by Lucy Evanson
Lord Wellstone’s mysterious smile only broadened. He went to her quickly, like a man who had no doubts within, and took her hands in his. “I’m letting you go because it simply wouldn’t do for you to be working in the kitchen with the other girls. Not when I want you to be my bride.”
“All aboard.”
Melanie flipped the cover shut and dropped the book onto the bench. She’d been waiting a long time to get to this point in the story, and now that she’d arrived it just didn’t feel right. Love and happy endings were...well, a fiction. Men like Lord Wellstone only existed in books; the men of the real world were more like Randall. And David.
“All aboard,” the conductor repeated, pacing back and forth along the platform. “Last call for Minneapolis and points west.”
Melanie turned to look around the station. There were few other passengers waiting; she was practically alone here.
What to do? She stared down at the book for a long while, then made her choice.
~ ~ ~
It would have been hard to say who was breathing more heavily: Charger, who had been spurred all the way across town, or David, who was growing more and more sure that he’d lost his last, best chance at love in his life.
The train’s departing whistle cut him like a whip across his back, but he pressed on. There was always some chance, however small, that he could still reach her. Trains broke down sometimes. People changed their minds. God could act in ways both big and small; you never knew.
He brought the horse up in a hurry, nearly throwing himself out of the saddle and onto the platform as they reached the station. The train was already gone, though he could still hear the engine huffing and puffing. Another whistle pierced the air as he raced across to the other side of the platform and looked down the tracks. It was already a good distance away, sending up clouds of steam and smoke as it rolled down the slight hill, out of the valley. Soon it would be too far to catch, even with a fresh horse and a wind at his back.
David spun around, about to go for Charger, when he saw her. There she sat, right next to the ticket window. Her bag was at her feet, her broad hat in place, her book in her lap as she read.
Oh, thank God. He started toward her, then stopped. What am I going to say? How am I going to explain myself? There didn’t seem to be a good way to begin repairing the damage that he’d already done. Just about the only thing that occurred to him was to do what they’d done on the ranch after the tornado went through: start small, and go from there.
“Melanie,” he said, as he stepped in front of her. He heard a quaver in his own voice, though it didn’t surprise him. It wasn’t every day a man confessed his feelings to his one true love. “I’m glad I caught you. I wanted to tell you that I...I love you.”
She raised her head and looked at him. “Mister, you been drinking?”
It wasn’t Melanie. The woman under the broad-brimmed hat was somebody he’d never seen before. David snatched the book out of her hands and turned it over. Love’s Summer Bloom.
“Where’d you get this?” he demanded.
“A lady left it here,” she said. “I figured she didn’t want it.”
“That doesn’t make it yours. Where is she?”
“The lady? She’s gone. She got on the train.”
Oh, damn. David sprinted across again and looked down the tracks. It was startling to see how much farther away it was, after only these few seconds. Time was running real short now. He took off running for Charger again.
“My book!”
David ignored the woman’s cry, only pausing to stuff the novel in his saddlebag before spurring the horse away from the station. They broke out of the shade of the building into the open air of the prairie, with nothing but a brilliant sky above and a path of iron to follow across the plain.
The train was well ahead of them and seemed to be picking up speed handily. Any other man would stop now, he thought. Any other man would know when he’s beat. Good thing I’m not any other man.
Charger thundered across the fields as David urged him on. The slope that led out of the valley, helping the train get up to speed, also helped the two of them. They were flying over the ground, David’s head low and pressed against Charger’s neck as they raced. He noticed nothing else around them: not the sunshine, so bright and warm on them; not the green of the prairie, not the call of the crow that passed by overhead. There was only the wind against them, the thunder of Charger’s hooves, and, gradually louder, the squeal of the wheels on the track.
We’re catching up. He spurred Charger again and again as the caboose slowly grew larger ahead of them. It was harder than he’d ever pushed the poor beast, harder than he’d ever ridden, harder than he ever could have expected from his horse or from himself. Still he rode.
They were like an arrow, what with Charger’s neck outstretched and David leaning forward alongside. The only difference was that arrows usually hit their marks, and that was very much in doubt at the moment.
The caboose was swaying on the tracks, swinging back and forth as it went, and the rear railing still looked very far away. Even from a standstill, it wouldn’t have been the easiest jump from horse to train, but now that they were both racing along like this, catching it would be downright impossible. There was the jostling ride Charger was giving him. The movement of the train. The height difference between the track bed and the prairie. Impossible.
Or close to it, at least. David kicked his feet free from the stirrups and held tighter with his knees. Only one way to find out. He urged the horse closer and closer, until he could see the flaking paint on the rail. He stretched out one arm, his fingers extended as far as he could, but the railing was still well out of reach. He would simply have to make a leap for it and pray for the best.
