A Texas Promise

by Laura Conner Kestner

  “I’m not sure. She was laughing so hard that I couldn’t understand a word. Then she said, ‘Thanks, Sheriff,’ and left the room.”

  Maggie couldn’t help but laugh herself. “That sounds like Peg.”

  Eli polished off a cookie in three bites then brushed off his hands. “Back to our courtship. The more people talk about us, the faster it’ll get back to Fair Haven and Hollis Anderson. He’s the one who needs to believe that it’s all going forward.”

  “That makes sense. I would prefer to tell your pastor the truth. And mine, if I could figure out a way to get word to him.”

  “All right, we should be able to arrange for that.”

  Maggie did have a few concerns. “What do we say if anyone asks how we met?” She wasn’t worried about her reputation, only her and Lucinda’s safety. But she was embarrassed by the condition she’d been in when she arrived.

  He shrugged. “We can say you were visiting Moccasin Rock, and we met at Martin’s Mercantile and that I’ve hardly let you out of my sight since then.”

  That was truthful enough. “How do I explain Lucinda?”

  “For the time being, probably best not to offer any explanation at all,” he said. “No one has mentioned her, which I’ve wondered about myself. Did anyone even realize she’d been born?”

  “I suppose only the doctor, the guard and some of the patients. There’s a possibility that the few who knew are dead. Except for the guard.”

  Hoping this wouldn’t lead to a discussion about Lucinda’s grandparents, Maggie changed the subject. “So where should we make our first public appearance together?”

  “We could always go out for a walk today, and then I could accompany you to church on Sunday.”

  Maggie loved the idea of getting to go to church. “Let me see if Peg minds watching the baby while we’re gone today.”

  The woman in question entered the room in time to hear her name. “I don’t mind at all,” Peg said, “but where are y’all going?”

  Eli explained everything, while Maggie removed her apron, thanked Peg and left to freshen up.

  It only took a few minutes to brush her hair and then twist it in a bun at the back of her head. Staring at herself in the dresser mirror, she ran a finger across the remaining scratch that marred her face.

  It might leave a permanent scar. But considering the kind of scars she could’ve had, she thanked God once again for his mercies.

  Leaving the house with Eli, Maggie felt a few jitters regarding what they were about to do, but those soon disappeared, replaced by pure elation at being out of the house.

  Her happiness was replaced by frustration when Eli stopped before they reached the main street and turned to her.

  “Maggie, stick close to me while we’re out like this. And let me do the talking.”

  Although she didn’t say anything, her expression must’ve revealed her vexation.

  Eli looked her in the eyes. “I’m not trying to order you around for the fun of it. It’s for your safety, for my safety, and for others. There are a lot of strangers in town right now. I don’t want to cause a problem for some innocent person.”

  “Problem?”

  “Yeah, like shooting someone who accidently bumps into you.”

  Oh. Hopefully Eli was exaggerating, yet she could see the wisdom in his cautious ways. But she didn’t have to like it. “That’s a perfectly logical explanation,” she said, “and I understand. But I get the feeling that you’d prefer if I agreed with everything you said without hesitation.”

  “That’s not true. I prefer to be around opinionated, strong-willed people. It makes discussions more lively and interesting. I particularly enjoy…” Eli hesitated, his gaze dropping to her mouth for a moment, “…arguing with a sassy woman.”

  He turned and resumed his unhurried pace, casually studying the area, while Maggie’s feet were unsteady now as she tripped along beside him. She was not ready for the conversation to end. “Which sassy women have you been arguing with?”

  He stopped and smiled. “That, my dear pretend fiancé, is none of your business.”

  Mumbling under her breath, Maggie placed her hand on the arm he offered as they stepped upon the boardwalk. “Okay,” she agreed, “I’ll stay close. But why can’t I do the talking? Do you honestly think I can’t handle this?”

  He considered that for a moment, then relented. “You’re right. You will probably do a better job at it than I would. But we—both of us—have to pull together for this to work.”

