Leadville, Colorado, 1882
The cheerful yellow house didn’t look all that imposing as Silas Jones stood in front of its fence for the fourth time that day. Yet he paused at the gate, as he’d done on each of his previous trips, unable to bring himself to open the latch and walk the few steps to the porch and knock on the door.
He turned to walk back toward Harrison Avenue, then over to the boardinghouse he’d been staying in for the past couple of days. Maybe coming to Leadville had been a fool’s errand, but he’d had no place else to go. At least not where he could keep his daughter safe from the Garretts.
Smiling down at the little girl in his arms, he gave her a squeeze. “It’s going to be all right, Milly. Papa’s going to find a way.”
Barely two years old, she was too young to understand his anxiety. Or just how much was at stake. Silas took a breath to calm the thundering in his chest. He had no reason to expect that Rose wouldn’t hear him out, other than the fact that the last time he’d seen her, three years ago, she was tossing daggers at him with her eyes in church.
He’d deserved those daggers. Actually, he’d deserved far worse, and he knew it. But he’d like to think that deep inside Rose Stone was a compassionate woman who’d understand that he’d had no choice but to break her heart.
Silas shook his head. Who was he kidding? Of course Rose wouldn’t understand. He’d jilted her. Not so much in the eyes of the world, since theirs had been a secret engagement, but he’d jilted her all the same. Married the woman his family had picked out for him instead of following his heart and marrying Rose.
She had to hate him.
Which was why he had no idea why he’d come all the way from Ohio to Leadville, Colorado, to beg for her help in saving him.
No, not him.
Milly.
When his wife, Annie, died giving birth to their second child, her parents insisted Silas and Milly stay with them. It didn’t take long for Silas to realize that the Garretts weren’t intending for them all to be a family, but to take Milly from him. They claimed it was for the best, that a single man wasn’t fit to raise a little girl on his own.
But how could a child not having her father when she’d already lost her mother be for the best?
The only solution, of course, was to take a wife. Given that Silas had already married once for convenience, it didn’t seem such a leap to do it again. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t hope to find love the next time around. But for Milly, he was willing to do anything. After all, he’d come to love Annie in a way.
“Can I help you?” an older woman called out, pulling Silas from his mental debate.
He smiled at her. If he didn’t move forward now, he would never be able to. It would look too odd for him to leave after having spoken to someone and then to come back later.
His throat tightened, strangling his ability to speak. Milly squirmed in his arms, reminding him of his purpose.
“I’ve come to see Rose Stone. Does she live here?”
The woman stared at him like she was trying to decide if he was friend or foe. Her gaze focused on Milly, and like everyone else he’d met on his journey, she softened when she looked at the little girl.
“She does. You come on in, and I’ll get her for you.”
Silas’s feet seemed frozen to the ground. The air was crisp, chilly, to be expected for October, but not enough to render him motionless.
Milly squirmed again. “Down, Papa!”
“It’s all right,” the woman said. “We’ve enough children round here that she won’t hurt a thing. Most folks expect these young ones to behave far better than they’re able to, but we don’t pay attention to that sort of thing. Let kids be kids. That’s what we always say.”
He opened the gate and let Milly down. His daughter immediately propelled herself in the direction of the porch and the waiting woman. Silas shook his head slowly. That girl seemed only to have two speeds—stop and go. Right now, she was on go, and he could only hope that the woman meant what she said about Milly not hurting anything. The Garretts were constantly chastising Milly for her behavior. As if a two-year-old knew anything about how to behave like a proper young lady.
“Who are you talking to, Maddie?” Rose called from somewhere inside the house. “And what’s this nonsense about letting kids be kids? You were just complaining last month to Polly about her children’s fingerprints on the wallpaper, and when Uncle Frank told you that children will be children, you told him that they ought to do it in—
“Oh,” Rose said as Silas entered the house. “What are you doing here?”
She hadn’t changed a bit, at least not as far as he could tell. She still wore her dark hair piled on top of her head in an elegant way, too elegant for their small town in Ohio, yet it had always suited her. Her cheeks still had a natural rosy glow that accentuated the way her blue eyes shone in the light. Rose had gained a little weight, and her figure seemed fuller, but he’d always thought her just a little too thin.
In essence, she was still as breathtakingly beautiful as she’d been three years ago.
“I was hoping we could...talk.”
Maddie entered behind him, holding Milly by the hand. “She is a dear. Makes me miss little Isabella. I do wish they’d come back up from Denver soon.”
Rose sighed. “So that’s what your change of heart toward children is about. You know Mitch had business to take care of, and you can’t expect Polly and the children to stay behind. I’m sure they’ll return as soon as they can.”
With a quick glance in Silas’s direction, Rose said, “Not that it’s any of your business, but Polly and Mitch are close friends, like family.” The glare she gave him indicated that he was not included in that label.
Though he’d once been.
Maddie smiled at Silas. “What is this little darling’s name? I’d be happy to have her in the kitchen with me while you conduct your business with Rose.”
“Her name’s Milly,” Silas said.
“He