“It’s safer for you, and I’d love to fulfill the role for the next few days. Is that all right with you?” Nolan would never push her to do something she wasn’t comfortable with, unless she was in danger.
“Thank you, Nolan. I...didn’t realize the danger I was in until the man had a hold of me.”
Holly had been sheltered in a sense, always living with someone until this trip east. She’d have to learn to be on alert, ready for whatever she faced. Part of that needed to be in how she carried herself, and she needed her self-esteem built up for that to happen.
“I’m sure if a man tries to hurt you from now on, he’ll find himself with a sore gut or clinching his knees together in pain. Right?”
Holly blushed, but put her fist against her mouth to keep from laughing. “Yes, I believe that is true.”
“Tonight I can show you a few moves to help protect yourself, if you’d like.”
“Tonight?”
“We’ll be getting off this train tonight because we need to switch routes to get down to Denver. I’m not sure if some nights we’ll be able to stay on the train or stay in a hotel.”
Holly looked distressed now. Because of the length of the trip or...? The cost of the hotels?
“To continue our disguise as husband and wife, we’ll share hotel rooms, at my expense, but you can sleep on the bed, while I’ll sleep on the floor or on a chair.”
“Are you sure?”
“I promise you’re safe with me. Am I not safe with you?” Nolan loved how she tried not to giggle after getting the meaning of his question.
“I promise you’ll be safe with me, too. Thank you, Nolan.”
“You’re more than welcome, Wife. Looks like our food is here.” They both leaned back in their chairs to let the waiter put plates of steaming bowls of soup in front of each of them. He was starving and couldn’t wait to bite into the sliced ham sandwich tucked beside the hot bowl.
But first, he held both hands across the table, waiting for Holly to clasp his. It was something his family had always done at home, and he introduced the custom to Holly and Myrtle at the café.
Nolan bowed his head and softly spoke the simple words he’d heard his grandfather say at each meal. “Dear Father, please bless this food, this family, and this world. Amen.”
He squeezed Holly’s hands before letting go to pick up his sandwich.
What would it be like to hold hands with Holly three times a day to share meals—and life—together? And to enlarge the circle of hands whenever a child might be born to their union?
He glanced at Holly as she quietly nibbled on her sandwich. What were her thoughts when he held her hands and said grace?
Chapter 9
After four days of travel with Nolan, Holly felt at ease with him. He was a truly good man, better than any she’d met. Without even counting the number of times they had held hands for their meal prayer, Nolan had given her more genuine affection, than Holly ever remembered getting from her father.
Holly wished their trip wasn’t ending soon. Instead of being his pretend wife, she’d just be Nolan’s traveling companion. He wouldn’t dare touch her in public in Clear Creek like he’d been doing on their trip.
Nolan had dozed off a half hour ago, his arm laying on the back of the bench seat, with his fingers on her shoulder. She studied his face, which had become dear to her in such a short time. Holly wondered if his mustache would tickle her lip if he kissed her. Was his scruffy beard wiry or soft? His face wasn’t perfect. There were several light freckles across the bridge of his nose, a small scar dissecting his right eyebrow and a pockmark about an inch from his left eye.
His hair wasn’t quite long enough to braid, but she tried to envision what Nolan would look like with a long black braid and skin the color of hers. But then he wouldn’t be Nolan.
Holly sighed and moved to lay her back against his chest to watch the scenery. Nolan automatically wrapped his arm around her without waking up.
The Rocky Mountains had risen and glowed in the morning sunlight when they left the Denver hotel. It had been dark by the time the train had chugged to a stop that night so she hadn’t realized what loomed above them in the dark sky.
Before noontime, the mountains had disappeared and the landscape turned to rolling prairie. The snow drifts diminished and had turned into a skiff of snow, then back to more measurable amounts as they traveled across Kansas.
Nolan was so excited to be going home. He’d talked about every memory, person, and business he could remember in Clear Creek; describing everything in such detail, that Holly guessed she could pick the people out when she met them.
