The Texan and the Lady (13 page)

“That’s what I hoped.” Jennie moved out from in front of Delta. “How do you think Mary Elizabeth looks?”

Audrey smiled. “Mighty good. What I can see of her.”

“Exactly,” Jennie answered.

“Do you think anyone will remember her from the train wreck?”

Jennie shook her head. “Besides us, I doubt anyone took a second look at her last night, except maybe Marshal McCormick. All we’ve got to do is keep Delta out of sight until the widower comes. She can spend a month resting on his farm, then she’s free.”

True downed the cup of half coffee and half milk. “I know a place she can hide till it’s time to go. Henry and me found it the other night.”

All three women looked at the child as True explained. “When this hotel was built, they must have added on at different times because there’s a gap between the center wing and the left of the hotel. It’s like one long hallway to nowhere.”

“Big enough for Delta—I mean, Mary Elizabeth?” Jennie knelt to True’s level. The child rarely spoke, and when True did, the stories were a mixture of half lies that only a child would believe. True was like a little mouse, moving soundlessly around the hotel, disappearing for long periods, then reappearing at mealtimes. In the week they’d been here, the huge building had become a playground for True. Thanks to the number of people, even if True were seen in the hallways, everyone assumed he was one of the local boys used as runners.

True’s deep blue eyes lit up with pleasure. “Plenty of room for even Audrey to stand up in, and it runs from the back of the hotel to the front. I don’t know where the front opens up or if it does, but the back passage is behind the water storage for this floor.”

“Well, let’s go.” Delta carefully nestled her arm into a sling. “I need to get out of here before the undertaker comes for my body.”

True slipped a hand into Delta’s. “I’ll show you, Miss Mary Elizabeth.” The child’s eyes danced with delight at the game the three women were playing.

Delta glanced at Jennie. “What will you do if anyone comes looking for Mary Elizabeth?”

Jennie dusted her apron, as if showing little interest in the question. “She’s downstairs having breakfast with the rest of the train wreck victims, I would guess. Wasn’t hurt near as bad as everyone thought. Most of that blood must have been someone else’s splattered on her.”

“That’s a possibility,” Audrey agreed. “Head wounds do tend to bleed a great deal, though. You might try looking for Mary Elizabeth downstairs in the crowd. Like my Granny Gates used to say, ‘There’s enough poor souls down there to encourage a tent preacher to lengthen his invocation.”’

Delta smiled down at True. “Let’s go. When I walk out that door, I’m Mary Elizabeth O’Brian.”

An hour later the undertaker and Sheriff Morris toted a coffin up to Jennie and Audrey’s room. Jennie stood alone in the hallway and listened as they nailed the box shut. She closed her eyes and thought of all the dull, endless days she’d lived at home. There had been nights back then in which, if she lay very still in bed, she’d have sworn she heard the nails of her own coffin being hammered. But no longer; now she felt alive.

“Jennie!” Audrey yelled.

Jennie moved to the railing at the top of the stairs.

“Mrs. Gray said we could have the rest of the day off.” Audrey hurried up the steps with two shawls over her arm.

She wrapped one around her head, and Jennie wrapped the other around hers. When Morris and the undertaker carried the coffin out, the girls followed a few feet behind crying softly. Jennie was thankful for the cold wind as they moved outside. She could pull the shawl close around her face. She wasn’t sure she could look the old sheriff in the eyes after the way he’d seen her dressed before dawn. Also, if he were as observant as Austin claimed, he might see the lack of grief in her face.

The funeral was simple. With no regular minister in town, Sheriff Morris read a few words over the body and said a prayer. Jennie and Audrey watched the casket being lowered into the shallow grave, feeling relieved that the first part of their plan had worked.

Jennie lifted a handful of wet dirt and dropped it atop the wood. The earth would hide their secret, forever keeping Delta safe.

An hour later, in the dining room, they were not so sure the second part of the plan would work. Jennie and Audrey had just finished having a late lunch when they both turned to stone at the sound of a low voice talking with Mrs. Gray in the lobby.

“I’m Colton Barkley, and I’m here to pick up a Mary Elizabeth O’Brian. I believe she was on the train last night, but no one seems to know where she is now.”

