by Lily Wilspur
“Are you all right, Miss?” the girl asked. “You look awful sad.”
“Please, Adelaide,” she told her. “Please call me Kathy. We’re family now. You can call me Kathy. Now sit down here. I want to talk to you.”
Adelaide’s eyes opened wide and she sat down next to Kathy on the edge of the bed.
“There was a gun fight outside, Adelaide,” Kathy told her. “While you were sitting here waiting for me, some bad men tried to rob the stage coach.”
“Again?” Adelaide cried. “Papa says they keep robbing it because we don’t have a sheriff yet.”
“Please let me finish,” Kathy ordered. “Your father and Uncle Luke and some other men tried to stop them. They were shooting at each other right out here in front of Mary’s house.”
“Did they get the men who did it?” Adelaide asked.
“All but one of them,” Kathy replied. “But your father was shot. Your mother was watching from the porch, and she ran to help your father and she was hit also. I’m sorry you have to hear this from me, because we don’t really know each other, but your parents are both dead. Your Uncle Luke was hit in the shoulder. He’s downstairs, waiting for the doctor to come and tend him.”
Adelaide stared at Kathy. “Mama? Papa? What are you saying, Miss?”
Kathy ignored the formality. “I’m sorry, darling. Your parents are dead.”
Adelaide didn’t seem to hear her. “But Mama and Papa were so happy about Uncle Luke getting married. They’ve been waiting for this day for months. Mama planned the whole thing out, this whole party and everything.”
Tears stung Kathy’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, darling. I can only say I wish for your sake that this had never happened. I only wish there was something I could do to make it better for you.”
Adelaide’s eyes ranged wildly around the room, looking for something. “But what’s going to happen to me?”
Kathy hadn’t thought that far in advance. Adelaide was an orphan now, and Luke was her only remaining relative. What if he died? Who would take her in?
But wasn’t she, Kathy, Luke’s lawfully wedded wife? That made her Adelaide’s other closest living relative. Her hand covered Adelaide’s.
“Don’t worry about that, darling,” she replied. “Whatever happens, you and I will stick together. I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. If anything happens to Luke, you’ll come with me. Wherever I go, you’ll come with me. Okay?”
Kathy’s generosity didn’t penetrate Adelaide’s distracted grief. She only stared around the room as wildly as ever, seeing nothing before her but the vast chasm of uncertainty where her beloved parents used to be.
Kathy stood up. “Stay here. I’m just going out for a moment to check something. I’ll be right back, and then I want you to come downstairs and help me take care of Luke. I’ll need all the help you can give me. Do you understand?”
Adelaide nodded, and Kathy ducked out of the room. Downstairs, she found the house as deserted as it was before. She passed Luke on the sofa with his eyes closed and she went out onto the porch. One of the young men who carried her trunk leaned against a post on the porch—Tommy, she thought his name was. He glanced sideways at Kathy. “You all right, ma’am?”
“Thank you for asking. I’m fine.” She pointed toward the street. “Adelaide is upstairs, and she’s coming down in a minute. I would appreciate if you and the other boys could take Max and Annabel into the church before she comes down and sees them lying there.”
The young man jumped off of his post. “Oh, absolutely, ma’am! Bernard’s right over there. We’ll take them in. No problem.” He skipped away, and Kathy went back upstairs.
Chapter 10
By the time Kathy and Adelaide came back downstairs, the bodies were gone, but the doctor still hadn’t come. Maybe this frontier outpost didn’t even have a doctor. Kathy went into the kitchen and found a couple more towels to replace the blood-soaked one inside Luke’s shirt.
But when she tried to remove the towel, she found it stuck to the wound. At least Luke wasn’t sweating and shivering anymore. Kathy sent Adelaide upstairs to find some more blankets as she checked the wound. She breathed a sigh of relief when she found the bleeding had stopped.
