by J. R. WRIGHT
Moments later a lamp was lighted inside. He watched then as it slowly moved through the house to a bedroom on the front side. The blinds of two nearly adjoining windows were then pulled in rapid succession, and the lamp soon thereafter extinguished. Safe and sound, he was relieved now and headed back for the hotel.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Returning from having breakfast at the nearby eatery, Luke was pleasantly surprised to see Breanne sitting on the bench in front of the hotel. Even though the huge pink hat that matched the frilly Victorian dress she wore blurred her facial features, the way her shapely body sat bold upright gave her away.
“Good morning!” he said cheerfully from twenty feet away.
“Oh, Luke!” She leaped to her feet and rushed toward him. “I hope you don’t have other plans. I just had to see you.”
“Well that’s good, because I was just about to head over to that park with hopes of seeing you exit that little white house of yours, a half block up.”
“How did you know…? You followed me last night, didn’t you?” She smiled broadly.
He noticed there were twinkles in her eyes he hadn’t seen yesterday, and said, “I did. What kind of man would take pleasure from a beautiful woman, then let her walk home alone in the dark?”
“I knew I felt you nearby. At one point I almost turned around, the feeling was so powerful. But then I figured I must be dreaming again, as I often do about you, Luke.” She turned her face up for a kiss, and got it.
“How’s Harry faring today?” He just had to know, since the man keeping him from having Breanne full time was seldom far from his mind.
“I didn’t check on him last night for fear of him awakening and seeing me fully dressed. This morning I found him on the floor, unable to get up by himself. It’s happened before, but I felt so awful, under the circumstances. His doctor is with him now. He comes near every day, seeing as how the church pays the bill. I told Harry I had some shopping to do, and he gave me that look again.”
“What look is that?”
“That, I know what you’re doing look, like he gave me yesterday.”
“You sure you’re not just imagining it?” He took Breanne under his arm and they walked.
“Maybe. But after last night, I’m not going to let it bother me. We deserve this time together, Luke. Look at all we’ve been cheated out of. I have a son I’ve never met. And grandchildren…”
“So, why don’t you just march back home and tell that Harry Budd you’re leaving him. You want your old life back!”
“Oh, Luke, if it were only that easy. Don’t forget, Harry has two daughters that adore him. I don’t want them hurt, either. I guess for now we’ll just need to take it one day at a time, and see what becomes of it.”
Luke wasn’t satisfied with that. But at least he was willing to go along with it for now.
They continued on up the street. When they came to the store where Luke had ordered the suits the day before, he guided her in.
“Oh, Luke, look!” Breanne said near immediately upon entering. “That suit would look wonderful on you.”
“Señor, I see you have returned.” The owner came up from the back. “I hope you have not come for the suits so soon. My wife and daughters are working on them now. There is so much stitching that needs to be done, señor?”
“You bought the suit?” She giggled. “I can’t wait to see you in it.”
“Actually, three. You will in a week,” he said, studying her to see what reaction she would have to that time frame. Other than the smile that was already there, nothing changed. “Will you help me pick out shirts?”
“Can I?” Breanne said excitedly and went to where a few shirts were on display.
Again the color selection was limited, and style all the same. He knew if he asked what the puffy shirts were, the answer would be, “Vaquero,” so he didn’t.
The three shirts Breanne picked out went well with all the suits Luke pointed out in the colors he had ordered. And again, Luke was told they would need to be made special, because the sizes they had in stock were much too small. Just as well, he thought; they couldn’t be worn until the suits were ready anyway, and he ordered them, with the promise they would be ready at the same time as the suits.
Leaving the store then, Luke said, “Now let me buy you something?”
Responding to that, Breanne patted him on the shoulder and said, “I have everything I want for the moment, thank you. But you, if you don’t mind my saying so, need a new hat.” She looked up at the sweat-stained, brown felt on his head. “And I know just the place to find the perfect one. The hat maker’s name is Orville, just up the street. I go in there occasionally because the place takes me back to you, and happier times. ”
“Aren’t you afraid of being seen with me?”
“Terrified! But the alternative is even more terrifying,” she giggled and squeezed his arm. “I’ve never been close to anyone here. And Harry, of course… and me, when he was well, spent our days at the mission in the city. It’s only an hour train ride. My oldest daughter lives in the city now. She hardly ever comes anymore. And when she does, she cries. Her father’s condition is so depressing for her.”
At noon, with a new brown felt hat on his head, Breanne left Luke in front of the hotel with a promise of returning again that night.
Luke watched as she crossed the street and hurried down the alley. His heart already ached for her return. How would he ever acquire the courage to leave her now, after having just found her again, he wondered? Perhaps then he wouldn’t. At least not for a while. To make that possible, he would need to wire Titus Oxley; tell him if there was any pressing business, he could be contacted here at the hotel. He planned to write Calvin Tinkman at the ranch, telling him the same. Surely Mary would know why he was here, once reading the return address. “He’s traipsed off to see that Anne Budd friend of Sarah’s. That’s what he’s gone and done,” he could hear her say. But then, if she only knew what he was really up to, and why, surely she would understand. All that, though, would need to wait for his return. It was far too much to have to put in a single letter.
