by Heather Gray
“I like Larkspur,” he went on. “I would like to live near family again, and I’ve been impressed with the townsfolk I’ve met. Lots of people would have mobbed after last night’s town meeting, but not the folks of Larkspur. A lot of towns wouldn’t have given a second thought to the safety of women living alone, but not here in Larkspur – people care here.”
After helping Ida off of the boardwalk and down onto the street as they approached the stage office, Samuel continued, “I have to respect a city government that will put the safety of its citizens above making money. It’s not that they’re close-minded and told me to take a hike. The mayor likes the idea and wants to talk more. Everyone needs to focus on the present situation first is all. That’s a whole lot better than a town which either won’t do business at all or will throw its own citizens to the wolves in order to make a profit. I’m a patient man, and I don’t mind waiting. I have a feeling the payoff will be well worth it.”
“What payoff?”
Samuel’s eyes widened as his gaze shot up to find the source of the voice. He hadn’t realized Sarah was out on the stage platform. By the look on her face, it was clear she’d overheard exactly enough of his conversation with Ida to be suspicious, and rightly so given the recent business in town.
Before Samuel could defend himself, Ida spoke up, “Sarah, how are you this morning? I brought a basket for lunch later. I don’t know about you, but I plan on working up an appetite this morning!”
Sarah swiveled her look from Samuel’s guarded expression to Ida’s dimpled smile. Suspicion in her voice, she called Claudio over, “Take the basket and go put it in the supply room where it will stay cool. Ida, can I get you a cup of coffee?” She glared at Samuel when he made a sound that could have either been choking or laughing.
“I will get myself some coffee, thank you. Let me go get situated. I’m sure the boys can tell me what I need to know about the letters.” Ida quickly fled the tension.
As she headed to the door, Ida artfully turned to Samuel and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry,” while staying out of Sarah’s line of sight. He winked precisely as he’d done when they were kids and trying to silently communicate with each other. Ida nodded and went indoors. Samuel didn’t feel the least bit abandoned by his cousin. It was better for her to go inside than to remain on the platform. He loved his cousin, but he also knew her well. She knew more about his business than most, and she never handled confrontation well. If she remained outdoors with him and Sarah, it would only be seconds before she began babbling and blurting out all kinds of information in a misplaced effort to ease the tension.
Samuel put his hands in his pockets and began whistling, looking everywhere but at Sarah.
“Are you going to tell me what that was about?” Sarah asked. Her voice was harsher than Samuel had heard it before. She didn’t sound cruel exactly, but something was definitely off. He almost thought he heard fear in her voice.
“How much would it upset you if I said I could not tell you quite yet?”
“So you are not going to tell me then?” Sarah’s voice rose in pitch as the conversation continued.
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t tell you, but the truth is, I am in town on business, and that business is confidential at the moment.”
“What was the talk about a big payoff? That sounds shady.”
Samuel was glad he hadn’t come right out and answered when she first asked. It helped him to understand how much she had heard and what part of their conversation bothered her. “I assure you, Sarah, there is nothing shady going on. Ida asked me about whether or not the goings on in town over this whole eligible female problem will cause me to want to go elsewhere to complete my transaction.”
“And will it?” Sarah’s eyes drew Samuel in like a bee to honey. He wanted to reach out and run his hand down the side of her face, cup her chin, kiss her. Her eyes were luminous. Luminous and worried. Samuel wanted to put her worry to rest.
“I don’t think so. I was explaining to Ida that I like the way the town has been handling things, and I see a lot of good here in Larkspur. My plans are on the back burner for now, which means I will have to wait a while, but I do think it will all be worth it in the end.”
Sarah stared into Samuel’s eyes. Samuel began to understand the plight of the insect being viewed through the microscope. He wanted Sarah to believe him. With so much going on in town right now, though, he couldn’t blame her for being suspicious.
