Maggie's Journey (McKenna's Daughters)

by Lena Dooley Nelson

  Sleep didn’t come. An out-of-tune symphony of snoring sounds, both soft and loud, fought for supremacy with the annoying clacking and creaking of the train. In the daytime she’d been able to push thoughts of her secret to the back of her mind. But now, in the dark of night, they haunted her. Like specters from the past, they arose and surrounded her, taunted her.

  Both her mother and father had made her cry before she boarded the train, not out of cruelty, but with kindness and tenderness. Yet why would they have kept the truth of her birth from her? Didn’t they understand how cruel that was?

  Other questions bombarded her. Even though Mother treated her much nicer since Daddy announced she could go on this trip, too many memories of her being critical flooded Maggie’s mind. What was wrong with her that she could never please her mother?

  And most important of all, why did her real mother and father give her away? Tears leaked from her eyes, wetting much of the pillow long before she finally drifted into fitful slumber.

  Chapter 10

  Dressing for bed had been hard, but Maggie found that putting on her clothes before she left the protection of the berth was more of a nightmare. And she didn’t have either a mirror or a maid to help fix her hair. Because she only pulled out the hairpins but didn’t brush her hair and braid it last night, her curls were more tangled than a rat’s nest. No matter how she tried to gently brush the knots out, she only succeeded in pulling her hair, bringing fresh tears to her eyes. The tears caused by her tender scalp were soon joined by those left over from last night. What am I doing on this train heading toward a woman who really isn’t my grandmother? She must be crazy. But she had to meet Agatha Carter. Maybe when she talked with the famous dress designer, she’d finally get advice about her own dreams of being a designer.

  Although railroad tracks looked to be smooth, the ride belied that fact. The passenger car jerked and swayed, making her task of fixing her hair even more impossible. Maybe she should just give up, climb back between the sheets, pull the covers over her head, and stay there all day.

  Maggie used the brush to smooth the top of her hair, then pulled it back and tied it with a ribbon. That would have to do for today. She was tired of fighting with the mess. Why couldn’t she have sleek dark hair like Aunt Georgia? Because she really wasn’t blood kin. That’s why. A few more tears streamed down her cheeks. What a mess she was this morning.

  Before Maggie was ready to climb out of the berth, the conductor walked the length of the car. Along the way, he called out, “Train’s gonna stop in ’bout an hour. We’ll be in the station fer a while. You’ll be able to get off and stretch your legs. Get somethin’ to eat.”

  Maggie pulled her curtains back and slid her feet toward the floor. With the opportunity to get off the train for a while, maybe today wouldn’t be so bad.

  •••

  When the engineer started applying the noisy brakes as they approached the town, Charles glanced out the window, hoping for a variety of eating places to choose from. Unfortunately, this was only a whistle stop, a small cluster of ramshackle buildings around the depot and water tank.

  Georgia glanced up. “Wonder where we are.”

  “In the state of Oregon.” The conductor said as he hurried past them on the way to the front of the car.

  Maggie frowned. “Oregon? I thought we’d be farther than that by now.” She sounded so disappointed. Since she exited her berth, Maggie had been noticeably quieter. Every time Charles had glanced at her, she’d turned her face away, but he noticed the red splotches crying had left on her face. What was wrong with her—homesickness? They’d only just started. How would she survive the rest of the trip?

  The train shuddered to a complete stop, and he stood. “Ladies, I’d like to escort you off the train. We can get some exercise, and I’ll purchase food for us.” He held out his arm to Georgia.

  After she slipped her hand around one elbow, they started toward the door at the end of the car, but Maggie didn’t follow them. When Georgia glanced back at her and cleared her throat, Maggie looked up.

  “All right. I’m coming.” She arose and followed their lead.

  “Let us be off.” Charles helped Georgia down from the car, then turned to Maggie. “May I assist you, too, Miss Caine?”

  His comment brought a tiny curl to her lips. “Of course, Mr. Stanton.” She kept her face averted from him. “I’m a real mess this morning.”

