by Megan Besing
When she reached the main route through town, she turned south to follow railroad tracks toward the depot. Ten weeks of work. Now she’d spend most of her savings on a ticket to Spokane Falls. Thankfully, one of the replies to her query about lodging offered a room at a dollar a week—two, with meals. Helena believed she’d have a job in no time once she arrived. She’d write to Joseph and her father in Chicago as soon as she was settled.
She swallowed tears as she mounted the steps of the wood-frame train station. Benches lined three walls inside the dimly lit room, with the stationmaster’s window on the fourth. The clicking of a telegraph key sounded loud in the small space. She peered through the window at a bald man hunched over a desk, his index finger tapping out a message.
“Excuse me, sir.”
He glanced over his shoulder. “Be with you in a moment.” After several more taps, he walked to the window. “You here to send a message?”
“No, sir. I’d like to purchase a ticket to Spokane Falls on Friday’s train.”
“One-way or round-trip?”
The finality of her decision brought a lump to her throat. “One-way.” Her voice wavered.
His bushy eyebrows shot up. “Ain’t you the gal who works at Wolford’s? He know you’re leaving?”
“Yes, sir. He knows.”
The stationmaster selected a pasteboard strip with “Northern Pacific” printed at the top in bold black letters. He dipped a pen in an inkwell and wrote Friday’s date below the destination. “That’ll be twenty-nine dollars, miss.”
Helena counted the fare onto the ledge outside his window, the clink of the coins nailing her decision in place.
She grabbed her ticket and hurried into the sunshine. Four more days.
Daniel waited on his porch as the rattle of harnesses and rumble of machinery moved up the lane toward his wheat crop. Daybreak flared in the eastern sky, lighting the way for a dozen horses and a grain header. Ripened wheat stretched full and heavy toward the rising sun.
He rubbed the back of his neck. Now he could buy Helena the ticket he’d promised. After seeing her eagerness when she received her brother’s letter, he knew he had to let her go.
Will met him at the foot of the steps. “Soon as you’re ready, we’ll begin.” He gestured toward the men holding horses in place. “Grant’s out there with one of the teams. Sarah and Beth will be over later with the noon meal.”
“Appreciate the help.” Daniel hesitated. “Don’t suppose Helena’s coming, is she?”
“It’s Thursday. She’s at the mercantile.” Will chuckled. “Now, if she were your wife, she’d be right here cooking for the threshing crew.”
Daniel tugged his hat lower on his forehead. No matter how much he wished, she wasn’t his wife. The sooner he bought her ticket, the sooner he’d be spared seeing her and knowing she couldn’t be his.
The two men joined the others as they positioned the header toward the first row of grain then lined the horses across the back of the machine. At a command from the drivers, the teams pushed and the cutting reel turned. Moving down the row, the sickle bar chewed its way through the standing wheat. A warm toast fragrance rose from the stalks as they were carried onto a canvas platform beside the machine.
Daniel jumped up behind the cutting reel to guide the harvested wheat into a following wagon. “Let’s move faster,” he hollered to the drivers. “I want to finish today.”
Helena dawdled at her task of arranging canned peaches on a shelf in the food section of the mercantile. She’d finally learned where Mr. Wolford kept everything, and prided herself on being able to lead customers straight to whatever they wanted. She’d miss his gruff manner, which hid a candy-soft heart.
“You about finished there? The missus sent over some of her ginger cookies as a going-away gift. Having you look after the store while she was sick was a blessing from God. Don’t know how we would have managed without you.”
“I was happy to help, considering you were kind enough to take the risk of hiring me.”
Mr. Wolford placed a towel-covered dish on the counter. “It hasn’t been easy keeping your departure a secret.”
She rested her hand on his forearm for a brief moment. “I’ll tell the Hallidays in the morning. It’s better for all of us not to suffer drawn-out good-byes.”
“If you say so.” He cleared his throat. “Sarah’s going to be mighty upset to see you go.”
