Texas Blue

chapter 37



THEY ARRIVED BACK AT THE MISSION ABOUT NOON the next day. The priest offered them all a bath, and the cooks had been busy in the kitchen. A meal was waiting for them when they were clean and dry.

Though Sumner asked questions, Wyatt and Duncan gave only the barest of details. To them, they’d done what they rode out to do and it was finished. The old man seemed to understand. He was cut from the same cloth.

Em finished eating and went to her tiny room in the nuns’ quarters. The mission smelled of incense and memories two hundred years in the making. Its thick walls closed out the world and all sounds. She slipped into the simple white gown they’d given her when she’d first arrived and curled up beneath a warm blanket. Within seconds she was asleep. The sound sleep of those too tired to even dream.

It was dawn the next morning when she woke. Sometime during the night her mind had let everything settle in her thoughts, and in the stillness, Em saw the world more clearly than ever before.

Ten minutes later, she found Lewt at breakfast. He smiled at her, but not his usual bold smile. There was an uncertainty in his gaze, as if maybe he’d stepped over the line. They weren’t two people alone now; they were surrounded not only with others, but with who they were.

“Morning,” he said, without adding a darling to it as she thought he might.

“Morning,” she answered, very much aware that the cooks were watching. “Where is everyone?”

“We’re loading up the supplies,” Sarah J said, as if she thought she was part of their conversation. “Sumner says we’re heading out in an hour, and I don’t plan to be hungry on the train. Rachel made some of her wonderful bread for the priest and the sisters, but I made a few meals for the road.”

Em looked at Lewt, hoping he’d fill in the details.

He pulled out her chair and poured her a cup of coffee before he spoke. “If we move fast, you can make the night train into Austin and from there to Anderson Glen by dawn tomorrow though we’ll probably have to ride on one of the freight runs.”

“We’re heading home.” She almost jumped out of her chair. “I can’t wait. I’ve never missed anything as much as I miss home.”

“Sumner and Wyatt are getting the wagon in better shape to make the trip. Duncan’s saying good-bye to Anna, and I was assigned to pound on your door if you didn’t appear soon.”

A dozen questions came to mind, but they’d have to wait. If she planned to be ready when they pulled out, she had to hurry.

Lewt stood as she jumped up and caught her chair as she knocked it back in her haste. “We’re going home.” The other three didn’t look as excited as she felt.

Em ran to her room and packed her few things as fast as she could. She wanted to have time to check all the horses before they started out and to say good-bye to the priest and nuns she’d met.

When she glanced out her window into the courtyard, she saw Duncan standing beside Anna. She’d removed her little-girl shift and was wearing one of the habits the sisters had given her, but her wild hair was still free.

Em turned away, not wanting to eavesdrop.

It appeared all were safe and they were heading home. By tomorrow she could be riding across the ranch and they’d all sit around at dinner and talk of all that had happened.