by Renee Ryan
Mel entertained men like him for the sake of her sister.
Would Mary do any less?
Once again, Mary stole a glance at Mel. Now that evening was fading, and so too Mel’s meticulously applied paint, Mary saw a girl who couldn’t be all that different than she.
It made her think about her father, and the woman he’d taken up with after arriving in town. Was she like Mel, merely doing the best she could with what she had? She’d kept and cared for her child. Mary could never bear to hear Nugget go on and on about her mama, but now…
Her heart ached as she realized that she’d been denying her half sister the chance to mourn a dearly loved parent. A woman who, aside from her profession, seemed like a decent woman. Like Mel.
Lord, forgive me for judging Nugget’s mama. I don’t know why my father betrayed my mother with her. I don’t know why she took up her profession. But she loved Nugget and was a good mama to her. Help me help her deal with her grief.
Perhaps Mary was the wrong sibling to do right by her sister. After all, she’d failed Rose miserably. Mary took a deep breath. No. She’d rescue Rose, and then she would do better by her sisters. She would be a better example and would devote her life to their loving care. She would make up for her mistakes. Just like she’d always planned.
Mel scooted back in her chair and got up. “Sounds like things have quieted down.”
Mary glanced over at Will, who shrugged. Jasper grinned. She hadn’t been able to talk him into going home to Emma Jane, and Will had finally told her to stop interfering in their business. When this was all over, Mary would go to Emma Jane and do what she could to soothe the poor girl’s feelings.
Mel opened the door and peered out. Then she turned back to the others. “It looks like we’re safe. But I’m going to do some scouting to be sure.”
She hadn’t even closed the door behind her when the men sprang into action. Will removed the gun belt from the still-sleeping Colt. Whatever Mel had given the man, it had definitely worked.
Suddenly, it felt cold in the room, and Mary rubbed her arms. This was really happening. They were going to rescue her sister, and it would take guns to do it.
How could Mary have been so deceived?
How could Rose?
Rose wouldn’t have suspected Ben of anything nefarious, considering he’d already wormed his way into the family’s good graces by claiming engagement to Mary.
But how could Rose have believed he’d fall in love with her so quickly after declaring himself to Mary?
None of this made sense, particularly when Mel returned, carrying two large guns. She held one in Mary’s direction.
“You ever use one of these?”
Mary shook her head. Mel rolled her eyes. “Figures. What about you, pretty boy? Does the son of the richest man in town know how to shoot a gun, or do you get people like Will to do it for you?”
Jasper snatched the gun out of her hand. “Thanks to Will, I’m probably almost as good of a shot as he is.”
“Good.” Mel tossed a look at Mary. “Your job is to keep her from getting killed. I’d just as soon have her gone, but I’m not keeping a woman from saving her sister, even if she is completely unprepared.”
Mary supposed her words were meant to be an insult, but they felt like a compliment. At least Mel saw that she was trying to be a good sister.
“Things have slowed down for the night. Mitch says Ben stepped out, and it looks like most of the guards have found companions for the rest of the evening. They probably figure you saw they were ready and gave up.”
Mel directed them through a passageway, which Mary realized brought them straight into the notorious house. When they reached the room at the end of the hall, she pulled a set of keys out of her pocket. “Swiped it off Colt. Being Ben’s second, he’s got copies of all the keys.”
Mary never would have guessed that she’d end up admiring a fallen woman, but Mel’s resourcefulness was a quality Mary wished she possessed. Actually, Mel had a lot of qualities Mary wished she possessed, like bravery and the willingness to do the hard things, even when it didn’t sound right. Mary wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Mel would walk away from this without getting in trouble herself. Once they got out of here, Mary would make certain that Frank helped the other woman find a better situation.
The third key did the trick. But rather than entering a room to find Mary’s sister asleep on a bed, they came face-to-face with the barrel of Ben’s gun.
*
“So you’re the traitor,” Ben said calmly, staring down the barrel at Mel.
