Thunder on the Plains (25 page)

He met Colt's eyes again, but he did not see the disappointment there that he thought he would see. Instead, he saw only a look of contempt. Colt took the paper. “You didn't have to go to so much trouble to make your point, Mr. Russell,” he told Tod. He smiled, but it was more of a sneer. “I assure you, I am here only to pay a respectful visit to an old friend, whose life I happened to save more than once, I might add. Believe it or not, people who run in different circles
can
be friends sometimes. Thanks for the map.”

“Mr. Travis,” Tod said as Colt turned to leave. Colt looked at him, impatience in his eyes. “I was just, well, I wanted you to be aware, that's all. As I told you earlier, Miss Landers is having a dinner party tonight. You might like to know that Mr. O'Brien will be there, as well as several prominent people from Chicago and New York. It's a kind of celebration dinner for the passing of the railroad act. Miss Landers is leaving day after tomorrow for Omaha.”

Colt stared at him a moment, furious at the fact that the man was suggesting he shouldn't go to see Sunny tonight. Was he afraid that he would embarrass her? He turned and left without another word, avoiding the elevator someone downstairs had tried to show to him. He didn't like contraptions that made him feel caged. He took the stairs, his mind racing with indecision.
Would
he embarrass Sunny? One thing was certain—going over there tonight was a damn good way to find out if she had changed. The old Sunny would not be embarrassed at all, and the old Sunny was the one who had come through in the letters.

He stepped into the street, where a few passersby gawked at him as though he were from another world.
Hell, I guess I am
, he thought. He looked at the map, seeing a square marked “office” and another marked “Sunny's home,” several blocks to the northeast on the lake. He untied Dancer and mounted up, thinking how painfully ironic it was that he was headed farther east to join the war, while Sunny was heading for his home country. If he had stayed in Omaha a little longer, he might have seen her there, in
his
world, where he would have felt so much more relaxed meeting her again.

He looked up at the tall Landers Enterprises building and shook his head. He was tempted to find a room for the night and say the hell with it, but the fact remained that he was here, and after the letters they had exchanged, no amount of reasoning was going to keep him from seeing her. After all, it would probably be years before he would have this chance again, and he was going off to war while Sunny Landers had a railroad to build—and a man to marry. What was the harm in saying hello?

“Well, boy, let's see if we can find a bathhouse,” he told Dancer, turning the horse away from the hitching post. “Apparently, I'd better spruce up a little before experiencing the honor of stepping into the grand household of Miss Sunny Landers.”

***

“Well, what do you think?” Sunny stood back and opened her arms, turning in a circle. Both Mae and Vi smiled with envy but happiness for Sunny's victory.

“I don't believe a more beautiful young woman exists in the whole country,” Vi said, shaking her head.

“I have to agree, ma'am,” Mae added, thrilled that Sunny had already told her she wanted her to go to Omaha with her.

“I wasn't referring to whether or not I look beautiful,” Sunny said with light laughter. “It's just that I have to look just right—I don't know, like a woman of authority. Everyone coming tonight is so important to the railroad.”

“Sunny, if you haven't proven your abilities by now, then anyone who still doubts you is a fool,” Vi told her. “Stop worrying about how you will be accepted just because you are female.” She sighed, looking Sunny over admiringly again. “You have it all, you know—looks, brains, power, wealth—”

“And a man some women would die for,” Mae added.

Sunny shrugged and turned to look in the full-length mirror again. “Blaine is the least of my concerns tonight,” she told them. “Everyone is so eager to get us together, but I don't know if I love him enough; and right now the Union Pacific is all that matters.” She laughed. “I'm in love with a railroad. How do you like that?”

“You're Bo Landers's daughter, all right,” Vi told her.

