Chapter Thirteen
June had been working hard all morning, shoveling manure across the vegetable beds.
Her muscles aching from the long hours of chores all around the ranch.
She loved it, despite the pain. She loved being treated like an equal.
Not just some defenseless woman or housemaid.
She wasn’t a maid. She was a person, with her own ideas, her own wants, her own needs, and her own dreams.
And Seth seemed to be supportive of that. It was one of his best qualities. She appreciated it a lot.
She loved the ranch and the chores, but she didn’t love the Texas heat. It made everything ten times more grueling. The sun had risen high in the sky, and it was so hot that she could barely stand it.
There was still peace in the work, though. A lot more peace than she was used to, that was for sure. What with feeding all the animals and mending the fences with Seth, she’d learned to embrace this new life in ways she hadn’t expected.
But life here could end at any time. She was still lying about who she was. Or at least, what her name was. And it was upsetting, because she was, for the first time, not just surviving… but thriving.
“Hey, Annabelle!” Seth’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts as she shoveled.
“Yeah?” she grunted, struggling to catch her breath.
He laughed as he walked up to her. “Would you want to take a break?” he asked, and she saw a rare soft smile spread across his face.
“A break?” she asked, her brows twisting in confusion. “You feeling okay?” He wasn’t the type to ever take a break.
He shrugged, looking a little sheepish. “I figured we could take a ride together to town…”
June blinked, surprised. “Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly. “We’ve got so much work to do.”
Seth stepped closer and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “I’m sure.”
She sucked in a breath. His touch was gentle, like he was trying to communicate something, but she wasn’t sure how to take it.
Are we really getting closer?
“You’ve worked hard this morning. Besides, I’ve been thinking... Seeing Etta and Henry so happy, I realized we should work for that for us, too. I want to try harder at this marriage. I really want to spend time together.”
He seemed genuine, and June wasn’t quite sure what to think of it—or maybe she was too distracted by his fingertips brushing across her face. “We spend time together doing chores,” she laughed, almost giddy at his touch. Seth shook his head. “I mean real quality time.”
“Well, I’m not one to turn down a trip to town.
” She could visit with Etta and Ada. That was always a treat.
It She’d spent weeks living out here with Seth, and being all the way out here on the ranch was the furthest she had ever been from her two closest friends—and the longest she had ever been away from them, too.
Seth grinned, a boyish gleam in his big bright green eyes. “Good. I’ll get the horses ready.”
***
The ride was peaceful as they galloped next to one another, Seth on Skip, June on Suzanna. It was peaceful that she had plenty of time to think about Seth—and what they’d been doing.
What were they doing? There were times that Seth treated her like a real wife; like when he’d defended her honor against Thomas Turner.
There were also times when he treated her like she didn’t matter at all; like when he hadn’t told her—and was still silent—about what was going on between him and Turner, and what the crack about that Hazel girl meant.
Who was Hazel? What was Seth hiding?
But June didn’t have the right to wonder. She wasn’t being honest, either. She was hiding even more than him.
“You know,” Seth began, “It occurred to me that we don’t really know a lot about each other, and I don’t think I’ve ever really told you much about my family.”
June glanced up, wholly curious. She hadn’t asked many personal questions about his past, but the ones she had, he hadn’t wanted to answer, so she was intrigued that he was willing to speak now.
Really intrigued. “I’m listening,” she replied with a smile.
He took a deep breath and clicked his tongue at Skip, stroking the stallion’s neck as they slowly trotted next to one another.
“I lost them while I was away fighting in the war,” he said quietly. “My mother, my father, and my little sister, Lilian—they were all killed.”
June’s throat closed, and tears begin to form in the corners of her eyes, so fierce they burned. She knew what it was like to not have a family… but could she tell him that?
“I never had the chance to say goodbye,” he went on quietly, his voice gruff. “They were gone before I even got back. Now, I work hard on the ranch because I want to make sure it’s exactly what my father wanted it to be.”
June had always had a feeling that he’d been through a lot, just because of how rough around the edges he was, but she had no idea how much he’d lost until now.
Strangely, it hadn’t even occurred to her to wonder where his family was.
Perhaps it was because she was an orphan, or maybe she never really cared to get close enough to him.
He was just supposed to be a mark after all, right?
Suddenly, she realized felt a more than just a little pang of sympathy for him.
The rawness of the pain in his voice was all she needed to hear.
