by Anna Schmidt
“Jake told me you took this job so you could maybe help make things back home easier.”
Grace nodded. “It’s not much, but it feels good to be able to send what I can. My father was refused a loan we sorely needed, so if I can send fifty dollars over the time I’m here, that will make a difference. And just being here, I’ve taken some of the burden off my folks. One less mouth to feed and all.”
“What will you do once your contract with the Harvey Company ends?”
She released a long breath. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. I enjoy the work, and I’ve made wonderful friends. The truth is it would be hard to go back to life on the farm.” She shrugged. “It can get pretty lonely.”
“It can be lonely here as well—unless you happen to meet somebody special.” He took her hand between both of his.
Nick Hopkins was flirting with her. It was unsettling yet exhilarating. Grace cleared her throat and sat a little straighter. “What about you?” she asked brightly. “I mean, do you have plans beyond this?”
Big mistake, she thought when he looked at her for a long moment before answering.
“I’ve got plans,” he replied slowly, his eyes meeting hers. “Nothing unusual—land of my own. A house.” He paused as if deciding whether or not to say more, then added, “Someday a wife and family.”
Polly had said he wasn’t the marrying kind. Apparently Polly was wrong.
In spite of the fact that they were seated on a park bench with people all around, the moment seemed suddenly far too intimate. Grace glanced around and saw people leaving. “I should go.” She stood and offered him her hand for a handshake at the same time that he stood and offered her his arm.
He stood. “Grace, I may be nothing more than a simple cowboy, but I know enough to make sure you get back to the hotel safely.”
“I doubt I’m in any real danger, Nick.”
And just then, as if to prove his point, a trio of drunks staggered out of the saloon that stood between them and the hotel.
“I don’t believe in taking unnecessary chances.” He tucked her hand in the crook of his arm.
She glanced up at him. “And yet you’ve decided to risk spending time with me,” she teased, wanting so much to end the evening with that smile turned her way.
“I said ‘unnecessary,’ Grace. Where you’re concerned, I believe any risk is well worth taking.” His eyes roamed over her face before dropping to her mouth.
Was he thinking of kissing her again? Was she thinking the same thing? “We should go,” she said, but she seemed incapable of moving. The cold night air thrummed with the possibility that he might touch her cheek or kiss her again—both of which she longed for.
“Shall we?” he asked softly, and she took the first step. He matched his long stride to her shorter steps and saw her as far as the kitchen entrance. “Good night, Grace,” he said as he placed her fingertips against his lips. “I have to be out on the range for the next week or so, but if you’re available, I was thinking maybe we could do something a week from today.”
Caught up in the warmth of his lips touching her fingers, she barely heard the invitation.
“Grace?”
“I’ll see if Lily and Emma can go.”
He released a long breath and looked beyond her toward the sky. “Grace, don’t get me wrong. I like Lily and Emma just fine, but it’s you I want to get to know.”
“And you need to understand that I have a reputation to protect, one that, if sullied in any way, would cost me my position here. That, Nick Hopkins, is a risk I am unwilling to take.” She slid her hand free of his and knew she sounded like a schoolmarm lecturing a recalcitrant student, but surely he could appreciate that.
The man chuckled.
“Good night,” she said primly and turned to go.
He caught her arm. “Wait. I’m sorry. It’s just sometimes you have this way of talking that confuses me. I mean, I like it. I like the way I think I’ve got you figured out and then you go and surprise me again.”
She forced herself to look away. The man was impossibly handsome—and impossibly charming. If she wasn’t careful…
“Next week after church, Lily, Emma, Jake, and I will be pleased to see you, Nick. Good night.” Before he could protest her determination to include the others, she hurried inside and shut the kitchen door. Two of the kitchen workers glanced up from their chores. They nodded and went on with their work, but when she saw Jake, he cocked an eyebrow at Grace as if expecting a report.