Sunny adjusted the position of the bodice of the dress, moving it down just a little more off her shoulders. The dress had been specially made by her personal tailor, fashioned after the latest designs in England, with dropped sleeves that exposed her milky-white shoulders and a tempting portion of her breasts. A fall of exquisite hand-made lace graced the upper edge of the bodice, hanging down six inches to her elbows. The dress was a deep lavender-blue, with a tight-fitting pointed waist, below which billowed an upper skirt of white tulle and more delicate lace, draped diagonally over an underskirt of lavender-blue silk gathered in hundreds of puffings, each tied with white satin ribbon. She wore the glittering diamond necklace given to her by her father when she turned sixteen, and on her wrist she wore a bracelet of more diamonds, given to her by Blaine as a celebration gift before she left Washington. Tiny diamond earrings graced her earlobes, exposed by an upswept hairdo that came together at her crown in a tumble of waves and curls that fell down her back. Diamond-studded combs decorated her golden hair.

“I have to look just right, especially with Vince coming,” she told Vi and Mae. “I can't believe he actually accepted the invitation. I hope he isn't going to do something to ruin the evening.”

“I don't think he will,” Vi assured her. “Let him eat crow tonight, Sunny.”

Sunny turned to face her, smiling lovingly. “What would I have done these last few months without you to talk to?” She sighed deeply. “I hope I'm not the one eating crow a few months from now. All we've done is get government approval and a little help. Actually building the railroad will be another matter.”

“You'll do it, ma'am,” Mae told her. “I've got no doubt you can do anything you make up your mind to do.”

“Thank you, Mae.” Sunny walked up and hugged Vi. “I haven't even told you how lovely you look tonight. How rude of me to be fussing over myself like this. Here you are such a busy woman yourself.” She stepped back, studying Vi's much plainer dark blue dress. It was elegant and obviously of the best material and design. After all, what Landers woman would wear anything less? But it was a simpler style, fitting for someone like Vi. Sunny thought how the woman's personality made her so beautiful from the inside that a person hardly noticed her plump build and plain features. “You have given me too much of your time, Vi,” she told her. “With three children at home and now working at that hospital, I want you to quit worrying about me. I'm going to be fine now.” She glanced at Mae. “Would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes, Mae?”

“Oh, no, ma'am.” Mae hurriedly picked up the clothes Sunny had discarded and left the room.

Sunny walked closer and took Vi's hand. “Are you sure you don't mind my taking Stuart to Omaha with me?”

“Of course not,” Vi answered, squeezing her hand. “I'm just happy Stuart is willing to go. I hated the way he treated you when I first met him. Besides, he's kind of looking forward to going back out. Actually, it might be good for Stuart to get away from Vince. Vince is always after him about something, deliberately upsetting him. While he's gone I have my work at the hospital.”

Sunny studied her kind eyes. “What's it like, Violet? The war seems so far away and unreal, until I see all those soldiers at the railroad station, see the ones coming in wounded and crying with pain.”

Vi's eyes misted. “It's terrible. This war is the ugliest thing I've ever seen.” She let go of Sunny's hand and turned away. “When I volunteered to help out at the hospital, I thought I was doing my good deed for the day. But it has become something more than that. There is nothing worse than telling a boy of only nineteen or twenty that his leg has to come off, or his arm, or that he'll never live long enough to go home again. I never thought I could bear up under so much pain and tears and blood, but something keeps me going, something helps me ignore the smell and the horror of it.” She faced Sunny again. “I guess it's the terror I see in the eyes of those young men. I hold their hand, and I become their wife, their mother, their sweetheart, their comfort.”

Sunny sighed, fingering the bracelet at her wrist. “I feel like I should be doing something, too, to help.”

“Right now you're doing what
you
have to do, Sunny. We all have our duties in life. Someday soon, I hope, this ugly war will be over, and when it is, that railroad will be needed more than ever. In the meantime life has to go on, and you have a big job ahead of you. Tonight is your night, Sunny. It's the culmination of years of work on your part and your father's before you. Enjoy your victory, and don't let Vince or anyone else do anything to spoil it for you.”

Sunny searched her eyes, thinking how Vi had become the closest thing to a mother she would ever have in spite of the fact that the woman was only eight years older than she. “What do you think of Blaine? Am I crazy not to marry him right now? Be a wife? Have children?”

