Whispering Hills of Love (American Wilderness Series Romance Book 3) (18 page)

As William strode over to greet his brothers, she found her father, hoping to have a few private words with him. “Papa, I can’t tell you what it meant to me to hear you say what you did. I’m so glad you’ve given up whiskey and want to be my father again.” Her heart filled with hope.

“I do, Kelly girl. I always was your Papa, but when I drink, I forget that for some reason. I don’t even feel like the same person. I feel rotten and wretched. And I know I don’t act like myself. Something happens to my mind and it lets out all the bad in me.”

His words echoed her own thoughts. “I know. I hardly recognized the man you became.”

“You’re all that I have left in the world and you mean everything to me. Forgive me, forgive me for all the wrongs I’ve done to you. Can you?” He stared at her, imploring her absolution.

“I’ll forgive you, Papa, but I won’t be able to forget. I wish I could.” A cold shiver spread over her as she recalled some of his recent stays in their home—the days when he turned into another man. She regarded him somberly. “However, I understand now how losing my mother could have changed you so much. I realize you loved her deeply. I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost William, and we’re not even married yet.” The thought made her shudder. “But William taught me something important. When bad things happen to us, we have two choices. We can let it break us or we can let it make us stronger. We both need to try hard to be stronger.”

“He’s a wise man. He’ll make you a fine husband, my girl.”

“Will you move to Boonesborough?” she asked, wanting to keep an eye on him.

Colonel Boone ambled over and overhead her question. “You could have a productive farm near Boonesborough. A man can grow a hundred bushels of corn an acre with good care. Seventy-five with middling care, and fifty if you don’t plant at all.”

McGuffin laughed. “Could it be that you are exaggerating just a bit Colonel?”

“I guess that’s possible,” Boone acknowledged with a wink at Kelly.

“I’ve spent my life in the wild maneuvering around tree
stumps,” McGuffin said, “I guess I’m too old now to start plowing them up.”

“Life is simpler when you plow around the stump,” Boone said. “But I understand.”

“Kelly, lass” Bear shouted in his booming voice, as he hurried over to her, leading both Camel and Harpes’ stallion. “I hear ye are going to be our sister.”

“Is that all right with you my wee little friend?” she asked, reaching up to place a hand on the giant’s broad shoulder.

“Aye. And it’s about time. I don’t know what took William so long to ask ye.” With one of his enormous hands, he affectionately disheveled the hair she had just finally got straight.

“Bear!”

“I’ll second that,” Sam added with enthusiasm, and reached over with one of his big hands, patted her head, and scrunched up her hair too! “Welcome to our family, Kelly.”

Good heavens. Did all three brothers have something against straight hair? She had probably never looked worse. She quickly retrieved her comb yet again while Sam and Bear both shook her father’s outstretched hand and returned his stolen weapons to him. Soon, she heard them exchanging words of congratulations and saying cheers with coffee cups in hand.

“I believe we all have a wedding to attend,” Boone said after a few minutes, drawing a Bible out of his saddle bag. Then he showed Kelly and William where to stand. Her father took her arm and stood before the Colonel. Sam and Bear stood on either side of William, who beamed back at her with a smile as bright as the morning sun.

With her heart shaking within her breast, Kelly listened
intently, as Boone began.

“Marriage as an institution, is appointed by God, honored by Jesus, and declared to be desirable by the sainted apostle Paul.

“Yet this honorable institution requires grace and understanding for one another to prevail over the often wayward ways of fate and life. The prevailing winds of love are sometimes a hearty gale, now and then a steady gust, at times a gentle wind, and even on occasion, a whispered breeze.

But you must respect all of these times, for the gift that they are.

“And do not fail to listen to one another and to God. As the natives so beautifully say, ‘Listen to the wind—it talks. Listen to the silence—it understands. Listen to your heart—it knows.’

“From the first book of this Bible, we read, ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.’”

Kelly remembered the next verse. ‘And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.’ She had forgotten it earlier when William mentioned seeing her unclothed. He was right. It would be perfectly natural. And she did want to see all of William and love all of him.

As her mind drifted to that tantalizing image, Boone continued, and before she realized what was happening, she found herself saying, “I do.”

