“I wish he had come to me. I would have done my darnedest to help him.”
Summer smiled bitterly. “Lance wouldn’t ask anyone for help, not even me. You know how proud he is.”
Dusty nodded. “That, he is. And after the barbecue…I guess now he feels like everybody’s against him.”
“My sister didn’t help matters with her accusation. She refuses to admit she could be wrong.”
“I can’t figure why Miss Amelia is so set against him.”
“I suppose because she blames him for what the Comanches did. I’m not really certain. I feel like I don’t know her anymore.”
They both fell silent, reflecting on the unfairness of the situation.
“Dusty…would you consider talking to Amelia? Perhaps you could influence her where I’ve failed.”
“You think she would listen to me?”
“I don’t know. I hope so. She likes and trusts you.”
“She does, really?” He averted his gaze, as if suddenly ill at ease. “Do you think…someday maybe…Miss Amelia might consider getting married again?”
His color was high, his eyes lowered—the signs of a man enamored of a woman but reticent to admit it. Summer, acutely sensitive to such nuances with her own affairs of the heart in such disarray, replied gently. “I don’t know. Perhaps to the right man, she would. After what happened…she’s afraid of men. And at the same time she’s afraid no man would want her.”
“I’d want her. I’d take her as my wife in a second.”
She smiled. “Perhaps in time. I wouldn’t give up.”
“I won’t.” He adjusted his hat and stood up. “Well, I guess I better go talk to some of the boys so we can get started tonight.”
“Dusty…thank you.
”
“No need to thank me, Miss Summer. Even if I didn’t like Lance as much as I do, I’d still help him. I figure I owe him for bringing Miss Amelia back safe.”
He left then, relinquishing the small office to her. Alone, Summer let her head sag wearily. The strain of the past week was beginning to tell on her physically. And if she was suffering, how much more was Lance enduring?
God, please let it be over soon.
She rubbed the ache in her temples with both hands, wondering where Lance was at this moment, wondering if he was thinking of her, and if he possibly knew how desperately she regretted hurting him with her doubts.
The nausea began the following morning. Summer woke Saturday feeling listless and overhung, as if she was coming down sick. Her stomach settled as she lay there worrying about Lance, but she had barely left the bed before she felt the remains of last night’s supper start to well in her throat.
For a full minute she retched into a basin, an attack that left her weak, as well as puzzled and concerned. She was rarely ill, and just now she couldn’t afford to be sick. Not now when Lance’s troubles demanded her best efforts, when his situation remained so uncertain.
She felt better once she’d chewed on a crust of bread. Following her new plan, she went up to the big house to iron her best day gown and choose a suit for Reed to wear. If she meant to drag her brother all over the countryside, paying a call on every woman in the neighborhood in order to plead Lance’s case, she wanted her finest armor. It was possible such a venture would come to naught, that they would be refused entrance before being given a chance to explain why they thought Lance innocent of the charges against him, but Summer thought making the attempt better than sitting at home doing nothing to help the man she loved.
She was heating the irons at the kitchen fire, working alongside Maritza and Consuala as they did morning chores, when the nausea struck again. Clapping a hand over her mouth, Summer whispered, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Maritza had enough command to hastily guide Summer to the sink and hold her shoulders while she retched, while Consuala wet a cloth and held it to her flushed forehead.
“Thank you,” Summer murmured gratefully. “I don’t know what’s come over me. This happened earlier this morning, too.”
In the silence that followed, Summer looked up to find both Mexican women watching her with dancing black eyes.
“What is it?” she asked, bewildered.
“You are to have a bebé, sí?” Maritza said happily.