by Indiana Wake
Loretta breathed a sigh of relief when they went around a bend and were lost to sight.
“Hello, and who might you be?”
Loretta whirled around to see a young man with a hayfork in his hand. He was smiling broadly with a twinkle of mischief in his eye. Before she could respond, the barn door banged shut.
“We will have to get you out of here quickly. Bart and his henchman will be back and who knows what they will do. That man is slimy as a snake and half as charming. Why they put him in charge of anything is beyond me.” Miriam put her hands on her hips and looked over at her brother. “Lot of help you were.”
He shrugged, his grin still stretching across his face. “You had them well in hand, and I had my own Hillbilly to hide. Come on out teacher, it's safe enough.”
Master Tarlton stepped out from where he had hidden in a stall. His eyes latched onto Loretta’s and bored into them.
“Judging by the tension in this room, I would guess that you two know each other,” Zachariah said with a knowing smirk on his face.
“You might say that. I followed Loretta from town to stop her from making a horrible mistake.” Tarlton scowled at her.
“If it is a mistake, it’s mine to make.” Loretta clenched her hands into fists. “Ma gave her word and I got to follow through. It wouldn’t be right to run away.”
“Right! Since when is marrying off your daughter to a complete stranger right? I told you I would marry you and take you wherever you want to go. Why won’t you listen?” Tarlton stepped toward her and grabbed her arms. “I love you and would do anything for you.”
“Then leave me alone so I can do what’s right.” Loretta’s eyes filled with tears as she stared into his face. Tarlton’s grip relaxed and he pulled her into a comforting embrace.
“I’m sorry love. I don’t mean to hurt you.”
“Well, it seems that you two know each other quite well.” Miriam smiled. “We are four intelligent people and dinner is waiting in the house. How about we talk it over while we eat, I’m sure we will come up with a solution.”
“I’m for that!” Zachariah rubbed his stomach. “All this romance and intrigue has made me quite hungry.”
They sat around the battered table as Miriam scooped up four generous servings of soup. Loretta breathed in the rich fragrance, but as hungry as she had been a short while ago, now her appetite was gone. The others could discuss her situation as much as they liked, but she knew there was only one honorable thing that she could do.
Chapter 6
“Loretta, honey, why don’t you tell us your part.” Miriam’s voice was gentle.
Loretta fixed her gaze on the vegetables floating in the rich brown broth. There were brown chunks as well, meat perhaps? Still she couldn’t bring herself to take a bite. “Well, I guess it starts a while back before Pa got killed. My folks got a letter from some relatives out west. They must have heard that our family was in pretty dire straits with so many mouths to feed and only Pa working. They said that lots of men out there were sending east for women to marry. Since we had so many girl children in the family, why not send one west to marry a man. Then maybe she could send for the others once she was wed.”
Loretta forced herself to take a sip of the soup and found it was really good. She took another. “Well, my folks agreed that sounded like a good idea, so they wrote back and asked the relative to find a husband for me. They did and the man sent me money for the train ticket and a bit extra for Ma. Now I’m going to him because Ma and Pa before he died promised. And I won’t go back on their promise.”
“What do you know about the man you are supposed to marry?” Miriam asked.
Tarlton grumbled in his soup across the table and Loretta chanced a peek at him. He was so handsome and smart, and he had been so good to her over the years. She wished she could do what he asked.
“Only that he homesteads on some land in Kansas. He is quite a few years older than me, but a good, God-fearing man who goes to church on Sunday, doesn’t drink or gamble. He sent Ma a nice letter when he sent the money. He really seems like a nice man. I’m sure we will get on well.”
“Is that what you want?” Miriam’s kind tone brought the tears to Loretta’s eyes.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. It has been promised, money has been paid, and most of it spent.”
Tarlton slapped his hands on the table and stood up to pace. Miriam glared at him.
“But if you could choose, if we could find another way that would fulfill your parent’s promise and let you do what you want …” Miriam reached over to touch Loretta’s hand.
“I guess I would marry Tarlton, or go home to Ma if he changes his mind.” Loretta glanced up through her lashes to where Tarlton had stopped pacing and grasped the back of his chair with a white knuckled grip.
“Now. Tarlton, what is your side?”
“I came to the coal town owned by the Putney Company to teach in their school. The school is mostly there for showing off to the state that the Putney’s are a progressive coal town. That they provide free education, but most of the students are forced to quit at an early age to work in the mines. The real reason I came was to convince the miners to join together in a union. To give them some power over their lives, to receive a fair and honest wage for their work. It was starting to work.” He stopped and ran a hand through his hair.
“Imagine my surprise when amongst the filth and dirt of the coal town,” he said.” “I find a beautiful, pure flower. A mind, not imprisoned in ignorance, but encouraged to learn and thrive. I bless and honor Loretta’s parents for allowing her to continue with her education far beyond her peers. But I cannot agree with their decision to marry her off without her consent. Not when I love her so much myself.”
“Did you tell them of your feelings?” Miriam asked.
