Return To Yellowstone: Yellowstone Romance Series Novella Sequel to Yellowstone Heart Song

by Peggy L Henderson

  Return to Yellowstone

  Sequel to Yellowstone Heart Song Yellowstone Romance Series Novella

  Peggy L Henderson

  Contents

  1. Copyright

  2. Introduction

  3. Chapter One

  4. Chapter Two

  5. Chapter Three

  6. Chapter Four

  7. Chapter Five

  8. Chapter Six

  9. Chapter Seven

  10. Chapter Eight

  11. Chapter Nine

  12. Chapter Ten

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2016 by Peggy L Henderson

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Editor: Barbara Ouradnik

  Proofreading: Behest Indie Novelist Services

  Cover by: Collin Henderson

  Books in the Yellowstone Romance Series

  (in recommended reading order)

  Yellowstone Heart Song

  Return to Yellowstone (novella)

  A Yellowstone Christmas (novella)

  Yellowstone Redemption

  Yellowstone Homecoming (novella)

  Yellowstone Season of Giving (short story)

  Yellowstone Awakening

  Yellowstone Dawn

  Yellowstone Deception

  Yellowstone Promise (novella)

  Yellowstone Origins

  Yellowstone Legacy

  Yellowstone Legends (coming 2017)

  Introduction

  The idea of the snakehead device, and that the “Sky People” are the guardians of the Yellowstone area and hold the power of time travel, is strictly from my imagination, and used purely for entertainment purposes in my books.

  Letting go might be harder than they thought...

  Everything she'd hoped for has come true. Aimee Donovan's mountain man of her dreams came to 2010 to find her and take her home, and now they can live together forever. But a life two hundred years in the past is filled with challenges. Learning to overcome dangers and discover her calling will be more difficult without modern technology and conveniences of the twenty-first century.

  Daniel Osborne has seen the future, and he wants no part of it, except the woman who is his heart song. His life is complete now that she has chosen to live in his familiar Yellowstone wilderness of 1810. With the secrets his father had kept from him now revealed, he is tormented about what to do with the time travel device that has done more good for him than harm.

  Daniel and Aimee have no doubt that they want to stay together forever, but knowing they have the ability to travel forward in time if there is a crisis provides a loophole that has good and bad implications. Do they have the courage to rid themselves of the one thing that could save them?

  Chapter One

  He stood along the banks of the river, the ends of his dark hair brushing lightly against his bare shoulders in the brisk October morning air. Steam drifted upward from the water and a thick mist hovered over the meadow. The grasses had turned yellow, many blades painted in various shades of auburn and red. In the distance, across the river near the tree line, a bull elk called to his harem. His bugle echoed along the mountain that rose in a steep wall from the valley floor.

  She leaned her arm against the doorframe of the crude little cabin, letting her eyes wander over the sights in front of her. She was finally home. Aimee Donovan smiled. No, no longer Aimee Donovan.

  I’m Aimee Osborne now. I’m truly Aimee Osborne now, and no one can take that away from me again.

  She drew in a deep breath of the cold mountain air, filling her lungs with all the scents her heart had yearned for and thought she’d never smell again. Three long months she’d been away from this time, two hundred years in the past. The last time she’d gazed out across the valley in 2010 she’d been filled with sorrow and anguish, and an unbearable sense of loss.

  This day was different. Finally, she was home, back in 1810, the time in which she truly belonged. Her heart had ached too long for what she’d thought she’d lost, and she had been broken, utterly shattered to pieces. He – the man standing along the water’s edge – had changed her hopeless world in the blink of an eye.

  A tear rolled down her cheek and a laugh escaped her lips. He’d come back for her. He’d done the impossible and come to the future to bring her home, because he loved her.

  Aimee’s gaze fixed on the man standing by the river. He still had his back turned to her, his stance tall with his shoulders drawn back. The rays of the early morning sun played off his olive-colored skin, defining every toned muscle along his spine and arms. There was no question that he knew she was watching him, even though he looked preoccupied. Daniel was aware of everything around him.

  She stepped out of the cabin, the cool air dancing around her bare legs. The shirt she wore, a crudely sewn wool homespun that nearly swallowed her up, reached to her knees. The sleeves were rolled up, bunched around her wrists. The soles of her feet connected with the hard-packed soil, while the blades of autumn grasses tickled her ankles.

  Daniel stood unmoving, gazing across the river toward the tall mountain – National Park Mountain in her time, but nameless for now. It had to remain nameless, until the right time in history would provide its identity, like so many of the other places that were familiar to her by name. She had to remember, and assimilate into this time. It’s what she’d chosen to do.

