He was going to skin that boy alive. Rafe bit his tongue to keep from shouting and crossed the yard to the barn, his heated gaze on Jesse. Stopping by the fence, he adjusted his hat and propped his foot on the bottom rung. And waited. He hid a smile when Jesse stopped, turned to face him, and yelled, “What?”
Rafe propped his arms on his raised knee. “Just wondering where the hell you think you’re going. We’ve got things to do around here if you haven’t noticed.”
Jesse rolled his eyes and cinched the mule before leading him to the wagon. “I got places to be today.”
“Like?”
“Like none of your damn business.”
Straightening, Rafe raised an eyebrow at him. “You aren’t too big for me to take a belt to your hide.”
Jesse scoffed. “Try it.”
“Don’t tempt me.” The rebellious look on his brother’s face darkened, the freckles splattered across Jesse’s cheeks and nose the same color as the thick thatch of red hair on his head. In the ten years he’d been gone, the kid had grown almost as tall as he was. His attitude had too. He lowered his leg to the ground and tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. “Where are you going, Jesse?”
“Town.”
“What for?” Jesse mumbled something under his breath, his face growing brighter red before he turned his back to him. His movements were jerky, his shoulders held rigidly. “We don’t need anything from town that can’t wait, and that hole in the barn roof isn’t going to fix itself. Unhitch that mule and go grab that bucket of nails out by the work shed.” Rafe walked off, hoping Jesse would just do as told for once.
A glance over his shoulder and he bit his tongue, trying to rein in his temper. Jesse was still hitching up the mule. Rafe stopped, turned to look at him again, and had to remind himself that killing a man, even your own kin, was illegal. If the boy didn’t already hate him with a passion, he’d be tempted to take a belt to his backside just as he’d threatened to do.
He watched him finish hitching the mule, his lips bloodless from pinching them together. The silence stretched until Rafe thought he could touch it. “Jesse, what did I say?”
“I don’t really give a damn what you said. Fix the barn yourself. I have things to do.”
That was it. The last straw. Rafe closed the distance between them at a fast clip, his booted feet hitting the ground in loud pops. “And what would that be?”
Jesse swallowed and licked his lips. His face went a funny shade of white before he whispered, “I ordered me a wife.”
It took Rafe a full minute for what Jesse said to register. He stared down at him, letting the words rattle around in his head before he blinked and focused his eyes. “You want to run that by me one more time?”
Jesse flicked a quick look at him before lowering his head. “I ordered me a wife.” He swallowed, his throat moving as he did before he lifted his head, his eyes flashing. “And don’t go yelling at me for it either cause it ain’t going to do you no good.”
He ordered a wife? Rafe tried to wrap his head around the statement, but as much as he tried, it just didn’t make sense. Jesse wasn’t old enough to marry. He was just a kid, but there he stood, head held high, shoulders back, and looking as sure as any man about to make the biggest mistake of their life.
He bit his tongue to keep from shouting what a little fool he was, adjusting his hat instead, and propped his foot on the wagon wheel to give himself more time to collect his thoughts. When he knew he could speak without yelling, he opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
Jesse’s face turned a light shade of pink before the look in his eyes turned murderous. “Just get to the yelling part, Rafe. I’ve got places to be, and you’re wasting my time!”
Rafe flinched. Jesse’s high-pitched voice grated on his nerves most days, more so when he yelled. The urge to bend the boy over his knee was strong, but he refused to treat Jesse like a child even though, in his eyes, the kid would always be his little brother.
When he left home ten years ago, the kid had been docile and sweet-natured. That wasn’t the case now. Since the day he’d returned six months ago, Jesse had fought him at every turn. Everything he said turned into a battle of wills, and he was at his wit’s end trying to figure out where he’d gone wrong. His pa would have whipped that boy bloody for talking to him the way he did.
Why he was the lucky recipient of his anger was a mystery he’d never figure out.
Crossing his arms over his chest, he narrowed his eyes and pinned Jesse with a glare of his own. “I heard that part, little brother. What I want to know is why?”
The mutinous glare Jesse shot him should have scorched the skin right off of him. “Stop calling me little! I’m fifteen years old.”
“Fourteen. You have nine whole months before you’ll be fifteen.”
“So?”
“So… you’re too young to get married.” The fire in Jesse’s eyes matched the temper the boy had developed over the years. “And you are little.” Rafe grinned. “My little brother.”
Jesse’s face turned red again, his fingers curling into his hands to make fists. “I’m tired of everyone in this town calling me your little brother. I’m a man. Have been since Pa died and you were off doing God only knows what. It’s about time people saw me as a man, so I ordered me a wife.”
Rafe leaned his head to one side. “And what do you plan on doing with her?”
“Doing with her?” Jesse stared at him wide-eyed. “What do you think I’m going to do with her? I’ll make her clean the house and cook my meals. Wash clothes and make sure my socks don’t have no holes in them.”
“And?” Rafe prompted.
“And what?”
Rafe laughed. The boy didn’t have the first clue what he was getting himself into. “How old is this wife you ordered?”
Jesse shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Rafe raised an eyebrow at him. “What does she look like?” Another shoulder shrug was all the answer he got. “You do realize most of those mail-order brides are plain and dowdy-looking spinsters that no other man would marry, right?”
“What difference does it make? I didn’t order her to look at.”
