She realized she was sprawled on her back and she felt grass when she moved her hand alongside her body. Birds were singing overhead, and it sounded like wind was blowing through leaves. Why was she outside laying on the ground?
Daisy slowly opened her eyes, but her eyesight seemed blurry. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, trying to keep from panicking.
Where am I? Where was she before she found herself laying on the ground?
She had been riding the Denver, South Park, and Pacific train to see the mountains. Had they stopped somewhere so she got off and laid down to take a nap?
Daisy cautiously opened her eyes again; glad the yellow aspen leaves overhead were bright and clear. She wiped her forehead and then looked at her hand, not surprised to see her fingers tinted with blood.
Had the train wrecked? She couldn’t hear it, or the voices of other passengers. Oh, dear God! Am I the lone survivor of an accident?
Daisy carefully rolled on her right side taking in the view of an aspen grove. Nothing else. Where was the train, the tracks?
She rolled back flat and took a few deep breaths before rolling on her left side. It was the same view, but Daisy could see she was at the bottom of a hill now. She felt her chest realizing there was grass and bits of debris stuck in the now torn lace of her jacket. Shoot. She must have rolled down the hill.
Well—testing the willingness of her arms and legs—she couldn’t figure out what was going on by staring at the sky. She slowly sat up, glad she was no longer dizzy.
Her heart nearly stopped, seeing several bodies scattered further up the hill. Were they all dead, or knocked out like she had been?
Keep calm. What did Pastor Reagan always say to recite during troubled times? The 23th Psalm.
“The Lord is my Shepherd—”
“And he better be here…”
Daisy gasped and twisted toward the voice. Ow! That move hurt her neck!
“What the….Deuteronomy…were you doing on that train, Daisy Clancy?!”
Fifteen feet away Angus Reagan slowly lifted his head and narrowed his eyes at her. Maybe he did that because he was trying to focus, or because he was mad. She guessed the latter since he’d used Pastor Patrick Reagan’s, his father’s, favorite swear line. His face was covered with dirt and blood, but at least he was alive and talking.
Daisy melted back onto the bed of leaves and grass. She wasn’t alone in this disaster after all. If you didn’t count that being with a mad Angus wasn’t a good place to be. But at least there was another train wreck survivor.
“Enjoying the fall scenery. You?”
“Protecting the gold and silver in the express car...until I got distracted,” Angus growled.
“Wasn’t my fault I needed to use the washroom.” Daisy sniped back.
They could go back and forth like this all day from their prone positions. It had always been this way with the two of them.
“Daisy, get over here!” Angus yelled at her after a long moment.
“Don’t yell at me, or I just might turn hysterical! We’ve been in a train wreck, everyone else seems to be dead and I don’t know where we are!”
“I’m sorry, Daisy. Calm down.”
Daisy rolled up to her knees and tentatively stood up. So far so good. She’d be sore and bruised for a while, but nothing seemed broken, except maybe her nose. Better than the men she now saw sprawled or crumpled up the hill. She leaned over thinking she was going to lose her last meal, but the feeling passed.
Now she saw why Angus wasn’t moving. He was tied up with so much rope he looked like a sausage ready for a bear’s breakfast.
“Looks like someone used a thirty foot lariat to tie you up with.” Daisy surveyed the rope tightly wound around Angus’ stiff body. Why had someone taken time to do this?
“When I find the end, I’ll hang on it and then push you down the hill to unroll you.”
“Daisy...” Angus’ ice blue eyes stared hard at her face.
She knelt down, running her hands down his legs to find the end of the rope. They grew up together, so she wasn’t embarrassed—much—by searching his body. But she was aware that his body was now broader and taller than when they’d parted ways.
She found the end and started working on the knot.
“The last I knew you were standing in the aisle as I opened the washroom door. What happened after that?”
“Somebody pushed me into the washroom and I fell against you, and you hit something hard enough to knock you out cold. As I was trying to get to the window, the train crashed into a man-made barricade and apparently that knocked me unconscious too.”
“Why do you say someone made the barricade?”
“It was intentionally set up to stop the train. Some of your fellow passengers were robbers.” He jerked his head toward the bodies up the hill. “I’m guessing that’s part of the train crew lying up there with bullet holes in their bodies.”
“Why didn’t they kill you too?”
“My guess is they didn’t want to add killing a railroad detective to their list of sins, or thought I was almost dead.”
