She snuggled closer to him again and watched the sun continue its rise until the bright sheen was too much for her eyes. She turned in his arms and cupped the back of his neck to bring their lips together. The sun warmed her back; Val’s love warmed the rest. She stared into his eyes and saw the full reflection of dawn. The tawny light surrounded them and every speck seemed as enchanted as she was, glinting with the luster of her happiness.
Val cupped her cheeks and ran a thumb over her bottom lip. “I’m going to love loving you,” he said and she smiled.
“I think I’m going to love it more.”
“That’s the idea.”
Epilogue
Six years later
Jess fidgeted in the carriage beside Val. Morgan and Lila took the seat across from them and the women sent one last wave out the windows toward Ellie’s boarding house, where the proprietress stood on the porch beside Sandy and Argyle, a baby on her hip and four more youngsters gathered around, all waving and watching their parents rattle up the hill toward Virginia City.
Four-year-old twin boys stood side-by-side, and Jess blew them a kiss, fighting back the tears it caused her to leave her children. Val’s hand squeezed her thigh as he leaned forward to place a kiss on her cheek.
“They’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “Ellie will take good care of all of them.”
“I know,” she returned. “I just hate leaving them, even for a few hours.”
Val chuckled and placed a hand over the hard bulge of her belly. “You were sure you couldn’t bear children, and yet you do it so well we get more than one at a time. What do you think?” he posed to all in the carriage. “Twin girls this time?”
Jess huffed. “God, I hope not. Please let it be a single this time.”
“Yes, please,” Lila answered with a laugh. “It wouldn’t be fair for you two to pass us up when we started before you.”
Morgan patted his wife’s leg. “Sorry, dear. I’m trying to give you more children as fast as I can.”
Lila leaned over to kiss her husband. “I’m blessed with the three we have.”
Jess felt her palms fill with sweat inside her gloves and she pulled them off to air them. She slid a finger beneath the black lace itching her throat. It fastened to a sequins and plumed indigo hat. Her dress was made of the same color in a shimmering silk, decorated with silver embroidery and beading along the square neck line and skirt hem.
She’d spent an entire month making the dress only to have to add more material when her belly decided to bulge overnight. She wanted to look perfect for this evening. Her fingers shook and Val reached out to hold them before she could curl them into her skirt.
“Why are you so nervous?” he whispered while Morgan and Lila carried on their own conversation.
Jess locked eyes with her husband and squeezed his hand. “It’s been six years, Val.”
He laughed. “I know, but you’ve been writing letters regularly the entire time. Besides, she’s your sister. It’s not like she’s forgotten you.”
She smiled at the silliness of her sentimentality. “I know she’ll be as thrilled to see me as I am to see her. And she’s dying to meet the boys.”
“Then, what are you afraid of?”
Jess swallowed down the lump in her throat and told Val the truth. “I’m afraid that her homecoming will be so wonderful that I’ll be absolutely devastated when she leaves again.”
She thought back on how difficult it had been when Marlena left the first time. Jess was gripped by a sadness so fierce she’d almost called off hers and Val’s wedding, convinced she’d never be happy again. Val had warmed her with laughter and life and long nights of passion. She was never more grateful to have such a humorous and caring man by her side than she was during that time.
He pulled her head to his chest and held her close. “It will be hard on you,” he said. “But you’ve got me and Barrett and Heath…and our two little girls.” He patted her belly and she laughed.
“One little girl,” she corrected.
“We shall see.”
She laughed again and sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Ugh. This damn pregnancy is making me weepy.”
“We’re here,” Morgan announced as the carriage came to a stop.
The driver hopped down and opened the door. The men disembarked first, helping their wives down next and Jess surveyed the grand pillars of Piper’s Opera House. On either side of the doors, posters were plastered, featuring drawings of a singer with red hair and bearing the announcement:
Virginia City welcomes RUBY! The American Songbird!
Jess frowned. “Ruby? Marlena wrote that she would be the star tonight.”
