by Jae
Even with a stained apron, a streak of flour across her cheek, and tousled hair, Nora was the most beautiful thing she had seen in two months.
Nora's lips formed a silent word, and Luke knew what it was. Her name.
She dropped the reins and crossed the ranch yard in long strides.
Nora met her at the bottom step of the veranda.
They fell into an embrace, and Luke's eyes fluttered shut when she breathed in the familiar scent. "Apple pie," she whispered. She inhaled twice more, then asked, "What happened to the barn? And what's going on with Amy?"
"I'll explain later," Nora said. "When we're alone." Her lips sought Luke's.
Heat exploded in Luke's belly. She forgot about the barn, the tired horses, and the ranch hands, who by now were standing around, watching them. Nothing else mattered, just Nora.
* * *
Rika scooped coffee and crushed eggshells into a large pot and set it on the stove. Coffee was the first thing the ranch hands would ask for when they came in from the range. The ranch hands and Amy, who still hadn't returned after riding out with her mother.
"Where did your mother go?" she asked Nattie. "Is that Amy outside?"
"Probably. I'm not sure what's going on, but Mama seems worried about her." Nattie set the last tin cup on the table, walked to the window, and peeked at the riders in the ranch yard. "Oh! It's Papa! And Phin!" She ran outside.
Phineas. He's back. Rika wanted to run too, but in the opposite direction. She had dreaded this moment for the last two months. Slowly, careful not to stumble on unsteady feet, she trudged to the window. She couldn't help taking a peek at the man who would soon be her husband.
The first thing she saw was a man kissing Nora on the bottom step of the veranda. She blinked at the unusual display of passion right there for all to see.
From the distance, Amy's father didn't look like Amy at all. While Amy's hair gleamed like fire and sunlight, his was midnight dark. Nattie, who now fell into her father's arms, looked more like him while Amy resembled her mother.
Rika directed her gaze away from Nattie, Nora, and her husband, giving them some privacy. Relief trickled through her when she detected Amy talking to two dust-covered men. There she was, safe and sound.
Then Rika remembered that one of the men had to be her future husband. Tension returned to her body. She studied the two strangers. One stood eye to eye with Amy, too small to be Phineas, who described himself as six feet tall in his letters.
Her heart pounding, she took in the taller man.
With his blond hair, he looked a bit like the painting of her grandfather. His laughter boomed across the ranch yard as he laughed at something Amy said. He seemed friendly, and the tension in Rika's muscles receded — until he slipped his muscular arm around Amy's shoulder.
Such liberties! Rika pressed her fists to her hips. Watching Amy and Phineas together made her want to rush out and pull them apart. Was there more to his feelings for Amy than friendship? Was that why he had stayed for so long instead of starting his own ranch sooner? The thought twisted her insides with an emotion that could only be jealousy. Oh, come on, Hendrika Aaldenberg. What do you have to be jealous of? He's not even your husband yet.
He cared for Amy; that much was clear. Nattie had repeatedly told her that Phineas was a good man. If she married him, maybe their union would develop into one of mutual friendship and respect, if not love.
The thought didn't hold much joy even if it was what she had hoped for when she came west.
The group started for the main house. She watched them approach, laughing, touching, reconnecting. Would she ever belong to a family like this? Her heart trembled.
Amy looped her arm through Phineas's. They looked like a courting couple.
Rika shoved her fists into her apron pocket. She realized she wasn't glaring at Amy. Her gaze was fixed on Phineas's hand covering Amy's fingers. What kind of nonsense is this? Since Tess had revealed that she and Frankie were sweethearts, Rika found her thoughts heading down strange paths.
The door swung open.
Mr. Hamilton was the first one in. He stood with his hat in his hands. His dusty clothes and crooked nose made him look like a ranch hand, but his stance and his self-assured movements told her he was the boss — not in her father's loud, sometimes violent way, though. The ranch hands who followed him in looked at him with respect, not with fear. Deep lines around his eyes indicated that he liked to laugh. He was grinning now, glowing with the happiness of being home. His arm was still wrapped around Nora as if he would never let go again.
"Rika." Amy squeezed past her father until she stood beside Rika. "This is my father, Lucas Hamilton. Papa, this is Rika — Hendrika Bruggeman."
The mention of Jo's last name made Rika squirm. She bit the inside of her cheek and forced herself to stand still. The silvery gray eyes studied her. She got the impression that they saw too much.
Rika curtsied, just a bit so that her trembling knees wouldn't give out on her.
Amy's father lifted Rika's hand and indicated a kiss without touching her skin with his lips. "Pleased to meet you." His eyes twinkled.
Charming, Rika thought. Amy had the same gentle way of looking at her.
"I've heard so much about you," Mr. Hamilton said. "Phin talked about you every step of the four hundred miles to Fort Boise."
"And back," the ranch hand next to Mr. Hamilton added.
