exclaimed, wiping her indigo-stained fingers on her apron. “But I’ll never get used to seeing a woman got up in a pair of breeches.”
I hopped down from the cart. “The bushwhackers were at Rattle and Snap this morning.”
Granny’s mouth dropped open. “Heavens. Was anyone hurt?”
“Just two of those brigands,” Alice chimed in.
Pride swelled in my breast. “Alice shot two of them. We’re sure one is dead.”
“And I bet that other one wishes he was. I got him in the spine,” Alice added with a triumphant smile.
“I take it they haven’t been here,” I said.
Granny shook her head. Her bright eyes grew dark. “But Tommy’s back home.”
Chills ran up and down my arms. Tommy had been in Cobb’s Legion with Dalton. He’d lost both legs and, through their family connections, obtained permission to be shipped home.
Granny’s gaze leveled on mine. She squeezed my shoulder. “He wants to talk to you.”
* * *
We rode home in silence. I hadn’t said a word to either Granny or Alice about my conversation with Tommy. In fact, I hadn’t even shed a tear.
Tommy had clutched my hand while he blubbered like a baby as he related the details of Dalton’s death to me. He’d apologized profusely for using Dalton’s corpse as a shield and thought the loss of his legs was somehow his payment for such a cowardly act. But I reassured Tommy that Dalton would have wanted it that way and that he ought not to regret surviving.
Even as I comforted Tommy, my own voice sounded strange to me. Foreign. As if this were happening to someone else. I realized I’d known the last time I laid eyes on Dalton as he rode down the drive at Rattle and Snap that I’d never see him again.
At the time, I’d been terrified. But now that my fears had come true, I felt strangely hollow inside. In a way, relieved. It was as I’d already grieved his loss.
Not knowing had been worse.
After losing Pa, Grayson, and Dalton and most of our servants, I realized I’d become hardened. And yet some deep part of me yearned—needed—to love and be loved.
Alice…
For the first time, I considered it as a real possibility. Alice and me.
Stunned at the news and my revelation about Alice, I’d bid Tommy farewell and then joined Alice, who still sat with Granny on the porch.
Sensing I’d learned something significant, Alice said nothing as we said our good-byes to Granny and piled into the cart. Instead, she wrapped Jeff Davis’s reins around one wrist and laced the fingers of her other hand with mine.
Once we’d unhitched the cart and released Jeff back to the herd, Alice announced it was time for me to learn to shoot a gun. Pa had been adamant that I not be taught to handle weaponry, but he hadn’t foreseen the threat of gangs and foreign invaders.
After this morning, I was more than willing to divert my maudlin thoughts.
We trekked to the back side of the property where Alice transformed our scarecrow into my first target. Once she had the scarecrow sufficiently attached to a tree, she wiped the perspiration from her brow with the back of her sleeve. “In the army, they told us not to bother aiming, but you can’t shoot at someone without at least pointing the gun at them.” She dusted the hay off her breeches and walked back to where I waited a few yards from the target.
Nerves knotted my stomach, and I couldn’t explain why. Neither of us had spoken about what happened with the bushwhackers, at Granny’s—or what happened between us the night before. Any tension mysteriously vanished the minute Alice chased away what was left of those marauders.
But now, it was different. At least for me. Dalton was dead. There no longer existed a barrier between Alice and me. That realization stunned me more than hearing the words from Tommy that Dalton had been killed. I’d already known he was dead in my heart. I’d grieved for him those first nights after he’d marched away when he was still alive.
“Firing a pistol is
I hopped down from the cart. “The bushwhackers were at Rattle and Snap this morning.”
Granny’s mouth dropped open. “Heavens. Was anyone hurt?”
“Just two of those brigands,” Alice chimed in.
Pride swelled in my breast. “Alice shot two of them. We’re sure one is dead.”
“And I bet that other one wishes he was. I got him in the spine,” Alice added with a triumphant smile.
“I take it they haven’t been here,” I said.
Granny shook her head. Her bright eyes grew dark. “But Tommy’s back home.”
Chills ran up and down my arms. Tommy had been in Cobb’s Legion with Dalton. He’d lost both legs and, through their family connections, obtained permission to be shipped home.
Granny’s gaze leveled on mine. She squeezed my shoulder. “He wants to talk to you.”
* * *
We rode home in silence. I hadn’t said a word to either Granny or Alice about my conversation with Tommy. In fact, I hadn’t even shed a tear.
Tommy had clutched my hand while he blubbered like a baby as he related the details of Dalton’s death to me. He’d apologized profusely for using Dalton’s corpse as a shield and thought the loss of his legs was somehow his payment for such a cowardly act. But I reassured Tommy that Dalton would have wanted it that way and that he ought not to regret surviving.
Even as I comforted Tommy, my own voice sounded strange to me. Foreign. As if this were happening to someone else. I realized I’d known the last time I laid eyes on Dalton as he rode down the drive at Rattle and Snap that I’d never see him again.
At the time, I’d been terrified. But now that my fears had come true, I felt strangely hollow inside. In a way, relieved. It was as I’d already grieved his loss.
Not knowing had been worse.
After losing Pa, Grayson, and Dalton and most of our servants, I realized I’d become hardened. And yet some deep part of me yearned—needed—to love and be loved.
Alice…
For the first time, I considered it as a real possibility. Alice and me.
Stunned at the news and my revelation about Alice, I’d bid Tommy farewell and then joined Alice, who still sat with Granny on the porch.
Sensing I’d learned something significant, Alice said nothing as we said our good-byes to Granny and piled into the cart. Instead, she wrapped Jeff Davis’s reins around one wrist and laced the fingers of her other hand with mine.
Once we’d unhitched the cart and released Jeff back to the herd, Alice announced it was time for me to learn to shoot a gun. Pa had been adamant that I not be taught to handle weaponry, but he hadn’t foreseen the threat of gangs and foreign invaders.
After this morning, I was more than willing to divert my maudlin thoughts.
We trekked to the back side of the property where Alice transformed our scarecrow into my first target. Once she had the scarecrow sufficiently attached to a tree, she wiped the perspiration from her brow with the back of her sleeve. “In the army, they told us not to bother aiming, but you can’t shoot at someone without at least pointing the gun at them.” She dusted the hay off her breeches and walked back to where I waited a few yards from the target.
Nerves knotted my stomach, and I couldn’t explain why. Neither of us had spoken about what happened with the bushwhackers, at Granny’s—or what happened between us the night before. Any tension mysteriously vanished the minute Alice chased away what was left of those marauders.
But now, it was different. At least for me. Dalton was dead. There no longer existed a barrier between Alice and me. That realization stunned me more than hearing the words from Tommy that Dalton had been killed. I’d already known he was dead in my heart. I’d grieved for him those first nights after he’d marched away when he was still alive.
“Firing a pistol is
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