“I do hope the rough ones brought out by the war disappear soon,” Abbie said.
“They’ll head west like many others. Everyone thinks they can make their fortune out there in the mines and so on.”
“Only if they discover the mine.”
“That is what I said to a friend of mine once when she talked of her fiancé going out there. Well, he went, ending up working some horrible mine for a year, and then got blown up in some silly mine accident. You would have thought I had personally cursed the fool. Fortunately, we moved from that place in a very short while so being treated as an evil witch was short-lived.”
“I didn’t know anyone believed in witches any longer.”
“In some areas they do, enough so one tale can grow and grow until it sounds absurd to anyone not from the area.”
“Sometimes not being from the area is enough.”
“True, and unfortunately I cannot hide the fact that I am English.”
“Get Iain to teach you how to talk like he does.”
Emily laughed. “Tempting, but I am what I am.” Emily looked at Abbie for a while and asked, “Are you in love with Matthew?”
Abigail sighed. “I rather think I am. Why?”
“Just wondering. I think he is in love with you.”
“And why do you think that?”
“Just the way he acts. And talks. And made sure the chests with your things in them were put in his room. Mrs. O’Neal started to lecture him, just as she lectured Iain once upon a time, and he just looked at her and said, ‘Don’t,’ and she didn’t.”
“And what does that prove?”
“That he wouldn’t let the woman say anything that might make you sound less of a lady. She wouldn’t mean that you were, but her lecture can get a bit colorful. He also had no intention no matter what she said of having you be separate from him.”
Abbie frowned. “I suspect those could be good signs, but I want words.”
“Doesn’t every girl?”
“I know, deep inside, the man would never speak the words unless he meant them.”
“I had to hear the words, too.” Emily sighed. “Some of it was because I believed they should be said and some because I can be a silly romantic but, under it all, is just what you said. I knew if he said the words they were true, they were meant, and I could trust in them. So, are you going to make him say it first or will you marry him if asked and hope for them after?”
“He will say them before or I will punch him right in the nose.”
Emily laughed so hard she woke her son and had to spend the remainder of the ride home calming him down.
Chapter Seventeen
Matthew went to the door to answer the knock. He peered out the small window at the side, saw the Jones brothers, and relaxed. He opened the door then gave a start when he saw the tall, bone-thin man standing with them. Under the man’s long dark coat was the hint of gray and Matthew tensed.
“Who have ye brought us, boys?” he asked the Jones brothers, pleased to see that both men were armed.
“Man is looking for your woman. Says he is her kinsman, her brother,” answered Owen.
Looking at the man again, Matthew could see no similarities, no hint of Abbie in his face or eyes. The man’s hair was a deep brown and his eyes were blue. He had looked at Abigail’s parents so little that he could not even tell if this man looked like one of them. His thinness and the scar on his cheek also made seeing any similarities difficult.
“What is your name?” he asked the man.
“Reid Aaron Jenson. I found the cabin burned and the bones of my parents.” His deep voice broke a little as he said those words. “Also saw the stone for Ab’s damn cat and that George and the wagon were gone. Found her scrawled message in George’s stall. So I then started tracking you, too. Wasn’t easy, got even less so when the war began to draw to an end.”
“So how did ye track me down?” Matthew opened the door wider.
“Found your officer, Major Cummings. He was still in the hospital and this woman was with him.” Reid stepped inside when the Jones brothers nudged him.
“How badly was he hurt?”
“Dr. Pettibone said he would heal and I don’t think that Maude lady will let your major prove the man wrong.”
Matthew nodded, unable to hide his relief. “Good. Pleased to hear it. He is a good man. As for Maude, a very strong-willed woman. Come on in. We’ll go into the kitchen.”
“Mrs. O’Neal been cooking?” asked David as he started walking toward the kitchen.
“Always thinking with your stomach,” said Owen as he followed him.
Matthew finally noticed that there was something or someone behind the man. “Who is with you?” he asked and sighed when an all-too-familiar small face peered around Reid. “Noah.”
“Hello, Lieutenant. I came with Abbie’s brother.”
“I can see that.” He looked at Reid who was smiling a little. “What I cannae understand is how is it he let ye tag along?”
“He would not turn back,” said Reid, not hiding his exasperation. “Only thing I did not try was shooting him. Stuck like a burr. Claims my sister forgot him.”
Looking at the boy who was staring at one of Iain’s paintings and trying to appear innocent, Matthew attempted to look stern. “Ye told him that Abbie forgot ye? Ye ken that isnae true.”
Noah glanced at him and stuck his bottom lip out. “She didn’t give me time to talk to her.”
Crouching down, Matthew said, “Laddie, she didnae want to leave, but she has no house to live in, no husband to help her raise ye. It is verra difficult for a lone woman to raise a child and she already has one because of a promise she made to a dying woman.”
The child’s mouth quivered and his eyes filled with tears. Matthew felt like the meanest man alive and that annoyed him. It also roused some guilt for it was his fault, his own cowardice, that kept Abbie from having a solution to her problem. It made Abigail think she had no future that would allow her to keep Noah. He was going to have to get some backbone when he next had the woman alone.
