by Rosie Harper
He needed to grab a quick nap and then he would need to ride out to help Caleb and Hardy with the herd. It was the calving season, and that meant all experienced hands were welcome. The boys now had such large herds, and by running them together it saved them a lot of trouble most of the year. But calving could be dangerous and having as many eyes as possible was a luxury most couldn’t afford, though Hardy probably could if he asked his wife – but he was a proud man and wanted to make his ranch profitable on his own efforts. Edward had unwittingly admitted to being a rancher’s son one night in the Saloon, being a little worse for wear, and the words had been out his mouth before he had known it. He didn’t often drink, and so it hadn’t taken much to make him lose his inhibitions and tell a little of his past, thankfully he had become aware before he had admitted to everything, and had made his excuses and staggered home to the silence of his tiny cottage.
Edward had run from his home in South Dakota seven years ago. He had no idea if he was a wanted man or not, but he had been unable to bear the guilt of his involvement in the unintended shooting of the mother of his fiancée. He hadn’t shot the gun, but he had been part of a group of foolish, idealistic young men who thought they could change the corruption in the state – and it had all gone so horribly wrong. He had never liked Gable Forrester, and his last minute involvement had changed everything. His fear had made his judgement questionable and his actions too swift to ever be put right. Now he knew there were better ways to advocate for change in the world, ways that wouldn’t cause anyone around him pain.
He had spent his life since trying to be a good man, trying to hide from who he was and for a time he had managed. His work as an apprentice to a newspaperman in Dallas had given him skills and knowledge that meant he never needed to admit to his past on the land. He had found a way to expose wrongdoing at all levels of society, and had used his position to make Dallas a better place. He had cultivated a new persona, Edward Cole, and David Evans had been buried forever. When he had returned to Silver City one day - just to see from afar how his family was, how Annie was - he had been almost glad to see that they had decided to bury him too. He had stood at the grave that bore his name, and felt relieved.
Life seemed to have gone on as normal for them all, though he was sad to see that Annie had taken over her Mammy’s role, and seemed trapped in a life that clearly put too many burdens on such young shoulders. He wanted to run to her, to tell her how sorry he was, that it was all his fault. But he didn’t dare face her wrath, her sadness – or the possibility that she could never forgive him. He had blown her a kiss, and then gotten back on the train and returned to his new and lonely life.
But the city had often seemed so empty, and so he had jumped at the chance to come here to Stephenville. Mariette had made it sound so warm, so wonderful. And it was. He had felt welcomed from the moment he had arrived, and now he hated himself for even more reasons than before. Now there were people here that he cared about deeply that knew nothing of his past, nothing of who he truly was. People who believed he was Edward Cole.
A little later he was waiting on his porch, watching the world go by. “Hey Ted, thanks for helping out. You will never know how much we appreciate it,” Caleb said as he pulled up outside the tiny cottage Edward had been renting since he arrived in town.
“No problem my friend, though I wish I could turn back the clock, find I’d never told you I had any knowledge of the rear end of a cow!” he joked. Caleb grinned at him. Edward had been surprised at how easily he had been welcomed into the community of this warm little town. The indomitable Miss Mariette, who had only recently married Hardy, had brought him here to run the presses of the brand new Stephenville Star newspaper. He had found a home at last. One that came close to replacing the one he had left behind.
“You love it really. I saw the look on your face the other day when you brought that breach into the world. If I’m not much mistaken, I think you’d love to give up that horrible indoor job, with that hideously noisy printing press, would far rather be out here with us!” Edward had to admit that Caleb wasn’t wrong. He loved the land, loved riding out, bringing a herd home. It was what he was born to do. But he couldn’t admit that to anyone, not even himself.
“No, you can keep your terrible weather, the smell, the cold. I’m happy enough where I am,” he said with a forced smile.
“Your help is much appreciated, especially now. Hey, look isn’t that Mariette, and that must be the new school teacher,” Caleb said excitedly. “She’s a pretty little thing isn’t she?”
“Sure,” Edward said, suddenly feeling his throat go tight and his entire body go rigid. He couldn’t take his eyes from the curvaceous brunette that was perched so precariously beside his employer. The tilt of her chin, the tiny button nose, the full rose red lips, and the big, velvety rich brown eyes. His Annie, the woman he had so cruelly left without a word. The only woman he had ever loved, that he had been forced to desert, to deal with the consequences of his actions was driving towards him, right now. He knew he had to get away, but found every part of his body seemed to have frozen.
“Hey Caleb, how is Hardy getting on? I haven’t seen him for days!” Mariette cried, feigning heartbreak and womanly weakness at having her man not by her side as she brought her pair of matching greys to a halt beside the cart. Edward kept his head down, praying that Annie wouldn’t recognise him.
“He’s fine, missing you like crazy too,” Caleb laughed.