“If that’s what she wrote, then I’m sure we’ll see her on stage,” Val said as he escorted them into the theater.
They stopped several times to speak with acquaintances, old friends and new business contacts they’d made. Jess spied Juliet enter in a flashy red dress, followed by three of her women and Dalton as an escort. The woman acknowledged Jess’s wave and smile with a slight nod of her head.
Once in their box seats, anticipation welled in Jess’s stomach until the lights dimmed and the curtains pulled back to reveal a beautiful young woman standing at center stage in a bright snowy gown, the shimmering skirt billowing out in the shape of a bell in layers of white, glittering fabric. The bodice accentuated her curves and sparkled in rivulets of beading that drew the eye upward to the low-scooped bodice that sat slightly off-shoulder. Yards of shiny white lace draped down to the elbow as sleeves.
A generous view of cleavage plumped from the neck line, giving way to a slender neck and a pale, heart-shaped face whose violet eyes scanned the rows of people until they locked onto Jess. The sisters saw each other for the first time in six years and tears sprang into Jess’s eyes. Marlena was breathtaking, even with a full head of deep auburn hair, and Jess had never felt so proud. They smiled at one another until the crowd’s applause quieted to a still silence.
“Damn,” Val whispered beside her. “She sure has grown up, hasn’t she?”
Jess shushed him as Marlena’s eyes shifted to her audience and she opened her mouth to sing. The tone of her voice was pure and solid, echoing off of the walls of the building until the entire space filled with the rich sound. She opened with a long high note, belting a thick vibrato before calling the sound back in a controlled denouement that left goosebumps along Jess’s skin.
Throughout the night’s performance, Jess felt a sure peace about the choice she’d made all those years ago. It was the right decision. Marlena was in her element, thriving on the stage. She sang songs about the war that moved people to tears, patriotic songs that made everyone cheer, and humorous songs that filled the room with laughter. She went through four dress changes and never once looked flustered or weary.
The night ended with a flawless performance of Beautiful Dreamer that brought the audience to its feet with thunderous applause and shouts of “Encore!” Marlena curtsied and bowed in every direction, acknowledging each section of her patrons, locking eyes with Jess once more before the curtain fell and the lamplights rose.
They waited for the crowd to thin before making their way back to the lobby. Juliet entered the area at the same time and Dalton abandoned his mother at Val’s call. The men all shook hands.
“How the hell have you been?” Val asked.
“Busy,” Dalton replied, shifting his light blue eyes and a smile to the women in greeting. “Just got back in town two weeks ago.”
“You planning to stick around this time?”
He shrugged. “Depends on some things.”
Jess tapped her foot impatiently until Marlena emerged from a side door, wearing the white gown she started the night in. They ran to each other and embraced, their eyes filling again. For several long moments, neither could speak. When they pulled away, Jess stepped back to take in the full view.
“I can’t believe how beautiful you’ve become,” she said. “A
nd this dress…it looks like it was made for royalty.”
“I made it,” Marlena confessed with pride.
“I’m not surprised.”
Marlena’s hands reached out to cup Jess’s belly. “Oh, my,” she breathed as her eyes filled with tears. “It’s so wonderful to see you this way. You look radiant.”
“You, too.” Jess glanced up at the glossy crimson updo. “Red?”
Marlena laughed. “It was Sarah’s idea. She didn’t want me looking like her. She wanted me to have my own look and style. She gave me the name, too.”
Jess frowned. “What’s wrong with Marlena?”
“It’s not really a good stage name.”
Before Jess could argue, Val stepped in to gather the woman in his arms. “Is this my little sister? My beautiful, grown up, angelic-voiced, little sister?”
They laughed as he lifted her and spun around, setting her down in front of Dalton. Marlena’s smile fell and her laughter died on the air. Dalton cleared his throat and stepped forward to take her hand.
“Little Miss,” he said as he brought her hand to his lips and placed a lingering kiss on her knuckles.
She pulled her hand away. “I thought I asked you in Boston not to call me that.”
Jess stepped forward, her brow furrowed. “You saw each other in Boston?”
