A Chance In Time (3 page)

“
I go about twice a
year.”

“
By yourself?”

Her lips curved in amusement. “Who
else would accompany me?”

He returned her smile. “Of course. But
you must know someone in town, someone you can visit while
there.”

“
There is my husband’s
sister. I don’t know her very well though. As soon as I came off
the train, he married me and took me out here.”

His ears perked up. “There’s a train
station in town?”

“
Yes. New Rockford is a
good-sized place. At least, it is compared to here.”

New Rockford? He’d never heard of that
place before. He wondered how far it was from Fargo.

“
You don’t have much
money,” she said. “You’ll need new clothes. The ones you have on
are torn.”

He glanced at his ripped jeans and
shirt. “You’re right.” Clothes were the least of his concerns, but
he couldn’t tell her that.

“
I have some money saved.
You can use that to purchase some.”

He blinked in surprise. Why in the
world would she do that? “That’s not necessary.”

“
I know. But I want to do
it.” Before he could reply, she motioned to the large trunk in the
corner of the cabin. “My husband’s clothes are in there. You can
wear those for the time being.”

In a way, it felt odd to be granted a
dead man’s clothes, but he could see her logic. They weren’t doing
her husband any good. “Thank you.” Again.

It seemed the list of things to thank
her for was a mile long, but he’d find a way to repay her for her
kindness.

“
Are you hungry?” she asked
as she added salt to the soup.

“
A little but not much.
Actually, I’m more thirsty than anything else.”

She set the ladle aside and grabbed a
cup from the shelf. She picked up a pitcher and poured water into
the cup.

“
I could have done that,”
he told her. He hadn’t expected her to run to fetch him some water.
He’d just been making conversation.

“
You need to rest up. When
you feel like you can move around without getting dizzy, then I
won’t baby you so much.”

“
If that’s the case, I may
be dizzy for a long time,” he joked. It wasn’t every day a man got
treated like royalty.

“
Well, if I catch on that
you’re fibbing, then I’ll have to stop.”

He liked the twinkle in her eye as she
handed him his cup. “Thanks. Yet again.”

She sighed. “I should thank
you.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And what have I
done?”

“
You gave me someone to
talk to other than myself.” And with that, she turned back to the
soup, signaling that this particular conversation was at an
end.

Chapter Four

Two days later Penelope was in the
barn feeding the two horses when it started to rain. She had just
finished filling the trough when something wet hit her arm.
Glancing up, she was rewarded with two fat raindrops that nearly
hit her eyes. She quickly backed up so she could get a good view of
the hole in the roof. It wasn’t a big one, but it could become a
problem if she didn’t do something about it right away.

She hastened to the nearest wall and
retrieved the ladder that her husband had left there. She feared
that Randy had rushed through building this barn, and now she was
proven right. Never mind that he hadn’t listened to her. She was a
woman. What did she know? Rolling her eyes at his joke, she strode
out of the building. As much as she had loved him, she had to admit
the man wasn’t perfect. But then, what man was? Men, after all,
were human.

Sighing, she examined the structure
and estimated where the hole was on the roof. The rain came down
harder. It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of water on her.
Had she been alone out here, she’d take this opportunity to
actually bathe. She did that when it rained like this. It was
easier than dragging water from the well and heating it up for the
tub. But she didn’t dare bathe this time. Not with Cole in the
cabin, resting up after nearly passing out that morning.

She found the right spot along the
edge of the barn and set the ladder against it. Testing it to make
sure it was sturdy, she decided it would work. She hurried back
into the barn and found the material her husband had used to make
the roof. She dug out some nails and a hammer. Fortunately, she had
taken the time to watch him. As she headed out the door, she
noticed the growing puddle on the floor. If she didn’t take care of
this roof immediately, there’d be further damage, and who knew if
she could handle that much repair?

After she put her supplies in a bag,
she swung it over her shoulder and made her way to the ladder. She
was halfway up when someone called out to her.

“
What are you doing?” Cole
demanded.

She stopped and looked down at where
he stood at the foot of the ladder. “There’s a leak in the roof. I
have to fix it.”

He looked appalled. “You’ll do no such
thing. Get down here. I’ll take care of it.”

She hesitated. Fixing it wasn’t
something she wanted to do, and if he could...If he knew
how...

“
I use to work in
construction when I went to college,” he informed her, as if he
could read her mind. “I know how to do this.”

His offer was tempting. She wouldn’t
lie. But...“But you’re still sick.”

“
It’s better for me to be
sick than for you to be dead. Now, please get down before you fall
and break your neck or something.”

Relieved, she obeyed. She didn’t
realize her body was shaking until her feet landed safely on the
ground and she handed him the bag. “Everything you need is in
here.”

“
Good. Go to the house and
dry up. There’s no sense in both of us being sick.”

“
Alright. And I’ll make
some coffee so you can warm up when you’re done.”

He nodded and didn’t look back as he
climbed the ladder.

She waited until she was back in the
cabin before she peered out the window to see what progress he was
making. He was already on the roof, looking as if it was perfectly
natural for a person to climb up on a roof and start patching it
up.

“
I hope he doesn’t get
worse,” she whispered.

She shrugged off her wet clothes and
dumped them in the corner of the room. She’d wash those later.
Right now she had other matters to tend to. She went to the dresser
and pulled out dry clothes. At one time her yellow dress had been
vibrant and decorated in finely sewn flowers. Now it was faded and
some of the flowers had fallen off. It was slightly tattered along
the hemline. She realized it was proof of how different her life
was on the prairie. Back in Rhode Island, she’d never put on
anything so shabby.

