No One's Bride (Escape to the West Book 1) (13 page)

“There you go, boy. Enjoy your hay.”

Amy patted Eagle’s shoulder and left the sturdy bay horse chewing contentedly on his food, closing the stall door behind her. She moved along the row, smiling at the sight of all the horses happy and safe in their stalls. A few of them had their heads hanging over the doors to watch her and she took the time to greet each one with a stroke of their silky hair or a pat on their neck.

Some might have found the work she did at the livery unpleasant, with all the muck and cleaning involved, but knowing each of the horses, having them trust her and be happy to see her, made it worthwhile. She sent up a silent thank You to God for bringing her there. There was no doubt in her mind that it was His guidance that had got her the job with George she loved so much.

Reaching the alcove where she kept her belongings, she took an apple and her knife from her bag then picked up the stool and carried it across to Clementine’s stall. The white horse stopped eating and watched her warily.

“It’s all right, Clem,” she said in a soft and hopefully soothing voice, “you’re safe with me.”

She opened the door to the stall and Clem turned to face her, pressing into the farthest corner of the space. Amy placed the stool down onto the straw-strewn floor inside the stall, cut a slice of apple and placed it onto the seat. Then she backed out, closed the door again, and waited.

And waited.

After ten minutes or so, Clementine took a few tentative steps forward and sniffed at the apple on the stool. Stretching out her lips, she plucked it from the wooden surface and retreated to the corner to eat.

Amy wanted to laugh. Instead, she cut another slice, opened the door, and left it on the stool again. This time it took the skittish horse only five minutes to retrieve the treat. The following time, only one. When Amy placed a fourth chunk of apple on the stool, she left the door open a little, standing in the gap where Clementine could see her.

Five minutes passed.

Ten.

Amy began to wonder if she was rushing things, but when she was just about to close the stall door, Clementine took a couple of steps towards the stool. Amy held her breath. Another two steps brought the horse within reach of the apple. Suddenly, she darted her head forward, grabbed the apple which sat only three feet from Amy, and sprang back into her corner.

Amy instantly cut another piece and placed it on the stool. To her surprise, Clementine almost immediately walked forward and picked it up, this time watching Amy for a couple of seconds before returning to the corner.

Amy removed the stool, closed the door, and leaned her elbows on the top.

“I know you’re afraid,” she said softly, “but I also know you’re very brave. I know someone hurt you, but that doesn’t mean all people are bad. It’s all right to trust, as long as you trust the right people.”

As long as you trust the right people.
It was good advice, and not just for horses. There had been few people Amy had trusted in the course of her life, even fewer who’d been worthy of it. Like Clementine, she
wanted
to trust, but fear still held her back. An image of Adam’s face came into her mind. Amy longed to be like normal people who could follow their hearts without their brains stepping in and constantly whispering to them all the things that could go wrong. In her whole life, she’d never wished for that more than she did now.

A nose nudged at her arm, making her smile. Stride was stretching his neck around the wall separating his and Clementine’s stalls, his nostrils flaring at the slice of apple left in Amy’s hand.

“Here you go,” she said, giving him the apple and rubbing his forehead as he ate. “I’m sure you don’t mind the rest went to your girl. I’ll have more apples on Monday. For both of you.”

“Amy?” George’s voice came from the front of the building.

“I’m here.”

She left Stride and Clem and walked to the front door where he sat at his desk. She couldn’t help admiring what they’d done so far with the area behind him. George had attached hooks to the walls for the bridles and halters and moved a long rack into place beneath them for the saddles. Amy had polished every saddle and bridle before displaying them. It was already working. Three sets of tack had already been sold and a few other bits and pieces had gone too. She still had work to do, but it was a good start.

George looked up as she approached. “You heading home now?”

“Yes, unless there’s anything else you need me to do.”

“No, you can go.” He handed her a brown envelope. “Your first week’s pay.”