“No, I thought she was so young, there was plenty of time. If I had known …”
“Well, now you know.” Miriam shoved back from the table and began collecting the empty dishes. Her pretty face was a study in solemn contemplation.
Zachariah leaned back in his chair and eyed the visitors. “It seems to me that if I were the man who was waiting for my wife, I don’t think I would want her if her heart belonged to another. I think it would always make me wonder if she hated me. That doesn’t make for a very happy home.”
“I agree.” Miriam turned from the sink. “However, we can’t decide that for him. So I think Loretta should go to him as planned.” She shushed Tarlton’s outburst before she continued. “However, I also think that Tarlton should accompany her and they should present their case before the intended groom. And let him decide.”
“But what if he wants to keep her, what if he doesn’t listen.” Tarlton was staring at Loretta, begging her not to give the other man the chance.
Loretta looked him in the eye and let her own love for him shine out. “I don’t know what will happen, but I have to follow through, for my own conscience sake, as well as that of my parents. Do you love me enough to trust me?”
Chapter 7
The next morning, as Zachariah saddled three horses to take them into town, Miriam came over to Loretta clutching an envelope in her hand.
“Before you talk to your intended husband, will you give him this?” She handed Loretta the letter. “I think that it may help, but I don’t want Zach to know about it.”
“Very well.” Loretta took the letter and shoved it into the small pack she had carried with her from home. “Thank you for all you have done for us, I hope that you will not be troubled because of our presence here.”
“If you mean Bart and his type, don’t worry, I have dealt with their kind for years.” Miriam gathered Loretta into a hug. “Take care of yourself, you already seem more like the sister I never had than a stranger I just met. And watch that man of yours. If the coal companies find out that he has been preaching union propaganda, they will go to great lengths to silence him.”
“Even though we are leavin
g?” Loretta glanced over to where Tarlton and Zachariah were tying her small bundle and a sack of provisions onto a saddle.
“Maybe especially then. The unions are gaining a foothold all over and the Putney’s aren’t going to want someone getting out of the village who can stir up trouble for the way they treat their workers. That means you too.” Miriam helped Loretta onto her horse and stepped back. “Now you folks better move out before something else happens.”
The town of Mammoth was less than an hours’ ride away, but Zachariah and Miriam had agreed that the tiny station there was watched and only had passenger cars as a special request. The station there was mostly to collect loads of coal from the nearby mines and send them on to Charleston.
Charleston was the biggest city for miles and two strangers would more easily get lost in the crowd. When they arrived, Loretta stared around her with open-mouthed awe. Buildings stood two, three, and even four stories high and the wide streets were crowded with more people and horses than she had ever seen in her life.
Everything looked clean compared to the coal-dust covered buildings, clothes, and skin surfaces that she had grown up with. The women, in particular, looked elegant in their tight fitting dresses and beflowered hats. The more Loretta looked at them, the more she grew conscious of how odd her dress looked.
Made of coarse brown cotton, it barely covered her bare ankles when standing. Sitting astride a horse, the scarce material bunched up as high as her knees. Loretta saw some of the women staring at her then covering their mouths as they giggled. She tugged at the hem of her skirt, but it refused to cover even another inch of skin.
Loretta’s face grew hot and she stared down at her horse’s mane, no longer having any desire to gaze on the wonders of her first town. Why hadn’t someone told her how strange she looked?
The train was little better, but at least there she could huddle next to the window and tuck her bare feet under the seat and out of sight. Ma had told her to wear her shoes, but Loretta had refused. They were heavy and uncomfortable on her feet and she would only wear them during the winter.
“Don’t worry about your clothes, Loretta. Once we are married, I will buy you some new ones.” Tarlton sat beside her on the train. Miriam had been concerned about the propriety of them traveling together, but there were few options. And traveling coach like they were, it wasn’t like they had any privacy whatsoever.
“That’s fine for you to say, you look almost as fine as the rest of the men. Me, I look like something that crawled out of Ma’s rag bin.” Loretta scrunched herself in the seat. “I don’t like the way they look at me.”
“You are a beautiful girl. Of course people are going to look.” Tarlton smiled and patted her hand. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
Loretta glared at him, and then turned to look out the window. The crowd on the station platform had thinned as people found seats on the train. Under the shadow created by the overhanging roof, two men stood and watched the windows of the train. If they were waiting for someone to get off, they were out of luck. All the people that had disembarked had left some time ago.
Then one of them men stepped out into the light and Loretta cringed back in her seat.
“What is it?” Tarlton looked down at her.
“The men on the platform, they are the ones who were looking for you.” She hissed and clutched his hand. “Don’t let them see you.”
The train released its brakes in a cloud of steam and the whistle sounded as the wheels started to turn. Loretta watched the station slide by her window with agonizing slowness. Hurry, hurry, hurry … the word became a chant in her head.
The two men began to run alongside the train, clearly determined to catch it and climb on. Had they seen her or Tarlton?
