Chapter 4 #2
“Guess you won’t.” He’d almost forgotten about the farmer with a desire for a wife.
Maybe he’d forget it a little longer, but in a couple of weeks, he’d send one of the men to town to see if a letter had arrived for Amelia.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t expect one sooner than that.
“Let’s go past the barn. There’s a pleasant view of the mountains there. ”
Side by side, they walked to where the ground dipped away to reveal the rolling hills and mountains. He indicated a grassy spot, and they sat.
“Blue and majestic, guardians of the land. You said that in the letters you didn’t write. I’ve been wanting to ask who you think wrote them.”
He leaned back on one elbow. “I’ve given it some thought. From what you tell me, it has to be someone who knows me well. But Pa couldn’t do it.”
“Kat?”
He chortled. “Kat has never written one word except under threat from Ma. Besides, she’s more into cowboying than letter writing.”
Amelia laughed. Their gazes held after their amusement ended. His heart swelled with the pleasure of sharing the moment.
Slightly dizzy, he turned away to look at the mountains.
It was gratitude he felt. Nothing more. “I want to thank you for taking care of my pa.” When she opened her mouth, likely to protest, he held up a hand.
“I know I said it already, but it doesn’t hurt to repeat it.
I feel sort of the way you do with Kat and Poppy.
I can go about my business knowing you’ll be watching him. ”
“I don’t know how you can say that. He wasn’t safe. He was lost.”
“Lost more in his mind than unable to find his way back to the ranch. That’s not your fault, and I don’t hold you responsible. I just wish—”
“Oh, Zach, I know how you feel. You wish you had your pa back, sound in mind, sharing in the work of running the ranch.”
He shifted so he could study her more closely, saw how her green eyes held the warmth of a summer day. “How do you know that?”
“You said so in the letters you didn’t write.” Her smile spread to those eyes, and she laughed.
He sputtered a half-hearted protest before he laughed too, then flung himself on his back, and stared at the sky. “He started to forget things before Ma died, but after that, it was like part of his mind had died with her.”
“He misses her.” She lay on her back beside him, a circumspect twelve inches between them, her arms at her sides. “I miss my sister and Callie.”
The tightness of her words made him ache for her. He shifted his arm and thought of covering her hand with his, but he didn’t have the right.
“Callie? Poppy’s mother. Right? Tell me about her.”
A smile erased the worry lines from her face. “I met her when I was ten. After Mama and Papa died.”
“How did they die?”
“I told you. Oh, right, you didn’t get my letters. They died when their horse was frightened by a train—they were thrown from the buggy.”
Did she realize her voice shook? “I’m sorry. That’s when you went to live with your grandmother?”
“Yes. I’ll never forget the funeral. We both had new dresses—black with a high collar that scratched my neck and tight cuffs on the wrists. The material rustled when I moved, and each time, it earned me a warning frown from Grandmother.”
As she talked, Amelia yanked dry blades of grass from the ground and piled them into a little mound.
His fingers twitched to still her hand. Was she burying her parents all over again there? The back of his throat closed over the emotions of burying Ma so recently.
“I thought the funeral was bad enough, but the next day was worse. Not because I didn’t like Grandmother.
I did. She was gentle and sweet. Also no-nonsense.
Do what has to be done without moaning. She marched into our house and straight to our bedroom.
She was still wearing her black dress, and it said shush, shush every time she moved.
A man I’d seen in town followed with a trunk on a squeaky-wheeled trolley.
She opened the trunk and began to dismantle our room and pack our things into it. ”
Amelia fluttered her hands. “You might wonder why I’m answering your question about Callie with talk about my parents’ deaths, but they are very much related.”
“I don’t mind how you tell it. It’s all brand new to me.” He meant to tease. But a shadow crossed her eyes, and he regretted his attempt. “After all, I didn’t get a chance to read the letters you sent.”
“About that—never mind. We’ll discuss the matter later.
Right now, I’m on my way to explaining about Callie, so back to Grandmother after the funeral.
As she went through our things, I felt like my insides were bleeding.
You see, it hadn’t occurred to me that we’d lost our parents and were about to lose our home. ”
Losing Ma had been like having a corner of his heart ripped off, but to lose both parents and her home—Zach’s throat closed off, threatening to choke him.
Amelia swallowed audibly.
“She told us to help as she gathered up our books and toys. I tried hard to keep from crying. Debra didn’t move until Grandmother reached for her things. Then she snatched them up and put them in the trunk.”