“I’ll miss the whole family.” Helena didn’t mention that keeping the news from Daniel was her most important reason. She planned to be on a train headed east before he purchased the promised ticket to Illinois.
She drew a ragged breath and bit into a cookie, enjoying the mingled sweet and spicy flavors. “Tell Mrs. Wolford thank you. These are delicious.”
The bell over the door jingled as a man dressed in patched overalls stepped inside. Ignoring Helena, he turned to Mr. Wolford. “Over at the stable, they told me I could get a new ax from you. Someone stole mine off my wagon.”
“Miss Erickson can show you where they are.”
She subdued a pleased smile. “Right this way, sir. The tools are—”
The door banged open, hitting the wall.
“Helena! Come quick. Mama needs you.” Beth ran to her and grabbed her hand. “Daniel’s hurt. Papa went for the doctor in Cheney.”
Helena’s knees buckled. She grabbed the counter for balance as she sought Mr. Wolford’s eyes.
“May I?”
“Go. I’ll help the customer.”
Beth tugged Helena toward the hitching rail, where the family’s old mare waited. “We’ll have to ride double. Papa’s got the buggy and the teams are still at Daniel’s.” She stuck her foot into a stirrup and sprang into the saddle.
Helena bunched her skirt between her knees, put her foot in the stirrup, and pulled herself up behind Beth. As soon as she wrapped her arms around the girl, Beth turned the horse west and kicked her feet into the animal’s side.
“Giddup, Belle.”
Belle’s giddup was at best a fast walk, but at least they were moving. Helena leaned close to Beth’s ear. “Where is he? What happened?”
“He fell off the header. The sickle bar cut him up pretty bad. Blood everywhere. He might’ve broken a leg, too.” Her chest rose and fell as she took a deep breath. “They have him in back of a wagon out of the sun. Mama’s doctoring him, but she needs help.”
Helena rested her forehead on Beth’s shoulder. One more consequence of her headstrong decision. If Daniel weren’t so determined to buy her ticket, this wouldn’t have happened. Lord, please let him be all right. Heal his wounds.
Daniel struggled to open his eyes. Something was wrong with the left one—everything looked black. He lifted his hand to his head, but soft fingers clasped his and held them still.
“Daniel?”
The vision in his right eye cleared to reveal Helena’s angelic face smiling down at him. He tried to speak through a weight pressing against his lower lip. “ ’Elena. Where am I? Wha’ happened?”
She looked over her shoulder. “Sarah. He’s awake.”
“Praise God!” Sarah appeared next to Helena. “You fell off the header. Doc’s been here and stitched you up. Your ankle’s hurt bad, but not broken. You’re in bed and you need to stay there.”
Images of harvesters working in his wheat crop filled his mind. If he fell off the header, that meant they weren’t finished. He pushed himself up on one elbow. “Got to get back to work. Wasting daylight.” His words emerged garbled.
Helena shook her head. “It’s dark outside. Harvest’s done.”
“Done? How?”
Chair legs rasped across the floor and in a moment Sarah sat next to him. “The men finished a couple hours ago. Your grain’s on the way to the thresher. You had a good crop.”
She patted his shoulder. “I’m going home now that you’re awake. Helena will be with you until Grant comes. He’ll stay the night.” Her heels tapped as she left the room.
When he turned his head to follow the sound, the familiar sight of his bureau with his comb and brush centered in front of Ross’s picture met his eyes. His bedroom window reflected lamp glow over Helena’s soft blond hair.
He put his hand to his face. Bandages covered his lower lip, half his face, and wrapped around his forehead. “What’s under all this?”
Tears glistened in Helena’s eyes. “When you fell, you gashed your cheek, cut your lip, and tore your eyebrow and your ear.” She bowed her head. “Daniel, this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t used your tickets to come here. I’m so, so sorry.”
He tried to deny her words by shaking his head, but she stopped him, resting a gentle hand on his bandages.