Rika's gaze darted to the tall, blond man, who now stepped into the house. Whatever Phineas had told his boss was about Jo, not about her.
At Amy's nudge, Phineas snatched off his hat and came closer. "Hello."
"Hello," Rika said.
He took off his gloves and held Rika's hand in his. His calluses felt like Amy's. He shifted from one foot to the other, as tongue-tied as Rika.
Amy interrupted the awkward silence by shouldering past them. "Let's go eat before supper gets cold."
* * *
The last bite of apple pie melted on Luke's tongue, and she leaned back in her chair at the head of the table. She watched the people around her, drinking them in. Her family.
She laid down her fork. Was it just her, or was something different?
Instead of attacking their desserts as they usually did, Nattie and Amy stabbed at their food without eating much. Once, Luke caught Amy glaring at Phin.
What's the matter with her? Did Amy think now that Phin was back she'd lose her position of respect among the men?
Something was going on. Even Nora seemed quiet tonight.
The men made up for their silence with rambunctious laughter. Jokes flew back and forth. The dangers along the way to Boise became heroic adventures in Charlie's and Phin's recounting.
Luke met Nora's gaze. The familiar green eyes saw more than Luke wanted to reveal in front of the girls. Nora knew there was more to the stories than the men let on. She'd want the uncensored story later, and she'd get it, just as Luke would get the truth about what had happened to their barn and to Amy.
"Weren't you scared when that Indian pointed his bow and arrow at you?" Nattie asked. Her fork hovered in front of her lips while she stared at Phin.
"Scared?" Phin asked. "There was no time to be afraid. We had to act before they got away with the best horse in our herd."
Oh, yeah, sure. Luke suppressed a smile. Of course Phin had been afraid, but she said nothing. If he wanted to boast in front of his new bride, so be it.
Not that the young lady seemed overly impressed. While Nattie clung to Phin's words, Hendrika nodded in all the right places but didn't fawn over him.
When Nora and the girls finally stood to carry the dirty dishes into the kitchen, Hendrika stayed next to Amy instead of trying for a more private conversation with her future husband.
Maybe she's just shy, Luke thought. She and Amy know each other, but she and Phin are strangers — like Nora and I were when we met. Luke had married a stranger and then fallen in love with her wife. She hoped it would turn out the same way
for Phin. She would keep an eye out and try to get to know the young woman better. After all, Phin was almost like a son to her, so Hendrika Bruggeman was as close as Luke would ever get to having a daughter-in-law.
* * *
An owl hooted somewhere above them. Was it the same one Rika had heard so many nights when she lay next to Amy?
"Isaac," Phineas said, nodding skyward.
"What?"
"That's what Nattie calls the owl." Phineas took measured steps so he wouldn't leave her behind on their romantic after-supper stroll. "So, do you like living on a ranch?"
"Yes," Rika said, and not just because she wanted to convince him she'd make a good wife. "It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to own something like this." She indicated the corrals, the outbuildings, and the barn with the horses.
Grass swayed around Rika's ankles.
It was getting long again, but Rika wouldn't be there for the second cut of hay.
"If we start our own ranch, the first few years won't be easy," Phineas said.
"I didn't expect them to be." Nothing in her life had ever been easy, so why should this be any different? She would grit her teeth and make it through the hard times, as she always had.
Phineas stopped under a large pine tree. "You're not at all like I expected." His gaze raked over her, really studying her for the first time.
Rika shuddered. Would he notice that she wasn't the woman who had written to him? She lowered her head. "I hope you're not disappointed with what you got."
"Not at all. You sounded like a romantic dreamer in your letters."
A romantic dreamer. Jo had been exactly that.
"But now I think you're a woman who's got both feet firmly on the ground." His eyes narrowed to slits. "And you don't look anything like the woman in the tintype."
"I sent the picture of a friend," Rika blurted. "I thought if I sent mine, no one would want to marry me with the way I look."
His gaze softened. "You look just fine to me."
Heat blossomed in her cheeks. "Thank you," she said. It was the best compliment she could ever hope to get. "You're not upset?"
"Hm." Phineas rubbed the blond stubbles on his chin. "I don't like being lied to, but I haven't been completely honest with you either."
"No?" He seemed like an honest man, but maybe the frozen blue of his eyes hid his own secrets.
"I can't write." He blushed beneath his beard. "Miss Nattie's teaching me, but I can't write letters yet, so I asked Mrs. Hamilton to help me with my letters to you."
Ah. So the poetic words about Oregon were Nora's, not Phineas's. Rika held back a giggle. Seems Jo was swooning over a woman's prose.
"So I guess we're even," Phineas said. "Let's be honest with each other from now on." He paused and tilted his head, clearly waiting for an agreement from Rika.
Rika couldn't hold his gaze. "All right." Her stomach cramped, and she imagined the lies turning to stone in the pit of her belly.
Phineas smiled. "So? Think you can stand spending the rest of your life with me?"
