Daring to Start Again: An Inspirational Historical Romance Book

by Grace Clemens

  And, just like he’d thought, Sammy had absolutely adored the animal from the moment she’d seen her.

  Sandy was running circles around the little girl and her horse. She was too small to direct the horse herself and had yet to learn whistling, but Buttercup followed her when Sammy walked toward her father.

  Worth, which was short for Money’s Worth, was a strong, smart horse. Bobby knew he would be attached the that particular animal for as long as Worth could hold out. In his first year with Bobby, the horse had single-handedly pulled an overturned wagon out of a flooded creek, saving the lives of the woman and two small children on board. Later on, he would prove his strength and willingness to help by removing fallen trees after a lightning storm hit the ground several times in the same general area, splitting several of the oldest, tallest trees around the farm.

  He found the saddles where he’d left them, inside the stables, which looked to be mostly untouched other than the broken windows. He was grateful but wished he could have predicted where the tornado would go. He would have left the horses in the safety of their stalls if he’d known the tornado would go around the building.

  ***

  An hour later, he, Sammy and Sarah were heading for the Dyers’ to make sure Steven had arrived home safely. Sammy was humming a tune, sitting between him and Sarah. He wasn’t saying anything and had already noticed how quiet Sarah was. She’d been silent since he went inside to tell her his plan to check on Steven and get his advice on how to proceed with the clean-up and rebuild.

  He ran the memory of Sarah’s strange behavior through his mind, trying to figure out why she would act that way.

  She was carrying a larger handbag than her usual one and had held it against herself as if it had something precious in it. He supposed she could be taking a present to Clara and just wanted to make sure it didn’t get broken. But her troubled face said more than her lack of words ever could. She had something on her mind and so far, she was unwilling to talk about it.

  Could it be about her past? Was there something in the bag that reminded her of her past and she planned to get rid of it?

  Bobby found it slightly annoying that she was still not opening up to him as much as he would like. He didn’t know how much more he could do to convince her that he would listen, advise, comfort, encourage… whatever she needed, he was ready to provide.

  But he was willing to give her as much time as necessary, no matter how frustrated he might be. He would continue to be patient because that was what she needed. She tried to put on a brave, strong front, but he suspected she was scared inside.

  He was grateful she didn’t let Sammy see her fear, although the child could probably sense it. Sammy was amazing that way. She had the best intuition Bobby had ever seen in a child—not that he had a great deal of experience with small children. But he’d seen the children of his friends at five and younger and none of them acted like Sammy. She was one in a million.

  Thinking about Sammy made Bobby feel warm inside. He looked down at his daughter. She had lifted her face to the sun, her eyes closed, singing a song about the “big winds that came and knocked everything down.”

  His heart filled with love for the child. He listened to her singing all the way, glancing every now and then at Sarah. She sat still as a stone, her eyes out in front of her for most of the ride. Twice she flipped her eyes to his, and, upon seeing him looking at her, smiled a broken, fragile smile. What was troubling her?

  Would she tell him if he asked? Would she get angry at him?

  He suppressed a sigh. He didn’t want her upset with him. He was glad when they reached Steven’s small farmhouse and saw the foreman on the front porch, his wife and children around him. They were all safe and sound.

  “Howdy!” Bobby called out, lifting one hand as he pulled the wagon up in front of the fence gate. Sarah didn’t wait for his help getting down. She hopped to the ground once the wagon was stopped and turned to reach up for Sammy. She helped the little girl down and Sammy dashed through the open gate and up the walkway to the porch, calling out for Bianca and Billy.

  “Was just thinkin’ about headin’ into town, boss!” Steven called back as Bobby got ready to get down. He left his hand on the brake lever and turned his eyes to Sarah. “You want to go to town with us?”

  Bobby gauged the look on Sarah’s face. She smiled and it looked genuine, though the worry was still in her eyes.

  “Lost the buggy,” Bobby said without getting down. “How about Sarah and Clara and the kids ride in yours and you ride with me in here?”

  “I want to ride with you, Papa!” It was Billy who spoke up, his indignant six-year-old voice sharp as a tack. Bobby tried not to laugh as Steven gave his son a big smile.

  “You can ride with us, Billy. The men will go in the wagon and the women will be comfortable in the buggy. But don’t they like to tell you how handsome you are? You don’t want to ride with Momma?”

  Billy kept his head down but rolled his eyes to his mother, looking a bit guilty. “I can ride with Momma if she wants me to,” he said in a dejected voice.

  Clara just laughed. “Oh, don’t be silly, dear. You can ride in the man wagon if you want to.”

