Montana Sky: The Purchased Bride (Kindle Worlds Novella) (The Jones's of Morgan's Crossing Book 2)

by Kit Morgan

  “I got no complaints. Got yerself a nice li’l town here, sir.”

  “We think so.” He smiled, glanced up the street and back, then tipped his hat. “Nice chatting with you. I like to get to know the men working for me.”

  Herman forced a smile. “Mighty fine meetin’ ya too, Mr. Morgan.”

  Mr. Morgan nodded, turned and strode away.

  Herman had seen the owner around the mine before, but had never had to engage him. A good thing too, since he brought Lillie up. Now the women in town were going to be looking for her. Dadgummit anyway!

  If that darn Clyde hadn’t opened his big mouth and told Morgan about Lillie, he’d been able to just live his life for awhile with no complications. Now he’d have to explain why she was gone. Of course, telling everyone she ran away might work … yes, that’s what he’d do. She took off and he had no idea why.

  ‘Course, if she turned up dead somewhere he’d have to chalk it up to bad luck. If she got herself killed, it wouldn’t be his fault. Nope, her blood would be on her own head. He was innocent of any wrongdoing on that score.

  Herman smiled at the thought, pulled a flask out of his pocket and took a swig. The whiskey burned down his throat as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Time to come up with a plan.

  * * *

  Jess headed up the stairs, a tray of food in his hands. He reached the landing and went to the first doorway on his right. Balancing the tray with one hand, he knocked on the open door frame. Lillie didn’t look at him at first so he knocked again. Maybe she’d just woken up and was disoriented. Zadie had given her another dose of laudanum the night before, after all.

  She finally looked at him and pulled the quilt up to her chin. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Jess. We spoke briefly yesterday. But you might not remember.”

  “I remember a little,” she said. Wait – did he say “Jess” or “Jeff”? “And I remember talking with … Zadie?”

  “That’s right – she’s my cousin. Well, she’s married to my cousin Anson. We all planned to pay you a visit last night after supper but as soon as you ate a little you fell right to sleep.” He set the tray on the bedside table. “I brought you breakfast.”

  She looked at the bowl of oatmeal on the tray. “Thank you.”

  “Are you hungry?”

  She nodded. “I am. I guess I must not have eaten much last night.” To confirm that, her stomach rumbled. She quickly placed a hand over it and blushed.

  Jess laughed. “You’d best eat up. You look better.”

  She blushed again. “I’m sure anything’s an improvement at this point.” She briefly looked away and then back. “You’re the one that found me, aren’t you?”

  Jess sat in the chair next to the bed. “That’s right. Do you remember what happened?” He noted how she pulled the quilt tighter around her – she was obviously still frightened.

  “Not much.” A lie – she’d never forget if she lived to be a thousand. “I don’t want to talk about it right now, if you don’t mind.”

  He cocked his head. “Where are you from, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to know?”

  He shrugged. “I guess it’s because I hear a little bit of an accent when you talk. Folks always asked me where I’m from because of my accent.”

  She stared at him a moment. “Oh yes.” She licked her lips. “Where are you from?”

  “Clear Creek, Oregon. Anson hails from there too. Zadie, she came from Denver as a mail-order bride.”

  Lillie stared at the quilt. “Doesn’t really matter where I’m from. I lived in a lot of different places – I’d have to give you a list. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t think well enough right now to do that.” She looked at him again and smiled weakly.

  He smiled back. “I don’t want to wear you out.” He got up from the chair, crossed the room to the dresser and poured her a glass of water, then returned to the bed and set it on the table. “You go ahead and eat. I’ll come back for the tray.”

  “I … I don’t mind the company.”

  Her words were music to his ears. He smiled anew, sat and handed her the bowl of oatmeal. She smiled as she took it gratefully and began to eat.

  He watched her for a while, unsure of what to say. He didn’t want to bombard her with questions, but he was still curious as to where she came from and who she was. “So your name is Lillie,” he said to break the silence.

