Dating Two Dragons (80 page)

Chapter Two

Springwater, Colorado

              Having written down the directions the man in the office had given her, Anna traveled from the Colorado train station with nothing but the clothes on her back and the money in her purse. She headed for the small town Springwater, though—based on what the man had told her—Earl didn’t actually live in the town; he lived in the forest that surrounded the town, which was fantastic, as far as Anna was concerned.

The mere fact that she was several states away from Mr. Marino put her mind at ease. She was less frenzied as she traveled from one Colorado town to another. She bought food and clothes for herself in each town, and when she changed out of her stolen dress and into one of her new ones, she started feeling less like a stranger to this state and more like she belonged in it.

She was out of money by the time she reached the outer edge of Springwater’s forest, but she wasn’t worried. If anything, she was eager. There was a hop in her step as she walked through the forest with her bag swinging back and forth in her hands. In the back of her mind, she knew should be weary of wildlife, but she couldn’t help but focus more on thoughts of her future husband and her future home. She grinned, thinking about how handsome he might be—how lovely their home.

Anna mentally shook those thoughts from her head. It didn’t matter if her future husband was ugly and if the cabin was horrid; as long as she wasn’t anywhere near Marino and his fellas, she would be fine.

When she found the dirt road the man from the office back home had mentioned, Anna nearly squealed with delight. She was almost there. She would have run up that dirt path if she hadn’t been sore, but she was a city gal, and all this trekking through Colorado had taken a lot out of her; sleeping on the street hadn’t done much for her muscles either.

By the time she saw the cabin up ahead, it seemed like a Godsend. Despite the ache that pulsated through her entire body, she walked quickly to the cabin’s front door and dropped her small bag of new clothes. Standing before this door—being in front of her new home—she felt safer than she had in years, the calming sensation bringing tears of relief to her eyes.

Inhaling a quivering breath, she raised her fist and knocked on the door.

She waited several seconds, her ears straining to hear even the smallest of sounds. When she didn’t hear anything, she knocked on the door again.

Footsteps and other indistinct sounds could be heard on the other side of the door, and Anna leaned back on her heels and willed herself to be patient. As she waited, her gaze wandered to the right, and it was there that she spotted a barn through the trees. There was also a long fence that surrounded it and the large valley behind it. In the back of her mind, she wondered what the sky looked like from that open valley—no trees cluttering her view.

              The door opened, making Anna jump and look forward. The man before her was tall and bearded, his green eyes so vibrant that she was mesmerized by them.

              “Yes?” he said, eyeing her.

              She jumped again and blushed. “Oh, hello. I’m Anna McLeary.”

              He continued to stare at her.

              “Your new bride?” she said. Nervousness and embarrassment jittered through her. “You are Earl Smith, aren’t you?”

              His eyebrows shot up. His facial muscles went slack for a second before he clenched his teeth and narrowed his gaze. “I would have received notification of your arrival if that was true.”

              “You didn’t get a letter from…” Anna realized she didn’t even know the man’s name from that office back home. Panic constricted her lungs, quieting her voice. “From the office?”

              “What?”

              She flinched. “He said you were looking for a wife and that you were having a difficult time finding one because you live in the middle of no—” She stiffened when Earl deepened his glare. “Here. Because you live here, which I think is lovely.”

              “Look,” Earl said, his lips curling downward as he spat out the word, “I don’t trust easily. Now, if what you’re saying is true, then a letter will come to me to prove that.”

              Anna relaxed. “Yes, exactly.”

              “So you won’t mind sleeping in the barn until that happens.”

              “Of cour—wait, I beg your pardon?”

              “I don’t care that you’re a woman. I don’t trust you. I don’t even know your name.”

              “Anna McLeary.”

              “Nice to meet you, Anna. Are you willing to sleep in the barn for days? Weeks?”

              Anna thought about Mr. Marino. “Yes, I am.”

              Earl cocked an eyebrow. “Is that so?” He made a noise of thought. “Well, then, you won’t mind doing some work around the barn, too. To pay for your keep while you’re here.”

              Again, Anna thought about Mr. Marino. “Are you going to beat me? Threaten me? Have your friends hurt me?”

              A look of disgust flashed over Earl’s face. Then he sneered at her. “What if I do?”

              “Then I’ll leave.”

              A silent moment past between them, Earl still sneering at her and Anna waiting patiently for him to do something horrible. She wasn’t really worried though—she couldn’t imagine anyone being worse than Marino—and Earl obviously noticed that. Clearly annoyed, he huffed and leaned back.

              “Fine,” he said. “You can stay in the barn and work for your keep until I get that letter that may or may not show up here.”

              “It will,” she said, smiling with triumphant.

              He rolled his eyes. “Wait here.” He slammed the door in her face before she could respond.

              “Sure thing,” she muttered, sagging a little with relief and exhaustion. This man was going to be more troublesome than she thought, but again, as long as he wasn’t Marino, she would manage.

              When Earl opened the door again, he had a few blankets in his arms and he was walking past her and toward the barn. “Come on,” he said, sounding annoyed.

              Anna grabbed her bag and did as he instructed.

Chapter Three

              The following weeks were awkward and grueling as Anna struggled to learn how to milk each cow, how to clean the horse’s stall, and how to deal with a chicken who kept eating its own eggs. She had never done any kind of work outside when she was in New York, and her lack of experience was obvious. Earl griped at her when she didn’t complete a task quick enough—when she wasn’t working hard enough to earn her grip.

