The wait for a reply was the most arduous and tortuous time of his life. He buried himself in his work; spending hours more each day that he was paid for in an effort to exhaust himself so that he would fall asleep as soon as he got into bed each night. This worked some nights, but certainly not all, and those nights that he lay awake were the longest agony he could endure.
It was almost three weeks before her letter of reply came. He pulled the envelope open as soon as the postman handed it to him. He was terrified, but he had to know. At first, he couldn’t even read the letter, the letters and words seem to be all jumbled up in his eyes. None of it was making sense. He pulled the letter from his face, rubbed his eyes with the palms of hands and then looked at the letter. This time, it was his shaking hands that prevented his reading; with frustration, he smoothed out the letter on the porch step and sat down to read it. This time, his eyes took in the most wondrous arrangement of letters, words, and phrases he had ever seen. She had said yes!
He jumped up from a sitting position, tossed his hat in the air and yelped a loud cheer. Roger looked around but there was no one in sight with which he could share his wonderful news. He quickly jumped on his horse and rode to Jackson’s house. Jackson was delighted with his friend’s news and he insisted that they go to the saloon to celebrate. Roger was not usually one for drinking but he was so happy and his friend so insistent that he allowed himself the idea of one beer to toast his new life.
Everyone in the saloon was delighted to hear Roger’s news; Barney, the bartender, insisted on getting Roger a drink as well. This coupled with the one Jackson bought for him had Roger feeling quite tipsy. The more seasoned drinking men laughed at his red cheeks, glassy eyes and manic smile. Roger began to speak to people he didn’t know as well as those he did telling them all about Melissa and how wonderful she was. The atmosphere in the saloon was one of joy and conviviality, but Jackson knew to take his friend home before he became too worse for wear.
Roger slept that afternoon; it was the first time he could ever recall sleeping during the day. He woke in the early evening with tremendous thirst on his lips. He sought out Melissa’s letter of acceptance which was still in the inside jacket pocket from earlier. He held the letter close to his breast imagining her voice as she spoke the words contained.
He wrote a letter to thank her for her acceptance. He felt fine by now, but he knew from seeing other men that alcohol could cloud your judgement for a long time. With this in mind, he scribbled out his ideas for the letter as they came to him, intending to write the real draft the next day when he knew he would be over his indulgence.
Chapter 5
Melissa had no idea what she was going to tell her family. She had carried on this secret correspondence for many months and had fallen in love with Roger in this time. He had asked her to marry him and she had accepted joyously. She had no doubt in her mind that she had made the right decision, but she knew that it was not going to go down well with her parents. She didn’t care in the least what Mr. Turner would feel about the whole thing; in fact, she hoped that she would not even see him again before she left for her new life out West.
At dinner, on the evening she decided to tell them of her plans, her mother went on and on about a young lady who had just married a cousin of hers. After this tedium, her father then went on to discuss the railroads – a topic which was of great interest to him but bored both Melissa and her mother. They were having desert by the time there was a lull in the conversation, and this is where Melissa spoke,
“I have gotten engaged,” she said. Both of her parents looked at her and then to one another and then back to Melissa.
“We know, you have been engaged for months,” said her mother.
“That’s not what I mean, mother,” Melissa said.
“What are you talking about, then?” Her father said. He didn’t like nonsense and this seemed like nonsense to him.
“I have gotten engaged to someone other than Mr. Turner,” Melissa said bravely. Once more her parents looked at one another but this time, it was in disbelief.
“Engaged to who!” Her father raised his voice.
“His name is Roger, he works on a ranch, and we have been exchanging letters for many months now.”
“But what about Mr. Turner?” her mother said. She had a scandalized look on her face, it was like she could hear the neighbors talking about this already. “You can’t be engaged to two people at the same time!”
“As far as I’m concerned, I was never engaged to Mr. Turner. He never proposed to me and I never accepted. Roger has proposed, and I have accepted,” Melissa said.
“This is ridiculous Melissa,” her father said, “I’m not listening to any more of this rubbish,” then turning to her mother said, “You can sort this out with her,” and he stomped out of the room.
When they were alone, her mother took on a more sympathetic tone.
“I understand that you are worried, but this is a little extreme, don’t you think?” she asked Melissa.
“I love him,” Melissa said.
“You’ve met this man?”
“No,” she knew this information wasn’t going to do her argument any favors and at that moment Melissa knew that there was no way she was going to be able to convince her family. She would simply have to play out this argument and then pretend to concede to their demands. After that she would have to sneak away and leave; this was not what she had wanted but she could see now that she wasn’t going to have any other choice. So she went through the motions with her mother and then went to bed without agreeing to anything, as she would normally do if they were arguing. The only difference was that the tears she cried that night when she was alone in bed were not of frustration but of sorrow that she had to start her new life without the blessing of her family.
