Page 497 of Conveniently Wed
“I can’t imagine. Sullivan’s widow was asleep in the cabin when he started the fire. She could’ve been killed.” That thought sent a shot of fear through him, and sweat popped out on his forehead.
“Maybe the woman might have enemies. We don’t know much about her.” Rand pulled out another chair and dropped into it. “Tell me everything you know about it.”
After Franklin told him, they agreed the ranchers should start their hands patrolling around all the properties. Maybe even form three or four groups to cover more ground and not leave gaps unprotected.
When Franklin was ready to leave, Rand got up and accompanied him out the door.
“I’m going to talk to Hogan, Burke, and Shelton before I head back to my ranch.” Franklin mounted Major.
“You want me to take a couple of them so you can make it to church?” Rand’s gaze slid across the landscape on this side of his ranch.
“It shouldn’t take me too long. I might get there in time to hear Pastor Nelson deliver his message. I probably won’t stop for coffee at each ranch.” With a two-finger salute, he headed back toward the road.
Once again his thoughts strayed toward the frightened woman taking refuge in his home. With all the work it would take to organize the patrols, he should be able to push her out of his mind...at least most of the time.
Lorinda had been ravenous at breakfast. Maybe because Franklin Vine wasn’t sitting across the table from her. The hands had already eaten before she awakened, so it was just her and Mrs. Oleson. That woman made her feel welcome in a way she’d never experienced before. At supper last night, she’d felt out of place and wary.
Mrs. Oleson wouldn’t hear of her helping wash the dishes this morning, so she walked around the lower floor of the house. Her body still felt some of the effects from the day before, so the walking helped work out some of the soreness in her muscles.
The house was exceptionally lovely, so much nicer than any place she’d ever been. The cabin Mike built her couldn’t hold a candle to this place, and the house she grew up in was just a shack. She was afraid to touch anything, in case she should break something.
Polished hardwood floors were in almost all the rooms. However, the parlor had a large area rug in a pattern Lorinda had never seen before. The chairs were upholstered in sturdy fabric with subtle woven designs. Ties of matching fabric held the floor to ceiling curtains back, and lace panels between allowed in plenty of light.
Only the parlor was fancy. The rest of the rooms had a masculine feel to the heavier furniture, and the western decorations bespoke of the ranch owner. She assumed the man had never been married. The bedroom door beside the room where she had slept was closed tight, and she didn’t feel like snooping in there. But she stood in the entrance hall at the foot of the stairs and peered up toward the second story. According to what Mrs. Oleson mentioned when she arrived, there had to be several bedrooms up there. Quite a large house for a single man.
The sound of an approaching buggy drew Lorinda toward one of the windows beside the front door. She hoped the lace panels covering them hid her from whoever stopped by the gate. A woman stepped down, leaving the others inside, and headed toward the front door. Lorinda hurried back into the kitchen.
“Some people just drove up in a buggy.”
Mrs. Oleson dried her hands on her apron, then removed it and hung it on the back of one of the chairs at the table. “Let’s go see who it is. We don’t get many callers out here.”
She followed the older woman into the entrance hall but stopped beside the doorway to the parlor. That way, she could duck inside if she needed to.
Mrs. Oleson opened the door as soon as the woman knocked. “Stella Morgan, come in.”
Lorinda started to move into the room.
“Come in and meet our guest.”
Both women smiled at her, and she stopped.
“So you’re Mrs. Sullivan.” The newcomer hurried toward her.
Lorinda wondered how the woman knew her name.
“If I’d have known you were living up on that mountain all alone, I would have come calling.” Her friendliness was overwhelming.
Since she’d never had another woman as a friend, Lorinda didn’t know what to say.
“How did you know she was here?” Mrs. Oleson led the way toward the sofa.
“Franklin stopped by to talk to Rand this morning, barely at sunrise. He must’ve started out very early.” Stella stopped in the doorway. “When he told us of your plight, I knew I had to do whatever I could for you.” She turned toward Mrs. Oleson. “I have some things in the buggy for your house guest.”
Flabbergasted, all Lorinda could do was stare at her. No one had ever gone out of their way to help her, except for Mr. Vine and Mrs. Oleson. She didn’t know how to react to such generosity.
“Let me help you bring them in.” The housekeeper walked back to the front door with her.
“Thanks. I think the two of us can carry all of the things in one trip.”
