Unending Devotion (Michigan Brides #1)(80)

“She and Daisy are being well taken care of. They have everything they need and want.” It had been only ten hours and thirty-five minutes since he’d left Lily, but it felt like ten years.

He pictured her again standing before him in the parlor. She’d been so beautiful and so passionate and so bent on saving the world, as always. And he adored her for who she was.

Leaving her and riding away from his parents’ home had wrenched his heart in two pieces. And he felt like he’d left the bigger half with her and now carried only a sliver of what remained in his chest.

He tried not to think about the finality in Lily’s voice when she’d walked away. But the fact was, he couldn’t just leave everything—his job, his family’s business, and all that he’d worked so hard to accomplish. She had to know that he couldn’t walk away. And he couldn’t ask her to join him in Harrison or any of the lumber towns—not now. Maybe not ever.

His shoulders slumped and defeat mocked him again as it had the entire ride back. They were just too different.

“You sure she’s someplace where Carr can’t get her?” Oren’s voice was gentler.

“It’s not the moon. But hopefully Carr will stay away.”

Oren didn’t say anything for a long moment.

The barrel trembled. But Connell wasn’t afraid of the old man. He could only imagine Oren’s worry over the past days and didn’t blame him for needing someone upon whom to take out his frustration.

“If anything happens to her, I’ll hunt you down like a buck, shoot you, and skin you.”

“You don’t have to worry,” Connell said, turning to face the old man and pushing aside the rifle.

Oren’s shoulders were stooped more than usual, if that were possible. And under his bushy gray eyebrows, his eyes were bloodshot, as if he hadn’t slept in the two days Lily had been gone.

“If anything happens to her,” Connell said, “I’ll come straight to you and let you shoot me.”

Oren’s sad eyes locked with his and seemed to peer deep into Connell’s soul.

He wanted to tell Oren he cared about Lily just as much as he did. But the words stuck in his throat. He hoped Oren could see the truth. Even if he and Lily could never be together, he’d still do everything he could for her. He didn’t want anything to happen to her either.

“Ah,” Oren finally muttered. With a shaking hand, he reached for the edge of the table and slowly lowered himself onto the nearest bench.

Vera bent over and picked up her wooden spoon. She stuck it in her apron pocket and then patted Connell’s arm. “Give me a minute, and I’ll rustle up some dinner.”

“What happened to Stuart?”

She shook her head, clucked her tongue, and then started toward the kitchen.

Fresh dread battered Connell’s gut. “He isn’t—”

“Of course he’s not dead.” Vera disappeared into the other room. “Not with me doctoring him.”

Connell wasn’t sure whether he should feel relief or worry. “How bad is he hurt?” He trailed after Vera.

She lifted a long iron fork from a hook on the grease-splattered wall near the stove. “He’s plenty bruised up and has a few broken bones, but he’ll live.”

Anger once again sizzled through Connell like salt pork in a frypan.

Vera lifted the lid off a large pot on the back burner. The earthy odor of simmering beans made his stomach gurgle, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since the breakfast he’d shared with Mam early that morning.

“He won’t have the use of his arm for a while, and his ribs are cracked.” Vera stabbed the fork into the pot and emerged with a thick piece of pork dripping in bean juice. She flopped it onto the closest plate still covered with a film of dishpan water from the after-dinner dunking. Then she poked the fork into the pot again.

“Where is he?”

She nodded toward the closed door of her bedroom. “He’s asleep for the night. You can visit him tomorrow.”

“Think he’s safe here?”

“Not any safer than you’ll be.” She slapped another piece of pork onto the plate.

“What about you? Has Carr threatened you or Mr. Heller?”

“A couple of his men came in this morning and said that any man who stays at the Northern isn’t welcome at the Stockade anymore.”

“He has no right to intimidate your boarders like that.”

“Well, it worked. Now we’ve only got a handful of men left.” She reached into the bread box and pulled out a couple of slices of crumbly bread.

“I’m sorry for bringing all this trouble on you.”

She added a fistful of cookies to his plate and handed it to him. “I’m not sorry.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “I’m glad that we’re finally starting to do something to oppose that evil man.”

Were they really opposing him? Or were they merely stirring up a hornet’s nest?

Connell bit into the bread. It stuck at the back of his throat.

No matter what might happen, one thing was certain.

He was in the thick of the hornets now. And it was only a matter of time before he got stung.





Chapter

24



“How many boys are gone?” Connell asked his foreman, bracing himself for the bad news.