Singing Heart (23 page)

There was a nine o’clock curfew for the ladies at the boarding house unless previously arranged with the proprietress. Not that she was trying to be unfair or meddle in their affairs. The poor lady simply wanted to lock her door and relax so she could sleep and be up early the next morn to prepare breakfast. If anyone was missing at that hour they all knew she might be in trouble and would band together to go look for her. It was just common sense in a town full of gunslingers and outlaws in a place where women were a commodity. They had to protect each other.

A few weeks after Xzan arrived Mindy Sommers the middle aged shop clerk whose room was at the foot of the stairs, hadn’t arrived home by ten. It so unlike her to be late or inconsiderate that they all grew apprehensive. Finally they formed a search party when it became apparent she was not coming home. They were about to depart when she pounded on the door. Her dress a brown checked gingham was torn at the shoulder and the left sleeve was ripped and bloodied. There was mud all over her. Her long hair had fallen out of it’s pins and already her eye, left cheek and upper side of her lip was swelling.

In horror the ladies listened as she recounted the tale of two drunks that had waylaid her on the way home from work. Dragging her screaming into an alley they had tried to rape her. Passersby were deaf to her outcries. All except one. A young man with light hair and kind eyes. So tall and massive that all it took was the sound of his deep voice and the men scattered as fast as they could run in terror of his stature. He had not only saved her but had escorted her home. The excited ladies asked if he was still outside hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Mindy shook her head smiling shyly.

“
He said he’ll check on me tomorrow. You can meet him then.”

Xzan missed meeting the man. It seemed she was out every time he came to visit. He became a special guest once a week and each time he came and went the ladies were bursting with new facts to relate to her. She was so heartsick over Jaskarra and glad that she could openly express her grief by posing as a recent widow that the idea of this Mr. Perfect didn’t liven her spirits. She had met her soul mate. She wasn’t really interested in meeting this dashing hero. The ladies positively simpered over him.

“
He’s so handsome. Taller than any man I’ve ever seen. And charming. Such manners!” Mrs. Beasley assessed the man’s virtues.

She had to admit her curiosity was a little piqued though when upon returning one afternoon Sally Harlow announced coyly that the gentleman had inquired about how many ladies resided in the boarding house. When Mindy had finished counting and calling out the names he had choked on his coffee when Xzan’s was mentioned. To make matters even more interesting was the way he rushed out of the parlor immediately thereafter when he had only just arrived and had promised to spend the entire afternoon playing canasta with them.

Puzzled but not overly perturbed Xzan decided to ask a few questions of her own. Was it possible she might have met the man on her way out west? If so why hadn’t he stayed to greet her? To her knowledge she hadn’t offended anyone along the way. The description didn’t fit any of the men she could think of in particular. There had been a lot of tall lightheaded cowboys in Texas. She really hadn’t paid much attention to any of them.

The name he used was obviously a nickname so that didn’t help either. “Beau” could easily apply to a number of men. She could only wait until the next time he showed up to solve the mystery. There was no telling when that might be. Because according to the ladies other than the fact that he worked on a farm several miles away and only came to town for supplies once a week it depended on when he was in town as to when he could visit. It would at least be another week or so. For now she took the other boarder’s light teasing in stride in the dark as much as they were.

She was washing her hair in the basin the next morning when she recognized the familiar knock of her landlady. Wrapping her long tresses in a bath cloth hurriedly she secured her robe modestly and rushed to the door throwing it back with a welcoming smile.

“
Good Morning!” she greeted the older woman.

Her smile vanished when Mrs. Beasley snapped.

“
You have a lot of explaining to do young woman! There is man downstairs who claims to be your husband and insists upon seeing you immediately!”

Xzan gaped at her in bewilderment. For a moment she went numb in pure horror. Surely there was a mistake. Brett could not be alive. Everyone had told her he died.

“
My husband? My husband is dead! This man is mistaken I assure you.”

“
Well…be that as it may,” Mrs. Beasley sniffed huffily “you’d better dress and come to settle this matter as fast as possible.”

She turned to hobble back down the long corridor then looked back still obviously distraught.

“
I don’t stand with liars Mrs. Colby. If this is a mistake…I will be the first to apologize for doubting you. But if it’s not I will not want you in my house by the end of the day.”

That did it. Xzan who had never had a quick temper but was outraged at being treated unjustly declared heatedly.

“
You are wrong about me Mrs. Beasley. But the fact that you can doubt me when I have shown you nothing except good faith and friendship is more than I can bear. I will not stay where I am treated like a criminal with distrust. I will find another place to reside as soon as possible.”

With that she slammed the door rudely. Fuming Xzan proceeded to hurriedly finger dry her hair. She donned a blue calico dress then laced up her shoes. In less with than 20 minutes she was in the parlor heart pounding furiously in dread and indignation. It couldn’t be Brett. While it was true she never did see his body there was no way that everyone could have been so mistaken. He would have stepped forward if there had been some reason for him to hide when she had sold his house and inherited his estate. He was dead! He had to be. The thought that he could still be alive and had found her halfway across the world was inconceivable.

The look of shock on her face when she saw the man awaiting her in the parlor convinced Mrs. Beasley that she had been correct in her judgment. The other boarders hovered nervously around waiting for clarification their murmurs like the sound of bees in a hive as Xzan recovered from her shock. He grinned. Walked purposefully forward sweeping her into a fierce bear hug. She wondered crazily where he had gotten the name Beau. This was undoubtedly the mysterious visitor she had been hearing about. It all suddenly made sense. His eyes glinted with laughter as he lowered his head and kissed her soundly in front of his hostesses.

She pummeled his chest furiously.

“
Sean Fenierre…how dare you!”

