DARVI’S LIDS OPENED, AND SHE STARED at the log wall in front of her face. She frowned in confusion before closing her eyes in remembrance. Tempted to pinch herself, she knew it was useless. This was no dream, and it was time she faced that.
Rolling to her back, she spotted a window above her bed, sat up, and looked out. Bright sunshine filled the sky, and she could tell it was going to be another hot day. Just as suddenly as she remembered the last few days, she recalled having roommates. Before undressing last night, she’d taken the lamp close to the room’s full bed and seen two sleeping children. She now looked that way, wondering if they were still abed.
What she saw made her blink. Sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed and ready to go for the day, was a little girl. She stared right back at Darvi, her expression open and curious.
“Hello,” Darvi tried.
The little girl continued to stare.
“What’s your name?”
“She can’t talk,” a little boy said from around the door he’d just opened a bit. “But her name’s Lindy.”
“Thank you,” Darvi told him before turning back to the little girl. “Hello, Lindy.”
She gave a little wave and smiled as the boy entered the room and sat beside her.
“I’m Nate,” he supplied, his face just as open and friendly as his sister’s.
“Well, Nate and Lindy, I’m Darvi. It’s nice to meet you.”
The words were no more than out of her mouth when someone knocked. Seth stuck his head around the door. Modest as her gown was, Darvi still reached for a bathrobe that wasn’t there. She had to content herself with pulling the covers a little higher.
“Come on you two. Give Darvi some privacy.”
“What did you call me?” Darvi asked as the children scrambled out.
“Darvi,” he admitted, his eyes watchful.
“How long have you known?”
“Since before you fell off the bed yesterday morning.”
Darvi’s eyes lit with flame.
“We can talk about it,” Seth reassured her.
“Oh, no,” Darvi countered, her voice tight. “We are not going to talk about anything. I’m not saying a word. You have a lot of explaining to do.”
Seth only nodded. “Whenever you’re ready.”
Darvi got up the moment he shut the door. Certain she was finally going to get on that train, she dressed yet again in her navy suit, trying to ignore some of the creases, and from years of solid habit, made her bed. After packing her bag, Darvi went out to do battle. This was all before finding the large room almost empty. The woman they referred to as Cassy stood at the stove. As soon as she spotted Darvi, she took a plate from the oven.
“I have some breakfast for you,” she spoke as she moved to put it on the table.
It was on the tip of Darvi’s tongue to refuse, but then she saw it was dished up and ready.
“Thank you,” Darvi only replied and sat down, thanking the woman again when she was served a steaming mug of coffee. Trying to calm her now-racing heart, Darvi bowed her head and thanked God for the food. She might never see this woman again, but she wanted her impression to be a favorable one.
“Darvi, is it?” Cassy asked when her guest’s head came up.
“Yes, and you’re Cassy?”
That woman nodded.
“I met your children. I hope I didn’t disturb them.”
“Not at all. There is a spare room, but it’s right across from Seth’s. He felt you would feel safer in with the children. You can move if you like.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I won’t be needing either room another night.”
Cassy only nodded, knowing it would not help Seth’s cause for her to comment.
“May I ask you where Mr. McDermott is, or, um, Seth? I don’t know his last name.”
“Redding. Seth Redding. Eliot had to run into town, and Seth is around somewhere. I know he wants to talk with you.”
The eggs and steak on Darvi’s plate were delicious, and so was the thick slice of bread, but it was somewhat lost on her. She spent the entire meal searching the door and windows for any sign of Mr. Redding. He didn’t appear until after she was finished. As soon as Darvi saw him come in, she went for her bag. Back in the large room, the handle in her grasp, she spoke.
“You may explain to me when you return me to town.”
“I’m not returning you to town, but we can go for a walk and I’ll tell you what happened.”
Darvi could have stomped her foot with frustration, but as with everything else in this situation, she was helpless. She set her bag back against one wall and followed Seth outside. He walked them toward the distant woods, his stride shortened to match Darvi’s. Not that she was very close to him. She walked a few steps behind and some ten feet away. Seth glanced over at her stormy face and knew he would just have to begin.
“Eliot—he’s my half brother—and I work for Jared Silk; he’s a banker. He’s not all that honest, but he pays us well, and we’re good at what we do.” He glanced to see if she was listening, but she looked away when their eyes met. “Jared’s sick of Annabelle Hewett’s column. If the truth be told, she’s often right about him, but he wants her stopped. He came up with the plan to talk to her, and our job was to convince her to have dinner with him.
