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Her greatest regret—one that might haunt her the rest of her life—was that she had not felt it was safe enough for her to take the time to bury her parents. She would never forget the sight of them lying there, side by side, their hands clasped together lovingly. In that last moment of their lives, they had reached out for each other, proving just how much they had loved each other.
She knew how much her mother had loved her father. She had stood beside her husband through both good and bad times.
H
er mother had scolded her father time and again about his love of poker, and yet she had never threatened to leave him if he would not put that ugly pastime behind him.
He had always reminded his wife that his skill at gambling was the reason they lived in a fine home and had the best of food. It was the reason his wife had worn the most beautiful clothes and hats, outfits that would compete with those of the richest, best-dressed women in America.
Nicole knew that her mother had been vain, so vain that she had gone along with her husband and his way of making money.
Nicole would never allow herself to be vain. She didn’t want a huge home or a closet full of fancy clothes.
She…just…wanted a life.
She wanted to be a teacher. Even that now might be impossible, if Sam Partain had anything to say about it.
She tried to focus on other things besides the ache in her heart and the fear that plagued her like a toothache that would not go away.
The mountain pass was such a lovely, peaceful place, with water rushing down the mountainside in a waterfall. The sun cast its light into the waterfall, and she could see all the colors of the rainbow twinkling back at her.
But that, too, was a reminder of her mother, of how the diamonds she had worn around her neck and on her fingers always sparkled with the same rainbow colors when the light fell on them.
She just could not seem to get away from reminders of her mother. Even now, she smelled the wondrous scent of roses coming from a vine growing wild up the trunk of a tree. The pink flowers contrasted beautifully with the white bark of the birch tree.
Her mother had always carried the scent of roses with her, for once her husband had won a bottle of French perfume intended for the loser’s fiancée.
The frightening howl of a wolf jerked Nicole’s mind back to the present, reminding her that she was becoming lost in memories again. She needed to concentrate on her present predicament.
She must be more alert.
She was the only one who could look out for her future. She was alone now.
Totally alone.
She looked in the direction from where she had heard the mournful howling. A shudder went down her spine when she heard it again. This time it sounded like not only one wolf, but two. She could hear them calling from one bluff to another.
And then she had a thought that made her turn icy cold inside.
She remembered that Indians often mimicked animals and birds, using the sounds as signals to each other when they did not want anyone to know they were near.
Could the howls she had heard not been made by an animal at all, but an Indian? Were the Navaho Indians, who were known to live high on this mountain, spying her?
If she went farther, might they suddenly come down from their hideaway and keep her from going nearer their home? Might they kill her?
“I must stop,” she whispered, drawing her horse to a sudden halt.
Yes, she was now afraid to go farther, yet at the same time she could not retreat. She felt trapped, like moles back in St. Louis that had been trapped in their underground tunnels when her father put pitchforks down into the ground on both sides of where they were tunneling to impede their further progress.
Nicole had always turned her eyes away when her father had then dug up the blind, furry creatures. She had never known exactly how he had killed them.
Yes, she did feel as though she were in a trap. Would she always be afraid of who might be around the corner waiting for her?
She had gone to school to become a teacher. That was still her goal in life.
It might be the only way to keep her sanity after what she had experienced today.
In the distance, she saw a perfect place to stop. A bluff shadowed the land below it, and a slow, trickling stream was close by.
