Scandalous Scoundrels

by Aileen Fish

  No one spoke for a second, then Elise finally took her hand. “Kurt’s not doing so well. The doctor isn’t sure he’s going to make it.”

  Lily felt herself pale and she took an unsteady breath. She turned to Eric who looked equally shaken up. He nodded to her and she stood from the table and left the room heading for Kurt’s quarters.

  She knocked briefly then was told to come in by the doctor. Eric followed behind her and squeezed her hand.

  “What is wrong?” She addressed the young doctor, a different man than had treated her wounds.

  “He lost a great deal of blood. He has spiked a high fever that I am trying to control but it seems to continue rising. If I can’t get it down, he will perish.”

  Lily bit her lip then reached over and held Kurt’s hand. It was extremely warm and Lily felt her brow crease. “Kurt, this can’t be the end. You haven’t told me any of your best sea stories. Besides, neither Eric nor I have a father who is going to give Toby and our baby piggyback rides? We need you!” She knew she sounded like a fool but her words came from her heart and she realized that Kurt had become like family, much like a father figure to her. She didn’t want to lose another man like that in her life.

  She sat by his bed all that day, holding his hand, telling him stories, talking about plans for the baby. She took all her meals there and Toby came and sat for a while with her. When night fell, his fever seemed to worsen and Lily had a cot brought into the room. She was bone tired but she couldn’t leave him now. If it was his time, she wanted to be there with him. Finally, she drifted off to sleep but her dreams were restless and fretful. At four in the morning she woke to the distinct croak of Kurt’s voice.

  “Water,” he mumbled through dry lips.

  Lily quickly got up sprinted over to the bed. Shakily, she poured water into a glass then held it to his lips. He took a long drink then fell back to sleep. Lily felt his head. He was much cooler. She sighed in relief, and returned to her cot. If he needed anything, she would be here.

  She woke a few hours later when the doctor arrived to check on his patient. After speaking with the doctor, Lily decided to return to her room. The worst was over for Kurt. With his fever down, the doctor was extremely hopeful Kurt would recover.

  As she was walking back, she stopped to check on Tracker. She knocked softly on the door and poked her head in. Ann was sitting next to him, holding his hand and brushing the hair back from his face. Lily smiled and closed the door. She was so glad that two people who had seemed so alone had found each other.

  Lily softly opened the door to her room to find Eric asleep in bed. She crawled in next to him and curled up against her husband. He wrapped her in his arms. “How’s Kurt?”

  “Better,” She sighed, glad to be in her husband’s arms.

  “I could sleep for a week.” She snuggled in closer.

  “Right now?” He nuzzled her ear as his hand ran up her side.

  She laughed softly. “I suppose sleep can wait, I seem to have plenty of time for it now!”

  “That is one of the things I love about you.” He started to kiss her but Lily pulled away.

  “Do you really?” She looked into his eyes and he touched the bruise under her eye.

  “How can you not know that I am madly in love with you. I think I have been since the first time I met you all those years ago. I wasn’t ready to love again and honestly, you were too young. You wouldn’t have been able to handle my feelings for you.” He kissed her again and this time she returned his kiss.

  “But even when I returned to Boston this spring, you pushed me away!” There was a small pout to her lips that showed her hurt.

  “I’m sorry love, I just knew I could never remain detached from you. After Caitlin it was so difficult to allow myself to love again. I was afraid of getting hurt. But now I know it is totally worth it. You are worth it.” He kissed a third time and this time she did not protest or ask questions but let her husband fill her with love.

  Epilogue

  Lily sat in the carriage with the nurse and her baby daughter. She smiled at the sleeping child, her heart full of love. Eric opened the door and helped Toby in. The boy was carrying two large bouquets of flowers. One he handed to her with a kiss.

  “Those are for you, Mommy.” He smiled and hugged her again. Toby had gradually started calling her mommy as the baby grew bigger in her belly. Now it seemed completely natural to them all.

  Eric winked and kissed her cheek as he snuggled her into his side. She smiled at her husband so glad to be with him and her family.