“The men we sent grabbed you because you look like her, and also because she’s always headed somewhere. Her job takes her all over town, so it wasn’t surprising they found you at the train station. We thought we had Annabelle until Eliot saw her heading into the news office early yesterday morning. By that time, it was too late.”
“What was too late?”
“I had already decided that I liked you.”
Darvi stopped and gawked at the man. She could hardly believe her ears.
“It’s not forever, Darvi, at least your being forced to stay here isn’t forever, but I’m just so sure that if you stay for a while, you’ll come to care for us.”
Darvi was stunned. This tall, confident, good-looking man was staring at her with his heart in his eyes. Darvi’s head was spinning. She shifted her gaze to the wide open land and the trees beyond. Even from here she could hear the low sound of the cattle and understood how they made their living.
“Mr. Redding.”
“Please call me Seth.”
Darvi put her hand up. “All right. Seth. Let me get this straight. You work for a man who wanted a woman abducted and threatened, but the wrong woman was taken. Now that you’ve met me, and even realizing I’m not Annabelle Hewett, you want me to share your life?”
“I was hoping you weren’t Hewett, since working for Jared would have made that relationship impossible. Much as I hated for you to be afraid, I was very pleased to learn you weren’t her.”
Darvi thought about the way she’d been treated in the last 48 hours. Not once had the men given the impression that she was going to be physically harmed. They had been downright gentlemen, but it didn’t make what they had done less wrong.
“I get the impression that you’re a very nice man, Seth. Your family,” Darvi almost stumbled over the word, knowing Eliot was living with his girlfriend and her children, “seems very nice too. So how is it that you believe you can spot a woman, desire her, and take her?”
“I know it’s outrageous, but I’m sure if I let you leave, I’ll never see you again.”
“That’s right, you won’t!”
Seth put his hands out as though he’d made his point. Darvi could not believe this. Things simply didn’t happen like this these days. This was 1882. This was civilization. A man simply did not come in, pick out the female he wanted, and carry her off into the night!
“You have to take me back to town,” Darvi persisted, working to keep her voice even. “You have to return me so I can catch my train home. Have you thought about what my family might be feeling when I don’t show up? You can’t keep me, no matter how you feel. I am a person with rights and feelings, and I want to leave.”
“To my head it sounds very logical, Darvi, but my heart’s just not convinced.”
Darvi threw up her hands in frustration and turned back toward the house, muttering all the way. She hit the door so angry she completely forgot that she wanted to make a favorable impression on Cassy.
“Do you know,” she nearly shouted when she got inside, “that he plans to keep me?”
“He said as much,” Cassy admitted, turning from the stove top and wiping her hands on her checkered apron.
“And do you condone this, or are you going to help me get out of here?”
“I can’t help you leave, if that’s what you’re asking me. I wish Seth had done this another way, but I still won’t interfere.”
“Then you’re a part of it.”
Cassy shrugged. “I guess I am.”
Darvi looked as stunned as she felt.
“He’s a big boy, Darvi. I don’t try to tell him what to do. I’m sure you can appreciate that.”
As a matter of fact, Darvi could. She knew she must not take this out on anyone but Seth. In fact, she somehow sensed that not even Eliot was involved.
“We got ten!” Nate shouted as he and Lindy came through the front door. “Ten eggs!”
“Good job. Did anyone get pecked?”
The children proudly displayed their small hands.
“Hi, Darvi,” Nate said when he spotted her. Lindy waved her greeting, but Darvi offered only a limp smile in return.
“Okay, you two,” Cassy chimed in. “Get your slates. We’ve got some arithmetic to work on.”
Cassy put the eggs to one side and came to stand near Darvi, her voice low.
“Is this your traveling suit?”
“Yes.”
“It doesn’t look like you’re going to be getting on the train today. I’ve got some dresses if you want to change.”
“I have two more dresses with me, but I thank you.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” Cassy said as she moved to her children.
A way out was Darvi’s only thought, but she kept this to herself.
But we all, with open faces beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. But if our gospel be hidden it is hidden to them that are lost. In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them.
Darvi read the verses from 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 a second and third time before sitting back thoughtfully.
