by Nathan Adams
Jane smiled and then she nodded shyly. She felt her spirits rise, but then she remembered the coldness that stood between Rachel and Cole and her happiness melted away. She wondered what she would do if Cole turned Rachel away, they were not married yet and he could easily do so. Once that thought had entered Jane’s mind, it would not leave, it clung to her like a bad smell and no matter how hard she tried to bury it, it came back up again.
Days passed and Cole conversed with Rachel in grunts and nods. It seemed as though what little progress they had made had been forgotten in the wake of their last conversation. Rachel took to the stables more and more often, finding comfort in the company of the horses. She tended their needs, and spoke to them in steady whispers. She was in the stables one night after all the work had been finished and the horses had been fed and watered.
“I never thought I would like riding so much,” Rachel whispered to Silver. “But now, I think I might actually love it.”
She stroked the animal’s great head, wishing the horse could talk back.
“You’ve started talking to the horses,” Cole’s voice came from just behind her.
Rachel whirled around, taken by surprise. “I thought you were in the house.”
“I was,” Cole nodded as he moved forward. “I came here to talk to you.”
Rachel felt her palms start to sweat. “About what?”
“Our situation…” Cole said before trailing off.
Rachel swallowed and took a deep breath. She believed everything she had told Cole and she wasn’t about to take anything back simply because she was scared of where that may lead.
“Cole,” she started shakily. “I know I said some things that upset you, and you were right. I didn’t know your wife and I had no right to presume that I knew anything about what she would have wanted. I should have just told you how I felt about it. I believe that Jane should go to school and have friends her own age, and enjoy her childhood. It doesn’t last forever, and there will come a time for her to work until her back is sore and her hands are blistered.”
Cole said nothing, he was looking at her, but his eyes were far away.
“I understand that you might disagree with me, and as Jane’s father you have the final say. But if I am to be her stepmother, I will want a say as well and I suppose that knowledge might affect your decision.”
Cole looked up at those words. “My decision?” he repeated as though he didn’t understand.
“I’m sure you’re reluctance to marry me has been motivated by doubt,” Rachel said as calmly as she could manage. “Perhaps you wanted to see how Jane would take to me. Perhaps you were not sure you wanted to marry again. Perhaps you simply did not think I was right for this life or your family. Whatever your reasons for delay, I think it best for both of us that a decision be made sooner rather than later.”
She stood there a moment longer and then she turned from him, ready to make her way back to the house.
“That’s not it,” Cole said, stopping Rachel in her tracks.
“What?” she asked turning around.
“That’s not why I delayed marrying you,” Cole said softly.
Rachel waited patiently until he was ready to explain himself.
“You said yourself, you didn’t know what you wanted, you just wanted out of the life you were living,” Cole said.
“Yes, I did say that.”
“I wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting yourself into,” Cole went on. “This life is not easy, even to those born into it. I have a child to think of and I needed to make sure you were gonna stick around before things were made official.”
“I’m still here Cole,” Rachel pointed out.
“Are you here because you have nowhere else to go, or because you really wanna be here?”
Rachel stepped toward Cole until they were only inches apart. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about things. And I’ll admit, I have wondered if I made a mistake in coming here. But I’ve come to realize that as hard as this life is, and as all-consuming as it might be, this is the first place I have felt truly free.”
“You’re sure?” Cole asked. “A few weeks are very different to a lifetime.”
“I understand,” Rachel nodded. “I think I can take on the challenge. This will be my life’s adventure.”
Cole looked at her as though he couldn’t understand her at all. “We have very different ideas of what an adventure looks like.”
Rachel smiled. “Well maybe our differences will be a boon to us.”
“I thought about what you said about Jane,” Cole said quietly. “I think you may be right.”
Rachel raised her eyebrows. “I didn’t expect that.”
Cole sighed. “I’m a stubborn man and I’m set in my ways, but I can be made to see reason if you’re patient enough.”
Rachel smiled. “I can be patient.”
One corner of Cole’s mouth went up in a tilted smile that Rachel had never seen before. It was subtle but all the more beautiful for it.
“When shall we be married Cole?” Rachel asked.
“Tomorrow,” Cole replied.
Then slowly, almost nervously, he bent his head down and gently pressed his lips against hers.
The End
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The Heart Series
The Cowboy’s Heart
Chapter One
Iron Mountain was Asha's home. She'd lived there her entire life and watched the lush, green valley change from a thriving town with businesses and homes to a desolate wasteland. A statewide market crash in 1889 put the small town into a tailspin that ended in tragedy. The local businesses couldn't stay open when no one could afford to buy their products.
Most of the people in town knew that Iron Mountain was never going to return to the glory it once was and they opted to leave the state of Michigan entirely. Most of them went West to the new promised land. Everyone spoke of Montana like there would be no struggle there. A man could feed his family and maybe even strike it rich if he was willing to put in a long, hard day of work.
