“Yes. No bananas or mangoes or coffee bushes. No wild-colored flowers. No sweetness in the air. Everything here seems to be either green or brown.”
“We have flowers here.”
“Where?” She made a point of standing in her stirrups and looking around as she shaded her eyes and peered off into the distance.
He laughed. “Okay, they may not be readily visible, but we do have some.”
“California has its own beauty though.”
“Are you throwing me a bone?”
“Yes.”
They rode on.
“Where’d you learn to speak English?”
“From my father. My pirate grandfather spoke English as well. My sister and I speak mainly Spanish, as does my mother, but my parents encouraged us to learn both.”
“Which do you prefer?”
“The Spanish because it’s more beautiful and descriptive.”
He agreed, but English was the language of business, so he rarely spoke Spanish away from home.
“If we have children I would like for them to speak both,” she noted.
“I’d prefer that as well, and my mother will insist upon it. She speaks only Spanish to Tonio and Little Maria.” Noah thought back on their passionate night and wondered if the intensity had created a child. If so, he’d be pleased.
When they reached town, the air was alive with the sounds of hammering. Planks of wood and bricks sat in piles up and down the main street while an army of men worked on the roofs and built walls.
“This is the construction your mother mentioned?” she asked as they dismounted in front of the telegraph office.
“Yes. Looks like they’ve made quite a bit of headway.”
They went inside and a man with gray hair looked up. “Morning, Noah. Didn’t know you were home. How are you?”
“Doing just fine, Will. Want you to meet my wife, Pilar. Pilar, this ornery old cuss is Will Sally, a longtime family friend.”
“Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing. Welcome to Stewart.”
“Thank you. Pleased to meet you.”
“Same here.”
“We’d like to send a telegraph message to her family in Florida.”
“Sure. Just write out what you want it to say.”
Noah took one of the pieces of paper set out for that purpose and wrote down what he wanted and showed it to Pilar. She approved the wording so he handed it to Will.
“Got a letter for you here, too, Noah. Came in a few days ago.” The telegraph office also doubled as the valley’s post office.
Noah recognized the handwriting on the envelope right off. It was from his friend and business partner, Kingston Howard. He tore it open and the words made him sigh.
“Bad news?” she asked.
“More disappointing than anything else. He wants to dissolve our partnership so he can spend more time with his wife and children.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He’s been talking about stepping away for over a year now. Guess he made his decision.”
“Where does that leave you?”
“For the moment, without a partner, but I’ll figure it out.”
Will asked, “Noah, do you want to wait for the reply from Florida? May take a while.”
“No, just send someone out to the ranch, if you would.”
“Will do. Nice meeting you, Mrs. Yates.”
“Same here, Mr. Sally.”
Noah planned to wire Pilar’s family the money for their train tickets, too, so they moved on to the bank. As they crossed the unpaved street, he nodded at familiar faces and stopped to introduce Pilar to some of the people he knew well. Having spent the past ten years mostly at sea, he wasn’t as familiar with everyone as maybe Drew and Logan were. To many of the newcomers in the valley, he was known simply as the Yates brother with the scarred face.
Drew, the bank owner, was in the lobby when they entered. “Morning. I expected you two to be still sleeping off all that traveling. Are you just showing my lovely sister-in-law around or are you here on business?”
“Both.” When Noah explained what he needed, Drew had one of the two clerks handle the matter.
“I’m looking forward to meeting your family, Pilar,” he said genuinely.
“I can’t wait to see them.”
Noah thanked him. With their goals accomplished, they mounted their horses and rode back to the ranch.
Upon their return, both noticed the large number of carriages and buggies parked near the house. “What’s going on?” Pilar asked.
“I have no idea.”
As they turned their mounts over to the hands, they paused to watch a large group of women dragging sawhorses out to the field behind the house. Billie and Mariah were among them. When Billie saw Noah and Pilar, she walked over, and Noah asked, “What is all this, Billie?”
“My ladies’ gun club. We’re meeting here today. Pilar, you’re welcome to join us.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” Pilar said eyeing the women as they continued to set up.
“We can teach you how to shoot.”
“I’m already familiar with firearms but I’d enjoy participating.”
Noah had never heard of such a thing either. “You two go shoot. I’m going inside where I’ll be safe.”
Both women rolled their eyes.
Inside, Noah found his mother in her study and asked, “Are you in here for your safety?”
She laughed. “The first time they met here a few weeks back, someone’s bad aim brought down one of the cows. Logan was furious. We’ve since learned to move the livestock a safe distance away. The hands give the area a wide berth, too.” She eyed him silently. “Do you have time to sit and talk to your mother for a bit?”
“I do.” And he took a seat in one of the big leather chairs and glanced around. “I’ve quite a few memories of this room.”
“Good or bad?”
“A bit of both. Drew and I spent many a day standing here squirming while you yelled at us for yet another outrageous stunt.”
