“I saw your former sign had those initials emblazoned on it as an emblem too,” Allie continued. “And even now, the words pass your very lips. Did you not find them derogative?”
Catalina slowly rose now, walking over to the south wall of the house and standing in front of a large portrait that adorned it above the fireplace.
“At first, all the kids at the school house, the other town’s folks, and eventually the outlaws we would go up against liked to throw it around to try and hurt us, but it didn’t,” her voice had become distant and dreamy.
“We wouldn’t let it,” she said. “We adopted it ourselves so it couldn’t hurt us. We were who we were, and all the name callin’ in the world wouldn’t change it.”
Allie couldn’t understand what was going on. She wanted to. Catalina had suddenly become nostalgic and tears were suddenly glistening in her brown eyes.
“Hey.” Allie whispered, rushing over to comfort her. “Miss Wilde …”
“Please, if I can call you Allie, I must insist you call me Catalina or Cattie,” Catalina interrupted. “Honor Elizabeth … she’s the one who started shortenin’ our names like that when we were kids.” She smiled and wiped away her tears. “Except hers of course!”
“Are you all right, Miss Catalina?” Allie asked, nodding her head.
“Yes. Oh yes, Allie … it has just … just been so long since I’ve had a chance to speak of family. No one comes out here anymore … I’m a forgotten old woman livin’ in the ashes of what was once greatness.”
Allie became quiet, studying her. Clearly, Catalina was in her sixties, but despite her lush and tawny silver hair, only a few lines ran through her face. This made it almost impossible to connect the term old to the woman she saw in front of her.
“You are no old lady!” Allie said curtly. “If I may be so bold, I would dare say you would not be alone if you were to become a presence in town once more. From what I understand, you are something of a recluse. I can imagine there would be plenty of gentlemen happy to squire around an attractive woman such as yourself.”
Her comment elicited a slight grin on Catalina’s face and Allie absolutely wasn’t prepared for the words that next left her lips. “Perhaps, dear Allie,” she mused. “I have known my share of men in the most intimate ways, but for me, it was always the more fairer sex as they saw where my heart lay.”
Catalina laughed as Allie pressed her hand to her chest. “I can see you weren’t ready for that dose of unvarnished truth,” she said.
“Indeed not,” Allie gritted her teeth.
Catalina obviously didn’t care if her words had stopped Allie’s heartbeat. She returned to her seat and looked back up at her new acquaintance. Allie felt her head spinning as she trailed after Catalina to sit down too. She had never encountered anyone like Catalina, and by extension, her family before, and she found herself starting to marvel at how she came to be in the same room with Catalina Wilde in the first place.
*****
Twenty-four hours earlier
A loud roar echoed in the air as the engines of the train churned alive, effortlessly pulling the it out of the station towards Arizona. The overly cheerful conductor roved the aisle, smiling and tipping his old hat at every attractive woman he walked by. He loved his job mostly because of them. For every trip, there was always a beautiful woman that caught his attention, providing his rather apt imagination with images of spotless skin, lush lips, shapely legs, and giving him pleasure from imagined escapades.
Women mostly travel for adventure anyway, the conductor thought as he walked the aisle into another coach, his eyes immediately rested on a brunette that stared through the small window at Denver that was gradually fading away. She was a perfect epitome of all the lovely women he hoped would board the train. With long wavy hair that matched the color of her brown eyes, the passenger was considerably stunning, but not in an overstated way. Her eyes seemed distant, though as if she wasn’t really prepared to leave Denver behind, or perhaps, it was her destination that mystified her. She had a pointed nose that fitted her almost equine face and a white skin that glowed in the light of the sun.
As always, he wasn’t permitted to stare at one or all of them for long. Making one last assumption that she was probably thirty years old and heading towards a fate that she was uncertain of, the conductor slowly nodded at her and walked further down the aisle, seeking another beauty that could brighten his day.
