A Love Most Worthy Read online

  Mrs. Zeller nodded. “It’d be a pleasure for me.”

  At a second tug on her skirt, Hallie glanced down. “What is it, Robbie?”

  “Davie’s gone.”

  Gone? She spun in every direction. Her pulse raced, and her skin grew clammy as people pressed around her—none of them a four-year-old boy.

  UPON SEEING HALLIE outside his store, everything in Rance screamed, “Run for the hills!” In his case, it was a run for the storeroom after convincing himself the recently-arrived merchandise must be unpacked. Immediately.

  He blew out a disgusted sigh. Had he really fallen as low as to hide in the back room like a naughty boy hiding from his mama? He should go out there and face his wife like a man.

  Since their wedding night, he’d stayed away from the house as much as possible, avoiding Hallie’s laughter and that bouncing step. Regardless, he couldn’t dodge the lilac scent that lingered in the air or the joyous sense of anticipation surrounding her. Even in such a short time, he’d struggled to maintain the wall of ice he’d constructed around his heart.

  Yet, hiding was ridiculous. He ran Preston and Sons Trading Company, the house belonged to him, and worse, he hadn’t seen the boys in three days.

  Rance set aside the crowbar he’d used to pry open a crate of pickaxes, marched toward the doorway, and almost collided with Davie.

  The child encircled his legs. “Uncle Rance!”

  He caught his nephew and lifted him into the air, tickling him with one hand. “What are you doing here, Nugget?”

  The boy giggled and squirmed. “We brought pop-pops.”

  Pop-pops? “Where is Aunt Hallie?”

  “She’s talking to a lady.”

  She was still with the woman outside the store, or was this someone else with whom she’d struck up a conversation? Rance’s muscles grew taut, his stance rigid. Did she even know the boy was missing?

  “Davie?” Hallie’s frantic voice carried through the store. “Davie!”

  She knew.

  She rushed into the storage room, grasping Robbie with one hand and a swaying basket with the other. “Have you seen...?” When she spotted Davie in his arms, she hung her head and mumbled, “Thank you, Lord.”

  Rance set the boy on his feet and stepped forward. “For Davie’s sake, I’m glad you shared your gift of gab outside my store rather than in front of one of the saloons or dance halls.”

  Those strawberry eyebrows shot to the ceiling. “My gift of—”

  “Your purpose is to care for my nephews as if they were your own.” Words poured from his mouth no matter how strong the inner warning to stop them. “Small children require constant attention. They can’t be left to their own devices while you satisfy your need to be social.”

  Hallie stared at him, her mouth pinched, her skin as white as the tundra in winter. Her lower lip trembled, and a sheen rose in her eyes. Rance stood taller, bracing himself against the tears, horrified by his callousness.

  She batted her eyes. Moisture clumped and darkened her lashes. “You’re right in thinking me irresponsible, and I apologize. But you are wrong to say I don’t care for these children.” She set the basket on a shelf and gathered his nephews to her. “Come, boys. Your uncle has work to do.”

  As they left the room, Robbie glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed in a silent indictment.

  Rance remained in the storeroom long after they left. He couldn’t face his customers and employees when they no doubt heard his harsh rebuke. He could barely face himself. His wife’s response to his tantrum stung, but seeing Robbie’s disappointment pierced him to the core.

  Hallie had been wrong to take her eyes off his nephews, but he’d been guilty of the same in the past. And he’d noticed her careful attention to them on the rare occasions he had been home lately.

  Rance pushed aside the cloth covering and peered in the basket at the “pop-pops” Davie had mentioned. He tore off a small portion of an airy roll and placed it on his tongue. At any other time, he would have taken pleasure in the flavor. Now, he may as well be eating sand from the beach. He swallowed the tidbit and covered the rest with the cloth. He didn’t deserve them.

  Two years ago, he never would have believed himself capable of deliberately hurting a woman. Then Colleen had entered his life and crushed his trust—in himself and other women.

