by Jillian Hart
Ruby nodded anxiously, taking her horse by the bits and gently turning him around. Solomon nibbled her hat with affection, his sweet gaze full of trust. That raspy breathing troubled him as he tethered the gelding to the tailgate.
“You’re a good boy, Solomon.” As much as he worried about the gelding, he was concerned about the woman more. “Let’s get you in the sleigh, Ruby. You’re shivering, too.”
“Not too much.”
“I call it too much.”
“You’re cold, too.” She shook so hard, she had trouble walking the length of the sleigh. He held the robes back and handed her in.
“I’m used to the cold.” He tucked the robes around her. “I’m a rancher. I burn in the summer and freeze in the winter.”
“So, that’s why you are here tonight. Because you don’t mind the weather?”
“I told you. Poncho was worried, and so was I.” He held the reins one-handed and settled in beside her. “Friends help each other, don’t they?”
“Yes, but this is a lot for you to do.”
“Depends on your perspective, I guess.” The soft presence of her shoulder against his arm was sweet. It was all he could do not to slip his arm around her shoulder. “Think of it this way. What if you catch cold tonight? You would miss work. I’ve heard you are already indispensable to Cook. We never want Cook upset, as she’s responsible for the quality of our meals.”
“You’re not fooling me any, Lorenzo Davis.”
“It was worth a try.”
She said nothing more for a moment, and silence stretched between them.
He felt her gaze on his face and sensed her scrutiny. “Something troubling you?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard enough of my troubles.”
“We’re friends, remember?” And he wanted to be a good deal more. “Tell me.”
“My father hasn’t said for sure, but I have calculated what little we must have in savings. Even with my job, we probably won’t be able to make the mortgage.” She swallowed hard.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Ruby. I had hoped you would be able to keep your home.”
“Me, too. When that happens, we will have to move in with relatives.” She breathed in a little squeak of air. “How do I tell your mother? After I promised not to let her down?”
“Giving notice wouldn’t be letting her down, Ruby.”
“Yes, but she paid for the doctor for me. And now she will have to turn around and train someone in my place. It would feel as if I was breaking my promise to her.”
“Maybe your brother will find another job in time.” He did not want to give up hope.
“That seems like an unlikely miracle at this point.” The darkness hid the sadness in her eyes, but he knew it was there, for he could read it in her heart. Against his arm, her shoulder firmed. “I have to be strong for my pa. I have to trust that God is leading us to a good place, however difficult the road may be.”
“I wish your road was easier.” Overhead, the thick mantle of clouds began to thin, lessening the cloying dark gripping the prairie. “Is there any chance you might stay and keep your job, even if your family loses your land? You have good friends here. And Poncho.”
“Yes, however will I bear to leave Poncho? It will be a great loss, but distance cannot harm true friendship. I can write letters. Well, not necessarily to Poncho, but to my other friends with opposable thumbs so they can open the envelope.”
“I have opposable thumbs.” He held up his gloved hands, still maintaining command of the reins. “See?”
“Well, I wasn’t planning on writing to you, but I guess I could manage a letter or two now and then.” She shook her head. The man dazzled her, but at least the darkness hid some of the effect and made it easier to ignore. She couldn’t let it affect her. She’d made up her mind. No more wishing. “I was talking about my good friends.”
“I am, what, just a fair-weather friend?”
“What you are is yet to be determined. We will see how good of a letter writer you turn out to be.”
“A faithful one.” Richly spoken, the sincerity of his vow rang in meaningful, steadfast notes. “It would be a shame if you had to go. Is there any possible way your father might accept help with the mortgage?”
“Oh, Lorenzo.” She turned toward him, touched by his offer. She saw the man—all he was, who he was—in that one silent moment. Could he truly care so much about her? “Pa is an independent and proud man. I don’t think he would.”
“I respect him for it.” He turned his attention to the road, making it impossible to guess what was on his face.
She thought of the gift he’d put in her coat pocket, the one she couldn’t bring herself to speak of. “I wish I could stay. Your mother is so wonderful to me, and I would love to keep working for her.”