Asha was skeptical of this, knowing that the grass only looked greener on the other side because of distance. Once you got right up on that grass you'd start to notice all the worms tangled among the green stalks. Montana was probably better than Iron Mountain, but she doubted it was perfect.
The sound of the train whistle blowing caught Asha's attention, and she jumped as she watched the iron beast roll up to the platform, spewing black smoke as it came to a stop in front of the wobbly and hastily built train station. There were no amenities, and the small shack only served as a way to board the train and leave the godforsaken town.
A man dressed in a smart-looking uniform stepped off the train, his gold buttons glimmering in the sunlight. He looked around, his hazel eyes scanning the platform for passengers. Asha stood alone on the platform, the once bustling city now silent behind her. The man sighed softly and glanced at Asha, looking her up and down.
“You the only one?”
She nodded slowly, looking down at the snow-covered ground, her sigh turning into a vapor around her due to the cool air. The cart man nodded and opened the door for her, taking her ticket and punching a hole in it.
“This seems to be the norm in these small towns, nowadays,” he mused as he stepped back onto the train after Asha. “One person tries to put it all back together and gets left behind the rest,” he murmured softly.
“I did try,” Asha whispered as she settled into an empty seat.
There was no one else in the cart with her. She could hear people talking and moving about in the car she imagined was first class, but for now she was alone. She put her head on the window pane and enjoyed the feeling of the sun filtering in through the glass and warming her face.
As h
er eyes drifted closed, she thought about what brought her here in the first place. Asha held out as long as she possibly could. She didn’t want to leave Iron Mountain behind, but after her father passed away, she knew there were no other choices for her. Asha and her father ran the family farm together. They were alone since Asha’s mother left them only a year after Asha was born. Her father hadn’t even told Asha her mother’s name for fear that his daughter would chase her down. All she knew of her mother was that she was the daughter of a great Native American chief.
Asha’s half-breed status caused her much grief growing up. No one really seemed to accept her, and she faced condemnation and cruel words everywhere she went. The other children and their parents didn’t ever have anything nice to say to her. Asha’s father was her only friend growing up, so she stayed close to him and the family farm, opting not to continue her education after some very basic schooling. She’d leaned to read and write and spent the rest of her childhood on the farm learning to cook and care for plants and livestock.
Her father encouraged her learning even after she left school and would frequently buy her books on a variety of subjects. She learned a lot from those books, and soon they became her only other friends. Asha could lose herself in books. She could lose herself in the worlds writers created. She loved books, and she loved her father. Asha was happy with her life, even if it wasn’t perfect.
When the market crashed in 1889, people started losing their jobs and stopped buying Asha’s livestock and vegetables. They stopped coming to the markets, and soon Asha and her father couldn’t afford to take their products to the market. They didn’t suffer as badly as some of the other townspeople, however. Their farm meant they were never at risk of starvation. They sustained themselves, and everything seemed like it might be OK. As long as they had their farm, they could ride out the crash.
Asha was hopeful until the winter of 1890. Her father contracted consumption, and with no doctors left in town he eventually passed away. Asha did her best to treat the disease and help her father recover, but he was an aged man and Asha didn’t have any medical training. It turned out to be a deadly combination.
That was over a year ago, and her heart never recovered. As the first snows of winter began to fall from the sky, Asha knew she couldn’t stay in Iron Mountain. She needed to go West like the rest of her sleepy town. There was no one left to buy her farm or her livestock, so she knew she would have to figure out another way to get her train ticket.
She’d heard about mail-order brides and of men paying good money to bring wives out West. There were a lot of men but very few women in the West, so they were willing to pay a handsome price to have someone to take care of their home and bear their children. Asha decided that marrying a stranger would be better than slowly wasting away in Iron Mountain.
Asha answered the first ad that promised a comfortable home and offered to pay for the train ticket and. A few weeks after that initial letter, a small package arrived that contained enough money to pay for her ticket and other traveling expenses as well as a dowry of sorts that was meant to go to her father. She’d pocketed the extra money and bought her ticket the very next day.
Because there was no one left in town to buy her farm, she’d simply let the livestock out of their pens and packed up her few things, making sure to bring her favorite books along with her. Asha knew she’d laid eyes on her beloved home for the last time that morning, and the sadness she felt was surprisingly overwhelming. She couldn’t let that get to her, however. She needed to be strong and move forward.
After all, there was nothing worth looking back, now.
Chapter Two
The train carts didn’t stay empty for long. Iron Mountain was one of the first of many stops on the way to Billings Montana. Asha was surprised when the man who’d welcomed her onto the train told her to get off in Chicago. He explained that she would be getting on another train that would take her the rest of the way to Montana.
