by Faye Sonja
She paused for a moment. “We can’t stay here. If they check his storage when they get in it will only be a short time before their hounds will find us here. We have to keep going.”
She pulled on Amy’s hand and led her to a spot where the river thinned and slowed enough for them to cross. The water would hide their scents if they walked along the bank and in a couple hours they should be meeting Bryson, who’d be waiting with horses to divide up the bounty. They had to keep going, or when caught; their story would be one for the history books- two Amish girls caught after robbing a local mayor. For decades writers would have tales to spin stories around about their little adventure and she would have no doubt brought even more disgrace to her father’s name. She couldn’t have that, and so she ran even when her feet had long since given out. The tears that fell from her eyes were immediately whisked away in the silence of the night on the whisper of the winds they’d left behind. This was going to be her last robbing spree. With their share from this haul they would have enough to move as far away from here as possible. She might even think about Amy’s suggestion of becoming a mail order bride. She wasn’t much for the idea that had gotten her shunned to begin with, but she would try it.
Anything to get her out of this life and someplace where thieving wasn’t her only means of survival. A life where her heart didn’t sink and her skin didn’t crawl every time she saw a law man.
They made it to the river and waddled their way along as far as they could. Their underclothes soaked up the water as they moved and it only slowed them down, but they never stopped. The entire time she was cursing in her head about the ridiculous clothes the English women wore. Right now she was missing the boring grey tunic that denoted her community. Had she been wearing one now, she could have all but swam down the river, but for close to thirty minutes she moved forward, dragging her clothes behind her, until they heard a whistle and the restless neighing of a nearby horse.
“Let’s go,” she said to Amy as they climbed the riverbank.
“Right on time,” Bryson, the hired gun said to them in the dark as he dropped a bag she had instructed him to carry with fresh clothes for them both. Behind him, two more men sat atop their horses looking out for danger in the night.
“Were you worried we would not make it?” she asked him. She had always liked Bryson. He was all brawn and no brain, but he was handsome and kind. It made her wonder what could have gotten him walking down this path- the courier for the criminal underworld of Mississippi. She would have asked but she knew she would have been told it was none of her business.
“You always deliver,” he said, peering into the bag she had handed him. He pulled out two wads of bank notes and two gold bars and handed them to her. She split them in half and gave Amy her share.
“Tell your boss it was nice working for him,” she said to Bryson.
“You sure you want out?” he asked her as he mounted his horse with the loot he had just recovered from her. “We have a job in Ohio coming up.”
She looked at him and she knew she would miss the adventure, but she would not miss stealing. She was ashamed of herself and having been raised differently she knew better. She was going to quit while she was ahead.
“No she said as she ducked behind a bush with Amy to change their wet clothes. When she came out he blew her a kiss and pointed to the two horses waiting for them. She mounted hers and Amy followed suit. With one last look at the gang of bandits that she had traveled with for the last year she turned and rode off into the direction of the sun that would be rising in a couple hours. She was going to get as far away as she possibly could from this town and all her misdeeds and maybe find herself a husband while she tried her best to turn her life around.
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1
Chapter ONE
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“ I am supposed to be, but who knows
what the future might hold.”
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Seven months later
It wasn’t the darkness so much that had fear creeping up her spine, but the fact that she could not see beyond just a few feet in front of her. The late night, early morning fog that hung in the air, snaking around her legs in the dark alleyway was terrifying. She remembered why she hated to be caught out at this hour and made a mental promise to never let it happen again. It was as if she couldn’t get rid of the fact that she had to keep sneaking around.
“So, why are we here?” Amy asked from beside her.
She couldn’t answer immediately because she wasn’t exactly sure. She had been feeling like she was being followed. She just wanted to make sure.
“Shhhh!” she hushed her friend.
The two buildings that towered over her in the dead of the Texas night were never ending, and with each turn in their designs the alleyway ahead of her became a maze. This is what she got for opting for a short cut. These parts of Texas were rapidly becoming heavily developed. Nothing like the remote north she had been romping around in recently.
“Did you get a response back from your mail order bride ad?” Amy asked her.
She turned in surprise to her best friend, trying to decide if she should ditch or clobber her. “Amy! Right now that is what you want to talk about? Right here, right this minute?”
Amy looked at her confused. “Yes! You won’t talk to me about it any other time.”
“Shhhh!”
Amy punched her in her arm and spoke in a loud whisper. “Don’t you dare shush me. You told me things would be different once we left Mississippi, yet here I am snooping around in the dark again. I am tired of this life and you need to find yourself a husband!”
She rolled her eyes at her friend. “Okay fine, I got a response from some US Marshal. I am supposed to be meeting him in the morning. Now will you shut up?”