CHAPTER 17

“I
must be on my way,” Boone said. “I need to reach Lexington before dark and these fall days are growing short.”

“We understand, Colonel,” William replied. “You have our gratitude for so much—for the cabin, for saving Kelly’s father, and now for marrying us. What a great honor it was to have you be the one to marry us.”

“The honor is all mine,” Boone said, with a kind smile. With that, he shook the hands of all the men and gave Kelly a quick kiss on her hand.

“Before you leave,” Sam said, “I just want to say, I will remember with grateful emotions the day you pitched your tent and identified yourself with the wilderness of Kentucky.”

“Aye,” Bear agreed.

Boone nodded to them both, acknowledging their expressions of gratitude.

“Enjoy your ride home Colonel Boone,” Kelly said.

“Indeed I will,” Boone said. “I believe heaven must be a
Kentucky kind of place.”

William watched as Boone rode away, hoping the aging hero would arrive safely at his final destination. Then William decided that for men like Daniel Boone, there was no final destination, just the next starting point.

“Shall we get packed up and head home?” he asked his new bride.

“Yes, husband,” Kelly answered jauntily, a breeze fluffing her blonde locks.

“Catherine and I will give you two a special wedding present. She’ll want to have a say as to what,” Sam said after they had mounted and were on the trail to Boonesborough again, “but how about this for a start. I would like to offer you a job Mister McGuffin. I can pay you well and provide food and a tent. We need another hand to help with the building of our new home near Cumberland Falls. The architect has finalized the plans and yesterday I bought the remaining tools and supplies we will need. Bear has agreed to help as well. With three men, we can make rapid progress.”

“Oh Papa, what a generous offer,” Kelly exclaimed. “Now you won’t have to spend the winter trapping in those hills.”

“I thank you for your offer, Captain Sam, and now that we’re family, please call me Rory,” McGuffin said. “I built our cabin myself, so I do possess some carpentry skills. It will be hard to miss the trapping season, but it would be nice to have a change of scenery. All right, I accept,” McGuffin said.

“There will be only one caveat,” William said, interjecting. “You cannot bring any whiskey with you or consume any while employed by my brother.”

“To do so, will result in your dismissal,” Sam added, his tone leaving no doubt that he meant it.

“And one more,” Kelly said, “you must accompany Captain Sam to Boonesborough every time he makes a trip there, so I can see you often.”

“Agreed,” McGuffin said, “no more drinking and a lot more visiting.”

William watched Kelly study her father as though she were trying to decide if he could keep his promise. He sincerely hoped the man would. If her father ever gave Sam any trouble or caused Kelly any more grief, McGuffin would answer to him.

“Was that thunder?” Kelly asked, her long hair blown into disarray by a sudden wind.

William and Sam both stopped and turned their horses back toward the north. Clouds were quickly enveloping the horizon. The upper part of the cloud mass was the shape of an anvil and below it, the sky was an eerie blue-black color. A rapidly moving autumnal cold front could drop the temperature twenty or thirty degrees in a few minutes.

“It’s a blue-tailed norther,” Sam declared.

“In Virginia, we call those a winter whistler,” McGuffin said. “The wind just whistles through the trees and sets the stage for the first frost.”

The wind, stiffer now, brushed against William’s cheeks. “It’s moving our way fast. We’d best pick up our pace. Mister McGuffin, ride Harpes’ stallion. Carrying you, your horse won’t be able to keep up.”

“But I’m fond of old Alexander the Great,” McGuffin said. “Alex and I have been through a lot together, me and him.”

“Well it’s time to give the old boy a rest,” William said. “Switch horses and be quick about it, Sir.”

For some time, they rode at a fast gallop, McGuffin’s older mount tied to the back of the handsome stallion Kelly’s father now rode.

Before long, the gentle wind turned to determined gusts from the north, carrying drops of rain that slapped at the backs of their necks.

Sam shouted to William. “The temperature will soon drop like a rock.”

“The front of our mounts will be lathered from heat and their arses frozen,” Bear said.

Bear was right. The sudden change in the temperature was not only hard on people it was especially bad for horses.

