by Jodi Thomas
“Maybe he’s waiting for you to offer something more than coffee and conversation,” Jennie teased.
Audrey straightened. “Well then why doesn’t he come calling some evening? I wouldn’t mind taking a walk beneath the moonlight even in the dead of winter. But it’s hard to think romantic at dawn-thirty.”
Jennie agreed. “Maybe he’ll come to the dance next week.”
Audrey’s smile spoke of possibilities. “And maybe the marshal won’t.”
AUDREY’S PREDICTION DIDN’T hold. Marshal Austin McCormick was one of the first men to show up at the Harvey House dance. He put his four bits on the table and stepped into the decorated dining area as if he’d had a special invitation. He looked even taller dressed in a black suit and thin string tie. His boots were polished and his sandy hair tamed to almost lay down flat.
Jennie watched him scan the room full of women all dressed in colorful calico prints for the party. She wondered why she’d even gone to the trouble of making her dress. No doubt, just as at the few dances she’d attended at home, she’d spend the entire evening sitting on the edge waiting for someone to ask her to dance. It had been humiliating enough in the past having her family always around encouraging her to go home and stop making a fool of herself. Now Austin would be watching as every other girl danced except her.
“I’m glad you picked the blue print,” Audrey whispered as she sat down beside Jennie and sampled one of the tiny cakes she’d made for the party. “It looks good on you.”
Jennie tried to smile without saying that this had been the only color that fit her mood. All the other women wore bright calico, reminding her of a wild flower garden, but she’d found hers at the bottom of the stack. A blue on blue calico print. Calico was the only material in abundance besides black, and after wearing black uniforms all day, there wasn’t a Harvey girl who would have worn even a black ribbon tonight. Also, the cotton fabric was inexpensive, and no single working woman had money to order a silk or satin from back east.
“Thanks for the compliment.” Jennie smiled at Audrey. The brightly colored fabric did little for her friend. With her red hair and warm brown eyes, she was one of the few women who looked very becoming in the black uniform she wore each day. With calico, her coloring seemed to compete with the material. “I’m glad we got the dresses finished. I was getting worried at one point that I’d be selecting from my traveling dress or my uniforms.”
Audrey chuckled. “Me, too. Yesterday, I was trying to cook and sew the hem at the same time. I’m surprised someone didn’t find a straight pin in their pie.”
The band interrupted all conversation by practicing loudly, sounding very much as if they’d all just met, instead of like a group who planned to play the same tune. Men, dressed in their best, continued filing in. Ranchers, farmers, railroad workers. They each stopped to pay, then handed Mrs. Gray their hats as she inspected each man for sobriety. Old Spider Morris stood beside the little lady collecting guns.
The musicians lined one end of the dining hall, while food tables stretched across the other and the women huddled together waiting near the kitchen door.
Audrey shifted nervously. “I’m about to decide to call it a night. I’m not much of a dancer, and there won’t be many men tall enough to even ask me.”
Jennie’s eyes widened. “Why, Audrey Gates, I can’t believe you’re admitting not knowing how to do something.”
Audrey looked guilty. “All right. I lied. I’m a great dancer. My brothers were always looking for someone to practice with. But the other part’s true. I find it hard to dance with a man when I can look over his head. I always have the urge to grab him by the ears and pull him up an inch or two while demanding he look at me in the eyes for a change.”
“How about that one?” Jennie pointed toward the huge man folding through the door. The farmer’s suit was homespun, but well fitted. Unlike most of the men present, he didn’t have cotton padding across his shoulders, but rock-hard muscle.
“Wiley!” Audrey’s entire face seemed to smile. “He came.” She glanced back at Jennie. “Not that I care, of course.”
“Of course,” Jennie echoed as Mrs. Gray raised her hands to quiet the crowd.
“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Harvey House’s Calico Dance. All men check your weapons at the door, and all ladies make sure you’ve removed your aprons.” Nervous laughter circled the room as she continued. “As is the tradition at our dances, ladies pick your partners for the first come-together, the grand march.”