And so it went for the next five weeks. Breanne came at every opportunity, and they slept together every night except two, so far. And those were days when Harry’s illness had become so acute she feared he might die in her absence.
As time passed and word got around where he could be reached, the letters that came became more frequent. The wires from the bank came near every day and needed to be answered as well. Often times Breanne came, and he was so bogged down in work he had little time to visit with her. And then the unexpected happened, the room, since he spent so much time in it trying to run multiple businesses from two thousand miles away, started closing in on him. That’s when Breanne suggested, for his own good, he should go home, with a promise from her to join him there as soon as possible.
So it was agreed he stay one more week. But when the end of the week neared, Breanne became so despondent, he extended the stay another week. This was to the disappointment of Gracie Johnson at the eatery, who had her bags packed and had already said her goodbyes to many friends and family.
This next week, however, went much more smoothly. Breanne had finally come to grips with the eventual, and conditioned herself to it by staying away more. This, of course, was of grave disappointment of Luke, but he understood. She did, however, stay with him until daybreak the final morning. They said their goodbyes in the room, rather than her going to the station and risk being seen by fellow Missionary friends of Harry, who traveled to the city six days a week, as he and Breanne had done for many years.
Breanne didn’t have much to say before leaving the room, other than to promise again she would see him soon. Luke then walked her down to the vacant lobby, where they embraced one last time before she pushed away and left the hotel. Luke stepped outside then and watched as she hurried cross the street, then ran into the alley, wondering if she would wave one last time. Surp
risingly, though, she did one better. Pausing mid-way, she whirled about, cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled out: “I LOVE YOU, LUKE MCKINNEY!”
Not being one to let that pass without recognition at this early hour, Luke doubled back and let fly with a response: “AND I LOVE YOU, MISSES MCKINNEY!”
This brought a hardy laugh from Breanne before she turned about and merrily continued on her way.
Back in the room, Luke sat down at the desk and wrote Breanne a long letter. And once finished he inserted in it five hundred dollars. When she decided to come, he didn’t want a little thing like money to hold her back, regardless of the circumstances. He dropped the letter into the night slot at the post office, than went off to the eatery with his bag in hand for a quick breakfast.
If Gracie was still interested in going, she would be there packed and ready, and she was.
“Good morning, Wild Bill. Are we leaving today?” she said from the door to the kitchen.
“We are.” Luke removed the hat and sat up at a table.
“Mama, I’m going today!” she said ducking out of sight. “Yippee!”
That brought the rather plump mother, a redhead as well, to his table. “I need to know your name, sir? And your address in Cheyenne.”
“The name is Tom Hill, ma’am, but I don’t know what my address has to do with it. I just offered to chaperone your daughter as far as Cheyenne. What she does or where she goes after that, I can’t be held responsible.”
“Mister Hill, do you have children?” Misses Johnson asked.
“Yes ma’am, a boy. He lives with Indians. I don’t like it, but there’s not a thing I can do about it.” Luke hadn’t forgotten he also had a five-year-old daughter, the mother of which had recently died. But he had no intention of getting into that.
“Oh, my!” She covered her mouth. “Well, the fact is, my daughter is twenty-two years old, and here she hasn’t had a single proposal of marriage…”
“Mother…!” Gracie came up.
“The fact is, Hannisville doesn’t have enough young men to go around. They all run off to the big city as soon as they’re old enough for work. Now tell me, Mister Hill, do you think my Gracie will have better prospects in Cheyenne?”
Luke thought for a second. “Now, ma’am, you can find about anything you want in Cheyenne, but one thing there is a definite shortage of, and that’s pretty women.”
This brought a hungry smile to both their faces. Even a little squeal from Gracie.
“In fact I have two men in my employ who are in need at the moment. One manages my hotel, and the other is a successful builder. It would be my pleasure to make the introductions to both when we arrive, if you want. But of course these men are a little older, I grant. But they are established, if you can see the value in that?”
“Gracie would like that very much, Mister Hill,” the mother answered. “Which one’s the richest?”
“Mother…!” Gracie scolded again.
“Breakfast is on me, Mister Hill. I know – same as always – steak and eggs.” She began walking away, then turned back. “Gracie, if you’re goin’ to Cheyenne, you best go roust out your sister to wait these tables!”
Luke and Gracie purchased their tickets and boarded the nine o’clock train for Cleveland, the first leg of the trip. Then, just as the train was leaving the station, Luke got a strong feeling Breanne was nearby. Looking out of the train car, he caught sight of her standing alone far back on the platform, behind the regular farewell givers, closer up. Tears were streaming down her face. Quickly then, he slid open the window, and waved out to her. While dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief, Breanne lifted a hand meekly. She continued with that until he could no longer see her. And then a strange feeling came over Luke. A familiar hollow feeling, like he experienced many times during her long absence, returned. Questioning now whether he would he ever see her again, a frightening chill came over him. It was so powerful, the thought of jumping from the slow moving train actually crossed his mind.
