“Why, yes, I suppose we did. It was almost a year ago, in fact, when everything began to fall apart.” She seemed slightly stunned, as she moved to take a chair at the kitchen table opposite his (and he moved to immediately arrange one for her convenience, and to stand until she was seated), to realize how quickly time
had passed. And how well they had survived the fire, thus far, to emerge safely (if not entirely unscathed) on the other side. “Tell me, Mr. Barclay—”
“Reese.”
“Um. I don’t think I can quite—”
“Okay.” He had removed his hat to run fingers through his roughened thatch of hair. Fascinated—why should such a simple act be so enticing?—Letty watched. Would he allow her to make the same gesture, if and when they were married? “What did you wanna ask me?”
“Um. Well. I was just wondering—about your upbringing. Your own family.”
“My own family.” He took a sip of the strong coffee and his eyes widened. Because of the taste? Or in distaste? “Not much left. Scattered, y’ know. The War did that to a lotta people.”
“I see. Is that when you—uh—” A slight gesture of her hand indicated the scar that she felt no compunction about noticing, since he had already deliberately brought it to her attention.
“Ahuh.” His gaze was steady and straight and was doing strange things to her susceptible heart. And her flip-floppy middle. “Bayonet at close range. Got a few more marks, as you recall my tellin’ you, but they won’t be visible until—unless—”
Until and unless the two of them hammered out some sort of a marriage contract, and they ended up sharing a bed. Now he was the one showing hesitation. She reached across to touch his hand.
“It’s all right, Reese,” she said gently. “I understand. Let’s find something less stressful to talk about, shall we?”
Chapter Seven
THE DOOR WAS FLUNG open with a crash, and a familiar voice bellowed, “Letty! Hey, Letty, girl, oh, student of the medical arts, you in here?”
Startled at the noise, Reese immediately sprang upright, his right hand hovering—oddly enough—near his side, which held, not a weapon, but the mere wool fabric of trousers. Fingers stretched and curled, for something that wasn’t there; one could almost sense a trapped animal’s intimation of danger nearby.
“It’s all right,” said Letitia. Her gaze, as startled as his, flew from that rugged scarred face to the gunslinger’s pose. Quickly she came to her feet, as a buffer. “That’s just Dr. Havers, my employer, announcing his presence as he always does. In the kitchen, Gabe!” she called then.
Heavy footsteps blundered through the hall toward them. They sounded like a locomotive, runaway on the track.
“Well, well, what have we here?” The volume of his voice thankfully lowered, Gabriel entered the room with a broad grin. “A little romantic interlude goin’ on, away from pryin’ eyes, eh? Got any of that coffee left, Letty, my dear?”
Reese’s ready right hand shifted imperceptibly, rising from the area where a firearm might have been holstered to meet the doctor’s forthright grip. “Reese Barclay, sir.”
“Oh, don’t go sirrin’ me; I ain’t but a few years older’n you. How d’ you do? So you’re the mystery man that’s had the whole town flappin’ their gums.” Looking rumpled and tired, Gabe pulled out a chair and plopped down upon it.
“Willie was well enough to go home?” Letitia interceded, before the men could get caught up in their own line of dialogue.
“Yep.” A great slug of coffee, and a great sigh. “I left stern instructions with his mama, though, to watch for any signs of infection. As for young master Terrence O’Day, he’s doing better. Late summer croup can be a nasty thing. We got anything around here to eat? I’m not only fagged out, I’m starvin’.”
Obligingly, Letty rose and began rustling through cupboards and pantry. She found a chunk of moldy bread, a jar holding three stale cookies, and something of an odd color that defied description. “Gabe, don’t you ever go shopping for food to re-stock these shelves?”
“Nope. I try to eat at the local diners as often as possible. Failin’ that, I mooch off your sister. Who has, by the way, turned into a right good cook. You’d do well to follow in her footsteps, Missy, so’s you can catch yourself a husband.”
She drew herself up stiff and straight. “I hardly think you—”
“Yessir,” he went on carelessly, with a wink thrown across the table for his guest, “that’s the way to a man’s heart, y’ know. And you’re dealin’ with such fickle critters. We males may like lookin’ at a well-turned ankle, but, when the lovin’ is over, we need our bellies filled.”
“Doctor!” Letitia, furious, hissed in the manner of a sizzling firecracker about to go off. “You are absolutely incorrigible, and I refuse to listen to this nonsense any longer. If you can keep a civil tongue in your head, I shall allow you to get acquainted with Mr. Barclay. Otherwise—”
“Oh, shush yourself, honey.” Laughing, he patted the hand that lay clenched next to her empty cup. “No need to get your petticoats all ruffled. You know I’m just joshin’. So, Mr. Barclay, where are you from, and what are your plans, and how long d’ you mean to stay with us?”
Reese, who had been too busy following this remarkable confrontation back and forth to make a comment, perked up a little at the chance to finally answer a direct question.
“Well, you coulda knocked me over with a feather—” His two companions exchanged glances; difficult to imagine the substantial physician being knocked over by anything, “—when this young lady here told me she’d joined the ranks of other mail order brides. Let me tell you, Reese, if you end up tyin’ the knot, you’ll be gettin’ yourself one top-notch wife.”
The prospective groom had lowered his guard enough to smile at his prospective top-notch wife. “I can see that. I guessed as much from her letters, and, then, when I first caught a glimpse of her... Well.”