A Tender Moment Under the Stars: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book

by Grace Clemens

  “Of course I wanted that for you! But you don’t have the right to come back after four years and expect to pick up where you left off! I’m not even the same person anymore! It doesn’t seem like you’ve changed much but I definitely have.”

  “And not for the better,” Betty replied, hotly, turning away from him.

  Solomon gasped, anger making him feel hot. “Not for the better?” He shook his head. “There’s no reasoning with you. As far as I’m concerned, you abandoned me here. You asked me to wait but you sent, what, one or two letters every year?”

  “It was more than that!”

  “It doesn’t matter if it was more than that. It might as well have been. That’s how it felt. Four years and maybe twice as many letters? You were mighty busy living your life out there, weren’t you?”

  “You could have come with me.”

  Solomon threw up his arms and exhaled sharply, exasperated with her. “You know full well I couldn’t do that. My pa had just passed. I had to take over his businesses. I have a full life here. Thought I had one with a future wife and family. Well, I have that opportunity now. With a wonderful woman who came here with the express purpose of being with me.”

  “Because of an ad in the newspaper.”

  Betty said it with such scorn, Solomon didn’t think he would be able to hold in his temper. When he spoke, there was an underlying rage that he was barely able to control.

  “Not every woman has the chances you’ve had, Betty. You don’t know anything about Isabel or her past or the reason she chose to come here. She wasn’t looking for a fight. She’s trying to find her freedom, her happiness. Who are you to try to take that from her when the only person who considers her a stranger is you?”

  Betty stared at him. She didn’t respond and he thought maybe for the first time, she was speechless. He didn’t really want to hear any more of what she had to say so he made to go around her and go back inside.

  “Wait, Sol,” Betty said, frantically, grabbing his arm and preventing him from reentering the cabin. “Just wait a moment. I’m sorry I said that. I’m sorry I’ve disrespected her. I just…don’t understand how you can love her when you don’t know her like you know me.”

  Solomon pulled his arm gently from her hands. “The reason I will fall in love with her is probably because she isn’t like you.”

  Betty sucked in a sharp breath and stared at him. He felt a pang of remorse and some of his anger slipped away. It was a harsh thing to say and he felt the need to backtrack.

  “I didn’t really mean it like it sounded, Betty,” he said in a gentler tone. “I hold nothing against you. I was surprised to see you when you stepped off the train that day. I didn’t know what to think or do or say…you took me completely off guard. I’d already made plans for my future. If you wanted me to know you were coming, you should have notified me. I would think I’d deserve that.”

  “I told my parents.”

  Sol pressed his lips together before saying, “You mean you told them not to tell me.”

  “But I—”

  A blast of thunder crashed through the sky, causing Betty to cry out and jump toward Solomon. Out of instinct, he wrapped his arms around her.

  At that moment, the cabin door opened and Isabel was staring at them.

  Chapter 26

  The sight of Betty in Solomon’s arms and him returning the embrace sent Isabel back to the day she came to Steven’s Gulch. Her heart plummeted into her stomach, she took a step back and closed the door. She turned to see Freddie giving her a curious look. She hurried past him, noticing when his expression turned to one of alarm.

  “Izzy?” he asked, stepping toward her. She went to the bigger back room, closing the door behind her and locking it. Her heart was pounding as she crossed the room. She was feeling a little faint. Pressing one hand against her chest, she tried to breathe steadily.

  She could hear outside the room when Solomon came storming in. He asked Freddie where she was in his booming voice. Freddie didn’t respond but Isabel could picture him in her head, looking down the hall to the room where she was.

  She heard Solomon coming down the hall and Freddie’s voice in the kitchen asking Betty what she’d done.

  Isabel hung her head. What had she gotten herself into? She shouldn’t have even opened the door. It was the thunder that had made her do that in the first place. Freddie had her calm and comfortable while Solomon was outside, to the point she didn’t feel the need to look out the window at them on the porch.

  Solomon had seemed so sure of himself. So sure that he was over Betty. It didn’t look that way to her. She felt the tears threatening but didn’t want to cry in front of him. She wanted to be strong and pretend that everything she wanted to do with her future hung in the balance.

  Solomon knocked on the door and rattled the doorknob.

  “Isabel? Izzy, please let me in. Please.”

  It was Solomon’s cabin. How could she not let him in? She wasn’t afraid of him. And she didn’t really want to be alone anyway, did she?