“Good night, Jake,” she said and ran up the back stairs. But once she reached her room, she had to face the fact that Emma and Lily would not be so easily dismissed.
“Well?” Lily demanded the minute Grace closed the door.
“I had a nice evening,” Grace said as she removed her hat and gloves, “and that is all I have to say on the matter.”
“Well, la-de-da to you too,” Lily grumbled as she flopped onto her bed.
“Give her time, Lily,” Emma advised. “This is all new.”
“The least she could say is if she plans to see him again.”
“I’m right here,” Grace said, since the two of them seemed to be discussing her as if she were still out with Nick. “All right, I’ll say this. We talked and—”
Lily sat up, her face eager for details. “And kissed?”
Did a brush of his lips on her fingers count? “No. What I was about to say is he has suggested we all go out next week after church. The two of you, me—and Jake,” she added with a sly glance at Lily.
Lily frowned. “Why do I think this was all your idea? Not the two of you going out but you insisting on including us in the plan?”
Grace shrugged. “If you’d rather not go, I guess I could ask a couple of the other girls.”
“Did I say anything about not going? We’re in favor of anything that gets us away from work for a few hours, right, Emma?”
“Next Sunday?”
“Yes,” Grace said, taking note of how Emma’s cheeks had turned a most becoming pink. “But if you have plans—”
“Actually, I promised to attend an organ recital at the church.”
To Grace’s relief, Lily’s attention had shifted from her to Emma. “Promised who?”
“Aidan—Mr. Campbell. He’s been most kind, Lily,” she added defensively.
“You and Aidan Campbell?” Lily was clearly dumbfounded.
“Not like that,” Emma snapped. “He heard me say I was going and said the organist is a friend, so perhaps it made sense for us to attend together.”
“That’s good, Emma,” Grace assured her. “I’m sure you’ll enjoy that much more.”
“So Jake and me, and you and your cowboy,” Lily mused as she studied her reflection in the mirror. “And me with nothing to wear.” She sighed dramatically.
“I thought you found Jake’s attentions unwanted,” Emma said.
“As you well know, Jake and I are a lost cause as long as we both work for Fred Harvey. Grace and Nick on the other hand?”
Both Lily and Emma grinned at her.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake. I’m going to take a bath,” Grace said, grabbing her nightgown and toiletries and heading for the door. “And when I return, let’s have no more talk of romance, understood?”
Emma nodded as Lily gave her a sharp salute. But the minute the door closed behind her, she heard her roommates giggling and whispering, and she knew it was all about her—and Nick.
Chapter 6
The Saturday before Grace’s date with Nick, Miss Kaufmann called Lily, Grace, and Emma to her office. “Mr. and Mrs. Lombard, owners of the Lombardo Ranch, are planning a large party to celebrate their anniversary. They’ve asked for some of our staff to serve at the party. I thought perhaps the three of you might be interested?”
“Me as well?” Grace blu
rted. “I mean, surely there are others who—”
Miss Kaufmann smiled. “You as well, Grace. The new girl arrives later today, and since the party is a week from today, Mr. Campbell has decided the lunch counter will be closed and we will only serve the noon meal in the dining room. Actually, serving at the party is child’s play compared to the usual afternoon rush here. The food service there will be buffet style. Mainly, you will be passing among the guests serving champagne and clearing dishes.” She shrugged. “How hard could that be?”
How hard indeed.
“I would be happy to be of service,” Emma said.
“Sounds like fun,” Lily added.
Miss Kaufmann turned to Grace. “You’ll be paid a regular wage, and knowing the Lombards, I suspect that will come with a generous tip.”
“Thank you for the opportunity,” Grace murmured.
“Excellent.” She turned to go and then looked back at them with a twinkle in her eye. “Did I mention that the party will be a masquerade ball? Everyone—including you girls—will be in costume.”
“But—” Grace protested. How was she to bear the cost of a costume, much less have time to make something, even if she could afford fabric?