As she poked and prodded around Luke’s chest to check the extent of the damage, she nearly jumped out of her skin when he opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Just what do you think you’re doing, missy?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
Kathy pressed her hand to her breast. “You scared the daylights out of me, Luke.”
“That’s just my idea of a little joke,” he explained. “But you still haven’t told me what you’re doing pawing around inside my clothes.” He slid his eyes right and left. “And in a public place, too. Where are we?”
“We’re at Mary’s,” Kathy told him. “There was a gun fight. You were shot in the shoulder. Don’t you remember?”
Luke pressed his eyes closed. “I remember. And Max and Annabel? They’re….”
“They’re dead,” Kathy told him.
“Where’s Adelaide?” Luke asked.
“She’s just gone upstairs to find me some blankets for you,” Kathy replied. “I told her the news. Now I’m just trying to keep her busy to take her mind off of it.”
“Okay.” Luke sighed. “I’m sorry your wedding day was ruined. We tried to make it nice for ya.”
The unshed tears fell onto Kathy’s cheeks. “You did. You all made it the best wedding any girl could hope for. I’m so grateful to all of you for your kind attentions. It was everything I ever dreamed my wedding would be.” She burst into wrenching sobs.
Luke studied her with a frown on his face.
“And you must be distraught, too,” Kathy wailed. “Your own brother and sister-in-law! Being shot must be pleasant compared to that!”
Luke pursed his lips. “I can’t say it’s pleasant, but it is better than thinking about Max and Annabel by a long way. But I’m not worried about myself. This shoulder will heal in time. I’m only concerned about Adelaide.”
“I know!” Kathy cried. “She’s all alone now.”
“She’s not alone,” Luke declared. “She’ll come and live with me. I’m her family now.” He cocked an eyebrow at Kathy. “I know it’s not exactly what you signed up for, but it’s the way it is now. I hope you won’t feel too upset about it. I’m her uncle, and her dead father was my brother. She’ll come with me. That’s my last word on the subject.”
“I’m not upset about it at all,” Kathy cried. “I told Adelaide the same thing. I just want to give her a home that’s as loving and comfortable as the one she lost.”
Luke reached out with his good hand and Kathy took it in her own. “That’s my girl. Come here.” He pulled her down on the sofa next to him. “How are you doing with all this? You weren’t too frightened by the fight, were you?”
Kathy couldn’t hold back her tears anymore. Her face twisted up in sobs. Luke let go of her hand, put his hand behind her neck, and drew her down onto his chest. She bumped his shoulder in the process, and he grunted in pain, but he held her to him as she cried. He patted her on the back of the neck, but he didn’t try to comfort her.
She cried until she heard Adelaide’s steps on the stairs. She sat up as Adelaide entered the room. Tears glistened on Luke’s cheeks. Adelaide came over to the sofa with a pile of blankets in her hands.
Adelaide stared at Luke and Kathy together. “Uncle Luke? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, darlin’,” he told her. “I’m just having a little rest here on the sofa before we head home.”
“Home?” Adelaide shot a glance toward the door of the house.
“That’s right,” Luke replied. “I guess your papa’s wagon is still parked outside. We’ll head back to the farm.”
“But you have to wait here to see the doctor,” Kathy reminded him.
Luke groaned as he hoisted himself off the sofa. “I don’t need a doctor. I’m fine. I’ll thank yo
u just to tie this arm up and help me to the wagon, and then we’ll get out of here.”
With difficulty, he stood up and teetered across the room. In the end, he had to lean on Kathy again. Not a single person showed his face. The house stood bleak and silent all around them.
“Where is everyone?” Kathy asked.
“They’ve probably all gone home,” Luke suggested. “No one wants to disturb us after…what happened.”
“What about the lady who lives in this house?” Kathy asked. “Won’t she want to come back?”
“Mary?” Luke asked. “She’s over at the hotel. Annabel arranged for her to spend the night there. She didn’t know how long the party would go, and she didn’t want Mary put out by people hanging around. She also didn’t know how long it would take for you to get ready to go. She thought you might even want to spend the night here before you went home to the farm.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that,” Kathy remarked.