She would not have chosen to be in this place, but she knew from other passages that God was in control. It was hard to imagine a reason for this, but she understood now that if others couldn’t see the gospel—the good news of Christ—in her, they might remain lost. Darvi read the verses again.
But does that mean I just sit here? Or do I do something to get back to town? Darvi had no answer and kept on praying. Lord, I need You to show me a way out of this. I will never love Seth Redding because he doesn’t love You, but those verses say I’m to care about the souls of these people. Part of my heart still can’t believe this has happened, but I know that You have Your eye on me.
Darvi spent a little more time in prayer and in reading her Bible before changing into an everyday dress and going back out to the big room. Cassy and the children were still working at the table. They looked up when she came in.
“Are you any good with spelling?” Cassy asked.
“Pretty good. It all depends.”
Cassy raised the book when Darvi approached.
“Is there a rule I can tell the kids about adding ed or ing to a word?”
“What words do you have for examples?”
“Well, “study” for one. Studied puts an i in, and studying leaves the y in place.”
“Oh.” Darvi was sympathetic. “That is a hard one.”
While the women pored over this, the children’s noses pressed close as they listened, Seth came back. He had not wanted to rush Darvi, knowing she would need time to see that, unconventional though his approach may be, he wanted only to take care of her. He thought it might be easier if he made himself scarce for a time, but it had then occurred to him that she might be giving Cassy a hard time. He knew he couldn’t allow that. Seeing her working at the table with some of the people he loved most in the world did his heart a world of good.
Not waiting to be invited, Seth joined them. Lindy went right for his lap, and when Cassy had the kids go back to their spelling words, she stayed right where she was. It was not lost on Seth, however, that Darvi never spoke to him or even looked at him. This surprised him—she didn’t seem to be that type of person—but considering all the circumstances, he thought she might not have seen herself as having any other recourse.
He was relieved when Cassy had something else for the kids to do and called them away. Seth spoke quietly before Darvi could get away.
“Darvi, please don’t tell me you’re going to spend every day not looking at me or talking to me.”
Darvi finally looked him in the eye, her own gaze regretful. “I have no desire to be mean or rude to you, and I appreciate your not hurting me or threatening me, but you need to know that if I could leave here, I would. You need to understand that I’m hoping you’ll come to your senses and return me to town. I’m praying for that very thing.”
Seth looked thoughtful, even as he reminded himself he was going to have to be patient.
“At least I know where I stand,” he finally said. “And since you’re so sure of your feelings, you can’t object to my trying to change them.”
He wasn’t listening. Darvi shook her head to clear the confusing mix of emotions.
“I’m not the woman for you, Seth, and the sooner you face that, the easier all this will be.”
“Now, there you’re wrong. You are the woman for me. I know you are, and given time, you’ll know it too.”
Darvi looked into his eyes. He was completely serious. She had been close to only one other man in love, and that had been Brandon. Seth’s eyes looked the same: tender and warm, full of eagerness to please, with just enough male interest to remind Darvi that he was a man. She stood up.
“Darvi, please don’t go.”
She paused, making herself meet his eyes.
“I’m not running from you. I just need to get out for a little while—for your sake, I might add, not mine.”
“You’re sure?”
She only nodded and started away.
“Darvi?”
She turned one last time.
“You look beautiful in that yellow dress.”
Darvi didn’t try to hold back her sigh, but she still said, “Thank you, Seth.”
Even though Darvi was trusting the Lord to get her out of the mess she was in, she still set her mind to planning. She spent her first afternoon with the children, who showed her every inch of the barn. Darvi saw the chickens, the milk cow, several horses, a goat, and even two pigs. She also took note of the doors, where the saddles and tack were stored, and the access to the haymow. Her mind was working out how she could use all of this when she heard Cassy say she was taking the wagon to town first thing in the morning.
The children were already in bed, and the big room was full of ranch hands. As Darvi was eating, a plan was forming, one that she saw no harm in trying. She had told Seth she didn’t want to stay there, and she meant it.
“Excuse me—” a male voice finally got through to her. Darvi looked up to see one of the hands addressing her.
“Do you still write for the paper?”
Darvi shook her head. “You’ve confused me with someone else. I’ve never written for the paper.”
The man, who was very well mannered—they all were—went back to his plate. Darvi did the same, but she could feel both Seth and Eliot’s eyes on her. Choosing to ignore them and wishing the children hadn’t gone to bed so early, Darvi finished her meal feeling very alone. It was a relief to see Cassy starting the dishes. Darvi left the table to offer her help.
