“Please, sit here,” Josie said, standing behind an empty chair.
“Thank you, ma’am.” He stood behind the chair she indicated, but waited until she sat to take his own seat.
Sam sat at the head of the table, his wife at his right and Mrs. Jackson on his left, putting Rhys directly across from Gabe. Josie was on Gabe’s right.
Sam continued with introductions, and Gabe learned the twin to his left was John. Beside John sat their nanny, Miss Tyler, and then Peter. Phillip sat at the foot of the table, and along the other side were Abigail, Anna and beside Rhys, Elisabeth.
As the food was passed and he helped himself, he considered the seating arrangement. Were Elisabeth and Rhys courting? He couldn’t picture her accompanying him for a buggy ride or a picnic, but then maybe it was only Gabe she behaved so poorly toward. He made a point to pay close attention to her interaction with the others.
She chatted with Anna on her right, and Anna told her about a dress one of her classmates had worn that day. Elisabeth lent her undivided attention to the description.
“We might want to spend a few days in Denver,” Elisabeth suggested. “That shop where we found the periwinkle gabardine might have a similar lace.”
She appeared sincerely interested in helping her sister create a dress like her friend’s.
There was a loud rasp, like the turn of a doorbell, and Elisabeth stood, holding out her hand as though to stop Josie from standing. She dropped her napkin on the seat of her chair, reminding him he hadn’t even unfolded his. “I’ll get it,” she said.
Gabe opened his napkin discreetly.
“Where are you from?” Josie asked from beside him.
“Born in Illinois,” he replied.
“I’m from Nebraska. Sam found me there and brought me to Colorado.”
“A divine appointment to be sure,” Sam said with a fond smile directed at his wife.
Elisabeth returned. “It’s a telegram for Mr. Taggart.” She handed him the folded and sealed paper and went back to her seat.
Uncertain what to expect, Gabe opened the telegram. His examination shot directly to the sender. Irene Taggart.
Tired of waiting STOP Will arrive on the tenth STOP Cannot wait to see you STOP.
His food rested uncomfortably in his belly. He hadn’t told his sister he’d been shot. The last time he’d contacted her he’d told her his arrival date in Jackson Springs and assured her he’d send for her when he had a home ready.
He didn’t have a home ready.
“Bad news?” Sam asked, and Gabe realized everyone’s attention had focused on him and the piece of paper he held.
“No. No, it’s good news, actually.” He folded the telegram and tucked it into his shirt pocket. “My sister will be arriving sooner than I’d expected.”
“You have a sister?” Elisabeth asked, the first time she’d spoken to him since he’d entered the dining room.
“Is that so hard to believe?”
Sam looked at his daughter, and she attempted to cover her surprise. “I just never pictured you with a family.”
“I wasn’t hatched.”
An uncomfortable silence settled on the gathering until Josie interrupted it with, “Do you have family other than your sister?”
“My folks died a long time ago,” he answered. “Irene’s been at boarding school in Chicago.”
“How old is she?” Anna asked.
He thought a second. “Must be she’s nineteen now.”
The news that Gabe Taggart had a sister shouldn’t have surprised Elisabeth, but it did. People weren’t born in a vacuum, but if she’d been going to imagine his family, she’d have thought up scruffy-bearded brothers, not a sister at a boarding school.
“I own land nearby,” he said, as though offering an explanation to the others. “I’d planned to have looked it over by now and started building a house, so I’m behind.”
Rhys focused his attention on the other man. “Where is this land of yours?”
“From what I can tell, the piece is northwest of here,” Gabe replied, then shrugged. “Doc won’t let me ride, so I haven’t seen it.”
“Do you think you could tolerate a buggy ride?” Sam asked. “We could go look at it tomorrow.”
Gabe smiled, his teeth white. “I’d be obliged, Reverend.”
“Your sister is welcome to stay here with us,” Josie offered.
Elisabeth couldn’t quite pinpoint the look that crossed his features. He studied Josie for a moment before speaking. “That’s generous of you, ma’am, but I’ve got a place for us to stay until I build a house.”
“Oh, really?” Beatrice entered the conversation for the first time. “And where will that be?”
“Seems it’s nearby from what Elisabeth tells me.” He tore his gaze from Josie to glance at the older woman.
“The parsonage,” Elisabeth explained. “Mr. Taggart has rented it.”
“Well, that is close by,” Josie said. “You’ll be able to join us for dinner at least once a week, and I won’t hear any different.”
“I can’t argue with an invitation like that.” The smile he gave Elisabeth’s stepmother softened his features. His green eyes actually sparkled with appreciation. Elisabeth experienced an odd feeling, like the falling sensation in a dream, and placed both hands on the tabletop to steady herself.
“This is the best meal I’ve eaten in months,” Gabe said. “The Hart females sure know their way around a kitchen.”
“I made rice pudding,” Abigail added, quickly vying for his attention.
He raised his eyebrows in surprise and appreciation.
“It’s still warm.” Abigail glanced at her stepmother. “May I serve it now?”
“Just as soon as we clear away a few dishes,” Josie replied.
Elisabeth slid out her chair with the backs of her knees and stood. “Abigail and I will clear the dishes. You stay seated.”
Kalli got up. “I’ll help.”
In the kitchen, Abigail said to Kalli, “Mr. Taggart is handsome, don’t you think?”
Kalli blushed. “Indeed,” she agreed. “It’s not fair that a man has eyelashes like that.”
Elisabeth scraped plates and rinsed them in the pail in the sink before stacking them. Handsome? She supposed if he’d ever done anything but scowl at her, she’d have a different opinion of the man, but he hadn’t smiled at her like he’d smiled at the others this evening. Not that she’d wanted him to. She’d never have imagined her stepmother and siblings to be so easily fooled.
On her next trip for more dishes, she deliberately looked at his eyelashes. He caught her stare, and she turned away in discomfit.
Abigail carried her bowl of steaming cinnamon-scented rice pudding to the table and Elisabeth placed a stack of painted china jelly dishes beside it. Abigail sat, so Elisabeth spooned pudding and carried the bowls around the table, placing them in front of the diners. When she reached Gabe, she stood as far away as possible and leaned in to set the dish before him.
He turned a curious glance upward. “Thank you.”
“We don’t need any bridges.”
Elisabeth glanced up to discover Rhys speaking to Gabe.