Forever Angels Read online

With an agile movement Stone would never have thought the hefty woman possible of, she pulled her legs under her and shoved herself to her feet. She lifted her leg for another kick, thought better of it when Lonesome surged up with a snarl, and hastily backed away from the dog, shrieking more in anger than terror.

  "Get that vicious thing away from me, Stone!" she screamed again. "I'll have him killed! You just wait and see!"

  Stone strode forward and stopped beside Lonesome, who turned adoring eyes up at him as he licked the hand Stone held out.

  "Vicious? Why, Tillie, this dog's just a pup. Look how friendly he is." Stone scratched Lonesome's ear and the dog leaned against his leg.

  "You...you...liar!" Mrs. Peterson spat. "You just saw him attacking me!" She pointed a finger wavering in indignation at Lonesome. "I demand you shoot that dog, before he tries to kill someone else!"

  Lonesome growled again and Mrs. Peterson clapsed her hands over the huge hump of her breasts. "See?" she said with a gasp. "He's going to jump on me again!"

  Stone reached to tip his hat up an inch, before remembering it was lying on the ground behind the barn. Running his fingers through his hair instead, he pulled out a piece of dry grass and stuck the stem in his mouth.

  "Dog's just doing its job," he drawled with a shrug. "Protectin' my property. Keepin' unwanted visitors away. Can't blame him for that."

  Mrs. Peterson dropped her arms and her bosom wobbled with a wrathful gasp of breath. "I didn't come here to visit," she almost screamed. "I came here to tell you that the women in town will not tolerate you living out here in sin with that harlot!"

  Tess limped around the corner of the house in time to hear Mrs. Peterson's last sputtered comment clearly. She leaned on the crutches she had retrieved from the back porch and glared at the bedraggled woman, who stood with her hands on her extensive hips, a smirk of outright maliciousness on her face.

  "Why, you old biddy," Tess muttered, though she could tell that, despite the woman's girth, she was probably the same age as herself.

  Spying the rifle leaning against the porch rail, Tess levered herself over and started to reach for it.

  She jerked her hand back. Damn it, that was just what she had tried to get through Stone's head last night. A convenient gun only prodded a person into acting rashly. She shook her head and turned back to watch how Stone would handle the situation.

  "Michael, don't you dare!" Angela made a leap for Michael's arm and shoved it back to his side.

  "Aw, come on, Angie. Just a couple drops of rain. That dragon needs to get drenched — to drown some of that holier-than-thou priggishness out of her."

  Angela glanced down at Mrs. Peterson and reluctantly shook her head. "I'd almost be tempted to agree with you if there was a cloud in the sky. But there's not."

  "Let's make this one visible," Michael said eagerly. "Blacken it a little."

  Angela stifled a giggle — one more of the frequent giggles Michael always seemed to draw from her. "We can't," she said. "It wouldn't be an appropriate use of our powers right now."

  "Shoot," Michael grumbled.

  ***

  Chapter 13

  Unnoticed by the two combatants in the yard, the front door of the cabin edged open. Rain and Flower slipped through and tiptoed across the porch to join Tess. The children sat down with their backs against the cabin wall, and Rain brushed a clump of soil from the board beside him. Quirking a small eyebrow, he glanced up at Tess and silently patted the board.

  Tess eased from her crutches and sat on the edge of the porch. Pulling her legs up, she ducked beneath the porch railing and settled back against the wall.

  "You better listen to me this time, Stone Chisum," Mrs. Peterson said with an edge of self-satisfaction to her voice. "The Ladies Guild will not tolerate this. One of the things we're striving for is a sin-free environment for the children of this territory."

  "Well, now, Tillie," Stone responded. "You ought to know just what sins a person should avoid, I guess. Especially sins of the flesh."

  "You bastard!" Mrs. Peterson's veneer of self-righteousness dissolved in a flash. "A gentlemen wouldn't mention a lady's past! Besides, I'm not that same person any more!"

  "No," Stone agreed. "That other person was too puffed up with her own ego to notice if she had to step over a pair of copulating bodies right in her path. I think I liked you better that way, Tillie. At least you weren't always sticking your nose where it would cause trouble for somebody else."