For one small instant, she let herself imagine what it would be like. She could rent a cozy room at the boarding house. Living in town, she could see her friends often. It would be a brief walk to the dress shop or to Lila’s apartment. Scarlet lived on Third Street. Earlee taught at the town school. Fiona lived a short ways north of town, and soon Meredith would be married and moving into her home nearby. What fun they could all have together. Sewing circles, caroling groups and countless, happy hours of talking and shopping. It could be one, long, wonderful eternity.
But that couldn’t be her future. She thought of her father, of his worries and his burdens. Of how the failure to keep his farm would affect him. She thought of her uncle’s ranch so far away and the tiny shanty, originally a shed, he and Roop had fixed up after Pa’s accident. Living so far to the north, with no one to visit, no church nearby, only a general store miles away—that would be her life. “I cannot leave Pa when he needs me. He has struggled so hard all these years to provide for me. He has endured an unfair amount of hardship. I do not know how much more he can take.”
“I understand.” Empathetic, Lorenzo reined Poncho to a stop. “What about your brother?”
“If Roop needs to move away to find work, then Pa would be alone. I cannot do that to him.” She looked up, surprised to see the faint, flickering glow behind the shanty’s curtained windows. She was home already? She climbed from the sleigh before Lorenzo could circle around to help her. She could not get used to relying on him. “This place was Pa’s dream, which kept him going through all those painfully hard times. It will break his heart to lose it. Honestly, I fear it will break him.”
“I understand. Staying with him is the right choice.” He untied Solomon. “What about you? What will it do to you?”
“Me?” She plunged through the deep snow, nearly tripping on her skirts. “This is the only real home I’ve had since I was five.”
“It will crush you, too.”
“I will recover.” She reached to take the reins, but he did not let go of them, grateful for the brush of her fingertips to his. A connection roared to life within his soul, deeper than before. She jerked her hand away.
The shanty’s front door blew open, and two men burst out, dressed for barn work. Jon Ballard closed the door behind him as Ruby’s brother bounded into the snow.
“Roop! You made it home.” Ruby beamed at her older sibling, lighting up the night.
“Good to see you, little sister. Don’t even think about it. I’ll get Solomon’s saddle, the poor guy. Looks like he’s having a hard time.” Rupert ambled up, friendly and eager to help. “Lorenzo. It is mighty good of you to see Ruby home in this weather.”
“She is my mother’s favorite maid,” he answered, making everyone laugh, easily hiding the truth. The truth behind the gift he’d left her and his offer to help her father. “Rupert, I’d like to see to Solomon.”
“I’d appreciate any help.” Rupert led the way, walking slow to accommodate Solomon’s gait.
“Good. C’mon, Poncho.” Lorenzo chirruped, taking his gelding by the bit. How perfect he seemed, glossed by the faint emerging starlight breaking through the clouds.
He w
as everything she ever dreamed of and everything she could never have. Nothing on earth could change it.
Chapter Twelve
Ruby dropped another log on the fire, careful of the whoosh of red ashes, which rose from the hearth like fiery bits of torn paper. They flashed and snapped as they drifted upward, fire-hot, before sailing down. One landed on her cardigan, and she brushed it off absently. The shanty echoed around her. Nearly an hour had passed since Lorenzo had disappeared into the barn with Pa and Roop. They were still there. That couldn’t bode well for Solomon.
Worry gnawed at her with big, sharp teeth as she rose to rescue the tea kettle from the stove. She had no idea how long it had been whistling. She measured out fragrant tea leaves and left a pot steeping while she shivered into her coat. She grabbed the full tea kettle handle with a hot pad and slipped out the kitchen door. If the men weren’t coming in, then she was going to them.
Star shine glowed along the narrow path as she pushed out the kitchen door.
“Ruby.” Lorenzo’s voice broke out of the dark, nearly scaring her to death. Her grip slipped, but his gloved hands caught the steaming tea kettle by the handle, covering hers. “Could you fetch some old blankets or quilts?”
For Solomon? That definitely sounded serious. “How is he?”
“We’re taking precautions is all.” His baritone grew tender. “He has caught a serious chill in town.”