“I don’t care. I just want Abbie. I brought my puppy and a bag with my things.” He held up the bag, then held the dog out and Matthew scratched the little animal’s ears. “I just want Abbie.”
Matthew stood up and ran his hand through his hair. “I ken it. Weel, she will be back soon and ye can talk to her then.”
“Okay. Where is Jeremiah?”
“With her. She went to get him a few clothes.”
Noah nodded. “Women like to buy clothes for itty bitty babies. Or make some.”
Shaking his head, Matthew led Noah and Reid into the kitchen. Mrs. O’Neal was busy setting food on the table and a glance at Noah showed him the boy was stunned by what he saw. The boy looked at him and Matthew nudged him over to one of the benches.
“Sit down, lad,” Matthew said as he took his own seat.
“And who is this?” asked Mrs. O’Neal.
“I am Noah. Abbie forgot me so I came here with her brother.” She placed a plate in front of each of them and set the rest around the table for the others who would soon arrive.
“And how old are you, Noah?” asked Mrs. O’Neal.
“Five. I had my birthday four days ago.” He sighed. “I got no cake or sweet.”
“Hey!” Reid carried over a large tureen filled with stew. “I gave you some of my beef jerky.”
“Yes, you did. It was very kind of you.” Noah turned his head and made a face that clearly showed what he truly thought of that kindness. Then he looked sweetly innocent again and Matthew coughed as he choked on a laugh. Mrs. O’Neal hid a smile behind her hand as his brothers and her children came in.
“Ah, I believe I hear the ladies returning,” Mrs. O’Neal said, wiped her hands, and left the kitchen to meet them.
* * *
Abbie smiled at Mrs. O’Neal as she took Jeremiah from her arms after the woman had held him while she had shed her coat. “Are we late for
lunch?”
“No.” Mrs. O’Neal said hello to Ned as the boy hurried into the kitchen. She turned to put her arm around Iain’s daughter and smiled at Emily. “Food is on the table.”
“Then we best hurry,” said Emily.
They followed Mrs. O’Neal into the kitchen. Abbie smiled at everyone and then froze in midstep toward her seat. She stared hard at the man seated on Matthew’s left.
“Hello, Ab,” Reid said quietly and smiled at her.
Abbie burst into tears and ran over to him. He caught her easily and she slumped against him, pressing her face into his shirt. She heard herself rambling on and on, but even she was not sure of what she was saying.
“Ab, if you want answers to those questions, you have to calm down.”
She sat up and wiped her face with the handkerchief he handed her. “What questions?” She scowled at Matthew who laughed, but quickly returned her full attention to Reid. “You get wounded anywhere else?” she asked as she lightly stroked his scarred cheek.
“No. Now, I will answer those other questions as soon as someone stops punching me.” He turned his head and glared down at the boy by his side.
“You made her cry!” Noah punched his arm again.
“Noah? Noah!” Abbie sat up and stared at the child. “What are you doing here?”
“I came with him. You forgot me.”
“I did not forget you. I explained why I couldn’t take you. I thought you understood.”
Noah shook his head. “I needed to think of how to say why you were wrong but when I was ready, you were already gone.”
“And just how were you going to explain that I was wrong?”
“Well, how could you pick out the right house without me to help you?”
“I could pick out one. It just needs enough rooms and to be weather tight.”
Noah shook his head and sat down next to Reid. “And you were going to put two boys in it. I’m a boy and you needed one to tell you all the other things you needed to look for.”
“Such as what?” Abbie asked as she went and sat down across from Reid.
“A yard. Windows you can latch tight so bad boys don’t climb out and run around the yard at night.” His eyes widened and Abbie knew they were about to take a journey into Noah’s far too vivid imagination. “And secret passages.”
Abbie stared at the smiling boy for a brief moment then crossed her arms on the table, lowered her head to them, and laughed. She tried to muffle the sound but the laughter of others at the table was too much to ignore. There was no solution to her problem yet, but she already knew that she would not be sending the boy back to Mrs. Beaton.
“I think she is laughing at what you said, boy,” said Reid and gave a chuckling Mrs. O’Neal a big smile when she filled his bowl with stew and set it in front of him.
“She does that a lot when I try to have a talk with her. When she is done, then I can tell her more.” Noah stared wide-eyed at the full bowl Mrs. O’Neal set in front of him and picked up his spoon, then barely mumbled out a thank you before he dug in.
The idea that Noah had even more to lecture her about only made Abbie laugh harder. Forcing herself to calm down, she wiped her eyes and sat up just as Mrs. O’Neal bent close to set her bowl in front of her.
“The lad will settle in very nicely, miss,” she said softly. “He could go sit with the others if he isn’t scared.”
Abigail glanced at another table set near the window where Mrs. O’Neal’s older children and young Ned sat. There was an empty seat next to Ned so she slowly coaxed Noah over there. She returned to her seat but kept an eye on him until she was certain he was again relaxed and settling in well. As she began eating again she glanced at her brother, still a bit stunned that he was there.