Holly was dreading meeting everyone, since she didn’t look like the typical woman people would expect Nolan to bring home to meet his family.
Don’t think in those terms. I’m just his pretend wife, for my safety, not his real future bride.
But she could dream that he was actually her husband, sharing their daily lives, dreaming of their future family, sleeping in bed together.
Holly wondered if anyone would ever ask for her hand in marriage. Maybe she should travel to the Oklahoma Territory and see if she had family there. But she might not be accepted there either. She was a half-breed who had grown up in the white world, on forts, which housed soldiers who had destroyed the Indian’s way of life, and forced them off land they’d lived on forever.
“Are we home yet? What was the last town?” Nolan had awoken but hadn’t taken his arm off her shoulder. Holly wanted to answer, No we aren’t home yet, because then his arm wouldn’t hold her anymore.
“The train stopped a few minutes at Wilson, but didn’t stop at Black Wolf, although they grabbed a mail bag going by.”
“We’re getting close. The next stop is Ellsworth, then Clear Creek.”
Nolan took his arm off her shoulder and rubbed his hands on his face. “I look different than the last time I was home. I’m not sure Grandma will approve of my facial hair. What do you think?”
“I think she’ll be happy to see her grandson no matter what he looks like when he gets off the train,” Holly teased him, trying to sound lighthearted even though she didn’t feel that way.
“I sent a telegram to my grandparents when we stopped at Hays, so I expect they’ll be meeting the train.”
Holly looked sharply at Nolan, because she didn’t know what he’d done when he’d stepped off the train for a few minutes.
“Did you tell them I was with you?”
“You mean, did I tell them that I had a pretty lady along with me?”
“Well...”
“No. Sorry didn’t think of it, plus that would have been a lot of extra words to pay. They’ll know you’re pretty when they meet you in a few hours.”
Holly blushed at his words, but enjoyed every compliment Nolan gave her. And she’d miss them once they were in Clear Creek and she was on her own again.
“Next stop Ellsworth!” the conductor called walking down the aisle.
Nolan leaned closer to the window to look ahead. “We’ll soon be pulling into town but we won’t get off here, unless you want to stretch your legs for a few minutes.”
Nolan had talked about Ellsworth’s cattle drive days so she was curious.
“Yes, I’d like to walk a bit for some fresh air,” and hold onto Nolan’s elbow for one last stroll as husband and wife.
Not many people departed the train so the platform wasn’t busy. Sunshine warmed Holly’s cheeks as she stepped off the train. It was warmer here than their last stop in Hays, and a big difference compared to Denver.
“Back in the mid ‘70s during the big cattle shipping days, there would be thousands of cattle grazing on the hills around town.”
“That’s just hard to believe. I can’t imagine the noise, smell, and dust it would have created.”
Nolan pointed to the rolling hills past the town.
“If the cattle were on grassland the smell and dust wasn’t bad. But when the cattle were driv
en into town, down Main Street which runs east to west in front of the yards, the dust, manure and flies were a problem.”
“Are the railroad pens and chutes still around? I’d like to see where they loaded all those cattle.”
Nolan tucked Holly’s hand around his elbow and started walking along the railroad tracks.
“Most of the huge holding pens have been taken down, but the stockyards are still used for holding pens for cattle and horses to be shipped to other ranches, or the Kansas City Stockyards. I bet local livestock sales are sometimes held in the pens, too.
“Where did all these cattle drink their water?”
“I’ve pointed out that the train sort of follows the Smoky Hill River when going through western Kansas. Well, Ellsworth sits right north of the river. The cattle were driven down to the river to drink, or to many of the streams at the base of the hills. Natural springs in the area were a big draw to come to Ellsworth.”
“Since Father and I moved in March of ‘72, we would have left before the big herds started coming to this area instead of Abilene, right?”
