Most Unsuitable Wife

by Clemmons, Caroline

  She rose and made her way to the privy at the end of the car. Afterward, she splashed a bit of water on her face to chase the drowsiness. The speed of the train increased with the downward slope of the track and she balanced herself against the sway.

  When she stepped into the narrow hallway outside the toilet, a scratchy bag dropped over her head and some sort of closure drew tight against her throat. Cloth muffled her screech of surprise. Someone with long arms and the strength of an ox imprisoned her flailing arms. She struggled only to feel herself dragged to the vestibule at the end of the car.

  Rushing wind tugged at her skirts. Dear Lord, would she be thrown from the train? She kicked furiously but her only reward was a grunt of pain from her assailant.

  From close to her ear she recognized a familiar voice, "You won’t get away this time, pig girl."

  Jug? Jug Eggers? How could it be? After a lifetime of his taunts, she would know that voice anywhere. Why was he here? And why would he do this to her? Pearl used all her strength to fight him. The wind rushed at her. She felt herself pushed, propelled toward the flow of air. She must stop him and save herself. But how?

  With a sudden spurt of strength, she twisted and shoved. She heard a scream. Her arms dropped free and she hurtled through space. Desperately, she flailed for any grip, anything to stop her fall from the train.

  * * *

  Drake gave Midnight a pat as he spoke to his brother in law. "Things look great. If you need any help or get tired of this, come get me. I’ll come back anyway in an hour or so. Then you can take a turn watching the sights."

  He left the horse car and walked through the two passenger cars separating the boxcar from the coach in which the rest of his new family rode. As he stepped across the last of the connecting vestibules, movement startled him.

  The tip of a foot on the bottom step of the open rail surprised him more. Damn. He recognized that foot.

  He leaned over the railing and peered around the side. Even with a rough sack over her head, he also recognized his wife. She hung precariously from the outside of the train, both hands gripping the thin metal rail functioning as handhold for passengers entering the train. The tip of one foot balanced on the bottom step. Her other leg dangled, flung helplessly awry by the force of air pouring off the fast moving train.

  Bracing himself against the metal railing, he grabbed her and shouted. "Pearl! I’ve got you."

  He pulled at her arm but her hands still clung to the metal lifeline. He ripped the sack from her head with one hand. With all his strength, he hauled her toward him. They crashed to the hard floor of the open vestibule, Pearl cushioned by his body. His arms remained around her. He moved his hands over her back, comforting her, checking her, reassuring them both of her safety.

  She sobbed into his chest, "I couldn’t hold on much longer. I thought sure I was going to fall.”

  "It’s all right, honey. You’re all right now.” He sat up and pulled her onto his lap, rocking her as a mother does a babe. "Can you tell me what happened?"

  Pearl recounted all she knew of her attacker. "The bag muffled my hearing, but I'm sure I recognized the voice. It sounded like Jug Eggers. But why would he be here?"

  "Wasn't he one of those men you shot at the first day I saw you in Pipers Hollow?"

  She nodded and clung to him. "Yes. The two Ainsworths are just no account hangers on. Jug is the mean one.” She raised her head to meet his gaze. "Oh, I think he must have fallen off the train."

  He pulled her head back to his chest. "You could have been killed.”

  His hand grasped the jute bag he had flung from her head. "This answers one question, the identity of one of the men who followed you in the woods.” He fished her new hat from the bag.

  "I thought then they wanted only to scare me. Maybe they intended to kill me then. Today he said ‘this time’ I wouldn’t get away.” She took the hat and straightened the cloth flowers.

  "Are you carrying the derringer I gave you?” He brushed some dusty smudges from her face.

  She nodded and raised her skirt to show him the garter holster. "It's right here. But I didn't have a chance to use it. And I dropped my new gloves and reticule."“

  He had laughed when she showed him the holster the first time. He wondered where she found it. Probably from Belle. A woman in Belle's line of work would know about such things. He had kept thoughts of his wife's make-believe cousin to himself.

  Drake kissed the top of her head, then slid her from him so they could stand. "We'll look for them on our way.”

