by Barbara Goss
Cassie kept silent, his words tumbling around in her head.
“Her father made all the arrangements so fast, my head had spun, however, I…we…there was never a wedding night. I refused to go that far with someone who’d obviously trapped me. I thought that if she wanted marriage, she’d get it, but she’d never get me.” He whispered, “You are the only woman I’ve ever desired in that way.
“I thought that, over time, I’d get over my anger and attempt to make a decent relationship out of the marriage, until I caught her in bed with Oliver the day after our wedding. I’d had enough by then and decided to bail out, so I packed up my things and left for Hays.
“I have to go back and settle this. Since the marriage was never consummated, at least not by me, there’s a good chance I can get the marriage annulled.”
Moments passed in silence as Cassie sorted through his story in her mind. “Why have you waited so long to act on this?” Cassie finally asked.
“I couldn’t prove the marriage wasn’t consummated, because she said she’d deny that it never happened, and that if they did a physical it would show she wasn’t a virgin, which meant someone else had been intimate with her first. I didn’t know it then, but after finding her in Oliver’s bed, I’m convinced it was my dear brother.”
“What do you think has changed now?” Cassie asked.
“I’m hoping she's found someone else, and if she wants to marry, she might agree to an annulment, seeing as she held no more love for me than I held for her. All she and her father really wanted was the money I’d inherited."
“What about us?” Cassie asked, pulling her hand away again.
Silas tried to catch her hand again, but Cassie folded her hands on her lap. “I’m going to hire someone trustworthy to run my livery while I go to Kansas City. I won’t return until this problem is solved.”
“And then?” Cassie asked.
““And then I will ask you to marry me, which is something I want to happen as badly as you do.”
Cassie stood and turned away from him. “How long do you think this will take?” she asked.
Silas also stood. “I don’t know.”
“If I’m still available, I’ll consider marrying you when you return,” Cassie said, and she walked back toward the church.
Silas followed her. “You’re angry. Why? I said I’d fix this.”
“I’m not angry,” she said pointedly, and turned to face him. “I’m disappointed. You should have told me this story a long time ago. Three years, Silas! You’ve strung me along for three years!”
Silas shuffled his feet in the grass. “I guess I was ashamed, and afraid you'd reject me, and I am truly sorry. I knew I’d have to face this problem sooner or later, but I just kept putting it off until later."
“Telling the truth is always the right thing to do,” she reminded him. “I’m not sure, but I think I would have understood better had I known this from the beginning. At least, I could have urged you to settle the matter instead of waiting all this time.”
“Will you kiss me goodbye, then?” he pleaded.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she answered, turning from him again. “See me when you get back.” Those were the sternest words she’d ever said to Silas Martin, but she was hurt and felt the need to hurt him back.
Silas swung her around and kissed her with burning passion. Cassie tried to pull away at first, but then she answered his desperate kiss with as much passion as he. His kisses always shook her from her senses and she never could leave one any of them unanswered—the response was automatic, and beyond her control.
“Oh, Cassie!” he whispered, as they broke apart. “Wait for me, please!”
Cassie took a deep breath, and tried to control her emotions before she spoke, unwilling to let the kiss affect her decision. “If you write to me, and keep me informed of your progress, chances are good I’ll be here waiting for you, because I do love you, Silas.” She smoothed his collar. “It’s because I love you that this hurts so much.” She tried, unsuccessfully, to control the crack in her voice in an effort to appear strong, but the tears rolled down her cheek anyway.
Silas kissed away her tears. “Don’t cry, Cassie! I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I promise you I’ll settle this as quickly as possible, and that I will write to you. Wait for me.” He gave her one more quick peck on the lips before turning and walking away.
With Silas gone, Cassie felt lost. She missed their outings, walks, and she especially missed their Wednesday night dinner at Lucy’s. She tried to keep busy with her garden, cattle, and minding her nephew, Jake, and Nellie. The ranch work had grown harder since Jesse had married, and now had his own ranch. Meg had given Jesse two hundred acres, and promised Cassie another two hundred acres, leaving two hundred acres for herself. Cassie’s oldest brother, who lived in Texas, didn't want a share. Cassie would get her land one day, but with her mother needing her right now, she had to stay and help work the four hundred acres. However, if things progressed between her mother and Carl Peterson—who was running Silas’s livery in his absence—maybe they’d marry and give Cassie the chance to take her two hundred acres and start her own ranch. But she didn’t want to run the whole ranch alone, which was another reason she was disappointed in Silas and his revelation.
Feeling burdened, Cassie decided she had to talk to someone, so she stopped to see Laura and tell her about Silas’s marriage and why he’d gone to Kansas City.
“Oh my!” Laura said. “Poor Silas. That’s a terrible thing to have happened to him, don’t you think, Cassie?”
Cassie should have realized that would be Laura’s response, seeing as she was the most sympathetic and non-judgmental person she knew. Could she be right? Had she been too hard on Silas? Now she felt even worse than she had before.
.
Silas rode into Kansas City shortly before the sun went down, hitched his horse outside the general store and went inside to make a few purchases. As he paid the clerk, the sheriff walked in and slapped a pair of handcuffs on him.
