Faith and Love Found by Claudia Hope Read Free Book Online Page B

The animals had very specific needs, but if she went too long taking care of them, then Clint starved or went hours without water in the height of the day’s heat. Barring that, the house quickly became dusty as she tracked dirt through the house with every meal or change of clothes.
    As time went on, however, she figured out the most efficient method for keeping track of needs. Clint accepted her caretaking with dignity, showing her proper respect as he always did. For such a tough man, he seemed at peace with the fact she had seen him in such pain. In her experience, men hated anyone seeing them in a state of weakness such as that. Not Clint. It was clear he wasn’t pleased about it, but it had happened, and there was nothing further to be done. They were married, after all.
    She could tell that as time went on, his restlessness was getting the better of him. He tried a few times to get out of bed with detrimental results to the health of his healing leg. Recognizing this, she began asking him for advice on some aspects of the ranch that eluded her. Unlike before when he reprimanded her for performing something not to his liking, this time he gave her examples of what he did and asked her how she had been performing the tasks. When she told him, instead of telling her all the ways she was wrong and why his way was better, he tried to find a middle ground. They were able to discuss solutions together. For the first time, it felt to Valentine that they were becoming a team.
    As time marched on, and Clint’s leg healed, a true bond had formed between them. She looked forward to speaking with him every day. On each outing she tried to find some other chore around the ranch to ask him about just so that they had something to talk about.
    For the most part the ranch was self-sufficient. The vegetable garden, the cattle, and the handful of chickens that ran around provided just about everything they needed to survive. Still, the animals had needs that weren’t quite as sustainable, and of those supplies, they were running low.
    Clint was to the point he could make it out of bed and hobble about on some makeshift crutches she had cobbled together for him. It let him roam the porch and get some sun instead of staying cooped up in the room all day. Valentine was doing everything around the house as it was, so when she volunteered to go to town to get what they needed, Clint had little room to argue. She could tell he was uncomfortable by the prospect, claiming it was her safety he was most concerned about.
    Still, there was something else behind his eyes. That night when she prodded him about it, he shrugged it off and turned strangely distant. The reaction was surprisingly hurtful for her. They’d grown closer while he recovered, or at least she had thought so. Now it felt he distanced himself from her and it left her feeling strangely alone and lost.
    Awkward goodbyes were exchanged the next day when she left at first light for town. They’d gone to bed not talking, and the fact that it hadn’t smoothed over that morning stayed with her the whole trip into town.
    The excitement of the people and the hustle and bustle of town momentarily wiped all of that away. Out on the ranch since the day she arrived, she realized she didn’t know a single person in this town she was now calling home. As she pulled the cart up and hitched it outside of the general store, she did her best to put on a friendly face and smile to those that seemed they would smile back.
    The town she had grown up in was a tightknit community where everyone knew everyone else. No one would have let a new bride go unvisited for as long as she had. Despite her attempts at being friendly, no one returned it. Not even a polite head nod.
    Feeling even more alone than before, she walked into the general store, her head held high. They wouldn’t have the satisfaction of feeling they’d had any effect on her confidence. She approached the clerk and listed off the