Read Online Tracie Peterson - [Land of the Lone Star 03] by Taming the Wind - Free Book Online Page A

of our traveling back and forth. Tyler said it’s a dangerous time for many reasons.”
    Laura frowned and continued placing several articles of clothing in a trunk. “Well, we can work on the curtains and rugs, and Hannah said she would teach us to make our own candles and soap. There’s so much you and I need to learn in order to be proper ranch wives.”
    “I don’t intend to learn it for the sake of being anyone’s wife. Do you realize that I am old enough and qualified to take on a homestead? As the head of my household, I could sign on for a parcel, and I would have something like five years to fix things up. Maybe Father could help me with some extra money, and I could pay workers to do the building for me.”
    Laura looked at her sister in surprise. “You’ve given this quite a bit of thought.”
    Carissa nodded. “I read about homesteads in the paper a while back. I was thinking that with our family’s loyalty to the Union, Father might be able to work a deal with the administration.”
    “It’s just not like you, Carissa, to even know about such things . . . much less to be planning out your future dealings.”
    “I’m not the same person I used to be, Laura. I grew up. Nearly dying will do that to a person.”
    Laura reached out to touch Carissa’s arm. “I didn’t mean to cause you pain. You have grown up, and I’m sorry that you had to have your innocence ripped away from you. I would never have wished that for you.”
    Carissa had no desire to linger on the past. Instead, she placed a large stack of folded diapers near the trunk. “These are ready.”
    Laura took the diapers and packed them with the other things. She glanced up as she worked, and for just a moment her expression suggested she would revisit her earlier comments. Then her face relaxed. “Hannah said to just bring what we needed to wear. She has all the cooking things we’ll need, as well as bedding.” Laura straightened and put her hand to the small of her back. “I already feel displaced, and we haven’t even moved.”
    “I know what you mean.” Carissa reached down to take up Gloria’s stack of clothes from a basket. “Which trunk do you want me to use for these?”
    Laura pointed to a medium-sized wooden trunk that their parents had sent filled with supplies for Carissa. “Use that one. It will be perfect. Just put all of Gloria’s things in it and you won’t even have to worry about separating them out once we’re at the Barnetts’. You can just use it as a clothes chest.”
    Carissa looked to where Gloria was busying herself with Daniel. The two seemed intent on building a tall tower with Daniel’s wooden blocks. She couldn’t help but think of how tenderly Tyler had cared for Gloria the day of the Barnett gathering.
    The scene continued to play out in her mind, and Carissa felt a sense of longing at the memory of Tyler carefully cradling Gloria’s sleeping frame. He had smiled and touched her golden curls as he carried her to the house. Carissa couldn’t help but wonder at his actions and feelings. Most single men had little interest in children; goodness, many married men felt the same way! But not Tyler. He played with Robert and Daniel quite enthusiastically, as she recalled. So she couldn’t say the attention was only for Gloria, although she found herself almost wishing it were. Gloria deserved fatherly attention. She deserved a father.
    But that would require me to remarry, Carissa thought.
    “Well, look there,” Laura said from the window. “It’s Tyler, and I believe he has a dog with him.”
    Gloria jumped up, knocking the tower over. Daniel began to cry as Gloria ran to the window. “I wanna see the dog.” She pressed her nose to the glass. “Where’s the dog? Where’s Tyer?” Just then she spotted him and clapped furiously as she jumped up and down. “Tyer!”
    “Let’s go downstairs and greet him properly,” Carissa told Gloria.
    “You go ahead,” Laura declared. “I’m