The Texan and the Lady

by Jodi Thomas

  “She must have had a pretty bad life back east,” Audrey continued. “Look at her clothes, they’re little more than rags. But she didn’t have to answer that ad to get away. I’ve heard stories about what a hard time some of these mail-order brides have. They come all this way to be little more than slaves to a man too ugly to find a decent wife.”

  Delta patted Audrey’s hand. “Maybe the widower isn’t as bad as we think. He did offer to let her stay one month before the wedding. One of the letters says he’ll buy her a ticket to anywhere she wants if she decides not to marry him. Now, that doesn’t sound like someone who just wants a slave.”

  Audrey blew her nose again and nodded. “Too bad someone doesn’t make you that offer. We could get you so far away from here with a free train ticket your stepbrother would never find you.”

  Jennie moved to the window, tapping the letters against her palm. She stared out the pane, too deep in thought to see anything. The woman had died, forfeiting a chance for freedom Delta would have done anything to have. If Delta’s stepbrother hadn’t been on the train last night, he’d be on one soon. Then Delta might be the one sleeping forever. “I know exactly what we’re going to do,” she whispered first to herself, then to the others. “Do the letters say the widower has ever met Mary Elizabeth, or exchanged pictures?”

  “No,” Audrey said. “In fact he said he was sorry that she didn’t have a picture to send him, but it didn’t really matter to him what she looked like. That didn’t seem to be a factor in making the offer of marriage.”

  Jennie smiled at Delta. “Then you can take the widower up on his offer.”

  “But I can’t take her ticket.” Delta shook her head. “I can’t act like I’m going to marry some old man then change my mind just for a free ticket. He’ll know I’m not her. All we have is his letters. We don’t know what she wrote to him.”

  Audrey straightened, pushing all grief aside as easily as an old maid folds her wedding dress up with her dreams. “Mary Elizabeth isn’t going to use the ticket, and the widower can afford it or he wouldn’t have offered. Look at it as a business deal. You’ll give him a month’s worth of work for his money.”

  Jennie joined in. “After a few days on his farm, you’ll be good as new. And you can say you’re memory is a little foggy after the wreck. After all, you did get hit in the head.”

  “I did?”

  Audrey agreed. “Yes, you did.”

  “But …” Delta’s light blue eyes filled with doubt.

  “No buts about it,” Audrey answered. “Jennie’s got a great idea. You’re almost the same height, near as I can tell, and you’re both blond-haired. The widower’s never seen her, so you could be her.”

  “But …” Delta shook her head. “What if she wasn’t blue-eyed?”

  “We could look at her eyes,” Jennie answered in a room stagnant with sudden silence.

  “Not me,” Delta whispered.

  “Not me,” Audrey echoed.

  Jennie moved to the edge of the bed but couldn’t seem to make her hand touch the stranger’s face. She’d seen dead folks before … but she couldn’t bring herself to disturb the poor girl. Finally she turned to Delta. “We’ll let her sleep,” Jennie whispered, “and pray she had blue eyes.”

  “But what if she didn’t and she wrote it in one of her letters? I can’t very well claim the train wreck changed my eye color.”

  Audrey placed her hand on Delta’s shoulder. “Then you’ll do what all women do when confronted with such a problem. You’ll shrug your shoulders, smile sweetly and say, ‘I lied.’ Then look at him like it’s his problem, and most men somehow think it is.”

  “But what about the body?” Delta whispered as if the dead girl might overhear them.

  They all three looked at one another, then Jennie whispered, “It’s really sad, but Delta Smith took a fever and died tonight.”

  “What!” Audrey’s eyebrows rose almost to her hairline.

  Jennie’s expression didn’t change. “We thought she was getting better, but she must have been bleeding inside from injuries suffered during the train robbery.”

  Audrey looked doubtful. “From a week ago?”

  Jennie’s mask never altered. “From a week ago.”

  Delta closed her eyes and raised her face to the ceiling. When she opened them, cold steel blue looked at first Jennie, then Audrey. “Delta Smith died tonight, poor girl. You’ll hold her belongings should her family come looking, won’t you?”