“Like the time you painted yourselves with whitewash and snuck into Aunt Rosita’s room in the middle of the night and pretended to be ghosts? You scared her to death. She never came to visit us ever again.”
“And you took great joy in scrubbing us with turpentine until we were raw. To this day the smell of it makes my stomach churn.” He paused a moment and thought back. “Then there was the time we brought the cows in the house to see if they could climb the stairs.”
She chuckled. “It’s a wonder I let you two live to be adults. I was convinced you were going to put me in my grave.”
“And there were a few times we thought you were going to put us in a grave.”
“It’s good to have you home again, Noah. Any idea how long it will be this time?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not certain. I got this today.” He passed her the letter from Kingston and sat silently while she read it.
“Are you going to carry on alone?” she asked and handed it back.
“Again, I’m not certain. I’ve already been thinking about making some changes. I have a wife now, too. She and I both love the sea, but living aboard ship for the rest of our lives isn’t very practical, especially once there are children to raise.”
“I like Pilar.”
He went quiet as her gamine face shimmered across his mind. “She’s given me back the parts of myself I seem to have lost.”
“Then my prayers are answered. I miss who you used to be, if I can say that.”
He inclined his head. “Understood. I doubt I’ll ever be him again, but there are pieces of him inside, and all of me loves you still. Very much.”
“I remember when you were born and how tiny and perfect you were. It had been raining for days and we worried whether the midwife would be able to get here, but she made it. I had no name for you though. Your father, Abraham, said, we might as well name you Noah since it appeared we’d be needing an
ark if the rain didn’t stop.”
“It saddens me that I don’t remember anything about him.”
She nodded. “You all favor him in your own way.”
“That’s good to hear.” He wondered if Drew or Logan shared his lack of memory about the man who helped give them life.
They talked a bit longer about the message he’d sent to Pilar’s parents and how well she rode, which of course Alanza was pleased to hear, and about Alanza’s plan to take her daughters-in-law on a shopping trip in a few days.
“We’ll stay overnight and be back the next day.”
“I appreciate you doing this for Pilar. Just let me know how much she’ll need.”
“I will. I hope you won’t mind me spending some of my own money on her as well.”
“It wouldn’t matter if I did, would it?”
She shook her head.
In turn he dropped his, amused as always by her queenly force-of-nature ways. He might have changed, but his mother had not.
And on that, he rose from his chair. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.”
“I enjoyed our visit.”
“As did I. It’s good to be home.”
“Would be nice if you dropped your anchor for a while.”
He gave her a crisp salute. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
“Out!” She laughed, pointing.
He walked over, placed a kiss on her upturned cheek, and exited.
Up in his room, he walked out to the verandah to see how the gun ladies were progressing. The air was filled with the crack of bullets firing and he wondered if he was in any danger. He spotted Pilar among the dozen or so in attendance. She was behind a raised rifle and appeared to be aiming at two tin cans sitting atop a sawhorse a few feet away. She squeezed the trigger. Her shoulder jerked with the rifle’s kick but her bullet didn’t hit either can. Billie said something to her and Pilar sighted again. She fired again and again, hit nothing. Chuckling, he went back inside.
“Don’t be so tough on yourself, Pilar,” Billie said to her. “You’ll be fine. You’re used to pistols. Remingtons are different.”
“I couldn’t hit the can though, Billie.” She couldn’t believe how inept she was.
“At least you’re familiar with firearms. When we started out earlier this summer, some of the women were afraid of the gun, the bullets, and the sound of the gun going off.”
“And I,” Amanda Foster said interrupting, “used to close my eyes every time I took a shot. Accidently shooting one of Logan’s cows cured me quick, however.”
Pilar asked around a surprised laugh, “You shot a cow?”
She nodded.
Billie grinned. “Logan was so angry. He made all the ladies go home and didn’t speak to me for days.”
Amanda patted Pilar on the back. “You’ll be fine, Pilar. And again, welcome to the valley.”
“Thank you.”
Pilar jumped in to help with the cleanup and putting the sawhorses back in the barn. Once that was accomplished, she thanked her sister-in-law for her patience and went inside to find Noah.
She got lost on her way to his wing and found herself in a suite of rooms where all the furniture was covered with white dust sheets. Standing there in the hush, she wondered who the rooms belonged to, but since there were no answers, she closed the door behind her as she exited and started out again. Upon hearing faint notes from a piano she followed the melodic sound as if it were a trail of bread crumbs, and when she pushed the door open, there he sat, head lowered, fingers moving over the keys. Whatever he was playing had an airy lightness to it that made her think of a clear, blue-sky day. His skill was well apparent. She remained standing by the door so as not to interrupt, but he glanced up and the smile he sent her way caused her own to curve her lips.
He stopped. “How’d the shooting go?”
“I was awful. Had no idea shooting a good rifle would be difficult. I used to hunt with an old musket but—”
“You hunt?”
“Everyone who lives in the countryside hunts, Noah. If you don’t, you don’t eat.”
