We reached the loch our scout promised. We were nearly out of water and what little we had went to the animals. The loch is as deep and blue as the evening sky, as pure as those in my highlands. It lies at the foot of mountains that overlook the dry country through which we passed and is obviously fed by the snow that caps their tops. It is a beautiful, serene place, and I plan to stay and establish my trading post here.
There is a forest full of game and no one to say nay. I walked around the loch and felt as if I belonged. I am saddened my brother never saw it.
Andy put the selections aside and looked at her watch. It was past two in the morning. She stood and stretched. She had immersed herself in Angus’s world to avoid thinking of Nate and the emotions he had aroused.
She ached inside as she remembered how her body felt next to his, how his lips caressed hers.
But she didn’t believe in short romances. She’d seen too many of them happen to soldiers on leave, only to receive Dear John letters a few months later.
Her father had courted her mother for years before she agreed to marry him. Her sister had known her husband since grade school. She had known Jared several years before they’d fallen in love...
Or was she only making excuses? Was she simply frightened of love, of losing someone again?
To distract herself, she’d picked up the journal and read. Questions popped up in her mind. Had Angus been in love in Scotland? Had he left a sweetheart to find his brother? Had he found love in his wife or had she only been a convenience? Was the answer in one of the other journals?
In worrying about his problems, she’d put aside her own.
Joseph whined next to her. She opened the back door and let him out, but all she saw was the chair Nate had sat in.
The image hit her like a sledgehammer. Emotions roiled in her, just as they had a few hours earlier. The tenderness followed by sheer sexual need still sent tremors through her body.
Don’t think about it. She tried again to think about Angus. She had traveled with him from Scotland to New York and then halfway across a country new to him.
He hadn’t let the death of his brother stop him, even though Liam had obviously been much loved.
His writing about his brother’s death had been matter-of-fact, and yet she felt the pain in him. Maybe because her own loss still lingered.
She tried to put herself in his position. He had left everything familiar and risked everything he had to take care of his brother, the only close relative remaining to him. And then Liam had died.
He really was alone in the world. He didn’t give up.
It was time she let go of her own losses. Maybe that was why she had been so intrigued by his story. He had handled it far better than she had.
She had been ready to give up until Dr. Payne had persuaded her to take a long drive to a place she’d never heard of.
Joseph trotted over to her, licked her hand and whined. She realized he had wanted something else.
“What is it?” she asked.
He went over to the chair where Nate had been sitting, put a paw on it and whined again.
“Oh, you like him, huh?”
Joseph whined.
“You approve?”
Another whine.
“You haven’t been alone with him, have you?” she asked. “He didn’t coach you?”
He looked at her quizzically.
“Not sure I believe you,” she said. “Let’s go inside. It’s snack time.”
At the word snack, he barked.
She followed Joseph into the cabin and gave him a biscuit. He led the way into the bedroom, neatly ate his treat beside the bed, then jumped up on it.
She pulled on her overlarge T-shirt and slipped into bed. She’d read longer than she intended, and she couldn’t wait until she started the next journal.
Nor the next meeting with Nate.
She closed her eyes and for the first time in months she looked forward instead of back.
* * *
NATE SANG IN the shower. He never sang in the shower. But he felt happy, really happy, for the first time in years.
Oh, he’d had good days. Many of them. He liked working with Josh and would be eternally grateful to him for taking him on as a partner. It took a lot of faith.
He’d enjoyed transforming the old motel into the Camel Trail Inn, making something handsome out of an eyesore. He’d had a free hand, something he’d yearned to have in Seattle, and now he was totally into the plans to publicize it. No one knew more than he how much Covenant Falls needed to grow. Now he’d met a woman who turned him on in every possible way—emotionally, intellectually and sexually. Andy was smart as hell, and she had a way of relating to people. One reason he liked her so much was that she was totally unaware of the effect she had on others in the short time she’d been in Covenant Falls. He didn’t think anyone else would have approached the Monroes, much less been welcomed into their home and invited to read what no one else had.
Nor, he thought, would anyone else have convinced them to take part in something like a pageant. Like Josh and Clint, she was making her own impact on Covenant Falls and on him.
And maybe it was time for him to get a dog. A friend for Joseph. He turned off the shower but not the song in his head.
* * *
ANDY SPENT SUNDAY morning at the community center. Bill had given her a key to the center and to the museum. She spent several hours prowling through the trunks and boxes. She found some dresses from the 1920s and packed them away. She read some more newspapers, but they had none of the drama of Angus’s writings. She couldn’t wait to read more about the Utes and Angus’s marriage.
Another problem: she couldn’t stop thinking about Nate and the emotions she’d experienced last night.
The cell phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. Sara.
“I hate to bother you more,” Sara said. “But I’m trying to sort out the most important passages to give to the committee tomorrow afternoon. Can you help me?”
