Time To Plant by Kelly Eileen Hake

Author:Kelly Eileen Hake
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2013-04-18T04:00:00+00:00

Eleven

“Dinna be daft, man!” Arthur rolled his eyes.

“I’m not.” Dustin tugged his hat brim lower on his forehead.

“You most certainly are, makin’ a mountain outta a gopher hole,” Arthur scoffed. “There are gopher holes anywhere.”

“Think, Arthur!” Dustin had to talk some sense into the burly blacksmith. “It’s the least of the perils here.”

“Aye, so I canna fathom why you’re bent sideways o’er it.”

“They’ve scarcely been here for three days, and already Kaitlin is injured. The babe would easily have been harmed, as well.”

“Anything that pains my wife pains my heart.” Arthur’s brow furrowed. “I’m that sorry her ankle hurts her, but such a thing isna so dire as to take her from my side.”

Dustin jumped on his words. “The next thing could be. So many things could cost a life.”

“I dinna mean her passin’ on,” Arthur growled. “I referred to your cockamamie plan of sendin’ them away. I lived without my wife for a year, and I wouldn’t bear her absence again after so short a reprieve.”

“Isn’t it worth missing them if it keeps them safe?” Dustin kept pressing. Next it could be worse. Next time it could be Delana.

“Nay, you’ve the wrong of it. ’Twas na right to leave my wife ’tall, but ’twas necessary. I missed the birth of my child.” Arthur crossed massive arms over his barrel of a chest. “I’ll not miss Rosalind’s early smiles, nor any of the sweet firsts that lie ahead. She’ll be crawling, then toddlin’ and talkin’ to her da in the blink of an eye. I would share those joyous moments with my bonnie Kaitlin.”

“But they’d be more secure back in Baltimore.”

“How so? They’ve no home, no business, and no men save Cade, who’s now a grandda, and Isaac, who’s barely more than a whelp.” Arthur gestured to the freight wagons and buckboards to illustrate his next point. “They sold everythin’ and spent that money on passage here and supplies to carry us through. Where would you have them go, alone and without means?”

“I. . .” Dustin pondered the situation. Delana, Isaac, and Mrs. Albright have funds—although it would be like them to pay for the Bannings and Arthur’s wife to come. Their home is gone—she gave up everything to come here. How can I turn her away after she’s journeyed so far to reach my side? The war rages on, with more battlefields and horrors each day. At least here, she is away from all that.

The thought of Delana coming into contact with jaded soldiers made his blood run cold. Which is safer—a civilized place in the midst of a savage war, or a wilderness isolated from human ugliness but full of other dangers?

Faced with the weight of his lack of options, Dustin heaved a sigh and did the only thing he could. “We’d better eat some dinner and get back to building the cabin.”

“Aye.” A grin broke out across Arthur’s face. “We do what we can and rely on God to o’ersee the rest.”

“It’s harder than it sounds,” Dustin grumbled as they walked toward Gilda’s pot.

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