Will stepped in front of Mel. This wasn’t her fight. “She just wanted to keep another innocent young woman from being kidnapped.”
“Kidnapped. Such a vile word.” Ben kept the gun trained on Mel. “Rose is here because she wants to be. Isn’t that right, Rosie?”
Mary’s gasp at the sight of her sister coming out of the shadows in a revealing dress brought Will’s attention to Mary, not Rose. Everything on her face told him that her sister’s appearance shattered something in Mary’s heart.
Will turned his attention back to Rose. She bore the look of every working girl in this place, and the haughty way she held her head told him that she didn’t mind a bit.
“Of course.” Rose sauntered over to Ben and kissed him.
“Please, spare us.” Mel stepped forward and approached Ben. “He doesn’t love you. It’s just a game with him.”
Will let out a breath. Thank goodness for Mel bringing some reality to the situation. The gun at his side called to him, but he knew that while he could shoot Ben now, doing so would only turn Rose into the grieving widow, or at least whatever she would be, considering they didn’t have the benefit of marriage. A fallen woman. With no chance at redemption.
“Ben loves me. He told me so,” Rose said in a honey-sweet voice.
“He was with me this morning, you twit.”
“Mel!” Ben pointed the gun at her again. “Don’t make this harder on yourself.”
Mel smiled at Rose. “Surely you aren’t so feeble-minded as to think that he’d meet you and be so overcome with love for you that he’d forsake all of his wild ways?”
From the crestfallen look on Rose’s face, it seemed that she had, in fact, believed just that.
At least Mary had managed to remain silent. Will was certain that she’d start in on Ben, but she seemed to be going along with Mel’s tactic of making Rose see what kind of man she’d settled for.
Ben cocked his pistol, but Mel laughed. “Really, Ben? I’m standing on your favorite Oriental rug. You won’t shoot me here. You’ll never get the blood out.”
Then she brought her attention back to Rose. “Go home with your sister, little girl. You don’t belong here.”
Ben let out a long belly laugh. “So that’s what this is about. Mad Mel’s jealous.”
As he laughed, he set the gun down. Unarmed, he was the perfect target. But with Rose so close to him, Ben’s grip tightening around her, Will didn’t dare risk putting her in harm’s way.
“I forgive you, baby. Why don’t you go pick something nice out of the jewelry box I keep on the dresser and go back to your room? I’ll deal with you in the morning. I do thank you for bringing me these unfortunate souls who just don’t know how to mind their own business.”
Mel turned and walked toward the dresser, and Ben brought his attention back to them.
“It’s a shame, Will Lost-his-badge. You’re going to die here today, and word’s going to get out that you died trying to rob me.” Ben let out a long, dramatic sigh.
“We’re witnesses.” Mary stepped forward and then turned to her sister. “Rose, surely you don’t want to be with a man like this. A murderer?”
Rose kissed Ben again, and Will could feel Mary’s shudder even though she wasn’t touching him. The spoiled brat deserved Ben. Did Rose have any idea what her sister had gone through to rescue her? Did she even care?
Of course not.
When Rose finished kissing Ben, she tossed her head and looked back at Mary. “You’re just jealous. You had your chance with Ben, but you spoiled it. Instead of meeting with him to discuss your wedding, you went on that church picnic, leaving him alone with me. Ben confessed how cold you were and how terrible he felt that he loved you so deeply, but you, you thought you were too good for him, just like you think you’re better than everyone else.”
“That’s not true!” Tears ran down Mary’s face, and Will wished he could do something to make it better for her.
“Mary is a devoted friend and sister,” Will said. He glared at Rose, who still looked more smug than any person had a right to. He’d give Ben credit; at least he’d found someone just like him.
“You have no idea how much she worried about you. How much she risked to save you.”
“I don’t need saving.”
“Yes, you do.” Will glanced over at Mel, who was still digging through the jewelry box. Clearly, she was looking for something. He only wished she’d informed him of her plan.