With her eyes glued to the window as such, she probably didn’t notice me, he grinned inwardly before stepping towards the next coach.
He was right, though. Allie Mastluehr had no idea had been being admired. She wouldn’t have paid any mind to it either, if she had known. She was on a train from Denver to Alamieda, Arizona, and nothing was on her mind except for the task that she had unavoidably taken upon herself.
First, she couldn’t believe that her always careless and carefree brother had finally outdone himself and had made her promise to divert to deliver a letter to a stranger on her way to San Francisco. I made the poor old man a promise, Allie. You must help me! Evan had whined on his bed.
Secondly, Evan Mastluehr was her twin brother, and sometimes, she wondered if he was indeed her brother! He had always been different. He was a happy-go-lucky child that believed that everything in the world ought to be explored and fully enjoyed. As soon as he was old enough to leave home, he packed a small bag and only looked back once in a blue moon. Eventually, he had done well for himself, making small wealth from his travels and spending them all over again on newer adventures.
His last adventure had been a bane for him, though. Evan Mastluehr had made a trip to Europe and had the misfortune to be returning on the Titanic. He had survived only to immediately wind up on a stretcher with a damaged backbone. Now months later, after countless visits from Dr. Aron Potter, a skilled physician, Evan could manage to take a few steps while he held on to walls or a stick. More months of rigorous physical treatments like the one Dr. Potter was giving him and, perhaps, Evan would be back to being fully mobile. It was the only reason she felt she could leave New York for San Francisco. Her brother would just have to get used to not to having everything done for him.
Allie hated it that she didn’t have a choice but to often think about her brother’s condition and his reliance for her to run errands for him. If he knew he wouldn’t fulfill a dying man’s wish on a sinking ship, then why the hell did he commit himself? Why did it have to take him almost a year to remember his oath too?
Because he is Evan and he doesn’t really care about anything but himself.
Allie didn’t want to believe that. She had been denying the truth for years and always ended up being used by her brother. Allie was always the one that cleaned up his mess. She was always the responsible one that didn’t get to have all the fun there was in the world. Allie was determined to get a job as a reporter in San Francisco and wouldn’t even take a backward glance either.
All she had to do was deliver a letter to a Bright Feather Wilde and get on with the rest of her life.
“A penny for your thoughts?”
Allie glanced up just in time to notice that the man sitting in front of her was looking back, smiling curiously at her. His eyes went to the glass of lemonade in her hand and went back to her face. Allie wasn’t even sure she knew how long she had been holding onto the glass or not noticing that such a strikingly handsome man was sitting a few inches away from her.
Kudos, Evan, Allie thought to herself. “I can’t even see or do anything right because of you!
Allie managed to plaster an anxious smile on her face before raising the glass to her lips.
“Well, I should apologize if I interrupted a serious thought,” the man in front of her began to say with a sincere tone. “It just gets concerning if such a beautiful woman such as yourself holds on to a cold glass of lemonade for long and doesn’t seem too much interested in drinking it.”
Yeah, it indeed was. Allie could imagine how
worried she looked the entire time that she thought of her brother and her unplanned visitation to Arizona.
“It is okay,” she finally replied. “I can imagine I looked so distracted.”
“Indeed.” her new companion said, staring at her as if he was trying to see through her skin.
“Oh, I was just thinking about my brother and this trip,” Allie said, remembering that he had showed interest in knowing why she looked so bothered a minute ago.
The stranger took the hint that his presence wasn’t a bother. He opened his mouth as if to say something. Having a rethought, he clasped his mouth shut and left his seat for the one next to her. He glanced sideways at her, afterwards, with a warm smile.
“Connor Kincaid. You can just call me Connor,” he volunteered immediately, showing white teeth as he gave her another smile and stretched out his hand.
Allie shook his hand, smiling back. “Allie.” she told him. “Allie Mastluehr.”