  “I agree.”

  He placed his hand over hers where it rested on his arm. “And to tell you the truth, that’s how I feel about a real relationship, too.”

  Maggie was once again caught off guard. Just when she thought she had this man figured out, he managed to surprise her.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Eli bit back a smile at the expression on Silas Martin’s face when Maggie walked right up to him with a huge smile on her face and held out her hand, palm down, fingers curled slightly—in that peculiar way that ladies had.

  “Mr. Martin, I understand that I owe you my deepest gratitude.”

  Silas looked like he was about to swallow his tobacco. “You do?”

  “Yes, I’ve been told that it was you who fetched the sheriff when I was in dire straits, and that it was you who went for the doctor and midwife.”

  Silas ran a hand over his bald head. “Well, umm, I only did what any responsible citizen would do.”

  “Nevertheless,” Maggie said, “it was you who came to my rescue. The world would be a better place if there were more people like you.”

  Silas’s head had reddened to match the handkerchief hanging from his back pocket. Eli almost felt sorry for him.

  Catching Maggie’s eye, Eli said, “We have a few more stops to make, darling.”

  “Oh, yes. Thank you for the reminder…dear.”

  After one astonished glance in Eli’s direction, Silas returned his attention to Maggie who was asking about some of his yard goods, and complimenting him on the appearance of the store in general.

  For the next few minutes, Maggie talked and smiled a lot, and Silas nodded and blushed a lot, while Eli leaned against the counter, thoroughly enjoying himself. Maggie was good at this. He should never have doubted her.

  Eli was distracted by the sight of Walter Miller stepping out of the back room with a hammer in hand.

  The man waved at him, and Eli headed his way. “You about to get finished with the repairs?”

  “I already did, but then Mr. Martin hired me to build him a display area. I sure am grateful for the money. I need to find another place to live, and now I have to find another job.”

  “Why?”

  “The school board met and then sent word that they’re going to use someone else.”

  “I’m sorry,” Eli said. “I didn’t tell a soul about what happened.”

  “Thanks, Sheriff. I think it had more to do with my wife and daughter than it did anything else.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “Mrs. Dunlop’s husband is one of the school board members.”

  Poor Walter couldn’t catch a break. First the other fellow Eli had arrested disappeared the first day he had let them out to work, and now this. At least the drover had left his poker winnings to help pay for the repairs. It still left Walter to do all the work. So, no housing, and now no long term income.

  “Let me see what I can do,” Eli said. “With all the building going on around here, there’s gotta be work somewhere.”

  “Much obliged, Sheriff.”

  Walter walked over to the north wall and Eli trailed after him to look at the new display case.

  “This is quality work,” Eli said.

  Walter shrugged the compliment off. “Mr. Martin seems to like it okay.”

  “I dabble a little in woodworking,” Eli said, “and I know a good job when I see one.”

  Smiling, Walter admitted that he loved carpentry wor
k. “I’ve always enjoyed doing this. Like I said before, my Pappy was the one who wanted me to be a teacher. This is something I do because I love it.”

  “It’d be nice if you could make money doing something you love,” Eli said.

  “A fellow can dream,” Walter agreed.

  After leaving the mercantile, Maggie and Eli made brief stops at several other places, including Bony Joe’s restaurant and the post office. Most people in town made a stop in one or the other every day, so it didn’t take long to meet a few of the Moccasin Rock citizenry.

  At the hotel, Eli talked to the owner and discovered that they were in need of help on the interior work.

  “I’ve got plenty of laborers,” the man said. “What I’m lacking is skilled labor.”

  “I know just the man for you,” Eli said. “His name is Walter Miller. Go on over to Martin’s Mercantile and look at the display case he’s building. Tell him I sent you.”

  “I’ll do it right now,” the owner said.

  Eli and Maggie’s last stop was at the newspaper office.

  As soon as they entered the door, Luther pulled his ink-stained apron off and laid it aside. Eli had never seen the man do that before.

