by Lucy Evanson
~ ~ ~
The night’s events weighed heavily on Kate for quite some time, though every day it became a little easier to convince herself that she had made the right decision to wait. By the time a week passed, it was no longer even the first thing she thought of in the morning, but of course she had other things one her mind by then.
Kate walked out from the shade of the porch and down the steps. She had been cooped up in the house all day, overseeing the dinner preparations, trying to make sure that everything would be perfect for the arrival of Edward’s father. Now there was just enough time to get outside for some fresh air before she’d need to get ready.
The bright afternoon sun, however, was stronger than she’d anticipated, and she had only taken a few steps when she stopped to think a moment. It was silly to torture herself when she had a lovely, brand-new parasol just inside the house, but then again she’d given her word to Edward, and she was nothing if not a woman of her word. She kept walking.
She passed Sam’s cabin and was tempted to bring up a bucket of cold water from the well, but she decided to keep going and moved closer to the tree line in order to let the shade from the tall pines fall over her. When she reached the top of the hill, she was met with a strong breeze that cooled her off nicely and let her appreciate the view.
She wasn’t sure, exactly, just how big the farm was; she had never gone out with her father on his rides around the property, but as she looked out across the hills she could see no fences at all. The cornfields looked like a river of green, running down and spilling out onto the terrain below, only broken in places by islands of pine and aspen; as she watched, she saw a brown dot moving, like a leaf upon the water.
Racer. Soon he was close enough for her to see the wide smile on Sam’s face as he approached. She waved and he raised his hand in return, slowing the horse to a trot and halting as he reached the shady, grassy area alongside the tree line.
“Afternoon, Miss Taylor,” he said. “Nice view from up here, isn’t it?”
“I was just admiring it,” she said. “How have you been, Sam? It seems like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I’ve been busy with a little project I’m working on.”
“What project is that? Hannah Thompson once told me that you were going to start your own business; is that it?”
“Oh, it’s pretty far from being a business just yet,” he said, and she could see his cheeks redden slightly. “It’s just something I’ve been working on for a while,” he said. “Say, before I forget, I wanted to thank you.” He swung one leg over and dropped down from Racer’s back.
“Thank me for what?”
“For what you’re doing with Becky,” he said. “I saw that she’s been practicing writing, and she told me that you’ve been teaching her.”
“Oh, that,” Kate said. “Well, I don’t know whether anything’s really going to come of it. I’m certainly not a real teacher.”
“It seems like she’s taking to it just fine,” Sam said. “You know, she’s had a difficult time growing up. If Bill hadn’t taken her in and given her a job…well, a girl like that could’ve gone down the wrong path, easy. You know what I’m saying?”
“I think I do,” Kate said. “But I had no idea.”
“Yeah, she got lucky. First Bill, now you,” he said. “She owes a lot to your family. Not everybody is as kind as you are.”
In spite of the cooling breeze flowing over the hilltop, Kate felt her cheeks begin to burn. “I don’t know about that,” she muttered, and her gaze dropped to the grass at her feet.
Sam climbed back onto his horse. “Well, anyway, thanks,” he said. “I know she appreciates it. I’ll let you get back to your walk now.”
“Sam, wait,” she said. “We’re having guests over for dinner this evening. I’d like you to join us.”
He turned Racer in a slow circle. “That’s nice of you to offer, but you probably had things all planned out already. I don’t want to cause any problems or anything.”
“It’s no problem besides pulling up another chair,” she said. “It’s just going to be us, the Thompsons, Edward and his father.”
Sam ran a hand over his scruffy chin. Dinner with Kate had sounded a lot nicer before she’d mentioned that Carter would be there. Still, even if they didn’t get to say a word to each other, just being in the same room with her would be enough. For now.
“In that case I’ll be happy to join you,” he said, and Kate rewarded him with an eye-twinkling smile. As he turned Racer back to the fields and got going at a trot, he tried to recall every detail about how she’d been standing there, from the wisp of hair that had escaped her ponytail and was lightly draped over her ear, to the sliver of pearl that was revealed as her lips parted in the smile, to the way she had clasped her hands together as if in anticipation. Soon he had stamped the image into his memory, every detail clear and precise, and he spent the rest of the afternoon studying that moment like a boy examining a newly minted coin.