Rekindled by Tamera Alexander Read Free Book Online Page A

ranch?”
    A quizzical look swept his face. “ Your ranch, ma’am?”
    Determination stiffened her spine. “Yes, it’s my husband’s and mine.”
    That simple declaration inspired courage and strength, and a hope she hadn’t known in nearly two months. Was this a small taste of what Larson felt for this land? If so, no wonder he had worked so tirelessly to keep it.
    Matthew laughed low and quick. “I don’t reckon it’d make much difference if you ask them. Most of them don’t take to the idea of workin’ for a woman anyhow.”
    Twilight shadowed the quivering aspen and towering birch canopying them, but Kathryn could see the hint of a smile tipping his mouth. It brought one to hers too.
    “I gotta admit, it’s not something I ever thought I’d do.” His look sobered. “But I gave my word to your husband that I’d work through the spring. And I intend to stand by that.”
    “I appreciate your integrity, Mr. Taylor. I look forward to doing business with you.”
    After Matthew and the other men disappeared down the trail, Kathryn turned and walked back to the cabin. She wondered how many ranch hands Larson had to begin with and how many there would still be come Monday.
    After latching the door behind her, she stood for a moment in the dark silence of the cabin. The utter stillness held an invitation she wasn’t ready to face yet. She lit a single lamp and set about preparing dinner. She hadn’t cooked much recently. Her appetite had noticeably, understandably, lessened.
    Bending over to get a cup from a lower shelf, Kathryn’s world tilted.
    She grabbed hold of the back of a kitchen chair, but it toppled under her weight. Her knees hit the floor with a dull thud. The room spun in circles around her. Giving in to the dizzying whirl, she sank to the floor. Her stomach spasmed, and she tasted bile burning the back of her throat.
    She called out for help, as if someone would hear. The loneliness she’d been evading suddenly permeated every inch of the cabin. From the methodical ticking of the mantel clock, to the single dish on the table, to the bed in the next room—as barren and empty as her heart.
    Curling onto her side, she cradled her head in the crook of her arm and wept. She wept for all that she’d longed for from her husband and had never received. She wept for life’s promises that remained unfulfilled, and for the innocence with which she’d once embraced them. Wrapping her arms around her waist, her heart ached for the child she would never have.
    The flame from the lamp flickered and sputtered. The dwindling oil gave off a purple plume of smoke before darkness fell over the room.
    Staring at the shadowed outline of the cabin door, Kathryn thought back to the first day she’d crossed that threshold—in her husband’s arms. She’d known then that God was with her, guiding her steps. The One who stood beside her that day was still beside her now, and somehow already dwelled in the moment when she would breathe her last, whenever that day would come.
    Her choked voice trickled across the empty room. “‘Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?’ ” She clung to the psalmist’s promise. “Lord, I cannot be anywhere where you are not.” And the same was true for Larson, wherever he was.
    Cradled on the floor, Kathryn surrendered herself—again—to the Lover of her soul, and laid her grief and worry at the foot of His cross.

CHAPTER FOUR
    L ARSON AWAKENED TO A cool sensation sweeping across his legs and arms, followed by a heat so intense it seeped all the way into his bones. His skin tingled in response, and though the experience was far from pleasant, neither did it resemble the ravaging of flesh he’d endured and come to dread.
    Thick haze surrounded his mind. Moving toward him through the fog, a dull pain throbbed with the rhythm of a steady pulse. He recognized its sickening cadence and fought to open his eyes, but couldn’t. Why couldn’t