. “You look
absolutely lovely, Marietta.”

Thick silence hung in the kitchen as they
locked gazes a moment longer. She felt the warmth of his eyes touch
her all the way through to her heart. Had he just called her by her
given name? How very bold of him.

He held her chair for her. “Please sit
down.”

She complied, and he took his place next to
her.

Will Carson had been standing since Marietta
entered the room. “I’d like to second Jase’s observation,” he said.
“You do indeed look lovely, Miss Randolf.”

Marietta turned her attention to the soldier
across the table from her. “Thank you.”

“As I’m sure you’ve guessed, I’m Amy’s
husband, Will Carson.” The tall, uniformed man with wavy blonde
hair, green eyes, and a bushy wheat-colored mustache turned to Amy.
“Did I tell you, my dear, how lovely you look this evening?”

Amy touched her fingers to her disheveled
hair. “Oh, my. You must fancy an uncoifed look,” she said,
laughing.

Will leaned over and touched her cheek.
“You’re beautiful.”

In that simple exchange, Marietta understood
what Amy had tried to tell her in the parlor. Will and Amy had
found true love, and it seemed to have conquered even a desire for
the comforts of a more civilized land.

Jase didn’t stay long after supper. Marietta
found herself disappointed and strangely lonesome after his early
departure. Amy wouldn’t let Marietta help with the clean up in the
kitchen. She insisted she go to bed and get her much-needed rest.
Amy promised she’d tuck Zack in and come to bed later.

Marietta was too tired to let good manners
force her to object to Amy’s kind hospitality the way her instincts
told her she should. She complied with her hostess’s sensible
advice and, after changing into a nightgown, fell into the first
real bed she’d slept in for far too long.

~ * ~

Jase arrived before daylight the next morning
to take Marietta and Zack to Kathy and Clint’s burial sites. He
wasn’t pleased that the outing forced him to change his plans for
attending a business meeting, but he’d never shirk his duty to Zack
or to Kathy’s sister. He loaded their belongings onto the buckboard
he’d borrowed so that when they finished paying their respects to
the dearly departed, he could take them straight to the cabin where
they’d stay until Sledge Jackson and his party were ready to leave
for the Missouri River.

Zack did most of the talking on the
twelve-mile ride to the Morgan ranch. He asked Jase over and over
to tell him about all the adventures the cowboy had had on the
cattle drive from Texas in 1852. Zack knew his dad and Jase had
been among the first men to make such a drive and bring cattle so
far north. He loved to hear the stories of dirt, rivers, horses,
and snakes.

Marietta seemed fascinated by the tales
herself. Jase made it clear he had led a hard life, but a life he’d
specifically chosen for himself. His life pleased him in a most
fulfilling way, and he made no secret of that.

They reached the graves about noon. The
bright sun of the morning had given way to clouds about half way
through their journey. After Jase helped Marietta down from the
buckboard, she took her cloak and walked to Kathy’s grave. She laid
the cloak on the ground and sat down.

“Kathy,” she said, rubbing her hand over the
brown sedge as tears began to pour from her eyes. “Oh, sweet
Kathy.”

Marietta lay prone on her sister’s grave and
cried harder than Jase had ever seen any woman cry. Nothing seemed
to exist but her grief, her throbbing heart, the coldness of the
earth.

“How could anyone hurt you and rob you of
your life?” she said between sobs. “You were a flower among rocks
in this harsh land. You should never have left me--blast your rebel
ways! You should have stayed with me where you belonged. Chicago
died when you left. We all died the day you left us behind, most
especially me.” Jase could hear her struggle to draw air into her
lungs. “And now there will be no more letters, no more slips of
paper that allow me to touch what you have touched. Oh, Kathy, take
me with you! I can’t bear to live without you.”

Jase couldn’t stand her pain any longer. He’d
held Zack back, giving Marietta time alone to be with her sister,
but she was only making matters worse for herself carrying on as
she was. Her behavior prodded Zack to break free of his restraint
and run howling to Kathy’s grave, throwing himself on the brown
sod.

“Mama, take me too! I want to go with you
like Aunt Marietta.”

Jase had set broken bones on men who weren’t
hurting as much as Marietta and Zack were. He knew how to ease the
pain of a man with a cracked femur, but how did he stop the pain of
death? He rubbed his face with his hands as Marietta and Zack
continued to beg Kathy to take them with her. When their agony
overcame him, he closed his eyes and tried to think of something
else. Minutes passed, but he couldn’t fill his mind with anything
but Zack and Marietta’s cries. He raised his face to the sky,
opened his eyes, and saw that snow was beginning to fall.

He looked toward Kathy’s grave and found
Marietta still prostrate with Zack pushed up against her. They held
each other tightly and wept together. Jase walked to the buckboard
and leaned against it. The snow began to come down a little more
heavily. He didn’t like the look of the snow or the sky or the open
prairie prone to sudden, fierce storms. They needed to head back to
Sledge Jackson’s before the drive became dangerous, but how could
he tear Marietta or Zack from Kathy and Clint?

He couldn’t.

