“This is fine. Thanks for the warning.” Susanna rubbed the mare’s face. “I’m sure we’ll be good friends, won’t we, Daisy?”
Owen helped her mount, then jumped up on the tall bay next to Daisy. “This is Mannie. He’s my horse of choice when heading out for leisurely rides. He’s got a good temper with a hint of daring. I once jumped a high fence with him, and it was as if he were doing nothing more important than crossing a ditch. He’s quite the ride.”
“Is he yours?”
“He will be. I’ve been paying him off in installments. Lia’s father owns him and Daisy. He rents horses to the livery here in town.”
“How nice.” She got a feel for the saddle, finding it just a trifle big. It would suffice, however.
“Well, follow me,” Owen said, reining his horse away from the depot and Harvey House and toward the long, meandering river.
Susanna noticed the long mesa across the river. “Does that have a name?” She pointed.
“Mesa del Contadero is the official name, but most folks just call it Black Mesa. We can climb it sometime if you’re up for an adventure.”
“Sounds like fun, although I think I’d have to buy a different pair of boots.” She glanced at her riding boots. They were far too nice and the soles too slick for getting traction on a climb.
“The shoemaker’s widow has no proper boots,” he said, laughing.
“It would seem you know all about me.”
“I asked Lia a lot of questions.” His smile only widened. “I hope you don’t mind.”
“Not at all. So long as I get to do the same.”
He chuckled. “Con mi permiso, which is Spanish forwith my permission. Lia taught that to me first thing. She said it was a good thing to know.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They rode side by side in silence until San Marcial was well behind them. Susanna didn’t know when she’d last felt so carefree and happy. There was just a hint of breeze that made the sun not quite so unbearable, and she was glad to be rid of her family—at least for a little while. Their unhappiness and complaining threatened to put a stranglehold on her most days.
“Tell me about yourself,” Owen said, breaking the silence.
“I thought Lia already told you everything.”
He shook his head. “She’s only told me what you’ve let her know. I want to know it all. I want to know about your husband and your life in Topeka.”
Susanna was taken aback. “You want to know about Mark?”
“Of course. He was important to you, and I want to know about the things that were important to you.”
Susanna smiled and gave a little shrug. “What can I say? We were lifelong friends. I’d known him since grade school. We were in the same class, and it was like we were always meant to be friends.”
“What was he like?”
“Sensible but fun-loving. Kind and gentle, but assertive and self-confident. But it was his father who made the shoes, as Lia mentioned. Jenkins Shoes. You might have heard of them.”
“No, I don’t think so, but please go on.” He gave her a smile that caused her heart to skip a beat.
“Well, his father made these shoes that became quite soughtafter, and Mark knew when he was still a boy that he wanted to sell his father’s shoes.”
“He didn’t want to make them?”
“No. He never felt that was his talent. He was good, however, at everything involved in running a store and marketing the shoes. He worked day and night with his father to learn all that he could about the shoes and how they were made, but he never felt making them was his gift. And it wasn’t. Being in charge of the stores and working to distribute the shoes was definitely what he was good at. By the time he died, he had managed to get five different stores in five major cities in just a couple of years. The shoes were quite popular.”
“When did you marry?”
“When I was twenty. That was four years ago.”