“Please let me speak. When I found those tickets, they seemed to be a gift from heaven. I wanted so much to be your chosen bride. So I used them, hoping you would accept me in spite of my brother’s deception.” Her voice trembled. “But I didn’t stop to consider the possible consequences. You wouldn’t have had your fall if you weren’t hurrying to raise money to send me back—isn’t that true?”
“Maybe. But—”
The cabin door opened. “Helena?” Daniel recognized Grant’s voice.
“In here.” She bent over the bed and placed a kiss on the top of Daniel’s head. “I pray the day comes that you’ll think of me with forgiveness in your heart. Good-bye, Daniel.” With a whirl of her wide skirts, she hurried away.
He flopped back on the pillow. He wanted to chase after her and tell her he loved her, but he was as good as tied to this bed. The only consolation was she couldn’t leave town until he bought her ticket. He knew she couldn’t have earned the fare to Illinois in the three short months she’d been in Spalding.
He had time to win her heart.
Chapter 14
Late morning sun glittered over vacant Northern Pacific tracks. Helena’s trunk waited on the baggage cart at the edge of the platform.
Beth clung to her, sobbing. “You can’t leave. We’re sisters.”
“It breaks my heart to leave you, but I can’t stay.” Helena hugged her close. “You need your room back.”
“I don’t want my room! It’s plain without the pretty cup and your dresses.”
“Winter’s coming. Grant isn’t going to want to sleep in the barn forever.” She tried to force a smile past her trembling lips.
Sarah moved next to them, her eyes red and puffy. “It’s made such a difference to have you here. I wish things—”
“So do I. You have no idea how much.” Helena wrapped her arms around Sarah and held her tight. Over Sarah’s shoulder she saw Uncle Will twisting his hat brim around between his broad fingers. A pained expression wrote itself over his countenance when black smoke spiraled on the western horizon.
Within minutes, the engine squealed to a stop. Helena felt as though her heart were being torn from her body. The consequences of her deception seemed never-ending. She drew in a deep breath then turned to embrace each of the Hallidays. “I’ll write to you. All the time.”
As soon as the conductor appeared at the door of one of the passenger cars, she gripped her ticket between her fingers, lifted her valise, and fled up the steps. Moving through the first car, she settled in one of the seats toward the back, her anguish held in check by the slenderest of threads. She needed time alone.
When the train lurched into motion, she wrapped her arms around her body and rocked with the swaying of the car. Lord, be with me. Lead me, guide me. I’m listening.
The door between cars opened and closed. Helena straightened and held out her ticket as the conductor’s steps thumped behind her.
“Excuse me, ma’am. Is this seat taken?”
Her breath stopped. Next to the opposite bench, a tall man, face swathed in bandages, leaned on crutches.
“Daniel! How did you—”
“Grant helped.”
Smile lines fanned out from the deep-brown eye visible above the dressings. “It’s time to start over, Helena.” Balancing with care in the moving car, he reached for her hands and drew her to her feet. “I love you and can’t let you go. Consider this your welcome to Washington Territory as my bride—if you’ll have me.”
“Oh, Daniel, a thousand times, yes!” She lifted her face toward his, and by careful manipulating, managed to kiss him above the bandages.
He held her close with his free arm. “We’ll get off at the next stop and go back. Reverend Marley is waiting.”
Helena felt she could soar above the train and fly back to Spalding. She had no doubt this was the answer to her prayer. Marriage to Daniel was the gift from heaven that God had been leading her to all along.
Ann Shorey has been a full-time writer for over twenty years. She made her fiction debut with The Edge of Light, Book One in the At Home in Beldon Grove series. Her latest releases include Love’s Sweet Beginning, the third book in the Sisters at Heart series, and several novellas. Ann and her husband make their home in southwestern Oregon.
A Fairy-Tale Bride
by Liz Tolsma
Chapter 1
Cuento, East Texas May
1867
Next stop, Cuento. Cuento, next stop.” The conductor swayed down the aisle as the train rushed over the Texas prairie toward Nora Green’s new life.