“This is Miss Annie Fitzpatrick.” Mariette turned to her companion. “Annie, this is Caleb Green who runs the second biggest ranch around here – my husband now has the largest,” she said with a cheeky wink. “Of course I bought it for him as a wedding present, but the silly boy won’t take a penny from me to run the damn thing!” She raised her eyebrows at Annie, as if collaborating with her in denouncing the stupidity of mankind. Annie laughed, the sound was so familiar, and it tugged on his heart strings. “And this is Edward Cole, my esteemed employee and genius at all things to do with the printing press. I couldn’t do a thing without him.”
Edward watched as Annie’s expression changed, just ever so slightly from polite greeting, to one of narrowed suspicion and finally naked hope. But the different name had clearly thrown her off course, and she rearranged herself, and flushed a gentle pink.
“Lovely to meet you both. You know, you remind me of someone I used to know Mr Cole,” Annie said. Edward tensed, could feel every part of his body was on edge waiting for her to realise he was just that person. “But sadly he died, though his body was never found. I always hoped it wasn’t true, that maybe one day I would find him again. I apologise if you found my staring uncomfortable.”
Edward wanted to hug her to him, hold her and tell her it was him, that he was alive. She was still his precious, loving and kind Annie with her warm brown eyes, the soft skin, and the shining halo of chestnut hair. She still had a waist he could span with his hands and lips he wanted to kiss until they were both dizzy with desire. To him, she would always be the most beautiful girl in the world. But it was clear that she didn’t know of his involvement in the tragic death of her Mammy, or she wouldn’t have looked so hopeful that he might still be alive. She could never find out who he was truly and what he had done. He would have to find a way to leave town. He couldn’t hurt her all over again.
As he and Caleb trundled out of town, Edward couldn’t stop himself from glancing over his shoulder, and watching as Annie got down from the carriage and stood in the road. He realised she had turned to look back at him too, and though he knew he should look away, he couldn’t tear his eyes from her trim figure and heartbreakingly sad eyes. He knew he would never get over her, she would always hold his heart. But he could never deserve her. She wouldn’t take long to work it out. She was too bright, too wise. She had always seen right through him, had seemed to read his mind at times. He had spent much of his life wishing he had told her about the plot in the first place, she would never have let him go
through with it. It was the one secret he had ever kept from her, and look where it had gotten them all?
Thankfully his work with the herds left him no time to think of anything but them. Despite the exhaustion, it was proving to be a welcome distraction. Moving from cow to cow, checking calf after calf was coming safely, turning those that were breach, giving a hand when an extra tug was required to help things along. The night ended with a herd swollen dramatically by the appearance of over one hundred gangly and slightly clumsy calves. He loved their big eyes, the long lashes and their soft velvety hides. They had only lost two calves and one cow this night - it had been a very good night indeed. Edward said his goodbyes as the sun came up and headed down to his tiny home to bathe and get dressed for his day job at the Star.
“Go home Ted,” Mariette said kindly as he walked through the door. “We don’t need you today, get some rest. You are more than doing your share right now.”
“No, I want to be here,” he said. The idea of going home, having to face the demons within his own mind was too much to bear. He didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts, his fears. He had to keep busy. “There are some problems with a couple of the cogs on the press. I need to know they are okay now. If I need to replace them to fulfil the print run next week I will need to get to Fort Worth, maybe even to Dallas to replace them.” He didn’t tell her that he needed to be here, that he wanted to be shut away from the rest of the world – because he couldn’t admit he was avoiding Annie, it would cause way too many questions. Why on earth would he need to avoid a woman he had only met on the street after all?
Chapter Three
Annie looked around her new home. Mariette had clearly had more than a hand in its furnishings and decoration, it had her clean and uncluttered style written all over it. It was fresh and bright as a button. She had to admit it was lovely. Mariette was clearly bursting with pride at her efforts. “It was only finished yesterday, sorry if you can still smell the paint!”
“I don’t mind one bit. Thank you, this is everything I could have ever dreamed of. To be honest, I hadn’t even noticed that a house came with the job, so it is more than I ever dreamed! I just hope I won’t let anybody down.”
“Annie, you will be fine. You have that get on and do it attitude, I can tell.”
“How on earth can you tell that?” Annie asked incredulously. She had barely met this woman, but then she thought about it – she had worked out that Mariette was determined and feisty and let nothing stand in her way within five minutes of meeting her. Why wouldn’t this wonderful woman, sussed her out, just as quickly? “No don’t answer, I suppose heading out on a journey like mine and taking such a risk speaks for itself!”
“Indeed, and there is something lurking behind your eyes, tells me there’s still inside you that has been put the test and you’ve come through it. I hope you will trust me enough one day to tell me all about it.”
“I’m sure I probably will,” Annie said, glad to know she had already made such a firm friend. She paused, trying to decide if she should ask about the man she had met the night before, then decided she had to. “Mr Cole, has he been in town long?” she asked, trying to sound polite.
For a moment she had thought it was David, her idealistic, lost fiancé. But, what reason could he possibly have for hiding his identity? She had to stop being so fanciful. Just because a man resembled a boy she had once known almost as well as she had herself, did not mean that they were one and the same person. She hadn’t wanted to believe he was dead, had prayed he would turn up one day alive and well – but even she had finally given up hope as the years had dragged on. The David she knew would never have left her or his Mama to such torment.
