Wyoming True - Diana Palmer Page 0,58
right leg where the femur was broken. At least it doesn’t show. Not that I’m vain about it,” she added. “I’ve had a bait of men. I never want anything physical, ever again.”
“I can’t blame you for feeling that way,” Maude said. “But didn’t you want children?”
“I would have loved having them with my first husband.” She laughed. “He was overweight and balding and a little slow. I loved him with all my heart. His children would have been like him, gentle and sweet and kind...” She fought tears and brought the coffee cup to her mouth. “I still miss him, after all this time.”
“It just goes to show that looks don’t matter much, if you love someone,” Maude said gently. “The boss said your ex-husband abused your animals.”
Ida drew in a breath. “Yes. I can’t prove it, but I know he was responsible. He even made threats. My poor horses. Poor Butler...” She hesitated. “Mrs. Barton, Jake says you like cats?” she added.
“Well, yes. I have several at home,” she said, puzzled by the question.
Ida grimaced. “Mr. McGuire wants us to get married...”
Maude actually smiled. “Hallelujah!” she said. “About time he stopped mooning around here miserable because Mina wouldn’t marry him.”
“It’s not going to be that sort of marriage,” Ida began. “We like each other, and we like the same things,” she added. “He said we had enough in common that we could make a good marriage without the drama.”
Maude chuckled. “The drama is what makes a marriage. My husband and I used to have little spats when we first got married. Oh, the making up! What fun!”
“I don’t really think Jake is going to want that.”
“Well, you never know, do you? Why do you want to know if I like cats?”
“Because if we live here, and I guess we will, Butler will come with me.”
“He won’t bother me,” Maude assured her. “I’ve had cats all my life. Three of them pile into the bed with my husband and me at night. They’ve all got Maine coon in their ancestry, so they’re huge. My male, Calipher, weighs almost twenty pounds, and he’s just a baby!”
“Maine coon?” Ida asked, curious.
“It’s an expensive breed of cat, if they’re purebred. They were named for Captain Coon, who sailed to New England in the early eighteen hundreds. Apparently, there were Persian cats on board his ship who got loose and, legend says, bred with lynxes in the wild.”
“What a fascinating story!”
“You might want to get one to keep your cat company,” Maude suggested. “If you ever do, I know a good breeder who lives right here in town.”
“Did you get yours from her?”
“Lord, no,” Maude laughed. “They’re horribly expensive. I got mine because one of Jessie’s tomcats got loose and had a bit of fun with a neighbor’s Persian female. Jessie sent me to the Persian cat lady.”
“She sounds very nice.”
“She is. Most of the people around Catelow are. You know that. You were born here, weren’t you?”
“Oh, yes. I was away for a long time. But it was nice to come home. Or it would have been, except for Bailey trying to force me to pay off his gambling debts.”
“You’ve had a hard time of it. But there are always rewards for living through hard times.”
Ida beamed. “I’ve noticed that.”
“You’ll be happy with Mr. McGuire,” Maude said. “He’s easygoing and he never fusses. Well, he can raise the roof when he loses his temper, and his language gets a bit rough around the men if they do things he doesn’t like. But he’s mostly pleasant.”
Ida, who’d never seen him in a temper, grew a little worried. Surely, he wouldn’t be like Bailey, who was dangerous when he blew up!
She had to stop worrying, she told herself. It wouldn’t change a thing. She could back out of the marriage, but she didn’t really want to. She was drawn to Jake, loved being with him. She didn’t have the strength to refuse. But she was wary of the future. If he’d never loved before Mina, then he might be a man who was only capable of loving once. The thought was so disheartening that she fought tears. She hid them in good humor and asked Maude about her cats. That was good for ten minutes.
* * *
JAKE CAME HOME SMILING. “All done,” he told her as she sat knitting in a chair in the living room. His eyebrows arched. “I didn’t know you could knit.”
She smiled. “It gives me something to do with my