by Jenna Brandt
“I’m glad to hear it feels better, but you need to minimize how much you’re on that leg. You also need to refrain from riding, as it will only aggravate and most likely re-open the wound,” she said with a weary smile, standing up as well.
“How long before I can do my job?”
“I’d give it at least a week, but you should have Dr. Mason take a look before you resume work.”
“Mr. Turnpike isn’t going to like this,” Daniel mumbled begrudgingly.
“He’d like it even less if it got infected and you keeled over in the middle of a drive. You were protecting his cattle. He’ll understand.”
“June, how much do I—” he was about to pay and head out, wanting to put some distance between him and June, but before he could do just that, they were interrupted by a small boy running into the room.
“Who’s this?” the little boy asked.
“He’s an old friend of mine,” June explained. “His name is Mr. Wentworth.”
“Wetworse,” Ben stuttered out, trying to copy the name.
“It might be easier to call me Daniel,” he offered, bending down so he was level with the little boy. “My last name is a mouthful.”
“Daniel,” the boy repeated. “I like your name.”
“Thank you,” Daniel said with a grin. “What’s yours?”
“Ben,” the little boy revealed, returning the smile. “I was named after my pa, but he’s dead now.”
Daniel’s eyes grew wide with surprise at how blunt the boy was. Though he knew it to be true, he was still in shock to hear the boy utter it out loud. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Me, too. I miss my pa.” Then glancing over at June, the boy whined, “I’m hungry, Ma. When we gonna eat?”
“Soon, Ben, let me just finish up with Mr. Wentworth, and then I will start lunch.” Giving a skeptical look at Daniel, she added, “Would you care to join us?”
For a split second, Daniel was tempted, but every inch of him told him to run. He didn’t need the complication of old feelings coming back to haunt him.
“Thank you for the offer, but I have other matters to attend to.”
“Of course, how silly of me,” June said, her cheeks filling with pink as she looked down at the ground. “I’m sure you have other plans.”
Daniel felt guilty, wishing he hadn’t made her feel embarrassed. That wasn’t his intent, but maybe it was better if she thought he was otherwise engaged.
“How much do I owe you?” he inquired, wanting to get out of the apothecary as quickly as possible.
She told him the amount and he handed the money over, then she guided him to the front door. They stepped out onto the porch, both turning to face each other.
“Thanks again, June. I appreciate your help.”
“Of course, Daniel. What are old friends for?” she said with a laugh.
The tinkle of the sound caused his heart to jump slightly in his chest. He’d forgotten how that sound made him feel.
“When are you going to fix that sign of yours, June?” Lucy Mae Jackson, the town gossip, inquired. Her intrusion caused both June and Daniel to shift their positions on the porch to see the woman standing at the edge of the steps, waiting for a reply.
“It’s at the top of my list, Lucy Mae,” June said with a weary tone. “As soon as I have enough money, I will have it taken care of.”
“Glad to hear it. Your current sign isn’t professional enough to represent a business in Belle. We want to present the best image of the town when we have visitors.”
“What visitors?” Daniel argued, the urge to defend June surfacing. “We hardly get any since we are without a train depot.”
“That will be rectified soon enough,” Lucy Mae said with pride. “We need to have everything ready for when that happens. In the meantime, we do have occasional guests coming into Belle via stagecoach and other means,” she said, with a nod towards June.
“I’m not a visitor, Lucy Mae, as you well know. My family is from here,” June defended, placing her hand on the post of the porch. “My uncle helped turn Belle into what it is, and he’s graciously let me stay in his home.”
“For now. This…apothecary isn’t really a permanent solution, now is it, June? Shouldn’t you be thinking about finding a new husband and establishing your own household? Not prancing around here pretending to be a businessman.”
“I’m doing no such thing,” she said with an aghast tone. “I’m simply making a new life for my son and myself in a town I grew up in. How dare you presume to assert I’m behaving otherwise.”
The other woman must have realized she overstepped her boundary with June because she quickly retracted her words saying, “My pardon, June. I didn’t mean to upset you.” Gesturing up towards the sign, she added, “Just make sure to get this sign fixed as soon as possible.”
Once they were alone, Daniel shook his head. “Townsfolk—always getting in everyone’s business. She shouldn’t have said all of that. As far as the sign goes, I can fix that for you. I’m rather good with a nail and hammer, and have a steady hand with a paintbrush.”
He wasn’t sure why he offered, considering he had just tried to get away from June as quickly as possible. Despite his initial reaction though, part of him wanted to help June if he could.
“You would do that?”
“It’s the least I can do for your aiding me with my leg.”
“You’ll have to take plenty of breaks. You can’t overexert yourself and risk irritating your wound,” she warned.
“All right, how about I come by tomorrow morning?”
She nodded. “Thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Chapter Three
Happiness filled June’s heart as she saw her uncle enter the apothecary with his housekeeper and probable sweetheart, Mabel.
“Good morning, Uncle William,” June gushed, running up to him and throwing her arms around the elderly man. “It feels like forever since I saw you last.”
