Cassie blushed. "My mother wouldn't hurt a fly."
He shrugged. "Yeah, well she probably never took a whip to your father, but there's always a first time, Anyway, I guess she was pretty worked up."
She ignored his comment about the whip. "I know she wanted him to come back. She said so."
He nodded. "I expect she cooled down after a while, but by that time he was long gone. He told me he got on a ship in Galveston and sailed for three years."
That would explain why he couldn't be found. As far as that went, Mom did seem mighty upset for a while after Dad left. Of course, that was natural enough. Cassie glanced at Bordeaux.
"He was still wrong."
Bordeaux nodded. "Of course - no one said he wasn't. He was wrong for using a bottle to settle his problems, and wrong for being unfaithful to his wife. He was wrong for running instead of making peace." He sighed. "I'm not trying to make excuses for his behavior. I'm trying to help you understand it. I can't promise you we'll never fight, or that I'll never take a drink. But I will promise you that I'll never run off and leave you stranded."
She met his sober gaze and smiled. "Well, you haven't so far, anyway."
"I've got something I want to show you," he said as they crested a hill. His expression gave no clue of what was going on inside his head. They started down the road toward a ranch house. He stopped the buggy in front of the house and got out.
"This is my ranch," he said as he lifted her from the buggy. "You might as well know right now that I wanted to buy your ranch so I could use the creek. I was never interested in the ranch itself."
"Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"
He brushed a strand of hair from her face and stroked her cheek. "It wasn't that easy. Aunt Clara and Uncle George couldn't find enough good things to say about you. The twins were always talking about their sister, and when you're father showed up, he was heartbroken to find out what had happened. I guess I was already half in love with you when we met." He gave that little twisted smile again. "And I think you felt something as well.
Memory of their first meeting brought warmth to her cheeks.
"Yes, I think I did."
She leaned back in arms.
"But why all the secrecy? Why didn't you tell me everything from the beginning?"
He chuckled. "I was going to, but then I tossed you those rabbits - and the war was on." He sobered. "Every time the subject of your father came up, you got defensive and I backed off because I was afraid of losing you."