Chapter 34

 

The first rays of the sun peaked over the distant hill. A thin swirl of smoke rose from the chimney of the Murphy farmhouse. Of course they would be up. Morning started early on a small, family ranch. Only spoiled daughter’s of rich ranchers were allowed to sleep in at their leisure.

She tied Pepper to the post outside the gate and made her way to the door, knocking softly.

The door swung open. Della Murphy’s face registered surprise. “Why Addie! What are you doing here so early? Is everything all right?”

She cleared her throat. “Is. . .is Mark up?” Of course he would be up. It was a stupid question. She should ask if he would be willing to speak with her. After the words between them . . .

“Now you come on inside,” the older woman insisted. “Come sit at the table and have some coffee. Missy’s out helping the doctor and Isaac is off to school. I‘m letting Frances Anne sleep a while longer.”

She took a deep breath. There was no time for idle talk. She had to be on her way. “Oh, no. I . . .I can’t. I’d just like to speak to Mark, if possible.”

Della shook her head. “He’s not here, dear. He went down to San Antonio with Seth yesterday to pick up a horse. He’ll be back by this evening, if you could come back then.”

He was gone. She’d never see him again. Tears stung the back of eyelids and she blinked them away. “I see.” She turned back to the door. “Thank you.”

Della followed her. “I’ll tell him you were here.”

Addie shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. Thank you, Mrs. Murphy.”

Back on the horse, it was time to ride fast. The day was already warm and would only get hotter as time went on. She had no idea how long it would take to get to New Braunfels. A shiver of fear ran through her. She had never traveled this far on horseback alone. Until recent events, she hadn’t realized how truly sheltered her life had been. Even here with her father in Chance.

Well, the past was past. Her future lay in front of her and she must make the choices for what happened. Rose had written many times that she should come and visit. The money in her reticule would take her to England. All she needed was a place to lay her head until a ship was ready to sail home.

 

***

 

 

Della shrugged and poured more coffee in Mark’s cup. “I don’t know. She didn’t say. Just that she wanted to talk to you and then told me not to tell you she’d been by when she found you weren’t here.”

Mark studied the liquid in his cup. After the last conversation he’d had with Addie, he didn’t expect to ever speak to her again. A spoiled rich girl like her generally didn‘t bother to call on a poor rancher, even to apologize for her rudeness. An apology was the only reason he could fathom for her stopping by.

“I guess I could ride over and see if she’s home.” He didn’t allow himself to entertain the possibility that Addie had another reason for wanting to see him. Like that of her head and heart coming to their senses.

Della sighed and sat across from him. “Mark, I know I’m always going on about you finding a girl, getting married, settling down. But there’s no need to go chasing after a woman that doesn’t want you. There are plenty of other girls around that would be proud to be your wife.”

He pushed his tongue against the back of his teeth to stop himself speaking the words that formed in his throat. He loved his aunt, but this was none of her business. “Aunt Della–”

A knock sounded at the door, interrupting the conversation. Della hurried to open the door, as Missy emerged from a back room.

Mark stood as he realized that it was Birdie on the step.

“May I come in?” she asked.

“Well, of course,” Della sputtered. “I’m just so surprised to see you that my manners left me. How are you, Birdie?”

Birdie shook her head as she stepped inside. Her eyes found Mark. “It is you I want to speak to.”

Mark nodded. “Go ahead. You can speak in front of Missy and my aunt.”

Birdie glanced at Della, then directed her words to him. “I guess you have not heard of our tragedy.”

Mark put his hand on the table to steady himself. “Addie? Is she alright?”

The dark woman sighed. “I do not know. Yesterday, Samson gambled away the ranch. He lost it in a card game to Mr. Adam Zimmer. Mr. Zimmer has the ranch, now, and he told Addie that there was no reason to marry her. Samson, in his foolishness, has blamed Addie for all of it. He ordered her to leave.”

Mark stared. “He asked her to leave? He threw her out?” It was hard to believe. Impossible. How could a man treat his daughter that way? Especially one who doted the way Samuel Fleming did.

“Yes. She was gone very early this morning. I don’t know where she is.”