  He leaned closer and whispered for her ears alone. “You could never be a mess, Maggie. Why, just look at them there curls waving in the breeze.”

  The absurdity of his words teased a full-blown smile to her face.

  After they exited the car, bright morning sunlight bathed them with warmth as well as brilliance. Maggie squinted until her eyes adjusted to the difference. “Where’s the town?”

  “This is it.” Charles waved his arm to encompass the few buildings. They made their way over to a building labeled Hardy’s Hotel. Enticing aromas of smoked meat and biscuits met them at the swinging doors to the establishment. “Something smells good enough to eat, doesn’t it?”

  With no printed menu in sight, a woman served them plates filled with ham, scrambled eggs, and hot biscuits dripping with butter. The only breakfast available for the day. Without wasting too much time with conversation, they all three enjoyed the delicious food.

  After their plates were clean, Charles signaled the waitress to come to their table. “Ma’am, that was some fine cooking. Be sure to tell the cook we said so.”

  “Name’s Maud, chief cook and bottle washer too.” A smile wreathed her face, and a jolly laugh shook her whole body as if she had been the first person to ever say that timeworn phrase.

  “Then my compliments for your skills.” Charles tried to encourage people whenever he could.

  “Well, don’t that beat all.” Maud stood a little taller. “Ain’t nobody tole me that before. Them’s mighty fancy words.”

  “And sincerely spoken.” Charles winked, and both Georgia and Maggie smiled at their bantering.

  Several of the other diners stopped eating and leaned forward to listen. Charles felt as if they were the floor show, and their stage was a rustic dining room with handmade tables worn smooth by who knew how many diners.

  “Kin I get you and your women anything else?” Maud’s voice cut into his thoughts.

  At those words, Maggie’s eyebrows rose and her mouth puckered into an O. Georgia laughed. Charles loved hearing her. She was a very young widow, but since she didn’t wear her wedding ring, her husband probably had been gone awhile. She needed attention from a man like himself. One who could appreciate her beauty and help her move on. A man with a promising future.

  Charles stood and offered his hand to Maud. “I’m Charles Stanton, a businessman from Seattle, and I’m accompanying Miss Margaret Caine and her aunt, Mrs. Georgia Long, to Little Rock, Arkansas.”

  The woman gave his hand a quick shake, then turned toward Maggie and Georgia. “Sorry I got that wrong. Welcome to Hardy. Ole Will Hardy named this little town after hisself, since he was the one what built the first building here along the tracks.”

  “We were delighted to see a place to get good food.” Georgia wiped her mouth then laid her napkin beside her empty plate.

  “Actually, Maud.” Charles smiled at the friendly woman. “I wondered if we could purchase provisions to take on the train. I’m not sure when we’ll stop again.”

  Maud led him toward a door that opened into the tiny lobby of the hotel. “Where’d you say you was headed?”

  “Arkansas.” He glanced around the room with only a desk to check in at the hotel and a couple of wooden chairs beside the window.

  “You probably won’t find much to eat until sometime tomorrow.” Maud pulled from her apron pocket a large metal ring with several keys clinking together. She unlocked another door at the back of the lobby. “We keep extra supplies on hand, and I can sell you some.”

  They entered a large storeroom prac
tically crammed to the ceiling with an abundance of fresh produce, canned goods, utensils, sacks of supplies hidden from view, and even tools. Charles scanned the shelves and stacks on the floor. “Would you mind if I get our basket off the train? Maybe we can fill it.”

  “Sure. I’ll wait fer you.” Maud waved him away.

  When he returned, she helped him gather fresh apples, canned peaches, canned meat, canned vegetables, cheese, and crackers. These would keep if they didn’t eat them all before they stopped for food again.

  “I can also wrap up the extra biscuits and ham, if you’d like.” She headed out the door, then turned back. “You need a can opener?”

  “Yes.”

  “They’s some on that there shelf.” She made sure he found them before leaving.

