by Lorena Dove
Cal was about to leave the store with a can of beans and a pound of ham when Mr. Higgins called to him.
“Cal Jones? You still here? Come on over and pick up yer mail.”
At the sound of the word, the thought of the ad he had placed flew through his mind. Mail—he liked the sound of that! He took the envelope and rushed home to read it.
Dear Mr. Jones,
I find myself at a loss of how to begin a letter such as this, so I will just tell you about myself. My name is Angela Simmons, and I’m 19 from New York City. My father is the rector of our church, and I have a brother in Kansas City. I’ll be travelling to his home within the week to reside there for no more than a month. I’m sturdy and in good health, and desire more than anything to make my home in the west. Really, anywhere other than here. I have recently suffered a broken engagement, and rather than shrink away, I find myself strangely emboldened to seek out a new life with all of my strength.
I’ve taken the liberty of including a tintype of my sister and me standing at the fairgrounds last summer. She’s the beautiful one on the left, and I on the right. I’ve been described as handsome enough, and I hope you would not be offended by my plainness.
If you would be interested in a correspondence, please right to me care of Henry Simmons, 462 Anderson St., Kansas City. I hope you can impart some details about yourself as I wish to discover if you are the man God has placed in my life.
I remain sincerely yours,
Angie
Cal sat back and read the letter again, and then another time more. He wasn’t afraid of women, or in love with them; he mostly hadn’t paid much attention to them. But something in the hint of defiance Angie Simmons displayed in her writing made him feel drawn to her. Her “broken engagement” seemed a lot like his lost gold claims. Yet here she was, willing to stake everything on a big change to make something better happen.
That’s it, Cal thought. I’ve been slinking around here with my chin on my chest long enough. If some young girl in New York can break all ties with her past and move on, so can I.
He held the tintype in his hands and drew the lamp closer to shed better light on it. True, the girl on the left was beautiful, but she also looked like the type to be surrounded by scads of suitors. Angie, on the other hand, was … perfect. He studied her oval face, her large yet exotic eyes, her hair piled on top of her head. He noticed how she stood with her chin slightly to the left as her eyes gazed straightforward. Her sister’s eyes seemed to be staring off as she grinned foolishly at something behind the camera. But not Angie. Her smile was a little crooked, yet confident. The funny angle made it look a bit defiant. And her eyes were looking right into his soul.
With a renewed spirit, Cal sat down to write to Angie and share the inspiration she had unknowingly bestowed upon him. He sat up late into the night getting his words down just right. By morning, even though he had slept only an hour or two, he jumped out of bed to go post the letter at the company store before his shift began.
He tucked the tintype into the front pocket of his shirt and placed his hand over it. He would win Miss Angie Simmons’ heart if it was the last thing he did.
Chapter Six
The whistle of the train as it pulled in to each station echoed in Angie’s heart the farther they travelled from New York. It seemed each new stop built an excitement in her that she could barely contain.
Travelling with Elmer and Nancy, it was just like three friends on a lark. Though for Angie and Elmer, they had a ruse to keep up. Finally out of sight of their families, it was easier to be friendly with each other and not have to fake a more sincere attraction. Nancy was so enthralled with the landscape and her fellow passengers that she did not even notice they had stopped holding hands and walking arm in arm since getting on the train.
Since leaving St. Louis, Angie’s heart grew more agitated with every passing mile. She was excited to see Kansas City and Henry, but she grew more worried that there would be no letter waiting for her on her arrival. It had been two weeks since she posted her letter with the tintype, and she could only pray it had reached Cal Jones and that he had been moved to respond.
If not—well, she would think about that later. At least she was free from the questions and plans of her mother, who was more anxious than anyone for her wedding to take place. Elmer’s mother had accepted the delay, secure in the knowledge that the match had been made and Elmer was progressing on his business and family plans.