  Billy’s face lit up and he beamed at his mother. “Thank you, Momma! I am a man. I want to be in the man wagon with Papa and Mr. Huggins.”

  “I know you do. And that’s perfectly fine with me. Go on, now, get your jacket and your hat. We’ll go right away.”

  Steven came around to the driver’s side of the wagon and looked at Bobby. “He’ll just be a minute. We’ll let these ladies do what they need to and then follow them up to the main square, what do you say?”

  Bobby nodded. “That sounds good to me. So how much damage you got?”

  Steven shook his head. “Nothin’ like yours,” he admitted in a concerned voice. “How you gonna recover from that?”

  Bobby didn’t want to think about it at that moment. He was glad his friend’s family and property had survived the tornado. He switched the subject up, saying, “It’s real good for me that your farmhouse went untouched. That means you can spend a few extra hours on my farm, helping me with clean-up. That’s probably gonna take longer than actually building the new structures.”

  “You know, I’m just so pleased that you got yourself such a good woman, boss,” Steven said, his eyes moving to the buggy, where all the females were gathered. They were chatting about something, but their words couldn’t be made out from where Bobby was. He wondered if Sarah was telling Clara what he wished she would tell him.

  Bobby moved his eyes to his foreman. “Thanks. I’m… still a little nervous, even though it’s been almost a month.”

  Steven nodded, rounding the wagon to the other side. He lifted his son into the front and Billy sat where Sammy had just been. He climbed up after and waved at the women, who were heading slowly toward the main road. Bobby slapped the reins and got his own horses moving.

  The wagon rumbled on the dirt and gravel road, crunching sounds filling the air until he pulled the wagon out on the smoother dirt road that would lead to town. The air was dense with the dirt kicked up in the air from the buggy filled with the women.

  “You think we’ll be able to rebuild, boss?”

  Bobby could tell Steven felt like it was probably a sensitive topic that he needed to be careful speaking about. He strove to put his foreman’s mind at ease.

  “I know we will. And it won’t take that long, either. I might have to ask for a loan here or there but I’m sure we’ll be able to rebuild and next year, it’ll be just like this never happened.”

  Steven shook his head. “Hard to believe something like that could happen. I know there’s probably an explanation but I’m just so…” He sighed and shook his head. “I can’t believe any of this.”

  “At least your house wasn’t touched.”

  Steven grunted. “You didn’t see the back. The porch is a wreck. It looked like someone split it right down the middle with
something big. Cut it right in half. Just like your barn, my friend.”

  “You’re gonna help me with everything, right?”

  Steven grinned at him, reaching in the pocket of his vest and bringing out several folded pieces of paper. He waved them back and forth. “I’ve already got some messages to send out in search of more help. I’m sure if we get to the town square, someone is bound to step up and offer to help.”

  “Hopefully for a cheap price.”

  One thing Sarah was right about, it was going to cost him a hefty sum to take care of the rebuild on his property. That meant much of his savings account was depleted. He’d been levied a hefty fine the year before by the taxation department and had yet to pay off that debt.

  In his mind, he listed off all the debts he’d incurred and clenched his jaw.

  He might have to liquidate some assets.

  Bobby would do whatever he had to do to keep his home. The most important thing was he didn’t have to go through all these tribulations alone. Of course, he would have had his bright, funny, and beautiful daughter with him at all times. But her incessant dancing and singing belied her true age and nature.

  He couldn’t burden her with the weight on his shoulders. He was strong. He was her father. He wouldn’t let her be scared or feel alone.

  He would see this through with Sarah by his side. He wasn’t alone.

  He would never be alone again.

  Chapter 18

  “Where we gonna go, Momma?” Bianca asked her mother as they all piled in the buggy.

  “I think we’ll just stop along the way if anyone needs our help,” Clara replied. “And if everything is good on the way, hopefully the town will have been skipped, too.” She looked at Sarah as she slapped the reins to get the horses moving. “From what Steven told me, it seems like the tornado cut through Bobby’s land and skipped most of town.”

  Sarah nodded. “It sure seems like it. I’m so grateful to God that you and your family and your farmhouse are safe. But I wish Bobby had been similarly blessed. I worry that… that it will take a lot of time and money to fix the destruction.”

  Clara clucked her tongue sympathetically, shaking her head. “Oh, that’s just awful. I’m so sorry to hear that.” She seemed to hesitate for a moment before asking, “Do you know anything about Bobby’s money? Do you think this will devastate his accounts?”

  Sarah shook her head immediately. “I don’t know. I have no idea at all. I’ve never once asked him about his finances.”