Silas had never cared for Calvin Baxter, who was a slightly graying man with a paunch belly, and personality that tended toward arrogance.
“This is a joke, right Baxter?” Silas asked with a nervous laugh.
“No joke. I’m arresting you for the murder of Belinda Rogers. We’ve had a warrant out for your arrest for three years.”
Silas was shocked. “What? Murder? I didn’t even know she was dead. I came here to get an annulment.”
“You won’t need one now.” Baxter yanked him to the door.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Silas asked.
“Yep,” Baxter said.
The loud clank of the cell door as it closed, and metal met metal echoed throughout the building. Silas shivered.
“Baxter, I need to see my brother, Oliver,” Silas said angrily, between clenched teeth.
“I’ll notify him you’re here and leave it up to him.” Baxter left the jail, slamming the door behind him.
Silas sat on the questionably clean bed and held his head in his hands. Murder! He had so many questions, not the least of which was—why him? He looked around the dismal cell. The only furnishings in the cell were a small, cot-like bed, and an old, wooden table. The sight of the dark, gray, block walls with only a small window likely to allow only a sliver of daylight in, made him shiver.
Silas sat alone in the cell for the rest of the evening. A deputy, named Clark, gave him a cup of beans, some bread, and some water, which he ate, ravenously. Exhaustion set in, and Silas fell fast asleep, despite his frustration.
He awoke in the morning, and looked around in puzzlement. Then it all dawned on him. He groaned when he realized it hadn't all been a bad dream. Someone had brought him water and rags with which to wash, and a bowl of gruel and coffee—all cold—while he slept. He washed and ate, but only because he needed to keep up his strength; it tasted horrible.
Finally, his brother, Oliver, arrived.
“Call me when you’re done,” Deputy Clark told him as he let him into Silas's cell.
Silas stood when he saw him. “What the devil is going on?” he asked.
Oliver smirked, and sat on the bed next to Silas. “Nice to see you, too.”
“I’m not in the mood for small talk. You know I didn’t kill anyone. I wasn’t even in Kansas City at the time. I want some answers,” Silas demanded.”
“The murder happened the day you left town. In fact, everyone suspected that was the reason you left. We all figured you’d headed to California or Oregon on one of those wagon trains, so the sheriff put out wanted posters in those places. We searched three years for you. Where were you anyway?”
“I never left Kansas, and I had no idea Belinda was dead. How was she killed anyway?”
“Shot. Clear through her head,” Oliver said. “They accused me, first, since it happened in our house, which was extremely stressful, but I didn’t kill her—I swear.”
“Where in the house did this happen?” Silas could hardly believe his ears.
“Your bedroom, of course,” Oliver said calmly.
“My room? The last time I saw Belinda she was in your room, in your bed, I might add.” Silas continued, “Maybe you killed her, seeing as you were the last one to see her alive. I left town so abruptly because the pair of you made me sick.”
“I loved her. I wouldn’t have harmed a hair on her head,” Oliver said.
“Then why didn’t you marry her?” Silas asked.
“I would have, but her father hated me. He framed you into that marriage but I didn’t know about it until later. I thought you were marrying her to spite me, because you knew how I felt about her.”
“You don’t know me very well, then. I’d never do something like that.” Silas said angrily.
“Ha! You killed her! It had to be you,” Oliver stated pompously.
“I didn’t kill her, and you know it.” Silas pounded his fist into the cell wall. “I've never killed any person or animal in my life.” Silas had always known his brother didn't live his life by the rules, but he never thought he'd stoop this low. “So, you’re the one who told the sheriff I killed Belinda?”
“Yes. I want revenge for her death.”
Silas’s head seemed to spin. This information was all too much to absorb. “I know only one thing for certain," Silas said, "I didn’t kill her.”
“That’s not what Baxter and the rest of the town think.”
“So my own brother is accusing me of murder?” Silas hung his head.
“Do you have an alibi?” Oliver asked.
“No, not if she died the night I left, I don’t.”
“You were the only one who had a motive, because you claim to have caught her in my bed, and because she tricked you into marriage.” He laughed. “I was in love with her, but her father wanted you to marry her, because he wanted his daughter to have your money and for you to take over his livery when he died. She could have had my money, but her father didn’t like me, so he pegged you, and I hated him for that. She told me the whole story the night you caught us together, although we’d been seeing each other for about a month in secret before that.”
“Well,” Silas said. He sighed, feeling defeated. “At least, I’ll hang a single man.”
Chapter 3
Cassie checked daily for a letter from Silas that never came. She didn’t know whether she should be angry or worried. She tried to keep busy so she wouldn't dwell on Silas and his absence during the day, but at night she couldn't help but cry into her pillow.
Laura had been her confidante when she needed to talk about Silas’s problem, but this time she had no advice for Cassie.
Cassie kept busy—cattle had broken through the south fence and it needed mending; her mother, who was being courted by Carl, was seldom home, so she had to cook and do housework, as well as mind the ranch. On top of all that she had to rush to get ready for church, as the new minister had finally arrived and would be introduced to the congregation that very night. She’d promised the family she’d attend with them.
