Heaven hadn’t counted on rain. A darkening sky replaced the sunlight that warmed the cabin a few minutes ago. She glanced out the front window. They’d had an awful lot of rain this fall. There had been talk of the Mississippi flooding and concerns about how far the water would reach if it did. Dark clouds were bunching up like Baptists at a potluck.
Dr. Logan was out there on his horse somewhere. Right after lunch he’d said he needed to think about some things. What did a man think about? She hoped it was about leaving. No, that wasn’t truthful. She wanted her farm, but she’d come to enjoy his company.
Thunder crescendos rocked the air. There wouldn’t be any practicing her marksmanship this afternoon. Lightning arched, fracturing the sky. She twisted her apron strings in her hands. How far away had he wandered?
“When’s Dr. Logan coming back? If he doesn’t hurry, he’ll get wet.” Angel sat on the tufted, black horsehair, serpentineback sofa and hugged her doll to her chest while whispering secrets into its ear.
The regal settee against the backdrop of rough wooden walls was as out of place as she and Angel were in this cabin. So many of the things they’d brought belonged in a fancier home. Still, she was grateful to have these bits and pieces of their old life. They’d arrived at the cabin, expecting it to be furnished. And it was, according to a bachelor’s lifestyle, Ma had said. Her brother didn’t need much—a table, a chair, and a bed. Heaven thought that’s probably why he never found a woman to marry him. He was an odd fellow, Ma had said. As if Heaven couldn’t figure that out. All she had to do was look in the root cellar at all those canned green beans.
“I’ll check the kitchen window. Maybe he’s coming from that direction.” She hurried across the puncheon floor, leaned across the sink, and searched through the wavy glass for a glimpse of him or his horse. When had the trees grown so thick? A movement in the grove of cedars caught her eye. Horse and rider burst through the trees. For a moment, his eyes connected with hers, and her heartbeat kicked up its rhythm. Travis was back. “He’s coming.”
The sky broke apart and released hail. She watched in horror as the ice dropped like eggs from the sky, striking Travis and his horse. The ground in front of them disappeared into a field of white. He angled his head down and seemed to knee the horse to a run toward the barn. Her heart slammed against her chest as she watched him hold his arm across his face in an attempt to protect it from the bruising hail. She wanted to shout at him to use his other arm, protect the wound on his head, but he wouldn’t have heard her through the thick log walls. “He’s going to the barn.”
“That’s good.” Angel started humming a lullaby to her doll.
Heaven popped on her toes of her good foot to see him better. The hail was slippery, and Pride and Joy could go down. He could roll over and crush Travis. She swallowed even though her mouth was dry. Her mouth formed the words Be safe. Be safe, Travis. Travis? When had she decided to call him by his name instead of his title? So informal, and yet his name felt right on her lips. A smidgen of disloyalty to Jake’s memory pricked her heart. She’d loved him and promised to forever. But Jake wasn’t here to love anymore—the man was dead and not coming back. But Travis was here to love.
Love? She didn’t love Travis did she? Impossible. She was just worried about him, that’s all. Wasn’t it?
He would be wet and cold when he came inside. She reached in the reservoir and dipped out water and filled the coffeepot. She’d make some to warm him.
His footsteps thudded against the wooden porch, and Heaven threw open the door before he reached it. “Come in. You’ve got to be soaked. Did the hail hurt? How is Pride and Joy?”
Travis’s eyes widened as he brushed past her. “He’s fine.” She drew back in shock at his brusque reaction. Maybe she was overmothering. And she did not want to be his mother.
Heaven was having difficulty seeing her stitching. She’d have to use precious oil if the storm didn’t move on soon. Lightning sparked light through the bare windows and caught her attention. She had planned on making this cabin a home, so why not start now?
Travis sat in her rocker with nothing to occupy him but the drying of his clothes.
Angel busied herself at the table with the abacus they’d brought with them.
Heaven narrowed her eyes and focused on Travis’s strong, capable body. She wanted to move the furniture, and with his foot tapping, he became the most likely candidate. But would he willingly move the heavy pieces? Ma had a way to get Pa to do things he didn’t want to do. She said all she had to do was be a lady and he’d smile while he did her bidding. Would it work for Heaven?
