by Karen Kirst
“Wh-what are you doing here?” She glanced around at the other people, who were filing past them as though this were any ordinary day. But it wasn’t. The man she’d loved and missed for nearly a year now stood close enough that she could smell soap and sun and leather on him.
“That’s a rather long story. But if you’d care to take a buggy ride with me, I’d be more than happy to tell it.” He pointed with his hat to where a shiny black rig and a horse—could that be Moses?—stood waiting half a block down the street.
Delsie stared at him in silence, her mind trying to keep up with the reality that Myles was here, asking to take her on a buggy ride.
“If you’d rather not…” He threw her a concerned look and put his hat back on.
“No, no.” She shook herself from her stunned stupor. “I would love to, very much. Although, I need to ask my father first. If it’s all right…to go.”
Myles smiled again, this time in obvious relief. “Fine by me.”
“He owns one of the banks. It’s not far from here.”
“Lead the way.”
Delsie began walking, but she kept shooting glances at Myles every few steps. He was really here—alive, well and still incredibly handsome.
Myles laughed. “You’re looking at me like you did when I told you I didn’t have any sidesaddles for your Express horse.”
“Am I?” A blush warmed her cheeks, but she laughed at the memory. Had it really been an entire year since their journey West together? Back in Myles’s presence again, the time had shrunk to almost nothing. “I heard about Amos. Mrs. Guittard was kind enough to write and tell me.”
“I was with him, at the end,” Myles said quietly. “He was the best of men.”
“There are still days I think of writing him, only to remember he’s no longer with us.”
“I’ve done the same.” He placed his hand on her elbow to steer her around a group of women talking in the center of the sidewalk. The touch sent immediate warmth cascading from Delsie’s arm to her toes. Oh, how she’d missed him.
When they reached the bank, Myles held the door open for her. Delsie thanked him and slipped inside. What would her father say about Myles? Would he approve of him? Seeing him again had only confirmed the feelings she’d tucked away, but she wasn’t sure if Owen Radford would still harbor objections of having an Express rider as a potential son-in-law. Her heart renewed its pounding.
“I’m here to see my father,” she told the clerk, then she knocked lightly on the door of his personal office.
“Come in,” Mr. Radford called from inside.
Delsie smiled over her shoulder at Myles, with more reassurance than she felt, and entered. “Morning, Papa.”
“Done at the general store already?” He stood and came around his desk. “I see the new hat you ordered came in.”
“Yes. Thank you.” She’d forgotten all about the hatbox. She set it on one of the chairs drawn up to the desk. “I have something to ask and someone to—”
Mr. Radford approached Myles and held out his hand. “Mr. Patton, a pleasure to see you again.”
Delsie’s mouth fell open as she watched the two men shake hands and exchange pleasantries. “But…how do you…?” She glanced from one man to the other, completely baffled. “Myles is the Express rider, Papa, who helped me…”
“Ah. I suspected as much.” A spark of amusement lit his green eyes. “Mr. Patton is also the owner of The B and P Ranch, located about an hour north of here. I’ve been helping him with his banking needs for a few months now.”
“Y-you have your ranch now?” Delsie sank into the empty chair, her mind so full of confusion she could hardly formulate her words. “And my father… You’ve known him…for…for several months?”
Myles shot her a contrite look. “I promise to explain everything, Delsie. But first…” He turned back to her father. “Do I have your permission, sir, to take your daughter for a buggy ride? I’d like to show her my ranch.”
Grinning, Mr. Radford nodded. “Certainly.” He bent and kissed Delsie on the cheek. “Have a nice time. I myself have been hoping to see Mr. Patton’s spread one of these days.”
Woodenly Delsie stood. Her gaze fell to the letter still clutched in her hand. “I almost forgot. You’re a grandfather, Papa. Lillie had her baby. A boy.”
His grin spread even wider. “Wonderful news. I will write her my congratulations right away.” He returned to his desk as Delsie stepped to the door. She looked expectantly at Myles, but he made no move to follow.
“There’s something else I’d like to ask your father, before we go. If that’s all right?”
She lifted her shoulders in a most unladylike shrug, but she could hardly keep up with all the revelations this morning. Waving absently to her father, she exited the office and shut the door behind her. A nearby chair provided another welcome refuge for her unsteady feet.
How had she not seen Myles around town before now? More important, why had he waited so long before coming to see her? She tamped down her bewilderment, and the accompanying flicker of disappointment, with the reminder that he’d promised to tell her everything. Hopefully, that meant today, during their ride.
At least Papa seems to approve of him, Delsie thought with an astonished laugh. First the news she was an aunt, then seeing Myles again after so long and now learning Owen Radford knew him. It was almost too much to take in.
The door to her father’s office opened and Myles walked out. “Ready?”
“Yes. Very much.” Delsie rose to her feet. Myles once again took her elbow in hand, re-creating the warm tingly feeling inside her, and gently directed her out of the bank and to his waiting buggy.
“Remember Moses?” he asked as he handed her onto the seat.
Delsie settled onto the pristine leather. “Of course. I thought I recognized him.”
