Six

Honey rushed Stella back to the little bedroom where she’d put her down to sleep when she realized she would be spending the night, tending to Luke.

Her brother’s darkly muttered warning would keep Warren from following.

It was the only bit of security she had at that moment in a world that had flipped and spun out of control.

“Who was that man, Mama? Why were you yelling at him like that? Was he naughty?”

“I wasn’t yelling at him exactly,” she evaded, “and it’s nothing you need to worry about anyway. It’s time to head home.”

“Is Uncle Luke gonna be okay?”

“I think so, baby. Your uncle is far too stubborn to let anything lay him low for too long.”

Honey hustled her daughter through the motions of dressing her in her flannel underclothes, her dress, boots, and then her coat. A glance out the window suggested the snowfall had slowed to a few random flakes drifting here and there. She hoped they hadn’t gotten so much through the night that they wouldn’t be able to make the short trek home.

Once she had Stella bundled up, Honey grabbed the quilt from the bed to throw around her shoulders, not wanting to go back out to the front room to fetch her coat.

She needed time to think. Time would help her figure out this mess of thoughts and feelings flying through her. Time and distance from Warren’s penetrating gaze, which looked straight into her heart without showing her a glimmer of his own. She needed to get home to her cozy little cabin. There she could be reminded of the safe and comfortable life she had created for herself and her daughter, with their handful of chickens and the garden they planted every spring.

She’d thought she hated John Freeman for how he had essentially run her out of the town she’d grown up in, but knowing the way he had tried to manipulate her into accepting his courtship made her angrier than she had ever been in her life.

“Why are you so mad, Mama? Did that man do something bad?”

Honey swallowed back the threat of tears at her daughter’s innocent question.

“No, baby. He didn’t.”

Acknowledging that fact sent a crushing wave of regret through her.

Stepping through the back door at the end of the hall, just past Luke’s room, she hustled them both through the freshly fallen snowdrifts, some of which reached nearly to Honey’s thighs. A few times, she had to lift her daughter clear in order to get through.

Stella would have preferred to tromp through the snow on her own, pouncing and leaping over the drifts, her bright laughter echoing through their secret valley. But Honey rushed her along, glancing nervously over her shoulder every couple of minutes in fear that Warren would somehow get free of her brother to come after them.

Once they reached their cabin, Honey released a heavy sigh and set about starting a fire and settling in. She desperately needed a bath and a change of clothes. The dress she wore was probably ruined, but she had to at least try to wash the blood out. Ready-made dresses were nearly impossible to come by, and it took Honey an awful long time to sew her own, having never developed a talent for it like her mother’s.

Staying busy was all she had to keep her sane, especially when Stella started in again with questions about Warren. Had the girl noticed the resemblance between them?

Honey couldn’t think on that just yet.

She finally managed to get her daughter occupied with making some bread. Stella loved anything that could get her messy and provide a nice treat for later. Which left Honey to sift through the many and varied thoughts running through her head.

Her past was a lie. Warren’s betrayal, completely false. Her hatred, unfounded.

And perhaps the worst thing—the whole time, he had felt betrayed by her.

Her chest tightened up so much, she had to stop in the middle of scrubbing her dress to force some deep breaths into her aching lungs.

She was not going to start crying now.

She had cried a lake full of tears seven years ago, so much that by the time her mother died, she’d only had a few tears left to give. After that, she’d sworn she was done with grief. That was the day she decided to leave Montana and raise her child away from the judging eyes of the town where she’d spent her life and the constant demanding presence of John Freeman.

She would always be grateful that Luke insisted on coming with her. She may have found a way to survive without her brother’s support, but it would have been infinitely more difficult.

And she would find a way to survive this new twist on her past.

She had no idea what Warren might be thinking of all this. The temptation to hope was like a pounding drum in her chest. But the heartbreaking sadness had been with her for so long and had cut so deep. A renewal of their shared passion may have triggered that long-buried yearning once again, but it held no promises.

She had to think of Stella.

She needed time to reconcile what she had believed and what she now knew was the truth.

Luke would make sure Warren was taken back to town. Christmas was not far off, and Honey still had a lot to do in preparation. It was good to keep busy. It was necessary.

* * *

Warren was numb.

No, that wasn’t quite right. This wasn’t a total lack of feeling. This was the exact opposite.

The discovery of his daughter had blasted through him with such intensity that all he had left was scattered debris. His thoughts were obliterated, his past inconsequential, his self now completely unfamiliar.

He had a daughter. He and Honey, together.

No. Not together.

Anger filtered through his shock, but he didn’t want to waste time on thoughts of a past that couldn’t be altered. It was the future that concerned him now. And that thought was what finally motivated him to start pulling his shattered awareness back together.

By the time Warren realized Honey wouldn’t be returning, he already had a plan forming in his mind.

When Eli left the longhouse to return a short time later, declaring the pass clear enough to travel, Warren didn’t argue. He met Luke’s hard gaze and didn’t even insist on checking the status of his wound. If Luke could manage to be on his feet and hold a gun steady, he’d likely be fine. If any infection set in, they knew where to find him.

He did not resist when his two escorts tied the blindfold back over his eyes and loaded him up onto horseback for the trip back to Chester Springs.

It was a silent ride this time, and no words were spoken until they stopped just outside of town to remove his blindfold.

“Leave the horse at the livery,” Jackson instructed. “We’ll come back for it.”

Warren looked into the outlaw’s dark eyes. “What is her name?”

Jackson gave a short shake of his head and said nothing. Eli wouldn’t even meet his gaze. Their loyalty to Honey and her daughter was reassuring and irritating at the same time. He should be the one protecting them, not these outlaws.

Without another word, he nudged his horse into a lope.

He had a few things to work out in town before he could leave again. Chester Springs was likely going to need a new doctor, because Warren was not planning to stick around.