Lilac Year by Janet Spaeth

Author:Janet Spaeth
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

four

It was amazing how one day you could feel as if a dark cloud were looming over your head, and the next day it was all sunshine and daisies, Mariah thought as she sat in front of the little house.

She’d changed the curtains and re-covered a few pillows, and the house already felt warmer and more inviting.

It was a beautiful day, though, and it was not one to spend inside, no matter how lovely the curtains and pillows might be. Sunshine poured across the prairie, and insects buzzed and birds chirped, and from the farms in the area, cattle lowed and horses neighed and dogs barked.

The Dakota Territory had its charm, she had to give it that.

Would she find it as appealing, a quarrelsome little voice asked, if Ben weren’t part of it? What if she were here by herself? Would she like it then?

Ben. She was an honest woman, and she had to confess that he was extremely handsome. What she especially liked was his quick smile in response to something she said, and his ready laughter.

But men were everywhere. Attractive men. Men who could smile and who could laugh and who could charm the skin off a snake. Right?

Mariah let her head drop back so the sun’s warmth could wash over her face. It was so relaxing, she could almost fall asleep. So calm, so very calm, that she almost missed the response to her own query: Wrong question. The right question was: Ben? No more words than that. Just, Ben?

And the answer was Maybe.

She tried to imagine him charming the skin off a snake, but the sun was too comforting, and the air was so perfect, and she fell asleep.

The sound of a wagon approaching woke her up. It was Ben.

“Some of the men are gathering at the church to rehang a door. It won’t take long, but it’s that big door, and it’ll take three or four of us to do it. So I volunteered, and I thought maybe you’d want to come along. Do you want to visit Prospect for a bit?”

What a brilliant suggestion! This couldn’t have been better made for her.

“Sure,” she said, trying to suppress the smile that rose to her lips. “I need some thread anyway.”

If her good fortune held, she’d pick up some information along with her thread today. Meggin Sanders seemed like the kind of person who knew all sorts of interesting things. If anyone in Prospect knew about Joshua, it would probably be her.

Ben was oddly quiet on the ride in. Usually he kept a nice stream of conversation going, but today he seemed muted, almost reluctant to start any line of dialogue. Instead, he hummed under his breath. Hymns.

“You have a lovely voice, by the way,” she said to him. “I noticed that in church, too.”

“Thank you.” A quick smile flickered across his face—surely she hadn’t imagined that—before he returned to his personal hymn sing.

She saw, too, that he had his Bible with him. He caught her glance at it and said only, “I’m fulfilling a long-held promise to myself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.