Unedited. Read at your own risk.
Chapter 13.
Mariah and Clayton left that Thursday to be married in a town Millie had never even heard of and to spend a week camping for their honeymoon period. Millie smiled when she thought about it. Mariah and Clayton were acting like they were spring chickens and had the energy to be gallivanting around the countryside. She guessed they would be back before they had quite reached a week.
With the cook gone, it was every man for himself, as none of them knew how to cook very well. Millie figured that Quinn was growing tired of burnt toast, so she decided one morning to try to make breakfast for everyone.
She got up earlier than usual, before daylight, and walked down the hall, careful not to wake anyone. She passed Trey’s door without much noise, but the floor squeaked as she passed Jess’ door. Millie cringed.
Not hearing any movement from the room’s occupants, she stepped lightly to the staircase, where she took each step slowly and silently. By the time she had reached the kitchen, she heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around.
“Jess! I’m sorry I woke you,” she said quickly.
“I was already awake,” Jess said, rubbing her eyes.
“I was planning on trying to make breakfast. I’d love a partner in crime if you don’t mind helping” Millie smiled.
“I’d love to” Jess smiled.
Millie entered the kitchen and lit a lamp, smoothing a few strands of hair that had escaped her loose, short braid behind her ear.
“Okay, so where does Mariah keep her recipes?” Jess asked.
Remembering the day that Mariah had tried to teach her to make biscuits. She remembered Mariah reading from a paper from a small wooden box.
“She has a box somewhere,” Millie said, opening a few cabinets.
“Like this?” Jess held up a box she had found on the counter.
“Oh, yes. That looks about right” Millie smiled.
Jess placed the box on the table and looked through the recipes. “Here. ‘Light and fluffy buttermilk biscuits’. Sounds good to me.”
Millie agreed and read the various ingredients off to her. Jess got the ingredients from the pantry and placed the measurements into a mixing bowl. Once all the ingredients were mixed in the bowl, they both stood over the dough and examined it.
“We might me so bad at this,” Jess said.
“Don’t speak too soon. We’ve gotta cut them out now” Millie said.
They rolled out the dough and used a coffee cup to cut out the round biscuits. By the time all of them were cut out, even Millie began to have faith in their abilities.
Once the biscuits were in the oven, Jess and Millie stared at each other for a moment.
“What now?” Jess asked.
“Well, I guess we make some eggs and bacon. Then we brew some coffee, I suppose” Millie said hesitantly.
“I can scramble eggs, and there’s nothing to frying bacon. Coffee… can you brew coffee?” Jess asked.
“No. Papa said he wouldn’t water a flower he wanted to die with my coffee,” Millie said.
“Mr. Shannon always teases me saying you had to eat mine with a fork,” Jess said.
“Maybe Trey can brew the coffee. He seems like he can. Leastways we can blame him for that disaster if it goes south,” Millie suggested.
Jess grinned. “I like the way you think.”
*****
Trey woke up to the smell of… well, he didn’t really know what it was he smelled. It smelled like food, but he couldn’t be sure. Three days was too long to go without real, cooked food, and he was afraid he didn’t even recognize the smell of it.
Surely Mariah hadn’t returned already.
Jerking on his pants, Trey buckled his gun belt and ran a comb through his hair before going downstairs. The kitchen seemed to be occupied, so he hesitantly neared the room, hearing the conversation going on inside.
“Who says we can’t cook?”
“Right? Pretty soon we’ll put poor Mariah out of business.”
“Na, I think we’ll keep her. I certainly don’t wanna go through this every morning.”
Trey smiled before opening the door.
“What’s going on in here?”
Millie turned around quickly. “You scared me,” she breathed.
“That Trey?” Jess said from the pantry.
“Uh, huh” Millie turned back to the frying bacon she was poking at. “Trey, do you like your bacon crispy or all floppy?”
Trey smiled. “Tastes the same to me either way,” he said.
“Hope you like your biscuits brown, too. Like… dark brown” Jess said as she brought a canister of coffee from the pantry.
Trey’s smile grew bigger.
“At least the eggs turned out okay,” Millie said. “Maybe because I had nothing to do with them.”
Jess laughed and Millie joined her.
At first, Trey hadn’t liked the idea of being the only man in the house for a week, but now he was thinking it might not be so bad. As long as the women kept laughing at themselves, all was right with the world. Even if they were both covered in flour from head to toe. Jess’ blonde braid looked grey from the flour on it, and the front of her apron was covered in flour and grease and… something he didn‘t recognize. Millie’s hair had frizzed out every which way from the heat of the stove, but it did nothing to hinder the beauty that was his fiancé. Her eyes shone as she laughed silently at herself. There was no other place in the world Trey would rather be at that moment than sitting at the kitchen table watching her every move.
