“Holly,” Nolan had pulled her against his chest and she longed to sink into his warmth, but she remained stiff, not daring to seek his support either. Nolan was leaving within the hour.
“My offer still stands, Holly. Please travel with me to Kansas. You can work in the café and live in the apartment above it.”
She rounded on him, knowing he was just feeling sorry for her.
“So how does that work? Are you kicking out who is living in that apartment now? Are you firing another waitress so I can have her job?”
“Oh...well,” Nolan hesitated, apparently realizing he couldn’t offer her either after all.
“Your grandparents still own the café, Nolan, not you. They’ll be just like the Clines, not wanting me around because I’m a half-breed.”
“Stop it right now.” Nolan had a hold of both her shoulders now and leaning so close to her face, she could feel his breath on her cheeks.
“You are a beautiful woman, Holly. Never put yourself down like that again.”
She tried to blink back the tears clouding her eyes. He thought she was beautiful? He’d said that another time, but she didn’t believe it then. Could he really mean it?
“I promise if you can’t work and live in the café, there will be something else in town you can do. It’s a growing town and my friend, Mack, wrote there were several new merchants on Main Street. There are elderly couples in town you could help, as you did Myrtle. Maybe a rancher needs a housekeeper.”
“But there’s no guarantee I can get a job there.”
“No, but I guarantee you will have a place to live, either with my grandparents or at the parsonage. There is room for you in Clear Creek, Kansas, Holly. Please come home with me.”
Please come home with me? But where is ‘home’ now?
“You’d be home where your mother’s people lived. We could visit your mother and sisters’ graves at Fort Harker. Maybe we can find your aunt and uncles.”
Holly relaxed into Nolan’s embrace as the words sank in. In her mind she could see the prairie where she had played with her older sister, feel the unique wind, which blew over the grass. She’d lived in the Montana Territory more years than Kansas, but she felt like Kansas was home.
Holly opened her eyes as Nolan let go of her and stepped away. Myrtle took his place to embrace her in a hug as she whispered, “I think you should go with Nolan. He’s a good man and true to his word. You’ll always be safe with him.”
Myrtle pulled back and wiped away Holly’s tears with her thumbs. “You know Nolan has Fred’s recipe book. That’s a good reason right there to chase after him.”
Holly couldn’t help blushing, as Myrtle lifted her shoulders in a shrug and smiled.
“Thank you for all your help this past year, Holly. I couldn’t have kept going without you, but it’s time my daughter takes care of me.”
“Thank you for taking me in when no one else would.”
“That was my gain, their loss. Please write me when you are settled in your new prairie town. I want to hear all about it.”
“And you can write to Holly in care of the Clancy Café. If she’s not there, I’ll be sure she gets your letters,” Nolan promised Myrtle.
Well, what choice did she have really? Apparently, she wasn’t welcome in Billings, but Nolan promised he’d help her in Kansas. Holly wiped her cheeks and took a deep breath.
“All right. I need to buy a train ticket to Kansas then and get back on board.”
Nolan extended his elbows to both women. “May I escort you both, one more time, to the depot?”
Chapter 8
Nolan took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves as he helped Holly back on the train. He’d promise to find Holly a place to live, work, and find her relatives. Most of the time he was a self-confident man, but this vow to Holly felt bigger, and more important, than anything he’d accomplished in his army career. It had been his duty to keep travelers safe as they crossed the Territory. Now a promise to keep one person safe was causing him to sweat in this frigid cold.
Why did it give him self-doubt? And why did the vows he’d heard Pastor Reagan say at weddings keep repeating in his mind? Probably because it had turned personal. He’s spent time with Holly, getting to know her personally rather than a person on a wagon seat you waved at as you patrolled along a wagon train.
Nolan followed Holly down the aisle until they came to an available bench. More people had boarded the train than had left it at Billings so there weren’t many seats available.
“Let’s sit here, Holly. Do you want the window or aisle seat this time?”
