When kindred spirits uni.., p.11
When Kindred Spirits Unite, page 11
Furrowing her brow, she straightened up and immediately started digging in to see what it could be.
Chapter 16
Theo had followed Nora for as long as he could.
The young woman had wound her way off the main road, disappearing into the trees. He had been able to follow her through the first couple of motions. It had confused him about what she could be doing because she seemed to have no particular path or direction that she was taking.
It was too late when he realized that she had known he was there.
Or, at least, Nora knew that someone was following her. Did she know it had been him? Theo couldn’t quite tell. All he knew was that he had been able to follow her trail for moments at a time before she was completely gone.
He had been taught to be a good hunter in the past. He had some ideas about the tricks that could be used by people to stay hidden. Anyone who spent time away from a city had to have some idea. But this? She had done this so smoothly that he didn’t know what was happening until it was too late.
Theo turned around in a circle, finding he was rather lost.
He shook his head and chuckled to himself. It was his own fault for letting this happen. Wiping his brow from sweat trickling down, he took a moment to figure out what to do now.
It seemed unlikely that he would be able to find her. He wasn’t that good of a hunter or tracker, and she clearly knew what she was doing. This would only be a losing battle for him, and he supposed he had other matters to attend to.
Both disappointed and impressed, Theo decided to head west. He moved a little south, believing that was where he had left the main road behind him. It took him a while to find something familiar. He hadn’t been in Minerston very long, and every angle out in this wilderness sent him into a brand-new world.
But he kept trying and eventually spotted the main road. Climbing back onto it, Theo nudged his horse toward home.
No longer needing to worry about where he was, his thoughts wandered back onto Nora. He wondered how she had learned to disappear like that. It was an art form as much as a skill. It had been very impressive, just like everything else about her.
She was beautiful and mysterious and different from anyone he had met before. He had a hundred questions about her. Grinning, Theo had a strong feeling that she wouldn’t care to answer any one of them. If he wanted to discover any of them, it would be up to him to find the answers in his own way and time.
That didn’t bother him.
Reaching his uncle’s ranch, Theo whistled to himself. He passed by the house and wondered what Lawrence was up to. Deciding he didn’t quite want to go back inside yet, he went into the fields.
It was time for food. He spotted several of the ranch hands over at the chuck wagon, eager to take a break and fill their stomachs. This reminded him how long it had been since he had last eaten. Coming closer, Theo climbed down and nodded to those that looked his way when he got in line to get his own meal.
A few of the men nodded his way in greeting, but for the most part, they continued on with their own conversations.
“Maybe next time you’ll watch your step when the horns are angry,” one of the men was saying to a ranch hand beside him. “You’re only going to get yourself in trouble when you’re in the way. The trick is to come up to them when they’re not in a bad mood or when they are hurt.”
Theo listened even with his thoughts still on Nora.
It wasn’t just animals that would react negatively in complicated or hard situations––that was simply nature. He considered this with the experiences of his own past where he had shied away from dangerous people or situations. Nora, then, would be the same. Had she had that on her mind when she was trying to avoid him?
While he told himself that no one wanted to be followed, he couldn’t help wondering if there was something more to it when it came to her.
Sure, she didn’t want to be followed. But could there have been more of a reason to the entire situation? Could she be hiding something? Herself, an object, a place? Where was she going that she didn’t want him following?
Questions flooded his mind as he went through the motions of standing in line, getting his food, and sitting in the grass to eat.
He asked himself those questions as well as wondering where she might have gone. The food grew cold on his plate while he thought. And then, all of a sudden, an idea came to mind.
Theo knew exactly where she had gone.
While they had gone off the path and moved about in several directions, she had continuously leaned right. The ranch was in that direction. And in addition to the ranch, so was that clearing with the remnants of the old house.
The realization struck him, wondering how he could have missed this for so long. He should have realized it before he had ever turned back toward the ranch.
Standing up, Theo knew this had to be right. He could feel it in his gut.
He hardly knew Nora. She was a mysterious woman. But their short conversations had given him a glimpse into the woman that she was, and this was all he needed in order to move forward.
