Her Unexpected Destiny_Seeing Ranch series

by Florence Linnington

  “Do not worry,” Kitty said. “Things will work out for the best.”

  “It is not simply Matt,” Allie whispered painfully. “It is more than that.”

  “What do you mean?” Helen asked.

  Allie knew that telling two more people her secret meant playing with fire. Revealing her true identity to the Dentons had been dangerous enough. Yet they had not turned her in—in fact, Harold and Nicolette were extremely understanding.

  With the friendliness that Kitty and Helen had extended, Allie felt awful about keeping her truth from them. When Kitty had referred to her as Melissa a moment before, Allie had felt as if she were going to be sick.

  What would happen if she told them her story? It was only two more people… Indeed, two people whom she felt she could trust.

  And she was quite far from New York. Edgar Burke would never think to look for her in the tiny town of Shallow Springs, Wyoming Territory.

  Even if he did, surely Kitty and Helen would not turn Allie over.

  Taking a deep breath, Allie took her time looking them each in the eye. “There is something I would like to tell you.”

  Ten minutes later, Helen sat with her hand over her open mouth and Kitty reached over and squeezed Allie’s hand. On the other end of the room, the skillet crackled.

  “The green beans!” Kitty exclaimed, jumping up to take them off the heat.

  “This whole story,” Helen murmured, finally dropping her hand. “It sounds as if it is from a novel.”

  “I promise you, it is from my life,” Allie answered grimly.

  “I am glad you told us this,” Kitty said, resuming her seat. “But you should not reveal any of this to anyone else.”

  Her voice was so stern it took Allie aback.

  Kitty held up her palm, asking for a moment to explain. “You have already told the Dentons and us. I do not take you sharing your secret lightly. That you trusted us enough to tell all makes my heart warm… But now I worry about your safety.”

  “As do I,” Helen added, wide eyed.

  “I will not tell anyone else,” Allie promised. “I came here expecting to not tell a soul. I simply could not have predicted how guilty holding the truth in would make me feel.”

  “Quite understandable,” Kitty nodded. Her eyes shone with tears. “And I am very sorry you had to endure such tragedies.”

  Allie knew she spoke of both Mr. Burke’s abuse and Melissa’s death.

  “Thank you,” she whispered back.

  “It will be odd calling you Allie now,” Helen said, “but I do like it.”

  “It feels much better when I hear my name.”

  Helen smiled. “I have an idea. What if you were to tell people that Allie was your middle name, and you have always gone by that? You’ve met very few people in town, so it would not be such an odd thing to do. Also, there are plenty of Allies in the world, I am sure. A first name should not alert anyone to your presence here. And you’ll still be going by the last name you were before. Russell, I mean.”

  The idea made Allie want to hug Helen. “That is a wonderful thought,” she said.

  Helen’s grin brightened. “Thank you.”

  “So this is why there has been discord between you and Matt?” Kitty asked.

  Allie nodded. “Yes. He thinks I should have told him the truth earlier, when we first began getting close.”

  “But that’s silly,” Helen said, nose wrinkling.

  “He is hurt,” Kitty said.

  They both looked at her.

  “Allie is the one who has been through trials,” Helen pointed out, more than a tad defensively.

  “You know Matt,” Kitty argued. “He is...”

  “Oh.” Helen nodded.

  “What?” Allie asked, looking between the two of them.

  “He is a sensitive man,” Kitty explained. “He has a big heart, but I can see how, when hurt, he might be a bit… dramatic.”

  “It is because he has never been through true difficulties,” Helen said.

  Kitty sighed. “We cannot judge others because they are on different paths than us.”

  “Well, you know it is true,” Helen argued.

  Kitty’s pursed lips told Allie that, yes, she agreed.

  For a long moment, they sat there, lost in their own thoughts. Allie was glad that she had come clean to Kitty and Helen, but her worries about Matt had not lightened any.

  “Give him time,” Kitty said, standing and going back to the cooking. “And he will wake up and see how wonderful he has it with you.”

  “That is essentially what his parents said.”

  Kitty turned around, beaming. “So how can you deny its truth?”

  23

  23. Matt

  Chapter Twenty-three

  “That stagecoach is always late,” Mr. Garrison said, coming up to the window Matt looked out of. “I can’t remember the last time it came in on a scheduled day.”

  Matt nodded in agreement, not feeling in the mood to talk. He’d only come into the hotel’s restaurant in order to escape from the heat for a minute. He’d thought the stagecoach had arrived on Saturday, but, as he discovered once he got to town today—Monday—it wasn’t in.

  “Thanks for the cool water,” Matt told Mr. Garrison as he put on his hat. He’d only popped into town for a minute in order to collect the mail the stagecoach always brought, but since it wasn’t around there, was no reason for him to stay.

