by Ember Pierce
Redemption In Red Desert
A Clean Western Historical Romance Novel
Ember Pierce
Contents
Copyright
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Epilogue
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Ember Pierce
All Rights Reserved.
* * *
This book may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the publisher.
* * *
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher.
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1
Bonny Wightman pushed a strand of dirty blond hair back into the untidy bun at the base of her neck. Sweat ran along her brow, and she swiped at it, leaving a trail of dirt above her eyes.
* * *
The tiny front room was crowded with her brothers and sisters, the littlest with dirty diapers that she knew she needed to change.
* * *
She just didn’t have enough time for all the things that she was supposed to do in a day.
* * *
Aggravated that her siblings had left a mess where she had just cleaned one, Bonny was just about to ask for some help when the sounds of a tussle came from the boys’ room.
* * *
The front door slammed and Bonny looked out the window to see two of her brothers scurrying down the front walk with a fishing pole and pail held between the two of them. She let them go without a second thought.
* * *
Maybe they would actually bring back some fish this time. That would help make the soup Bonny had on the stove go a little further.
* * *
She doubted that either her mother or her father would be home in time for the evening meal. They both seemed to have more and more work hours as the weeks passed, so it was up to Bonny to make sure that all her siblings had enough to eat.
* * *
Calculating how hungry she would be later, Bonny forced herself to look away from the boys on the front walk and back to the task at hand.
* * *
Her younger siblings were running between the two large rooms that served as their living space; they were constantly underfoot.
* * *
There was no way she or any of her other siblings who helped her out with the housework would be able to get anything done. She still had to scrub the floor and bring the laundry in from the line.
* * *
With a sigh, Bonny walked into the room she shared with all of her sisters. Rows of cots lined the walls of the tiny space, and she wondered what she could do to make the room look nicer.
* * *
It was a futile task and she knew that, and yet she came back to the same desire to do something, anything different to the place.
* * *
Squeezing between the beds, Bonny pulled the threadbare blankets straighter, beat the pillows until they were slightly fluffier, and tidied the extra dresses that hung on pegs on the wall.
* * *
Even if it was the same thing she did every day, she felt better when it was done.
* * *
Katie, one of her younger sisters, ran into the bedroom, skidding to a stop and tumbling onto her newly made bed.
* * *
Bonny felt a flutter of irritation in her chest, and she had to push the feeling away so that she didn’t say anything she would regret later. She had already said too much.
* * *
“Bonny,” Katie said, in a long, drawn-out whine, “are you still not talking to me?”
* * *
Bonny crossed her arms over her chest and regarded her younger sister with a stern look. “Katie,” she said with a sigh.
* * *
“Please forgive me,” Katie said. The look of longing on Katie’s face almost made Bonny give in, but she knew her sister needed to understand what she had done wrong.
* * *
“Katie, you know how much I hate lying,” Bonny explained. She turned away and ran her rag along the one shelf that was crudely nailed to the wall.
* * *
Despite the fact that she had just dusted the shelf a moment before, she needed the distraction so that she didn’t get angrier at her sister. They had been locked in battle for quite some time, with Katie’s behavior never getting any better.
* * *
Katie frowned at her and then stuck out her lower lip.
* * *
“You’ve been mad at me for two whole weeks already. It was just a tiny little fib. How much longer are you going to be mad at me?”
* * *
“It’s not about that,” Bonny said. “You need to learn your lesson.”
* * *
“You’re punishing me,” Katie said with a pout. She flopped down on the bed, making the covers crinkle even more.
* * *
“You lied to me,” Bonny said. “It’s really quite simple. When you’ve learned your lesson, we can talk.”
* * *
She turned away to straighten a blanket that she had already straightened. She hated lying almost as much as she hated drinking. And that was saying a lot.
* * *
“I am sorry,” Katie said as she sat up on her bed. “I don’t know how many more times I can say it. I really did learn my lesson. I’m so sorry.”
* * *
Bonny could see that Katie was truly sincere, and she could feel her resolve crack. Even though she knew that her younger sister would probably forget her promises within a day, Bonny remembered what it was like to be young and have someone be angry at her.
* * *
Besides, Bonny wanted to set an example for Katie. When Bonny moved out, Katie would be expected to take on much of the chores that Bonny did now.
* * *
“I forgive you,” she said. “But you can never let me catch you lying again.”
* * *
“I won’t lie ever again,” Katie promised. The younger girl smiled in such a way that Bonny knew she hadn’t really thought about what her lies had done.
* * *
Bonny sat down on the bed next to her sister and pulled her into a hug.
* * *
“Katie, when you lie to someone, especially someone who loves you, you break the trust you have with that person.
* * *
“That’s why I am so hard on you when you lie to me. I hope you understand that. Now, go and g
et the laundry off the line, please.”
* * *
Katie sighed a long-suffering sigh that Bonny had heard so many times before that she knew what was coming next, and, with a well-placed stern look, Katie didn’t say anything more.
* * *
As Katie left the room, Bonny stood and smoothed the blanket again.
