Kate jumped away from the open. Parlor window and hurried down the hall to her bedroom. She had begun to wonder what was delaying Ginny and had walked into the parlor to investigate. Then she heard Ginny's awful screaming and the barn door slamming.
Chuckling under her breath, Kate crawled into bed and pulled the sheet under her chin. She reflected over her doubts that Ginny should marry Braeden and then snickered. One interesting autumn this was going to be, she mused.
Kate heard Ginny fling the front door open and band shut. She closed her eyes, tilted her head just right, opened her mouth wide, and started snoring.
Ginny's angry footfalls echoed up the hallway, stopping outside Kate's ajar door.
Not opening her eyes, Ginny pictured Ginny, who probably stood with her hands on her narrow hips, her chin high in defiance, and her full lips pressed into a narrow line. Kate tried not to smile. That Mr. Harry is going to keep things stirred up for sure.
"Momma Kate, are you awake?" Ginny whispered.
Skipping a snore, Kate swallowed.
"Momma Kate?"
"Child? What do you need, honey?" Kate asked groggily.
"Oh, Momma Kate," Ginny wailed. Then she was on the bed, piled up in the middle, sobbing like she had at her brothers funeral.
"Now, Child, it can't be all that bad." Pulling Ginny close, Kate stroked her mane of fiery red hair, laced with the smell of lilacs.
"I…I miss Bill so much," Ginny finally choked out. "If…if he hadn't died, he would know what to do about all this…this…the barn burning and the cattle missing and somebody prowling around."
"Prowling around?" Kate's eyes widened.
Through diminishing sniffles, Ginny recited the events of the last thirty minutes.
"Do you know what the man was digging for?" Kate asked.
"No. I didn't think to look. I was to mad at Harry…I mean Mr. Potter. Oh, Momma Kate, why did Bill die?"
"Just remember, Child. No matter what happens to you someone will always be here for you."
Ten minutes later, Ginny took off her tan work dress and laid it over the straight-backed pine chair at the end of her bed. Her talk with Kate had lessened her emotional tension.
Bill never should have died, she wanted to scream.
"Goodnight, Bill," she whispered, sitting on the edge of her bed. They had always had a talk at the end of the day. Kate tried to talk to her but Ginny refused. She missed Bill the worst at those times and didn't want to deepen the pain.
Ginny thought of Braeden as she crawled beneath the soft, clean sheets. Bill would be glad she was marrying Braeden. She wished he had not written that letter to Harry's father. Even though Harry was going to be protection, she began to wonder if she would be better off marrying Braeden now and sending Harry home.
He was the most exasperating man Ginny had ever met. The thought of having to put up with his smug highhandedness another day made her want to slap him again. She rubbed her wrists, still stinging from the rope.
A thought- an explosion of curiosity- and Ginny sat straight up. The hole. She still didn't know what the prowler had been digging for.
Ginny made a quick decision. Out of bed, into the work dress, don't worry with shoes, grab the lantern, and down the hallway.
When she stopped at the door, she noticed a lantern's soft glow from near the old stump, right where the man had been digging.
She gripped the metal knob tighter as terror gripped her stomach. He was back!
Then another figure joined the first one: a plump, skirted figure- Kate.
"What do you think, Mr. Harry?" Kate's clear voice pierced the night air while Harry's tone was unintelligible.
Harry. Thank Goodness.
Her hand relaxing on the knob, Ginny smiled. She had caught Kate in the act, just like earlier when Kate was spying on her from the window. But Kate had been spying on her ever since she was a little girl, and Ginny knew Kate did it because she loved her.
Placing her right foot out the door, stopped. The cool stone step against her toes seemed to awaken her fury. I'd rather eat a skunk than face Harry Potter again tonight! With that, she decided to wait until morning to appease her curiosity.
Ginny lowered her lantern and peered into the hole. Nothing. Had Harry found anything last night?
As the morning crickets chirped in unison, ginny felt as if she were stuck in the middle of a tornado. Her whole life of late, everything around her, seemed to be chaos, and she hoped Constable Jones would end it.
"It looks like whoever dug that whole was digging in the wrong spot. I don't think he found what he was looking for," Harry said, walking from the barn.
Jumping, Ginny glanced his way. "Looks like it," she said in a cold, formal voice, then turned to the chicken coop. It was already 5 O'clock; Kate would want the eggs.
A big, warm hand on her shoulder made her stop. "Miss Ginny?" Harry mumbled.
She hesitantly turned to face him.
"I'm sorry for tying you up last night. I've been thinking about it and don't believe it was quite fair or nice. But I was afraid you'd get hurt."
"Ginny, shocked to her toes, wanted to drop her mouth open in surprise. Instead, she schooled her features into the blandest expression she could conjure. "It's okay, Mr. Potter," she heard herself saying.
"I'm glad you feel that way because it's going to be a long winter if we're angry at each other."
This was the perfect opportunity to tell him her decision to marry Braeden this week, then send him on his way. But her tongue would not come away from the roof of her mouth. When it did move she said, "I guess I shouldn't have slapped you. I've never slapped anyone before. It surprised me as much as you."
Chuckling, he rubbed his left jaw. "It was a surprise, that's for sure."
After her initial introduction to Harry, Ginny had not paid much attention to his looks, perhaps because she had been in an uproar over everything else. Yet, here, in the morning darkness, with nothing more than the lantern's light illuminating his face, Ginny caught a glimpse behind that mischievous smile. His glittering green eyes held a hint of compassion and pain and brawny tenacity. Harry Potter was like a combination of soft sunset and a lazy river with dangerous currents that ran relatively deep.
He had even apologized, something lots of men wouldn't do. Braeden never had. But then, they had never fought, either. Do I really want to spend the rest of my life with Braeden?
Blinking at the disturbing question, Ginny realized that she had been staring. "I've…I've been wondering about your accent. You don't sound Texan," she said, trying to make polite conversation.
He pushed his hat off his brow. "I guess that's because I went to school in Boston. Went to law school there too."
"You've been to college?" Ginny had dreamed of attending college before Bill had become ill. Now, she would have to be satisfied with running the ranch.
"Yes. My father insisted on it. I think it's because he only finished the eighth grade. It hasn't made much difference in my job, though. I'm still just one of my Father's ranch hands."
Rachel, for some unexplainable reason, suddenly wanted to know more about Harry's home, his family, his way of life. Instead, she suppressed the urge to ask anything else and said, "I…I guess I need to go gather the eggs. for Momma Kate. I smell smoke from the stove, so breakfast should be ready in an hour or so."
Tell him you're marrying Braeden this week, her common sense urged. But Ginny could not obey.