“Beautiful, is it not?” Daniel turned a broad grin in her direction, but the gesture only slightly abated her frustration. How was one person capable of asking so many questions? Since they had departed from Skaggs’s Station that morning, she had provided the names of more trees, plants, and birds than she could count. Though she was glad Daniel was interested in the land they would call home, she much preferred to enjoy the peace of nature silently. Maybe it had come from spending the past two years with her father, when the best course of action seemed to have been to always keep her mouth shut.
But her patience was wearing thinner the closer to home they grew. Home. After several days away, she longed for its familiarity and comfort. Perhaps her life would not feel quite so upside down once she settled back into her normal tasks and routines.
Suddenly, Daniel stopped and placed his hand on her arm. Exasperated, she turned once again. But her husband stood frozen, his gaze anchored on a spot several yards ahead of them. “Stay still,” he advised quietly, his tone serious.
Keturah’s brows lowered before she followed the direction of his gaze. Between two trees, a coyote stood,watching them warily. She could not help the chuckle that escaped her throat. Meanwhile, beside her, Scamper noticed as well and proceeded to yap incessantly.
“Keturah,” Daniel snapped in a quiet whisper. “This is not a time for laughter. We need to run or hide. To protect ourselves somehow. Scamper, hush, you will get us all killed.” He reached for the rifle tucked into the scabbard on the side of the saddle, but Keturah put a hand atop his to stay it.
“Nay.” She shook her head as she swallowed the giggles that rose from within. “That is only a coyote. He is more scared of ye than ye are of him. See?” She gestured up the hill where the canine was already padding away. Scamper grinned happily up at her as though he had been victorious at protecting them from some fearsome beast. Cinnamon simply stomped and snorted as though she were bored with the entire ordeal.
Daniel looked about at the three of them, then back to where the coyote had disappeared. His lips pressed together, and a wrinkle marred his brow. “You are sure it was not a wolf?”
Keturah chuckled again before she could stop herself. “Aye. I am sure.” As she turned to continue up the hill, her mouth still twisted in a suppressed grin. Her husband had much to learn about this land.
Before them lay a beautiful valley, marked by a large cabin, two expansive plots of turned soil, and what one could only assume had once been the barn. Daniel grimaced at the sight of its mangled remains, his heart aching for his wife as he considered the devastation that must have coursed through her upon finding her father within. Instinctively, he reached toward her. Much to his delight and surprise, she willingly took his hand.
“This is home,” she breathed, her voice swelling with pride.
“It will be my honor and privilege to make a home here with you,” Daniel reassured Keturah. While this remote life of toil and strife was much different from anything he had imagined growing up, he did indeed mean the words. After all those years of isolation and rejection, to have someone to care for and create a life alongside was a blessing. No matter how difficult that livelihood would be.
Together, he and Keturah made their way down the hillside. She spoke up once they had arrived before the cabin. “Let us unload Cinnamon. Then I will take her to the creek to water her an’ fetch some meat for supper from the springhouse.”
“You have a second house?” The words were out of Daniel’s mouth before he knew it, and he immediately regretted their release. When would he stop embarrassing himself by speaking without giving thought tohis words? For now, as Keturah peered at him over the horse’s back, he could see exactly how foolish she believed him to be. Heat burned him from the inside out.
“Nay. We do not. The springhouse is where we keep meat an’ vegetables to keep them cool, so they will last.”
Daniel frowned. “Oh.” Without any additional comments that could earn him further disapproval, he began to relieve Cinnamon of her many burdens. The mare flicked her tail impatiently while she waited, and another twinge of guilt shot through him. On the journey west, his mount had been more heavily laden that even those of families who should have had more belongings and supplies than he. And to make matters worse, most of the items were personal in nature, rather than those required to survive on the frontier.
As Keturah carried leather pouches and carpetbags alongside him, it started to sink in how frivolous many of the items would seem now—though the leather case filled with books would always be a treasured possession, one he hoped his wife would come to appreciate as well. She spoke not a word as they carried the items inside and gathered them in a pile in the middle of the spacious cabin. Keturah had spoken little on the trip home, and he was beginning to get the notion that she was simply a woman of few words.
When Cinnamon was fully unloaded, she turned and led the mare away. Scamper sat beside him, tongue hanging out as he grinned up at Daniel. The pupglanced between him and Keturah as if inquiring if they should follow her. Daniel looked from the dog to Keturah’s retreating back. Maybe the dog was right.
He needed to learn the lay of the land and how things were done so that he could be of assistance to his wife. So that he could ease the burden on the shoulders of the beautiful woman whose auburn locks captured the golden sunlight as she moved farther away. Before she reached the edge of the woods, he jogged after her. Scamper followed his example, dashing by him in a blur of brown and white to catch up with Keturah.
“Keturah,” Daniel called as he quickly covered the ground with his long stride. But at his and Scamper’s sudden appearance, Cinnamon twisted and backed away from Keturah, straining against the reins. His wife hissed as the leather slipped through her hands. The whites of his mare’s eyes showed as she took in the newcomers, her nostrils flaring.
“Whoa, mare.” Anger and impatience laced Keturah’s voice. “Whoa, mare.” Her words took on a gentler tone as she repeated them, taking slow, measured steps toward Cinnamon, her gaze averted and her hand outstretched. The horse let out several more audible puffs of air before she allowed Keturah within reach. His wife ran her hand up her soft, chestnut-colored nose to her forehead and slipped it under the animal’s forelock. Cinnamon lowered her head, pressing into her touch and licking her lips as she visibly relaxed. Finally, Keturah turned, her green gaze cutting into him.
“I am sorry. I did not mean to startle Cinnamon,” Daniel apologized.
“Well, ye need to be more careful next time,” Keturah snapped. “Horses can be easily spooked. An’ with ye runnin’ up behind her like that, she coulda kicked ye an’ killed ye.” The glare she sent him did not appear to hold an ounce of worry, though, only anger. But what should he expect? They barely knew one another, and likely, her primary concern was that she might lose the husband she had only just gained. One who was supposed to make her life easier, not almost get himself killed.
Daniel let out a sigh as he fell into step with their misfit family.
A short distance into the woods, they came upon a creek that cut through the valley, fed by a natural spring. There, Keturah handed him the reins. “Hold them here, where she is able to reach the water. But dinnae let her go if she spooks.” She shot another withering glance his way.
Daniel nodded and did as she instructed. As the mare lowered her head to the crystal-clear water, Keturah made her way over to what appeared to be another small cabin. He frowned as she disappeared inside. This was certainly not how he had anticipated their first afternoon at home proceeding. How was he supposed to win his wife’s favor when she continually had to correct him as one would a child? He had to find a way to do better.
When Keturah reemerged with her arms laden with meat and potatoes, he led the mare behind her back to the cabin.
“’Twill be best to put the mare in the corral outside the barn until we can rebuild.” Keturah nodded toward a fenced-in area next to the rubble. The structure seemed to have already been repaired, and inside stood a cow munching on grass. Pride swelled within his chest. His wife was quite resourceful and tenacious. Daniel loosed the mare inside the corral without mishap. Then he hooked the mare’s bridle over a fencepost and followed Keturah into the house.
When he entered, she was bent at the hearth, starting a fire. Once it began to crackle to life, she gave it a little coaxing, blowing upon the flame before she moved to the table to begin peeling and cutting the potatoes.
Daniel watched, feeling completely out of place. “How can I be of assistance?” He moved to stand beside the table near his wife.
Keturah stopped chopping and gestured toward the pile of items in the middle of the room with the knife in her hand. “If ye want to begin unpackin’, I can tell ye where yer things should go while I tend to the cookin’.”
