Page 20 of The Hardest Part

“You promise?” Glancing up at him, her blue eyes brimmed with tears.

“Cross my heart, Mary Alice.”

And Levi was a man of his word.

Looking around the desolate expanse of land surrounding them, he couldn’t say why his father traded the lives they had for a new one out west. Maybe they hadn’t been rich, but they were content. At least he’d thought so. Was it the lure of wide open spaces? Majestic mountains? Lush green landscapes?

Nothing but a dream.

Yeah, maybe so.

But at what cost? Would he have paid the price had he known? Their father. Their mother. Their brother. All of them gone, and for fucking what?

Didn’t matter now. It was Levi’s responsibility to care for his sisters and to make his father’s dream come true.

Parched, he raised his canteen, draining the last dregs of murky river water, the taste so vile he couldn’t force himself to swallow.

“Goodness’ sake, Levi, you look like you’re going to retch.” Victoria giggled as he spat onto the dirt. “Go down and fetch yourself some fresh water. The river runs clear here. There was hardly any silt in the pail.”

“Almost none at all.” Mary Alice nodded her agreement. “Didn’t have to waste any corn meal.”

Most days, water gathered from the river was poured through the meal to filter out as much of the muck as they could, then boiled and allowed to cool. Still, they drank a lot of dirt. Out here, it was simply a given.

His gaze returning to Lucy, Levi wiped off his mouth with the back of his hand.

“And give yourself a good washing while you’re at it,” Victoria said, giving him a cake of soap. “You stink.”

Noted.

“Stay right here, where Elijah can keep an eye on you. I won’t be long.”

With his hands in his pockets, Levi walked away from his sisters until the only sounds to be heard were the incessant winds and the burbling of the North Platte. Those same snow-capped mountains still loomed ahead. Never budging from the horizon, they appeared to be no closer than they had the week before.

A swift-flowing stream emptied into the brackish water of the river, the surrounding trees standing like shadowy sentinels against a dark sapphire sky. He unbuttoned his cotton shirt, its once light-blue color, now nothing more than a dingy gray, and grabbing it by the banded collar at his neck, pulled it over his head. The chill in the air prickled his skin. Though Levi was loath to do it, he toed off his boots and rid himself of the rest of his clothing, save his drawers. He could use a good scrubbing. Caked in dust and sweat, his scalp itched.

Colder than he expected, Levi let out a yelp as his bare feet touched the water. With the soap in his hand and the canteen around his neck, he waded to the center, dipping his head beneath the surface.

And it felt fucking good.

He cupped his hands to find the water of the clear running stream refreshing and sweet. It sluiced down his skin in jagged rivulets, carrying the stench, the filth, and his worries away with it. For the moment, at least.

After a time, with his fingertips shriveled to prunes, and his limbs numb, Levi rose from the water. He filled his canteen, and turning toward the grassy bank, the air disappeared from his lungs.

Bathed in moonlight, ribbons of ebony blowing about her beautiful face, Lucy stood beside his pile of discarded clothing, a cloth-covered plate in her hands.

As if in a dream, because surely this must be, he moved toward the golden eyes that wouldn’t meet his gaze. Levi knew what she was looking at. Even without daylight, he could see the flush darkening her cheekbones. His drawers, transparent and molded to his flesh, left little to the imagination.

That she saw him so stirred him. His cock twitched.

Water dripped from his beard to bead upon his chest. They stood toe to toe, and she said, “Victoria sent me this way to find you.”

Did she, now?

Her golden gaze finally meeting his, she offered him the plate.

He lifted the cloth from the tin, and with a soaring heart, he smiled.

“Mrs. Clary gave me some eggs, so I made a potato pudding.” Demurely, Lucy smiled back. “Thought you might like some.”

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