Nodding to Samuel, she went back to her sweeping and said over her shoulder, “Thank you for explaining. The coffee inside is good. Claudio made it. You should get some before it runs out. I’m making the next pot.” Sparkling laughter danced in her eyes when she mentioned the coffee.
Samuel ran for the door, not sure which had him in a greater hurry – the need to get some good coffee or the need to escape the temptation that stood there sweeping the stage platform. He rushed into the office so quickly he startled everyone inside, causing them all to look up at him expectantly.
“Coffee,” was all Samuel could blurt out. Then, as he hung his hat up on the hat tree and took a deep breath, he went on, “Sarah said Claudio made this coffee and she’s making the next pot.”
Ida and the boys all burst into laughter, “No way, Señor Livingston!” chimed Cesar. “We have a system. We don’t let her anywhere near the pot when it’s getting empty.”
Samuel realized Cesar was being serious and silently wondered how bad it could possibly be. Was he actually this fascinated by a woman who couldn’t make coffee? If she couldn’t make coffee, did that mean she also couldn’t cook? How would her husband and children eat? He shook his head as he realized he saw himself in the role of Sarah’s husband, and that he honestly did not care if she couldn’t cook worth a lick. There were all kinds of ways around that problem, ways that wouldn’t even hurt her feelings.
Sarah came in the door as Samuel was relishing his delicious cup of coffee. She briefly paused by the coffeepot and said loudly enough for everyone to hear, “I think I’ll finish off the coffee and start a new pot. Let me put this broom up first.”
Faster than Samuel could take his next sip of coffee, Cesar and Claudio were at the stove. As Sarah stepped back out of the supply room after storing the broom, Cesar met her with a fresh cup of coffee. He even somehow managed to get cream and sugar into it. Meanwhile, Claudio had dumped the old grounds, put new grounds in, and set the pot – complete with water – on the stove to boil.
Samuel’s head was still swimming as Cesar said cheerily, “Here you go boss, a cup of coffee for you. Now sit down here and read letters. You should rest after doing all that sweeping.”
Sarah accepted the cup of coffee and graciously said, “Thank you, Cesar. You didn’t have to do that. I could have gotten my own coffee.”
As she sat down by the crates and set her cup of coffee within arm’s reach, Sarah peeked at where Samuel stood by the stove. Unable to hide her merriment, she asked, “Is everything alright Samuel? You look bewildered.”
There was clearly a loving camaraderie between Sarah and the boys. Samuel figured it had taken many horribly bad pots of coffee before the boys perfected the art of making sure Sarah never got near the coffeepot. Without saying a word, he walked on over to where everyone else was seated and grabbed himself a stack of letters and went to work reading them.
****
A pattern developed over the following days. Samuel picked Sarah up from the mayor’s house each morning and escorted her to work. Once the Martinez boys arrived, usually Cesar and Claudio, he would go collect Ida and bring her to the office as well. The five of them would read through letters for hours at a time, sorting them into the correct crates. Not having properly anticipated the scope of the job, everyone grew weary as, on each new stage, bag after bag of mail arrived addressed to Eligible Female.
Sarah worried a disservice was being done both to the men who had written letters and to the single women in town. She felt she would never get t
he letters sorted in time for them to be of any use to anybody here locally and often questioned what good any of them were doing by spending their time going through these letters. She kept at it, though, and made sure everybody else did too.
Reverend Green had already reviewed and burned two crates of letters deemed vulgar. Out of those two crates, there were only two letters he pulled out and gave back to Sarah, saying he felt they deserved another chance. Sarah took that to mean they were all doing a good job and weren’t judging the writers too harshly.
Meanwhile, all of the men who had shown up in town looking for a wife were directed to the mayor’s office where they had to register. More new men showed up in town daily. The locals, it seemed, would soon be outnumbered. Because there were fewer men than there were letters, the process was going much quicker at the mayor’s office.
