The Unexpected Wife(30)

“I see the comment marks she made in her cookbook and the batter stains on the zucchini bread page.”

His muscles were bunched so tight they looked ready to snap. “She wasn’t a natural cook. But she was trying to learn. She wanted to please me.”

Abby wanted to take his hand in hers as comfort, but didn’t dare, certain he’d recoil. “Is that why she followed you out here?”

He drew in a deep breath and expelled it. “It was my idea to move west.”

“Why?”

“The war devastated the south and for those who fought against the union   the bitterness was too great.”

“Did you meet her in Missouri?”

“Yes, Elise grew up in St. Louis. After the war I made my way west. I’d been a sharpshooter in the rebel army. After the war, I discovered that there was a market for men like me out west. For ten years, I made my money bounty hunting. Six years ago, I tracked down a bank robber and drug him back to St. Louis for trial. This fella was well known and when I dropped him at the jailhouse word spread fast and a crowd gathered. Elise was in the crowd.” He closed his eyes, as if summoning the moment. “She wore a blue bonnet that day. I knew the minute I saw her we’d marry one day.”

Abby felt a stab of jealousy. She’d never been swept off her feet. “And then you moved west.”

Her voice brought him back from the past. “I wanted a place of our own. After my years out west, St. Louis was too crowded for me. I’d been to Montana a couple of times and loved it. I figured it would be the perfect place for us to start our new life.”

“Did Elise like it?”

His expression reflected sadness. “We arrived in the spring. It was an unusually warm spring in ’74. The first few days were like a great adventure. We camped in a tent while I began to build our cabin. But as the days turned to weeks, her excitement soured. She never complained but I knew. And then late that summer she got pregnant with Quinn. She was sick a lot those first few months.” He shook his head. “I should have pulled us out then. But after Quinn’s birth we were in our cabin and her health rallied.”

“How did she die?”

“Pregnancy was hard on her. It took a lot out of her carrying Tommy. But again she rallied. I didn’t want any more children after Tommy was born, but Elise had other ideas. She wanted a girl. From the moment she got pregnant the third time it was a disaster. She was so sick that winter she couldn’t lift her head off the pillow. I sent for Frank and he came in the early spring. A week after Frank arrived, she went into labor. The baby was a girl, but too early, too small. Elise never recovered from the birthing. She died the next day.”

His story broke her heart. Unexpected death could rip lives apart. Her parents’ deaths had changed her forever. “Montana had nothing to do with her death.”

He shook his head. “She hated this place.”

“She couldn’t have hated it that much or there wouldn’t be so many personal touches around the cabin. A woman who hates a place doesn’t make curtains for it.”

He stabbed his fingers through his hair. “She missed the city.”

“Missing one place doesn’t mean you hate another.”

Lantern light shadowed the high slash of his cheekbones. He looked at her, his blue eyes almost black with anger born in sadness. “We’ve talked enough for one night.”

Abby knew she’d pushed him. Though there were a thousand other questions to ask, she knew they’d made a start tonight. And she understood she’d have more luck carving granite with a butter knife than getting him to say another word.

“It is getting late. And it’s been a long day,” she agreed.

Lifting her lantern, she moved past him to the barn door. He trailed silently behind her, closing the barn door after they stepped out into the cold night air.

“That lantern stays with the barn.” Without waiting for her response, he took the lantern from her. He blew out the flame and hung it from the peg by the door.

Without the small flickering flame, the night seemed to swallow them up. Clouds had drifted in front of the moon, and she could barely see a foot in front of her. “Then how do you propose we find our way back?”

“I know every root and gulch on my property.”

“I can’t say the same.”

Strong fingers captured her elbow. “Don’t worry, I’m right behind you.”

The warmth of his fingers against hers sent shock waves up her arm. Her mind drifted and for a moment she imagined those same hands caressing the underside of her jaw, unbuttoning her blouse, and touching her naked skin.