by Chloe Carley
“Good morning, ma’am,” Thomas replied, taking off his hat and nodding his head to her. “Did you just get off the train?”
Of course she just got off the train, you dufus, he admonished himself, feeling his cheeks blush.
She really was very pretty but she looked entirely lost, as though a town like Lakestone was not her usual environment.
“That’s right. Four days out of Massachusetts, crammed in like cattle. Sammy and I are quite exhausted,” she replied.
“Sammy?” Thomas asked, looking around him for her companion, for she appeared quite alone there by the platform.
“Oh, this is Sammy,” the woman said, picking up a basket at her feet and turning it around.
Inside was a cat, who meowed loudly at the sight of Thomas.
“Oh, howdy there, Sammy,” Thomas replied, “and, oh, I’m sorry—my name is Thomas, Thomas Redmond. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss…?” he replied, holding out his hand, his face blushing even further.
“Aline, Aline Hale, Mrs. Aline Hale,” she replied, putting down her bags and shaking Thomas by the hand.
And her husband has let her come all the way out to Montana from Massachusetts alone, Thomas thought, but said nothing.
She was well dressed and had a look about her such that she appeared wealthy, though somewhat down on her luck.
“A pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Hale. Are you… are you traveling alone?” Thomas asked.
The woman nodded. “Yes, I’m a widow, my husband passed away a short while ago. I have come here because of an inheritance,” she replied.
“I’m sorry to hear that, ma’am. To be a widow at such a young age is a tragedy,” Thomas replied, his heart going out to the young lady, who seemed entirely out of place all alone at the station at Lakestone, Montana.
“It’s quite all right, Mr. Redmond, I’m better off without him. My husband was a cruel man and I’ve come here because he spent every penny of my money in the east. I’ve come to start a new life,” she said, and smiled at him.
Thomas smiled back at her. She really was very pretty and had an innocence to her that he found endearing. She was looking with interest at the town, and though he knew there was a thousand and one tasks he needed to accomplish, he knew too that it was his duty, as sheriff, to help her.
“I’d be happy to help you, Mrs. Hale,” Thomas replied, offering to take her bags.
“Well, that’s very kind of you Mr. Re… oh, I’m sorry, I just noticed your badge. Sheriff Redmond, you’re awfully young to be a sheriff of a town like this,” she said, smiling at him. “And you may call me Aline, I’d rather not be reminded of my married past.”
“I came here five years ago; the place was much smaller back then. Just one deputy and the sheriff. But we’re on the Oregon trail here, there’s folks passing through all the time, and with the railroad, we’ve grown and grown. I was made sheriff three years ago after… well, after some unpleasantness,” Thomas said, choosing to avoid a description of old Sheriff Harvey’s grisly demise at the hands of Native Americans.
He’d taken up Aline’s bags now and they were crossing the street together towards the sheriff’s office, where John Hoskins was watching from the veranda.
“Did you get a dressing down from Mayor Gould?” the deputy asked and Thomas shot him a warning glance.
“We’ve got a visitor here, John. Aline’s just arrived off the Pacific train, she’s had a long journey and needs to get to… where did you say you need to get to?” Thomas said, turning to Aline, who had laid down Sammy’s basket and was looking around her inquisitively.
“Lampeter Ranch,” Aline replied.
“Lampeter? Oh, I know it,” John Hoskins replied. “It’s out beyond the canyon, about a mile from town. I can take you, if you like?”
“No…” Thomas said, his tone sounding harsher than he’d meant it to, “no, I mean, I’ll take the lady. You go home and get some rest, John. You’ve done your work for the day.”
The deputy smiled at Thomas and shook his head.
“No trouble, Sheriff. I’ll see you tomorrow,” the deputy replied, ambling off down the street and laughing to himself.
“Would you care to sit down?” Thomas suggested, pointing to an old wooden bench against the wall. “I’ll need to go borrow a trap from Jim Conway, over at the farrier’s. He owes me a favor.”
“I don’t want to trouble you, Sheriff. You’ve already been ever so kind in pointing me in the right direction,” Aline said. Her voice was breathy, and she spoke with the air of someone who had a certain class about her.
“It’s no trouble, it would be a welcome distraction,” he replied, nodding to her before hurrying over to the farrier’s shop and calling out for the blacksmith.
***
Sammy was purring in his basket, the warmth of the sun suiting him very well. The weather in Massachusetts could be ever so cold, and he seemed extremely happy to have moved to warmer climes.
Well, what a nice man, Aline thought to herself, watching as the sheriff made his way across the farrier’s shop.
Her first impressions of Lakestone were favorable, though it was a world away from her former life in the east. She looked up the street toward the church which stood at the end, its little bell glinting in the sunlight. There was a saloon, a grocer’s shop, and a boarding house, and she watched as a little posse of children made their way towards the schoolhouse, which lay off in the distance.
