“Yes,” Eliza said, thrusting her lower lip out.
Delilah sighed. “But you don’t even know her,” she pointed out. “You’ve never met her. And she’s hundreds of miles away, in a different state. A different part of the territory.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Eliza said stubbornly.
Delilah went silent. She’d pushed the matter as far as she dare. Any further and she’d get her friend genuinely angry.
Finally Eliza spoke as they neared the end of Main Street.
“I know I’m being foolish,” she said. “Silly, even.”
“Perhaps,” Delilah agreed. “Please know that I understand how you feel. But it doesn’t seem reasonable to hold onto it so.”
Eliza sighed. She walked faster, thinking this might help, even though she knew full well it wouldn’t.
Delilah pushed herself harder to keep up. She certainly knew what it was like to be moody, but now she realized that she hadn’t cornered the market on this trait at all.
“So,” she asked. “What are you going to do about courting?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s like I said. I have no experience in this sort of thing at all.”
Delilah nodded. “But you must have some idea of what you want?” she asked.
“I do!” Eliza replied enthusiastically, and for the first time she looked close to happy. “I want it to be what it was like when we first met.”
Her friend smiled. Delilah remembered the account Eliza had given her about the time they spent in the church, and she thought fondly of the way her friend’s face had positively lit up.
“In the church, you mean,” she said, just to make sure.
“Yes!” Eliza sighed. “It was magical. And I want that again.”
“Hmm.” Delilah tilted her head. “Magical. Every single time you’re together. That’s a lot to ask.”
Eliza snorted. “That’s not what I mean and you know it,” she said.
“You’re right,” Delilah replied. “I was just making a point.”
They kept walking, and finally Eliza sighed. “I just want to get back to where we were,” she said, trying to keep the frustration from her voice. “Do you know what I mean?”
“I do,” Delilah said, and suddenly they were in sight of the hotel due to the quicker pace. “What do you think he’ll come up with?”
“I have no idea,” Eliza said tersely, and Delilah heard the tension in her voice.
Something else is going on here, she said to herself. Delilah couldn’t think of a tactful way to get to it, so she decided to just wait. Eliza was a lot like she was; she needed to come to a boil sometimes before she would reveal exactly what was bothering her.
“Why not?” she asked. “Benjamin seemed completely taken with you when you first met.”
“He was.” Eliza’s voice tightened up even further, and for a moment Delilah thought her friend was going to cry. “But he seems to have been affected by the fight as well.”
“Ah.” Delilah took a deep breath. She wanted to say more, and to find the right thing to say. But Delilah also knew that those words probably didn’t exist.
Finally Eliza sobbed, and when she looked over at her friend she had tears in her eyes. She wiped them away, hating the fact that they were even there as she did.
“Tell me what to do,” she nearly wailed, and finally they stopped in front of the hotel.
Delilah couldn’t do that, but she knew what she could do. She extended her arms toward her friend, and Eliza fell into her hug.
The two exchanged a warm embrace, and it lasted for more than a few seconds. It helped brace them against the cold winter that was just starting, warming both their thoughts and their hearts in Eliza’s time of trouble.
“I think you should just wait,” Delilah said. “Even though I know sometimes that’s the hardest thing in the world to do.”
She took a step back, and Delilah kept her hands on Eliza’s shoulders. Then she held her friend’s eyes with her own, until she was sure Eliza was looking right at her.
“Love has found you finally, I’m sure of that,” she said with absolute certainty. “You just have to be patient to be sure what form it will take. Think of it as a Christmas wish of sorts.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
Randall looked over at Benjamin as he pounded another stake into the ground. It was nearly frozen, but if they hurried he knew they’d be able to add the back porch to the hotel, which would make Blossom Holloway a very happy lady indeed.
“Start over there,” Randall said wryly, pointing at a hole in the ground about ten feet away. “I’ve marked them all out.”
Benjamin rolled his eyes, and for a moment he was tempted to throw his hammer at Randall in exasperation.
“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” he said.
Randall nodded. “Course not,” he said. “But it was too good an opportunity to pass up.”
“I’m serious!” Benjamin said, shaking his head in exasperation. “I really have no idea about this.”
“I know you are,” Randall replied. “But you really are barking up the wrong tree here. You do know that, right?”
“I do? What do you mean?” Benjamin asked.
Randall gave him an eye roll of his own. “Do you know my story?” he asked. “I mean, as far as how Delilah and I got together?”
Benjamin shrugged. “Sorta. I know the part about how she was found out on the prairie in the blizzard,” he said.
“Yup.” Randall nodded. “And you know she was promised to another man before that, right?”
“She was?” The younger man frowned, trying to remember what he’d been told. “I think I might have sorta known that.”
Randall shook his head in exasperation.
“Well let me fill you in on the details, then,” he said. “I took Delilah west in my stage . . . that’s how I got to know her. She didn’t have the slightest interest in me whatsoever. All she could talk about was the man she was promised to.”
Benjamin blinked. “I didn’t know that,” he said. “So what happened?”
“She had a bad experience,” Randall continued. “He was a no-show—left her in the lurch. Somehow I found her again, and that was when she decided I was the one for her.”
