Instead she thought of Caleb, wondering if he’d truly meant what he said about wanting to harm Seth. Someone must have gone to the Red Dog Saloon and finally told him what had happened earlier that day.
Dr. Davis? Molly, perhaps anticipating her brother’s drunken ire and giving Seth enough time to ride far away before Caleb returned to the ranch?
Kari shook her head, Seth hardly the sort of man who would run from potential danger.
No, it had to be what she’d already considered, he’d decided that their courtship was over—butwhy?
Tormented by questions that for the time being had no answers, Kari knew one thing.
Her attempting to get Seth Davis out of her mind was going to be next to impossible.
Chapter 8
“How wonderful for your father to throw a dinner party for you!” enthused Mrs. McMaster as she fussed with the back drapery of Kari’s skirt. “I’m so pleased you like the dress. Now that your ankle has healed, you might even be able to dance if someone brings a fiddle!”
“That would be lovely,” Kari murmured more to herself, astonished by her reflection in the mirror. She’d never worn such an exquisite dress before, and certainly hadn’t ever sewn anything like it. The shell-pink satin shimmered in the late afternoon sunlight spilling in her bedroom window, while the bustle petticoat beneath it swished when she moved.
From her upswept hair to her white patent slippers, she looked every inch a stylish young lady—but then, she supposed that’s how Caleb wished for her to appear when she met the guests he had invited to the party.
Neighboring ranchers, he had told her, though really little else, other than that some of the more influential local citizens from Walker Creek would be attending, too, Mayor Ronald White and his wife, Hazel, Reverend and Mrs. James Thomas, and Dr. and Mrs. Charles Davis. Did that mean that Seth might join the party, too, if his parents were in attendance?
She hadn’t seen him for two weeks, but she’d heard from Sarah that he had returned to the ranch several days ago. Caleb had made no mention of it during mealtimes, which left Kari grateful that his anger toward Seth must have cooled. Might she have a chance at last to ask him why he had disappeared without so much as a goodbye?
A sudden breathlessness seized her, and it wasn’t from the corset cinching her at the waist.
She had missed him so! She couldn’t deny it, no matter the war she had waged with herself while enduring a week of bed rest and then limited activity around the house—part of her convinced Seth must have ended their all-too-brief courtship while the rest of her wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Surely he had a good reason for his actions. Might he even be downstairs already, waiting for her?
“Kari, your cheeks are so pink!” Mrs. McMaster said with some alarm. “Oh, no, I laced you up too tightly.”
“No, no, I’m fine,” Kari insisted, trying to calm her emotions as she extended her hand to the seamstress. “You’ve been so kind, bringing all the dresses out here since I couldn’t come into town for the fittings. Helping me dress for the party. You’ve outdone yourself, Margaret. I’ve never seen a more beautiful dress.”
Mrs. McMaster gave her hand a fond squeeze. “It’s the woman wearing the dress that makes it beautiful, and you, Kari Walker, are truly lovely.”
Kari smiled her thanks, growing so accustomed to people calling her by Caleb’s last name that it didn’t really bother her anymore.
Well, in truth it bothered her a little, but what could she do? She couldn’t deny, either, that Caleb had gone to great lengths to make amends for his alarming drunken behavior, returning each afternoon from town as sober as a judge to check on her convalescence.
He had sat beside her bed and read to her, taken his supper with her until she could once more join him in the dining room, offered to host today’s party for her, and even ceased his thunderous outbursts at the servants. How could she then quibble about her last name when he appeared to be trying so hard to show her a different side of himself?
Caleb had even encouraged her to write a letter to her sisters and brother suggesting that they might wish to come for a visit soon so he could meet them…Lara’s other children. Not to rush them into any big decisions about moving to Texas, of course, but simply to see what they might think of Walker Creek.
In truth, Kari had felt touched by his offer, certain that her mother would have been pleased. One of Lara’s last requests in her letter had been for Caleb to protect the rest of her family, after all, which he seemed to have every intention of honoring.
“Oh, my, look at all the carriages!”
Kari followed Mrs. McMaster’s gaze out the window, nervous excitement overwhelming her at the sight of Caleb’s guests arriving.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a lovely dinner party,” the seamstress added. “Thank you again for inviting me to stay, but my husband is waiting for me at home. Are you ready to go downstairs and join your father?”
Your father.
As Kari nodded, Mrs. McMaster handing her a pair of long white gloves, she had to admit that she did feel closer to Caleb. Yet it still felt so strange to think of him as her father, and not Arne. Perhaps one day…
* * *
“Are you accompanying us to an execution, Seth, or a dinner party? For goodness sake, son, stop scowling!”
