by Jodi Barrows
“You must be the Mailly family,” the toothless rider said to Tex. “Are you Lucas?”
“No, I’m with the Texas Rangers, accompanying the Mailly family to Fort Worth. Who’s in charge here? Can you take us to them right away?”
“Yeah, they’re all out at the fort. Follow me, this way.”
The rider started west and continued motioning for them to follow.
“What do you call this place?” Liz called out after the rider.
He had already moved too far away to hear Liz, but Tex answered her in a baritone bellowing voice.
“This is the old outpost, the one they used before they built the fort. Did you think this was it?”
Tex and the other rangers laughed as they realized the women thought the rundown outpost was their new home. Liz let out a sigh of relief and squeezed Thomas’s arm as they rode past the shabby, splintered buildings with wild vines growing through the broken windows.
“Oh, thank You, sweet Jesus,” Liz muttered when the real fort appeared in their view, humming with life.
“Liz, did you really think that was where we were going to start up?” Thomas quizzed her with a chuckle.
“Yes,” she replied, “and it’s not amusing! I was really concerned for a moment.”
She smiled when she saw a little church with white double doors and a steeple on top. A lovely young woman with long coal-black curls stood out front on the small steps, waving.
“I suppose that’s Pastor Parker’s wife, Anna,” Liz said with childlike excitement. “Oh, Thomas, this is really happening. They’re here waiting for us!”
“Of course they are.”
A few townspeople began to appear from several directions to greet them, all of them friendly and anxious to help get them settled in their new home. They offered water for the horses, and Tex stood by to offer assistance to the women as they each climbed down from the wagons. The woman from the church grinned at them with animated enthusiasm.
“I’m Anna Parker. Welcome to Fort Worth. We are so excited to have you here!”
The four Mailly granddaughters gathered around Anna and introduced themselves, one by one. She gave each of them a hug as she welcomed them.
“Please don’t be too overwhelmed by our excitement of your arrival. We’re just anxious to get our little community up and going again. It has been quite disturbing with the fort post moving on west. You and your family represent life to our town, and we are so thankful to you,” Anna gushed.
Liz knew Grandpa Lucas had said they’d be welcomed to the area, but she had not fully realized the importance of their arrival. The wide eyes and beaming smiles surrounding them told her that she and her family represented an infusion of lifeblood into the ailing town. The responsibility seemed as daunting as it was exciting.
“Let me show you around!” Anna began, and she led them in the direction of the buildings, explaining as they walked down the board sidewalks of Fort Worth, Texas. A small group of the town’s people followed and listened to every word, and Liz searched the area for a glimpse of her son. When she finally spotted him, Luke suddenly appeared so much older than his years as he leaned casually against one of the wagon wheels, chatting with Blue and Colt.
“The army kept supplies in the large building. It would work well for the mercantile, I think,” she said as she glanced at Liz, and then at Megan. “Megan, you’re planning to open a dress shop, is that right? You may want to claim this smaller one for your purposes. I don’t think either building is in much need of work.”
Anna grinned tentatively, awaiting their approval. She seemed relieved when Liz returned her smile and nodded in agreement.
“There’s a small living quarters above the mercantile, and the captain’s house is around the curve to the left. I think you will find it most comfortable. You may do as you wish with all of these buildings. Just make yourselves right at home.”
Anna paused to let her words soak in as she searched each face in hopes of their approval, looking for some indication of their thoughts.
Liz didn’t want to admit that she almost felt more scared than excited. Her mercantile stood before her. She could see it with her mind’s eye, visualizing burgeoning shelves with an abundance of supplies. Her imagination placed yard goods, threads, lace, and buttons in the center. On the back wall, she painted in the sugar, coffee, beans, and hardtack. Small red checked curtains appeared on the windows, and two double doors with a fresh coat of red paint swung open as a warm greeting to every customer. Over the porch, she would hang a sign reading MAILLY MERCANTILE, and beneath the sign a row of rocking chairs just waiting to be rocked!