He tossed their bags overhead on the shelves and turned back to Holly since he hadn’t heard her answer.
“Holly?”
She shook her head rather than answer, and sat down by the window, immediately looking at the people moving around the depot platform. Nolan took off his coat and hat and laid them above their bags before sitting down beside Holly.
He traced her gaze to Myrtle who was looking toward the train car, searching the windows for a glimpse of Holly. Nolan reached over and laid his hand on her tightly clasped hands in her lap.
“She’ll be fine, and so will you. I promise.” He wasn’t surprised when Holly turned tear-filled eyes up to meet his gaze.
“Thank you, Nolan. Not just for your promise to help me in Kansas, but for helping us at the café and moving. Myrtle was getting frail and I knew she’d soon fall and break a hip or something worse. You delivered her safe to her family and took a worry off my mind. I was glad to help her but...”
“She’d only let you do so much?”
“The train delay in Sweetwater Springs was a blessing and a curse. It showed Myrtle she couldn’t handle the café cooking anymore, but...”
“It left you without a home and job. That will change once we get to Clear Creek.”
The train engine started puffing, working up its steam to leave Billings.
They silently watched out the window as the train pulled through town, then out into the open landscape of white.
After a few minutes Nolan noticed Holly had shut her eyes, but there were still wet streaks down her cheeks she hadn’t bothered wiping. Maybe she would finally get some rest, so he wouldn’t bother her for a while. The rocking of the rail car as they crossed the prairie would help her sleep.
They had several days of travel to get to know each other, if Holly would open up to him. He sensed she’d had a hard life, but knew no different way of living. Growing up on forts was different from what most children experienced. Then moving into Morgan’s Crossing, an isolated mining town, would have been an experience in itself. There would have been very few women living among the miners. Did the men bother her or protect her? Since she moved to Sweetwater Springs, he guessed the former.
What would Holly have done if Myrtle hadn’t taken her under her wing? Kept traveling on to another town he supposed, if she found a way to do it without much money. Holly mentioned someone who took mail and supplies between Morgan Crossing to Sweetwater Springs, had given her a ride for the two-day journey.
Holly might have stayed in Sweetwater Springs if the Norton’s or Carters asked her to stay with them, but she didn’t get an invitation. They probably thought she had a better chance to find a job in Billings.
Holly’s breathing had evened out so she was finally getting some sleep. Nolan wanted to wipe away the dark smudges under her eyes as well as the last of the glistening tears on her long black lashes. She looked so peaceful except for the telltale remnants of her sorrow.
Her head had slowly drifted against the cold window and she now shivered, pulled her cloak closer around her. The position didn’t look comfortable, let alone warm.
After letting her settle down again, he moved his left arm around the back of the seat and gently pulled her shoulders towards him, so that her head rested against the top of his chest. After a heartbeat or two, she snuggled into his warmth and let out a sigh in her sleep.
He had to admit it felt good to have his arm around Holly, even if the silly feather in her hat did tickle his chin until she moved her head down an inch. He’d love to see the hat off and her hair unbraided. Seeing her braid down that one day meant her hair would land below her waist.
It made Nolan think of his grandmother brushing and braiding his sister’s hair when they were young. Who took care of Holly’s hair after her mother died? Her father probably did his best, or maybe there was another woman at the fort who helped with the things little girls needed.
He and Daisy were so lucky to have grandparents who had been able step up to take care of them.
He rarely thought of it, but the Reagan boys had been lucky, too.
Angus and Seth’s mother died, but then Patrick Reagan married Kaitlyn O’Brien, an Irish immigrant mail-order bride who sailed into the port at New Orleans. She had befriended a young mother of two boys in the ship. When their mother died, Kaitlyn claimed Fergus and Mack as her sons and brought them with her when she met and married Patrick. The couple loved and protected the four boys as if they had always been theirs.