Myles gathered the reins and clucked to Moses. Within minutes they were moving down the street, heading for the edge of town. Myles’s arm rested firmly against Delsie’s, but she made no effort to scoot away. The feeling of comfort and safety she’d so often felt in his presence wrapped itself around her now, and she couldn’t bear to shatter it by moving.
“I’m guessing you have a few questions,” he said once they’d left the town’s buildings behind.
“Just a few,” she teased.
He shot her a smile, which resurrected the rapid thrumming of her pulse.
Delsie leaned back against the seat. When was the last time she’d felt this content? Probably not since she’d left Myles, wounded, in the desert. “Why don’t you tell me everything that’s happened since last summer and I’ll throw in the questions as needed?”
“Fair enough.” He turned to look at her. “I suppose Amos already told you about my recovering from that arrow and making our way back East?”
Delsie nodded.
Myles faced forward again. “I wasn’t sure if I still had a job waiting or not.”
“But you did?” She already knew the answer, but she wanted to be sure she hadn’t caused him any trouble.
“Yes. That wasn’t the only thing waiting for me, though.” He cast a sideways glance at her and grinned. “Cynthia came to see me the day I got back to Saint Joe.”
The wealthy woman he’d cared about for years? A worm of fear uncurled inside Delsie. “What did she want?”
Myles chuckled. “She actually wanted me back. Told me she was bored with her captain and would use some of her inheritance to help fund my ranch.”
The fear grew a little more. “What did you say?”
His eyebrows rose as if he found her question as ludicrous as he did amusing. “I told her no, in the kindest way possible. I knew I didn’t care for her in that way and I never would.”
Delsie released the breath she’d been holding. Her stomach relaxed, too. “Still, the promise of all that money…”
“Not worth it,” Myles said in a firm tone. “After that I continued riding for a few months, until Amo
s took sick.” He licked his lips as if the memory was still a bit raw. Delsie could relate. “It was the night he passed that he gave me something. Something that changed everything for me.”
“What?”
Myles shifted the reins to his left hand and reached over to take her hand in his right. The memory of his strong but gentle grip filled her thoughts and her fingers. She hadn’t believed she would ever feel his hand in hers again.
“Apparently Amos had saved a considerable amount of money through the years, in addition to the money you gave us.” His low voice was tinged with deferential awe. “And since he had no other family, he gave it all…to me.” He twisted to face her. “He had over a thousand dollars stuffed inside a knapsack, Delsie.”
“A thousand dollars?” She gasped. “Is that what you used for your ranch?”
Nodding, he lifted her hand and kissed her gloved knuckles. “He told me to come West and set up the ranch. Then I was to find you.”
Delsie swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Even without her voicing it aloud, Amos had known she hadn’t stopped loving Myles. “But how long have you been here? Why you didn’t come—” she blushed again “—sooner?”
He rested their joined hands on his knee and gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Believe me, I wanted to. Dozens of times. Especially when I first arrived last October.” A reassuring squeeze of her fingers seemed to attest to his sincerity. “But I wanted to have the land and some of the horses purchased and the stables and house begun before I sought you out. I wanted to prove to you that I could get a ranch established.”
“I never doubted you, Myles.” She placed her other hand on top of his. “So when did you meet my father?” She still couldn’t believe he and Myles had not only met one another but seemed to have a good rapport, too.
“I first visited his bank back in February. Though I had to make certain his daughter wasn’t in the vicinity beforehand.” He threw her a sheepish grin. “I would have waited to meet him until I saw you again, but I figured I could use the financial advice. And I didn’t think it would hurt to let him warm up to the idea of me, either.”
Delsie laughed. “Yes, that was probably wise. What did he say when you told him you were the Express rider who conveyed me to California?”
“I only told him last week,” Myles admitted. “But you know, he didn’t seem as surprised as I thought he might after I confessed to knowing you already.”
Smiling, Delsie brushed hair from her eyes and studied the scenery around them. She’d come to love this valley surrounded by hills and so different from what she’d known in Pennsylvania, though gorgeous in its own right, too.
So her father had guessed at her feelings for Myles. She’d thought herself clever for keeping them a secret, but he knew her better than she suspected. A sudden thought had her turning to Myles again. “What was it you asked him, before we left? Did it have to do with your ranch?”
“Sort of.” His dark eyes reflected hidden amusement. “All in good time, darling.”
It was the same endearment he’d called her the last time she’d seen him. Too happy to press him further, at least for the moment, she rested her head on his shoulder.
A few minutes later, he tugged her arm. “There’s the ranch, Delsie.”
She lifted her head as he drove the buggy between two large corrals, one on either side of the road. A few horses grazed in the left, while a number of foals and their mothers watched them from the one on the right. Straight ahead sat a white two-story house with a wide veranda that ran along the front and sides. Behind it Delsie could just make out a good-sized barn. A carved sign above the porch indicated the property’s name in scrolled letters—The B and P Ranch.
“Oh, Myles, it’s beautiful,” she said as he helped her from the buggy.
He smiled, his expression full of pride. “Finished it last week. We’ll start on a bunkhouse soon, though it might be some time before we fill it.”
“We?” She followed him toward the house, her hand still tucked inside his, and up the porch steps.