It was the first time Amy had ever been paid for her work. She took the envelope almost reverently and carefully tore open the top. Inside, she found a five dollar bill and three singles.

“But this is twice what...”

George had returned his gaze to the ledger on his desk. “I’ve paid you what I’ve paid you. I’m a fair man and you’re a good worker. And your idea with the saddles and such has brought in some sales.”

Tears burned at Amy’s eyes. Being appreciated for what she did was a new and somewhat overwhelming experience. “Thank you.”

He nodded his head, still not looking at her. “You earned it. I’ll see you Sunday at church.”

Clutching the envelope in her hand, she went to fetch her bag, said goodbye to George and walked outside into the long shadows of early evening. After paying back the two dollars Adam had lent her she could give him four more towards what she owed him and still have two left for a few items she needed.

Turning right, she headed in the direction of the general store.

Dear Miss Watts,

Thank you for your letter. I was so excited to find it as I was sorting the mail that I accidentally knocked all the letters I’d already sorted onto the floor and had to start all over again! Thankfully I hadn’t got very far. I didn’t read it straight away though. I wanted to savour it, so I waited until my work was finished. That wasn’t easy, I can tell you!

I was so happy to hear of your relationship with God. You are right, without Him life would be very hard. The comfort He has given me, the assurance of His presence, has so often been my light in the darkness, and by the way you spoke I suspect you feel the same way. We are so blessed.

Working in the kitchen in such a large, grand house sounds like very hard work. Do you enjoy it? Perhaps that’s a silly question, what can there be to enjoy in scrubbing pots and pans and ovens? But maybe there are some not so bad parts. I hope your employer appreciates your dedication.

For my part, I enjoy running the post office very much. I take pride in being responsible for so many letters and packages and making sure they reach their intended recipients. Each one has so much potential. A letter can be life-changing.

I know this is only my second letter to you, and I wouldn’t want you to think I’m prone to dashing headlong into situations without thinking them through first, but ever since I received your first letter I’ve felt an anticipation, like something amazing is about to happen. Does that sound foolish? Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but I wonder if some time in the future I will look back on these letters as changing my life for the better. Now I sound overly romantic. If my brothers knew I was writing these things they would tease me mercilessly!

Do you have siblings? I have two older sisters, one younger sister and two younger brothers. Even though I don’t get to see them often, we are close. They are all married now, apart from my youngest brother who’s only eighteen. And me, of course. I admit that part of the reason I’m doing this is because I miss my family and long to have one of my own. Not that I expect to have children straight away, but just to have a wife, someone to share life’s joys and triumphs and difficulties and failures  with, would feel like the greatest blessing I can imagine.

I very much look forward to hearing from you again, Amy. May I call you Amy?

Yours,

Adam.

~ ~ ~

“I’m sorry, I overslept. I never oversleep.” Adam stopped halfway across the parlour and winced. “That’s not true, I often oversleep, but I just pretend that’s when I meant to wake up. I just don’t usually oversleep this late.”

Turning from the stove where she was dishing up an omelette, Amy had to stifle a giggle. His hair looked like it had only had a glancing relationship with the comb, only half his shirt was tucked in and one shoelace was untied. He looked adorable.

“You’re bleeding.”

He reached the stove. “I’m what?”

She bit her lip and pointed to his face where small trickles of blood were congealing in two different places.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Is it bad?”

“It’s only two nicks. Stay there.” She fetched a clean cloth, moistened it and dabbed at his face.

“I may have rushed my shave,” he said.

She looked down at the rest of him.

“Among other things,” he added, tucking the rest of his shirt into his waistband as she continued to clean the blood from his cheek. “Still, two’s not so bad. You should have seen me when I first started shaving. For the first month every morning I looked like I’d been battling herds of porcupines.”

Amy smiled at the thought of the young Adam covered in tiny self-inflicted cuts. “How old were you?”

