She turned to look at him. His voice had sounded like a little boy’s, asking his mother to read him a bedtime story. Her heart melted and she turned back to sit in her chair. She looked at him, desperate to think of something to say so that he would talk to her.
“I gotta say, I’m a bit worried about my sister and her family,” Daryl said. “They’ve only been here a year, but it sounds like you know them. You said you know everyone and everyone knows you. Do you think they will go out in this weather to try to find me?”
“Did you send them a message that you had left… where are you from?”
“Louisville.”
She nodded. “That’s a capital around here. Everyone knows about Louisville. Not so many know about Wickenburg, though. And that’s a blessing.”
“I imagine it is. Especially for someone like you, who likes to be alone.”
She smiled. “So you are wondering if Charles will go out in this looking for you? I must tell you, I really don’t know. He might. What kind of relationship do you have with him?”
“Not a bad one. We haven’t spent a lot of time together, but we aren’t strangers to each other either. I think my sister married a good man. We’ve never fought or had a problem between us.”
She moved her eyes to look toward the fire. When she moved her head, a long strand of wavy hair fell toward her knees. He had to look away. He shifted uncomfortably, lifting his injured leg up on the couch.
“Well, that is a good and a bad thing. It is always good to get along with the people your siblings marry. And it’s a bad thing because those feelings of family might make him go out in search of you. But do you want to know what I really think?”
He nodded. “Of course I do. Wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”
“I think he is going to wait out the storm. He has three kids, doesn’t he? And a loving wife? He’s not going to risk himself for you when he has them to care for.”
“But what if she begs him to? She’s my sister. She might…”
He stopped, noticing she was shaking her head. “No, Daryl. I’ve seen them together. Your sister is not a stupid woman. She would not want her husband to put himself at risk when the odds are slim that he would stumble upon you anyway.”
“You really think he will wait out the storm?” Daryl felt relieved and a little hurt at the same time. The mixture made him chuckle. She immediately grinned. He knew she understood what he was feeling and also found it amusing.
“I really do, Daryl. And don’t worry, we’ve gotten storms like this here in Wickenburg before. So we are all familiar with it, we’ve got snowshoes, we use horses to plow the snow out of the way so we can all get around, and it only takes about a day to dig out.”
“What happens then?”
She looked at him. “When we’re able to get out, I’ll go get Doc Brown or Dr. Campbell. They’ll come back and let us know whether or not you can keep your leg.”
She said it with such a serious face, Daryl was a little taken aback. For a few moments, the thought of losing his leg to infection, gangrene or frostbite made him terrified. Then he realized she was teasing him and he gave her a disgusted look. “Thank you for that picture in my mind, Rachel,” he grumbled good-naturedly.
She grinned. “You’re welcome.”
CHAPTER NINE
THE GENTLEMAN AND THE LADY
THE GENTLEMAN AND THE LADY
The snow continued to fall through the rest of the night and the next day. Daryl didn’t remember that day much. He slept most of it through, not hearing anything that Rachel did around the house. She didn’t disturb his sleep and went about the house as quietly as possible.
She was amused by his snoring. At times it would be loud, but it didn’t last long. She found herself grinning whenever it happened. She went about her normal chores of the day, cleaning, preparing food, tending to her plants. It was as though she didn’t have a strange man with a broken leg laying on her couch.
She wondered if she should move him to the back bedroom. It was the only other one in the house. But if she did that, it might seem like she was moving him in. How would that look?
She shook her head. She had a good reputation. Something like that would simply ruin it. No one would ever look at her the same again, she was sure of it.
She came in from the kitchen to pass through the living room and stopped for a moment to look at him. She desperately wanted to talk to her brother. Sam was the best judge of character she knew, a talent acquired after many years of being a barkeep. Sam would know if Daryl Parker was a gentleman or a scoundrel.
She scanned his body. It was stretched out across the big couch. She was glad she had purchased the large size. The living room in her small cottage was big, with a lot of space. She had designed her house to look small from the front, but it had plenty of room inside. She slowly shifted her eyes from the top of his curly brown hair to his socked feet.
She felt a chill in the air and looked at the fire. It was getting low. She hurried to put on more wood.
“I’ll do it.” She gasped and whirled around to look at Daryl. He’d shocked her. A moment ago, he was sound asleep. When she looked at him now, she could see he was still asleep. In his sleep, he repeated himself. “I’ll do it. You don’t have to…” His voice trailed off and he began to snore lightly. She stared at him, a slow grin crossing her slender face.
He was a gentleman.
When the air cleared and Rachel was able to go outside without fear of freezing to death or being blown into a huge snowbank, she strapped on her show shoes, pulled on her warmest coat and scarf, and headed out the door. Daryl was sleeping soundly on the couch. His breathing was clear and she couldn’t hear any congestion in his chest. He never coughed, which was a good sign that the weather had not made him sick.
She stomped through the snow to the barn, where a shovel was hanging on the side. She grabbed the shovel and began to dig with all her strength. She worked herself into a sweat and cleared a path in front of the barn doors. One of the doors opened to the inside, but she wanted to have a clear path out.
