Lessons in Love and Life

by Jae

  Lessons in Love and Life

  by Jae

  Published by Ylva Publishing, legal entity of Ylva Verlag, e.Kfr.

  http://www.ylva-publishing.com

  Copyright 2014 Ylva Publishing

  Smashwords Edition

  Edited by Judy Underwood

  Cover Design by Amanda Chron

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, events, and locations are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons or events, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Table of Contents

  Lessons in Love and Life

  Hamilton Horse Ranch - Baker Prairie, Oregon - September 12th, 1869

  Salem, Oregon - September 15th, 1869

  About Jae

  Excerpt from Hidden Truths

  Other books from Ylva Publishing

  Coming from Ylva Publishing in spring 2014

  Hamilton Horse Ranch

  Baker Prairie, Oregon

  September 12th, 1869

  The rhythmic cadence of hoofbeats clattered through the valley. A pine-scented breeze ruffled Dancer’s mane, and the gelding flicked his ears toward the murmuring river to the right. Saddle leather creaked as Luke lifted up in the stirrups, trying to catch a glimpse of the yearlings summering on their north pasture.

  “Where are they?” Amy asked next to her.

  “Be patient,” Luke said. “Sooner or later, the herd will come down to the river to drink.”

  They followed the Pudding River northward as it twisted through the valley.

  “Look, Papa.” Amy directed her horse closer to Luke’s. “There they are.”

  A few horses dozed in the shadows of the cottonwoods while others dipped their muzzles into the water.

  “And there’s Lucky Star.” Amy pointed again.

  From the other side of the river, the black yearling with the large, white blanket on her hindquarters whinnied a greeting.

  “Seems to be in good shape,” Luke said. “Augustus Snyder offered me a tidy sum for her last week.”

  Amy reined in her mare. “You’re not selling her, are you?”

  Luke directed Dancer around and regarded her daughter, who had become pale beneath her golden complexion. “I would never sell her. I know what she means to you.”

  “She’s my good luck charm. And Rika’s.” Amy scratched her nose as if embarrassed to admit it.

  “You two—” Luke stopped and turned her face into the wind. Her nose wrinkled. Was that smoke? She lifted up in the stirrups, but a hill blocked her view to the north. “Do you smell that?”

  Amy audibly sucked in air through her nose. “Smoke?”

  Luke glanced at the grass almost brushing Dancer’s belly. They would cut the last hay of the year soon, and the grass was dry, but not so dry that it would burn easily. Maybe it was just a weary traveler making coffee, but she couldn’t afford to rely on maybes. “I’ll go see what’s going on. You stay back.” She urged Dancer into a ground-eating gallop.

  The rapid staccato of hoofbeats followed her. “No,” Amy shouted. “I’ll come with you.”

  Luke gritted her teeth. “Amy! I told you to stay back.”

  Amy didn’t listen.

  “Dammit.” Luke had no time for long discussions with her headstrong daughter.

  Side by side, they flew up the hill and slid to a stop when they crested the rise.

  Below them, two men crouched over a campfire. They weren’t making coffee, though. A running iron heated in the flames, and they had set up a rope corral. Half a dozen of Luke’s best horses pranced within the confines of those ropes.

  “Rustlers.” Luke spat out the word. She gripped her revolver. Heat boiled in her blood. She wouldn’t let them take what was hers.

  Next to her, Amy pulled her rifle out of its scabbard, her jaw tight and her eyes flashing. She was pale, but her hands around the rifle didn’t tremble.

  “No,” Luke said. “You go back to the house and get Hank or John.”

  Amy squared her shoulders. Her grip on the rifle tightened. “I’m not leaving.”

  Luke sighed. She had raised Amy to make her own decisions, and now she had to live with it. After checking her revolver, she gave Amy a nod. “If push comes to shove and bullets start flying, I want you to get out of here.” She looked into Amy’s eyes. “Understood?”

  The taller man dragged one of this year’s foals to the fire, and the other helped to throw it onto its side, not bothering to break its fall.

  No time to wait for an answer from Amy. With a shout of outrage, Luke urged her gelding down the hill.

  The two men let go of the foal and reached for their revolvers.

  Luke pulled Dancer’s head to the left and squeezed off a shot. She aimed for a spot between the men’s feet, but the bullet slammed into the fire instead.

  A log splintered, and burning pieces rained down on the men.

  Dancer came to a sliding stop, spattering the men with grass and dirt. “Drop your weapons,” Luke shouted, her voice as deep and menacing as she could make it. She pointed her revolver at the chest of the taller man, who had his revolver out of his holster but hesitated to swing it up.

  “Or what? Or you’ll just shoot us?”

  Luke cocked her weapon with a resounding click. “You’re on my land, trying to steal my horses. It’s well within my right to shoot you or string you up from those cottonwoods over there.”

  “Even if you shoot me, my friend will get you before you can squeeze out a second bullet. You think that boy you have with you is gonna make a difference?” The man snorted. “That greenhorn doesn’t have it in him to kill someone.”