The next day, after a frosty breakfast, (she couldn’t pretend to give in just yet) she went into town and bought a train ticket. While she was at the station, she wrote a new letter to Roger to tell him that she would be on her way very soon.
As she left the post office, she literally bumped into Turner. He stopped and gave her a condescending look and she was sure he was about to say something derogatory about her until he realized that it was her.
“What has you out here on your own?” he asked looking around to see if anyone was with her. For a moment Melissa did not know how to answer this, she said quickly,
“I was buying stamps for my mother,” and she could feel the lie crawl over her face. He looked at her and nodded as though he didn’t care.
“Do you need a lift home?” he asked.
“No, thank you, I actually enjoyed the walk here and was looking forward to walking back too.”
“Suit yourself,” he said gruffly. “I have some business in the post office myself, so goodbye,” he said and he walked in without waiting for her to say anything else. Melissa thought this was quite rude and she was even more resolved than ever to escape a life with this man.
That evening at dinner, she apologized to her parents.
“Think nothing of it,” her father said. He was in a good mood because of some deal or other at work that had gone his way.
“You’ll be happy, dear,” her mother added taking hold of her hand and squeezing it.
“I know I will,” Melissa said and she looked down at her food so as not to betray what she was thinking; that she knew she would be happy because she planned to escape to Roger the next morning. There was no more talk about Roger or even Turner that evening. Melissa wondered what dinner would be like when it was just her two parents. This led her to think what her own meals of the future with Roger would be like. Before she went to bed that evening, she said sorry to her parents again and told them that she loved them both very much. There were tears in her eyes as she went off to her bedroom for the last time.
Melissa listened to the house and heard her parents go to bed. It was gone midnight and she knew she would have to be out of the house by f
ive if she was going to catch her train. She started packing a bag as soon as the house was quiet. She knew she could not bring a large bag as she would be carrying it most of the journey and she did not want to be uncomfortable. She carefully packed away the wedding dress her mother had made her buy; there was no point in it going to waste after all.
Melissa left the house just as the sun was about to rise and she found that thought she was exhilarated she was also terrified of the quiet of the morning streets. There was no one else around and everything looked more sinister than it did during the day. Thankfully by the time she got to the train station, it was more light out and there were more people about as well. She got on the train and took a seat by the window. There were not too many other passengers for this train and she looked around and didn’t recognize anyone at all. She settled down in her chair in the hope that she could get some sleep before anyone came and sat near her. She had stayed up all night as she was too afraid to sleep; she was sure she would have missed her train and she didn’t have the money for another ticket just yet.
Chapter 6
Roger met the postman at the creek on his way to deliver letters to the ranch.
“I can save you the trip if you want?” Roger offered. It was a hot day and he would be heading over to the house in a little bit anyway.
“That would be great,” the postman said, “It’s terribly hot out today and I have a lot of deliveries to make, I wish there were a forest or some other deep cool place I could travel through today,” he added good-naturedly. Roger took the letters and put them in his saddle bag. He went to the fence to the north of the property and fixed some damage that had been done and then rode back towards the ranch for his lunch. As he got off the horse, he remembered the letters and he took them out.
Mr. Hughes, the ranch owner, was in the kitchen where all the men would have lunch and Roger handed him the letters after they had exchanged greetings and Roger told him about the fixed fence. Hughes looked through the mail,
“There’s one here for you Roger,” he said. Roger turned and saw Hughes was holding up a letter. He recognized the envelope immediately, it was from her. He hadn’t even thought to look at the pile the postman had given him even though his mail was often delivered to the ranch instead of his home. He got the letter from Mr. Hughes and put in his pocket. He felt self-conscious at the idea of opening it in front of his boss.
All through lunch, he found himself fingering the paper as he ate. He had to force his hand away and hope that none of the other ranch hands would question him about the letter, and why it seemed so important to him. As luck would have it, he was assigned to work with two other men for the rest of the afternoon. He would have no chance to look at the letter at all until he got home.
When at last, he was in the private safety of his home, he pulled the letter from his pocket and carefully opened the envelope. He was delighted to read that Melissa would soon be on her way. It suddenly felt much more real to him what had been going on between them this last while. He found that he was actually giddy at the thought of his future wife getting on that train and winging her way to him.
Roger began to work on the house and making the improvements he had told her about in one of his earlier letters. He knew that he wouldn’t get everything done before she arrived but would do his best to finish a small room that she could call her own until they got to know each other better as man and wife. The work was hard and tiring after his long days at the ranch but there was a sense of purpose to him now like nothing he had ever known. This was the first thing in his entire life that ever had real meaning, real substance. He wanted Melissa to be happy, not just with him, but also with where she would now live. He understood that rural living was going to be quite a change from her city life in New York. He could recall his own first forays into the West, and how different he had found things all those years ago.