He grinned wickedly then winked conspiratorially. “But honey…when I found out you were still alive… I came to take you home.

She couldn’t believe the gall of the man. And he was a man now. No wonder she hadn’t recognized him by the description. He had been a large boy when she last saw him nearly a year before. But now he had grown to his full capacity. At least she hoped he was finished growing. He was well over six-foot tall. His hair was bleached from the sun and his skin swarthy with a tan.

“
Stop it this instant!” she commanded kicking him soundly in the shin. He winced letting her go to rub the smarting protrusion. Turning around good-naturedly he grinned.

“
I told you she was embarrassed by the age difference. She just doesn’t believe me when I tell her no one cares. But she still refuses to acknowledge our marriage.”

Xzan chin dropped to her chest in disbelief. Horrified at the fib he was telling the ladies she had to live with she sputtered,

“
Sean! Stop it right now. They’re taking you seriously. This isn’t funny. You’ve had your fun now tell them it isn’t so. You’re ruining my reputation.”

Instead of laughing and letting them all in on the gag as he should have Sean studied her thoughtfully for a moment. Then to her horror added to the injury.

“
Now sweetheart…if you don’t love me anymore I can probably forgive you. You are awful young and we all make mistakes. But I just can’t believe you don’t love the baby anymore. She cries herself sick for her mama every night. I promised to bring you home and I intend to do just that. So you go pack whatever you have and let’s be on our way.”

She couldn’t believe his audacity. To tell such boldfaced lies and from the looks on her faces it seemed his captivated audience believed him. Disgustedly she decided and rightly so that no matter what she said he had won their trust so completely she couldn’t defend herself. She stormed past him upstairs to get her reticule hearing their excited chatter as she left the room. She ignored him when he followed her upstairs.

“
Men are not allowed outside of the parlor Mr. Fenierre! She spat furiously.

“
Calm down Xzan.” He caught her arm, holding her in mid step on the stairwell. “Believe it or not I do a very good reason for what I’ve done. I’m sorry to humiliate you this way. If you’ll give me time to explain I think you’ll be grateful in the long run.”

Now she was more confused than ever. How could she be grateful to for him destroying her reputation, ruining her life and getting her kicked out her home? She couldn’t imagine what could possess him to pull such an outlandish stunt. But peeking out of this man’s face was the boy she had known. He was genuinely worried about her for some unknown reason. She sighed resignedly. Her anger cooled. Making him wait while she got her reticule she left with him as if it were an every day occurrence to be escorted by a long lost husband. He took her to the only cafe in town ordering coffee for them both. It was a corruption she pampered herself with now that she was back in a place where there was a mercantile. Speaking in hushed undertones he began explaining his strange behavior.

“
The reason I was in town the first night that I met Mindy was because I overheard rumors that the plague had hit the city. It seems there is a fever going around spreading like wildfire and their trying to keep it under wraps so the whole town doesn’t rush off in a frenzy. What bothered me most was that the men I overheard talking were pretty graphic about what they were going to do to the newcomers in town who might have brought the fever with them. They seemed to think that by getting rid of them the sickness would go away too.”

She was still not sure of what he was implying. She hadn’t told anyone she’d come from Sweetbriar. They assumed she had just arrived from England recently widowed. Nor did she know anyone except the ladies she had lived with the past few weeks. No one knew of her existence really. She sipped her coffee listening, trying not to interrupt with a hundred questions.

He continued, “I heard your name mentioned on that list Xzan. Until that moment I had no idea where you were. When I rescued Mindy and found out she lived in a boarding house I thought it might be a way to get to know some of the women in town so I could get information that might lead me to you. I was stunned when I found out you were living right there. We must have just missed each other every time I visited. I thought about this all night and I didn’t know what to do. I know how stubborn and independent you are. I was afraid you wouldn’t take it seriously. So I sort of forced your hand. Now you have to come home with me. You have no other place to go.”

She was dumbstruck. Furious. Once again a man had sought to protect her uncaring of how he destroyed her life or broke her heart. Even if Sean’s fears were founded and she wouldn’t deny they were, she recalled the chaos in Sweetbriar when people were half-crazy with grief, he had no right to play God with her life this way. She tried to remain outwardly calm.

“
How could I be in danger? Or a threat for that matter? I’m not ill. I’ve been here several weeks. Surely they can see I’m not a threat.”

He shook his head.

“
You know as well as I do that when a lot of people start dying their families don’t see clearly. They look for someone to blame. You didn’t get the plague and that makes you strange in these peoples’ eyes if they ever do realize you won’t get ill with it when other people are. The point is people are scared. It’s building up to a boiling point. I won’t let you die because of these people. It’s not like you have anything here anyway. Today proved those people aren’t your real friends. You don’t own a home. So trust me Xzan. Come home with me until this thing has time to reach its natural conclusion.”

She didn’t like his methods. However the urgency and unquestionable concern in his voice alarmed her enough to admit he might have felt he was acting in her best interest. She was hurt that he hadn’t trusted her enough to at least have confided the situation and given her an opportunity to make her own choice. She had to admit she didn’t feel the same sense of danger or urgency that he did. On the other hand she had been pretty naïve in the past too. There was no use crying over spilled milk. As embarrassing as it was to be portrayed in the role of a runaway older wife who had abandoned her child she definitely couldn’t stay in town now. He was right. There was no place left for a decent woman to go to.

“
So where am I going to live?”

“
Uncle Jeb’s farm. Until the crops come in. Then I’ll have a place of my own. He gave me two acres of land in exchange for helping him with his crops and fixing up his farm this past year. Once the fields are harvested in the fall I’ll be free to start working on my own place. Unfortunately though by then winter will set in and it will next Spring before I can get much done. There’s only one catch.”