“Why do you need your gun?”
“Precaution is all.”
Reaching a plateau, carved between two steep formations, she gasped as a panoramic view greeted her.
“I can see forever.”
Jake pointed out the river to their southeast and the adjacent railroad tracks. Emily took a step forward in order to peek over the edge, and the stony ground below her feet crumbled. Jake clasped her upper arm.
“Not so close, Em.” He pulled her beside him and cinched his arm around her waist.
“You rescued me again.” She peered up at him and then leaned against him. She felt safe and protected. But did Jake think of her as only a friend—a friend he rescued quite routinely?
“Sorry for taking you to the café.” His voice sounded close to her ear and a delightful shiver ran down her spine.
“No need to be sorry. I enjoyed visiting the dress shop anyway, and I told Mrs. Drew about my Tante Agnes’s shop in Wisconsin. I explained where the state of Wisconsin is on the map.” Glancing up at him again, she glimpsed his grin. His gaze captured hers for a long moment before Emily stared out over the wide landscape once more.
An ominous thunderlike growl and grumble shook the ground. Jake’s hold around her waist tightened.
“What is it?”
“Watch.”
Moments later Emily saw it. The train. Its shrill whistle split the peaceful afternoon.
“There goes Iris.”
Hearing the smile in his voice, Emily grinned as the train rumbled past on the tracks below.
“Granddad was always fascinated by this place. He said it’s where he could watch the world go by.”
“A nice memory, Jake.”
A weighty pause. “I can’t hardly believe I’ll never see him again.” Sadness crept into his voice. “But that’s the truth in this life. We’re all appointed once to die . . . ”
“ . . . but after this the judgment,” she completed the verse from Hebrews. “To think someday we will come face-to-face with the Lord Jesus Christ.” She looked up at Jake once again. “I know it will be a judgment for some, but for those who know Him I like to think it’ll be a sweet reunion. Isn’t that what grace means, that with all our sins covered by Jesus, we should have no fear of death?”
A rueful smile inched across his face. “That’s because you haven’t faced death yet, Em.”
“Think so?”
“I know so. But me? I’ve seen too much death in my lifetime.” His gaze roamed the craggy landscape. “Frankly, I’m weary of it. I need a fresh start.”
“Hmm . . . thinking about settling down, Deputy?” Maybe Iris was right and Jake would reveal the identity of the woman back home for whom he’d set his cap, except . . . Emily wished it was her.
“As a matter of fact . . . ” Jake’s gaze jumped to something over her head. “Look there, Em.”
She turned and saw an enormous beast with a full rack stemming from his head. It looked like a strange cross between a moose and a deer. Two more came into view, obviously females as they bore no horns. Another of the same creature appeared. Four total.
“What are they?”
“Elk.”
The bull brought his large head up and stared at them for several seconds before continuing on his way.
“If we didn’t have to meet Iris in Fallon, we could hunt. Your father and brothers would be sorely envious of you.”
“Too bad.” She hated to pass on such an extraordinary opportunity, even if she disliked hunting. “This is a majestic view. I wish I owned a camera so I could capture it.” Or I wish I could live here. With you.
But did she? Really? Emily couldn’t be sure she’d survive the vastness of the badlands and prairies. Fallon was no town to speak of, only a handful of women resided in the area, and Montana winters were at least as long, snowy, and cold as Wisconsin’s.
But Jake . . .
Emily disliked the thought of living the rest of her life without him.
“If you want a few keepsakes, our neighbor, Mrs. Cameron, photographs eastern Montana and sells her pictures at Aunt Susie’s.” The warmth of Jake’s voice touched her ear and neck, and she smiled. “I’m sure you can find some pictures to your liking.”
“Oh, yes, I remember seeing them displayed when Iris and I sent our telegrams.” She turned and faced him and something bold and familiar awakened in Emily. Was it wrong to wish that he’d kiss her? Did he want to? She held his gaze. Kiss me, Jake.