Andy looked at her watch. It was nearly 1:00 p.m. “I can be there in ten minutes, if you don’t mind Joseph coming along.”
“Good. I’ll ask Elena to make lunch for us.”
“Oh,” she said, “I finished the journal you gave me. I’ll bring it back.”
Andy didn’t waste time. She put everything back where she found it, and she and Joseph walked to the cabin. She retrieved the journal and drove the Bucket to the Monroe home.
When she arrived, Elena, as always, was at the door. “I’m glad you brought Joseph again. Miss Sara really enjoyed his visit last time.”
She was shown to the garden room, where Sara greeted Joseph with joy. Joseph showed his usual enthusiasm with a few licks on the hand.
“I am going to get a dog,” Sara said as she took the first journal Andy had brought and presented her with some of the selections she’d made along with another journal. “The journal you had was the first year. This is the second.”
The first entry was dated April 3, 1850.
I have survived the first winter. It was hard and lonely but I now have a companion, a dog named Wallace that was left by a wagon train. I have developed a wary relationship with the Ute. They bring me pelts for my goods, mostly knives and mirrors and beads with which they decorate their deerskin clothes. I fear, though, that there might be trouble coming with more and more pioneers and miners coming through.
Andy finished reading the passage. “I like this.”
Two hours later they had picked five more passages to use as an outline.
The first told of a battle between the army and the Utes due to a misunderstanding. The second was about gold being found in California and rumors of it being in Colorado, as well. Angus decided to stay there.
As she finished
reading the passage, Andy took a deep breath. “I think you should include all of these. They’re short and each one has drama.”
Sara smiled. “I’m so glad you agree. I was worried that maybe it was too much. I feel so close to Angus.”
“I think everyone will love them as much as I do,” she said.
Elena announced lunch then.
* * *
ANDY ARRIVED PROMPTLY at the meeting Monday afternoon after spending all Sunday reading the second journal Sara had loaned her.
Louisa was already there at 4:00 p.m. She had the entries Sara had selected and looked delighted. “I see exactly what you meant by having a narrator. The trick will be putting that drama in action. I can’t wait to tell Carl Bates about it.” She looked toward Andy. “He’s a history teacher and would be a great addition to this committee. He looks like Santa and has a deep, rich voice. He’ll flip out when he reads these.”
“Flip out?” Sara asked.
“Hey, I teach teenagers. I didn’t want to talk to him or my kids,” she continued, “until I saw more of the diary, but I’m ready now. I have a Ute friend who participates in traditional dance performances. Maybe they can include them.”
“We can’t pay much.”
“They only take donations to help with travel, costumes and other expenses. They can stay with some of our families and expenses should be minuscule.”
Sara’s face glowed with the approval. “There’s more,” she said and gave them another sheet.
June 15, 1850
I have company at my cabin. Not completely welcome company. I believed him to be a Ute warrior. I found him at the foot of a great waterfall while I was hunting. He was grievously injured, bleeding from a gunshot wound, and his leg was bent unnaturally.
Before I left New York, I purchased opium, knowing I was coming to the wilderness. I asked a physician friend and he recommended some books and instruments. I have alcohol for wounds.
But should I interfere? I hesitated, then he moved and his eyes opened and fastened on me. They were full of pain but his lips tightened. He was not going to ask for help.
I hesitated no longer. I tore a sleeve from my shirt and pressed it hard against a wicked wound on his chest that bled.
Then I brought my horse to his side, helped him on and tied him so he would not fall. He fought the rope, then fell unconscious again. I led the horse and Wallace followed. It was a long trip, five hours at least. Our guest woke several times then lapsed back into unconsciousness. I wondered all the way whether I was making a terrible mistake.
We arrived at the cabin. I carried him inside and put him on the bed. I treated the wound in his side by digging out the bullet. I was grateful he was unconscious. Then I left Wallace at his side while I found a suitable piece of wood to make a splint.
When I returned, the man was trying to rise. I shook my head. He tried again and fell when he put weight on the leg and the splint broke. “No,” I said, and poured water into a cup and handed it to him.
He drank it rapidly, then looked at me. “Why?” he said. “Why do you do this?”
He spoke English, which surprised me, but he waited for an answer. “It would not be Christian to leave you there,” I replied. I told him he would not be able to walk for several weeks and he could stay with me. I would not hurt him.
“Who shot you?” I asked.
He did not answer. He closed his eyes.
The excerpt ended there.
There was a silence around the table as each person waited for all of them to finish.
“Is the rest this dramatic?” Louisa said.
“There are moments,” Sara said.
“What about the Ute princess?”
“That comes next,” Sara said with mischief in her eyes.
“I’m sold,” Louisa said.
“Can we do it in six weeks?” Andy asked.
“I think so,” Louisa said. “My kids wanted to do a play this year. I think this sounds perfect for them. It’s a terrific history lesson, not only for the kids but the community, and even farther.”