  “Anytime. Say, when is your wedding going to be? I haven’t heard anything about it.”

  Matt avoided his eyes. “Uh, it’s not—we’re not sure yet.”

  “This heat is something, isn’t it? I imagine you won’t be wanting to have a big ole wedding in it. Then again, Nat and that Helen Byrum are.” Mr. Garrison chuckled. “Young and in love. I remember those days.”

  Mr. Garrison took on a far-off look, and Matt seized his opportunity to leave.

  “Have a good day, Mr. Garrison,” he said, leaving the dining area before Mr. Garrison could pull him into any more conversation.

  Matt pushed his hat lower onto his brow as he stepped into the street, both to shut out the glaring sun and other people. He’d been in a bad mood already, but Mr. Garrison’s questions doubled his annoyance.

  As was usual now, he and Allie had barely spoken since church the day before. Matt was starting to think maybe something was wrong with him. What Allie had done—keeping her secret from him—wasn’t so awful. So then why couldn’t he forgive her for it? Why did it hurt him so badly? And were his fears that, should they marry, she might always keep things from him legitimate, or was that a senseless worry?

  He’d asked God for guidance, but so far, he hadn’t received any. He felt stuck, unable to move backward or go forward. For the time being, he was tethered to this confused, painful state.

  Just as he untied Trigger from the hotel’s hitching post, the sound of hooves made him look up. It was the stagecoach finally rolling in.

  “’Bout time,” Matt muttered under his breath.

  Retying Trigger’s rope, he went to wait at the foot of the hotel’s steps. The stagecoach came to a halt in the building’s shade, and the driver unceremoniously jumped down.

  “Waiting for the mail?” the driver asked Matt with a grin.

  Matt grunted in response. He just wanted to see if there was anything for his folks, and then he wanted to get out of town. There was nothing complicated about it.

  Mr. Garrison was already coming out of the hotel, tossing a cleaning cloth over his shoulder as he clomped down the steps. “Mercy, there you are.”

  The driver pulled himself up the side of the stagecoach using the top railing and untied all the luggage there. Scooping up the canvas mail bag, he tossed it to Mr. Garrison.

  Matt waited where he was, trying to not be too impatient. There was watering to be done back at the farm, something that had been taking up more time than it should have been.

  “I’ll sort through this now,” Mr. Garrison to
ld Matt. “See if there’s anything for your folks.”

  “I appreciate it,” he said.

  Matt stayed in the shade next to Trigger, arms folded. As he stood there, he watched the stagecoach out of the corner of his eye. A woman and man were emerging from it, looking around themselves in interest. As they went into the hotel, a second man came out. He wore a black jacket, buttoned up all the way, and carried a cane.

  Taking in the scene around him, the man spotted Matt and walked over. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” Matt nodded. He glanced at the hotel door, hoping Mr. Garrison was close to locating his mail. Ma was looking forward to the paper she ordered from Baltimore, and he didn’t want to come home empty handed.

  The man stroked his brown handlebar mustache. “You live here, young man?”

  “Born and raised.”

  “Ah.” He placed both hands on his cane and leaned into it. He’d walked over just fine, so that left Matt wondering if the cane was more for show than anything else. It was a nice cane, with glossy, dark wood and a metal top and bottom.

  “Where’s the best restaurant in this town?” the man asked.

  Matt tried not to laugh at that. “Well, sir, there’s only one, to be honest, and you’re standing right in front of it.”

  “Oh.” He looked at the hotel’s front, his bushy mustache turning down as he frowned.

  Irritated, Matt inhaled sharply. Shallow Springs may not have been a real exciting town, but it was his home, and it was perfect the way it was. People there didn’t need more than one restaurant, because they liked eating at home with their families.

  Matt briefly wondered who this man was and where he was from. His dress suggested he didn’t work with the land, but instead held a more business-oriented profession.

  “Are you traveling through or settling here?” Matt asked. He figured he already knew the answer to that, but he needed to kill some time while he waited for his mail, and despite his earlier bad mood, he’d found his interest piqued by the man.

  “Traveling through.” The man smiled, but it looked fake. “I am headed to California on business. Logging. Out to oversee our sites there.”

  Matt nodded. He’d only heard stories of California and didn’t have much of an interest in going there.

  The hotel’s door opened, and Mr. Garrison stepped out.

  “Your mother’s paper,” he explained, extending it to Matt.

  Matt took the paper and tucked it under his arm before turning back to the stranger. “Enjoy your stay here, Mr....”

  “Mines.” He smiled in that odd way again, the way that seemed forced.

  Matt nodded and tipped his hat in goodbye. A shiver had gone up his back as he turned away from Mr. Mines, and he couldn’t figure out why.