Liz came out of her thoughts as she heard Anna’s voice again.
“We would love to have all of you for supper tonight. I will have some meat and bread sent over now so you can eat a little while you start to unpack and settle in. Does that sound acceptable?”
Liz realized that Anna looked to her for an answer.
“Yes! Oh, yes. You’re most gracious, Anna. Thank you.”
“I am so glad to have you here safely,” Anna cooed. “We’ve planned a good old-fashioned Texas cookout for you all, and we’ll get word out for Sunday when we’ll introduce you to all the lovely families of Fort Worth!”
Anna was even sweeter than Liz could have hoped she would be. Megan’s eyes glistened as Liz caught sight of them, and her sister rushed over to her and squeezed her wrist.
“Oh, Lizzie, it’s really happening!” she murmured. “Don’t you just love her?”
Liz nodded. Anna’s soft, soothing voice eased her fears, and Liz thanked her again. Anna adjusted the gold hair comb holding back her beautiful dark hair into a storm of curls that tumbled down her back. Their new friend seemed beautiful and sweet, still untouched by the hard ways of the West. Mrs. Parker seemed like she might be around Abby’s age, or so Liz guessed.
“Anna, my cousin Abby is the new teacher Pastor Parker has hired.” Liz placed her hand on Abby’s arm.
“Oh! In my excitement, I completely forgot about the school. I’m sure you would like to see your classroom. Do you mind waiting for my husband to catch up with us? He is out on a call right now,” Anna said to Abby. “But he shouldn’t be long.”
Abby beamed at Anna’s excitement about the school. “We have plenty to do. I can wait,” she replied.
“I will send him over as soon as he returns. This is so exciting. I have waited for a very long time to have more women here!” Anna reached right over and gave Abby a sudden hug. When she finally released the new schoolmarm, she noticed that the men stood at the ready to start unloading the wagons, dusty from the Louisiana trail.
“This is Smithy,” Anna said, pointing out the older man standing across from them. “He has several men to help you fine gentlemen get unloaded.” She smiled at Liz as she added, “Just direct them to do whatever you need them to do.”
Anna waved goodbye and walked back down the street toward her home and the church that her husband pastored.
John turned to Blue with a smile and muttered, “Oh, Liz can direct them all right.”
“I heard that,” she quipped, and the two of them cackled with laughter.
A dirt road out front disappeared in both directions. On each side of the mercantile, wooden buildings stood empty, left behind by the cavalry. A huge pecan tree extended branches reaching twenty feet or more in each direction across from where she stood. Two squirrels played in the lush grassy area beneath the tree, stopping only long enough to survey the new group of dusty arrivals before one chased the other straight up the thick trunk.
The church and the new schoolroom were on down from the pecan tree. On the same side of the street where Liz stood, and to the right, stood the smithy, and next to it was a set of corrals where two mules and a stallion with a long black mane peered out at them. The stallion pawed at the edge of the gate and shook his head. His beautiful mane shone in the sunlight but looked like it needed a little attention.
; At the end of her boardwalk and to the left, the street turned toward the captain’s housing that Anna had pointed out. Liz stepped to the end of the sidewalk to get a better look. A few steps more, and she gazed upon a lovely, freshly painted white house with grass and lush green trees spreading around it. Her Louisiana home had been much larger, but this one seemed to welcome passers-by and appeared manicured and—somehow—well loved. The small, flat porch sat close to the ground, surrounded with colorful flowers. A vegetable garden could be plainly seen off to one side of the house, and Liz turned to go back and tell the others of the pleasant discovery.
In her delight, she hadn’t noticed that several of the others had followed. When her eyes met those of a tall man she remembered from the crowd of greeters, she immediately sensed that he, and many of the others, seemed to await her approval that Fort Worth was acceptable, and perhaps that they would be staying after all.
“Lizzie,” Megan squealed, “it’s charming, isn’t it?”
“Did you see the vegetable garden?”
