Flint Hills Bride

“Now, how would you know?”

Willa giggled. “Put it down. ‘Your strong arms could carry me away.’” She threw herself backward onto the bed.

“Where did you get this stuff?” Emily quickly scratched down what the little girl had said.

“I spent a week with Aunt Rose. She writes poetry out loud when she thinks she’s alone.”

“Writes it out loud, huh?”

“Yeah. Some of it’s real romantic.”

“And she’s married to Arlen.”

Both girls giggled at that.

Emily drew Willa’s attention back to the letter. “How do you want to end it?”

Willa thought for a moment. “How about, ‘Your only love, Willa.’”

“Great,” Emily said. When she was finished, she closed the ink bottle and wiped the pen.

“Aren’t you going to write one now?” Willa sounded disappointed.

“I don’t think so. How about I tell you a story, instead.”

“I wanted to know what you would write to a boyfriend.” She stuck her lower lip out and squinted her eyes.

Emily rose from the chair and put out the lamp. “How about we curl up in bed, and I’ll tell you what I would write.”

“Pretend like you’re writing to Jake,” Willa said, crawling under the quilt.

“Jake?”

“Yeah. Tell me what you would write about Jake.”

Emily climbed into bed beside Willa. She tried to go along with the child’s game, but the images of Jake that it conjured up made her somehow more lonely. She worked to turn the discussion to other things.

When she finally succeeded, the little girl fell asleep. Emily lay awake, unable to get the images out of her mind. Jake’s eyes, voice, lips, height and muscles had all been discussed. Though they had left out his gentleness, kindness, and sense of humor.

She groaned and rolled to her side. Typical, she thought. Now would be the perfect time for the little girl to chatter endlessly about nothing in particular. But now she was asleep.

The next day Emily noticed a repeat of what she came to think of as her predicament. Always when she sought solitude, Jake or Willa or even Trevor intruded. When she needed company to dispel her somber thoughts, everyone else was occupied. She began to wonder if she really knew which she wanted or if she simply longed for one whenever she had the other. The paradox, she decided, completely described the confused state of her mind.

And the silly letter sat on her desk. She kept forgetting to ask Willa what she wanted her to do with it. And she couldn’t quite bring herself to throw it away.

Jake leaned against the barn door, waiting for Emily to make her appearance. The past two days she had gone for a walk as soon as the sun was high in the sky, and he had joined her, though it was beginning to feel like torture. He had watched her grow more and more melancholy, pining for her love. Every time she got that faraway look in her eyes, he felt a pain acute enough that it nearly buckled his knees.

She left the shelter of the house, her cloak so securely wrapped around her she might have been hard for someone else to recognize. But he knew that step, that particular sway of her body as she closed the door, the tilt of her head, even under the hood, as she set off toward the path.

As she approached, he stepped from the shadow of the barn. “Good morning, Emily,” he said.

She stopped dead in her tracks. “I don’t want company this morning,” she said.

“How unusual,” he quipped. She never wanted his company. “Do we take the high road or the low road today?”

“Why don’t you go that way,” she said, motioning toward her left. “I’ll go this way. We can meet back here before dinner.”

He grinned at her, but it only made her grit her teeth. “Come on. I’m not that bad company, am I?”

She took a deep breath as if fighting her temper. “It’s not you, Jake. I simply want to be alone. Please respect that.”

There was a bite to her words that sobered him. “Emily, we walk together every morning. Why make a fuss about it?”

“Because I don’t want you along. I’ve never wanted you along.” The hood slipped from her head as she stomped a small foot on the hard-packed ground. “I don’t need another shadow!”

Jake stood stunned as she whirled past him. For a moment, he considered following her. Then he turned and walked slowly toward the barn. His pa would appreciate his help with the chores. And he would keep an eye out for Emily’s return.

Chapter Four (#ulink_44d7ad61-abdf-5d84-a430-511d81ca05bb)

Emily headed out for a walk for the second time without Jake. She felt guilty about screaming at him the day before, but it couldn’t be helped. There didn’t seem to be any other way for him to get the message, and she couldn’t let him continue to walk with her. What if Anson was waiting for her but unable to show himself because Jake was along?

She hadn’t seen Jake since the fight, and, though she couldn’t apologize without running the risk of him expecting to walk with her again, she found herself missing him. The thought made her smile. How could she miss someone so annoying?

She was caught up in thoughts of Jake and neared the bend in the path with some surprise that she had come so far. Perhaps when she got back she should seek Jake out, suggest something else for them to do during the afternoon.

A tall figure stepped from cover into the path in front of her. She took a startled step backward. For one instant she thought Jake had gone ahead of her to avoid any argument about coming along.

But the thought fled. “Anson?” He was thinner than she remembered him. And paler. She stood rooted to the spot staring at him.

“You’re surprised to see me,” he said, coming toward her, his blue-gray eyes hard. “Were you expecting someone else?”

“Of course not,” she said, recovering. “I just didn’t know if you would really come.”

His eyes softened, and he enfolded her in his arms. “Oh, sweet child. Did you think I would abandon you? After you sent such a loving letter, how could I? I came as soon as I could.”

His arms around her seemed familiar and strange at the same time. This was Anson, her baby’s father. Everything would be all right.

“Are we leaving together?” she asked. She found herself afraid of the answer, whichever it might be.

“Tonight,” he said, drawing her away. “Can you sneak back out here with some food? We can make our plans then.”

“I don’t know. I’ll try but—” She had almost said Jake! “They watch me pretty close.”

“All right,” he said, leading her to a rock where they could sit. “I’ll tell you the plan now, just in case. As soon as it’s dark, and everyone else is asleep, meet me here. You’ll need a horse, one bag of clothes, some food and some money.”

“One bag?” She had waited so long for this, but now that it was happening she felt a need to stall.

“One bag. We’re going to take the train back as far as Emporia. There we can change to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas. We might not have much time to change trains. At Junction City we’ll get on the Kansas Pacific, and it’ll take us all the way to Denver.”