“Do you think you’ll be happy here, Sammy?” she said, tickling the cat’s chin through his basket.
He purred and she smiled, for Aline would be happy so long as her beloved Sammy was, too. But the journey from Massachusetts had been long and she was tired, eager to get to the ranch her father had had the foresight to purchase all those years ago.
Thank goodness he did, or we’d have nothing. I wonder what it’ll be like, she wondered as the sheriff came hurrying back across the dusty road from the farrier’s workshop.
“The trap’ll be here in a moment,” Thomas said, taking up Aline’s bags for her.
“Are you sure it’s not too much trouble, Sheriff? I don’t want to be a burden to you. You must have more important things to do than ferrying a stranger out across the prairie,” Aline said, as the sound of a horse could be heard clip-clopping toward them.
“It’s no trouble,” he replied, smiling at her.
He was a handsome man and Aline couldn’t help but find him attractive. He a pleasant disposition about him, and she was still amazed that someone so young should have risen to the rank of sheriff, even in a small town like this.
He must be good at his job, or perhaps he was involved in some brave deed, she thought to herself as he placed her bags carefully into the trap.
“And Sammy?” he said, holding out his hand to take the cat’s basket.
“He can ride up with us, if that’s all right. He’s all I’ve got in the world and I like to have him with me. Besides, he likes to look out at the view. He loved the train ride,” Aline said and the sheriff nodded and smiled.
“May I stroke him?” he asked. Aline nodded.
As far as she was concerned, anyone who liked Sammy was a friend to her. She watched as the sheriff put his finger through the basket and began to tickle the cat’s ears. Sammy let out a long purr of satisfaction and arched his back, lolling onto his side and letting out a contented meow.
“I think he likes you, Sheriff,” she replied, and Thomas smiled.
“I’ve always liked animals. When I was a child, we had a dog called Tobias. He was a big brute of a thing, but as soft as cotton. He was my friend all the way through the… well, we’d best get going, I can’t stand around talking all day, as much as I’d like to,” the sheriff replied.
He helped Aline up onto the trap, passing Sammy’s basket up to her and clambering in beside her.
“It’s awfully kind of you,” Aline repeated, curious to know a little more about the sheriff.
“Not at all. Like
I said, it’s nice to have something else to think about than… well, the business of the town,” he said, and his words trailed off as the horse and trap rode out off down the dusty street.
“The country sure is nice here,” Aline remarked, taking in the view across the prairie.
“It gets cold in winter—when the snow comes, this town can be cut off for weeks,” he replied, but she shook her head and laughed.
“I’m used to snow, Sheriff. Back home… back in Massachusetts, I mean, the drifts can be as high as a house and twice as wide,” she said.
He smiled and nodded as they rode toward Lampeter Ranch. The road was long and straight, carved through the prairie which on one side had been turned into fields. Aline knew little of her inheritance, for Mr. Priestly had been unable to further her with any particulars. All he knew was that the ranch at Lakestone was left to her, and with precious little else to her name, it was Lakestone which would now become her home.
“May I ask what you intend to do with the ranch?” the sheriff asked and Aline blushed a little.
“Why… I intend to farm it, Sheriff. I don’t know much about such things, but I’m a quick learner and I’m sure there’s plenty of folks around here’ll give me some pointers,” she replied.
“You know about crops? Rotations? Livestock? The right seeds to use?” he asked and she shook her head.
“I don’t know anything about all that, but like I said, I’m a fast learner and I’m not afraid of hard work. My father bought this ranch with the hope of farming here and I want that dream to become a reality. It’s his legacy,” she replied.
“I admire your determination, Mrs. Hale. There are not many women in your situation who’d be brave enough to come out west like this and make a new start. Life out here isn’t easy, and you’ve set yourself quite a challenge,” the sheriff said.
“I’ve not had an easy life, Sheriff. This is a new start for me and I’m very pleased to be here,” Aline said, smiling at the sheriff, who nodded.
“Well, take a look ahead. That there is Lampeter Ranch, and I must say that your father chose well,” the sheriff said, bringing the horse and trap to a halt and pointing down the hill.
Aline looked on in delight at the ranch house below. It was built of wooden slats, painted blue and white, and it stood out against the golden prairie grass like a ship out at sea in full sail. Around it lay several barns and outbuildings and fences for fields, just ripe for the sowing of crops. There was a creek nearby, and a stream flowing through scrubby bushes and on towards Lakestone. But beyond, there lay an endless prairie, stretching as far as the eye could see—so that Aline, too, felt as though she were at sea, sailing off into the sunset beyond.
“Why… it looks just perfect, Sheriff. I think Sammy and I will be very happy here,” Aline said, as the sheriff clicked on the horses and Aline rode towards her new life.
