The Blacksmith's Beloved Belle by Beverly Bernard

Author:Beverly Bernard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sweet romance, historical romance western, gold rush, old west, short story romance novella, clean and wholesome
Publisher: Beverly Bernard
Published: 2015-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

Six

AFTER HOURS OF TOSSING and turning, Silas gave up on sleep. He brewed some coffee and dressed quickly, eager to get to work. He needed something to keep his mind off of the previous day’s events, and he had plenty to do at the blacksmith shop. When he left Rusty in the care of the liveryman and walked to his shop there were few people on the streets of Poppy Valley. He unlocked the heavy wooden door and propped it open to let in the breeze and then started a fire in the forge, adding coal until the fire was burning hot. It was only when he returned to the front of the shop to retrieve some iron rods that he saw an envelope on the floor.

It was made of delicate ivory parchment and had swirling feminine handwriting spelling out his name, Mr. Silas Hanson. The envelope bore no postmark, so it must have been slipped beneath the door the previous day. He slid a finger under the flap and opened it, revealing a folded sheet of stationery inside. His heart leapt when he read the letter.

Dear Mr. Hanson,

I have asked Rosalinda to help me write this letter to you, as I feel I must try to explain this afternoon’s events. First, I want to thank you for allowing me to ride Rusty. It has been a long time since I felt so free and happy, and I will always be grateful to you for that. I must confess, however, that I was not completely forthcoming when I told you about the accident that took my vision.

When I was a young girl I loved to spend time with my father’s horses. I was given a pony for my tenth birthday and while I loved her dearly, it was the larger, more powerful horses in my father’s stable that held my fascination. After my mother died following a long illness, I could not bear to spend time in the house. Instead I passed my days in the barn, helping out wherever I could. My father indulged me because he knew that I was grieving, but he made it clear that I was not to ride any of the horses.

As children sometimes do, I disobeyed. One afternoon when no one else was in the barn, I saddled a beautiful bay mare who was a favorite of mine. Riding her was like flying and I never wanted to stop, but something spooked her and she reared, throwing me from the saddle and into the pasture fence. I hit the back of my head on a post and lost consciousness. When I awoke, I was unable to see, and I have been blind since that day.

So, you see, Mr. Hanson, my father is not a bad man. He simply lost his temper when he saw me riding your horse because he still blames my accident on the horse I was riding that day, when it was my youthful carelessness that caused my injury. I

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