Rebecca gasped. Why hadn’t she heard this? Of course, her head had been in the clouds all day as she constantly recalled every memory ever associated with Luke Parker.
Luke laughed and shook his head. “I swear, you people need to find something else to talk about besides me.”
“What did you tell him?” Rebecca asked as she held her breath. The thought of Luke being a deputy bothered her to her very core. He needed to stop all of this. Once again, she rethought her asking him to help. She should have realized the danger it would put him in. Now, being a deputy would add to that danger.
“Told him I wasn’t going to be here for long. Only enough time to find Tom’s killers and get you your ranch back.”
Her stomach dropped. First with the thought of him staying and getting killed and then with the thought of him leaving and once again disappearing from her life.
“I told you,” she said as she stopped and pulled him around to make sure he understood. “I don’t want you to get involved. It isn’t worth it.”
Luke shrugged his shoulders. Then once again started walking.
Rebecca grumbled under her breath. She had just been dismissed. Her concerns. Her wishes were of no matter to this man. What is more. He wouldn’t even discuss it.
An anger began to build inside of her. She would not be the cause of him getting hurt. Too many people had been lost. Not again.
Helen shot her a strange look then shook her head before indicating she should come along.
Rebecca hurried to join them. The three walked in an awkward silence, with Helen glancing at him, then at her. Rebecca knew the woman thought she was being foolish, but she couldn’t shake this feeling of doom. This gut-level certainty that Luke would be killed and she would be truly alone in this world.
What Helen didn’t realize was for the last eleven years, no matter what bad thing happened. Always, in the back of her mind was the idea of Luke. The boy who stood with her when her world crumbled. The boy who had given her an arrowhead and promised to come if she needed him.
Just having that knowledge had helped her through so many hard times. That someone was out there who cared. Someone she could rely on. It was the idea more than the reality that had soothed her. Now, the thought of losing him ate at her very soul. No, it wasn’t acceptable.
“This is me,” Helen said as she stopped at the stage station door and held up the wicker hamper. “Don’t wait up for me Rebecca. Chester will walk me back when he gets relieved.”
Luke tipped his hat and said, “Have a nice evening Ma’am.”
Helen blushed and said, “I hope to.”
After Helen had slipped into the stage station Rebecca turned back to Luke and once again felt those thousands of butterflies erupt in her stomach. She should be mad at him for ignoring her request that he not get involved. But it was impossible. The man made the world seem better. More alive. The air tasted of sweet cedar instead of dust. The soft rush of the breeze against her skin felt soft and soothing. But it was the smell of leather and wood smoke from the man next to her that made her insides melt.
She looked up into his eyes, he stared down into hers, and the world disappeared around them.
It was only the slamming of a door up the street that broke them from that silent moment.
“I should get you home,” he said and she could have sworn there was a hint of regret in his voice. Was it the idea of spending time with her? Or, was he regretting the fact that the evening would quickly be coming to an end? Please God, she silently prayed, make it the latter.
They fell into walking next to each other, Luke’s boots echoing off the boardwalk. Once again that silent awkwardness engulfed them. Why? She cursed to herself. Why couldn’t she be normal around this man? It hadn’t been like this on the long walks over the Oregon Trail.
“How is Hanna?” she asked, desperate to break the silence.
Luke smiled as he talked about his nieces and nephews and about the horse ranch on the eastern side of the cascades.
Her heart ached to think of him returning there soon. “And Jacob?” she asked, wanting to keep him talking. Anything to stop from returning to that awkward silence.
“It’s