Change of Heart Read Online Free Page A

made it clear he had led a hard life, but a life he’d
specifically chosen for himself. His life pleased him in a most
fulfilling way, and he made no secret of that.
    They reached the graves about noon. The
bright sun of the morning had given way to clouds about half way
through their journey. After Jase helped Marietta down from the
buckboard, she took her cloak and walked to Kathy’s grave. She laid
the cloak on the ground and sat down.
    “Kathy,” she said, rubbing her hand over the
brown sedge as tears began to pour from her eyes. “Oh, sweet
Kathy.”
    Marietta lay prone on her sister’s grave and
cried harder than Jase had ever seen any woman cry. Nothing seemed
to exist but her grief, her throbbing heart, the coldness of the
earth.
    “How could anyone hurt you and rob you of
your life?” she said between sobs. “You were a flower among rocks
in this harsh land. You should never have left me--blast your rebel
ways! You should have stayed with me where you belonged. Chicago
died when you left. We all died the day you left us behind, most
especially me.” Jase could hear her struggle to draw air into her
lungs. “And now there will be no more letters, no more slips of
paper that allow me to touch what you have touched. Oh, Kathy, take
me with you! I can’t bear to live without you.”
    Jase couldn’t stand her pain any longer. He’d
held Zack back, giving Marietta time alone to be with her sister,
but she was only making matters worse for herself carrying on as
she was. Her behavior prodded Zack to break free of his restraint
and run howling to Kathy’s grave, throwing himself on the brown
sod.
    “Mama, take me too! I want to go with you
like Aunt Marietta.”
    Jase had set broken bones on men who weren’t
hurting as much as Marietta and Zack were. He knew how to ease the
pain of a man with a cracked femur, but how did he stop the pain of
death? He rubbed his face with his hands as Marietta and Zack
continued to beg Kathy to take them with her. When their agony
overcame him, he closed his eyes and tried to think of something
else. Minutes passed, but he couldn’t fill his mind with anything
but Zack and Marietta’s cries. He raised his face to the sky,
opened his eyes, and saw that snow was beginning to fall.
    He looked toward Kathy’s grave and found
Marietta still prostrate with Zack pushed up against her. They held
each other tightly and wept together. Jase walked to the buckboard
and leaned against it. The snow began to come down a little more
heavily. He didn’t like the look of the snow or the sky or the open
prairie prone to sudden, fierce storms. They needed to head back to
Sledge Jackson’s before the drive became dangerous, but how could
he tear Marietta or Zack from Kathy and Clint?
    He couldn’t.
    He could only hope the sky would hold tightly
onto the wind long enough to ensure the safety of his two charges.
He tried once more to put his mind on another subject. As Marietta
and Zack’s grief turned silent, he was able to think about his land
project. That would take his mind off of the pain that ate at his
two companions.
    It had been just over two months ago that he
and Zack’s pa, Clint Morgan, had talked with a group of men
interested in founding a new town along the Oregon Trail. The men
had speculated that the railroad might come through somewhere near
the Trail one day. If it did, lots of money and plenty of glory
would be available in towns that sprung up along the Trail.
Speculators could garner both fame and fortune.
    Not that Jase wasn’t happy being a rancher.
He was, but it was just that he wanted more, a way to leave his
mark on the world. What better way than founding a new town? An
entity that would live on long after he was gone.
    He glanced at Marietta and Zack and found
that hey were still huddled together on top of Kathy’s grave. Jase
felt his jaw clench. He’d already missed the first meeting of the
land consortium due to his responsibilities since Clint and