Nora turned to Maude Palmer, her traveling companion and stepsister. “This is where we get off and meet our soon-to-be husbands. Are you ready?”
Maude patted her dark, upswept hair and frowned. Actually, the frown was a permanent feature on her face. “I only hope my fiancé is good looking. I couldn’t stand to spend the rest of my days with an ugly man. Could you imagine?”
Her new husband’s face was the least of Nora’s worries. More than the unpleasantness of his countenance, what would life be like if his personality was disagreeable? “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
“And what would you have had us do? The war robbed us of our husbands and our homes. Neither of us has any family left. Those Yankees took everything we had. New spouses are the only way we’re going to survive.”
Four years had dimmed the ache in Nora’s chest at the mention of Richard. What would their life have been like had he lived? Children? A new, large home? Servants? She shook her head. No use in pondering any of that. Her Virginia existence was over. In a few hours, she would be Mrs. J. M. Griffin and have a fresh start. A home and security. Maybe not the love she thought she had shared with Robert, but perhaps companionship.
“Mrs. Wade Yates. That has a nice ring to it.”
“And four stepchildren.”
“They’ll be busy with school and chores. Wade promised they are well behaved and good mannered. I wouldn’t have come west without that assurance.”
No, Maude wasn’t the maternal type. Desperation over their financial circumstances drove her to answer the advertisement for a mail-order bride. Since Maude was her only family, Nora found herself a match in the same town and followed her stepsister. “You might discover you like the children.”
Maude snorted. “Highly unlikely. That was one thing Frank did right. He never gave me babies.” She rose and pulled her carpetbag from the rack above their seats.
Nora pressed her nose to the window as the train raced toward their destination. She giggled.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing.” She giggled some more, even though her hands shook as she smoothed down her gray traveling suit. Soon to be her wedding gown. What had she done? Was it too late to turn around and head back East?
The train slowed and pulled along the platform. Would her new husband lie to her like her old one had? Nora covered her mouth, trying to stifle her nerves. She had to contain herself before the man thought her insane. A few people stood scattered outside the station, either greeting arrivals or preparing to begin their journey. Among those waiting must be J. M. Griffin and Wade Yates.
Maude joined her at the window. “Stop that nervous laughing. It drives me crazy. Nothi
ng is funny. Now, which do you suppose are our grooms? Wade must be that tall gentleman with the bowler hat. The one with his back to us. He’s broad and well built. The one in the coveralls can’t be him.”
“Neither of them may be our fiancés.” Nora’s stomach jumped around her midsection, even as she tittered.
“Will you please stop laughing? You’ll scare off your intended, and then what will become of you?”
Nora bit the inside of her cheek. “I can’t help it.”
“You’d better. I’ll not have you ruining my chances for a respectable life.”
The brakes squealed as the train halted in front of the small station not much bigger than some outhouses. A lone bench sat in front of the weather-worn structure. Though the area grew cotton like Virginia, the similarities ended there. The wide, flat prairie stretched on forever.
Nora retrieved her reticule from the seat and followed Maude as she sashayed down the aisle. Another giggle bubbled in her throat, but she choked it back. “Wait.” She grabbed Maude by the arm. “I’m not sure I can go through with this.”
Maude spun around, her dark wide skirt swishing. “If you don’t want to, fine. But I’m going to marry Wade. You can go back to Virginia if you want. But you have no home to go to and no money to get there. What will you do to support yourself?”
“I…I don’t know.” Before he walked off to war, Richard told her about a stash of money in a bag under the floorboards for her to use if he never returned. The day she discovered his name on the casualty list, she also discovered his lie. The bag contained nothing but air.
“That’s what I thought.” With another swing of her dress, Maude trekked the rest of the way down the aisle with Nora in her wake.
A gust of hot, humid air greeted Nora as she stepped through the door. She gulped. Time to meet her new husband.