“I hired a young fellow, Joe Cunningham, to help me build the house. He’s real good with woodworking and has a knack for horses, too.”
Delsie glanced at the two rocking chairs that faced the yard from one side of the veranda. “Did he make those?” She started toward the chairs to examine the handiwork, but Myles gently pulled her toward the front door.
“We’ll look at those in a minute. I want to show you the house first.”
The inside was sparsely furnished, except for the kitchen and an upstairs bedroom, but Delsie could easily see the potential in each of the rooms. Windows let in plenty of natural light and allowed views of the surrounding valley and hills from nearly every angle.
After the tour, Myles showed her the large barn. There were plenty of stalls to accommodate the many horses.
“I already sold several of the foals to folks in town,” he said as they walked back to the front yard.
Delsie took in the beauty once more, shaking her head in wonderment. “It’s all so lovely, Myles. You’ve done a fine job.”
He grinned, then tipped his head in the direction of the porch. “I’ve one last thing for you to see.” Still holding her hand, he steered her up the steps again and over to the rocking chairs. “I had Joe carve these. They’re identical except for one thing.”
Delsie released his hand to run her fingers along the smooth wooden arms and up the intricately carved spindles at the back. “They’re gorgeous.”
“Try it out,” Myles prompted.
With a laugh, she complied. The seat, though elaborate in decoration, was still comfortable. She leaned her head back and shut her eyes. Rocking the chair with the toe of her boot, she let the gentle morning breeze caress her cheeks as she released a sigh of peace. “I don’t think I want to leave.”
“I don’t want you to, either.”
The huskiness of his tone made her open her eyes. He watched her intently, making her heart stutter faster.
“Did you figure out the difference between the two chairs?”
The question took her by surprise. “Oh. Let’s see.” She studied both rocking chairs, but she couldn’t identify any dissimilarities. “I can’t see anything.”
Myles pointed to the back of the other chair. There in the wood an M had been carved, in the same delicate scroll style as the ranch sign.
Delsie twisted to look at the back of the chair she sat in. Instead of an M, this chair had a D carved into it. One tiny letter, but she knew its significance at once.
Her gaze met Myles’s and she did her best to suppress the smile attempting to break through. “I’d say you’re rather confident of yourself, aren’t you, Myles Patton?”
He knelt in front of her and reclaimed her hand. “I thought I’d take a chance,” he murmured. He placed another kiss on her knuckles. “Kind of like you did all those months ago with an ornery Express rider.”
“Is that all you remember?” She couldn’t contain her smile any longer. “I remember meeting a good, honest, handsome Express rider. Who—” she waved her free hand “—on occasion might have been…a little grumpy.”
Myles laughed, the sound deep and happy and sweeter than anything Delsie could remember hearing in a long time. “All I can say is I’m glad I didn’t turn you down that day. And I’m hoping—” he lifted her other hand in his and gently tugged her to her feet “—that you won’t turn me down, either. Because I have something to ask you, Miss Delsie Radford.”
Delsie’s pulse began galloping again. “Yes?”
“With your father’s permission and blessing…”
Her eyes widened as she suddenly realized what he’d asked her father earlier. And what his answer had been.
“Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” Myles turned her hands over and placed a kiss against each palm of her gloves. “There’s no one else in this world I would rather have riding and working and raising a family right alongside me.
I love you, Delsie. I think I’ve loved you since that first time I watched you straddle that horse, with that determined look in those beautiful eyes.”
Tears of happiness blurred Myles’s rugged face for a moment. These were the words she’d waited more than a year to hear, words she’d long given up hope of ever hearing from this man. “I love you, too.”
“So what do you say?” He bent forward, touching his forehead to hers. “Will you marry me?”
There was no hesitation; no need to consider. Delsie knew exactly what she wanted. “Yes, Myles,” she said with a full smile. “A hundred times over, yes.”
The grin he offered her, right before tucking her hands around his neck, made her stomach pitch with pleasure. Then his lips met hers in a kiss that filled her head to toe with happiness.
In that moment, Delsie recognized she’d at last reached the end of the trail she’d embarked on a year ago with Myles. Only it wasn’t really an ending. This was just the beginning and this time her journey would not be as the Express rider’s lady—this time it would be as his wife.
*
Dear Reader,
It was while driving across Wyoming on a family trip a few years back that Myles and Delsie’s story first entered my mind. I could just imagine them racing across the barren landscape, and it wasn’t long after that I knew I wanted this story to feature the Pony Express.
Though only in operation a year and a half, the Pony Express has become a legend of the American West. The lone rider on his galloping steed, squaring off against the dangers of man and nature, is an iconic image of the fortitude and lasting impression made by those who came Westward.
All of the Express stations, cities, forts and landmarks named in this story were actual places or sights. The descriptions of Express-related items or information—including the logistics of the Pony Express operation—are also historically accurate. The riders and workers in this story are my own creation with the exception of Mrs. Guittard, who was a real person, though I added my own details to her character for the sake of the story. I’m indebted and grateful to those who compiled detailed accounts and descriptions of the Pony Express and made them available to all. Any errors are mine alone.