Settling against his side, Mandy’s heart raced. This happened every time Sidney got close. Love had hit her so hard it left her breathless, and when Sidney had proposed after they’d only known each other a month, she’d felt such joy she could have sprouted wings and flown straight to heaven.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in her ear and made her shiver. “If we don’t catch this stage, we’ll miss the train. It’ll be another week before there’s a stage heading north out of Mosqueros. I really am sorry.” His hand caressed her side, up and down. His voice settled somewhere deep in Mandy’s heart.
She couldn’t believe her good luck in snaring such a fine man. Handsome and strong and sweet. Rich, too, and he looked so nice in his store-bought suit. He had studied the possibilities of opening a law office in Mosqueros. But he decided a week before their wedding—after a month and three weeks of almost no lawyer business—that he had to go elsewhere. He had a line on a law office that needed a partner near bustling Denver, Colorado.
The jingle of iron in the traces made Mandy glance over her shoulder. The stage driver was almost finished getting his fresh team harnessed.
Not seeing Beth was unthinkable. Her little sister hadn’t been home for four long years. But Sidney was her husband now. He was head of the house. Mandy had promised to obey and she intended to keep that promise.
She looked at the trail, praying for Beth’s stage to round the corner of Mosqueros’s rutted Main Street, bringing her little sister home. Just a hug, just ten seconds to tell Beth how much she’d missed her.
Mandy knew how far away this journey would take her. It was very possible—probable in fact—that she would never see her family again. She fought the tears by thinking of sweet Sidney. Mandy couldn’t let Ma sway her into cajoling Sidney to wait yet again. “Ma, she was supposed to be here three days ago on the train. We held the wedding off until this morning for her because her telegram said she’d be coming on the stage yesterday.”
Sidney had been irritated. He’d made no secret of not wanting to spend his wedding night sitting up on a bouncing stage. He’d complied with her wishes finally, but it had been their first fight, the first time she’d really gotten a glimpse of Sidney’s hot temper, and it was all Mandy’s fault. She was going to do her best to be a perfect wife and never make him unhappy again. She didn’t dare ask him to delay their departure.
“You know they’ve broken down or something, Ma. She’s not going to get here.”
“I’m going to ride out and meet the stage.” Pa glared at the street as if he blamed the very ground for preventing Beth’s homecoming. “If there’s trouble, I’ll help ’em clear it up. I’m taking an extra horse, and even if they’re broke down, Beth could ride hard for home and get here by morning.”
Leaving Pa was almost harder than leaving Ma, but Mandy had found a man just as brave and true. That made it bearable.
“I don’t think you gave the law office in Mosqueros a fair try, Sid. Taking off for the mountains this time of year, with winter only a couple of months away, is reckless. Winter comes early in the Rockies. I know. I grew up there.”
A quick, almost painful spasm of Sidney’s fingers on her side reminded her how annoyed he got when someone called him Sid. “We’ll be fine if we go now, sir.” His fingers relaxed and he caressed her side again.
Mandy loved the respectful way Sidney talked to her pa. Even if he was irritated, he remained a real gentleman.
Pa didn’t approve of this marriage, just because it had happened so fast. Mandy got half a dozen stern lectures since she’d announced her engagement, but she knew her heart and she wanted Sidney.
She was too old to still be single, an old maid of twenty-two. And the truth was, she’d run off her share of men waiting for a prince. He’d finally come. Just an hour ago they’d said their vows and she was now Mrs. Sidney Gray.
And anyway, Mandy’d never had a boyfriend that Clay McClellen thought was good enough, so Pa’s disapproval didn’t mean a whole lot.
“Denver is a fast-growing town.” Sidney’s hand moved steadily on her side, so comforting. “I’ve got work lined up.”
“I thought you just had a line on a job.” Pa adjusted his hat, pulling the front brim low. “It didn’t sound like a sure thing to me.”
“We’ll be fine, sir. We’ll be settled and safe before the first snow flies.”
