She opened the envelope to find a short note from Elizabeth Miller, along with a second envelope from Mr. Caleb Stark in Chimney Rock, Nebraska. The letter from Mr. Stark was still sealed.
The note from Elizabeth Miller read:
Dear Madeline,
Your letter from Mr. Stark arrived this morning. I know how anxious you must be and am sending this off to you promptly. The envelope is thick, which means it should include your train ticket. Remember what we talked about. If you need a way out of this marriage, get on a train to one of your roommates new homes or return to me here in Beckham. I wish you well, and please let me know how you are doing when you arrive at your new home.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Miller
Madeline smiled nervously, reassured by Elizabeth Miller’s kind words. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, then tore open the envelope from her future husband and carefully pulled out the letter. Folded inside the letter she found a train ticket and five dollars. She carefully put the ticket and the money back in the envelope, then quickly unfolded his letter and read it.
Dearest Madeline,
I know that isn’t the proper way to address a lady I haven’t met, but as you are my fiancé, I hope you don’t mind. That is how I think of you already, my dearest wife. Inside the letter you will find a train ticket and some money in case you should need anything along the way. I cannot wait to meet you and hope you will like your new home. We’re on the edge of the prairie and the start of the mountains, so I am sure it will be quite a change for you.
When you get off the train in Bayard, we will head directly over to the preacher’s house in Chimney Rock to get married. It doesn’t seem right to take you home with me without being married first. I’m glad you’re tall. I’m tall myself and this way I won’t get a crick in my neck looking down at you.
Yours Sincerely,
Caleb Stark
Madeline reread the letter three times before looking at the train ticket. Her mouth twitched in amusement each time she read the part about the crick in his neck. At least her future husband had a sense of humor.
When she glanced at the ticket, she saw that she was set to leave Lawrence at ten in the morning on October tenth. That only gave her four days to prepare. The thought both thrilled and terrified her. She also noted that her fiancé had splurged and gotten her a berth in a Pullman car, which showed that he could be kind and thoughtful.
She felt as though butterflies suddenly took up residence in her stomach. For better or for worse, she was officially engaged once again. She just prayed that this time would be for the better.
Chapter 2
Chimney Rock, Nebraska
October 14, 1890
Caleb woke up earlier than usual the morning of the fourteenth to the sound of birds singing. The sky was barely beginning to lighten. He felt as though he had not slept all night and for the life of him, he could not understand why he was awake now. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and go back to sleep.
After a moment of lying there with his arm over his eyes, he remembered that today was his wedding day. Suddenly wide awake, Caleb nearly sprang from the bed in his excitement, even though he knew it would be at least six hours before the train with his fiancé on board arrived in Bayard, if it even arrived on time. They were notoriously late quite often.
He started to make his bed, which usually consisted of merely pulling the covers up over the pillows, but suddenly stopped midway through. He tried to remember when he had last changed the sheets on the bed, and found that he had no idea. Certain his bride would prefer clean sheets, he stripped the bed before he got dressed and left the sheets and blankets in a pile on the floor. He fully expected to get to them after he had done his morning chores and had some breakfast.
Caleb barely had pulled his pants on when a shout of alarm from one of the ranch hands came from behind the barn. He grabbed a shirt and pulled it on as he ran down the stairs and out the back door. If his men were up this early and shouting loud enough to be heard from inside the house, something had to be seriously wrong.
He was not certain what he had been expecting, but what he saw when he rounded the corner of the barn was definitely not something he would have ever expected to see. George, his three year old nephew, was standing in front of Hank, his senior ranch hand, with his hands over his ears.
Caleb’s first thought was to wonder why his nephew was there at the ranch without his parents. Then he noticed the look of sheer horror that was stamped on George’s sweet little face and his blood ran cold. George was smeared with blood, from the top of his little blond head to the bottom of his dirty bare feet. The boy was wearing his night shirt, as though he had been wakened from sleep.
Caleb raced to his nephew and knelt before him with his heart in his throat. He searched George over in an attempt to see if the boy had injured himself on the walk to the ranch. Had he fallen and gotten a cut? Had he been attacked by a wild animal? Where was all this blood coming from?
Other than the blood, George appeared unharmed. That meant that the blood belonged to someone or something else. “Georgie,” Caleb said softly to the boy as he tried to get his attention. George merely stared off into space, lost in shock, his hands still clamped tight over his ears.
Caleb put his hands on George’s cheeks and tried to get the boy to look him in the eyes. “Georgie, it’s me. Uncle Caleb. What’s wrong? Where’s your ma and pa?”
At that, George’s lower lip trembled and his eyes focused on his uncle for the first time. He took a deep, tremulous breath and began to scream uncontrollably.
Not knowing what else to do, Caleb gathered his nephew into his arms and held him tight. He looked to Hank, who nodded and went into the barn to saddle up some horses. Both men knew that something terrible must have happened, and they needed to get to Caleb’s brother’s house as fast as they could.
By that time, the other men began streaming out of the bunkhouse. Between the earlier shouting and now the boy’s screaming, they knew that something serious was happening.
