The Enchanted Land Read online

  “You from around here?”

  “New Mexico.”

  “We been through there once. Too dry for me. I like it better here.”

  Seth looked around at the dirty, barren camp. There were many tents and a few haphazard shacks. The trees had long ago been used for firewood. Even the stream was discolored with dishwater, cooking grease, soap-suds, and the leavings from hundreds of slop jars. He remembered the clean, clear hills and arroyos on his ranch.

  Seth quickly finished his meal and went back to work. The more he worked, the more tired he was, the less he was able to think. Yet at night, under the stars, he often lay awake for hours remembering Morgan, every word they’d ever spoken, every caress they’d shared.

  A month passed. The days began to run together. The other people in the camp had tried to be friendly, but Seth’s sullenness made them withdraw. Only Lee Ann stayed by him, bringing his meals three times a day.

  It was Lee Ann who got the tent for him. One of the diggers was giving up, selling out, going back east. She bought everything without even asking Seth. Seth told her to take what gold she needed from his ever-growing hoard. She marveled that he trusted her so much, but also wanted to scold him for not hiding his gold like her pa did.

  When Seth fell onto the hard cot at night, he hardly noticed the difference between it and the ground he had grown accustomed to. He was used to Lee Ann’s presence and took for granted that she kept his food hot until he was ready for it, kept his clothes washed, mended, and orderly.

  One morning after Seth had been at Cypress Pass for two months, Lee Ann saw him packing his gear on his horse. His tent was already down and he was just rolling his blankets.

  “Where you goin’?”

  He missed the alarm in her voice. “This place is getting too crowded. Heard about a new place upriver and thought I’d try there for a while. The gold’s played out here.”

  Lee Ann turned abruptly and started running back to her parents’ tent.

  Seth looked after her. He’d planned to stop and say goodbye to Lee Ann, but as he watched her go, he just shrugged. He didn’t really care one way or another if he left the camp. He didn’t really seem to care about anything anymore.

  Lee Ann ran to her mother, breathless. “He’s leavin’, Ma, and I’m goin’ with him.”

  There was no need to tell who “he” was. Corinne knew her daughter had thought of nothing but Seth Blake for two months. Corinne opened her mouth to protest, but one look at Lee Ann’s eyes made her stop. She’d felt this way about Larry, too. There was no use trying to persuade Lee Ann to wait and get the man to marry her. Corinne and Larry hadn’t been married until after Ben was born.

  “I have to, Ma,” she whispered.

  The tears gathered in Corinne’s eyes. “I know.” She hugged her daughter, a short fierce hug. “Well, let’s hurry and get your things together. You’ll have to take the mule.”

  “Oh, Ma, I can’t. Pa needs him.”

  “That’s all right. He needs his daughter, too. If he can spare one, he can spare the other. There, now, that’s everything.” They had hurriedly stuffed Lee Ann’s two other dresses into an old carpet bag.

  “You’ll tell them for me, Ma?”

  “I will. You be careful, now. And Lee Ann,” she called after her daughter, who was already climbing onto the mule, “if anything happens, you come back, you hear?”

  Lee Ann nodded and headed the mule away from the tent.

  She’s so young, Corinne thought, and so happy. Please, Lord, let it turn out as good for her as it did for me.

  Lee Ann caught up with Seth about a mile out of the camp.

  He smiled at her. “Goin’ into town?”

  “No, I’m going with you.”

  He stopped his horse. “You’re what? You can’t go with me.”

  She smiled up at him. “I certainly can. You need me—to take care of you.”

  “What about your parents? And I don’t need anyone.”

  Lee Ann continued smiling. “Ma understands. She ran off with Pa, just like I’m goin’ with you.”

  Seth’s eyes narrowed, his voice was stern. “You don’t understand. I said I don’t need anyone, and we’re not going to be like your ma and pa.”

  Lee Ann’s smile of confidence didn’t dim.

  “You have to go back. Don’t you understand? I have a wife!”

  Only for a second did a shadow cross Lee Ann’s brown eyes. “If you have a wife, then why ain’t she here? You need someone here with you now, and that’s me.”

  “My wife…” Seth began. He could see it was no use. There was a will of steel behind those soft eyes. “Don’t expect anything from me, Lee Ann, because there’s nothing left to give,” he said quietly before he turned his horse toward town again.

  As Lee Ann kicked her mule to follow, she thought, at least it’ll be easier to fight a ghost than a flesh-and-blood wife. I’ll make him forget. She was happy as she smiled at Seth’s broad back, the bronzed muscles moving under the rough cotton shirt.

  For months, Lee Ann and Seth traveled from one gold field to another. After the first few weeks, Lee Ann began to lose her natural happiness. Seth ignored all her attempts at any sort of a relationship. One night, when she had crawled onto his cot with him, he merely shrugged and turned away. In the morning, he had pulled her close to him and she was so happy she laughed aloud, the happiness spilling over her. The sound of her laughter made Seth look at her, shaking off the drowsiness of sleep. Abruptly, he pushed her from him.

  She had thought he’d talk more when she lived with him, but if anything, he talked less. As the days wore on, she lost her smile, and went about her chores lifelessly.

  Seth was aware of Lee Ann and it nagged at him that she was unhappy. He’d tried to get her to go back to her parents, but each time he mentioned it, she’d cry. He’d finally dropped the idea.

  On one of their trips to town for supplies, they met Johnny.

  “Are you staying long, Mr. Daniels?” The girl was a pale blonde. She seemed to have no eyebrows or lashes.

  “That depends, Miss Emory, on whether you’re going to be around.” He flashed even white teeth at her.

  Lee Ann watched the scene absently. The young man was hardly out of his teens, not like her Seth, she thought. She looked to where Seth was studying new harnesses. Her Seth! He didn’t even know she was around, half the time. She looked back at the young man. He was very handsome, and the three girls around him thought so, too.

  “My pa’s camp is not far away. Maybe you’d like to come for supper some night.”

  “That I would, Miss Cookson, but I’m sure my appetite would disappear with something as pretty as you so near me.”

  Lee Ann looked at Miss Cookson. Her nose was positively hooked! She turned away in disgust.

  “Girls!” An older woman summoned the three women. Reluctantly, they left, amidst flamboyant goodbyes. Lee Ann kept her attention on the groceries.

  “Now, young man, what can I get for you?” The clerk addressed Mr. Daniels.

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never cooked anything before. What do I need?”

  Lee Ann felt her heart lurch at the need in the boy’s voice.

  “Beans, first of all.” He handed the boy a bag of dried beans.

  “Aren’t they a little hard to eat?”

  Lee Ann couldn’t suppress a giggle. She was still laughing when she felt a hand on her arm.

  “Allow me to introduce myself—Johnny Daniels, Miss…”

  “Lee Ann.” She couldn’t give Seth’s last name, and her parents seemed so far away.

  “Well, Miss Lee Ann.”

  “No, just Lee Ann.”

  “All right, just Lee Ann, possibly you could explain how I make these”—he held out the dried beans—“fit to eat.” Johnny’s eyes sparkled and Lee Ann responded to the laughter in them.

  Seth turned to see Lee Ann smiling into the boy’s eyes. He had not seen her look like that in months. There had been tim