Chapter 6
It had been a long time since Ronan had smelled bacon when he woke up.
He stretched in bed, grimacing as soon as his ribs pulled a little too tight. It was by far the worst pain running through his body at that moment. The rest of it was manageable.
And to think I keep trying to leave.
Though finding out his property was beside this one was a surprise. She thought that it would take him longer to get there, that it would be on the other side of town.
Perhaps that would be better. He wouldn’t have a beautiful woman as his neighbor if he lived elsewhere.
Ronan took his time getting dressed, stepping out of the room and into the hall. The window at the end of it had been opened, letting in the fresh spring breeze. He inhaled deeply, the scent of flowers on the wind.
The floors glistened with the morning light streaming in. When was the last time he had seen a polished floor?
Cressida stood in the kitchen at the wood stove, Etta sitting at the table and eating her own breakfast with Tobin. Tobin looked up and nodded to him.
“Good to see you moving around.” Tobin stuffed the last piece of bacon in his mouth before getting up and tucking his chair in, taking his plate to the sink to wash up. “Thank you for the breakfast. I’ll be working on getting that lean out of the barn today.”
“I can help.” Etta finished her own breakfast and got up from the little table in the middle of the room, tucking her crutch beneath her arm. “I might not be able to lift things, but I can pass you whatever tools you need.”
Cressida’s shoulders stiffened at the stove before she turned around. “Are you sure that you’re feeling well enough for that?”
Etta sighed. “I’m fine.”
“Okay.” Cressida looked like she wasn’t pleased with that answer, but she turned back to the food on the stove, dumping some eggs and bacon on a plate before setting it to the side. “That’s yours, Ronan, and there should be some bread on the table too if those two didn’t eat it all.”
He took the plate. “Thank you.”
She offered him a smile, dishing up some food of her own. Etta and Tobin left, the sound of the front door shutting following behind them a couple of moments later.
Cressida sighed, sinking down into a chair and looking out the window. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling it before looking down at the food on her plate.
Ronan watched as she pushed the food around while he picked at his own food. Her gaze kept going to the window like she was just waiting for something to go wrong down at the barn. Though he didn’t know how to ease the worry in her mind, he figured he could at least distract her a little.
“You’re a healer?” he asked, swiping a piece of his bread through his eggs.
Her stunning eyes found him, looking like she was slowly waking up. “No. Well, not intentionally. After Etta’s accident, I had to be.”
He could ask about the accident; she had left room open for him to do so, but he didn’t want to bring that back to the forefront of her mind.
And there was something about her that made him want to get to know her.
It’s because we’re neighbors. It’s good to know your neighbors. You’re never going to know when you might need their help.
“What did you do before?” He reached for the cup of coffee that steamed in front of him.”
“I hope it’s to your liking,” Cressida said, eyeing the cup of coffee. “I didn’t know how you take it, but I find the stuff much too bitter without at least a little honey to sweeten it.”
“This is good. Thank you.” He took another sip before setting the mug back down.
“I was a teacher prior to this.” Cressida scoffed out a laugh, shaking her head, her smile turning sad. “It seems like a lifetime ago. Something that belongs to someone else instead of me.”
“Well, why don’t you teach anymore?”
“My husband passed.” Cressida let out a wavering breath. “And though there was enough to support Etta and me, the reminders of Edmund were all over town. I had to leave. Sold the house, moved back to Blue Valley.”
“You’re from here then?” Ronan stared at the way she continued to push food around her plate before finally spooning some into her mouth.
“Yes.” Cressida cleared her throat. “Etta moved with me when I got married. Our parents are gone. Edmund didn’t want to leave her on her own, but he worked for the railroad and had to go wherever they sent him, so he said we’d bring her with us.”
“He sounds like a good man.”
“One of the best.” Cressida smiled, reaching for a little locket that hung around her neck on a gold chain. “I haven’t talked about him in a long time, to be honest. It makes Etta sad.”
Ronan finished his breakfast and leaned back in his chair. “It doesn’t make you sad?”
“In a way, but I like talking about him. He would want me to be happy.”
“Are you?” Ronan’s voice was soft, and he didn’t know why it mattered, but he wanted to hear her say that she was.
Perhaps then he wouldn’t feel as horrible for adding more burden to her life.
Cressida’s lips pressed into a thin line before she ate another bite of food. It looked like she was considering it for a moment, then she laughed.
“I don’t even know what happiness looks like these days.”
Ronan swallowed hard. “I understand that feeling.”
