by Paige Powers
The fire was just about dead, and the rain stopped. There was an eerie silence surrounding the two of them. As much as Boyd wanted to continue to lie there, he knew that it was time to get up and try to get them out of there.
He slid his arm from around her, trying his best not to disturb Bianca's sleep. Unsuccessful.
"Where are you going? What time is it?"
She opened her brown eyes, staring at him with a smile.
"I'm not sure what time it is. It is the middle of the night, and I can't find my timepiece. The storm has passed over, and we are still stuck in here. I thought that it would be best to try and get us out of here."
Bianca gently tugged at his arm. "What if we relit the fire and just stayed here for a bit longer before returning to normal life?"
"Tempting, but I do have to get you returned safely."
Her grip on his arm told him that she was serious, and wanted him to consider what she was asking him.
"I have total faith that you will return me home safely. After all that I've been through this week, life has taught me that sometimes you have to slow down and really enjoy what is right in front of you."
"Now you have my attention."
"Good. Now, get that fire going and come back over here with me."
Boyd did as he was asked, and got the fire going again.
"Don't you think that your father is missing you right now?"
"Maybe. But I think what is most important is what I'm feeling about present company."
A lump formed in Boyd's throat. What was he supposed to say in response?
Bianca sat there, obviously waiting for him to say something.
"Was I too forward?" she asked when he did not reply.
"No," he stuttered. "Not at all. I was just taken aback because, well, I have been feeling something for you too."
As the fire roared, Boyd moved closer to Bianca. She was lying there with the blanket wrapped around her. Sitting up, she opened the blanket, beckoning Boyd to come sit next to her.
He did and wrapped his arms around her. "How is it that we are feeling," he paused. "How is it that we are feeling whatever we are feeling about each other?"
She snuggled in to his embrace. "Life is like that sometimes. Red Davies taught me that you can't help who you fall for."
"Really? And how did the man that kidnapped you teach you a life lesson?"
"Come on. I know that he is an outlaw and a man that has done some bad things. We all have our questionable behavior from time to time. I'm not minimizing what he did, but I also have to say that he shared some information with me about my mother and I will be forever thankful for that.”
"The story that he told me about his love for my mother and her love for him amazed me. They met and fell for one another so easily, so quickly. You just never know when you will fall for someone."
"And you would consider the both of us falling for each other?"
Bianca nodded. "I think so. Why, don't you? What is it that you see?"
Boyd shrugged, staring in to the flames "I don't know. This is all happening so fast. I have not had time to think about it."
"Come on. Where is that sense of adventure? Where is that wild streak that you want to bring out? Live a little."
"Live a little? That is your advice to me?" he asked with a chuckle.
She nodded, biting her lip again.
He could not resist.
Boyd leaned in and softly kissed her lips. Those lips. He had been fantasizing about this moment. The moment when he could hold her in his arms, caress her, and kiss her passionately. That moment had finally presented itself to him and to her. His tongue danced with hers, and she did not pull away.
Boyd could not tell if it was the heat from the fire or the heat that was generating between the two of them. The room was spinning, and he knew from that point on that he wanted her, and that there would be nothing to get in his way. He wanted to be with Bianca, and she wanted him as well.
"What just happened here?" he asked.
"If you don't know, maybe you are out of practice."
They both laughed at her joke.
"I want you, Bianca. More than I ever knew was possible to want to be with someone."
He gently tilted her chin up so that they were staring directly in each other's eyes.
"I want you too. I have never wanted to be with someone so quickly, so desperately. But I do know that person is you, Boyd."
"Good. Then it's settled. But first, we must get out of this house. I still have a job to do and that is to bring you home safely to your father."
"Let's go."
As Boyd rose from the floor beside Bianca, they heard horses approaching.
"Boyd! Bianca! Are you two in there?"
"Beau! Yes! We are trapped by that tree at the door. Barricaded in."
Boyd ran to the window where he could see his brother, Scout, Lou Simmons, Don Brinker, and Sheriff Clayton.
"Looks like the cavalry has come to rescue us," Boyd commented.
"I'm more than ready to go home."
Boyd extended his hand to Bianca to help her up off of the floor.
"Just take a seat over there away from the window and the door. It may take a moment to get us out of here, but we will be out soon."
Bianca lit one of the kerosene lamps, and set to extinguishing the fire in the fireplace while Boyd opened the front door.
"We're in here. We've been stuck since the storm," Boyd yelled outside.
"It's all right. We'll get you both out of there shortly."
The axes chopped, and soon enough the tree was removed. Boyd picked up Bianca, and they walked out on to the porch of the tiny house.
"Are you ready?" he whispered to her.
"I am."
*
The ride back to Eagle Valley was quiet. Bianca could not wait to get home and get back to her own surroundings, her own luxuries. She knew that she would have to recount the entire account to her father, and talk with him about being abducted by Red Davies. She would also have to talk with him about falling for Boyd.
