Annie: A Bride For The Farmhand - A Clean Historical Western Romance (Stewart House Brides Book 3)

by Charity Phillips

  Melissa looked crestfallen, but Annie reasoned that the new girl was still little more than an acquaintance to her. It didn’t seem right or fair to invite someone else along instead of Carrie or Beverly, or even Rita, not that the supervising waiter-girl would go along anyway.

  Rita nodded approvingly. “Carrie would probably appreciate the invite,” she agreed. “But do make sure she joins you. I can’t have you meeting alone with a customer. It wouldn’t look right for Mr. Stewart.”

  Annie nodded her head back at her. “Yes, quite right. If I can’t find a companion, I shan’t meet with him today.”

  “I could be your companion,” Melissa offered.

  “You cannot,” Rita said. “I would like you to work alongside me today, and I’ll show you what to do in preparation for the dinner rush.”

  Melissa sighed a bit. “Yes ma’am.”

  As soon as lunchtime was over and the restaurant was all but vacated, Annie was out of the place. She rushed up the dirt road to Mrs. Carrie Jackson’s home. It had been a while since Annie had seen her friend and she prayed that she could spare a moment to help her. She rapped on the door as soon as she stood in front of it, worrying her bottom lip a bit with one of her front teeth until a crack appeared in the skin there.

  Annie never thought she’d be doing anything like this. It was usually the other girls who met with men in the ‘courting parlors’ and left the restaurant. I really don’t think that’s what this is, she thought. He doesn’t know me. He had to ask my name. Perhaps he wants to get to know me, but we shall only be friends because I’m not leaving the Stewart House. Especially not for a man.

  Suddenly, Carrie opened the front door. She smiled as soon as she saw Annie standing there. “Annie! How are you?”

  Annie let go of her reverie and smiled back at her friend. She looked like she was doing very well for herself. “Married life seems to be treating you well,” she said sweetly. “I’m doing okay myself. I have a favor to ask of you, if it’s not too much trouble? And I don’t have much time.”

  Carrie tilted her head a bit in curiosity. “Oh?”

  Taking a deep breath, Annie just got right to it. “A gentleman has asked to meet with me in one of the dormitory parlors this afternoon. He said that he had something he wishes to speak with me about.”

  “A gentleman?” Carrie asked her, seeming surprised but also delighted. “Have you met him before?”

  “Slightly,” Annie replied. “It’s a long story I shall have to tell you later. Would you be able to accompany me in meeting him, to keep things proper? I’m not sure entirely what he wants from me…”

  Carrie was giving her such a sympathetic look, along with a strange, almost pitying sort of smile. “Of course I’ll come along with you,” she said. “I must admit that it makes me happy to see you pursuing a bit of romance.”

  Annie blushed a little. “That’s not what this is about, I shouldn’t think. The man is practically a stranger.”

  “So was my Leeroy at one point,” Carrie said with a wink.

  The two ladies rushed along the dirt road together and into the foyer of the dormitory. Thankfully, Mr. Prescott hadn’t arrived there yet, but Annie knew that he would be there soon enough. She took the bow from her head and hid it away in her small purse. “Do you think I ought to change dresses?” she asked Carrie. “Will it be bad to be seen outside of work in this?” In her haste, she had gone to Carrie’s house in her black and white uniform.

  Looking her over, Carrie shook her head. “I think it’s perfectly acceptable to be seen in the dorm dressed like that. But you might want to lose the apron.”

  Annie looked down at herself and realized this was a great idea. If she simply wore the black dress, it wouldn’t technically be her uniform anymore. She didn’t see the need to run upstairs and change into something prettier when the meeting was likely to be short and nothing to do with how she was dressed, anyhow. “You’re so smart,” she said, removing her apron and tucking it away in her small handbag as well. “This is why I knew you were the perfect girl to ask to accompany me.”

  Carrie smiled and bobbed her head a little, pleased.