His dark eyes narrowed. “I think we’d best get going.” His words lacked conviction.
Forget about that woman in Manitowoc. Let’s stay so you can kiss me.
“Iris might find more adventures.”
Emily forced herself to lower her gaze and nod. Disappointment washed over her, but she tried not to let it show.
Jake helped her down through the butte. The gravelly path beneath her boots caused her to slide unless she stayed pressed against his muscled arm. By the time they reached the horses, Emily couldn’t shake an idea made manifest by her conversation with Deidre last night.
“May I ask you something personal?” She folded her gloved hand around Rusty’s reins.
“You may certainly ask.” He tucked away his gun and grinned.
“Last night Deidre mentioned your mother. Did we just stand where . . . I mean, is up there where . . . ”
“No. Suicide Bluff is nearer to the Ready Web, and I’d never take you there, Em.”
“Why not? I’d like to see it.”
A shadow of wariness drifted over his face.
“It’s more than some morbid interest, Jake. Mr. Ollie and I talked about your mother’s death at great length.”
“It’s a dangerous place. Too dangerous for a sweet lady like you.” He smiled.
“I’m not easily persuaded by flattery.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“Seriously, Jake, why won’t you take me there? I owe it at least to Mr. Ollie’s memory.”
He pushed back his hat back and regarded her with a wounded expression in his eyes. “I haven’t been back there since . . . ” He swallowed and glanced off in the distance. “Look, Emily, I was the one who had to scale down to the rocky valley below Suicide Bluff and collect Ma’s broken body. Couldn’t just leave her lying in the crevasse.”
Emily fought to hide her grimace, but she didn’t pull it off.
“I’m sure you can understand why it’s a place I never want to revisit. My granddad understood, so I expect you can too.”
“Of course.” His words shook Emily to her core. Collecting his mother’s broken body? “That had to have been very traumatic for you.”
“It was.” He set his jaw as if fighting back the pain he still felt. Obviously it hadn’t healed with time. He rammed his dark gaze into hers. “Any more questions?”
She wetted her lips and shook her head.
“Then we’d best be on our way.”
Emily climbed into the saddle and patted Rusty’s neck. “I appreciate your candidness.”
He mounted and sidled his horse up beside her. “I don’t share particulars of my life with just anyone, Emily.”
“You can trust me not to repeat them.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant, but—” His lips moved as he wrangled with his next words. But in the end he merely gave a tug on the brim of his hat. “Let’s go.”
As they rode back to Fallon, sometimes side by side, sometimes with Emily following, she got lost in her thoughts. Jake certainly was a complex mix. She pondered everything she knew about him, but more so what she didn’t know. Then all at once she simply had to know the mystery woman’s identity.
She nudged Rusty until she rode right beside him. “Jake?”
He slowed.
“One more personal question?”
“All right.” He kept riding but leaned his palms against the saddle horn.
“Iris said that you’re romantically interested in a young lady back in Manitowo
c that both she and I know. Is that true?”
A puzzled grin turned to a broad smile. Then he chuckled, and its rich sound made Emily feel foolish. “Iris said that, huh?”
“Yes.” She leaned forward and glimpsed his smile. Folly or not, she wasn’t about to stop asking now. “So? Who is she?”
“Iris wouldn’t tell you?” He still sounded amused.
“No. And that’s so unlike her. We share everything—well, almost.”
“Been thinking about it, have you?”
“Yes.” Impatience nipped at her. “Who is she?”
“Well . . . you keep thinking on it, Em. It’ll come to you.”
“You’re not going to tell me?”
“Nope.”
Disappointment crashed over her.
He chuckled again, only this time he gulped back a portion. “I can’t believe Iris told you such a thing. But I reckon I shouldn’t be surprised. Beneath that harebrained head of hers is an abiding, special sense. A God-given quality that lets her know certain things before others do.”
“We’re still talking about my best friend Iris Hopper?”
“The very one.”
“Are you in love with . . . her?”
