Carolyn Davidson - Texas Gold

“It’s a big place. Looks more like it belongs in Boston than out in the middle of nowhere,” Max said. “The man must be successful at ranching.”

“He’s a banker by trade,” Faith said. “Still owns a bank in a town south of here. He and Lin have quite a background.”

“I’m more interested in what you’ve been doing the past few years,” Max said. “I want to know how you ended up here.”

She thought for a moment, remembering the day she’d walked away from the big house in Boston. Actually, she’d only walked to the end of the front walk, then loaded her sparse amount of baggage into a passing conveyance for the trip to the train station. “I was interested in finding a place where I wouldn’t need a great deal of winter clothing,” she said. “And Texas was in the south, so I headed in this general direction.”

She smiled, recalling her naive mind-set. “I had no idea that winter in Texas could be brutal at times. Anyway, I traveled as far as I could afford to by train, and then walked as far as my legs would carry me,” she said simply. “I was told by a farmer’s wife closer to town of a cabin in the woods, and I decided it would serve the purpose.”

“A cabin? Was it weather-tight and furnished?” he asked, his frown dark with concern.

Faith pursed her lips, remembering. “A little of each. Barely leaked at all, and it had a bed of sorts and a small stove for heat. Thanks to the friendship of folks who lived here before Nicholas and Lin arrived on the scene, it became my home. When my cash supply reached rock bottom, I asked around and found folks who needed mending and sewing done. Even the sheriff sought me out, asking me to take care of his financial matters, writing letters for him and such.”

“I think he sought you out for another reason, too,” Max said in an undertone.

“Whatever you might think, Brace has been a good friend, and I’ve appreciated his help. Then one day, he came to pick up his mending and told me he’d heard of a horse for sale. The owner was moving on and needed money in a hurry and couldn’t take the horse. Brace paid him up-front and I earned it back.”

Max’s mouth thinned as if he held back words better left unsaid, and Faith shot him a dour look as she spooned his eggs onto his plate, reserving a helping for herself. She pulled the bread from the oven and joined him at the table.

“When the original owners sold this place a couple of years ago, it sat empty for a long time, and I was given permission to take anything I needed from it in order to improve the cabin. What I took were the books from the parlor.”

“Books? I don’t recall you being that much of a reader,” he said, buttering all four slices of toast, and then offering the plate to her. “What were they? Classics?”

“Actually,” she said, breaking apart a slice of toast, “a couple of them were textbooks on herbal healing, along with a medical book that had to do with anatomy and the setting of bones. I read everything I could that winter. It seemed like spring would never come.” Her voice sounded pensive, and she cleared her throat, unwilling to let Max think she was asking for his pity.

“You were lonely?” He was truly interested, she decided. Not feeling sorry for her, but wanting to know how she had survived.

“A little. But I learned so much. I fed the birds and the small animals that gathered in front of the cabin for handouts. I’d collected corn from the fields after the harvest was over, and gleaned wheat from the farm to the east, when the threshers were through. It gave me something to feed the wild things, and they were company for me.”

She looked up into his gaze, aware that he’d watched her closely. “You’ll think I’m foolish to be so bound up in the little things of life, Max, but I learned a lot about myself that first year or two. I found I could plant a garden and harvest it, and live from the land if I had to. A neighbor gave me a setting hen and a dozen eggs and I began my flock. Within a year I had a lean-to built to hold my hens and nests for their eggs.”

“You built a lean-to?” he asked. “By yourself?”

“Brace helped,” she said. “I found a barn that had fallen to bits on a deserted farm the other side of town, and dragged home enough wood to nail together. All it cost me was the price of the nails, and Brace lent me a hammer until I could buy one of my own.”

Max looked stricken. “I had no idea. I wanted to follow you when you left, Faith, but…”

She hesitated, then spoke the thought that had been itching to be expressed since his arrival. “Why didn’t you? I suppose I wondered why you let me go so easily, Max. And when you made no apparent attempt to find me, I decided you’d figured you were well rid of me.”

“Not true,” he said harshly. “Things happened after you left. My brother had an accident the next day and was laid up with severe injuries for several months. I was torn between abandoning the family business or setting out on your trail.”

“And the business won, hands down.”

“We employ a great number of people, and Howard’s wife was distraught. We thought at first he wouldn’t live, and my time was divided between the hospital and the business for longer than I like to remember. I couldn’t just walk away from all that, no matter how much I wanted to chase after you.”

She shrugged. “I suppose you’re right. I doubt you’d have found me, anyway.”

His mouth set in a grim line as he eyed her narrowly. “Trust me, I’d have found you. As it was, by the time I set detectives on your trail, it was stone cold, and I had to offer rewards all across the country before I heard word of a woman of your description here in Benning.”

Her brow lifted. “You paid a reward for me?”

“Just for the information that led me here,” he said.

“And how did you manage to get away from your work once you located me?”

“Howard owed me. I’d covered for him for almost a year, and I told him he could handle my end for however long it took to find you and bring you home.”

“You really expect me to come back with you?” Her voice rose as she spoke the query. “After all I’ve said, you still think—”

He lifted a hand to halt her words. “I warned you I was going to try my best to win you back, Faith. I haven’t given up. I keep thinking of you out here in a cabin while I sat in Boston in a warm house, with food enough for a small army in the pantry, while you scrabbled for your very existence.”

“I never starved,” she told him. “And eventually, I earned enough money to get along well.”

“And then Garvey let you move in here.”

“Yes,” she said. “And after I helped deliver his son, he told me I had a home here as long as I wanted it. And when they moved back to Collins Creek for a short while, they left the wagon and team with me.”

Max ate silently for a few moments, digesting more than the food. And then he laughed softly, as if mocking himself. “And here I thought I was riding to your rescue, sweetheart. Like a champion coming to carry you off.”

“I don’t need rescuing, Max. I’m very comfortable, and satisfied with my lot in life.” She cleaned the last of the eggs from her plate and rose to head for the pantry. “Would you like some jam on your toast?”

“Please. That sounds good.” He watched as she opened the jar, and stuck a spoon into its contents. “Did you make that?”

“Of course. If you expect sweets on your bread, you start by combing the woods for berries. These are from a patch not too far from the house.”

“You’re a woman of many talents,” he murmured, spooning jam onto his remaining piece of toast. None of which he’d been aware of, he reminded himself. He’d thought Faith to be a lovely addition to his home, a luxury he’d paid well to acquire. Her presence in an adjoining bedroom had guaranteed him satisfaction when the need arose, and he’d considered himself a good husband.