Cullen, the son of a soiled dove, came to live with them after his mother died. He was pulled into their tight family, but there had been some tough times. Nolan remembered a few fights when Cullen was bullied, or ran away. Mack was his protector and always brought him back into the family fold, even though Mack wasn’t a blood relative to anyone in the family except Fergus.
The Reagan’s son, Tully, was their only child together. The happy-go-lucky boy had five older brothers to watch his back. He was the most mischievous one of the pack, and always bordering on the edge of right and wrong, trying Marshal Wilerson’s patience more than once, in addition to their father’s.
One of the reasons Nolan wanted to move home, was to start his own family. He was ready for a partner in life, and hopefully children.
Nolan looked down at Holly comfortably sleeping against his chest. He hoped for several children to complete his marriage. Could he adopt children like the Reagan’s had? If given the opportunity, he wouldn’t hesitate. Children needed families, simple as that.
What if the children were like Holly, mixed blood or full Indian? Would that bother him?
He thought of the Indian children he’d seen in camps and the fort over the years. They were the innocent leftovers of the adults fighting. In many places, the Indian children were being sent to schools to become “white”, in other words dress like white people, learn the English language, and forget their native way of life. In some ways that was good so they would fit into the changing world, but in other ways it was sad they were losing their culture.
Other families around Clear Creek had taken children in need into their families, too. Marcus and Sarah Brenner adopted eight children when Nolan was a teenager. Sarah had tended a widow who gave birth to triplets, and then died afterwards. Besides becoming instant parents to three baby boys, they became responsible for the widow’s three other children.
Marcus, a soldier released from the army because of injuries he received in a wagon train ambush, was called back to Fort Hays right before the couple was married, to identify two children found after the raid. Marcus brought them back to the Cross C Ranch to add to their family.
Same for other families in town. His friend Gabe lived with his father, Reuben Shepard since he was a teenager rather than his mother, Mattie Ringwald in New York. When Reuben married Darcie Robbins, that added her son, Tate, and daughter, Amelia to the family. And Gabe’s mother left his sister, Mary, to live with the Shepard’s because Mrs. Ringwald wanted to be free to look for another rich husband.
Hmm. Nolan had pushed memories of Mary back in his mind when he joined the cavalry. Well, to be truthful, that was the reason he’d—just as well face it—left home. He’d had a crush on Mary since she moved to Clear Creek when she was twelve, he was thirteen, and beginning to notice girls were pretty.
They had been close, walking to school together, fishing, buggy rides, church functions. Nolan had bought her meal baskets auctioned at socials... He knew exactly when, and where he’d first kissed her.
But then a new man started working at the bank and Mary was smitten with his attention. Abram Jenkins was nine years older than Mary, dressed smartly, and probably reminded Mary of her real father’s wealth and home.
Nolan couldn’t compete with Abram and slowly faded back into Mary’s history. He left town the weekend they married and only visited Clear Creek a few times since. The last time Nolan talked to Gabe, he said his sister was living in Chicago and had two children.
Nolan glanced down, expecting to see Mary’s light brown curls. Funny how a single thought could take you back in time.
Holly moved, then went still, probably just awakening and wondering where she was.
“Holly?”
She slowly sat up, twisting her neck and back one way, then another to get the kinks out of her body after sleeping in an awkward position. Then she realized she had been sleeping against his shoulder.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Nolan, I must have drifted off...”
“And hopefully feel a little better because of it. Want to go to the dining room? I’m getting hungry,” Nolan said to smooth over Holly’s embarrassment.
“All right. I need to go to the washroom first,” Holly stood indicating she needed to get past Nolan. He stood and stepped out into the aisle to let her pass, then sat back down. He couldn’t help but think of the different lives Mary and Holly had growing up. One with privilege and wealth, the other on army forts being the subject of people’s prejudice.
“No! Let me go!”