“Oh no! No!” Amy said and began pacing the narrow space in the alley. “You cannot marry a US Marshal. What if he found out you were a criminal?”
“You can’t have it both ways, Amy!” she said. “Either you want me to marry or you don’t. And out of all the responses I got to my mail order bride ad he is the only one that doesn’t seem like he is going to bore me to death so I am going on ahead with it. Now be quite!”
“I guess I will have to settle for visiting you in jail if he ever finds out,” Amy said trying to get in one last punch. Jasmine ignored her. She had already thought about all that, problem was she didn’t like the prospect either but she wanted a change and she would accept the least boring one. She didn’t leave her Amish village to agree to the same thing outside. The least she wanted was a big ranch space and a husband who knew a little about adventure.
Something moved behind her and they had to stifle a scream, and even though she told her feet to run, they stood frozen to the spot in stern disobedience. She felt as though her legs had been chopped off, and she could only stand there and wait for the temporary paralysis to pass while her beady eyes shot from left to right and in the distance a dog began its incessant yapping and horses outside the rowdy saloon they were spying on shifted in nervous anticipation.
“Help!” they heard a feeble cry up ahead of her and her flight response kicked into overdrive. It wasn’t the overdrive to give aid, it was the urge to get the heck out of dodge, and as the morning mist thickened, her heart rate increased and her breathing became a panicky, choking sound that only served to scare her more.
“What was that?” Amy asked grabbing at her frock. Honestly, she didn’t know how Amy hadn’t dropped dead from fright on all the looting expeditions they had done. She was afraid of her own shadow.
“Is anybody there?” she heard the feeble male voice call up ahead of her and willed her feet, heavy as a dead horse riddled with fear, to move towards the sound. It was just then that her senses came flooding back and she could smell the rankness of old urine spots and ten day old garbage emanating from t
he grimy filth of the alleyway. Used to be that back in the day alleyways were places to easily cut from one street to the next, now they were places where dumpsters stood proudly and the homeless set up shop and considered their bathrooms to be only a few feet away from their makeshift beds.
Maybe the sound was coming from one of them. For her that possibility meant it was a tossup. Her first week here a homeless man had tried to mug her and she had damned all their souls to an eternal inferno ever since. But against all better judgement she made her way to where the sound was coming from.
The dumpster up ahead and to her left seemed to be the location and making her way there tentatively she said a few hail Mary's as she made her way through the mist.
"Hello!" She called back, as they carefully put one foot in front of the other, but the muttering did not come back to her. The icy fingers of fear again crept up her spine, splayed across her back and took a firm grip on her heart that was hell bent on beating its way right out of her chest.
She wasn't built for this, and neither was Amy. She we was not about this life, as dark alleyways and rescuing strange voices calling for help were permanently crossed off her bucket list.
The deafening silence of the night around her did nothing to help but as she made her way to the shadowy figure she could now make out huddled in pain on the ground the terrifying promise of something bad to happen passed out of her.
"Help," the man called up at her. She rushed to him and tried to roll him to his side to help him. She couldn't see his face but the dark fluid behind him was most definitely cause for worry.
"Hey, you have to get to a doc-"
Her words were cut short as the man suddenly rolled on his side and kicked her legs out from under her. The air was knocked right out of her lungs as she hit the ground hard, her head cracked on the pavement and as the darkness moved in, the air around her became too thick to breathe.
“Get away from him!” shouted another drunken man and in the midst of fighting the blackness she could smell the stench of alcohol coming from his lips. “He owes me money and I am going to collect.”
The moonlight sneaking through the clouds overhead illuminated the silver flash of the blade he drew from his jacket while he sat atop her blocking all her wild attempts to slap him into oblivion.
"No!" Amy screamed shoving the man out of the way. He staggered and she found an added bit of energy to jump to her feet and throw his hands to the side and land an elbow to his jaw.
The strength of the blow threw him off of her and she wasted no time in bolting down the alley in the direction she had come. She was not about to become the victim of a robbery in an alleyway. She envisioned her death to be a lot more glorious than that.
It was a pity that her high heel clad feet did not work as well as she had wished.
“Get some help!” she shouted at Amy who ran to the saloon screaming that they needed help.
“Don’t die!” she said to the man who was bleeding on the ground in front of her.
“What is the matter?” a man with a US Marshal badge that gleamed in the moonlight said to her.
“We found him being attacked,” she said trying to step back into the shadow of the alley so he would not see her face. In that moment she realized Amy was right. She would never have peace and what if her new husband was to want to lock her up for all her crimes?
As more men appeared in the alley she moved out of their way and soon the wounded was being carted off to the doctor’s house close by. She took Amy’s hand and made her way back to the small room they shared.