“He’s never been this frail before.” Her poor Solomon. “What else can I do?”
“I’ll take the tea kettle and fix up a mash for him. Get something warm in his stomach.”
Somehow her fingers let go. It felt awkward standing like this, alone together beneath a starry sky, when she knew how he felt for her. When he’d done so much for her already. Now this.
She could feel his caring like the silver glow on the snow, chasing the dark away. A girl dreamed of having a man like Lorenzo care for her and treat her like this. She forced her feet to carry her backward step by step. “I was going to bring tea to help warm the three of you, but I thought hot water for Solomon might be more important.”
“You’re right. If you want to stack the blankets on the step, I’ll come back for them.”
“No, I can bring them. I’ll hurry.” It gave her something to do, something to focus on. So she wouldn’t start wanting to wish or dream. She turned the knob and stumbled into the kitchen. Her teeth chattered as she hurried through the shanty, flung open the cabinet and hauled out blankets.
You have to be practical, Ruby Ann Ballard. Keep your expectations reasonable. Even under the best circumstances—if her family wasn’t facing homelessness, if her friends didn’t deserve him more—wealthy Lorenzo Davis was never going to marry a kitchen maid.
He was never going to marry her.
A north wind had kicked up by the time she scurried down the steps. When she breathed in, the bitter air burned her nose and scorched her lungs. Overhead, the clouds had vanished leaving the velvety sky, which shone so darkly, she could almost see heaven. The stars glittered like millions of diamonds scattered carelessly across the sky, diamonds rich with faint lustrous colors—red, blue, yellow, white. God’s great handiwork. Surely He was watching over all of them tonight.
“Ruby.” Roop this time, not Lorenzo, rising out of the dark. He opened the barn door for her. “Those blankets are a welcome sight.”
“I came as fast as I could.” She hurried toward him, careful of her shoes on the ice. She didn’t need to fall again. As if Roop was thinking the same, he caught her arm and hauled her through the door.
Lantern light chased away the dark. Clover, the milk cow, poked her nose over her stall gate, her big, bovine eyes worried. The atmosphere in the barn seemed grim as she stumbled forward. She couldn’t see anything over the divider between the stalls. Only Solomon, head hung low, sides heaving.
“That’s it, big boy. Lie down for me.” Lorenzo circled into sight from behind Solomon. With a labored groan, the gelding’s front knees sank into the extra-soft bedding, and then his rear went down, as weary as if he’d run twenty miles. Pa rose up to peer over the boards at her. Strain lined his face.
Roop took the blankets from her, but it was Lorenzo who held her attention, Lorenzo who knelt at the horse’s side to straighten the blanket Rupert had given him, smoothing out the folds with soothing hands. Solomon closed his eyes, understanding they were all there to help him.
Please, Father, watch over our horse, my friend, she added. She believed God cared about His animals, too. She felt something tug on her scarf. Clover had reached over her gate to nibble on the fringe. Ruby rubbed the cow’s poll, watching as Pa and Lorenzo covered the gelding with the bedding. Snug, Solomon stretched his neck out, laid his head on the downy hay and closed his eyes.
“I’ll stay the night with him.” Roop knelt to stroke the horse’s neck. “Make sure he doesn’t have any problems.”
“We’ll know more after he gets some rest. Maybe he’ll pull out of this.” Lorenzo rose, pulling on his gloves, his movements sure and strong. The lamplight found him and worshiped him, delighting in the manly angles of his face and glinting bronze in his hair.
“That’s what I hope, too.” Roop settled on the hay next to Solomon. “What about your horse? You don’t want him getting too cold.”
“I’d better head out, but I’ll be back come morning.”
“That would be mighty good of you.” Pa laid one hand on the stall rail, shoulders up, a proud man. “Ruby is awfully in love with that horse.”
“I noticed.”
What was her father up to? He didn’t accept help from others, but he had welcomed Lorenzo and his blacksmithing tools right from the start. Which could only mean one thing. How did she tell her hopeful father that the young Mr. Davis would never be her beau? Her pa must be hoping for a match.
“Ruby, why don’t you see Lorenzo out?” Pa tried to sound nonchalant. It didn’t work.