“Yes. There were one hundred thousand cattle in Ellsworth County in 1872. Forty thousand were shipped east on the Kansas Pacific Railroad from summer through fall.”
“So there had to be hundreds of riders just getting off the trail, too.”
“There was a reason it was called ‘the wickedest cattle town in Kansas’, back in the town’s early days. Mix paid drovers glad to get off the trail with liquor, and there’d be brawls and gunfights with not enough law to handle it.”
“Looks like a nice calm town now,” Holly noticed the streets were quiet.
“The town was hit hard when the cattle drives stopped at Wichita and Dodge City instead of going on to Ellsworth in ‘76. It went from thousands of people stopping in town for three years, to almost no visitors.
“Businesses closed, moved elsewhere, or in some cases, burned down a few years later.”
Holly watched Nolan point to the west end of Main Street. “Down at the end of the street was the Drover’s Cottage, a three-story hotel which could hold a hundred guests, with a big corral behind it to hold everyone’s horses.”
“I imagine there were saloons where they could spend their money, too.”
“Oh, there was over a dozen and stores selling clothing and boots to replace the worn out men’s clothing, drug stores, groceries, and a bank to handle all the transactions in town...”
“I can’t say I remember ever being in Ellsworth, but then my family was living on the fort while father was out on patrol.”
The train’s whistle blasted a warning it was soon ready to leave so Nolan guided Holly back toward the depot. Holly glanced back at the Main Street, studying the storefronts to see what type of businesses there were. If she couldn’t find work in Clear Creek, maybe she’d come back to Ellsworth. It looked like a nice town now, shedding its wicked past.
“See the white steeple on the church? We’re almost there,” Nolan was on the edge of his seat trying to see everything as the train pulled into town from the west. Holly should have insisted he sit by the window this time, but then she couldn’t have seen anything because his face would have been plastered to the windowpane like a little kid at a candy store.
The town didn’t seem to have as many streets as Ellsworth, although it could be misleading. But then with no trees in town, you could see between the buildings and houses to the next street. What a stark contrast between the forested Sweetwater Springs and this town sitting in the middle of the bare winter prairie.
The church and parsonage seemed to be the west boundary of town with the school next to it. The depot was about a half block south of the business district, which she guessed was about two blocks long.
“Looks like a nice three-story building on the east end of Main Street. I assume it’s a hotel?” Holly craned her neck one way then another to see the building as they slowed in front of the depot platform.
“It’s the Paulson Hotel, run by Ethan and Helen Paulson. A good family, with eight girls. Four were Helen’s before she married Ethan, then they had another four girls.”
“Goodness! At least they can keep handing down dresses to the next girl.”
“There’s my grandparents! See them standing against the depot wall?”
Holly saw the couple where Nolan was pointing. They were older than Holly expected them to be, considering they were still running a café. The man was leaning on a cane and the woman had a firm grasp on his arm, as she needed it for support. Both of them were searching the car windows for a glimpse of their grandson.
“When’s the last time you were home, Nolan?”
Nolan paused a moment as he studied the couple. “It’s been three years,” he soberly answered. Was he seeing them as old now, instead of what he had pictured in his mind?
The woman had a black scarf tied around her head instead of a hat. Her gray cloak looked like it needed repair around the hem of the garment. The woman pointed to the train and Holly noticed she didn’t have any gloves on.
The man’s coat sagged off his shoulders, a few sizes too big for his frame, but at least he had a hat and knitted gloves on his hands.
“How old are they?” Holly asked next.
“Gramps is four years older than Grandma...so let’s see...must be, gosh, almost eighty and seventy-six now.”
“And they are still running the café?”
“I thought so, but they must have help doing the work because they don’t look physically able to.”
“They’ve spotted you, Nolan,” Holly half-turned to speak to Nolan while watching the older couple beam with happiness and wave to their grandson.