“A true pleasure!” Connor replied with sincere enthusiasm. “So, I am guessing, Allie, that your brother is a bothersome one and he is the reason you are on this train.”
“Well, if bothersome entails lovingly disappointing, insane, difficult, and often a thorn in my path, oh yes!” Allie replied with a snort.
Her reply expectedly made Connor laugh. His eyes gleamed with interest, as he arched forward a little and encouraged her to tell him more about her brother with a wave of his hands.
“Do tell me more,” he implored. “We might as well spend the entire journey learning why being on a train to Alamieda seems not to excite you.”
Allie realized that she liked the way his lips moved every time words flowed from his mouth. He spoke like a well-mannered and confident man who loved to have fun whenever he could. In an odd way, Allie also realized that he reminded her of her brother. The only difference between them was that Connor seemed like a man that knew his limits.
She could be wrong with her first assessment of him, though.
“Well, I think it would be more fun if we are sharing,” Allie challenged. “You don’t seem that excited being on the train either.”
She watched as a mirthful look spread across his face.
“Oh, I am excited. I downed the entire content of my glass a minute after I was served.”
He was mocking her and Allie stuck out her tongue at him as they both laughed. He edged closer, though, and began to tell her about himself.
“Well, it is really simple,” he said. “Alamieda, Arizona is home to me. It shouldn’t really excite me that I am going back to it, since I have lived there most of my life.”
“Oh.” At least she was right with her observation.
“I am a local attorney,” Connor continued. “I just wrapped up a trial upstate and here I am. Told you it was simple,” he said when he noticed that she had really hoped for a longer tale. “It is your first time, is it not?” he asked.
“Being on a train to a strange land? Yes,”
Connor nodded and seemed briefly distracted by a train stewardess that was making her way towards them.
“Time for something a little stronger than lemonade I should think.” Connor advised the lady merrily. “A cocktail bottle with two empty glasses please would be nice, if you may. I trust your choice of the liquor.”
Allie was unable to decline the offer for a drink. The hostess nodded abruptly, smiling at Connor before disappearing down the aisle. Allie had a feeling Connor affected every woman with his good looks just as he had with her.
“So, your turn,” he said, turning to her with an amused look.
Would he ever stop smiling?
“My brother was on the Titanic,” Allie sighed.
“Wait, the Titanic?”
“Yes.” Allie replied. “When the ship was going down, an officer had only one seat left on a lifeboat and he had stepped up to it at the same moment as an old man. The man told Evan he could have it, seeing as how he was young and had his whole life ahead of him. His only condition was that Evan delivered a farewell letter to his wife in Arizona that the man had penned earlier, hoping to give to someone if he couldn’t find his way to safety.”
“I am guessing you are delivering the letter instead of him?” Connor asked.
He was making the entire situation easier for her to explain, Allie thought. She prepared herself as she summarized everything else to him.
“My brother is something else. As soon as the rescue boat, the Carpathia, docked, he went off to meet friends on Long Island. The very next day, he was racing autos with them and having just survived a shipwreck, he crashed his car and ended his race covered in blood with broken bones. He’s spent the better part of this past year convalescing under my care.”
Allie became emotional as she thought about what might have happened to him. Although Evan may have irritated her sometimes with his devil may care attitude, it didn’t mean that she didn’t love him. She wouldn’t have been able to bear it had he wound up dead instead.
“Anyway, finally being back home did Evan some good,” Allie told Connor. He had been silent the entire time and she appreciated that he gave her time to take control of her emotions. “He has been at peace and didn’t even remember the old man he made a promise to on the ship until words came up that I was going to San Francisco. As it turns out we share the same destination of Alamieda.” She said suddenly realizing how this development seemed to please her.
Connor rested his back on his seat as she finished her tale. He seemed to be considering a lot of things in his head and for the first time, Allie lay back, too, and tried to notice his features. He was a man of good height, probably six feet and a few inches with his long legs. He had blond hair and deep blue eyes that seemed awash in merriment. Beneath his thin mustache were lush looking thin lips … they were moving too.