  “Who are the other flowers for?” Lily chuckled to herself, she knew the answer of course.

  “Kurt. He might like them for his room in Maine.” Toby nodded to emphasize his point and Lily had to laugh. Kurt had spent the summer at sea and was returning to Maine with them to spend the fall.

  “I’m sure he will love them.” Lily hugged her son and snuggled in for the ride.

  They reached the harbor quickly and all of their trunks were loaded onto the boat for the journey. They were making the trip to attend Tracker and Ann’s wedding but would stay to visit family for a few months. Because of the birth of her daughter she had missed Mark and Amelia’s wedding and was glad they had an extended stay to celebrate with her family and friends. Tracker had just finished his final tour with the military and was going to work for her brother. James was in desperate need of more help with so many contracts to fill.

  Kurt swaggered onto the deck and hailed Toby who went running up the plank to greet his friend. Toby gave Kurt his flowers. He grimaced slightly but accepted them all the same.

  Lily held her daughter as Eric helped them both up the plank.

  “Well, I’ll be. Last time I saw you, you could barely move and here you are lookin’ as fit as a filly in her first season!” Kurt must be extremely happy to see them. He never talked that much.

  “I have someone to introduce you to.” She uncovered the babies face. “Meet Annabelle Marie Sampson.” She gently placed the baby in Kurt’s arms.

  “You named her after my sister?” She could hear the slight choke in his voice as Eric wrapped his arm around her waist.

  “It seemed like the perfect choice.” She smiled and Kurt nodded his head.

  “The sea ain’t what it used to be.” Somehow Lily doubted the sea had changed but she waited to hear what Kurt would say. “I been thinkin’ about spendin’ more time on dry land.”

  Lily and Eric both laughed and Lily knew the Annabelle was going to be spoiled rotten.

  Midnight Magic

  Chapter 1

  St. Louis 1868

  Jessie Cartwright sat on a bench with the warm May sun beating down on her. Sweat trickled down her neck and into her overly stuffed shirt. She desperately wanted to remove her large floppy bonnet for a little relief but she dared not. Her back itched terribly as it often did in the heat but she ignored it. In fact she barely moved, not wanting to attract any attention to herself whatsoever.

  Liz stirred slightly. “How long do we have to sit here, Mama?

  “Hush sweetheart, not too much longer,” Jessie murmured automatically, patting her daughter’s arm. Then her breath caught in her throat. A group of rough looking men passed by and one eyed her with what she was sure was suspicion. She looked down at her feet and shrunk into her disguise.

  The men passed without incident and she felt herself breathe again. Another, more familiar figure approached. He was a stout, bald man in his mid to late forties. Impeccably dressed and already sweating in the St. Louis heat.

  “I have procured your tickets Mrs. Walsh.” Wurther smiled, clearly pleased with himself. He was a lawyer Jessie had hired in an attempt to help cover her tracks. It had cost her precious dollars but it was worth it if it through the men tracking her off of her trail.

  “Thank you,” she muttered not making eye contact. Jesse put the papers in her leather bag, smoothed her jacket and adjusted the hem of her dress in, what she hoped, was a dis
missal. She was desperate to get out of the heat and out of sight.

  Wurther ignored her fidgeting and leaned closer, studying her face. She automatically looked down, attempting to hide her features. “If there is anything else I can do…” His hand brushed her skirt and she abruptly stood. The sudden move made the scars on her back twinge but she ignored the sensation.

  “When does our stage coach leave?” Jessie asked her voice icy cold as she squared her shoulders.

  He straightened and his tone was more business-like. “Three days, it was the soonest I could get.”

  She nodded. It was easy to hide in St. Louis. A sea of people were constantly coming in and out of the city by wagon, foot, or boat. Still, she was eager to put as much distance between her and New York as she possibly could.

  “Thank you,” she said with as much finality as she could muster.