Most importantly, she hoped that Boyd would talk with her father about his feelings for her and his intentions for her. It was amazing that out of this storm, out of this negative situation came something so beautiful.
Bianca had no clue what her father would say about her budding relationship with Boyd. She was initially afraid to discuss it with him, but figured out that there was no need for fear. She had been through so much in the past week that she felt stronger and ready for anything in life.
That adventure that she had been seeking was staring her in the face. She had never known anyone who met and fell in love with someone on the first day. It would be a lovely story to tell their children and their grandchildren. It was the kind of thing that fairy tales were made of.
Man and woman meet, fall in love. Man is the strong, caring, lawman, who swoops in and saves the day. What woman would not want the man that was her hero, her knight in shining armor? It was the type of thing that legends and fairy tales were made of.
Bianca wanted her own fairy tale. She wanted her own dream come true. Living in Eagle Valley, she knew all that courting had to offer. There was Landon Firth, the son of the mortician. He was nice enough, but they never had anything in common, and there was definitely no spark. There was Kent Bakkan, the son of the banker. Kent was attractive, charismatic, and the type of man that any woman would be happy to call her husband. Problem was, he was not faithful, because he knew that he did not have to be. He was the prize and his family had money. The woman that ended up with Kent had to want the status that he could offer her versus seeking love. Daniel Horvath was the son of the head doctor at the hospital. Daniel was so shy and so focused on leaving Eagle Valley to further his schooling, that Bianca knew that he was not the one for her either. There were other young men in Eagle Valley, most of whom she had grown up with. Their families all knew one another, and they all came from the same small town
where they would live, raise families, and die.
Deep down, Bianca had always wanted so much more. She had all the best that money could buy. The nannies, the head mistresses, anything that she needed, Lou provided it all. What she did miss was the conversation about what it was like to meet a boy and fall in love. What it was like to have butterflies in her stomach and sweaty palms simply by looking at each other. She missed that conversation about what it felt like to find the person that you were meant to be with, what it felt like to fall head over heels for someone that you did not even know.
Talking to Red made her miss her mother even more. It was a funny thing to miss a person who she did not even know. Hearing Red Davies talk about her mother made Bianca feel just a bit closer to her mother. She felt like they had so much in common, and she wanted to ask her father more about the woman that birthed her, the woman that loved her, the woman that named her after her own grandmother.
Once they arrived in Eagle Valley, Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. To see familiar surroundings made her comfortable.
"It is so good to be home." She whispered the words more to herself.
Lou was seated next to her on the wagon. "My sweet girl, I'm so happy to have you home."
The wagon pulled up in front of the Simmons home.
"Gentlemen, you can all retire for the night. We will reconvene in the morning at the sheriff's office to go over what is needed to wrap up the case and continue our hunt for Red Davies."
"If you don't mind, Lou, me and the sheriff are going to stay here and be on the look out for you. We don't want to go through this again."
"All right, Brinker. If that is what you want."
Simmons helped Bianca down from the wagon. She wanted so badly to get into the house, take a bath, and relax in her own bed with her own clothing.
Lou held her hand as they entered the house. Everything smelled the same, and everything was in the same place as when she left it. It was a crazy thought that things would change over the course of a week, but maybe it was not so crazy a thought. She had changed over the course of a week.
Bianca started up the stairs toward her room.
"Sweetheart, can we talk for a moment?"
Bianca stopped on the stairs. "Father, I would really like to change and go to my room and relax."
Lou stared at her. "I understand. I just think we need to talk."
Bianca turned around and came back downstairs. "I'm here."
Lou twirled his moustache. "Are you all right?" He came over to where she stood.
"I am, Father. I am perfectly fine."
"Please, tell me what happened."
Bianca sighed. She was not ready to discuss what happened. All she wanted was to go to bed, but she knew that her father would not have it.
"All that matters is that I'm fine now. I really don't want to recount everything now because I'm going to have to tell the same story all over again at the sheriff's office later today."
Lou opened his mouth to speak, but closed it.
"I am fine, Father."
"I knew that I should not have let you go." When Lou spoke, anger spewed.
Bianca tried to stay calm. "Father, you have to let go."
"No, I don't." He turned around, accenting his words with his hands flying in the air. "You are my responsibility and I must take care of you. If I had not agreed to let you go to the market alone, this would not have happened."
"Father! That is not the problem. Red Davies was coming for revenge anyway. It was your business decisions that resulted in my kidnapping. Not my desire to be more independent."
As soon as the words escaped her lips, Bianca instantly regretted saying it in such a fashion.
"You silly girl! You think that you know everything." Lou was pacing the room.
"Father," Bianca started.
