Page 117 of Valley of Dreams

“It’ll get worse either way.” He stood, reluctant to go, but also eager to be with his brothers and da.

“I think you like it.” She reached out, and he took her hand, helping her to her feet.

“It’s good to be with them again.” He pulled her into an embrace. “And it’s good to be with you, even if only for the length of a quick lunch.”

“A lunch you didn’t eat.”

He bent to kiss her forehead but paused, watching her, wondering. She brushed her fingertips along his cheek just above his beard.

“They’ll tease you if you take too long.”

“And well worth it, it’d be,” he whispered.

He brushed the lightest of kisses over her lips. Such a simple, brief touch, but it set his mind spinning and his heart pounding. “I’ll miss you while we’re at the depot,” he whispered. “I’ll miss not seeing you every day.”

“You’ll simply have to come back, I suppose.” Her lighthearted response stood in direct contrast to the harsh dismissal she’d dealt him weeks earlier. They’d come so far.

He kissed her once more, the effort cut even shorter by the sound of his brothers whooping and whistling.

Patrick stepped back, letting his arms fall away from her. “Remind me again why I wanted to reconcile with those troublemakers.”

“Because you were alone far too long,” she said, “and you ought never be alone again.”

* * *

Two days later, Patricksat on a wagon bench up beside Joseph Archer with Finbarr standing behind, leaning against the bench back. Wagons from Hope Springs rolled along in front of and behind theirs, all headed for the depot. Patrick was enjoying the company, but he’d far prefer to have been sitting on Ian’s front stoop with Eliza. He’d seen her briefly before the exodus for the depot, but with all the Archer family hovering about, they’d been limited to words of parting when he’d far rather have kissed her again.

He required every ounce of constraint he had to keep his expression neutral every time he thought about that brief kiss. His brothers would’ve asked too many questions and come up with too many answers if they’d caught him making cow eyes to himself. He liked their teasing, generally. It was how a person knew he’d been accepted by the O’Connor family. But he wasn’t fully ready to be teased aboutthis.

“Does the town always leave together?” Patrick asked.

Joseph nodded. “We’ve found that selling our crops in bulk is easier, and we’re more likely to get a good price banding together.”

“This town looks after each other.”

“Now,” Finbarr said.

Patrick had heard bits and pieces of the town’s past feuding. While he heard regret in the voices of others who spoke of it, none held the hint of bitterness Finbarr’s did. There was pain there, Patrick would wager. Deeply buried pain. Maybe that was why he didn’t want to move out to his new house. Maybe he didn’t actually want to stay in Hope Springs. Patrick hoped that wasn’t true. He’d only just gotten his family back; he didn’t want to lose any of them.

Eliza’s future in Hope Springs was also a little uncertain. Patrick couldn’t be easy on that school. “Have you had any further word from the stage company about Eliza’s inn?”

“I’m going to stop in at the stage office while we’re at the depot,” Joseph said. “One way or the other, I need an answer from the company.”

“Do you think they’ll agree to change their schedule to include a stop at the new proposed location?”

“No.” Joseph gave him an apologetic look. “I hated having to tell Eliza that, and I won’t be much happier to give her the final news if it’s bad, as I expect.”

“She’ll be heartbroken.” Patrick couldn’t like the thought of that. “She’d love to run an inn again.”

Joseph nodded. “And you would enjoy building it.”

“I do like building, but there aren’t many chances to do much of it around Hope Springs.”

“What are your plans, then?” Joseph had a way of asking personal questions without sounding prying.

“I’ll pick up odd work where and when I can. Outside of that, I thought I’d see if Finbarr here would take me on as a farmhand out at his place.”

Finbarr leaned evermore forward, his arms hooked around the bench back. “What do you know about farming?”

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