The next morning, Nancy was the first to notice the sparse landscape suddenly becoming more populated. “Look, Angie,” she called from her perch next to the window. “I see more houses, and roads. We must be close to Kansas City!”
Within an hour, the conductor was calling out its name. Exhausted from the trip but excited to see Henry, the girls gathered up their reticules while Elmer arranged for the baggage to be unloaded. The train pulled to a stop and Nancy spotted Henry in the small crowd gathered on the platform.
“Henry! Oh, Henry, here we are!” She called out with all the excitement of a child eating her favorite candy. Henry walked to the end of the train car, and greeted them when they stepped on to the platform.
“Angie! Nancy! Come hug your poor old brother!” He shouted.
The girls rushed into his arms and hugged and kissed him. They had grown so used to not seeing him the last two years, and yet as soon as they were with him it was as if they had never been apart.
Elmer stood back a few feet waiting and smiling at the reunion. Henry caught his eye and released one hand from around Angie. “Elmer, Elmer! What do you know? You actually did it, old chum, and now we are to be brothers? Congratulations!”
Angie shifted uncomfortably seeing how excited Henry was for her and Elmer to be married. The men had grown up a few years apart in school, and new all the same friends and acquaintances. It felt awful knowing that soon he would be greatly disappointed in Elmer – and in her.
“Good to see you, Henry,” Elmer said, shaking his hand vigorously. “Excited to see how you’ve been making out here in the Wild West.”
“It’s not so wild here anymore,” Henry said as the four began to walk towards his carriage. “But business is booming and there’s plenty of opportunity for all. Maybe you’ll like it once you get used to the dirt streets and saloons!”
“A man could get used to any town with enough saloons,” Elmer joked. Angie blushed and looked away. She hadn’t known that Elmer, or Henry for that matter, had taken to drink.
The men loaded the luggage in the carriage and helped Angie and Nancy to get in and settled. On the way to Henry’s house, he pointed out the important streets and businesses that made up the bulk of the commerce in Kansas City.
“Of course, the famous stockyards are on the other side of the tracks from where the passenger station is,” Henry was saying. “All you folks from the east don’t mix so well with the cattlemen and their herds coming in from out west.”
“I’d like to tour the stockyards, see if I can expand my business into financing for cattle producers,” Elmer said. Soon the men were talking coal and railroads and cattle and Angie and Nancy were free to marvel at the sights and sounds on their own.
Henry’s house was a townhouse with three stories on a nice street in a residential section of the city. The girls walked up the front steps from the sidewalk and Henry took them inside. “You’ll have to room together while you are here,” Henry said. “My other guest room will have to be for Elmer.” He gave Elmer a wink and prodded him with his shoulder. “Don’t make me have to do a bed check during the night, now.”
“Henry!” Angie exclaimed. “Really Henry, must you embarrass me at every chance?”
“Wouldn’t be brotherly of me not to, sister,” Henry said, but he smiled and his expression softened when he saw her alarm. “I promised mother and father I’d look out for you, and for Nancy, that’s all. I take that responsibility seriously.”
“As you should,” Elmer said.
&
nbsp; “I was so excited to get here, but now all I can think of is a bath and a nap!” Nancy said. The girls went upstairs to freshen up and lie down.
“I’m afraid your bath will have to wait until they’re done, Elmer,” Henry said. “Let’s have some coffee and talk business. I’d love your advice on my latest idea.”
~*~*~*~
Angie paced around in the room while Nancy bathed. She had removed her shoes and was rubbing her toes after days of being cramped. She opened the door to their bedroom and could hear the sound of Henry and Elmer talking quietly in the parlor.
“I’ll be right back, Nancy,” she called, and slipped into the hall. In her stocking feet, she crept quietly down the stairs and slipped around the banister into the hall leading to the back kitchen without the men taking notice. She had her mind on a small table she had seen standing against the stairway, with papers and mail strewn on it. She had to know if a letter had come for her.