“Has Ben told you about Daisy? She loved him, too. And you know where she is? Stashed on a nearby ranch because she’s carrying his child.”
Mel dropped whatever she’d been rooting for. Ben looked in her direction. “Haven’t you found something yet? You’re a hard one to please. Grab something and get out.”
Mel walked back into their line of sight carrying what looked to be a brooch. She held it up to him. “What about this? It’s ugly as sin, but I think Celeste would like it. Tomorrow’s her birthday, and I didn’t get her a gift.”
“That’s Aunt Ina’s!” Rose jumped up and snatched it out of Mel’s hand, then turned to Ben. “Where did you get this?”
Ben leaned back in his seat. “Why, I got it from your sister, of course. She gave it to me to pawn so we could pay for our train tickets out of town. Only she didn’t show up when we were supposed to meet, and then I had family troubles. I couldn’t bear to part with the symbol of our love.”
The man looked positively wretched as he stared at Mary. “I know we had some larks together and you stole some things from your employers from time to time, but I can’t believe you’d steal from your own family.”
Will wanted to think Ben was playing some kind of game, but as he watched the devastation cross Mary’s face, he had to wonder if he’d made another mistake in trusting the wrong woman. Especially as Rose’s words seemed to confirm it.
“That’s how you were able to afford those spectacles for Bess? By stealing? Aunt Ina whipped me because I was the last one to dust her dresser before the brooch went missing. But it was you all along.”
Rose began to sob. “What other punishment did I take for you? Everything I’ve ever lost has been because of you.”
As the guilt washed over Mary’s face, Will’s gut turned over. He’d believed Mary to be everything good and honorable in a woman. Finally someone he could trust.
Apparently his instincts had failed him again.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rose’s theatrics were something Mary was quite used to. And yet, nothing tore at Mary’s heart worse than knowing Rose had been beaten for the loss of Aunt Ina’s brooch. They’d had an unspoken agreement about the beatings, her and Rose. When one of the little ones was at the end of Aunt Ina’s switch, either she or Rose would take their place.
She should have known someone would have been beaten for the missing brooch. She should have put two and two together and realized that because of the promise she and Rose had made, Rose had taken the punishment.
But Mary had been too busy being blindly in love to realize it.
“I didn’t steal,” Mary said as calmly as she could. “The money for Bess’s spectacles came from her Sunday school teacher, but she didn’t want anyone to know, so I said I took on extra work and bought them.”
Aunt Ina had taken a switch to her for that. She’d been irate to think that money that could have been used for one of her fripperies had been wasted on spectacles for a child.
Rose stared at her. “How do I know that’s not another one of your lies? You admit that you lied to me about Ben. You admit that you lied to me about your whereabouts when you were sneaking off to see him. How can I ever trust you again?”
If Ben hadn’t been smirking, Mary might have been tempted to tell her sister that she didn’t blame her. That she’d do whatever she had to do to earn her trust again. She’d admit how duped she’d been by the smooth-talking charlatan. And she’d promise to spend the rest of her life making up for her mistakes.
Instead, she looked to Will for guidance. Only, he looked at her as if he believed her to be the miscreant she was accused of being.
Even Will believed the lies.
Mary had been right to keep everything a secret. No one believed her now, just like they wouldn’t have believed her then. Ben had been right.
“Please, forgive me, Rose.” Mary had no other words, no other excuse she could offer.
It was just as well that the slowly developing feelings Mary had for Will would never be returned. She’d never allow herself to be blinded by her love for another person again.
“Never.” Rose glowered at her, then smiled, running her hand up and down Ben’s chest. “When Ben came looking for you, I knew what I had to do. You ruined my chances of happiness with the only man I will ever love, and now I have stolen yours.”
Rose’s eyes glittered in the gaslight. Her sister was a vain, spoiled girl, but the tears were real. Despite Rose’s bravado, she felt no joy in her victory.
Swallowing her own tears, Mary took a step toward Rose. “I think, then, you should reconsider your actions. I don’t love Ben. I broke it off with him before we moved here.”
