by Natalie Dean
So, with large portions of her mind still protesting, she set her bag aside, put up her hair and grabbed the broom and dustpan from the corner of the room.
As carefully as she could, she swept around the wooden table and chairs. Shoving half empty bottles of beer and whiskey into her pan; clearing glasses from the table when she found them.
All too soon, she fell back into her typical routine. For a moment, she almost forgot the packed luggage sitting at the corner of the room. For a moment, she was, once again, the dutiful daughter of an unsavory former ranch hand turned outlaw.
It was not until she had nearly finished her sweep of the room that one anomaly brought her situation back to her mind. As she reached the room’s edge, just beside the fire place, she saw the loose floor board, sticking up just slightly as though it had come apart from the other wooden boards of its own accord.
Fiona stopped, and her eyes narrowed as she examined this board closely. She knew exactly what this anomaly was. She had seen her father return from one of his ‘work related journeys’ as he called them and rush immediately to this loose floor board.
She knew this was where he kept his money. The money that he had stolen from numerous banks, businesses and even a train or two.
Fiona swallowed as the small voice of her conscience immediately took root.
‘You promised,’ the small voice told her. ‘You promised your mother before she died that you would never steal. You promised you wouldn’t follow in your father’s footsteps.’
That voice made her stop in her tracks.
She remembered the promise her Ma had extracted from her as she lay dying five years before. She had made Fiona promise that she would not be like her father. That she would make a change for the better.
So far, Fiona had done her very best to keep that promise. That was why she had placed the advertisement in that booklet. That was why she had agreed to marry Sam Jenkins.
She wanted a new life. Away from robbing and thievery. Away from the temptations brought on by her father’s world.
‘Still,’ another voice inside her reasoned. ‘Is it truly stealing if you know the money was never your father’s to begin with?’
Fiona blinked at the conflicting voice in her mind.
It was true, if she took her father’s money, she would not be stealing from the right owner. She would simply be double crossing a thief.
Perhaps the loss of this savings would even cause her father to think twice about his way of life.
Fiona felt her heart pound in her chest as she moved, once again, towards the floor board sticking out. The money and the promise of what it could give her calling out to her with each step she took.
Sam had given her a train ticket and a small allowance for her trip out west. But, she knew Sam was not a wealthy man. Surely, he could do with a bit more cash than he had.
Surely, he would be grateful if she arrived with a good amount on her person.
She moved closer to the floor board, her conscience dwindling with each step she took.
The new voice in her mind was right. Her father had stolen the money already, hadn’t he? There would be no harm if she stole it again.
Her mind nearly made up, she knelt beside the floor board and slowly began to lift the odd piece of wood.
“Sun’s startin’ to move towards the west. The others should be back soon.”
Fiona jumped at the new voice and turned towards the intruder.
“Bill!” she said. “I…I thought you’d gone with Pa and the other men.”
Bill, one of her father’s lackeys gave her a leering smirk that showed all of his yellow, rotting teeth.
“Someone has to keep an eye on you, don’t they?” he asked.
Bill was nearly as old as her father and looked almost twice that. He had a weathered face, dark balding hair, and a thin, wrinkled frame. His appearance, however, did not stop him from making advances toward Fiona and, indeed, any other girl who came near him.
“I don’t know why you would have to watch me,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
She tried her best to keep her voice from shaking and wasn’t sure that she had managed it. Bill’s smirk grew wider as he sauntered towards her.
“Really?” he asked. “Then what were you doin’ by that floor board?”
“Cleaning the floor,” Fiona said nodding towards the rag in her hand. “What else would I be doing?”
He let out a humorless chuckle as he walked towards her. Fiona backed away until she felt her back collide with the wall.
“I’ve been around a lot longer than you have, little girl,” Bill said ominously. “And I know better than to trust the word of a woman. ‘Specially one as pretty as you.”
Fiona’s hands balled into fists at her side as she glanced about the room trying to find something she could use in her own defense if the need arose.
There was nothing.
“Now, if you give me a little kiss,” Bill said. He moved so close to her that she could feel his hot, foul breath on her skin. “I might be inclined to trust you. I’ll leave the room, and your pa don’t have to know that you were searchin’ for his money.”
At the mention of her father, a light went off in Fiona’s head.
“But, I’m afraid he will know that you threatened his daughter,” Fiona said. “And we both know he wouldn’t like that at all.”
Fiona forced back a smile as she saw Bill’s thin face go white. He pulled slightly away from her.
“You wouldn’t tell ‘im,” he said, his voice now shaking as badly as hers had a moment earlier.
“I might not have to,” Fiona said evenly. “You said yourself he’s likely to be back soon. And, I think you know what he would do if he found you with your hands on me.”
Frank blinked and turned his eyes from Fiona to the window as though terrified that he would see her father and his men come down the dirt road.
Turning his head away from the window, he looked at Fiona for a long moment, as though considering whether or not a moment with her was worth incurring the wrath of her father. A moment later, he seemed to have made his decision.