  Isabel stood up and crossed to the door. She unlocked it but turned around and went to the window to stand and look out at the woods. She heard the door open and felt the pressure in the room change as Solomon came in.

  He didn’t say anything until he was right behind her. She closed her eyes when he spoke.

  “That was not at all what you think it was, Izzy,” he said in almost a whisper. “She jumped at me because the thunder scared her. My arms were around her out of pure instinct. Please don’t hold that against me.”

  Isabel’s heart ached for him. She didn’t want to be angry with him. Seeing him in that position with Betty had cut like a knife. But when he explained himself, she believed him. She glanced at him with only her eyes. “You were a gentleman. How can I hold that against you?”

  She was glad to see a flicker of humor on his face. “I do hope you won’t,” he whispered.

  Isabel shook her head, turning to him. “I don’t. I won’t. It just hurt, that’s all. I think I’m…falling in love with you. I could, you know. Easily.”

  She enjoyed the happiness in his eyes when he heard those words. He took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him.

  “That’s good to hear,” he said. “I feel the same way. I really do. I didn’t want Betty to come here. Didn’t really want Freddie here either. But they’re here and we should make the best of it. I’ve had my talk with Betty. I really hope Freddie can talk some sense into her though, because I just don’t think she gets it.”

  “You don’t think she believes you aren’t in love with her anymore?”

  Solomon looked thoughtful. “I really don’t know what she’s thinking anymore. I used to know her well. At least, I thought I did. But now, she’s the same person and I’m not, and…I’m not interested in what she has to offer.”

  They were the words Isabel wanted to hear. Why was the image of them in each other’s arms still resonating in her mind?

  “I didn’t want to see that,” she said. “I don’t ever want to see that again.”

  “Look, I’ll let you know right now it won’t happen again. I’ll never be alone with her again, I can promise you that.”

  Isabel was relieved and put her arms around his waist, pressing herself against him. She could hear him sigh and smiled when he hugged her back.

  “I’m so glad you aren’t angry with me. I wouldn’t know what to do if you decided to leave now. Follow you to the train station, probably. Follow you around the house while you collected your things, begging you not to go.”

  Isabel giggled, a pleasant feeling sliding through her. She pulled back and looked into his eyes.

  “I couldn’t have resisted long enough to pack anything up,” she replied with a smile.

  “That’s good to hear.”

  She felt an almost irresistible urge to kiss him. When he bent toward her, she closed her eyes and felt the warm pressure of his lips on hers. Her head swam and she
returned the kiss with all the passion she had stored up inside her.

  When they parted, she was nearly out of breath and she longed for another kiss.

  “Please come out of here and we’ll try to have a good night. I know it’s going to get bad but we are safe here, I’m sure of it. Pa and I have been here through a lot of storms. Never had a problem.”

  Isabel looked reluctantly at the door to the room and then turned to face the window again. “Look out there,” she murmured. “It’s really coming down hard. Are you sure we shouldn’t all head back?”

  She saw a look of regret cross Solomon’s face and knew they weren’t going to be leaving until the storm passed. She hadn’t been through a storm in Texas, so she didn’t know how dangerous they could be. She could imagine it though.

  “It’s too late, I think. We’re safer if we just stay here for the night. They should stay, too. I’d send Betty home but she’d probably wonder why I wasn’t insisting Freddie go, too.”

  Isabel shook her head, speaking in a regretful tone. “If it’s not safe, I don’t want anyone in danger, not even Betty. I trust you, Sol.” She turned her eyes to look directly at him. “I trust that you told her how you feel and warned her to back off. I just hope she does or it will be a very uncomfortable night for us all.”

  A quick grin flickered on his lips. “Do I hear humor in your voice, Izzy?”

  Isabel went with his joviality and narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m stone-cold serious, Solomon Bedford. I’ll make her very uncomfortable.” She couldn’t quite get through the whole sentence before she broke out in a smile. “No, I’m teasing. I wouldn’t know the first thing about making a love rival uncomfortable.”

  He laughed. “That sounds so risqué. A love rival. But she isn’t your rival. I would have to want her in some way for her to be a rival. I don’t want anything from her or to do anything for her future happiness. My mind is only concentrated on one person right now.” He tapped her on the end of her nose affectionately. “You. That’s you, in case you were wondering.”

  She smiled, any disturbing feelings she had slipping away. She was touched by his gentle nature and softly chided herself in her mind for not realizing his position was odd and unexpected. He’d been caught off guard, too, by Betty’s unexpected arrival in Steven’s Gulch the same day as she.

