Chapter Four
LEVI’S brEATH FOGGEDin the cold air. It was dark, well past sunset, and he’d accomplished the last of the evening chores an hour ago. If he delayed going inside any longer, he’d begin to lose feeling in his fingers.
And yet he stood just outside the barn, staring up at the stars and thinking about how none of this was going as planned. He’d agreed to help his brother with this farm but most of his time should have been spent on the primary reason he’d come to the Wet Mountain Valley.
Thatreason paid him regularly, unlike this farm that now took up the majority of his waking hours.
He shook his head, looking back toward the house. He had no room for bitterness. He was doing the right thing, both for his brother and for Rebecca and her children. This farm meant everything to Edward, and Rebecca . . .
He moved forward then, his boots crunching in the thin layer of snow underfoot, willing himself not to think too much about her. She made him nervous, with those pretty eyes and the way she constantly surprised him. His new wife might look fragile, but inside, she was made of steel. And that was far more intriguing than was good for him.
Glancing around him to ensure all was as it should be, Levi took a deep breath and opened the front door. The second he stepped inside, the most heavenly scents enveloped him. His stomach immediately growled in response, and he almost forgot to lock the door behind him in his eagerness to run across the room toward where Rebecca was tending to something on the stove.
“Good evening,” Rebecca called from the kitchen. “Supper’s just about ready.”
Levi couldn’t imagine what she’d found in that cabinet that could smell so good. “What did you make?” He paused by the table where the second oldest girl—Sarah, he remembered—was setting out plates and utensils.
“Only potatoes,” Rebecca replied.
Levi had boiled potatoes more than once, and never had they smelled this delicious.
“Children!” Rebecca called. She didn’t have to say anything else. The kids ran to the table and grabbed plates as if they’d never eaten before.
And that’s when Levi realized that the four chairs he and Edward had quickly made last summer wouldn’t be enough for everyone living in the house now.
“It’s all right,” Rebecca said lightly from where she’d begun filling plates. “The older ones have already decided to picnic on the floor.”
Gwynnie and Roger grinned at each other as if it would be a fun game, while Johnnie pouted.
“I want to picnic too!” he said, crossing his tiny arms as Sarah held his plate.
Levi winced at the idea, imagining bits of potato wedged between the floorboards.
“You get to sit at the table with the grown-ups.” Rebecca made it sound as if it were the most important thing little Johnnie would ever get to do.
“Will they ensure the floor is clean afterward?” Levi asked, glancing toward where Roger had settled down with his plate. “Not that I’m particular, but if we draw in mice . . .”
“I’ll sweep,” Gwynnie volunteered as she helped little Emmy settle into her chair at the table.
Rebecca smiled at her daughter, while Levi bit back surprise at the girl’s willingness to be so much of a help. He picked up two plates—one for him and one for Rebecca—and brought them to where she stood at the stove.
“She’s been a great help to me,” Rebecca said.
“I can see that.” Levi’s mouth watered as Rebecca heaped potatoes onto his plate. They were flecked with something green and—had she diced up ham?
His fingers itched to pick up his fork and dig in, but he forced himself to remain still until she’d been seated. No sooner had his fingers grazed the handle of the fork did Rebecca ask about a prayer.
“Of course,” he replied, as if this were a regular occurrence. He’d generally eaten as fast as he could, giving no mind to anything but getting the food into his hungry stomach. He forced himself to bow his head as Rebecca said a mercifully short prayer of thanks.
The food was worth the wait. Levi couldn’t imagine what she’d done to everyday, dull potatoes, but these had more flavor than anything he’d ever made. The ham certainly helped, and he finished off his plate before little Emmy had finished chewing her second bite.
“Please don’t wait on us if you’d like some more,” Rebecca said. She smiled at him, looking pleased that he’d enjoyed her cooking.
She didn’t have to tell him twice. Levi filled his plate again, and this time, made himself eat more slowly. Johnnie shifted this way and that in his chair, unable to keep still as Rebecca reminded him to keep eating, while Emmy watched him with round eyes. The older children kept up their own conversation on the floor, and as far as Levi could follow, it centered around which of Levi’s horses was the fastest.
Levi had grown used to the quiet in this house. He wasn’t sure that he’d ever be comfortable with this much chatter, but wherever the children went, chatter followed. Rebecca set the older girls to cleaning up after they’d all finished, sent Roger out for water, and shepherded Emmy and Johnnie to the bed in the corner. Levi slipped outside on the pretense of checking on the animals, but mostly because he didn’t know what to do with himself. Sitting comfortably in an armchair felt awkward, and it was too early to turn in for the night.