He pushed himself away from Fiona and started across the room towards the outside door.
“I’ll wait for your pa out here,” he told her on his way out the door. “Give a holler if you need somethin’.”
As soon as the door closed behind him, Fiona took several gasping breaths, feeling as though she had nearly drowned and was just now coming up for air.
Bill was part of the reason she had to get out.
Though threats of her father’s wrath had worked this time, she knew there would be times in the future when it would not. Pa was often gone for long periods. And he occasionally left Bill to tend the house when that happened.
Not to mention, if Bill asked her Pa for her hand in marriage, her father could say ‘yes’. No matter what Fiona had to say about it.
Now that the intruder was gone, she looked back at the floor board beneath her feet.
While her Pa was protective of his daughter, who he still thought of as his property, he was ten times as protective of his money.
If she left without a penny of his stolen property, he would do nothing but rail against her for several days before reluctantly learning to cook his own meals.
If she took his money, however, he would not rest until he got it back.
But, she reasoned, it would probably be days before he realized anything was missing. She wouldn’t take all of his stolen savings, after all, just enough to get by.
And, even if he did notice something amiss, he would have no way to track her down. She would be in Wyoming territory. Well away from her father’s reach.
Still, that small voice in the back of her mind reminded her of her promise. She would never steal. She would never become like her Pa.
That was when she heard the wagon pull up at the side of the house, away from where Frank was guarding the front.
&nb
sp; They would not wait long for her, she knew that.
Quickly, she moved away from the floor board and grabbed her suitcase on the other side of the room.
When she moved back, her eye caught sight of the floorboard once again. Once again, the siren call of the money within drew her.
As quickly as she could, she made her way to the loose wood and lifted it up…
Chapter 3
The wagon was late.
Sam paced in front of the hotel, his fingers dancing at his sides as they always seemed to do when he was nervous.
“Don’t worry, dear,” Mrs. Matthews said to him in a conciliatory tone. “I’m sure they’ll be here soon. It isn’t the first time the wagon has been delayed.”
“I know,” Sam said absently, looking down the road. “But it is the first time the wagon is carrying my future wife.”
At the mention of Fiona, Sam’s hand instinctively reached into the pocket of his trousers where he felt the firm paper of her portrait.
He thought about taking the picture out to look at it again, but, there was no need. He’d stared at that picture so often that he had nearly memorized her features.
If asked, Sam could not exactly explain his fascination with Fiona Greyson’s features.
No one, upon looking at her portrait, would call her a great beauty.
It was not that she was ugly or even particularly plain. Her slightly chubby cheeks and the curls of her long hair were attractive. But, her nose, which was too long for her otherwise petite features and her small, narrow eyes caused her to appear distinctly unremarkable.
Despite this fact, every time Sam looked at her picture, he found himself more and more drawn to her.
He supposed there was something about her eyes, the way she looked down slightly, as well as the curve of her small lips that spoke to Sam in a way none of the other girls had.
The moment he’d seen her image in that magazine, he knew that Fiona Greyson was harboring a secret.
Through his letters, he’d tried to coax it out of her. He tried all means of flattery, sincerity, and transparency to encourage her to open up to him.
He had told her things in writing that even some of his closest compatriots in Laramie did not know. He told her about his mother’s death and his father’s abandonment. How he had grown up living as a guest in his aunt and uncle’s home until he made his way out west.
She, in turn, had remained elusive.
She shared only a few details of her life at present. Instead, she told him about her dreams of running a home of her own and of finding a husband who performed some meaningful work with which she could assist.
She asked questions about the newspaper industry that he was more than happy to answer. Even though he became certain she asked these only to deflect attention from her own current life and past.
When she did speak of where she lived and who she lived with at present, she wrote a line at most and then dropped the subject.
‘I have to finish this letter quickly. My father has just called me into the main room,’ she would write. Or, ‘I’ve only just finished clearing the table. My father had some friends over for dinner’.
These few lines served to intrigue Sam all the more. It was as though Fiona Greyson was giving him pieces to a puzzle that she expected him to put in the correct order.
And, now that they would be meeting in person, he was anxious to put all the pieces together.
Minutes that felt like hours ticked by and Sam felt his fingers dancing all the more fiercely across the picture in his pocket.
Finally, when he thought he could not bear the intrigue any longer, he heard the familiar sound of horse hooves and wagon wheels making their way down the street.
“Finally,” Mrs. Matthews said, sounding a bit anxious herself. “Even I was beginning to give them up for lost.”
Sam did not answer. Instead he hurried to the edge of the road as far as he dared and watched as the small, covered wagon pulled up beside the hotel.
His heart began pounding frantically as two men in suits stepped out first. Sam heard Mrs. Matthews greet them warmly as his eyes remained fixed on the wagon door still open.
Finally, an unfamiliar figure sporting a very familiar face emerged from the back of the wagon.
