Page 79 of Texas Splendor
Cameron gulped on the black brew and passed it back. “She wrote you some letters. Couldn’t bring herself to address them to you in prison, though. She couldn’t stand to think of you being there so she just put them in the box so they’d be waiting for you when you got home.”
Austin cut his blue-eyed glare over to Cameron. “One of those letters tell me how she fell in love with you?”
“I doubt it … since she never fell in love with me.” He watched Cameron swallow. “We’d been married a little over eight months when Drew was born.”
“Babies come early.”
“He didn’t. My pa was dying. He asked to see me. I always had the feeling he didn’t like me much. Never knew why, but he didn’t want to die without telling me that I didn’t come from his loins. It took him six years to realize my mother had fallen in love with the foreman. His name was Joe Armstrong. My pa—I can’t stop thinking of him as my pa—said he shot Joe Armstrong through the heart and buried him where no one would ever find him.”
“You believe him?”
Cameron nodded. “Yeah. Dee remembered the foreman. Said I’d always reminded her of him, but she was so innocent she never put things together.”
“And when you found out the truth, you turned to Becky.”
Cameron gave him a jerky nod. “Her pa had died a few months before so I guess she knew how I was grieving. I’d loved her forever, but I didn’t mean for things to turn out the way they did.” He planted his elbows on his thighs and buried his face in his hands. “Christ, I never wanted her tohaveto marry me.”
Austin looked toward the golden light sweeping across the horizon—as brilliant a hue as Loree’s eyes. He wondered if she was awake yet. It was past time for her to join him on the porch. Lord, he missed her.
“Drew seems like a good kid,” he said quietly.
Cameron’s head came up. “Oh, he’s great. And Becky adores him. I was afraid she might resent him—like my pa resented me—but she doesn’t. She loves him with all her heart.”
“She loves you, too, Cameron.” The words cut deeply, lancing the wound that had been left to fester too long.
Doubt plunged into Cameron’s eyes. “You’re just saying that.”
“Why in the hell would I tell you that if it weren’t true? Don’t you think it would ease my pride to think she still loved me?”
“I haven’t touched her since you got out of prison. I was afraid … afraid she’d wish it was you. I couldn’t stand the thought that maybe she was thinking of you while I was loving her.”
Austin tossed the remaining coffee over the cold ground. He’d made Loree a promise and suddenly, it didn’t seem as though it would be difficult to keep. Whatever he and Becky had once had … was nothing more than a distant memory.
“A blind fool could see that she loves you more than she ever loved me. Why in the hell do you think I’ve been so angry all these months? Not because she married you. But because she didn’t love me as much as she loves you.”
“Yeah?”
Austin gave a brisk nod. “Yeah.” He studied Cameron a minute. “You said your pa killed your real father?”
Cameron gave a slow hesitant nod. “Hard to believe I lived with a murderer all those years and never knew it.”
“You think there’s a chance he might have killed Boyd?”
“It occurred to me, more than once, but why would he have killed Boyd? Boyd could do no wrong as far as he was concerned.”
Austin heaved a deep sigh. “Damn. Wish I knew who killed him. I don’t like having this guilty verdict hanging over my head.”
“Doesn’t seem to bother Loree.”
“Loree looks at the world differently than most people. Someone murdered her family, but she somehow managed to hold onto a portion of her innocence. I’m afraid if we stay here … if she hears too many people whispering about me, speculating on who I might murder next … that she’ll lose that little bit of innocence.”
“You thinking of leaving?”
Austin shrugged. “I don’t know where we’d go or what I’d do so probably not, but I think about it sometimes. Houston told me once that when a man loves a woman, he does what’s best for her, no matter what the cost to himself. I’d pay any price to see Loree happy.”
“She seems happy enough.”
“I think I can make her happier. I know I can. Houston told me that he thought he might have fallen in love with Amelia the minute he saw her. I didn’t feel that way with Loree, but when she stepped out of that house, I felt as though … I’d come home.”