“There’s a garden?” her sister exclaimed, and she hurried off toward the house.
“Mrs. Bromont,” the tall, somewhat handsome stranger spoke as he stepped from the crowd toward her. “Samuel Smith, ma’am.”
She hadn’t been introduced to many of the strangers now milling around expectantly. She reached her hand out toward Samuel Smith, remembering her manners.
“Please excuse me, Mr. Smith. I was lost in thought and I saw the garden …”
She bounced from one emotion to another, visualizing her new mercantile, admiring her new home, meeting new people, and now this very handsome man before her extended his hand toward her. Liz felt herself begin to melt as he held her hand.
Samuel never took his eyes away from hers as he continued to speak. “That is certainly fine. The captain’s wife liked a garden and I think she hoped you would tend to it in her absence. She did not move on with her husband.”
“No?” Liz remarked, wondering why not.
“She went back east. I guess the moving about never really suited her.”
“Of course, that garden she bequeathed is an unexpected treasure. I hope to thank her one day if I ever have the opportunity,” Liz stated as she pulled back her hand.
“Not much chance of that, ma’am. Unless you write her a letter, I suppose.”
Thomas stepped inside the building that would be the mercantile, then he quickly made his way out again. He had brought a wagonload of gold that belonged to his employer, Lucas Mailly, and while searching for a place to hide it, he scanned the area in search of a bank without finding one. Just a jail building at the end of the street, and that would not work at all! He finally decided that he could lift a section of the floorboards under the stairs in the mercantile and place the gold there for safekeeping until Lucas’s arrival. He could bunk upstairs to keep an eye on it without anyone knowing.
Thomas strolled down the boarded sidewalk a few yards and surveyed the area, hoping he might spot Liz and the others. When he heard them around to the left, he walked toward their voices. What he saw produced a bitter shot of acid at the back of his throat. Who was that holding Liz’s hand, smiling at her? What he disliked even more: Liz smiled back at him, seemingly in some sort of a trance.
Thomas’s boots thudded heavy on the boards and kept beat with his pulse as he advanced toward them. This feeling in his gut was new to him. He’d never been a man induced to sudden anger; but there could be no mistaking it. Anger was indeed what he felt.
“Thomas, there you are.” Liz turned to include him. “This is Mr. Samuel Smith.”
Samuel looked at Thomas, who stared steadily back at him.
“Mr. Bromont. Nice to meet you! I was just discussing the vegetable garden left behind by the captain and his wife. Your lovely wife seems quite enthused about taking it over.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Mr. Smith,” Liz corrected him, far too quickly for Thomas’s liking. “I’m Elizabeth Bromont and this is Thomas Bratcher. He works for my grandfather, Lucas Mailly.”
Thomas moved his glare from Samuel to Liz, and he raised an eyebrow.
Liz appeared uncomfortable under his gaze, so Thomas tried to temper it as she continued the introductions. “This is my sister Megan, and my cousins, Abby and Emma Wilkes.”
Tex and the others stood close by, watching the exchange. “Well, Mrs. Bromont, maybe you could direct us and we’ll get these wagons unloaded for you,” Samuel offered. “Just tell us where you want things, what you might need first, and we’ll be happy to help you get settled.”
“Thomas,” Tex spoke up. Thomas wondered if he’d sensed the tension. “Let’s get your wagon unloaded first. Jackson! Colt!” he called out, and the four of them walked to the wagon holding Lucas’s gold.
Thomas went to work but watched over his shoulder the entire time as they secured the gold beneath the floorboards under the stairs; keeping an eye out for two treasures: the gold, as well as his future wife.
Anna soon appeared with glasses of cool water and sandwiches piled high with meat. Thomas took two of each and went out in search of Liz.
“How about we squat at the shade tree over there,” he suggested when he found her. “You must be as hungry as I am.”
Thomas knew Liz never liked leaving things hanging, but this was fast even for her. She went straight to the point before they’d even headed toward the pecan tree, while Thomas still held her lunch.