“She decided?” Benjamin asked, more than a little incredulous. “How did that work?”
Randall shook his head, and he chuckled. “Danged if I know,” he said. “That’s just how Delilah is.”
Benjamin nodded. He’d actually heard similar things from a couple of other people, although it was definitely interesting hearing it from the horse’s mouth.
Then Randall spoke again. “Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that I know nothing about courting, or approaching a girl, or anything like that,” he said. “And I mean nothing.”
“Geez,” Benjamin said. “And here I thought you were gonna be able to help me.”
Randall grinned. “Not a chance in the world,” he said. “Before that I was driving a stage. More lonely hours out on the prairie than I can possibly count or care to remember.”
Then he saw a shadow around the corner. “But I think I know just the man who might be able to help you,” he said, nodding toward the shadow. “And here he is.”
Suddenly Seth Campbell emerged from around the corner, and he smiled at suddenly being put in the spotlight, so to speak.
“What the devil are the two of you jabbering about,” he said.
“Women,” Randall said, rolling his eyes.
“Uh oh,” Seth said. “Now there’s a subject I tend to try to avoid like the plague.”
“Oh, come on,” Benjamin wailed, trying to send as pathetic as he could while suppressing a grin. “You guys are supposed to be trying to help me here.”
“Help you with what?” Seth asked.
“Eliza, most likely,” Randall said, pounding the sake further into the ground. “This poor boy’s in love. Beyond hope. A lost cause for
sure.”
Seth laughed in spite of himself, and he looked over at Benjamin. “That’s sad,” he said. “So what seems to be the problem, yungun’?”
Benjamin sighed. “I have to figure out what to do here,” he explained. “To make things right again.”
“Make things right?” Seth asked. “That don’t sound good at all. What exactly are you talking about?”
“Well . . . we kinda had a fight of sorts.”
“Uh oh.” Randall said, shaking his head. “This is where I bow out of the conversation for good.”
“Oh, just stop it,” Seth said, scolding him. “Let’s at least find out why the boy here’s in such hot water.”
Benjamin shook his head. “I think I mighta made a big mistake,” he said.
“What do you mean?” Seth asked.
The younger man sighed. “I mentioned a girl,” he said. “Someone I knew back in Oklahoma.”
Seth just stared at him, incredulous. “Now why on earth would you go and do something as stupid as that?”
Benjamin laughed slightly in spite of himself. “Because I could, apparently,” he replied. “Maybe the dumbest thing I ever did.”
“I’ll say,” Randall chimed in. “Makes me glad I spent so much time alone before I met the right one.”
“Knock it off!” Seth said, and then he turned back to Benjamin. “That actually was pretty stupid, son. But seein’ as how you’re in the early stages here, it’s likely fixable.”
“Really?” Benjamin said his eyes widening. “What should I do?”
“Not sure yet,” Seth replied, and then he looked over at Randall, who looked just as uncertain. “How about if we just work for a bit and make an agreement to talk about it in a little while?”
Randall nodded. It didn’t exactly sound like a plan, but he did want to help.
He remembered the helpless feeling he’d had when he was younger, when gals wouldn’t even spit in his direction when he showed an interest.
It was an awful feeling, and it was part of the reason he’d ended up as a stagecoach driver. Randall figured if he was gonna be alone for the rest of his life, he might as well make a decent living and see the beauty of the land out west.
They continued hammering away, occasionally stopping to measure and fit. There was little conversation between them, and all three men preferred it that way, generally speaking.
But Randall could tell that Benjamin was frustrated. He was making more mistakes than usual today, and occasionally paying for it. The boy had banged up his thumb a few times, to the point where he nearly needed a bandage.
Benjamin didn’t complain, though. He was a hard worker, despite some of the stories that were floating around about him now that he’d been in Last Chance for a little while.
Finally, the time came for the three men to take a break. Somehow they all knew when this should happen, for they’d developed a rhythm as soon as they’d started working together.
It had been that way between Seth and Randall, too, and it surprised both of them how easy it was to integrate Benjamin into what they were doing.
Seth fetched the coffee that Blossom had made for them inside the hotel, and after he brought it out they enjoyed it in silence, relishing the fresh cream that came with the milking cows some of the ranchers were adding to their beef herds.
Benjamin followed the lead of the two slightly older men, and he looked from one to the other as he drank.
He really wasn’t much of a coffee drinker, but he enjoyed the stuff whenever he was doing outdoor work, and he was grateful for Blossom’s kindness in providing it.
But he was growing impatient; Randall could see that. He was developing a fondness for Benjamin, and he could almost tell when the boy—whom he knew was well along in the process of becoming a man—was about to speak.
“So,” Benjamin finally said. “Anybody got any ideas for me?”
Randall held back from shaking his head, feeling sorry for the boy. But when Benjamin looked at him like he was a pup begging for a bone, and finally Randall just shrugged.
“I sure don’t,” he said, and then he looked over at Seth. “How about you?”
Seth cocked his head, and he blew a stream of air across his coffee mug, hoping to cool it enough to be able to take a larger sip.
