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“That bad?”
She sighed again. “No, not really. I’m just grumpy and complaining.” She grinned. “Jesse’s got me under house arrest and it’s driving me dang near crazy. You know I’m not one to sit still for long.” She stood and placed a kiss on Catherine’s head and laid her in the cradle. “But enough about me. How have you been doing?”
“I’m fine.”
Alex gave her a look, both of her eyebrows raised.
“Everything is getting so complicated.”
“How so?”
She adjusted the blankets around Samuel, surprised he was still asleep. All the fussing Aaron’s family had done over him must have worn him out. “If I tell you something, will you promise you won’t repeat it?”
“Have I ever told any of your secrets?”
“No, but this is different. No one other than Ruby down at the saloon knows about this and I’d like to keep it that way.”
“You have my word, Betsey.”
She wasn’t sure where to start so she started at the beginning. “Okay, so—when I saw Aaron the day he got back into town, he had a girl with him.”
“Morning Dove?”
“Yes. Have you met her?”
“No. Jesse said Ben told him about her.”
“Really. He say anything else about her?”
“Nothing other than she made you a bit crazy worrying she and Aaron were more than just friends.”
“Yeah well, what would you have thought?”
“The same, probably.”
“Exactly. So anyway, after I saw Morning Dove, I assumed they were together—more than just friends and—” She blew out a breath and glanced out the window. Aaron and Jesse were down by the creek, laughing about something. “I’ve never felt so betrayed in all my life, Alex. He could have stabbed me in the heart and I wouldn’t have felt any more hurt than I did seeing him with her. And I was so mad at him, and at myself for getting involved with him in the first place, and mad all over again that he’d run off and left me and then he had the nerve to come into the saloon and carry me out like I belonged to him or something and then Harrison McBride showed up and flattered me with pretty words and said he was going to make me a star, and I let my anger at Aaron lead me into doing something stupid and now Aaron’s kissing me and showing me pieces of land he wants to buy and put a house on and I—“
“Breathe, Betsey.”
She inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes, the past few weeks a blur of confusion. She sat there doing nothing but breathing for a few minutes before opening her eyes back up. “I don’t know what to do anymore, Alex. I’m so confused.” Her eyes started to burn and she blinked away frustrated tears. “I’ve wanted nothing for the whole of my life but to be the girl Aaron wanted and I thought I had that, but then he left and I’ve neverfelt so alone as I did then. I was broken and now he’s back and he didn’t say as much but something about the way he was looking at me today when we sat on that stretch of land made me think he was going to ask me to marry him and as much as I wanted to shout my joy to the mountains and beyond, I think I’ve made a mistake I’m not sure how to get out of.”
“What sort of mistake?”
Those tears filled her eyes as she looked up. “I’ve signed a contract with a man named Harrison McBride. He wants to take me to San Francisco to sing in a theater he owns. He’s already bought my stagecoach ticket. We’re supposed to leave for California at the end of the month.”
Chapter Thirteen
The day had not goneas Aaron thought it would. Their visit with Jesse and Alex had been short with Betsey insisting they go and he’d tried all the way to town to get her not to go to the saloon. She’d dug her heels in though and refused to listen to him. She wouldn’t even let him watch Samuel for her, saying she and Miranda had a system already in place and she wasn’t changing it. That when Samuel needed feeding, Miranda brought him to her and even though he could do the same, she didn’t want him at the saloon when she was working. Unfortunately for her, he was as hard-headed as she was.
He’d waited ten minutes after she disappeared around the bar to sneak in. He ordered a drink just so Vern wouldn’t give him any funny looks for being there without wanting anything and used the time to ask what he paid Betsey to sing there. It was a measly amount and he told Vern it was. The old bartender had only shrugged a shoulder. Regardless of how friendly he was to everyone, Vern was a businessman, first and foremost. Every decision he made was beneficial to himself. The welfare of a single mother in need of money wasn’t any of his concern.
She was his, though. So was Samuel, and now that he washome he’d provide for them whether Betsey wanted him to or not. She had no business being in a place like this. She should be at home taking care of Samuel, not in here singing for lonely cowboys.
He picked a spot in the corner of the saloon, close enough to the bar that the number of people lingering around it hid him from view. He was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest watching everyone and waiting for her to take that sorry excuse for a stage while the entire day played out inside his head again, her reaction to the land he wanted to buy the most promising. Her look of confusion hadn’t lasted long and when he told her he wanted to buy it, he would have sworn he saw a bit of hope shining in her eyes, which made her being inside the saloon more irksome. He didn’t want her here. He didn’t want these sweaty cowpokes and lonely men within touching distance of her. He certainly didn’t want her up on that stage in the tight, low cut dress Vern wanted her to wear.
The swinging doors were in constant motion as more people came in off the street. As it had been the last time he’d come in when Betsey was singing, the saloon was crowded. The women Vern let live—and conduct business—upstairs were lingering by the banister wearing nothing but their shifts and their corsets, the laces so tight it made their hips appear wider, their breasts all but spilling over the top of the garment. They were looking down over the rail talking to anyone who would converse with them and half a dozen men were walking up and down those steps to buy a half hour of their time.
Aaron looked away when he saw a flash of red hair as Ms. Chloe appeared at the top of the stairs. She was the first naked lady he’d ever seen and he still got a bit queasy remembering the night Jesse and Ben had goaded him into walking up those steps with her. He’d been so damned scared his cock had just laid there like a dead slug while she waited on him in the bed. It was the worst five minutes of his life. He’d finally turned and ran,slipping past the bar and out the back door before anyone saw him and lied to Jesse and Ben when they asked what happened.
