His hand lingered in hers, not drawing back right away, as she was used to. His grip was strong, but not tight. It was comfortable and just right. His skin, tan from the sun, was not soft, but it was not calloused either.
She liked his strong hands and his intelligent eyes.
At that moment, a man at the other end of the bar called Tom’s name. Turning away reluctantly, Tom took his hand back and waved to him.
Returning to Isabella, he nodded. “It was very nice to meet you, Isabella. Welcome to America.”
“Thank you Tom. It was my pleasure,” she said.
The palm of her hand still tingled from where he had touched her and the way he had lingered. She clasped her hands together, let go a breath she hadn’t known she’d held, and watched him go.
****
Returning to her seat across from the older couple, Isabella was happier than when she’d left, and quite happy to note Mr. Tomlin was no longer seated next to her. Instead, a thin elderly gentleman with a cane was seated there in his place.
Oh good. Perhaps after our next stop, Mr. Tomlin will not be boarding again.
“Is this seat taken?” she asked the gentleman.
“It wasn’t but it is now,” he said with a voice so high it almost squeaked. He gestured to the seat. “Please my dear, sit down.”
“Thank you,” she said. She sat and placed her Bible on her lap.
He noted the Bible and nodded at her in approval.
She relaxed back into her seat. Perhaps she might enjoy this leg of the trip now and be able to watch the scenery outside the window.
“I am headed to Cincinnati to visit my son,” he said. “And spend some time with all my grandchildren.”
“Oh that’s wonderful. How many do you have?”
“Four in Cincinnati and three back home in Boston.”
“That’s quite a distance to travel.”
“Forgive me my dear, I neglected to properly introduce myself.” He gave a slight bow as formal as any she had ever seen. “Mr. Banning, at your service.”
“Isabella Stolt,” she would have stood and curtsied if it would not have seemed out of place, but instead she dipped her head. “So very pleased to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine, my dear, believe me.”
They smiled at each other and then he continued. “To answer your question, it may seem like quite a distance to travel for some. But I don’t count the miles because they bring me closer to my family. Though I do wish our youngest son lived closer. He took a job managing a factory in Cincinnati and moved the family there. I would have had him stay closer to home. I cannot visit them more than twice a year.”
“Will you be there through the holidays?”
“Yes, I will. I am looking forward to spending Christmas with the children. John is ten, Elizabeth is eight, Stuart is four and Lucy is just three months old.”
“Oh how wonderful. Is this your first time seeing the baby?”
“Yes, it is.”
He was such a nice, grandfatherly man that she didn’t mind sharing a bit more about herself when he asked, “Where are you traveling to?”
“Yellow Springs, Ohio. This is my first time traveling westward. I have lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts and in New York City.”
“This is a pleasant way to travel and the route is scenic.”
“Yes, I have been enjoying seeing the towns and the countryside as it flashes by the windows.”
“He has been moving us at a pretty good clip today.” He nodded. “We’ll reach the station a bit early, I believe. You may as well get off the train and stretch your legs a bit,” Mr. Banning said. “They’ll be loading firewood and coal and be changing engineers and conductors at this stop. There is no reason for you to sit in your seat all that time waiting.”
“Oh, thank you for letting me know,” she said. “Yes, I believe I shall.”
“I shall be off to a little shop I know to purchase a new pipe and tobacco, otherwise I might join you.”
“Thank you. I am sure I shall be fine. It will be nice to be off to stretch my legs. I do love a nice long walk.”
“Be careful you don’t take such a long walk as to miss your train.”
“I shall.” She smiled.
The next few miles passed quickly as she enjoyed both the scenery and her new companion’s company and then the whistle blew and the train pulled into the station. Many of the passengers stood to exit the train and Mr. Banning, ever the gentleman, followed her down the aisle and down the steps. At the bottom he said, “Remember now, enjoy your walk but don’t tarry too late and miss the train.”
She laughed. “Yes, I will remember.”
At the train station, people hurried about their business. Steam from the train blew across the walkway and the gray clouds overhead threatened rain. But none of the darkening clouds dampened Isabella’s uplifted spirits as she started off on her walk.
Smiling as she walked, passengers, some noting her good mood, smiled and nodded in return and she felt all was right with the world. Passengers hurried past her, but she, enjoying each moment, simply breathed in the air and enjoyed her walk.
Then Isabella was jostled and her father’s Bible knocked from her hand.
Oh! Father’s Bible.
Everything happened so fast. She bent to pick up the Bible. A white piece of paper had escaped and was blowing away. “Oh, no!”
Father’s letter.
The one he had written to her from him and mother before they passed. Separated from her parents because of the quarantine, these were the last words from her parents. She’d bookmarked a passage in Psalms with it. She couldn’t lose that letter.
The white paper went tumbling and then lifted and tumbled, away from her. She lifted her skirts and gave chase to it. Down around the corner. Dark clouds overhead blocked the sun and the first raindrops began to fall.
The letter, she almost had it. She bent to reach for it, and two men grabbed her.
