Chapter Ten

"I think she's waking up," Brad's sister-in-law, Colleen whispered. "What's she saying?"

Brad leaned over Libby to try and catch her words. "It sounds like she's saying everything will be all right." He pressed a hand to her forehead and turned to his sister-in-law. "She feels cooler, now. I'm not sure what Cora and I would have done if you and Caleb hadn't shown up when you did."

"Well, you know Caleb and his intuitions. If he says something is wrong with you, then we all fly over here to help. He hasn't been wrong, yet. Has he?"

Brad chuckled. "No, he hasn't." He walked over the window and looked out at his holdings while Colleen rocked and nursed Lucy. Even though he didn't know much about such things, he was glad Cora had come up with the idea of Colleen taking care of Lucy while Libby had been sleeping, or whatever she was doing, for the past two days. Evidently, Colleen had recently weaned her youngest but still had milk. Lucy had kept crying in hunger and the cloths dipped in sugar water Cora tried getting the baby to suck on didn't satisfy her. Luckily, she had taken to Colleen.

Colleen interrupted his thoughts. "Where's Caleb, now?"

Brad pulled aside the lace curtains. "He's outside with your brood and Charlie. They're playing some sort of game. Charlie has a rock he's trying to hit with a piece of wood."

"Where do you think they're from?"

Brad shrugged. "I don't know. The young one asks some mighty strange questions and uses words I never heard of."

"I know what you mean." Colleen chuckled. "Caleb says the same thing about the boy. He sure is cute, though. It's too bad about his father."

Brad left the window and sat on a chair next to Colleen. He thought he probably should be embarrassed having her nurse in front of him, but he'd seen it so many times, he was used to it. Besides, she was so discreet, he never could tell if she was feeding her babies or cuddling them. "I wish we could have waited to bury Libby's husband, but it was getting too hot. She's going to be mighty upset when she wakes."

"I wonder what happened."

Brad rolled his neck to release some of the tension of the past few days. "Cora says she came in here with Charlie to let him visit her. Libby was sitting in the rocker staring into space, mumbling something about it not being 1870. Earlier, when I had talked to her she questioned the year. She seemed to think it was some other year."

"I hope losing her husband and having the baby early didn't do something to her mind."

Brad rested his elbows on his knees, hung his head, and ran his fingers through his hair. "We'll have to see when she wakes."

The pair sat in companionable silence. Brad enjoyed being with Colleen. She didn't talk just to hear herself. When he needed someone to unburden himself and Caleb wasn't available, Colleen always filled in. She loved his brother to distraction making her a saint in his mind. Once he made the comment to her and she smacked him on the head with a wooden spoon. The idea only a saint could love Caleb sent her into a tizzy. Actually, it is what he thought, but now he kept it to himself.

Colleen broke the silence with a giggle. "Did you really deliver this baby?"

Brad grinned, making the scar on his face stretch and whiten. "Sure did, and I was scared to death."

****

A blush crept up Brad's neck and onto his face. He was such a handsome man. Even with the scar. Of course, in her mind, he was nearly as handsome as her Caleb. Both brothers were tall, well over six feet. Where Caleb had picked up their mother's red hair and finer features, Brad had taken after their father; thick, black hair, broad shoulders, and slim waist. Both had eyes the color of a clear summer sky. The best part about both men, though, was their generosity and kindness.

Why couldn't some woman see those qualities in Brad as Lucinda had? Looks weren't everything. Neither was money. Something both brothers had in abundance. As she switched Lucy to her other side, she thought of Belinda Castlewood.

The little hussy! Now, now, Colleen. Be a Christian. Belinda tries hard. Yeah, tries hard to capture Brad, even though she can't stand even touching him since he scarred himself. All she wants is his money and this farm back.

"Over my dead body!" she accidentally said out loud.

"What did you say?" Brad asked.

"Oh, nothing. I was thinking about Belinda. Have you heard from her lately?"

Brad let out a derisive laugh. "You know how word travels around this area. Somehow, she found out I have a woman staying here. I got a note from her asking if she could come out and visit. It said something to the effect that someone needed to protect the character of a woman alone staying in a bachelor's house. What a joke!"

"She's checking up on what she probably considers competition." Colleen let out an unladylike snort.

"And wants to make sure that, even though she flinches when she touches this scarred person, she is still able to get her clutches in me."

"Yes, well, some people think because you wear your awful mask, you're deranged, out to beat and maul people. I would love to see her reaction if you were ever to start taking it off." Colleen shook her head.

"It's something to consider the next time I need to get rid of her," Brad laughed back. "I'll let out a low growl and slowly start to peel this thing off."

Lucy's mouth popped off Colleen's breast when Colleen giggled. "I can just see her pulling out her hair as she runs screaming from the room."

Colleen carried Lucy around the bed and put her in the cradle. She stood next to the bed and watched Libby's slow breathing. "What are you going to do with her?"

Brad sighed. "I don't know. She won't be fit for traveling for a while, and with the strange things she talks about, I think she lives too far to contact her family. Hell, I don't even know where her family is from. She says Wisconsin, but people from Wisconsin don't talk like her and Charlie."

Colleen had a premonition, not unlike what her husband, Caleb, said he sometimes feels. Her eyes twinkled as she looked at Brad. "Maybe you should keep her."