Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
E ric’s lungs were burning by the time he reached No Man’s Land. He’d pushed himself harder than usual up the mountainside, keenly aware that Willow was waiting for him.
He spotted her by the tree before she noticed him. His legs came to a stop, and he bent over to catch his breath, all the while studying her freely.
She looked…
A smile tugged at his lips.
She looked like she’d just tumbled out of bed. Her curls were up in some sort of messy bun, but more locks were blowing in the breeze than neatly pinned in place. She wasn’t sporting one of her geeky aprons, and those baggy flannel pants were definitely pajamas.
He straightened, and his lungs seemed to expand in his chest. He took a deep breath, and it felt like the first time he’d really breathed in months.
But then she looked his way, and her lips curled up in a grin, and?—
Ah heck. The wind was knocked out of him all over again.
“You’re here!” She hurried over to him, meeting him halfway.
He arched a brow. “And you…just woke up.”
“Actually, I have yet to go to sleep. I tried, I swear, but I just couldn’t!” Her smile grew, which he hadn’t thought possible. But now she was flashing dimples and her whole body seemed to vibrate with excitement as she shoved a piece of paper his way. “Look. Just look!”
He took the paper and scanned it. “Whoa.”
“Right?” She was dancing now. Like, literally bopping around, too excited to stand still.
Not that he could blame her. He tried to focus on the words on the page, but it was difficult with Willow dancing around him.
“They’re love letters!” She’d clearly run out of patience with his reading.
“Listen to this one. I think it must be the last one she wrote. ‘ My dearest Charlie. I am most excited and terrified to take this great adventure with you. I know we shall break hearts with such a rebellious act, but I can no longer live without you. So I shall meet you at midnight, because I love you, Charlie King. I love you with all my heart, and I know nothing can make me happier than being with you for the rest of my life. Your sweet Rose forever. ’”
Eric just stared at her. She stared back, like she was waiting for something. Then she gave him a pointed look. “They were going to run away together!”
It sounded that way. But…
He frowned, trying to remember the family stories his grandfather told him. He shook his head. “So why didn’t they?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they did.”
Her bright blue eyes sparkled with hope and optimism.
And not for the first time around this woman, he actually kinda felt like Darth Vader delivering a fatal blow.
“Willow, Rose died. Her tombstone is in the cemetery by the town church. If she’d run away…
it would have been a scandal. Everyone would have known. ”
Willow stared at him with those big blue eyes, and he had the urge to take it back. Let her have her romantic fantasy with its happy ending.
“Have you seen the tombstone?” Willow’s sharp response had him glancing up from the letter in his hand.
He could admit, the old-timey handwriting and the pretty words… It was easy to get swept up in the romance of it all.
Willow arched a brow in challenge—a chihuahua standing up to a pit bull.
The thought had him choking on a laugh.
“This isn’t funny, Eric.” The flash of hurt in her expression had him sobering.
She peered down at the letter she held. “I want to know what happened to them. How this…” She waved the piece of paper. “Turned into…” She gestured between them. “This.”
He frowned. “The families were already feuding back then. Isn’t that the whole point of them meeting in secret?”
“Yes, but if they were so in love, why couldn’t they get their families to understand? And if her tombstone really is in the town cemetery…” She looked to Eric, and he was horrified to see tears in her eyes.
Like, actual tears. This woman was crying over a dead person who wasn’t even her family.
“If they were planning to run away, why didn’t they?” She finished with a mouselike squeak that made his chest tighten.
He swallowed hard. Mostly because those blue eyes were fixed on him now with a seriousness that was rare from her. Serious and…searching. Like she really wanted him to have the answers.
And…crap. He really wished he had them for her.
“She died in a fire,” he said. The one your family caused.
He swallowed that last part. It was part of the family story, yes, but now didn’t seem like a great time to hurl centuries-old accusations.
“We lost a lot of the letters and journals from that time in that same fire,” he added.
“So everything I know about Rose’s death and the feud with the Spencers… it’s all word of mouth.”
Willow nibbled on her lip, and he couldn’t look away.
“What happened to Charlie?” he asked.
Her brows drew together, and she shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s the same for us—I mean, we didn’t have a fire, but other than recipes and those diaries I found, no one was big on keeping records.”
She looked so heartbroken over this fact, he found himself compelled to make excuses on her ancestors’ behalf. “They were probably busy. You know…surviving dysentery and fording rivers and whatnot.”
Her lips twitched and her eyes sparkled. “Since when did you become a historian on American pioneers.”
He kept his expression blank. “I’m a very knowledgeable man. I thought you knew that already.”
She held his gaze for a long moment and then burst out laughing. “Okay, fine. So maybe they were too busy, but this—” She shook the letter in her hand. “This is proof that I was right and you were wrong.”
He kept his voice bland despite his urge to laugh along with her. “You sound like you’re twelve.”
She ignored that. “Admit it. I was right. They were in love.”
He turned to walk away, smiling when he heard her chasing after him. “Oh come on, just admit it.”
He ran a hand over his mouth before turning to face her. “I have to get back to work.”
“Fine.” Her sigh was so over the top, it had him stifling another laugh. But when he turned to walk away again, she shocked the heck out of him by reaching for his hand. “Just do me a favor.”
Anything . He bit back the word before it could escape. “What favor?”
“Look for Charlie’s letters. They’ve got to be on your property.”
“Willow—”
“Please?” She squeezed his fingers, and it took everything in him not to brush his thumb over her soft skin. “I just know he was in love with Rose and would never have done anything to hurt her.”
He tilted his head to the side, studying her. “This means a lot to you.”
“Of course it does.” Her eyes snapped up to meet his. “It means a lot to you too.”
He couldn’t bring himself to deny it. Clearly at some point, he’d lost his mind and become oddly invested in Rose and Charlie’s story. But it was Willow standing before him right now, and it was the plea in her eyes that had him softening.
“Fine.” He squeezed her hand before tugging out of her grip. “I’ll look for them.” He started to walk away, hiding a smile as she squealed with excitement.
He cast one last look over his shoulder and found her dancing again. “But no promises!”