Somehow, he managed to catch hold, slipping his fingers around the railing just enough to get a grip as Charger finally began to fail. Exhaustion overcame the poor thing, and David felt himself being pulled from the saddle as the train continued on. He nearly tumbled onto the tracks, but with a kick he was able to throw himself up and onto the rear platform. He was aboard.
He watched as Charger slowed and eventually stopped at the side of the rails, taking a well-deserved break. David took a second to catch his breath there, and it was some time before he realized that he was still holding the railing with a dead man’s grip.
He relaxed his hand as much as he could, although the thought of now heading through the train cars in search of Melanie almost made him want to remain here in the caboose. It was funny that after racing all the way out from the ranch and making a death-defying leap onto a moving train, he was just now getting to the hard part. Funny in a very particular way.
The luck that got him onto the train continued when he stepped inside the caboose. The car was empty, as the train had only recently gotten underway and the conductor hadn’t yet made it back to his office. David passed through quickly and entered the next car, surprising a few passengers as he hurried inside.
Melanie wasn’t there. He strode through quickly, pausing only long enough to make sure he hadn’t missed her, and stepped through to the next car. He saw her as soon as he entered. She was sitting alone, facing the front, again largely hidden by her hat, but this time he was sure. He could feel it.
Chapter 15
Out of all the people Melanie expected to see on the train, it was safe to say that David was the last one. She almost didn’t believe her eyes, in fact, when she felt a touch on her shoulder and turned to see him standing there. He was covered in sweaty dust, and huffing like he’d run all the way from the ranch, but she barely noticed any of that. She was too shocked to even say his name.
“I think you’re on the wrong train,” he said. “This one’s going to Minnesota. You should be heading back the other way. Toward home.”
She swallowed hard and finally found her voice. “I don’t have a home,” she said. “Not in Peshtigo, and certainly not in Mineral Point. You made that very clear
.”
He reddened, and cast a quick look at the passengers seated around them. The car was full, aside from a single empty seat across from Melanie. Privacy was going to be pretty hard to come by just then. Still, he cleared his throat and went on. “I’m sorry about what I said. About everything I said. I want you to come back.”
Looking at him then, she felt a sadness and sweetness blended together. His eyes, so soulful, so deep, were are beautiful as ever, and she had to turn her gaze to the floor of the train car so as not to become mesmerized. She couldn’t afford to take him at his word. His words had a way of changing all too often. “Look, David, I appreciate that you apologized...but you can’t ask me to believe you now. You told me to leave you alone, just last night.”
The woman across from them clucked and shook her head. David threw her a quick frown, but then turned back to Melanie. “I know, I was an idiot,” he said. “A drunken idiot. But that’s over and done with. I don’t want you to go. I want you to stay with us. With me.”
“Well, you have a real talent for picking the wrong time,” she said. “Did you really have to wait until I was on the train to talk to me about all this?”
“I know,” he said. “I should have said something before. But what are you even going there for? What’s in Minnesota?”
“Not what,” she said. “Who.”
His eyes clouded. “All right, who’s in Minnesota?”
She kept quiet for a long while as she looked at him, letting him stew a bit before she spoke. “Well, I don’t see how it’s any of your business, but I’m planning to meet your friend Mr. Tremayne once I’m there.”
“Matt? You’re going to see Matt?”
“Yes, I am,” she said. “We spent a very nice time talking during the barn raising. I think I’d like to get to know him a little better.”
David let himself fall into the seat across from her. “Well, that’s...that’s really something,” he said. The wind seemed to have gone out of his sails, and now he really did look like a man who had chased down a train. He looked exhausted. “Matt’s a good man. You’d be happy with him, I’m sure.”
She kept quiet. There was nothing she needed to say; David had said it all himself. He rubbed a hand over his brow and let out a long sigh, like a man who knew he’d been beaten.
“But he won’t make you as happy as I will,” he said. He pushed himself out of the seat and took a knee in front of Melanie. The fatigue had been wiped from his face, and now she only saw determination.
“David—”
“I can’t stop you, Melanie,” he said. “I can’t keep you from going up there and taking a chance on something between you and Matt. But I can promise you this: if you come with me, if you come back to the ranch, you won’t be taking any chance at all. Because what I feel for you is a sure thing.”
“I remember what you feel for me,” she said. “As I recall, you told me that you didn’t need me. That you didn’t want to get married, you didn’t want a family, none of that.”
“I did say that. And I was wrong. I’ve never been more wrong, in fact. When I—”
He was interrupted by the click of the door opening and a whoosh of wind as the conductor stepped into the car. Almost immediately, the man fixed an eye on David, and he scowled as he came down the aisle.
“You, there,” he called. He was an older man, perhaps in his fifties, with a steely gray, bristly mustache and hair the same color. He spoke with the tones of a man accustomed to having things done his way. “I don’t remember seeing you on board. Let me see your ticket.”
David groaned as he got to his feet to face the conductor. “Sir, I don’t have one,” he said. “But I’m not going to Minnesota. I just need a minute to talk to this young lady here, and I’ll get off at the next station. With her, I hope.”