“You should spend the winter here. There’s room in our house if you don’t find the right place in Mosqueros. Then you could start out in the spring if the lawyer business hasn’t picked up here.” Pa held Sidney’s eyes for too long.
Mandy looked at her ma and glared, hoping for once Sophie could control her husband.
With a little shrug, Ma just stayed out of it. Ma never stayed out of anything unless she wanted to, which meant she wanted Mandy to stay, too. It was understandable. Her parents loved her and she loved them. But it was time to grow up.
“Load up!” the stage driver hollered. There were two other people waiting on the wooden sidewalk by the stage station.
Mandy threw her arms around first Ma, then Pa. Then she went down the line, hugging her two little sisters.
Sally, a reckless tomboy of seventeen, was dressed—under protest—in a riding skirt. She wore buckskin pants on the range. Ma had given up trying to make her behave like a proper lady, except in town, and Sally almost never came to town except for church, so the girl nearly lived in disgraceful men’s pants. But despite her boyish behavior, Sally hugged her fiercely with all the love in her unconventional little heart.
Eleven-year-old Laurie was next. She was overly proper, as if her whole life was a reaction against Sally’s refusal to be ladylike. Laurie’s eyes filled with tears as she hugged Mandy tight. “I don’t want you to go.” Laurie’s voice broke and Mandy remembered the hand she’d had in raising her littlest sister.
Four little brothers needed a hug, then Adam, a longtime friend of the McClellen family who owned a ranch near them, and his wife, Tillie, a former slave who’d been kept in chains long after the War Between the States had ended. Mandy considered them and their brood family. She didn’t bother trying to hug Buff—she knew it’d embarrass him to death—but she said good-bye. “Where’s Luther?” How could he have missed seeing her off?
Buff stood, clutching his coonskin cap in both hands, dressed in heavy leather that had to be smothering in the heat. He turned his head toward the end of the street and nodded.
Mandy turned and saw Luther coming, riding his horse and pulling a second horse behind him.
“I had Luther pack some things for you to set up housekeeping,” Ma said.
“We’re burnin’ daylight!” the stage driver shouted and gave Mandy and Sidney a surly look. The other passengers were aboard.
Mandy glanced frantically at Luther. She had to tell him good-bye. She had to.
Luther helped load a big box on the stage, giving Mandy a chance to hug everyone one more time. When she threw her arms around Luther, his cheeks turned pink under his full beard. He and Buff had been like kindly uncles to the McClellen brood for years.
With a smile that she kept locked on her face to keep the tears at bay, Mandy let Sidney pull her toward the stage. Amid waves and shouts of good-bye, she climbed aboard the crowded stage, heartbroken to leave her family, devastated to miss Beth, and thrilled to be with the man she adored.
She slid the strap of her Winchester off over her head and settled her rifle between her and the stagecoach wall, the trigger close to her right hand. She rubbed on the little callus that had formed on her trigger finger and fought down the flicker of fury toward her new husband who couldn’t wait another week to take her halfway across the country. When she had her anger under control, she looked out the window to wave one last time. They all waved back almost frantically. Then Pa tipped his hat to the family, swung up onto his horse, and rode off in the direction of Beth.
Sidney’s arm slipped around her waist.
She smiled at
him but tried, with her eyes, to warn him to behave with the two men sitting across from them.
Sidney leaned down and kissed her on the neck.
Mandy was embarrassed to death and slid as far from him as possible in the cramped space.
Sidney just followed. “We’ll be in town late tonight.” When he had her cornered, he dropped his voice to a whisper. “We’ll have ourselves a wedding night, Mandy.”
She shivered, but it wasn’t with pleasure. The two passengers were watching every move. One had his eyes fixed on them. The other was pretending not to stare, but Mandy caught him peeking.
“We should have been married days ago … weeks ago. We would have if we hadn’t put the wedding off for so long for your sister.”
Mandy pushed on Sidney’s chest forcefully and spoke sharply. “Now behave.” She smiled at him when she realized how harsh she’d sounded.
