his family’s field when he was a boy.
“I’ll help you drink.” Ravena lifted his head a few inches above the dirt and brought the cup to Tex’s dry lips. Her cool fingers were a reprieve from the fever. After a few swallows, he turned his chin away to indicate he was finished.
His thirst abated, he realized his head and side felt awful. Still, there were questions that needed asking. “How many orphans do you have right now?” he questioned, trying to work up to what he really wanted to find out about her.
“Five.”
“And your husband...” He wasn’t under any illusion that Ravena hadn’t married in his absence. It was only a matter of how much time had passed before she’d met someone else to claim her heart as Tex once had.
Her brow scrunched in confusion. “My husband?”
“Miss Ravena ain’t married,” the taller of the two boys volunteered. The news brought Tex unexplainable relief as did the shade from Ravena’s shadow as she stood over him. It wasn’t as if he’d come here to win her back. He’d slammed that door shut and locked it tight the moment he’d robbed his first bank. Still it pleased him to know no one else had captured her fancy.
Ravena appeared to draw in a steadying breath. “It’s isn’t married, Mark. Not ain’t married.” She glanced at Tex. “And Mark is correct. I’m not married.”
“How’s your grandfather?” Tex managed to ask next, though the pain and the heat were making it harder and harder to think clearly.
“He died three months ago.” Her hair hid her expression as she bent to pick up a gun from off the grass, but her anguished tone told him what her face hadn’t.
Sorrow flooded through Tex at the news. Not just for the loss of an honorable, generous man but for Ravena as well. She’d lost her parents to illness as a young child and now to have both grandparents gone too. Tex remembered a little about her grandmother, but her grandfather had been more of a father to him than his own father. He’d greatly admired Ezra Reid, even when they hadn’t always seen eye to eye. Especially regarding Tex’s ability to properly care for Ravena eight years ago.
“Ah, here’s Jacob.” She took a step away from Tex, allowing the harsh sun to beat down on him again. “He’ll help us get you to the house.”
Between the assistance of Ravena and the dark-haired youth named Jacob, Tex managed to get to his feet. Dizziness made the field seem like it was tipping one way, then the other, and he had to pause before he could start walking. He hated being at the mercy of others, but he had little choice. If he saw a doctor, he’d most likely be arrested, so he’d chosen to manage his gunshot wound himself. He’d done the best he could, and yet, he knew his current illness meant his efforts hadn’t been as effective as he’d hoped. He needed rest and proper care if he wanted to heal.
“We’ll get your horse, mister,” Mark said, his eyes alight with childlike excitement.
“Thank you,” he ground out between clenched teeth. Walking was proving more difficult than riding, even though Ravena and Jacob had him propped between them.
After a few minutes, the younger boys grew tired of Tex’s laborious pace and moved ahead, leading his horse around them and toward the barn while Tex, Ravena and Jacob continued plodding along. Sweat slid down his temples and soaked the back of his shirt. It wasn’t the most attractive way to greet one’s former sweetheart. Ravena seemed to be repressing any further questions, which suited him just fine. If he didn’t pass out before they reached the house, he would consider his first thirty minutes back in her presence a wild success.
“You have some older orphans or a hired hand helping out?” he asked, as much out of curiosity as to keep his mind off the pain radiating from his wound with each step forward. The Reid farm was on the smaller side, but with her grandfather gone, Ravena would still need help.
To his surprise, she shook her head. “Not anymore. The man I hired quit this morning.”
He glanced over in time to catch the worry that flitted over her pretty features. No wonder the field he’d collapsed in hadn’t been fully plowed. “What will you do now?”
He was pushing into her private life, a life he had no business learning more about. But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t like the thought of her in trouble. Or maybe he didn’t like the way it pricked his conscience to know she was completely on her own now.
“I’ll hire someone else.” The determination in her voice might have fooled anyone else, but Tex still knew her well enough to recognize it masked deep fear.
“If there’s anything I can do, Ravena...” He could stick around a little while, once he was well. Take more time to throw Quincy off his trail, since Tex felt certain the rustler wouldn’t think to look for a notorious outlaw in this sleepy little hamlet.
She sucked her breath in sharply. “That won’t be necessary.”
“But, Miss Ravena,” Jacob started to say.
“Mr. Beckett won’t be staying.” Ravena refused to look at Tex as she spoke. “And besides, he isn’t in a position to help with much of anything right now.”
Tex nearly laughed out loud at hearing her call him Mr. Beckett. That respectable-sounding name fit an entirely different person—one who’d stayed put on the farm, married Ravena and raised half a dozen kids along with the orphan children.
No, that name didn’t fit him at all.
The three of them fell into a tense silence, injury and exhaustion robbing Tex of any further energy to speak. By the time they reached the house and he sat on the porch step, he felt more like a quivering mass of dizzying pain than an infamous, and temporarily retired, outlaw.
Ravena sent Jacob to the barn to see after the younger boys before she disappeared into the house, declaring she’d get Tex another drink of water. He leaned against the porch column, his gaze sweeping the familiar surroundings. He’d spent a good portion of each day at the Reids’ farm until he’d left home. Beyond the worn red barn, he noticed a structure he’d never seen before. It appeared to be the outer walls of a house.
Ravena returned and handed him a full cup, then took a seat on the opposite side of the step. She seemed determined to keep her distance.
“Is that a house back there?” Tex asked, pointing in the direction with the cup. He wasn’t sure what else it could be—but he also wasn’t sure why she needed another house.
She followed his gaze. “It will be, when it’s completed. Grandfather started it. It’s twice as large as this one so we...” She lowered chin. “I mean, I...would be able to provide a home for more orphans.”
Tex took a drink from the cup. He admired Ravena’s dedication in continuing her grandfather’s legacy. Any orphans she took in would find a good home at the farm. This place had certainly been his second home. Not only had he been welcomed day or night, but there’d always been someone to play with too.
“What are you doing here, Tex?” Her repeated question scattered his nostalgic thoughts.
“Thought it was time to see the ol’ place again,” he joked.
Her eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Be serious for once.
