None too gently, Kat poked her elbow into Mrs. Forester's arm. "And you! You dropped me right into the whole mess!"
The older woman shrugged. "Someone had to break the tie. It was the easiest way and I knew it would draw the least amount of blood." She sniggered in a very unladylike manner.
"You're quite the manipulator, aren't you?" Kat said and chuckled at the thought of the two women locked in combat, hair askew, skirts over their dimpled knees, fingernails digging tracks into each other's faces.
Mrs. Forester and Kat left Mrs. Townsend's house together, Kat promising to review the rules for the contest next week. Mrs. Townsend reminded her emphatically that there would need to be some modifications to allow for the change in confection. Kat successfully managed not to roll her eyes.
"Won't you come in for a cup of tea? I have a fitting for Chelsea Hawthorn at two, but we could visit a spell." Mrs. Forester and Kat stood on the boardwalk outside her store.
"I'd love to, but I need to check in at the office to see if Father needs help. I've been filling in for him when he rides out to do home visits."
"Well, I'm certain he appreciates the help. He's been mighty busy. We've missed seeing Jacob at services on Sunday."
Kat failed to hide her surprise and gave a bark of laughter. "Father?"
"Oh, I know. He didn't want to have much to do with religion after your mama passed on, but he has been coming. Doesn't say much. Doesn't stay long after, always in a hurry to get back to the office. But for the past year or so, he's been quite regular."
"Father." She stated it again, leaving off the questioning tone and making it a statement of affirmation as if to picture it more clearly, this unlikely description of her agnostic father.
Mrs. Forester laughed at her disbelief. "Yes, your father. Don't look so stunned. God can call even the most stubborn heart. I should know!"
Kat raised her eyebrows another centimeter, then shook her head. "It's just not something I'd ever have expected of him. He's always been a man of science, not believing anything he can't test or see with his own eyes."
With a bemused expression, Mrs. Forester placed her hand on Kat's arm. "A lot has changed since you've been gone, dear. As we get older, life has a way of changing our perspectives. Your papa has had a lot of time to himself since you've been away, time to think about what's on the other side of this." She waved her hand vaguely, taking in the town, the land, the sky.
She turned to the door. "You know, we're having a potluck this Sunday and I'd love to show you off to some new folks in town, even if you are a heathen."
Kat threw back her head and laughed. "Well, I'll certainly ask father tonight at dinner. I suspect this will give rise to an interesting conversation."
She picked up the edge of her skirt and turned to step into the road, nearly colliding with Ethan Hall again. Giving him a hard smile, she stepped back. "Mr. Hall."
"How fortunate we are to have run into you again," Ethan said with a smooth smile gliding across his chiseled features.
At the same time as he said "we" she noticed the older man to his side.
"Let me introduce my father, Dr. Meriwether. This is—"
"Gilford Hall, ma'am," Hall interrupted, stepping forward and thrusting a beefy hand at her.
Ethan stepped back as easily as any military subordinate might have. She discerned in that telling moment something of their relationship. Ethan's easy smile slipped from his face just as he had slipped into the background. For just an instant, she felt a little sorry for the son as she saw him in contrast to his father. Ethan, she surmised, lived in the shadow.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Meriwether. Snowberry is very fortunate to have two doctors in our humble town." The words seemed to slide from his lips like butter off a hot knife.
His ingratiating manner immediately fanned a flare of resentment - the way he referred to Snowberry as our town as if he could claim some right to ownership after such a short time. Before she could moderate her reaction, she said, "My father has served here for over twelve years now. I think he's done quite well on his own." With a lift of her eyebrow and coy tilt of her head she asked, "How long have you been here, Mr. Hall?"
His jaw tightened involuntarily, giving her a thrill of satisfaction to know he'd understood the message perfectly. The next moment she derided herself for yielding to such adolescent verbal sparring. Why should it matter that the man was so full of himself? But it did matter if innocent people were being harmed because of his ineptitude.
"Oh, I'm a recently relocated immigrant, for sure, ma'am. But I've come to treasure this community, all the good decent folks who just want to make a peaceful life for themselves. That's why I felt compelled to offer my experience as a lawman to keep this valley secure."
"It's strange that there seems to be more violence in our valley since I left." Kat folded her hands in front of her, standing rigid. She couldn't help but notice that Ethan studiously avoided eye contact with her.
"Well, there's the pity, isn't it? I could see it coming when more men moved into the mining camps up north. They're a hard sort, some violent. Those that don't make a strike often as not, turn to thievery." He rocked back on his heels, squinting at her with a hard smile. "That's why I knew there was no time to lose. They needed my help. I just couldn't stand by and watch a good town full of good people suffer."
"And have you made any progress in locating the men responsible for this most recent attack?" Kat wondered if the man was anything more than a braggart, or if he had indeed been a lawman. Had anyone even asked him if he had any experience to qualify him as sheriff?
"Well, I'm glad you asked, ‘cause just this morning I sent word requesting additional help in patrolling the road. There's a very talented man that I know who has been very successful stopping this sort of trouble."
Kat caught the sudden stiffening of Ethan's body, the remnants of his smile evaporating.