Marlena’s cheeks filled with red and she stepped further away from Dalton. “Only briefly.”
“Yes,” Dalton said, his eyes never leaving Marlena’s. “Much too briefly.”
Jess watched his hooded gaze slide over her sister and the soft sheen of perspiration break out on Marlena’s temples while she refused to meet anyone’s eyes. She would bet anything there was more to the story than a brief meeting in Boston. She looped her arm around Marlena’s shoulders and pulled the woman to her side, breaking Dalton’s locked gaze. He looked up at the group of faces and smiled.
“Last year when I escorted my mother back from England, we stayed in Boston for a few weeks and just happened upon the American Songbird.” His gaze returned to Marlena and his smile widened. “Course, back then she was still Marlena, and still had blond hair.”
Marlena seemed to shrink under the man’s gaze, igniting a protective fire in Jess and she flashed a departing smile to Dalton before sweeping Marlena out of Piper’s.
“I apologize for leaving you so hastily, Dalton, but my sister and I have much catching up to do, and there is a pair of anxious nephews waiting to meet their aunt.”
He said nothing, but nodded and leaned against a column, watching Marlena until she disappeared into the carriage.
“We’ll walk back,” Val offered, knowing there wasn’t room for five inside the carriage.
Jess and Lila nodded to their husbands before joining Marlena, whose skin had gone pale as she clutched her stomach.
“Are you all right?” Jess asked, scooting in beside her. “Is it Dalton? Did he do something to upset you in Boston?” When Marlena said nothing but reached up to run her fingers over her lips, Jess stiffened. “I’ll kill him!”
She leaned to tell the driver to turn back but Marlena reached out to stop her. “Don’t, please. I just want to get away from him.”
Jess and Lila exchanged a worried glance before her attention fixed on Marlena. “What happened in Boston?”
Marlena took a deep breath and finally looked at her sister. “He kissed me.”
“And you didn’t want him to?”
She shifted and glanced back and forth between the two women. “It’s not that. It’s what he said afterwards.”
“What did he say?” asked Lila.
“His exact words?” she asked and the women nodded. Marlena turned to peer out the window. “When you see me again, it’ll be because I’ve come to make you mine.”
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading the second installment of the Love in the Sierras Series. Val and Jess are two of my all-time favorite characters and I spent many hours laughing and crying as their story unfolded from my fingertips. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read the tale of Morgan and Lila in Silver Nights With You, Book 1 in the series.
If you are familiar with the setting of this tale, you might know that I have abridged certain historical figures and fixtures for the sake of storytelling. While Virginia City did experience massive growth due to the silver boom, it wasn’t quite the gleaming metropolis by 1861, the year of our tale. In fact, it did not reach its peak until the mid-1860s, when its population swelled to 25,000. St. Mary’s Church was originally built in 1868 and tragically burned in an 1875 fire that nearly destroyed all of Virginia City. It was rebuilt in 1876 and still stands as it was erected. Samuel Clemens, or Mark Twain, did not arrive in Virginia City until the fall of 1862. You can read of his many exploits in his book, Roughing It, a wild west tale in its own right.
And the railroad.
While it’s true the first charter for a northern Nevada rail line was granted in 1861, the vision was not realized until 1870, when the Virginia & Truckee Railroad Company opened a 21-mile line between Virginia City and the Carson Valley. The 31-mile extension into Reno was completed two years later. The line operated, profitably, for eighty years, finally closing down in 1950. The country’s first transcontinental railroad was constructed between 1863 and 1869, opening for public use in 1870.
If you enjoyed these Nevada adventures, keep an eye out for Book 3 in the fall of 2015! The journey continues with…
For release dates, sales, promotions and other exciting Sawyer Belle news, please subscribe to my blog at http://sayitsawyer.wordpress.com or frequent my website, www.sawyerbelle.com. You may also follow me on Twitter @Sawyer_Belle.
Thanks again, and happy reading!
Desert Sunrise (Love in the Sierras Book 2) Page 26