The drops of rain turned to squalls and within minutes, they were all soaked to their skin. He wished he could do something to make it easier on Kelly. He measured her with an appraising look, wondering if she was up to coping with the storm. She seemed to be holding up all right, but he detected a slight quiver in her hands and the heavy rain forced her to keep her uncovered head facing the saddle. “Here, wear my hat,” he shouted, handing his tricorne to her.

“It’s too big, I’m sure it will just blow off,” she yelled. “but, I’ll try.” She placed the hat on her head and it seemed to fit snugly. She managed a smile at him and a shrug. “I guess I have a big head.”

William thought she looked charming in his hat, her long wet hair hanging down both sides. The sight of her warmed his insides as no fire could, but the outside of him continued to grow
unpleasantly chilled.

The rain continued to pelt them, with the drops getting colder by the minute. William held one arm across his forehead and tried to shield his eyes in the crux of his elbow from the deluge’s constant barrage. His wool coat grew heavy on his back and his wet shirt felt like an icy second skin. Kelly didn’t even have a coat on. “Where’s your coat,” he called to her.

She was actually trembling now. “In my bag, but it’s not really a coat. Just a jacket.”

It had been so warm when they’d left, he hadn’t even thought about bringing his wool cloak. But he sincerely wished he could offer it to Kelly now. Before he could retrieve the jacket from her bag, the rain turned to hail and they rushed to find a bit of cover under the trees. But the wind was so high it whipped pieces of branches and leaves at them with nearly as much force as the hail. Kelly tried to cover her face with her bent arm.

“We have to find shelter,” William yelled.

“This squall will blow through soon. Then our real worries begin,” Sam replied.

“Why?” Kelly asked, sounding worried.

“Because that’s when the wind becomes even colder,” her father answered.

Being wet was bad, but being cold and wet was serious, and combined with a strong wind, even dangerous. William twisted the reins in his hands nervously, worried Kelly would get sick and catch a fever. He glanced at her uneasily and his mind clouded with fear when he noticed her teeth chattering and her body trembling. He would do anything, fight anyone, to keep her safe, but how could he get her out of this weather? It’s impossible to
fight the wind.

Sam seemed to sense his disquiet. “Let’s head toward those boulders. Perhaps we can find a dry cave or at least a shelter against the wind. I’ll scout ahead,” he offered and took off.

The rain was so heavy, William had a hard time keeping Sam in sight and the four of them struggled to keep up with his brother.

Sam led them down a deer trail and then they crossed a gulley and started climbing upwards. The thick trees in the ravine offered some measure of shelter, but water was pouring through the layer of fall leaves covering the ground, making the surface slick. The higher they climbed, the more treacherous it became. Where was Sam taking them? Having spent so much time in the backwoods, his brother seemed to have a sixth sense in the wild. He would trust in Sam.

To the sound of thunder, they wove their way through sandstone outcrops, which opened into a natural enclosure. The blustery wind instantly died down, blocked by the limestone cliffs surrounding them. But the icy rain continued unabated.

Sam pressed on, searching to the left, and Bear joined him and began searching to the right. The three of them held back, waiting to see what the two men found, if anything. He was about to reach over and pull Kelly in front of him, to let his body warm her, when Bear finally waved and shouted. He’d located an opening at the bottom of the cliff on the right. It looked like a cave entrance—wider at the top, narrower at the bottom, and large enough for a man to step through.

Sam and Bear dismounted, and as soon as the three of them reached his brothers, they stepped off their horses as well. Sam tied his gelding to a tree limb, and then unsheathed his huge
knife. He cut four branches from a small tree, sheltered from the rain under a nearby limestone outcrop. In the same spot, Bear collected a few old vines and McGuffin used a square of oiled canvas to gather up some dry leaves and tinder from under the overhang.

William tied the other horses and then took Kelly’s arm and guided her out of the storm and into the cave opening, to wait for the others. He put his arm around her shoulder and drew her into his side.

“What are they doing?” she asked, snuggling against his shoulder.

The vigorous wind and cold had whipped color into her cheeks and her beauty made him just stare at her for a moment before he could answer. “They are gathering what we will need to make torches and a fire,” William finally answered. He wanted to kiss her, deep and long, and hold her soft curves against him, as he explored her luscious mouth. But with her father and his brothers just a few feet away, he had to be satisfied with just a look at her.