She had no desire to continue the discussion, finding it more difficult to restrain her irritation with the man's smugness. Knowing her temper, she'd avoid shaming her father by causing an unpleasant scene. It was high time she extricated herself from this most unpleasant first meeting and get herself on home before she said, or did something regretful. "Well, it's good to hear that you understand the severity of our problem. I'm sure you've taken steps to ensure the town's safety. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to return to the office. My father will be expecting me."
With that, she stepped to the side, walking rapidly away before he could say more.
Gilford Hall turned slowly, watching her go, his eyes narrowing to slits while his mouth widened into a predatory smile. "That girl's got spunk. Think I like her."
He threw a glance at Ethan. "If I were your age, I'd be on that girl's tail like a dog in heat." Hall's face stretched wide with a leering grin.
Ethan closed his eyes, wishing he could likewise close his ears to the vulgarity of his father's opinions. He too, watched her go, but with a growing concern. Her coolness toward his father set off clanging alarms in his head. She knew something. She suspected something. That suspicion might create an unpleasant situation he had no desire to deal with, but might have no way to avoid.
Chapter 12
A Rumble of Thunder
“Yes, we are going fishing and no arguments!" Using her cutting knife like a pointing finger, Kat looked up from the kitchen counter to throw her father a warning glare.
"But Kat, Josie might deliver any day. I usually visit Will on Wednesday and see how he's managing without Irma around. I mean what if something happens?" Her father stood with arms folded watching her pack generous slices of fresh bread and a large wedge of cheese into her saddlebag.
"Papa, you'll do what you always do when you go out on calls. You'll tell Mr. Forester where you'll be. If an emergency arises, he'll know how to send folks to find you." She turned to him with her hands resolutely braced on her hips. "But only if it's life threatening!"
Looki
ng about the office uncertainly, but noting the stubborn stance of his only daughter, Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know."
Kat, closing the flap on her saddlebag, stepped to her father's side and took a firm grasp of his arm. "I do. We're going."
Nathaniel allowed her to tow him out the door, but not without one more weak argument, "But I'm not even sure I know where all my gear is!"
"I do!" As they stepped outside, she gestured to the basket already tied to her father's gelding. Two poles rose high like knight standards where she'd lashed them to the saddle. "I've already taken care of it. Now let's go! You always told me the best fish don't wait for any man."
They rode quickly down the hill to the Foresters' door where Kat hopped down to stick a note between the frame and the door with instructions about where to find them. At the west end of town where the newest houses stood, they began the gradual climb to the foothills. Here the Payette River spread out for a mile or so where two smaller streams fed into it, one with colder waters than the other. It was along the shore of the colder stream that Kat directed Blue.
The stream rose gradually from the valley floor, snowberry and wild lilac bushes giving way to a few scattered pines. A cottonwood loomed before them as they rounded a low hill. On the opposite bank rose a pile of jagged granite boulders, looking as if they'd been intentionally stockpiled there by some passing troll. Here the stream lingered on its journey to the river, forming a deep still pool. Their favorite fishing hole looked just as she'd remembered it. What a relief that at least this one thing had not changed in her absence.
Wasting no time, she slid out of the saddle. Blue eagerly set to grazing while she spread out a quilt on the new spring grass a few feet from the stream. With a deep sigh, Kat plopped down, flung her arms wide and fell back on the blanket, supremely satisfied with this moment.
Forgetting his earlier reluctance, Nathaniel, accepting the challenge of the fishing hole, searched eagerly through his bag for just the right hook. Meanwhile, a sassy trout taunted him as it swam in lazy patterns around boulders and under shady overhanging limbs.
Kat breathed deeply of the damp awakening earth before propping her head on her hand. Seeing her father wholeheartedly engaged in a leisurely pastime rather than elbow deep in someone's bloody problems - it filled her heart with gladness. "When was the last time you came out here, Papa?"
He straightened, cocking his head to the side, thinking. "Probably the summer before you left for Boston."
Kat clucked her disapproval. "All work and no play, Papa."
"Stop talking and let me fish!"
She pulled out the book she'd been unsuccessfully trying to read, making no more headway than the first ten pages in almost as many months. Today would be different.
Ten minutes later she slammed the book shut and sat up. She jumped to her feet and glanced at her father, intent on baiting his hook. Without disturbing him, she started up the narrow animal trail along the stream. Every few feet she found it necessary to duck her head to pass beneath low branches. At least, she thought, the thorny berry bushes were mostly contained to the opposite bank.
The terrain altered, the vegetation becoming less dense the farther she traveled. She found she could walk without bending over. She stopped, straining to hear what she expected. A few yards farther the sound of falling water increased. Kat smiled, quickening her pace.
A few feet from the stream, the bank rose steeply. Squeezed into a narrow fissure, water cascaded down the face of moss-covered rock. A shallow pool carved out of weathered limestone lay at its base. From the cloven rock, ferns sprouted in riotous fashion. It was a fairytale world that had for years belonged to her alone.
She knelt then at the mossy lip of the pool and looked down. What fantasies she had created here as a child, of talking rabbits and enchanted birds that whispered their secret identities in her ear! She had known then that had she the courage to fall into the pool, she too would be transformed. But she did not then attempt it nor did she now.