  The gurgling sound of the river, as the water flowed peacefully along, mixed with the rush of another river that plunged seemingly from between a crack in the mountain. The Firehole, or Burning River as Daniel called it, gave off more steam, creating an almost eerie and surreal image among the trees near the mountain.

  Aimee walked across the meadow. She stopped next to him and raised her hand to slide her palm up Daniel’s arm. His head turned slowly and a smile replaced the serious expression on his face. His dark eyes warmed as his gaze met hers, traveling along her face, then lower.

  “You forgot your shirt, so I thought I’d wear it.” Aimee tilted her head to look up at him, her first glimpse of Daniel in daylight since their arrival back in the valley the night before.

  She stepped closer as her hand slid along his arm to his shoulder. Her fingers dug into his skin the moment he swept his arm around her waist and drew her fully against the solid strength of his chest. Her other arm snaked around his neck, bringing his head toward her. Her lips touched his, the sensation more exhilarating than the first time she’d kissed him. It was always like this. Each kiss with Daniel was like a first time, sending her heart racing with excitement.

  Aimee wrapped her arms fully around his neck, clinging to him while Daniel deepened the kiss, claiming her mouth with tender passion that left her weak in the knees and breathless. She melted against him, his strong arms holding her steady. Gone was the urgency from the last time she’d stood in this meadow with him. Gone was the fear and worry, and the anxiety that her time in the past was
up, knowing that it could all come to an end at any moment. This time, she was truly home to stay.

  “I came here to allow you time to sleep,” he murmured against her lips.

  He drew his head back while his eyes roamed over her face, as if he couldn’t believe she was here in front of him. His warm and calloused palm cradled her cheek before his fingers burrowed in her hair.

  “I’m ready to face the day, and every other day,” Aimee whispered, her words hoarse. She blinked, unable to stop the tears from spilling from her eyes.

  “You have regrets?” Daniel leaned back slightly, studying her.

  Aimee quickly shook her head. She laughed. “Regrets? I’ve never been happier in my life, Daniel. I died the day your father sent me home, and I died some more when I thought I’d lost your love and respect.”

  Daniel’s arm around her tightened, and he pulled her firmly against him. His entire body trembled. He was the strongest, most self-assured man she’d ever met, but at this moment, he’d crumbled into vulnerability.

  “For as long as I breathe, I will make up to you the way I treated you that day at the hospital when I sent you away. I let anger from my past cloud my judgment, and I have regretted it every moment since.”

  Aimee clasped his face between her hands. “You didn’t know. Your father didn’t tell you the truth. He thought he was protecting both of us. I’m just glad he realized his mistake.”

  “I’ve forgiven him, and will forever be thankful to my father for finally being honest with me, or I would never have known how to get you back. I don’t know how long I would have gone on living otherwise. I died a little each day, knowing I could never tell you how sorry I was for the hurtful way I treated you, wanting to beg for your forgiveness.”

  “We’re together now, and that’s all that matters.” She smiled. “And no one and nothing will tear us apart again.”

  “As long as you have no regrets about leaving behind everything you’ve known.” Daniel’s eyes clouded with a hint of worry.

  Aimee stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his. “I’ve told you already. This is where I belong, right here, and with you.” She drew away and glanced toward the river. Her eyes swept across the valley, following the river’s course west. She laughed softly, facing the water.

  “Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved it here – this valley, and especially this exact spot. I think I was ten years old when I told my mother that I wished we could live here.” She turned to gaze at Daniel. “And now that wish has come true. My father always told me that Yellowstone was in our blood. He loved it here as much as I did.”

  Daniel’s face softened in a smile. “I would have liked to have known your parents.”

  “My dad taught me most of the things I know about survival, but I wasn’t quite prepared for actually living in the wilderness when Zach gave me the opportunity to come here. My dad taught me, but never in a completely primitive way, not the way you’ve been teaching me. I never got the chance to ask him where he had learned it all. I simply took it for granted that he loved the outdoors. The more I think about it, the more I can see him in this kind of setting more than his life in New York.”

  “Why did he choose to keep his family in the city, so far away from here, if this is where his heart lived?” Daniel stepped up beside her, taking her hand.

  Aimee shook her head. “I don’t know. I know my mother wasn’t attached to New York, either. They chose to stay close to my grandmother, I suppose. She passed away the year before my parents lost their lives in a car crash.”

  Fresh tears welled up in her eyes. That horrible day replayed in her mind. Two police officers, a man and a young woman who couldn’t have been more than a rookie, had come to the house to bring the news that Detective Donovan and his wife had been involved in a head-on collision that had killed them instantly.

  “I was supposed to have been with them that day,” she whispered. “But I canceled on them at the last minute.”

  Daniel swept her into his arms. He held her tight while she cried against his shoulder.