He frowned. She’d seen him frown before, but never quite like this and never at her. She’d annoyed him. Her heart trembled to know she’d made him unhappy. How could she fix it? Certainly not by letting him kiss her in front of others.
“Tell me when the train we’re meeting is coming in.” Distract him. That might do it.
“Early tomorrow morning.”
With a sigh, Mandy said, “We had to take this stage, I know, to get there, but I would have loved to see Beth.” Tears burned at her eyes.
“I’m your family now, Mandy.” He straightened away from her. The annoyance in his eyes flashed to true anger. “Your loyalty is supposed to be to me.”
Mandy noticed both men straighten subtly as if … But no, they couldn’t think she would need protection from her husband. Rushing to calm Sidney down, she smiled. “It is to you. I just love my sister and miss her, but I’m here with you now, aren’t I? I love you, and I’m excited about our new life in Colorado.”
She was stunned by her new life in Colorado. She’d had no notion that Sidney wasn’t settled in Mosqueros when she’d accepted his proposal. But she loved him and would follow him anywhere.
His mouth was a tense line and he watched her, as if judging her words. Finally, he turned and put the length of the seat between them and pushed the curtain aside to look out the window.
Mandy felt awful. Married two hours and she’d already done something wrong. She had no way to fix it now though, not with an audience, so she settled into the corner of the stage and did her best to rest her head, wishing sleep would come and this uncomfortable part of their journey was over so they could settle in and be happy.
Six
It’s rolling!” Alex’s shout only told her what she already knew.
Beth took one look up at the tilting doorway that was right about head high. It was going the wrong way for her to climb up there to get out. Both doors had been torn off and Beth now stood on the ground, but the stage wouldn’t clear her head when it went over.
She dropped. Shouts grew louder. The stage tipped. When the opening on which she now stood rose, she looked under it and saw dangling feet—
The stage stopped.
—Alex’s battered cowboy boots. He must have his hands on the top of the stage, using his weight to stop it from rolling.
Then, instead of rolling, the stage slid.
If it rolled, she had a chance of getting out. If it slid, it’d scrape her right off the cliff with it.
“Let go!” She snaked her hands out the door opening and caught his feet and yanked. “Let go and get down here.”
The lunatic either didn’t hear her or didn’t think she was making sense because he hung on and the stage slid again. Alex’s feet rose higher, risking his fool neck.
Another few inches and Beth could slide out of the stage on her belly. “Alex, let go and get down here.” Then she thought of what the crazy man might respond to. “I need help. Catch my hand. Please.”
Alex dropped to the ground, all the way down to look at her. The stage, without his weight, began rolling again. Alex thrust his hand forward.
Beth grabbed him. She needed another five inches, a space wider than she was, and she could get her body through. It rose three, then four.
The stage slid suddenly, instead of rolling.
“No!” Alex’s free hand grabbed the door frame and lifted. Beth’s grabbed right beside his hand. While keeping a firm grip on each other, they lifted with such strength a groan ripped out of Beth’s throat. The stage canted just enough. Beth dropped flat on her belly in the dirt.
The stage slid again with her between the ground and the heavy vehicle. Alex pulled until she thought her own shoulder might be dislocated. Her head was under the stage now. If it dropped she’d be crushed.
Another pair of hands appeared, lifting on the stage door frame, rugged hands—the stage driver. A third single, feminine hand caught hold—Camilla Armitage. Then another pair of man’s hands, smooth—the young man in the dark suit, fit for city life.
The stage lifted, lifted. Alex pulled and Beth shoved off whatever purchase she could find inside the stage and propelled herself forward. Alex dragged her.
With a roar of tumbling stone and scraping wood on rock and dirt, the stage was gone, rolling down the cliff, cracking and slamming into granite and stunted brush that clung to the rugged cliffs.
Beth’s feet dangled over the ledge for only a split second. Alex used that amazing strength of his to pull her all the way to safety. She flew forward and knocked her rescuer over backward. With a grunt of pain, she sprawled full length on top of him.