“Who was that?” Gracie said from the facing seat, across from him.
“That lady is my wife,” Luke said without hesitation.
“She’s beautiful!”
“That she is. And if you really knew her as I do, you’d know her beauty ain’t just skin deep. It goes clean to the heart. There’s no ugly in that woman. As there well should be, for what she’s gone through in her lifetime.”
“Why is she here, when you live in Cheyenne?”
“Well, now, that’s a very long story, Gracie. If I was to tell it to you, it may take the entire trip.”
“Please do! I love stories of the west.”
“Well, I’m not sure where to start, but here goes. The first time I laid eyes on Breanne, it was the year 1839, in St. Louis. She had come in on a boat from New Orleans, just a snip of a thing. It was her big, sparkling blue eyes that first caught my attention…”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Arriving at the hotel in Cheyenne seven days later, Luke was greeted by Willie Wilder and Kenny Hardy. Both were anxious to see this pretty eastern girl he had wired them about in route. After the introductions, Luke instructed Willie to give Gracie a room so she could freshen up.
“Sorry, sir, we’re full up,” Willie reluctantly returned. “Have been for two days. There’s a circus in town.”
“Dammit, Willie…!”
“I’m sorry, sir. I thought she’d be staying in one of the extra rooms in your suite. The way the wire was worded it sounded like she was family or something.”
“Well, she kinda is I guess, now that I’ve told her most of my life’s story.”
With that, Gracie, who was visiting nearby with Kenny Hardy, laughed.
“Okay, then put her in my suite for now. I want to visit with Kenny for a while.” He then took Kenny by the arm and guided him toward the parlor. “I saw something at the hotel I stayed in. I see no reason why we can’t do it here. I drew some pictures, they’re in my bag. I’ll show them to you later.” Luke grabbed a bottle from the bar and poured himself a drink.
“Thanks for selling Wiggens that property, Tom,” Kenny said. “We should be underway with the project by spring.”
“You at liberty to tell me what it’s going to be, now?”
“No, but now that the property has been secured, I’ll tell you anyway. It’s going to be the capitol building, Luke.”
“Capitol building!” Luke drew back. “Now you lost me, Kenny…”
“Governor Campbell made a deal with Wiggens to build a temporary capitol building, until money is appropriated for the construction of an official one. The way it is, the territorial Congress has to meet in scattered locations all over town. That’s very inefficient.”
“And Wiggens plans to profit from this.”
“Handsomely. The deal is for rents of a hundred thousand dollars a year for the building, until the capitol is built. Then Wyoming will buy the property for whatever he has in it, to be used as a state or territorial court house… whenever that happens.”
“And you’re building it? I’m impressed, Kenny,” Luke put out a hand which was readily taken. “So, what do you think of Gracie?”
“The red hair grabbed me right off.” He fingered his own red hair and laughed. “I like her. Where did you find her?”
“Her mother runs a little eatery in Hannesville. Gracie waited tables there. She wanted to come west, and I obliged.”
“Hannisville, New York! What the hell were you doing there, Tom?”
“Ask Gracie. She knows the whole story?” Of course, Luke hadn’t told Gracie everything, but he had been truthful where it came to Breanne.
“Okay, I will!” Kenny smiled. “You think she’d let me take her to dinner?”
“I’m sure she eats. And she ought to be hungry come suppertime. Why not?” Luke laughed. “Here the evening meal is called supper, Kenny. Will you ever get used to that?”
“But she’s from New York, Tom. There, the evening me
al is dinner.”
Luke visited with Kenny until Gracie came down an hour later freshly groomed, before going up to his room, leaving the two of them to get acquainted.
The following day Luke prepared to leave Cheyenne. He had joined Titus Oxley for supper the previous evening at the Cattleman’s Club, with Titus being admitted as his special guest, and had cleared up any unfinished business with him then. Now, with a letter in hand for Breanne, he stopped by the post office to mail it and collect any mail that may be there from when Grady was in town last. To his surprise, however, a letter from Breanne had already arrived. Checking the post mark he noticed it was mailed the day prior to his leaving Hannisville. Taking it outside, he quickly opened it and began reading.
Dearest Luke,
I have something to tell you that I just couldn’t bring myself to do in person. So here I am with a sad heart on the eve of your departure confessing my sins. It is my hope after reading this you will understand why I must do what I know I must.
Luke, when I look at Harry I feel the most horrible pity and sorrow for the suffering he must daily endure. This makes me feel so helpless, because there’s not a thing, other than to pray, I can do for him. And believe me, the prayers are not working.
Even though I know the only way you and I can be together is for Harry to die, I just can’t wish for that to happen. And as far as what I said about leaving Harry if he should get better, I don’t believe, for the sake of Janie and Susie, I could bring myself to do that either.
So it is with heavy heart that I tell you Luke, there is no certainty when, or even if we will ever be together again. And in consideration of that, I feel it’s only fair that you be allowed to move on with your life if you choose to do so. You’re still young, Luke, and I don’t want to be the one standing between you and any happiness that may come your way.