  There was a sudden knock on the front door of the dormitory. Annie jumped slightly in her excited anticipation. “You don’t have to sit in the little room with us,” she told her friend. “Just… please remain close.”

  Carrie nodded knowingly and moved off to one of the other nearby parlors on the main floor. She evidently knew just which one had the bookshelves. Carrie had always been fond of books, and marriage had made her much calmer than she’d been when she lived there in that dorm. Annie smiled as she watched her go. She knew her friend wouldn’t let her down.

  She straightened her back a bit and smoothed her skirts, hoping that she would look her best for the gentleman even though she had no idea what he wanted to discuss. Then Annie pulled the door inward and smiled out at him as he stood there on the porch. Right away, Mr. Prescott removed the cowboy hat from his head and held it in his hands in front of himself, politeness as always. She only got a glance at him wearing it, but it thrilled her anyway to have seen that he did in fact look the part of a cowpoke. It wasn’t every day that such a person came into her life. Not since her botched engagement…

  Let’s not even think about that, she told herself. Too painful. Let’s see what he has to say.

  “Mr. Prescott,” Annie said in a pleasant and pleased sort of voice. “Welcome.” She stepped aside from the doorway and gestured for him to enter. “This isn’t much, but this is the place we waiter-girls call home. Please have a seat in the parlor to your right.”

  He came inside and walked into the small room off to the side as directed. She closed up the door and followed him in, watching curiously as he placed his hat onto the small coffee table in the parlor. The set-up of the space was clearly meant for gathering, be it a meeting or a friendly chat. Annie knew that Mr. Stewart had created these ‘courting parlors’ so that the ladies he hired could get to know and eventually marry the gentlemen customers who came to the restaurant. He didn’t encourage for this to occur around the clock, of course, but he wanted to make sure that things remained appropriate when it did happen.

  Mr. Prescott looked at her and waited to see what the next move should be. “Oh, don’t be afraid to have a seat,” Annie told him, smiling as she sat on a green dais. She nodded towards the light blue wing chair across from her, with the table in between. At once, he took her lead and sat down in the chair. Or rather, he perched there. She noticed that he remained seated on the edge of the seat, as if he didn’t have long to stay or maybe was afraid to… Right away, his left leg began to nervously bounce.

  “I suppose I’d best start off by saying that I have every reason to believe in fate now,” he said, looking straight into her eyes the way he had earlier. He had an intense gaze, one that made a person want to believe him wholeheartedly, even if no real reason had been given. “When I saw you in the restaurant the other evening, I felt as if I should somehow know you. And then today, when you told me your name, it confirmed it for me – you’re the very someone I was meant to meet.”

  Annie felt slightly queasy. What is he going on about? Carrie and Rita had been right. Melissa too. Apparently, Mr. Prescott had engagement on his mind. “Mr. Prescott,” she broke in. “I feel as if I must stop you right there before you make me feel too guilty. You see, I’m not looking for marriage or anything like that. I’m a working girl here at the restaurant. I signed a contract and I plan to stick to it.”

  Mr. Prescott nevertheless seemed undisturbed by this news, or at least his continence was stable. He continued to look into her eyes with urgency and faith that what he had to say would matter to her regardless of what she thought. “I don’t expect anything from you. You needn’t give up your position here or change the course of your life if you’re truly happy here. I wouldn’t ask that of you. At least not right off. What kind of man would I be if I did that? All I’m saying to you is�
�� Well, shucks, Miss O’Brien. About a year ago now, we were writing to each other. Don’t you recall?”

  Annie’s heart felt like it stopped for a moment. She stared at him. “But… That can’t be true. The man I wrote to was a man called James. James Prescott.”

  He smiled a bit. “Yes, ma’am, that’s me. James Thackery Prescott. No one really calls me by my first name, but you see I had the help of a farming friend. He wrote the letters for me. Always using my own thoughts, I promise you.”

