As Jasper was gurgling his last, dying despite Abegail's valiant attempts to use every Native American defence she knew of against what was essentially a European disease, Jasper Junior, Charlotte, and baby Hammer were sent to their beds with sore throats, headches, and fevers. Luckily, Dan had been at the lake where Jasper had arranged work for him with a wealthy family from the north in what seemed to be a successful attempt to stem the boy's rebellious and resentful nature. And for some reason no one then living at the lake came down with the mysterious disease.On Sunday, as the funeral cortege rolled away from the family home in a downpour that had continued from the previous Thursday and that had the roads awash, the doctors said that there was little they could do for the children and that they probably would all be dead before Abegail returned from her husband's burial. Abegail herself was too exhausted and grief-stricken to do as she wanted at the moment—to remain with and ad
"Cole eventually told me, Abegail. And I'm glad he did. I have no children. My wife was never able or willing to have them."Abegail was silent, confused, both hating and loving Cole for having passed her secret on."So, I've had a house here on the lake for several years," George continued. "I took every opportunity I could to come to the lake and to watch my son grow up from a distance. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to upset you or your life. I could see that you were happy with your husband. I didn't want to make claims on you. But I couldn't help myself; I had to see my son."Abegail could see the rightness of this and they spoke for several minutes in tones of mutual respect and support. But eventually, Vaughn got to the central point."I want to underwrite your expenses, Abegail. At least until you can get on your feet."Abegail flared up then in defensiveness and her strong sense of self-reliance. The couplings with Shaffer and Vaughn happened because she enjoyed them
"Whoo wee, it's getting hot out here," Pete said. Then he stripped off his shirt, and he was leaning his long, lithe body back on the hood of the sedan next to Abegail.She looked over at the young man who had made love to her under the stars throughout the night just a few nights ago, and she began to melt. She hadn't any intention of giving into this temptation again. She'd only done it then because the world had moved too fast for her. She was a widow at thirty-three, displaced from her home, and two of her children and her lover died in almost simultaneous events. Her life was suddenly over, but she felt entirely too young just to fade away. She had been loved frequently and well, and she had clung to the first young, hard male body that had come her way. That had been Pete. And now, when she looked at his muscled torso in the light of day, she could hardly hold herself back. She had fully intended on giving herself to Wally Hollands when she reached Colorado if he wanted her stil
Don't complain to me," Wally said, a big grin on his face. "I'm just doing what Martha tells me I have to do. If you want anything changed, go talk to her. She's a real bully."Abegail loved the cabin, which was more of a house than what she imagined a cabin would be out here in this wilderness. It was set in a little meadow in a depression lower than the road to its east. Two branches of Water Creek forked near the house, with one branch coming up from the south on the valley floor and the other cascading down the mountainside to the west from above Holland's sawmill up in the tall timber area.There was a wooden section on a rock foundation turned gable-ended towards the front of the house on the left, with a wide rock chimney running up the side of the house with a double-hung window to the left. The front door, under an overhang porch, was just to the right of the chimney in a pitched-roof section running towards the south. There was a window to the right of the door. And there wa
Abegail particularly loved to paint the stream that cascaded down the mountainside from the saw mill camp, and so she frequently rode up to a little glen beside the water in a grove hidden from the road about half way up to the saw mill. The stream gave a little twist here and went over a stone outcropping, and the little meadow area was rampant with colour in the spring, when the wildflowers were in bloom. It was a restful place for contemplation, and it was a perfect place to paint. It was also the perfect place to make love. And frequently, when Abegail went up to the hidden glen to paint, Pete sneaked out of the sawmill encampment and went down to the glen to fuck.Wally Holland was no dummy, however. He soon caught on to Pete's disappearances from the camp and followed him down the mountainside unobserved one beautiful spring day in 1919. He quickly regretted that he had done so. From a hidden spot at the verge of the grove of trees, he saw Abegail open her dress to Pete, and Pet
"There won't be snow scenes out here to paint then, Wally. And it's really peaceful here. Besides, I'm not really alone. I can see the smoke from the Water Creek Ranch from here. If I need anything, I'll just go up there." What Abegail didn't want to admit to Wally was that she had grown discontented with her life. The setting here was idyllic, but ever since Pete had disappeared, there was something very important missing in Abigail's life. And it had made her one frustrated and discontented woman."No, don't do that. I keep telling you to stay away from that lot, Abegail." Wally was really concerned now. "That Fernand Wolf is mean as rot, and his two sons are much worse. I'm more concerned about them coming down here and messing with you than I am with the snow, if truth be known."Abegail didn't focus on the catch in Wally's voice when he said this. He was cutting awfully close to the bedrock of what had been clawing at him about Abegail for years. He loved her; he'd loved her from
When the spring thaw settled in and Abegail came into Slater to retrieve her son, she left the post office and emporium permanently in the care of Martha and Thaddeus. And it was to the Water Creek Ranch on the hillock below Hahn's Peak that she returned, not to Bally House. That same spring, when Wally Holland left for Denver, he didn't return. He did, however, make good on his promise to take Abegail's paintings with him and they, indeed, did sell very well in Denver—and art dealers throughout the region started to take notice of this new talent hidden away in a remote Rocky Mountain valley. It wasn't long before George Vaughn had taken notice of Abegail's success and had both established her with an art broker in Chicago and featured her paintings in the upscale furniture department of Vaughn's department store. The arrangement was quite lucrative for both of them.Abegail had grown into a strong, independent woman, spurred by having lost nearly everything, including her husband an
When the spring thaw settled in and Abegail came into Slater to retrieve her son, she left the post office and emporium permanently in the care of Martha and Thaddeus. And it was to the Water Creek Ranch on the hillock below Hahn's Peak that she returned, not to Bally House. That same spring, when Wally Holland left for Denver, he didn't return. He did, however, make good on his promise to take Abegail's paintings with him and they, indeed, did sell very well in Denver—and art dealers throughout the region started to take notice of this new talent hidden away in a remote Rocky Mountain valley. It wasn't long before George Vaughn had taken notice of Abegail's success and had both established her with an art broker in Chicago and featured her paintings in the upscale furniture department of Vaughn's department store. The arrangement was quite lucrative for both of them.Abegail had grown into a strong, independent woman, spurred by having lost nearly everything, including her husband an