“I wouldn’t do that.”
“Anyway, while you were asleep yesterday Jake and I went to the prison and they wouldn’t let us see Peter. My own flesh and blood and they wouldn’t let me see him. His father, my first husband, would be rolling over in his grave.”
“That’s terrible. Why couldn’t you see him?”
“I hope you won’t think badly of us. Well.” She let go of Katie’s hand. “I have to confess I did put on a bit of a turn last time I visited him. I’m a mother and he was my son and to see him with blackened eyes and cuts and bruises on his face, well. I was so upset I accused the guards of bashing my poor boy.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“One of those guards was so rude and insulting to me, Jake got involved in the argument, too. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we’ve been banned from ever being able to visit him.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Anyway, that’s where Jake went yesterday to plead that we be allowed to see my boy, but they refused. Refused to let a mother see her own son.” She moaned. “It breaks my heart. They wouldn’t even let us have five minutes with him.”
Katie didn’t know what words of comfort she could give.
“We only wanted to tell him about Jake marrying you, and to reassure him once we got more money, we’d start fighting again to get him out of that hell hole. And I wanted to give him a little gift for his birthday. Is that so wrong?”
“Of course, it isn’t. Maybe, maybe I could go and see him for you. They wouldn’t know me.”
“We couldn’t ask you to go to such a dreadful place. It’s not fit for a young lady to see.”
“I could do it,” Katie promised recklessly even though the prospect filled her with dread. These people had done so much for her it was the least she could do. “Tell me what to do and I’ll gladly do it.”
“Are you sure? I would never ask you to do it, but it would be a blessing to my poor troubled heart if you could see him, tell him the family is near and give him my little present. Something I made especially for him.”
“I will. I will,” she said earnestly.
“That is sweet of you, come along, we better go downstairs for breakfast. We can discuss it more later.”
Chapter Five
An hour later, they stepped out of the hotel. The sun was shining even though it was cool. With arms linked they strolled along the street. Katie was disappointed Jake hadn’t returned so he could accompany them.
The dress shop was only small although the dresses on display were beautiful. Nervously Katie stepped inside.
“My son, Jake Sawyer, ordered a dress for his betrothed.”
“Yes, Madam,” the shop assistant gushed. “Such a gentleman he was too. We’ve done the alteration even put in the….”
“Shush, my dear, no more telling. I can’t wait for Katie to see her new dress.”
When the woman brought out the dress Katie almost burst into tears it was so beautiful.
“What do you think?” Ma sounded nearly as awestruck as she was.
“Beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“It’s a one-off, what with the special….”
“Thank you so much, my dear,” Ma cut her off again. “I don’t like talkative shop people,” she whispered in Katie’s ears. “They get to talking and next thing you know, you’re walking out of the shop with merchandise you don’t even want.”
“Shouldn’t I try it on,” Katie said.
“Of course,” the woman said. “I’ll come in and help you.”
“No need. I can help Katie try it on. I think you might have another customer.”
The bell on the shop door tinkled and the woman hurried over to greet the newcomer.
In the changing room, Ma helped her out of her clothes and slipped the pretty pink dress over her head. “Oh, my dear, you look beautiful.”
Katie glanced into the full-length mirror. She couldn’t believe she was seeing herself. The dress was silky soft made from pale pink material with deeper pink frills around the hem and neckline. Down either side of the skirt was a panel in light grey, sprinkled with tiny pink rosebuds. There was even a concealed pocket on the right side of the skirt to put her money in. Katie couldn’t believe she was wearing anything so beautiful. There was even a matching bonnet.
“My dear, you look so lovely Jake won’t be able to tear his eyes away. As for my poor Peter, you will be a sight to warm his heart.”
“I hate taking the dress off,” Katie said. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Well, don’t.” She gave her an indulgent smile. “Leave it on.”
“Do you think I could?”
“Of course, Jake has paid for it.”
They walked out into the shop and the woman smiled approvingly.
“She wants to leave it on.”
“Yes, I love it so much.”
“It does suit you. I’ll wrap up your other dress.”
“Thank you.” Katie had to force herself not to jig around. She looked like a lady and should act like one.
****
Katie sat in the buckboard as Jake drove to the prison. Ma was staying at the hotel because Jake feared she would become too upset being so close to Peter yet not being able to see him. Katie understood. It must be a heartbreaking situation for any mother.
Jake pulled the buckboard up outside the prison walls. “I feel so nervous.” She licked suddenly dry lips.
“You’ll do fine, darlin’.” He kissed her trembling mouth. “Just remember what I told you about the present, and remember, don’t give them your correct name.”
Jake leapt from the buckboard and lifted her down. “If the guards find the present, they won’t pass it on to him, you can be sure of it. Go to the guard tower near the main entrance. I’ll wait here for you.”
On trembling legs, she made her way up to the twelve feet high outer wall. Near a barred gate were two guard boxes, one on either side. Dubiously she went up to a uniformed guard.
“Good afternoon, my name is Katie James. I understand arrangements have been made for me to see my cousin Peter …” She nearly said Sawyer. “Um, Gilbert at two o’clock.”