Vi smiled, touching her arm. “I'll tell you something, Sunny. When the right man comes along, you won't wonder and doubt and put other things first. You'll know. Blaine seems wonderful, and no one would argue his looks. But I am not totally certain his personality and yours fit together. A man of so much wealth and power needs a woman who fits in a slightly lower place—a wife, but not a business partner. I worry that you having equal wealth and power might cause problems after a time. I don't think Blaine likes to share the spotlight, but then, you probably know him better than I. He certainly does dote on you. He seems totally smitten.”

“I don't know.” Sunny looked at the bracelet again. “Sometimes I feel like I'm just another conquest for him. And I always worry that a man is just trying to get his hands on my wealth, even Blaine. Lord knows he doesn't need it, but I don't want to risk losing all that Father worked for to someone who wouldn't love and respect it all the way I do. And sometimes, when Blaine kisses me, I don't know. It's like something is missing, yet he's so good to me, so generous. Sometimes I think there is something wrong with me not being able to respond to him the way I should. I see how other women look at him, and sometimes it makes me a little jealous; but I don't have the passion for him I feel I should have for a man I want to marry.”

Vi put an arm around her shoulders. “Give it time, Sunny. Part of your problem is that you have all these other things on your mind. If you aren't ready to be serious, then accept that. Blaine will have to accept it too. Don't marry someone because you feel it's what others expect of you. Do what your
heart
tells you to do.”

Mae knocked at the door and peeked into the room. “Excuse me, ma'am, but the butler says to tell you your guests are arriving and the table is ready.”

Sunny lit up with excitement. “Thank you, Mae.” She took a last look in the mirror, then turned to Vi. “Let's go down and find Stuart. I should be down there greeting my guests.”

Vi laughed lightly. “Have fun, Sunny.” She followed her out, and guests in the marble foyer looked up at her, a couple of women whispering to each other. Lights from hundreds of candles that flickered in a crystal chandelier hanging from the third story down to the foyer cast a lovely glow on Sunny as she greeted the new arrivals.

Blaine came in from the dining room, and he took Sunny's arm, his face lighting up with pleasure and desire at the sight of her. “My God, Sunny, I've never seen you look more beautiful,” he told her, leaning down and kissing her cheek. “Come, come! Vince and Eve are here, and the whole Landers board and four representatives for Durant. They have brought a letter from the Doctor, expressing his regrets that he couldn't be here himself. Oh, and Senator Cunningham is here.”

He turned from her a moment to greet more newcomers, the owner of a steel mill and the owner of a coal processing plant, and their wives. Sunny watched him, thinking what a fitting husband he truly would be. Blaine was the epitome of wealth and grace and manners, a man totally comfortable with the rich and powerful. Surely she was a fool not to see that he was the perfect match, yet there was that nagging doubt. Was Vi right in saying that perhaps they were each too wealthy in their own right to get along?

She decided this was not the time to worry about it. Blaine understood that for now the railroad came first, and this was her night to shine. She walked with him into the dining hall, where a forty-foot-long table displayed the finest of china and silver and crystal. Silver candelabra shed an elegant light on the setting, and servants were moving about the crowd, carrying silver trays of drinks. Sunny greeted guests, felt the stares of envy, knew the women were gossiping about her and Blaine.

Blaine left her for a moment and returned with two glasses of white wine. He put one into her hand and took her aside, kissing her cheek again. He held up his glass. “To the Union Pacific,” he said softly, his eyes glittering with intense desire, “and to us.” He touched her glass.

“To the railroad, and to us,” she answered. They each took a sip of wine.

“You are absolutely gorgeous tonight, Sunny. Sometimes you drive me insane with your beauty.”

Sunny smiled. “And you are too—” Her voice left her then, and she slowly lowered her glass.

The room had quieted, and Blaine turned to see what Sunny and the others were staring at. At the entrance to the dining hall stood a tall, dark, rugged-looking man wearing denim pants and a simple clean white shirt. He was handsome in his own right, and looked part Indian, certainly not a man of the social standing that belonged in a place like this; and there was a wild look about him, a scar over his right eye.