“Not to worry, Grace. As I mentioned, the Lombards are generous people. An appropriate costume will be delivered for each of you in plenty of time for alterations.” Outside, a train whistle blared. Miss Kaufmann clapped her hands together. “Back to work, girls. The eleven o’clock train has just arrived.”
As she returned to her post, Grace realized she was smiling and feeling lighter than she had before Miss Kaufmann spoke with them. A party! She had seen Mr. and Mrs. Lombard before when they came to dine at the hotel. Mrs. Lombard had a sunny disposition and was very friendly to everyone. Mr. Lombard was quieter but certainly seemed nice enough. It would be such fun serving their guests.
Of course, the Lombardo Ranch was where Nick worked. There was no reason to believe they would even cross paths. He was a cowboy, so he’d be out watching over the herd, wouldn’t he? On the other hand, as their foreman, his employers might have special duties for him—duties that included him being at the party. A girl could only hope.
She scrubbed hard at the marble counter until it glistened, and all the while, she hummed to herself and wondered what her costume would be.
“We’re to be dressed as ladies-in-waiting,” Lily moaned later that night as the three of them sat in the kitchen eating a late supper. “Mrs. Lombard will be the queen, and her female guests, princesses. I mean, we may as well wear our Harvey uniforms.”
“Well, Miss K could hardly approve our wearing some off-the-shoulder gown,” Emma teased.
“I don’t see why not,” Lily huffed. “Certainly, the three of us would make better-looking princesses than Mrs. Lombard’s friends, who are old.”
Emma laughed. “And that, dear Lily, is precisely why we are to be properly covered. How would it be if Mr. Lombard’s friends spent any time ogling the three of us?”
“You mean the way Mr. Fields and Mr. Perkins do now?” Lily replied.
“Miss K said we might even be paid extra for the evening,” Grace mused.
“Well, of course we will,” Emma assured her. “Not a great deal, but every bit helps, does it not?”
Grace had confided in Emma and Lily her plan to send as much money as possible back to her family. “Yes. I’m hoping the money I’ve sent already has started to make a difference.”
“Your mother doesn’t say?”
Grace shook her head. “And I don’t know how to bring it up when I write her. I just tuck what I can in with the letter and send it with the hope that it will help.”
Lily stared at her. “Please do not tell me you are placing actual cash in your letters?”
“Well, yes. I mean, how else—” Grace saw Emma and Lily exchange looks of alarm.
“You need to wire the money, Grace,” Emma said. “You go to the telegraph office, pay them the money, and they send a wire to your hometown operator, who then pays out the money to your family.”
“How much have you sent already, honey?” Lily sat next to her and wrapped her arm around Grace’s shoulder.
Grace mentally added up the amounts she’d sent since starting her work at the hotel. Money she’d accumulated in tips over the several weeks she’d been working at the lunch counter, plus the ten dollars from her first paycheck and repaying the money her mother had slipped her the day she left. “I don’t know. Almost twenty dollars, I guess.”
Emma sighed. “Nothing to be done now,” she murmured.
“But if the money has been stolen, surely a crime has been committed,” Lily said. “We should tell Mr. Campbell, perhaps even report this to the sheriff.”
A shudder of despair shook Grace to her core. “I suppose.” But she had worked so hard for that money, and now it was gone. What had been the point of leaving home in the first place? She was humiliated and embarrassed. “I don’t want anyone else to know of this,” she said firmly. She looked from Emma to Lily. “I mean it. The money is gone, and it’s my fault. Going forward, I will know better, but even if I did report the loss, it was cash—I have no proof.”
“But—” Lily was clearly ready to protest her decision.
Grace gave Emma a look of pleading. “Please? Can’t we just keep this between us?”
Emma patted Grace’s hand. “Don’t upset yourself further, Grace. You made a mistake. We all do from time to time—even Lily.”