“Thomas, I don’t know what upset you, but you need to be pleasant to our new friends.”
Thomas stood with one foot on the step above him and his back against the porch post of the mercantile.
“What upset me was Mr. Smith’s hand-holding and your introduction. Is that all I am, a worker for your grandfather, Liz?”
Thomas held his sandwich without taking a bite and looked at Liz as she sat on the steps in front of the mercantile.
“I guess I’ll just eat my lunch right here,” he snapped.
When he looked up at her, her countenance had softened considerably.
“Thomas, I’m sorry. I was caught off guard, and I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He knew he should allow her to smooth it over with one simple apology, but he didn’t feel ready to let it go, and he pressed her for more. “Why didn’t you tell him that we are to be married?”
“Well, I haven’t had time to tell anyone yet,” Liz answered quietly. “Not even my own sister!”
“What does that have to do with it?” He kept his voice low, and yanked out a bite of the sandwich before him.
Liz lowered to the step and sat beside him.
“We need to speak to my grandfather,” she firmly stated. “There are rules to be followed in a circumstance like ours.”
Liz took a breath and looked away for a moment, to calm her emotions, he supposed.
Before she spoke again, she heaved a deep breath and let it out in an exasperated sigh. “Thomas, so much has happened today. Please don’t be angry with me. Give me a little time to adjust to the whole idea of marriage again.”
“I don’t know what there is to warm up to!” Thomas took another bite and looked away to the group at the wagons. “You didn’t even say I was a family friend,” he added. “Just an employee of your grandfather’s.” Calming some, he decided to take a different approach. “Liz, you have to be careful here. This is not Lecompte and we don’t know who we can trust yet. Who is Samuel, anyway?”
Liz looked to the group laughing at something Mr. Smith had said.
“He knew the fort’s captain and his wife. I assumed he was a friend. He was also with Anna Parker when we arrived.”
“Until we know for sure, let’s be on the safe side,” Thomas warned. “What do we have left to do?”
“We’re ready for the stock to be brought in and placed on the shelves. The building is in good shape. It just needs some sweeping out. I wish I had some glass windows to be placed in the front, like we had back home. But until we c
an get it, can we put two doors in the front? It will be nice to see out when the store is open.”
“I think I can manage it. I will get Jackson to help.”
“If you will have your personal belongings brought upstairs, I will get your things put up, and the room cleaned and arranged for you,” Liz offered.
“That’ll be fine.”
His heart felt twisted somehow, sore inside his chest. He began wishing he hadn’t spoken to Liz that way.
“Thomas, I didn’t even ask if you wanted the room upstairs in the mercantile.”
“I thought that would be a good idea. And I guess you want your things at the little house with the garden?” he teased.
“Yes, please,” she said as she smiled.
A return to peaceful terms felt mighty good to him just then, and Thomas took her hand.
“Liz, I’m sorry I was mad. I just don’t like sharing you now that I don’t have to.” He kissed the back of her hand and swallowed the last bite of his sandwich. Downing the water after he stood up, he tipped his hat to Liz and walked back toward the wagons for his tools.
Megan had been watching Liz and Thomas during lunch and didn’t disturb them, but she wasted no time in approaching Liz once Thomas had headed off toward the men.
As she walked toward Liz, she passed Thomas and said, “Oh, Thomas, did Liz—”
“Yes, Megan, she said yes and we are to be married as soon as possible.”
Liz almost swallowed her own tongue. Thomas never stopped walking as they passed each other, and Megan turned and watched his exit with her jaw hanging open and her green eyes wide as saucers.
Well, I guess he solved the problem of my finding time to tell my sister the news.
“Liz? Is everything all right?”
“I’m fine. Thomas and I just … well … we’re … Oh, I don’t know what we are. Confused, maybe.” Shaking her head, Liz made a conscious choice to move the focus to the chores at hand. “Megan, what do you think? It’s not the comforts of home, but it could be worse.”