Lexy's nervous excitement mounted as the fort came into view.
The moment they rode into the huge yard, she felt a surge of relief,
for Megan waddled from a tiny cabin, waving frantically. She wore
a handsome, colorful foulard wrapper that billowed out in front over
her large abdomen. Oh, Lexy had missed her sister so very much. She
leaped from the wagon almost before it came to a stop and ran to her.
They clung to each other. Through their clothing, Lexy felt the
baby kick against her stomach. She gasped, delighted.
"Oh, Meggie." They rocked together. "How I've missed you."
"And I you," Megan answered against her cheek.
"You're absolutely beautiful."
Megan sniffed and laughed. "For a heifer, you mean."
Lexy pulled away, holding her sister's shoulders. "Your condition
has only enhanced your beauty, Meggie."
"Oh, I suppose you're right," Megan agreed, causing Lexy to swallow
a smile. As always, Megan was the first to agree that she was, indeed,
beautiful.
She wiped her eyes with a dainty line handkerchief that was edged
in fine lace crocheting. Lexy knew her sister had done the work herself.
It was a talent Lexy never had time to nurture, much to their mother's
dismay.
"And look at you," Megan answered, her blue eyes shining. "Heavens,
I can't believe how you've changed."
If only you knew. Lexy was eager to tell her sister about Krista,
but there would be plenty of time for that. Right now, she just wanted
to be with Megan, to talk with her, to find out everything that had
happened over the past four years. She could only hope that all the
old hurts and hard feelings were behind them.
Clasping her hands over her huge stomach, Megan studied her. "You
look . . . different somehow." She frowned, then shook her head. "I
suppose it's because you're a full-fledged doctor now, and when I
left you were simply my little sister."
She fussed with Lexy's hair, clucking like a hen. "You really should
wear your hat at all times, dear. Those freckles over your nose are
unsightly. And that hair." She expelled an exaggerated sigh. "Perhaps
you should try ironing the curl out. It would be much easier to manage
and make you at least slightly more attractive."
Lexy nearly laughed out loud. Leave it to her sister to mention
the negative aspects of Lexy's features. Maggie hadn't changed. For
better or worse, Lexy was glad. She felt she'd come home.
She patted her sister's stomach, returning the "compliment." "You're
awfully big, aren't you?"
Megan frowned. "Well, I am having a baby, you know. And Dr. Monroe
died suspecting I'd have twins."
They strolled toward the tiny house.
"Twins?" Lexy touched her sister's stomach again. She knew from personal
experience that one baby was more than a handful. Two would surely
overwhelm her flighty sister.
Megan turned and waved at Little Pete. "Thank you for bringing her
to me safely," she called.
"My pleasure, Miz York." He'd begun lugging Lexy's baggage off the
wagon. "Do you want all this stuff in the house?"
"Of course. We'll make room for it."
With wary eyes, Lexy studied the tiny cottage. When they stepped
inside, she inhaled sharply. "Why there's hardly room in here for
the two of you."
"There's plenty of room. There are two bedrooms and one of them
is yours. Don't you dare fret, Alexis Tate, or I'll be angry with
you, and you know very well it isn't a good idea to get a pregnant
woman angry."
Lexy quietly gave in, but she knew she would have to find other accommodations
soon. She couldn't bring Krista here, especially after the baby, or
babies, came.
"My," she exclaimed, "it's sure cozy."
Megan rolled her eyes and shook her head. "It is, isn't it?" Cozy
is a nice word for it. actually. When I first saw the place, I let
out a howl that could have been heard clear to the border. But it
won't be forever, Max has promised he'll take me back to Providence
one day soon, or at least Boston or Washington, D.C.. This fort is
one of the last to stay open in California. They all say it will close
soon, then we can leave this godforsaken place. Anyway, Max knows
I can't survive out here for the rest of my life and be happy."
"What about him? Would he be happy back east?"
Megan looked shocked. "Why, of course. Who wouldn't be?"
"Well," Lexy demurred, "I hope you get your wish."
"I hope so, too." She expelled a sigh. "It's been four years since
I've seen civilization. I try not to complain around Max, because
he's been such a dear, and I do love him and don't want to hurt him.
But truth to tell, I don't like it here."
Megan's wistful words surprised her. Gone was the petulance she'd
come to expect when Megan didn't get her way. "Where is Max, anyway?"
"Oh, he had to go to Sacramento. He'll be gone for a few weeks, I
guess." She gave Lexy a warm smile. "I suppose that's why he sent
for you, so I wouldn't have to be alone, especially now." Her eyes
misted. "He knows how much I hate to be here by myself."
