Amelia showed him the yearlings first.
"They're not ready to train yet," she said, "But they move nicely."
Ethan didn't have as practiced an eye with horses as she did but he liked what he saw. Young horses in all shades standing in the paddock.
"Probably not what you're looking for right now," she said, "You want riding horses right?"
He nodded.
"Something for Ben and George to learn on," he said, "Claire's been riding your old mare."
Amelia had left her horse with Claire who had promised to take good care of them. She'd turned out to be a pretty sharp rider, Ethan noticed. He watched Amelia walk to the pasture and climb over the fence to walk over to a sorrel gelding. She took hold of him by his halter and coaxed him to follow her over to the fence. Ethan took a good look at him. He stood about 16 hands and had a lean but muscular frame.
"We picked him up on the way over here," she said, "He's gentle and has a good mouth. Very responsive to commands…along with a good dose of cow sense."
Ethan reached over to pat the gelding who tolerated him well.
"What's your recommendation?"
She looked at him.
"He'll be perfect for the boys," she said, "Can move all day too."
He smiled at her.
"Then I think I'll have Ben and George come and look him over," he said, "after they're done in the barn."
She let the gelding go with a pat and climbed back over the fence. Ethan helped her over onto the ground next to him.
"So you grew up around them?"
She brushed her hands off on her pants.
"What…oh you mean horses…yes they have them back in Australia. My father raised them on a spread. My mother's father raised horses and beef cattle."
Ethan wondered why he'd never bothered to ask more about her background. Maybe because he didn't much like talking about his past…Amelia knew more about it than most.
"You miss them?"
She tilted her face.
"I haven't seen my parents in years," she said, "Times got hard during the drought years and they nearly lost everything in the valley. People got desperate and my parents didn't want me to stay there."
"So you came over here."
She nodded.
"I thought it was all one big adventure and when I met Pierce…I thought it somewhat larger than life."
She smiled now but Ethan knew that her husband's abandonment of her and their marriage had deeply shaped her into a person who'd been wary of getting involved with another man who might leave her. He understood that better now than he had back then.
"So how's he doing?"
She shrugged.
"How would I know? I don't keep track of him and his troubles. Though I do know he owes some the wrong people a lot of money but then that's the story of his life."
He detected the weariness that was familiar when she spoke of her ex but something else was interlaced with it as well.
"I know, every time I've crossed paths with him he's been running away from someone who's after him about money."
Amelia rested her arms on the fence and looked back out at the horses.
"Tell me about it. But what can I say? I was young, he was part of a world I knew nothing about, it was almost as foreign to me as this new country."
She smiled as she pointed out a pinto standing in the middle.
"She'll be a good saddle horse too," she said, "She's got a good gait."
He watched her looking at the horses and that's when he saw her smile the way he'd grown used to before she'd left him.
He joined her, their shoulders brushing.
"So you going to stay?"
She glanced sideways at him puzzled.
"What…you mean live here?"
"Yeah…I mean that."
She paused as if she were thinking about it. Maybe she'd been doing that a lot lately.
"I don't know Ethan…I'm going to stay and help the ranch get started," she said, "but beyond that I just don't know."
"I'll miss you again if you leave."
She didn't respond right away and he wondered if he tread too far in dangerous territory because it hadn't been good when she'd left him. He'd said that he wouldn't let her do it and she said that he couldn't stop her. The tone of her voice and the certainty in her eyes left no room for further discussion and soon after that, she left Paradise.
"Ethan…I don't know if I'm that woman anymore, the one you almost married."
He sighed.
"There you go saying that again," he said, "Okay you've changed…I've changed too. Why does that make you not able to stay?"
She just looked straight ahead.
"It's complicated and it's hard to explain…but it's not that I didn't love you…"
Clara walked up to them, interrupting them. Amelia looked at her.
"What is it?"
Clara smiled.
"Rosie and Scarlett are almost done with turning the soil," she said, "Does that mean we can plant soon?"
Amelia nodded and Clara looked over at Ethan.
"Do you have a garden?"
"Yes we do," he said, "My niece Claire tends to it and Ben and George help her."
"Claire's so smart," she said, "and she wants to help me with my reading."
