Chapter Twelve
From where Victoria stood next to the house she could see Nick, McColl and William working together. The other children had gone with Jarrod, Georgia and little Zebulon into town. Jarrod planned on putting the children on a train, under the supervision of a couple from the church. Arrangements had been made for their future care at an orphanage in San Francisco. Victoria couldn't help but smile as she heard William let out a squeal of delight when McColl and Nick allowed him to ride one of the horses around in the coral. She had wondered how loud that squeal would get when he found out that McColl and her middle son had bought the horse specifically thinking about him. It was a question that was answered the moment the child dismounted and Nick opened the corral gate, leading the horse away once he shut the gate back up.
"Are you serious?" William looked up at McColl who was smiling down at him. "He's going to be mine?"
"As long as you are on this ranch it will be yours. When we contact your relatives, you can still use him when you visit." 'If you visit' were words McColl made himself not speak. The young boy had already wrapped himself around McColl's heart and he didn't like to think about life without William in it.
"Thank you!" William let out an even louder squeal and threw his short arms around McColl as much as he could. By the time, he let go of MCcoll, Victoria was standing next to the fence. William excused himself as he climbed over the fence and ran towards the stable and to his horse. Both McColl and Victoria starting laughing when they heard a third squeal and Nick bellowing that he didn't know he had competition when it came to the volume of his voice.
"You've made that little boy very happy." Victoria said as McColl opened the gate to the corral and then shut it once he was out.
"Every boy needs a horse." McColl answered as he leaned up against the fence, not saying another word as he waited for Victoria to tell him what she needed. And, she did need something. He could see it in the way she stood and by the look in her eyes.
"I wanted to thank you." Victoria finally spoke as she leaned forward and rested her arms on the top of the fence.
"Thank me?" McColl's turned down eyebrows and slight frown, along with his question, showed he was clueless as to why Victoria should feel the need to thank him for anything.
"I was at the top of the stairs when you had your talk with the boys." Victoria explained. "I realized then that you've always been there for me, for us. And," she gave him a soft, warning, glare, "Don't tell me you were only doing your job. We both know better than that." She went onto to mention a number of instances where he'd stepped in to help, not only when Tom had been away on business, but when he was too sick to do things around the ranch or with the family. "There were people that insisted on gossip back then, but I could still hold my head up high knowing they were dead wrong when it came to your intentions." Victoria finished and turned her eyes towards the empty corral.
McColl shrugged his shoulders and turned himself around, leaning against the fence in the same manner as Victoria was. "You and Tom were my bosses and my friends, Victoria. I simply treated both of you as such."
A few birds flew overheard and let out an occasional 'caw' while a soft breeze began blowing through the air. "When did it change? I mean," Victoria said as she looked up at the birds flying over head, "When did things between us change?"
McColl was surprised to hear a sound similar to a frightened young school girl in Victoria's voice. Then again, maybe he wasn't. It had been more than a couple of years since Tom had been killed, many more since she'd been seriously courted. He looked around the ranch remembering his late wife and how he'd felt when he realized he was developing feelings for Victoria. "Well, I can't speak for you only, when it comes to me," McColl finally answered as he took a hold of Victoria's shoulders and turned her to face him, "I remember the day Jarrod left for Colorado. You were doing all you could not to show just how nervous you were." He chuckled as he thought on that day. "You came out to the stables; you'd decided to go on a ride, to clear your mind as it were. Do you remember what happened?" He continued to softly chuckle, especially when Victoria remembered and her eyes widened.
"I wasn't looking where I was going and wound up in a pile of hay, and all you could do was laugh!" Victoria shook her finger at him, the whole time her eyes were laughing, as a grin as wide as the Mississippi spread across her face.
` "I…I couldn't help it!" McColl started laughing again as he remembered the sight. "You were covered from head to toe with hay. I'd seen hay on you before, mind you, but nothing like that." He stopped laughing as he grew serious. "It was all I could do to simply help you stand up and brush off. Not easy to do," He said as he found himself pulling Victoria to him, "when all I wanted to do was hold you in my arms."
"Why didn't you?" Victoria asked, curious as to why the man who she'd grown to know could be extremely bold, both in actions and words, if he wanted to be.
"You were my boss' mother and," McColl chuckled, "I could just see Nick walking in, catching us, and firing me for having the nerve to touch his mother. Besides, you are a real lady and I was simply a dusty, middle aged cowboy. Guess William's aunt should have come out for a visit and had a talk with me." He then lowered his head and whispered in her ear, "I might have taken the chance if someone had." Before either one was hardly aware of it, McColl was holding her closer and kissing her once more.
"If those two keep it up," Georgia, who was visiting Audra while their sons played together, said as she looked out the window, "I'd say you're going to be getting a stepfather someday."
Audra sighed as Carl's loss hit home once more, and she had to fight the childish jealousy that tried to rise up inside her. Oh not jealousy when it came to McColl himself; no, just simply jealous over the fact that her mother appeared to have someone and she, Audra, didn't. "I'll admit, she's been alone long enough, and Duke McColl is one of the best men we've ever known." She turned away from the window and walked back over to the couch leaving Georgia, a diehard romantic, gazing out the window hoping for the best for her mother-in-law…..while trying to keep back that the fear that the men looking for William would find him before the law found them.
