Nan Ryan (42 page)

A broad smile on his dark face, his pulse hammering, Kurt eagerly kneed Raider forward to intercept the woman he loved.

They met in the dusty center of Main, and Kurt, laughing now, leaned down from the saddle and swept Helen up off the ground. The deed clutched tightly in her hand, she threw her arms around his neck as he set her across the saddle before him.

Stares and gasps from the startled spectators quickly changed to laughter, applause, and whistles.

Hearing the commotion, Niles Loveless came hurrying out of his office. He was just in time to see Kurt give Helen a kiss and wheel the big stallion around.

Bewildered, Niles shouted, “Hey, come back here this minute!” He stepped anxiously out into the street. “Where’s the deed to my property, Helen?” He started running, following the mounted pair. “Dammit, Northway, get off my thoroughbred stallion!”

Laughing, the lovers never looked back. They never heard him. Eyes only for the golden-haired beauty enclosed in his arms, Kurt couldn’t believe his good fortune. This remarkable woman was willing to sell her beloved farm for his sake. Helen was just as dazzled. This magnificent man was willing to give up his prized stallion for her.

Watching from the window of the county jail, Em and Coop laughed as well. It was an amusing, highly satisfying sight to see Niles Loveless, crimson-faced, puffing for breath, foolishly chasing down the street, shouting empty threats, cursing, making a spectacle of himself before the entire population of Spanish Fort.

Raider pranced grandly down Main as if aware that a happy drama was unfolding and he was an important part of it.

On the back of the proud stallion, Kurt and Helen were breathless from kissing. The kisses began as soon as Kurt turned Raider southward and continued until the last dwellings on the outskirts of town had been left far behind.

Helen finally tore her lips from Kurt’s, pulled back a little, and scolded, “Kurtis Northway! You were going to sell Raider to Niles Loveless! Dear Lord, what am I going to do with you?”

“Try marrying me,” was Kurt’s grinning reply.

“Yes!” Helen exclaimed. “Yes, of course! That’s exactly what I’ll try!”

“I love you, Helen Courtney.” Kurt said the words she wanted to hear. Said them in the naked light of day. “I love you, baby, and I just couldn’t allow you to sell your farm to Loveless.”

Helen kissed him again. “I love you too, my darling. My kind, caring, unselfish darling. Oh, Kurt, I love you more than you’ll ever know.” In a symbolic gesture, she grabbed a portion Raider’s long mane with one hand, held the yellowing deed up in the other, and said, “If we should live to be very old and during our years together you give me countless precious gifts, none will ever mean as much to me as the one you’ve given me today.”

“God, you’re so sweet and good,” said Kurt. “You deserve better, Helen.”

“There is none better than you!”

Kurt smiled, but his eyes turned wistful. “You’re wrong, sweetheart. I love you, you know that, and I want to marry you. I’m
going
to marry you. But love doesn’t change the fact that I have no prospects, no expectations, no resources, no money. Right now, I don’t know how I’m going to take care of you and Charlie.”

“I’ve an idea, but … I’m not sure … darling, you don’t mind staying down here?” Helen asked soberly. “You won’t be unhappy if you don’t go back to Maryland? Back home?” She looked directly into his forest-green eyes.

“Home is where you are,” Kurt said softly. “My home’s in Alabama.”

A smile as bright as the September sun lit Helen’s happy face as she said quickly, “I’ve been giving it some serious thought lately and I … you know those dense woods ringing the farm?” Kurt nodded. “All the land that Grandpa Burke meant to clear and plant in crops one day. It’s part of the farm. Six hundred acres of piney woods.”

“You own six hundred acres of timberland?” Kurt’s dark brows lifted.

“No. We own six hundred acres of timberland. You, me, and Charlie. Then there are Jolly’s timberlands too and … what would you think about starting a sawmill and going into the lumber business? You heard Jolly telling about our old family friend over in Bay Minette who owns a sawmill. He’s prospering and I’m sure we could do as well. Construction’s going on all over the South and the price of lumber is rising….”

Between kisses and laughter, the pair laid plans. They spoke of a bright and happy future. And touched briefly on the past, remembering those who were now dear, if fading, memories.

The love they had found together was not the first for either of them.

But it would be the last.

They were losing the sun by the time they turned into the tree-bordered lane of home, and Helen, cuddling close to Kurt, felt the faintest tinge of autumn chill in the air. She shivered deliciously.

Anytime now the leaves would start to fall and the days would begin to grow short. The sunny autumn afternoons would give way to crisp clear evenings. Soon the fireplace in the parlor would blaze brightly to warm the cold starry nights. And she and Kurt and Charlie and Jolly would sit around the cozy fire on long winter evenings, snug as bugs in a rug.

And then later, when all the lights were out and the old house was dark and silent, she and Kurt would snuggle warmly in their big four-poster bed. Husband and wife alone at last.

Charlie, with Dom following, ran out hollering when they reached the house. Jolly was right behind him. Both were full of questions which Helen and Kurt were all too glad to answer. They mentioned the idea of the lumber mill and Jolly was enthusiastic.

All talking at once, they moved around the house to the front gallery.

There a radiant Helen hugged Dom, Charlie, Jolly, and Kurt in turn and cautioned them all to stay outside on the porch until she called them in.

She pulled from Kurt’s arms and went inside, going directly to the dining room. Cheeks flushed with excitement, she hurried to the heavy rosewood sideboard. She began carefully unpacking her Grandmother Burke’s fine bone china and fragile crystal.

She shook her head in amazement and relief. Not one single piece had been shattered in the storm.

Covering the long dining table with an aging white lace-and-damask cloth, Helen hummed as she set the table for a very special evening meal. She placed a fragile china plate at the head of the table, tilted her head to one side, and studied its position. She reached down and moved the plate a half inch forward from the table’s edge, then laughed at herself. She’d seen her grandma do the same thing at least a thousand times.

Helen’s blue eyes suddenly filled with tears of happiness and she pressed a hand to her full heart.

Tonight, at last, that long-awaited homecoming.

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Copyright © 1994 by Nan Ryan

Cover design by Connie Gabbert

This edition published in 2012 by Open Road Integrated Media

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New York, NY 10014

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FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA