Mountain Rose Read Online Free

he could put a baby in her belly. He puts one in his wife every winter. I'd say he's very careless with his seed."
    Chase nodded agreement thoughtfully. What
     
    Hank said was true. Liza could very well end up with a belly full, then claim the child was his. "I think I've made my last visit to Widow Jenkins," he said.
     
    He drained his glass and turned from the bar. "I think I'll go wake Rosie up now."
    Chase climbed the rickety stairs, the steps worn smooth from the countless feet that had trod them. He stopped in front of the first door leading off the narrow hallway and pushed it open.
    Five minutes later he was back downstairs, throughly disgusted. Rosie had complained that she wasn't feeling well enough to bed him, and he believed her. She wasn't the sort to turn away a customer otherwise.
    He was debating having another whiskey when a single mournful wolf howl drifted in from the hills. Night was not too far off, and Chase wanted to get home before dark overtook him. Those varmints up there were hungry, and Sampson would look very tasty to them.
    Chase stepped through the door that separated the two businesses and was greeted with a warm smile. Mabel West stood behind the rough plank counter, a youngster riding her hip. She was a pleasant woman, one who had lost most of her attractiveness from birthing a baby every year. She was a good woman and a hard worker, well liked by everyone.
    "What can I do for you today, Chase?" She continued to smile as she hoisted the child further up on her hip.
    Chase ruffled her clinging son's hair. He liked children, and the only thing he regretted in not having a wife was that he would never have a son. Pa had always been onto him that if he didn't produce a son, the Donlin name would die with him.
    He pushed the thought away and turned his attention back to Mabel. "I ran out of flour this mornin'," he said, "and you'd better throw in some lard and salt pork."
    Mabel placed the child on the floor and quickly gathered up the items and shoved them into a fustian sack. As she totted up the bill, the little boy whined and dragged at her skirt.
    "He's cuttin' a new tooth," Mabel explained her son's behavior as she took Chase's money. "Usually he's the best behaved of all my youngins'. Takes after his Pa, I guess." She smiled fondly at the mention of her husband.
    Chase kept his opinion of her husband to himself. Although a decent man, Jake West was as lazy as Calvin Long. As he picked up the bag of supplies, he noted that Mabel was expecting again. Ole Jake wasn't lazy in bed, he thought with amusement.
    He wished Mabel good-day and turned to leave. "Wait a minute," she exclaimed, "I almost forgot. A stranger passin' by today dropped off a letter for you."
    Surprise widened Chase's eyes. "I can't think of anyone who would be writin' to me."
    "Well, it has your name on it. Chase Donlin, Big Pine, Oregon." Mabel handed him the envelope.
    Chase recognized the handwriting at once, and his hard features softened with pleasure. "It's from my sister, Anne," he said huskily. While
     
    Mabel waited expectingly, he turned and hurried from the store. He swung onto Sampson's back and sent him racing along the two-mile trail to his cabin. As he pressed the mount on, eager to get home and read what Anne had to say after so many years, his mind went back to the days of their youth.
     
    Ever since he could remember, he had loved and adored his big sister, He would gladly have laid down his life for her had it ever been necessary. He only vaguely remembered the years before Anne and her mother had come to live with him and Pa. It was as though his existence had begun with their arrival. His little bare feet had followed his new sister everywhere as they explored the forests, climbed hills looking for wildflowers, and played with the Indian children from the same tribe he had almost visited this afternoon.
    Then Anne had grown into a young lady, sweet and gentle like her mother. She was lovely, with her