With a surprised gaze, she thanked him and scooted off the train, unsure if she was being played for a fool or not. Amazed by the sheer size of the city around her, Asha stood on the much larger platform in Chicago. It was bustling, loud and reeked of the smells of a large, overcrowded city. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and fear gripped her as she clung to her suitcase, terrified that someone might try and grab it from her.
Asha shuffled into the large building that housed the rest of the train station and ticket booth. There was a pretty girl behind the little window, and Asha wandered over, her long coal-black hair coming loose from the braids she’d meticulously set the morning before. Wisps of midnight hair fluttered around her tanned face and delicate nose.
A young woman was leaning against the counter, her nose stuck in a newspaper article about Chicago being awarded the bid for the Columbian Exhibition. She looked up at Asha, seemingly bored and uninterested in the woman’s presence.
Asha cleared her throat, deciding she was going to have to be the one to start the conversation. “When is the train for Billings set to arrive?”
“Not until 5,” the redhead sighed, putting her chin in her hand.
Asha glanced up at the clock on the wall, noting that it was 3. “Thank you.”
She stepped away from the window, not wanting to deal with the rude woman any longer than necessary. As she settled on a hard wooden bench, Asha sighed and put her suitcase in her lap, not trusting the city and its residents. Iron Mountain was a very small town with little crime, and she’d heard about the pit of sin that was Chicago. There were pickpockets and thieves around every corner. That’s what people said anyway, and even if it wasn’t true, she wasn’t willing to take the risk.
Asha watched the minute’s tick by, chewing her lip a little and sighing as she tapped her foot impatiently. She didn’t like sitting around waiting. She was lost in her own world watching the clock on the wall when a man came to sit beside her. She hardly even noticed him and certainly wasn’t expecting him to put his hand on her knee.
She jumped at the touch, pulling away from the strange man, her emerald eyes wide with surprise.
“You’re one of those half-breeds, aren’t you?” he asked, his voice smooth but full of tricks.
Asha frowned and scooted further down the bench, deciding she didn’t need to answer this man.
“Hey, I’m talking to you!”
Asha winced and sat up straight, trying her best to hide the fact that she was frazzled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sir.”
“’Course you do. Your daddy is white, and your mama is an Indian.”
She frowned and kept her head high. If her daddy taught her anything in this world, it was that she shouldn’t bow her head to any man.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
“I just thought it would be nice to have a little chat with a beautiful woman.”
She glared at the man, her brows knitted together and her face set into a deep frown. “I am not interested in conversation, Sir. I’m waiting for my train.”
“Well, how about a little fun then?”
He reached out to touch her leg again, and she gasped, her hand snapping out and connecting with his cheek with a loud and audible sound that echoed through the train station. As his head snapped to the side, Asha stood quickly, clinging to her suitcase and all but running out of the building and onto the platform.
Her heart was slamming in her chest, and she looked back at the building, staring at the door and waiting for him to come out and chase her. The man didn’t come out. In fact, through the window she could see that he’d moved on to another young lady who didn’t seem near as resistant to his advances. Asha took a relieved breath and decided she’d rather just wait out the rest of the hour on the platform.
When the train finally pulled up, she felt an elation filling her that she couldn’t compare to anything else. She was finally going to be on her way to Montana. The sight of well-groomed men in suits with shiny
buttons was starting to become a welcomed sight. The man beckoned her onto the train, and she hurried on, her heart still pounding, and her cheeks still hot with embarrassment. The advances of men weren’t something new to Asha, but that didn’t mean she was used to them.
There were plenty of men in Iron Mountain who’d wanted to bed Asha. It was not a rare thing for her to be propositioned in the market, but she’d always refused. She wasn’t interested in carnal activities. Asha was taught that she should save herself for her husband, and that’s what she intended on doing. No slick city man and his silver tongue was going to change that.
She sighed and leaned back against her seat, happy to be back on the train and on her way to her new life.
Chapter Three
The remainder of the train ride was uneventful. The cart filled up and then emptied before filling up again. It was an endless cycle, though it was interesting to see the type of people who came and went. It gave her a feeling for the type of people who were going out West.
She started to notice that the further west she went, the fewer women there seemed to be, and the women who were on the train seemed tired and downtrodden. Some of them held children in their arms, and others were alone, but all of them seemed sad and displaced. Asha wasn’t stupid. She managed to put it together quickly. These women were like her. They were mail-order brides looking to better their desperate situations. It was a sad truth, but for many women, this was the only option available to them.
When the train finally came to Billings, Asha couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief. The long trip was finally over, and she could say she was home. She stepped off the train, and her eyes widened. There was vast, flat land that expanded out for miles and eventually became tall, snow-covered mountains that reached up for the purple sky. Night was starting to fall, and twilight colors were painted across the sky, fading from rich oranges and reds to purples and finally into the deep, velvet blackness of night.