“I will help you, Kara,” Alex said. Money would not stop love anymore. He squeezed her hand. “We will find a way for you to marry Demetri.”
Papa grimaced then waved a hand in defeat. Alex just laughed—a long, hearty, praiseworthy laugh that bruised his ribs even more than the rocks.
Joy could not be contained.
“I have to hurry up and get those crutches. Or else my bride might run off to San Francisco.”
Loud Italian conversation buzzed in the background as Leanna sat with Bethany at a small table in the Castle Gate bakery. The aroma of baked bread filled her with warmth, just as the sunshine did outside. No bitterness chilled her now, she was a new person in this town—a soon-to-be stranger to this place that she’d called her home. Sorrow toed the edge of her resolution. Yet all was as it should be.
“Nothing?” Leanna hoped there would be good news for Bethany.
“No. He refuses to see things my way.” Bethany sighed and picked at her cannoli. “We will separate and then—” She bit her lip and looked around. But she didn’t have to say the word. “I will be fine once I figure out a respectable way to leave my parents once more.”
“You and Tommy should come with me to San Francisco. Find a fresh start.”
“Oh, dear. I cannot imagine! Honestly, Leanna, are you sure you want to journey all that way alone?”
“It was my original plan,” she said. “Just like you came to my rescue when I needed to leave Castle Gate, my cousin’s letter arrived just when my time in Utah was ending.” She smiled at her friend. She would miss her just like the Pappas family.
Bethany stirred her tea, the spoon clinking on beat. “My mother was so worried that you would stay and sort things out with Alex.” She rolled her eyes. “She has fully accepted the gossip as truth.”
“Well, it was true wasn’t it?” Leanna’s smile pricked one cheek up. “We were so close to—” No, she mustn’t think about that. She’d tried not to think about the short-lived plan of elopement. That was foolish. To run away was not brave at all. And if there was one word to describe the man who’d stolen her heart, it was brave. Alex Pappas was a brave, kind soul who’d found a good woman to protect and love. “Kara fits in perfectly with the Pappas family.”
“It is a shame that you had to give up love for such ninnies as those miners.” Bethany sipped her tea and stared off into nothingness.
“Mr. Coffey softened, actually. Practically gave us his blessing.” She eyed her own finger, tracing the rim of her teacup.
“What do you mean?”
“At the mine. Supposedly he and Alex sorted their differences.” She had recalled Coffey’s apology over and over as she tossed and turned these past two nights. “For the first time ever, the man apologized and treated Alex like a human being. He didn’t even seem to mind that I was next to him.”
Bethany’s mouth fell open, and she slammed her empty teacup on the table. “Then why in the world are you leaving?”
“I cannot ruin their marriage, Bethany. Kara has planned this day. I cannot take it away from her. I will not be that woman.”
Bethany gave her a long narrow stare. “This is not like Mildred.” Hurt invaded her blue eyes. “They are not married, Leanna. You cannot ruin something that isn’t there.”
“There is something, though. A promise.” She finished her tea amid Bethany’s disapproving look. “It’s time for me to leave. The train will arrive soon.”
They paid the baker’s assistant and entered the bustle of Main Street. Simultaneously, they opened their parasols and strolled down to the depot.
She looked over her shoulder one last time. The Pappas restaurant was barely visible with all the carts and horses crowding the street.
“Is he back from Salt Lake?” Bethany asked.
“I don’t know.” She grimaced. “I shall not find out, though. This is for the best.”
Bethany tucked her arm in Leanna’s. “Can you imagine the uproar if you stayed? What would my mother say about such a match like yours and Alex’s? Wouldn’t that be a delicious controversy?” She gave a devious smile.
“Oh, Bethany. Don’t tempt me to stay out of spite.” She laughed and continued forward. “I might not stir up anything around here, but I will demand that you visit me.”
“Of course. And thank you for standing up for me.” She squeezed her arm close. “You are brave, Leanna. One of the best friends I’ve ever had, too.”
Brave? She smiled to herself. “I know men, and women, who are much braver than I am.” They stepped onto the platform of the depot. Bethany faced her. Her skin was blotchy and her eyes were red.
Leanna cupped Bethany’s cheek. “Give my love to Tommy, okay?”
“Please write as soon as you get there.” Bethany threw her arms around her.
“Of course.”
Leanna turned around, unable to watch her friend leave. Castle Gate would keep all that was dear to her now.
The smell of burning fuel filled the platform of the depot, and she lugged her baggage to a bench. Her first entrance into Castle Gate was nothing like today. She’d followed Jack off the train, scrutinizing the arid mountains and the simply made structures of the town. That was a descent into a dark valley of life, but now she faced a sad departure from a treasured place.
All her memories, good and bad, were at furious war inside her.
Lord, give me strength.
At that moment, the shine of a train lamp twinkled in the distance. She gathered in breath to every corner of her lungs. The long hollow whistle beckoned her to gather up her luggage and retrieve her ticket. The train’s rumble shook her, a welcome distraction to all the trapped emotion. Closer, closer still, and then the train squealed to a stop.
A few passengers stepped off the train before the conductor came to the door nearest to her and motioned her forward. “Ticket, please.”
Leanna handed the conductor her ticket, he punched it, and she began to approach the stairs.
A train employee appeared in the doorway. “Wait, ma’am. We have a passenger who needs some assistance deboarding. Could you please step aside?”
