“Fine. But here’s what you need to understand,” Blake said. “I think I can speak for my parents when I say that you’re welcome to be friends with Kristin. But if things were to go beyond friendship, you could both end up hurt. Do you understand?”
As he spoke, Blake couldn’t help thinking of his own mother. If she hadn’t fallen in love with Joe Dollarhide, who’d ridden off and unknowingly left her pregnant, she would be a doctor now. But the family she loved wouldn’t exist.
Sarah had always claimed that she had no regrets. But she would never wish the same fate for her daughter. She was determined that nothing—including romance—be allowed to stand between Kristin and her dream.
“I do understand.” Alvar’s reply pulled his thoughts back to the present. “There’s no need to worry. Kristin and I are friends. But we won’t be seeing much of each other after I leave here and go home.”
“That could happen as soon as tomorrow,” Blake said. “Your family is anxious to have you back. I promised them some wood to shore up their house and shed for winter. Once my mother makes sure your leg is healing, I’ll load up a wagon and send Garrity with you to drive it back here. You can take the mare along and keep it until you’re ready to work again.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Alvar said. “And thank you for being so kind to my family. I only wish we had a way to repay you.”
“No need for that. But I had to talk your father into taking the wood. He’s a proud man. And a stubborn man.”
“Stubborn. Right. That’s the word for him. He’s determined to make me into a wheat farmer.” Alvar shook his blond head. “I understand that it’s been his dream to have his own land and pass it down to his sons. But spending my life on that farm would be like a prison sentence. Axel can have it all.”
“I’d help you if I could,” Blake said. “But it’s not my place to go against your father’s wishes.”
“I know,” Alvar said. “Any changes in my future will be up to me.”
“What about your sisters?” As soon as he’d voiced the question, Blake knew that he was really asking about Hanna.
“It’s even worse for them. Hanna’s so bright and so hungry to learn. I know she’d like to go to school, maybe become a teacher. The same goes for Britta. And Gerda—she’s a little firecracker. But all Papa wants to do is marry them off. He and Mama were devastated when Hanna didn’t wed Ulli. It didn’t matter that she didn’t love him. It was all for the sake of the family. And now . . .” His words trailed off. A shadow seemed to pass across his face. “Never mind. You must be tired, and I’m keeping you awake.”
Blake stood, stretching his legs. He’d had a long day and he was worn out. But tonight, the restlessness that flowed through his body threatened to keep him awake for hours. “Do you want me to put out the lamp?” he asked.
“No, leave it, thanks.” Alvar picked up a thick book from the nightstand. “I’ve been asleep most of the day. And tonight Kristin brought me this book—Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain. I can’t wait to start reading it.”
“You’ll enjoy the book. It’s a great story. But get some sleep, too. You need to heal.” Blake closed the door behind him, wandered back downstairs and out onto the broad front porch.
The full moon rode the peak of the sky, its golden disk drifting among scattered clouds that cast shadows over the grassland below. From where he stood at the rail, Blake could see beyond the Dollarhide spread to the railroad, and from there to the town, whose buildings lay like a scattering of pebbles on the horizon. Looking north, he could make out the wheat farms, edging on the borders of the Calder ranch.
Joe Dollarhide had chosen the site of his home and built this porch for the view it commanded. Standing here, gazing out over the slumbering countryside, it was easy enough to feel a sense of peace. But Blake knew that peace was only an illusion. The land was seething with conflict and change, with every day bringing new dangers and new challenges.
A raw wind swept in from the west carrying a chill, like a warning of the winter to come. Over the past few years Blake had felt like a rock in a river—the good son and brother, the responsible manager, the neutral friend, standing fast amid the forces that clashed around him. But a voice in the wind seemed to whisper that things were about to change—things he’d be powerless to prevent.
Clouds had drifted across the moon, casting the land in shadow. Standing in the darkness, hearing the distant wail of a coyote, Blake felt a strange premonition—a sense that the months ahead would try him as he’d never been tried in his life.
* * *
On Friday, two days after his accident, Alvar left for home. Sarah had replaced the dressing on his leg and declared that the wound was healing well. With a warning to keep it wrapped and clean, she saw him mounted and off down the road to the sawmill, from where he would take the wagonload of wood back to his family. With him, he carried a bundle that held extra wrappings for his wound, a small tin of salve, and the Huckleberry Finn volume he’d been allowed to borrow.
Riding alongside him, Blake couldn’t help noticing how Alvar kept glancing back toward the house, where Kristin stood at the porch rail, holding him with her gaze until he rounded the bend and vanished from her sight. Any fool could see that the two young people had fallen in love, which didn’t bode well any way it might be viewed. The difference in their stations, her school and career plans, his father’s determination to keep him at home, and the enmity between ranchers and farmers combined into a sure recipe for disaster.
Blake knew better than to waste his breath offering more advice. He could only hope that some time apart would bring the two young people to their senses.
The earsplitting whine of steel cutting into wood grew louder as they neared the mill. The aroma of fresh sawdust drifted on the air. After the accident that had injured Alvar, Blake had sent the damaged blade to a blacksmith in town and installed a spare in its place so the work could go on.
After stacking a wagon with surplus boards and helping Garrity hitch up the team, he saw Alvar off, riding the bench next to the old man, with his borrowed mare tied alongside. After watching the wagon grow small with distance, he turned away and put his mind to other things.
The blacksmith had promised to have the blade repaired by this afternoon. Since Blake had other business in town and needed some items from the hardware store, he’d made plans to pick up the heavy blade and bring it back on the mill’s two-wheeled flatbed cart. If things were going smoothly at the mill, he could go later today. Meanwhile, with Alvar gone, the crew was shorthanded. To get the current lumber orders out on time, he would need to roll up his sleeves and pitch in to help.
* * *
By midafternoon, the week’s current orders were filled. Garrity had returned with the wagon, along with the bottle of cheap whiskey he’d bought on his way through town. With the next big log shipment not due until Monday, Blake paid his crew and sent them home. That done, he washed up at the pump and set out for Blue Moon.
As he followed the road to town, with a single horse pulling the flatbed cart, Blake’s mind was on business. The past few months had been the most profitable ever for the Dollarhide Lumber Company. As long as Blue Moon continued to grow and prosper, the outlook for next spring would be even brighter. Those drylanders who reaped a crop this fall and survived the winter would be keen to build sturdy, comfortable homes, along with sheds for their farming equipment and barns for their animals. New businesses moving in would need lumber, too.