Wyoming Rugged

“For heaven’s sake, I’m going on twenty-two,” she burst out. “I just graduated from college!”

“And there’s a big world out there, just waiting for you,” he said. “New people, new places. New men,” he added deliberately.

She wrapped her arms around her chest. “No.”

He scowled, pausing with hash browns on his fork. “What do you mean, no?” he asked.

She bit her lower lip. “How do I know what men are going to be like when I’m alone with them? I know I haven’t dated much, but that was one heck of a wake-up call, you know. If you hadn’t been there...” Her eyes were tormented, and she shook her head.

“Come here.”

She sat down beside him on the bed.

He took her hand in his and held it. “You have to know, very few men ever resort to force. He’d been drinking pretty heavily.”

“I know. I tried to get him to stop. He said I was backward.” She sighed. “I guess I am. I don’t keep step with people in the modern world. I live in the country, I like wildflowers and little children, I don’t drink or smoke or do drugs...” She made a face. “It’s just a pity I wasn’t born a hundred years ago. I’d have been right at home.”

“There are other people like you in the world,” he said softly. “You’ll find them. You have to take chances, Niki. You have to get out in the world to cope with it. You’re hiding here, honey. You’re running away from life. It’s cowardly. That’s not like you.”

Her face flamed. She got up and moved away from him, like a child burned by contact with fire. How could she tell him that she was in love with him, that she wasn’t hiding from life? She was waiting, hoping, praying that one day...

His heart sank when he saw her face. He’d been too harsh. “Niki, I’m sorry.”

She swallowed, hard. He was like an adult with a small child, and it hurt to be thought of that way. She stood up from the bed. “I have to help Edna clear up in the kitchen.”

She was out the door before he could curse himself for bringing that look into her soft face. He felt guilty for the rest of the day, more so when she didn’t come near his room again.

She kept to herself for the rest of the day. She was polite to Blair at dinner, but he saw right through her.

“You’re very quiet tonight, Niki,” her father said, frowning. “Everything all right?”

She toyed with her food. “Of course. I’m just not very hungry, that’s all.” She added a smile so that her father wouldn’t get suspicious.

Blair sipped black coffee. “I thought I might drive over to Yellowstone tomorrow and see the sights. Want to come, Niki?” he added without looking at her.

She felt her heart trying to climb out of her throat. The invitation was unexpected.

“Go with him,” her father said firmly. “You need to get out of the house for a while. It will do you good. Just be sure to take your inhaler with you,” he added wryly. “Everything’s just starting to bloom. You don’t want another chest infection.”

“Worrywart,” she chided.

“I’ll take care of her,” Blair said quietly.

“I know that.” Her father finished his coffee. “Got a minute?” he asked Blair. “I want to talk to you about that new drilling site I’m going to lease.”

“Sure.” Blair got up and followed him into the study.

Niki helped Edna clear away the dishes.

“You can hide it from your father, but not from me, young lady,” Edna chided when they were putting dishes into the dishwasher. “What’s wrong?”

She moved one shoulder a little. “Blair says I’m hiding from life. From men.” She was, but she couldn’t tell Edna why.

“He’s right,” was the unexpected reply. “You’re letting that one bad date tie you up like a knot. Honey, not all men are going to try to force you. It was an unfortunate thing, what happened.”

“I couldn’t have stopped him,” Niki recalled with disgust. “If Blair hadn’t been here...”

“I know.” Edna stopped and hugged her, smoothing her long, soft hair. “But he was. You can’t go through life looking behind you. The future is bright and sweet, my darling. You have to look ahead.”

Niki sighed and smiled against the older woman’s shoulder. “Dad and I are so lucky to have you,” she said. “I don’t know how either of us would have coped. Especially Dad. He loved my mother so much.”

Edna drew in a long breath. “Yes. He was crazy about her.” She smiled sadly. “I loved my husband that way. When he died, I thought my life was over. Then Mr. Ashton offered me a job, and you were in grammar school...” She swallowed, hard. “You see, I was never able to have a child of my own. It was such a privilege, a blessing, to take care of you.”

Niki drew back, her eyes soft and misty as she met those of the older woman. “You’ve been like a mother to me,” she said. “God knows how I’d have turned out if it had just been me and Dad,” she added with a laugh, lightening the atmosphere. “I guess I’d have learned to play poker and drink whiskey and get in fights with the cowboys.”

Edna chuckled as she let Niki go. “He did a lot of that. Got stinking drunk and stayed that way for a whole month after the funeral. Most of the cowboys learned to hide in the barn until he had enough and passed out. To give them credit, none of them resigned.”

“He’s calmed down a bit,” Niki said.

“Not a lot. He and your friend Blair are cut from the same cloth.” She winced. “Hurts me, to see poor Mr. Coleman like that. His wife was a piece of work.”

“He really loved her,” Niki said. “I remember when they were just engaged. When he talked about her, his face almost glowed, like his eyes.” She glowered as she finished rinsing a plate to go in the dishwasher and handed it to Edna. “Imagine a woman who thought going to some stupid party was more important than taking care of her sick husband.”

“She had her priorities,” Edna said curtly. “Money and other men. What a shame. She’s ruined him for marriage. He’ll never take the chance again.”

“He waited a long time to get married,” Niki said thoughtfully.

“Yes. Your father said he took the loss of his mother particularly hard. He was vulnerable. That’s probably how that she-cat got her claws into him. Playing up to him, pretending to be concerned, vamping him.”

“What’s vamping?” Niki asked curiously.

“Tempting him,” Edna explained. “Most men are weak when a woman uses her body blatantly to tempt them. An experienced woman can make a plaything of a man, if he’s vulnerable.”

“It’s hard to think of Blair Coleman being susceptible like that.”

“He’s a man, honey,” Edna chuckled. “They’re all susceptible.”

“I don’t know much about that.”

“You’ll never learn, staying in this house all the time,” Edna continued. “You have to get out into the world and meet people. Meet men. Honey, you were made for a home and children.”

Niki made a face. She couldn’t tell Edna about her hopeless passion for Blair, so she improvised. “I’m sick all the time. What sort of man wants a woman like that?”

“Your mother was sickly, too,” Edna said. “But your father loved her madly. It made no difference to him, except that he spent a lot of time taking care of her.” She smiled gently. “You love people for what’s inside them. You live with the problems they have. That’s what a good marriage is all about.”

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get married,” Niki said. “I don’t mix well with other people. Especially men.”

“You get along fine with Mr. Coleman,” Edna pointed out.