After tomorrow, Mr. Logan would continue on his journey without her, while Ava began her visit with Polly and Jacob Tierney, but she was satisfied that her adventure had already begun. If nothing else out of the ordinary happened during her excursion, these hours spent in conversation with Mr. Logan were worth the time and expense of the trip.
“Oh, look! The moon is rising.” Miss Neal leaned eagerly toward the window then sat back again. “I’m sorry, I’m blocking your view. Can you see it?”
“I can.” Joe leaned forward to get a better look, being careful not to get too close to her. Their train was running northward for a ways, and so they looked out toward the east, where their view of the sky was unobstructed for several miles.
“Isn’t it lovely?” she asked, so close that her breath tickled his ear. “It’s full tonight, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” He relaxed against the seat and studied her expression. His fingers itched for his drawing pencil, not to sketch the moon, but to capture her eager innocence.
“It looks huge, just on the horizon like that.” She peered out again at the big, yellowish orb that hung like a glowing lantern over the hills in the distance.
“There’ll be two full moons this month,” Joe said. “A blue moon, they say, on the thirty-first.”
“I hadn’t realized. That’s rare, isn’t it?” She chuckled. “Of course. That’s why they have the saying.”
He nodded. “Once in a blue moon. I don’t suppose it comes even once a year, but I’m not certain. Perhaps an almanac would tell.”
“I’ll have to look it up sometime.”
“Next stop, St. Joe,” the conductor called, coming down the aisle with a swinging gait. “Thirty minutes on the platform.”
“Thirty minutes,” Joe said. “That’s hardly time for dinner, and we don’t have a dining room on this train.”
Ava hesitated. “Please don’t think me forward, but I have some sandwiches that I bought in St. Louis. If you’d like, we could share them.”
Joe grinned. “That sounds marvelous. Perhaps I can step off and get us some sarsaparilla or lemonade on the platform.”
As soon as they stopped, he retrieved his hat and stepped out into the sultry evening air. Dusk had fallen, and the moon was higher now and more normal looking, but still gorgeous in its plump roundness. What a beautiful evening—and his dinner companion would be a very charming young lady. He liked Miss Neal very much, especially her confidence. She didn’t exhibit the timidity most women would if traveling alone, and she was making this solitary trip because she wanted to. She had made no apologies for her lack of a chaperone.
The memory of her auburn hair and glittering green eyes in the moonlight that shone through the window was firmly fixed in Joe’s mind. He would definitely draw her portrait when they had parted company. A few minutes later, he made good on his word, returning to the car with not only bottled sarsaparilla but two apples and a half-dozen raisin cookies wrapped in brown paper.
Miss Neal surveyed the bounty. “Oh my, we’re having a feast.”
“Only the best for you, madam.” Joe kept a straight face as he shook out his clean handkerchief and spread it on the seat between them. He put the apples and cookies on it, and Miss Neal added her sandwiches, which looked to be good, hearty sliced beef and cheese.
The two gentlemen who had sat opposite had both left the train. Joe sat down and eyed Miss Neal across the picnic supper. “Shall we ask the blessing?”
She seemed to accept that as normal and bowed her head without signs of embarrassment, which was a relief to Joe.
“Dear Lord, we thank You for this and all Your gifts to us, and we ask Your care over the travelers on this train. Amen.”
“Amen,” Miss Neal said and reached for half a sandwich with a smile. “Thank you, Mr. Logan. This is so much nicer than bustling about the platform trying to find a bite.”
“It is indeed.”
They had fifteen minutes of comparative privacy, of which Joe made the most, plying his charming companion with questions about her life back home. He learned that her younger sister had been married only the week before.
“Conrad is a nice young man, and I’m sure they’ll be happy,” she said. “He has a position as headmaster at a secondary school, which is a recent advance from just plain schoolmaster. I’m sure that is why he was emboldened to speak to Sarah.”