Lexy felt a twinge of envy at the relationship that had grown between
her sister and Max York. At the time of their marriage, Lexy wouldn't
have given them four happy months, much less four happy years.
Megan winced and arched her back. "I do wish he didn't have to leave,
though. What if I have the baby and he's not here? I just don't think
I can stand going through this alone."
"I'm sure he'd be here if he could," Lexy responded.
"I know he would. It just won't be the same without him here to share-"
She covered her moth and giggled. "To share both the pleasure and
the pain," she finished, still smiling. "Before he left, I teased
him about leaving me on purpose, just so he wouldn't have to go through
my labor with me." Again, here smile turned wistful. "But truly, Lex,
I think he'd have the baby for me if he could."
Lexy's envy returned, but she was happy for her sister as well.
Turning her gaze away, she studied the tiny cabin. Despite the fact
that Megan had done little in the way of homemaking while they were
growing up, her tiny cottage was clean and homey. For the Megan of
yore, it would never have been enough. Marriage had indeed mellowed
her sister.
Megan crossed to a marble-topped dry sink and straightened a vase
of flowers on top of it. Lexy recognized the piece as the one that
had been her own bedroom when she was a child. And one, she realized,
that had been promised to her by their mother. Odd that Megan should
have it.
"You know, I learned something about myself, Lexy. I learned that,
unlike you, I'm not the least bit independent. I enjoy having a husband.
I'm sure I'd feel like half a person without one."
Lexy blinked and studied the scrolled pulls on the dry sink drawers.
"I don't mean to change the subject but . . . isn't that my dry sink?"
"No. It's mine." A familiar look of stubbornness crossed Megan's
face.
Lexy ran her finger over the gouge in the drawer that had happened
when she'd tried to remove the pulls more than twelve years before.
"No," she argued. "See here? This happened when-"
"It's mine, Lexy. Mother gave it to me."
Lexy recognized the defiant tone. The stiffened spine. The pursed
lips. They were Megan's trademarks when she lied; they always had
been. The dry sink was Lexy's, but it was pointless to argue. Obviously,
some things about Megan's old personality had not changed.
Megan would always take what she wanted, the same way she would always
need someone else to make her happy, someone who would cater to her
and admire her, as Max did. She would never be happy being by herself.
She'd never learned to; she'd never had to.
"About our argument, Megan," Lexy began.
"Oh, Lexy, that was years ago. I realize you meant well, but at the
time, all I could think about was myself. It was my wedding day, you
know."
She was right, of course. All brides deserved to be selfish on their
wedding day. Trouble was, four years ago, Megan was that way all the
time. "Point taken. I probably shouldn't have been quite so vocal
about my concerns. I knew you loved Max."
"I know, and Jake still loved me. You were being your usual cautious
self. I just didn't want anything to spoil things."
"And did I spoil it, Meggie?"
Megan gave her a quick smile. "Not for long." She went to the stove
and tested the outside of the teapot.
"I can't wait for Jake to see you."
"Jake?" Suddenly, without warning, four years of repressed anger
and pain hit Lexy in the chest with such force she couldn't breathe.
Megan nodded. "He's been so busy, I haven't seen much of him today,
but-"
"Jake is here?" Lexy interrupted, hoping to hide her panic, amazed
she could breathe, much less speak.
Megan turned the tea kettle handle in her fist. "Why, yes. He's our
new fort doctor. Didn't you know?"
Lexy grabbed the back of a kitchen chair and stumbled into it, her
knees shaking. "No. I…didn't."
Before she had to ask, Megan continued, "He finished medical school
out here, in California. Can you believe it?"
Lexy could do nothing but shake her head. Jake was here. Here. Where
she was bringing Krista. The knowledge was like an anvil weighing
on her chest.
"It'll be like old times, won't it? I mean, the four of us again,
just like back in Providence."
There was a buzzing in Lexy's head, and she was dangerously close
to fainting-something she had thought she would never do.
He couldn't be here. She didn't want him here. She has made a life
for herself without him, and she had convinced herself years ago that
she was happy.
"He keeps me company sometimes when Max is gone. I don't know what
we'd do without him. Why," she continued innocently, "Max insisted
that Jake sleep in the spare bedroom the nights that Max is away."
Lexy attempted to rein in her alarm. "He sleeps in the house when
Max is gone?"
Megan took down two cups and saucers and poured them each a cup of
tea. "Of course. He slept there last night. Isn't it lucky that he
was able to get this post?"
Lexy wondered if luck had anything to do with it. Knowing what she
knew about Jake and how he felt about Megan, Lexy was certain he'd
been able to pull some strings. He'd always had the gift of getting
what he wanted. In that respect, he and Megan were very much alike.
