Free Lorraine Heath by Always To Remember Page B

to imagine it carved into a horse, rider, and woman. She could see nothing beyond what it was: a rock, pure and simple. Huge. Immense. Pink with tiny black specks embedded thrughout.
    To her it looked just like all the other rocks that stood there as silent sentinels. Rough and hard, it wasn’t at all what she had in mind when she thought about the monument.
    She glanced around the rocky terrain, and a flash of white caught her eye. Cautiously, she walked to the outskirts of the quarry and placed her hand on the stone that sparkled in the sun.
    Smiling, she walked back to where Clay was kneeling, looking at the top of the granite from a different angle. “I found the piece you can use,” she said.
    Furrowing his brow, he turned his attention to her. “What?”
    She pointed to the white rock. “I found a beautiful piece over there.”
    He unfolded his lanky body and followed her.
    “It’s marble,” he said as they neared her find. “It shouldn’t be here. This is a granite quarry.”
    “Well, then, that settles it. Fate must have brought it here. I think the statue would look lovely carved out of this.”
    His face troubled, he ran his hand over the rough surface. “I’ve never cut into marble before. I don’t know how it would respond to my touch.”
    Meg lowered her gaze to his hands. Long days in the sun had turned them a rich brown. Tiny, thin scars marred his long fingers. He shoved his hands into his pockets. She lifted her eyes to his. “I want the marble.”
    Removing his hand from his pocket, he wrapped it around the head of a hammer that was barely visible above the waistband of his trousers. He tugged the hammer free and tightened his grip around the handle.
    “What are you going to do?” she asked.
    He removed his hat. “I need to know if there are any cracks inside the rock.”
    “How can you tell?”
    “Put your ear against the marble.”
    She laid her ear against the marble. Pressing his ear to the stone, he gently tapped the hammer against the hard surface. She heard a soft ringing. “It sounds like a bell.”
    He nodded. “That means it’s sound. It doesn’t have any cracks inside.”
    “Did you test the granite?”
    “Yes, ma’am. I heard a nice little chime.” He stepped back and walked around the marble, touching it, studying it as he had the granite, but his face showed no excitement, no reverence. “I think the granite would serve us better.”
    “I don’t like the granite. It’s almost pink—”
    “Closer to red when the sun hits it just right.”
    “So it won’t do at all. The marble is perfect. It’s pure and white like the glorious Cause.”
    “You can’t always tell what’s inside a rock by looking at the outside.”
    “Then they’re very much like people, aren’t they?” she asked.
    His jaw tightened, and he knocked on the rock. “They can be as hardheaded.”
    “It’s my money. I’m purchasing this piece.”
    “It might not even be for sale. Like I said—”
    “Mr. Schultz!” Meg waved her hand in the air, catching the man’s attention. “Mr. Schultz, is this piece for sale?”
    He ambled over. “You want it, you have it. My brother bring it from Marble Falls. He think man here want it, but man say no.”
    “We do want it,” Meg said, surprised by the excitement building within her. “We’ll come back in the morning to pick it up.”
    “I have some men here den to load it on your wagon.”
    “You see,” Meg said triumphantly as Schultz walked away, “it was destiny that brought the marble here.”
    Shaking his head, Clay looked across the way to the granite. “I can’t explain it, but I know I can cut the granite into what I sketched out for you. This—” He touched the marble. “It wasn’t meant to be a statue. It’d do fine as part of a building, but I think you’ll be disappointed if you ask me to carve it into something it was never meant to be.”
    “Then you’ll just have to work doubly hard to make certain I’m not