“Then look at me and tell me.”
Surprised at the authority in his voice, she raised her head and found him grinning.
“That’s better. As beautiful as your hair is, I was beginning to get tired of staring at it. I prefer looking at your stunning face instead.”
Olivia reckoned that her heart might just jump out of her chest from the rapid way it was beating.
Adam sighed. “Could we please get past it and the awkwardness between us?”
She nodded, more than eager to get back their easy friendship again. She yearned to tell him that next time it was either he kissed her or didn’t bother at all. But she kept her peace. It would most likely bring more discomfort between them.
Trying to show him that she had forgiven him for what happened the previous night, she struggled to fill in the silence that had returned between them.
“Er… why did you decide to become a marshal?” she finally asked.
Adam grinned, looking even more handsome that sent her pulse racing all over again.
“I have always been fascinated by lawmen. When my parents were killed, I became determined to be one. I trained under Ruby Rock’s former sheriff before I was appointed the sheriff of another town. The mayor put in a good word for me and I was appointed a marshal.”
Olivia frowned a little. “If you don’t mind me asking, how did your parents die?”
He shrugged and said, “I don’t mind,” even though his lips tightened for an instant.
“My parents were preachers who lost their lives in a train raid. My father had accepted a clerical position in a town not far from Ruby Rock. We were traveling from Montana to Wyoming. My parents sought to preach to the outlaws, but they were shot for their troubles.”
Intense emotion wafted through her.
“I was fourteen and Stephen was sixteen. Cora and Boone were our neighbors in Montana, and they were also traveling in the same direction. As we became orphans on the train, Cora and Boone suggested we come with them to Ruby Rock to stay with their family. Not having a choice in the matter, we went with them and stayed in the house their family helped them to build. When Stephen set up his ranch, we moved out.”
Olivia’s lips parted a little. She had always thought that he lost his parents either to consumption or one ailment or the other. She had had no idea that they were brutally murdered.
Now she understood his passion and his belief in the law.
Thank you, Lord, for sending Cora and Boone to fill the void the death of their parents created.
She was happy that Adam had found a family in Cora and Boone just like she had found hers with White Bird and her family.
“How did you lose your parents?”
Adam’s question jolted her from her reverie.
Olive chewed on her bottom lip. “We were in bed one night when a fire started in my parents’ room. I tried to reach them, but they told me to run away from the house and never look back.
“I told them I was afraid and didn’t want to leave them. They told me to trust in God and remember everything they’d taught me. They told me they would always love me and be with me.
“I did as they said and ran into the surrounding bushes. I stayed there, afraid, shaking, and watched the whole house burn down into ashes. My parents never left the house. I wandered in the forest for days until the Indians found me.”
“I’m so sorry, Olivia.”
She shrugged even though her heart was breaking at remembering the terrible way her parents died.
“My joy and consolation are that they’re in heaven waiting for me to join them someday. Even as the house burned, I could hear them singing praises to God. That gave me the strength to move on.”
“Where did the Indians find you?”
Olivia wondered at the question but she answered it anyway. “They found me a short distance to where they finally settled.”
“Why were they moving?”
