Amelia turned to look at him with a bright smile. “I’m glad.”
“I’m sorry it couldn’t be what you wanted it to be in the beginning,” Oliver stated. “But I hope with the passing of time that you have gotten past that disappointment.”
She smiled at him lightly. “I was disappointed,” Amelia replied. “However, that changed the more I got to know you and Melvin. I’ve got a home and wonderful people in my life. You and Melvin treat me like a part of your family. You appreciate me and I have freedom here that I never could have back home. That’s all because of you didn’t send me packing, but allowed me to stay and find my way. You showed me what this place can really be. The magic of Rattleridge and Hidden Lake. The beauty of Glenore.”
“I’m glad you’re happy here. Happy with us.”
“I am,” Amelia assured him. “I’m very happy. I don’t think I could be happier,” she elaborated.
She squeezed Oliver’s hand and his heart danced in his chest. He wanted to say something, but he had no idea what. What did you say to a woman when you didn’t understand your own feelings?
“You’re a true friend,” Amelia stated.
There was something disappointing about hearing her say those words, but Oliver accepted it. What more could there be but friendship, after all? He reminded himself that he didn’t want a wife and she wanted a husband.
“You’re a true friend to me,” he agreed. “I’m glad you came here, Amelia. I’m really glad. You’ve made this place complete. Our family complete.”
Don’t lie to yourself, Oliver. She means more to you than that.
“A family with no blood relation,” she mused. “Yet closer than some that do. Isn’t that amazing?”
Oliver grinned. “It’s funny. We don’t get to choose the family we’re born into, but we can choose the family we want to be a part of. I’m glad you chose to be a part of this one,” Oliver assured her. “I never knew what was missing until you appeared and I realized what it felt to be complete.”
He wanted her to know how much he cherished having her there. He wanted her to know that she would always have a place there. She was a part of him, of Glenore, and she would never have to doubt that. That he cared for her as more than just a worker.
More than just a friend.
“This is your home. It always will be.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sleep was difficult to find the days after the shooting. Every night, Amelia would find herself in the living room, and each time, Oliver was there to talk to her and keep her company. Eventually, she began to wonder if it was fear or the pleasure she found in his company that kept her awake at night.
Amelia could no longer deny how she felt about Oliver. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she might be falling in love. He was always on her mind. She wanted to be in his company at every turn. Sometimes, she thought that despite what he said, he might feel for her, too. Then reality would sink in and she would remember that he said that he didn’t want a wife. No matter how much he might enjoy her company, marriage was not to be for them.
The property was livelier with the additional hands and much busier for her with more mouths to feed. The new ranch hands were big fellas who ate a lot and laughed even more. There was Russel, Garrett, John, and Elmer. She liked them all, and she felt a lot safer with them around. Safe enough to go exploring.
The land around Glenore was some of the most beautiful country Amelia had ever seen. The colors were so vibrant in the flowers, the grass, and the trees. Butterflies were everywhere. Birds filled the woods with their songs and the sky always seemed clearer and brighter there than it had back home. There was also an added bonus, one Amelia had come across by chance, but was taking full advantage of…huckleberries.
The rain had stopped her from her venture for days, but now huckleberry pie was on her mind. Amelia was off to collect the dark purple berries from where they hid amongst the woods. Her horse walked slowly across the fields and Amelia admired the trees as they passed. Pines and junipers, small shrubs with flowers of varying colors. The ground was a tapestry of greens and brown. The drier days had turned some of the grass a pale brown, but there were still many patches of clover and thistle. She rode her horse through the tree line and into the sparsely dispersed trees.
Amelia tied her horse to the trunk of a tree near the outskirts of the woods. She stroked the horse’s neck as she looked about her. The woods were quiet except for the sounds of the birds and the wind in the trees. Amelia spotted a fox running between the brushes. She smiled at the sight and then took her basket and set off.
The earth was soft and mushy beneath her feet. Her boots sank into the muck. The rain had left the ground saturated, but at least the atmosphere was cool. She liked that.
The woods were quiet as she walked, and Amelia found herself thinking of Oliver. He was so good to her. She really enjoyed his company. His smiles. His laugh. The way his arms felt as he held her close and protected her from the bullet that had broken their window.
He cares.
Amelia inspected the berries she found on a bush nearby. The berries were full and dark in color, just what she was looking for, that made the sweetest pie. You had to walk where Amelia now trod, the bushes were too closely gathered for the horse to get through, and the ground uneven. There were no paths, no clearly outlined course, but Amelia knew how to find her way. She’d learned how to keep track of the trees she passed, to leave her own markers for herself so she could find her way back.