  “To what do I owe this honor?” Luther asked.

  “Miss Radford is new to Moccasin Rock,” Eli said, “and a guest of Peg Harmon’s. I wanted to introduce her to a few people.”

  “Is that right? Well, it’s a delight to meet you, Miss Radford. Where are you from?”

  Eli began to second guess his decision to make the newspaper office one of his stops when Luther’s first question was followed by a string of others. Eli should’ve known that a newsman would be curious.

  He breathed easier when he noticed that Maggie had somehow shifted the attention back to Luther. She was asking him where he’d been born, how long he’d lived in Moccasin Rock, how long he’d been in the newspaper business. She’d done the same thing to him a time or two. This was more fun.

  To make sure that the visit accomplished their goal, Eli smiled at Maggie and winked—then wondered if that was a good idea when she went wide-eyed and mute. She’d been doing great, and now she seemed to be floundering for something to say. Eli never would figure women out. They left not long afterwards.

  Before they returned to Peg’s house, Eli took Maggie to see his house, or what there was of it. Her reaction was positive—the site, the view, even the simple design seemed to meet with her approval. She truly was a sweet woman, Eli decided, although she might’ve had a few concerns had their engagement been a real one.

  By the time Sunday rolled around, Eli was pretty sure that everyone in town had heard about him and Maggie Radford, including Murphy Patterson. If the Pinkerton man was still watching and reporting back to Hollis, he’d have plenty to report this time. Sitting with Maggie at church should remove any last doubts about their rumored courtship.

  Stepping up on Peg’s front porch just as the church bells began to chime, Eli tugged on his collar, smoothed his hair down with the palm of his hand, and then knocked on the door. He was surprised by the way his stomach was flip-flopping around. Whose idiotic idea was this anyway?

  Oh, it was his.

  Although Eli had attended church services recently, he was only now getting to where he was comfortable. He liked to slip in late, sit in the back seat, and then slip out again as soon as the final amen rang out.

  It wasn’t that he was unfriendly, or disliked the congregation. He’d just gotten accustomed to keeping to himself through the years.

  He was second-guessing the whole plan when Maggie opened the door.

  All other thoughts flew from his mind.

  Eli had been certain she was one of the prettiest women in Texas already—even in rags, buckskin, or borrowed trousers—but Maggie all dressed up was something special indeed.

  Her dress was a soft golden-pinkish color. He’d seen that exact shade on a fish fin once—a sun perch if he remembered correctly. The dress was simple, no fussy ruffles, lace or yards of excess fabric. It probably had some fancy name, both the color and the style, but all Eli knew was that it was a stunning combination. She wasn’t wearing a hat. Her beautiful hair was piled up in swirls on the top of her head.

  She smiled at him. “How do I look?”

  Lovely. Beautiful. Should he mention the fish? “You look nice,” he settled for saying.

  “Thank you. You look nice yourself,” she said, and Eli was glad he’d gone to the barbershop the day before. He’d also shaved this morning and slapped on some smell-good stuff he’d borrowed from Caleb.

  Peg had agreed to keep the baby at home, so he and Maggie headed to the church. They arrived while the congregation was still gathering. By unspoken agreement they sat with Nathaniel and Brody in the pew behind Caleb and Abby, and Abby’s family.

  When the words to the first hymn rang out, Eli relaxed. In some way that he couldn’t explain, it felt right—all of it.

  He only mouthed the words to the song—aware that his singing sounded a lot like a stepped-on toad frog—but he loved hearing those around him sing.

  “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?

  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

  Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?

  Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?”

  As always, Pastor Wilkie Brown’s sermon held Eli’s interest. He spoke about trust, and faith, reading from the sixth chapter of Matthew. “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” Don’t worry about tomorrow. That made sense. But something else tugged at Eli’s mind, and he couldn’t figure out what. He quit puzzling over it when Pastor Wilkie moved on to the next scripture.