Amelia touched her shoulder.
"I knew she would and I'm sure you'll pick it very quickly, considering how smart you are."
Clara beamed at that and returned back to the barn. Amelia watched her go and Ethan realized that the young girl meant a lot to her.
"She's very special to you isn't she?"
Amelia nodded.
"Yes she is…I think the ranch will give her a much better opportunity for a good future," she said, "There was nothing for her back in San Francisco except abuse."
"She's not with Daggett anymore Amelia."
"I know but a part of me knows he's out there somewhere and he might try to get her back…like he owns her. I thought slavery was over in this country."
"It is…according to the law but people find ways around the law," Ethan said, "I remember those kids that Mr. Lee adopted who were almost worked to death in the mines."
She brushed his arm almost absently.
"But you stopped that Ethan and you helped them," she said, "Claire says they're doing so well in their studies, that they made up for all that lost time."
Ethan hadn't missed her touching him. He hadn't realized how much he missed that.
"If he comes here, Dakota and I will stop him before he tries anything."
She frowned slightly.
"I know you'll try but Ethan he's not like most other outlaws…he's part of something much more powerful than anything a posse could track. That's why the few men of his that they've caught, it hasn't changed anything."
Ethan looked at her carefully.
"How well do you know him?"
She stepped backward away crossing her arms in front of her.
"Well enough to get Clara away from him," she said, "and what Bella told me."
Ethan saw something flash in her eyes but it passed quickly.
"You might need more men if he does show up."
She seemed absolutely certain of that and she'd been in a couple of gunfights when they'd been outnumbered.
"Then I'll get them if it comes to that."
She faced the fence again and remained silent for a moment.
"How well does Martha handle you being a marshal?"
He blinked his eyes at the question not looking at her at first.
"I don't know her that way Amelia…but I know her father doesn't think that Dakota and I can handle the job."
She shook her head slightly.
"I don't mean that…I asked you whether it bothers her," she said, "because the two of you are seeing each other."
He looked at her a long moment before responding.
"I don't know. I didn't ask her."
She digested that and he knew he'd said the wrong thing by looking at her.
"I never asked you either."
She bit her lip.
"I told you often enough," she said, "You never had to ask."
"You were afraid I wouldn't come back home if we got married."
She smiled.
"I remember what I told you and I just rushed the words out so that I wouldn't feel them," she said, "That came later."
He arched his brows up.
"What do you mean?"
She paused even longer this time and he knew this wasn't easy for her.
"I was really hard on you back then," she said, "I know that the work you do is very important to you and to those you help."
He sighed.
"It is…I feel like it's my way of fighting the bad but I'm learning that other things…family matter more to me. I only knew my sister growing up. Now with the children and with you…"
"It's okay Ethan…I just left because I had been so frightened when I thought you were dead," she said, "Each time it felt like a piece of me ripped away forever…and there were so many times."
He knew that and had lost count of all of them but they'd taken their toll on the woman in front of him.
"That's why I asked whether Martha knew what she'd be facing if she got serious with you."
Ethan fell silent because he hadn't been thinking about Martha. She'd been good company and she'd relied on him for the work she and her father did with the merchants but she hadn't grabbed a hold of his heart. No other woman had since Amelia had left Paradise.
"She's never brought it up."
Amelia nodded.
"That's good. Maybe she can give you what I couldn't."
She didn't seem upset or resigned just as if she were stating fact which was somehow worse. She returned to looking at horses. But he didn't want to stop on that note.
So he reached out with one hand and lightly caressed her cheek. She widened her eyes as his hand approached but she didn't stop him or move away.
"Amelia…I'm not seeing Martha," he said, "So that doesn't matter."
"She seems to think that you are Ethan."
He guessed that Martha might want more from him than just business but what he wanted was to figure out how to get Amelia to rethink her decision to break it off with him.
Ben raced up to them all excited with George in hot pursuit.
"Uncle Ethan….some…someone hear to see…see you."
He wondered who and then looked at Amelia.
"I'd better see who that is and what they want," he said, "but I want to finish this discussion."
She just looked at him not sure what he meant but she followed him back to the house where they saw two men neither recognized waiting with Bella.