Lily gave them both a look of mock surprise. “Me?” she protested, and then she hugged Grace. “You’re right, Gracie. Nothing to be done at this point. Live and learn has always been my motto. So what do you say we dwell on something less somber—like the party?”
“We are not guests of honor, Lily,” Emma reminded her. Grace was grateful for the shift in focus away from her. “Jake told me because the ball is a masquerade, everyone will wear masks.”
“Ooh,” Lily trilled, already distracted. “Mysterious and exciting.” She lifted her hand to cover the bottom half of her face and wiggled her eyebrows.
Emma and Grace broke into peals of laughter, and Grace’s felt her spirits lift. These women were her friends. They did not judge. They listened and consoled, and then they made her smile. “Why on earth would Mrs. Lombard want her guests in masks?” she asked as she carried her supper dishes to the sink.
“I heard she grew up in New York City where such parties were common,” Lily reported, lowering her voice to a stage whisper. “Word has it Mr. Lombard will do whatever it takes to keep her happy out here in the Wild West, and I suppose recreating a party of her youth is one of those ways.”
“Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have someone love you that much?” Emma said. “I mean, most of the men I know—including those in my own family—are more interested in what a woman will do for them. I’d give up a lot to find a man like Mr. Lombard.”
“Don’t let Mrs. Lombard know that,” Lily teased, “or she might change her mind about having us serve at the party.”
Grace had stopped listening to the details of their conversation. The minute Emma had started talking about the kind of man Mr. Lombard was, Grace’s mind had shifted to Nick. He was awfully good-looking, so maybe he just took it for granted that women would fall all over themselves to do his bidding.
No, she decided. Nick was too much like her father—a good, decent man who cared about others, a man who, with any luck at all, was starting to care for her beyond the bounds of simple friendship.
* * *
“Now, Nick, about the ranch hands,” Rita Lombard said as she bustled around the large kitchen serving up coffee and pie.
She was getting to it now, the reason why she’d insisted he have supper with her and the boss as soon as he had come in from a week on the range. Nick was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like what she w
as about to say. “I’ll make sure they’re on their best behavior, ma’am.”
“Oh, they’ll have to go a step more than that. I need at least half of them—and you—at the party. We’re expecting a number of single young ladies, as it turns out. Daughters of the other ranchers plus their friends, and they’re all excited to get dressed up and dance and such.”
John Lombard groaned.
“What was I to say?” Rita protested. “You men have all sorts of chances for adventures. Have a heart. These young ladies deserve an evening like this, and I say the more the merrier, and as long as we can provide well-mannered young men to attend to them—”
“Attend to them?” John roared. “Well-mannered? Rita, these are cowboys! It’s rare for them to take a bath more than once a month. You can’t—”
Rita held up one finger. “They are gentlemen and will conduct themselves as such for the evening. Nick will make sure everyone knows what’s expected, won’t you, Nick?”
What could he say? “Yes, ma’am.”
The boss stood and clapped him on the back. “Sorry for dragging you and the boys into this thing. Let them know I’ll make it up to them, okay?”
“And I’ve ordered costumes for all of you,” Rita added with a coquettish smile.
Nick could not hide his alarm, and both of the Lombards laughed. “Come on, Rita, stop teasing the man, or we’ll wake up tomorrow with nobody to run the place.” John walked Nick to the door. “I hope you and the men take some time to enjoy this fandango, Nick. It’s been a long, hard year, and you’ve done good work. We appreciate that.”
“Thank you, sir, and as for the party, we won’t let you down.”
The two men shook hands, and Nick walked to the bunkhouse, mentally running through the list of the unsuspecting hired hands waiting there. Who would he choose to watch over the herd and who to go to the party? Slim, Cooky, and Smokey had been on the trip to the falls, so he could count on them. Besides, Rita had said half a dozen. There were only three other men in residence, now that the seasonal hires had moved on for the winter. Could any of them dance a proper waltz?