When kindred spirits uni.., p.4
When Kindred Spirits Unite, page 4
“Not everyone enjoys being so close to town. Where have you settled then, young man? If temporarily.”
Theo cleared his throat. Then he answered, “I’m at the Racer ranch, actually. Taking over the role as the foreman. I arrived this week, and I’ll take it one day at a time. Do you know of it?”
Finishing with the coins, the clerk paused for a moment. He gave a loud gulp before suddenly shoving the money over. Then he pushed the small pile of goods over to Theo as well.
“There you are. Your goods and your money. I counted it. I did. You have no reason to ask for more,” Elder said hurriedly. There was a strange tension in his words, especially as he shifted uncomfortably and dropped his gaze to the floor. He looked anywhere but at Theo. It was as if the man had changed into someone else; the cheerful, friendly demeanor had given way to an anxious one.
Confused, Theo started to pick up his dimes and pennies. “I wasn’t going to. Is everything all right?”
Tugging at his neck collar, Elder darted around the counter to shoo him. “Fine, fine! But you must go. Your business is done here. Do you hear me? I gave you what you wanted. I haven’t done anything wrong. Now be on your way, young man. I don’t want any trouble here. I’m an honest man making an honest living.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Theo managed.
But he wasn’t given a chance to say anything more. The clerk hurried him out the door, hands waving and at his heels. He had his coins in one fist while holding his goods in the other. It was just food, nothing that could be a problem. Looking over his shoulder, he tried to understand what was going on.
What had he done wrong? Why was the man so upset with him? They’d been having a friendly conversation moments ago.
Once outside, he opened his mouth to speak up and ask what had happened. However, the opportunity never came. Elder hurried back into the shop and banged it shut behind him with an all too clear emphasis.
Theo pressed his lips together. He couldn’t help but be mildly annoyed about what had just occurred. His pride felt wounded and yet he didn’t know the reason behind this. Shifting his packages in his arms, he supposed the little he could do was go put his packages in his saddlebags.
He was distracted with his thoughts, hardly paying attention. Just as he shifted the weight of the food from one arm to the other, Theo stepped into the street.
When he did, he promptly bumped into something. Or rather, Theo realized too late, someone.
Chapter 5
There was something hauntingly familiar to Nora about the streets of Minerston.
She knew this was the place she had grown up. She recognized a few of the buildings that she passed. It felt as though they were watching her. She didn’t like that. Passing by the other people around her, Nora found it strange to be surrounded by so many white settlers.
But then she had glanced down at her skin to remember that she was one of them by birth. She was even dressed like one of them in a dress lined in frills and lace instead of fringe and beads. It was a thicker fabric that she didn’t particularly like, but the flowers on it were rather nice.
Though it was odd being on her own in this mostly strange town, Nora was beginning to enjoy the adventure.
She was smiling, up until she saw him.
It wasn’t like she had meant to stare at the man. She was usually much better about doing that around people. But the man had stepped out into the road, falling right into her line of vision. She saw him and thought of the sun; he was almost too much to look at. When she started looking, however, she couldn’t stop.
Her legs kept moving as they came closer together. And then suddenly, there was no space between them.
He was like a tree, tall and unmovable. There was no time for Nora to catch herself.
All she managed to keep from hitting her head on the dirty road was her elbow. Dust flew up around her. Coughing, she waved a hand in front of her face before looking around to see what had just happened to her.
The fall jarred her senses. All thoughts in her mind had stopped. One moment she was walking through the street, and in the next, she was falling backward. Feeling a flush creep up her cheeks, Nora forced herself to keep her gaze cast down. She couldn’t get herself to look up at the man now in case she did something even more embarrassing.
Nora could hardly believe what had just happened.
Had she been thinking at all?
Scolding herself, she tried to remember why she was in town in the first place. There was a reason why she was there.
But hearing movement before her, Nora couldn’t help but turn toward the sound.
Her mouth grew dry as she looked up at the figure standing in front of her. It felt as though her heart had stopped beating. He had to be a head taller than her short stature. Tall and thin, with broad shoulders. Light brown hair fell across his forehead, nearly hiding bright blue eyes that stared at her widely. There was a light scruff on his cheeks and around his mouth, emphasizing his strong cheekbones and jawline.
