New Beginnings Spring 20 Book Box Set

by Hope Sinclair

  The men who seemed so smitten with Sally weren’t smitten with her as much as they were with who she was and what she could give them. Of the few offers she’d entertained, one man had wanted her to pay for everything and buy him things, another wanted her to teach him how to write stories of his own and help him establish a storytelling career, and the third was a headstrong boaster who went around bragging that Sally Sugar was his girl even though they’d only shared one meal together.

  So by now, Sally knew better than to think too much of any man’s invitation. She knew that her suitors likely wanted something from her other than companionship and love, and she resolved not to give it to them and not to let any man take advantage of her or use her for his own gain.

  Part and parcel of this decision was that Sally also gave up on her own, much more sincere, search for companionship and love. She was twenty-five years old now, and though she’d long dreamt of one day having a husband and family, she was now resigned to the fact that she probably would not. She didn’t have the time or energy to find a true, loving man amidst the superficial suitors who came after her. She had more important things to do—she had stories to tell. And those stories brought others great entertainment and joy, sometimes they educated people or made them more aware of the world, or spurred them to pick up their own pens. So for what wonderful things she gave to her audience, Sally thought her own loneliness a small price to pay.

  Still, she didn’t tell anyone any of this and just went about her life. Whenever a suitor tried to woo her, she turned him away as politely as she could, without accusation or judgment of any kind—and for the most part, her suitors typically did as Mr. Henry had done. When let down, they sighed, frowned, and walked away.

  But this is what they did for the most part. Little did Sally Sugar know, but she was about to meet a man who’d do as the others had not… in more than one way.

  TWO

  “Miss Sugar! Miss Sugar!” a man’s voice called out.

  Sally was nearly to her carriage, where her mother was waiting for her to board and go home. She’d been approached by two other men after Mr. Henry asked her to dinner and, naturally, turned both of them down. And now she rolled her eyes, for she knew she was about to be approached again.

  “Miss Sugar, I was wondering if I could have a word with you,” the man went on, walking briskly toward her. Sally turned to look at him. He had a very handsome face and a strong, thick body.

  “Yes? What is it?” Sally asked, though she already knew what to expect.

  “My name is Thomas,” the man answered. “Thomas Trent. I, too, am a storyteller, and I was hoping we could get together and talk.”

  Sally rolled her eyes again. So he wants me for my skill and reputation, she thought to herself. He wants to use my name to make a name for himself.

  “I can’t talk right now,” Sally replied. “It’s getting late, and my mother and I have got to get home.”

  “Perhaps some other time?” Thomas inquired.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m not interested,” Sally answered without much thought. “I’m a very busy woman, you know, and I’m more focused on writing more stories right now than I am on courtship.”

  “But I’m not trying to court you, Miss Sugar,” Thomas clarified. “As I said, I, too, am a storyteller—and I simply wanted to talk.”

  Sally’s head jerked back a little in shock. She was a very attractive woman, mind you. She had a petite body with appropriate curves, a lovely, doll-like face with bright blue eyes and full lips, and a long mane of loosely curled blonde hair. Even without her storytelling skill, she was the type of woman that men would be interested in, based on her appearance alone. So the fact that this man wasn’t interested in her came as a surprise.

  “I’m sorry,” Sally reiterated. “But I just don’t have the time.” She turned again to walk to her carriage, and Thomas reached out to hand her something as she did.

  “It’s a copy of my book,” Thomas explained, holding a small, thin hardbound volume in front of her. “It was published through a publishing house in New York and is quite popular back east, though it hasn’t picked up yet around here.”

  Sally wasn’t sure why, but she took the book from Thomas and looked at it curiously. As a young woman, she’d accomplished a great deal professionally over the past two or three years. She’d had her stories published in local and national newspapers and had told her stories in entertainment halls both near and far. But she’d never had a book published, or had a publishing house even offer to print her words. So needless to say, she was impressed that this man had. But she didn’t let this on to him.

  “I’ll thumb through it if I get the chance,” Sally smiled, taking the book from him.

  “Thank you,” Thomas smiled back. He tipped his head at Sally, then walked away.

  Sally got into her carriage and settled in across from her mother.

  “What’s that?” Mrs. Sugar asked, eying Thomas’s book. “Did one of your admirers give you a gift?”

  “The man who gave it to me wrote it,” Sally answered, flipping through the pages. She didn’t say anything else for several seconds, then added, “You know I’ve always wanted to publish a book. Perhaps he can help me contact the appropriate people and agencies?”

  Sally’s mother didn’t know about the decisions she’d made regarding her personal life. But she’d seen Sally through her previous disappointing courtships with the men who’d tried to use her for her money, skill, or fame, and she knew how cautious Sally had become regarding others’ selfish intentions—and she was surprised to see that Sally had selfish intentions of her own.

  “Just be careful, my child,” Mrs. Sugar advised. “You shouldn’t ask of this man what you wouldn’t want others to ask of you, and you shouldn’t lead him to believe that you are interested in him when it’s really his publishing house you hope to romance.”