  Annie leaned back in her chair. The room seemed to spin now and she felt rather hot. Can this possibly be true?! She stared at him, open-mouthed and unsure of what to say to that. The good thing was that this Mr. Prescott – James Prescott… – wasn’t afraid of talking.

  “I regret that we didn’t exchange pictures, because I would’ve recognized you right away if we had,” he went on as if he’d memorized what he wanted to say to her. He obviously knew she didn’t have the rest of the afternoon to spend time with him. And that she might have cause to not want to.

  “Why weren’t you at the station that day?” she asked him in a quiet voice, not really wanting to know the answer as much as she had wanted to ask him that question for the worst part of a year.

  He sighed a little. “It was completely the fault of timing,” he said. “I was on a train from California and I was supposed to be there to meet you, but my train ran into some problems just west of Salt Lake City and I was delayed at least a week. Having no way to reach you, both on account of not knowing your new address as well as not being able to write and all, well, I figured this was just God’s plan for me. I surrendered to the idea that I wouldn’t get to marry a pretty girl and be happy. I arrived here in Wallace eventually, of course, but by that point I decided to just take another job on another farm. And I’ve been moving around ever since. There was no point in settling if I didn’t have someone to settle for.”

  Annie looked at him searchingly with more than a little skepticism. “You may have simply moved on, but I did settle here. I had no choice. But I made the most of it. You broke my heart and abandoned me here, but this place has proven to me that I don’t need you. I don’t need marriage or love. I make my own fate.”

  Mr. Prescott was staring sadly at her now. She didn’t mean to make him feel bad, but she didn’t think he had any right to come to her and complain about not being able to settle. I don’t want him to settle for me. I thought he wanted to start a new life, and he certainly could have done that without me if he’d worked enough at it. Annie realized that she was thinking more like Beverly than she ever had before, but she was upset.

  “Thank you for telling me your side of things, Mr. Prescott,” she said then. “I really have to go back to work now. Be well in whatever path you choose to take.”

  With that, she left him there in the parlor and headed back to the restaurant. Carrie meanwhile came forward and escorted the emotionally shaken man out of the dormitory. This plainly hadn’t gone the way he had hoped for. Annie supposed that he thought he was just going to be able to pick right up from where they’d left off. He probably thinks he can still marry me now! she thought incredulously. The folly of men.

  Chapter 5

  Annie’s mind was fuzzy when she went back to work and began serving the customers during the dinner time rush. Thankfully for her, things were a trifle calmer than they normally were so she didn’t feel quite as overwhelmed as she might have otherwise, but the lack of bustling also meant that she was left alone with her thoughts more than she would’ve liked. He spoke to me as if I would be willing to just drop everything and leap into his arms as if the past year hadn’t happened! As if he hadn’t left me standing there, stranded, broken-hearted. He claims it was simply a train delay, but a decent man would’ve written and explained himself.

  At least he had come to the restaurant again as soon as he thought she might be the one he hoped to find… Though Annie believed that it was too little, too late.

  “How did your meeting with the gentleman go?” Melissa asked her innocently, sidling up to Annie as she stood there along the wall of the eating house, watching the crowds as they dined.

  Immediately, Annie regretted that she’d ever mentioned such a thing to the younger girl. Not because Melissa had meant her any harm – she certainly wouldn’t gossip or anything like that, as far as Annie had noticed – but because it was embarrassing to now have to go around, explaining what had happened to people. Oh, why can’t people mind their own business?

  She let out a laugh as she realized that none of this should upset her, anyhow. Mr. Prescott wasn’t worth all that. Now that she’d told him off, she didn’t think she’d ever see him around again, so there was no use in worrying about it any longer. And there was no use withholding the rather ridiculous situation from anyone else. What was past was past, and was absolutely harmless to her here and now.

  “About a year ago, I was exchanging letters with a suitor out west,” Annie explained to Melissa. “He was a farmhand in California. He asked me to marry him, so I travelled all the way to Wallace in order to meet up and continue west with him. He told me that he was open to the idea of settling down in Kansas, as well. He had all kinds of lofty ideas for his future. Ideas that now feel more depressing than pleasant to discuss.”