  “Elk Runner would say that only the spirits can know why things happen the way they do.” He kissed the top of her head. “If you had been with your parents, you would be dead, as well. You and I would not have met. I would continue to lead a solitary life.” His hand lifted her head to look at him.

  Aimee smiled. She inhaled a deep breath. Her parents had been dead for six years. The pain was still as real as the day it happened, but their death had put her on a course to meet Daniel. Had it not been for her parents’ passing, she would probably never have left New York to come to California, where she’d met his father, Zach Osborne.

  “I think that might be the first intelligent thing Elk Runner has ever said.” Her smile widened. “I always knew I wanted to be a nurse, like my mother, but her and my dad’s deaths pushed me to be better. It pushed me even more to go out and have adventures. My mother always told me to never let fear hold me back from doing something I was passionate about. To color outside the lines and take chances. I’ve made plenty of stupid mistakes while following her advice, but she always encouraged me to never be ordinary.”

  “Your mother sounds like a wonderful woman, and she raised an extraordinary daughter.”

  Aimee tilted her head to look into Daniel’s dark eyes. They’d lost some of their usual intensity and softened with the look he reserved for her alone. A look filled with love.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever told you this, but you remind me a lot of my father. He was serious and quiet, but everyone could always count on him, and he loved my mother to distraction.”

  “Then he is a man I will always admire.” His face sobered. “My father loved these mountains, too. He came from the east to trap with a voyageur. He once told me that he’d wanted to come back to where he was born.”

  Aimee’s eyes widened. “Your father was born here?”

  Daniel nodded. “His parents, my grandparents, left when he was very young, and settled in Philadelphia.”

  Aimee shook her head. Something seemed backward. Her knowledge of history wasn’t all that great, but she’d been surprised once already that Daniel, a white man, lived in remote Yellowstone in 1810. Clearly, the history books about when white men had first seen this part of the country were wrong.

  She hesitated. She and Daniel had never discussed their parents this openly before. Would asking the next question open old wounds for Daniel? He’d never met his mother since she’d died in childbirth, so she took the chance.

  “How did Zach meet your mother?”

  Daniel looked into her eyes while clearly contemplating her question. He’d always been cautious when choosing his words. Finally, he said, “He journeyed to New Orleans one year to trade. She was young, much younger than he, and poor. Her father tried to sell her along the wharf.”

  Aimee’s eyes widened. “What? That’s horrible.”

  Daniel’s lips twitched. “You will have to get used to many things that happen in my world that may seem horrible to you.” He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. “I tried to barter you in trade once, too, remember?”

  Aimee took a step back and glared at him, trying to imitate the scowl she’d seen so often on Daniel’s face. “You can’t be serious that you would condone something like that.” Her hand shot to her hip. “Besides, what you did was different. You said yourself you had no choice but to barter with that Crow warrior to prevent violence.”

  Daniel laughed. “And I named a price for you I knew he could never match.” His face turned serious. “I don’t approve of what happened to my mother, but again, had it not been for that incident, my father may never have met her. He said he fell in love the moment he saw her, but knew he could never approach her. Another man offered a keg of rum and several fur pelts for her. Without thinking, my father outbid him.”

  “Your mother was bought by Zach?” Aimee shook her head, trying to comprehend. Daniel was right. She was in a differen
t time, and needed to learn the customs. She’d always considered herself open-minded and able to adapt to different situations fairly quickly, but she’d been completely unprepared when she’d come to this time months ago from two hundred years in the future. She’d thought she knew wilderness survival, but coming to this primitive world had brought new meaning to the term.

  Things she might have considered barbaric in her own time were things completely normal and acceptable in this time.

  Daniel killed two men without blinking an eye because of you.

  She mentally shook her head. Even though it was acceptable in her new life, that didn’t mean she had to like it.

  Daniel smiled indulgently. By the smug look on his face, he’d read her thoughts correctly.

  “My father only bought my mother’s freedom. He told her he couldn’t stand by and see her sold to another man. He walked away, but she followed him. He wasn’t looking for a wife. He knew he’d be returning to the mountains, and couldn’t possibly bring her with him.”

  “But she did come with him, right?”

  “As much as he was smitten with her, he believed she was too fragile to live the harsh life the mountains required. She’d never lived outside the city, and life away from civilization is difficult.”

  Daniel’s eyes darkened while looking at her. He had told her the same thing when he’d first met her. Aimee bit her tongue. That argument between them had been settled.

  “He remained in New Orleans for some time because of her, but the mountains called him back,” Daniel continued. “He told me that she didn’t want to leave New Orleans, but her love for my father was greater.” He shrugged. “She may have simply been grateful to him for taking her away from the life she led before, but it soon turned to love, and she would have done anything to remain with him.”