  It took a second for Luke to realize that he was talking about Amy. Since she was wearing pants while helping Luke with the horses, they had mistaken her for a boy. All the better.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when the taller man inched up the muzzle of his revolver.

  A click to her left told her that Amy had cocked her rifle. “I’m not a boy,” she shouted, anger vibrating in her voice. “But I’m a darn good shot, and I’ll gladly shoot anyone who tries to steal our horses.”

  While the two men stared at Amy, Luke swung out of the saddle, knowing she would have better aim if she wasn’t on horseback. She squinted at them, her muscles tense, ready to pull the trigger. “Drop your weapons. I won’t say it again.”

  The two horse thieves exchanged a glance. The smaller man threw down his revolver as if it burned him.

  “You too,” Luke yelled at his companion.

  The tall man’s weapon clattered to the ground. “What are you gonna do with us?”

  “I’m in a good mood today,” Luke said. “If you don’t give us any trouble, I’m gonna take you to the sheriff and let him decide what to do with you. Or we could finish this right here.”

  “I’m not gonna do anything stupid.” The smaller man’s face was pale under his sweat-stained hat.

  Luke took her lariat. “Keep an eye on them. If they so much as flinch, shoot them,” she said, making sure the two men could hear her. She picked up the revolvers and walked over to the men, careful not to get between the rustlers and the rifle trained on them. Once she had bound their hands behind the men’s backs, she pulled the cartridges from their revolver
s and let her gaze trail over the horses.

  The foal staggered to her mother, who stuck her neck over the rope corral and touched noses with the filly.

  The knots in Luke’s stomach loosened. All had gone well, and no one had gotten hurt. “Can you check on the horses?”

  Amy slid out of the saddle and strode to the rope corral. She checked each horse, running her hands along their sides. “They’re fine,” she called to Luke. “But the bastards already branded two of them.”

  Luke suppressed a curse and stared at the branding iron. “Set them free.”

  Amy cut the ropes, and the horses scattered as fast as their hooves would take them.

  When the filly and her mother disappeared over the hill, Luke turned back to Amy. “Are you all right?”

  Amy nodded, her lips pressed together.

  “Are you sure?” Luke walked over and tipped up Amy’s chin to look into her eyes. While she had taught her daughters to handle a weapon, Amy had never been involved in a gunfight before.

  “How touching,” one man mumbled.

  Luke kicked dirt in his direction. “Shut up.” One eye still on the two men, she studied Amy.

  “I’m fine. I’m just so angry. If we hadn’t come along, they would have stolen our horses.”

  “Oh, don’t worry. They’ll get their punishment. And I’ll make sure everyone finds out about it. No one else will try to steal our horses. I’ll bring them to the sheriff. You go on home and tell your mother what happened.”

  Amy shook her head and clutched her rifle. “No. I’ll come with you.”

  “Amy…”

  “There’s two of them. What if they try anything?”

  Luke smiled. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Me too,” Amy said with that stubborn tilt of her head that meant she wouldn’t budge, no matter what Luke said. “Please, Papa. Let me come. We don’t even have to tell Mama.”

  “You know I tell your mother everything. This won’t be an exception.”

  “Still, I want to come with you.”

  Luke sighed. Since Amy now knew that her father was a woman, she couldn’t even tell her that it was too dangerous for a woman. Finally, she nodded. “All right. Then let’s get going. I want to get back to the ranch and build that new fence before supper.”

  * * *

  Luke set the steel wedge onto the log and drove it in with the blunt end of an ax. The upper part of the log split.

  Wordlessly, Amy handed her a second wedge.

  Luke’s muscles protested as she pounded in the wedge just below the crack, enlarging it. Finally, after an hour of hard work, the log was split in half, then in quarters, until they had six-inch-thick rails for a fence.

  She paused to wipe sweat off her brow.

  “Papa?”

  Something in Amy’s voice made Luke glance up from the pile of rails.

  Amy stared at the bark littering the ground. “Did you ever think...?” She paused and bit her lip.

  “What is it? You know you can ask me anything.”

  “Did you ever think that Mama...that you can’t give her the life she deserves because you’re...you’re not...” Amy gestured helplessly, then stopped and let her arms dangle down.

  Oh, Lord. Luke set down the ax. She stepped closer to Amy and lowered her voice, even knowing they were the only people for miles. “Because I’m a woman?” It felt strange to say it out loud.

  Amy nodded, her gaze still directed at the ground.

  “Well, it has crossed my mind a time or two,” Luke said. Then she decided to be entirely honest. “Actually, it was all I could think of during the first year here in Oregon, especially during the winter right before Cinnamon was born. Do you remember that winter?”

  “Yes.” Amy looked up and smiled. “That was when you made me the little wooden foal.”

  Luke stared at her daughter. Half of our stock died, we were snowed in without a doctor while Nattie was sick, a coyote got into the henhouse—and that’s all she remembers? Amazing how the minds of children work. Of course, she was glad that Amy remembered just the good things. She cleared her throat. “Yeah. That winter, I kept thinking that Nora would have been better off with someone else. Someone who could take better care of her.” She sighed. “A man.”

