Read Online Tamera Alexander - [Timber Ridge Reflections 01] by From a Distance - Free Book Online

meat on out to the Tuckers’ yourself this time? It’d mean a lot to Mathias and Oleta to see you again. And the kids would like to see you too.”
    So that is it. Daniel had sensed something was coming. “I think it’d be best to have it sent over, like we’ve done the last couple of times. I’m not sure my going out there would be a good thing right now.”
    “Whose good are we talking about? Theirs? Or yours ?”
    Daniel crossed the room to retrieve his rifle. “There’re times, Lolly, when your honesty oversteps its welcome.”
    “Surely you don’t think the Tuckers will treat you any different than before. If you think they will, then you’re not giving them enough credit.”
    Daniel picked up his rifle and got his hat from the rack. He knocked the hat against his thigh, and dust plumed. Truth was, part of him wanted to go back out to Mathias and Oleta Tucker’s home, to see them and their children. He’d been thinking about it for some time now. None of the boys or girls were natural-born to the couple, but they loved and cared for them as if they were. But the kids had known Thomas Boyd, and they played with the Boyds’ boys.
    In the space of a breath, a memory sunk deep inside him worked itself loose and rose to the surface.
    It was a fleeting glimpse, only a second or two captured in his mind’s eye, filed away somewhere deep inside him all these years. Of his pushing Benjamin on a swing beneath a two-hundred-year-old oak behind their home. He was twelve or thirteen at the time, and Benjamin was just a little thing, tow-haired and smiling, not even walking yet. He’d built the swing as a Christmas present and remembered tying knot after knot after knot in that looped rope to make sure it held good and tight.
    Little good did all his protection do in the end. . . .
    A snap of Daniel’s fingers brought Beau to his side. The dog had the elk bone wedged between his teeth. “I appreciate your work on the elk, Lolly. Be sure and keep a portion of the meat for your trouble.” He paused in the doorway, hearing the resigned sigh behind him. He adjusted his hat, reconsidering, his eyes misting as he looked anywhere but back at Lolly. “Have the meat ready come morning. I’ll pick it up on my way out to the Tuckers’. ”
    He left the shop before Lolly could respond, and before he could change his mind. He headed down the street. Since last fall, he’d all but stopped coming to town, and when he did, he made extra sure he didn’t go anywhere near the sheriff ’s office. With that in mind, he took the long way around town on his way to the general store.

7
    W hen Elizabeth rounded the corner to the general store to post her package, she was greeted by the sight of the stagecoach driving off in the opposite direction. She stopped midstride on the boardwalk and let out a frustrated sigh—then bit back a much harsher response when someone plowed into her from behind.
    She turned and glared at the man, and heard every word—including the not-so-watered-down expletives—he spat at her through his tobacco-spittled beard.
    She stared at him. “Perhaps you shouldn’t follow so closely next time. And give thought to a bath . . . that would prove useful.” Seemed the farther west she traveled, the fewer people practiced good hygiene.
    A vulgar gesture accompanied his sneer—a gesture she’d unfortunately seen used by soldiers and officers. Though she’d known many soldiers of upstanding character, the military seemed to also attract the worst of men. She chose not to respond and turned away.
    So much for being the first to get her photographs to Goldberg. With heavy steps, she covered the remaining distance to the telegraph office. She’d have to settle for wiring Goldberg to notify him that she would mail the package on Monday, along with the next installment in E.G. Brenton’s column.
    Dreading having to cross the messy thoroughfare, she carefully negotiated the mud-caked steps leading from the