“Well, yes,” Joe said, thinking of his own spotty income. “A man would have to be sure he was able to provide for his bride.”
“Exactly. Last winter, when he was just a poor teacher, Sarah despaired of them ever being able to set up a household. This new opportunity for Conrad was a great blessing for them.”
Joe nodded, watching Miss Neal’s expressive green eyes. How long would it take for him to be able to present himself to some young lady’s exacting father as an eligible suitor for the daughter? He hadn’t been too troubled by the question until now, but the longer he conversed with Miss Neal, and the more he drank in her understated beauty and sweet features, the more he felt worthiness to be a desirable quality.
His mission on behalf of Mr. Becker’s client grew in importance. If he had a regular job with the law firm in Hartford, he could begin to think about the possibility of courting a respectable young woman. Someone, if he were lucky, like Ava Neal. It wasn’t just the full moon or the romance of meeting someone attractive on a journey to a strange place. Joe saw beyond that to the substance that lay beneath her captivating appearance.
These pleasant thoughts still flitted about Joe’s mind in the morning, when the sleeper berths were folded away. He located Miss Neal during the first stop and once again took a seat beside her. He bought coffee and biscuits for both of them from a vendor who came through the train.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked her.
“Well enough. I don’t suppose anyone sleeps quite perfectly on a train, and knowing I’ll see Polly and her family today kept me a little on edge.”
“Excited to see your friend?”
“Oh, yes!”
Joe nodded. Watching her face was a treat, but he would soon be denied this pleasure. “We’re less than a hundred miles from Cheyenne.”
“I’m all aflutter.” She crumpled the paper that had wrapped her biscuit. “I suppose it’s not for another three hours or so, but I’m already nervous.”
Joe consulted his watch. “More like four. We have a couple more stops to make along the way.”
Miss Neal glanced out the window. “We seem to be in quite desolate country now. Are there towns out here?”
“Not very big ones, I don’t think. Cheyenne and Fort Laramie would be the largest in Wyoming, I’m guessing.”
They ate their meager breakfast and continued to talk. It seemed fewer passengers boarded than left the train now. Joe and his companion marveled at the treeless expanse of plains they were crossing, but they also began to see hills, some of them thrusting up from the ground in unexpected places.
“If we could see out the front, perhaps we’d see moun-tains.” Joe pushed himself up a little so he could better see forward. His finger slid into a break on the edge of the seat’s upholstery. He smoothed the fabric down quickly, but he couldn’t see anything from the windows ahead of them.
Miss Neal gave him a rueful smile. “I regret I won’t be going far enough to see the Rocky Mountains. Maybe someday.”
“This friend of yours,” Joe said. “Surely her husband can’t be driving a stagecoach now—not since they’ve taken the railway through?”
“He owns a short line of his own now, Polly tells me, from Cheyenne to a few smaller towns off the rail lines.”
“I see.”
The conductor came through, checking new passengers’ tickets.
“Excuse me,” Joe asked when he came even with their seats. “What’s the next stop?”
“Pine Bluffs, but there’s not much there. No restaurants or anything. There’s a shack where the wagon trains used to trade a b
it, and a few tents. One’s a saloon. I expect it will draw more people now, since we stop there regular. There’s some new stock pens, and a couple of ranchers put some cattle on the train this spring. Probably in the fall, we’ll get more. Have to start hauling more cattle cars.” He nodded at Ava. “Not far to Cheyenne after that, miss.”
“Oh, thank you.” Ava had foregone wearing her hat that morning, and she looked charming, but as soon as the conductor ambled on down the aisle, she began rummaging in her handbag. “I’m sorry, Mr. Logan, but I must find my gloves and put my hat on before we reach Cheyenne. Perhaps I can step into the lavatory while we’re at Pine Bluffs and use the mirror in there.”
“I’m sure you can. I’ll get your hat down for you when we stop.”
This preparation for leaving him unsettled Joe, as if she had cut the painter on a rowboat and would let him drift away. He took a deep breath. “Miss Neal, I shall miss your company on the rest of my trip.”