Chapter Four
One man pulled Isabella up and back, a hand around her shoulders and another over her mouth. The other man raced around in front of her, pulling her hands together with one big hand while his other hand pulled out a length of rope. They were pulling her toward an open door in the side of the building.
Isabella gave a muffled scream, but the hand on her mouth was tight. Her eyes, wide and terrified, fixed on the man in front of her, who was wrapping her wrists with rope as they dragged her closer to the dark room. He was grinning at her, and her mind strangely fixated on how unkempt he was. His teeth were yellowed, his nose bent out of place. Long hair fell into his face, shaggy and dirty. He looked up at her and leered, grinning.
They were almost there, now. Isabella gave one last, terrific heave, but the man behind her was so strong, and the other man laughed, about to tighten a knot. Then Isabella heard a thud, and suddenly the man behind her released her and fell. Isabella fell to one side, but turned, landing on her shoulder with a painful thud. She saw another man fighting the dirty one who had tied her wrists. The new man was much cleaner than the first.
He was much faster, too, throwing punches like lightning that landed on the dirty man’s face or body. Finally, the new man knocked the other man down, who scrambled backwards as the new man drew a pistol from under his coat and pointed it at him. Without a word, the dirty man got up and ran away.
For a moment, the clean man looked around, and Isabella was able to study him. It was only then she realized her rescuer was Tom from the dining car.
Apparently satisfied that all was well, Tom put his pistol away and looked down at her, his blue eyes intense and filled with concern. Holding out a hand, he asked, “Are you all right?”
Slowly, she reached her hands up to him, her wrists still bound by the rope, her fingers reaching toward him to accept his hand. “Yes. Thank you.”
He pulled her up, by grasping her arms, but it made her dizzy, and the moment he let go of them, she stumbled.
Suddenly she was in his arms, rain falling down all around them, her bound wrists against his chest. Looking into his eyes, as blue as her own, she saw his strength. Her heart racing from the near abduction now skipped and she caught her breath. Sparks fired between them. As the rain covered them with droplets, neither seemed to notice in that brief moment. And then the moment was gone.
“You’re safe now.”
“Yes.” She breathed the word as her words started to return from the emotional place she had been. The danger, the fright, the sudden attraction to Tom had stolen her words briefly.
He began to untie her hands and her gaze dropped to his hands as she watched.
“Thank you,” she spoke again with a shiver, as the rope began to be pulled away and gratitude filled her. The slight shiver, an aftereffect of nearly being abducted, spread through her, and the chill of the rain contributed to the shaky feeling.
After untying her wrists, Tom gathered her close, rubbing her wrists and then running his hands up and down her arms, warming her and fighting back the chill just as he’d fought back her abductors.
She leaned in close to him resting against his strength as he warmed her. She closed her eyes, breathing in his scent.
Safe.
She was safe now and warming beneath his hands. At that moment, another man came running around the corner and she opened her eyes, startled.
Apparently he was looking for Tom, but he stopped the moment he saw them. “Should I come back later?”
Tom rolled his eyes. “Just stay with him, Bill.” Tom nodded toward the man who had grabbed Isabella from behind, now lying unconscious on the ground.
The man was Ernest Tomlin.
Isabella gasped. The man moaned and began to stir.
Taking the hint, Bill walked over and gave him a swift kick in the gut.
Tom turned back to Isabella. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. Tomlin and his gang have been robbing and snatching women all along this train line for months.”
Isabella’s eyes grew wide. “Are you a constable?”
Tom smirked. “Something like that.”
“Thank you for saving me.”
“It was my pleasure.”
Their eyes did a connecting dance, rare in any meeting of two souls, but especially rare in a first meeting. That initial fire lit a strong burn of desire.
Caught up in the moment, she forgot she was engaged to Mr. Donald Jenks. But then that reality returned to her and she blinked and, pulling back slightly, looked down with a blush.
“And now,” Tom said as she looked up at him again, “Let me see you safely back to the train.”
“Yes, please.” She nodded feeling suddenly shy and unsure of herself.
He placed her hand in the bend of his arm and he began to escort her back to the train calmly taking charge and behaving like a proper gentleman.
“Hey!” Bill shouted at them, and they turned. “You forget something?” He held up Isabella’s Bible in one hand and her father’s letter in the other.
“Father’s letter,” she said, relief filling her entire body. She rushed back to Bill and took them both with a hurried, “thank you.”
Everything would be fine now.
Tom smiled as she walked back to him, after tucking the letter safely inside the Bible. She gazed at Tom with happy tears in her eyes. “I was afraid I’d lost it.”
“Glad to see you didn’t,” he replied. “Those must be very precious to you.”
“Oh they are.” She blinked up at him. “These are my mother and father’s last words to me and this is my family Bible.”
“Precious things indeed,” Tom said. “My family had a Bible back home, so big I couldn’t lift it until I was twelve.” He held out his arm again and she placed her hand upon it.
Moving once again toward the train, they rounded the corner.
As they walked, she stopped suddenly, her hand reaching to her side, which was empty. “Oh no.”
“What’s wrong?” His gaze followed the movement of her hand as he wondered if she had been injured by the manhandling.