“But they threw away a perfectly good rope!”
“Gee, thanks, Daisy. Please keep working on that knot while you argue.”
“My fingers are sore, and this rope is tight.”
“I’m sorry, but my right leg is cramping something fierce.”
“Oh dear, I hope it isn’t broken.”
Angus was gritting his teeth, either in pain or from trying to keep from saying anything else.
“There! I got it!” Daisy lifted his legs high enough to unwrap the rope, stopping when they were free. “Now I’m going to pull you upright, so I can unwrap the rest of you.”
“Ow, Ow...Oh Romans, that hurts the back of my leg!”
Daisy shook her head. After all this time away from home, Angus still swore like his father, going through the books of the Bible when he didn’t want to say the words he was really thinking.
“Hang on, I’m almost done,” Daisy tried to hurry without hurting his arms. The rope started clear up around his neck, but maybe the stiffness of the hemp kept his neck from snapping as he was thrown off the train. The roll definitely rumpled and dirtied his white shirt, vest and jacket. Angus was one who liked to look neat and clean when he dressed up for church and events.
“Now what?” Daisy hated to ask, but she was anxious to hear his answer.
“I’ll catch my breath while you roll up that rope. We may be needing it before we find our way out of here.”
Daisy hoped Angus was alright because she didn’t relish finding her own way to a nearby town for help.
She eased back down to the ground and looked around the area. “At least it’s not raining or snowing…yet.”
“So far this September has been warm in the mountains but that can quickly change.”
Angus rubbed the back of his leg, while still watching her.
“Were you traveling with someone on this train?”
“No. I was just on an outing to see the mountains.”
“Last I knew you were in Chicago.”
“I’ve been in Denver since February.”
“Really? Why?”
“Working.”
“Why didn’t I know this? I pass through Denver at least twice, almost every week!”
Daisy sighed. His parents gave her an address where to write, but she didn’t want Angus to meet her out of obligation.
“Why didn’t my folks write to tell me you were here? Did you tell them not to say anything?”
Being a railroad detective had only sharpened Angus’ always inquisitive mind.
“You’re always on the job, traveling some tracks between here and there so how was I to know where you were?”
Angus struggled to stand and Daisy stood up beside him, ready to catch him if he fell. But he’d grown in height and weight since she’d last seen him, so she really couldn’t help if he tumbled back to the ground. He arched and
twisted his back and rolled his shoulders trying to get the kinks out of his body.
“Anything broken, sprained?” Daisy asked, worried since he hadn’t taken a step yet.
“Don’t think so. I’ll live to roll down some other hill another day.”
Angus reached for Daisy’s hand. “Come on, let’s check the others, then head up the hill to find out where we’re at.”
Daisy took his hand and gave it a squeeze. How many times had they held hands in their youth? She never thought they’d hold hands again as adults, but she had always wished for it.
“Lead the way, Angus. I’m right beside you.” Angus paused searching her face, as if looking for a deeper meaning. Even after eight years apart, did he feel the connection between them too?
Daisy tried not to look as Angus turned over the bodies to check for life. Two, probably the brakeman and conductor, had been shot in the back at close range. The fireman and express agent were shot in their chests as they faced the robbers. The engineer was missing as was the train. Angus guessed the man was kept alive to move the train on after the barricade had been removed from the tracks.
Angus called to see if anyone would answer, but no one echoed back. Apparently the passengers were still on it, either as part of the robbery gang, or hostages. Maybe it was better that she and Angus had been thrown off the train, not knowing the fate of the others.
*
“I wonder which town we’re closer to. Should we walk back to Bailey or walk on to Morrison.” Angus mused while they stood on the track, looking one direction then the other.
“You know the route and times, don’t you? Will there be another train coming through here soon?”
“This train made the loop twice a week, so a search party wouldn’t be out for a day or two, depending on if and when the train shows up somewhere.
“Let’s head back to Bailey because I think it’s closer. Ready?”
Daisy looked down at what she wore now. It took them over an hour to drag the four bodies up close to the track. After they rested to get their wind back, they checked the bodies for items they could use for their survival. No weapons, unfortunately, but a tin of sulphur sticks could still save their lives along with additional clothing to ward off the night temperatures.
Angus had pulled the jackets off the conductor and express man. The two others didn’t wear one due to their jobs. She now wore one and carried the other besides wearing one of the men’s hat and work gloves.
