by Kelly Long
“Ya don’t have much to say fer yerself, buwe. Still water may run deep, but Blackberry Falls will not easily welcome a stranger, no matter who he’s kumme to marry.”
Matthew didn’t respond; he was distracted by a stand of virgin cherrywood near the muddy trail. He put out a hand and touched the bark of the nearest tree with something akin to a caress.
Abner grunted in obviously reluctant approval. “Well, ya touch the tree like ya would a woman, so perhaps ya ain’t so strange.”
Matthew smiled, careless of the other man’s dire attitude. Here was virgin timber, and there would be men who knew how best to work it. His arrangement with Tabitha Stolfus would suit him just fine, he decided as he turned his face upward into the rain, and thanked Gott for bringing him to Blackberry Falls....