  "It's Mrs. Peterson to you, Mr. Chisum. I've been married and widowed, and I'm due your respect now."

  "Was a time you'd have been real happy for me to call you Tillie," Stone mused.

  "You are not going to sidetrack me!" Mrs. Peterson emphasized her words by crossing her arms beneath her breasts. "Doctor Calder came out here and treated a woman living with you. He bought clothing for her in town and put it on your account at the store. One of the members of the Ladies Guild checked with Pastor Jones and found out that he hadn't been out here to perform a wedding ceremony."

  "That's true," Stone admitted. "You don't think I'd have left you off the invitation list for my wedding, do you, Tillie?"

  "I'd sooner attend your funeral than your wedding!"

  "Sorry. Can't accomodate you there."

  Mrs. Peterson gritted her teeth at Stone's nonchalant voice. "There's an empty room at the boarding house," she ground out. "I checked before I drove out here. I'm perfectly willing to do my Christian duty and take this woman into town, help her get moved into the boarding house. You can't keep her out here with you, around those innocent children."

  Stone cocked his elbows behind him and slid his fingers into his back pockets. "Boarding house's rooms are all upstairs, and she's got a broken ankle. I'm sure you know that, since you seem to know everything else. It'd be too hard on her, climbing up and down for meals. My cabin's all on one floor."

  "You can't keep that woman out here!" Mrs. Peterson yelled at him. Taking a few steps in his direction, she leaned forward and propped her hands on her ample hips. "There might not be anything we can do about you and that neighbor of yours, but the Guild will not tolerate you corrupting your children by moving a whore into your bed."

  Stone's eyes narrowed dangerously and he laid a hand on Lonesome's head when the dog growled warningly. "You seem to have an awfully strong interest in my sex life, Tillie," he said in a deceptively mild voice. "Don't suppose you're jealous, are you?"

  When Mrs. Peterson gasped in indignation, Stone leaned toward her and lowered his voice even further, though his words still carried to the porch. "And if I ever hear you mention the word whore again in the same breath you use to talk about Tess, I'll sell tickets, then kick that fat ass of yours up and down main street for the show!"

  Rain doubled his arms over his stomach and bit his lips, trying to hold back his laughter. He heard Flower give a muffled snort beside him and gave up the struggle. Despite Tess's attempts to shush them, both children howled with unrestrained glee, and Rain even rolled to the porch floor, clutching his stomach and drumming his heels against the boards.

  "Oh lord," Tess breathed when she looked up to see Mrs. Peterson's pale eyes glaring at them. Tess glanced at Stone and lifted her hand to wiggle her fingers at him. Shrugging her shoulders to indicate to Stone that she had absolutely no control over his children, she slid to the edge of the porch and picked up her crutches.

  Stone was doing a good job on his own, but she wasn't about to hide behind a man's muscles.

  Lonesome leapt to his feet and ran to meet Tess, tail wagging and tongue hanging out as he followed her back to Stone. He sat down between Stone and Tess, swiveling his head from one to the other.

  Tess leaned on her crutches, refusing to make a grab for her bodice when the top gaped open with her movement.

  "Hello," she drawled in a syrupy voice. "I'm so glad to finally get to meet one of Stone's neighbors. Mrs. Peterson, isn't it? I'm Tess Foster."

  Mrs. Peterson's face flushed with
embarrassment. Struggling to regain her composure, she swung her head wildly in search of her buggy.

  "I...." Seeing the buggy close enough to make a dash for, Mrs. Peterson took a steadying breath. Manners won over flustration, and she nodded an acknowledgement of Tess's introduction.

  "Matilda Peterson," she managed to say. "I drove out here to offer you a ride into town, Miss Foster. It is Miss, isn't it?"

  "Sure is," Tess returned with a false smile. "And I couldn't possibly take you up on your kind offer without checking with Stone first. He always makes it very clear to all of us here that he's in charge of the ranch."

  Mrs. Peterson gave a sniff that merged with Stone's muted snort of disbelief.

  "Well, my dear," Mrs. Peterson said, "sometimes we just have to stand up to our men and do what we know is right."

  "Perhaps," Tess mused. "Does the boarding house take dogs?"