“Of course.” She sighed and waited her turn.
The conductor ran up the steps and hopped down again with a pair of crutches in his hands. The other attendant disappeared again. He returned, escorting his passenger forward. Alex filled the entrance, clutching the man’s arm.
“Alex?” Leanna blurted out. “Be careful.” She rushed toward him, heat filling her neck and cheeks.
Alex reached for her hand, his strength coursing through her like an electric current. The familiarity in his every feature stole her breath.
With help from the attendant on one side and Leanna on his other, Alex hobbled down the steps and out of the shadow of the car. His brown eyes sparkled beneath untidy curls. “It looks like I was almost too late.”
“Too late?” Leanna looked down at her ticket. “It seems your train is mine.” Her heart sank at the words. And now a second good-bye. Or a third, really.
Why, Lord? Why now?
Alex just stood there, flashing a large smile as the conductor handed him the crutches. This was wonderful and devastating all at once. Everything inside her wanted to embrace him and tell him how much she would miss him. Yet her determination to leave was muted by the overwhelming desire to stay.
Kara emerged, stealing away Alex’s attention. A dark scarf was wrapped around her black-as-coal hair. She wore a big smile also—a joy that only tormented Leanna’s aching heart. Leanna turned around to retrieve her bag, trying to hide her bubbling eyes.
“Leanna, I don’t think this is your train,” Alex said as she composed herself with a deep breath. A tear escaped and fell on her bag. She caught another with the back of her gloved hand.
She swiveled to face him. “Yes, it is. This is the three o’clock train to—” Alex drew closer. “Well. Good-bye, Alex. I wish you all the best—”
Kara interrupted, saying, “No, I go,” t
hen patted Alex’s arm. As she slipped past, she squeezed Leanna’s hand. “You stay.” She hurried across the platform and left the depot.
Leanna’s stomach flipped. “Where is she going?”
Alex kept his gleaming eyes fixed in Kara’s direction. “She is off to find her own love.” His gaze captured Leanna’s, electrifying the moment with all the love he’d brought to her life in Castle Gate.
Her arms pricked with a sudden wave of expectation. “I don’t understand—” She shook her head.
His teeth grazed his bottom lip. “Am I speaking Greek?” He winked. “It so happens that Kara is in love with another man. A cushioned dowry was all she needed to seal her fate, a payment I was willing to make. She goes home to pack and return to Greece.”
Leanna’s bag slipped from her fingers and thudded on the floor beside her. Her breaths came in short, uneven bursts, and she wasn’t sure she could swallow. Bethany’s exasperated voice sprung in her mind, “Then why in the world are you leaving?”
“All aboard!” The conductor stared at her, but she couldn’t move, and it appeared Alex would not let her. He blocked her from the train, his crutches firmly planted on the platform, and his attention undeniably hers.
“Leanna, do you see?” His face beamed with expectancy. “We have no excuse to remain apart now. Coffey is finished with us, and I won’t be married”—he stepped closer still—“yet, anyway.”
“But your father.” Stergios hadn’t wavered, even when his own wife seemed to outside the mine. “The man was set in his plan the last time I saw him.”
“Plan? We are all foolish to think we have the best plans for ourselves, aren’t we? There’s something greater nudging us out of the darkness. I’m realizing that after sitting in my own ignorance all these years.” A dark cloud passed quickly over Alex’s features. “And Papa? Well, after months of fighting with me, he seems ready for a rest.” His face relaxed and his loving smile grew wide again. “Don’t worry. He knows.”
She cupped her hand on his jaw, melting into his loving gaze. “I came here to fight for you, and it seems I gave up rather quickly.” Even when Coffey softened toward them both. Only God could change a man’s heart, yet she thought it was all up to her. “Is it really true that Kara wants to leave?”
“Yes, it is true. It seems that love wins twice today.” He slid his hand over hers and clasped her fingers, pulling them over his heart. “And don’t forget, Papa thinks you’re pretty, according to Maria.”
Leanna laughed, a deep, healing laugh that set off a warmth she’d first discovered around a table in a small Greek restaurant.
He took the ticket from her other hand and shoved it in his front pocket. “This is not part of the plan, Mrs. McKee.” He grazed her forehead with his lips. Tender kisses tickled her cheek, then her jawbone, then rested softly on her lips.
“Perhaps you should keep the ticket,” Alex said as they pulled apart.
“What?” Her heart skipped and heat filled her cheeks.
“The Pappas house might be a little crowded for a newly married couple, don’t you think?” He squeezed her hand.
She laughed again, and they turned away from the conductor, the train, and her last chance to leave Castle Gate. Her heart was a diamond peeking out from its bed of coal, finally bright with all the love she’d found here. On the arm of her beloved Greek miner, she strolled down Main Street for all to see, assured that she had belonged in Castle Gate all along.
Angie Dicken is a third generation Greek American, the granddaughter of strong men and women who endured hardship to grow American roots. My Heart Belongs in Castle Gate, Utah is set near the birthplace of her grandfather, a Greek coal miner’s son, and published 100 years after his birth. Angie is a contributor to The Writer’s Alley blog and has been an ACFW member since 2010. She lives with her husband and four children in the Midwest where she enjoys exploring eclectic new restaurants and chatting with friends over coffee.
My Heart Belongs in Castle Gate, Utah Page 24
