Once Upon a Mail Order Bride - Linda Broday Page 0,95
does to me too.” She rested her head on his chest and petted Squeakers. “It’s strange how fast life can turn on a person.”
“You stole my thought, love. Thank you for not being mad when I got back last night. I’m sorry I stormed out. You should’ve kicked me to Fort Worth and back. I deserve it.”
“You were hurting and had some thinking to do. I didn’t take that personally. And you did come back,” she pointed out.
“I hadn’t intended to. But I got to talking with George Finch, and I imagined you sitting here alone, waiting for me, possibly with Shiloh Duke, and I couldn’t dump all that in your lap. I had to make amends.”
“It’s exciting, isn’t it, the thought of clearing your name?”
“All I can think about. I figure we’ll go into town right after breakfast and find Jack. But I have to warn you, there’s a complication.”
“What kind?”
“I shot and killed the Calder boy, for one.” He looked away. “There have been others since.”
“How many?”
Her whispered question floated on the breeze, and for a moment he wasn’t sure that it hadn’t been inside his head. Her expectant look told him he hadn’t imagined it. “I’m not exactly sure. It never seemed like something I wanted to keep a tally of.”
“In self-defense, I’m sure. You’re not a cold-blooded killer.” Her words hung in the air. Finally, she asked, “Are you charged for their deaths?”
“Not that I’m aware of.” Ridge finished his coffee. An outlaw didn’t really know what all he was accused of most of the time. Lawmen liked to pin crimes on wanted men, even if they couldn’t possibly have committed them, just to clear the case and make themselves look better.
“Then they don’t count. Or at least that’s probably what Jack will tell you.”
“We’ll see.” Ridge stood and pulled her up. “We have to get this day started. Our guest will be up soon, and she looked half-starved.”
Addie squinted up at him, concern wrinkling her forehead. “I don’t think she’s eaten much in a quite a while, and when her sleeve fell away from her wrists last night, I noticed the marks of some of kind of restraint. I think her life has been a living hell for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if her whole body wasn’t a mass of bruises.”
“I saw them too, and you’re probably right.” A noise in the kitchen got them moving. He went to do the milking and left Addie to dress and get breakfast on.
Soon, they sat down to a hearty meal. Shiloh appeared more rested, the shadows under her eyes less dark, though she was dressed in the same thin cotton dress dotted with multiple old patches. She dug in to the meal without any urging. Addie must’ve cooked everything she had on hand, making their table the fullest he’d ever seen. Bodie was at an age to eat a man out of house and home, and between him and Shiloh, they had no leftovers.
Ridge got up for a refill from the coffeepot. “Miss Duke, you mentioned you’re passing through. Where are you headed?”
“Not sure. California, maybe. The West is large enough where a woman like me can get lost, and the nightmares won’t be as strong.” Shiloh glanced down at her plate, fighting back tears.
Bodie forked the last bite into his mouth. “The good thing about this big country is that you can be whatever you want to be. All you have to do is dream it, Miss Shiloh.”
The kid’s simple advice often startled Ridge, and this pronouncement certainly did.
“That’s true.” Ridge sat down to sip his coffee. “What would you be if you could be anything?”
Shiloh raised her battered face. “A singer. I’d like to sing, and folks say I have a beautiful voice.”
Addie smiled. “Then a larger town is where you need to go—Denver or San Francisco. And the next time someone asks you what you are, say that you’re a singer. Say it with fervor, and make them believe it. Pretty soon, you’ll start to believe it yourself.” Her gaze found Ridge’s. “I wanted to be the wife to a good man, and it happened because I believed it could.”
Bodie wiped his mouth and reached for a cup of coffee. “I wanted to be free, and now I am.”
Ridge had always thought that a person’s past was what determined their future, but he could see now that it didn’t have to be that way. Strong desire to change could override all