“I hear riders.”
“Are you sure it’s not a buggy or a wagon?” Dale bent to set the cup of coffee down on the table beside his wife who lay curled up in their big double bed.
“I can only make out the clip of hooves. Several horses.”
The accuracy of his wife’s hearing never ceased to amaze Dale. The April sun was bright outside, the snow already melted, but they kept the windows shut to retain the heat indoors. Even through the glass, Rowena could hear what went on out in the yard. All those hours she spent practicing on the piano he’d ordered from Steinway & Sons in New York City must serve to sharpen her ears.
“Maybe Mama is bringing a nursemaid and servants with her,” Dale suggested. “She knows how to delegate. I’ll go downstairs and welcome her.”
Rowena stirred beneath the covers. “I must get up, get dressed.”
“You stay in bed,” Dale ordered, mock severity in his tone. It had been a difficult labor, two weeks premature. Although the doctor had pronounced Rowena fit and well, and she had resumed sleeping beside him, Dale wanted her to get plenty of rest.
When he got to the vestibule, a formal knock on the front door startled him. Surely, his mother considered herself family, allowed to come and go at will, and Rowena’s friends from town who’d come to help had already returned to their homes. Dale took his gun belt down from a hook on the wall and buckled it on before he opened the door.
He came face-to-face with Major Parks. Standing ramrod straight, the brass buttons on his uniform polished to a high gloss, the major greeted him with the solemnity of a soldier bearing dispatches. From the twitch of the major’s right arm, Dale guessed the man had barely conquered the impulse to perform a salute, although he had not been able to stop his heels clicking together, and his posture snapped even more erect.
Behind the major, in the yard, Dale could see two saddle horses and a string of packhorses carrying parcels wrapped in oilcloth. His mother stood by the saddle horses, attempting to look demure.
“May I come in?” the major asked.
“Of course.” And leave my mother to take care of the horses? Baffled, Dale stepped aside.
In the parlor, the major took down his hat and tucked it under his arm. With a ceremonial air, he settled to stand in front of Dale. “A year ago, I was in a position to grant you a favor. I told you that I hoped you’d remember the occasion and let it count to my benefit if we ever met under more familiar circumstances. That time has come now. I am here to ask for your mother’s hand in marriage.”
So, that was it. Suddenly, the major’s display of nerves, Mama’s attempt to look innocent, it all made perfect sense. Dale suppressed his smile. “Surely, my mother is old enough to make up her own mind.”
“She says she spent so many years without her son, she is not going to do anything that might risk losing you again.” The major’s ramrod posture eased. “I need your blessing, Hunter. Do I have it?”
“I’m too old to need a stepfather.” The major stiffened, denting the hat tucked beneath his arm, and Dale hurried to complete his response. “But I could use a friend, and there is no one I’d rather have than you, Major Parks. Welcome to the family. And now, perhaps you can fetch my mother before she gets bored with the waiting and decides to reorganize the stable yard.”
But, true to form, his mother had been eavesdropping, and now she edged into the parlor. Skirts swishing, she hurried over to the major, and the two of them linked hands and faced Dale, like young lovers seeking parental approval.
Dale smiled at them. “Congratulations, Mama.”
“You don’t mind another man taking your father’s place?”
“I have fond memories of my father, but that’s all they are. Memories. I’m sure he wouldn’t have wanted you to spend the rest of your life alone, and neither do I. And I think it is high time you two made it legal. I have an inkling you have been living in sin.”
His mother blushed. “That is the one good aspect of widowhood. One is allowed the occasional moral lapse.”
“No more moral lapses now. You are grandparents.”
“Grandparents? But I intended...? Oh, no!”
Dale grinned. “Yes, Mama. My offspring defied you by arriving early.”
“Is Rowena all right? Is the baby all right? Where are they? Can I see them?” Barely able to contain her excitement, Madeline Hunter was bouncing on her toes, eyes shining, her hands flapping in the air.
