Under A Prairie Moon Read Online Free

Under A Prairie Moon
Book: Under A Prairie Moon Read Online Free
Author: Madeline Baker
Pages:
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downstairs as well, in antique oak.
    The dresser was on casters and she moved it across the floor, deciding it would look better on the far wall. It was rolling pretty well when one of the wheels suddenly stopped turning. The dresser came to a sudden halt. Kathy yelped in surprise as the bottom drawer fell out, landing with a thump on the floor. It was then that she noticed the small notebook jammed in a crack in the back of the drawer between the bottom and the side.
    Curious, she pried it free. The leather cover was stiff, brittle with age. Opening it carefully, she scanned the first page.
    The words My Diary, The Year of Our Lord, 1873 were written in faded, flowing script, and below that she read the name Lydia Camille Winston Conley.
    Kathy stared at the words, her heart suddenly beating fast as she sat down and turned the page. Lydia wrote sporadically. The first few entries were about how much Lydia hated living on the ranch, how she longed to go back to Philadelphia, how she wished she’d had the nerve to defy her father and marry the man she loved instead of the man who had dragged her away from her friends and family to “this dismal uncivilized wilderness inhabited by smelly cows and coarse men”.
    Kathy turned the page, but the next one, and the next, were blank. Frowning, she flipped through the pages, wondering why Lydia had stopped writing, and then she came to an entry dated February 20th.
    A day I will never forget. It was cold and gray, with the promise of rain. Went to town with Russell. It would have been an unremarkable trip except it was the first time I saw him. He was standing on the boardwalk as we drove by. A man, clad all in black. He stared at me as we passed by, and I knew, at that moment, that he was going to change my life.
    March 5th.
    Carmen and Whitey were going to town today to pick up the mail, and I went with them. As I had hoped, he was there. He was sitting on the boardwalk in front of one of those smelly saloons, his black hat pulled low over his eyes, one booted foot resting on the rail. He is the most frightening, handsome man I have ever seen. His name is Dalton Crowkiller. Rowdy said he is half Sioux Indian.
    He tilted his hat back and looked up at me for a long moment before he removed his foot from the railing. “Excuse me, ma’am,” he said.
    I nodded, unable to speak past the lump in my throat. His voice was low and soft and deep. But it was his eyes that left me speechless. Black eyes, the blackest I have ever seen. They looked at me as if he knew everything I was thinking. It was most disconcerting. And exciting.
    March 22nd.
    Asked Russell to take me into town this morning. Rarely have I seen him look so surprised. Of course, since I have never before asked him to take me anywhere except back to Philadelphia, I guess his reaction was to be expected. It was just after noon when we arrived in town, if a place as dirty and dismal as Saul’s Crossing can indeed be called a town. Told Russell I wished to look for dress goods at the mercantile and did not want him hovering over me. He looked disappointed, but went off to the livery to do whatever it is the men do there.
    He was sitting on the boardwalk in front of the saloon next to the mercantile. My heart was pounding as I slowly crossed the street. Thought I would faint when he looked up at me through those dark mysterious eyes. And then he smiled at me.
    There are no words to describe the effect that look had upon me…
    Kathy sat back, grinning. It was like reading a wild west soap opera. She had seen a photograph of Lydia Conley once, taken before the woman went insane. She had looked every inch a lady, from the top of her well-coiffed head to the tips of her high-button shoes. No one, looking at that innocent, heart-shaped face, would ever have suspected her of cheating on her husband.
    “Proves you just never know,” she murmured, and turned the page.
    April 1st.
    There was a dance at the schoolhouse tonight.
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