  Wurther looked as though he wanted to say more but Jessie turned to end the conversation and the relationship. She briefly worried that her dismissal would annoy him and provoke the man to rat her out but she brushed these fears aside. Hopefully her disguise was enough to throw anyone chasing her off her trail. Wurther’s attentions proved that her floppy bonnet did not hide her features even though her clothes hid her figure. She was going to have to figure out a way to better deal with this flaw in her plan.

  The other major flaw still nagged at her but it was too late to change it now. She had come to St. Louis because it was the gateway to the western world. From here boats came up and down the Mississippi, wagon trains left weekly and stage coaches took passengers all the way to San Francisco. So many people came in and out it would be difficult to remember one woman and one girl. In addition, from here she could travel almost anywhere making her destination hard to guess by anyone trying to pursue.

  The question then was, where should she go? She’d found her answer in an ad. A Texas rancher had advertised that he was looking for a cook and nanny. Jake Tate had left an address for any would-be applicants to mail a letter of interest. Jessie mailed her letter and then set about booking her passage. She knew that she was supposed to wait for an answer but she didn’t have that kind of time so she sent him a message saying that she would be arriving shortly.

  Her stomach fluttered with nerves again. If Mr. Tate turned her away she would have no money and no job.

  Jessie and Liz made their way down the busy street. As she glanced into a store window a smile spread across her face. Front and center was the ugliest pair of spectacles she had ever seen. Square and thick, they would obscure her features perfectly. She scraped the last few coins form her purse and she and Liz headed into the store.

  ***

  Jessie knew that it was a luxury to be able to ride the stagecoach into Texas. A wagon train could have taken months. The stagecoach ride was a mere fifteen days from St. Louis to Fort Chadbourne. But the ride felt endless. They barely stopped to eat and change horses. Everyone was on edge and continually worried about bandits, thieves, and Indians.

  She was hot, the route was bumpy, and the wagon was loud. The cost had also been extravagant. At $200 for her and Liz, it had drained almost every penny she had.

  She would have thought that all of these problems could occupy her time but, as they bumped down the trail, her thoughts kept drifting back to the past.

  “Jessica, hurry up. All of the eligible men will be taken!” Her mother’s harassed tone filled Jessie’s room and she rolled her eyes at her mother’s use of the name Jessica. Her mother seemed to think it was more sophisticated.

  Jessie stood and scanned her appearance in the mirror. Her greenish eyes glistened in the candlelight and the jade colored evening dress set them off perfectly. It also showed her perfect hour glass figure. Her thick black hair was piled on top of her head accentuating the line of her jaw and her full lips. She smiled at herself.

  Her father was less enthused. “Did you really have to get Jessie another new dress? We are going to go in the poor house, Jane.” Martin Harris did well for his family as a banker but his wife had great aspirations for their daughter.

  “If she is going to marry well, she has to look the part.” Jane Harris sniffed at her husband.

  Jessie enjoyed all of the beautiful dresses and was perfectly content to let her mother fight this battle. She was sure that her father was exaggerating and her mother was right. Jessie Harris had her share of suitors, many of them rich and influential.

  “Ready, Mother?” Her tone was innocent but the wry smile said that she knew her mother had been ready for some time. Jessie did not agree with her mother. Men would find her whenever she got there. Better to make them wait.

  She shuddered despite the heat and Liz looked up at her. She patted her daughter’s arm and made a mental note to keep her thoughts on the present.

  “How much longer do we have, Mama?” Liz’s voice was barely audible over the sound of the wagon.

  “We should be stopping for the day soon and we arrive tomorrow.” Her voice was sympathetic. It was difficult enough as an adult to make this trip. At eight, Liz was wise beyond her years, but it must be grueling for her to be so still every day.

  She looked down at her beautiful daughter. Her dark, almost black, hair was tucked under her bonnet. Her green eyes sparkled with life even under the circumstances. She brushed her daughter’s cheek. The little girl smiled with her full lips and gapped grin. Jessie’s heart constricted. Liz was her whole life and the reason she had run.