  Charles liked this friendly woman. She quickly met their needs, and the price she charged was reasonable.

  •••

  Maggie felt much better when she and Georgia climbed onto the train. The bright sunlight and good food, and watching the way Charles treated people, had cheered her. But they had done nothing to make the seat more comfortable. She sat down and tried to find a position where her backside didn’t hurt. The smashed-down stuffing felt nonexistent.

  Georgia slipped onto the bench beside Maggie. “Want me to help you with your hair?” she whispered.

  Maggie held back a gasp. She’d hoped no one would notice what a mess it was. Of course, Georgia knew how meticulous she usually was about her appearance. “Do you think you can do anything with it?”

  “We probably have several minutes before the train loads and pulls out. Get me your brush, and I’ll try to finish before anyone else comes into this car.”

  Maggie pulled the brush from her carpetbag and handed it to her. Georgia untied the ribbon and started working on the knots from the tips of her hair and moving toward her scalp as she got more and more of it untangled.

  In only a few minutes, Maggie could run her fingers through her curls. She relished the feeling. Before she had felt so unkempt, but now she’d look more civilized. “That’s marvelous. How did you learn to do that?”

  Georgia handed her the brush. “Actually, our mother has very curly hair. When we were girls, we often brushed it. That was one of my favorite things to do.”

  Maggie had never had anyone who enjoyed taking care of her hair, except Ingrid, and that was only the last couple of years. “Do you think I should try to put my hair up during the daytime?” Maggie pushed the brush back into her luggage.

  “Not necessarily. On the train, it would be easier to just pull it back during the daytime and maybe go ahead and braid it at night.” Georgia helped her tie the tresses and make a pretty bow with the ribbon.

  “Aaalll aboooard!” The conductor’s familiar call rang out just before Charles came through the door, carrying their picnic basket and a burlap bag.

  “Well, ladies, we’re all set for the next few days.” He sat down opposite the women and began to display the bounty he’d acquired. “After we filled the basket, Maud wanted to give me this ‘tow sack’ for the rest of the items.”

  The way he mimicked the woman in the hotel made Maggie laugh.

  “My goodness, that’s quite a spread.” Georgia clapped her hands.

  “Our friendly ‘chief cook and bottle washer,’ as she called herself, sold all this to me. I think she took a liking to us.” A huge smile spread across his face.

  Maggie thought he sounded a little too pleased with himself, but then she decided he deserved a little praise for the way he provided for them. “Thank you, Charles. I appreciate all you’ve been doing for us.”

  His eyes lit up when she said that. She hadn’t stopped to think that he was making a real sacrifice, leaving his business in her father’s hands and traveling so far with them. Even though her father was very capable of taking care of things, Charles’s thoughts must often return to what he left behind. Maybe she should pay more attention to letting him know how much they needed him.

  The train started moving, accompanied by its usual squealing and hissing, and in an odd sort of way, the sounds were comforting. Maggie looked toward the front of the car. No one sat between them and the doorway. Their seats were about a third of the way back. She twisted on the bench and glanced the other direction. Only three people sat in all the area behind them.

  “Where is everyone?” she asked Charles.

  “A couple of people got off at Hardy. And the family moved to the next passenger car where there are other children. I overheard them saying the children could help amuse each other.” He stopped and gazed at her until she felt like squirming. “Are you afraid of spending time with me without many people around?”

  The quirk of his lip revealed he was only teasing. She smiled back. Maggie liked this side of Charles. He was more like the Charles she remembered from when they were younger.

  The puffing train became Maggie’s whole world, Charles and Georgia her only friends and family. For several days, they traveled through the states of Oregon, a bit of California, Nevada, and then Utah territory. Most of the stops were similar to Hardy, with a few buildings and only one or two places to get something to eat. Sometimes their meals were bountiful, as they had been in Hardy. Others served stingy or tasteless food, but she was glad to find sustenance. Having food became more important than the way it was prepared.

  Then they reached the Rocky Mountains.

