Free This Loving Land by Dorothy Garlock Page B

think he thought J.R. would come back for Nannie. Maybe he thought he would marry her himself.” Her eyes danced with mischief. “That Sam was a true Scotsman!”
    The hint that Sam would have married her mother for her land didn’t go down well with Summer, but she kept her eyes on the distant hills and never allowed her feelings to show.
    “And you, Ellen,” she asked, “have you been widowed long?”
    Her eyes took on a sad, faraway look again. “Travis was just a little boy when Scott died. We stayed at the ranch for a few years, then went to Nacogdoches, where my people lived. We came back about twelve years ago and brought Jesse with us. It was about time, too. The man I trusted to manage the ranch had about stolen us blind. I do declare, you never know whom to trust. Jesse took things in hand. You know, I have the finest house in west Texas if 1 do say so myself. Do come and stay as long as you like, Summer. What good is having a fine house if you can’t show it off?” She laughed and held her hands over her ears in mock dismay. “What must you think of me?” she wailed.
    “I think you’re a very nice lady, who is proud of her home.”
    “Oh, Summer. I want us to be friends.”
    “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be.” Summer’s eyes found her young brother and she called to him. “I want you to meet my brother, Ellen.”
    Summer saw no more of Travis until the evening meal. He came in with Jesse. The two men stood side by side waiting for the meal to be placed on the table. How alike they were, and yet so different. Both were tall, lean and brown. One smiled easily, the other seldom, if at all. Travis was politeness itself. Gone was the lecherous image he projected earlier, and in its place a boyish friendliness. Summer privately conceded that her opinion of him could have been colored by Slater’s bitter warning.
    Sadie appeared when the meal was over, and Summer assisted with the clean-up. Sadie was unusually cross with Mary, and the little girl finally went to the bunk in the back of the kitchen and lay, sucking her thumb, watching with large, round eyes. Ellen was distantly polite to Sadie, and ignored the little girl completely. It was with relief that Summer invited Ellen to the veranda when the work was finished.
    As soon as the two women left the room, Sadie went to the washstand and bathed her flushed face. It was a struggle to crush the feeling of apprehension that stirred restlessly when in the presence of Ellen McLean and her son. Son-of-a-bitch! A mule’s ass of the first string; a spoiled, conceited bastard, whose sexual urges ran to cruelties and perversions. The women in Hamilton had told her plenty about him. Even the whores refused his money unless they were desperate for cash. Her heart had come up in her throat when she first saw him, and the nightmare of his near-rape came bounding back to set her atremble. Only her screams had brought help. Just before his fist had smashed into her face, she had seen the tall dark foreman, his face frozen with anger, trying to jerk him off her. Today, the man acted as if he didn’t remember her, but Travis had recognized her instantly. He had appeared once this afternoon and leaned briefly in the doorway of the kitchen eyeing her insolently, as if daring her to betray him.
    Angry with herself for being so cross with Mary, she went to her and gathered her up in her arms.
    “Mama’s sorry, sweet baby,” she crooned. “Mama’s sorry she was cross. I tell you what we’ll do. We’ll go down to the swing. Would you like that?”
    The little face broke into smiles. “Swing, swing!”
    It was twilight when they walked hand in hand out the back door. Down by the creek, Sadie could see the fire from the temporary camp set up by Mrs. McLean’s drovers. Several riders from the other ranch splashed across the creek to join them, and from the shouted greetings it was obvious the groups were friendly. Sadie and Mary turned toward the