Their eyes met.
“Thank you.” She only had a moment to say it because the others were easing her onto her back, talking. Mrs. Armitage was crying. Beth saw that they’d all come rushing to help her—Whip, the stage driver; Mrs. Armitage; and the young man. Only Leo and the man with the broken leg hadn’t rushed to help. Beth suspected Leo was still somewhat addle-headed or he’d have chipped in, too.
It was all Beth could do to keep tears from coming to her eyes. But tears were nonsense for the most part, a waste of salt and water, Pa liked to say. So she didn’t take the time to break down and cry. Instead, she stood, noticed she still had Camilla’s reticule looped over her wrist, and offered it to her.
Camilla shook her head. “That’s not mine. You threw out the satchel we needed almost first thing.”
“I noticed the young woman carrying it,” Whip said. “I wonder if she had family we should notify?”
“Well, we got the stage off the trail then. Let’s be on our way.” Beth smiled at the driver and hung on to the reticule with no idea what to do with it.
The driver didn’t react. He seemed dazed, as if the scare had gone to his head as much as the blow had to Leo’s.
Beth could sympathize. It’d been a long day. She decided to give him just a few more minutes to settle down.
She looked at Alex, still lying on his back. Reaching down, she offered him a hand.
“Thanks, Alex.” Beth didn’t think he heard her. And he’d really been through a lot, considering whatever trauma still pounded inside the man’s head. “You were right about the stage being dangerous. Thank you for saving me.”
His eyes flashed. He reached up and caught hold of Beth’s hand with a slap of flesh on flesh and a death grip.
Beth felt a little thrill of fear race up her spine—well, more thrill than fear, honestly. She knew the feeling of fear well. No one grew up in West Texas without learning to have a healthy fear of the rugged land. Thrill though, oh yes.
“Let’s get loaded.” The driver seemed to come out of his daze, and the group straggled toward the waiting stage.
Beth tugged on Alex. He came to his feet in a move so graceful he could have been a mountain lion … a pouncing mountain lion … a pouncing mountain lion who smelled really bad.
“I told you not to go in there.” He didn’t yell. Beth wished he would because the stage driver might come and save her. Alex looked for all the world like, after all the trouble he’d gone to saving her,
he was now considering tossing her over the cliff.
But since when had Beth ever needed someone else to save her? She’d save herself, thanks very much. “I had no idea those rocks might crumble. They looked as solid as … well, as solid as a rock.”
“I told you it was dangerous.” He ignored her explanation and, his hand like a vise on her wrist, took a step toward her, using his height to loom over her.
Give me strength. Strength not to clobber Alex.
Beth wanted to sympathize with the poor, half-crazy man, but honestly, she’d had a hard day, too. “You were right.” If she couldn’t say that with complete humility, she blamed it on stress.
“I told you the stage might roll.”
“I was wrong.” The words were good, but Beth knew the tone didn’t sound a bit contrite. In fact, it sounded like a child’s chant, something a body might hear on a schoolyard at recess. “Neener, neener, neener.”
She jerked but he didn’t let go. Chanting again, she said, “You were right. I was wrong. You’re smart. I’m stupid. Is that what you need to hear?”
His eyes narrowed at her mocking tone. His grip tightened. “I tried to make you use your head.”
Well fine. He wanted her close, she’d get close. She took a step forward. “Can we go now?”
“No amount of money is worth dying for. Not even risking death.” He shook her arm hard.
Oh, dear God, give me strength not to pound this guy. And if I do pound him, give me plenty of strength for that.
“But you wouldn’t listen.” His fingers were starting to hurt. He was insane, so she decided to give him one more chance.
“You don’t know me well.” There, that sounded rational and calm and adult. No schoolyard taunt.
“You almost killed yourself for a purse.” He was so mad his hair might have been standing up a bit straighter, not that easy with his battered hat.
“So you couldn’t possibly know how much I hate, ‘I told you so.’” It was only fair to warn him … before.
Sophie's Daughters Trilogy Page 4