She turned and looked to Will. “You wouldn’t happen to have that letter you confronted me with, would you?”
“No. It’s in my room at the boardinghouse.” He still wore the look of accuser, but as he continued, Mary’s heart hoped. “But I can verify the veracity of Mary’s statement. Her letter condemned what she called Ben’s scandalous behavior and stated in no uncertain terms that she no longer loved him and could not marry him.”
Will seemed to consider each word slowly, as though having to repeat them finally made him understand what she’d been trying to tell him all along.
But did it mean he believed her about not stealing?
His good opinion shouldn’t matter so much to Mary, but as she tossed that question in her mind, she realized that his coldness hurt far more than Rose’s.
“Rose, please, don’t marry him. Not to get even with me. I wronged you, and I am sorrier than I can ever express. Yes, I lied to you. But I promise, I didn’t steal. And I promise, it wasn’t my fault that Silas married Annie. It’s not too late to come home.”
Her promises, she knew, meant nothing, given that she’d already admitted to being a liar. But surely she could appeal to the goodness in her sister’s heart. The love of their family that made her step in when Bess got the switch for spilling the milk because she couldn’t see the steps.
Mel stepped forward, carrying the box from which she’d taken the brooch. “Listen to your sister, girl. If Mary was a thief, then why does Ben have all the jewelry? If Ben is penniless, then why does he have such a fancy room? Why does everyone bow down to him?”
Mary watched her sister for any sign that logic was swaying her emotion, but then turned her gaze to Will. Did Will see that Mary couldn’t have stolen all these things? That if Ben had been telling the truth, he wouldn’t have a box full of jewels?
“Enough!” Ben stood, adjusting his fine clothes. Finer clothes than what he’d worn when Mary had known him back in Ohio.
“So I had a spell of luck after I met Mary. I was hoping to surprise my bride-to-be with my good fortune after we married. I don’t need your brother’s money. I fell in love with my beautiful Rose, who comforted me after my heart was broken by Mary.”
Ben turned to Mel, his eyes
glittering with malice. “As for those trinkets, they were all gifts from lady friends. No need for me to steal. Mary gave what she had freely.”
“Liar!” The word burst out of Mary’s mouth as she forgot all decorum. “I saw the contents of your satchel the day we were supposed to have run off together. Jewelry and money, all things you shouldn’t have had, if your claims of poverty were true.”
“It was a friend’s.” Ben’s answer was so smooth, Mary again doubted how anyone would believe her over him.
But then Mel stepped in again. “Even if you were given the jewelry as gifts, as you say, how does a respectable man come into your line of work?”
She turned her attention back on Rose. “Think about it. Do you truly believe that he intends to make you his wife? I can introduce you to at least a dozen girls in this place who were tricked into thinking that Ben loved them.”
Mel didn’t sound bitter. In fact, she sounded more factual than anything else. As if she was reading from one of the newspapers.
“You’re just jealous,” Rose cried. “Just like Ben said. You’ve been replaced.”
Mel laughed. “I made my choice, and it wasn’t for the love of a man. I chose the life I did to give my sister a better life. If not Ben, there’s a dozen other places I could go. Miss Betty’s been trying to get me to move to her establishment ever since I got here.”
Mel chose her life for the love of her sister. Perhaps it wasn’t the life Mary would have chosen for herself, but in the end, both women were doing the same thing. Mary nodded at the other woman. A look of respect, or what seemed to be such, passed between them. And there, in Mel’s eyes, Mary saw something else. Sadness. Mel had sacrificed for her sister, only to have it all be for nothing. Daisy was shut away on a ranch somewhere, carrying Ben’s child.
Mary’s own sister would not suffer the same fate.
*
All this bickering was getting them nowhere. Will examined Ben’s face. Why was he tolerating this going on for so long? True, he seemed to enjoy watching the women arguing over him, but he bore the look of a man expecting something more.