  Chapter 11

  Charles watched the majestic Rocky Mountains come closer and closer. “Georgia, how many times have you made this trip by train?”

  “Only two times, besides when we moved west.” Her gaze roved the approaching foothills. “I never get tired of looking at these wonderful mountains.”

  “Would you like to sit by the window?” He scooted toward the aisle and opened a place for her on the bench seat beside him.

  Georgia glanced at Maggie, who slept with her head against the window. “She isn’t really sleeping that well on the train. I know she’s tired.” She carefully moved to the space he’d made for her so she wouldn’t disturb Maggie. “I would hate to awaken her.”

  Charles slid a little closer to the fascinating woman with eyes the color of the sky outside the window. “What do you like best about the mountains?” Georgia hadn’t seemed to mind his presence closer beside her. Things were working out for him.

  “Just look at those jagged peaks thrust toward the sky in a variety of formations.” She kept her focus on the heights that were rapidly approaching. “Some look like fingers pointing to God. At other places, they look almost like stair steps to heaven.”

  The woman had the heart of a poet to go with her beauty. The sun streaming through the window provided a soft halo around her upswept golden hair. She reminded him of an angel. He wondered if her smooth cheek felt as soft as velvet. Maybe sometime he would be able to find out.

  She turned and caught him staring at her. A becoming blush crept into her cheeks as his gaze traced her jawline, getting lost in the tangle of the hair that had wriggled from her style. He’d never known a woman so sophisticated, yet with that touch of purity that allowed her to blush. The young women who had tried to catch his eye at every soiree he attended paled in comparison.

  Because he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, he turned toward the vista before them but maintained awareness of her with peeks from the corner of his eyes. “I wonder how many men have tried to climb the mountains up ahead.”

  She took a breath and slowly released it. “I know that often men try to conquer the giants in their paths. Someone had to go up there and find the place to lay the tracks. The journey must have been arduous and dangerous.”

  As the train seemed to inch higher and higher, Charles stared at the approaching terrain. Just how did one climb such peaks? Surely the men didn’t ride horses. Perhaps they had pack mules.

  Georgia never took her eyes from the scenery. “So Charles, have you ever wanted to do anything as daring as climbing these
mountains?”

  How should he answer her? As a boy, when he’d first read about the Rocky Mountains, he had dreamed of being one of the explorers who was the first to set eyes on those peaks. But did he still desire such a thing? His life had become more mundane with things like maintaining and then adding to the business his father and grandfather had built.

  “I’m sure most boys dream those kinds of dreams, but I don’t aspire to such a thing now. I have other things on my mind.” Not the least of which is obtaining a wife. He glanced at her and found her eyes trained on his face. For a moment, he couldn’t tear his gaze away. “And what of your dreams, Georgia?”

  “My life has taken many twists and turns.” She cleared her throat and turned away. What should he do now? How could he find out if she had any interest in him as a man?

  •••

  As Maggie awoke, she became aware that Georgia and Charles were deep in conversation on the opposite bench. They didn’t even notice that she’d opened her eyes.

  What was Charles trying to do? Was he pursuing Georgia? Did he have any idea how old she was?

  Yes, her aunt looked almost as young as Maggie, but surely he could tell that she wasn’t. Maggie’s parents wouldn’t have allowed someone her own age to be her traveling companion, even if Charles was accompanying them.

  She glanced out the window as the train serpentined around one of the many mountains. Seeing the peaks bathed in sunlight brought out the various colors of the rainbow, but in muted tones. And she’d never seen some varieties of the trees before. Wild flowers and flaming foliage looked as if the Creator had thrown multicolored paint across the hillsides. Maggie wished she’d thought to keep her sketch pad out of her trunk. On the return journey, she’d be sure she had the pad, charcoal, and colored pencils in her carpetbag so she could capture the scenes around her. Their beauty was the only redeeming quality of an otherwise arduous journey. That and the company she traveled with, but it was becoming tiresome to watch Charles flirting shamelessly with Georgia. Sketching what she saw might take her mind off all the discomfort.