Page 33 of A Rugged Beauty
Joseph’s eyes had been awash in tears. "Mr. Smith told me just this morning that he'll take you on as cook in Mam's place."
Sparrow's throat grew hot imagining being in that kitchen, where Mam had worked these past five years, without the woman she loved so dearly.
I can't.
But the words remained stuck behind her throat. Sparrow was afraid if she opened her mouth, only wails would emerge.
Joseph’s hands flexed on his hat and then he reached out to touch her shoulder. "It's a good job, with good pay. The Smith family treats us fairly.”
She knew that he meant the words to be a comfort, that she should count the job as a blessing. Without it, she would have nowhere to stay, no income.
But she didn't want the job. She wanted mam back.
Everything that had seemed true, that Mam would always be by her side, had been wrong. Sparrow didn't know how to go on, not when the ground had been torn from beneath her feet.
"Chin up."
It was a small mercy when the memory faded. She'd taken her brother's directive to heart. She'd worn a smile through those darkest days. It had taken years before any smile on her face had felt genuine. But she'd sung while she'd cooked, if only to feel Mam close.
She'd smiled and she'd poured herself into the job. And then Joseph had left her behind, as well. The memory she'd gained yesterday took on a new meaning, seeing Joseph off at the train platform.
She hadn't felt this layer of it yesterday, hadn't known how the grief of her brother leaving had choked her. How she'd hidden it behind a smile.
Her leg twitched. She felt the slide of damp fabric against her skin. She wasn't soaking wet anymore. H's body against hers had provided warmth through the night. But the damp, uncomfortable feeling remained.
Her brow furrowed as she focused on his face again. If H had left with her brother on that train, where had they gone? When had he returned? And where was Joseph now?
With the strength of returning memories, she pushed?—
And found a deluge. What felt like all of them.
Herself on the train. Leaving behind everything she'd known in the East. The rough and tumble town of Independence.
Meeting Felicity and taking charge of their wagon.
Felicity!
What had happened to her friend? Had she weathered last night's storm? She was married now. To August.
August.
Owen.
Leo.
Alice.
Each one of the travelers in their company had become a friend during the course of their journey. They'd worked together, mourned the loss of Evangeline's father. Survived a twister. A buffalo stampede.
A certainty sank deep inside her. Her friends wouldn't have stopped looking for her. They would never have left her behind.
A new anticipation shimmered. Surely with the territory she and H had covered yesterday, they must've drawn closer to the wagon train. Even if the company had moved on, unable to wait, August—the best tracker in the company—would be looking for them.
She could see the jovial, quiet man clearly in her mind's eye. Memories continued to settle and click into place.
"Abigail."The memory of August calling her name .
She gasped softly.
