“You’re not mad at me?” Before she could answer, he went on. “Don’t tell me you’re not if you are, Cadence. It’s fine if—”
She silenced him with a finger on the lips. “I am not mad,” she gently whispered. “Did you not hear what I said? I… do… not… blame you, Beau Johnson.”
She could feel the tension vanish from him. Taking his hands lower, he looped them around her waist and tugged her close. “Were we supposed to meet?”
“I think it would be silly to assume we were not supposed to.”
He grinned the slightest bit.
“What changed?” she asked. “Since yesterday?”
“Clara talked some sense into me.”
“I bet she is good at that,” Cadence laughed.
He ducked his face so their eyes were almost level. “And I knew just telling you I care wouldn’t be enough. I thought going and getting those books might… you know...” He pursed his lips, looking uncomfortable.
“Yes,” she promised him. “It showed me just how much you care. But I already knew how wonderful you are, Beau. You didn’t have to risk your life to convince me of it.”
Beau squeezed her tighter, making her heart twirl from happiness. “I want to spend the rest of my days with you, Miss Hurley. Marry me.”
Keeping one arm around her, he delved into his shirt pocket and brought out the ring. The sight of it brought on a fresh wave of emotions. Cadence needed to bite down on her lip to stop herself from sobbing in joy.
“Marry me,” Beau repeated, slipping the ring onto her finger. “Marry me. Marry me. I promise I’ll do my best in every way possible.”
“I know you will.”
With the ring back where it belonged, Beau lowered his face to Cadence’s. His lips took charge, showing her just how much he loved her. Cadence leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and holding on tight.
All those years of running away from the past, all those years without a home, and things had ironically come full circle. Home, it turned out, was in the most unexpected place of all. So near to where she previously believed only pain resided. Shallow Springs, Wyoming. Beau Johnson. These things belonged to her.
On and on she kissed him, never wanting to stop.
Without warning, the door flew open and laughter erupted. With a gasp, Cadence stepped back from Beau—bumping into a desk in the process. The two Humphrey sisters held their hands over their mouths, giggles escaping between fingers. Behind them, Teddy peered into the school with interest, hot chocolate coating his upper lip.
“Teacher has a beau!” Fanny Humphrey sang.
Cadence pursed her lips. “All right, now. That is quite enough.”
“Guess I should be going. I’ll pick you up after school.” Beau gave Cadence a wink that heated her toes up before going to the door. At the threshold, he stopped and looked down at the children.
“Actually,” he corrected them, “Teacher has a husband. Feel free to tell everyone.”
Epilogue
Epilogue. Beau
Epilogue
May sang.
Not just with the birds’ notes, but with everything. The fresh, green grasses waved. The puffy, white clouds rolled lazily through the sky. Wyoming Territory was alive with its own personality.
The weather was fitting, considering it was the best day of Beau’s life.
At the church that afternoon, Cadence had looked just as gorgeous as she always did. The white dress with lace on its sleeves and the flowers braided into her hair had only accentuated everything that was so lovely about her.
Beau couldn’t even remember anything else about the wedding. What anyone had said, who all was there. He didn’t know. All he’d seen the whole time was Cadence’s face. And now, finally, they were home.
“Here you are, Mrs. Johnson. Home, sweet home.” Beau kicked the front door of their new house open, an easy feat since he’d left it unlocked.
Cadence laughed and tightened her hold around his shoulders. Having her in his arms felt more than right. With Bubba right behind him, Beau carried his new bride inside.
Her gasp echoed in the main front room. “Beau… It is beautiful.”
“You like it?” He looked into her eyes for confirmation, but she was gazing at everything but him, her mouth open wide. The room was simply furnished, but everything that fit in the space did so perfectly.
The place still smelled of freshly-cut wood. Beau hadn’t allowed Cadence to come near the property while he built the house, wishing to keep it a surprise. Now, seeing her face, he knew that had been the right choice.
“Are you going to put me down?” she asked after another moment.
“Wasn’t planning on it.”
Cadence laughed again. “Give me the tour, then.”
“My pleasure. Over here, we have the cook stove. This here is a brand-new kitchen table, made by Mitch himself.”
“I love it,” she cooed. “It looks just like the one at Winding Path.”
“This is the bedroom.” He carried her to the second doorway so she could peek into it. “And over here…” Nudging the back door open, he stepped out into the grass. “Is the chicken coop and the stable.”
“Perfect.”