  Reluctant to let her go, he slipped his arms around her for a quick embrace.

  As she slid from his embrace, she cried, "Oh, there they are.”

  Her gloves and reticule lay just outside the door to the washroom. He scooped them up and returned them to his bride. His hand found hers and they moved into the coach. She'd experienced a terrible ordeal. Wouldn't hurt her to have a little pampering for a change. Hell, even his heart still pounded.

  Pearl sat and leaned her head back against the seat with a sigh. Sarah and Belle turned in their seat and their eyes widened at the sight Pearl made. She held her hat and her hairdo tumbled undone across her shoulders. He brushed gently at another spot of dust on her face.

  Sarah asked, "What’s wrong? Your jacket is torn and you look white as a ghost."

  Drake massaged Pearl's hands. "Almost a ghost. Someone tried to push her off the train."

  Both women cried, "No!”

  Sarah asked, "Who would do such a thing?"

  Tears swam in Pearl's eyes. She straightened in the seat and took a deep breath before she answered. "I think it was Jug. Jug Eggers. At least, it sounded like him."

  The commotion had roused Lex. "You didn’t see him?"

  Drake held up the sack used to hood Pearl’s head. Sarah and Belle gasped again, but Lex took it from his cousin’s hand.

  "Held oats for horses."

  Drake nodded his agreement. "Yeah. The kind you find everywhere.” Drake reclaimed it and tucked it into his jacket pocket. "We think the person who tried to push Pearl fell off the train himself.” He stopped massaging Pearl’s hands and worked up her arms to her shoulders.

  Lex stepped to the aisle. "I’ll find the conductor and let him know. If the fall didn’t kill the man, he’ll need doctoring. At least until he gets to trial."

  A horrified conductor assured Pearl things like this did not happen on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad especially not on his run. Muttering to himself and shaking his head, he bustled off to alert his coworkers. Lex left to let Storm know about the attack and warn him to stay on alert for trouble.

  "Why would anyone want me dead?” She looked shaken and bewildered, like a lost child.

  Drake gently urged her head to his shoulder.

  Pearl said, "I thought we would be safe once we left Pipers Hollow. Then there was the rock slide, now this.” She snuffled into her hankie. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I never should have involved you and Lex. Truly, I thought we would be fine once we left Pipers Hollow. Now trouble's followed us. I'm so sorry."

  "Pearl, it's not your fault. You've done nothing to merit this treatment.” Damn, here she was apologizing to him when he failed his responsibility to keep his wife and family safe.

  "There must be something I've done, but I just can't think what.”

  Sarah patted Pearl’s shoulder reassuringly. "It’s over now, Sister. I doubt Jug will be in any shape to cause us more trouble."

  Belle added, "Whether he died or was only injured, at least Jug's fall will stop the attacks.”

  Pearl shook her head as she met his gaze. "There were two men that night in the woods, two men at the rock slide."

  "Damn, how did Jug manage it?" Drake questioned. "He must have been watching from the next car this whole trip. The nerve of the bas--man, coming after you in broad daylight. Sorry I didn’t do a better job protecting you."

  "You can’t be everywhere. I know you and Lex have been on guard the whole trip
."

  He nodded, pleased that for once she forgot to be so damned independent. "And we’ll keep watching, for all the good it did you today."

  Drake sat beside his wife, trying to reassure her. Yet the day's events staggered him. He accepted full blame for the incident that almost ended in her death. The bottom fell out of his stomach with the memory.

  Thank God he walked by when he did. In only minutes she surely would have fallen. The thought of anyone plunging down the mountainside made him physically ill. But for it to almost have been her left him spitless. He leaned forward and rested his head in his hands, elbows braced against his knees.

  A week ago he didn’t know her. For all that he bedded her, he barely knew her now. Bound to her by more than marriage vows, the passion they shared the night before burned in his memory.

  Within the span of a few days, his life had forever changed in so many ways. He saved his ranch. Found a wife. Gained a large family. The possibility even existed that he started his own child in this woman beside him.