She spotted a bush further inside, where the bushes looked almost impenetrable. It was larger and there were more berries there. She made her way towards them. The underbrush was thick where she walked, and one moment she was on her feet and the next she falling. Amelia tried to grasp for anything to break her fall, but there was nothing to save her. She fell into the large puddle and rolled down the short hill. When she finally stopped, she was covered in mud from head to toe.
Amelia pushed herself up from where she’d fallen. She looked down at her dress and the mess that she now was. It was not going to do. She looked up the hill. It was a short drop but the fall was painful. She rubbed the hip she landed on. It hurt, but nothing she hadn’t felt before. Her father had caused more damage than that.
“I can’t go home like this,” she commented. A brilliant idea came to mind. There was a small lake nearby. It was small, private, and part of Glenore’s land. She found it on her own months before and had fallen in love with it. It was the perfect place for her to clean up.
Amelia was a little turned around but she found her way to the lake. She smiled at she looked at the crystal waters that shifted from clear to green to blue. Moss covered the rocks nears the water’s edge and rose up the trunks of the closest trees. The trees were closely-knit there giving the place a sense of privacy. The water from the river rolled over the large rocks from where it started in the north, and into a small waterfall before it filled the lake. Amelia carefully negotiated her way over the rocks to prevent herself from falling.
She stood on the water’s edge and looked at her reflection. She looked even worse than she imagined. Her hair was caked with mud she didn’t even know was there. Her face was smudged, the front and back of her dress was filthy. She quickly set about removing her clothing. She unlaced her boots and unbuttoned her dress and slipped it from her body.
Swimming in a lake was not something foreign to Amelia, back home, it was sometimes the only bath she could get when the wells clogged and she had no help to clear them. Sometimes it took weeks of painstaking work to get the water back to her house. Her father would stay in town during that time and waste the money she earned to stay at the hotel.
Amelia knelt by the water and began to beat her clothes against the rock to clean them. It was another thing she was used to. She wrung the fabric between her palms and scrubbed it against her knuckles until the brown gave way to white once more. Piece by piece she washed all of her garments, her dress and her stockings,
too. She washed off her boots and set them aside. She wriggled her toes as she stepped into the water and waded out into the deep.
The water was cool against her skin and Amelia rolled onto her back and faced the sky. She floated there, wondering what greater joy there could be than what she was doing right then. Her hair floated around her on the surface of the water, like a golden mist. She looked at it out of the corner of her eye and smiled. She wondered if this was what it felt like to fly, to soar above the clouds above it all. Once she had such thoughts because she wanted to escape, now it was because she wanted to see more. There was a beautiful world out there and she no longer felt as if it was denied her. She felt as if anything was possible.
She floated on the water, her eyes closed as she listened to the sound of the water rolling off the rocks into the lake and the sound of birds hiding amongst the leaves. She recognized a magpie call from somewhere nearby. She smiled. A branch cracked.
“I was wondering what you were gonna do about all that mud,” Oliver mused.
Amelia jumped and sank beneath the surface. She came up sputtering as she wiped the water from her face. “Oliver! What’re you doing here?”
He laughed. “I was following you,” he stated as he stepped closer and stooped down on the nearby rocks. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“You saw me fall and you didn’t try to help me?” she asked in disbelief as she swam to more shallow water. She felt the smooth stones beneath her feet and stood.
“I was going to,” Oliver replied. “Then I saw you marching in this direction and I got curious. I wondered if you’d found my spot.”
“Your spot?” Amelia questioned. “I don’t see your name on it,” she mused. She wiped her face once more. “In fact, since I’m here first, then it should be my spot.”
“Is that so,” Oliver replied. He got to his feet, laughter filling his lungs. He stood too quickly, his feet sliding on the rocks and promptly slipping out from beneath him. He tried to recover, but it was too late. He leaned forward and fell headfirst into the water. Thankfully the water was deeper near where he stood or else it might have been a nasty spill. He came up sputtering, his hat floating on the surface beside him.
It was Amelia’s turn to laugh.
Oliver shot a spout of water from his mouth. His hair was dark over his forehead and he brushed it back quickly as he looked at her. He waded in her direction.
It was then that Amelia considered her state of undress. Her clothing lay aside on the shore, her underdress was soaked through, clinging to her form. Not the most presentable attire. She looked down and then turned her back to him. “You see. You shouldn’t have laughed at me. This is what you get,” she commented smugly.
“Perhaps,” Oliver replied as he waded closer. “But at least you aren’t here alone.”
Amelia’s heart galloped in her ears. “What difference would it be if I were?” she questioned. Amelia hadn’t a moment to think. Suddenly Oliver’s arms popped out from beneath the water and took hold of her, dragging her into the depths as an astonished looked flashed across her face as she shrieked in surprise. When she came up Oliver was laughing heartily.