Audrey moved straight toward Wiley Radcliff, leaving Jennie standing alone.
She marched up to within a foot of the huge farmer and raised her hands to dance position. “Well,” she said loud enough for half the room to hear, “can you dance the grand march, Mr. Radcliff?”
A slow smile spread across his tan face. “I reckon I could do anything with you in my arms, Miss Gates.” His hands moved around her waist, and he pulled her close, his gaze never leaving her eyes.
Several men hooted in laughter, and all at once the room exploded in noise as the women followed Audrey’s lead and picked their partners for the first dance.
Jennie watched, laughing at the way the women picked their partners. Some were bold like Audrey, but most simply walked up to stand in front of the man they’d chosen.
“Aren’t you going to ask a man to walk the grand march with you?” Marshal McCormick’s low voice sounded behind Jennie. “I was hoping you’d offer me the honor.”
Whirling, she looked into his smoky brown eyes. “I might, but I didn’t think you’d want to dance with me. We seem to have developed a habit of not speaking to one another.”
“I don’t see that a dance could break up our pattern. We can go back to staring at one another in silence as soon as the music stops.”
Jennie could almost taste the tension between them. He was close enough that she could smell the leather and soap about him, but his words blocked any nearness she might feel. “I’m not much of a dancer,” she answered.
Austin nodded his understanding. “I guessed if you had trouble telling your right hand from your left, you had the same problem with your feet.”
She would have looked down, but his gaze held hers. “I polished my boots, so I might as well take a few spins around the floor if you’re agreeable.” He took her in his arms. “Don’t worry, the way I dance, you’ll probably think I don’t know my feet apart either.”
The music sounded, and suddenly calico whirled around the room. Austin was a better dancer than he’d claimed. His steps were sure and simple, easy for Jennie to follow. After a few false starts, she picked up the rhythm of his movements. He made a habit of pulling her hand slightly when he wanted her to move with her right foot.
They danced three reels before he stopped to allow her to catch her breath. He didn’t try to make small talk, and Jennie was grateful. She could have remained in his arms forever, but when she looked in his eyes, she still saw the anger. He’d never forgive her, she decided. As far as he knew, she’d lied to him twice. First about True and now about Delta.
“Excuse me,” he whispered and disappeared from her side before Jennie even had time to thank him.
The moment he was gone, men lined up to ask her for the same privilege. At first Jennie thought it must be some mistake. She was nervous as she stepped onto the planked floor with first one then another. However, she soon learned that most of the men couldn’t dance even as well as she could, but they all politely asked for another opportunity even after she tramped all over their boots.
Tears came to her eyes when she found herself wishing her brothers and sisters could see her. They’d always made her feel that every man who’d ever asked her to dance had done so as a favor to one of them. Well, there were no Mundays but Jennie here tonight, and men were asking.
After an hour, the band stopped to rest and everyone moved to the food table. Jennie found Audrey in the crowd. “Are you having fun?”
Audrey
nodded. “Haven’t had to pull a man up by the ears once tonight.”
Wiley moved toward them, trying to carry two dainty cups in his huge hands. When he was within a few feet, he handed one to Audrey and politely offered the other to Jennie.
Downing the cider in a single draw, Audrey handed her empty cup to Jennie and addressed Wiley. “I don’t suppose you’d be interested in escorting a lady outside for a little fresh air.”
Wiley’s smile was almost boyishly shy. Then he silently offered her his arm.
Audrey winked at Jennie and wrapped her fingers around his wide forearm. But when she turned toward the door, she hesitated in midstep at the sight before her.
Suddenly everyone in the room seemed to stop talking at once. It was as if someone had called an order for folks to be silent and stare. Jennie turned toward the entrance to see what could have caused such a reaction.
There, standing apart from everyone, was Delta. Her white-blond hair was piled in a halo of curls atop her head. Her face and blue eyes were as pale as ever, but the dress she wore of dark jade made her look like a pearl inside velvet casing.