On an afternoon late in the week Sarah was pointing out the potential for people to get around the registration system. “If somebody doesn’t register, how will we know? There are so many new faces that none of us have been able to learn what their names are.”
“This is the United States of America, Sarah. Do you know what that means?” Taken aback by Samuel’s impassioned tone, she looked at him warily but didn’t answer. After the silence stretched on for a couple of seconds, Samuel apologized. “Sorry about that. I didn’t mean to snap. This is America, though. We are a free nation. Our citizens are guaranteed certain rights. The government can’t step in and force people to register. People have a right to privacy.”
“What if those people are up to no good, though?” Sarah asked.
Sighing, Samuel ran his fingers through his hair. Then he answered, “Your town is in a difficult position. There’s no arguing that. I understand why the mayor and sheriff are taking the steps they’re taking, and I think so do most God-fearing people in and around Larkspur. The law, though, says that they don’t have a lot of authority over all these newcomers. They can’t even legally force them to register. They can only request it.”
“What can we do then?”
“Stick together,” Samuel answered.
“What about this coming Sunday?” Sarah asked. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”
When it had become clear some of the eligible women in town were interested in finding husbands, a church picnic with activities was planned. There would be target shooting, races and other activities for the men while the women had a dessert baking contest, quilt raffle and sing off. Each of the participating men would wear a blue bandana while the women wore pink. Sarah was looking forward to the picnic and activities after a long week of reading letters.
“I think that Sunday is a good idea,” answered Samuel. “I always think a church picnic is great. Food, friends and fun – you almost can’t go wrong. Especially with food.” Samuel winked at Sarah and then went back to the letter in his hand. The remainder of the afternoon passed amicably.
****
On Saturday it was only Sarah, Samuel, and Cesar at the stage office. With everyone gearing up for tomorrow’s festivities, the stage office had remained fairly quiet. The three worked in amiable silence for most of the morning until Samuel jumped up from his chair and shouted, “I can’t take it anymore!” Sarah and Cesar both watched him carefully as if he had gone round the bend. “Don’t you two have any idea what time it is?” Samuel asked them both in a stage whisper.
Sarah had gotten used to Samuel’s antics over the course of the week, but she still couldn’t help but smile and answer, “Why no, sir, we have no idea of the time. Why don’t you look at your watch?”
“Egads, woman! Can you not tell I am wasting away here? Soon to perish from starvation and dehydration and readification?” Samuel lurched toward the counter, leaned on it heavily, and spoke, “Have you no mercy?”
Cesar shook his head, the thought “Crazy gringos!” transparent on his face. He returned his attention to the letter in his hand, apparently ignoring them. Sarah had to admit that she and Samuel had gotten sillier with each passing day. She was sure they were a regular topic of conversation at the Martinez dinner table. She was enjoying the fun she and Samuel shared. If nothing else, it broke up the monotony of such excessive letter reading.
Sarah, still looking at Samuel, arched her eyebrow and asked, “What exactly is readification?”
Samuel shrugged and said, “Reading until you’re too hungry to read anymore. Can I buy you lunch? I was thinking of Miss Martha’s – her food’s always hot and hasn’t killed anyone.”
“Recently. Hasn’t killed anyone recently. You haven’t been here long enough to know more than that.”
“Ah Sarah, ye of little faith. John and Ida told me where to eat.” With an impish grin, Samuel offered Sarah his arm. “Cesar, would you like to join us?”
“No thank you, sir. I think I’ll enjoy the peace and quiet here for a bit. Besides, I brought my lunch today.”
“Cesar, be sure to lock the door behind us and only unlock if it you know the person on the other side. You can pull the curtains, too, if you would like to. We’ve never had trouble before, but I’m not entirely comfortable leaving you here alone right now.”
“Don’t worry, boss, I’ll be fine. Go. Enjoy your lunch.” Cesar got up and made a big show of locking the door and closing the curtains to put Sarah’s mind at ease.