She unlatched the barn doors and pulled one of them toward her. It swung wide and she stepped around it to reach in and grab the lantern off the hook. She lit the lantern with shaking fingers.
She took a step in and held up the lantern, looking around her. The horses turned their heads toward her, swishing their tails, looking as content as ever.
“Well, look at you big boys enjoying your time of rest. You deserved it after that long ride, didn’t you?” She took the time to pet each horse on the neck and talk to it for a few minutes. She decided to stay in the barn and give them all rub-downs. It was a good day for it, with the sun shining outside. It would be a few days before they would be able to run through the pasture. A nice rub down would put them at ease until then.
She went to her own horse and looked up at him with fond eyes. “I suppose you might be up for a ride though? We can go into town. Fetch the doc. Talk to Sam. Maybe get word to the Samuels that he’s here so they won’t worry.”
She stopped talking and looked at the horse as if she expected him to answer.
“You’re right, Prince. If I do that, they might come and get him. I know, I know. I don’t want him to leave yet.”
She pressed her cheek against the horse’s large neck. “I need you to tell me what to do, Prince. I’ve never felt like this before. I feel… a little confused… less confident in myself. Why does it feel like that? I thought it was supposed to feel good when you fell in love.”
She closed her eyes. How could she be in love with a man who had been in her home only three days--and had slept half that time?
She knew how. He seemed almost perfect. She was still searching for something about him that she didn’t appreciate. He had everything she’d wanted in a man. He had qualities she didn’t even know she wanted until she talked to him. Just the sound of his voice…
She pushed herself away from the horse and looked up
at him. “I’m being a fool, Prince! I won’t let that happen to me! I have been living here just fine without a man for many years. I won’t be caught in that trap.”
She imagined Prince agreed with her and opened the stall to go in.
Daryl’s eyes opened to bright sunlight streaming in through the window behind the couch. He lifted a hand and blocked it from his eyes, turning his head to look around the room. He was alone. He moved to sit up and swing his legs down. He felt his muscles cramping, but the pain he’d been feeling was barely there.
He was surprised. He’d been pretty banged up, he figured, and a doctor hadn’t even seen him yet. However, he felt like he was healing well. His leg didn’t hurt as much. Just enough to let him know he’d hurt it bad.
He stretched his spine and lifted his arms up over his head, pulling himself as far as he could. He twisted from side to side.
As soon as Daryl was done with his stretches, the door opened and Rachel entered. He looked at her in surprise. “Snow gone?” he asked.
She almost dropped the wood in her hands when he spoke. He reached out but didn’t come off the couch to help her. She grabbed the wood before it all tumbled to the floor, grabbing her dress at the same time and getting it caught between two logs.
“Oh, you… your…” he reached out to grab the part of her dress and pull it free. She saw his hand going toward her legs and backed up, her eyes widening. When she took a step back, the door behind her knocked into a table, which turned over on its side. A book sitting on top fell off, landing on the floor dangerously close to the fire.
“Your book!” he called out. “Your dress. It’s in the wood.”
While he was trying to warn her about her dress and the book near the wood, she was whirling in confusion, trying to prevent disaster. “Oh, oh, oh!” was all she could manage to say. Finally, she stood up straight and pulled in a deep breath.
“All right now. All right, let’s just calm down here.”
Daryl looked up at her face. She looked back at him. They both burst out laughing.
“I don’t know what just happened,” Rachel laughed. “But I’m sure it would have been highly amusing to anyone who might have been watching.”
“Get your book, Rachel,” Daryl said. “Then we’ll talk about how funny that was.”
She dropped the wood into a basket next to the fireplace and scooped up the book on her way back. He admired her from behind and looked up at her face appreciatively when she turned around. “You are a lovely woman, Rachel. I want you to know I think that.”
Rachel glanced at him, blushing, while she righted the overturned side table. “Thank you for the compliment, Daryl.”
“I know you haven’t been complimented much. I think… well, maybe you’ve been complimented, but it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Seven years, Rachel thought, but said nothing aloud.
He nodded as if she had answered him. “I thought so. The more time I spend with you, the more I don’t understand why you aren’t already taken. You seem to be such a lovely woman. Any man would want to be with a woman like you.”
“I am selective,” Rachel said. “I have specific requirements. No one has met them before.”
“No one has met them before? Or just no one has met them.”
She looked into his eyes. “No one has met them… before.”
He didn’t say anything. She wondered what he was thinking. She would give an arm and a leg to know. She couldn’t ask, no matter how much she wanted to know.
She broke away, turning her eyes to the fireplace. “It’s nice enough outside to travel to town. I will go in a few hours, when it’s about half past two. It won’t take long to get there on horseback.”
“Do you want me to go? I’ll do it. You don’t have to go.”