She blinked, realizing too late she had been staring at him.
It seemed he had been doing the same. What could that mean? She hardly knew. The man hesitated for a second before opening his mouth.
“Oh, I didn’t see you,” he said. There was a lilt to his words. A sweet lilting that made her think of the birds that used to sing back to people. Those were the birds that couldn’t be trusted.
After all, how could she trust anyone here?
The man talked again when she looked away. “I’m sorry about that. Here, let me help.”
But Nora turned from him, pulling herself together from the strange moment. She heard him adjust the items in his bag. From the corner of her eye, she saw him offer out his hand. But she didn’t know him, so she pushed it away. She could pick herself up and didn’t need someone else to help her.
Now her heart was beating too loud and too fast.
“I didn’t mean it,” he said to her. “Here, let me help you up.”
She was usually much more graceful than this. The only times she typically fell was when she was playing with the Comanche children. And she had especially never walked right into someone. Though she had been nervous about coming here, she hadn’t been worried about the people.
Huffing, she waved him off a second time before picking herself up. She was better than this, smarter than this. Why was she even thinking about people?
A rise of anger flooded through her. Not so much as at this stranger but at herself. She had something else to worry about, to concentrate on. Not only was a distraction going to slow her down, but it didn’t make any sense. All it did was confuse her. What was this man to her? He could only be in her way.
“Be careful around them. The color of your skin will protect you around them. But it has been years since you were one of them, and that puts you at risk. Watch yourself and do not trust anyone,” she recalled Topsannah warning her the night before.
Don’t trust anyone. No matter how beautiful they were, she couldn’t trust anyone.
Nora stood up and fixed her dress. It was covered in dirt now, and there was a tear on the hem. She pursed her lips in annoyance before straightening up.
“Miss, I’m sorry about knocking you down. I never meant to do that. Are you all right?” he added when she said nothing.
“I’m standing, am I not?” she asked. She swallowed hard and told herself to be calm. It was easier to be annoyed with someone than to enjoy being around someone. All she needed to do was convince herself that no one here mattered.
The man cleared his throat as she darted a glance up at him. “Well, yes. Yes, you are standing. I was trying to be helpful.”
“If that’s what you say. But if you want to be more helpful, then perhaps you should start by watching where you’re walking,” Nora pointed out to him while crossing her arms.
Talking to herself all these years had helped her to keep a hold on the English language. It used to be more habit than anything else. But now, she was glad to have done so. The children were always asking her about the strange language. And now that she was back in this town, she would need to be particular about the words she used.
“I will. I mean, I do. I don’t know why you’re…You’re all right, then?”
She had started to turn away, ready to leave him. She didn’t want people staring at her for falling, let alone talking to this stranger. And the blush on her cheeks had yet to fade, making her feel unreasonably warm. Not knowing how to handle this situation, she just wanted to fight her way through it.
But his words made Nora pause. He was defensive and then worried.
“Of course, I’m fine. Just because you knocked me down doesn’t mean that I’m not all right,” she said.
“Wait a minute.” He took a step forward. “I didn’t knock you down. I wouldn’t ever do anything like that, especially to a lady. I’m a polite sort of guy. You ran into me, remember?”
Narrowing her eyes, she tried to think of something to say. “I wouldn’t have run into you if you weren’t standing in the middle of the road. You must be crazy, that’s what you are. Just stay away from me.”
She walked away before the man could say anything more to her.
Holding her head up high, Nora marched past him and started up to the general store. She opened the door and made her way right over to the counter. Trying to block out thoughts about the handsome stranger from the street, she focused on following through with her plan.
It was simple enough. She had stayed up late last night while still with her adoptive family, thinking about what to do.
First, she needed information.
The dreams had made it clearer every time she thought of them. At eight years old that spring morning, she had left the house where her family had been. It couldn’t have taken her more than a couple of minutes to get to the chickens. Upon her return, everything had been on fire.
Her parents had been smart people. They would have left the house before the fire got that bad. The only way that they would have stayed inside was if they couldn’t get out. And that meant someone had prevented them from getting out.
It was all that made sense to her.
