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“Oh. Had two females but they’re gone. I think the wolves got them or they’re running with them. Not even sure if that sort of thing happens, all I know is they’re gone.”
Selina looked over at Michael. He was certain she was remembering the wolf pup. Again, he wanted to ease her heartbreak by getting her a puppy, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen. Not today anyway. But he’d keep his ears open.
Selina went about heating water, cleaning, stitching and bandaging Jake’s wound. “Want me to fetch Doc on account of that concussion?” she asked when she was done.
“No. I’ll be fine. Had one before. He’ll just tell me to rest and to make sure someone wakes me up every so often.” Jake smiled, then grimaced.
“Well, who’s gonna wake you and take care of you?” Her concern didn’t slip past Michael. He saw it in her eyes.
“Could you stop by Tom’s on your way and see if he’ll let Dan come stay with me a couple of days?” he asked Michael.
“Sure. If we’re going to do that, though, we’d better leave now,” he added to Selina.
“I ain’t leavin’ here until I fix him some vittles first.”
Michael’s gaze flew to Jake. He waited for the smirk, but it never came. In fact, Jake’s face was blank from shock, no doubt.
“Thank you, Selina, for helping me.” He looked back at Michael. “That’s one fine woman you’ve got yourself there, buddy.”
He knew Jake meant it, too.
Through the green and gold clusters of tall, thin-bladed grass they headed for home. Mosquitoes buzzed and hovered around them, landing on their arms and faces. Selina kept swatting at them, trying to keep them away from her, but the little varmints were not to be stopped.
Their horses swished their tails hard and fast, shifted their pointy ears and shook their heads trying to rid themselves of the pests, too, but they wouldn’t leave. “This sure is interestin’ grass. Has to be almost three feet tall. Does it have a name?”
“It’s bunchgrass.”
The stuff grew in bunches, but Selina wasn’t sure if Michael was teasing her or not. Judging from the serious look on his face, she reckoned he wasn’t.
“Sorry about the puppy.”
“Wasn’t meant to be I reckon.”
“I’ll see if I can find you one somewhere else.”
“Okay.” Her legs dangled as she rocked with the rhythm of the horse. Macy’s tail brushed against her pant leg as she continued to swat at not only the mosquitoes but also a huge fly that kept hanging round. “When we get back home, do you need help gettin’ things ready for tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Earlier you said you had to get things ready for harvestin’ the wheat.”
“Yes, I do. But there isn’t anything you can do to help.”
“Oh. Well, I reckon I’ll rid the garden of weeds before I go see Rainee, then.”
“Do you go there often?”
“I do. I like Rainee. She’s good folk.”
“She sure is.”
“Rainee’s from the South, too, so how did she meet Haydon?”
“She placed an advertisement for a husband and Jesse answered it.”
“Jesse answered it? He’s been married to Hannah a long time. Why would he go and answer an ad for a wife?”
“For Haydon.”
“Huh? That don’t make a lick of sense.”
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, we got time before we get back to the ranch.” She watched his chest rise and fall.
“Rainee’s brother wanted to sell her to the neighbor man next door. A man who had murdered his wife.”
Selina gasped. “That’s horrible. Why?”
“He needed money. Anyway, Rainee found out and so she placed an ad and Jesse sent for her to be Haydon’s wife.”
“Haydon know about it?”
“No. Boy was he angry when he did find out. Haydon didn’t want anything to do with her, but then she rescued him and he fell in love with her. Now they’re happily married with another child on the way.”
Leave it to a man to give the short version. She wanted to hear more, but she’d ask Rainee sometime instead.
As they rode home in silence, one thing kept buzzing through Selina’s mind like the pesky mosquitoes around them. She knew for certain Michael really didn’t want anything to do with her, either, but he was stuck with her because they were married.
If only their situation would turn out as well as Rainee and Haydon’s. She doubted it ever would, though. And that ripped the heart right out of her. Each day she spent with him, she loved him more and more. In fact, she’d fallen in love with him round about the fourth or fifth letter he’d sent her, and even coming here hadn’t changed that.