With this, Theo hurried over to the wagon and put his plate down. Someone else would finish the beans since he hadn’t touched them. Food never went wasted out here. It also helped so that he didn’t have to take the time to wash his plate or anything. All he had to do was wipe his hands clean of this and then walk away.
He did just that.
No one cared about him leaving right then. Though he felt a few glances in his direction as he started back to his horse, no one spoke up to make a joke, say farewell, or anything of the like. It didn’t matter, he supposed. All the ranch hands knew each other and had been working together for the last couple of years. He was the new guy in town, someone they weren’t quite interested in.
Theo fixed the hat on his head before grabbing the reins. His horse pawed the ground for a second, not happy about having his meal cut short. But the animal didn’t stop him from mounting in the saddle. The horse huffed and then turned obediently when Theo nudged him with his heel to start moving.
“Don’t worry,” he said in a low voice so the other men wouldn’t hear them. “We’re off to greener pastures. Just be patient, boy.”
The two of them started off, going down the main path before diverting toward the trees. He didn’t want anyone trying to follow him either.
Did the men know about that house? Theo didn’t know about that. He considered asking the ranch hands that evening, but he didn’t commit to the idea. Instead, he focused on being able to move faster on his horse. They moved swiftly through the fields before reaching the trees.
She had to be at the house. He could feel in his heart that she had gone back there. It made him wonder about the story she had said, the one filled with holes, and why she was doing this now. The questions continued to pour over him, never leaving him alone.
Theo couldn’t explain why he couldn’t get Nora off his mind. Maybe because she was strange or fiery or something else. But the only way he could get himself an answer, he decided, was to find her.
Chapter 17
It took Nora some work to get the object out from under the debris.
She had to stick her arm through the rubble to pull back the floorboards to reach under them and grab it. Wood snagged a thread on her dress, and she scraped her wrist in the process. This took her longer than she liked, but she was determined.
When she grabbed it, her heart skipped a beat.
Nora hurriedly tugged the object out into the light to find a box with carvings and metallic framing on it. That had to have been what first caught her attention. Her heart skipped a beat as she looked it over curiously. The design was made of simple curves and was half the length of her forearm.
And it was rather heavy.
She frowned as she brushed her fingers across the wood. It had a small clasp to keep it shut. She was glad there was no lock. There was something familiar about this. Had she seen this before? Though she racked her mind for memories, nothing came to mind.
Just as she was about to open it, she glanced down at where the box had been found. Something else was down there.
A Bible. She reached down and grabbed it. This one was much easier for her to grab now that she had already broken through the floorboards to retrieve the box.
“I was just thinking about this,” she murmured to herself in wonder. Inspecting it carefully, she frowned. “I thought it was a lot bigger than this.”
Nora looked the book over curiously, seeing that the edges were falling apart. The book was old and had not been left in good care, out in the dirt like this. She slowly opened the first page and felt her stomach churn at the sight of her father’s handwriting.
How long had it been since she had seen that? She couldn’t recall and she wasn’t even sure when she might have even seen her father write in general. But that didn’t matter. Somehow, she knew. This was her father’s handwriting. He had written in this book over two years before they had died.
Her name was written there, along with her mother’s and her father’s. She brushed her fingers over the fading ink in amazement.
With her curiosity growing, Nora gently sorted through the pages.
The English words were a little hard, but she remembered reading this with her parents when she was young. The more she looked this over, the more she found that she remembered the language. Her eyes scanned the pages in fascination.
There had never been a Bible for her to read while living with the Comanche. Deciding right then and there, Nora told herself that she would work on her reading skills with this book. She would never lose this family heirloom again. She paused to hold it close to her chest, almost sensing that she could breathe easier now with this in her grasp.
Yet, she still had more to explore.
Inhaling deeply, Nora set the book to the side while she picked the box back up from her lap. She sensed something shift within it. What would it be?
She was done asking questions. After all these years, there had to be answers for her here. She gently opened the box up to find a stack of papers in the box. They were folded up but in better condition than the Bible.
Carefully tugging them out of the box, Nora shifted on her knees to get comfortable. She was going to be here longer than she thought she would be.
