Two weeks later, Audrey was still scraping mud off the front stoop. The clean, fresh-smelling air stirred her senses. The sun was shining, and the ground had dried enough to hold funerals.
Wallace had been buried in a quiet family service. The Gray cousins, Copper, and Audrey had attended. Willow wasn’t strong enough to go outside, but she was resigned to the fact that she wouldn’t be going anywhere until she regained strength.
After week’s delay, the wagon train was preparing to leave. The ground was firming up and the creeks had gone down. The men from the train, plus men from town, were working together to mend the roads.
Dr. Smith drove up in his buggy and climbed down. “Morning, Audrey. Thought I’d drop by and check on Willow on my way out of town. How’s she doing this fine morning?”
“Still very weak, but gaining ground every day.”
“Good, good. You want to come up with me?”
“Of course. She’ll be happy to see you.” The long climb no longer daunted her. Most days she could make it all the way to the top of the stairs without stopping to find her breath.
Willow sat in a chair, drinking in the sunlight. Her features brightened when Audrey issued the doctor into the room. “Good morning, Doctor. What brings you out this early?”
“I just stopped by to check on you before I left town. Figure it will be a few days before I get back.”
“I’m doing well. I expect to be back to normal in another few days.”
He shook his head. “No, my dear, you won’t. You’ve been gravely ill, and you have months of recuperation ahead of you.”
Willow’s lips drew into a fine line, and Audrey knew that she wasn’t pleased. “I can’t accept that. I’ll bounce back. I’ll be getting married soon.”
“No one would be more pleased than me to see the bloom back in those cheeks, but as far as the job goes, you are not going to be able to teach the fall session, or for that matter, perhaps all year. And a wedding? Well, we’ll talk about that in due time. I know you don’t want to prolong love, but you must take care and not overdo. The sort of blow you suffered could still bring about serious ramifications.”
He fished around in his bag and brought out a bottle of tonic. “I want you to take this according to the directions, and send for me if your headache worsens.”
“I barely notice the headache now. I don’t have time to sit up here and be pampered. I have a wedding to plan.”
“In that case, you need to take very good care of yourself. It would be a shame to miss your own celebration.” He patted her shoulder. “I must be on my way. You take that tonic, now, and I’ll check on you when I get back.”
Audrey escorted him downstairs and out to the carriage. Poor man. He’d been busy day and night, caring for the sick. It would be good if he’d follow his own advice and take care of himself before he collapsed from the strain.
“Thank you for stopping by.”
“That’s my job, but you ladies make my job a pleasure. But”—he smiled—“a loaf of your fine pumpkin bread would surely hit the spot.”
“You’ll have two loaves the moment you get back.”
Smiling, he picked up the reins, and the buggy rolled off.
She returned upstairs to find Willow in tears. “Here now…what’s wrong? The doctor said you were going to be fine.”
“Oh, Audrey, he’s only pacifying me. I’m not getting my strength back. I’m weak as a newborn colt. It’s going to take me a long time to recover. I’ve tried to pretend otherwise, but I have to face the truth.”
“But you will get better eventually.” Audrey sat on the side of the bed and wiped her friend’s tears with a clean handkerchief. “You’ll fully recover in time.”
“I won’t be able to teach this year. I wouldn’t have the strength, and there’ve been no preparations made for the term. School should be in session now.” Willow met her eyes. “Would you consider taking the position for me?”
Remain in Thunder Ridge? Near Eli and Tate? Of course she would love nothing more, but she must be realistic. “The school board might not want me.”
“Of course they’ll want you. Why wouldn’t they? Blackberry Hill plans to ask you to teach when they reopen their school.”
“I have no objections, but it would be Thunder Ridge’s decision, and I’d have to discuss it with Blackberry Hill’s school board.” She could hardly teach in two places at one time, yet her heart was certainly here with Eli and Tate.
Willow took the hankie and wiped her eyes. “I’ll talk to Tucker. He’ll know what to do.”
Willow’s request stayed with Audrey throughout the morning. She wanted to remain here so badly. It would be the answer to her prayers. And while she couldn’t stay in the judge’s home after the wedding, the school board would help arrange room and board.
She found Copper packing in her room. With roads becoming more passable each day, her friend was able to move to Beeder’s Cove. Audrey stifled a pang of melancholy. It wasn’t fair. After all they had gone through, they were going to be separated anyway. What a pity they couldn’t all remain in Thunder Ridge. Couldn’t all marry cousins. Handsome, aggravating cousins.