  "Of course not," Mrs. Peterson replied.

  Tess shrugged as well as she could with the crutches pinning her armpits. "Then I guess I'll have to turn down your so kind, Christian offer of charity, Matilda." She gave an insincere sigh. "I'm afraid Lonesome would pine away without me, and I couldn't bear to think of that. He seems to have attached himself to me and might not eat if I'm not here to feed him."

  "That vicious brute needs beating rather than feeding," Mrs. Peterson spat. "Just look what he did to my dress."

  "I hope he didn't bite you, Matilda." Tess widened her eyes in feighned horror. "I haven't had him long enough to make sure he doesn't have any diseases — maybe rabies. I'd suggest you see Doctor Calder immediately."

  "Rabies?" Mrs. Peterson screeched. She pulled up her ragged skirt hem, exposing a huge, black-clad calf. "Oh, my God. Look. His teeth caught my stocking! There's a hole in it."

  Dropping her skirt, Mrs. Peterson whirled and ran for the buggy as fast as her corpulant body would allow. The springs on the vehicle groaned in protest as she pulled herself into the seat and unwrapped the reins from the brake handle. Without a glance at the figures watching her with gleeful smirks on their faces, she slapped the reins on the horse's rump. The buggy lurched forward with another squeal of protest and the horse galloped down the dirt road.

  Michael wiggled one finger on the hands clasped behind his back. A gust of wind blew the buggy top open, and a crash of thunder split the air. Rain poured from a sky that had slowly been gathering dark clouds for the past few minutes, spattering more gently near the cabin, fiercer along the buggy's path.

  Michael rolled his eyes skyward and pursed his lips, whistling and rocking back and forth on the cloud.

  "Gee," he mused in an innocent voice. "Think it looks like rain, Angie?"

  Angela swatted him on the shoulder and collapsed on the cloud in laughter.

  ***

  Chapter 14

  "MICHAEL. ANGELA."

  The two angels' laughter stilled immediately.

  "Uh oh." Angela stared fearfully overhead. The voice had only been mildly censuring, but an overwhelming sense of guilt filled her. She glanced at Michael, and saw him grab the cigar stub from his mouth and hide it beneath the skirt of his robe.

  Michael gave a deep sigh and reached down to help Angela to her feet. "It's O.K., honey," he said. "Mr. G knows it was my fault."

  "Not totally," Angela whispered frantically in return. "I knew you were going to do that when you started gathering the clouds."

  A soft voice broke into their conversation, saying only a few words before it fell silent.

  "Yes, Sir," Michael replied. "I know it was sort of a mean thing to do, but that woman is mean herself."

  "Michael." Angela tugged on Michael's sleeve. "Michael, don't argue!"

  Michael ignored her and continued, "And you've got to admit, Sir, that it got the point across without really hurting her. But I promise, I'll think before I act from now on. I know we're supposed to be forgiving, not vengeful."

  He quirked an eyebrow at the sky. "Ain't that right, Sir? The forgiving part, I mean?"

  A muted clap of thunder rolled across the sky, sounding almost like laughter dying away.

  Stone set Tess on her feet beneath the porch overhang and handed her the crutches. Glancing at Rain and Flower, he said, "Aren't you two supposed to be working on your lessons?"

  "Yes, Pa," they answered together. Stifling giggles, they scrambled to their feet and ran into the cabin.

  Tess shook her head, one corner of her mouth lifting in a wry grin. "I'm afraid we weren't a very good example out there for them, but I just couldn't seem to stop myself from taking a few jibes at that beastly woman. Who does she think she is, anyway?"

  "Aw, Tillie's not so bad," Stone said with a suppressed chuckle. "I kind of enjoy arguing with her. And, after all, Lonesome did attack her. Tillie's always been sort of above herself, though, thinkin' she knows what's best for everyone else. She's been ticked off at me ever since I let her know I was immune to her charms in that town back in Texas where her Daddy owned the bank."

  When Tess gazed toward the road the buggy had taken with an unbelieving look on her face, Stone laughed and continued, "She wasn't always that big. And she wasn't always so hoity toity, especially when it came to matters of the flesh. I have to hand it to her, though. She stuck by her Daddy after I sent him to jail. I hear she still gets letters from him."

