Give My Love to Rose(1st in Outlaw Series)

Chapter Four

           

Chapter Four

    "Ma'am?" A deep voice broke into Rose's dreams and she resented it. She had been dreaming that she'd been sleeping upon a luxurious bed with silk sheets and pillows as soft as clouds. There hadn't been a single thing she had needed to clean and nothing to cook and no one to look after. There'd been plenty to eat and Langley had everything he could possibly want. 

    Sometimes dreams were cruel—especially when they were so far from being the truth. 

    "Ma'am, do I need to go get a doc?" that voice spoke again. 

    The voice wasn't completely unpleasant but it held no tenderness or true concern. Why was there an unfamiliar men speaking to her? Rose's eyes flew open and she saw the owner of the voice crouched down in front of her. His face was mere inches from her own and Rose found herself both captivated and terrified. 

    His eyes stole her attention. They were a gold color unlike any she'd ever seen in her life. The skin around them was dark and tanned, his nose was long and sharp and his face was covered in a thick, heavy brown beard. 

    "Ma'am, are you gonna get up?" he growled with irritation lacing his deep, gruff voice. 

    Rose reached back into her memory, wondering who he was and where he'd come from. Suddenly the truth came crashing back down on her. 

    She remembered him riding down the hill, telling her his husband had sent him. Letting her know that her husband was dad and would never be coming back to her or to Langley. Speaking of her son...

    "Langley!" she cried out as she sat up suddenly and her head collided with the stranger's. 

    "Son of a.. God! You stupid...!" The man's voice was a low roar as he rose up and rubbed roughly at his head with his skillet sized hand. Rose could barely breathe. The man was massive. He had to be close to seven feet tall and his body was broad and thick—though judging by those muscles currently working in his bare forearm, none of his body was fat. 

    "Where is my son?" Rose demanded, glancing around her for anything she could use to defend herself. What weapon could one use against a man who was roughly the size of an ox?

    "I'm right over here," Langley's voice came from the kitchen table. "Marston cooked me some potatoes—I mean taters. They taste real good, mama, especially with those peppers we had in the cellar." 

    Rose looked behind her and saw Langley sitting at the table, his feet swinging and his plate full of potatoes and peppers. She turned her attention back to the stranger. "You cooked my son something eat?" 

    "Someone had to," he grumbled without meeting her gaze. "You were sleeping." 

    "I wasn't sleeping. I was unconscious," Rose argued as she got to her feet. Surprisingly she did feel well rested—more rested than she had felt in years. Unfortunately the stranger was probably right and she probably had been sleeping. Sleep was something she hadn't had much time for since Langston had been taken away. Between the work, the worry and the nightmares sleep was a stranger. 

    Thoughts of Langston had Rose's legs disappearing beneath her once again and she sat down hard on the couch. 

    "I thought you were unconscious too," the stranger admitted as he began scooping buttery potatoes onto a plate. "But then you started to snore." 

    "It was funny, mama. You sounded like a big old bear." 

    "What am I going to do...?" Rose whispered to no one in particular as she remained lost in her own thoughts. Langston was dead. How? She had just received a letter from him just a couple weeks before saying that he had been released and he would be coming home to her and Langley. What was she going to do without him? She couldn't go on supporting her and her son alone.. she was barely hanging on as it was.