“Why don’t I wash?” she suggested, knowing the dryer had to know where to put things away.
“All right. Did you have enough to eat?”
“Yes, thank you, it was delicious.” Darvi glanced at the half-dozen ranch hands still eating. “Did they come in for breakfast and lunch and I miss them?”
Cassy laughed. “No. My cook has been with me for years, but he’s getting on. He wanted to retire, so I made a deal with him. If he would do the breakfast and the noon meals in the bunkhouse or on the range, I’d do supper for everyone, including him. He didn’t even hesitate. He knew supper was the hardest meal of the day.”
Darvi nodded, knowing what she meant. The platters that held the meat and side dishes were huge, not to mention the dozens of plates, bowls, and cups, along with all the flat ware. Trying not to think of how her hands were going to feel when she was done, Darvi started in. She was impressed when she heard the men thanking Cassy on their way out, and even more so when both Seth and Eliot offered to help.
“I think for tonight we have it under control,” she said kindly, “but don’t forget us in the future.”
The brothers also thanked her and went on their way. Unknown to Darvi, Cassy did this on purpose. She wanted to talk to the newest houseguest alone.
“Are you all right?” she started by asking.
“Yes,” Darvi answered, but she didn’t elaborate.
Cassy tried not to rush her feelings, but she couldn’t help it. Only a few minutes had passed before she said, “I hope you know how much Seth wants this to work.”
“I probably don’t fully understand it, but then no one seems to understand my position either.”
“What makes you say that?”
Darvi turned to look at her.
“Was this originally your ranch or Eliot’s?”
“It was mine.”
“So you brought Eliot here and held him until he fell in love with you?”
Cassy had the good grace to drop her eyes in shame, but it didn’t last for long. The longing she was seeing in Seth’s eyes was killing her. The other men had all they could do not to gawk at Darvi tonight, even though some of them had steady girls, but their eyes weren’t filled with love the way Seth’s were. Cassy knew how little they could promise. Seth could hand Darvi the world on a platter, and probably would.
“I guess I wish you’d give him a chance. I know it’s just been a few days, but if you got to know him, you might feel differently.”
“I already know some things I wish I didn’t know.”
“Like what?”
“I have no desire to show disrespect to you or the people you love, Cassy, but I’m horrified by what Seth and Eliot do for a living, and I’m sure I don’t know the half of it.”
“Talk to Seth. Your affection might mean that much to him.”
“That’s just it, Cassy, if I bring this up to him, he’s going to think that if he changes, I’ll love him. That’s not going to happen.”
Cassy’s face clouded with anger. “What are the men like where you come from, Miss Wingate, that Seth Redding is not good enough?”
Darvi knew she should have held her tongue, but they had gone this far and she was going to finish it. She turned from the wash water and faced the other woman.
“Just a few months back I realized I was a sinner and needed to have a personal relationship with God. Because of God’s Son, I’m a different person. I didn’t have to do this; it was my free choice. But now that it’s done, I’m working to live my life in a way that’s pleasing to God, and one of those ways is not marrying a man who does not share my faith. The Bible is very specific about that.
“If Seth were to know Christ someday, that would be great, but he can’t do that just to win me. He’s got to do that for his own soul’s sake. It’s a matter between him and God. If I still sound to you as if I think I’m too good, I’m sorry, but God as my witness, my only desire is to do what I know to be right.”
Cassy was stunned. Of all the things she expected to hear, this was not it. She had not an argument left in her head. She was not a religious woman, but she had high respect for anyone who was. Cassy dried a pot and watched Darvi’s profile. She had to say something so Darvi would not think her upset. Absolutely nothing came to mind, but the dishes were almost done and she couldn’t let it end like this.
“Thank you for telling me, Darvi.”
Darvi turned in relief. She had remembered too late that this woman hadn’t even bothered to marry the man she loved. Darvi had been wishing the tongue right out of her mouth. Cassy’s words were an olive branch she was not going to turn down.
“I think we’re about set here, Cassy. Is there anything else I can do?”
“No, thank you, Darvi. I think you’ve earned the right to put your feet up for the evening.”
The women didn’t exchange any more words, but both left the wash area with the small comfort that the strange relationship they found themselves in was still intact.