Walter, one of the younger ranch hands who had younger siblings of his own back home, took in the sight of little George and rushed over to take him from Caleb without a word. All the ranch hands knew Caleb’s brother Ben and his family well enough, and it was clear that Caleb needed to get to Ben’s house immediately. It was also clear that George would not be offering up any helpful information any time soon.
Caleb nodded his thanks to Walter and hurried into the barn with the others. He knew that George would be safe with Walter while he went to investigate what had happened. Horses were quickly saddled and guns were retrieved from their various resting places.
As soon as he had mounted his horse, Caleb began issuing orders. “Jim, Silas…go fetch the sheriff. Meet us at Ben’s place.” He didn’t wait for the rest of the men, but spurred Shiloh into a full gallop as soon as he had finished speaking. He and his horse burst from the barn as though the hounds of hell were at their heels. For all Caleb knew, they were.
Hank and the rest of the men followed Caleb from the barn. Every man knew where they were headed, but each had no clue what they would find when they got there. They hoped all that blood came from only an injury of some sort, but if that were the case, little George would not have come alone.
*****
Madeline watched the town of Bayard, Nebraska grow bigger as the train approached. Four days of travel on the train had left her feeling tired and dirty. She was grateful she had been able to stretch out in the berth at night, but sleep was elusive. Perhaps it was more the anticipation of her new venture in life that kept her awake, but she would be glad to be back on solid ground where the whole world didn’t shake, rock, and clack all day and all night long.
The train pulled into the station a bit behind schedule. From what Madeline had heard on the train that was completely normal. In fact, they were a bit ahead of schedule compared to how late this train normally pulled in! She hoped
her new husband understood how train schedules worked and would not mind the wait.
She disembarked the train and immediately began looking around for Caleb. She only had the barest description which he had written in his ad he placed in the gazette, so she honestly had no clue who she was looking for. She hoped he would recognize her from her description or would have thought to bring a slate or sign with his name on it, or her name for that matter.
Madeline stood in what she considered a high visibility location and waited for someone to approach her. She watched as families were reunited, as people came and went, and as the train pulled away. When she was the last person standing on the platform, her carpet bag at her feet and her steamer trunk behind her, she began to wonder if her fiancé had forgotten her all together.
She sat on her trunk and waited for what felt like hours before picking up her carpet bag and walking to the ticket window. “Excuse me,” she asked the elderly gentleman at the window. “By any chance, did a Mr. Caleb Stark leave a message here for a Miss Madeline Nelson?”
The man behind the counter reminded Madeline of a twitchy mouse, if said mouse had gray hair and a bushy handlebar mustache. He looked up from his paper and peered at her through his wire-rimmed spectacles. “Well, now…can’t say as he did.”
Madeline’s brow furrowed in frustration. “Do you know Mr. Stark?”
The old man appeared to consider that for a long moment. “Mr. Stark? Nope, can’t say that I do.”
Madeline sighed. She should have known better than to believe that he would have actually come for her. Yet he had spent quite a bit of money on getting her there. “Thank you,” she said to the man before walking back to her trunk. It was far too heavy for her to lift alone, though there wasn’t much inside.
She was looking down the street to see if there was a hotel or a boarding house nearby, when a wagon pulled up alongside her. She looked up to see a somewhat portly older woman staring down at her. It looked like the woman once had red hair, but it was now heavily streaked with white and silver.
“Are you Miss Madeline Nelson?” the woman asked in a clipped tone.
Madeline couldn’t tell if the woman was irritated with her for some reason or if it was her normal tone. She nodded in reply. “I am.”
“Good. I’m Mrs. Young, the reverend’s wife. That your trunk?” she asked, nodding towards the steamer still on the platform behind Madeline.
“It is,” Madeline replied, still uncertain about the woman, but relieved that at least someone had come for her.
Mrs. Young applied the brake to the wagon, wrapped the reins around the brake, and hopped down from the wagon seat. She then walked to the end of the wagon and lowered the tailgate.
She turned toward Madeline and looked at her, as if measuring her up. “You look strong enough. Think we can lift it into the wagon bed ourselves?”
Surprised, Madeline blinked. She had not expected this older woman to be able to lift something so heavy. “I think we might. It isn’t all that heavy.”
“Good,” Mrs. Young replied as she walked over to the trunk and lifted one handle.
Madeline scurried to lift her end, leaving her carpet bag behind. Together they managed to lift the trunk and slide it on board, with Mrs. Young closing the tailgate behind it.
“Don’t forget your carpet bag,” Mrs. Young prompted as she climbed back onto the wagon seat.
Madeline hurried to pick up her bag and then climbed up beside the preacher’s wife, eager to be on her way.
Once she had the wagon on the road and headed south out of town, Mrs. Young looked at Madeline. “Well, Miss Nelson, I am certainly glad I found you. Reverend Young and I were waiting on you and Mr. Stark for over an hour before I decided to head out.”
Madeline blinked in surprise. “You mean Mr. Stark didn’t send you?”
Mrs. Young pursed her lips, obviously irritated by the situation. “No, he did not. We haven’t heard from him since the day he sent for you. He didn’t even come to church on Sunday, though it’s hit and miss with that one.”