  One of the gentleman passengers gave them another long stare and she dropped her head and her hand. He was an older gentleman and seemed to only want to be friendly but she couldn’t take any chances. The less people knew about her and Liz, the better.

  She bit her lip at the thought. She was attempting to live in someone else’s home for the next few months. How would she keep him from learning anything about her? What if he saw through her disguise? What if he just turned her away? The last thought made her shudder again but she looked out the window and tried to wipe her mind of thoughts. Soon enough she would find out for sure.

  The stagecoach pulled into Butterfield Stage Station. Liz hopped off the coach like she was breaking out of prison. Jessie held her daughter’s hand. The Butterfield Station was safer than many they had stopped in because of its proximity to Fort Chadbourne. Soldiers kept it safe. But as Jessie looked around, she didn’t see another female anywhere. The landscape was beautiful but somehow harsher than the New England scenery she had left behind. The trees were smaller and the ground somewhat barren. But the sky was huge and seemed to hold endless possibilities. A small stone building made up the actual station. The passengers filed in to make arrangements for the next leg of their journeys and Jessie did the same.

  After departing the stagecoach, Jessie spent the last of her money buying a wagon and an old horse to make the final leg of the journey from Fort Chabourne to Sherman, Texas. She could have taken another stagecoach but the cost was more than she could bear. She also hoped that the wagon would make her destination less obvious.

  Liz hopped along next to the wagon Jessie had bought, enjoying the freedom of movement. She couldn’t remember Liz ever looking so carefree. Jessie smiled at her daughter. It was moments like this that she knew she had made the right decision.

  The ride was beautiful. Texas was still frontier country and it was a different world than the one she had left. The east was crowded and busy. While it could be exciting to be with all those people it could also be terribly restricting. Here even the largest towns barely had a general store and a doctor. There was vast open space and beautiful landscape. Jessie inhaled deeply. She was free to be herself here. Many settlers were making the same choice. Not only was it beautiful but there was money to be made. The land was cheap and long horn cows were ready to be rounded up and sent to market.

  Jessie patted the gun just on her left side and continued to smile. Alone, in a place like this, some of her cares fell off of her shoulders and she began to breathe
new life. Her mind drifted back to another carefree time.

  “Stunning,” was the only word Carl Cartwright uttered as she walked by. His eyes never left her and everyone, including Jessie, knew he was talking about her. She smiled coyly. All of Boston society was talking about him.

  “He is incredibly rich!” Mabel Grey fanned herself to cool her excitement.

  “And so handsome, how is he not married?” another girl trilled.

  Jessie said nothing but her plans were forming. She wanted the prize no one else had been able to get.

  A lone rider appeared on the horizon and Jessie’s attention snapped back to the present. “Always the fool, Jessie!” she hissed to herself, angry for not paying closer attention. She motioned to Liz, who immediately climbed into the wagon, while Jessie brought her gun out from next to her leg to sit in her lap. She tucked her daughter further behind her.

  The rider approached directly and Jessie could feel butterflies rising in her stomach but she pushed them back down. It was evident even from a distance that he was a large man. Not fat but tall and broad. Every muscle in her body tensed.

  When he was a few hundred feet away the man stopped and called out. “Are you Jessie Walsh?” His voice was a deep baritone that echoed through the valley. She immediately relaxed, this must be Jake Tate.

  “Yes.” She tried to call back but her voice did not carry the way his did. He seemed to hear her anyway because Jake again began his approach.

  “I don’t know why you traveled all this way without any acknowledgement from me, Ms. Walsh. I would have told you not to come.” His eyes stared at her levelly as he pulled next to the wagon.

  “Mr. Tate?” She looked into his face and a ripple of shock tingled through her body. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was not handsome the way men back east were, with fancy clothes and expensive carriages. He was rugged and tan with full lips and a hard square jaw. He had a straight nose and high cheek bones. His eyes were a dark brown that pierced into her from under the brim of his hat. He was incredibly masculine and even his casual stance in the saddle seemed to accentuate that. She had never hated her disguise more than she did right now.