“Out for a stroll, Mrs. Schneider?”
That voice! It came from behind her. She knew it couldn’t be him. With her luck, nothing so wonderful could ever happen to her. She turned, all the same, and gazed into Clint’s warm brown eyes.
A soft gasp escaped her. “Clint! How did you find me?”
He smiled. “By combing practically every mining camp in the Sierras.”
“William Applegate told me you went on to Sacramento. You didn’t look for me at all.”
“William Applegate doesn’t know everything.” Clint proceeded to tell her how he had to stay with Charlie until they reached Sacramento. How he had rushed back and searched for any trace of her until finally he came to Hangtown. “Cordelia told me everything. How they hung Abner. How you’d booked passage on Flying Cloud and planned to go back to Boston. I haven’t slept for two days, trying to get here before your ship sailed.”
It was then she noticed his unshaven face, dust-covered boots, and the tiredness in his eyes. “When William Applegate said you’d gone on to Sacramento, I was devastated. I’d been so sure you were going to come after me.”
“Not try to find the woman I love?” Clint’s gaze shifted to Flying Cloud where it sat gently rocking in the bay. “You’re not going home to Boston.”
“I’m not?”
“We’re going back to Hangtown, where we’re going to get married and settle down.”
“I thought you weren’t a marrying man.”
“That was before I met you.” He looked deep into her eyes. “So, what’s it to be? Boston or me?”
“You know the answer to that.” Amazing how, in the course of only a few seconds, her outlook on life had changed from bleak resignation to the rosiest optimism. Life was full of surprises, a fact she should ponder, but later. As for now ...
She smiled up at the man she loved, eyes filled with joy and contentment. “Come. Let’s find a place where I can put the baby down. I want so much to kiss you!”
THE END
Heartbreak Trail Page 29