Jake twisted in his saddle. “Have you lost your very mind?”
“Just making sure.”
“Keep guessing.” Jake’s amused expression rankled Emily’s nerves. “How about we discuss the love of your life now.”
“It’s not Andy Anderson, that’s for sure, and I wasn’t chasing him across the country either.”
“So you’ve said.” Jake’s smile eased her defensiveness.
“But I did throw myself at him, and I’m ashamed of it. I’m embarrassed you witnessed it.”
“Forget it, Em. Forget him.”
“I did, up until this afternoon.”
“No special feelings for him?”
Emily thought about it. “Irritation.” She saw Jake grin once again.
“So . . . is there anyone you do have special feelings for?”
She decided to be honest, at least in part. “Yes, actually.”
“Oh? What’s his name?”
“I’ll tell you if you tell me.”
“No deal, Emily Sundberg.”
She tossed a gaze heavenward. “You’re still impossible, Jake.”
“Yeah? Are you still ticklish?”
Wide-eyed, Emily gaped. “None of your business!” The memory of Jake pinning her down in the tall grass and tickling her until she couldn’t breathe flashed across her mind. Eden had sat by and cheered him on.
“I’ll take that for a yes.”
“Don’t you dare!” She heard him chuckling. “You’re quite fresh, Jake Edgerton. When I find out who that young woman is—and I will find out—I’m going to tell her.”
He turned her way and smiled, wide and full. “You do that, Emily. But for now we’d best quit talking and ride if we want to make it back to the ranch before supper.”
Emily picked up his increasing pace, holding steady with little problem. Soon the rustic log buildings known as the town of Fallon appeared on the horizon.
CHAPTER 23
HOW WAS THE ride?”
“Good.”
“Good?” Deidre turned from the kettle that simmered on her shiny new stove.
“Yeah, good.” Jake smiled, seeing the interest in her eyes. “What are you cooking? Smells delicious.”
“I love my new stove and oven. See the bread I baked?”
“I see.” It had been one of the first things he’d smelled as he walked in.
“And to answer your question, I’m making venison and gravy over biscuits for supper, and later I’ll bake a couple of chickens and a cake for tomorrow’s Sunday meeting.” She tipped her head. “You’ll be in attendance, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
“Because Emily Sundberg will be in attendance?” she whispered. “Or because there will be a lot of food since everyone brings a dish?” Again that glimmer of interest in her gaze.
“Because I want to praise God with friends and family and get fed from God’s Word.” Jake knew his sister, and she’d likely pester him all night if he didn’t tell her the details of this afternoon’s ride with Em and Iris—at least some of the details. He glanced toward the closed bedroom door of the room Emily and Iris shared. The ladies had decided to change their clothes and take a rest before supper, and he didn’t want to disturb them.
“I took them to Terry and into the Central Café to meet Zelda.”
“You did what?” Deidre shook her head. “It’s shearing season.”
“I know. Em and I thought it’d be . . . ” He didn’t want to mention their plan to discourage Iris. “ . . . educational.”
“And? Was it?”
“Quite.” Thoughts of Emily beside him on the butte, her upturned face and the interest sparking her sky-blue eyes filled his mind. It had taken every ounce of will he possessed not to kiss her. If he wasn’t mistaken, she’d wanted kissing, and—Lord help him—he wanted to oblige her!
And then her trying to guess who he was in love with. Funny! As for their meeting with Andy Anderson—well, he wasn’t about to tell Em that Andy was the culprit of the gossip that wounded her so badly. Best to let it die. But what Jake saw in Emily’s actions and in her eyes made him believe that she genuinely hadn’t ever been in love with the man. His initial inklings were right.
“Jake? You’ve got a funny grin on your face.”
“Sorry ’bout that. Yes, our ride was quite educational.” He smiled and dipped his forefinger into the cake batter.
“Now, stop it. That’s for tomorrow.”
“Mmm, tastes good.”