Chapter Five
Thomas found himself most taken by Aline. There was a certain something to her, a fiery independence and a self-determination that attracted him. She was no retiring violet, for any woman who was prepared to move from the east with only her cat for company was certainly braver than most. To reside at a ranch she’d never before seen, in a strange town like Lakestone, deserved his respect. It seemed that Aline Hale was quite unlike other women he knew.
Most women in the town were the daughters of ranchers or tradesmen, the eligible ones at least. The others were their wives, women who had long passed their youthful attractiveness. He’d had his dalliances, just like any man on the frontier, but no woman had ever truly captured his heart.
Steady, now, he reminded himself, she is far too independent to need a man running after her.
The horse and trap were now making their way down the track toward Lampeter Ranch, and Aline was talking animatedly about her plans for the future.
“I may not be well-versed in matters of agriculture, but I received a first-class education thanks to my father’s forward-thinking attitudes. He used to say, ‘A woman should be as educated as a man, for we are all created equal in the sight of God.’ Don’t you agree with that, Sheriff?” she asked, and Thomas nodded.
“There’s still a way to go before it’s a reality, though,” he replied, and this time, she nodded her head.
“But small steps, Sheriff. Small steps. I was a fool, though—I let myself be married to a man who didn’t share my values, and he walked all over me. Well, no more,” she said determinedly.
Thomas found it hard to believe that anyone had ever walked all over Aline. She seemed so animated, so excited to be there in Lakestone and forging a new life for herself, and Thomas wondered just how that life would take shape.
“I’m sure you’ll make a go of things here, Mrs. Hale. If anyone can succeed, then it sounds like you will by sheer determination,” he replied.
“And a little help from my friends, of whom I count you as the first. Tell me, Sheriff, what are the other ranchers roundabouts like? Do I have good neighbors?” she asked.
“You do, but right now there’s some disquiet amongst them owing to the…” he began, before checking himself.
Darn it, she doesn’t need to know that, he scolded himself.
“Owing to what? Crop failure? No rain? Stampedes?” she asked, and he shook his head.
“It’s nothing to worry about, Mrs. Hale, but… over the past few weeks we’ve had some trouble in these parts,” he began.
“Trouble? What sort of trouble?” she wondered, and Thomas sensed something of a fear come over her.
“Some cattle rustling, outlaws and bandits on the trail. Last night, the foreman out at Lakestone Creek Ranch was shot. It’s a nasty business, but we’ll find who did it, I assure you. You’ll be quite safe here—for a start, you’ve no cattle to rustle and I doubt they’d be interested in rounding up Sammy, here,” Thomas said, trying his best to lighten the situation.
“I see. It’s not all the romantic frontier and the endless prairie,” she said, it seemed as much to herself as to him.
“But I’m here to protect you and to protect all the good folks of this town,” Thomas said. “In fact, this very morning I had a meeting with the mayor, Ralph Gould. I assured him that I’d find those responsible and bring them to justice. He gave me quite a hard time of it.”
“Then it’s a good thing that I’ve made the acquaintance of the sheriff so soon,” she replied, smiling at him, and he nodded.
“Don’t you worry, Mrs. Hale. I’ll see to it that Lampeter Ranch is protected and that you and Sammy are safe,” Thomas replied.
Aline was clutching the cat’s basket and Thomas scolded himself once more for having scared her. They were nearing the ranch now, the little house and outbuildings no longer looking like children’s toys as they’d done from afar. Curiously, Aline took it all in, as though her mind was racing with a thousand ideas for the ranch and her new life there.
“You know what, Sheriff, those men are cowards,” she said. “I’ve spent the last few years subject to a bully and a coward and I’m not going to let that happen now. Those outlaws can take me on if they want to, but I’ll give them what’s for if they try anything here at Lampeter Ranch,” Aline said, and Thomas laughed.
“I’ll be sure to let them know,” he said, still laughing as he reined in the horse and trap and they came to a halt in the ranch yard.
“What a sweet little place this,” Aline cried.
It was some years since Thomas had last had call to visit Lampeter Ranch. Back then, the tenants had been a Mr. and Mrs. Soubirous, and they’d had a mighty big falling out with their neighbors over a patch of land down by the creek. But they’d died a year or so ago, and Thomas had believed that the ranch had gone unlet ever since.
But it seemed as though someone had been there recently. The front veranda was swept and a saddle was thrown over the rail; cooking pots were hung up and the barn doors across the way were open. Thomas looked around him suspiciously as Aline climbed down from the tr
ap, clutching Sammy’s basket.
“There’s something not right here. This place hasn’t been let since the Soubirous’ had it, and they died a year or so ago. It’s been empty ever since,” Thomas said. “We might have some squatters here. Be careful now.” He took his pistol from its holster.
For a moment, Thomas wondered if he’d inadvertently found the outlaws. Lampeter Ranch was out of the way, and the trail from Lakestone led there and nowhere else. There was no reason to come out here, except on business or for a convenient hiding place.