  She didn’t look at him but nodded as she ate.

  “I probably shouldn’t be talking while you’re having breakfast,” he said with a chuckle. “You must be half-starved.”

  She looked at him, the spoon halfway to her mouth. “It’s good.”

  “Yeah, Zadie’s getting better all the time.” He looked around and winked. “She wasn’t always a good cook, but don’t let her know I said that.”

  She smiled again, and Jess thought he’d died and gone to Heaven. “I’ll remember not to mention it,” she replied.

  He nodded at the bowl in her hand. “There’s more where that came from. I can fetch you a second helping if you’d like.”

  “Let me finish this first and we’ll see,” she suggested.

  He remained quiet and happily watched her finish. She had a delicate mouth and Cupid’s bow lips. He swallowed hard as he imagined what it would be like to kiss them, then clenched his fists and pushed the thought aside. “All done?” he asked when she set the spoon in the bowl and looked at him.

  “Yes. It was very good.”

  “Would you like some more?”

  She shook her head. “Not right now. I’m still tired.”

  “And no wonder,” he said. “I suppose getting shot will do that to a person.” She stared at him like a frightened deer. He should’ve kept his mouth shut. “I’m sorry, Lillie. If you’re not ready to talk about it like you said …”

  “Yes, I was shot.” She shivered all over.

  Jess’s eyebrows rose as he nodded. “And?”

  “And … and I ran …”

  Their eyes locked and he leaned toward her again, his voice gentler. “From whom?”

  Tears filled her eyes. “My father.”

  Jess gripped his kneecaps with his hands. This was more horrible than he’d imagined. “Lillie,” he said as gently as possible. “Did your father do … all this to you?”

  She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I don’t want to talk anymore.”

  What Jess did next was probably improper, but at the moment he didn’t care. He reached over and patted her hand. “It’s all right. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. We can talk again when you’re ready, okay?”

  She didn’t respond. Tears streamed down her face, and it was probably all she could do to hold herself together.

  Jess didn’t push it. He didn’t need to. Her actions were answer enough. Her father, whoever he was and for whatever reason, had beaten and shot her. The thought made him so angry his jaw shook. He’d best get out of there before she saw the state he was in – it would probably scare the poor thing half to death. He got up and left the room.

  Downstairs he found Zadie taking loaves of bread out of the oven. “She ate,” he told her as he strode past her toward the back door. “I’m off to help Anson.”

  “All right,” she called after him.

  Jess didn’t respond, but kept walking, across the barnyard to the corral where Anson was saddling a couple of horses. They were going to ride along the fence line and look for weak spots. “There you are,” Anson said. “I was wondering when you were going to be a long.”

  Jess paced in front of the corral. “He shot her!”

  Anson stopped what he was doing and looked hard at his cousin. “Who? Who shot her?”

  Jess spun to face him. “Her father!”

  Anson dropped the bridle he was holding. “What?!”

  “After he beat her, I suppose!” he said, kicking at the dusty ground.

&nb
sp; Anson shook himself and plucked the bridle off the ground. “We’re going to have to find the sheriff. If what you say is true, this might be a case of attempted murder.” He studied Jess, who had resumed his pacing. “She told you all this?”

  “She told me her father shot her, and she ran. It only makes sense he gave her the bruises too.”

  “Her own father,” Anson muttered to himself. “We need to have our facts straight before we talk to the sheriff.”

  “I know,” Jess stopped again, hands on hips. “I just don’t understand how a man could do such a thing to his own flesh and blood. It sickens me, Anson, it really does.”

  “Me too. But we need find out more before we can do anything. The sheriff will have lots of questions for that little gal upstairs – like who her father is. Did she say if he was dangerous?”

  Jess threw his hands up in the air. “For crying out loud, Anson, he shot her! Yes, I’d say that makes him dangerous!”

  “Settle down, cousin. Was it an accident?” Anson prodded. “Did she tell you exactly what happened?”

  Jess let his hands fall to the sides. “No … not exactly. She … didn’t want to talk about it after she told me that part.”

