Feisty Heroines Romance Collection of Shorts

by D. F. Jones

  “How did you—” She furrowed her brow and studied the man only a couple of inches taller than her with his dark brown hair and even deeper brown eyes. His skin was tanned, his hands calloused. So opposite from Elvin, who’d been blond and towered over her by at least a foot.

  “It wasn’t a secret. For what it’s worth, I am happy you’re here, and I think we can get along just fine. Once we get to know each other more, once you get yourself settled, then I’ll have you.”

  Nathan rushed out the door, and her jaw hung open.

  Chapter 4

  Abbie

  As much as Abbie wished it wouldn’t—life continued. The sun still rose and set opposite of the moon, and she toiled away, keeping house and collecting firewood. During the day, she tried to entertain herself while her husband disappeared at the break of dawn, not returning until the night was almost falling on their little cabin. Any time she asked him where he went, Nathan grunted in response and gave her no other answer.

  Until…

  She’d lost count of her days and couldn’t find it in herself to care. In town, living with her parents, she’d been busy and constantly had something to do, whether it be helping her mother cook for the family or launder clothes for the people in town. Sometimes she even volunteered at the hospital. Here, she swept a clean floor, cooked for no one except herself, and laundered the few items her husband wore. Abbie longed for action and adventure, for love. In the end, she got boring, boring, and a loveless union. If she knew it wouldn’t reflect poorly on her parents, and if she knew precisely where she was on this godforsaken mountain, she’d run away to find a better life. More than once, she packed her bag, strode a hundred yards and stopped to attempt to get her bearings. It all looked the same. Left, right, forward, backward, she was surrounded by trees, leaves, and nothing else.

  When she could stand it no more and decided to get off the mountain or die trying, she packed her bag yet again and jumped when Nathan rushed in. The door had been thrown open with such force, it crashed into the wall and bounced off, sounding as if a tree fell to the ground hard.

  Nathan searched the room, his eyes landing on her, momentarily widening when they locked onto the bag at her feet.

  “Nathan, I—”

  “No time. Come on,” he snapped, marching over to her. She had to bite back the squeak of pain when he grabbed her arm and began dragging her out of the house.

  “What happened?” she demanded. Nathan wouldn’t be treating her like this if there wasn’t a reason, not that it was right either way.

  “Come,” he grunted and continued to pull her.

  Digging in her heels, she ripped her arm out of his grasp, and almost fell doing so. Nevertheless, she refused to be treated like this any further. “Tell me what happened,” she seethed. Yes, he probably had his reasons, but this secrecy, when they were surrounded by nothing except nature, irked her.

  Nathan yanked his worn hat off his head and shoved his fingers through his hair. One minute, he seemed agitated yet calm, and the next, he threw his hat down to the ground and growled, his chest heaving with every breath. Right now, he appeared to be more animal than man, and for a brief second, she found herself afraid.

  Turning his back to her, he did not say anything for a few minutes. Slowly, he spun around, meeting her eyes as he did so. “It’s Pa,” he stated simply.

  “Pa? What happened?” Abbie knew Nathan worked with his father doing something, even if she didn’t know what they did with their days, and other than a handful of visits over the last three months that could be counted on one hand, she hardly saw her in-laws. Truthfully, not a day went by when her husband didn’t leave her during the day. Some days, it was only for a few hours, and some he was gone from sun up to sunset.

  “He…” Nathan breathed in. “There was an accident. Ma is working on him, but she needs help. Bo was hurt too, but not bad,” he explained. Bo? Had his brother been there too? She thought he was dealing with some business in town. That was what she’d been told the night before.

  Her head was swimming. Lifting her hand, she pressed her cool fingers to her warm forehead.

  “Come on!” Nathan snapped, grabbing her hand to haul her with him. This time, she did not resist. Instead, she ran to keep up with him.

  She tried to turn toward his parents’ cabin, but he pulled her in another direction, confusing her. Wasn’t there an accident? Wouldn’t they have taken his father home? What in God’s name had happened, and where?

  “This way,” he ordered, not bothering to say anything else.