Angel slid the beads across the wire and softly counted. Heaven smoothed her long hair behind her ears and remembered what Ma would say about presenting herself as a lady. She straightened her shoulders and wished for a bit of Ma’s honeysuckle perfume to dab on her wrists. She could get it from the trunk, but Angel would be sure to notice the scent and ask why she wore it. She’d have to do this with just her charm. Using dainty steps, she walked toward Travis, presenting her best smile.
“Are your clothes getting dry?” He looked up at her and blinked. “Gettin’ there.”
“That’s good. You wouldn’t want to catch your death of cold.” She felt silly, like a little girl playing dress-up with her mother’s finest hat perched on her head. She let her shoulders fall back to their normal position, but she kept the smile. “You must be wondering why we have our furniture arranged so oddly.” She waved her hand around the small room as if it were stuffed with priceless belongings.
She waited for a response, but all she received was a raised eyebrow. “When we moved here, Pa brought our furniture inside and left it. He promised Ma he would put it where she wanted it this winter.”
She tried batting her eyes at him, but he furrowed his brow and looked at her oddly.
“Are you all right?”
She covered her face with her hands and rubbed at her eyes with her fingers as if she’d caught an eyelash in one of them. She hoped it covered the heat of the blush that was surely creeping across her cheeks.
“Yes sir. I am, thank you. I’m just feeling a bit sad. It’s winter, and now Ma is gone, and so is Pa. And seeing you sit by the fire like he did.…” A tear sprang up, surprising her and apparently scaring Travis, for he jumped from the chair as if a cinder had landed on his sock-covered foot.
She thought she’d done all the grieving she could when they buried Ma. How was it possible for a body to hurt this much in one lifetime? Her breath collapsed in her lungs as a sob fought for an exit. Dizziness slammed against her head.
“What can I do to make you feel better?” He leaned toward her with outstretched hands as if he wanted to pull her into a hug, but then he dropped his arms to his sides and backed away. “I know I can’t bring them back, and I’m truly sorry about not finding a way to bring your pa here for burial.”
“It’s distressing not having him lie beside Ma. Not holding a graveside service makes it seem less real. I start thinking, as soon as Pa gets back …” She swallowed another piece of her grief. “Then I remember. He isn’t coming back. We won’t be together again until we’re in heaven.”
Angel sniffled. The abacus slid across the table.
Heaven turned, and saw her sister’s tears dripping down her cheeks. The numbness she’d been feeling since she’d heard about her pa’s death finished melting away, leaving behind raw pain. She hastened to Angel’s side and pulled her out of her chair into an embrace. They rocked back and forth on their feet together while they expressed their grief through rivers of rain. “It’s going to be okay, baby. We still have each other.”
Somehow Travis had gone from trying to comfort two distraught females to shoving around furniture. All he’d intended to do was to stop the crying. Watching the two of them mourn and not being able to help them while bearing guilt for not saving their father, he’d blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. He asked Heaven if she wanted him to move the secretary desk, with its bookcase covered with glass doors, closer to the window. The tears had desert-dried in a flash.
“Just a little to the left, I think.” She splayed her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side. Happiness rode across her face. “After this we can move the sofa across from the fireplace and the hutch closer to the kitchen so we don’t have to walk so far to put away the dishes. But first it would be best if you would get the carpet from the loft. It will be nice to have that piece of home under our feet again.”
Where were those tears? Even Angel strutted around with her hands on her hips giving orders about not scratching the floor. Heaven’s smile was as bright as the sun that had gone missing around lunch. He shoved the heavy desk an inch. He hadn’t planned on decorating a house, but it was worth it to see her bustling about looking like she’d been given the title to the farm.
She hadn’t given up. The little minx was making the cabin into a real home. She probably thought he wouldn’t want to take it from them then. She was right, but she was wrong. He had every intention of keeping everything promised to him in Caleb’s will. Especially Heaven.
“It looks like you’re planning on staying around.”
She swung around and faced him, her sapphire eyes sending sparks his way. “Of course we’re staying. Why would you ever think we’re leaving?”
“Good. That’ll make Mrs. Reynolds happy. I’ll ride to town tomorrow and talk to the preacher about arranging it.”
The smile dimmed and disappeared. Her face hardened. “I never said I would marry you. I said we weren’t leaving our home.”