She sat back on her heels, hands caressing the velvet moss. Choices. Life was a series of choices, some hard, some easy. As a child, they were things like, pretend ponies or sheriffs? Eat the mud pie or don't? Obey or disobey? For most of her adulthood, it seemed her choices always boiled down to stay or go. Stay in Snowberry, or go to school? Beg her suitor to stay, and leave her scholastic dreams behind? Stay or go. Go or stay. Why did it keep coming back to these two rending choices? How to know if she had chosen wisely? Was she choosing wisely now? And the what ifs began to parade before her. The one that loomed the largest, the elephant in the parade, was yet to be decided. What if she didn't take the position in San Francisco? What if she gave up the dream? Was there another to replace it?
The trail climbed from here to a ridge with a vista of the river behind her. Relieved that she'd chosen to wear trousers, she scrambled over the rocks, beginning to climb. It wasn't particularly far, but there was no trail to follow, so she had to pick her way through the brush around some rocky outcroppings. As her hands scraped on rough stones, she regretted not wearing her riding gloves.
At last she emerged from the thick underbrush and ducking under the branches of a low-hanging cedar, she found herself looking out over the valley to the south and west. Shading her eyes, she peered in the direction of the town. Looking more like a storybook village from this height, the effect of white-washed cottages and small businesses arrayed in orderly symmetry charmed her. Kat found her favorite ledge, one she was certain was created just for her with a flat seat and a short back to lean against. She perched on the rock, hugging her knees to her chest, her chin resting on her knees, sighing with contentment.
"Pretty, ain't it?"
She jerked her head around, a gasp escaping her lips. "Oh!" It was all she said when she saw him.
"I'm sorry, ma'am. I didn't know how to keep from startling you." Jonathan stood a few feet back leaning against a gnarled cedar tree, his arms folded easily across his chest, his hat tipped low shadowing his face.
She experienced a violent transformation in her emotions from absolute serenity to extreme annoyance, as again her private space had been violated. But Jonathan seemed far more interested in the view than in her, so she relaxed as her emotions leveled out again.
Kat remembered then the trail that led from Schmidt's Valley up to the ridge, one she'd taken often, easier than the one she'd just climbed. He must have ridden up from there. She looked up at Jonathan uncertain as to what to say, so she turned her gaze as he had, back to the valley.
Neither spoke for long minutes. The vista held them there, the sinuous curves of the wide green river winding through spring fresh grasses, the patchwork quilt of a town, the layered range of foothills giving way to distant mountains on two sides of the valley. On the far horizon clouds rose in sinister billows of gray and mauve.
"Looks like a storm's comin'." His words, though soft, made the hair on the back of her neck prickle. She kept her eyes trained on the fast approaching bank of angry clouds.
"Yes, it does," she said softly, her voice barely more than a murmur.
"Guess we'd better be gettin' back. This isn't a good place to get caught in a storm, I'd think."
She turned to look at him, his hand stretched out to her. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. With her hand still in his, she heard the first rumblings of thunder as it rolled in across the mountain range before moving across the valley below. The sound prompted her to turn back, seeing gray clouds rolling down from the mountain to cast their shadows over the valley floor. Even now, the air seemed charged with the fierce energy building within them.
"Will you be all right?"
She hesitated, struck by the genuine concern she heard in his voice. But that unpleasant prickle at the base of her neck returned. This was a man of contradictions, she mused. He was a dangerous man, of that she felt certain. She felt, with equal conviction, that she was safer in his company than any place else she
'd ever known.
She answered softly, "Yes." Then with more assurance she repeated herself. "Yes, of course."
She felt his eyes upon her as she returned to the trail, knowing that he would stay there until she had begun her descent.
When she emerged from the thicket at the edge of the stream, Nathaniel was waiting with the horses packed and ready to return home. He looked at her anxiously. "You had me worried. That storm's come up fast."
Kat wordlessly took Blue's reins and mounted up.
The storm started with a slow pelting of light rain, but by the time they reached the house it seemed the whole storehouse of heaven had opened.
Nathaniel and Kat stood at the barn door watching the torrent carve shallow canyons in the road to town. Thunder followed in rolls that shook the walls, causing the Morgan to blow and stamp her feet with each clap.
"Haven't seen one like this for quite some time," Nathaniel shouted above the din.
Kat moved closer to her father, hugging his arm. He pulled free of her grip when he felt her shivering. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her close. She felt safe again, the same way she had felt secure with Jonathan Winthrop. Aside from her father, she'd never experienced that assurance of protection in anyone else's presence. She wondered at that. Something in his calm manner, his keen watchfulness, his quietly measured speech, all communicated to her that Jonathan was a man of intentionally, restrained strength.
After a time, the space between thunderclaps increased as the storm rolled beyond the valley and into the far blue range. Kat leaned heavily against her father, breathing in the familiar scent of him.
He squeezed her tighter to him. "I used to tell you when you were a little girl and scared that thunder wasn't anything more than two forces of nature meeting head on. As you grew older, I explained a little more about the science of it. Remember?"
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