“He’ll be fine, Sarah. Besides, he probably wouldn’t welcome your worry.” With that, Samuel put his hand over Sarah’s where it rested at the crook of his elbow and began walking toward town and lunch.
Sarah’s heart raced as Samuel rested his hand atop hers. She wondered if he could feel her pulse racing. Truly, the stage office and Cesar’s safety were the furthest things from her mind right then.
Chapter Seven
“So,” Samuel started as they walked companionably toward town, “will you be wearing a pink bandana tomorrow?”
“I haven’t quite decided,” hedged Sarah. She wanted to wear a bandana, but only for Samuel. She wasn’t interested in other men noticing her. “Will you be sporting a blue bandana?”
“It’s a beautiful day today, don’t you think? The sky is blue, the breeze is light, and the company is delightful.” He glanced down at Sarah and answered, “I wouldn’t want to mislead any of the women of Larkspur by doing something to appear more eligible or interested than I truly am. Not to mention all those men looking to marry – if all of the women fall for me because they think I’m eligible, I can’t see as how I’d be making many friends.”
“Of course, Samuel.” Sarah wasn’t sure she understood at all. Was he saying he wasn’t eligible? Her mind suddenly went into overdrive. Her long-standing penchant for overanalyzing people and situations was certainly in fine form this afternoon. Could he be married? Engaged? Surely such a thing would have come up already. She wondered these things but wasn’t sure how to ask what she wanted to know.
Samuel peeked down at where she walked beside him.
“Uh, Sarah?” Samuel asked softly.
“Hmm?” was the only response he got.
“Is there something on your mind?” Samuel kept his voice soft and congenial.
“I was only thinking.”
“What were you thinking about?”
They arrived at the front gate to Miss Martha’s. While Samuel opened the gate so she could precede him through, Sarah shifted and looked up into Samuel’s face. She saw only kindness there and even thought she detected a hint of tenderness in his eyes.
“I would like to ask you something if you don’t mind. Perhaps I should have asked it before now, but it hadn’t occurred to me.”
“Of course, you may ask anything you would like.”
“Anything?”
****
“Absolutely anything!” Samuel replied with gusto, glad he finally had her talking again.
After they settled into their seats, Sarah leaned over and asked in a whisper, “Are you married?”
Samuel admitted to himself that he would
never understand the inner workings of a woman’s mind. He had no idea what had prompted Sarah’s question and knew he had to have missed something significant. Still trying to puzzle out how this topic had been raised, Samuel answered with a firm, “No.”
Still whispering, she asked, “Are you engaged?”
“No.”
“Dating someone back home?”
“No.”
Samuel was trying to keep a straight face as he answered. How this woman delighted him!
“What is your business in town?”
“I am not able to discuss that.”
Surprise washed over Samuel as he realized Sarah had tried to get him to give up the information he had been protecting from the townsfolk. When he told her she could ask anything she wanted, it never occurred to him Sarah would use trickery to get information he had kept from her.
Sarah laughed in delight. “I had to try.”
Samuel shook his head, trying to look grave, but the corners of his mouth twitched anyway as he tried to withhold his smile. Samuel wondered if Sarah had genuinely expected him to fall for it.
“That, my fair lady,” Samuel said with false gravity, “was not fair play. I will have my revenge.”
“Oh?” asked Sarah with an arched eyebrow. “And how exactly do you intend to take revenge?”
“Very carefully.” Then Samuel winked at her before turning his attention to Lettie, the approaching waitress.
“What can I get for you folks today?” Lettie asked cheerfully.
Both Sarah and Samuel ordered the day’s special of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and fresh bread. Lettie had brought the coffee with her. Eyeing the pot in her hand, Samuel asked, “Is the coffee fresh?”
“Always!” Lettie replied pertly.
“Then I’ll have coffee, too, please. What about you, Sarah? What would you like to drink?”
“Coffee, too, please.”
