by Lily Wilspur
But there was the sheriff, coming around the corner from the smithy in his wagon.
Lou Ann ducked into the General Store to avoid witnessing the indignity about to befall the late Earnest Shipler. However strange this town appeared, this business didn’t concern her. She’d overstepped her welcome already by going to the sheriff
The storekeeper smiled at her when she approached the counter. “Howdy, Miss. Just off the train, are you?”
“Yes, thank you,” she replied. “I was wondering if you could tell me where I might find a hotel. I need a place to spend the night.”
The storekeeper nodded. “No problem, Miss. Head down toward the church, and make your first left at the corner. You can’t miss it.”
“Thank you very much,” Lou Ann answered. “One more question, if you don’t mind. Do you happen to know if the baggage got unloaded off the train? I didn’t see anyone unload the baggage car in the…in the …confusion…you know.”
“Oh, I see your point,” the storekeeper. “But I can assure you that all the freight addressed to this town was unloaded. Maybe you didn’t see it, but it was. I know because I had a shipment of candy on that train, and the porter brought it over just a few minutes ago. Your baggage is probably over at the station. The porter from the hotel will go and get it for you, if you ask.”
Lou Ann flushed and almost laughed out loud. “Oh, thank you!”
She got ready to leave the store, but he stopped her. “Are you in town for a while, Miss?”
She smiled at him. “I’m coming to live here. I’m getting married tomorrow.”
The storekeeper’s eyes flew open. “Married, huh? Well, that’s somethin’ else, isn’t it? Who’s the lucky fella?”
“David McGee,” Lou Ann replied. “Do you know him?”
The storekeeper squared his shoulders. “I know everyone in this town. But because you ask, everyone knows David McGee. He’s a legend in this town.”
“But he’s only twenty-three,” Lou Ann told him.
“That’s right,” the storekeeper replied. “He’s a very remarkable young man. You got yourself a prize there.”
Lou Ann tried again to turn toward the door. “I’m sure I don’t know,” she mumbled.
The storekeeper cocked his head. “You don’t know? You’re marrying him. You ought to know.”
“I don’t know him,” Lou Ann explained. “I’m a mail-order bride.”
A light broke over the storekeeper’s face. “Oh, I understand now. I’ve heard about those mail-order brides. You’re the first one I’ve met, though. Well, as I said, you got a good one in David McGee. You can set your mind at ease about that. Every eligible young lady in the county has been angling to get their hands on him ever since he came home.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Lou Ann gave the storekeeper a curt nod and made her break for the door. “Thank you for your help.”
“I’ll be seeing you around,” the storekeeper called after her.
Lou Ann didn’t answer. The door swung shut behind her and she found herself back outside with the piercing sunlight blinding her eyes. She squinted them open just enough to see the sheriff’s wagon parked in front of the store. The sheriff sweated and huffed, lumping the corpse into the wagon box.
Lou Ann clamped her eyes shut again. She had to get away. She had to do anything to stop herself from seeing. Were these people even human? Who could treat a dead person so callously? Townspeople, in ones and twos, passed on the street, giving the sheriff and his business not a moment’s notice. Where was their simple charity to the dead man? Could she live with people like this?
She hurried away toward the hotel, grateful to get off the main street. The ruthless sunlight hounded her all the way. By the time she reached the front porch of the hotel, her head ached from squeezing her eyes so tightly shut.
She sighed when she ducked into the cool, dark sanctuary of the hotel lobby. She rubbed her forehead for a moment to loosen the muscles of her face. Then, she stepped up to the desk and smiled at the clerk. “Hello. I’d like to check in.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The clerk lifted his pen over his ledger. “Your name, please, ma’am?”
“Lou Ann Hawkins,” Lou Ann replied.
The clerk’s pen scratched over the page. “And how long would you be checking in for, ma’am?”
“Just one night,” Lou Ann told him. The clerk raised an eyebrow at her. Lou Ann smiled at him again. “I’m getting married tomorrow.”
The clerk bowed his head. “Congratulations, ma’am.—or, I should say—Miss.”
“Thank you,” Lou Ann replied. “Would you please arrange for my luggage to be brought over from the train station?”
“Of course, Miss,” the clerk replied. “Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you to your room.”
The clerk led her upstairs and showed her into a little room looking out the back of the building. A single window let the sun in, and crisp white curtains diffused the light it didn’t fall so harshly on Lou Ann’s eyes.
She took a step into the room and surveyed the clean quilt on the bed, the china pitcher and bowl on the wash stand, and the table and chair by the window. “Thank you. This will do nicely. By the way,” she faced the clerk. “would you please arrange for me to take my meals in my room?”
The clerk bowed from the waist this time. “Certainly, Miss. Please let me know if you need anything else.” He vanished behind the closing door.
Chapter 5
Lou Ann sat down on the edge of the bed facing the window. There wasn’t anything for her to do now but wait.
But the memory of Earnest Shipler teetering and falling into the dust, and then of the sheriff loading him into the wagon to end up in some out-of-the-way ditch somewhere, continued to haunt her thoughts. If this was the character of Ogden, Utah, how would they receive her, a stranger without family or connections?
