Love on the Range (Brothers in Arms #3)(9)

“Tell me again.”

With an exasperated huff, she said, “The Civil War, remember? There was plenty of harm done on both sides during that trouble. My pa caused his share and was dealt his share. My ma got hurt a few times. Kevin and Andy, well, they were never hurt because Kevin got mighty good at keeping us hidden when the night was full of riders. But there was always someone getting knocked around by a cow or cut working a plow on a farm. Someone had to know where the salve was.” The truth was so much worse.

The bandage fell away.

“Move your arm gently,” Molly instructed. “Let me feel if your collarbone is solid when you move.” She took a firm grip on his shoulder. The doctor back in Wheatfield had come out for Pa’s broken arm. Molly had no idea what was wrong then. But later, when Ma had a broken collarbone, Molly remembered and knew what to do. Ma refused any doctor’s help when she was hurt, so it was left for Molly to do the best she could.

Wyatt flinched as he raised his arm, rotated his shoulder, and straightened his elbow, but a smile bloomed on his face. “It feels good. Like you said, the joints hurt, but it’s healed.”

“You’re right. Nothing shifted.” Molly pressed along the line of his shoulder. “I feel a thickened place here, and that’s normal for a broken bone.”

She patted him on the back, then quit touching him and stepped away. “You’ll need to treat the arm carefully for a bit.”

Wyatt was out of his chair and striding for the back door, not being careful at all, when Cheyenne came thundering down the stairs. “Look at this, Wyatt.”

“Why do you want my family Bible?” Falcon was on her heels. He looked mighty confused.

“The date Falcon was born is written in here.” She bent her head over the book, open in her hand.

“It is?” Falcon tried to look over her shoulder.

“I thought you didn’t know how old you were?” Wyatt came to Cheyenne’s side.

“I don’t.” Falcon scratched his head. “Not exactly.”

“You were twenty-nine last January.”

“And I was three or four when Pa ran off. Ma died when I was ten.”

“Are you sure about that? About your age?” Cheyenne asked.

Falcon nodded, but there was no great certainty in it.

“We have to track it down. Make sure.” Cheyenne looked up from the old Bible in her hands and locked eyes with Wyatt.

“I can’t read nor write,” Falcon shrugged. “I couldn’t write down the date she died in our Bible.”

“If Falcon’s right about his age when his ma died,” Wyatt said, “Clovis’s marriage to my ma isn’t legal, and that means the will isn’t legal and the land is Cheyenne’s and mine.”

“We have to make sure, but if we’re right, this fixes everything.” Cheyenne shoved the Bible into Wyatt’s hands and rushed out of the room.

Falcon watched her go, then said sheepishly, “It’s strange to have my wife all excited about me losing an inheritance. I don’t care. I’m not a rancher. Honest, I’m happy for her. But it don’t seem quite right.”

Wyatt came to his side and slapped him on the shoulder. “You’re married to her. I know from good old Pa that whatever she owns is yours. So instead of owning a third of the ranch, you now own half.”

“And Kevin owns none.” Falcon gave Molly a worried look.

“He stands to inherit all of Hawkins Ranch, even if he’ll never get Win to go near it while her pa’s alive,” Wyatt said.

“You were alone in a cabin in the mountains from the age of ten?” Molly’s heart twisted. “I was nine when my parents died. But I had Kevin.”

“Yep, I was a mighty scared boy.” Falcon got a faraway look in his eyes and was somber when he said, “Ma was ailin’ awhile, so I knew it might happen. She talked herself blue trying to teach me to get by without her. I could hunt, and I’d worked the place with Ma since I was no bigger’n a sprout. I could plant and hoe the garden. I could find berries and nuts, there were roots growing wild. I could fetch ’round a possum or a brace of rabbits, snare a quail, and I sure enough knew how to go fishin’. Whatever I caught, I could skin, cook, and eat. I could make leather out of a hide. I knew how to load my gun and hit what I aimed at. I could use a bullet mold. I got by. But I was so alone my ears echoed like someone shoutin’ down the holler.”

Molly came to his other side and patted him a lot more gently than Wyatt.

Falcon looked to Wyatt on his left, then Molly on his right. “It’s a whole lot better having family about.”

Molly nodded, though some days she had her doubts.

“You got yourself untied.” Falcon turned to look at Wyatt’s arm. “You’re well, then?”

“Seems like it. I’m crazy to get outside. Saddle up a horse and ride. Want to come?”

“Sure. If we’re right, my wife owns half this ranch.”

The two of them grinned at each other and charged outside.

Molly smiled after them. When the back door slammed, her smile faded. She felt . . . Well, Falcon had said it about right. She felt so alone her ears echoed.

She made plans to get on with her life. Find a job.

Then, plotting her escape, she turned to setting the kitchen to rights. All Wyatt’s bandages were scattered about. And there was a noon meal to get. She’d ride to Bear Claw Pass right after she’d cleaned up. She hadn’t heard who replaced Win for the teacher’s job, but she’d make sure to see if they’d found someone. If not there, she’d find a diner that needed a cook. Or a hotel that needed a housekeeper.