“Maybe,” he said simply, and Benjamin’s expression brightened.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
Seth looked over at Randall, knowing he needed to verify the idea that was forming in his mind.
“Lotta Christmas preparations going on these days, right?” he asked, addressing Randall directly.
“For sure,” Randall replied. “Just starting up, but I’m seeing signs everywhere.”
Seth nodded. “You know, it’s been a while since I’ve been in Last Chance, but Blossom mentioned something to me that might fit the bill,” he said.
Benjamin shook his head in frustration. Here I am asking them to help me out with Eliza, and all they can talk about is getting ready for Christmas, he said to himself.
“What’s that?” Randall asked, knowing it sometimes took Seth a bit of time to get to the point about things he had on his mind.
“That Christmas tree thing,” he said. “You know, the one where the whole town goes out and picks one out?”
Randall smiled broadly. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Delilah said something about it to me, too. She mentioned that it was new to her, but I think she wants to go.”
Seth chuckled. “Well, I got no choice in that regard,” he said. “Blossom said that one was mandatory, and I wasn’t gettin’ out of it. No way, no how.”
Then Seth turned to Benjamin. “How about you, son?” he asked, annoying Benjamin slightly by using “son” instead of his given name. “You heard anything about that one?”
“Not a peep,” Benjamin said, staring down at the ground as the wind kicked up a bit. Suddenly his coffee tasted bitter, and he grimaced. “I ain’t spoken to Eliza in days, remember?”
Seth just nodded, and he took another sip of coffee.
“Well, this might be a way to remedy that,” he suggested. “Don’tcha think?”
Benjamin frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked, for he truly had no idea what Seth was talking about.
“All right then,” Seth said. “I’ll spell it out for ya.”
Randall watched the exchange with some amusement. He’d spent enough time around Seth to have an idea of where he was going with all this, but he felt for Benjamin when he saw how confused he was.
“Tell her you want to do this with her,” Seth suggested. “As part of a group, with the rest of the town. Just to kind of soften her up, if you catch my drift. See if you can get her to agree to that, just to break the ice between the two of you.”
“All right,” Benjamin said, playing with the idea in his mind. “I can see how that might help.”
“It will,” Seth replied, nodding. “Just trust me. I got you on this one.”
Benjamin nodded, and he waited to hear the rest of it. He was getting an idea where Seth might be going with all this, but he wanted to hear it spoken aloud.
Seth walked over to Benjamin, and then he explained his plan. Randall just nodded as he did, and when it was done he had to admit he was surprised at how clever it was.
He knew Seth had had a drinking problem before he married Blossom, but Randall had little idea of what his life might have been like before that.
As Seth laid it all out, though, Randall realized that he must have had some experience with the ladies. More than just some, in fact—he seemed to know a lot about what he was doing.
The idea he’d come up with indicated that he knew how women thought about things, and suddenly Randall was optimistic about Benjamin’s chances for success with Eliza.
But an idea was just an idea. Randall knew that as well, and he wondered idly about Benjamin’s ability to execute it.
He knew little about Benjamin other than the fact that he
was confident and a hard worker, and Randall had made a decision early on to ignore the stories about the young man that were floating around.
“I like that a lot,” Benjamin said after Seth had laid out his plan. “It seems simple enough.”
“That’s the beauty of it,” Seth said. “And it’ll come straight from the heart. Generally speaking, it’ll be hard to fail if you come at it from that direction.”
“He wants me to go on an expedition.”
Delilah blinked. “A what?”
“An expedition,” Eliza replied, shaking her head at the thought of it. “Something about getting a Christmas tree.”
“Oh!” Delilah laughed at her friend’s derisive way of putting it. “I know all about that, actually.”
Eliza frowned, and she looked at Delilah curiously. “You do?” she asked.
“Oh yes,” she said. “Randall happened to mention it to me one day. So I asked Blossom about it, and she told me all about it.”
“Really?” Eliza shook her head at the wonder of it. When Benjamin had first mentioned it to her, she’d thought it might be some kind of joke. “What did she say about it?”
Delilah shrugged. “Just that everyone does it, and just about everyone looks forward to it, too,” she said. “Apparently it’s another one of those Last Chance traditions that just sprang up out of nowhere, and now everyone loves it.”
“Huh.” Eliza round, still skeptical. “So how does it work, exactly?”
“The entire town gathers, apparently, outside town hall,” Delilah explained. “And then everyone walks together to a specially designated place, a stretch of forest where the best trees can be found, I guess.
“And then they pick one, cut it down, and move it to the town square,” she concluded. “And that becomes the town Christmas tree for the year.”
“Oh.” Eliza blinked. “Well, that’s not how Benjamin explained it at all.”
“What does that mean?” Delilah asked.
She laughed. “He made it sound like a trek into the wilderness,” Eliza said, shaking her head. “Needless to say, I was kind of skeptical, and less than impressed as well.”
Delilah shared in her laughter for a moment. “Well, he’s new here,” she said. “So I think maybe you have to take that into account.”
The Mail Order Brides of Last Chance Page 12