by P. Creeden
Savannah leaned in toward Hazel. “You’re next, I suppose.”
A shiver ran through Hazel as she widened her eyes and darted a glance at her sister. “Not this year, I hope!” was Hazel’s immediate response. But as she watched her eldest sister lean against her husband’s arm with a hand on her stomach, she wondered if that’s what she really hoped after all. Ruby and Savannah had both rushed off to Denver for adventure and returned with love as well. Hazel didn’t think that was what she’d wanted in her life. She’d thought that she’d be happy and satisfied with playing her piano and perhaps teaching others to develop a love for music as she had. But after the incident with Mr. Brown, she wasn’t so sure.
It had been satisfying to see the villain taken away in iron cuffs by the town sheriff. Additionally, gratification filled her to know that she’d almost singlehandedly captured the man by herself. And though part of her had wanted to follow in Savannah’s footsteps after she’d come back regaling tales of adventure greater than any dime-store novel, another part of Hazel had been afraid that she was not the sort to excel in that kind of venture. With the success of the incident with Mr. Brown, Hazel had become sure that she could do it. But did she really want to be forced into marrying someone just so she could go on that kind of adventure? Of course, she could get an annulment, like Ruby did. And there’d be no need to have a real wedding afterward, if Hazel didn’t want one.
She let out a slow breath as she watched her father return to the pew and sit on the end. To see him better, she leaned forward to peer into his face. The soft sadness in his eyes broke her heart. He was losing another of his daughters to the Pinkerton Agency in Denver. How would he feel about Hazel leaving as well? He was already mad at her. Would he grow even angrier? Tears stung the backs of her eyes as she leaned back in the pew once more. She watched as her sister, Ruby, said her vows to John Mark Lee. Their father had always been stubborn but supportive of his daughters. Provided that the timing was right, maybe she could broach the subject with him about Hazel going to Denver as well.
Another sigh escaped Hazel. Even though she was good with tempos, timing had never been her strongest suit. Hosted a small party at their house afterward with dancing and a band that played in their empty dining room. As it drew later into the evening, Hazel decided to go around the issue and ask her mother what to do. She found her in the kitchen with the caterer, helping with the baking of quiches. Once Hazel took a deep breath, she asked, “Can I talk to you a moment, Mother?”
Mother glanced up but her gaze barely brushed Hazel’s before she looked down again at the small cups in front of her in the muffin tin. “What is it, Hazel?”
“I was wondering. Is Father really still angry with me?”
Mother rolled her eyes and shook her head, but kept her concentration on the food. “He’s not angry, child. He’s just scared. Seeing you with your revolver drawn on a man... an armed man who had already put your sister in danger made him fearful. He’d not spared a thought about losing one of his daughters until that moment.”
“But he didn’t lose me, Mother. Or Ruby. We’re both fine.”
“For now,” Mother said with a quick glance upward. “But this has all been very hard on your father, and he’s not at all ready for it all. Ruby and Savannah both more than halfway across the country. And now with Savannah having a child on the way, it’s only making things a bit harder. Your father says that he’s trying to come up with a solution, but he hasn’t yet shared that with me, so I’m quite in a tizzy over it all, myself.” She let out a sigh as she finished filling the last muffin tin and leaned back. “I guess that I’ll need to get things situated here at home so that I can make the journey when the baby’s born.”
Hazel’s heart squeezed in her chest. “What if I want to join Ruby and Savannah now? I’ve graduated. I’ve fulfilled every requirement of Father’s here. Could I go and become an agent myself?”
Her mother’s eyes reddened and become watery. She put the back of her hand against her mouth for a moment as though what Hazel had said had shocked her.
Instantly Hazel regretted saying a word. “I’m sorry mother. I take it back. If you and Father need me here, I’ll stay. I don’t need to leave.”
A sigh escaped her mother as she shook her head. “No, darling. No. You should not set aside your dreams for anyone—not me and not your father. We will both overcome. We have not raised you to be a shrinking violet and do not want to make you into one. Be bold child. Chase your dreams. Fulfill them.”
It was Hazel’s turn to get a lump in her throat as her eyes watered. She could barely speak as she said, “Thank you.”
But would her father feel the same way?
After the party ended and they were left with overseeing the clean-up, Hazel found her father in one of the dining chairs that had been set against the wall in the dining room to make space for the dance floor. She approached him and sat down in the chair next to him. He smiled at her, his eyes rimmed red from both exhaustion and perhaps, tears. He rested a hand on her shoulder. “It was a lovely ceremony, wasn’t it?”
She nodded. “Yes, Father.”
“I suppose you’ll be next. I do have to ask again that you try to give your old-fashioned dad the courtesy of allowing me to attend your ceremony. Even though I try to be understanding about your sister, Savannah, there’s an empty place in my heart where I believe walking her down the aisle would have filled.”
Hazel shook her head. “I have no intention of getting married very soon, but I promise that I will ask you to walk me down the aisle when it does happen.”
He pulled her closer in a sideways hug. Hazel’s father had never been one to show affection so easily, so it surprised her a wee bit. “Good. Now, do me a favor and fetch your mother? I have an announcement that pertains to the both of you. I got word right at the end of the reception that my proposal has been accepted.”