Holly swallowed the lump forming in her throat and blinked her eyes to clear the tears threatening to fall. She’d never have a family member greet her. She was an orphan with no clue if she had living relatives somewhere. Myrtle was as close to a grandmother figure as she’d ever have, but Myrtle was with her family now.
The train ground to a halt and people started to stand, gathering their belongings to depart from the car. Holly felt Nolan leave her side as he stood up to reach for the bags on the overhead shelf.
Holly continued to stare out the window, seeing people on the platform meet arriving passengers, watching their faces for emotion. Tearful embraces to cordial handshakes along with people’s breath frozen in midair. What kind of emotions would Nolan’s grandparents give her?
“Come on, Holly. Time to go,” Nolan said as he studied her face. “It will be all right, I promise.” He stood in the aisle so she could walk in front of him.
“Watch your step, Miss,” the conductor said as he took her hand to help her reach the ground.
“Thank you, sir,” Holly automatically answered, before taking a deep breath and stepping forward. It was strange to watch Nolan’s grandparents look over her to see their grandson, as if she didn’t exist. What would they think of her being with Nolan?
“Gramps! Grandma! Boy, it’s good to see you!” Holly stepped aside as Nolan hugged the older couple, embarrassed to feel jealous of the attention they were getting now instead of her. Holly took a deep breath and pasted on a smile. It would be fine after Nolan introduced her.
“Let’s make arrangements for your trunks to be delivered and head home. Your grandma needs to get out of this cold.”
Holly stayed frozen in her spot near the train as the couple turned to walk away. They had Nolan between them, hanging on to his arms for support, urging him to go into the depot.
“Wait a minute, folks.” He slowly turned them around to face Holly. “I want you to meet Miss Holly Brandt. We met in Sweetwater Springs, Montana Territory, when my train was delayed because of a snowstorm. Holly, these are my grandparents, Dan and Edna Clancy.”
Holly put on a brave smile and held out her hand. “Nice to meet you both.”
Edna just nodded, probably hating to pull her warming hands from her grandson’s coat, and Dan took her
hand, to limply shake hers.
“Nice to meet you, too, Miss Brandt. Where are you traveling to?” Dan inquired.
Holly looked at Nolan for him to answer, because she didn’t know what to say.
“Miss Brandt worked, and lived, in a café in Sweetwater Springs, until the owner retired last week and moved to Billings to be with her daughter’s family.
“I asked Miss Brandt to travel to Clear Creek with me, hoping she would work and live at Clancy’s Café now.”
Holly noticed how Nolan’s words said “Clancy’s Café” instead of “your café”.
Dan’s eyes narrowed as he looked over Holly. Was he judging her heritage as many others did? “Why?” Just one word has some many questions in it. How would Nolan handle this?
“Miss Brandt grew up in Fort Harker and her mother and sisters are buried there. Her father died a year ago and Holly is on her own now, so I suggested she move here.”
Edna eyed her this time when Nolan called her Holly instead of Miss Brandt. Was she wondering if something was going on between the two of them?
“I didn’t know who you had working at the café with you, but I figured you could use another helper besides me. And, if the apartment above the café is available, Holly could live there.”
Holly held her breath for their answer, but from both their frowns knew she’d have to find other work and a place to live. She also knew her face was turning red from their hesitation to answer Nolan.
“Cullen Reagan lives in the apartment so it’s not available,” Dan said as he looked at Nolan, not her.
“Oh. What’s he doing now? I thought he was working on the Cross C Ranch?”
“Cullen recently took over as the town’s postmaster. He didn’t want to move back into the parsonage, so he rented the apartment.”
“Well, that’s a surprise he moved back to town. He’s always preferred being with cattle instead of people.”
Silence hung between Nolan and his grandparents. Was Nolan waiting for them to offer she could stay with them? With no offer, Holly timidly asked, “Is there a boarding house in town I could stay at?”
Montana Sky: Nolan's Vow (Kindle Worlds) (Grooms with Honor Book 0) Page 10