“My bag. It’s gone.” She looked at him with those wide blue eyes. “All my money was in it. Now it’s gone. All the money Mr. Donald Jenks gave me is gone.”
Tom pursed his lips, frustrated with himself. “I bet Tomlin’s guy took it.”
“My fiancé will not be happy.”
“Perhaps not about the money,” Tom said, turning back to her. “But he should be happy to know you’re safe and unharmed.”
“Well I don’t know.” She looked down. “I don’t know him well enough to know.”
Looking back up at Tom’s face, she watched an expression flash, then vanish. “Do you still have your tickets?”
“Oh.” She seemed flustered for a moment as she paused and then her face brightened. “Yes. I must still have them. I had placed them in my pocket.” She reached her hand into her pocket to touch them and reassure herself they were indeed there. “Yes. I have them.”
“Very good.” He nodded. “If we find your money, I’ll deliver it myself. Where can I find you?”
Isabella gave him the address of Mr. Donald Jenks in Yellow Springs, Ohio.
He made a note of it and then, tucking her hand in the bend in his arm, he escorted her to the train.
Helping her aboard, they paused, she on the train, he on the platform. He was about to say something when the conductor shouted “All aboard!”
Not knowing what else to do, Tom quickly kissed the back of her hand just as the train started moving.
She stood watching him as the train rolled away. Raising her gloved hand she waved.
He stood watching her go.
Finally, Isabella turned and found her way back to her seat beside the window, next to Mr. Banning.
“Well, did you enjoy your walk?” he asked.
She sank back into her seat, hardly knowing where to start or how to answer him. She took a deep breath and gave a great sigh.
He took one look at her face and his jovial expression changed to serious. “What happened?”
“I.” She started and stopped, remembering what had happened.
Mr. Banning frowned in concern. “Take your time.”
“I was walking and out of nowhere some men grabbed me and they...” She stopped and closed her eyes. The telling of it was not so easy.
“Are you injured?” Mr. Banning inquired, his concern for her immediate.
“No, I am fine now.” She opened her eyes and looked at him. “There was another man there. One who saved me.”
Her thoughts were all over, out of sequence, everything she had felt and seen jumbling together so that she could not tell the story straight through. Her mind was too full and it had all been so recent. Each wonderful and horrible moment.
She gazed out the window.
Tom. Where was he now? Who was he?
“Are you sure you’re all right?” Mr. Banning asked.
“He said he wasn’t a constable, but something like that.” her voice drifted.
Something like that. What did that mean?
“The man who saved you?”
“Yes.” She turned back to look at Mr. Banning, realizing he had asked her something. “What did you say?”
“It’s all right my dear.” He patted her hand which lay on her Bible. “Please continue.”
“Those men who grabbed me, they had tied my wrists, and I think if he had not come when he did I would not be here now. But Tom, he was there. I am so glad he was there.”
“I am glad too.” Mr. Banning smiled.
“They took my purse with all my money.”
“But they did not take you. And you are fine now. You are going to be fine.”
Mr. Banning’s voice and expression emphasized that point and it sunk in.
Yes. I am going to be fine now.
“Yes. I am.”
He waited watching to see if she wished to speak further of it.
&nb
sp; Something about the calm elderly man settled her in a way and she began to settle into the rhythm of the train, the assurance that she was indeed going to be fine, thanks to Tom, and those men who had tried to grab her would soon be far away. Every mile the train traveled would take her farther and farther away and soon she would be safe in Yellow Springs.
“If you need anything you just ask,” Mr. Banning said.
“I think I may nap for a bit,” she said.
“I’ll be right here,” he said. “You go on and nap.”
She laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes and let the rhythm of the train lull her to sleep.
****
The train pulled into the station in Yellow Springs, Ohio and came to a halt. The closer they had come to her destination, the more Isabella had peered out the window in anticipation, anxious to see what was to be her new home. Trees and more trees full of the colors of November, though the leaves were falling, had flashed by the window. But now the train had slowed and was stopping so she could take them all in.
Turning to Mr. Banning she smiled. “It was lovely meeting you, Mr. Banning. I hope you enjoy your time with your family.”
Mr. Banning smiled back. “It was lovely meeting you, Miss Stolt. Take care of yourself, my dear.”
“Yes, thank you. I will.” With that she turned away as Mr. Banning stood to move toward the dining car. Isabella caught a glimpse of trees out her window again.
Oh, it would be lovely here in the spring. I love it here already.
Gathering her things, she moved toward the door of the car, wishing she had a mirror to look in to double check her appearance. She glanced down at her dress.
In just minutes I will be meeting Mr. Donald Jenks. Whatever will he think of me? All rumpled and dirty from the train. Oh, how I need a bath and to put on a clean dress. But there is no hope of that. He will be waiting here now to take me to the boarding house. Oh, I hope he is not disappointed in me. I had hoped to look more presentable when he first saw me.
And what will he look like? His letter said he was tall and dark. Would he also be handsome?
Nervously, she twisted her glove in her hands before sliding it back on, grasping the handrail, and stepping down. She had barely taken the last step when she heard her name called.
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