  “Oh, Mother,” Sally laughed. “It’s not like that at all. The man—Mr. Trent—said he isn’t even interested in courting. He just wants to talk to me, one storyteller to another.”

  “Hmm,” Mrs. Sugar hummed, tilting her head to the side to stare out at the passing landscape. “I’ll repeat, just be careful, my child.”

  Mrs. Sugar’s last remark was lost on her daughter. Sally already had her nose buried in Thomas’s book, and she continued to remain engrossed in it for the hour or so it took them to get back to their homestead. Then once she was inside in her room, she continued reading it, until she’d read the whole thing.

  Thomas’s book was a book of short stories—eight short stories, to be exact. Each story was just as good as the next, even though they all were quite different in terms of their content and storytelling style. When Sally finally put down the book and turned in for bed, she had dozens of questions in her head that she wanted to ask Thomas, both about his stories and about bringing hers to a book, and she fell asleep with thoughts of him in her head.

  But it wasn’t until four days later, at her next performance at the entertainment hall, that she got to see him again. He was there, seated near the front of the room, and he stared at her intently as she told her tale for the night.

  When she was done performing, Sally went to collect her things, and she was sincerely happy when she saw Thomas walking her way.

  “Have you had a chance to read my book?” Thomas asked, greeting her with a big smile.

  “Some of it,” Sally answered, lying. She’d read the entire book two more times since the night he’d given it to her.

  “And… what did you think?” Thomas hemmed, obviously feeling a bit vulnerable.

  “I liked what I read very much,” Sally replied, turning to honesty again. “Your stories were very imaginative and vivid, and demonstrate a strong ability to express feelings in words.”

  For someone who’d reached the point in his career where he’d published a book, Sally was surprised to see Thomas’s face turn red as he bowed his head and averted his eyes.

&
nbsp; “I’m glad you liked them,” he said in a cheerful voice. “I have many others that aren’t published yet. But I have every ambition to publish them.”

  “I have ambitions to publish my own as well,” Sally replied, seeing this as her chance. “Sadly, however, I don’t know anyone in the publishing industry.”

  Thomas lifted his head again and looked Sally straight in the eyes, and she could tell he’d taken her bait. “Well, luckily I do,” he said with newfound confidence. “And perhaps, when I send my next manuscript back to New York, we can send yours as well. They usually do not accept unsolicited manuscripts, but given my success with them, I’m sure my word alone can get them to read yours—and once they do, I’m sure they’d love to have a talented writer such as you sign on with their house.”

  That was it! Thomas had just offered Sally what she wanted most. But as usual, it wasn’t a one-way bargain. He wanted something out of it too.

  “But if I do this for you,” he said, moving closer, “I need you to do something for me… The largest criticism I’ve gotten about my book is that it isn’t cohesive enough. Some readers have said there are too many differences between the stories, and that they should all be tied together by some common theme or writing style. So for my next book, I’d like you to help me sort through my stories, maybe help me rewrite some so that they ‘fit in’ better with the rest. And if you do that, I’ll do what I said.”

  Sally didn’t have to think long before she responded. She knew how professional affiliations worked and understood that, if she wanted her back scratched, she’d have to scratch Thomas’s as well.

  “That sounds quite fair,” she replied. “I’d be more than willing to help you advance your work, if you’re willing to help me advance mine.”

  Thomas and Sally smiled at each other. And so their relationship began.

  THREE

  Over the next several days, Sally and Thomas spent a great deal of time together. Their initial meetings occurred in the restaurant and entertainment hall in town, where they primarily discussed their work. But within no time, Sally invited Thomas to visit her at her house, where their meetings started to take on a different tone.

  Even though Thomas had clearly stated that he had no intention of courting Sally—and even though Sally had clearly stated that she had no desire to be courted—the two of them soon found themselves interacting as a couple would. There was something more than a professional affiliation between them, and it made Sally’s head spin. She was falling in love, which was something she thought she’d never do, and what’s more, she was falling in love with another writer, someone who could understand the particulars of her profession and how her mind worked. It all seemed too good to be true.

  As Sally and Thomas continued to spend more time together, Sally shared a great deal with him. She told him about how she’d started writing when she was twelve, just shortly after her father died, and how writing had provided her with a way to find comfort in an otherwise harsh world. She even showed him some of the stories she’d written as a child. And she showed him some of her more recent stories too, the ones she hadn’t read at the entertainment hall or had printed in the newspapers yet—the ones she kept locked in her mother’s wall safe, along with some of their savings, jewelry, and other valuables.

  Thomas eagerly read everything he could, and paid careful attention to everything Sally said and did. Even Mrs. Sugar noticed how invested he seemed in her, and she could tell that her daughter was developing feelings for him. She was happy that Sally had finally paid some attention to her personal life, rather than tending only to her career.

  But that’s not to say that Sally stopped tending to her career or neglected it in any way once she took up with Thomas. Quite the contrary. She continued to perform according to her established schedule and honored all of her outstanding commitments, including one that called her away from Carson City… and Thomas.