She’d always thought the next marriage in the family would be hers, but it looked as though now it would be Meg and Carl’s. Though she was happy for them, she wished they’d get it over with so she could have more time to concentrate on the ranch and Silas.
The new minister stood before the pulpit after Josh Redfield introduced him. The man was younger than Cassie has imagined, and she found she was interested in the six-foot minister whose hair was black as coal. Cassie couldn’t see his eyes from where she was sitting, but they looked to be green, or hazel. He had a muscular build like Silas and Jesse, which surprised her, since most ministers didn’t do much manual work in order to build muscle. The minister’s nose, while a bit thin, seemed to fit his long face, and she considered him attractive, almost as handsome as Silas.
After the new minister spoke, the congregation filed down to the basement for a reception in his honor, where everyone would get the opportunity to greet the new preacher, Reverend Alexander Carter. Refreshments were served. Cassie sat at a table with Jesse, Laura, Jake, Nellie, Meg and Carl.
Meg said, “I think this might be a good time to announce that Carl and I will be the first couple the new minister will marry.”
Cassie and Laura cried at once, “Really?”
“I’m happy for you,” Laura said.
Cassie stood and hugged her mother. “Congratulations to you both.”
Meg’s smile faded, and she gave Cassie a worried look. “You’ll be all right, won’t you?”
“Sure, I will. Don’t worry. When is the big day?”
“Next week, but it will be for family only. At our age, we don’t need a fuss. Afterward Carl will move in with us since our home is bigger than his cottage.”
“That’s fine,” Cassie said with a smile that deceived everyone. She hugged Carl too. Silas did well when he chose Carl to run the livery in his absence.
Jesse also congratulated the couple and shook Carl’s hand. “I’m glad my mother has someone to spend her golden years with. Welcome to the family, Carl.”
They were each introduced to Alex Carter and had the opportunity to speak a few words to him. Meg and Carl stayed a bit longer to speak with Reverend Carter about their wedding, while Cassie, Laura, Jesse, and Jake went outside.
“Have you heard from Silas?” Jesse asked, bouncing Jake on his knee in an effort to stop his fussing.
“Not a word," Cassie said, "which is not like him at all.”
“Maybe things aren’t going well for him,” Laura suggested.
“I don’t know.” Cassie climbed into the buggy Carl had brought from the livery. “I just don’t know.”
Meg and Carl joined them. Meg asked, “What did he go to Kansas City for, anyway?”
“Business,” Cassie replied. She figured Laura had told Jesse. She could understand a wife not wanting to keep secrets from her husband. If Jesse knew, thankfully, he was keeping silent.
Meg and Carl stood at the altar with Laura, Jesse, and Cassie looking on. Meg wore a green dress highlighted by a black velvet sash tied around the waist. Cassie was proud of her mother—at age fifty-five, she was still slim and beautiful. Meg wore her brown and silver hair down instead of in a bun as usual, adding a white flower on the side. Carl stood proudly beside Meg. Silas had trusted him with his business, which was being handled well, despite Silas’s absence—Cassie supposed that if Silas could trust Carl with his business, she could trust her mother with him.
Cassie had all but given up on ever hearing from Silas again. She didn’t know whether she should be angry or concerned, because she didn't know whether he was alive or dead.
After they exchanged vows, the couple left the church, followed by Jesse and Laura. Cassie held back, daydreaming as she stared at the bulletin board in the foyer. She supposed that, to the casual onlooker, she probably appeared to be reading the notices, but in reality, she was thinking about ho
w to begin her life without Silas.
“Excuse me, it's Cassandra, isn’t it?” Reverend Carter said, startling her.
“Yes, but everyone calls me Cassie.”
“I hope I’m not being too forward, but would you consider showing me around Hays? I’m afraid when I go into town I'm always a bit lost.”
Cassie stared at him; his facial expression showed he feared she might turn him down. Maybe this was the beginning she’d been praying for. “Of course I will," she said. “When would you like the grand tour?”
“Is today too soon?” He laughed.
She liked his laugh and his smile. “No. I can take you today if you’d like.”
“Perfect. Give me a moment to lock up.” The keys jingled as he turned them in the locks. “I don’t have a carriage yet, but I do have a horse.”
“I came in the buggy with my family, but I can come back with my horse.”
“That sounds good,” he answered with a smile. “I’ll saddle up while I wait.”
Cassie rode home in the buggy with her family, changed into her riding pants, braided her hair, saddled her horse, and rode as fast as she could to the church to find Reverend Carter sitting upon his horse, waiting for her.
Cassie took him on a thorough tour of all the stores, restaurants, and liveries in town. She also showed him the best and worse places in Hays.
“Which of the two restaurants is your favorite, Lucy’s or Cattleman’s Café?” Carter asked.
Thinking he might ask her to lunch, she did not suggest Lucy’s. She couldn’t bear to eat there with anyone but Silas. “They're both good, but I prefer Cattleman’s Café, because they have specialty lunches.” She hadn’t lied, for Lucy’s specialized in home-cooked meals, more suitable for the supper meal.