Nothing looked solid or permanent compared to the stone construction Beth was used to seeing in Denver. Nothing held the eye in town, but a far-off view of rolling foothills in the late afternoon light caught her attention. If all went as she expected, she'd be headed out there.

Cadmium yellow and orange, some French ultramarine. A touch of Hooker's Green. The light's beautiful. I'll have to tell Graham to put some paper in my trunk. She'd brought her watercolor kit along, but she didn't expect to have a lot of time for painting as a homesteader's wife. Not that Beth had a very clear idea of just what that would involve. She pulled the rumpled letter from her purse and read it one more time.

****

This is Beth Underhill's first impression of Wallace Flats, Colorado Territory, when she arrives to marry Trey McShannon in McShannon's Chance. Beth is a very visual person, as would be expected of a budding watercolor artist.

I made Beth a painter because it's something I enjoy, too. I have several of my watercolors on the walls of my home. The above image is one of my paintings, done at Point Pleasant Park here in Halifax. The actual work is on 11x15 watercolor paper, ready for framing - by the lucky person who wins my contest!

All you have to do to be entered is to comment on this blog at least twice between today, April 18, and the end of May, 2010. On the first of June I'll draw a name from the hat, and someone will have a piece of original art to call their own.

I'll leave you with Beth's impression of Trey later in the story.

****

He was beautiful, too. All warm shades of brown, hair and eyes and skin. All long lines and lean muscle. She'd love to paint his portrait, just like this, but of course she'd have to knock him unconscious to do it.

His wife.

Possession. The word had never occurred to her in connection with Daniel. She would have found it repugnant if it had, but she didn't now. There was such a thing as belonging with, not belonging to.

Elizabeth Marie Underhill. In the middle of the woods, in broad daylight.

No, not Elizabeth Marie Underhill. Elizabeth Marie McShannon.