  "You sent Tillie's father to jail?"

  "He was embezzling from his bank. Tillie married one of her beaus right after her Daddy went to prison, and they moved to Oklahoma. Her husband got killed in a stagecoach wreck less than a year after they were married, but he left her pretty well off. I'll admit I was surprised to see how fat she'd gotten when I ran into her in Clover Valley. She must've let herself go after her husband died."

  "I still don't like her. Did you hear what she called me?"

  "Well, maybe she'll leave us alone for a while now — at least until she's sure she's not going to die of rabies."

  "That was mean of me, wasn't it? Especially since we could see that the skin wasn't broken under that hole in her stocking."

  "Yep," Stone agreed. "You're one mean lady, Tess Foster." Lifting her chin with his index finger, Stone murmured, "Maybe I ought to try to kiss a little of that meanness out of you."

  "Maybe you should," Tess agreed in a whisper.

  Keeping his finger under her chin, Stone bent his head and kissed her tenderly. A long moment later, he raised his head and nodded toward the swing on the other end of the porch.

  "Let's sit a minute, Tess," he said quietly. "Before I fall completely and irrevocably in love with you, I'd like to know just who it is that's crawlin' into my heart."

  Tess gasped and stumbled backward, shaking her head wildly. "No! You can't! This can't happen, no matter what the books say!"

  When Tess wobbled on her crutches, Stone grabbed for her. Hands on her shoulders to steady her, he stared down into Tess's frightened green eyes, a scowl of disbelief on his face.

  "You kissed me back like you were feeling the same damned way! You've wiggled yourself into my life — into my kids' lives — made us start caring for you! What the hell's some damned book got to do with this?"

  Tess wrenched her eyes from his and bit her lip. He'd never believe her. How could he? It was almost too outlandish for her to believe herself, and she was the one living it. Just about a week ago, she had climbed down the back side of Saddleback Mountain and fallen a hundred years into the past. Found the man she hadn't even realized she had been searching for all her life — found two children who were the smartest, most wonderful children who could have ever lived.

  But that was just it. They had lived — been living seventy years before she was even born herself. And any moment she could leave them — find herself back on the mountain, without any idea how to get back to Stone. She couldn't fall in love with him, then lose him to the murky past — maybe find his name in the genealogy section of the library when she went to search.

  "Damn it! Answer me, Tess!"

/>   Stone shook her slightly, and Tess covered her face with her hands, her crutches dropping to the porch with a clatter. A small sob of misery escaped her confining hands. She heard Stone give a muffled snort of annoyance as he swept her into his arms for the third time that day and carried her over to the swing.

  "Stop that," Stone demanded after he set her down in the swing seat. "You're not going to pull that on me again. You know I can't stand it when you cry. You're not playing fair."

  "I...." Tess dropped her hands and sniffed. "I'm not playing. You just don't know. And I'm sorry. I don't usually cry at all. I...." A hiccup shook her shoulders, and Tess buried her face again.

  Her muted echoes of misery crept over Stone's skin on feet as soft as angels' wings. He reached for her — jerked his hand back and grabbed his handkerchief from his back pocket. Thrusting the handkerchief into the bend of Tess's elbow, he stomped over to the edge of the porch, resolutely turning his back on her.

  Rain cascaded over the porch eaves, silvery sheens like the tears from a woman's eyes.

  "Aw, shit!" Stone muttered. Frowning in puzzlement, he glanced overhead. For just a second, he'd thought he heard a voice whispering a reproof of his profane choice of words again. It couldn't have been Tess — she was still sobbing much too hard to speak.

  Stone closed his eyes and bowed his head, shutting out the sight of the pouring rain. But short of covering his ears with his hands like some sissified weakling, he couldn't shut out the sounds of Tess crying. His shoulders slumped and he turned back to the swing.

  "Tess."

  Tess took a final swipe at her eyes with the handkerchief and then balled it in her hands.

  "I'm sorry." she said with a sniff. "It must be those stupid pills making me weepy. The doctor warned me it might take my body a while to adjust to them."

  "Doc Calder didn't say anything about leaving you any pills to take."