“That’s what I’ve been thinking about,” Andy said. “It’s important to have a big crowd, and not only residents of Covenant Falls. If we are going to do this, we have to start marketing to towns around us.”
Louisa agreed. “Any ideas?”
“Why don’t we divide tasks? We have marketing, writing, sets and lights, costumes. There’s probably others that will come along. But why not recruit people to lead those things and they can appoint whoever they might need? Then the chairs of each group can meet every week to exchange progress, ask questions, make suggestions.”
“I like that,” Louisa said. “But there should be someone coordinating everything.” She looked at Andy.
“Oh, no,” Andy exclaimed, shaking her head. “I don’t really live here. I probably won’t even be here in six weeks.”
Faces fell. “But you have to stay,” Sara said. “You started this and...”
Her voice tapered off.
Louisa nodded, and they both stared at her with betrayal in their eyes.
“Isn’t Nate doing that?”
“He’s overall chair,” Louisa said. “But he has his own business and the inn to look after. I don’t think he has time to keep up with everyone involved in every project and what’s going on every day and transmit it to the others.” She looked expectant.
How could she even be thinking about it? It was idiotic. She knew nothing about plays. Organization, yes. She was very good at organizing operating rooms in godforsaken places. But...
More time with Nate. Wise? No. Oh, what the heck! She nodded.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
ANDY DROVE HOME after having dinner with the Monroes and Louise.
It was too late to attend the vets’ meeting, and she was tired. She’d had little sleep last night and today, well, today had been busy.
Al had been gracious. He asked questions that indicated he had some doubt about the project, but he hadn’t opposed it...
She was still in shock at Sara’s suggestion that she coordinate a mammoth project after being in town for such a short time.
It was as if a group of fairies or gnomes or other magical creatures had taken over her life.
Still, she knew her back was straighter, her mind clearer, her heart more open. She had a purpose. She had people depending on her, and she wasn’t running from it.
“We are going to celebrate,” she told Joseph as she reached the cabin and viewed it with new appreciation. It was no longer just a haven. It was becoming home.
But it wasn’t her home. She had to remember that. She only had it on loan.
Some of her enthusiasm drained away. Then where would she go?
Her phone rang.
She sensed who it was before she answered.
“Hi,” Nate said. “We missed you at the vets meeting, but I hear you’re taking over the pageant.”
“Under you,” she said, “and I really don’t know how it happened.”
“I do. Everyone likes you. Not everyone here likes everyone else.”
“I haven’t noticed,” she said.
“You will.” He paused, then said, “Would you like to have our first business dinner tomorrow night?”
“At Maude’s?”
“Nope. At the inn. You haven’t even seen the place you named. We’re testing out menus.”
“I’m now a taster as well as errand person?”
“A taster, yes, an errand person, no. Sara is so elated she called me and raved about you. You know how to listen,” he continued. “It’s a rare talent to listen and hear and understand. Sara’s become a different person since you got her involved.”
Andy didn’t know how to t
ake that. She’d been trained to listen. To doctors. To patients. To other members of a medical team. It wasn’t anything special, but pleasure still flooded through her.
“I would really like to see the inn. I drove by it but haven’t seen the inside. I feel a kinship since I named it.”
“And so you should. Is seven okay? I’ll pick you up.”
“Sounds good.”
“I’ll see you then,” he said and hung up.
Andy held the phone for a moment. What was she doing? Yet she’d found herself saying yes. And worse, it hadn’t even occurred to her to say no.
She reminded herself she was here for weeks, not months.
She could handle it, she reassured herself. It was only dinner. She went back to the second journal. Would it tell her if Angus had fallen in love with his Ute wife?
She read again until she fell asleep on the sofa with Joseph curled up next to her...
* * *
TUESDAY SPED BY. She met again with Louisa and Sara, and the three of them selected more excerpts.
More and more people called to say they’d heard about the pageant, and Andy started a list.
She had lunch with them, then went by the community center. Bill was busy looking through boxes. He, too, had been queried all day by residents. Wanting more information. Unfortunately, information was scarce.
Then it was six. She and Joseph returned to the cabin. She couldn’t wait to tell Nate about the latest entries and Louisa’s excitement.
She headed for the bedroom and her limited wardrobe. Exactly what did one wear in Covenant Falls for a formal date, even to an empty inn?
She already felt a flutter deep in her stomach, the ache of anticipation. She opened her closet and stared at the few garments. Dismal.
She selected a pair of navy blue pants and a light blue fitted blouse she’d found at the general store and looked at herself. She really needed something else. She looked in the small velvet pouch in which she kept her few pieces of jewelry: a necklace she had found during a brief trip to Greece when stationed in Germany, a bracelet her mother had given her when she graduated from college and finally the ring Jared had given her but that she had never worn except the few times they were able to leave the base. She hadn’t been able to look at it since the attack. With a new stab of anguish, she returned everything to the pouch. This was a business dinner.
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