The Five Dollar Mail Book 3: The Road Home

88: It Darts Like Lightning

Cover painting by Angela Taratuta. Chapter artwork of Rosie by Laura Hollingsworth. All graphics by me.

Book 1: The Green, Book 2: Lynch's Boys, Book 3: The Road Home, and the Riders & Kickers Anthology are available on Amazon under the name Regina Shelley. So if you hate waiting for chapter posts and/or want a more polished read, the finished product is available now.

Rosie had lost count of the number of times she'd wondered if she was still asleep and had dreamed the whole thing.

The Living At Green River Station and Being Friends with Lynch's Boys thing. And much more specifically, the kissing Luis Santana thing.

She sat in the windowsill of the borrowed bedroom in the dark, watching the pink flicker of far-off lightning illuminating the purple nighttime clouds, far away across the plains. Crickets were singing down along the river, and she could still hear her heartbeat in her ears.

I didn't dream it. It happened. I really am here, in this strange room that belongs to someone from the other side of the world. There's an Irish gunman from New York pretending to be my cousin downstairs, snoring. And Luis Santana...the Pony Express Rider...the one with big brown eyes and shiny black curls and an accent that makes it hard to think...kissed me.

On the lips.

And when I said I didn't mind...he did it again.

Nobody had ever kissed her. Before coming here, the very thought would have been absolutely absurd. In fact, she had felt pretty sure nobody ever would have wanted to.

She drew in a deep, shaking breath, remembering how he'd leaned in so shyly, how their noses had bumped. How his lips had been so sweet and so soft, and how weak and giddy the nearness of him had made her feel. Her heart had been like a team of horses with iron shoes. How had he not heard it? Surely he heard it. It had been deafening to her. She touched her still-tingling lips with her fingers, replaying the memory over and over.

Her face had burned like a brand. It still did. She suspected his had as well. For the first time since she'd met him, he had been tongue tied, stammering and pink-cheeked as she excused herself to go back upstairs to Mister Hungerford's room. He'd never looked so sweet or charming as he had in that moment. It took every bit of willpower she possessed to leave his presence and go back up to her room before Wash woke up and found them kissing in the kitchen.

I taught him to read. We did it. He did it. Her throat clutched with emotion, sudden water blurring her vision. It's what he's always wanted. I've never seen anyone so happy. His face had been transfixed with deep, soul-reaching joy, and she knew that she was witnessing someone realizing that his life was going to be different than the dismal future he'd envisioned. He knew he had been rescued. She wiped her eyes on the corner of her dressing gown, watching the blues and lavenders of the clouds light up. Every now and then, the entire sky would fill with strange, silver light, and the distant clouds would show themselves as a rolling, towering dreamscape.

I've never seen myself so happy. But...

She leaned her head against the sill, tucked away in this room filled with wonders, the distant storm putting on a show for her alone. The station felt more natural, more welcoming to her than her home ever did. Her mind went back to the first time she'd seen them all together, that night a lifetime ago in Abigail's jostling chairs and squabbling over the bread. The sight of them had filled her with almost unbearable delight, but it was more than just the fact that they were exciting and handsome, or that two of them...Tommy and Luis...had noticed her and were stealing glances her way. Watching them, she'd been filled with desperate longing for something she couldn't name. She knew what it was now. They were a family. And among this family, she had never felt so safe. Before this, she had never belonged.

But...She smiled, wiping her eyes again. I am that happy now.

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