A Moment in Time by Deb Stover

had been downright peculiar, though Cole wasn't complaining.   Normally, the high country was still covered with snow this time of year.   Now only the highest peaks had any at all, and it was melting fast.
           The dry weather enabled him to work in the mine almost every day.   Not that all his work had done him any good.   Sighing, he pushed his hat back farther on his head and scanned the horizon.   All these years of mining the same claim had netted him barely enough gold to keep his son fed and clothed.
           Todd deserved better than this.   The sound of Elizabeth's last words barged into Cole's thoughts, tying his gut into an unwieldy knot.
           "Promise me, Cole," she'd said, clinging to life barely long enough to make her plea.   "Make sure Todd gets decent schooling and a better life than this.   Promise."
           And he had promised.
           Though she'd asked him earlier to take their son home to St. Louis, he hadn't promised her that.   Guilt pressed down on him and he sighed.   Clicking his tongue, he gathered the reins in one hand and urged the mare into a slow walk up the rocky trail.
           And he should have kept his promise.   Not a day passed that he didn't kick himself in the ass for breaking that vow to his dying wife.   "Ah, Elizabeth."
           Selling the claim probably was the wisest thing to do, because it certainly hadn't yielded the gold he needed to start the ranch he and Elizabeth had always planned.   His dilemma had tormented him since her death.   He could either return to St. Louis to beg his father-in-law for a job in the mercantile, or he could keep digging in that damned hole he called a mine.
           But what of their dream?   He and Elizabeth had come to Colorado shortly after Todd's birth with one dream in mind.   All they'd wanted was enough gold to go to Oregon and start a ranch–something to pass down to their son.
           Something to make them all proud.
           Pride.   What good was pride, after all?   It couldn't fill a boy's belly...and it sure as hell couldn't warm a man's bed at night.
           He flexed his gloved hand, suddenly remembering how it had felt to touch that woman in town.   His gut clenched and an insistent tugging commenced in his groin.   Problem was, he hadn't been with a woman at all since Elizabeth....
           Long, lonely years without a woman could make a man want anything in a skirt.   Hell, that woman in town hadn't even been wearing a skirt.
           Still, her compelling softness filling his hand had triggered his need in a big way.   In search of comfort, he shifted in the saddle.   It was past time for him to get on with his life.
           But not with Lolita Belle.   She was a legend.   Miners and cowboys alike had whispered about her at card tables, on the trail and underground for years.  
           Cole tried to rid himself of the nagging voice in his head.   That woman couldn't be Lolita.   Not a chance.
           At least, he sure hoped not.
           Shading his eyes, he looked beyond the familiar boulder jutting out from the side of the mountain.   He was almost there.   Home.   At least, for now.   Smoke curled upward from the chimney, vanishing in the clear mountain air.
           Todd would be setting the table for their noon meal, knowing his father should be home by now.   He always helped out without being told.   Elizabeth would've been proud of the boy.
           Stopping the horse again on the ridge, Cole gazed longingly at the flowers his wife had planted around the front of the cabin.   The puny things looked so out of place there, but she'd been determined to bring civilization to their temporary home.
           Temporary.   Then why had Cole let it become so damned permanent?
           This was no place to raise a boy.   Todd needed schooling and a real home.   His