  Anson closed his eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “So you really don’t know what happened other than he shot her and she ran. But we don’t know why he did it. Or again, who he is.”

  “He’s a cad and a varmint, is who he is.”

  “You know what I mean, Jess,” Anson approached the corral’s wooden fence and rested a booted foot on the bottom rail. “We need to talk to her, find out exactly who she is, who he is and what happened, then see if she’ll talk to the sheriff. Did she say where she came from?”

  “She was vague about that – she said she and her father had lived in a lot of different places. I don’t know if her father is around here.”

  “What about her mother?”

  “She didn’t say anything about her mother.”

  Anson whistled long and low. “A nasty little mystery, this is. And one that we’re going to have to solve – tonight if possible.”

  Jess nodded. The sooner they solved it the better, as far as he was concerned. With a weary sigh he climbed over the corral fence and took the bridle from his cousin. “I’ll finish up here.”

  “Then I’ll go fetch some food to take with us and let Zadie know we’ll be back in a few hours.”

  “You sure we can get that done today?” Jess asked, knowing it would take more than a few hours to ride the fence line.

  “I think we’d better. If that girl’s father tried to kill her, he might have it in his head to finish the job.”

  “Then why are we going out to check the fences at all?” Jess asked.

  Anson looked at the house, at Jess and back again. “Good point.” He spun on his heel and headed for the back porch.

  “Wait for me!” Jess called after him. If Anson planned to bombard Lillie with questions, he wanted to be there to soften the blow. The poor thing had been through so much. But he also understood the need to know the answers, or how could he protect her and his family? He followed Anson, anxious to see what answers they would get.

  Five

  Anson went into the house, up the stairs to his and Zadie’s bedroom, with Jess right on his heels. Zadie fell in behind Jess as if she knew what was about to happen. They entered to find Lillie sitting up in bed, tears in her eyes. She looked frightened but tried to compose herself, as if resigned to what was to come.

  “I’m sorry about this, ma’am,” Anson said. “But there are some things we have to know.”

  She nodded. “I understand. I know what you want. It’s just that it’s difficult to talk about.”

  Zadie sat on the edge of the bed, took Lillie’s hand and smiled. “My husband is only trying to protect you.”

  “And us,” Anson added.

  Jess approached the bed and took the chair beside it. “Tell them what you told me earlier.”

  Lillie nodded again. “My father is … not a good man.”

  “Did he … do that to you?” Zadie asked, pointing at Lillie’s face.

  Lillie reached a hand up to her cheek and winced. “Yes. More than once, I’m afraid.”

  Anson stood, feet apart and arms folded in front of him. “Did he shoot you?”

  Lillie nodded silently.

  “Oh my Lord!” Zadie said. “Why would your father do such a thing?”

  “He’d been drinking,” she answered flatly.

  Jess exchanged a quick look with Anson, whose arms were now it his sides, then looked at Lillie. “What about your mother?”

  “My mother is dead as far as I know. She just … disappeared one day. Pa told me she ran away but, I think maybe … something else happened.”

  “Are you saying that your father killed your mother?” Jess asked in shock.

  “No, no!” she said, shaking her head. “I don’t know what happened. Other than … she wasn’t there anymore.”

  “Did he hit her too?” Zadie asked.

  Lillie swallowed hard. “Yes.”

  Now Zadie looked at Anson, her eyes pleading. “We have to do something.”

  “No!” Lillie said. “Please don’t. You’ll only make things worse.”

  “Where is your father now?” Jess asked.

  “I … I don’t know,” she said. “Working in the mine?”

  “The mine?!” Anson said in shock.

  “You mean the one in Morgan’s Crossing?” Jess added.

  Lillie noted their looks of angst and nodded once more.

  “You made it all this way from the mining camp with a shot hip?” Jess asked.

  “I told you before, I ran. Then I just kept going until I ended up here. I swear, as soon as I’m able I’ll be out of your house and you won’t have to –”

  “Stop that,” Zadie interrupted. “You’ll stay here as long as you need to.” She looked at her husband. “Won’t she, Anson?”

