Page 17 of Texas Glory
Dallas lifted a brow.
Reverend Tucker blushed. “I used to have an interest in names and their meanings. Maybe she’ll become your jewel of the prairie.”
“She’s pretty enough. Hell, she’s beautiful. I wasn’t expecting that. Maybe that’s why I get tongue-tied around her.”
“Sometimes you don’t need words if the actions are right.”
“Still, I’d like to give her words. Hell, I’ll give her anything she wants if she’ll give me a son.”
“You think a son is what is missing from your life?”
“I know it is,” Dallas said with conviction.
Reverend Tucker gazed toward the setting sun. “I used to think I knew what was missing from my life.” He smiled sadly. “But I discovered too late that I was wrong.”
“I’m not wrong.”
Reverend Tucker met Dallas’s gaze. “You know you signed your death warrant today.”
“Boyd McQueen wouldn’t be that stupid.”
“I know his type. He’s a man without scruples. Watch your back.”
“I always do.”
Sitting with his back pressed against the side of the house, Austin watched the sun sinking below the horizon. He moved the bottle of whiskey from his mouth and took a moment to enjoy the burning in his gut before passing the pleasure on to his best friend.
Cameron took the bottle and downed his share before handing it back. “I can’t believe you told Dallas that story about Cordelia’s nose.”
“I didn’t know you’d lied to me when I asked you why she never came to town.”
“I was only funning with you. I didn’t think you’d believe it.”
Austin took another gulp of whiskey. All the colors of the sunset seemed to be running together. “Why not? You’re my friend. You ain’t supposed to lie to me.”
Cameron grabbed the bottle and took a long swallow. Then he wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “You know what really bothers me, though?”
Austin shrugged and winced as the pain rolled through his shoulder. They’d already finished one bottle of whiskey. He didn’t see how Cameron could be bothered by anything with the world spinning around them the way that it was.
Cameron grabbed his shirt, and they both wavered. “He married her anyway.”
Austin snatched the bottle. “Hell, yeah, he married her. She coulda come to him without a face, and he woulda married her.” He held up the bottle. “ ‘A woman don’t need a face to give me a son,’ he woulda said. That’s all he wants. A son. Reckon he woulda married her if she didn’t have a head.”
Cameron chuckled. “She’d a been dead without a head.” His eyes brightened. “That rhymes!”
“You’re such a poet, Cameron.”
Austin jerked his gaze around at the sound of the sad feminine voice. Two women swam before him, then they bumped into each other and became his newest sister-by-marriage.
“Ah, hell,” he groaned, feeling a sickness in his stomach that had little to do with the whiskey churning inside him.
“What are you doing, Dee?” Cameron asked, his words slurred.
“I was looking for you. I wish now that I hadn’t found you.” She spun around and quickly walked away.
Cameron struggled to his feet. “Hell, I’d better … go after her.”
“Think she heard everything?” Austin asked.