Della touched Birdie’s shoulder. “She came here. Wanting to see Mark. But he was gone with Seth. She said it wasn’t important. I. . .I would have stopped her, if I had realized what had happened.”

Birdie shook her head. “You had no way of knowing.” She turned her eyes back to Mark. “Do you know where she might be? If you do, Samson wishes to speak with you. I think it is important you see him before you go.”

Mark gave a slow nod. “I believe I do have an idea.” Jared walked in the door at that moment. Mark met his glance. “Would you saddle my horse for me?”

He saw Jared’s eyes narrow as he rested on their guest. He nodded. “Sure. And I’ll saddle mine, too.”

Mark turned his attention to Birdie. “I don’t have time to go see him. Just tell him I’m going.” He turned toward his bedroom in the back. A few things in a bag and he would be ready to go.

“No! Wait, please,” Birdie rushed to him, her fingers closing round his elbow. “He. . .he is very ill. Those coughing fits he has been having. It is pneumonia. It will give him comfort to speak to you, knowing you will be finding her.”

Mark grimaced. He would go see Addie’s father. But it would take everything inside of him to keep from telling the man what he really thought of him for blaming his daughter for all this. A dying man. He must keep that in mind. “Is he at the ranch?”

She nodded. “Until next week. And then. . .I’m not sure. He is very unwell. I‘m afraid he. . .he may not recover.”

Mark resisted the urge to scoff at her words. Samson Fleming was too stubborn to die. “Tell him I’m coming.”

 

***

 

When Mark walked out the door, Missy was standing beside the hitching post. Jared, mounted on one horse, another saddled beside him. “I’m going with you,” he said. “At least to New Braunfels. I’ll go all the way to Galveston if you need me to.”

Missy held out a gold ring to Mark. “It was your mother’s. Take it. You may need it.”

The reasons he might need it ranged wildly in his mind, and he was tempted to refuse it just at the thought Missy was suggesting he might somehow propose to Addie in all this tumult. But her earnest expression and his own shortage of cash made him stuff it into his pocket. Taking the reins, he swung up on Patriot and looked at Jared. “I’d appreciate the company to New Braunfels. I’ll go from there alone. But first, I’d better see Fleming.”

 

***

 

“It was my own stubbornness that I blamed it on her. You understand how short my temper is. I didn’t think she would take my words so literally.”

Mark gave a disgusted laugh. Mr. Fleming had aged ten years overnight. But try as he might, no sympathy could be worked up for him.

“You didn’t?” he repeated. “After her grandfather failed her, left her homeless, did it not occur to you that you were doing the same? You made the decision to gamble away your home and then you blamed all of it on her?” He knew he shouldn’t speak so to the older man, but his emotions were taking over. His feelings were tense, like stretched barbed wire, in the wake of the Flemings’ misfortunes and the burdens in his own heart.

Samson grabbed a kerchief from his pocket and coughed into it. “My decisions are none of your business, Murphy. I’m just asking that you go get her and bring her back.”

“I would already be on my way if I hadn’t had to come speak with you.”

The old rancher shook his head and then raised his finger, pointing at Mark. “Then go. But you bring her back here. I know you’ve had your eyes on her, Murphy.”

Mark hardened his jaw for a moment before he answered. “To be honest with you, sir, the fact that you don’t believe I’m good enough for your daughter doesn’t really bother me.“

He swallowed back the sour taste on his tongue at the thought of his next words. “But you’ll be glad to know that your daughter takes after you more than you think, because she is in complete agreement with you. I have her word on that.”

But things had changed for her since their last conversation. Maybe, somewhere deep in her heart, she really did love him. That possibility, that reason for her coming to his home, seemed bittersweet in this moment.

“But you’ll go?” Samson choked on the last word and started another round of coughing.

Mark nodded, not trusting his voice. If he spoke the tremble in his tone might give away the fact that he wanted her back as much as the man before him. Having Addie leave Texas forever would rip a hole in his heart. Just seeing her on occasion. . .at church, a town dance, riding the hills on her horse would be enough. He would take solace in knowing she was home and safe.