  But he did not know her, the way she felt and thought. Hell, he'd misjudged her and her entire situation from the very beginning. Remembering the way he had talked to Lex about her when they first met made him feel small. Damn. He had a lot to learn about being a family man.

  He leaned back and took her fingers back in his, stroking them with his thumb. She smiled and cradled his hand with hers.

  Trying to soothe her and probe at the same time, he said, "Pearl, there's got to be answers to this. Think back. Could this be from a grudge that started long ago?"

  "I've told you about the only people who have grudges against me, and they wouldn't have done this. This started when Granny died. I don't see how her dying caused it, but it did."

  "Maybe. Or it could be coincidence. Maybe the opportunity wasn't there before. Did anything else change about then?"

  "Don't you think I've tried to remember?” She twisted her hands from his and wrung them in frustration. "Mean as Jug was, he wasn't bright enough to try something like this on his own."

  Belle snorted. "That's the truth. The man was mean as a snake, but hadn't the brains of a flea. He definitely took orders from someone else.”

  Pearl chewed her bottom lip and tears filled her eyes again. "But why would anyone want to kill me? I've never hurt anyone."

  Sarah kneeled on her seat and leaned over the back to pat Pearl's arm. "Of course you've never hurt anyone. You're a healer. You've helped most of the people you know."

  "And many who were strangers," Belle added.

  "Maybe it's someone you went to school with. An old grudge?” He knew he grasped at straws with that idea.

  Pearl and her sister exchanged sorrowful looks before Pearl answered. "I didn't go to school, except for a few months. The kids made fun of me, chased me and called me names. I refused to go back."

  What a sad life she had led. He compared it to his own. Damn. "But you seem so intelligent and well-read."

  She lowered her eyes modestly, a first for her. "Thank you. Evan's wife taught me. She had lots of books from when she was at school in Bowling Green.” She raised her gaze to meet his. "You know, in Kentucky? Anyway, she taught me more than I could have learned at the little Pipers Hollow school."

  Another piece of the Pearl puzzle clicked into place. "Did she teach Sarah and Storm also?"

  She shook her head. "Mrs. Cummins died when they were small. She had given me a lot of books, though. I taught Sarah and Storm. They're both very bright," she added like a proud mother hen.

  He had another idea. "Belle, could this have anything with you coming to stay with Pearl?"

  Belle looked as if he had slapped her. He saw panic in her eyes so great it bordered on terror. Before she could answer, Pearl leapt to her defense.

  "It has nothing to do with her," Pearl snapped. She inhaled and continued, "Belle only came to stay with us a few days before you showed up. This started earlier. It's directed at me. Or, maybe at me and my brother and sister."

  Grasping at straws, he remembered an earlier encounter. "You know that first time I saw you in Pipers Hollow with your cart? Jug called you 'pig girl.' Could this have anything to do with that? What that was about?"

  Drake watched Pearl blush red as a chili pepper.

  "That--it's nothing. Nothing that's important now. Just what children used to call me years ago. It couldn't have anything to do with this.”

  Drake would have asked more, but Lex came back to the coach.

  "Storm barred the door behind me. He won't let anyone in but us or the conductor.” He laughed. "At that I think the conductor will have to do some fast talking to convince that boy to open the door."

  Drake sat lost in thought. He had wanted her to be unworthy of his attention or devotion, someone easy to ignore. Then, when he left her at his grandfather's, no guilt would plague him. This marriage was not working out as he'd planned.

  No one overlooked the woman beside him. Lex's accusation back in Piper Hollow haunted him. True, he first regarded Pearl as no more than a brood mare. Damn. What an ass he'd been.

  She had her own fears and dreams. Did she include him in her dreams? Hell, no. She only wanted to escape whatever demons pursued her and get her family to safety. She accepted him as the means to that end.

  And what did he want? His dream of the greatest ranch in Texas flashed into his mind. That dream sustained him through tough times, through times so hard many of his neighbors gave up and moved on. He clung to his goal, but this marriage business presented a new set of problems. He tread foreign ground here. New rules, new problems, new people. Realization hammered at him. This woman also had dreams, feelings, needs. So did each of the three people in her family. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

  Dear God, what had he done?