  “Do you still think that?” Amy tilted her head and regarded her through eyes that reminded Luke so much of Nora’s that it sometimes robbed her of breath.

  Luke considered it. When had she last thought that Nora should have married someone else? To her surprise, she couldn’t even remember. “No. I stopped thinking like that years ago.” She patted a log next to the one they had already split into rails. “Come sit down and tell me what this is all about.”

  When Amy sat next to her, their knees brushed as if Amy was seeking out her comforting warmth.

  Luke raised an eyebrow. What was going on with her oldest? Normally, Nattie was the one more prone to brooding and introspection, while Amy was a woman of action. When she encountered a problem, she rolled up her sleeves and went to work to solve it. “So?” Luke asked when Amy remained silent.

  Amy dragged her heels through the earth.

  “You don’t think your mother is unhappy, do you?”

  “What?” Amy’s head jerked up. “No. Of course not. Mama never leaves a doubt that she’s the happiest woman in the valley.”

  No. That would be me. Luke didn’t say it, though. Amy was clearly worried about something, so she didn’t need to hear her parents’ sentimentalities. “This is about you and Rika, isn’t it?”

  Ducking her head, Amy nodded.

  “You think she’s unhappy?”

  Amy shrugged. “Maybe not exactly unhappy, but life on the ranch can be pretty dull for a woman.”

  Luke chuckled. “I’m sorry,” she said when Amy glanced at her. “I’m not laughing at you. It’s just... Listen to us. We’re both women, yet we can’t imagine any other life.”

  A hesitant smile crept onto Amy’s face but then quickly vanished. “I can’t offer her anything.” She spread her arms and displayed her empty palms.

  “You’re offering her love. A home. A family.”

  “But I can’t do it out in the open. To the boys and townsfolk, she’s just our housekeeper.”

  Luke sighed. “If I could do anything to change that, you know I would. But people would never accept a relationship like yours. Or mine.”

  “Well, actually...” Amy turned on the log so she was facing Luke. “You can. I mean, you can’t change the situation, but you could make it easier on Rika and me.”

  “How?” She would do anything to help her daughter.

  Amy took a deep breath. “Give me permission to take her to the state fair in Salem.”

  “The state fair?” Luke blinked. “You think Rika is bored with life on a ranch, and yet you want to take her to the state fair.”

  “There’s more to the state fair than horses, cows, and chickens, Papa. Hannah says there’s a dance with people coming from all over Oregon.”

  Luke still didn’t understand. “You want to go to a dance? You?” Since Amy had been old enough to voice her likes and dislikes, she had always hated dances, wearing dresses, and socializing with nosy townspeople.

  Amy scrunched up her face the way she had when she had been three years old and didn’t want to take a nap. “I could do without. But I think Rika would love to go.”

  “Then why not take her to the dance in Baker Prairie or Aurora? I bet there’s gonna be one after the fall roundup.”

  “Because if we attend the dance here, we never get to dance together,” Amy said. “As soon as we walk in, Elam Cooper tries to court Rika, and Alex Tolridge insists on asking me to dance. I don’t want to dance with him. I want to dance with Rika, and she with me.”

  “Oh, Amy. I fear it won’t be any different in Salem,” Luke said gently. “Men outnumber women four to one there too, so Rika won’t be free to dance with you in Salem either. If someone asks her to dance, sh
e won’t be able to say no.”

  Amy raised her chin. “Yes, she will. Because she will be there with her betrothed.”

  “Her betrothed?” Luke shook her head to clear it. “But Rika broke off the betrothal.”

  “I’m not talking about Phin,” Amy said. “I’m talking about me.”

  “You?” Luke frowned and then opened her eyes wide. Oh, no. No, no, no, Amy. She dug her fingers into the bark of the trunk until it hurt. “You don’t mean...?”

  Amy nodded vigorously. “Yes. I’m gonna dress up as a man.”

  “Amy, that’s not—”

  “It’s the only way. I bet I can be convincing. The rustlers thought I was a boy too.”

  “They were distracted and not really looking at you. Guess staring down the barrel of a revolver can do that to you.”

  “Then help me be convincing. Please, Papa.”

  As always, Luke had a hard time standing firm when she looked into those pleading green eyes. “If someone recognizes you...”

  “That’s why I’m taking her to Salem. No one knows us there, and there’ll be hundreds of people around.”

  More like thousands, but that didn’t ease Luke’s worries much. “I’ll talk about it with your mother.” She stood. “Come on. Let’s finish up here, or that fence will never get built.” Thoughts somersaulted through her head. Her whole life, she had feared her true gender being discovered. If she could help it, she would prevent Amy from having to go through the same. She hammered the wedge into the trunk with so much force that it disappeared into the wood.

  Splinters flew.

  “Papa!” Eyes wide, Amy pointed at Luke’s face. “You hurt yourself.”

  Luke rubbed her fingertips across her face. Her fingers came away bloody. She winced. “Just a scratch.” But maybe I’m hurting you by setting a bad example, dressing as a man. She winced again as she imagined what Nora would say to this craziness.