Read Online Her Wyoming Man by Cheryl St.john - Free Book Online Page B

but she would never know. “None. What about you? Do you have brothers and sisters?”
    “I have an older sister and two younger brothers,” he answered.
    “You all lived together when you were young?”
    He nodded. “Oh, yes. Our bickering drove my poor mother to distraction, but she’s a saint.”
    “She’s still alive?”
    “And still living in the family home in Philadelphia. We will visit before the end of the year. She’d enjoy seeing the children, and I’d like for her to meet you.”
    She nodded, unable to imagine meeting his mother.
    “My father’s only been gone a few years,” he continued. “He was a judge. That’s how I came to go to law school; but then the war came along, so I never practiced.”
    “You fought during the war?”
    “Fought in Missouri early on. Later I was with Sheridan when we trapped Jubal Early’s army on our way to Waynesboro. We were the regiment that blocked Lee’s escape at Appomattox, forcing the Northern Virginia army’s surrender. After the war, the General wanted me to accompany him to Prussia, where he was sent to advise during that war in 70, but I’d seen enough destruction.” All that seemed a lifetime ago. “I was intent on building something, and I’d never forgotten this place. So I finished my law degree, purchased a railcar full of lumber and asked a young woman to marry me.
    “Sweetwater was a tent town then. Only a few buildings existed. But the town was right along the path of the Union Pacific as the rails expanded westward. I discovered I could sell my lumber for far more than I’d purchased it, so I did. Sold it and had more sent from Colorado. I posted notices in the major newspapers, and a few merchants and even a dentist threw in on the new venture. There’s nothing like settling the land and watching something grow. Wasn’t long before Sweetwater was a respectable town.”
    More comfortable now that she’d turned the focus back on him, Ella listened to his story with interest. Nathan was impressively enterprising and ambitious. She was surprised to learn he owned a lumberyard.
    “Is that where you work during the day?”
    “No, I have people who run it for me. I work in an office at the municipal building.”
    She pictured everything about his stories, everything except one thing. “What was your wife’s name?”
    He paused a moment before replying. “Deborah.”
    “Do your children look like her?”
    “Robby looks the most like her. Christopher reminds me of my father, and Grace looks like my sister, Vanessa.”
    “Christopher looks like you,” she told him.
    He nodded. “Many said I looked like my father.”
    She didn’t want to pry into a hurtful subject, but she was curious. “Is it painful to talk about your wife?”
    “I have a lot of regrets,” he answered, which didn’t address her question.
    She didn’t pry.
    “Deborah was unprepared for a life far away from everything she’d known in Philadelphia,” he went on, surprising her and holding her interest. “I built her a beautiful home, started a planning council and brought in a doctor and a teacher. Soon there were churches and schools.” He shrugged. “But this isn’t the big city, and the social activities can’t compare. She missed her family.” He glanced at Ella.
    Nathan had a respectable background and a commendable war record. His ambition and vision had sparked accomplishments for which he could be proud. But beneath the handsome exterior and the successful businessman, she sensed a vulnerability that spoke to her untried heart. Now his first words to her made sense. “When we met, you asked why I’d traveled West and warned me this place wasn’t what I was accustomed to.”
    “Deborah didn’t complain, but she was never happy here. I took her away from her family and her home.”
    “I have no family or home, and Sweetwater is far better than where I came from,” she assured him. Whatever he imagined about her, she didn’t want him thinking