Free Yellowstone Heart Song (Yellowstone Romance Series Book 1) by Peggy L Henderson

didn’t regret that she’d given back his ring and broken the engagement. He had told her in no uncertain terms that their relationship was not over. This unbelievable trip into the past seemed like her perfect temporary escape.
    Now I just have to find the courage to truly stand up to him when I return home.
    Her next relationship would definitely be with someone with whom she could share the splendors of nature. She would have to find someone who was more of an outdoorsman. Daniel’s face flashed before her eyes. If only someone like him existed in her time.

Chapter 6
     
     
    The next couple of days passed uneventfully. Daniel was gone most of the time. Aimee spent her days tidying up in the cabin, which she jokingly referred to as the nineteenth century version of a bachelor pad. She organized the dishes after washing an inch of dirt off the shelves. The table took nearly an hour to scrub clean. She didn’t even want to know what all those little parts and pieces she scraped off the wood used to be. Most likely body parts of some animals that Zach and Daniel had butchered. The dirt floor would have to just stay the way it was. She could do nothing about that. She found a trunk under the bed Daniel had assigned to her that contained several homespun cotton shirts, a few buckskin shirts and pants, and various other articles of clothing Aimee couldn’t name. As she folded some of the shirts, she couldn’t resist holding one to her face. She inhaled the strong woodsy scent she’d begun to associate with Daniel.
    She also took long walks along the river as best as her foot allowed, and prepared a hot meal each afternoon for when Daniel returned home from whatever it was that he did during the day. He never commented about her cooking, but the pleased look on his face when he returned from his outings, and the way he ate the food she prepared with gusto told her he liked it. If he noticed the changes she’d made to the cabin’s interior, he didn’t mention it. Each morning when she woke, she found fresh berries, nuts and coffee on the table.
    Aimee contemplated the appearance of her breakfast each morning. How can a big guy like that move so quietly? She considered herself a fairly light sleeper, and the hinges on that cabin door weren’t exactly quiet.  She knew that Daniel didn’t come inside the cabin to sleep at night.
    She stood in the doorway of the cabin, and sipped her coffee. It tasted much better, now that she had found some sugar. A couple of mule deer moved along the riverbank, dipping their heads to the water to drink. Aimee sighed as she stared at the beautiful scenery of the rivers across the meadow, and the purple hued mountain in the backdrop. In stark contrast to her noisy condominium-lined neighborhood back home, this place was truly a slice of heaven.
    She turned back into the cabin to check on her yeast starter, pleased with the many air bubbles that formed in the flour. It might be ready for some bread baking later on. She sat on her bed, and unwrapped the bandage on her ankle. The swelling was mostly gone, and it only hurt when she put full weight on her foot. She might even be able to walk without her crutch today.
    “Ugh, I really stink.” She tugged at the front of the shirt and sniffed. “I think I need to change clothes today and wash these.”  She rummaged through her pack at the foot of the bed for a fresh pair of pants and shirt. Better yet, I need a good bath and scrubbing . The idea of bathing in the cold river wasn’t too enticing when another thought entered her mind.
    The Firehole River flowed through several geyser basins south of here, and the hot water runoff from those geysers streamed into this river, which made the water actually somewhat warm. Due to the peculiar topography of this region, the Firehole, as well as the Yellowstone, were two of the few rivers that flowed in a northerly direction.
    Wasting no time, she grabbed a blanket off her bed, and placed her fresh