Page 36 of All We Carry Home

“If we do assume the worst of what Warren heard, then you shouldn’t be going alone,” Eddie said.

“I agree,” Warren added quietly.

“You’re both being paranoid,” I said. “Besides, I’ll be at a hospital surrounded by dozens of people. I’ll be perfectly safe.” I pulled out my key ring, unclipped a spare house key and the apartment key, and handed them to Eddie. “We don’t normally lock doors around these parts, but I’ll humor you that.” I pointed to the house, where the two kids’ voices floated up in irritated bickering. “Annie can help herself to whatever she needs in the house.”

Warren crossed his arms. “Let me drive you to town at least so we can finish this conversation now.”

In my mind, it was finished. Victor doing business with two questionable individuals had nothing to do with me. He wanted Birkstrom lands because we had the best water access and grazing lands within a twenty-mile radius.

“I’ll be fine,” I said to Warren. I needed a quiet drive into town to process everything. “I’ll be home around two or three o’clock.”

Warren stepped in front of me, and his eyes locked onto mine. “You don’t have to face this alone, Eva.”

“I know that.” Gratitude, unease, and guilt all swirled in my mind. “I also need to know if I can run this ranch on my own merit. I’ll fight the Merricks to the end, and if I don’t have what it takes to save the ranch, so be it. But I need to know if I do.”

“Victor has every card in the deck stacked against you.”

A surge of confidence rose within me, warming my limbs and fighting back against the cool evening wind. I shrugged. “Well, I’ve been underestimated before.”

Warren

As Eva dressed for her shift at the hospital—I still hadn’t quite worked out how she managed that on top of working from sunup to sundown on the ranch—Eddie tapped his toe impatiently on the rickety porch.

“We’re not just going to sit by, right?” he asked, defaulting to me perhaps as a habit from our time in the Second Cavalry. The sergeant awaiting his captain’s orders.

“No, we won’t,” I admitted. We’d have to do this carefully. Eva wanting to save the farm on her own was noble, and I would respect that.

When I’d returned from Baker earlier in the day, Annie had finished her ride in the arena and Eva again had been able to get Phantom to take a long drink from the water bucket in her hands. It was a marvel to witness.

With each passing hour, I was more confident that Phantom would be safe here, that I could leave for my senatorial run, and that Eva would watch over the horse I’d grown to care so deeply for.

But if she were in danger? Could Birkstrom Ranch be ripped away from her? Would she have anywhere else to go? I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to a fellow soldier. Let alone the implications for Phantom, who was just finding firm footing here on this ranch with Eva guiding him.

She strode out of the house at that moment, wearing a nurse’s apron, skirt, and light blue sweater. Her hair was carefully smoothed back and her face washed of the red desert dirt. This resembled the woman I’d known in Germany, though every version of Eva I’d seen had seemed to etch a new notch in my soul.

The woman fascinated me, but she wouldn’t accept anything between us beyond that of trainer and horse owner. Her reputation and the future of the farm were on the line.

I’d respect that too.

I followed on her heels as she strode to her truck in the driveway. “We’re not done discussing this,” I said.

She smirked. “We are for tonight.” She paused when she reached the driver’s door. “I appreciate your concern. I really do.” She drew a hesitant breath, and her gaze turned sorrowful as it swept over the farm. “I don’t want to lose this. But there are still some lines I don’t think Victor would ever cross. There’s a code of honor among the families of Baker. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

Her words felt clinical and distant. As if she didn’t consider herself a part of those families. It reminded me of Eddie’s admission that Bill Birkstrom never had children. Eva was probably adopted. The rest of the blanks, I’d have to fill in another time, if ever.

Her naive assumption that Victor wouldn’t betray the values of this land . . . perhaps she hadn’t seen the same sort of death and evil that I’d seen in the war. I just didn’t have that faith in humanity anymore.

“Drive safely, then.” I opened the door of the truck for her. “And promise me that you’ll manage to get some sort of sleep.”

“I don’t mind the work.” Her eyes glittered in the dim evening glow. “The men need me.”

“The men?”

“The soldiers.” She tossed her purse onto the long seat and stepped inside. “I volunteer in the veterans’ wing.” Her voice dropped. “Though I wish I could do more. The town doesn’t have many resources to help with what they’ve faced.”

I knew what she meant. I wanted the same thing. If I hadn’t already thought of her as a saint, I certainly did now.

She fired up the engine. “See you tomorrow.”