The young brakeman, not yet out of his teen years, was lying there in his union suit as she wore his trousers under her skirt. If walking the trail became too hard in her skirt, she could take it and her petticoats off, but she’d be warmer if she could leave them on.
Daisy almost protested when Angus pulled off the men’s boots and socks, but she needed boots to hike the tracks and trails they’d be walking for who knows how many miles. Her dressy shoes wouldn’t stand the hardship, nor would her ankles. It took three pairs of socks to make the smallest pair of boots fit, but they’d work. Her feet probably stunk like the socks now, but that would be a small price to pay to save a fall.
And she would be sure to find out the names of these four men and write a thank you letter to each of their families, if she and Angus made it safely out of the mountains.
“Would you guess it’s about three o’clock?” Angus raised his eyebrows with his question.
Their watches had been stolen, which made Daisy think of her reticule, containing her jewelry besides some money. Was it still in a corner of the washroom, or had the robbers found it?
“Why?” Daisy asked in exasperation. “Why does the time matter at this point?”
“Time for coffee and pie at the Clancy Café, Daisy. We’re late.” With a nod toward the east and a half grin Angus started walking, not waiting for her to get over her reaction. But it was what Daisy needed to start the trek to a town. Thinking about the café owned by her grandparents and the town she grew up in gave her the fortitude to catch up to Angus.
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Many thanks from the Kansas prairie!
Linda K. Hubalek
Books by Linda K. Hubalek
Grooms with Honor Series
Angus’ Trust (Angus and Daisy)
Fergus’ Honor (Fergus and Iris)
Gabe’s Pledge (Gabe and Iva Mae)
Mack’s Care (Mack and Pansy)
Cullen’s Love (Cullen and Rose)
Seth’s Promise (Seth and Lily)
Adolph’s Choice (Adolph and Poppy)
Nolan’s Vow (Nolan and Holly)
Elof’s Mission (Elof and Linnea)
Jasper’s Wish (Jasper and Julip)
Tully’s Faith (Tully and Violet)
Kiowa’s Oath (Kiowa and Mary)
Brides with Grit Series
Rania Ropes a Rancher (Rania and Jacob)
Millie Marries a Marshal (Millie and Adam)
Hilda Hogties a Horseman (Hilda and Noah)
Cora Captures a Cowboy (Cora and Dagmar)
Sarah Snares a Soldier (Sarah and Marcus)
Cate Corrals a Cattleman (Cate and Isaac)
Darcie Desires a Drover (Darcie and Reuben)
Tina Tracks a Trail Boss (Tina and Leif)
Lorna Loves a Lawyer (Lorna and Lyle)
Helen Heals a Hotelier (Helen and Ethan)
Faye Favors a Foreman (Faye and Rusty)
Amy Admires an Amish Man (Amy and Eli)
~*~*~*~
Contemporary Romance Books by Linda K. Hubalek
The Clear Creek Legacy Series features descendants of the Brides with Grit and Grooms with Honor families (available and future titles)
The Saddler’s Legacy (featuring the Shepard families)
The Rancher’s Birthright (featuring the Reagan families)
The Marshal’s Gift (featuring the Wilerson families)
The Cowboy’s Heritage (featuring the Hamner families)
The Soldier’s Bequest (featuring the Brenner families)
Historical Fiction Books by Linda K. Hubalek
Trail of Thread Series
Trail of Thread
Thimble of Soil
Stitch of Courage
Butter in the Well Series
Butter in the Well
Prairie Bloomin’
Egg Gravy
Looking Back
Planting Dreams Series
Planting Dreams
Cultivating Hope
Harvesting Faith
Kansas Quilter Series
Tying the Knot
~*~*~*~
About the Author
Linda Hubalek grew up on the Kansas prairie, always wanting to be a farmer like her parents and ancestors. After earning a college degree in Agriculture, marriage took Linda away from Kansas as her husband worked on engineering jobs in several states.
Meanwhile, Linda wrote historical fiction books about pioneer women who homesteaded in Kansas between 1854 to the early 1900s, especially her own immigrant ancestors.
Linda Hubalek and her husband eventually moved bac
k home to Kansas, where they raised American buffalo (bison) for a dozen years.
Linda currently writes sweet historical western romance and an occasional contemporary western romance.
Table of Contents
Kiowa and Mary
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 1 of Angus’ Trust
Books by Linda K. Hubalek
Kiowa's Oath Page 10