Copper folded a cotton work dress and laid it in her satchel. “I’m thrilled about the new job, but I hate to leave you and Willow.”
“I hate to see you go, but we’ll manage. We can’t hope to stay together always.” No matter how badly she felt about the separation, she couldn’t stand in Copper’s way or dim her excitement about her new position.
“I know you’re right. After all, Willow moved away from Timber Creek and we all survived and remained close. I’m sure it will be fine, but it will be different. I suppose I just don’t want anything to change.” Copper slipped her Bible into the open case and swiped at moist eyes.
“Life is full of changes. We just have to adapt and go on.”
She sighed. “Caleb will be here soon. Do you mind carrying these cases downstairs? I don’t think I can handle them down the stairs just yet.”
“Of course,” Audrey replied.
After the luggage was placed downstairs beside the door they went to the stoop to await Caleb’s arrival. Twenty minutes later, he and Tucker drove up in a buggy just as Josh Redlin arrived on a flashy black stallion. The morning sun glinted on the wagon master’s auburn hair, and Audrey reflected that he certainly was a fine figure of a man. Too bad Copper couldn’t see his virtues.
He tipped his hat. “Miss Audrey, Tucker, Caleb.”
Audrey noticed he ignored Copper. A glance in her direction revealed she hadn’t missed the oversight. Red tinged her cheeks, and her eyes flashed intolerance.
“Where’s Eli this morning?” The question slipped before Audrey realized the implication. Heat colored her cheeks.
Redlin broke into a slow grin. Purely masculine. Purely ornery. “I believe he’s working up by the river this morning, ma’am.”
Audrey opened her mouth to deny that Eli’s whereabouts were of concern, to say that she was merely making conversation. But then she closed it. Her intentions were as clear as the nose on her face.
Redlin addressed Tucker. “I was wondering if you could give me a hand? We’ve got a couple of broken wagon tongues. Thought you’d have some lumber thick enough to make new ones.”
“I’m sure I have. Let’s go take a look.”
“Much obliged. We’re getting ready to pull out as soon as the wagons are in shape to travel. Should be around week’s end.”
Josh dismounted and led his horse, walking beside the mill owner as they made their way to the work site. Copper turned affronted eyes on Audrey. “That’s what I don’t like about that man. He is always so testy. Did you notice he didn’t even acknowledge my presence?”
Audrey grinned. Yes, “testiness” was certainly in the air, but it wasn’t brought on entirely by the wagon master.
Caleb glanced at the sky. “Looks like it’s clouding up again. Please Lord…no more rain.”
Copper straightened her hat. “I’m ready if you are.”
While he stowed her bags in the buggy, she turned to Audrey. “I’ve already said good-bye to Willow. Oh, Audrey, I’m going to miss you.”
Audrey stepped into her waiting embrace. “Come back soon.”
“Every weekend,” she vowed.
Audrey hugged her, fighting back tears, and then Caleb helped Copper into the wagon and drove away, leaving Audrey standing alone, waving. Maybe things were actually going to work out.
That afternoon Audrey moseyed past the Padget fortress. Redlin had moved the wagon train closer to load needed supplies. The train sat nearly at the foot of the banker’s house, a fact Cordelia would surely loathe.
Audrey stopped to say good-bye to so many she’d come to love. She worked her way through the crowd, greeting people, realizing when they left she’d likely never see them again.
Suddenly a scream rent the air, followed by an ear-piercing crack—breaking boards—nails being ripped free of lumber. A horrendous crash jarred the ground and then a low rumble. Audrey jerked around to locate the source. Bystanders fell silent. Then Frank Richardson, the assistant wagon master, pointed. “Look there! The house is gone.”
Audrey followed his astounded gaze, gasping in disbelief. Where the Padget mansion had once stood, a raw gash of mud and rocks now scarred the face of the hill. A tangle of boards and glass piled at the foot of the steep slope showed where the house had ended up. Apparently it had just slid downhill, the result of heavy rains.
Frank’s words released the onlookers, and the crowd sprang toward the site. Audrey ran with them, unable to believe her eyes. Cordelia? Junior? Horace? Were they all right? Surely they were in the house, true to their self-imposed exile, even though word had been sent that the crisis was over. When she reached the edge of the pile of rubble, men were already digging, pitching boards aside and searching for life.
The noise summoned the mill workers. Josh Redlin arrived and organized the men into groups, handing out orders. The women milled around, panic written on their faces. Audrey’s heart skipped when Tucker and Eli raced past, joining the rescue process.