Jennie couldn’t stop the cry that whispered past her lips. For two weeks she’d worried about Delta, wondering how her month was going with Colton Barkley. Audrey had told her a hundred times that she was sure everything was fine, but that hadn’t erased the tiny doubt in Jennie’s mind.
As Jennie took a step, Audrey’s free hand reached out and stopped her. Her face was smiling, but her eyes were not, as she stared at Jennie and said loud enough for everyone around them to hear, “Look, Jennie, it’s Mary Elizabeth, the girl from the train wreck. Doesn’t she look well?”
Pulling herself in check, Jennie nodded. Several others commented, then were silent once more as a man in black moved behind the lovely young girl.
Colton Barkley might have been dressed in a fine black waistcoat and tailored pants, but he still seemed cold and distant to Jennie, like the north wind. He studied the room, as if waiting for a challenge from someone, then stepped beside Delta.
When no one moved, he offered his arm to Delta with the grace of a polished gentleman and walked toward Mrs. Gray. “I hope it’s proper for us to attend.” His manner and his words were perfect as he addressed the older lady. “Mary Elizabeth tells me your girls saved her life, and she wanted to come to the first dance and say thank you properly.”
Mrs. Gray nodded. “You’re more than welcome.” The old woman turned to Delta, a warm smile on her lips she reserved only for the house’s very special guests. “You’re recovering well. I see no sign of the head wound.”
“Thank you,” Delta whispered. “I’m lucky it was only a few bumps. I don’t remember much about the night of the wreck.”
“I’m sure that’s a blessing,” Mrs. Gray answered. “I’ll never forget the rain that night.”
Delta nodded, her gaze already searching the room for Jennie and Audrey. When she saw them, she lightly touched Colton’s sleeve, and he released her hand from where he’d trapped it on his arm.
As Delta glided across the floor like a tiny angel, Jennie couldn’t help but notice that Colton’s gaze never left her as she moved. He reminded Jennie of a bodyguard who took his job very seriously.
Delta’s face was void of emotion as she approached. “I’ve just made a long drive. Could I impose on you two wonderful ladies who patched me up two weeks ago to borrow your room for a few minutes to freshen up?”
Audrey fell into the acting part like a Shakespearean trouper. “Of course you may, my dear. You probably don’t remember the way, so we’ll be happy to show you.” She glanced at Wiley with a touch of regret. “You’ll wait for me?”
Wiley’s gaze said, forever, but his mouth remained mute as they moved away.
Three men watched the women climb the stairs. Marshal McCormick was aware of the other two, but doubted they saw him. He’d been watching Jennie all evening, waiting for the proper time to ask her for another dance. He’d used his time making idle conversation with the other men and trying to figure out just what it was about the woman who drew him more strongly than any streetlight drew a moth.
“Fine-looking woman,” the railroad worker leaning against the wall next to Austin mumbled.
“Which one?” Austin answered.
The man laughed. “All of them, I reckon. There ain’t a drowner in the litter here at the Harvey House. But I was referring to the little lady who came in with Colton Barkley.”
McCormick nodded, wondering if the railroad worker beside him was as stupid as he was blind, not to see that Jennie was by far the most beautiful of the three women reaching the top of the stairs. If she’d just learn to tell the truth, she’d be perfection wrapped in blue.
“Talk is she’s going to be Barkley’s wife sometime next month.”
“That so?” Austin tried to act interested.
“Yeah,” the man continued, “he sent away for her all the way from somewhere back east. Wouldn’t no woman in this part reel him in if he was the last catch in the river.”
Austin wasn’t really interested in gossip, but he needed to do something besides look at the stairs until Jennie returned. “Why’s that?” he asked, deciding he was getting as bad as True at seeing an outlaw behind every corner.
The man pushed away from the wall and drew closer. Austin could smell the train’s oil on his alpaca coat. “Guess you don’t know, being new in town and all. Colton Barkley killed his first wife.”