  Melissa looked at her sympathetically. “What happened?” she asked.

  “I arrived here like I’d promised, but he never turned up. So, I accepted Mr. Stewart’s graciously offered waitress job and I’ve been here ever since.”

  The realization then dawned on Melissa. Her mouth fell open. “You mean that gentleman was your long-lost beau?!”

  A few heads turned towards them and Annie blushed, shushing her friend even as she continued to smile. She felt extremely awkward but she refused to let anyone know it. “Yes,” she said. “He sure was. And he told me that I was his reason for coming back here and looking to see if he could ever find me again. He told me that I was his motivation for settling in Kansas and all kinds of nonsense.”

  Melissa was giving her a dreamy, far off sort of look now. “Aww!” she said sincerely. “It sounds like he really regrets what happened and wants to make things better. Patch things up, you know?”

  Annie sighed a little. “I know. But this isn’t something that I necessarily want patched up. He really hurt me and I’ve found a real life here and a job I’m passionate about.”

  “What’s this about a job you’re passionate about?” Rita suddenly interjected. “And why aren’t you doing said job right now?”

  Annie blanched a bit. It would figure that the supervisor would overhear at this moment in the conversation, but she also had a point. “Sorry, Rita. We were just chatting. I’ll go check on my tables right away.”

  “Thank you,” Rita replied. She wore a curious expression and Annie felt unnerved as she went on her way, knowing that Melissa was likely going to regale the head waiter-girl with the tale of Annie’s woe.

  There was a reason I didn’t share any of this with anyone before, she thought miserably. I never wanted to be the topic of childish gossip.

  Fortunately, the evening went on with no more upsets or discussions of her and Mr. Prescott. When it was time to close up shop, Annie removed her bow and apron once again and strode next door to the dormitory.

  When she arrived inside, one of the other girls came towards her holding a piece of paper. “Annie, this was left here for you,” she said inquisitively, handing over the paper which turned out to be a thin envelope. All that was written upon it was “Miss Annie O’Brien” in a hastily-scrawled, childish sort of hand which meant that it could only have been left by one person.

  “Thank you, Lottie,” she said with a smile, doing her best to pretend that none of this was out of the usual. With that, Annie carried the envelope upstairs and into her room, securely closing the door and leaning her back against it, closing her eyes.

  When she opened them again, she realized that Melissa was sitting th
ere on the bed across the room from her. She stared at her, head tilted, appearing as though she wanted to say something.

  Annie sighed a bit. “Apparently, I’ve received a letter,” she said, holding the envelope up so Melissa could see it.

  “Oh?” she asked. “From who?”

  Laughing, Annie shook his head. “Come on now, you know who.” She went into the room and sat down beside her vanity. Carefully, she opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. It had been quickly written out on some paper that seemed as though it had been dipped in oil, it was so grease-stained.

  Unfolding the letter and grimacing a bit at its stains, Annie read it. She was rather surprised to find it was a well-written letter, and then she realized that as with before he had surely found someone who could help him write it.

  Miss Annie,

  I’m so sorry. The chat we had today clearly upset you. That was never my intention. I only wanted to let you know what had caused my delay in meeting you. I never meant to hurt you. Please believe me in that.

  It is my hope that perhaps we might rekindle what we had before by writing letters again. I have a friend here where I am living, a fellow farmhand, who is willing to help me get my thoughts down on paper. I’m working on a farm in Sharon Springs at the moment, though I am hoping to join you there in Wallace as soon as I can. If that is what you wish.

  I’m happy that you’ve established yourself in town, with the restaurant and all. I wish you only the best. I hope you will write to me.

  Sincerest wishes,

  Thackery

  Annie noted that he had signed his own name; the lettering was much less neat and spaced out the way a child might when he was learning the letters of his own name. In spite of her continued frustration about the day’s events, she found herself smiling.