  After the service, he waited while Abby introduced Maggie to several people, including the Horton Boarding House residents.

  Outside, Abby pulled Maggie along with her when another woman excitedly motioned for them. “Come see what my husband bought me,” she called.

  As they all exclaimed over the new Singer sewing machine in the back of a wagon, picked up earlier at the train station, Eli kept his gaze on Maggie. Even though this was all a plan to keep her safe, she seemed to truly be enjoying herself among the people of Moccasin Rock. He wished he’d thought of it sooner.

  Caleb and Nathaniel wandered over to join him. “So what part of the courting ritual are y’all observing this afternoon?” Caleb asked.

  Eli’s head snapped up. “What do you mean? We’ve already walked around town together.”

  Caleb grinned, thoroughly enjoying Eli’s discomfort. “You want this to seem real, right?”

  “Yeah.” Eli had never courted a respectable girl. He had no idea what else to do. It seemed like there was a lot of parlor-sitting involved; often under the watchful eye of a Papa. That wasn’t going to work.

  “Luckily for you,” Caleb added, “most people don’t do much on Sundays except go to church. But tomorrow you could…”

  Eli cut him off. “No, I’ve got plans.”

  “What kind of plans?” Nathaniel asked.

  “Nothing I want to talk about,” Eli said.

  What he had to do, he needed to do alone. After several more questions that met with the same response, both his brothers gave up. That was good, because Eli was enjoying watching Maggie again.

  Perhaps a little too much, he cautioned himself. He needed to tread carefully here, and not for his own sake. Eli didn’t want to mislead her. Even in the past, he’d never misled or lied to a woman.

  Although he and Maggie had been thrown together for the time being, their lives—past, present and future—couldn’t be more different. He had nothing to offer a woman like her. The woman read books. For fun! Eli had learned to read and write enough to get by, but that was about it. Nope, there was absolutely no future for them.

  Maggie looked up at that moment and gave him a dazzling smile. Despite everything he’d just told himself, Eli’s heart trippe
d over itself.

  Relax, she’s pretending. That’s all it is. Her motivation is safety, not love.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  The next morning, after making sure that Bliss could keep an eye on things in Moccasin Rock, Eli removed his badge and laid it on the desk.

  Despite the old man’s persistent questioning, Eli wouldn’t tell him what his plans were. “I’ll be back before night fall,” he said. “That’s all you need to know.” He wasn’t telling the deputy or anyone else what he had in mind.

  Eli wasn’t sure what to do yet about Hollis Anderson, or even how to help Maggie long-term, but there was one person he could deal with.

  The man called Tiny. And he would do it alone.

  Unfortunately, Caleb was waiting outside as Eli left the jail.

  The knowing little grin on his youngest brother’s face put him on guard. Eli nodded at him, but didn’t say anything.

  “Where you headed?” Caleb asked.

  Eli pushed past him. “Out.”

  Caleb’s grin widened. “Need help with anything?”

  “Sure,” Eli said over his shoulder. “If you want to give Bliss a hand around here, that’d be great.”

  “I think I’d rather go with you,” Caleb said, striding along beside him.

  Eli stopped and turned. “Why?”

  “To make sure you don’t get yourself into trouble over in Fair Haven.”

  He knew. “I should never have told you about what that guard did to Maggie,” Eli grumbled. “Or that I had something important to tend to today.”

  “Yeah, you’re not that hard to figure,” Caleb said.

  “Then unfigure me,” Eli snapped. “I don’t need any help. I’ll be fine.”

  “Probably so,” Caleb agreed. “I believe I’ll go along for the fun of it.”

  Eli struggled with his frustration as the train whistle sounded in the distance. “Okay, but only if you accompany me as my brother, not a lawman.”

  Caleb’s grin slipped a little. “Not sure I can promise that, especially if you plan on breaking any laws.”

  “I’m not planning any such thing. I only want to have a talk with the man. Don’t interfere.”