Bubba’s tail thumped against Beau’s leg and he gave them a slobbery grin, sharing in the joy. The dog had followed Beau to the homestead most days, laying in the shade while Beau sawed and hammered. He seemed to have already staked his claim on the house, evident in his digging in the yard. Beau had a feeling Bubba wouldn’t be returning to Winding Path Ranch any time soon.
Beau liked the thought of having the pup around. The ranch was only about half a mile away and Beau would still be working there every day, but having his own dog made the house he built more like a home.
Going back inside, he returned to the middle of the room and just stood there, Cadence tight against his chest. The house was perfect, the retreat Beau hadn’t believed he could have. But here it was, waiting to be lived in.
“You really are not going to put me down, are you?” Cadence asked.
“Do you want me to?” He grinned at her.
“No.” She rested her head against his shoulder and sighed happily. “Never.”
Beau’s heart swelled with love. He was really here, in this new life that had snuck up on him, rocked him, and changed him. Clara’s words from that cold November night came back to him. He’d thought about the things she said a lot since then.
Love. Forgiveness. Honoring the past while embracing the future. They were all concepts he was learning his way around. He did have one thing figured out, though. Pain happened. It was a fact of life.
But so were love and joy. And there was a way through everything. The best way to redeem the past was to open your heart to the present.
Luckily for Beau, his present contained the best thing in the whole world.
“Kiss me,” he whispered.
Cadence didn’t need to be told twice. Her lips locked against his. Together, they went forward, loving, forgiving, and honoring everything that had been and would be.
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Her Rocky Trail
Preview: Chapter 1
The monolithic hills rolled by, each multicolored crest smoothly giving way to its corresponding dip. Every mounta
in seemed different, their greens, grays, browns, and even white-tipped peaks all unique in the slightest ways. The chug-a-chug of the train’s wheels on the tracks had long since become not so much a noise as a comforting lull. The monotony calmed Kitty, easing the demanding thoughts that had run through her head for days.
Turning from the window, she surveyed the car, only to find nothing had changed. The man across the way still slept, hat brim pulled low over his eyes and double chins resting on his chest. Two ladies wearing fine silk dresses still chatted politely in the corner, their soft murmuring barely audible.
And where was Helen?
At the thought of her younger sister, Kitty’s heart flipped. Helen had gone to get water some time ago and had yet to return. How long had it been? Five minutes? Ten?
Kitty had been so transfixed by the scenery through the window, she’d neglected to pay attention to how much time had passed. Pulse pounding, she stood and carefully made her way down the car. The train rocked with each step she took, forcing her to grab the seats to brace herself.
The door to the next car slid noisily open, allowing Kitty access to the next area. There, the water spigot set into the wall waited at the far end of the aisle. Still, there was no Helen.
Kitty’s breath caught in her throat, causing a strangling sound. Where could her sister have gotten to? She had promised to return promptly after retrieving the drink.
“Excuse me,” Kitty politely said to an older man and woman. “Have you seen a young girl about seventeen? She looks much like me.”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Oh, goodness, I expect I have. I did not know we had a set of twins on the train.”
“We are not twins,” Kitty hurriedly explained, having no time to instruct the woman on familial ties. “Please, can you tell me when you saw her and where she went?”
“Now, I believe it was just a while ago, and she went yonder that way.” The woman nodded in the direction Kitty had been headed, toward the front of the train.
“Thank you very much,” Kitty gratefully smiled before proceeding along the train.
As she opened the next car door, the train rounded a bend, making Kitty brace herself against the frame. Though the walkways between the cars were wide, allowing relatively safe access, they were still exposed to the elements. Air and dust could blow across them. Just feeling the openness made Kitty shudder. She knew that the spot between cars was a bad place to be in the event of an emergency. She had been warned not to cross such a divide, and she would have heeded that advice if only her sister were not so foolhardy.
Sometimes trains wrecked. Sometimes people died on them.
Kitty pushed the gruesome thought back. It was her first time on a train, and she would not mind it at all if it also proved to be her last.
In the next car, she finally found what, or in this case, whom she was looking for. Helen sat facing the front, right across from a man in a weathered, brown cowboy hat. Kitty did a quick survey of the fellow from the back, noting his heavy jacket and the spurs on his scuffed boots. She certainly was not one to turn her nose up over a person’s attire, but the use of a coat in May did make her wonder about the man’s intentions.
“Oh, yes,” Helen was saying, her brown eyes sparkling as she smiled wide and nodded in agreement. “I have heard wonderful stories about California. My sister and I, we are from Philadelphia.” As Kitty approached, their gazes caught. “Oh, here she is now!”