Suddenly, someone burst through the kitchen door, startling Jess into a squeal. Trey twisted around to see the cause of the noise and saw Price standing there with a paper in his hand.
“This was on the barn door,” he said, giving Trey the paper.
Trey read the scribbled words over and over again.
Want your money back, church boy? Tough luck. If you ever want to see that money again, you’ll quit this foolishness and meet us at the bank in Hudson this Tuesday at seven o’clock.
Wes, Adam, and Jed.
Jed? Jed wouldn’t join back up with those two, would he? Either way, he certainly wasn’t going after the money. Not now, after he had come so far.
“What is it, Trey?” Millie asked.
Trey crumpled up the paper and felt the muscle in his jaw tighten. “Nothin’, sweetheart. Nothin’ at all” he stood and motioned for Price to follow him out of earshot of the women.
“Have you seen anyone around at all, Price?” Trey asked when they had entered the foyer.
“No one out of the ordinary. What’s this about the money?” Price asked.
“It’s a long story.”
“I got time, “Price said. “I know it’s probably none of my business, but if you need another man to stand behind you, I’m here.”
“Thanks, Price. Thing is, I’m an outlaw. Well, I was. The men who wrote this note are my men. They’re mad because they know that Millie is the daughter of a man that Wes shot and are willing to do anything to save Wes from a hanging, including possibly hurting a woman. I’ll need your eyes everywhere. If you see anything, and I mean anything, out of the ordinary, you report it to me pronto, okay?” Trey said, his words laced with urgency.
“Yes, sir” Price said with a nod.
*****
Trey was silent all the way through their somewhat crunchy breakfast, only speaking when necessary as his eyes glared constantly out of the kitchen window where it overlooked the barn and the road entrance. Millie wasn’t at all convinced that the note left on the barn was nothing at all. The glistening look of intensity and maybe a little rage in his eyes told her that something terribly wrong had happened.
“Something wrong, Trey?” Millie asked.
Trey turned his glare toward her with the same intensity before they softened.
“No, nothin’s wrong” he said.
Millie still didn’t believe him. Something had happened, and it was extremely difficult for her not to press the matter further.
She stood and began to gather up the dishes.
“I’ll do this,” Jess offered.
“No, I will. It’s fine,” Millie said.
“I insist. You take care of Quinn,” Jess demanded, taking a few plates from her.
Millie sighed and gave up trying to argue the point. Taking Quinn by the hand and glancing once more at her brooding fiancé. She wished she could have him sit down and talk to her about all that was on his mind. She wanted to hear what was troubling him, every single little thing that bothered him. She wanted to know his every thought, even if he didn’t want to tell it.
Quinn followed her to the parlor where they sat by the warm fire and played with a picture book for a while.
Soon enough, Trey joined them and collapsed onto the sofa, heaving a deep sigh. Millie left Quinn on the floor and went to sit close beside him. He silently wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.
“You okay, sweetheart?” Millie asked.
Trey didn’t answer, so Millie just leaned into him, cherishing his touch and the feel of his strong arms around her like a steel wall, protecting her from anything and everything that would threaten her.
For the next while, they simply sat and watched Quinn play with the book and giggle at the pictures of the animals inside. Every once in a while, she would see Trey smile out of the corner of her eye. The more she sat and took in the perfect scene, the more she realized that she had never loved any two people more than she did the one who held her in his arms and the one who looked at her with big, shining baby blue eyes.
During one of the times that Quinn was caught up in a private conversation with himself, Millie twisted a little so that she could lay her head on Trey’s chest and look up at him.
“Do you know how much I love you?” she asked softly.
Trey squeezed her tighter. “I sure do.”
Millie sighed with contentment and snuggled against him, feeling the warmth of his body against hers. She felt Trey kiss her hair several times and rub her arm with his hand.
“Hello! We’re back!” a voice said.
Millie jerked up and looked toward they foyer where Mariah and Clayton stood.
“That was sooner than I thought” Millie muttered.
“You’re home early” Trey stood and faced the foyer.
“Yes, we decided that we couldn’t stay out there that long in this cold” Clayton said.
“Welcome home!” Millie walked up to them and took Mariah’s suitcase. “Ya’ll go to the kitchen and grab something to eat. I’ll get your luggage.”
“I’ll help her” Trey put in.
“Mary!” Quinn came running toward Mariah, giggling all the way.
Mariah scooped him up into her arms and carried him toward the kitchen.
“Thank ya’ll. I don’t mind admitting that the trip was rough on my old bones,” Clayton said, smiling.
Millie smiled at him as he walked toward the kitchen. As soon as he was out of sight, she gathered up another suitcase and went upstairs, with Trey following close behind. At the top of the staircase, she looked over at Trey.
