Gold in the Fire and Light in the Storm Read Online Free Page B

work cut out for you, too.”
    “It has been a while since I worked with the horses. Until I got married, I was learning the ropes from my father while attending college.” And not doing quite the job he wanted , Darcy thought, remembering her father’s frowns and remarks when she didn’t do something his way.
    “Sean told me his dad died last year.”
    “What hasn’t my son told you?” Darcy stopped in the middle of the entry hall and faced Joshua, thinking of her son’s enthusiasm and lack of inhibition. As the saying goes, he’d never met a stranger—which thankfully had helped him make friends. They had moved a lot over the years.
    “We talked this afternoon for twenty minutes nonstop.”
    Darcy laughed. “Nonstop on whose part, yours or his?”
    “Mostly his.”
    “That’s what I thought. He doesn’t know how to keep a secret. Whenever he gets me a present, I have to open it right then and there, because he can’t wait. So this past Christmas I got his picture frame he made me on December fourth, the day he finished it.”
    “He said something about his dad dying in a plane crash.”
    “Clay was a fighter pilot for the Navy. During a routine exercise he had problems with his plane and crashed. Knowing the risks he had to take in his job, I thought I was prepared. I wasn’t—” A tightness in her throat prevented her from saying anything else. In fact, she wasn’t even sure why she had told Joshua that. But for some reason the man was easy to talk to, and for a year she had kept a lot bottled up inside her. For most of her life she’d held her emotions close to her heart.
    “I’m sorry. Death of a loved one is always difficult. I’ve lost both my parents over the past eight years. They were the only family I had.”
    A profound sadness and empathy edged each of his words and drew Darcy to him. “You didn’t grow up here, did you?” Darcy felt that she would have remembered someone like him, even though she suspected a few years separated them in age.
    “No. Louisville. I moved here nine years ago. I didn’t want to live in a large town, but I still wanted to be close if my parents needed me.”
    Darcy could tell from the tone in his voice that there was more to that story. Indeed there was more to Joshua Markham than merely being a firefighter. But she was only going to be here for a few months. With her heart still scarred from her marriage to Clay, there was no way she would open herself up to any more pain, to another man.
    “Mom. Joshua.” Sean came running into the entry hall and slid to a stop a few feet from Darcy. “Dinner is ready. Lizzy made my favorite.”
    “Pizza?” Darcy breathed a sigh of relief. Suddenly the atmosphere between her and Joshua had shifted and become charged with possibilities that she wouldn’t pursue.
    “Naw. Spaghetti. It’s my favorite now.”
    Darcy clasped her son’s shoulder and ruffled his hair. “You have a new favorite every week. I can’t keep up with them anymore.”
    Sean blushed and leaned closer to Joshua, cupping his mouth as though he were imparting a deep, dark secret. “Anything Lizzy makes is my favorite. She’s a great cook. Wait ’til you taste her spaghetti. Mom, you should get Lizzy to show you how.”
    “I doubt I could match her in that department.”
    “Sure, Mom. You can do anything. Jake told me about the yearlings you used to break.”
    “A long time ago. At the ripe old age of thirty-one I’m wiser now.” She placed a hand on the small of her back. “Just thinking about those days I can feel the aches and pains. Every once in a while there was one who didn’t like the feel of a bit and rein or the touch of a saddle and loved to show me how much.”
    Sean’s eyes grew round. “Did you ever break anything?”
    “Only my pride from time to time.”
    “Maybe I can learn how?”
    “Not ’til you’re much older.” Then in a whisper to Joshua she added, “And gone from my home.”
    “Mom, I heard