His eyes drifted to the side as he remembered. “I must have been close to eighteen because Daisy and I were courting. She was the reason I started. I’d been thinking of growing a beard because, well, I was getting to the point where I could. You know what boys that age are like. Anyway, Daisy kept dropping not so subtle hints that I was getting too hairy for her liking so I started shaving, but I wasn’t very good at it. She didn’t stop laughing for a good five minutes when she saw me the first day.” He chuckled and his gaze unfocused, wandering back eight years. “And the second and the third. It was quite an event the first time I managed to not cut myself at all. Daisy kissed every inch of my face and told me it was just because she finally could without tasting blood.”

Amy wiped the last of the blood away and swallowed the pain blooming in her chest.
I’m not jealous. I am
not
jealous.
“I think they’ve stopped bleeding now. Do you have any iodine?”

“Oh, no. I mean yes, I have some, but I’ll be fine without it.” He took the cloth from her and, to her surprise, leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Thank you for taking care of me.”

She smiled and lowered her eyes to hide her blush. Her gaze settled on Adam’s feet. “Just one more thing.” Crouching, she laced up his shoe. When she straightened her gaze lingered on his hair.

He swivelled his eyes up. “What?”

“Um... just...”

She reached up with both hands and ran her fingers through his hair, taming the worst of the unruly mess. Lost in the feeling of the soft strands slipping through her touch, it was a few seconds before she realised what she was doing. She lowered her eyes to his and found him watching her, half a smile curling his lips. Feeling her cheeks heat up even more, she rapidly dropped her hands to her sides.

Adam leaned forward again, kissed her cheek a second time, and whispered, “Thank you” in her ear.

A not at all unpleasant shiver sauntered down her spine. “I, um, you’re welcome.” She spun back to the stove, almost knocking the frying pan onto the floor. “We’d better eat or we’ll be late for church.”

~ ~ ~

By the time they reached the church the rest of the congregation was already seated and Pastor Jones was just taking his place on the platform at the front.

Sara waved them over and Amy and Adam quickly took two vacant seats next to her.

“I saved them for you,” she whispered to Amy as she sat beside her. “I’m glad you’re here.”

She smiled, but Amy could see the sadness behind it. The seat where Daniel had sat the week before was occupied by a lady Amy didn’t know and Sara’s husband was nowhere to be seen.

Amy slipped her hand into hers and gave it a sympathetic squeeze.

When the service had drawn to a close, Adam diplomatically excused himself and went outside to give Amy time alone with her friend.

“I know you aren’t staying, but he seems like a wonderful man,” Sara said as they watched him leave.

“He is,” Amy replied. “How are you holding up?”

She lowered her eyes to her lap. “I’m all right.” The slight tremor in her voice said otherwise.

Before Amy had a chance to answer, Lizzy appeared in the row in front of them. Beyond her, Louisa and Jo stood in the aisle.

“I would like to formally invite you two to lunch,” Lizzy said. “Just the five of us. Pastor Jones and Mrs Jones are going to be out for a couple of hours and they told Louisa we could use the house. I know it’s short notice, but I think we could all use the time to talk.” She reached over the back of her chair and took Sara’s hand.

“I don’t know,” Sara said. “I should probably get back...”

“Please?” Lizzy said, drawing the word out. “It wouldn’t be the same without you. I for one could really use your sage advice and I think the rest of us could too. Jesse said he’d take you, me and Jo home afterwards.”

Lizzy was a marvel. Since the five of them arrived on the train eight days ago, they had all had to deal with the unexpected in their new lives, but Sara perhaps needed this time more than any of them. And yet Lizzy made it sound like she would be doing them a favour by staying.

“Lizzy’s right,” Amy said. “You’re the most stable of all of us.”

Lizzy nodded vehemently. “Exactly. The rest of us scatterbrains need you.”

Sara laughed softly, shaking her head. “All right, you don’t have to lay it on quite that thick. I’ll tell Will to let Daniel know I’ll be back later.”

Lizzy squealed in delight, clapping her hands.

“I’ll go and tell Adam he can go without me,” Amy said.