It was obvious his brother didn’t have the first clue what a wife was for. Sure, those other things were nice, but a man didn’t take a woman to wife just to make a house servant out of her. He wanted a nice warm body to keep him warm at night. A sweet-smelling little thing to make the hard days seem a little less rough. Someone to bear his children.
Rafe grinned and slapped Jesse on the shoulder. “You’re right, Jesse. If your wife is here to cook and clean for you and darn your socks, what difference does it make how old she is or what she looks like? Tell you what. When she gets here, I’ll let you have the big room at the top of the stairs. We can’t have your bride sleeping in that tiny room of yours, now can we?”
Jesse’s face went a funny shade of white, and he raised his hand, scratching the side of his neck. “Why do I need Ma and Pa’s old room?”
“For you and your new bride.”
When Jesse spoke again, it came out as a tiny squeak. “You mean I have to sleep in the same room with her?”
Rafe bit his lip to keep from laughing again. “That’s what men do when they take a wife.”
“But there ain’t but one bed in there.”
“Then you’ll have to share.”
Jesse swallowed, his throat moving with the small action before the boy turned and looked back out over the field. “It’ll be okay if she takes that room by herself. I’m comfortable where I am.”
The sun was overhead, and Rafe felt his stomach give a painful twist. It was past lunch. He looked toward Jesse, seeing his red-tinted face and the defiance in his eyes, and knew regardless of what he said, the kid would fight him every step of the way.
Bracing himself for the outburst, Rafe nodded toward the house. “Best go on in there and write that bride of yours a letter and tell her you’ve changed your mind. You’re not old enough for a wife, Jesse. You don’t even know what a man wants one for.”
He turned to the barn, and the gaping hole in the roof he had to fix, and motioned to the mule. “When you get finished with that, come put the mule away and help me with the roof.” He’d taken four steps when Jesse threw his hat at him, hitting him in the back.
“Don’t tell me what to do, Rafe! I’m through taking orders from you. Besides, I can’t send no letter. She’ll be here today.”
Rafe turned to face his brother. “What do you mean she’ll be here today?”
Jesse raised his chin a notch. “I sent away for her months ago. She’s supposed to be on the stagecoach today. That’s why I was hitching up the wagon. I’m going into town to pick her up and see if that preacher is still over at the hotel.”
The mule was hitched to the wagon, and Rafe stared at it for long moments before looking back at Jesse. The kid was serious. He could tell by the look in his eyes. “Jesse, you can’t marry some strange woman regardless of what you think. You’re too young. There isn’t a preacher this side of the Mississippi that would do it.”
“We’ll see about that.” Picking up his hat, Jesse brushed it off and put it back on his head, shielding his eyes from the sun. The hat’s brim cast his face in shadows, but Rafe didn’t need to see Jesse’s face to know the look being thrown at him would singe the hide off a cow’s ass.
Watching him march to the wagon, Rafe took off his own hat, ran his fingers through his hair, and looked up at the sky. “What the hell am I supposed to do now?”
Sighing, he placed his hat back on his head and started after Jesse. When he reached the wagon, he propped his foot on the wheel. “So, what are you going to do?”
Jesse snorted a laugh. “What do you think I’m going to do?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I asked.”
“I’m going to town to pick up my wife. I done told you that.”
Rafe looked toward the sky again, hoping some divine answer would slap him across the face, and exhaled a long breath when none came. He looked back at Jesse, the fire in his brother’s eyes still shining, and he felt his temper rise again. “You can’t keep her, Jesse. I won’t allow it.”
“You don’t have no say so in it, Big Brother.” Jesse grabbed the reins, throwing them over the front of the wagon, and turned, giving Rafe his full attention. “I’m going into town, and there isn’t anything you can do about it.”
“I can blister your hide.”
“I’d like to see you try.”
Rafe straightened, towering over his brother. “Don’t test me, Jesse. I have enough work to do to last me clean through the winter, and I don’t have but a month to get it all done. I don’t have time for this foolishness.”
“Me getting married ain’t foolish. Every man does it at some point. Hell, even you did! I’m just going to do it earlier than most.”
Memories of Katie flooded Rafe’s mind so quickly they almost staggered him. He pushed her away like he always did, and the anger those memories brought hardened his heart just a little bit more.
Bringing Katie up seemed to accomplish what Jesse hoped it would. The boy had a smug look on his face, and the urge to strangle him until his eyes popped out of their sockets was tempting. The little fool never listened. Why did he think today would be any different, especially with this?
The kid had no idea what he was getting himself into. The woman who came to be married would take one look at Jesse and laugh. Then what? He’ll come back home ornery as a bull, he thought. Just like any other day. It would serve him right to be handed his ass by some high-strung woman. Maybe she could put the kid in his place. He sure as hell couldn’t.
Rafe repositioned his hat and stared his brother in the eye. There was no talking him out of this; he could see that now. He rarely could when Jesse set his mind to something. Their fights were becoming legendary. The boy’s temper was so out of control, so why not let him have his way for once and let him see, firsthand, what it takes to be a man?
“You know what, Jesse? You’re right. I think it is time you grew up. Have a little more responsibility than I’ve allowed. I’ll head on in with you to pick up your bride if you don’t mind.”
Jesse looked confused for a moment before he nodded and climbed up into the wagon. He waited for Rafe to join him before taking the reins and handing them over. Rafe held back a smile. For someone who was old enough to take a wife, you would think he could handle a wagon and an older-than-dirt mule with confidence. Just goes to show, the kid had a lot to learn yet, and his brother’s wife was going to give him a lesson he’d never forget.