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A deep scowl made his displeasure known. “Well, how do you expect those terms to get any better if you won’t even attend a simple Sunday morning service?”
“A bit of a conundrum, isn’t it?” Rena asked, and then took a step toward the loft ladder. “You’d best hurry along, or you’ll be late. Doesn’t the service start in about fifteen minutes?”
Theo expelled a long-suffering sigh that seemed to have started somewhere near his toes as he blew it out in a long, frustrated huff. “Are you sure nothing I can say will convince you to go with me?”
“Absolutely certain.”
He picked up his hat and set it on his head. “I’ll explain to Josh and Gabi about lunch and take them another time.”
“No. You will keep your promise to them. I’ll be just fine by myself, Theo. I promise. There are a few things I want to take care of today before I start work at the mine tomorrow. I have a feeling if they let me work there, I won’t have much free time on my hands.”
“Fine, but I expect to continue this conversation later.”
“You can expect all you like, but I’m done discussing it.” Rena climbed up the ladder and cringed when Theo marched out the door and slammed it hard enough the windows rattled. She hated to disappoint and anger him, but she refused to go to church. Not only did she feel as though God had abandoned her two years ago, but people would point and whisper and stare if she arrived for the service in her trousers, and she had no intention of wearing anything else. Back in Amarillo, she’d grown used to the looks cast her way, the whispers behind daintily gloved hands, the judgmental glowers, but she didn’t want any of that aimed at Theo, or Josh and Gabi, since she was certain they and Theo sat together at church.
She intended to make the most of her day, starting with the laundry. Recollections best left buried in the past rose to the surface, bobbing through her mind as she boiled water and washed her clothes as well as Theo’s, along with their bedding and the towels, leaving everything to dry on the lines strung outside.
With the chore completed, she returned inside and baked enough cookies, bread, and biscuits to see them through the week. She snagged two shortbread cookies, then went outside, where she spent half an hour shooting targets with her pistol and practicing a few tricks that made her wish she could ask Annie Oakley if she was doing them correctly. How dearly she wished she could have met Annie, just once, face to face. She imagined the woman would be as kind and gracious in person as she seemed in the stories Rena had read about her.
She brushed down Scout and gave him some extra attention, killed a chicken, and then prepared it to stew all afternoon. She planned to serve chicken and dumplings for dinner along with a canned peach pie—two of Theo’s favorite things—as a peace offering to her cousin.
After eating slices of leftover roasted beef with a piece of bread and a glass of cold milk for lunch, Rena assembled the pie and slid it into the oven, then used the leftover crust to make cookies that she topped with cinnamon and sugar. She wrote Laura a long letter, thanking her for the trunk and the pink pistol. She skipped all mention of romance and the ludicrous notion that simply holding the weapon could help her find true love. Such a thing didn’t exist anyway. If it had, she wouldn’t have been so utterly and devastatingly alone the last two years.
She inquired about Laura’s work and the town of Caldwell, as well as her cousin’s friend Tessa and if she was adjusting to married life. Aware Laura would be interested to know about the area from a woman’s perspective, as well as information about her brother, Rena wrote at length about Theo’s place, the beauty of Holiday, and meeting Gabi.
Rena tucked the letter in an envelope and addressed it, wishing she’d written it earlier so she could have taken it into town the last time she went, but at least it was ready to mail whenever she did make it into Holiday again. Depending on what happened at the mine tomorrow, she might have plenty of time on her hands, or she might be kept as busy as Theo.
Admiration filled her for her cousin and all the hard work he managed to complete at his place even with working so many hours at the mine. Theo was determined to make a success of the life he was building in Holiday. Rena thought he was well on the way there. He owned a quarter section of mountain land with a creek running through it. If money became sparse, he could always sell some of the trees to the lumber mill. She knew he planned to clear a few acres to plant crops next year. He’d already been talking about where he’d plant a garden once the danger of frost had passed, and he’d asked her opinion on what vegetables she thought would do well.
Rena intended to help him all she could. She wanted to see Theo’s dreams of a prosperous farm succeed. She glanced out the door she’d left open to welcome in the fresh spring air and took in the sight of the barn, the chicken coop, and the other outbuildings. The cabin, while small, was snug and comfortable. Theo had a good start on his future here. From conversations she’d had with the few people she’d met when she was in town, he was well-liked and respected.
Truthfully, the people she’d encountered when she’d gone into Holiday had only given her the curious glances they’d offer any stranger. No one pointed at her trousers or gave her disparaging looks. She’d even met the doctor’s wife and found her to be both kind and charming.
If the job at the mine fell through, perhaps she’d take Mrs. Holt up on her offer to come for a visit one afternoon. Rena grinned, picturing herself perched on a brocade chair cushion, sipping tea from a delicate china cup while brushing mule hair off her britches.
“I bet that would leave an impression on the ladies in town,” she muttered to herself, then set her hand to the task of ironing the clothes she brought in from the line.
When Theo returned right before supper time, she greeted him with a smile. He sniffed appreciatively of the air redolent with the aroma of the meal she’d prepared and nodded in gratitude.
Apparently, the afternoon apart had given them both time to cool their tempers.
The following morning, Rena quietly rode beside Theo as they approached a large mine. Daylight had yet to fill the sky, but dawn was fast approaching.
On the way up the mountain, Theo had described the operation in great detail, but Rena had been so nervous, she’d only listened to half of what he’d said.
Now, with the mine in sight, she wished she’d paid more attention.
“Come on, follow me,” Theo said, riding ahead to a large corral filled with horses. “We’ll leave Scout and Thomas here for the day.” He stepped off his horse, opened a gate, and led his horse inside. Rena rode Scout into the corral and swung off his back while Theo shut the gate. He removed Thomas’s bridle and saddle, leaving them on the top rail of the fence next to a few others.
Rena swung Scout’s saddle up next to Thomas’s, draped the bridle off the horn, then climbed over the fence and hurried to catch up to Theo, who appeared to be heading for a building with anOfficesign hanging out front.
Theo reached for the door, but before he turned the knob, the portal swung open, and a man with a weathered, tanned face looked from Theo to Rena. He stepped back and motioned them inside.
“Welcome to the Gilded Pine Mine. You must be the cousin Theo’s been telling me about.” He held his hand out toward her. “I’m Cade Andrews, owner of the mine.”
Rena took an instant liking to the mine owner. She’d expected him to be a stodgy type with a cigar clamped in his teeth and soft hands that looked like he’d never done a day of honest work.
Instead, Cade Andrews appeared to be in his mid-thirties. He wore the clothes of a miner, and his hands bore cuts on three knuckles. Soil was embedded beneath his fingernails. His face was handsome, in a craggy sort of way, but his eyes were kind and his smile genuine as he greeted her.