* * *
She couldn’t wait to turn eighteen in a month. In their household, when any of them turned eighteen, they were expected to move out and fend for themselves.
* * *
She wasn’t quite sure what she was going to do, but she had been thinking about it almost nonstop.
* * *
The thought of being turned out was terrifying, but also a tiny bit exhilarating.
* * *
She had just thirty days to figure out what on earth she was going to do. Deep down, she wished that she could talk to her parents about her options, but that wasn’t a possibility.
* * *
At this point, she didn’t know who she could talk to, and that made her feel lonely.
* * *
Her parents weren’t bad people, but they were distracted and careworn because of their hard lives. They had so many kids that sometimes Bonny wasn’t even sure they remembered all of their names.
* * *
That seemed like a harsh thought to have, and she paused in her continual perusing of the room to think through the feelings she was experiencing.
* * *
There was a measure of panic that she couldn’t swallow, her throat felt like it was closing and she couldn’t breathe. When the panic subsided, Bonny realized that what she was feeling was confusion.
* * *
What was she going to do? There was the possibility of becoming a maid or a nanny.
* * *
Some girls she knew had taken positions with wealthy families in the swankier parts of the city, but she had more in mind for her life than that.
* * *
She had been serving her family for nearly eighteen years. Wasn’t that enough? Besides, she knew that someday she wanted to get married and have a family of her own.
* * *
Not one as big as the one she had been born into, but still, a family of her own. The girls who took maid positions put their own lives on hold.
* * *
In her situation, though, there were not a lot of options.
* * *
There was one possibility that Bonny had been exploring over the past few months, and it was something that her older sister had done—becoming a mail order bride.
* * *
To Bonny, the choice had made a lot of sense when she’d sent off her introductory letter. Waiting for some handsome farmer or rancher out west to pick her so she could go start a new life in the land of plenty sounded like a dream.
* * *
And dream it would remain, if the wait was anything to go by. She felt like it had been an eternity, when really it had only been a few months.
* * *
Being a mail-order bride certainly made sense because she was well-trained for housework. She had done little else for years.
* * *
Going out west was a back-up plan that she had pursued because she couldn’t imagine continuing to live the life she was living right now. It had worked for her older sister, so why couldn’t it work for her?
* * *
She almost laughed out loud. Her prospects were growing more limited by the day, and the only thing of value that Bonny owned was her grandmother’s ring, which she wore on a chain around her neck.
* * *
She kept it tucked under her dress. Bonny had inherited the ring when her grandmother passed away because she had always been the old woman’s favorite.
* * *
Even though her mother had told Bonny that the ring was worth thousands of dollars, Bonny knew she would never sell it. Just having it made her feel like there was a glimmer of hope in the world.
* * *
Not that said glimmer of hope would change the fact that life was hard. Even if she got the letter she was hoping for, she knew all of her imaginings about life out west with a handsome rancher were just that—imaginings.
* * *
The reality was that her life would always be work. Right now, her work was to make supper for her siblings, and in a month, her work would be to figure out where she was going to go.
* * *
None of that was easy. She didn’t think life would allow her much happiness.
* * *
Realistically, she thought that any handsome farmer or rancher might have a decent place to live, and like books. She didn’t get much chance to read but, when she did, she treasured those moments.
* * *
She loved books and loved reading. She had read two small books of poetry in her life and she had cried because she had been so touched by the beautiful words.
* * *
Much of the tears in her life had come due to hardness and work. Much of the smiles had come through poetry and words.
* * *
Bonny felt more at home with poetry and words than she did with people. Poetry never disappointed you.
* * *
With people, they could change. They might pretend to be one thing and later prove to be something else.
* * *
You thought they were truthful and then found out they lied. You thought they were honest and discovered they were crooked.
* * *
But the words the poets put on paper never changed. In fact, instead of disappointing her as the years went by, she often learned more from the words as she re-read them.
* * *
And their beauty seemed to increase with time. She hadn’t had a chance to read many novels in her life, but she had read a few.
* * *
The novels were like the poetry. They spoke of beautiful things, but they also told of dark things. They spoke of honesty, both good and bad.
* * *
So did the Scripture, which told with utter stark honesty the evil and goodness of men. The family did not go to church often, but they did have a Bible in the house.
* * *
It was more for show than for reading, but Bonny read huge portions of it. Not so much due to religious curiosity as just for reading.
* * *
She read almost anything she could get her hands on, and when she could find a few minutes to spare. Usually it was at night, when everyone else had gone to bed.
* * *
She read ten or fifteen minutes before dropping off to sleep herself.
* * *
Humans could not be counted on, but books had never disappointed her.
* * *
Perhaps her mail-order husband would have a reading room in their house. A room for beauty.
2
Kristian Downing squinted against the harsh light coming in through the window. Morning.
* * *
His vision blurred as he tried to focus on his surroundings. His head throbbed.
* * *
Why did it seem like the sun wanted to murder him with the forced cheerfulness of daybreak interspersed with the sickening chirrups of birdsong?
* * *
Where was he? Somehow, he managed to prop himself up on his elbows without vomiting. He was definitely not at home.
* * *
