Honor Bound(55)

"Johnny, what the hell is going on?" Lucas said in lieu of a proper hello.

"We're getting your house finished for you."

"I was going to live in the trailer until I could get enough money together to finish the house."

"So now you won't have to," Johnny said, his black eyes twinkling jovially. "Hello, by the way. It's good to have you back." He shook Lucas's hand. But Lucas, still staring over his friend's shoulder up toward the house, barely noticed.

"I can't pay for any of this."

"You've already paid."

"What the hell does that mean? Does my mother know about this?"

"Yeah, but she was sworn to secrecy. We've been working on the house since we found out the date of your release, trying to get it finished before you got here. Thanks for giving us the few extra days."

Johnny was distracted as he spoke. Now he gazed openly at the blond woman who had gotten out of the pickup. She moved to stand at Lucas's side, holding a baby against her shoulder. The child's head was covered with a light blanket to protect it from the glaring sun. "Hi."

Lucas turned, noticing Aislinn for the first time. "Oh, Johnny Deerinwater, this is my, uh, wife."

"I'm Aislinn," she said, sticking out her hand.

In friendly fashion, Johnny Deerinwater shook her hand and swept off his straw cowboy hat. "Pleased to meet you. Alice told us Lucas had gotten married. The sonofa … gun was going to keep you a secret from his friends, I guess."

"Mother must have called you this morning."

"Yeah. She said you'd just left on your way here. As I said, we've been working on the house for several weeks, but we had to get our … uh, rears in gear when we heard this morning that you were bringing a wife and baby with you. Speaking of which, why don't we get them out of the sun?"

Johnny stepped aside, indicating to Aislinn that she should precede him up the path toward the house. She was conscious of the workmen's eyes as they followed her progress. When she ventured to smile at several of them, they returned her smiles with varying degrees of shyness and suspicion.

As Lucas and Johnny fell into step behind her, Johnny said, "Since Joseph died, we've all pitched in to keep the herd fed, but that's about all. The horses were scattered to kingdom come. We've been rounding them up for weeks. Not all of them are accounted for yet."

"I'll find them," Lucas said.

Aislinn stepped onto the low, wide front porch of the house and, because she didn't know what else to do, entered the front door. The smell of fresh paint and raw lumber was almost overpowering, but not unpleasant. She pivoted, taking in the white walls that added to the spacious feel of the house. There were windows on every available wall, naked beams in the ceilings, and quarry tile floors that gave the rooms unity. In the main room there was a huge fireplace. She could imagine a glowing, cheery, crackling fire on a cold evening.

She gazed at Lucas in wonderment, but he seemed as surprised by the house as she. "When I left, there was nothing here but bare walls," he remarked. "Who's responsible for this, Johnny?"

"Well, Alice and I got to talking over a cup of coffee one day," he said, wiping his perspiring forehead with a bandanna. "We decided that we'd call in a few of your debts from people who owed you for legal services. Instead of collecting money, we collected favors. For instance, Walter Kincaid did the tile work. Pete Deleon did the plumbing." He went through a list of names, enumerating what each of Lucas's debtors had contributed to the house.

"Some of the fixtures and appliances are secondhand, Mrs. Greywolf," he said apologetically, "but they've been cleaned up good as new."

"Everything looks marvelous," Aislinn said, looking down at the beautiful, hand-woven Navaho rug someone's grandmother had made for Lucas. "Thank you for everything, and please call me Aislinn."

He nodded, smiling. "The only furniture we could round up was a dinette set for the kitchen. This morning we got busy and found a, uh, bed." His dark cheeks flushed hotly with embarrassment.

"I have some furniture we can move up here," Aislinn said quickly, to relieve Johnny's bashfulness. Lucas gave her a sharp look, but said nothing. For that she was grateful. She didn't want to get in a row with him in front of his friends. Their marriage might not be conventional, but she didn't want that fact advertised.

"Linda, that's my wife, will be up later this afternoon to bring some groceries."

"I'll look forward to meeting her."

A truck rumbled to a halt outside. Johnny went to the door and looked out. "Here are the light fixtures we ordered."

"I can't pay for any of this," Lucas repeated stubbornly, his face set.

"You've got good credit." Johnny gave Aislinn a smile and left, bounding off the front porch, already calling orders.

"Maybe you'd better show me where the bedroom is," Aislinn ventured, "so I can lay Tony down."

"I'm not sure I know myself," Lucas said crossly. "This house was just a shell when I left it."

"Where were you living?" Aislinn asked, following him down the hallway. "In the trailer?"

"Yes. I'd been building this house for several years, taking it one step at a time whenever I could get some money together."