melted stone. “I really, really want to go for a ride.”
Amelia threw up her hands. “All right, Joe. I won’t be forced to play the villain. You can take him. But don’t be gone too long. We mustn’t miss his naptime.”
“Come on, son.” Joe carried the boy out to his horse, boosted him onto the saddle behind the horn and, freeing the reins, mounted up behind him. Nudging the gentle gelding to a walk, he headed down the drive to the gate and onto the road.
“Can we go to your house, Daddy?” Mason loved being at Joe’s house, with its large, mostly empty rooms to explore and its wide porch where he could run and play with stick horses fashioned from cut willows.
“Not today,” Joe said. “Your mother wants you back in time for your nap.”
“I don’t need naps. I’m a big boy.”
“Tell that to your mother.”
“Can we go get a peppermint stick?”
Joe hesitated. The general store in Blue Moon was farther than he’d planned to go. But why not? It took so little to make his son happy. And Amelia could wait. “Want to trot?” he asked. He felt the boy’s head nod.
Holding the small body securely with one hand, Joe kicked the horse to an easy trot. Bouncing in the saddle, Mason shrieked and giggled with delight.
They were within sight of the town when Joe looked ahead and saw a buggy with a two-horse team approaching them on the road. Slowing the horse to a walk once more, he moved far to the right, giving the rig plenty of room to pass.
As the buggy drew closer, Joe recognized it as the one belonging to the Calders. The driver was Rusty. Sitting next to him was a big, yellow dog. Two women sat in the back—Lorna and probably one of her friends. At least Benteen wasn’t with them to darken his mood.
Moving off the road, he stopped and waited. As a neighbor, it behooved him to at least be sociable and say hello.
Rusty had seen him. Joe expected him to slow down, but he kept going at the same pace. Now they were almost even. Rusty gave him a nod of greeting as the rig passed. Lorna did the same as Joe tipped his hat.
The woman with Lorna was wearing a straw bonnet. She kept her gaze downcast, her hands covering something in her lap—something Joe couldn’t see. At the last second, as the buggy was passing, she raised her head. He caught the flash of violet eyes in an unforgettable face. Then she was gone.
His racing pulse told him the truth. It was Sarah.
Looking back, he watched the buggy turn off the road toward the newly built school with its small, adjoining house. What was she doing here? None of what he’d just seen made any sense. Sarah had gone off to medical school. What was she doing in Blue Moon?
But this was no time to follow her and find out. He had Mason with him, and it was clear that the people in the buggy hadn’t wanted her to be recognized.
He was determined to find out more. Maybe his eyes had been playing tricks on him. But what if he’d really just seen Sarah? What if she was really here? What could he do about it?
There was only one answer to that question.
Nothing.
* * *
By the time the buggy stopped in front of the log schoolhouse, Sarah was trembling. Lorna reached over and clasped her hand. “It’s all right, Sarah,” she said. “I doubt if he even recognized you. See, he didn’t follow us. He’s gone now.”
Sarah shook her head. She’d done her best to prepare herself. But seeing Joe with his little boy had hit her like a bullet to the heart. “Maybe this was a mistake,” she said. “I should have known better than to come here.”
“Nonsense,” Lorna soothed. “Everything will work out fine. You’ll see. Right now we’re going to show you the school and your new little home. Then we’ll be driving you back to my place to have dinner and meet my husband. You can stay the night, and we’ll bring you back to get settled in the morning. Everything will look brighter then.”
Blake stirred and sat up, looking around at the grassy landscape and the two neat log buildings with a shed out back.
“Are we home now, Mama?” he asked.
Sarah forced herself to smile. “Yes, dear, I do believe we are.”