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Her news had rocked him At first he’d refused to believe it But as the shock had worn off, he couldn’t deny the possibility that the child was his Deterrow up in the back roo in California and come to White Stone
His fingers tightened into fists “When did she die?”
“January of ’80”
Cole eased down into his seat
“I know you tas close,” Seth offered
“Yea” They’d been friends and lovers since she’d coo He reached for the glass of whiskey
“She talked about you from time to time”
Cole drained the tu on the way it burned his throat “How’d she die?”
Seth’s glance slipped away “It don’t really matter, does it? It’s been over two years”
His fingers tightened around the glass “It matters”
The old-tihed “She died in childbirth”
Seth ister in Cole’s one Unable to concentrate, he refilled the glass and gulped it down
Seth’s eyes clouded orry “Careful That stuff you’re drinking is strong enough to knock a mule on its ass”
Cole stared at the peeling label on the bottle “Lily said I was the father of her baby”
Seth straightened “Lily was known to whore, son”
Cole hadn’t loved Lily, but he’d laughed with her, kissed her, been intiotten “If she said the baby was mine, it was Where’s the child?”
“Ain’t no telling who the father was”
Cole persisted “Her letter was signed ‘Mrs Curtis Taylor for Lily Davis’”
Seth frowned “Leave Lily buried in the past where she belongs”
Cole flexed his fingers “Where can I find Mrs Curtis Taylor? Maybe she’s got answers for me”
Seth cleared his throat “It won’t do you any good talking to Mrs Taylor Do yourself a favor and move on”
He pushed his chair back from the table and stood “I’ll find her myself if you won’t tell me”
Seth blocked his path He knew Cole well enough to knoasn’t bluffing “She’ll be by any minute She delivers pies every day”
Right then, the saloon patrons hooted and hollered, distracting Cole frohts
Seth looked toward the swinging doors The hard lines etched in the corners of his eyes softened “That’ll be her now”
Cole shifted for a better view of Mrs Curtis Taylor He hter Rebecca
She was just as petite as he remembered Delicate The princess in the ivory tower When he’d coo, she’d just married and was in Denver on her honeymoon
Calico, not silk, now hugged her slender waist and accentuated the curve of her breasts She no longer wore her hair in ringlets but had pinned her blond strands back into a neat topknot Wisps of hair fell loose and fraht-blue eyes no longer sparkled with the giddy laughter of a young girl, but reflected the confidence of a woman
Lovely, he thought, then dismissed the idea Men like him only dreamed about women like her Besides, he didn’t dally with married women
Cole took a second glance at her simple attire Sinclair had spoiled his only child She had lived in a world of fine parties and fancy boarding schools and spent le dress than he’d earned in a year So, as she delivering pies to a saloon?
Ignoring the hoots and hollers, Rebecca walked up to Seth The scent of roses and cinna each time he’d seen her in town
“Good ht
Heat her if he hadn’t seen the rustle of her skirts and caught sight of the young toddler clinging to her side The boy’s blond hair curled at the ends like Rebecca’s had when she was younger, but his skin was darker and his eyes a rich brown Her son, he assumed
Seth’s sht on time as usual”
“You’rein her clear voice
Seth winked at the boy “Hi, Mac”
The boy grinned and popped his thumb in his mou
th as he edged closer to his mother
Rebecca’s gaze shifted to Cole She studied hi to place him, but could not Cole wasn’t surprised she didn’t remember him He’d swept out saloons and worked in her father’s mine
Rebecca laid her hand protectively on her son’s shoulder, then glanced down at the wicker basket in her hands “Three apple pies and two cherry, just like you asked”
“Thanks,” Seth said straightening
She kept her eyes on Seth, carefully avoiding Cole’s gaze “I’ll put the pies on the bar and leave I promised Mac a piece of candy froany bar
“Thanks, Rebecca See you same time tomorrow”
Cole wondered why the old man hadn’t introduced them Rebecca had already unpacked three pies when he spoke up “Mrs Taylor, I want to talk to you”
She raised another pie out of the basket “Do I know you, mister?”
“The name’s Cole McGuire”
She dropped the cherry pie on the floor The tin pan clanked against the floor splattering bits of cherry everywhere “Cole McGuire,” she whispered
She stared into his eyes as if seeing hiaze dropped to his jaw covered in a week’s worth of growth to his sweat-stained bandana past his worn chaps and finally to his mudsplattered boots He’d not bathed in over a week and suspected a good inch of trail dust coated his body Her pert nose wrinkled and she pulled the boy behind her skirts, now stained with the ruined cherry pie
He reckoned she compared him to the miners who had worked in her father’s ons He kept all traces of eer roiled inside hiain the tohore’s son and she the unattainable rich er “You remember me?”
“Yes”
Seth cleared his throat “Here let me clean that mess up, Rebecca” He turned to Cole “There ain’t much she can tell you”
Cole ignored Seth, his sights on Rebecca “You wrote a letter for Lily Davis a couple of years ago”