Born
Dakota Home
Always Dakota
The Farmer Takes a Wife (Exclusive short story)
To Irene Goodman for one hell of an idea
Contents
“Annie, I’m so sorry! I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
Annie Applegate shifted the receiver to her other ear and blinked repeatedly. Jane Patterson’s sympathetic voice had brought tears to her eyes.
“You should’ve let me know,” Jane continued.
It’d taken Annie nearly twelve months to write her childhood friend about the disasters that had befallen her in the past two years. Jane had called the minute she’d read the letter; Annie was grateful for that, although even now, a friend’s genuine sympathy threatened her shaky resolve in a way that indifference didn’t.
“I...couldn’t,” she said. “Not right away.”
Four years ago, Jane had left southern California—where Annie still lived—and moved to Promise, a town in the Texas hill country. She’d gone there to work in the local health clinic as partial payment for her medical-school loans. Her parents had been dismayed and delighted in equal parts when their only daughter married a local rancher and settled in the small community.
“What are you going to do?” Jane asked briskly. She’d always had a practical, we-can-deal-with-this quality that Annie envied. “What are your plans?”
Annie wished she knew. The question was one she’d asked herself a thousand times since the car accident and everything that had followed.
“Do you think you’ll stay in California?” Jane pressed when Annie didn’t answer.
“I...I don’t know. Probably not.” Only she had nowhere to go, nowhere she needed to be, and no real family to speak of. Her friends here all seemed at a loss. They urged her to get on with her life; what they didn’t understand was that she needed a completely different direction. A new sense of purpose. If she was going to pick up the shattered pieces that had once been her comfortable orderly existence and move forward, she had to make some real changes first.
“Come to Promise,” Jane said, her voice unnaturally high with excitement.
“Texas?” Annie murmured. “You want me to go to Texas?”
“Oh, Annie, you’d love it! This town isn’t like anyplace else in the world. The people are friendly and kind and there’s a...a kind of caring here.