She couldn’t settle on the bed. She began pacing around the room and stopped in front of the wash stand. A mirror in a gilt frame hung over the stand. Maybe there was some mistake. Maybe she wasn’t getting married tomorrow after all. Maybe something would happen between now and then and she would have to go back home to her aunt and uncle in Georgia.
They hadn’t wanted her to go West, and they certainly didn’t want her to marry a stranger. They wanted to arrange her marriage themselves with the son of one of their friends. They wanted her to settle down close to home and raise a family, where they could drop in on Sunday afternoons for tea and cake.
But Lou Ann always thought for herself. She had to show them she would take charge of her own life. She didn’t mind the part about marrying a stranger. If she had to marry someone, one man was as good as another. Better to take a stand out West, where no one knew her and no one would try to mold her into a stuffy little box of their own making.
No, she would create her own destiny in a new place. So far, this David McGee came highly recommended by everyone who knew him. That could only bode well for her. She would go through with this marriage tomorrow, no matter what.
She set her jaw and turned away from the mirror just in time to hear a light tap on the door. She opened it, and the clerk from the desk came in, balancing her trunk on his shoulder. Lou Ann clapped her hands. “Oh, thank you!” she exclaimed. “Now I can get to work unpacking.”
She tipped the clerk and he bowed out of the room. Lou Ann had just unsnapped the clasps on the trunk when another soft knock at the door drew her away again. She thought the clerk had come back for something. Maybe he found her valise and brought that, too.
But when she opened the door a second time, she found herself face to face with a strange man in a bow tie and bowler hat. Stiff wax formed his moustache into two identical hooks jutting out from the side of his face. But his eyes twinkled delightfully in his head.
He tipped his hat to her. “Miss Hawkins?”
“Yes?” Lou Ann answered.
“I’m Arthur McGee,” the man told her. “I’m Da
vid’s father.”
“Oh! I’m so pleased to meet you at last.” She extended her hand and he shook it.
“Likewise,” he replied.
“To what do I owe the honor of your visit?” Lou Ann asked.
“I met the sheriff in town,” Mr. McGee told her. “and then I spoke to Alan Turton, the storekeeper. They both told me they met you.”
“That’s right,” Lou Ann replied.
“They told me,” he continued. “that you got off the train alone. They told me you were going around the town by yourself.”
“That’s right,” Lou Ann replied. “What about it?”
“I understand,” Mr. McGee told her. “that you’ve come out from Georgia by yourself, with no family to escort you.”
Lou Ann nodded. “Right.”
Mr. McGee narrowed his eyes at her. “You don’t look old enough to leave home, let alone get married. I wouldn’t let a girl your age wander around a strange town. You never know what low-life scoundrels you might run into.”
Lou Ann threw back her shoulders. “I’m nineteen years old. I think I’m old enough to conduct my own affairs.”
Mr. McGee looked straight through her. “Is that what you told your people back in Georgia?”
Lou Ann bristled. This man had no right to interfere with the arrangements between her and his son. They were both consenting adults. She adopted her coldest, most business-like tone of voice. “Is there something I can do for you, Mr. McGee?”
His face cracked into a pleasant grin. “You don’t have to get offended. Actually, I came over to ask if you would like me to walk you down the aisle tomorrow. If you don’t have anyone of your own to escort you, I’d be happy to do it—if you want me to, that is.”
Lou Ann melted. “Oh, I would be honored if you would! I didn’t care much for the idea of walking down the aisle alone. Thank you so much for offering.”
Mr. McGee tipped his hat to her. “Don’t mention it. Now, then, the service starts at nine o’clock sharp, so I’ll be around to pick you up at about quarter ‘til nine. Is that all right with you?”
Lou Ann felt her eyes tearing up and she swallowed hard. Hopefully, she could end this interview without losing control of herself in front of her future father-in-law.
“That would be wonderful!”
Mr. McGee didn’t seem to notice. He tipped his hat one last time. “I’ll see you then, then. You have a nice day now.”
“Thank you again,” she called as he disappeared down the stairs.
As soon as she closed the door, Lou Ann pitched into her trunk. Now she had something to get ready for. She threw back the lid and laid her wedding dress, her stockings, a clean set of underwear, her veil, her jewelry, and her shoes out on the bed. She smoothed everything out and set everything in order.
She first decided to become a mail-order bride because it sounded like an unobtrusive way to get married in a distant corner of the frontier. She thought she and her groom would be the only occupants of the church, except for the minister and perhaps an old, deaf widow.
Now she knew that her father-in-law would not only attend the service, but would escort her down the aisle. Maybe David McGee’s other relatives would be there, too. The whole town might turn out. In any case, this wedding wouldn’t be the casual formality she originally expected.
Well, she would show them what sort of girl their native son was marrying. She would dazzle them with her looks and impress them with her fortitude. She would give them a wedding to remember.
Chapter 6
The next morning dawned as blistering hot and blazing bright as the day before. Lou Ann dressed carefully in front of the mirror. At the same time, she packed all her traveling clothes in the trunk. She was ready and waiting by eight-thirty. Then she sat on the edge of the bed, doing her best to breathe normally under the pressure of anticipation.