  “Of course.” Jennie nodded.

  “And the deed.” Delta looked straight at Jennie. “The deed will never be found.”

  “Never,” Jennie agreed. “In fact I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  Chapter 12

  Though the rain stopped a little after dawn, the day never brightened beyond dreary. Audrey went down to tell Mrs. Gray the sad news about the death of Delta Smith. The old woman had only seen Delta a few times, so there was a good chance that Jennie’s plan would work.

  While Audrey told her tale, Jennie helped Delta into Mary Elizabeth’s faded clothes and wrapped a bandage around her forehead and neck. Thanks to Jennie’s hat and the bandages, most of Delta’s face was covered. Even someone who’d known the girl all her life would have to look twice to recognize her now.

  “All you have to do is stay out of sight until the widower comes.” Jennie examined her work. “Some of the men were saying it may be two days before they get the wreck cleaned up enough for another train to arrive. If your stepbrother is on it, you’ll be long gone.”

  “Or long buried,” Delta added. She was busy handling each of Mary Elizabeth’s belongings, trying to become familiar enough with the few personal objects the woman had so that she could think of them as her own. “I know what we’re doing is the only way out; and if poor Mary could tell us, she’d probably say ‘go ahead,’ but I’m not sure I can use all her personals. Somehow taking her name and future doesn’t seem as bad as using her brush and comb.”

  “You have to,” Jennie answered as she stuffed Delta’s own personal items into a small trunk. “If your stepbrother comes looking for you and sees the grave, but your things are not all here, he’ll know something is wrong.”

  “I feel like I’ll have nothing of me to hang on to when I leave this room.” Delta closed her fingers around air. “Could I at least take my Paterson pistol? It was my mother’s. I feel somehow less afraid with it in my pocket.”

  “No, I don’t think it would be for the best.” Jennie could understand, but she had to think logically. “The deed will be missing. That’s enough. If anything else is, your stepbrother, Ward, might get suspicious.”

  “You’re right,” Delta admitted, shoving the last of Mary Elizabeth’s belongings back into what was now her bag. “He might even decide to make it hard for you and Audrey, thinking you stole something from the trunk.”

  Audrey opened the door, as always lugging a tray of coffee. She set down the tray, blended True a cup of half coffee, half milk, then turned to the women to tell her news. “Everyone in town’s been in this morning to dry out. Some want to help, but most just want to visit about the wreck. They’ve found a few bodies, but according to the conductor’s count, there’s still three men missing.”

  “Missing?” Jennie tried not to let Delta see how worried she felt.

  Audrey nodded. “They may be dead, or wandered off toward town last night in the rain. Who knows, the conductor could have miscounted. Trying to count folks in this place is like counting flies buzzing a watermelon.”

  Jennie couldn’t help but smile. “So what else is going on downstairs?”

  “Since no trains will be arriving until they get the tracks clear, Mrs. Gray says the coffee’s free to the locals,” Audrey said. “I don’t think one of those three men could be your stepbrother, but we need to get you out as soon as possible just in case.”

  “Agreed,” Jennie added.

  Audrey poured herself a serving and continued, “While I was
telling her about poor Delta’s death, we spotted the undertaker downing his third cup. He said unless the rain starts up again, the funeral can be held this afternoon.” Glancing at the dead girl, Audrey added, “She looks so different.”

  Jennie straightened with pride. “I put her in Delta’s new uniform. After all, if we’re burying a Harvey Girl, she should look like one.” Tending the injured might be hard for her, but dressing the dead was something every preacher’s daughter became accustomed to.

  “It’s fitting she should be buried in new clothes. Poor thing didn’t have a stitch in her bag that wasn’t worn bare.” Audrey studied the body and nodded. “No one will see anything but the uniform.”

  “That’s what I hoped.” Jennie moved out from in front of Delta. “How do you think Mary Elizabeth looks?”

  Audrey smiled. “Mighty good. What I can see of her.”

  “Exactly,” Jennie answered.

  “Do you think anyone will remember her from the train wreck?”