“What!”
“Yes, sir. He killed her. Then buried her up on that ranch of his all by himself. Wouldn’t even allow her family to come to the funeral. Told them he’d kill them if they set foot on his land even to visit her grave.”
“Didn’t anyone do anything about the murder?”
The man scratched his head. “Get a look at him with a gun in his hand sometime, mister. He’s not the kind of man who takes lightly to being bothered with. Lived here for several years and never tried to make one friend. Folks all knew by the time we got up to the ranch, there wouldn’t be no proof of the murder. It’d just be his word against hearsay. He was a respectable man, no troublemaker or nothin’. I guess ever’one figured what happened between him and his was nobody’s business.”
Austin studied Colton Barkley as he waited at the foot of the steps. The man moved like a trained killer, slow and deliberate. His body was tightly corded, ready for any fight, and from the bulge beneath his arm, Austin would have bet he was wearing a shoulder holster.
But Austin had been around killers all his life. Wild, senseless ones in the army who loved it like a sport. Cold, heartless ones who stomped out any life that got in their way. Nervous, panicking ones who carried a banner of revenge. Greedy ones who weighed a life against a dollar. Colton Barkley was none of them. Austin would stake his badge on that. Not that Barkley wouldn’t kill. Most any man would if the time came and the reason were strong enough.
No, whatever or whoever had killed Barkley’s first wife had crippled something deep inside of him also. Austin finally got a handle on what Barkley reminded him of. A wounded animal, who was growling and struggling to survive. A man ready to fight anyone or anything despite the pain he felt inside.
Austin realized one other thing. In a fight he’d rather have Colton Barkley at his back than any other man in the room. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt it in his gut. Colton Barkley might have killed his wife, but Austin would hear the reason before he judged him.
Chapter 16
Audrey closed the door to their room and turned to join in the hug Jennie was already giving Delta.
“Tell us everything,” Jennie whispered. “We’ve been so worried about you.”
Delta sat next to a sleepy True and pulled the child close. “I’ve missed you,” she whispered, then her tear-filled eyes looked up to include Audrey and Jennie. “All of you.”
“Has Colton Barkley treated you fair?” Audrey asked. “If he hasn’t, he’ll be kicking the bucket out from un
der his own gallows before I’m through with him.”
Delta laughed. “He treats me fair. In fact, I have no complaints about Colton. He’s got a house almost half the size of this hotel, with an older woman who rides over from the next ranch to keep it clean and a cook who sees it as his main mission in life to fatten me up. Except for the first day, I haven’t seen very much of Colton. I watch him ride off before dawn every morning, and I fall asleep waiting supper on him at night.
“For a man who sent all the way across the country for a wife, he seems very uninterested in getting to know her. Half the time when we do have a meal together, he doesn’t say a word more than what’s needed to be polite. I doubt he’ll care when I ask to leave in two weeks. It’s almost like he’s just waiting for me to say the words so he can pack me on my way.”
Jennie sat on the bed beside Delta. “He’s a strange man, so dark and handsome—and angry. He frightens me a little.”
Halfheartedly agreeing, Delta added, “I’ve been trying to do things to feel like I’m earning my keep around the place. But to tell the truth, I don’t think he even notices. Maybe he’s sorry he wrote all those letters to Mary Elizabeth, because now it seems like all he wants is to be left alone.”
Jennie patted Delta’s shoulder. “Two more weeks and you’ll be away.”
Delta nodded. “That’s what I keep telling myself. Living with Colton Barkley is like living with the shadow of a man. He does what’s expected, like ordering material for this dress and a cape to match.” Delta brushed the soft fabric lightly. “But then he didn’t even comment on how I looked tonight.”
She paused, forcing back any sadness, and changed the subject. “Has anyone asked about Delta Smith?”
“There was talk of a man who looked like you’d described your brother hanging around town, but he disappeared after Marshal McCormick visited with him.”