Nolan was out of the seat and down the aisle as soon as he heard Holly’s voice. A man had twisted her arm around to her back and had pushed her up against the door of the washroom. Did he have a weapon held on her? Nolan didn’t wait to find out as he barreled into the man, hard enough for the man to hit the floor.
“Hey! Why did you do that?” the man asked sprawled on the floor.
“Why?! You were assaulting her!” Nolan roared back, ready to knock the man flat again as soon as he stood up. And why hadn’t the other men sitting closer to the door come to Holly’s assistance before it got to this point?!
“So? What’s it to you? She’s just a squaw,” the man grumbled as he started to get up on his hands and knees.
The jerk! Nolan kicked the man’s shoulder to knock him back down again.
“Nolan, stop it. I’m all right.” Holly touched his arm and Nolan pulled her behind him out of harm’s way.
“Hey, what’s the problem here?” The conductor was walking down the aisle from the car in front of theirs. Apparently, someone had gone to the next car to get help after all.
“This guy just pushed me down, then kicked me for no reason at all!”
“Because you had a woman pinned against the washroom door!”
“That wasn’t a woman, that was a...”
“My wife!” shouted Nolan, indignant that Holly had to face prejudiced people like the man on the floor.
Nolan heard Holly gasp behind him, and he realized what he’d said. Wife? Well that was the best way to protect her.
“Huh. Well women are scare in this part of the territory. I guess you take what you can find.”
“You owe her an apology!”
“Nolan, please. Let’s go to the dining room,” Holly whispered behind him.
“Okay, break it up. If either of you cause any more problems on this train, you’ll be thrown off. Understand?” The conductor pointed a finger at both of them. Nolan bit his lip to keep quiet because the conductor knew who was to blame for this brawl and it wasn’t he or Holly.
“Come on, Nolan. Please?”
Nolan walked backwards down the aisle until he was sure the man wasn’t going to do something else stupid.
“Okay, Holly, I’ll calm down.” Nolan took several deep breaths as he opened the door and ushered her across the steps to the next car.
He hadn’t bothered putting on his coat for the walk to the dining car. He was steamed enough he didn’t need it anyway.
“Um, I still need to use the washroom,” Holly whispered as they passed the one in the second car.
“Go in, and I’ll stay close by this time.” Nolan opened the door for her, then turned his back to the door, folded his arms across his chest and glared at the men sitting near them. He took a deep breath, willing his temper to calm down. He never lost his temper like that. What just happened? He’d seen a man hurting a woman, and not just any woman, which would make his temper rise, but Holly.
My wife? That thought kept bouncing off the inside of his brain, too. Why did he say that? It was more than protecting her. He hung his head, and then rubbed his hand over his face thinking about it. Well, he had to admit he was attracted to her.
What would Holly think if she knew his feelings? Probably think he was feeling sorry for her. Nolan turned around when Holly opened the washroom door. Right now, it didn’t matter what his feelings were, he’d protect Holly until she was safe in Clear Creek, even if that meant calling her his wife for now. It wasn’t a lie that would hurt anyone, only protect, which he had promised to do in the military anyway.
“Shall we see what they are serving for lunch today, Mrs. Clancy?” Nolan grandly gestured for her to walk in front of him down the aisle. “After you, my dear.”
After a second, she matched his grin. “Thank you, dear husband.” Holly took a deep breath and held her head high while walking down the aisle in front of him. Just a few kind words of support had helped Holly tremendously. Why didn’t more people do that instead of cut people down?
Nolan was glad the waiter had led them to a table at the end of the car, because they needed to talk in private. He waited for the waiter to take their order before saying what was on his mind.
“Holly, while we’re traveling, please let me pretend to be your husband instead of just a friend going to the same place.” He kept his voice low as he leaned across the table with his hand extended. After a moment’s hesitation, she clamped his hand to complete the look of a couple.
Montana Sky: Nolan's Vow (Kindle Worlds) (Grooms with Honor Book 0) Page 9