“It does indeed, dear,” he chuckled as he returned the hug. “It’s good to have you home.”
“You’re looking spritely, June. Far better than you did when we were at the funeral,” Mabel said with a warm smile. “We’re still so sorry about what happened with your husband. He was a good man.”
“He was, Mabel, and I miss him every day, but I had to find a way to live with it for Ben’s sake.”
“Where is my great-nephew, by the way? I have a present for him.” Moving further into the house, he looked around, then raised his voice louder. “Where are you, Benjamin? Uncle William is here and he has a present for you.”
A few moments later, the pattering of little feet came down the hall as Ben came into view.
“Come on over here so I can give you your present,” Uncle William playfully ordered as he sat on the couch and waited for the boy.
“What is it? What is it?” the little boy shouted in excitement, reaching his hands out for the gift.
Uncle William handed over a brown-paper wrapped package. Ben tore into it, exposing two wooden trains.
“Yippee!” Ben yelled, pulling them out of the paper and dropping to the ground with them. He started playing with them, making noises and rolling them around on the floor.
“You didn’t have to do that, Uncle,” June said with a smile.
“I didn’t have to, I wanted to,” her uncle corrected, pushing his spectacles up his nose. “Ben deserves a little fun in his life, and I can afford to give it to him.”
“If you keep this up, you’ll spoil him,” June teased lightly, taking a seat next to her uncle on the couch.
“If I recall correctly, I did the same with you, and you turned out just fine,” he teased back.
“That’s true,” June conceded with a nod.
“How are you settling into the house?” Mabel asked, sitting in the chair across from them.
“You did a wonderful job of preparing it for us, Mabel. Thank you so much,” June said with a pleased smile.
“Of course, I wanted to make sure everything was in order for your return. We’re here so little, the place tends to collect a larger layer of dust. I couldn’t have you and Ben move into that,” Mabel explained with an indignant tone.
“You did a fine job, Mabel,” June’s uncle praised, reaching over and patting his housekeeper’s knee. “None of us could make it without you.” Then turning his attention back to June, he added, “I see the apothecary is coming along nicely. When are you planning to get display cases?”
“Once I’ve got some funds stored up, I will put in an order with the mercantile. Though I doubt Mrs. Stewart will want to help me since Lucy Mae probably went all over town telling everyone about my ‘unprofessional’ sign,” June said with a roll of her eyes. “She doesn’t seem to like the fact that I’m back in town.”
“Don’t mind her; she’s always like that. Everyone else is happy you’re back in town, as I’m sure Mrs. Stewart is too. I even heard that Daniel Wentworth was seen coming out of the apothecary just the other day,” Mabel said with a knowing smile.
“He had a wound that needed a salve. I helped him out,” June stated, leaving out the fact that when she had seen him, her heart seized in her chest when she looked into his gorgeous, green eyes.
All her old feelings had come flooding back, and she realized she’d never completely gotten over Daniel. When he decided to take off to become a traveling cowboy after one of their fights, June had been devastated. When he didn’t return and Ben showed interest, she decided it was time to pursue a realistic relationship instead of indulging in childish fantasies of a life with Daniel. When Ben proposed, she accepted and pushed Daniel from her mind, telling herself it was better that way.
Now that Daniel had reappeared in her life, June wondered if she had been mistaken. Not about Ben, for she had loved her husband, but over discounting Daniel. Maybe he just needed time to mature. Was there a chance things could be different this time around?
“I can see the wheels in your head turning. Are you thinking about Daniel Wentworth?” Mabel probed.
The door to the house chimed. The new bell June had installed doing its job, rescued June from having to answer the housekeeper.
“It seems I have a customer,” June said, standing to her feet. “If you will pardon me a moment, I’ll be back after I help them.”
June hurried from the back of the house, patting the wrinkles from her dress just before her eyes came upon her new customer, or rather, customers, who actually weren’t new at all.
“Good morning, Mr. And Mrs. Partridge, how may I help you?”
“Good morning, June, or should I address you as Mrs. Hillman?” the owner of the Belle Gazette asked her with an inquisitive look.
“You’ve known me my whole life, and called me June just as long. That shouldn’t change just on account of my growing older and being formerly married,” she said with a warm smile. “You and your wife were dear friends of my parents, and you’re as close as kin.”
“Glad you still feel that way,” Mrs. Partridge smiled in return. “And since you are all grown up now, I think you can start calling me Mildred.”
“And me, Gerald.”
“What brings you into the store today?” June inquired.
“Well, my back has been hurting me something fierce,” Mildred said, rubbing the place for emphasis. “I was wondering if you have an ointment I could use to help with pain.”
“Do you need a doctor?” June heard her uncle ask as he came to join them. “There happens to be one in the house, though June here could do nearly as good a job as I can by treating you.”
“Stop it, Uncle, no one is as good at doctoring as you are,” June admonished sweetly, feeling her cheeks flush with heat from the praise.