It was two folded pieces of paper along with three old photographs. Her fingers trembled at the sight of the latter. She hadn’t known that these even existed. When had they been taken? Like so much of her youth, she hardly recalled any of this ever taking place.
But Nora was eternally grateful for them now.
She sniffled, looking them over. The first photograph was of herself; she had seen her reflection in the rivers enough to know her big nose and ears. Her hair was tugged into tight curls that she could imagine her mother tugging at so they might stay in place. This was more of a feeling than a memory.
How old was she in this photograph? Seven or eight, perhaps.
The more she looked at it, however, she realized that she recognized the dress. That had been her favorite dress because it had ribbons on it. This was the dress that she had also been wearing when her family died, the day she had been found by the Comanche. There were only bits and pieces of the moments of that day in her mind. Most of it was just dreams, ideas that she wasn’t sure how to separate from reality.
Shaking her head, Nora turned to the second photograph. This was her cousin. It surprised her because she didn’t remember Leslie being so beautiful. But surely, she had to have been. She had a lovely strong chin in this picture and a small precious smile.
And then the third photograph was of her parents.
Nora spent the longest time looking at them. Her mother had long, light hair and her father had dark. It used to fall in his eyes all the time. Seeing a glimpse of laughter in their eyes, she wondered what they had been thinking when this photograph was taken.
Though she thought she had remembered their faces, that must have been a blur to her all this time. Now, she could see them clearly. She breathed slowly as she looked her mother and father over. They were so lovely. She liked how they were holding hands. Had she seen how perfect they appeared?
She mused on them until she remembered the folded papers.
Humming quietly, she opened one up to find an official-looking document. Though she didn’t know much about them, this one seemed fairly obvious.
“Deed of sale,” she mumbled, reading the title aloud.
Her eyes widened. Mouth dropping open, she could hardly believe she had found it.
This was it! She had been looking for this, for some sign about her family. Finding this document would piece together so much of the past to help her understand her parents. She wanted to know the truth and was ready to use this.
The land was still owned by her family. This was the proof.
As though to complement the deed, the following folded piece of paper happened to be a map. It was a clear drawing of the area and still appeared rather new after staying in that box for so long. She scanned it over quickly, seeing the clear lines across her family’s property. It was incredibly well-detailed. She could tell exactly where she was and where she had been.
Looking it over, Nora marveled over this. Then seeing her father’s signature in the bottom corner, a smile came to her face.
“I can’t believe this,” she marveled in the quiet.
This felt like a miracle, like a treasure, to Nora. She couldn’t stop looking at everything, letting the truth sink in. She couldn’t believe these things were now in her hands. The deed of trust for the property even had the original seal on it, proving that this was real and in her hands.
No one else could have these documents. Gently setting the photographs down, Nora marveled over this discovery. She had hoped to find something like this, but it had practically fallen into her hands. This was hers, it belonged to her, and no one else could have the paper.
Just like that, her breath left her lungs.
Nora thought of Lawrence Racer, the man who managed a ranch not one mile from this very spot. What claim did he have to this land? Whatever it was, there was no way that it could be a legal claim. She knew little of law and politics, but that much was clear to her.
Studying the deed, dread slunk over her shoulders. The old man was up to something, which meant Theo was a part of it.
Her heartbeat slowed as she began to consider her options. What was she to do now that she had this document? What did she want to do? Nora bit her lip and wished that she could remember more about what had happened to her family.
It didn’t take long before her knees began to grow tired of sitting like that. She winced when her feet started to fall asleep. She carefully collected everything under one arm to stand up.
Just as she got onto her feet, Nora heard a twig snap.
Immediately moving into action, she pulled the gun from her pocket and pointed in the direction to her right where the sound had come from. Her heart pounded loudly as her eyes followed.
“Hello, Nora,” Theo said with a half-hearted grin. His face was hidden partially in the shadows, but she saw the gun in his own hand well enough. It was pointed at her. She felt her stomach tighten as she wondered how long that had been onto her. “I don’t mind being rude, but I wanted to remind you that you’re trespassing.”
Chapter 18
It hadn’t been difficult for Theo to find Nora. The young woman was in the exact same spot where she had found her here before.
