Free WESTERN ROMANCE: A Settler’s Wife’s Dreams (Contemporary Westerns Historical Romance, Cowboy Romance) by Melodie Grace Page A

that it didn't really matter one way or the other. What mattered is what people wanted to believe, and most of the townspeople were terrified at the idea that there was some kind of horde of Indians lurking out in the shadows, waiting to kick in their doors and shoot them until they died.
    Ted was in a strange spot and Lisa did her best to appreciate that. She thought about it often, how strange it must be for him to have an affair with a woman and then have that very woman come back into his life with a strange tale of an Indian killing her husband; a tale that ended up stirring the townspeople up into a frenzy. It made her wonder if there was a God and if he was up there what kind of design he had for her.
    What kind of God had creatures like Indians in the world who stalked her for months and months and finally kicked in the door of the homestead and killed her husband? None of it made any sense when she thought about it with the idea in mind that there was supposed to be some kind of higher power involved in all of this. Lisa had always thought of God as some kind of infallible thing that was far removed from the day-to-day activities of his creations.
    Now though, as Lisa moved about the homestead looking at the thick layer of dust on the few trinkets she used to hold dear, she desperately tried to define some greater meaning in all of it by way of God's plan. Was there a plan though? If there was a plan what kind of plan was it? Did it have an ending that she liked?
    Lisa shook her head as she thought about it as she mounted her horse and turned it back towards town. There was nothing left for her here at the homestead, nothing but dust and cracked floorboards.
    As the horse moved her back towards town Lisa realized that this trip to the cabin would be her last trip out here. She couldn't keep doing it to herself. The emotional lows she hit while out at the homestead weren’t fair to her, and she ultimately didn't get anything tangible out of it. No questions were answered, and often times more questions remained.
    As Lisa brought her horse to a trot she realized she would give anything to have Frank back, even if just for one day. It wasn't that they hadn't had there problems but Frank had always been a decent husband. Now, as she rode her stead back to town it felt like she was leaving an entire world behind, something that she would never be able to go back to. She wondered if she asked Ted to burn the homestead down if he would understand enough to have it done for her without asking a bunch of questions and making it strange. Lisa decided she'd have to think about asking him for a few days before she could work up any real nerve to do so.
    She raised her eyes to the skyline lit in a deep hue of purple and red as the sky plummeted. Would tomorrow bring better tidings from the world? Would there be some kind of answers? Would Ted be around more and would they be able to build a flourishing relationship? Only time would tell.

Chapter 2
    Back in town things people bustled through the streets like normal. Lisa left her horse at the stable and walked back to the shop as night turned all the colors to gray. The shop door was unlocked. Lisa stepped through and gingerly shut it behind her, not wanting to make too much noise; afraid she would wake Ted if he was home. If he woke up she would have to explain her whereabouts.
    Often she didn’t know whether she’d find Ted home or not. Many times the towns people would call him out to lead whatever fool notion fear had forced into their heads. Ted didn't relish his new position as leader among the townspeople. In fact he found many of them unbearable because of how they clung to old ideas about race, sex and class. Ted was a forward thinker, extremely liberal for his time—a radical. The puritans in the town would probably have called him a libertine, or some other label they bandied about like a scarlet letter.
    Both of them wondered what people thought about Lisa sudden