made her breathless recital. When Raejean got to the part about a surprise, his gaze shot to her, and she thought she saw both panic and resignation.
“What are you doing back here so soon?” Mrs. Trask said. “I was told you were going into town for sup plies.”
“I got stopped by the police long before I got there and arrested for kidnapping,” Billy said.
“Then why aren’t you in jail?” Mrs. Trask demanded.
Billy’s lips curled. “I showed them my marriage license.”
“Who got kidnapped, Daddy?” Annie asked.
“Nobody, sweetheart,” Billy replied. “It was all a big mistake.”
“Then, can we have our surprise now?” Annie asked.
He knelt down and set them back on their feet. Keeping an arm around each of them, he said, “The surprise is that you have a new mother.”
Annie’s brow furrowed. “A new mother?”
Raejean frowned. “Our mother is in heaven.”
“I know that,” Billy said in a sandpaper-rough voice that made Cherry’s throat swell with emotion. “I’ve married someone else who’s going to be your mother from now on.”
Raejean and Annie looked at each other, then turned as one to stare with shocked, suspicious eyes at Cherry.
Raejean’s head shot around to confront her father. “Her?”
Billy nodded.
Raejean jerked free and shouted, “I don’t want another mother! Make her go away!” Then she ran from the room.
Annie’s eyes had filled with tears and one spilled over as she stared at Raejean’s fleeing form. Cherry willed the softhearted child to accept her, but Annie paused only another moment before she turned and ran after her sister.
Cherry met Billy’s stricken gaze. She felt sick to her stomach. The two charming and innocent little girls she had married Billy to save from harm, didn’t want anything to do with her.
“You’re a fool, Billy,” Mrs. Trask said, grabbing her purse from the kitchen counter. “I don’t know what you hoped to accomplish with this charade, but it won’t work. I’m more convinced than ever that my grandchildren belong with me.” She gave Cherry a look down her nose. “I’ll see you both in court.”
She made a grand exit through the doorway that led to the front of the house. Cherry and Billy stood unmoving until they heard the front door slam behind her.
“She’s right,” Billy said. “I always intend to do the right thing, but somehow it turns out wrong.”
“This wasn’t wrong, Billy. If I hadn’t gotten here when I did, Mrs. Trask would have taken the children and been gone before you returned. At least Raejean and Annie are still here.”
“And angry and unhappy.”
“We can change that with time.”
“I hope so. It won’t help much to argue in court that I’ve got a wife to take care of my children, if my children hate her guts.”
“We have a more immediate problem,” Cherry said.
“What’s that?”
“Zach Whitelaw.”
“What about him?”
“He’s going to kill you on sight.”
Billy gave a relieved laugh. “Is that all? I thought it was something serious.”
“Don’t joke,” Cherry said. “This is serious. Three years ago a boy tried to force himself on Jewel at a Fourth of July picnic. I’ll never forget the look in Zach’s eyes when Jewel stood crying in his arms, her face bruised and her dress torn. He took a horsewhip to the boy and nearly flayed him alive. Both families kept it quiet, but you know how that sort of thing gets around. None of us girls has ever had any problems with boys since then.
“That’s why it surprised me when Ray… If Ray hadn’t been drunk, he would never have done what he did.”
“And we wouldn’t be where we are today,” Billy said. “I won’t let any man whip me, Cherry. If your father tries—”
“I’m only telling you all this so you’ll understand why I have to go home and explain all of this to him by myself. Once he understands I was willing and—”
Billy shook his head. “We go together, or you don’t go at all.”
“Zach’s going to be furious with me.”
“All the more reason for us to go together. You may have been his daughter yesterday, but you’re my wife today. No man is going to threaten my wife. Not even her father.”
Cherry stared wide-eyed at Billy. She supposed she should have told him that no matter how angry Zach got with her, he would never raise a hand to her. In the past she had been sent to her room without supper, or been forced to spend a day alone thinking about the wisdom of a course of action. But the Whitelaws had always used reason, rather than force, to teach their children right from wrong.
Billy wouldn’t have to defend her, but she reveled in the thought that he was willing to do so. Of more concern to her was the possibility that the two men might provoke one another to violence. She already knew that Billy liked to fight. Zach would be more than willing to give him one.
“I’ll let you come with me on one condition,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“We bring the girls with us.”
Billy frowned. “What purpose would that serve?”
“Zach won’t be able to fight with you—or yell at me—if he’s busy meeting his new grandchildren.”
“Raejean and Annie don’t even like you. What makes you think they’ll take to your father?”
“Trust me. Zach Whitelaw could sell snow in Alaska. He’ll have Raejean and Annie eating out of his hand in no time. Besides, we have no choice but to take them with us. Mrs. Motherwell is gone.”
“I forgot about that,” Billy said as he headed toward the door that led upstairs. “Damn. All right. Let me go get them. We might as well get this meeting over with.”
“Billy,” Cherry called after him. When he stopped and turned to her, she said, “We can still call the whole thing off.”
He walked the few steps back to her and lifted her chin with his finger. “Buck up, kid. You’re doing great.”
Cherry felt tears prickle her eyes and blinked to keep them from forming.
Billy leaned down and kissed her mouth. His touch was gentle, intended to comfort. “I’m sorry, Cherry. I