She looked at him, remembering the words he said in his sleep. “I’ll do it. You don’t have to.” She had a feeling she would be hearing him say that quite a lot. “No, that doesn’t make sense and you know it, Daryl. I need to go get a doctor to see if you will be able to travel. Or if he will need to remove the leg.”
Daryl shook his head. “You got me with that the first time. But I’m not in all that pain anymore, woman, and I am thinking clearly.”
She huffed. “I can see that. Well, I thought it was funny.”
They both laughed.
“I won’t be long. I won’t stay in town other than to stop and see my brother. Do you want me to…?” She didn’t want to ask the question but did anyway. “Do you want me to send word to your sister that you are here?”
On some level, she didn’t want to hear the answer. She knew he would be concerned that the Samuels family was out looking for him in the snow, presuming him dead. He would want them to know right away that he was safe and sound.
She watched him as he thought about it. Hope was rising inside her as she saw a look of doubt come over his face. His eyes were in front of him, but they were unfocused. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck with one hand and finally shook his head. “No. Well, yes, I suppose they need to know, but unless you want me to leave, you can just ask Sam if they are worried and to let them know I am here. I don’t want to burden them. I don’t want to burden you, either, mind you. Oh, I’m not going anywhere with this.”
She smiled at him. “I think I know what you’re saying, Daryl. You would like to stay here for the time being, if it’s all right with me.”
He gave her a pitiful, pleading look, widening his eyes. “I sure would, Ms. O’Connell.”
Rachel threw her head back and laughed aloud. “Well, all right, Mr. Parker. I’ll make sure they know you are safe and sound, but they are welcome to visit you anytime while you are here.”
“Thank you. What a kind gesture. You are an angel.”
Rachel just laughed.
“I wonder, Rachel. You said last night that you aren’t an angel. But I can’t imagine you ever doing anything wrong. How can you not be an angel?”
“I have a temper that can rival any man’s,” Rachel said immediately. “This is what I’ve heard from the few men I have courted. When you are told the same thing by multiple people, you begin to realize it must be true.”
“You are a strong woman,” Daryl said, nodding. “Many men are not interested in strong women. They want them timid and weak, available to perform any task any time they are told.”
“I would resent a man like that and would never be able to fall in love with him.”
Daryl looked like he agreed with that statement. “I don’t want a mouse. I don’t want a maid. I want a woman. A real woman who can handle a pistol and fix up a house to her liking, repairs and all. I like a woman who can cook a fine meal and still go out hunting with me.” He looked at her. “Do you know anyone like that?”
She smirked. “I think I might.”
CHAPTER TEN
RACHEL MAKES A DECISION
RACHEL MAKES A DECISION
“I thought maybe you might be more comfortable in the back room, Daryl. If you plan to stay for a little while.” She moved past him to sit in the chair and take off her snow shoes. “What do you think?”
Daryl blinked a few times, realizing what she was offering. “I… I…” He felt like a stammering fool. “If you are willing to let me stay, I will repay you. I will do chores around the house when I am able…”
“No need to think about repayment right now. You need to recover and get back on your feet.” She smiled at him. “Literally.”
He returned her smile. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
“Do you think your family will object?”
He thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. I don’t know why they would. And what about you? Don’t you have a reputation to uphold?”
She sat forward, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her hands hang in front. “I thought about it. I’ve been thinking about it. There’s a good reason why you are here. Plus, I do have a good reputati
on. I think it can take a hit without being destroyed.”
“Are you certain?”
She shrugged. “I’m not basing what I do in life by what other people think now. I don’t know why I would change that in the future.”
“That makes sense to me.”
“We do seem to get along well, don’t you think?”
She was looking directly at him. He couldn’t help being drawn to her eyes. He nodded. “I do agree. I really do.”
“All right, it’s settled. Do you think you can walk back there on your own or do you need my help?”
“I’ll do it. You don’t have to put yourself out anymore.”
She stood. There were those words again.
He followed slowly behind her as she led him to the back room. It was plain, with a rug on the floor, a bed and a set of drawers. She stood in the open doorway, looking into the dreary room. He came up beside her and looked in.
“No one has ever slept here,” she said quietly. “It’s not that I didn’t intend to have visitors.” She looked up at him. “I just never did. So the sheets are fresh and clean. I wash them every few days and put them back on the bed. Just in case, you know.”
Daryl tried not to think about how sad that sounded to him. He nodded. “This will do nicely, thank you.” He smiled. “If I stay long enough, I reckon I’ll make it look like someone lives here.”
“That would be nice, I think. That would be real nice.”
She left the door open so the room could air out some. “You can go in now and make yourself comfortable or you can come back out to the couch. I’m going to sit by the fire till I’m nice and warm. Then I’m going to drive to town and get the doctor.”
“Will you be gone long?” Daryl asked, hobbling behind her to sit back on the couch.
She looked at him while tossing several more logs on the fire. “I don’t expect I’ll be more than a couple hours. And that’s if I stop and talk to Sam. He might not be there. The Horse N Saddle only stays open during the good weather.”
The Cripple’s Bride Page 7