  Sarah's question broke through his reverie. "Could I go talk to Storm?"

  Lex stood. "Sure thing. I'll go with you. Need to help you between the cars and make certain there're no more masked men waiting.”

  When he returned, he took Sarah's seat beside Belle. Their conversation was too quiet to overhear. Drake thought Lex asked for trouble there. He exhaled with irritation at himself. What right had he to criticize his cousin when he'd made such a mess for himself?

  Pearl watched the landscape change as the miles clicked away. If not for the threat that hung over them, the trip would be a wonderful experience. She struggled to sleep in her seat. Lex took turns with Drake so that one of them stayed on watch throughout the night. It was too hot for comfort with windows closed, to dirty and breezy with them opened. After the threat to Pearl, no one rested comfortably. By morning, their group presented a bedraggled and weary-eyed sight.

  When the train slowed, Drake turned to her. "I'll go get the kids. We're changing trains here. From Memphis we'll be on one of the new Pullman Palace cars."

  After a hurried breakfast in the station restaurant they boarded their car, the Fort Willmington. Pearl gasped in surprise when she stepped into the car. Polished walnut with ornate inlays covered every wall and ceiling. Elegant brass lamps hung from the ceiling ready to light the evening.

  "Palace car is a good name. It's as fancy as the hotel in Chattanooga. Maybe fancier."

  "We were in luck," Drake spoke as he guided Pearl to an alcove of two pairs of facing seats upholstered in luxurious plush. "This is a new car. Seventy feet long and the latest of everything."

  Lex helped Belle with her small bag. "We'll have a little more privacy from here on. And they'll bring us our meals here. Unless you'd prefer going forward to the dining car?"

  "Law, no. Who'd want to leave this?"

  Lex sketched a brief bow. "Drake will leave you ladies for a bit while I stand watch. We want Storm to see the ferry crossing of the Mississippi."

  Pearl settled into her seat, pleased at the consideration Drake showed her and her family. They left Memphis and crossed the great river a few cars at a time on a large, low ferry. Sarah and Storm were no m
ore excited than she and Belle. Lex rejoined them, saying he'd act guard from his seat.

  Sarah asked Lex, "How can this boat support the train for such a long way without sinking?"

  Pearl wondered the same thing as she saw the water lapping far too close for comfort.

  "Don't worry," Lex assured Sarah and flashed a smile to the other women. "It's a little bumpy landing and joining the engine, but we're safe enough."

  Maybe so, but Pearl thought she held her breath all the way across. Her stomach lurched as they navigated the long stretch of water far wider than any other river they had crossed. Large paddle wheel boats, small crafts, and barges sailed up and down while the large ferry glided across. Reading about rivers certainly fell short of seeing one.

  The trip left her more idle time than ever in her life. She felt lost without her baking, her healing, the animals, and her garden. She tried to sew, but the movement of the train left her with pricked fingers and unsatisfactory seams. After mending her traveling suit jacket, she gave up and put away her sewing box.

  She missed having her house and her things about her. At least she had some of her favorites packed to ease her way in her new home. How she hoped Tom found happiness and peace in the cabin she left and Roxie left for a happier place.

  As if in answer to her own thoughts, Sarah sat beside her. "I wonder if Mama left Pipers Hollow yet."

  Pearl took her sister's hand. "By now she's probably in St. Louis. I'll bet she has new clothes and a nice place to live.”

  She hated the white lie, but sought to ease Sarah's mind. "You know, that man Cal wants Rochelle as his partner in a prosperous saloon. Life will be much easier for her now.” Lie or no, it brightened her sister's face.

  "He came with her one day, Cal did. He seemed nice, not oily like some men who work in saloons. Mama said she'd write to me in Kincaid Springs as soon as she's settled."

  "She'll have a better life.” Pearl hoped she spoke the truth this time.

  The rest of the trip passed without incident, but tension plagued them. Drake insisted neither Pearl nor Sarah ever be alone during the day. He escorted Storm to and from the horse car. Lex stuck like glue to Belle. Either Drake or Lex was in the coach at all times.