Fiona Greyson was taller than Sam had imagined. Nearly as tall as some of the shorter men in Laramie. Her skin, however, was as bright and smooth as he had imagined it would be. Her slightly chubby cheeks were rosy, and her eyes were wider and much nicer looking than her portrait.
Those bright eyes scanned the front of the hotel anxiously until they landed on him.
When Fiona Greyson’s blue eyes met his, Sam suddenly found his heart beating more quickly than it had when he had anxiously awaited her arrival.
She gave a small smile as she walked down the wagon steps. It was the same smile he had become so intrigued by when he first spied her portrait.
“Sam Jenkins?” she asked tentatively as she reached him. Sam blinked at her, for the first time in his life, at a loss for words.
Finally, he cleared his throat and answered.
“Y…yes,” he said. “You must be Fiona Greyson.”
“Fiona’s fine,” she said. “We are meant to be getting married in a week, after all. Best to get used to calling each other by our Christian names.”
“Of course,” he said with an awkward chuckle. “Fiona then.”
For a moment, he thought about extending his hand. But, in the end, he left it too long, and it simply hung by his side like a dead fish.
Sam had never been good at small talk or introductions. More than once, he’d longed for a meeting where someone would skip the niceties all together and immediately launch into a political or philosophical discussion.
Neither seemed likely to happen as Fiona stood looking at him as though expecting him to say something more.
“Well, isn’t it nice to see you two getting to know one another?”
Mrs. Matthews voice broke through the tension and almost caused Sam to let out a relieved sigh.
“You must be Miss Fiona Greyson,” the older woman said moving over to Fiona. “I’m Mrs. Matthews, the owner of the hotel. I’ll call the porter to take your bag inside for you…Ben!”
Ben scampered forward and deftly took Fiona’s lone suitcase and ran with it into the hotel.
“Now, I’m sure you’re tired dear,” Mrs. Matthews said taking Fiona by the arm and leading her towards the open hotel doors. “I’ll show you to your room. You’ll be able to rest there before dinner.”
The two women walked forward, and Sam began to follow in their wake. In light of their more than awkward introduction, he was beginning to hope that this entire arrangement had not been a horrible mistake.
“Mrs. Matthews!”
A voice from across the street caused all three of them to turn. When they did, they saw the potbellied figure of Sheriff Branson making his way towards them.
As he did, Sam heard another gasp, barely audible come from the direction of his bride. When he turned to her, he was more than surprised to find that her face had gone pale and her blue eyes had grown wider than he imagined possible.
Her gaze did not stray from the figure of Sheriff Branson across the street.
“Mrs. Matthews,” Sam heard the sheriff say as he approached them. “I wanted to have a word with you about a few of your tenants.”
“Sam,” Fiona said quietly, glancing at the sheriff as though making sure he was still too far away to hear them.
“I am exhausted. Do you think Mrs. Matthews would mind if you showed me to my room? That way we can leave her to her business.”
“I…I suppose not,” Sam said. Almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Fiona grabbed hold of his arm and led him to the open door of the hotel.
Her hold on him, though surprisingly fierce, was also warm and decidedly feminine. A shiver, much more pleasant than the anxious pounding of his heart a moment earlier, ran
up his spine.
Despite this pleasant sensation, it could not deter his naturally curious instincts.
“Fiona, is there anything wrong?” he asked as soon as they stepped inside the hotel.
“Of course not,” she said with an uneasy smile, her eyes still glancing to the sheriff and Mrs. Matthews talking outside the window.
“Are you certain?” he asked. “You seem…rather anxious.”
“I’m tired, that’s all,” she said. “Speaking of which, I believe you were going to show me to my room.”
Sam’s initial instinct was to continue pressing Fiona until he got a straight answer. But, after months of writing back and forth, he knew that any attempt to force her to talk would not be fruitful.
Best to ease her into it.
So, he gave her a smile and began to lead her down a long hallway where her room stood.
“I hope you had a safe journey,” he said gently. “We were a little worried when your wagon was late.”
“That had to do with the two gentlemen who came out before me,” Fiona said giving a surprisingly genuine chuckle. “Apparently they had a long night at the saloon at our last stop. Needless to say, they were slow to wake this morning.”
Sam smiled back at her. Glad that he now had something interesting to say.
“It’s amazing how having a saloon in town can change men’s working habits,” he said. “Since the one across the street from the hotel moved in, many men have found themselves too exhausted to devote themselves to morning work.”
“I’ve seen the effects of it first hand,” Fiona admitted. “My Pa…”
She stopped suddenly, and the smile fell from her face as though she had nearly said something that she should not have. They stopped outside the door to her room, and she swallowed, allowing her smile to return.
“Well, let’s just say that my father and all of his comrades were well acquainted with such places.”
“This was back in Tennessee?” Sam asked.
“Yes,” she said hurriedly pursing her lips. Sam opened his mouth to ask her for more about her father and his ‘comrades’ as she had called them. But, as soon as he did, she began to speak again.