“It’s all been arranged with the Governor,” the older guard said. “I’ll escort you inside, Miss.”
“Thank you.”
She followed him without speaking through another doorway. “They won’t let you have long. You were lucky to be allowed in at all.”
“I know, but I happened to be passing through Laramie and I’ve promised his mother I would call in and see him.”
“There’s a special cell we take visitors too. You’ll have to wait there, Miss, until another guard comes. You can’t take anything in with you.”
“I haven’t got anything.” She hoped they weren’t going to lock the door on her. There was a table and two chairs in the cell, otherwise it was empty. A cold aura hung around the place. It smelled of dampness and decay, causing her to shiver.
“This is an awful place,” she said. “How can you bear to work here?”
“It’s a job. A man has to live.”
If it wasn’t that she loved Jake, and his mother had been so kind to her, a team of horses couldn’t have dragged her into this place.
Another guard marched up to them. “All right, you can go now.” He waved the first guard off. “I’ll stay with her until the prisoner arrives.”
As Katie waited her nerves were stretched so tightly, she feared they might snap at any moment. Finally, on hearing a clanking sound she gazed up from where she was seated, and her stomach rolled over. A young man with irons on his wrist and ankles shuffled into the cell escorted by two guards.
Peter Gilbert looked like Jake, not unexpected as they both had the same mother. He appeared much older though, his hair was thinner, his eyes harder. Any wonder being in a place like this. “I’m Katie, your cousin. Remember me? Your mother as
ked me to drop by if I was ever in Laramie.” She forced a laugh.
“Howdy, cuz,” Peter said.
She went to put her hand out.
“No touching,” the guard barked out.
How was she going to get the gift to Peter? Remember the plan. Follow the plan Jake had devised she reminded herself.
“I’ll be back in five minutes,” one guard said to the other. “You stay with them and don’t take your eyes off them for a moment.” He marched off.
“How is my mother doing?” All the while Peter’s eyes darted around.
“She’s well, sends her love and Jake does too.” He’s getting married to me, she nearly said. “To a nice young lady who loves him very much, so rest assured he will be happy.”
“He always was a charmer.”
Could she do it? She broke out in a cold sweat. She had to stand up, pretend to trip and fall across the table so Peter’s hand could reach into her pocket. She couldn’t understand why they had to go to all this trouble. Surely the Governor of the prison would be duty bound to pass a gift to the prisoner. How was Jake able to get a message to Peter, so he knew what was going on? Had they bribed someone? It was all so strange.
“How’s Uncle Jeb?” Peter asked.
“Oh, good, the ranch is still going well.”
“And Aunt Flo?”
“Ma is good.” She took her cue from him.
“Is she still cooking those fancy cookies? I used to love them when I was a boy.”
“Yes, she’s still winning all the prizes at the church bake-off. Pa says she’s the best cook in Colorado.” Katie was shocked to be able to lie so easily. She wasn’t as good as Peter. Each time the conversation faltered he got it going again.
“Higgins, don’t you think my cousin is a pretty gal?”
“She sure is.”
“Mr. Higgins, um, do you have any relatives in Denver?” she asked.
“No, Miss. Why?”
“I went to school with a Geoffrey Higgins.”
“No relation to me.”
“Higgins is a common enough name,” Peter said.
The older guard who had escorted her here marched up to the cell. “Times up.”
“I’m just waiting for Maitland to come back,” Higgins said.
It was now or never. Katie got to her feet. “Well, Peter, this is goodbye. Take care of yourself.”
“Yeah I’ll try. Tell ….”
Katie deliberately rolled her ankle and pitched forward. She cried out, grabbing for the chair missed and ended up almost sprawled across the table in front of Peter. She felt his hand make a grab for her pocket.
“What in the name of….” Another guard dashed up and unlocked the cell door. “What’s going on in here? There was to be no touching.
“There wasn’t,” Higgins said. “The young lady tripped as she was about to leave is all.”
“Place your hands on the table, Gilbert,” he snapped, and Katie gasped with shock. Her chest tightened until it became hard to breathe.
Peter held out his hands, palm up. There was nothing in them. Maybe he hadn’t got the little package. She almost dipped her hand into her pocket to check but pulled herself up in time. She had followed Jake’s instructions to the letter, had fallen in such a way her right pocket was closest to Peter.
“Thanks, cuz.” He gave a smirk and she knew he had it. Where had he hidden it? And how could he get it with his hands shackled?
“Say howdy to everyone.”
On trembling legs, she forced herself to follow the guard out of the cell. You can do it. You can do it for Jake who loves you, and his mother who has been so good to you.
By the time she got outside to the guard box she was shaking.
“Feeling okay, Miss?”
“Yes, thank you. The fall must have shaken me up more than I realized.”
She left, gritting her teeth to force her wavering limbs into motion. By the time she made it to the buckboard she was on the verge of collapse.
“You did it?” Jake leapt down to greet her.
“Yes. Oh, Jake, it was terrible, I was so frightened.”
“Did Peter get the package?” He lifted her up into the buckboard. “Are you sure he got it?”