She left Sara, Lizzy, Louisa and Josephine chatting together and went outside to find Adam. Most of the congregation was still gathered at the front of the church and Amy wended her way through the crowd in search of him.

She almost stumbled over her feet in her haste to stop when Mrs Vernon abruptly stepped in front of her.

“Miss Watts, how lovely to see you at church.”

For some reason she couldn’t quite put her finger on, Amy didn’t entirely believe her. The fake smile definitely wasn’t helping.

“Good morning, Mrs Vernon. How are you?”

“Very well, thank you, if a little surprised.”

“Surprised?”

Mrs Vernon looked around them, stepped closer, and lowered her voice. “That you are still residing with Mr Emerson, given the circumstances.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

She stepped back. “Just one day left, Miss Watts. I’m sure you’ll do the right thing. Good day.”

Amy watched her walk away in bemusement. One day left until what?

She’d just decided to ask Adam if he had any idea what Mrs Vernon was talking about when she spotted him through the crowd and she forgot all about the cryptic exchange. A lump rose to Amy’s throat as she watched him chat to Daisy, their closeness apparent in the ease they clearly enjoyed with each other. An image of his ex-almost-fiancée planting kisses all over his young, freshly shaved face rose unbidden into her mind. And then a dark haired little boy, no more than three years old, bounded up to them and raised his small arms towards Adam. Adam smiled and bent to pick him up, settling him on his hip as though it was the most natural thing in the world. Daisy reached out to rub her thumb over a smudge on the boy’s face. It was a picture of familial bliss.

A feeling of envy swept through her, so strong that for a moment Amy couldn’t breathe. She turned away, praying for God to take the unwelcome emotion from her. It took at least a full minute for her to feel in control enough to walk over to them.

Seeing her approach, Daisy smiled. “Good morning, Amy. It’s so nice to see you again.”

Did she have to sound so genuinely nice? Jealousy still nipped at Amy and Daisy’s friendliness just served to add a healthy dose of shame to the mix.

“Good morning, Daisy.” She looked at the little boy. “And who’s this?”

“Amy, meet Nicholas,” Adam said, turning so that the boy faced her. “Nicky is Daisy’s son.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nicky,” Amy said, holding her hand out to him.

Clearly astonished at being offered such a grown up greeting, Nicholas hesitantly held out his small hand. His eyes lit up when Amy shook it gently.

“You have pretty hair,” he said.

Amy placed a hand on her chest with a gasp. “Why, thank you, kind sir.”

Nicholas giggled and Adam whispered to him loudly, “I think she has pretty hair too.”

Despite all her best intentions, Amy’s heart flipped a little. “Uh... I just came to tell you that Sara, Lizzy, Jo, Louisa and I are having a kind of support gathering at the Jones’ house so I won’t be home for lunch. If that’s all right.”

She knew she didn’t need to ask his permission, but she hadn’t been able to resist the desire to slip in a reminder in front of Daisy that they would normally eat together. She suspected she should probably feel ashamed of that too.

“Of course it’s all right,” he said, smiling. “I promise I won’t starve.”

“Oh, well, if you’re alone why don’t you come and join Nicky and me for lunch?” Daisy said brightly.

Amy’s stomach sank into her shoes.

Adam’s gaze flicked between the two women.

“Come and see my new toys I got for my birthday!” Nicky squealed in excitement.

And he’d seemed like such a nice little boy.

Adam smiled at him. “Well, how can I refuse an offer like that?”

He glanced at Amy and for a moment she thought she saw an apology in his eyes, but it was probably just wishful thinking on her part. She suddenly had an urge to leave as quickly as possible.

“Well, I’ll see you later then,” she said. “It was nice to see you again, Daisy.” It may have been the biggest lie she’d ever told.

“You too, Amy.”

She wanted to spend time with her friends, she really did, but as she trudged back to the church entrance Amy couldn’t help wishing she’d waited until after Daisy left to tell Adam about it.