"I'm here now, so I'll keep you company."
Megan put their tea on the table, then gave Lexy a quick squeeze.
"I'm so happy you came."
Absently, Lexy returned the embrace. "I am, too." At least, she had
been. She pulled in a breath, releasing it slowly.
They sipped their tea quietly.
"I worry about Jake, though."
She studied her older sister, noting the subtle violet shades of
weariness under her eyes. "Why?"
Megan shrugged. "He seems to take foolish chances. Like he did back
in Providence." She winced and rubbed her abdomen. "You know, I could
have as easily been married to him as to Max, but he would never do
as a husband. Not mine, anyway."
Lexy felt a headache coming on. "And why is that?"
"Well, for one thing, he didn't cater to me like Max did, although
I know he was crazy about me. And for another, he hadn't seemed interested
in settling down."
"He didn't think he was going to live long enough to see a family
grow up, Megan." Lexy tried to keep the sarcasm from her voice.
"Oh, all that foolish stuff about him dying young just because his
father did," she said with disgust.
"You didn't believe it?"
"No, I thought it was merely an excuse for not asking me to marry
him."
Lexy pressed two fingers between her eyes, hoping to ward off the
migraine. "Why are you worried about him now?"
"Shortly after Jake arrived, I overheard him arguing with Max. They
were shouting, but every now and then, Jake would laugh. Only it wasn't
a happy sound, if you know what I mean."
Lexy massaged the tension in the back of her neck. Yes, she remembered
Jake's laugh. And his smile. And his kiss. And his hunger. And the
name he called out at the height of his passion. "So, what happened?"
"Well, I crept closer to the door to listen. Max thought I was asleep.
I think Jake worked as some kind of scout before he finished medicine.
He seems to have good rapport with the Indians, anyway, and one night
shortly after he arrived here, he went after a bunch of renegade braves.
Bad ones. Ones who didn't want anything to do with us and refused
to sit down and exchange ideas." Megan squirmed to get comfortable.
"By the way, they continue to cause problems. Don't wander outside
the for without an escort."
It made Lexy ill to think Jake would purposely put himself in such
danger. "Why would he put himself in such a position?"
"He's got a death wish, Max says."
Of course. Max was right. Jake himself once had told her that if
he was going to die young, he wanted to live fast. She squirmed in
her seat, felling sick to her stomach. "Exactly what happened?"
Megan grimaced and rubbed her stomach. "Oh. It's doing back flips
in there," she muttered. "Always kicking and carrying on, making me
uncomfortable."
Wait until the baby keeps you up all night, every night for weeks,
Lexy thought.
"Anyway, the Indians were in rare form. They'd been drinking all
night, and by the time Jake got there, they were ready to hang the
first white man they saw."
"They tried to hang him?" A squeezing crushing pain in her chest
added to her nausea. Her tea sat precariously on her stomach.
"They didn't merely try, Lexy, they did."
Lexy leaned into her chair and pressed her arms across her stomach,
hoping to keep her tea down. "They…they actually put a tope around
his neck and…and…" She couldn't finish. The vision was too horrible.
"Fortunately for him, the rope was rotten. The drunken Indians left
him to twist in the wind. Before Jake lost consciousness, the rope
broke through, and he fell to the ground. Max was so angry. He'd tell
Jake not to go at all, and especially not alone. Even after Jake told
Max the whole story, he sounded disappointed that they hadn't succeeded.
If Max would have had the nerve, I think he'd have strangled Jake
himself for his cavalier attitude."
"It sounds like a rather irresponsible thing for any man to do, especially
one who has just begun a new position, one he obviously wanted."
"Yes." Megan answered on a sigh. "I guess some things never change.
He's so good with everyone, especially the Indians. Doc Monroe refused
to treat them. Jake never turns one away." She shook her head. "I
can't understand why he wants to be out here in the middle of nowhere
when he could go into a city and practice real medicine."
Probably because Megan was here, Lexy mused. But he was still tempting
fate. Living a careless life, assuming the end was inevitably near.
His attitudes had not changed; he'd merely become a doctor and changed
locale.
The pounding between her eyes continued. "I think I'll take a walk
around the fort, Meggie. Do you mind?"
Megan stood and stretched her back. "Not at all. Stop in and see
Jake. He must know you're here. I can't imagine why he hasn't popped
in to see you."
Lexy could. If he was feeling only half the intensity of emotion
she was, he'd avoid her forever. At the mention of one word, her love
for him had turned to hate. But it had been four years, and hate had
a way of dissolving into something quite different when you bore the
child of man you once loved.