She poked through the mail on the table, not picking it up but moving envelopes around to see if she could see anything addressed to her. Disappointed, she turned and leaned her back against the table and closed her eyes.
“Inspecting my bills, are you?” Henry’s voice surprised her.
She looked up to see him at the staircase laughing. “No, Henry! I’m sorry, I was just curious, and waiting for my bath, of course. What a nice home you have, and no woman to make it comfortable! But I think you are doing all right.” She knew that joking with her brother would take his attention off her suspicious behavior. At least, she hoped it would.
“I am trying my best, Angie,” Henry said, sounding a bit more serious than she expected. “It hasn’t been easy, and sometimes downright difficult! But I’ve been careful with most of my money…” His voice trailed off.
“Most of it? Is something wrong, Henry?”
“Well, as I was just telling Elmer, I took quite a wash with the gold claims. They seemed to be very promising and producing regularly, so I bought just a bit more, and a bit more. Then suddenly—poof!—Worthless. “
“Oh, Henry, that’s terrible! You didn’t write to father about that.”
“Well, I did, but asked him to keep it to himself. I didn’t want to worry mother, and I’ve shifted some money into coal now.”
“Coal? I didn’t know you were mining for coal in Kansas.”
“Yes, it’s a big business. Railroads are moving through, more lines opening every day. They’ve got to have fuel for their engines, and there’s not much wood to speak of once you leave the Appalachians. No, out here in prairie country, we’re going underground, and bringing up coal.
“You’ll hear more about it at dinner, and enough to bore you, I’m sure,” Henry said. “I’ve invited my business partner, Sherman Adams, to have dinner with us. He knows everyone who’s anyone, and he’ll be a good connection for Elmer. After all, what’s good for Elmer is good for you, now, too.”
Angie blushed at the mention of their engagement. She had hoped it would be a less interesting subject for Henry than it was for her mother and her friends back home. How was she supposed to keep lying and pretending she and Elmer were really engaged? She really hated lying to Henry.
Nancy called down from the bedroom. “Angie! The bath’s all yours!” Angie was grateful for the chance to stop talking about Elmer and ran up the stairs to wash off the dirt of her trip. She only hoped she could be forgiven for continuing in this lie to her family.
~*~*~*~
The next day Henry took the girls out on a walk to show them the town and nearby places. It was a small closed community Henry resided in. The girls visited the church, the park and the market. On their way back home, Angie noticed a postbox at the end of the street their house was on. Her heart pumped faster again.
“Do you get regular mail delivery, or pick it up at the office?” Angie asked, trying to make the question seem as innocent as the others they had been learning about Kansas City.
“Oh, we have home delivery, just like in New York!” Henry bragged. He opened the door to the townhouse, and sure enough, a small pile of mail sat waiting on the carpet where the mailman had pushed it through the slot in the door.
Henry bent down to pick it up, walked down the hall, and tossed it on the table with the other letters. It took all Angie’s strength not to race past him and shuffle through the post. Instead, she greeted Elmer in the living room. She was learning to be easier in her subterfuge, and it worried her.
“Elmer, we had a lovely walk. What a beautiful city this is! I should like very much to stay here for a while,” Angie said. She knew Elmer had to return to New York for business, and she wanted to make sure Henry knew she wasn’t planning on leaving any time soon. Not until she had a chance to see whether her letter to Cal Jones would be answered.
In the future, once Elmer broke the engagement, having another marriage of her own choosing ready would be her best hope to avoid disgrace, embarrassment and a possible relegation as being “unmarriageable.” In Elmer’s love-struck state, he hadn’t thought of all the negative consequences that could befall her as a result of seeming to be rejected by him. No matter how equitably they framed the dissolution, society would look upon her as damaged goods. She knew it was a risk she had taken when she agreed to Elmer’s plan. It was either that, or pressure him on his obligation to marry her, knowing all along he was in love with someone else. She couldn’t conceive of a loveless marriage and would rather live alone. But she still had hope, as long as she could stay in Kansas City.