  Together, they continued to rush through the woods, moving upward and to the east. Abbie had to run to keep up with him while preparing herself for the worst, praying it wasn’t as bad as Nathan hinted.

  On the verge of demanding he slow his pace, that she couldn’t continue when she wasn’t used to climbing and running at the same time, he slowed and pointed. “Over here.”

  Abbie searched the area, unsure of where he indicated. It didn’t take long for her to take in the scene before her. Smoke billowed from a cave, black soot covered the ground and the rock at the entrance, and there were small patches of leaves and pine needles that were still burning. The faint hint of alcohol lingered in the air.

  She continued to scan the area until she spotted her father-in-law lying on the ground, his wife hovering over him while she tried to patch him up. “Jesus!” Abbie exclaimed, yanking her hand from Nathan’s and scurrying over to the older couple. The closer she got, the more pungent the smell, and it caused her eyes to burn.

  Skidding to a stop, she dropped beside her mother-in-law, Emily, and assessed the damage to the strong, quiet man on the ground. His face was black, burns covered him, peeking out through holes that had been ripped into his clothes. “What happened?”

  “Our still exploded,” Bo answered immediately, his arms crossed over his chest. He looked much like Nathan, except he was half a foot taller and had hazel eyes.

  “Bo!” Emily hissed.

  Dropping his arms, Bo kicked a rock and yelled, his voice echoing off the rocks and cave. When he stopped, he panted, out of breath, and growled, “What? You don’t want her to know what we’re up to? Who is she going to tell? Her father? She hasn’t seen him since the wedding! Her friends? Unless chipmunks can talk, I think our secret is safe. You need her help…we need her help!”

  “He’s right, Ma,” Nathan agreed with his brother.

  Abbie’s eyes bounced between the three family members, but the argument did nothing to help Norman, her father-in-law. “Enough!” she bellowed. “It doesn’t matter what secrets you carry, we need to help Father!” She’d never felt comfortable with calling him “Pa,” and he would never be her papa, so she settled on calling him Father. “If you can’t be quiet, take your squabble elsewhere!” She met each gaze with a glare, daring them to argue with her.

  They nodded silently, probably thinking she’d lost her mind, but Abbie didn’t care one lick about that. She had to help the suffering man, and she would do so with or, if necessary, without them.

  Leaning over the man on the ground, she peered into his eyes. He was breathing deeply through his mouth, and any time she brushed against him, he groaned in pain. His body had burns all over, but most weren’t bad. Some had blistered, but the majority had only turned his skin a deep pinkish-red. She’d seen worse from some of the miners whenever they were brought into the hospital. The few areas that were blistering already, though, worried her. They would have to get him back to the cabin to clean his wounds, and that would be painful.

  Before she gave the order to move him, she felt his arms and his legs, checking for broken bones. Nothing. “What hurts?” she asked. Abbie realized she should have probably asked that first, especially hearing his groans and growls as she examined him, but it hadn’t occurred to her to do that until after.

  “Everything,” Norman snarled through clenched teeth. “It burns.”

  If she could knock him out, she would. He
was in pain, and things were going to get worse before they got better. “Anything else?” Abbie didn’t really know what she was doing, but she used to volunteer and knew how to bandage wounds and what to look for…some things to look for. None of the bones felt broken, but he had a lump on the back of his head that could be problematic. He needed to be moved, though.

  Wiping her hands on her skirt, Abbie got to her feet and looked around, finding the other three standing behind her. A cursory scan of Bo found a little blood on his cheek as well as a sooty face and clothes, but he was standing without assistance and moving around normally.

  “How are you?” she questioned her brother-in-law.

  “A little bruised and beaten up, but I’m fine. How’s Pa?”

  “He’ll be fine. We need to get him back home. I’ll need both of you to help carry him.” Abbie couldn’t trust the others to take charge, so she continued to give orders. “Carefully, Bo, you take one arm, and Nathan, you take the other. Lift him to his feet. We’ll move slowly, but we need to get him away from here.”