A "no" formed in her throat, but what good reason did she have for rejecting him?
The owl hooted again, maybe calling for its mate.
When silence fell, she whispered, "Yes."
* * *
Amy pressed her forehead against the windowpane. The cold seeped into her skin and into her heart. It hurt to see Rika with Phin, but at the same time, she couldn't look away.
Were they kissing out there, under the pine tree?
It was too dark to see, but the images in her mind tortured Amy.
Footsteps stopped behind her, and Amy jerked away from the window. She turned and met Nattie's eyes. "Should be good weather to check on the foals tomorrow," she said, pretending to have watched the darkening sky, not Rika and Phin.
But Nattie didn't fall for it. She didn't look at the sky. Her gaze was fixed on the two people under the pine tree. "Do you think they'll be happy with each other?"
As much as it hurt, Amy hoped they would be. "Phin's a good man," she said. "And I think Rika is gonna make a good wife for a rancher."
"Yes, but will they ever have that?" Nattie pointed at the fireplace, where Mama and Papa sat, holding hands and talking with their foreheads almost touching. Every now and then, they glanced at Nattie and Amy, and whenever Papa looked as if he would come over to ask again if they were all right, Amy turned away.
She looked at Nattie, really looked at her for the first time in a long while. Her little sister was no longer so little. She was all grown. Shadows of pain and doubt swirled in her eyes, making Amy wonder what had put that expression into Nattie's eyes. Had she, too, given up on ever finding the kind of love Mama and Papa had? "Are you all right?"
"Don't start being a mother hen too," Nattie said. "Mama and Papa already asked me that twice tonight."
Everyone seemed to have a lot on his or her mind tonight. Even Rika was strangely quiet instead of basking in Phin's attentions.
She sighed and wrapped her arm around Nattie's shoulder, realizing with momentary irritation that she had to reach up. "I hope they'll have that kind of love," she said. "And I hope you'll find it too."
At least for Nattie, there was hope.
Hamilton Horse Ranch
Baker Prairie, Oregon
June 22, 1868
LUKE LEANED BACK in her armchair and ran her fingers through Nora's hair. Her fingertips searched for any trace of injury. "Adam's damn lucky that he's safely in prison for the rest of his life. Even if they end up hanging him, that's better than what I would do to him if I got my hands on that bastard." Her voice vibrated, and she forced down her anger, not wanting her first night home to be tainted by hateful thoughts.
"Don't worry." Nora curled against Luke's side. Now that everyone else had gone to bed and they had the parlor to themselves, she was sitting almost on Luke's lap. "Frankie made sure he got what he deserves."
"Where is she, by the way? I thought she and Tess would still be here."
"They are staying in town for a while," Nora said. "They said they need to work something out."
"You think they'll be fine in town?"
When Nora smoothed a finger along Luke's brow, Luke realized she was frowning. "Why wouldn't they be fine?"
"The townsfolk are not exactly embracing women who dress in men's clothes," Luke said, knowing Amy had earned a few haughty comments for wearing pants when she worked with the horses.
"Tess has enough money to buy half the town, and you know she can twist even the meanest people around her little finger. But just in case, I think Frankie is wearing a dress today."
The ease with which Frankie switched back and forth still astonished Luke. "Frankie is quite the character."
"At first I liked her because she reminded me of you," Nora said.
"She's not like me at all." In a way, it was a relief. Luke could be sure that Tess was with Frankie because she loved her, not because Tess secretly longed for more than friendship with Luke.
The armchair creaked when Nora leaned over and kissed Luke's cheek. "I know that now. She's a good person in her own right."
"Tess with a woman... did you see that coming?" Heat rushed into Luke's cheeks. "I mean, I know she was with me, but..."
"That was different, I know. Tess and I talked about it."
Luke's fingers froze on another pass through the reddish locks.
Nora laughed. "Don't look at me like that. Tess was reassuring me."
That thought was even more unsettling. Why had Nora needed reassurance? "After all these years, you still don't know that no one, not even Tess, will ever compare to you?"
"I know that." Nora kissed her cheek again and rubbed her nose beneath Luke's chin like a little kitten. "There was just so much going on here, and I know it's stupid, but somehow, I halfway talked myself into believing that your life would be easier if you had never met me and —"
"Easier?" Luke sputtered. "Yeah, maybe it was easier. Life's pretty uncomp
licated if it's just you and your horse. But it's also very lonely."
Nora nestled closer, her body pressed against Luke's. "So Measles wasn't as good a kisser as I am?" Nora asked against her lips.
"Ugh. I don't even want to think —"
Then she wasn't thinking at all. She was kissing Nora with every bit of love and longing that she had.
Breathing heavily, Nora pulled away and reached for Luke's hand. "Come on. Let's go upstairs."
Luke's heartbeat picked up as she climbed the stairs, her hand still in Nora's.
