Page 10 of Inventions of the Heart

“Except Caleb and Nick. And all the people at Laura’s wedding when Caleb had to say her name for the vows.”

It was getting to be too many people.

Jilly trusted Caleb, Nick, and Zane, but the circle of people who knew where they were was growing.

“Edgar will still want the marriages he planned for us. And he’ll want them more than ever.” Jilly glanced out the window. Zane was still talking to his sister, but now they walked slowly toward the house. His arm was wrapped around her.

Jilly lowered her voice and talked fast. “I thought you were going to marry Zane.”

Michelle looked out, too. Maybe just a bit too long. “He’d never leave his ranch. What good is a husband who won’t come home with me? That’s got to be a requirement. And he loves being a rancher. I wouldn’t want him to give up his life’s work. Nope. Zane is out.”

Michelle gave him another long look.

Jilly didn’t say anything. Michelle was right. The only trouble was it appeared Michelle had some tender feelings for Zane Hart.

Tender feelings and no idea what to do with them.

LAURA HEARD CALEB GASP BEHIND HER. It was a reaction common enough at the sight of the Stiles mansion.

Caleb rode up beside her. “You said it was beautiful, Laura, but no words can fully capture it.”

The home was three stories tall, though the third wasn’t a full story. It was a collection of turrets and gables with complex angles to the roof that always struck Laura as fanciful, something out of a fairy tale. The turrets had stairs and rooms where a young girl could hide away and read or look out the high windows at the vast woods and dream. The gables brought light from the sun to keep every corner of the house bright and warm.

A porch wrapped all the way around with sweeping steps on three sides, and a roof over the porch was supported by elaborately turned posts. The railing along the porch was adorned by spiraling oak spindles.

Everything about the house celebrated Papa’s love and respect for lumber.

Laura had only a small memory of it being built. For years, the Stiles family had lived out here in a common little house. Nice enough, but nothing like this. The men who tended their stables—the massive Belgian draft horses, the teams of big mules, and a collection of beautiful saddle horses—now lived in that house and in the quarters above the stable.

Beyond the house, there were corrals, a carriage house, and a long line of bunkhouse-type cabins. There was a good-sized kitchen, staffed with a cook. A large dining hall connected to the kitchen. A small corner of the dining hall held an office, and another area held the doctor’s office and infirmary. They didn’t have a doctor but were fortunate to have a well-trained medic who’d learned enough working with a doctor during the Civil War. Doc Sandy did well serving the men who worked at the rugged, sometimes dangerous job.

The men were well cared for and well paid, out of respect for their importance to Stiles Lumber. But Edgar had done a lot of harm to the morale of their faithful lumberjacks.

Laura was almost frantic to see Mama and make sure she was all right, but she took this moment with Caleb to look at the house and cherish the love that had been in the building.

“I remember Papa used to say, ‘We’ve created something beautiful here, Maggie. Something a man who has wood for his livelihood can respect.’ Maggie was his nickname for Mama. Other than Papa, I never heard anyone call her anything other than Margaret.”

“Let’s go see how your ma is doing, Laura. Let’s go home.”

Home, a beautiful home. Mama was here.

And yet it struck hard that she’d have to face Edgar.

I’m safe. I’m safe. I’m safe.

She knew it. She believed it. She prayed for it.

She saw Pete, the groom in charge of the stables who’d worked for the Stileses all his life, watching her as she approached.

His face broke out in a huge smile. He waved, and she waved back. He jogged over to the front of the house as she reached it.

“Miss Laura, it’s a fine thing to see you come home.”

“Pete, this is my husband, Caleb. I’m Laura Tillman now.”

Laura wanted to ask a dozen questions, first and foremost, how was Mama. And she wanted to ask about Nick Ryder, the young man who’d left Zane’s ranch at a gallop to come here and stand between Edgar and Mama. He’d grown up in Michigan in lumber country, and when he’d come west, he’d worked for Stiles Lumber for a time. When he recognized the Stiles sisters and heard their story of running from Edgar’s cruel wedding plans and of his harsh treatment of Mama, Nick had ridden off from Zane and his ranch, straight for Mama to protect her.

Letters had since arrived from Mama, warning them off of their hasty plans to marry quickly to gain control of their inheritance. She’d insisted she was safe and urged them to take their time and marry wisely, for fear of ending up in the hands of a man like Edgar.

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