  Rance sank onto a crate, the old guilt weighing on him like a ton of gold bars. If he had learned to control his behavior back then, the boys’ parents would be alive, and he wouldn’t be married to a vivacious whirlwind who tempted him to enjoy life once more.

  For better or for worse, he’d married Hallie and, if he didn’t want to live in a contentious household, he would find a way to make the marriage work without risking an emotional tie.

  Rance grabbed his hat from a hook near the back door. The first step was to stop avoiding her.

  Chapter Four

  Hallie did her best to check her appearance in the hand mirror while wishing it was the full-length glass from her Seattle bedroom. Her storekeeper husband could easily order one, but she doubted her need would ever occur to him, and if it did, after losing Davie, he probably considered her unworthy of anything but food and shelter.

  How foolish she had been to get caught up in conversation and risk the children’s safety. Rance had every right to his anger. So, why should his lack of consideration bother her when she’d lived with that attitude most of her life?

  She stared at the reflection of the rose engraved on the locket adorning her shirtwaist. Last summer, she had found it among her father’s possessions. Her aunt had identified it as belonging to Hallie’s mother, but her father had never given it to her.

  Though she might have deserved to receive her mother’s locket, she deserved no special gifts from Rance. But what hurt more than her husband’s words was his decision to spend more time at home during the past week. Undoubtedly, his trust in her was no keener than his interest.

  She pinned her hat to her head, snatched her gloves from the bureau, and walked into the sitting room. Despite the strain of the past days, she looked forward to her first July Fourth celebration in Nome.

  “Are you ready, Aunt Hallie?”

  She smiled at Robbie. “I am. Where are Davie and your uncle?”

  The boy lost his grin, and it broke Hallie’s heart. He felt a responsibility for protecting her yet was too young to realize how little he could do to change what happened.

  Hallie was beginning to care a great deal for all the Prestons and didn’t want to cause continued strife between the six-year-old and Rance. She bent over and cupped his chin. “Will you do something for me?”

  His eyes lit and his head bobbed. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Will you be extra nice to your Uncle Rance today?”

  She waited while he tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, considering her request. “I guess so, but he better not make you cry again.”

  “I won’t, Robbie.” At the sound of Rance’s voice, Hallie bolted upright and spun around. He stood in the hallway near the boys’ bedroom, a paper-wrapped package clutched in his hand and Davie at his side. “At least, I’ll try not to.”

  Enraptured by his steady gaze with its hint of sheepishness, Hallie’s pulse frolicked. She could blame the cavorting on his sudden appearance but feared the credit belonged to the husky drawl and gentle voice.

  Really, Hallie?

  Her inner heels kicked up as she fell victim to his chiseled features, those wide shoulders, and the sturdy chest on which she could lean while his arms enfolded...

  She gasped. Get hold of yourself, Hallie Rus...Preston. For heaven’s sake, this isn’t the first time you’ve seen your husband, and he has no interest in your attraction anyway.

  Besides, his more-or-less apology had been to his nephew, not her.

  “What’s in your hand, Uncle Rance?” Robbie pointed to the package.

  Rance studied it as if he’d forgotten he held it. “I brought Aunt Hall
ie something.”

  Her breath stuttered. He’d brought her a present?

  He stepped closer and held it out for her to grasp. When she took the package, the paper crinkled and yielded to her touch. Whatever it enclosed was soft and pliable. She presented him with her most generous smile. “Thank you.”

  Hallie tore the paper, impatient to see the gift. She pulled out a wide ribbon...a wide, crimson hair ribbon. Her pleasure collapsed like a deflated balloon.

  “I thought it appropriate for today.”

  Appropriate for the Fourth of July? Perhaps. But had he not listened when she mentioned she despised the color red. It reminded her too much of her father’s death. Why hadn’t he brought her a blue or white ribbon?

  Robbie wrinkled his nose. “But it’s red, Uncle Rance. She doesn’t like red.”

  She balled the ribbon in her hand and swallowed her disappointment. “It’s fine, Robbie. In fact, it’s lovely.” It would be lovely...to someone else.