  “Shall we go on back out there then?” Solomon asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “I think we definitely should,” Isabel replied. “I don’t want her thinking she’s chased me off.”

  They had both turned to go to the door when there was a knock and they heard Freddie’s voice from the other side.

  “Hey, you two. Can I come in?”

  Solomon crossed the room quickly and yanked the door open. “What’s wrong?”

  “Sorry to interrupt you.” Isabel looked around Solomon at Freddie, whose eyes moved to hers. He looked reluctant, probably because he had to knock on the door after an apparent blow-up. “But, Sol, we have to do something with the horses. And we need to fortify the cabin, close up the shutters and get ready for this storm. I wish we weren’t out here in the middle of this but since we’re here, we better prepare properly in case it gets worse.”

  “Okay, Freddie. We were just coming out.” Solomon looked down at Isabel. “If Freddie thinks it’s going to be that bad, we should check it and see how bad it really is.”

  Isabel nodded. “Go on. You boys go out and take care of the horses. Hurry. We don’t want them hurt.”

  Solomon pushed past Freddie, whose eyes were on Isabel. As she left the room, he said under his breath, “You all right, Izzy?”

  She glanced at him and nodded. “I’ll be okay, Freddie. Thank you for asking. Better go on out there and help Sol.”

  “Oh, I’m gonna. Just stay calm, okay?” His eyes flicked to Betty, who was staring out the window with her arms crossed and a worried expression.

  “Of course. Be careful, Freddie.”

  “I will be.”

  Betty turned her head to watch Freddie race out the door after Sol before turning back to the window. She didn’t acknowledge Isabel, which was just fine.

  Isabel wasn’t interested in making friends with Betty. The woman had given her no reason to trust her.

  Chapter 27

  Solomon heard Freddie splashing through the mud puddles that had quickly formed outside the cabin in the short grass. He looked back to see his friend hunkered down as he ran, one hand on his hat, keeping it positioned so the rain wasn’t splashing in Freddie’s face.

  They’d tied the horses to the hitching rail that ran along the left side of the house. Sol went to where he’d tied the horses that were still attached to the wagon. He stayed on the left side and was grateful when Freddie went to the other side to help him detach the animals from the transportation they were pulling.

  “Thanks, Freddie.”

  Freddie chuckled abruptly. “I’m glad to help. Not like we didn’t step on your toes, me and Betty.”

  “I’m shocked she got here before you. And she said she was out taking a walk and saw the chimney smoke. I mean, there’s her horse right there.” Solomon shook his head. “Just that would have meant she had to lie over and over to excuse why she had her horse. Lies can really pile up on a person, can’t they?”

  “I feel bad for her,” Freddie said. Solomon was aware his best friend cared about Betty more than he was saying.

  “I’m sure you do, buddy,” Solomon said, nodding as he unstrapped a buckle and removed a strap holding the horse to the wagon. “I used to. Can’t anymore.”

  “Well, I feel for her because of how I feel…I mean, it’s a lot more than I ever told you before.”

  The rain was beating down hard on both of them. Solomon figured he’d end up with a headache if he stayed out there too long. He hurried his steps, pulling the horse he’d unstrapped to the only shelter near the cabin – a place Sol’s pa had built specifically for this purpose. He’d had the sense not to have just two stalls. He’d added on until there were six places to hold the horses during bad weather.

  “What about the stuff in your wagon?” Freddie asked, sounding like he was out of breath when they stepped into the shelter and out of the rain.

  “None of that will be hurt by a little rain,” Solomon answered. He placed both hands on his hips and breathed hard. “So tell me what’s this about you falling for Betty? When did that happen?”

  “I’ve always had her in here,” Freddie responded, tapping his chest over his heart. “But now I’m wearing it on my sleeve. I can’t help it. I can see you and Izzy are a couple. You seem happy with her.”

  Solomon nodded. “I am.”

  “And you know I don’t believe in making people leave each other. Not over me. I’m not a woman stealer.”

  “I know you aren’t. But I’m not interested in sparking up that conversation again. Not as long as Isabel is in love with me. Well, she’s getting there, she said.”

  “I’d ask how you feel about her, but I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone who knows you. And that would include Betty, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s right.”

  “I’m real glad for ya. I mean that. I hope Betty realizes she can’t have you and stops bothering you.”

  “How did you know she was coming here?” Solomon asked, as thunder crashed above their heads. They both looked up instinctively. “Let’s get your horses,” he said, tapping Freddie with his fingers.