  Maybe everyone is right, Matt thought, hauling himself into Trigger’s saddle. Maybe I do spend too much time alone. I can’t have a regular conversation without getting addled.

  Still, as he rode for the farm, Matt couldn’t shake Mines’s beady, brown eyes. Strangers were fine. Matt’s parents had taught him to be welcoming and accepting. But this stranger… something was off about him, and Matt wished he could put his finger on what it was.

  24

  24. Allie

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Allie knocked on Kitty and Helen’s door a second time. Still there was no answer.

  Frowning, she thought back to the conversation they’d had over Sunday dinner the day before. The sisters were excited to have so many new chickens, but the surplus of eggs had become a burden. They’d insisted Allie come over the next day for some fresh ones.

  Though the Dentons had some chickens of their own, extra ones would be nice. She and Nicolette could make a cake or something else special.

  Baking cakes when there was no particular occasion was a silly, frivolous thing to do, but Kitty found herself looking forward to it. The act could possibly work as a distraction. Besides, she’d never baked a cake before Nicolette showed her how the week before, and practicing would be nice.

  With still no answer, Allie stepped down from the porch, thinking the women might be in the back garden.

  As she walked for the corner of the house, though, the door suddenly opened.

  “Oh, Allie,” Kitty croaked. “I am sorry it took me this long.”

  “Are you well?” Allie asked, noting the harshness in Kitty’s voice.

  “Not truly.” Kitty coughed. “I am afraid both Helen and I are feeling rather down.”

  “Oh, no.” Allie quickly stepped back onto the porch. “Do you have a fever?”

  She pressed her hand to Kitty’s forehead and found it unnaturally hot.

  “You must be in bed,” Allie said.

  Kitty coughed again. “That is where Helen already is.”

  “Come. Go inside.” Allie ushered Kitty into the house. “Do you have any other symptoms? Besides the cough and the fever?”

  “Only that I am tired. Helen is the same.” Kitty sighed, sounding exhausted. She had on her dress instead of a nightgown, as if she’d planned to get up and go about business as usual.

  “You must change and go rest as well,” Allie said. “Put something more comfortable on.”

  Kitty looked worried. “But there is much to do. The cow needs to be milked, and her and her calf and the horses all fed. And the chickens too. I slept in too late.”

  “And you will not be able to get to any of that if you are ill,” Allie answered. “Besides,” she added, “Your husband is gone, so his well-being is one less thing you must attend to.”

  “That is true,” Kitty mumbled. “But the animals...”

  “I will care for the animals and then bring the doctor.” Allie gently turned Kitty around and nudged her in the direction of the bedrooms.

  “It is only a fever,” Kitty said.

  “Go.”

  Perhaps it was only a fever, but Allie did not like taking a chance and not having the sisters examined. Especially not after the last ill person she had tended to never rose from bed.

  Making haste, Allie went to the Rosses’ small stable and tended to the animals.

  Since they did not have a farm, but only kept animals for their own purposes, feeding and milking took very little time.

  With that finished, Allie cut across Shallow Springs, taking the quickest route to Doctor Felder’s. He lived in a small house on the western part of town, which had his office attached.

  Knocking on the office door, Allie held her breath and prayed he was there. It was midafternoon, and many people were home for their midday meal, but she knew that meant nothing for a doctor’s schedule. He could very likely be at a patient’s house.

  Luckily, after a few moments, footsteps sounded from inside.

  Doctor Felder opened the door, pulling up his last suspender as he did so. “Good morning,” he said. “Miss… Russell?”

  “Yes,” Allie answered. “That is correct, Doctor. Thank for you remembering.”

  “What can I help you with?”

  Allie quickly explained the situation. Though Doctor Felder did not seem alarmed as she listed Kitty’s and Helen’s symptoms, Allie’s worries were not assuaged. She hovered in the doorway as he gathered his bag, then followed close behind him as they walked for the Rosses’ house.

  At the house, he went to the back rooms to see the women while Allie stayed in the front. Time dripped by like cold molasses, and she roved around the main room, worry eating her from the inside out.

  “There’s no need to pace.”

  Allie jumped at Doctor Felder’s sudden voice. He’d emerged from the hallway without her hearing him.

  “What do they have? Are they all right? Are the fevers bad?” Her questions came out so fast they tripped over one another.

  “They’re fine. It appears to be fevers caused by summer colds. Likely the colds came on quick, and they didn’t treat them in time. It’s nothing to fret about.”

  Allie let out a long breath, f
eeling the tension melt from her shoulders. “Thank goodness.”

  “They’ll need to stay in bed for today and perhaps tomorrow—however long it takes the fevers to break.”