  Hallie couldn’t deny Rance was a good man. However, she wouldn’t fool herself. Like her father, he considered her feelings irrelevant. He hadn’t bothered to remember her name. Why should she expect him to remember a tiny detail such as her disdain of the color red? To him, she was of no more interest than the cook stove. Stuff kindling in her when she grew cold, then ignore her until the next time she was needed.

  She had hoped life with him would be different, but so far, her marriage felt like the same tired refrain sung over and over.

  WHILE CARRYING DAVIE on his shoulders, Rance paused in the middle of a crowd gathered near a recently-constructed stage on Front Street. Alaska hadn’t become an official United States territory or been made a state, but a slew of American flags flew from businesses in celebration of Independence Day.

  Though his gaze was focused on the speaker, Rance paid little attention to the message. His thoughts ran to the woman beside him and that hair ribbon he’d given her. Why hadn’t he recalled her aversion to the color red?

  Clearly disappointed, Hallie had thanked him and removed the pins from her hair, then tied it back with the length of crimson silk as shiny as the lightly-orange tresses cascading in curls to her waist. He compared her willingness to wear something she obviously disliked with Colleen’s disapproval when he’d given her a cheap fan he’d bought from a down-on-his-luck Klondike miner. At the time, it was all he could afford.

  Rance tipped his head and ventured a peek at Hallie. She stared straight ahead, smiling and clapping at the end of the man’s speech. She bent and said something to Robbie, who laughed, his hand enclosed by hers. Both of his nephews adored her. If Rance didn’t tread with care, he might follow in their footsteps, and find himself falling over the edge of an emotional cliff too sheer to climb out.

  Davie squirmed in his arms. “I want down.”

  “Not in this crowd, Nugget.” He turned to Hallie. “Are you hungry?”

  “Oh, yes.” Hallie pivoted and, like a salmon swimming upstream, led the way through the swarm of mostly men blocking the narrow street. “Excuse me. How do you do? Excuse me.” She was like a child on Christmas morning—energetic and without pretense.

  Instead of lugging around a picnic basket, they had left it in the back room of the store. Rance waited out front while she and the boys retrieved the basket and other items for their picnic.

  With the population of Nome City heavily male, he carried only a trifling supply of feminine doodads in his stock. Nevertheless, he did sell a few trinkets for men to send home to their sweethearts.

  Rance opened a glass-fronted cabinet and examined the jewelry spread on a bed of velvet. He found a modest circle of etched silver hanging from a delicate chain—nothing so fancy that she would get the wrong impression.

  He stopped outside the storeroom. Perhaps another gift was a mistake. Perhaps he should leave well enough alone. Hallie approached the doorway, and he held up the necklace. “I thought you might prefer this to the ribbon.”

  She stared at the gift, then grinned, a gesture that melted his doubt over suggesting the change.

  Rance placed the chain around her neck and fastened the clasp. Looking at it from the front, he said, “It appears to be crooked.” They reached for the decoration on the chain at the same time, and his hand brushed hers. He yanked his fingers away.

  HALLIE PACKED THE REMAINDER of their lunch in the basket and settled on the quilt to watch two little boys and a big one as they tossed a ball back and forth. She laughed when Davie bent down to retrieve it. He nearly disappeared in the grass of the tundra.

  It had taken thirty minutes to walk here, but Rance had chosen a beautiful and private spot for their picnic. She’d heard Nome had experienced a dry spring with several grass fires, but wildflowers still dotted the landscape.

  She touched the dainty silver piece at her neck. Why had Rance jerked away when their fingers touched?

  “Come play ball, Aunt Hallie.”

  Robbie ran to the quilt and tried to pull her to her feet. At first, she resisted, then she decided, why not? She had joined the neighborhood boys as a child, so catching a little round ball wasn’t foreign to her.

  Before relenting, she eyed Rance. Though he stood stoic, he didn’t object, so she took his silence as encouragement, whether he meant it as such or not.