He could only hope the sky would hold tightly
onto the wind long enough to ensure the safety of his two charges.
He tried once more to put his mind on another subject. As Marietta
and Zack’s grief turned silent, he was able to think about his land
project. That would take his mind off of the pain that ate at his
two companions.

It had been just over two months ago that he
and Zack’s pa, Clint Morgan, had talked with a group of men
interested in founding a new town along the Oregon Trail. The men
had speculated that the railroad might come through somewhere near
the Trail one day. If it did, lots of money and plenty of glory
would be available in towns that sprung up along the Trail.
Speculators could garner both fame and fortune.

Not that Jase wasn’t happy being a rancher.
He was, but it was just that he wanted more, a way to leave his
mark on the world. What better way than founding a new town? An
entity that would live on long after he was gone.

He glanced at Marietta and Zack and found
that hey were still huddled together on top of Kathy’s grave. Jase
felt his jaw clench. He’d already missed the first meeting of the
land consortium due to his responsibilities since Clint and Kathy’s
barbarous murders. The next meeting was in two days at Red Rock
Junction.

He needed to get Marietta and Zack to
Jackson’s as soon as possible. He couldn’t afford to miss another
meeting. His chance at immortality was just too important. If he’d
learned anything from Clint’s death, it was that a man had to reach
for opportunities when they came and not put them off. Death waited
covertly like a thief in the night ready to steal every chance a
man never took.

The snow was getting heavier; they had to get
moving. Jase took a few steps toward Marietta and Zack to hurry
them along, but when he saw them cuddling and comforting each
other, he knew he couldn’t rob them of the time they needed, no
matter how important it was for him to get to his meeting.

Another hour passed before Marietta and Zack
were ready to leave Kathy and Clint. Their bodies were covered with
snow, but they were so consumed with their grief that it seemed
neither of them realized it had been snowing.

When they reached the buckboard, Jase asked,
“You’re sure you’re ready to leave?”

Marietta looked longingly back at her
sister’s grave. “I’ll never be ready to leave, and I can’t stand to
stay another minute.” She raised her gaze to meet Jase’s. “Does
that make any sense?”

He lifted one corner of his mouth and touched
her snow-speckled auburn hair as he stared into the most beautiful
emerald eyes he’d ever seen. “It makes perfect sense.”

He helped Marietta and Zack into the rig then
he mounted the carriage and put the horse in motion. Three miles
into their return trip, the wind began to whip the snow into a
storm as thick as pudding.

“We’re going to have to find a place to wait
out the storm,” he told Marietta.

Her face turned as white as the snowflakes on
her cheeks. “Where?”

“If I haven’t gotten us steered off course, I
believe there’s a shack about a hundred feet that way,” he said,
pointing.

“A shack? For the three of us? Alone?”

Her shocked reaction at the impropriety of
their being alone would have made Jase smile if the circumstances
hadn’t been so grave. “I’m afraid it’s either that or risk our
lives heading to Jackson’s or the fort.”

Marietta looked down at her nephew who’d
huddled between them when the wind began to blow. “We can’t risk
Zack’s life. We have no choice.”

“No, we don’t.” Jase stared at the fear in
Marietta’s eyes a long time. As he looked away, he decided the last
thing she needed was more suffering, and the last thing he needed
was another delay in reaching his meeting at Red Rock Junction.

He glanced again at Marietta’s frightened
face. He could have slugged himself for selfishly thinking about
what he might be missing when she’d been through so much, and now
she was scared to death at being caught in a storm. She was so
lovely and delicate. She’d been suddenly thrust into a new life,
unbidden and frightening, and she was in charge of raising a very
lively little boy all alone.

Jase found himself wanting to hold and
comfort Marietta to ease the pain in her heart and fear in her
eyes, and, at the same time, being angry with her for stealing his
time. She’d asked him to take her west to Clint and Kathy’s graves
when he should have been riding east to Red Rock Junction to meet
with the group of land speculators.

He closed his eyes and cursed his unfortunate
circumstances. When he opened them again, he headed into the
thickness of the storm hoping he could find his way. The lives of
two other people depended on him completely.

Snow stung Marietta’s eyes. Wind-driven,
individually innocent flakes felt like pin pricks in her cheeks.
Zack snuggled close and covered his face with his hands. Marietta
saw no sign of a cabin.

Jase guided the horse through the storm as
though he knew exactly where he was going. Marietta couldn’t
imagine how a man could be so ingrained in his surroundings that he
knew even in white blindness precisely where to go, but Jase seemed
confident he was moving toward the shack. All Marietta could do was
hope he did indeed have them heading in the right direction.

The cabin didn’t come into view until the
horse was only a few feet from the front door. Jase got down from
his seat, secured the rig, and helped Zack and Marietta out of
their carriage. The three of them rushed into the cabin.

Jase lifted Zack into his arms. “Are you all
right, partner?”

“I’m cold, Jase, and I’m hungry.” Zack rubbed
a hand over his eye, still puffy from all the crying he’d done
earlier.

“I know, Zack, so am I, and so is your aunt.
Aren’t you, Miss Randolf?” He looked down at Marietta, his eyes
filled with worry.