Her fluttering hands stilled now that a plan for tending to her appearance was in place. “It’s been good having someone congenial to talk to. I shall miss you, too.”
Joe took courage. “Thank you. I wondered if you might consent to. . .to allowing me to write to you. I believe you said you’ll be staying with your friend for several weeks?”
“We’ve planned on a month’s stay.” Her cheeks flushed a becoming pink. “I don’t suppose it would be improper to receive a postal card from a fellow traveler.”
“Thank you so much. You’ll have to give me the address. It seems odd that I shall be back in New England before you, even though I’m journeying farther.”
“Doesn’t it?” She sobered. “I don’t suppose we shall meet again after today, but yes, I’d like to stay in touch.”
“I can—” Joe broke off as the train began to brake much more abruptly than when easing in at a station platform, throwing them both forward so hard he nearly fell. Instinctively, he put out an arm to break Miss Neal’s flight. Even so, she plummeted to the floor between the facing pair of seats.
The train skidded to a halt with much squealing and grinding of metal on metal.
Joe braced himself until they stopped completely. He reached out to her. “Are you all right?”
“I think so.” She brushed at her skirt and allowed him to help her up onto the seat. “Why have we stopped so suddenly?”
“I don’t know.” Joe looked around the car. Other passengers were righting themselves and taking stock of their bruises and wayward possessions.
Miss Neal peered out the window. “I can’t see anything on this side.”
“Perhaps I can—” Joe started to rise but sank back into his seat as two men entered the front of the car with pistols in their hands.
Chapter 3
A woman on the other side of the aisle gave a little shriek.
“Easy now, folks,” the closer gunman said. A grimy bandanna covered the lower part of his face, and his felt hat was pulled low on his brow. “Everybody stay calm and keep your hands where I can see ’em.”
Ava tried to breathe, but she couldn’t get enough air. All around her, the passengers gaped at the two men. Many of the travelers’ faces had blanched, and the woman across the aisle clung to her companion’s arm as though she would swoon at any second.
Ava glanced at Joe Logan. Like most of the other passengers, he held his hands at shoulder height and stared at the two robbers.
“If any of you have weapons, don’t even think about using them,” the robber said. “I guarantee I’m faster’n you, and keep in mind there’s a lot of innocent bystanders in this car.”
The second masked man stepped past his partner, holding out a gunny sack. “You can put the goods in this.” He holstered his sidearm, but the first man continued to point his weapon at the passengers, sweeping the barrel slowly from side to side and letting his gaze focus on one after another.
The man with the sack stopped in front of the two men in the first seats. “All right, gents, let’s have it. Wallets, watches, and anything else that might come in useful to me and my pals. If you’ve got pistols, knives, or derringers, might as well toss them in, too.”
The two men scowled and began emptying their pockets.
Ava put a hand to her throat. Polly’s grandmother’s brooch. Could she possibly hide it before the robbers got this far down the aisle? It wasn’t worth much, but she was determined to deliver it to Polly. Oh, why hadn’t she left it in her bag? She had been foolish to think it would be safer pinned to her dress.
She fumbled with it. If she could undo the clasp and slide the pin free of fabric before the robbers noticed, she might have a chance of keeping it. Mr. Logan looked her way, and she froze. His gaze traveled to her hand then back to her eyes. Cautiously, he lowered one hand while watching the robbers and held it toward her.
Ava’s heart thrummed as she slipped the cameo brooch off her bodice and slowly lowered her hand.
The vestibule door thudded open, and a third outlaw entered the car. Ava could barely hear the words he spoke to his companions.
“We got the engineer and fireman trussed up. Hurry up, though.”
So there were more of them. While everyone else was distracted by the third robber’s entrance, she slid the brooch into Mr. Logan’s warm hand. His fingers closed over it. What would he do with it? He was closer to the aisle than she was.
