Rachel stood looking out the window, watching Dylan ride away. She had laughed out loud when she’d seen Devil rear up, startled by the owl.
“What’s so funny?” John Jacob asked.
“Our arrogant neighbor was almost tossed on his rump just now when an owl spooked his stallion. It was all he could do to bring the animal down on his feet.”
“I would have liked to see that.” John Jacob grinned. “That rooster needs to be brought down a bit. But you know, I can’t help liking him. He’s rough and tough, but he’s an honest man. He sincerely regrets the way he treated you when you first arrived in Jackson Hole. Have you forgiven him for letting his temper get the best of him that night?”
When she nodded blushingly but failed to say anything about her feelings for the rancher, John Jacob thought he knew which way the wind blew. “A woman could do worse than be married to him,” he commented.
“How can you say that, John?” Rachel asked, surprised. “What girl in her right mind would want to be married to a woman chaser like him? She’d have to worry every night about who he was sleeping with.”
“She’d never have to worry about that,” John Jacob said as he shrugged into his jacket. “Once a man like Dylan picks a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with, he’ll never look at another woman with the thought of taking her to bed. He’d be true blue to the woman he loves.”
“Do you honestly think that a man like Dylan Quade could love one woman, be true to her?”
John Jacob did not miss the hopeful look in her eye. “I certainly do. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. The one thing a man like that cherishes above everything else is a wife who loves only him. He will love and protect her, fight to the death for her.”
Rachel shook her head doubtfully. She just couldn’t visualize Dylan Quade being all of that. As she turned from the window, she found herself wishing that she could.
John Jacob left the trading post and went to the long storage building where he kept his extra supplies and the grain and hay for his horses. Now that he was feeding Rachel’s golden palomino as well, he wanted to check whether he needed to buy more feed. Goldie was the most magnicent piece of horseflesh he had ever seen, with the exception of Dylan Quade’s black stallion. He smiled at the recollection of the way the horse had almost thrown Dylan. Like its rider, it was half wild, but John Jacob had a hunch Rachel could tame them both.
He was about ready to leave for the barn when the door opened and Rosie stepped inside. She gave him a tentative smile. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about the new clothes you bought Rachel last week. You got her some lovely clothing, but where do you think she’s going to wear such finery? There’re no fancy places around here. And don’t you think she’s rather young to be wearing silk stockings and pantaloons?”
If Rosie had been paying any attention to John Jacob’s face, she would have seen that her words weren’t sitting well with him. She blinked when he said coldly, “Rachel is seventeen. How old were you, Rosie, when you wore your first pair of silk bloomers and stockings?”
“Around that age, I guess,” Rosie stuttered, her face growing red.
“As for where Rachel will wear her finery,” John continued, “I intend to send her back East to school.”
“Do you really think that’s a good idea, John? I doubt she’s had much schooling. She wouldn’t fit in with those stuck-up folk.”
John Jacob looked thoughtful. “I just want to do the right thing by that little girl. Rachel is like the daughter I’ve never had. I intend to help her all I can.” For some reason, he didn’t want to admit even to Rosie that he was Rachel’s father.
“I understand that, John, I do,” Rosie hurried to say. “It’s just that there’ve been a few remarks made.”
When John Jacob made no response to her remark she said after a minute, “I’m going back to the post now. I just thought you should know.” John Jacob made no response, and she closed the door softly behind her.
John Jacob knew remarks were being made about his and Rachel’s relationship. The men knew better than to invite themselves to her room. Was it because they thought only he had that privilege?
He decided he would talk to her about going to school back East. If Rachel didn’t like that idea, he would have to make a position for her at the post. Maybe he could claim that she was his niece. People might not believe his story, but none would dare say so to his face.
As he stepped out of the storage house, he was nearly knocked over by Iva’s two little boys. He stared after them, shaking his head. Their mother was entertaining a man in her room, and the poor little fellows had been sent out to the barn to sleep. He stood a moment looking after them. They were both dirty, their hair snarled. Was it ever brushed? he wondered. And their clothes were practically nothing but a bunch of rags. And they shouldn’t be going barefoot. The days were still quite cool.
He thought of their mother. Iva’s cough was no better, and she seemed to sleep most of the time when she wasn’t working, leaving the boys to run wild. What was to become of them?
John Jacob shook his head. If someone had told him a few months ago that he would take on the care of a seventeen-year-old girl and worry about the welfare of various other waifs, he would have burst out laughing. He’d lived his life as a bachelor, with no ties to anyone. But Rachel had changed him, showed him the joys of caring for someone else.
His head full of plans for her future, John Jacob hurried inside the post, calling Rachel’s name as he went through the door.
“What is it, John?” Rachel smiled at him. “You look ready to burst to tell me something.”
“Come into the kitchen, honey, and I’ll tell you.” John Jacob pulled a chair away from the rough plank table for her and she sat down.
“I’ve been thinking about your future,” John Jacob began. After a slight pause he asked, “How would you like to go back East to school?”
Rachel stared at him as if he were joking. “Me? Go to a fancy school back East?” she finally got out. “I wouldn’t know what to do.”
“You can read and write and do sums, can’t you? Maybe your mother taught you.”
“Yes, she did. She is very smart,” Rachel said proudly. “She has a lot of school books that she used to teach us children.” Rachel warmed to John’s idea. She’d always enjoyed book learning. And maybe if she was educated, Dylan Quade wouldn’t look down on her so. “I’m sure she’d let me have them so I could begin studying again to prepare myself. I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow and visit her. I’ve been misssing her a lot.”
John Jacob frowned. “Do you think it’s wise for you to go up there alone? You should take someone with you. I’d go with you myself but I’d be robbed blind in my absence.”
“I’ll be alright,” Rachel asserted, ignoring her own misgivings. “The people up there will be too afraid of you to harm me.” She just hoped Taig Sutter would also be intimidated by the news of her new guardian.
“I hope you’re right, girl,” John Jacob said, doubt in his voice. “Just make sure you get off that mountain before dark.”
“I will. I promise. I’ll just visit awhile with my mama, then I’ll leave.”
“When will you be going?”
“I think tomorrow morning. I want to get there when Mama will be doing her chores. We can have a little privacy while she’s milking the cow, then begin working in the garden.
“Oh, I’ve missed her so.”