She couldn’t allow herself to question her decision any more. She couldn’t allow herself to dwell on her aunt and uncle’s absence from her wedding. She couldn’t allow anything to interfere with this. She’d made her decision, and now it was final. She had to go through with it to the end.
Just when she thought she could stand the waiting no longer, the same gentle knock at the door shot her to her feet. She met Arthur McGee at the door. His eyes widened when he saw her. “You look fabulous! You look like an angel.”
Lou Ann choked on her stifled laugh. “Thank you.”
He bent his elbow and held it out to her. “Are you ready to go?”
Lou Ann nodded and took his arm. “Oh, I just remembered. Would you please tell the clerk to send my trunk to…wherever it is we’re going after the service?”
Mr. McGee regarded her. “I don’t think that will be necessary. I think David plans to come back here and spend the night with you in this hotel before he takes you home.”
“Oh,” Lou Ann replied. “I see.”
“Is that all right with you?” he asked.
Lou Ann forced herself to laugh, but inside she shook like a leaf. “That’s absolutely fine with me. I didn’t realize he planned that.”
Her future father-in-law inclined his head toward the stairs. “Shall we go?”
“Yes!” Lou Ann blurted out. “By all means!”
He led her out of the hotel. “Here.” He pointed to a vehicle tied in front of the hotel porch. “I have my buggy waiting to take you to the church.”
“But it’s just around the corner,” Lou Ann pointed out.
He shook his head. “It would never do to have you walk there. You’d get your dress covered in dust. No, I’ll drive you. Climb in.”
Lou Ann hesitated for a fraction of an instant. Then, she gathered the skirts of her dress and did her best to arrange herself in the seat next to Arthur McGee. As soon as she settled herself, he took up the reins and clucked his tongue to the horse.
Almost as soon as the buggy started moving, it stopped in front of the church and Lou Ann had to perform the whole operation of getting into the buggy in reverse. After a great deal of trouble moving her skirts this way and that, she extricated herself from the buggy and made her way to the door of the church.
Arthur McGee held it open for her and she whisked inside.
One glance through the inner door revealed a church packed to the walls with townspeople. Lou Ann’s heart fluttered in her chest. She would have fled on the spot had not the entire congregation turned around as one to stare at her in the doorway of the church.
But then she spied the most disturbing sight of all. There in front of the altar, dressed in a pressed black suit and tie with a single white rose stuck into his button hole, standing up in the groom’s position before the congregation, was the young gunfighter.
Lou Ann stared, unable to believe her eyes. This couldn’t be happening. That….that murderer couldn’t be her groom. She almost spun on her heel and ran out of the church. But the next minute, Arthur McGee came in from outside and stood next to her, sealing her last avenue of escape. He must have misread her astonishment for pious awe at the magnitude of what she was about to do.
He picked up her limp hand and placed it inside the crook of his arm. “Here we go.”
She didn’t know her feet were moving until she realized the young man was getting closer. All of a sudden, she found herself examining him at close range. She peered around in helpless confusion, looking for a way out. He smiled at her.
Besides his suit, he looked the same as he had in front of the General Store. His keen black eyes and dark hair set off his angular face. He looked both much older and much younger than the twenty-three years he claimed to be in their letters. She saw something in his expression that reminded her of a little boy.
Then the vision of the gun fight flashed across her mind. This was no boy. This was a hardened killer. So the townspeople didn’t think much of the other man. That was no excuse to kill him. Was she really supposed to marry such a violent criminal? Wasn’t there some legal grounds for her to bac
k out of this gracefully? There must be some way to avoid making the worst mistake of her life.
Lou Ann looked around the church again. Every eye in every face in the room stared at her. Here was Arthur McGee’s hand holding hers. There was no way out. She’d trapped herself.
She heard the minister talking in the background, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying. The young man’s black eyes held her entranced. They twinkled at her, making fun of her, while at the same time they searched her soul for answers to questions she didn’t dare to think about.
He towered over her by at least a foot and a half. She felt a swimming sensation in her head and wondered if she would fall over. Was she standing upright? Maybe that’s why he was staring at her so strangely. Maybe he thought she was ill. If she fainted, would that nullify the marriage?
But she didn’t faint. She heard the minister addressing the young man and then her. She heard him ask her if she took him for her husband. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out—at least none she could hear. But then the minister moved on as if nothing had happened. He didn’t pause to give Lou Ann a chance to answer yes or no.
He simply declared them man and wife and gave the young man permission to kiss her.
Wait a minute, Lou Ann thought. She hadn’t said ‘I do’. She hadn’t given him permission to kiss her. They weren’t really married. Were they?
But here came the young man, moving toward her and reaching for her veil. Here he was, smiling at her like his partner in crime. Here he was, bending down to kiss her.
The kiss passed in the same befuddled fog the service had. The next thing Lou Ann realized, she was walking back up the aisle on the young man’s arm. When they reached the door of the church, the congregation burst out of their pews and surrounded the pair, pumping the young man’s arm. They spoke to Lou Ann, but she heard them only at a great distance.