“I hope you get married soon,” Amy said as they walked hand in hand through the dead of night. “I don’t think I can manage many more of these adventures.”
She laughed and squeezed her friend’s hand. She would miss these adventures when she eventually did settle down.
Hours later Jasmine bolted upright in her bed clutching at her chest. She was feeling the remnants of the pain from the attack the night before. It was as if the dream was real and it was all suddenly happening again, but she soon realized it was just a dream and the cold sweat that soaked her night gown and bed sheets told her as much. She ran her hand over her heart feeling the burning there.
“Okay, you are going crazy,” she said out loud to herself, while looking at Amy’s empty bed. Amy worked at the saloon down the road and it was just evil that she had to report for work before the break of dawn, but Amy was never late. Unlike her who had a decent book-keeping job and always showed up late. She looked at her watch and realized that today would be no different. Trying to convince herself to get out of bed she thought back to the dream she had just had. The older she got the crazier she felt she was becoming, and it was no comforting fact to her now at twenty-nine years old.
"Not again," she muttered and flopped back into bed. Her senses were finally waking up and looking towards the thin sheets that covered her windows, she could see the beginnings of sunrise.
"Sweet life," she chuckled, touching herself to ensure she was actually real and the light she was seeing was not a light she was to walk into. Getting up she made her way to the kitchen trying hard not to walk into a wall while she was at it. She hadn’t been sleeping well for the past couple weeks Amy had begun to notice, but this is the first she could remember and the first that had been that vivid. She was right too; she needed to either get married and move out, or just move on. They couldn’t continue to share the same space. She was beginning to feel she needed more space. She was beginning to feel a little stressed.
No, no, no, no, no! Let it go! You left home because you wanted to leave all this stress behind. I would advise that you do not pick up the habit of your old ways again.
As she washed herself, she was beginning to think about her life. If this mail order bride response she was to meet later that day did not pan out, she was going to get a room a few doors down so Amy could get some space from her insanity. For now she focused solely on work.
Work, she thought with a smile. It wasn’t much by any standard or at least by the standards that she wanted to work by, but it was a lot for now. It was the best job she had had in a while and even better it allowed her to do something other than steal her way through life. She hummed her favorite tune to get herself in the mood for productivity and made a cup of coffee on the small oven before she would embark on the short train ride to work. The files on the table of her desk sent all her joy right out the window of her small office space.
I guess there is a valid reason for stealing, she thought and was immediately ashamed of herself.
She settled into her space, poured a tad bit of water on her Chinese bamboo and forgot the rest of the world as she went about playing secretary and file clerk for the most prominent book keeping company in town. When she finally took a break it was mid-afternoon and she had all but forgotten about her lunch break. Her bladder decided to make its existence known at that moment and hurrying to the bathroom she nearly ran into the mail man. His stoic face made her stutter an apology.
“So-Sorry,” she said and gingerly side stepped him. The man managed a half smile and nothing more, but she guessed they all had problems. Hers for the day was already beginning to annoy her. She had started the week thinking she would make it her point of duty to get home before six each day. That was clearly not going to be happening today, and it was bothering her. Back in her Amish community she was washed and seated with the family for dinner by six every evening. Nostalgia was making the need for that normalcy apparent again, but working didn’t afford her that.
With a sigh she stared at herself in the mirror of the small bathroom. “Back to it you go,” she told herself. She took another fifteen minutes to eat the sandwich she had packed and then went back to doing what needed to be done. She turned her clock face down to save herself the added irritation and simply focused on the work she had to do.
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2
Chapter TWO
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“ I am supposed to be, but who knows
what the future might hold.”
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Jared stared out at the town barely waking up. He had always loved Texas and before his brother had fallen in love with the quaint Amish woman he had taken up with, they had been in conversation about buying the vast piece of land for sale not far up the road. It had been so they would have more property and he could establish new roots to further build upon the legacy their father had left them. He was sure the idea was still something they could talk about, but that required him going home.
“Coffee sir?” asked the young man who looked like he didn’t get as much sleep a he needed.
“Thanks!” he said and went back to his preoccupations.
He had followed one of his friend’s stupid advice to answer a mail order bride ad, and after getting a positive response he was now getting cold feet. He was to meet her the day before, but he had sent a note saying he would do that later today. Now, he was thinking maybe he should not.
What self-respecting man found a wife that way? It wasn’t like he was desperate either; he had women of all sorts throwing themselves at him. The only problem was it really was not about who wanted him, it was about who he wanted and he was sure he didn’t want any of the women who wanted him as he traversed the country on business for the newly established federal government.