Before Jennie could stand for a look at the widower, Marshal McCormick stepped between her and the man. “She was injured,” Jennie heard the marshal say. “But I’m sure she received fine nursing.”

Audrey reached across the table and touched Jennie’s arm. “Now, settle down. If we’re going to get through this, we’ve got to go slow and easy, like we’re too upset about our poor Delta to be worried about some stranger named Mary Elizabeth.”

Jennie agreed and slowly lifted her fork, forcing herself to continue eating. Her gaze never left her plate until she heard Austin’s voice behind her.

“Pardon me, ladies.” His hand lightly touched Jennie’s back. The touch went unnoticed to everyone except her. She could feel the warmth of his hand through the layers of fabric. His slight touch reminded her of what had been between them and offered a promise of what would be.

“I understand it’s been a hard day for you both. I would have liked to come to the burial, but couldn’t.” He removed his hat and crushed the brim in one large hand. “I know Miss Delta was a friend.”

Audrey sniffed. “Thank you for your kindness, Marshal, but it was God’s will Delta passed on, and ours is not the place to question.”

Jennie almost caught herself saying,
Don’t question, please don’t question
.

The man beside the marshal moved impatiently. “Marshal.” His voice was winter hard and low with anger.

Austin raised his hat as if just remembering the man shadowing him. “Yes, Mr. Barkley. I’m aware you’re in a hurry to make sure your fiancée is all right, but these are the women who took care of her.”

Jennie looked up into the blackest eyes she’d ever seen. Colton Barkley had obviously been a week or more away from a razor and, judging from the amount of dust on him, at least three days on the trail. But the dirt and stubble hadn’t watered down his hawklike stare, which looked as if it had been brewing more than one lifetime in a batter of mistrust and hate.

There was a hard handsomeness about him Jennie found more frightening than appealing. His lean body hinted of a strength beneath his muddy clothes. Colton Barkley was a thunderstorm in the flesh. His hair was charcoal, his skin weathered hard and his stance alarmingly rigid. But most surprising about this man who seemed to rattle the china with his unvoiced anger was the fact that he was young. He might be a widower, but he was not out of his twenties. It seemed unbelievable that someone could grow so cold and bitter in so few years. Jennie couldn’t help but wonder if he’d frightened his first wife to death.

Standing, she tried to keep her hand from trembling as she offered it. “I’m Jennie Munday and this is Audrey Gates. We’ve enjoyed meeting your intended, Mary Elizabeth.”

He took her hand only briefly enough to be considered polite. “She’s not badly hurt?” His gaze narrowed.

“Oh, no.” Audrey stood. “Give her a few weeks and she’ll be good as new. But she’s been through a terrible shock, Mr. Barkley. I’m sure you’ll be wanting to postpone the wedding for a while.”

Colton didn’t alter his stormy expression as he looked at her. “Could one of you tell her I’m here, or point her out to me? I need to be on my way if I’m to reach my land by sundown.”

Both women reacted like schoolchildren at the sound of a bell. They darted for the stairs without saying another word. Neither wanted to stay in Mr. Barkley’s presence a moment longer than necessary.

Halfway up, Jennie pulled Audrey to a stop. “Are we making a mistake? That man’s stare could scare small children out of a year’s growth.”

Audrey shook her head. “He does have a powerful amount of anger in him. He looks like he just walked out of hell on a rainy day. But we’ve made our bed.”

“Or Delta’s,” Jennie added.

“What else can we do now,” Audrey started on up the stairs, “tell Delta there’s a good-looking young man waiting downstairs but she can’t go because he looks angry?”

“But we can’t let Delta go with him,” Jennie whispered as she fell into step with Audrey. “He’s not the type of man I thought he’d be at all from his letters.” In fact, he wasn’t like any man she’d ever met. “He’ll frighten poor Delta. When I looked into those black eyes, I almost jumped out of my skin.”

“What are we going to do? Tell everyone she died, too? Make me look awful poor at nursing if all my charges die. Plus, where are we going to produce a body if he wants to take her home and bury her? Somebody’s bound to notice if we run down to the cemetery and dig up poor Mary Elizabeth.”

Jennie suddenly realized what an insane plan this had been from the start. She’d thought the widower would be old. All he’d talked about in his letters was his land and living alone. “We just can’t allow Delta to go with the man.”

