Indigo Blue Read Online Free PDF

them as well as any man. If her parents would only give her half a chance, she’d prove it.
    Filled with frustration, she stroked Lobo’s wet fur. He leaned against her, the ridge of his back as high as her hip, an unwelcome reminder that she had inherited her mother’s slight build. She hated being small, especially now when so much rode on her ability to cope. Every afternoon since her father’s accident, weariness had ached across her shoulders, but she had never once complained. Yet her father still intended to sell out? It wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t fair. She didn’t want to leave here.
    Lobo lifted golden eyes to hers, his expression uncannily human and far too intelligent to ignore. They were a pair, she and Lobo. A wolf would never be accepted in that world beyond the mountains.
    “Well, my friend, shall we go home and see how bad the news is? We can’t avoid facing it forever.”
    Indigo struck off down the hillside, taking care where she placed her moccasins so she wouldn’t slip in the mud. Lobo paced beside her, a silent silver wraith that blended with the gloom.
    As Indigo turned onto the main street of town, she saw Shorty Dixon reclining on the bench in front of the general store. As was his habit every day after work, he was having a chew with his two cronies, Stretch and Stringbean. Acutely aware of the strange buckskin horse tethered to the hitching post out in front of her house and none too anxious to meet its owner, Indigo wished she could run down the street and linger on the boardwalk with the old men. She could almost smell the delicious aromas that would be coming from the hotel restaurant at this time of day. She lingered a moment in the rain. Stringbean’s laughter floated on the wind to her, and she smiled, fairly certain Stretch was probably telling another of his outlandish stories.
    The slamming of a door caught her attention. She glanced over her shoulder to see her mother on the front stoop. Indigo broke into a run. As she neared the sprawling log house, the strange buckskin, frightened by Lobo’s approach, shied and whinnied. Casting a wary look at the sidestepping horse, the wolf slunk under the porch.
    Indigo nudged her hat back, pleased to see that her mother was smiling. Not a halfhearted smile, but ear to ear, as if something grand had happened. “What is it?” Indigo asked, afraid to hope for good news, yet heartened by the twinkle in her mother’s blue eyes. “Ma, don’t just stand there grinning. What are you so happy about?”
    “Oh, Indigo, you’ll never guess in a million years.”
    “Ma!” Taking the steps two at a time, Indigo joined her mother on the porch. “Don’t play guessing games. I could use some good news for a change.”
    Her mother pressed one hand to her slender waist, the other to the swirl of golden braid atop her head. “The Lord answered our prayers with a miracle. We don’t have to sell the mine.”
    Indigo gave an involuntary gasp of pleasure. Then a dozen questions sprang into her mind. “What kind of miracle?”
    “A man named Jake Rand. He happened to be in Jacksonville yesterday and heard about your father’s accident. He’s between jobs and down on his luck. He’s got lots of experience running mines. He’s offered to be our foreman until he’s saved enough wages to move on. It’s a perfect solution for us and him.”
    Indigo knew she should be happy, but instead she felt as if a giant fist had hit her in the stomach. Rather than count on her, her father preferred to hire a complete stranger? After all that had happened, how could her parents be certain this Jake Rand could be trusted?
    “Anyway,” her mother went on, “Mr. Rand needs to familiarize himself with things. Your father volunteered your services. You won’t mind taking Mr. Rand on a tour, will you? No one knows more about the mine than you.”
    That was true, and it rankled that she was expected to hand over the reins. “Ma, I can run the mine. We don’t