She finished buttoning the top button
of her dress and stood still for a moment, wondering if she should
entertain foolish notions of looking attractive for a man she
hardly knew. Her husband got to see her at her best when he met her
at the train station. She’d worn a brand new pink dress and had her
hair nicely done for him. That dress had since become
rags.

Her hand settled on the knob on the
drawer next to her undergarments. It’d been a long time since she
gave any concern to her appearance. She slowly opened the drawer
and studied her brush, hand mirror, ribbons, barrettes, and her two
necklaces. Diamond necklaces. They were expensive. They had no use
out here. She realized she could sell them but hated the thought of
giving up a part of her past. The gold and diamonds would last her
a lifetime of memories while the clothes wouldn’t. She needed
something tangible to connect with the person she once was. Had her
parents not threatened to marry her to that awful Don Fergeson, she
wouldn’t have become a mail-order bride.

Closing her eyes, she recalled the
morning she told her parents the news:

Her father bolted from the breakfast
table, nearly upsetting the orange juice. “You what?”

“
I answered an ad to be a
mail-order bride. I can’t marry Don,” she replied in a shaky voice.
“He keeps a mistress. I don’t want to be married to a man like
that.”

Her mother sighed and settled back in
her chair. “It’s common. Your father has had several over the
course of our marriage.”

“
And that doesn’t bother
you?” she demanded, appalled to find this out...and like
this!

Her mother shrugged. “It is the way it
is. Marriage is a contract binding wealth. Don’s financial standing
will make you one of the richest women in the country.”

“
I don’t want to be rich. I
want to be happy.”

Her father laughed. “Happy? You think
struggling to make ends meet will make you happy? You’re nothing
but a dreamer, Penelope. Dreams were fine when you were a little
girl, but now it’s time to be a woman. You are marrying Don and
that is that.”

“
No. I’ve already packed.
I’m leaving today.”

He stopped laughing and stormed over
to her. “You ungrateful brat. Your mother and I have raised you in
the best schools and given you everything you’ve ever wanted. And
this is how you repay us?”

Her mother quickly stood up and ran
over to them. “Penelope, don’t go,” she pleaded. “If you wish for
love, then find a lover. Just be discreet about it.”

Penelope took a step back. She blinked
back the tears from her eyes. “That sounds like a miserable
existence.”

“
Do we look miserable?” her
mother asked.

She took a good look at them. Her
mother offered her usual charming smile. Her father glared at her.
It suddenly occurred to her that her mother’s smiles had been
faked. Her laughter had an undertone of sorrow to it. Her father
was perpetually angry. Yes, she decided. They looked like the most
miserable people she’d ever seen, and if she married Don, she’d end
up the same way.

“
I’m sorry but I can’t
marry him,” she softly replied. She turned around and stiffly made
her way to her luggage.

Randy warned her not to bring more
than one bag. He’d warned her that life out west was completely
different from what she was used to. In fact, he’d tried to talk
her out of going when he found out she came from money and would
have to give it all up to be with him. But she loved the way he
wrote and thought they would do well together. At least his plan of
being out on the prairie involved no one but her. He’d be too far
from town to take a mistress. And that appealed to her more than
anything else he’d said.

She picked her travel bag, wondering
just how different her life was about to become. She took one more
look at her parents. “I love you both.”

Her mother pressed a hand to her mouth
to hold back a sob.

Her father’s face grew bright red. “If
you walk out that door, don’t you dare come back.”

She almost tripped as she crossed the
threshold. Tears stung her eyes and her body trembled. Never did
she think the day would come when she’d have to leave everything
she ever knew behind. Deep in her heart, she knew she was doing the
right thing. There was a peace that she couldn’t
explain.

The last thing she heard her father
yell as she walked down the porch steps was, “Don’t come
back!”

She opened her eyes, her body slightly
shaking from the memory of that day over two years ago. There was
no going back. But she didn’t want to return either. She learned to
love the prairie, even if it did come with its moments of
loneliness.

Her fingers brushed her wedding ring.
The small gold band was not as fancy as her necklaces, but it was
the best he could afford. Randy had been a good husband to her. She
didn’t regret coming out here to meet him. She’d loved him and he’d
loved her in return.

And now for the first time,
she was beginning to care for someone else.
It’s foolishness, Penelope. You don’t know Cole. But you
didn’t know Randy either and look how that turned out.
She finally closed the drawer. Maybe another day
she’d worry about how she looked. For now, she’d take it one day at
a time and see what happened.

Chapter Five

Cole went through another round of
coughing. The phlegm finally came up into the handkerchief that
Penelope had given him. He gagged at the sight of it. Being
sick...again...was not his idea of a good time. He laid back on the
bed and took a deep breath, his lungs thrilled with the temporary
reprieve from the congestion. Even if he did feel like he’d been
pulled through the wringer, he was glad the roof was repaired. He
vowed to fix the whole thing once he was well enough.

He stared at the ceiling. He needed to
rest if he wanted to get out of here. He had to get to Fargo, and
the sooner he did that, the better. Who knew where Blake was? For
all Cole knew, he was making his way to Fargo right now. But there
was no way Blake could know the location of the chip. That simple
logic reassured Cole enough so that he didn’t do something
stupid...like take off right away.

Rest. Yes. He needed rest. He closed
his eyes and breathed in and out, letting the action calm
him.