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the truth.
"Maybe I'll go," Barrie said.
"Maybe you should," Antonia agreed, and shortly afterward, she hung up,
giving Barrie plenty to think about.
Powell came to find her after she'd gotten off the phone, smiling at her
warmly. "You look pretty in pink," he remarked.
She smiled back. "Thanks."
He sat down beside her on the sofa and pulled her close. "What's wrong?"
"The widow Holton is giving Dawson a hard time."
"Good," Powell said.
She glared at him. "You might have the decency to feel sorry for the poor
man. You were her target once, I believe."
"Until you stepped in and saved me, you sweet woman," he replied, and
bent to kiss her warmly.
"There isn't anybody to save Dawson unless Barrie will."
"He can fight his own dragons. Or should I say dragonettes?" he mused
thoughtfully.
"Aren't you still after that strip of land, too?"
"Oh, I gave up on it when we got married," he said easily. "I had an idea
that she wanted more than money for it, and you were jealous enough of her
already."
"I like that!" she muttered.
"You never had anything to worry about," he said. "She wasn't my type. But,
I had an idea she'd make mischief if I kept trying to get those few acres, so I let
the idea go. And I'll tell you something else," he added with a chuckle. "I
don't think Dawson Rutherford's going to get that strip, either. She may
string him along to see if she can get him interested in a more permanent
arrangement, but unless he wants to propose. .."
"Maybe he does," she said.
He shook his head. "I don't like him," he said, "but he's not a fool. She
isn't his type of woman. She likes to give orders, not take them. He's too
strong willed to suit her for long. More than likely, it's because she can't get
him that she wants him."
"I hope so," she replied. "I'd hate to see him trapped into marriage. I think
Barrie cares a lot more for him than she'll admit."
He drew her close. "They'll work out their own problems. Do you realize
how this household has changed since you married me?"
She smiled. "Yes. Maggie is a whole new person."
"So am I. So are you. So is your father and Mrs. Bates," he added. "And
now we've got a baby on the way as well, and Maggie's actually looking forward
to it. I tell you, we've got the world."
She nestled close to him and closed her eyes. "The whole world," she agreed
huskily.
Seven months later, Nelson Charles Long was born in the Bighorn
community hospital. It had been a quick, easy birth, and Powell had been
with Antonia every step of the way. Maggie was allowed in with her dad to see
the baby while Antonia fed him.
"He looks like you, Dad," Maggie said.
"He looks like Antonia," he protested. "You look like me," he added.
Maggie beamed. There was a whole new relationship between Maggie and
her father. She wasn't threatened by the baby at all, not when she was so well
loved by both parents. The cold, empty past was truly behind her now, just as
it had finally been laid to rest by her parents.
Antonia had asked Powell finally what Sally had written in the letter she'd
sent back, so many years ago. Sally had told him very little about it, he
recalled, except he recalled one line she'd quoted from some author he
couldn't quite remember: Take what you want, says God, and pay for it. The
letter was to the effect that Sally had discovered the painful truth of that old
proverb, and she was sorry.
Too late, of course. Much too late.
Sally had been forgiven, and the joy Antonia felt with Powell and Maggie
grew by the day. She, too, had learned a hard lesson from the experience, that
one had to stand and fight sometimes. She would teach that lesson to Maggie,
she thought as she looked adoringly up at her proud husband; and to the
child she held in her arms.
Don't miss Barrie and Dawson's compelling
romance in MAN OF ICE by .
It's coming your way in May 1996 Silhouette
Desire's 1000th book!
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