Chapter 1
Roaring Fork Valley, Colorado, 1880
Robert Sweeney leaned against a boulder, drinking his coffee as the clear creek gurgled by. The birds twittered happily in the shrubs and trees, singing away the last remnants of summer. All around him leaves changed to different shades of green, gold, orange, and brown. The breeze carried the scent of new beginnings in the crisp, tangy smell of autumn.
Most people considered spring the symbol of new life. To Robert, autumn would forever remind him of when he finally gained control of his life. He bowed his head and thanked Jesus for the second chance. The weight of that responsibility settled heavily on his bent shoulders and lowered head. Robert didn’t care. His wide shoulders were strong enough to carry the burden of his duty to God. He would carry the weight of the world if it meant he lived out a life worth living.
He raised his head and surveyed the land around him. His land. Relief filled his lungs and sprung wells from his eyes. He quickly dashed the moisture away. He wondered if he let the dam of emotions break, would he ever be able to wall it back up? He wasn’t sure, so he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and found the control that had gotten him through hell and back.
Guilt quickly replaced the sense of relief. Robert sighed. He should’ve known the pleasant feeling wouldn’t last. The last two years had chiseled just about every good feeling out of him.
He huffed as he rubbed the back of his neck. His entire life had done that. Not that it mattered now. The consequences of his choices would always be with him. At least now he had the hope of heaven and a roadmap of the path to get there. All he had to do was stay the course, keep everything tightly in control, and he’d make it.
He gazed up at Mount Sopris where it towered in the distance. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. He glanced at the Bible that sat upon the boulder he had been leaning against. The truth of that verse settled his mind. God had helped him. When his brother Linc had been set on kidnapping Viola to claim her as his own, God had given Robert the courage to tell his brother no and keep his younger brother, William, from running off with Linc.
After Linc no longer had control over Robert, God had shown him the sack of coins Linc had hidden in his bedroll. Robert had no clue who Linc stole the money from and felt guilty about not being able to return it. It also angered Robert as all get-out that Linc couldn’t see past his greed to appreciate what he already had. Robert had taken those coins and set off to find a new way of life.
Robert rinsed out his coffee mug in the stream, grabbed his Bible, and headed to the cabin. He couldn’t believe he had gotten the cabin up before winter set in. It would’ve been easier if William had been able to pitch in.
Robert swallowed the grief that closed off his throat. He had known William needed help, that something in his brain had cracked. Robert wanted to blame Linc and his abuse of the boy, but he couldn’t lie to himself or God. If he would’ve taken William away and not allowed Linc to take out his anger on William, the sweet boy that had raced up to Robert as a child back east wouldn’t have ended up a crazed man with a knife in his chest. After Robert had buried William in the mountains that had claimed half his family, he’d headed to Leadville, hoping to find work for the winter and figure out what he was supposed to do next. When news of the Utes being rounded up that next spring hit, he took off for the Roaring Fork.
Before Linc had died, he’d always made them check out the valley, in between his stalking
the Thomas family. He swore if they kept coming back to the area and the surrounding mountains, they’d someday find a miner, and they could jump his claim. Of course, Linc had never been willing to find a claim of his own, especially when he could steal someone else’s.
However, Robert had looked upon the vast valley and found land perfect for farming. When the government ripped the lands back from the Utes, he had seen his future. One he’d till and form from the land. He had the ten dollars needed to claim the homestead as soon as a land office opened up close, and enough coins left to get him through the next winter and spring. Then he planned to plant enough food, not only for himself, but also to supply the mines he figured would crop up by next spring.
A grin stole up his face as he approached the cabin. He rubbed his cheek at the unfamiliar tug and decided to let it stay. It felt right that one would grin like a fool when freedom had been granted. The cabin walls were six-feet tall with the purlin peak for the roof another six-feet up. Robert meant to build it much shorter, but with each row of logs he stacked, he realized he didn’t want to spend his life stooped in discomfort any longer.
He’d cut one small window in the side wall he planned to cover with furs once the real cold set in. Then, he had stacked the fireplace and chimney with rocks from the creek outside. It warmed the cabin up quite nicely, which made him thankful he wouldn’t freeze through another winter.
The handmade cottonwood shingles had taken the longest to get on. The meticulous work of roofing may have been tedious for most, but he found it soothing. His attention to detail proved watertight through the storms that passed the last week.
He’d chinked between the logs with the pretty red clay found in the area and thought it gave the cabin a nice decorative look. He snorted at himself. Who was he kidding? It was a simple, one-room cabin with nothing fancy to it, but it was his. It represented a life of stability he’d staked claim to for himself.
Robert swung the homemade door open and stomped into the cabin. The thick walls muted the singing of the birds, and quiet enveloped him. He set his mug on the shelf next to his one and only plate, rubbing his hand on the smooth wood before turning. Would the loneliness of not having his family near break his mind like William’s had? Was his family destined for madness?
Pa had beat into the boys that family stuck together, no matter what. Robert and Linc had understood that message to mean different things. Linc had spent
his days growing up trying to live up to their pa’s depravity. That left Robert to take care of the family, though he was two years younger than Linc.
As a child, Robert found food in the alleys and gardens back home, while his pa drank and gambled away any money he made working and his ma survived the atrocities Pa put her through. How she kept her faith in God with that monster of a husband was beyond Robert’s comprehension. He now thanked God every day she did, because her faith eventually saved him from the worst of his family’s sins. He hadn’t wanted her to suffer more, so he dug through trash and stole vegetables from gardens to feed everyone. A pat on the cheek and a sorrowful smile was all the encouragement he had needed to make sure his ma had food, though the act of stealing always made his stomach hurt.
The fear of solitude was the reason he’d stayed with Linc after their ma died. ...
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