Lone Pine Bride (The Brides of Lone Pine #1)(6)

The driver alighted, opened the door and the tension was almost unbearable. She was coming. She had arrived. In a minute he would see her and she would see him. Brown eyes, she had told him, dark hair. She was about five feet three and slim. He watched eagerly and the first lady alighted.

Fair hair which showed under her hat, a wide hat with feathers on it at the side. The lady looked a bit older than the nineteen Rachel said she was so it couldn’t be her and, anyway, her hair colour was wrong. The next lady was dark haired though more a brown than very dark and she was fairly tall.

A third lady got out and she had pretty auburn coloured hair with a small blue hat on top. The men walked forward, eager to meet their brides though maybe a bit nervous as well.

The other ladies were alighting from the opposite side of the coach and Seth couldn’t see them. He would have to walk round. He started to do so and felt a slight tremor beneath him. It was almost imperceptible but it was definitely there. He paused to look ahead and behind. Maybe a heavy wagon was approaching though that didn’t usually have the same effect as this. It could be another stagecoach if this one had not been big enough.

But nothing was coming so maybe it was his imagination. He took another step and suddenly the earth started to shake. Not gently but with an intensity and accompanying roar he had never experienced or heard before. The sound was deafening and the feeling it gave terrifying. A few feet to the side the earth started to rise, like a wave, he thought, which sent the carriage forward and caused the horses to whinny in terror.

Earth was solid. Everyone knew that. It didn’t move. Except in earthquakes and that was what this was. An earthquake. A terrifying, explosive, all too real earthquake. Instinctively he ran for the horses which had reared up and were whinnying even louder. He untied them, somehow feeling, although he knew nothing about earthquakes, that their best chance was to be able to get away. The ladies ran a few feet at the rising of the earth and the gentlemen grabbed one each.

Five ladies but there should be seven and which one was his? It had to be the dark haired one who, although nice looking, was certainly not beautiful. He went to walk towards her and there was a scream of terror from down the road.

He watched in horror as a child went up with another humping of the ground. Not a small hump but a high one and how did earth do that? She teetered on the top and he raced forward, desperate to reach her before she fell. At the same time a dark haired young lady from the other side of the stagecoach tore forward and reached her first. As she did so her hat flew from her head but she didn’t seem to notice it.

It was amazing how much a mind could assimilate in a few split seconds, Seth felt, because his attention was totally focussed on the child but he could see the woman and note almost every detail at the same time. Dark hair, huge hazel eyes, smooth skin, strong bone structure. She was slim, she was obviously agile, she was outstandingly beautiful. She was at least five feet nine inches tall.

But, although the information embedded itself in his mind, his main concern was for the child. A little girl who was obviously terrified, which he was too. The lady grabbed her, the ground descended and then it rose again.

“Take her,” she called down and he caught the little girl who had now begun to cry and who held onto him with a vice like grip when she reached him. Only about three years old, he estimated, and he could not recall seeing her before. Which he should have done, he knew, because there were only around thirty five houses in the little community. Were thirty five. Two of the houses which he could see were toppling and there could be people in them though many could be out at this time of morning, either shopping or doing some kind of work or other, which would include coming to welcome the new arrivals from New York and Boston.

The lady teetered at the edge of the huge mound which had been formed by the earth rising and he put out his hand to try to help her. But he couldn’t let the child go and the lady sprawled as the earth began to straighten once again. Picking herself up she dusted down her dress and one of the women from the carriage ran forward to take the child.

He recalled now that John Preston was engaged to a lady with a child. Lucy, the mother, and Chloe, the child. John ran after Lucy and put his arm protectively round her. Seth looked around and was relieved that most of the houses were made of wood. The two adobe ones which had collapsed already had some men near them who were calling down. Two families walked towards them, the owners of the houses and it was a great relief that nobody was trapped.

“Adobe,” the lady said, beginning to run towards Seth’s carriage.

“Pardon?” He raced after her.

“Adobe. The Lone Pine houses and the Middle Pine houses are made of adobe. I noticed it when we stopped in Lone Pine and when we drove through Middle Pine, also the houses between each place. The only ones with much sense seem to be the people here, I’m relieved to see, as this is where I’ll be staying.”

He looked at her a bit foolishly. What had adobe got to do with anything? She leapt onto the front of his carriage and shook the reins. He tore after her and jumped up beside her.

“What about adobe?” he asked.

“Adobe is not earthquake resistant. We need to go and check. Whose carriage is this?”

“I hired it,” he said.

“That’s alright then.”

“Look out!” He grabbed one of the reins at a boulder which had fallen into the middle of the road. Apart from anything else, this carriage was not his and he couldn’t afford any damage repairs. She pushed his hand away and leaned forward to shake the reins again.