“Thank you.” She moved the bowl out of his reach. “But any more tastes and I won’t have a cake to bake.”
Jake straightened from where he leaned against a counter. “Then I guess I’ll leave you to your cooking on that new stove.”
“Oh, I’m so pleased with it. Thank you again.”
“You’re welcome.” The happiness on his sister’s face was worth ten times the amount he’d paid for the modern appliance. He thought of Ma and how much she would have enjoyed a new stove. Even Deidre’s former one had been steps up from the old black iron thing Ma cooked on. “I’ll go wash up before supper.”
“Won’t be too long now.”
Jake headed for his cabin, heavy thoughts and memories pressing down on him. Em asked him to see the bluff, but how could he take her there when he couldn’t muster the courage to ride out there himself? He went so far as to ride out of his way to avoid passing it.
He stood still on the path and made a slow circle, eyeing everything, seeing nothing but sadness on this ranch. Like a prevailing dark cloud, it didn’t seem to matter what improvements Web made; Jake still saw the place where Pa was murdered, where Ma ended her life. Suicide Bluff taunted him, mocked him. Little wonder he stayed away.
Comfortably seated on the porch after supper with Jake, Iris, Rez, Charlie, and the Websters, Emily knitted a sweater, enjoying the feel of the soft, chocolate-brown yarn in her hands. She looked up to see the same color eyes watching her.
“That’s not really my style.” With a smirk, Jake glanced at the sweater then back at her.
“You have a style?”
“Hard to believe, isn’t it?”
Emily smiled. “You’ll be relieved to know I’m not making this for you. But I do love this color, so rich, like the promise of fertile soil in springtime.”
Iris spoke up. “Emily always has been a little different when it comes to colors.”
“Thanks, best friend.” She gave Iris a pointed stare.
Iris smiled and waved a hand at her. “It’s not your fault. It’s from growing up with a twin brother.”
“A twin?” Deidre looked up from the far end of the porch where she worked on her mending. “That’s right. I’d forgotten that you have a twin.”
“Shared the womb with my
brother Eden.”
“Even though he’s younger than I am,” Jake remarked, “Eden and I were great friends the summer I spent with Granddad. Mischief makers, the two of us.”
“I remember.” Emily had never forgotten.
The other three men didn’t seem to be paying much attention, however. Web and Rez hummed along to the tune Charlie played on his harmonica, although Rez watched Iris as if he couldn’t get his fill. The sight was worrisome to Emily. Things between Iris and Rez were happening much too quickly. What about their futures? Did Iris want to live in Montana, married to a ranch hand? Or were they both merely engaging in shameful flirtations?
“So you’re partial to that color, huh?” Jake seemed interested in her yarn and the sweater she knit as he stood across the way. He leaned against a thick square support, which ran from the porch to the roof.
“Yes. Very much.”
“How about a short stroll, Iris?” Rez stood and held out his hand, helping her to stand.
“What a fine idea.” She set her slender hand into his calloused palm.
Emily watched them cross the porch and step down to the path that wound through Deidre’s garden. Emily shifted on the bench.
“Are you making that sweater to sell in your aunt’s shop?”
Jake’s voice pulled her focus from Iris and Rez. “No, not the shop, but I do have plans for it.”
“Oh? Like what?” He folded his arms across his chest.
She glanced at Deidre and Web, sitting next to each other, talking between themselves. “Jake, may I ask for yet another favor?”
“You can always ask.” Smiling, he sent a nod toward the back door. “Want to step inside the house and talk?”
Emily thought that would be best and set her knitting aside to follow him.
When they faced each other in the great room, Jake asked, “What’s on your mind?”
“I decided to finish the sweater with Deidre in mind and give it to her as a thank-you gift for hosting Iris and me. With a few minor alterations, it’ll fit her fine. And it’ll keep her warm this winter.”
“That’s real thoughtful of you, Em.”
“You don’t mind?”
One of his brows dipped. “Why would I mind?”
A rush of embarrassment flooded her face.
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