“Pardon?” Allie asked, realizing that he had said something and she had not been listening.
“The man your brother met on the Titanic … what was his name and that of his wife? I might know them.”
“Oh.” Allie began. “Evan said that his name was Dutch. He never learned his full name, but the man hastily wrote the name Bright Feather Wilde and the town name Alamieda, Arizona, on the envelope Evan was to deliver for him.”
“Dutch? Bright Feather Wilde?” Connor repeated to make sure he had heard right.
“Yes, those are the names I have. I hope it is something comes of them once I get to Alamieda.”
“Oh, something will alright,” Connor grinned surprisingly.
“The name sounds familiar?” Allie asked.
The look on Connor’s face indicated that the names were more than familiar. He knew more where the name Wilde came from, she was sure of it. The lawyer leaned forward in his seat and winked at her.
“What if I told you I know of a Dutch, Rachel, and Cattie Wilde? I’ve never met them as they are a reclusive bunch, but last I knew they all live in the ruins of a once mighty ranch called Cedar Ledge,” informed her cheerily knowing furnishing this information would please his new acquaintance.
The cocktails arrived at that moment, and for the first time between meeting this man, Connor and the intriguing sounding Wilde family, she was not sorry she had to divert to Arizona.
*****
“The name is Allison Mastluehr. Mastluehr is German and you pronounce it as M-A-S-T-L-E-R.”
Allie kept smiling at the desk clerk of the hotel, making sure that she didn’t feel embarrassed with her correction. The brunette had come across her name a second ago and seemed incapable of pronouncing it right. Coming to the rescue, Allie also watched as Connor shook his head languidly behind her perhaps wondering if this was something she always had to do when it came to her name. She had to admit she was happy to still be in the stranger’s presence.
On the train, he had promised to take her to the ranch where she might find Bright Feather Wilde. Connor had argued that Bright Feather would have to be Rachel Wilde, though since what little he
had ever heard of her a handful of times over the years, the woman was said to be of Indian blood. He was also adamant that he had heard nothing of Dutch dying in the catastrophe, but when she had pointed out he had said they were reclusive, he had to admit the family could have kept it to themselves.
As soon as they got off the train, they walked straight to the hotel. On the way, Connor had launched into a discussion about the Cedar Ledge ranch at her urging. According to him, it used to be a notable estate before it became the wasteland that it was. It seemed to her he appeared to want to quickly move away from the topic on the ranch, instead talking about her, always complementing the way she laughed or the way her eyes fluttered at him.
If she wasn’t wrong, Connor Kincaid was trying so hard to flirt with her.
“It’s okay, kid. I have got this.”
Connor waved off a bellboy who had rushed over to carry her bags as soon as the clerk was through with her records and was handling her a key.
“Come on. Hurry off. There should be bags to lift with other arriving customers.”
Allie couldn’t stop smiling. She had had a nice time on the train with Connor. It had only been hours ago that they met, but it felt like days already. On the train, they had spoken a lot, laughing and sometimes holding each other’s hands as they slowly drank their cocktails. At the moment however, all she could think of was a night’s rest before they both headed out to this Cedar Ledge place in the morning.
Her room wasn’t quite distant from the front desk. They arrived at it a few seconds later, and she unlocked the door while Conner took her bags in. The beautiful moonlit landscape at out the back window and the large bed in the room caught her attention first before Allie noticed that Connor just stood at a corner of the room, staring at her.
“Thanks, Connor,” Allie grinned at him. “I know it would have been quite the boring journey had we not met.”
She was saying the truth. She possibly could have spent the entire time on the train thinking about Evan. Instead, she had shared cocktails with him and felt so close to a stranger; more than she had ever been before.
The Wildes of the West 1_The Daughters of Half Breed Haven_Old west fiction of action adventure, romance & western family drama Page 3