Shattered glass glistened in deadly shards. Audrey spotted Caleb standing by Josh, waving his arm toward the far side of the rubble.
A shout went up from the group working in front of where a crowd had gathered. “Someone’s down here!”
“Alive?” Sadie asked. “Oh, I pray.”
When Audrey felt someone next to her she looked down to find Tate. He stared at the pile of rubble, expressionless.
She reached to protect his eyes from the sight. All the weeks of exile to protect themselves from the illness, and the Padgets had come to ruin.
“Where’s Junior?” the child asked.
Where was Junior? Audrey’s eyes skimmed the ridge. Had the youngest Padget miraculously found an escape before the house collapsed?
“I’m not sure, Tate. They’re searching…”
She placed her arm around the boy, trying to shore him up. The women stood to the side, holding collective breaths. Tucker held up his hand, and the men stopped working.
Eli dropped to his knees, bent to the ground to peer into the opening. “Over here!”
The men sprang into action, heaving boards aside, working quickly. After what seemed an eternity, Eli slid down into the hole, followed by Sully James.
Reverend Cordell hurriedly brought a strip of canvas and lowered it to the two men. The crowd waited. A red-haired man handed down ropes, and Audrey watched with bated breath as they slowly began to haul something to the surface. Gradually the makeshift sling came into view. Cordelia was yakking a mile a minute.
“Well I never…what happened? Someone will answer for this atrocity—get out of my face!” She held her hand over her nose when Sully pressed too close. “You could be sick!”
Reverend Cordell bent over her for a moment, and then straightened. “She’s okay.”
A mighty cheer went up. Audrey realized she had tears on her cheeks. Cordelia was a thoroughly disagreeable human, but no one—or not many—would have wished her ill.
Volunteers carried the woman to the closest house for shelter, and the search resumed for Horace and Junior.
An hour went by before they located Horace. Like Cordelia, he was vocal, but alive. Dr. Smith had arrived by now and was checking for injuries. They carried Horace to join his wife, and Eli approached Audrey. “We can’t find Junior.”
Audrey caught his hand. “He would have been home.”
Eli turned to stare at the pile of rubble. “God help him.”
“I know where he is.”
Eyes pivoted to stare at Tate.
“Where?” his pa asked.
With a humph, the child pushed past the onlookers.
“Tate!” Eli warned. “Don’t go near that house!”
“The house is gone, Eli,” Audrey murmured.
“Don’t go near that—Tate! You come back here!”
Tate marched on, his step determined. When he reached the incline, he began to climb.
Eli’s hands shot to his hips. “Where is that boy going?”
The root cellar. Of course. Willow grinned. Those two boys played in that cellar more often than Cordelia could imagine. Please God, let Junior have been, for once, in the wrong place at the right time.
Thunder sounded, and eyes shot to the sky. A dark bank hung in the west.
By now Tate had scaled the incline. He stood, dusted off his knees and hands, and marched to the site where the house had formerly sat. Eli was halfway up the incline when the boy moved a couple of boards and jerked open the cellar door.
Junior Padget scrambled out, bawling. “Ma! Ma! Where are you! I’ve been yellin’ and yellin’!”
Audrey hurried up the hill and took charge of the boy. She, along with Eli and Tate, led Junior down the incline, quietly calming him. The child’s voice could be heard for a mile. “My house slid down the hill! I’m going to tell Ma!”
When Audrey returned home she found Willow downstairs in the parlor. “How did you get down here?”
“I decided to try Copper’s trick. I scooted down the stairs. I couldn’t bear that bedroom one more moment. Where is everyone?”
“Wait until I tell you.” Audrey related the afternoon’s happenings. “You would have to be there to believe it.”
“The entire house slid downhill?”
“Just whooshed right on down. One minute it was sitting there, the next, whoosh.”
“And the Padgets aren’t seriously injured?”
“There doesn’t appear to be anything serious though the doctor is with them now. Junior seems to be no worse for the wear, and Cordelia and Horace are alive and in good voice.”
Footsteps sounded on the porch, and Audrey hurried to open the door. The three Gray cousins and Tate entered, followed by Dr. Smith. Audrey ushered them into the parlor, wondering about their grave expressions. Had the Padgets been more gravely injured than first thought?
“How badly are the Padgets hurt?” Willow asked.
Dr. Smith cleared his throat. “Cordelia has a broken arm and numerous bruises and scrapes. Horace has broken ribs and a mild concussion. Junior was playing in the cellar where it seems he spends most of his days playing with…er, Tate.”