“How did he end up with you?” she asked.
“I tracked you to the Beaton house and he was suddenly there. He had already heard Mrs. Beaton and the others tell me about your stay and where you were headed. He even had that puppy and a little bag and politely told me he would go with me. I said no and he never said a word. Just walked away. Then I was leaving and just happened to look behind me to see him following.”
“Oh dear.”
“‘Oh dear’ is right. As I told Matthew, I did everything short of shooting him to make him go back, but he kept on coming.”
“He can be stubborn.”
“Bullheaded.”
Abbie laughed and nodded. “So you gave in.”
“Not much choice. He was company too, and I had little of that in the last few years. He even got me telling him stories at night because I was told you did it.”
“Ah. So, of course you had to.” She shook her head. “He is going to be a challenge to raise.”
“What he is is smart and a survivor.”
“He is only five years old.”
“He is smart and he is a survivor,” he repeated. “Never forget that about him.”
“It is a good thing, miss,” said Mrs. O’Neal from beside her. “Doesn’t often show so young, but bet the war drew it out. And your brother is right. It is a good thing to keep in mind about the boy. It is what he is deep at his core. Like our Iain,” she added softly.
Abbie thought about it for a while but soon got caught up in the men’s talk. They included her brother without pause and she could see he appreciated it. She started to wonder how he had gotten out of the service he had been forced into.
“How did you get out of the Confederate hold?”
“It was Night Riders who took me, or so they liked to call themselves. Butchering ba”—he blushed and continued—“pigs.” He dragged a hand through his hair and grimaced. “Fortunately, it seems they just wanted someone to do all the work they hated. I mucked up after their horses, cared for the beasts, which I didn’t much mind as they treated them poorly, and even had to cook a lot. Then one of them caught me trying to free a young woman they had grabbed. I killed him, freed her, and then ran for my life. Knew they’d find the man, so had to get as far away as I could. Stole one of their horses I was particularly fond of and just rode.”
“Where did the woman go?”
“She headed straight for the town not far from our camp. Told her it might not be the safest place but she was determined. Figured she knew someone there she felt would protect her.”
“So you aren’t a deserter?”
“Don’t think so. Never signed or swore to anything but that won’t necessarily stop someone from trying to try me for it.”
“I feared they would have made you fight in the war for them.”
“They didn’t do much fighting in the war,” he said, disgust thick in his voice. “They attacked innocents, stole money and anything else they could get their hands on, and raped the women they found. They were outlaws wearing the shield of war.”
“There were a lot of those, especially up this way,” said Matthew.
“Some of them were even disowned by the army they supported,” Reid said and shrugged.
“Sad, but I think a lot of them will just go into straight outlawry once the war ends.”
Reid shrugged again. “They are little better than that now.”
“At least you are free of all that now.”
“I just wish I could have been there when they came to burn the house.”
“I had a lot of help.” Abbie briefly smiled at Matthew then looked back at her brother. “I am sorry about what you had to find but we couldn’t stay long enough to put out the fire and have a proper burial.”
“I know that. I buried them. In the orchard near the child they lost.”
“Thank you.”
“Ye have an orchard?” asked Matthew’s brother Robbie. “What sort?”
“Apples. Two kinds,” Reid replied.
Robbie limped down the table to sit next to Reid. To Abbie’s surprise the two men were soon deep into discussion. She eavesdropped for only a few moments and then decided they knew what they were discussing, but they had lost h
er early on in the discussion. All she knew was that it had something to do with cider. What mattered to her was that Reid looked interested, even eager.
Seeing that Mrs. O’Neal was getting up, Abbie moved to help clear off the table. They put out the stewed fruit and cream plus small bowls. Abbie dished out some for Ned and Noah then returned to a seat near Matthew to have some of her own.
“What are they talking so seriously about?” asked Matthew with a nod toward Robbie and Reid.
“I am not sure. I believe it has to do with the apple orchard my father planted and cider.”
“Ah. Robbie has been eager to try his hand at cider making but the apples are not always easy to come by. A steady supply was needed.”
“Well, we have that, but that is about all there is on the old land. Oh, there is the barn too, I think. Or the fire could have reached that.”
“It didn’t because your brother found your message on George’s stall. So, I have to assume the building was still standing. Care to go for a walk this afternoon?”
“That would be nice if I can impose on someone to watch the boys.”
After lunch was done, Abbie discovered it was not difficult at all to get someone to watch out for the boys. She wandered off to go to the barn and milk the goat and wondered why Mrs. O’Neal and Emily had not even hesitated to consider what they had to do but said yes and wished her a good afternoon. She told herself to not try and read some conspiracy in it all and greeted the goat.
She was just stepping out of the barn when Reid walked up to her and took the pail of milk she held. “So how close are you and Matthew?”
Abigail blinked and frantically wondered why he asked, if she and Matthew had given themselves away in some way. “What do you mean?”
“What I mean is how close are you? Friends or more?”
“Well, I believe we are friends. If we are more he hasn’t said so. Why are you interested?”
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