"No. I think you had better listen to me. I have been in utter hell over here, worried about where you have been, and wondering if you were hurt or even worse. Wondering if you were dead. I know that I have more enemies than I do friends. And to know that you were abducted by someone that has," Lou paused. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"To know that what you just went through was because of me kills me, Bianca. It just kills me. And I must apologize."
The words hit Bianca like a ton of bricks. She had not expected to hear an apology from her father.
"Father, I don't know what to say."
He shook his head. "It's fine. Really. I'm just happy that you are home, and that you are safe, and that this nightmare is over."
For the first time, Bianca saw some vulnerability in her father. It was endearing, and she was not quite sure how to respond.
Lou stood there for a moment, and then came over to hug her. His arms around her made her melt. For once, her father recognized that he had done something wrong, and that things had not gone exactly the way that he planned. The Lou Simmons who was always in charge and always in control was not the man that was in front of her. This man that was standing there in front of her was a man who was willing to admit his mistakes and was willing to possibly be a different man.
Maybe even tell her more about her mother.
"I'm glad to have you back, Sweetheart." Lou let her go with a kiss on the forehead.
"I'm glad to be home. I truly am."
As Lou started to walk off, Bianca thought that would be the right time to ask about her mother.
"Please tell me about my mother."
Her father turned around on his heels. "Sweetheart, you've been through so much these past few days. Maybe you should get some rest. I'll have Miss Nolan prepare a bath for you, and bring you some tea and those cookies you like."
"I asked you to tell me about my mother."
Rubbing his temples, Lou shook his head. "Maybe another time."
"Father, the time is now. I am old enough to know about her. I've been old enough to know about her."
When Lou still did not respond, Bianca blurted out, "Red Davies told me about her."
Bianca nearly jumped out of her skin when Lou slammed his hand on the nearby table.
"Do you dare speak that name in this house after all that he has put us through?"
Bianca stood there quietly, trying to let her father's anger pass before she spoke again.
"It was not meant to be disrespectful. I am simply telling you that he told me how wonderful and sweet and loving and caring my mother was. He gave me a little insight into her spirit. And it was nice to hear something so good about her. You never share anything about her."
"You want to know about Samantha? Here."
Lou disappeared out of the room and came back with a small wooden box. He practically shoved it at her and then stomped out of the room, leaving her standing there with the box and her hurt feelings.
A tear threatened to fall, but Bianca held her emotions intact. She had at least gotten through to her father, and that made a difference at this time. Bianca had to hope that the rest of it would all fall into place.
Bianca went upstairs to her room, clutching the box. Once in her room, she sat on her bed, just her and the box.
Her emotions were surging through her body. What had her father given her? The box had a latch that opened easily. When it opened, a sliver of mirror was on the back of the top, and a small figure twirled around while a song played. At the bottom of the music box, there were letters addressed to her.
She ran her fingers along the lettering. Her mother had written these letters for her, and now here she was holding the very letters.
"Miss Bianca, your bath is drawn, and I will bring your tea as soon as you are finished."
Miss Nolan was standing in her doorway.
"Thank you, Miss Nolan. I will be right there." Bianca wiped away the tears streaming down her face.
She decided that it was best to take her bath and get her tea so that she could relax in bed, and then take as long as she needed to read her letters.
Chapter 10
My Dearest Bianca,
From the moment I held you in my arms, I knew that you would change my life. Looking in to your eyes melts my heart, and I know that I have done something right. I hope you know how much I love you, and how much you mean to me and to your father. We are the most unlikely of couples, but sometimes life just puts two people together in order to make something better come out of it. I believe that was you.
I wanted to make sure to share a few life lessons. First, always be good to yourself. No one else will treat you as good as you treat yourself. Take time to smell the flowers, listen to the birds, and enjoy the feel of the sunshine on your face. Dance in the rain, and make sure that you don't let opportunities pass you by.
Be a good person. It is a good thing to be nice to others. People will remember that about you.
Find love. That one is important. Sometimes you will hear that love will come to you. That is not true all of the time. You have to find it, and when you do, it can be beautiful. You may find love with the person that you least expect. That person may not look like what you envisioned, and they may not exactly be perfect. No one is. No one is perfect. That is the key.
Love is necessary. Love is what keeps us going. I hope you find the person who makes your heart race, who makes you smile, who makes your stomach swirl. The person that you can't get off of your mind. And when you find that person, do not let them go. Tell them how you feel, and make sure that they know without a doubt that you love them. If you do that, if the two of you do that, you will make it through anything.
I love you with all of my heart, and I can't wait to see the kind of woman that you become.
Love,
Mother
To read her words made Bianca's world come together. She read them over and over again, each time trying to figure out what her mother's voice would have sounded like if she spoke those words aloud. She imagined her mother sitting in a rocking chair, smiling as she wrote those words. The woman envisioned a good life for her, and wanted so much for her daughter. The love that Samantha had for her came through in the words and embraced Bianca.