“Rowena is resting upstairs. Follow me.”
Dale knew his wife considered his sense of humor wicked, but he could not resist the temptation. He had chosen his words carefully to maintain the element of surprise, and when they entered the bedroom, he positioned himself to block the cribs from view. Rowena was sitting up in bed, dressed in a lace-trimmed robe, her hair neatly braided.
After the flurry of greetings had died down, Dale went to the cribs, picked up a baby and placed it in his mother’s arms. “One for you.” He went back to pick up the second baby and proffered it at Major Parks. “One for you.”
Gingerly, the major took the infant.
“Twins.” Madeline Hunter had been admiring the baby she was holding, and now she craned over to see the other child. “Like peas in a pod.”
“I know how highly you value manufacturing efficiency, Mama. I hope you are impressed.” Dale went to the bedside and helped Rowena up to her feet. “Now, if you don’t mind, my wife has been looking forward to a bath, and I have water heating on the stove.”
“We have decided to name the girls Holly and Heather,” Rowena cut in, beaming with pride. “We thought of Laurel, and Isla after my mother, but decided not to look into the past.”
The major held the infant away from his pristine uniform. “I think this one is leaking.”
“Splendid timing.” Dale ushered Rowena toward the door. “Mother will teach you how to change a baby. There is water in the washbowl and clean diapers in the armoire.”
In the corridor, Rowena tugged Dale to a halt. “Can we just leave them?”
“Of course we can. Mother is the only one of us who has experience with babies.” He scooped Rowena into his arms and carried her down the stairs. “You can have your bath, I’ll deal with the horses, and then we’ll go back upstairs and see how they are doing.”
When Dale unloaded the packhorses, he spotted a book on veterinary science he had asked his mother to purchase. He paused to leaf through the pages. A newspaper cutting fell out. The mention of Pinares might interest Rowena was written on top in his mother’s neat handwriting.
Curious, Dale skimmed through the text. And burst into a roar of laughter.
Quickly, he finished taking care of the horses and hurried into the bathing room. Rowena was immersed in the tub, her baby bump still evident. Her breasts were full and heavy, but Dale did not allow the sight to distract him from the news.
“You won’t believe this,” he said, waving the newspaper clipping in the air. “Those mining shares your friends were peddling, it appears they were not worthless, after all.”
With a slosh of water, Rowena sat straighter in the big steel tub. “Don’t tell me they have struck a lode of copper?”
“No. But the Phelps Dodge mining company has merged with the Copper Queen, and they want to build a new smelter and a warehouse. That parcel of land is the most convenient location. They have acquired the claims, six of them in all, giving a windfall to six different towns, one of which is Pinares.” Dale lifted his brows. “You wrote to your former employer, didn’t you, and gave your address here? And you let the post office in Pinares know?”
Rowena stared back at him. “Yes...yes, I did.”
“This newspaper article is dated three months ago, and not one person has written to you, offering to reimburse your fine. Not one.” Dale slipped the clipping in his pocket and knelt beside the bathtub. “If you’ve been harboring any guilt over how you betrayed the people in Pinares, you can forget it now. They have paid you back, with interest.”
While Dale helped Rowena rinse and dry her skin, she kept telling him there must be some delay. People were busy. The post office was slow. You fool, he thought tenderly. But he wouldn’t have it any other way. He never wanted her to lose that sense of loyalty, her faith in people she considered her friends.
They returned upstairs to find Dale’s mother bundling away dirty diapers. The major was in his shirtsleeves, his hair mussed, a suspicious-looking brown stain decorating his chest like a medal. He cradled a sleeping infant in the crook of each arm, and he smiled the blissful smile of someone who has just discovered his calling in life.
“I had lost all hope of ever having a family. And now I have a wife, a son, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. I must be the luckiest man on earth.”
“No,” Dale said. He pulled Rowena to his side and kissed her in front of his mother and Major Parks. “I am.”
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