              A sense of loathing was starting to build up within her—due to her own sense of feebleness and to Earl’s harsh behavior—but she still felt better here than she had in New York City. Earl never went near her, much less laid a hand on her. If the worse he did to her was complain and criticize, she would be fine. And, whether Earl wanted to acknowledge it or not, she had been getting better at handling the animals—at outside-work, in general.

              When the letter arrived, Earl actually looked surprised and guilt-ridden. Standing before her in the barn, he held the letter by his side and blew out a breath. “You weren’t lying.”

              She glanced between his face and the paper he held. “I wasn’t.” Behind her was the pile of hay and blankets she had been using as a bed the past couple of weeks. Beside her feet was her bag, half-opened and stained with various brown spots now.

              She didn’t want to think about what those brown spots were made of.

              Earl pressed his lips together in a thin line and glanced at her bag. “Well…we should get married then. I know the church in town. We can get it done in a matter of days.”

              “Oh,” she said, disappointment tainting her sense of validation. She hadn’t expected love-at-first-sight, but a little romance would have been nice. “Alright. That would be nice.”

              Earl scratched the back of his neck. He seemed to sway toward her a bit before he turned and picked up her bag of dirty clothes. “Sorry,” he said quietly, sounding as if he was spitting out the word. He hesitated, his eyes glued to the bag in his hands. Then he swiftly walked toward the barn doors. “I’ll get things ready for our journey into town.”

              She smiled at his retreating form. Romantic or not, this was progress, and she could appreciate that. He no longer saw her as a suspicious stranger, trying to swindle him, but as his fiancé. He was being polite now, even if it did look it pained him to be that way. Again, he was much, much better than Marino.

              “You coming?” he called back to her. He stopped right in front of the large barn doors and turned to her.

              “Am I allowed inside your home now?” she asked, crossing her arms. Appreciative or not, she still wanted to revel in this moment for as long as she could; it felt like a victory of some sort. A playful smirk widened her lips.

              Earl sighed. “Yes, you are allowed inside the house. Again, I’m sorry about…everything, I guess.”

She walked to him and, for the first time, patted him on the shoulder. “How very kind of you.” She continued forward, feeling confident and triumphant with each step she took.

Earl grumbled as he followed her back to the house. She nearly laughed at some of the strange things he said, the twang in his dialect amusing her immensely. She wondered if she had a city accent that he found funny, but decided it was better not to ask. She finally had some leverage over him now, and she didn’t want to ruin it by having him explain to her why she sounded funny to him.

“You don’t want a fancy wedding, do you?” Earl asked as they grew closer to the cabin.

She snorted. “No, not at all. I just want to make sure I will always have a roof over my head and access to food. The ceremony that provides that certainty does not need to be ‘fancy.’ For me, it just needs to be done. Is that fair?”

Earl nodded. “Yes. That is fair.”

A kind of peace settled between them, making Anna feel reassured and secure. She was convinced that the hardest part of this arrangement was over.

As expected, their wedding was very small, the pastor and the guests acting out of ceremony more than familiarity. These townspeople had seemed to recognize Earl, and they had agreed to attend and help him with his impromptu wedding, but they acted as if they were surprised to see Earl was even alive. And they barely looked at Anna, even when she walked down the aisle in her cheap white dress. It made the entire ceremony very awkward—everyone distant and weary of…well, of her and Earl, Anna supposed. She couldn’t be sure since no one was telling her anything.

However, as uncomfortable and confusing as all of that was, the worst part was Earl’s reaction as the pastor in between him and her read from the Bible. Earl’s expression had crumbled, his eyes wide and watering; he looked devastated, and it broke Anna’s heart. Regardless, she smiled through it, saying “I do” when the pastor told her to, and then kissing Earl before the married couple hurried out of the church and headed back home on the two horses they had rode into town on.

Following Earl through the forest on her horse, Anna reflected on these occurrences with a heavy heart. The sky was growing dark, as was the trim of her white dress. It was hard to care about these things though when Earl didn’t seem to want to care about anything. Or maybe he was caring too much about things, but why? Did those townspeople and pastor know why?

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” she asked over the loud footsteps of their horses.

Earl glanced back at her but said nothing.

“Earl, what’s wrong? Why was none of our…why was no one looking at me? Did I do something wrong?” She clamped her mouth shut after speaking those words. Though he had apparently trusted her enough to marry her, she knew she was crossing a line by speaking out like this. But, at the same time, a part of her didn’t care; she deserved to know what kind of life she had gotten herself into. “Earl?”

He slowed his horse and guided it to the side; this allowed Anna and her horse to move forward and walk beside him.

“I was married before you,” he said, his gaze forward. “And some of those people used to be her friends. And mine. But…I haven’t been into town since she—since my wife…” He clenched his teeth, his jaw twitching in response.

Anna’s breath hitched, her grip on the reins tightening. She honestly hadn’t expected him to be so open so quickly, and…and he had a wife? Remarkably, even though anxiety clawed into her torso, being here was still better than being near Marino.

“She died a year ago,” Earl said, his tone placid but his facial muscles tensed.

Anna nearly sighed with relief, but caught herself and held her breath instead. A bit of shame clawed at her for responding in such a way to the news of someone’s death, and she lowered her gaze.

“And I’ve missed her,” he continued, regaining her full attention. “Out here, by myself, loneliness got to me and I…I’m still not sure if marrying you was right. I…I promised her I would be hers forever, but…I can’t. I just can’t.” He bowed his head, a shudder passing through him.