  Her stomach churned painfully. She wanted to tell Clara about the money in the coffee can. She needed to tell someone. She wanted to come clean with everyone, but she was too nervous to tell Bobby. Maybe it would be easier to tell him if she told Clara first and got her friend’s advice.

  The thought that Clara might go directly to Bobby and tell him about Sarah’s deception crossed Sarah’s mind and was quickly dismissed. Clara wasn’t a spiteful type of woman.

  She opened her mouth to ask Clara if she could get some advice and then closed it again. Sammy was in the back seat, and even if she was having a conversation with Bianca, this was not a subject she wanted the child to hear. Sammy was too smart, and a lull in her conversation would provide ample opportunity for her to listen in. If Sammy knew Sarah lied to her father, she might not ever forgive her.

  They saw a lot of folks out in front of their houses, working their land, clearing tree limbs and debris that had blown around in the strong winds. They all lifted their hands in greeting but none of them accepted Clara’s offer of help. They were told to go on into town and enjoy themselves.

  The town itself was virtually untouched. There were several buildings with holes in the roof, broken windows and porch posts. Sarah was glad to see there weren’t any rips in the earth along the dirt road. They didn’t have to avoid large divots that might cause a wheel to break.

  “Momma, we really want some ice cream and bananas. Can we stop at the parlor? Please, Momma?”

  Sarah was glad Bianca wanted to stop for ice cream. She would willingly pay for it for a chance to talk to Clara alone.

  It didn’t take long for Sammy to join in the pleading. After hesitating a moment, Sarah did the same, looking at Clara with big, sad eyes. “Please, Momma? Can’t we go to the parlor? Oh, I’d love some ice cream. Pleeeeeaaase?”

  Clara threw her head back and laughed, shaking it so her hair fell neatly down her back. It was probably pure instinct that caused Bianca to reach up and run her fingers through it. Clara rarely wore it loose. Typically, it was in a braid. Today, it was thrown up in a ribbon and left to hang loose down her back, swinging like one of the horse’s tails Sammy liked so much.

  Sarah vowed at that moment to grow her hair out as long as she could, so she could “play” with Sammy the way the horses did.

  “Okay, okay, you all talked me into it,” Clara said, laughter still in her kind voice. “I’ll even pay for you two scallywags.”

  Sarah glanced behind her to see what Sammy thought of that mild insult. The child looked confused. Sarah was willing to bet it was a word she’d never heard uttered, especially by Bobby.

  “While I appreciate the charity,” Sarah giggled. “Bobby gave me a dollar before we left. We’ll get an ice cream and maybe some penny candy.”

  Clara lifted both eyebrows, looking at Sarah closely. “He gave you a dollar and you are going to get penny candy? You don’t need to. You can get real chocolate for money like that.”

  Sarah shook her head, giving her friend a smile. “I don’t like to spend a lot when I don’t have to.”

  “But you get what you pay for.”

  “Not necessarily,” Sarah replied, shaking her head. “Sometimes the lesser of the two is the right choice for other reasons. One of them being you don’t spend as much and there’s some to put in the jar.”

  Clara pulled the buggy in front of the parlor and they waited while Bianca and Sammy climbed out. Bianca helped the littler girl down. “We’ll go to the general store after and get some pretty new ribbons,” she was saying, her eyes averting to her mother to make sure it was okay.

  Clara nodded, reaching forward to pull the brake lever. Sarah grabbed her arm before she could get down. Clara gave her a confused, alarmed look.

  “What’s wrong, Sarah?” she asked, her voice tense. “Are you all right?”

  “I’d like to talk to you for a minute, if that’s okay.” She turned to the little girls, directing her question to Bianca. “Will you take Sammy inside the parlor while I talk to your ma for a little bit? I’m sure she is capable of telling you what she wants.” Sarah pulled her handbag up on her lap and opened it with a snap. Tingles ran over her body as she reached in and felt around for the smaller sack she kept coins in. Right now, it had paper money in it. That rarely happened.

  In fact, Sarah was pretty sure it had never happened before.

  She pulled out the small sack, desperate not to run her hand over the coffee can again. She’d put it in the sack and had been trying to convince herself to tell Bobby something about it… anything… just to get the burden of guilt off her back.

  She took out the dollar bill Bobby had given her and handed it down to the girls. When both of them reached up to take it from her, she gave it to Sammy. She was certain the little girl could be trusted with money. Especially since Bianca was right there to watch over her.

  “I’ll be in after I have a discussion with Clara, okay?” she said, using her softest voice ever.