  From time to time, Sally performed at other entertainment halls outside of Carson City, sometimes even outside of Nevada. Word of her sensational storytelling skills had spread like wildfire, and she’d received many professional invitations. And one such invitation—which she’d already committed herself to—called her out to a settlement that was some seven hours away by carriage. Given this distance, it was such a trip where Sally and Mrs. Sugar (who always traveled with her daughter) would be away for a total of three days. They planned to leave on a Wednesday afternoon to arrive in town early for a Thursday evening performance, and to leave on Friday morning. They planned on traveling there by hired carriage, with a husband-and-wife team of drivers who they regularly commissioned for their journeys.

  When Sally and Mrs. Sugar left for their trip, they stopped in town so that Sally could see Thomas before leaving. He was staying at the hotel, and they met outside of it to exchange their sentiments. Thomas wished Sally well and told her he would miss her dearly, and Sally thanked him and told him she’d miss him dearly too.

  The Sugar women went off to fulfill Sally’s commitment—and as usual, she more than fulfilled it. Her performance at the entertainment hall was very powerful and moving, and her audience was very pleased by her stories. Sally was invigorated by her warm reception. And she was also invigorated by the fact that her obligation was now over and she could go back home to Carson City… and Thomas.

  The seven-hour carriage ride back to Carson City was an uneventful one. Traveling like this always took a toll on Mrs. Sugar, and she spent most of the ride napping, while Sally spent her time alternating between thoughts of Thomas and the plot of a new story she planned on writing. It wasn’t until they were back in Carson City that things got interesting again.

  As soon as they got into town, Sally asked her drivers to stop so that she could go to the hotel to tell Thomas that she was back. They did as she asked but advised her to be quick.

  “I’m calling for Thomas Trent,” Sally told the woman behind the desk in the hotel. “Can you please—”

  “He left,” the woman interrupted.

  “What?” Sally exclaimed, flabbergasted.

  “He ain’t stayin’ here no more,” the woman explained. “He left two days ago.”

  “I… I… I don’t understand,” Sally stuttered. “Did he leave any type of message behind, or—”

  “He didn’t leave nothin’ behind,” the woman answered.

  Sally strolled out of the hotel in a daze, and she remained in that daze for the rest of the carriage ride back to her homestead. She was confused and scared, and when her mother woke up and asked her why she looked so dumbfounded, it didn’t help matters.

  By the time they got to their homestead, Sally’s heart was racing, and she wasted no time jumping off of the carriage and rushing to the house. She hoped Thomas had left some type of message there. But when she got to the porch, she found no letter. Rather she found something much more alarming.

  The front door to their house was closed, but it was smashed near the knob. All Sally had to do to open it was to push on it lightly. When the husband of the husband-and-wife driver team saw what was going on, he called out for Sally to stop and go no further. Then he rushed to the door, told her to step back, and went in to investigate the situation.

  At this point, Mrs. Sugar was awake and on alert, and she and the driver’s wife both scurried toward Sally to pull her back away from the porch a bit. But just as they got to the porch, the husband driver came out again.

  “There’s no one in there,” the man said. “The place doesn’t even look disturbed at all.”

  Sally rushed forward and pushed past him. She had a hunch. She ran to the dining room, to the landscape painting that hung on the wall. She pushed it aside to reveal her mother’s hidden wall safe. There were bullet holes and dents in it. But that wasn’t the worst part. When she opened it, it was… empty. Everything was gone. Their money, their jewelry, and her stories.

  Thomas, Sally thought to herself as she closed her eyes and bowed her head. She st
arted uncontrollably sobbing. As far as what she’d lost, the money was only a fraction of what money Sally and her mother had. It was “emergency cash,” as they called it. They still had plenty of money in other places, and plenty more in the bank. And as for the jewelry, it was just a collection of trinkets. Granted, they were expensive pieces, but they were just things and didn’t matter. The only piece of jewelry that either of them owned that had any true worth was Mrs. Sugar’s wedding ring, the thinned, scratched band she still wore on her left ring finger in loving memory of her late husband.

  But as for Sally’s stories, those were irreplaceable, and it pained her greatly to lose them. But as much as it pained her, something else pained her even more.

  I can’t believe he did this to me, Sally thought to herself. How could he do this to me?

  Sally had thought she was falling in love. She’d thought she’d found someone who loved her for her, not for what she could offer. But boy oh boy, was she wrong! Thomas didn’t just want her for what she could give him, he up and took it—and he tricked her and dragged her feelings into it in the process.

  Sally was devastated. But she was also determined. She vowed to herself, right then and there, that she’d never let something like this happen again, and that she’d go to whatever means necessary to protect herself, her property, and her heart.

  FOUR

  Herb Evans sat at his desk calculating figures. The other bank agents around him had slowed down their work or stopped working altogether and were yielding to their chairs and making small talk. But not Herb. Herb kept on working. He was a diligent worker, both by his ethics and his lack of distraction. Work kept his mind off of other things and allowed him to avoid interacting with other people.