Lone Pine Bride (The Brides of Lone Pine #1)(24)

“Put it on then,” Seth said, holding it out.

“No. You can do it.”

“Why don’t we do it together?” And that was nice too, Hannah thought, and something she had not considered. Seth put it over the horse, they buckled everything and Seth stood back.

“You’d probably lynch me if I offered to lift you up,” he said.

“You’d probably break your back if you did.”

He moved back to her, lifted her and bounced her a bit. “I’m strong,” he said, swinging her up on the saddle.

“You are and thank you.” She leaned forward to stroke the animal and handed him a carrot she had taken from the kitchen. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

“He is.”

“Are your horses beautiful?”

“Of course. They belong to me.”

And Seth was beautiful, Hannah thought as she made for the door of the barn. He was absolutely beautiful in every way. The horse trotted across to where Dr. Cranford sat on his horse waiting and they all made for the gate of the property.

“Were there many more injuries?” Hannah asked.

“Yes. Quite a lot but nobody else has died or is in danger of doing so, as far as I know.”

“You’ve been very busy. You must be tired.”

“I had a couple of hours sleep this morning. The Reverend and his wife have been doing a wonderful job with everyone.”

“They sound nice people.”

“They are.”

They cantered beside Dr. Cranford’s wagon but only for a mile before he told them he would be alright. There were no hidden dangers from now on, he said, and they needed to be getting home.

“Do you want to go to the rectory?” Seth asked Hannah as they watched the wagon continue along the road. He put up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to get rid of you.”

“I’d rather clean up first,” she replied. “Do you want to call in?”

“No. I’ll clean up too. We want to look our best, don’t we?”

“We do.”

“Then we’ll go and freshen up at my place. We’ll just drop off the horses and then we can walk.”

“Yes.”

But she ought to meet Seth first, she thought, except that she still felt she wasn’t psychologically prepared after the events of this and the previous day. She didn’t want the difficulty of meeting someone she didn’t know and forming a relationship with him. With this Seth she felt comfortable and all she wanted to do was relax. When they reached Sadie and Ronald’s house Ronald suggested he take them to the farm.

“No, we’ll walk.” Hannah virtually ran to the door, for some reason desperate to get out. She didn’t want to talk to anyone else or hear about Seth and the other brides and grooms. She certainly didn’t want to hear about Seth’s bride to be.

Seth strode after her. “We’ll see you later,” he said and ran after Hannah to catch her up.

“They had on wedding rings,” Laura said. “They must have married before they left town.”

“Yes,” Sadie replied and outside Seth and Hannah were virtually running towards the direction of his house.

“We need to be clean for them,” he said.

“Yes, we do. It’s not really dark, is it, because the moon is so bright?”

“It’s a beautiful moon.”

Seth grabbed Hannah as the ground started to shake. It had done it a few times while they rode to Lower Pine and back and was disconcerting for both of them. He held her tightly and she clung on a bit desperately.

An earthquake, a baby born. What would happen next? A marriage, of course, and they would have to return soon so they didn’t keep their fiancés waiting. Maybe the Reverend would come out to them and bring their future spouses because he would feel it was improper for Hannah and Seth to be together, even though they weren’t marrying each other. The earth shook again and Seth turned towards Hannah to surround her totally with his arms.

They were strong arms. They felt safe. They felt good. She must not even think that. She drew back abruptly and walked on. “Do aftershocks last for long?” she asked.

“Sometimes a few hours, I think. My mother has felt a few elsewhere though they weren’t aftershocks, I suppose. It was just the earth rumbling. I guess people get used to it but an earthquake like this one hasn’t happened here, as far as I know. Well, not in my lifetime, anyway.”

“I always thought the ground was solid,” Hannah said.

“It feels it but not now. There was an earthquake in San Francisco four years ago where about thirty people were killed but mostly there haven’t been any casualties in other earthquakes in this area.”

“Twenty seven people died,” she said, beginning to shiver. They had been so busy since the actual quake that she hadn’t had time to react, but suddenly the horror of it started to hit her. Twenty seven people and some of them were children. Twenty seven. The number hammered itself into her brain.

“You’re cold,” Seth said, moving closer to her.

She turned abruptly, put her arms round his waist and the tears started to pour down her face. “Twenty seven people died,” she said. “Twenty seven.”

He held her closely, his expression sad above her head. Twenty seven and he knew them, though not all of them well. “Yes,” he said.