“Allkay.” The nonsense word garbled out of her throat when she’d meant to say all right or okay, but neither had come out right. Tongue-tied, heat scorched across her face as she took a hurried step. Lorenzo’s hand settled against the small of her back, guiding her lightly. No doubt Pa saw that.
The stars glittered, polishing the night. Worried over Solomon, tangled up inside by the hope on Pa’s face, she couldn’t notice the beauty surrounding her. Worse, she couldn’t think of a thing to say. Maybe Lorenzo hadn’t noticed how eager her father was to pair them up.
At their approach, Poncho snorted, shifting in his traces. The harness jangled softly as he blew out a breath and made a great, white cloud.
“I’ll come fetch you all for church in the morning.” Lorenzo folded back the robes and knocked the snow from his boots. “Even if Solomon recovers, he should rest tomorrow.”
“Don’t you dare come fetch me.” She hiked up her chin. “I am perfectly happy to walk.”
“Not in this cold. There will be no argument.”
“There has to be. Lorenzo, my family is not your responsibility. We can get to the service on our own.”
“I’m just being neighborly.”
“You are not our neighbor.”
“Not strictly speaking, but we are friends. I thought we established that.”
“You did. I’m still deliberating.”
When his gaze found hers, her pulse leaped at his veiled affection, shining like midnight blue dreams. Friends, he said, but she knew he wanted more.
So did her heart.
As if he knew, his fingertips brushed her face. He stroked a few wayward tendrils scattered by the wind from her eyes, but his touch remained on her cheek, the most tender touch she had ever known.
Move, feet, she commanded. But not as much as a toe wiggled. She remained rooted to the ground, unable to escape as Lorenzo smiled into her eyes, chasing all the chill from the night. It was as if she could see into his soul. As if he could see into hers.
“Thank you for helping Solomon. For ev
erything.” Surely he could see how grateful she was.
Gratitude was all she could let herself feel.
“I’m always here for you.” His gaze slid downward to land on her lips. The wish shone in his eyes, but he didn’t move forward. He didn’t bend closer. He didn’t lean in. “Never forget that. Ever.”
“As much as I would want to, that’s an offer I can’t accept.” Think of Scarlet and Kate, she thought. Think of Pa alone in the shed on Uncle’s land. Think of the Davis’s manor house and the elegant daughter-in-law they would have one day. “I’m just being realistic.”
“I see.” Hurt crinkled in the corners of his eyes, but his understanding did not dim. Surely he could see all that divided them. “Until tomorrow.” He tipped his hat, making her heart twist as he climbed into his sleigh.
Do not wish, Ruby. Not even once. She fisted her hands, trembling with the strain as he snapped Poncho’s reins and the horse took off at a fast clip. The sleigh bobbed away, taking Lorenzo with it, growing distant on the beautiful prairie. The stars illuminated the entire landscape, tossing glowing lavender across the miles of radiant snow, across him.
She stood in the dark.
I’m just being realistic. Ruby’s confession whispered to him over and over, all the way across the glacial prairie. He stared at the reins in his hands, not that he was really driving. Poncho had taken charge and was heading for home lickety-split. He wasted no time turning up the driveway and trotting up the lane where he’d first spotted Ruby looking for her shoe button. Soft emotions melted in his chest, warming him.
How nervous he’d been that day, and he shook his head, remembering. Wanting to badly to have a chance with her. Just one chance. The wish on her face tonight and the sweet longing for something more had been unmistakable. He’d felt the punch of hope with all the breadth of his spirit before she’d gently, sadly turned him down. That told him something. That she cared about him, but not enough. And he understood why. She couldn’t let herself.
Poncho nickered, glad when the lights from the house came into sight. The sprawling, two-story home he’d been born in seemed ostentatious after seeing Ruby’s humble shanty. The well-built barns and stables housing a herd of fine horses seemed far too lavish after being inside the Ballard’s two-stall, sod barn. He didn’t know why his family had been so materially blessed, but he did know that those blessings weren’t ones he had earned, only stood to inherit. And that Ruby’s circumstances were about as bad as they could get.