“She just wanted to make sure,” Luke replied. “That’s Annabel, always thinking of everyone but herself. She just wanted to make sure you had the choice if you wanted it. She wanted you to be as comfortable as possible with whatever you decided to do.”
Kathy didn’t want to talk about Annabel anymore, especially not in front of Adelaide, so she didn’t answer. They lurched out onto the front porch. Luke propped himself against the railing while he caught his breath. The same young man leaned against the same post on the other side of the porch.
“Say, Tom,” Luke greeted him. “Would you be kind enough to go upstairs and bring Kathy’s trunks down to the wagon? I appreciate it. Then we’ll head home.”
“Sure thing.” The young man disappeared into the house.
The wagon Max and Luke hid behind during the gun fight still stood in front of the church. Its two horses shifted from one foot to the other in their harnesses and rested their back legs. Kathy thought they must be getting tired from standing so long. But then she remembered that all the events of the day, from her first meeting with the brothers in the train station to this heart-breaking departure, only took a few hours.
Chapter 11
Tommy came out with the first trunk. He deposited it in the wagon box and went back for the second one. After delivering them, he returned to his post, but he stopped in front of the porch and peered up at them.
“Hey, Luke,” he began. “What do you want to do about….?” He stopped.
Luke nodded. “I’d appreciate it if you would go over to the church and tell the minister that we’ll be back into town tomorrow morning to bury them.”
“Oh, sure. Not a problem. I’ll get my mama and my sisters and Aunt Margie to help prepare them….and everything.” Tommy skipped off toward the church.
“Thanks, Tom,” Luke called after him.
“Now, then.” Luke took a deep breath. “Now to get myself into the wagon.” He pushed himself back from the railing and staggered down the steps.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kathy sagged under his weight.
“I sure don’t want to hang around here,” he shot back. “Do you?”
“I guess not.” Kathy gasped with the effort of supporting him, but only a few steps remained before he caught hold of the wagon wheel and held himself up on it. “Will you be able to drive?”
“As long as I don’t pass out,” he replied. “Maybe you better ride next to me up front, just in case. Can you drive?”
“I can manage all right,” she told him. “But I think maybe you better let me drive the whole way. You can lie down in the back with Adelaide. We don’t want to risk you falling out of the wagon.”
“Not on your life!” Luke exclaimed. “I’m not having my newly wedded wife drive me home from our own wedding—not if I can do it myself. That would be the ultimate indignity. As long as I’m upright, I’ll drive. If I pass out and fall over, you can toss me in the back and drive me home.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” Kathy retorted. “You’re not the one who has to hoist your senseless carcass up out of the dirt and load you into the wagon. Adelaide and I will have to do that. We might not even be able to lift you.”
Luke chuckled, but his chuckle turned to a wracking cough that bent him over in pain. “If that happens, just leave me there on the side of the road.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Kathy snapped. “You know perfectly well we wouldn’t leave you. Now come on. Get in the back and let me drive.”
Luke fixed her with a mock scowl. “No. I’m driving. Now get in the seat so I don’t have to come up with a really good reason.”
Adelaide stared at this playful simulation of a domestic argument, but the next moment, Luke and Kathy climbed into the wagon seat, leaving her no choice to get into the box. Luke held his head in his hand for a moment when he settled himself into the seat. Then he took the reins from their peg and clucked to the horses.
The journey out of town to the Ferguson farm passed in silence. For all their joking, Kathy still carried the weight of the tragedy. Breaking the silence meant reminding Luke and Adelaide of their unspeakable loss.
The farm sat on the left side of the road up a long driveway. Luke steered the wagon between fields of shimmering grain and pastures with cows and sheep grazing. Stands of enormous poplar trees lined the fields, and a large stone house stood out on the side of a slope.
“It really is lovely,” Kathy remarked.
“That’s my house,” Adelaide told her from the back of the wagon.