“What man?” Delta crawled from behind the water storage.

“Colton Barkley is downstairs,” Audrey announced.

Delta looked from Jennie to Audrey. “Is he very old and ugly?”

“No,” Jennie answered. “He isn’t old.” She couldn’t bring herself to say that he was handsome.

Delta dusted off her clothes. “I’m going with him. I don’t care if he’s ugly as the devil’s twin. I’ve no other road to follow.”

“But,” Jennie shook her head, “he looks so cold and hard. He looks like he’s made of coal.”

Delta didn’t seem the least deterred. “I’ve been around weak men all my life. He can be no worse. This is my one chance and I’m taking it. No matter how hard he is, in one month I’ll be on a train to California or somewhere and never have to think of him again.”

Jennie looked as if she were about to argue, but Delta added, “I’ll be fine. One of the things I buried with Delta Smith this morning was all my indecision. The way I look at it, if the Lord gave me this chance, I’m not throwing it away. Not even if the widower turns out to be younger and made of stone.”

The others followed Delta toward the back staircase. “Now, remember,” she fretted, making sure her bandages were in place around her face, “I’m Mary Elizabeth and you two hardly know me, so don’t make a scene when I leave.” She leaned low and hugged True. “Take care of them, True,” she whispered. “I’ll send word where I am if you ever need me. And keep practicing your reading on Jennie’s novels until you know all the words.”

True’s short brown hair covered his blue eyes. The child nodded once before running back into the shadows of the hallway. “I’ll watch after them,” True promised. “Somebody better.”

Without another word, all three women descended the stairs.

When they reached the dining room, only the marshal stood where the two men had been. He watched Delta carefully, as if sensing more than knowing that something was out of place.

“Morning, miss.” He removed his hat and leaned down slightly, trying to see her face. “I never figured you’d be up and about this morning.”

Audrey didn’t allow Delta time to answer. “She’s very weak, Marshal. Where is Barkley?”

“Colton said he rented a wagon. It seems he wasn’t expecting you for another week and was moving cattle to winter grass when he heard you were here.” Austin paused as if waiting for an explanation while Jennie and Audrey flanked the injured girl as though she might fall at any moment. When no one said anything, he continued, “He’s pulling the wagon around back, miss. He thought it would be less steps for you.”

Jennie maneuvered between Austin and the girl. “I thought he looked a little muddy for a bridegroom,” she said, stalling the marshal a moment.

Delta took the opportunity. Without meeting the marshal’s eyes, she turned and passed through the door to the kitchen. Everyone followed as she moved across the kitchen and out onto the back porch without a word to the marshal.

“She’s still not feeling well.” Jennie tried to stay between the marshal and Delta.

Before Delta reached the end of the porch, Colton was on the first step coming up. “Mary Elizabeth?”

Delta’s gaze met the man she’d agreed to spend the next month with. “Yes.” Her voice was so soft it seemed to hang in the humid air. There was no turning back now. With the single word, she’d switched identities and forever altered her fate.

“Are you able to travel?” He took another step toward her, offering no apology for his dress or the condition of the rented wagon. “Or do I need to book you a room here?”

“I’d like to go on to your place, Colton,” Delta answered. “After hearing all about it in your letters, I’d like to see the land myself.”

She couldn’t have said something more right. Colton’s hard face altered slightly into a brief smile. “I’ll drive careful, Mary Elizabeth.”

Without waiting or asking for approval, he lifted Delta up and carried her to the wagon. When he placed her onto the wagon bench, her hat tumbled off into the mud.

She cried out and reached for it, but he quickly scooped up the muddy felt remains and tossed it in the buckboard. “Forget it, it’s ruined.” Colton’s voice seemed harsh, but his intent was not. “I’ll pick you up another when I get supplies. Along with whatever else you need.”

Delta didn’t answer, but Jennie could see a tear rolling down her cheek. Jennie guessed Delta had never in her life been asked what she might need.

Colton moved around the wagon and climbed in beside her. “We’ll be at the ranch in a few hours.” He slapped the team into action without even looking back to say good-bye.

Jennie fought the urge to run after them and beg Delta not to go, but Audrey’s fingers at her elbow reminded her that this might be Delta’s only chance. She’d be killed if her family found her. At least now she might only be ignored for a month.