Her gaze flickered to him, and he didn’t miss the way her gaze seemed to trace the path of scars hiding beneath his clothing. “I’m sure you do.”
For a few long seconds, they were locked in a staring contest. It was that moment when two people seemed to understand each other beyond the pleasantries that friends exchanged.
Which he knew was ridiculous. There was no way to know a person so deeply.
Ronan cleared his throat and stood, taking his dishes to the sink.
“Leave those,” Cressida said, appearing beside him. “I can do the washing up. You should rest. There are some books if you’d like to read.”
“I’m feeling a bit better,” he said, though that was mostly a lie to convince himself that his ribs were fine. “I’m going to take a walk to the barn, if you don’t mind.”
Cressida sighed before waving to the door. “Heaven forbid anyone listen to me when I tell them they need rest, but you know your body best. Go on then.”
He smothered a smile, knowing it wasn’t the right time. “Where are my boots?”
“By the front door.”
He nodded and headed down the hallway, pulling on his boots in his room and trying to breathe through the pain that sprang up in his ribs.
As he opened the door, he was met with the same scent of wildflowers on the wind. A bee buzzed by as he stepped out, off to who knows where.
Ronan made his way down to the barn, but it was a slow walk. Every few steps, he had to slow, his hand on his ribs as he tried to draw in one breath after another. There was nothing broken, but the boot to the side had hurt him more than he thought it would.
When he finally reached the barn, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get back to the house, but there would be time for that later.
Etta looked up with a smile as Ronan entered. There was a baby goat on her lap suckling from a bottle. “You’re looking much better.”
Tobin glanced up from the board he was cutting to fit over a hole in front of him. “You look like you’re in pain and shouldn’t be out of bed.”
“Well, I have to get up and moving sometime. I have a property waiting for me, and from the letter I received, it’s in rough shape. Best to start moving around now.” Ronan leaned back against one of the stalls. “What can I do?”
“I’m going to fetch one of the other goats. It needs to be milked. You should be able to do that without straining yourself too much.” Etta pushed to her feet as the bottle emptied, the little goat bleating before she led it off and out the door on the side of the barn.
Tobin stopped the sawing, setting it to the side. “You have a property here?”
“Inherited one.” Ronan rubbed at his ribs, trying to ease the pain slightly. “My uncle died a few months ago, but from what I saw in a letter, the property had been falling into disrepair before that.”
“Need an employee?” Tobin glanced at his horse standing in the stall, the door open to the pasture outside. “We’ve been traveling for a while. I think it would do us some good to take a break.”
Ronan studied him for a minute, still not entirely sure what to think about the man, but he had saved his life. But Tobin was also a drifter. Men like him lived by their own set of rules. They didn’t care about the laws of men, and they certainly didn’t care about their well-being either.
Then why did he bother to save my life? He could have left me out there.
“Why have you moved around so much?” Ronan said, instead of offering him the job.
If he was going to give Tobin a position working for him, then he wanted an understanding of the man. He wanted to know that he could go to sleep and Tobin wouldn’t rob him blind.
Tobin glanced at the door like he was worried Etta would be back soon before sighing and crossing his arms. “I lost my wife in a house fire years ago. Been wandering since.”
Ronan watched him, looking for the twitch of a lip or an eye, looking for something to tell him that the other man was lying, but no sign came.
I need to stay out of town as much as possible. Hiring him on would help with that.
There was no way he would be able to begin the repairs on the house right away, either, not if they were as extensive as the letter said.
“I need something to do,” Tobin said, clearing his throat.
“The women have been kind, and they’re allowing me to stay here until I finish the repairs on the barn, but after that, I have nowhere to go, and I don’t want to wander anymore.
I want…I want to see if there’s a chance I might be able to be happy again. ”
“You’re hired. You can stay in the house too, but if you want a bunk of your own in time, then we can build that as well.” Ronan still wasn’t sure how much he could trust Tobin.
Etta came back with a goat, handing the lead to Ronan.
Tobin looked down at the wood in front of him. “I need to get some more planks from town.”
Nodding, Ronan accepted the little stool Etta gave him, positioning the stool so he could sit beside the goat. “Would you mind seeing if anyone has been able to capture my horse?”
“Can do.” Tobin tipped his hat to Etta before stepping out of the barn.
Ronan’s hand drifted to the pocket watch tucked in the pocket inside his shirt. Though he didn’t fully trust Tobin, the drifter did save him from being killed over a broken watch.