“What proposal?” Hazel asked, pulling away to look up at her father.
A small smile spread across his lips. “I’d rather tell you both at the same time.”
“All right,” Hazel said as she stood to fetch her mother from where she’d been watching the caterer clean up. Once they both returned, Father stood so that they were all together.
Then he took each of them by a hand and looked at them with brow furrowed for a moment. “Earlier this week I proposed to the head of my bank a possible expansion out in the west. Specifically, Colorado Territory.”
Hazel’s eyes went wide as she listened, and her mother’s breath hitched.
Lifting a brow, Father continued, “The proposal was accepted. This time next month, we’ll all be making a move to Denver for the opening of the new branch of the bank, and yours truly will be head of the branch.”
“Denver?” Mother asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“We’re moving?” Hazel asked, excitement pooling in her stomach.
“Indeed,” he answered, and caught them as the both jumped into his arms for an embrace.
Chapter 6
After a month of relaxing in the bunkhouse and going on small missions, Sam Shelby was finally settling back into his life as a Pinkerton Agent. And no new female agents-in-training had landed on the doorstep whenever he was in the compound, so he’d not yet been asked to make the decision as to whether he would morally be able to marry a woman upon meeting just to save her reputation. So, why did he feel slightly disappointed about that?
No more disappointed than he’d been after a month of working in San Francisco and not finding the sort of woman he could settle down with there, either. He let out a slow breath as he lay upon the bunkhouse bed and stared up at the ceiling. Then the door swung open and Geoffrey Lee stepped in.
The younger Lee brother was one that Sam had only met in passing. Right now, the young man leaned over the bed and blocked the view of the ceiling. “Oy,” he said with a laugh. “Mr. Gordon says he’d like to see you when you have a moment.”
At this moment in time, Sam didn’t find comfort in the boy’s smile. Instead, he found a measure of annoyance. Maybe Sam just felt grumpy because he didn’t have much to do. Maybe he was regretting every decision he’d made in the past two years--from leaving the agency in the first place to not staying in San Francisco and trying harder. But how would trying harder have helped him anyway? He sat up slowly and swung his legs over the side of his bunk. Then Sam met gazes with the younger agent and asked, “Did he say what it was about?”
Geoffrey shook his head and then backed into a chair behind him and plopped down. “Not to me.”
With a sigh, Sam stood. Melancholy was striking him. He’d felt it before. He knew what it was like and if he didn’t move forward and get busy, he was going to stay in this fog. The fog in his head oppressed him. It made it hard to think, hard to do things, and slow to respond to threats. When Sam started feeling this way, he knew that he needed to shake himself out of it before he was called into the line of duty because it was a dangerous place to be when his life was on the line. He stepped to the door and let himself outside without saying another word to Geoffrey. The sun shone overhead and warmed his skin instantly, even though a breeze rustled through the trees. After closing his eyes, he let the wind wash over him. His skin prickled. It was something. He was feeling something and it reminded him that he was alive. Being outside always helped with his melancholy. Even though it took quite a bit of convincing to force himself out of bed when his limbs felt especially heavy, he knew that things always lightened when he was out of doors. One breath after another, he drew in the air long and slow and let it out just as slowly. Then he opened his eyes again feeling a bit better and headed toward the main house and office of the agency.
Being inside again instantly made him heavier, but he refused to let it stop him. He continued marching forward until he’d made it before Marianne’s desk. Without looking up from what she was writing, Marianne gestured toward the large hardwood door. “He’s already waiting for you. Head on in.”
“Thanks,” Sam said before slipping by the desk. Even talking to people and being polite was difficult when this mood struck him. But he continued forward, noting that the metal door handle was cold as ice in his palm. Good. Another feeling to remind himself that he was alive and needed to keep fighting his way out of the fog. Then he turned it under his fist and stepped into the office.
Archie Gordon stood in front of the window with a pipe between his lips. Once his gaze met Sam’s, he took one last puff of his pipe and then set it in the tray on his desk. “There you are, Sam.”
Sam nodded and then sat in the seat Archie gestured toward.
“I have an unusual mission for you this time.”
Furrowing his brow, Sam asked, “What do you mean?”
“We have two female agents who are sisters in this agency, one of whom you’ve met, I believe? Ruby Lee?”
“John Mark’s wife?”
“The same,” Archie said as he sat in his wingback chair. “Savannah, her sister is married to another agent, Lucas McKay.”
Sam nodded again, but didn’t know how to answer and wasn’t sure what it was that Archie might be asking.
The Scottish gent let out a sigh before continuing. “They both joined the agency in an unusual manner. Most of the female agents who join are estranged from their families, or might not even send word to them that they are joining the Pinkertons. But the Lockwood sisters came into the agency with the full approval of their parents... and from Connecticut, no less.”
That seemed preposterous to Sam. “Even though they had to marry their training agents?”
Archie lifted one shoulder in a non-committal half-shrug. “Of that, I’m uncertain, but regardless, Mr. Lockwood is a bit of a patron. He is to head a large bank that is coming in and opening an office in Denver--moving in and bringing with him his wife and third daughter.”