“It’s very nice,” Kathy replied.
“Papa built it,” Adelaide informed her.
“I helped,” Luke muttered to Kathy over his shoulder.
“It’s as pretty as a picture in a book,” Kathy replied.
“And that’s Maizy.” Adelaide pointed to a black and white Jersey cow in the field. “And that’s Daisy. And that’s Jake.” A retriever bounded down the driveway toward them.
Adelaide laughed at him and jumped out of the wagon. She and the dog leapt around each other, and before Kathy or Luke could say a word, she ran off somewhere with the dog at her heels.
Kathy opened her mouth to call her back, but Luke stopped her. “Let her go. Let her forget about it for a little while longer. She’ll be sad about it soon enough. Give her just a few more hours or days to be a child before she has to grow up.”
Adelaide disappeared, but her laughter still rang out over the farm. Like Adelaide, the farm itself seemed unaware of the catastrophe. The beauty and tranquility of the scene denied anything out of the ordinary had happened. The animals and the crops all went on with their lives, blissfully unaware that Max and Annabel weren’t coming back.
“Will she realize what’s happened when she comes to spend the night at your house?” Kathy asked.
“I hope not.” Luke replied. “She’s stayed with me before when her parents went to St. Louis to visit Annabel’s parents, and she sometimes stays at my house for no reason at all. She just likes a change of scenery, I guess. Maybe she can think of it like that for the time being.”
“Do you want her to live at your house indefinitely?” How did they wind up discussing this situation after all? Why couldn’t they leave all these words unsaid and the terrible reality of Adelaide’s future in the limbo of uncertainty?
But the conversation soothed Luke. “She can stay at my place tonight. We’ve got to go back into town in the morning to bury Max and Annabel. After that, we’ll talk about what we’re going to do with the big house. Either the three of us will move in there, or Adelaide will come to live with us for good at the cottage.”
“I hope talking about it doesn’t do her more harm than good,” Kathy remarked.
“Whether she wants to talk about it or not,” Luke maintained. “She has to bury her parents, and I have to bury my brother and his wife. That will end all this fantasy, if anything will. After that, Adelaide can talk about what she wants to do.”
“Do you have any idea what she’ll wan
t to do?” Kathy asked.
As they spoke, Adelaide ran across their field of vision, holding a stick out for her dog to chase.
“I don’t have a clue,” Luke admitted. “She may want us to move into the big house to take her parents place. She may want to carry on as though nothing has happened, with me and you in place of her parents. I wouldn’t be surprised if she did choose that way, and we ought to be prepared for that.”
Kathy gazed off at the beautiful farm stretching out around her. “I don’t know if I can take Annabel’s place. Those are some pretty big boots to fill. And Adelaide had such a close bond with her mother.”
Luke stopped the wagon in front of a barn built out of logs. The notched ends of the timbers fitted together at the corners in a neat stack. Luke transferred his reins to one hand and he took Kathy’s hand from her lap with the other. His fingers felt cold and damp in her hand. “You don’t have to take Annabel’s place. No one ever could. You’re coming here to fill your own place in my life. Nothing more.”
Kathy smiled at him. “Thank you. I needed that.”
He set the reins down. “Come on. I’ll need your help to put the wagon away, and then we’ll head down to the cottage and have some supper. It’s getting late.”
Chapter 12
Luke’s house nestled into the corner of two long rows of poplars at the corner of one of the fields. Kathy put the horses and wagon away almost single-handedly. She dug her brown work dress and a couple of aprons out of her trunks to take with her. She left the trunks in the wagon box. She could bring them down later in a wheelbarrow, or they could sit there in the barn until Luke recovered.
She and Luke strolled down the fence line, past a lily pond, and into the yard in front of the cottage. They didn’t see Adelaide anywhere. The same stone that made up the larger house on the hillside made up the walls of the cottage. A stone chimney rose from the back of the roof. Furry green moss covered the surface of the stones, and ivy trailed around the windows.