The conductor puffed up his chest. He was built like a barrel, and Melanie briefly wondered if she was about to see David literally thrown off the train. “You understand how this works, son? No ticket, no ride,” he said. “What you’re doing is stealing.”
“Would you give me a second?”
The conductor reached over and fixed his grip on David’s shoulder. “No, sir, I won’t,” he said. “You’re coming with me to my office, where you’re going to sit until we reach the next station. The sheriff will deal with you then.”
David casually, but firmly, removed the older man’s hand. “Let me explain something to you,” he said, fixing the conductor with a stare, his voice like the growl of a wolf. “Mother Nature herself tried to take this girl away from me, and she couldn’t do it. I’m for damn sure not going to let you or any other man get in the way.”
After a second, the conductor blinked twice and took a step back. “You finish what you were saying to her,” he muttered, “then report back to my office. Last car.”
David watched him go, then turned back to her. Melanie felt a thrill inside as she watched the emotions course across his face, from the iron determination he’d displayed to the conductor, to the sweet adoration she could see in his eyes when he looked at her.
“Melanie, I don’t know any other way to say it. I’m tired of being alone,” he said. “I want you with me. Today, tomorrow, every day from now on.”
“David, do you know what you’re saying? You’re talking about a real commitment.”
“I know. That’s what I want,” he said. “You’re the one I want. The one I love.”
“You...you love me?”
“Yes, I do.” David stepped closer to her, directly in front of her seat, and slowly dropped to one knee.
Melanie felt her heart swell in her chest. “David, what are you doing?”
“I’m not exactly sure,” he admitted. “But I hear that when a man wants to do this right, he gets down on one knee.” He reached for her hand and took it between both of his. “Melanie, I never thought I’d meet a girl who would make me want to get hitched. And when I met you, I was even more sure of that. You were so...stuck up and high-strung.”
“Is this your idea of buttering me up?”
He smiled. “I told you I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “But what I do know is that it wasn’t until I held you in my arms, that I realized how empty my embrace had been,” he said. “And when I kissed you, it felt like...like we were supposed to be together. Didn’t you feel that too?”
The heat rose in her cheeks, but she nodded. There was no denying it; she still thought about that kiss more often than she would have admitted.
“I guess I only have one more thing to say, then.” He took her hand, kissed it, and clasped it between his, like it was a treasure he didn’t mean to lose again. “Will you be my wife?”
Later on, she would think back to when David asked for her hand, and there were a few unpleasant things that she would remember, like dirty fingerprints on a painting: the heavyset woman seated across, who was looking at her with unbridled jealousy. The acrid smell of the smoke from the locomotive. The stifling heat of the wagon.
Yet through the years, those memories faded away, and there arrived a time when the memory of that moment was only this: a man she loved, promising to adore her forever, inviting her to share a love for the rest of her life.
She said yes.
~ ~ ~
When they considered it, there was really no reason to wait. There was planning to do, of course; guests needed to be invited, food needed to be prepared, and there was the small matter of a wedding dress.
The dress, as it happened, was taken care of easily enough. Becky and Cora’s was the only place in town where you went if you were looking for a dress, as Melanie soon found out. At least, it was the only place you went if you wanted a dress that fit.
The food was also arranged without too much difficulty. They were used to making big meals at the ranch anyway, especially with the recent experience of the barn raising, and Polly didn’t bat an eye when they made plans for the feast. The one special allowance they made was for the cakes,
and it was only because David insisted: they hired Larson’s Bakery in Dodgeville to make plum cakes for the reception.
The guest list, however, was what kept Melanie up for the several weeks before the wedding. It turned out to be far more lopsided than Melanie would have liked, but then she wasn’t responsible for the family she came from, in neither number nor comportment. Polly would be there, of course. Aunt Cecilia would not. She claimed that it would take too long to travel from Iowa City, although Polly and Melanie surmised that she simply wasn’t happy about more kinfolk getting married while she remained alone.
The only remaining family member that Melanie had was her mother, and there had been no reply to the invitation, nor to the telegram that Melanie had sent to follow up. Weeks had passed, with nothing but silence, and Melanie had steeled herself for the possibility that her own mother would miss her wedding.
Nevertheless, as much as she had tried to prepare herself for it, she still felt an ache buried in her chest when her wedding day arrived. There was too much to do this morning to dwell on it, but once she was at the church, dress on, powdered and perfumed, she had some spare time to worry. Hidden away in the bride’s room, she let herself collapse onto the sofa.
Not exactly how I imagined things, she thought. I can’t believe she let Randall come between me and her. Oh well. If I’m not happy with the family I have, at least I can start a new one now.
There was a knock at the door, and then Lee’s voice. “Miss Melanie?”
“What is it, Lee?”
“Miss Polly sent me,” he said. “She said to give you this.”