Madeline furrowed her brow. Was it possible that her fiancé had forgotten all about her? No, certainly not. The train ticket was expensive. Certainly he would not have forgotten. Then what could have kept him?
“But…Mrs. Young, shouldn’t we have left word at the ticket window? What if he comes looking for me there?” Madeline wondered.
“He can figure it out on his own, I reckon. Ol’ Mr. Thomas saw us leaving. If Mr. Stark asks, he’ll tell him I came to fetch you. Don’t worry your head none about that,” Mrs. Young reassured her. “And call me Ella. At least when we’re not on official church business.”
Madeline smiled at Ella’s kindness. “Thank you. My friends call me Maddy.”
“Pleased to meet you, Maddy,” Ella said with a smile. “You must be tired after all that traveling. We’ll get you a nice hot bath once we get home. You can soak off all those aches and such from the train.”
“That would be wonderful. Thank you, Ella.”
“I was going to get you that bath before your wedding ceremony, come hell or high water. I remember when I came out on the train, and how tiring that can be.”
Madeline cocked her head. “You were a mail order bride, too?”
Ella chuckled. “Not exactly. My husband and I knew each other before he moved to Nebraska, but my parents thought I was too young to marry. We stayed in touch with letters and as soon as I was deemed old enough, I joined him here.”
“Do you have any children?” Madeline wanted to ask how long they had lived here, but thought that might sound as though she were fishing to see how old Ella was. She was curious, but didn’t want to come across as nosy. She had discovered over the years that children were a normal, casual topic of conversation with married women, so she stuck with what was safe.
“Two boys, both grown and gone. It’s just me and Mr. Young at home now.” Ella looked sidelong at Madeline. “What brings you out here as a mail order bride, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Madeline laughed. “I don’t mind. The mill I worked in burned down and the owner decided to not rebuild. I couldn’t find any other work, so this seemed a logical solution. Many of the ladies I’d worked with are doing the same.”
Ella nodded in understanding. “Are you nervous about meeting Mr. Stark? Or about the…well, the wedding night?” Ella was not certain how old Madeline was or what she knew about the relations between a man and woman. She thought she had better offer, in case the girl needed advice. It was not an easy subject to talk about, especially with a stranger, but better to do it out here where no one could hear them if it needed to be talked about at all.
Madeline flashed Ella a grin. “No, I’ve been married before. Thank you for offering, though. That was very sweet of you.”
“Not at all. Least I could do,” Ella said quickly as she blushed slightly. “I’d hate for you to go in and not know what to expect. What happened to your first husband, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“He died,” Madeline said simply as her eyes turned cold and the smile faded from her face. She turned away to look out over the countryside and let her bonnet hide her face from her new friend. Her ex-husband was not a topic she wished to discuss with anyone.
Ella left Madeline alone with her thoughts for a while. She could tell the subject was a sore one and didn’t want to say the wrong thing. She was curious if Madeline had any children, but if she had they would certainly be traveling with her now.
It was not long before Madeline noticed the famous landmark, Chimney Rock, directly ahead of them. Given the flat terrain all around them, the rock and the bluffs beyond it were clearly visible on the horizon. Madeline had heard of Chimney Rock, of course. It was a popular landmark on the Oregon Trail.
They traveled in silence for some time before Madeline began to ask questions about some of the plant and animal life around them. Ella did her best to answer her new friend, but Ella explained with a chuckle that sh
e and nature were on a need to know basis.
It wasn’t long before they reached the town of Chimney Rock. It was a small town just south of the North Platte River with only a few buildings in it, but Madeline thought it looked lovely. The mercantile had a beautiful tree in front of it, which was surrounded by park benches. There was also a pretty little white church with a small steeple across from the mercantile, as well as several modest houses along the street.
Ella pulled up in front of a cozy little two story house, which was next door to the church. “Here we are,” she said cheerfully as she hopped down from the wagon. She frowned when she realized that Mr. Stark had still not arrived, but decided to get Madeline comfortable before she worried about that. Worst case scenario, she would have an overnight guest until they found out what had happened to Madeline’s groom.
The two ladies took Madeline’s luggage in through the back door and met Reverend Young, who headed outside to move the wagon into the barn and unhitch the horse. He was a quiet elderly gentleman, and had merely smiled and nodded at their brief introduction.
“Let’s get you settled into that bath, and then I’ll find out if the reverend has heard anything about Mr. Stark.” With that, Ella led Madeline into a small room just off the kitchen.
A small wood stove sat in one corner and a large copper bathtub, half-filled with water, stood along the wall. The stove had obviously been stoked for several hours, as the room was pleasantly warm. Two buckets of water sat on the floor near the stove, and Ella lifted them and placed them on top of it to warm them.
“Why don’t you go get your things out of your trunk in the kitchen and you can hop in the tub as soon as we warm the water back up a bit? It was nice and hot when I left, but I’m sure it’s cooled down by now.”
Madeline went to retrieve a new dress and some clean underclothes. She also brought her carpet bag, which held her toiletries. When she came back into the room, Ella had already set out a towel, wash cloth, and a bar of milled soap.
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