His hands were still on her waist as he looked at her. “If you were alone then I wouldn’t have seen the look of surprise on your face a moment ago,” Oliver mused as he sunk beneath the water. He popped back up and shot another fountain of water from his lips into the air. It sprinkled down on her and Amelia tried to duck away from it.
“That was not funny,” Amelia insisted as she smacked his arm playfully and chuckled. “You frightened me.” Her hands settled on his strong arms as she used him to keep herself afloat.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly, though a smile lingered on his face. “Truly, I am. I just couldn’t stand there and watch you without announcing myself. I wasn’t raised to watch a woman bathing alone and not make myself known. I am not a watcher of women.”
“Then why didn’t you leave?” she questioned as they bobbed together in the water.
Oliver looked at her gently. “Because I wasn’t raised to leave a woman alone in the woods either, especially in the state you were in,” Oliver replied as he looked into her eyes. “So you see, I was torn between two choices. I think I picked the better one.”
Amelia’s heart continued to dance in her chest, a pace that was increasing with every passing second. “I should go,” she whispered. She said the words but she didn’t mean them. She didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay there, with him, in that secret place looking into his eyes and trying to decipher the look in them. Did it match her own?
“You don’t have to,” Oliver insisted gently. “You could stay. I promise I won’t tell anyone. If you promise not to let them know about me falling in here,” he mused. He didn’t let her go.
“I won’t tell,” she whispered. She looked into his eyes. They were so tender and kind. He didn’t look at her the way some other men might. His eyes didn’t venture below her face. “Why were you following me?” she asked.
“To protect you,” Oliver answered. “I know you feel safer since the boys joined the ranch, but it still doesn’t mean that you can wander around unaccompanied, and I’d rather be the one at your side than any of the others.”
His words touched her. “Then why didn’t you say something? Ask me if you could come with me in the first place?” she questioned. “I wouldn’t have said no.”
“I didn’t want you to be afraid. I wanted you to feel free to walk this land as you have done since you came here. If I told you that I didn’t think it was safe yet, you would have decided not to take this trip and I might not be here with you now,” he said softly. “I think I’d rather have this moment than not. Don’t you?”
“You act as if where we are is a good thing?” Amelia mused. “I’m washing off inches of mud and you’re soaking wet in all of your clean clothes.” Her words were meant to deflect the thundering of her heart in her ears and the dryness of her throat. Her entire body felt as if lightning was coursing through it.
“Did you hear me complain?” Oliver questioned gently. His eyes remained on hers. “I don’t remember doing so.”
“No,” Amelia whispered. Her hands shifted over his arm, the contours of the muscle beneath them. He was so strong in so many ways, not only physically but emotionally. He had gone through so much and he was still standing. “Do you think me inappropriate being here like this?” she questioned. Her eyes lowered to where her clothing met the water and then returned to his face. “I know that it isn’t ladylike…”
“No one can ever accuse you of not being a lady, Amelia Donnel. No matter what you’re wearing, you’d still be a lady in my eyes,” Oliver stated. Amelia could see the sincerity in his eyes.
“You mean that?”
“You know I do,” he replied as he pulled her closer.
They waded around each other, the cool water from the waterfall a gentle gurgle behind them. Amelia continued to look at Oliver, her heart wishing for more than he could give.
She was a woman and she wanted him to see her that way, not just as an employee and friend, or even family. She wanted him to see her as someone to love and cherish. Someone to devote himself to. She wanted him to, she wanted to be special in his eyes in a way that was beyond everything they now had, but of the deepest love. When he looked at her she thought it was possible, that there was a chance that Oliver’s heart had changed about her and marriage, and that perhaps the two could be reconciled into one. She turned away from him before he could see the disappointment in her eyes. She was in love with Oliver, truly and deeply.
She fell in love with him long before she met him. She fell in love with the man on the page, whose photo enchanted her the first day she saw it. Now that she had gotten to know him, she loved him all the more. He was more wonderful than words could describe or her imagination could conjure.
“Amelia? Is something wrong?” Oliver asked.
“I’m fine,”
she replied softly.
“Look at me,” he continued as he turned her around in his direction. “Something’s the matter. What is it?”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. She couldn’t say it. If she said what she wanted to, what was in her heart, then she could ruin everything. The ease and comfort they shared would vanish and she would lose the happiness she’d found.
It’s better to be silent and keep what you have, then speak and lose it all.
“Amelia?” Oliver urged gently. “Look in my eyes.”
She tried to calm her nerves and do as he asked, but she couldn’t. “I should go.” Her heart was like a train racing through her chest to some unknown station. She tried to wade past him, but Oliver stopped her.
“Amelia,” he said as he pulled her to him. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. It’s just the two of us. You don’t ever have to fear me sharing anything you tell me in confidence. I’d never betray you, Amelia. Never.”
For the Love of a Wounded Cowboy: A Historical Western Romance Book Page 14