  Anson sighed in frustration. “Of course, but in the meantime I need to talk to the sheriff.” He looked at Lillie. “What your father did to you was wrong, Miss …?”

  “Mayer. Lillie Mayer.”

  “Miss Mayer.” Anson looked at Jess and Zadie. “I promise that my family and I will do whatever we can to help you and protect you. But you’re going to have to help us too.” He stepped toward the bed. “That means you’re going to have to talk to that sheriff.”

  “I didn’t think Morgan’s Crossing had a sheriff,” Lillie said softly.

  “There’s one in Sweetwater Springs,” Zadie volunteered.

  “Two days’ ride from here,” Anson grumbled. “One of us will have to fetch him.”

  “No, please, don’t. Not yet.” Lillie pleaded. “I know what Pa does is wrong. But he’s all the family I have.”

  “Some family,” Jess remarked.

  “Lillie, don’t you see?” Zadie said. “He can’t be allowed to treat you like this.”

  “He does it because he gets frustrated with me.”

  “Frustrated?” Jess said as his face twisted up in confusion. “What makes him so frustrated that he would harm you?”

  “He … drinks …”

  “That’s not an excuse, Miss Mayer,” Anson said. “Thank you for telling us – we’ll take it from here. Now I don’t want you to fret over this – we just want you to get well. Then we’ll figure something out.”

  Lillie looked at them. “Figure what out?”

  Zadie smiled. “Where you can go from here, what else?”

  * * *

  Lillie tried to keep from gaping. Were they serious? Were they willing to help her that much? Or were they saying that as soon as she felt better, she’d have to fend for herself? She was too tired to ask, still hurt all over and had a pounding headache. She wanted to sleep again and not wake up. Maybe that’s what her mother did in order to stop her father’s constant attacks.

  Lucinda Mayer had been a beautiful woman and, even
careworn as she became, men still admired her. But Lillie’s father would have none of that, and made sure Lucinda knew exactly how he felt. No wonder she’d left.

  If indeed she had by her own power. Deep down, Lillie knew that her mother would never leave her behind, subjecting her to the same ill treatment. Lillie suspected her father had something to do with her mother’s sudden disappearance, but she couldn’t prove it then and certainly couldn’t now.

  Lillie had tried to run away before, a few times, but her father had always caught her. If he’d shown her any shred of affection over the last six years, she might have even pitied him. But her father was not some sad, pathetic drunk mewling to himself in the corner of a saloon. He was calculating, ruthless, greedy and treated her like a slave, one that cooked, cleaned, sewed and gave him something to brag about to his friends.

  Then he started to figure out she wasn’t normal. Her mother had protected her for years, helped her cope and kept her secret hidden from her father. But once he knew, he despaired of ever finding her a husband – or rather, selling her off to one. When he began talking of brothels and how it was the only work she was fit for, that was the last straw. She knew she had to get away quickly. She just didn’t think it would be like this.

  She sat and wondered why he’d become so upset when she brought up leaving. He gave every indication he didn’t want her around anymore, so why not let her go? But just as she wasn’t normal, neither was he. Maybe that’s why he became violent when she brought it up this last time. But then, he hadn’t gone looking for her either – or at least he hadn’t found her.

  She studied the room she was in. The family – Jess Jones and Zadie Jones and whoever the other man was – had left only a few minutes ago. If her father was looking for her, they were sure to hear something about it soon. Maybe she should take Mr. Jones’ advice, mend and not worry about it. If Pa didn’t come looking for her, she’d have to figure out where to go and how to support herself. But who in their right mind would hire her?

  Maybe her father was right, maybe the only job she could do was … “No,” she said aloud. “I can’t think like that.” She was not going to become a “soiled dove” just because she was different. She’d find a way to make it on her own. But for now, she had to get better – and if these people were willing to let her stay in their home to do so, then God bless them all.