So instead, he walked through the barn, ensuring the horses were safely in for the night. He secured the latch on the barn doors. And then he stood outside in the cold and cast his gaze toward the south.
In between helping Edward, he’d been able to carve out enough time to do some initial investigation. He had yet to lay eyes on the man he’d been dispatched to find, but he’d observed enough comings and goings on the ranch directly to the south to know that the lead they had was likely true. But once Edward had passed, Levi had hardly been able to get away from the farm. As the weather grew colder, there were fewer demands on his time—but then he’d found himself ensuring Rebecca’s comfort in town and waiting on her answer.
Now that she was here, and there wasn’t as much to do in winter, he’d have more time to accomplish the task he’d been assigned.
Find Alexander Prather and bring him to justice.
“Levi?”
Rebecca’s voice caught him off guard. He whipped around to find her standing in the doorway. “Is everything all right?”
He realized that she’d seen him staring off into the distance. And from their conversation earlier, she likely feared he was searching for wolves or armed men wandering the valley. A slice of guilt cut through him. He knew very well there was a dangerous man nearby, and he hadn’t spoken a word of it to her.
It was safer for her not to know about any of it, he reminded himself.
“Just enjoying the fresh air.” He moved toward her, and she relaxed. “It’s a clear night, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more snow moved in soon.”
She stepped back inside and held the door open for him. “The children would enjoy that. The little ones are asleep, and the others have turned in. It’s been a busy day.”
Inside, the light from a single lamp cast shadows about the large room. Levi could barely make out the shapes of the children sleeping on the floor beside the bed in the corner. It looked as if Rebecca had supplied them with plenty of blankets, and Levi hoped they’d stay warm enough. He’d need to get on with building that bed tomorrow.
“I believe I’ll turn in now,” Rebecca said. She didn’t meet his eyes as she spoke.
Levi shifted, more uncomfortable now than he’d been after supper. “I’ll read for a while. Take the lamp with you.”
She looked at him then, clearly confused. “But then how will you see to read?”
“Right.” He’d had no intention of reading. Maybe sitting down and busying himself with much of nothing at the small desk in the corner, but that required light too. “I keep another lamp in the barn.”
She nodded then. “All right. Good night, then.”
“Good night.”
He watched her move up the stairs, the first floor growing darker as she ascended. Levi hadn’t ever given much thought to marriage, but he was certain he never thought it would be like this. But he didn’t know quite how to approach any of it. Now he stood alone, in the dark, wondering what to do with himself.
He dreaded going back out into the cold for the other lamp, so instead he took a seat the table and waited. He’d been so busy with work over the past few years that he’d barely had time to treat a woman to dinner, much less do anything that resembled courting. He knew nothing about how to win the heart of a woman like Rebecca.
Levi froze. Did he want to win her heart? How was he supposed to know how he felt, considering they’d spent less than a day together? If he grew to care for her, beyond wanting to keep her safe, that would be a liability to his line of work. But what did he think would happen once they were married?
He hadn’t really thought at all.
And he definitely hadn’t considered anything beyond what would happen once he accomplished his task here, being more concerned with picking up the farm work and ensuring that he did the right thing by his brother’s intended. And that was when he wasn’t letting the grief get to him. When he’d given it a second thought, he’d imagined hiring men to do the farming while Rebecca kept up the house and he went off to handle whatever assignment he received.
Somehow, now that he was actually married, he couldn’t imagine Rebecca taking to that idea at all.
He shook his head and pulled out his pocketwatch. He’d concern himself with all of that after his work was done here. And given how slow it was going, it would be a while before he’d be able to haul Alexander Prather in front of a judge.
The minutes ticked by as he squinted at the hands on the watch. He put the pocketwatch away and glanced up toward the loft where all he could see was the soft glow of the lamp. There was no way to tell if Rebecca was awake or if she’d gone to sleep and left the light burning for him.
At least by now she had to be finished changing into her nightclothes and doing whatever else it was that women did before they went to sleep. He crept up the stairs in the dark, cringing when one of the steps creaked under his weight.
He didn’t know what he hoped to find when he reached the loft room, and he didn’t dare think too much on the possibilities. When he crested the top of the stairs, he found the lamp burning on the wash stand and Rebecca fast asleep—and an unexpected sense of disappointment shot through him.
He changed silently, extinguished the lamp, and slid into bed. Staring at the wooden ceiling, he was acutely aware of every breath Rebecca exhaled. He tried to occupy his mind with something else—anything else—but neither counting the days left until Christmas nor running sums for the cost of feed and hay for the winter provided enough distraction.
If he kept up like this, he’d be asleep in the fields while Alexander Prather ran off with half the gold in the state.