  Jennie shook her head. “Besides us, I doubt anyone took a second look at her last night, except maybe Marshal McCormick. All we’ve got to do is keep Delta out of sight until the widower comes. She can spend a month resting on his farm, then she’s free.”

  True downed the cup of half coffee and half milk. “I know a place she can hide till it’s time to go. Henry and me found it the other night.”

  All three women looked at the child as True explained. “When this hotel was built, they must have added on at different times because there’s a gap between the center wing and the left of the hotel. It’s like one long hallway to nowhere.”

  “Big enough for Delta—I mean, Mary Elizabeth?” Jennie knelt to True’s level. The child rarely spoke, and when True did, the stories were a mixture of half lies that only a child would believe. True was like a little mouse, moving soundlessly around the hotel, disappearing for long periods, then reappearing at mealtimes. In the week they’d been here, the huge building had become a playground for True. Thanks to the number of people, even if True were seen in the hallways, everyone assumed he was one of the local boys used as runners.

  True’s deep blue eyes lit up with pleasure. “Plenty of room for even Audrey to stand up in, and it runs from the back of the hotel to the front. I don’t know where the front opens up or if it does, but the back passage is behind the water storage for this floor.”

  “Well, let’s go.” Delta carefully nestled her arm into a sling. “I need to get out of here before the undertaker comes for my body.”

  True slipped a hand into Delta’s. “I’ll show you, Miss Mary Elizabeth.” The child’s eyes danced with delight at the game the three women were playing.

  Delta glanced at Jennie. “What will you do if anyone comes looking for Mary Elizabeth?”

  Jennie dusted her apron, as if showing little interest in the question. “She’s downstairs having breakfast with the rest of the train wreck victims, I would guess. Wasn’t hurt near as bad as everyone thought. Most of that blood must have been someone else’s splattered on her.”

  “That’s a possibility,” Audrey agreed. “Head wounds do tend to bleed a great deal, though. You might try looking for Mary Elizabeth downstairs in the crowd. Like my Granny Gates used to say, ‘There’s enough poor souls down there to encourage a tent preacher to lengthen his invocation.”’

  Delta smiled down at True. “Let’s go. When I walk out that door, I’m Mary Elizabeth O’Brian.”

  An hour later the undertaker and Sheriff Morris toted a coffin up to Jennie and Audrey’s room. Jennie stood alone in the hallway and listened as they nailed the box shut. She closed her eyes and thought of all the dull, endless days she’d lived at home. There had been nights back then in which, if she lay very still in bed, she’d have sworn she heard the nails of her own coffin being hammered. But no longer; now she felt alive.

  “Jennie!” Audrey yelled.

  Jennie moved to the railing at the top of the stairs.

  “Mrs. Gray said we could have the rest of the day off.” Audrey hurried up the steps with two shawls over her arm.

  She wrapped one around her head, and Jennie wrapped the other around hers. When Morris and the undertaker carried the coffin out, the girls followed a few feet behind crying softly. Jennie was thankful for the cold wind as they moved outside. She could pull the shawl close around her face. She wasn’t sure she could look the old sheriff in the eyes after the way he’d seen her dressed before dawn. Also, if he were as observant as Austin claimed, he might see the lack of grief in her face.

  The funeral was simple. With no regular minister in town, Sheriff Morris read a few words over the body and said a prayer. Jennie and Audrey watched the casket being lowered into the shallow grave, feeling relieved that the first part of their plan had worked.

  Jennie lifted a handful of wet dirt and dropped it atop the wood. The earth would hide their secret, forever keeping Delta safe.

  An hour later, in the dining room, they were not so sure the second part of the plan would work. Jennie and Audrey had just finished having a late lunch when they both turned to stone at the sound of a low voice talking with Mrs. Gray in the lobby.

  “I’m Colton Barkley, and I’m here to pick up a Mary Elizabeth O’Brian. I believe she was on the train last night, but no one seems to know where she is now.”

  Before Jennie could stand for a look at the widower, Marshal McCormick stepped between her and the man. “She was injured,” Jennie heard the marshal say. “But I’m sure she received fine nursing.”