“Tate,” Eli warned.
The boy scooted behind Audrey’s skirt.
The doctor continued. “The child was frightened, but not hurt. Of course, it could have been worse. If Tate hadn’t known about Junior’s habit of playing in the cellar—rather strange, I’d say, but with Cordelia’s propensity for fear, the poor child needed some outlet. Anyway”—the doctor reached to ruffle Tate’s hair—“Tate saved the day.”
Audrey shook her head. “Can’t you see the irony? Cordelia and Horace refused to shelter others, so utterly convinced that they could keep harm away from their doorstep, and now they’ve lost their home and are at the mercy of the very people they refused to help.”
Dr. Smith gave a weary smile. “It’s true that we usually reap what we sow. I do have a piece of bad news though.” He glanced at Tucker, and Audrey feared the main purpose of this visit was not to inform them of the Padgets’ problems, but something more dire. Her suspicions proved true when the doctor said, “Before I could leave town one of Sterling’s staff summoned me. Silas passed away a short time ago. Pneumonia fever. I did everything I could, but his age and the advanced state of the affliction were too much for him.”
Audrey glanced at Willow when Tucker moved to take her into his arms. Sadness collapsed the young woman’s features. “Silas? Gone? He was such a wonderful, generous man.”
Tucker held her as she broke into tears.
The doctor got to his feet. “Sorry to be the bearer of sad news. You’ve certainly had your share lately. I must be going now. I still have to get to Twin Roads before darkness falls.”
Eli walked him to the door, and Caleb said, “He’s worked day and night to help the sick. It’s a wonder he hasn’t come down with the sickness.”
Tucker put a handkerchief in Willow’s hand. “Sterling was a mighty good man. You could have done worse than marrying him.”
“But I love you.”
He smiled, pulling her back to his chest. “I said you could have done worse, I didn’t say you didn’t choose wisely.”
“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Only when it comes to you.”
Willow sat up straighter and touched the hankie to her nose. “I could never repay Silas for his goodness. He paid off the mortgage on this house.”
Tucker frowned. “I thought the judge owned the house. There shouldn’t have been a mortgage.”
“I thought the same, but not too long ago a man arrived to inform me the judge had taken out a large note using the home as security.”
Eli shook his head. “Padget would never give a large loan to a man the judge’s age.”
“Horace didn’t. Seems that Uncle Wallace arranged for the loan from a large Amarillo bank. I can only conclude that the bank officer knew and trusted the judge’s integrity and therefore granted the unusual five-year conditions. When a representative arrived to collect, I had no means to pay. Had it not been for Silas’s compassion, they would have foreclosed on the house.”
Tucker shook his head. “This happened recently?”
“The day you proposed to me.”
“Oh, is that the way it was? I thought you proposed to me,” he teased. “The day it finally started raining.”
She smiled. “Yes, the day Audrey and Copper came to town.”
And destroyed the water tower. No one said it, but Audrey was sure the thought had passed through the minds of everyone sitting there, including hers.
“The day it started raining,” Tucker said. “Where was I when this was going on?”
“At that particular hour? Ignoring me.”
He grinned and tweaked her nose. “I knew you were around.”
Audrey glanced at Eli. Did he have the same tendencies as Tucker? Pretend that she didn’t exist but deep down be acutely aware that she was “around”? Tucker stood up. “Well, Sterling’s generosity was well-known. Let’s hope Silas carried through with the offer.”
Willow glanced up. “Are you suggesting he didn’t pay off the mortgage?”
“I’m saying there’s a chance he didn’t have a time for business matters. The rain started, then the sickness. Then Silas fell ill.”
“Oh my goodness. I hadn’t thought about that.” Willow appeared to worry the idea over in her mind. Then she tilted her chin. “I refuse to consider the possibility. Silas was a man of his word. I’m certain he paid off that mortgage before the collector left town that morning. Everything is in order. I’m sure of it.”
Sighing, Audrey reached for her hand. “Come now. You’ve been sitting up far too long. You need to rest.”
Tucker bent and kissed his fiancée good-bye. “I’ll stop by later this evening.”
Moments later the door closed behind the men. Eli had not said good-bye.
“He did pay off that mortgage, didn’t he?” Willow asked as Audrey helped her to the staircase.
“Of course he did. Now stop worrying.”
Silas paid off the mortgage. To think otherwise would only be inviting more disaster, and the last thing they needed was more trouble.