Not long after receiving the letter, there was another one on his porch waiting for him one evening as he came back from the ranch. This time, he did not recognize the envelope and he was surprised to find that it was from Melissa. He read through the letter and was shocked by its contents. Melissa told him that she had been in arranged engagement to a horrible man she could never love and that she was fleeing her home to marry Roger without her parents’ consent. They would not even know where she had gone until she wrote them a letter from Roger’s home. There was worse news in the letter, however. Melissa told him that the man she had been engaged to had somehow found out where she was going and had confronted her as she changed trains some distance from her home. She had managed to give him the slip, but at the cost of missing her train and as such she would arrive a day or two later than she had anticipated. Melissa said that she was sorry she had not been more honest with him and that she hoped he would still feel the same way about her. She added that she would understand if he did not.
Roger was completely taken aback by this news. He had never even considered such a thing as this could be going on. He had to admit that he was a little peeved that she had kept such a problem from him, but when he put himself in her place, he thought he might have done the same thing. It did not diminish his love her and it only made him want to see her more so that he could protect her.
About a week after receiving this letter, Roger was in town one day when he saw a man getting out of the Stagecoach. He had never seen this man before but he just had a feeling this was the Mr. Turner from Melissa’s letter, the man who had pursued her across the country. He was an older man than Roger had expected, and as Turner looked about the town with disdain, Roger could see his sour demeanor and the meanness in his eyes. It was unfortunate, he thought, that this man had arrived in town before Melissa had. Roger toyed with the idea of going over to this man and telling him who he was and that he thought Turner would be better off leaving town right away. This felt wrong to Roger, however. He did not feel he had the right to run him out of town, and if he had been in Turner’s position, he would feel that he deserved to have his say with Melissa having travelled all this way in the hope of taking her back home.
Roger knew that Melissa would probably not like this decision, but he also knew that when she thought about it later, she would be able to respect why he had done it. At least, that was what he hoped. He watched as Mr. Turner walked into the hotel. Things were going to get messier before they got better.
Chapter 7
Melissa’s stomach tumbled and lurched despite the slow, gentle progress of the Stagecoach as it rolled towards her destination. It was nerve-wracking enough to be meeting the man she was going to marry for the first time, but know she had the added complication that Mr. Turner could be here too. If he hadn’t made it to town before her, he would surely be hot on her heels. She also had no idea how Roger would have taken her last letter, written in great haste just after she had escaped the clutches of her forced fiancé. She had felt at the time that it was better for her to come clean about everything rather than letting Roger hear some alternate version from Turner. It was quite possible that Roger no longer wanted anything to do with her and that she would be alone in a town where she knew no one and had no money to support herself.
Her fears were allayed, however, when she stepped out into the sunlight and a pleasant voice asked her,
“Melissa?” She shielded her eyes and looked at the man who had asked, a handsome, tanned blond man in cowboy style dress.
“Roger?” she answered and he nodded with a large smile on his face.
“It’s so good to finally meet you,” he said.
“And you, I didn’t know if you’d be here or not after that letter I sent you,” she gushed.
“Don’t worry about all of that, but I think I better warn you, I think the man you spoke about is in town. If it is him, he arrived yesterday,” Roger said. Melissa blushed but she didn’t have time for any other reaction than this,
“There you are!” Turner’s harsh voice rang out as he appeared beside them. H
e looked hot and sweaty; this was clearly not the climate for him. He grabbed her by the arm but just as quickly Roger pulled Turner’s arm from her,
“Take your hands off the lady,” he said with a stern look.
“Who do you think you are, cowboy?” Turner said staring at him in disbelief; it was possible that Roger was the first person who had ever stood up to him.
“I’m Ms. Thomas’s intended,” Roger said. Melissa was surprised at his language but too worried to focus on it just then.
“Well that’s funny because the last time I checked, she was getting married to me,” Turner said.
“I know all about how she was forced into that arrangement by her father,” Roger said, “And it doesn’t interest me in the least.”
“You have no honor then,” Turner said.
“I am very honorable, but I don’t take any part in forcing people to do things against their own will.” Turner waved a dismissive hand in the air and turned back to Melissa.
“That is quite enough of this nonsense; it’s time for us to go back home,” he said.
“I am home,” Melissa said taking a side step so that she was beside Roger and showing Turner that she meant what she said.
“You would rather live in this flea infested sweat hole with this cowpoke, than in luxury with me?” Turner asked incredulously.
“I am in love with this man, I am not in love with you and for that matter you are not in love with me either,” she said.
“Love, what on earth does that have to do with anything? I can give you everything, this guy looks like he has nothing to his name at all!” Turner said.
“I may not be rich, but I can provide for a wife and family should I be blessed with one,” Roger said. Turner started to laugh.
“This is getting more ridiculous by the second,” he said. “Melissa, think of you parents, of the scandal you will be causing for them,” he then said in a placatory tone, as if he were talking to a misbehaving child.
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