Chapter 8
The train station disappeared behind them and no new people entered the car. Loretta sat up and heaved a sigh of relief. There was no way they could catch the train now.
As her anxiety lessened, Loretta realized she was doing something she had always dreamed of, she was riding a train. That was something only those high in The Company could do. The rocking of the car seemed strange at first, but as she grew accustomed to the rhythm, it became soothing.
The train wound its way through the mountains, green with the coming of spring. Sometimes it followed a wide river for a few miles before another mountain rose up in its way. At one point, Loretta could see the shadow of the train floating on the surface of the river. The few passenger cars were toward the front, but stretching far behind them were cars carrying tons of coal out of West Virginia and into the rest of the world.
She was just one more dirty bit of coal coming out of the safety of the mountains and into the unknown strangeness of the world.
Would she be burned up and spit out as a used-up cinder?
The sun set beyond the mountains, but these were different than the mountains Loretta had known. These were gentler, more rolling than climbing. Fences and trees neatly bordered wide expanses of green fields dotted with horses that gleamed with health.
She pointed them out to Tarlton and they enjoyed seeking out the new sights as they rounded each corner. When darkness came, and she could no longer see beyond her reflection in the glass, Loretta closed her eyes and slept.
Four days later, the train rolled to a stop in the flat plains of Kansas. Loretta barely glanced out of the window. Her first view of the plains had her staring in wide-eyed wonder at so much open space between her and every horizon. The endless sameness of it had soon however dulled her excitement.
This land, barren of hills and forests, was to be her new home. The thought chilled her. She longed for the green silence of the forests and hills of home. But she would survive.
She stepped down from the train and nearly cried out at the heat radiating from the boards and singing the bottoms of her bare feet. She should have listened to Ma and brought her shoes, horrible as they were. She moved quickly to the shade of the station and waited for Tarlton to join her.
“Loretta?” A youngish man peered at her from under the brim of his hat.
“Yes, how do you know my name?” Loretta couldn’t think of who, in this foreign land would know her. Then she remembered why she had come. She had forgotten it in the days of travel with Tarlton. Was this the man she was to marry? He was older than she was by some years, but not the doddering ancient she had anticipated. In fact, he was rather handsome.
“Well, I didn’t know for sure, but you were the only one to get off who looked like a … that looked different.” The man’s ears turned red at the tips.
“Like a hillbilly you mean.” Loretta shrugged. She had learned to deal with it. She had figured out how to copy the hairstyles of the other women on the train, but could do nothing about her dress or lack of shoes. “There was no time or money to change my appearance.”
“I don’t mind how you look. I come from the hills myself and know what it’s like,” he glanced down at her feet. “I think we will get you some shoes before anything else. I imagine you noticed that the sun bakes everything like an oven out here. Not like the shady woods and creeks we grew up with.”
Loretta smiled at him and Tarlton walked up to join them. Loretta’s smile faded. This was going to be awkward.
“Master Tarlton, may I introduce Mr. … I’m sorry, I don’t remember your name.” Loretta’s gaze met the farmer’s.
“Sam Hewlett.” Sam reached out and gripped Tarlton’s offered hand. His eyes were wary as if he knew what was coming.
Tarlton scrutinized Sam’s face. “I have come to ask if you would renounce your claim on Loretta. I have loved her for years but was too slow to make my intentions known to her parents. She refused to run away with me, saying that respect for her mother’s wishes prevented it. So I am here to ask you to release her.”
“And I am supposed to step aside and say bless you both?” Sam’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t think so. I wanted a girl who would remind me of the shadowed coolness
of the forests when the sun bakes away any memory of wooded streams and gentle breezes. So I found one who agreed to join me out here. I do not intend to let her go just because someone asks it of me. Find your own bride.”
Chapter 9
Sam took Loretta’s arm in his and walked away, leaving Tarlton staring after them. He led her across the road to the dry goods store, fairly carrying her over the scorching dust of the main street. Once inside the store, he set her back on her feet and stepped back.
“I suppose you think I am cruel to refuse him.” Sam eyed her gravely.
“No, I told him that what he asked was not right.” Loretta tried to smile, but it trembled at the corners. “Ma says that love is largely a matter of chance and I am better off looking for a kind man who will care for me through the years.”
“That much I can promise.” Sam smiled, “Now let’s find you some shoes and a few other necessities.” He led her to a set of shelves that held a variety of shoes for both men and women. Loretta sat on a nearby stool and let him measure a pair of shoes against the sole of her foot. When they found a pair that fit, she put them on and stood up. They were far more comfortable than any pair she had ever worn.
He led her to a table holding bolts of cloth, but she hesitated. “Can you afford all this?”
“Normally, no, but I just sold a good sized harvest of winter wheat. I am not wealthy, by any means … unless you compare it to a year’s wages at the mines.” He smiled. Reassured, she asked the clerk for enough material for one dress.
As they left the store, Loretta saw Tarlton glowering at them from across the street. She pulled her eyes away. She was pledged to another and she must force herself to forget anyone else. She blinked away the tears that misted her vision.