Rocky Mountain Dreams & Family on the Range by Danica Favorite (summer beach reads txt) 📕

same, but it didn’t. The lamp that had sat on the table beside his bed was gone. Her father had given it to a needy parishioner. The same with the blanket that had always lay across the foot of the bed. Her grandmother had made it, but that hadn’t stopped her father from giving it to someone in the mining camp. And if she looked in Peter’s closet, it would be empty.

Yes, it was selfish to cling to them; after all, they were only things. If her father knew these thoughts, he would tell her about storing up her treasures in heaven instead of on earth, and that these things would be far more useful to the people here than they were to Peter’s memory.

Those emotions, like everything else, were quickly pushed away. Her father expected her to be a part of his ministry, and that meant making this man feel comfortable in their home.

“Maddie filled the pitcher with some clean water for your use.” Annabelle gestured to the dresser. “If there’s any other need I can attend to, please let me know.”

She turned to leave, but he stopped her. “Wait.”

“Is there something else you need?”

His features were cast in shadows, but she could still see the hard catch in his jaw. “I’m sorry if my question offended you. I didn’t mean to put you out.”

He might as well have taken that pitcher and dumped it on her. Annabelle glanced at the open door. Her father would be up soon, and he would know that she hadn’t been very welcoming. She sighed. She was trying, she really was. But her father was so focused on providing for the miners’ needs that he never seemed to consider hers.

More selfishness. And none of it helped the man in front of her. The man who looked like he was staring down into the depths of her soul. A place no one, not even God, was allowed to look.

“I’m sorry.” Annabelle looked at the floor. Swept clean, of course. If only Maddie had left one stray dust bunny that could swallow her whole.

Annabelle took a deep breath. She’d hurt this man’s feelings, and she hadn’t meant to. But with all the miners, she had to keep her heart locked up. She’d let one slip past her guard. One to whom she’d given her heart. And he’d deemed his search for riches more valuable than their love.

The miner standing in front of her? Now that he’d had a bath, she could tell that his hair truly was the color of soot, and it curled around the top of this collar ever so slightly. His eyes, too, were dark, and the light caught them just enough that she knew he meant business. This wasn’t some miner. Not anymore.

Bad enough that he had to sleep in Peter’s room, worse that by closing herself off to him, she now had to admit the truth.

“I lied. I don’t know if missing someone gets easier. I wake up every day wishing I could hear my brothers or my sister, and especially my mother, walking through the door. But they don’t. And I guess having you here makes it more real that they never will.”

Everyone expressed sympathy over her losses. But what she saw shining in Joseph’s eyes was deeper, more personal. She couldn’t afford to get personal, not again. They were both supposed to say the proper things, like that Annabelle was getting over the loss of her mother and brothers and sister, and that Joseph was sorry to hear about it, and every other pithy comment that everyone said because it was what you were supposed to say.

Because she’d already said all of those deeply personal things to another man, another miner, and despite her offering up everything her heart had, he’d left, chasing after rumors of gold in the Yukon.

Getting personal was no longer an option.

“Annabelle?” Her father’s voice boomed through the room as he pushed open the door. “You’ve made sure Joseph is comfortable?”

Annabelle let out a long sigh, exhaling all of the thoughts she shouldn’t have been thinking. “Of course I have.” She turned to the miner. “You have everything you need, don’t you?”

He glanced at her, the sympathy still shining in his eyes. “Yes.” He turned to her father. “Your daughter is most gracious.”

At least he brought it back to what people were supposed to say.

Her father came into the room and kissed the top of her head. “I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

She smiled up at him, trying not to let the guilt over all of her wrong thoughts drag her down. As much as she hated this position, her father was all she had left of her immediate family.

“I think that’s all then.” She leaned up on tiptoes and gave her father a kiss on the cheek. “Good night.” Then turned and gave the miner as much of a smile as she could muster. “And good night to you, too, Joseph.”

Before either man could say anything else, she turned and left the room, retreating to the once-safe haven of her bedroom. There, Nugget slept, her tiny body reminding her that even the slightest bit of sweetness still had a bitter taste. Because as much as she wanted to take this little girl into her arms and give her the love she deserved, Annabelle absolutely was not going to get attached. Not when, like every other child she encountered in her work, Nugget would soon be gone.

Because that was the reality of life in a mining town. People either went broke and left, struck it rich and left, left in search of a better prospect, or left the earth completely. Regardless of the reason, they all left.

There wasn’t enough of Annabelle’s heart remaining to let anyone take any more.

Joseph watched Annabelle’s retreating figure, her skirts swishing behind her. She moved with the grace of any of the fine ladies he’d encountered, but there was a humility to her that he’d never