“Nonsense, since you were a little girl, you would follow me around like a duck and try to learn everything you could. If you weren’t born a girl, I think you might have made the best doctor I’d ever see. I still don’t think it’s right a woman can’t go to medical school. If they would just see the contributions they could make…”
Mabel came up and placed her hand on the doctor’s arm, stopping him from continuing. “It’s all right, William, don’t work yourself up like that. Why don’t we head back to the cottage?”
June leaned over and whispered, “Thank you, Mabel. I’m sorry he got so upset.”
“It’s not your fault,” Mabel whispered back. “It’s been happening more frequently lately. The water of the creek seems to calm him. He’ll be better once we’re back out there.”
After her uncle and Mabel left, June turned her attention to the Partridges. “Sorry about all that. I’m sure I can count on your discretion regarding what just transpired with my uncle.”
“Of course, Doc Roberts is like family to us. It’s difficult getting older. We wouldn’t dream of making it worse by broadcasting how it affects him,” Mildred said with a sympathetic smile. “Now, about my ointment, which one would you recommend?”
June went over the symptoms and what she thought would work best. A couple of bottles and canisters later, the Partridges had everything they needed for Mildred’s back along with Gerald’s knee that often locked up.
“I was wondering if you would be interested in being featured in the Belle Gazette?” Gerald offered. “I could interview you later this week if that will work for your schedule.”
“It’s pretty open right now,” June said with a small laugh. “I’m not expecting a lot of social calls any time soon.”
“I wouldn’t count on that lasting long. I’m sure once word gets out that you’re back in town and available, the single men will be knocking down your door to try to court you,” Mildred exclaimed with pride. “You’ve always been a fine catch, June.”
As she walked the Partridges out, she pondered on Mildred’s words. Would there be men coming to call thinking she was interested in remarrying? To be truthful, there had been a handful of men even in Glenda. June hadn’t been interested with the loss so fresh, especially if it meant staying in that unfriendly place filled with strangers.
Now that she was home in Belle, what did she think about the idea of entertaining the notion of a courtship? When she thought about it, why did Daniel Wentworth come to mind? Somehow she doubted he’d settled into the courting type, but part of her wondered if he might prove her wrong. He had offered to help her after all, and he hadn’t needed to do that. Could it have been an excuse to see her again?
As she waited in her shop for Daniel to arrive, a small spring of hope filled her heart. Might she get a second chance with her first love?
Chapter Four
Daniel had wanted to get to June’s place early the next morning. His leg had other ideas. Against her orders, he had tried to go back to work, causing him enough pain that by the end of the day, he couldn’t even stand.
When he woke the next morning, the pain had subsided a bit, but he still had to wait until the pain medicine took effect before he could put weight on it.
The fact it wasn’t healing as fast as he had hoped was frustrating to Daniel. He wasn’t used to having to take it easy, and usually kept himself busy throughout the day until he was plum worn out and ready for bed. He didn’t like the idea of slowing down for anything, let alone because of a bum leg.
By the time he was able to get up and start moving, nearly half the morning had passed him by. He just hoped June wouldn’t think he had abandoned his promise to her. He had enough guilt over the fact that he had done that to her in his youth, and didn’t want her to think he was a repeat offender.
Daniel arrived at the apothecary and made his way up the steps, carrying a bag of supplies. This time, he entered the premises like he would any other shop, preparing himself to greet June with a friendly grin.
On the other side, however, he found something he didn’t expect, or like. Mark Tanner, another ranch hand from Mr. Turnpike’s place. Mark was a known scoundrel.
“Is there anything
else I can help you with, Mr. Tanner?” June asked politely.
Glancing past the other man, she gestured for Daniel to make his way back into the living area of the house. Instead, he continued to watch them interact, wanting to be able to step in if Tanner got too familiar with June.
“You know, I wish there was, Mrs. Hillman, so I might have a reason to stay here and talk with you a while longer. I daresay, the sound of your voice is the most refreshing sound I’ve ever heard. I could listen to it all day long.”
Daniel wanted to march right over to Tanner and punch him square in the jaw for so obviously flirting with June the way he was. It wasn’t right for a man to carry on with a widow in such a manner. He could barely contain himself from going over there and making it clear Tanner had crossed a line.
“That’s kind of you to say, Mr. Tanner, but I have to get to my next appointment,” June politely explained. “The medicine I gave you should take care of your complaint.”
A look of disappointment crossed Tanner’s face before he nodded, then slipped a few coins across the table. He turned around, then realized who was standing behind him.
Daniel greeted the other man with only a withering glare that made it clear he didn’t approve of what he just saw and heard.
Mark gave a leery side-glance towards Daniel before scurrying past him to get out of the shop.
“What was that all about?” Daniel asked, trying to control his tone and not reveal how jealous it made him feel to see another man showing interest in June.
“I’m not really sure how any of that is your business,” June replied, tilting her head to the side. “What spurred you to inquire?”
“I just didn’t like the way he was talking to you. He’s known around the ranch as being a woman chaser, and I don’t want you to get caught up in his charm.”
June let out a small laugh as she shook her head, then playfully punched him in the arm. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. I learned my lesson about falling for charming men a long time ago.”