within five feet of her. It was simply an accident.”
Lewt considered telling Boyd that he was right—it was all his fault and maybe now would be a good time for him to leave. But the man looked too miserable to torment.
Boyd continued to storm. “If I hurt Emily, Rose is probably never going to speak to me again, much less marry me.”
“Probably not,” Lewt agreed. Both the reverend and Davis frowned at him. “I mean, if she thought it was your fault.”
Davis sat down by Reverend Watson and spooned himself a few dips of the pie, offered the reverend some more, and then silently they nodded, agreeing to split it. Davis spoke his thoughts as he spooned out his share. “I hope she’s fine, but I have to tell you, it sure did feel good the way Beth cried on my shoulder when we got back here. I don’t mind that at all.”
Lewt frowned. “Maybe we should clobber another one of the sisters so Bethie could run into your arms. We could bonk Rose on the head a few times if you think it would help your courting, Davis.”
For a moment all three men looked at him as if he’d gone mad. Then they laughed.
Lewt didn’t have the heart to tell them that he was only half kidding. He’d learned a great deal in the past few minutes. Apparently, Boyd had set his cap for Rose, and Davis was falling hard for the youngest, Bethie. That left him with Emily, the broken one.
Suddenly, Lewt moved to a whole new level of worry about her. As he ate half of the second pie, he worried about something else. What if Sumner was right and she was playing the injured card for attention? He didn’t like the idea of anyone manipulating him, and he wasn’t sure he could marry a woman, even a rich one, who acted like she was hurt when she wasn’t.
Mrs. Watson came into the kitchen, took one look at the empty pie pans, and glared at her husband.
“How’s the girl?” the reverend asked before she could start on him. “We’ve been in here praying for her speedy recovery.”
Lewt tilted his head for a better look at Watson. Apparently, lying was rampant on the ranch. He needed to get back to the saloon, where he expected everyone to be making up stuff.
“The doc says she didn’t break her leg, but he wants her to take it easy. No dancing at the upcoming party. As for her rib, he wrapped it and said she may have cracked a bone. There’s no way of telling. He says in a week or so, she should be fine.”
“Praise the Lord. Our prayers have been answered.”
Mrs. Watson scowled down at the empty pie pans. “The doctor invited himself to dinner, and now I don’t have enough pie to go around.”
Lewt figured that in Mrs. Watson’s world, broken bones and missing pie weighed about the same on the worry scale. All the men promised not to eat pie, but it didn’t seem to make her any happier.
Lewt slipped from the kitchen and went back into the great room hoping to get a look at Em, but she’d already gone and the girls were all talking at once about how happy they were that Emily had survived a near-death experience.
He told Emily that he was glad she was doing well and promised to carry her around for the rest of the week.
She smiled and told him she already had two offers for the job.
An hour later they all gathered around the big table for a late dinner. Emily’s adventure was told over and over, everyone adding more details that no one else observed. Rose swore she saw a snake just before the horse bolted, and everyone quickly agreed that no one, not even Boyd, could have held the horse if a snake was threateningly near.
Lewt was amazed at the way they let the rancher off the hook. He also didn’t miss the moment when Bethie described how terrified she had been. Davis covered her hand, patting it gently as if reassuring a child. Lewt doubted that a woman who’d been raised on a horse ranch would terrify so easily.
Halfway through the meal, he found himself missing Em. She’d rushed back to the house when she thought her friend was hurt, and then she’d met with the sisters, but she hadn’t stayed for dinner. From all he could see, Em pretty much ran the ranch by herself.