“Yet something else your mother-in-law will love about you.”
“She hunts?”
“Quite a bit.”
Pilar walked to the piano. “What were you playing?”
“A Beethoven sonata.”
“I made a wrong turn and somehow ended up in a suite of rooms where all the furniture was covered, then I heard the music and it led me here.”
“You were probably in Drew’s wing. He and Billie and the baby lived there until recently.”
“I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“Nothing to apologize for. I was just about done anyway. Would you like some lunch?”
“I would.” After the ride into town and the time spent with the gun club, breakfast seemed like years ago.
“Then let’s go down and see what we can beg from Bonnie.”
Bonnie packed them a picnic lunch and they drove a wagon out to the river that bordered the property. As he set the brake, he said, “It’s not the ocean, but it is water.”
“And it’s peaceful, too,” she replied taking in the wide-open land.
“There are some seats down at the edge. We can eat there.”
“Lead the way.”
Once they were settled they ate in a companionable silence.
“These seats are very convenient.”
“Max built them for my mother after my father died so she could come down here and grieve in peace. Everyone takes advantage of them now.”
She peered down the bank. “Whose home is that?”
“Drew and Billie’s. He’d wanted to build on that spot since we were adolescents. Max designed it and the men of the valley helped with the construction.”
“Do Logan and Mariah live near the water, too?”
“No, they’re closer to the main house.”
“Where do you want to live?”
“Not sure. Didn’t think about it much until you came along,” he said, showing a smile. “Had planned to spend the rest of my life aboard a ship.”
“Not very practical if we have children.”
“No.” Noah wondered what their children might look like. Would they have their mother’s proud chin and expressive dark eyes? Would they be tall and robust like him and play the piano? The only thing certain was that they wouldn’t bear his scar and that was a good thing. “Do you mind waiting until I sort out what I’m going to do—now that Kingston is stepping away from our partnership—to decide where we want to live?”
“Not at all.”
My brothers and I each own a parcel of the ranch. Mine is west of here, so if we do decide we want to be here with family, we have a spot.”
“Can we go see it?”
“Sure.”
They gathered up the leavings of their meal and drove west, where the terrain was more wooded and rugged. The river was wider and the current ran stronger as well. There were huge boulders mid-stream and the mountains on the far bank stood like sentinels against the cloudy sky. Noah had always enjoyed the wild, untamed feel of his portion of the ranch and if he did decide to build a home there he’d have no complaints.
“I like this,” she said to him while balancing herself to walk out onto a rocky shelf above the fast moving water. “Reminds me a bit of home. I wouldn’t mind living out here.”
“Good. It’s close to the main house but far enough away to give us all the privacy we need.”
“And since I have such a shameless husband, privacy will be needed.”
He placed his hands on her waist and swung her down to where he stood and looked down into the face that was altering his take on life. “I’m not the only shameless one.”
“And aren’t you glad?”
Laughing, he eased her in against him and savored the feel of her arms as they tightened around him. “Have I kissed you today?”
She leaned back and cracked, “If you have to ask, you have so
me rectifying to do.”
“Give me your sassy mouth, woman.”
As always, kissing her filled his soul with light, warmth, and joy. He drew back and asked, “How’s that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve had better.”
He swatted her behind and pulled her in again, this time kissing her so deeply and thoroughly she softened against him and a quiet purr of pleasure slipped from her lips. “Better?”
“Very much,” she whispered.
Suddenly the wind picked up and with it came fat, cold drops of rain.
“Where’d this come from?” she screeched as it began pouring.
Laughing, they ran for the wagon. He pulled a tarp out of the bed, threw it over their heads, and headed the horses towards home.
That evening after dinner they were playing checkers in the sitting room when a knock sounded on the door. Pilar got up to answer but not before giving her pieces a quick look to verify their locations because she’d recently discovered that her husband liked to cheat. “Keep your hands off my men, Noah Yates.”
He dramatically placed his hand over his heart. “You wound me, fair maiden.”
“Yes I will, if you touch anything.”
When she opened the door, there stood Max. “Message from the telegraph office. It’s addressed to you, Pilar.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
After closing the door, she excitedly tore open the envelope and read:
Happy.
Leaving soon as possible.
Love,
Doneta
“It’s from my sister! They’re coming!”
“That’s good news.”
“Yes, it is. I can’t wait to see them. It’s feels like years since I saw them last.”
She looked down at the board, saw his alterations, and looked up into his eyes. “You’re truly rotten, do you know that?”
“Me?”
“Be glad I don’t have my rapier.”
“We definitely have to get you one. That fire in your eyes makes me want to bring out my own sword, if you get my meaning.”
Heat scalded her cheeks. “I don’t make love to cheaters.”
“Really?” he asked in a silken voice that hardened her nipples and increased her pulse. “I’ll bet I can make you willingly lie on this table and do all manner of shameless things with me before the clock on the wall strikes the time.”
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