A wave of anger rushed through Kitty as she stopped in front of Helen. She had a good mind to grab her sister’s arm and drag her down the length of the train! Luckily for Helen, the presence of others prohibited her from causing such a scene.
“Mr. Guthrie,” Helen said, “This is my sister, Katherine Byrum.”
“Pleased to meet you,” the man rumbled, tipping his hat.
Kitty caught a look at his face for the first time. He was older than she had expected, with tan skin, chin-length, white-streaked hair, and a gray beard. There was a clarity in his eyes, though—a sharpness that made her pause.
“Kitty,” Helen went on, “Mr. Guthrie was just telling me about how his father mined for gold out in California in the fifties. Isn’t that exciting?”
“Yes, very,” Kitty murmured, not interested in the slightest. She had a bone to pick with her sister, and nothing else mattered. “It was wonderful to meet you, Mr. Guthrie. Thank you for entertaining my sister. If you’ll excuse us, I need to have a word with her.”
Before Helen could protest, Kitty grabbed her by the forearm and hauled her a bit unceremoniously to her feet. They stumbled down the car, fighting the rocking of the train until they stopped at the end of the aisle, where no one was seated.
Kitty held onto the last seat and glared at Helen. “Did you retrieve your water?”
“Yes, it was quite refreshing. I believe—”
“I was being rhetorical, Helen. I merely wanted you to admit your guilt for disappearing.”
Helen’s eyes shifted left, began to roll, but she stopped them just in time. “I became distracted.”
“You cannot do that,” Kitty rasped, the anger surging through her making her throat weak. Her head pounded, and her chest became tight as if someone were pushing down on it. They were familiar sensations, ones that happened whenever the unexpected hit or when she lost control of situations.
Helen gave Kitty what could only be interpreted as a look of pity. “We are on a train, dear sister. Tell me, just where do you think I will up and vanish to?”
“This train is full of strangers,” Kitty hissed, taking a step closer so no one would overhear. “You are a young woman walking around on your own...”
“And you are not?” Helen arched a dark, defiant brow. Her obstinate attitude had become worse over the last few months, ever since they began making plans to move to Wyoming. Despite Helen’s insistence that she was excited for the journey, Kitty could not help but wonder if something about it bothered her.
“I am four years older than you.”
“That is not very much,” Helen immediately responded.
“Helen, what is the matter? Are you worried about our new life?”
Helen sighed and threw her gloved hands up. They were the first pair of white gloves she’d had in years. Kitty had saved pennies for weeks to buy them each a set. “Again, no. I have told you that.”
“Then why do I sense this defiance?”
“For the last time, there is no defiance,” Helen glared. “I simply would like to enjoy a little freedom without my overbearing sister constantly breathing down my neck.”
The comment stung like a pinprick right to the heart. Kitty felt herself reel back as if she had been struck. Her eyes fell to the floor.
A long minute passed, the grinding noises of the train and the soft talk of passengers providing the only commentary for the moment.
“I did not mean it like that,” Helen quietly said. “I am sorry.”
Kitty looked up to find a regretful pair of eyes watching her. We really do look like twins, she thought. With the same brown eyes, raven-black hair, and diamond-shaped faces, it was understandable that they were mistaken for a set all the time.
The major difference between them, in Kitty’s opinion, was that Helen glowed. No, not just glowed. Sparkled. Ever since she was a young child, she had shone with an radiance, not of this earth. People were drawn to her, and Helen accommodated their attentions well. It was a characteristic that Kitty both admired and often found herself jealous of.
That outgoing, easy manner also came with its fair share of difficulties. Helen was not as cautious as Kitty, nor was she, for lack of a better word, cynical enough.
“It is all right.” Kitty took her sister’s hand. “I understand.”
Helen’s gaze floated down to their clasped fingers. “They truly are nice gloves.”
Kitty inspected the pristine white gloves she’d worked so hard to keep clean. “Yes. They are.”
“Your new husband will like
them.”
At the mention of Cyrus Ross, Kitty’s lips pursed. In the search for her sister, she’d momentarily forgotten all about the man she’d traveled this far to wed. She knew very little about him, including what he looked like.
He could provide for both her and Helen, that’s all Kitty was aware of—and that was what mattered the most. He’d agreed to take them both into his new home, and that one act made Kitty eternally grateful.
Her Wild Journey (Seeing Ranch series) (A Western Historical Romance Book) Page 22