“He must have.” She felt in her pocket which was now empty. “I did everything you told me to do. I thought he grabbed it even though his wrists were shackled.” She shuddered. “If he doesn’t have it now, I don’t know where it is.”
Jake laughed. “He could make things disappear even as a kid.”
“How? What do you mean?”
“Magic tricks.” She recoiled from the harsh tone of his voice. “Sorry, darlin’, for snapping. I’ve been so worried about you going into that horrible place only my mother had her heart set on it.”
“It’s all right, we’re all jittery.”
“Yeah, we sure are.”
They didn’t say much on their drive back to the hotel. Her head was throbbing so badly she feared it might crack wide open. He escorted her into the lobby where his mother waited.
“Everything go well?”
“Yeah,” Jake said. “It did.”
“And how was my boy?”
“He sounded okay but a bit pasty faced.”
“Prison pallor, they call it,” Ma said.
“I’ll take the buckboard back to the livery. We’ll go to the diner for supper,” Jake said. “They do the best beef steaks in Wyoming.”
After Jake left, his mother said. “You look pale, dear, I think you should have a lie down for a while.”
“I might, thank you. I’ve got a bad headache; it feels like my head is ready to burst.”
“I’ve got a special powder that will help. We’ll go to your room and I’ll help you change out of your pretty gown in case it gets creased. I’ll bring in your other gown for you to wear tonight, save the pink one for tomorrow. Jake has something special planned.” She gave a knowing wink.
In her room, Ma helped her change into her nightgown. “Now, you rest there while I go get the powder for you.”
“I’ll be all right.”
“You certainly won’t, dear.”
Katie’s head was aching so badly she didn’t argue.
Ma returned within a few minutes and from her reticule Katie watched her pull out a small brown bottle and empty white powder into a glass of water.
“Drink this, and I guarantee in half an hour you won’t feel a thing.”
“Thank you.” The water tasted sickly sweet and she could hardly swallow it.
“Drink it all.” Ma cajoled her into swallowing every drop. “Now, you close your eyes and I’ll tap on the door in an hour or so and get you up so we can go and have those juicy beef steaks Jake was telling us about.”
“Thank you.” Katie closed her eyes and snuggled into the soft bed. Tomorrow she would be marrying Jake. Mrs. Katie Sawyer sounded good.
Chapter Six
Loud banging on the door intruded into Katie’s sleep. That hour had passed quickly. Groggily she glanced around. Sun streamed through the window.
The door was flung open and one of the maids stepped into the room. “Oh, Miss McMullen, sorry to wake you.”
“No, that’s all right I have to get ready for supper.”
“Supper?” the maid queried. “It’s eleven o’clock in the morning.”
“What! It can’t be. Mrs. Sawyer was going to wake me up.”
“They’ve gone.”
“Gone? Where?”
“They didn’t say, just left and said you would be staying for another couple of days.”
“That can’t be right.” Katie wished the fog would lift from her brain. Something wasn’t right here. She tried to grapple with things. The maid handed her a glass of water which she gulped down.
“Oh, you missed all the excitement, too.”
“What excitement?” What was wrong with this girl? Jake is going t
o marry me today that was the only exciting thing she wanted to know about.
“The prison breakout. Half a dozen prisoners escaped. One of them had a key to the cells. They were all rounded up except for a Peter Gilbert.”
A roaring in Katie’s ears almost ruptured her eardrums. Luckily, she was sitting in bed propped up against pillows otherwise she would have collapsed in a heap on the floor with shock.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, yes, thank you. I’ve got an awful headache. I’ll be down later.”
“Would you like me to bring you up coffee or tea?”
“I’m all right thank you. I just need to rest for a while.” How can I speak like this, she wondered when her heart had been ripped to threads? She had been duped. There would be no marriage, the Sawyers had taken her under their wing, not to help her out, but for her to assist them with their elaborate plot to get Peter out of prison.
All the strange things about their friendship and Jake’s love had been a pretense. None of it was true. She had merely been a pawn in their evil game.
She couldn’t cry, the pain went too deep. Her insides felt raw and bleeding. She had participated in a prison break out and if anyone ever discovered what she had done, she would be in serious trouble with the law.
Suddenly she remembered the young man who had disappeared from the stage depot. He had a watch the same as the one she had seen Jake with. He must have stolen it. Where was the young man now? Had Jake done something to him? She was struggling to breathe. At best Jake had bashed and robbed him, at worse murdered him.
This was a nightmare. It had to be. Pinching her leg hard she yelped with pain. It was no nightmare. It was real. She had been duped. Betrayed by people she had grown to love. They had played on her vulnerability, her innocence and desperation to leave the intolerable situation with her parents.
At least her parents had been honest, they resented having her back in their lives. Hated the fact she had lived with the Indians yet were prepared to tolerate her because they had used her as slave labor. Their behavior had been bad but what the Sawyers had done was much worse. They had tricked her into thinking they loved her, then used her as a means to get Peter out of jail. Thankfully his name had been Gilbert not Sawyer, if that even was their real name. As she had also used a fake name, there would be nothing to connect her to Peter, unless one of the guards happened to recognize her.
Lost in Laramie (Yours Truly: The Lovelorn Book 4) Page 3