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“He meets up with an old drunken Spanish side-kick who travels with him on the 30,000 mile journey. Along the way a beautiful and mysterious Irish woman escaping from a loveless marriage joins their voyage.”
Anna’s eyes widened and she waited for him to continue.
“In order to get there, they must cross oceans, deserts and mountains,” he told her and Anna listened with intent. “They encounter many adventures along the way that challenge both their strength and their trust in each other.”
Unconsciously, she lifted her legs and tucked them beneath her buttocks as she leaned slightly toward him.
A small glimmer lit his eyes and he said, “Would you like me to read it out loud?”
She nodded, then sat back and listened as he read the words from the pages of the book. At first, the only thing she noticed was the wonderful way in which he spoke. The words flowed like warm liquid. They drifted toward her and engulfed her in a comforting embrace. She closed her eyes and allowed the soothing sound of his voice to lure her to a state of contentment. Then at last the story took form and a vivid image of the characters and their adventure came alive behind her closed lids.
He read to her for an hour, but it went far too fast to Anna’s disappointment.
“It’s almost time for you to begin supper,” he said, closing the book and putting it down.
Nodding, she got up to leave.
“If you like, I can continue tomorrow.”
Again she nodded, but this time a smile danced across her lips before turning toward the exit.
As promised, the following day he proceeded to read from the book and Anna sat in the large red chair next to his and allowed her imagination to grow and run away with the characters. It was a plot like non-other that her father had told and she listened with such excitement and intrigue. Wade’s deep voice had a soothing element that brought both contentment and pleasure to the story.
Day after day they would meet in the reading room for weeks following, sitting in front of the marble fireplace while a fire burned warmly within. Wade would open the book and read to Anna while the cold winter winds blew outside. On occasion, Prescott would join them, but he spent most of the winter taking the sleigh into Lantern to visit with Elizabeth.
When Wade finished the novel, he silently moved on to the next book and before long, the snow outside began to melt. Spring started to slowly creep back into the valley. The cold temperatures gradually climbed upward, and the snow and ice sitting on the buildings around the Circle H cracked and slid from the rooftops to form puddles around their base.
Life stirred once again at the ranch. Horses and cattle began to emerge from the barns to graze on the first sprouts of spring. Large chunks of ice and snow broke free from the river and melted downstream. Prescott decided to take advantage of the warm weather to travel west to New Westminster to visit with Kathleen for several weeks.
Even Wade and Anna had finally been able to slip out of the house to enjoy walks along the river and watch the arrival of spring. Then one morning Anna spotted Joe coming up the laneway on his horse. It seemed almost every day after that brought the return of yet another ranch hand, and Anna knew her days alone with Wade were coming to an end, and admittedly felt a bit of resentment. Her time with him had been special. Soon things would go back to the way they were before and Anna’s days of being a girl were fast coming to a close. That wasn’t more apparent than one spring morning while she was feeding the cattle. Joe approached her in the barn.
“Listen, kid,” he began. “Every year, me and some of the hands go into town after the cattle drive to compete in the annual festivities. They hold competitions for things like roping and steer wrestling.
“What we thought was,” he continued, “Since you being such a natural with Lucy and all, we reckon you would be best at bull riding.”
Anna froze in the process of filling a feeding container.
“Ain’t none of us able to stay on a bronco that long.” She was only slightly eased by his words of approval. “Hell, there’s a lot of money on that wager.”
Anna disliked the sounds of this more and more. Betting was a sin where she came from, and she liked the sounds of riding on the back of a bull much less. Her mind raced to come up with a way out of this, but Joe was already grinning at her and gave her slender arm a punch. “What do you say, kid?”
A memory shot to Anna’s mind of her brother and herself watching from a secluded distance, while the festivities held in Lantern every spring were well under way. She could remember thinking how much fun everyone was having and how desperately she wanted to be a part of it. She looked up at Joe and gave a small nod.
“Great.” He beamed widely and went to leave. “Oh, by the way. Don’t mention this to the Haddocks. They ain’t bettin’ men.”
She wasn’t sure if she felt relieved or anxious. Her first instinct was to stay clear of riding wild animals not meant to be ridden, her other yearned to be part of the spring festivities. She thought of Wade and was glad once again for her inability to speak. This was something she had to keep to herself because there was no way he would allow her to climb up on the back of a wild bull. Wager or no wager.
* * *
“Absolutely not.” Wade rested his hands on his denim pants and stared long and hard at his ranch foreman.
“Hell, why not.” Joe looked irritated and slightly puzzled at his boss.
“Because I don’t want him.” Wade would be damned if his lead hand thought he would explain.
Prescott, who stood nearby, cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I’m sure he’ll be fine, Wade.”
He shot an angry glance at his brother than at the bunk where the person of whom they were speaking sat silently watching. Her eyes were huge with distress as she looked up at him.