As the robbers collected loot across the aisle, Mr. Logan bent his knees and stooped. He stuffed the brooch into an opening in the seam of the seat’s upholstery and slowly straightened again, raising his hand to his former position.
“You!” The robbers faced them, one with his pistol pointed in Logan’s face while the other held the open sack before him. “Let’s have it. Wallet, watch, and anything else you’ve got.”
Logan obediently reached inside his coat and pulled out his wallet. He hesitated, and the gunman waved the barrel at him.
“Drop it in, mister! Now!”
Logan let it fall into the sack.
“Empty your pockets,” the man holding the sack snarled.
Logan pulled out a watch on a chain, a pocketknife, and a few coins and dropped them in the sack.
“That all?”
Mr. Logan nodded.
“What’s that?” The gunman nodded toward the leather valise beneath the seat.
“Just, uh, papers and such,” Mr. Logan said.
“Open it.”
With a resigned expression, he bent and retrieved the case and unbuckled it. The robber with the sack peered inside. “What have we here?” He took out a small parcel wrapped in brown paper.
“It’s nothing,” Mr. Logan said.
“Hmm.”
“Step lively, Bert,” the robber’s companion growled.
Bert dropped the package into his sack and looked at Ava.
“Now you, lady.”
Ava’s heart lurched. She opened her handbag and took out her small leather change purse. She stared into the gunman’s steely gray eyes as she held it over the sack and let go.
“You got any more?”
“No, sir.”
“Maybe better put the whole thing in there,” he said, eyeing her handbag.
“Oh, must I? There’s nothing else of value to you.”
A lump ached in Ava’s throat. Her purse wouldn’t matter that much—it now held only her comb, a few hairpins, a small container of pomade, and a fan. But why should these thugs take it?
“Come on, we ain’t got all day.” The man holding the gun seemed rather impatient. Bert grunted and moved on to the next set of seats. Ava looked sidelong at Mr. Logan. His gaze followed the gunnysack, and his mouth was set in a grim line.
As soon as the robbers had left the car, Joe raced to the front door. The train rested in the middle of nowhere, with uneven plains stretching away for miles around them. He heard a commotion of hoofbeats, and a moment later a band of six horsemen appeared ahead of the locomotive, galloping off and veering away from th
e rail lines toward the southwest.
The conductor appeared at the main door of the car ahead. Joe waved to him. “Anyone hurt?”
The conductor hopped down and walked toward him. Satisfied he wouldn’t do that if the train were about to move, Joe climbed down the steps and met him halfway.
“Apparently two of their men boarded the train at the last stop,” the conductor said. “Their friends laid a pile of rocks and brush on the tracks and forced us to stop. We’ll have to clear it.”
Joe looked around. “They must have hauled it a long way.”
“There’s hills and ravines on the other side. They probably came out here and got it ready long in advance.”
“I thought there were railroad police traveling on the trains now,” Joe said.
“We’ve got one. He was in the next car, but they spotted him first thing and got the drop on him as soon as we started braking. They roughed him up a little and tied him up. There wasn’t a thing he could do.”
“Is he all right?”
The conductor nodded. “Mostly. I imagine he’ll be back soon to talk to the folks in your car. It’ll be hard for them to identify the robbers, though, with their faces covered.”
They walked together to the entrance of the car in which Joe had been riding. The conductor entered first and called out, “Everybody all right?”
“If you call losing a hundred and twenty dollars all right,” a man replied.
“I’m sorry, sir, but as your ticket stated, the railroad is not responsible for losses in robberies. Unfortunately, the gangs are getting bolder and, it seems, a little smarter. We’ve got a detective up ahead in the next car. The robbers beat him up a little, but he’s starting to talk to the people up there and get their stories. He’ll be back here in a few minutes. Be ready to tell him what you lost and also any details you recall about the robbers. Once you’ve done that, gentlemen, we could use your help in clearing the tracks so we can get under way again as soon as possible.”
The 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection 1 Page 2