Part of her believed this with all her heart, while another part of her felt that it was too crazy to be real. After all, she didn’t have proof of anything. She had seen the fire, looked for her family, and then everything had gone dark. In her dreams, a face would come for her. She knew that didn’t make any sense. Maybe it was just her mind, especially because she could never remember any details.
Something had happened. Even if it was a freak accident, she needed to know the truth.
That meant she had to talk to people in town to gather information. On her morning ride into town, she had gone over the best sort of people to talk to and what to ask them.
The first piece of information she needed was where her house used to be. So much time had passed that she wasn’t certain any longer.
She spotted the store clerk up ahead, making her way over to him. She had been terribly nervous earlier upon walking through the streets. But ever since she had scolded the beautiful stranger, she felt a little braver.
“Welcome,” the man with silver hair told her. “Welcome to my store. The name is Hanson Elder. What can I do for you, miss?”
Nora nodded. “Yes, please. I haven’t come to buy anything, you see. I am looking for some information.”
Tilting his head at her, the man looked her over curiously. “Navajo?”
She stopped in her tracks. The flush started to return but for another reason. Looking down at her clothing, she wondered what had given her away. Her looks? Her words? She had tried so hard to appear like everyone else.
“The braid, Miss. Only the natives wear braids like yours. You are lucky that your hair is thick enough for that. Besides, there are a few of us here who are aware when they cross through the nearby territory. Now, what is it I can do for you?” he added.
She cleared her throat. Not knowing how to respond to the braid comment––though she “I am looking for a place. It is…a place that belonged to an old friend. They left a long time ago, you see. They left after a fire happened. I know it’s east or north. That’s all I have. Have you been here long? Do you know anything about that?”
The man, Elder, scratched his chin as he thought about her question. “Hm. I’m afraid that doesn’t ring a bell. A fire? It’s probably on account of me having only been here three years. People come and go here, you see. I feel I would have heard about that, though. Folks like to talk. But we don’t get a lot of fires here in general, you know.”
Her brow furrowed.
His response caught her off guard. No one had ever talked about it? Though it might have been some years ago, Nora wondered how this made sense. This was the right town. It was the right place, she knew this. How could he not know? She tried to leverage some more information. There had to be some other information that he could help her out with.
“But…there was a house. A cabin, it burned down,” Nora stammered as she worked through her thoughts. “It burned down twelve years ago. Someone must know about it. The family was gone, then. They were good people in town, Elder. People knew them.”
“Oh? Hmm. What was the family name?”
Trying to swallow quietly, she mumbled, “Henning.”
He nodded. “That does sound familiar. Henning. That sounds familiar, so I’m sure they’ve been mentioned. I would have recalled a fire, though. But I also suppose I’m getting older and I’m afraid that I don’t have all the answers. I’m sorry I can’t help you. You know where you should go? Mayor’s office.” Elder snapped his fingers. “It’s the next street over with the blue shutters. Ask about the old records.”
Appreciative of the help, Nora stayed for a few more minutes. The man was friendly and knew a lot of other information about the town. She just wished that he had the information that she was looking for. They talked for a while as she asked other questions about the town to learn what it was like.
After a short while, however, she started to feel that itch. She had to be on her way.
She left after promising to stop by again sometime.
Making her way outside, Nora paused to enjoy the sunlight on her face again. She smiled and then started walking. The street was a little more crowded as more people came out to start walking around and shopping. Everyone was eager to ignore her on her way past them.
All of them but him.
Turning her head, Nora felt those blue eyes on her. She found the man on his horse at the far end of the street. They’d only had a moment together, but she knew it was him without a doubt.
And he was looking right at her. Inhaling deeply, she wondered what was going through his mind.
The stranger sat there for a long moment. He then tipped his hat to her.
Her stomach churned. She hurriedly looked away and then started off, trying to block him from her mind.
The man might be handsome, but she knew all about pretty things. They all tended to be dangerous.
Chapter 6
“Whoa,” Theo heard Bowen say.
On his other side, Lyle gave a low whistle. “Look at that girl! She looks about ready to bite someone’s head off.”
“It sure looks like she’s looking our way. What’s her problem?”
“It looks more like she’s looking at Theodore here. Well? What did you do to instill such wrath in a pretty young lady? You’ve only just arrived,” Bowen added with a chortle.