“Which room did they move to?” she asked. “His or hers?”
Trey shrugged. “I don’t think they have yet.”
“I’ll put Mariah’s luggage in her room and you can put Clayton’s in his, that way they can sort it out themselves?” Millie questioned.
Trey nodded. “I s’pose that’ll work.”
After all the luggage was placed in the rooms, they took advantage of the time alone and went back into the parlor.
“You know that they’re gonna fill this house to the brim with little Mariahs and Claytons, right?” Trey asked as he sat down in an overstuffed chair and pulled her onto his lap.
Millie smiled.
“We’re all up a creek,” Trey stated.
Millie’s smile turned into a low giggle. “At least Quinn will have someone to play with.”
“Speaking of playmates for Quinn, how many are you planning on giving him?” Trey asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Millie blushed deeply. “You mean… babies?”
“Yeah. We’re gonna be married are we not?” Trey asked as if he took pleasure in making her blush.
“Yeah…” Millie fingered a button on his shirt. “Hmm… I’m thinking about a dozen girls.”
“Nah, boys” Trey said quickly.
“You want all boys?”
“Maybe a couple of girls.”
“Half and half?” Millie grinned.
“Fine. Quinn’s gotta have a few brothers, you know. A posse of girls always ordering him around ain’t gonna be good for him” Trey said.
“No, our girls will be kind and submissive with a lovely disposition” Millie said decidedly.
“All of them? How do you know they’ll all be compliant to your wishes? I wouldn’t mind having a tomboy in there somewhere” Trey rubbed his mustache.
“I don’t guess I would either. We’ll talk about it when the time comes, I guess” Millie leaned against him and slipped her small hand in his giant, tanned one.
“Yeah, it’s still a ways away yet” Trey agreed.
A moment of silence passed between them before either spoke again.
“Have you given any thought to a date yet? For the wedding, that is” Millie asked.
“Not really. What do you think?” Trey asked.
“I think we should decide soon. I don’t believe in long engagements” Millie smiled.
“I’m sure you don’t” Trey teased.
Millie shook her head before dropping her eyes to her lap. “Do you think we could get married in Casden?”
Trey was silent for a moment.
“If that’s what you want,” he said, his voice so low she could hardly hear him.
What was she thinking? It was too dangerous for Trey to show his face in Casden.
“I’m sorry, it was a stupid thing to ask,” she quickly said.
“No, I understand that you want to be in your hometown with your wedding in the church you grew up in with all your friends as witnesses. It’s what you deserve” Trey stood, leaving Millie alone in the chair. “You deserve everything I can’t give you.”
Millie watched his contorted face. He actually meant what he said.
“What is it that you can’t give me?” she asked, hoping this was what was bothering him earlier.
“Everything. Things will be so hard these next few years. I can’t give you a home closer to civilization, I can’t anything remotely fancy, I can’t even promise that you’ll be safe as long as you’re with me. What wife deserves that?” Trey braced his hands on the mantel above the fireplace, the orange glow of the fire enhancing the pain in his eyes.
Millie stood and walked to him. “Trey Shannon. The only thing I need is for you to love God and me. That’s all I ask, and that’s all I want. I don’t know where you got all those reasons why you don’t think I deserve you, but it’s hogwash and I don’t want to hear it again.”
She was nearly shocked that she had said the words so harshly, as it was very unlike her, but she was glad that she had said them.
Trey stared at her, as if surprised at her.
“What about in a few years?” he asked. “You might change your mind.”
Millie mustered her most innocent face and looked up at him, leaning her cheek against his arm. “You’re underestimating my love.”
Trey blew out a breath. “I sure hope you know what you’re getting into you…you….”
“You--?” Millie questioned, smiling up at him.
“You…perfect, head-spinning woman. How did I ever snag you?” he smiled, kissing her forehead.
“You had your ways.”
*****
Trey sat at his desk later that night, bent over the Bible open on top of it. He was nearly breaking out in a cold sweat. He had taken Millie’s advice to read through the book of Proverbs, and no matter where he read in the book, he was slapped in the face by another verse. Chapter twenty verse seven said, “A just man will walk in his integrity: His children are blessed after him.” Chapter twenty-nine verse eighteen, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Chapter twenty-one verse three; “To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.”
From the looks of things, he wasn’t going about getting his life right the way he was supposed to be doing it. He had done wrong by so many people, and there was no plausible way from him to pay them all back right away. While his mind searched for a way to right what he had done, his heart knew what the answer was.
“I’m going on to bed. Goodnight” Millie said from the doorway.
He looked up at her. He couldn’t leave her.
He had to, there was no other way.
“You look pale. Are you okay?” Millie asked, stepping into his study.
“I know what I have to do.”