  Nathan looked over his shoulder and sighed. “What are we going to do? We are supposed to—”

  Emily cut him off, “Nathan!”

  Abbie noticed the way her husband flinched yet stood his ground. Narrowing her eyes, she fisted her hands and faced her mother-in-law. “I don’t care what you are or are not doing. I also do not care whether it is or is not illegal. Although, if you have a still, I already know what you are doing because my father used to make whiskey when he had the tavern. If you are more concerned with keeping your secret from your own kin than helping your husband, that’s fine. Do what you want, but you will not talk to Nathan like that. Stay out of my way!” She turned her glare on Nathan and Bo, who were standing on either side of Norman. “Grab his arms and lift him slowly. You’ll have to bear the majority of his weight as we get him down to the cabin.”

  It was a flurry of activity once they got Norman back to the cabin. Without waiting for Emily, once her father-in-law was on the bed, sitting up with the aid of his sons, Abbie unbuttoned his shirt and peeled it off of him. His back was clear of burns and other injuries, except for the knot on the back of his head. His arms and chest had taken the brunt of the burns. Cleaning him had not been easy, but it had been necessary.

  After Abbie finished, she requested, “Mother, do you have honey?”

  “Are you baking bread?” Emily scoffed.

  Spinning around, Abbie folded her arms over her chest and tapped her foot without realizing it. “No, my mother used to apply honey to my burns, and it helped to heal them. If you don’t have any, Na—”

  “Don’t bother,” Emily huffed as she moved to the stove and grabbed a jar off of a shelf.

  Abbie gently spread the honey in a thin layer over the pinked skin and blisters. “That’s all we can do. He should recover. The wind was knocked out of him. Just keep an eye on him, and if there are any issues, we may need to fetch the doctor.” She didn’t wait to hear anything her mother-in-law had to say and moved to leave.

  The moment she was about to step out of the open door, she heard, “Thank you, Abbie.”

  Since Emily couldn’t see her, Abbie smiled and said, “You’re welcome.”

  Bo and Nathan caught up to her a few feet from their parents’ cabin. “You need to know,” Nathan spoke in hushed tones.

  “Know what?” she inquired, not stopping.

  Nathan looked at Bo, so Abbie followed his gaze and saw Bo nod.

  “We can talk at home,” Nathan said, his hand brushing hers.

  Something told Abbie this was going to surpass anything she could imagine.

  Chapter 5

  Abbie

  The story Abbie heard stupefied her. Bootleggers. She knew they had an illegal still, but they supplied liquor to people all over the state, including the notorious Guissepi “John” Roma. Prohibition had only been a law for a few short months, but her new family had been making and supplying spirits for almost a decade, alcohol that was highly sought after, even more so now that the government had banned liquor.

  And their still had exploded, their newest batch destroyed. With their father injured, it was up to them to fix everything, but their pa had been the one to build it.

  Standing to her feet after listening to their confession, Abbie demanded, “Take me to it.” She knew trying to find it on her own would be impossible.

  Bo looked at Nathan, and she wanted to groan in frustration as she watched them communicate silently. Finally, Nathan told his brother, “We’ll take her tomorrow. Bo, can you leave us?”

  Abbie lifted her eyebrow in question, and Bo chuckled. “Even if we took you tonight, we couldn’t do much. The sun is setting soon.” He placed his hand on her shoulder. “You did good today. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” she mumbled. Bo was right, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want to get started on surveying the damage.

  After his brother left, Nathan ventured, “Were you leaving?” He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets.

  Tilting her head to the side, Abbie frowned. “Pardon?”

  He nodded toward her bag on the floor. “Where are you going?”

  A blush heated her cheeks, and she darted a look to her bag by the bed. In truth, she had planned to leave Nathan, to walk away from this life and him because she was tired of living in solitary confinement. Straightening her shoulders, she lifted her chin and declared, “I planned on visiting my family.”

  “On foot?” His lips lifted on one side, and he appeared to be fighting a smile.

  “Of course. How else was I supposed to get there? I don’t know what you did with the mule or the horses.” She would stand her ground.