  Audrey reached across the table and touched Jennie’s arm. “Now, settle down. If we’re going to get through this, we’ve got to go slow and easy, like we’re too upset about our poor Delta to be worried about some stranger named Mary Elizabeth.”

  Jennie agreed and slowly lifted her fork, forcing herself to continue eating. Her gaze never left her plate until she heard Austin’s voice behind her.

  “Pardon me, ladies.” His hand lightly touched Jennie’s back. The touch went unnoticed to everyone except her. She could feel the warmth of his hand through the layers of fabric. His slight touch reminded her of what had been between them and offered a promise of what would be.

  “I understand it’s been a hard day for you both. I would have liked to come to the burial, but couldn’t.” He removed his hat and crushed the brim in one large hand. “I know Miss Delta was a friend.”

  Audrey sniffed. “Thank you for your kindness, Marshal, but it was God’s will Delta passed on, and ours is not the place to question.”

  Jennie almost caught herself saying, Don’t question, please don’t question.

  The man beside the marshal moved impatiently. “Marshal.” His voice was winter hard and low with anger.

  Austin raised his hat as if just remembering the man shadowing him. “Yes, Mr. Barkley. I’m aware you’re in a hurry to make sure your fiancée is all right, but these are the women who took care of her.”

  Jennie looked up into the blackest eyes she’d ever seen. Colton Barkley had obviously been a week or more away from a razor and, judging from the amount of dust on him, at least three days on the trail. But the dirt and stubble hadn’t watered down his hawklike stare, which looked as if it had been brewing more than one lifetime in a batter of mistrust and hate.

  There was a hard handsomeness about him Jennie found more frightening than appealing. His lean body hinted of a strength beneath his muddy clothes. Colton Barkley was a thunderstorm in the flesh. His hair was charcoal, his skin weathered hard and his stance alarmingly rigid. But most surprising about this man who seemed to rattle the china with his unvoiced anger was the fact that he was young. He might be a widower, but he was not out of his twenties. It seemed unbelievable that someone could grow so cold and bitter in so few years. Jennie couldn’t help but wonder if he’d frightened his first wife to death.

  Standing, she tried to keep her hand from trembling as she offered it. “I’m Jennie Munday and this is Audrey Gates. We’ve enjoy
ed meeting your intended, Mary Elizabeth.”

  He took her hand only briefly enough to be considered polite. “She’s not badly hurt?” His gaze narrowed.

  “Oh, no.” Audrey stood. “Give her a few weeks and she’ll be good as new. But she’s been through a terrible shock, Mr. Barkley. I’m sure you’ll be wanting to postpone the wedding for a while.”

  Colton didn’t alter his stormy expression as he looked at her. “Could one of you tell her I’m here, or point her out to me? I need to be on my way if I’m to reach my land by sundown.”

  Both women reacted like schoolchildren at the sound of a bell. They darted for the stairs without saying another word. Neither wanted to stay in Mr. Barkley’s presence a moment longer than necessary.

  Halfway up, Jennie pulled Audrey to a stop. “Are we making a mistake? That man’s stare could scare small children out of a year’s growth.”

  Audrey shook her head. “He does have a powerful amount of anger in him. He looks like he just walked out of hell on a rainy day. But we’ve made our bed.”

  “Or Delta’s,” Jennie added.

  “What else can we do now,” Audrey started on up the stairs, “tell Delta there’s a good-looking young man waiting downstairs but she can’t go because he looks angry?”

  “But we can’t let Delta go with him,” Jennie whispered as she fell into step with Audrey. “He’s not the type of man I thought he’d be at all from his letters.” In fact, he wasn’t like any man she’d ever met. “He’ll frighten poor Delta. When I looked into those black eyes, I almost jumped out of my skin.”

  “What are we going to do? Tell everyone she died, too? Make me look awful poor at nursing if all my charges die. Plus, where are we going to produce a body if he wants to take her home and bury her? Somebody’s bound to notice if we run down to the cemetery and dig up poor Mary Elizabeth.”

  Jennie suddenly realized what an insane plan this had been from the start. She’d thought the widower would be old. All he’d talked about in his letters was his land and living alone. “We just can’t allow Delta to go with the man.”