“I’m sorry, Seth,” she said tenderly. “So, so sorry.”
And she meant it.
He nodded and took a deep breath. She watched closely as his mouth opened and closed over and over, as if he wanted to say something.
Truthfully, she had no idea what else to say after that. “So you don’t have anyone?” she asked.
Seth shook his head. “I have Henry. And his parents really became a second family to me. They looked out for me when I had no one else. So, I do have people. And now, I guess I have you, too, whether we know each other or not.”
There was something about the way he said that that set June ablaze. A warmth like no other spread through her chest and rose up to her cheeks.
“I’ve never told you much about my past, either,” she said, her voice quiet, as she tried to piece together exactly what she should and shouldn’t tell him. “I don’t have a family, either. Sophie and Mary are my only family, too.”
Seth raised an eyebrow, his expression inviting her to continue.
“I was an orphan before,” she said, glancing away to face the road ahead of them. “I don’t really remember much about my childhood—just bits and pieces. So, I know a little something about making my own family.”
She didn’t say more. She’d keep the depth of her past a secret for now. It was the easier way. Less risky.
“I like this,” he said.
“What?” June glanced at him in surprise.
“Talking.”
June did, too. She wasn’t the type to want to be vulnerable, and she could tell he wasn’t either, but she enjoyed it. Respected it.
…Yet she also began to feel incredibly scared.
Her reins started to slip from her sweaty hands, her heart hammered, and her mouth went dry.
“I gotta stop off at the feed store,” Seth said suddenly, pulling her out of her thoughts, and she realized they were right outside of town. How had they already been riding that long?
“I’ll ride up into town and stop off to see Louise,” she replied.
With a nod and a click of his tongue, Seth rode off toward the feed store, and she kept riding down main street, making the boarding house.
Just as she was passing the general store, a raised voice shattered the peaceful atmosphere. At first, she couldn’t even make out the words, only a harsh, deep voice. It sounded venomous.
But as she urged Suzanna onward to the general store, she could hear the words more clearly.
“You piece of worthless garbage!” A man was screaming—in the alley next to the general store, it seemed.
And then June heard a woman’s hysterical cry.
She didn’t hesitate for a moment. “Hiya!” Suzanna broke into a canter, and when they shot past the general store toward the saloon, she saw him.
Thomas Turner.
His fists were clenched at his side, his face red and scrunched in pure hatred. He was screaming at a woman in the alleyway between the saloon and the blacksmith. She cowered on her knees, her dress caked with mud, scuff marks all over her cheek and arms.
Turner was pointing at her now. “Did you hear me, Hazel?” he bellowed. “You ain’t nothing but trash!”
Without thinking, June jumped down from her horse and bolted toward them. “Hey!” she shouted, her hand instinctively going for the gun in her hidden pocket. “You need to back off!”
Thomas glanced up, looking startled. Then his expression turned from rage to surprise, and then quickly to disdain. “What’s this? What do you think you’re going to do?”
“I think you need to leave her alone,” June growled, yanking out her pistol. She planted her feet firmly in the dirt and she kept a tight grip on the handle as she aimed it at Turner.
He didn’t flinch—but neither did she. “I don’t care who you are, or what your problem is with her, but you’ll stop yelling at her right now and leave her be!”
Turner sneered. He took a step closer to Hazel, who flinched but didn’t move. He grabbed the collar of her dress and yanked her up roughly. “Mind your own business,” he growled at June. “This is between me and her.”
“I said back off,” June repeated, even more coldly this time as she took a step toward Turner, aiming the gun right at his head.
She would shoot him in the head. She didn’t care about the consequences that would follow. She was ready for that. Years of abuse from Trey had made her wish for the opportunity to do just this.
Turner’s eyes narrowed, his lips curling into a menacing smile.
It was clear that he was no stranger to intimidation, and it was also clear that he didn’t take kindly to someone stepping into his business.
But there was no way June was going to let him hurt a woman, no matter what that woman had done.
Her pulse quickened, thudding so hard she could hear it in her ears. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the Colt as Turner took another step toward her, his grip loosening around Hazel’s dress.
Just then, the sound of hooves thundered close behind. Hazel cried out and stumbled away, and June turned around just in time to see Seth appear at the mouth of the alley, his eyes flicking between her and Turner.
His jaw was tight, the harshest scowl she’d ever seen all over him. “What is going on here?” he demanded.