  “They are in the barn at my parents’ cabin.” He sighed. “Were you going alone? Without telling me?”

  “I didn’t think you would notice my absence,” Abbie snapped, and unable to hold his stare, she dropped her gaze to the floor. It wasn’t true. While he may not have touched her as a husband would his wife, he sat with her, ate with her, and had made an effort to teach her about him as he learned about her. He would have noticed, and if she were honest, he would miss her. Would she miss him, though? He’d become a friend over the last few months, but love? She didn’t love him. Not yet. If things continued the way they were, if she got to know him more, she could find herself falling in love for the second time in her life, and that terrified her. She wouldn’t survive another loss like Elvin.

  She didn’t notice him move, didn’t realize that he stood mere inches from her until she lifted her head. Gasping, Abbie stepped backward and would have fallen if not for Nathan catching her.

  Cupping her cheek, he whispered, “I would have missed you.”

  His face moved closer, his lips a hair’s breadth away from hers. Abbie couldn’t breathe, and her mouth suddenly felt parched. Closing her eyes, she waited only to feel his retreat.

  “If you really want to return to your parents’ home, I will take you tomorrow.” His voice sounded tight and husky.

  Abbie had a decision to make. Did she stay and accept everything that came with it, or did she leave as she planned? “Nathan, I—”

  “I’m tired. I am going to wash up while you get dinner ready. I’ll return shortly.” He was out the door before she could say anything.

  Had she decided? What was she going to say? She didn’t know.

  That night, they went to bed without another word spoken, and for the first time since her marriage, she understood true loneliness.

  Chapter 6

  Abbie

  Unable to sleep the night before, Abbie was up and cooking breakfast before Nathan cracked one eye open. She’d made her decision. She would stay and help them rebuild, which also meant opening herself to Nathan and giving him a real chance. It was a decision she hadn’t made lightly, and as she gathered eggs from the coop, she silently said her goodbyes to Elvin. The time to let go had passed, and she could no longer cling to promises made to
a ghost.

  When her husband finally woke, scratching his head and yawning when he sat up, she declared, “We have a lot to do and not a lot of time to finish. Get up, get dressed, and eat. I want to be at the still by the time the sun has fully risen.”

  “Wh-what?” Nathan stammered.

  “We are going to get that still back up and running, and then I am going to make sure you produce the best whiskey you’ve ever tasted.” She smirked.

  “Wh-what are you going on about?”

  He apparently was having a hard time keeping up with her, and she couldn’t blame him. Her attitude had changed entirely. Instead of viewing her marriage as a punishment, she would see it as a blessing.

  “Up, food, dress, still,” she repeated succinctly.

  Shaking his head, Nathan rubbed his eyes and looked at her. She smiled. In turn, he rubbed his eyes again, moved over to the washbasin, and splashed water on his face. When he focused on her again, she still smiled and had to hold back her laughter.

  “I’m taking you home,” he said with a frown, confusion lacing his words.

  “No, you are not. I am staying here and will help your family with your still. Be prepared. Now, move quickly. The sun will be rising soon, and we have a lot to do.” She moved behind him and pushed him toward the small table where she’d already set his plate.

  He ate slowly, staring at her as if she had grown two heads and had completely lost her mind. Maybe she had, but that would not stop her. She had plans, big plans.

  True to her word, they did get the still up and running again, and when the first batch was ready to sell to one Guissepi Roma a year later, she took charge. Emily had tried to tell Abbie to sit at home and twiddle her thumbs like a good wife, but Abbie had never been one for taking orders. When her parents told her not to climb the tree in Old Lady McBride’s yard, she did it anyway, falling and breaking her arm, but she befriended the elderly widow with her hijinks. When she’d been told not to sip the whiskey her father sold in his pub…well, she could tell the difference between what was good and bad before her father sold the bar. She had supported her family when she could, including following through with the marriage to help them, but that did not mean she was an angelic daughter. Quite the opposite, which an ornery bar patron learned when he tried to rob them, and she pulled her trigger first.