The fogginess in Sam’s head felt as though it was returning. “And what does this have to do with me, exactly?”
“I need for a Pinkerton agent to tend to whatever needs they might have. They will be new in town and not know much about the city. They need help in securing a good property for their home in the right section of town. And I believe they will feel more comfortable with you doing this instead of Geoffrey, since he is closer in age to their daughter than you are.”
Sam’s stomach twisted. “Why isn’t one of his other daughters taking care of this assignment?”
Archie leaned forward as he cleared his throat. “Actually, it’s Savannah that has hired our agency for this task. She and Ruby are both on a rather large assignment in Wyoming, and will not be back for at least two weeks. Doing this duty shouldn’t take you more than a couple of days and will give the Lockwood sisters some peace that their family is being well taken care of in their absence.”
“How old is this other daughter?”
“She’s eighteen. Geoffrey is only twenty three. At least at twenty-eight, there are a few more years separating you and the third daughter, and I’d hope that would put the father at ease. Though it’s not just about age, but maturity as well. I’m certain you’ve noticed that Geoffrey is prone to child-like playfulness at times? And Savannah had said that in the days after her sister Ruby’s wedding, they both got into a spot of trouble together. In fact, the sisters asked specifically that it not be Geoffrey that takes this duty.”
Leaning forward, Sam rubbed at his eyes and temple. “A babysitting job then? That’s what you’re assigning me to?”
“If that’s how you want to put it, Shelby, but remember that there are no unimportant jobs. Each job must be done to the utmost of the Pinkerton Code.”
“Right,” Sam said as he sat back once more. “So when do I begin?”
“Their train arrives in a little over an hour,” Archie said as he glanced at his pocket watch. “You’ll have time to get yourself lunch before heading to the station.”
Sam pushed off the arms of his chair and stood, deciding that if he was going to eat lunch at all, he’d do it outside in the hopes that the wind might clear more of the fog from his head. “An hour then.”
* * *
When the train arrived in the station, Hazel could hardly contain herself. Denver was one of the largest cities the train had taken them through since they’d entered the western territories. It was almost like being back in the east for the size and the number of people and their fashions, but then the buildings were made of wood instead of stone and brick, and the streets were not cobbled like they were back home.
“Sit still, Hazel,” Father growled at her. “You will make me nervous by the way your knees are shaking.”
Hazel hadn’t even realized that her knees had been quaking such until he’d said so. She placed her hands over them to get them to stop. “Sorry, Father. It’s just so exciting to finally be here. Will Ruby or Savannah meet us at the station?”
His lips thinned as he shook his head and took another puff of his pipe. “Savannah telegraphed me to let me know that neither of them would be able to come. Instead, she’s hired someone to help us settle into the right hotel and help guide us through the city. It’s another Pinkerton Agent, in fact.”
Her breath hitched as her eyes went wide. Another agent. She grew excited as she thought it might be Geoffrey. The two of them had gotten a bit close after the wedding when he’d asked her as they walked through the park if she’d ever caught a frog before. For some reason, when the two of them got together, Hazel didn’t feel like an adult and graduate of Vassar, but instead like a middle grade school girl with a bit of a crush on an older student. Would it be wrong for her to marry her brother-in-law? Ruby and Savannah both seemed to disapprove of the possibility, but maybe this would be her chance to get to know Geoffrey better?
The train lurched a bit as the wheels squealed against the track before coming to a complete stop and growing silent. As soon as the noise of the train receded, the murmurs of the people outside their private car
grew to fill the vacancy. Hazel caught her knees shaking again. She wanted to get up. She wanted to stand and run out the car with the rest of the crowd, but her father still sat in his seat, smoking his pipe, and Mother had yet to put her sewing away.
“The train has stopped,” Hazel reminded them.
Mother looked up from her sewing and offered a head tilt and a smile. “There’s no rush, child. Denver isn’t going anywhere.”
Exasperated, Hazel released another sigh. “But can we at least start to move as though we are going to get off this train?”
Putting her sewing back in her carpet bag, Mother rolled her eyes. “I suppose so.”
Father put away his pipe and stood.
Finally! Hazel leapt to her feet and turned about in the car to get her carpet back from the overhead storage space. With her heart beating an excited thrum in her chest, she followed her parents through the crowd as the moved a half-step at a time out of their private compartment and out into the train station. Father looked about and found a porter right away to talk to about their trunks, while Hazel searched the station for Geoffrey. She didn’t see him anywhere through the crowd although his tall, thin figure should have been easy to find. Instead, she met eyes with a man whose square jaw and hardened vision made her take pause in her lighthearted feelings. There was a sadness behind those eyes that had struck a chord within her, she could almost hear the notes playing as he strode in their direction without ever breaking their locked gazes. Hazel couldn’t blink. She could scarcely breathe as more of the notes shook her to her core. Then, finally--thankfully--he broke gazes with her and met eyes with her mother, his expression softening and a small smile pulling back his lips. “Would you happen to be Mrs. Lockwood?”