  “All right.” She jumped up and ran through the grass as fast as her skirts would allow.

  With her participation, the triangle became a square. On the first round, Rance tossed the ball to Robbie, who threw it as hard as possible to Hallie. She caught it and pitched it underhanded to Davie. The four-year-old trapped it between his arms and his body, and she clapped. “Good catch!”

  When the boys lost interest and began chasing one another through the grass, Rance and Hallie continued the game while keeping them in sight. She rarely missed catching his pitch and managed to make him peddle backward for a few of hers.

  After the last time, he said, “You want to play rough, huh?”

  She laughed. “Give it your best, Mr. Preston.”

  “You asked for it, Mrs. Preston.”

  Rotating his right arm like the wheel of a windmill in a stiff breeze, Rance warmed up to the pitch and released the ball. It sailed through the air faster than anything he’d thrown yet. Hallie plotted its movement and concluded he’d purposely thrown it out of her range. That wouldn’t do.

  She launched her body sideways, extending her arms as far as they would reach. As the ball hit her palms, she closed her fingers around it. She hit the ground, but the jarring of her hip was worth the victory. “I caught it!”

  Robbie and Davie cheered.

  Rance rushed to her side. “You could have been hurt, Hallie. Why didn’t you let it go?”

  “What fun would that be?” Hallie laughed at his gaping mouth. Never would she admit to the agonizing sting in her hands and the bruised hip.

  She grabbed his extended hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet, then said, “Your turn.”

  He shook his head as if she were crazy, but walked back to his previous spot.

  She imitated his windup and let the ball fly.

  Maybe he hadn’t been ready for it.

  Maybe he figured her pitch would be off.

  And maybe she shouldn’t have tried so hard to prove herself to him.

  She only knew it would have been less agonizing for her husband had she remained on the quilt as observer instead of the one who blackened his cheek with a baseball.

  Chapter Five

  Rance’s empty coffee cup rattled on the saucer. “You want to do what?”

  He might not have shouted the question, but the alarm came through with force and gave Hallie a moment’s doubt. Nevertheless, she wouldn’t take back her request. Even a servant was due a day to herself.

  She filled his cup, winced at the fading bruise on his cheek, and repeated her request. “While you take the boys fishing, I’d like to visit Sybil Zeller.”

  “Sybil Zeller?” Tucks line
d his forehead. “The name’s not familiar. When did you meet her? On the ship?”

  “No.” She willed herself to maintain eye contact. “We met outside your store. You’ll remember the young woman I spoke with the day Davie—”

  “Yes, I remember.”

  They hadn’t mentioned the incident since his promise to Robbie.

  He swirled a spoonful of sugar into his coffee—over and over, faster and faster, until he created a whirlpool in his cup. “Is she married?”

  “Yes. Her husband’s name is Bill. She thought highly of your store and asked that I visit her.”

  Rance pushed his empty breakfast plate away as if pushing away the conversation. “As long as it’s not far.”

  Would he consider a mile or so down the beach too far?

  “It’s within walking distance.” She set his plate in the sink. With his negative opinion of seeking gold, she hesitated to tell him the Zellers lived in a miner’s tent yards from the sea.

  In the silence, Hallie felt Rance’s stare on her back. The evasion clawed at her, but he wouldn’t understand what drove her to witness firsthand a search for gold. Sometimes, she wasn’t sure she understood it.

  His chair scraped across the floor. “When will you return?”

  She twisted to see him standing near the table. “About one-thirty?”

  “I’m not comfortable with this.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  If all she wanted in life was security, she would never have traveled to this remote and wild spot to marry a man she’d never met. Was it the way he was raised that caused him to embrace a humdrum existence? She wished he would share more of his past with her.

  Finally, he said, “The boys and I will be gone until about three.”

  She released a held breath and rinsed the clean plate in a tub of clear water.

  “Be careful, Hallie. This isn’t your neighborhood in Seattle. If it was, there would be no need for soldiers and Fort Davis.”