“No, he arrived along with our shiny new printing press, not that it is so shiny anymore. We have printed our first three editions and it is starting to look a bit used and abused,” Mariette chuckled. “A bit like I feel most of the time. No, he came highly recommended, was working on one of the big daily newspapers in the city. I wanted the best, and so offered him an inordinate amount of money to come and work for us out here. He jumped at it. I think he maybe must have come from ranching stock, he’s been helping Caleb and Hardy out with the calving. Apparently he’s a deft pair of hands. If you don’t mind me asking, you looked a little surprised when I introduced you?”
“He just reminded me of a man I once knew, well was due to wed. But he disappeared without a word and never came back. I’d just lost my Mother, and to lose him too was almost too much to bear. But, we are women, we have no choice,” she said grimly, the little nugget that he may have come from a country background snagged in her mind, fuelling her suspicions once more. Mariette nodded.
“Indeed we do. It is a man’s world, or so they say – yet it is always women who clean up the messes they leave behind them. It must have been terrible to lose them both.”
“It was. Rumours around town said he had been part of a group of men who kidnapped the Governor. They wanted to make him change his policies – some of them were causing such hardship throughout the State. He may have been, but if he was then he would have been partly to blame for my Mammy’s death and I would hate to think he was a part of anything with such malicious intentions. Maybe it got out of hand, maybe there were members of the group who took things too far. I will never know.”
“Whatever happened? I hate to be ghoulish, but what an incredible story,” Mariette said. Annie couldn’t blame her for her interest. It had been all anyone had talked at back home in Silver City for years. She could even tell the story now without tears – but it never stopped hurting, like someone had taken hold of her innards and twisted them until they were all tied in knots.
“Mammy was found shot, with the Sheriff and his young Deputy on a mountain pass. Later a carriage was found, the man who had alerted the Sheriff in the first place had been the driver, said my Mammy was his only passenger. When he had been found on the road, dazed from the massive blow they gave him to the head, he had no clue why they would have taken her. None of us knew either – then we found out about the Governor’s coach also going missing, along with the Governor himself. He came back a few days later, unharmed and not wanting to say a word about what happened to him – but he changed a number of the laws he had made soon after.”
“Was David the only man from town who disappeared?”
“No, a few of his friends did too. That’s why folk said they were all in it together. Nobody wanted to press for details. Nobody wanted to think their son, their brother could have killed my Mammy in cold blood. Some of them came back, my David and a man called Gable Forrester never did. We buried a casket in the graveyard once he had been gone five years. We all needed some kind of end to it all.”
“You poor thing,” Mariette said, clearly unsure whether she should comfort her or not. Annie was used to such a reaction. People rarely seemed to know what to say when they found out. Annie certainly had never worked any of it out herself. Maybe if the boys who had returned had ever told what had really happened that night it might have made it easier to bear – but David’s continuing absence had told her what she needed to know. Either he was dead, and had been killed by whoever had killed her Mammy, or he was alive and was the one who had done the shooting. She could have believed it of Gable, never of her David – and so assuming he truly was dead had become a comfort of sorts.
“Well,” Annie said as she rolled up her sleeves, determined to not be the subject of anyone’s pity. “I’d best get on and get myself unpacked.” She could see Mariette had taken the unspoken hint, she was a kind, but also a very tactful woman. Annie was almost certain she had already made a good friend, and was glad of it. But she was a relatively private person, was used to coping alone. She didn’t want to burden anyone with her troubles, she was too scared that if she did so she might just start to feel the pain they had caused. If that happened she may not ever recover her senses again.
“I have made sure your pantry is full of supplies
. I think I thought of everything, but if there is anything else you need don’t hesitate to holler, I’m at the newspaper office until late most days. Albert Dalligan will stop by in the morning to show you the school. He is the schoolmaster for the boys. He’s been here about six months, but we decided our girls need an education too! I will wish you the best of luck, and again welcome Annie.”
Mariette swept out of the tiny cottage, and Annie felt the silence descend around her. Now she was gone she wished she hadn’t sent Mariette away. But not one to feel sorry for herself, she quickly got on with unpacking her things and arranging the furniture the way she wanted it to be. Once she had made her new home into something cosy and inviting she headed to the small kitchen. She was tired and hungry but glad she had gotten everything done tonight. She very much believed in doing things right away, hated to have a task hanging over her head.
Mariette truly had thought of everything. The pantry was full of everything she could ever need. She pulled out eggs, butter, milk and the crustiest loaf of bread she had ever seen. She rummaged in the cupboards for a skillet and popped it on the stove. Popping a knob of butter into the pan, she quickly beat the eggs with the milk in a bowl, added a little salt and then mixed them quickly over the heat. She poured the eggs onto a plate, buttered a slice of bread, and went to her table to sit and eat her supper, wondering again if the mysterious Edward Cole was her David. He truly did look very like him indeed.