A buzz at the door interrupted Angie’s thoughts. She opened it and welcomed in Sherman Adams.
“Mr. Adams, come in,” Angie said. She could get used to feeling like the woman in charge of her brother’s house.
“Good day, Miss Simmons. Is your brother at home? I have urgent business with him.”
Angie opened the door wider and stepped aside as Mr. Adams brushed past. She had enjoyed the dinner conversation the night before, even though she lost track when Henry, Elmer, and Mr. Adams got too far deep into business discussions.
Mr. Adams was a rotund man with a not unpleasant face, but for the extra puffiness of fat that layered his cheeks, neck and even his ears. His unfortunate habit of never smiling gave her the impression he was a very sour man. He wasn’t too old, however, having just reached his early 40s. Yet his gruff demeanor made him seem like a man in his 60s.
“Henry, I must speak with you immediately,” Mr. Adams was saying, and he closed the parlor door to speak to Henry and Elmer privately.
It’s just as well, thought Angie. Now, about today’s mail…
She rushed to the hall table and picked up the new mail. The amount of bills her brother received to the house was astonishing. But there was nothing for her. Angie began to worry that it seemed he hadn’t opened the mail in a week. She determined to ask Elmer about it, to see if he could help. She had a suspicion that Henry’s business interests weren’t doing as well as he let on.
A sound of raised voices and soon shouting came from behind the parlor door. Angie didn’t want to eavesdrop, but she couldn’t help overhear some of the words. “Disaster,” “railroad robbers” and others, she could hear Henry shouting. Suddenly, the door opened and a red-faced Mr. Adams appeared.
“We must do something immediately to stay in business,” Mr. Adams said crossly. “If you’re not man enough to do it, then I’ll have to. But it’ll cost you.”
He glared and Angie and huffed out of the house.
Angie rushed to the parlor to find out what had happened. Elmer was standing at the fireplace mantel, talking quietly to Henry, who sat on the couch with his head in his hands.
“We’ll take care of it, Henry,” Elmer was saying.
“Take care of what? What’s happened?” Angie came in and sat down next to Henry. “Tell me; what’s the matter, Henry?”
“Coal prices have been slashed,” Henry said through gritted teeth. “We bought our mining claims based on last year’s contra
ct with the railroads. This year, they’ve renegotiated, and we’ll make half as much as before. We’re losing money every day we stay in business, Angie.”
“What will you do?” Angie cried. “Elmer, isn’t there something? What was Mr. Adams so angry about?”
Elmer sighed and walked over to stand in front of Angie. “Well, Mr. Adams wants to band together with the other mining interests and cut off production until the railroads give way and agree to pay more per ton of coal. But Henry feels, and rightly so, that a work stoppage long enough to affect the railroads would only have the worst possible effects on the miners, their families, and the whole town. And still he’d be losing money throughout.”
“I don’t believe in letting a strike go forward,” Henry said. “We can negotiate a better deal. Elmer, will you help me?”
“I can help, but I must meet with my connections in New York. None of the decisions are being made here; the local bosses are just given directions from the leaders back East. Angie, I’ve made up my mind; I’ll return to New York tomorrow. It’s the only way to help save Henry’s business.”
Angie was less concerned about Elmer’s leaving than she was about Henry, but she remembered to put on a display of disappointment. “Oh Henry, must you? We’ve only just arrived.” Henry wasn’t paying any attention to her expression, which was a good thing, for she was a terrible actress.
Elmer almost laughed at her face, which showed not a hint of the dismay of her words. “Don’t fear, my dear. We shall be together soon enough. You’ll want to stay a bit longer, and of course your mother won’t mind with Henry to watch over you.”
“What? Watch over? Oh, yes, of course you can stay, Angie. In fact, it feels good to have you and Nancy here with me. I hope I can keep things going long enough without having to hire you out to work to put food on our table.”