Deserted in Dodge
Page 1
Deserted in Dodge
Yours Truly: The Lovelorn
Book 7
By
Patricia PacJac Carroll
Copyright © June 2020
Author Patricia PacJac Carroll
ALL rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, (except for inclusion in reviews), disseminated or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or audio. Including photocopying, recording, or in any information storage and retrieval system, or the Internet/World Wide Web without written permission from the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Book Cover: Virginia McKevitt
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
About this Series
Deserted in Dodge
Yours Truly: The Lovelorn
Book 7
Patricia PacJac Carroll
Chapter 1
1880
Dodge City, Kansas
Emma Corbett went downstairs to the community dining table at Mora’s Boarding House. Counting off the steps, Emma thought how Mora’s could also be called the Spinster Boarding House. After all, none of the residents, all women, had ever been married except Mora, and she had been widowed at a tender age because of that terrible war between the states.
With a roll of her eyes, Emma thought about Ben Johnson, but it wasn’t as if she thought well of him at all. She’d come from Vermont to marry the man. Ben was a supposed friend of the family, and her father had arranged a marriage between Emma and Ben. Before she knew it, she was on her way to Dodge City, Kansas, of all places.
For six months, Emma had been in this wild, dusty town. Far longer than Ben Johnson. They’d had two meals together, and then he was gone. She’d been left and abandoned. Deserted no less. To make matters worse, Ben had taken a portion of her dowry with him.
Thank goodness, she’d had the sense to hold back most of her money, or she’d have been forced to work in one of those saloons. What was she to do? She’d finally become so desperate to find a husband that she’d written to a newspaper column that offered marital advice. The Yours Truly: The Lovelorn column gave advice to those looking for a spouse, but she hadn’t heard from them yet.
As Emma seated herself in her place at the table, she detected a slight current of excitement running through the boarders, but that excitement stopped with her. Emma noticed Jenny holding in a snicker, which was hard for the woman, for she laughed at everything. Even Mora looked as if she’d eaten a canary and had feathers protruding from her mouth.
Mora cleared her throat. “A letter came for you today.”
“Oh,” Emma met the matron’s knowing gaze. Surely, there would not be this kind of mysterious feeling if it had been from her family.
Mora pulled the envelope from her pocket and handed it to Jenny, who handed it to Miss Salisbury, who handed it to Sally Mae, who, almost apologetically, handed it to Emma.
Emma grabbed it and didn’t even look at who it had come from. No doubt, by the looks on their faces, it must have been from Ben Johnson.
“Aren’t you going to read it?” Mora eyed her with such anticipation that Emma glanced down.
She gasped. It was from Yours Truly: The Lovelorn. She’d never thought she would get a real letter, only that she would find an answer in the newspaper.
Sally Mae touched her hand. “What does it say?”
Emma sighed. Did she have to reveal her embarrassment to everyone? Then she looked at the anxious and loving faces of the women around her. Since these women were her friends, alone, and without love, she opened the letter.
She swallowed hard and tried to keep her hands from shaking as she read the note. There was no reason for her to be nervous. After all, it was obvious that no one around the table had any idea on how to get a husband either.
Emma gathered her courage. “Well, if you all must know, this is the letter I sent. I told you about it, Sally Mae.” One look at Sally Mae’s red cheeks let Emma know why everyone else in the room also knew about the letter.
Dear Lovelorn,
I came to Dodge City because of a promise of marriage from a man who was a friend of the family. I’m sorry to say, but that man showed himself to be untrustworthy and left me. He’s been gone for six months, and I am alone and fearful that I will end up a spinster as I am twenty-seven years old with no prospects of marriage. Please help me, Lovelorn. Tell me how to get a man.
Sincerely,
Deserted in Dodge
Jenny frowned. “Deserted in Dodge. My, you are the brave one, Emma.” Jenny held her hands to her mouth, chewing on a biscuit and looking much like a little mouse. “And what did The Lovelorn write back?”
Emma silently read the note and then looked around at the eager faces and knew there was no way she could withhold the information. “All right. This is what she or he, after all, we don’t know who The Lovelorn is, wrote to me.”
Dear Deserted in Dodge,
My matrimonial advice to you is to pick out a single man that you admire and who would meet your requirements for a husband. Then dog him like a cowboy going after a maverick steer. I’m confident that you will rope your man in no time.
Yours Truly: The Lovelorn
Silence fell over the usually noisy group and then was followed with a collective sigh.
Mora shook her head. “I don’t know. Sounds brash to me.”
Miss Salisbury nodded. “I could never do such a thing.”
One by one, the others said the same.
Emma squared her shoulders and held her head high. “I asked for advice, and I’m going to take it. I’ll start tomorrow.”
Sally Mae put her hands to her mouth. “That’ll be scadless. Who do you want to go after?”
Emma smiled at Sally Mae. “The word is scandalous. At this stage in my life, I don’t care. As for who I go after, I’m not sure. So, that will be the first thing I need to do.” Emma grinned at the women. “Tomorrow, I’m going hunting for a husband.”
Chapter 2
Emma had spent the entire night thinking of the people she knew in Dodge City, Kansas. While the city wasn’t quite as wild as it once had been, it still wasn’t noted for its fine citizenry. Now that it was morning, she would do some hard thinking and study on how to hunt for a husband.
A quiet knock on her door this early startled her. “Come in, Sally Mae.”
The door opened, and the woman slipped in like a shadow. “How did you know it was me?”
Emma grinned. “The way you knock. It’s so soft and quiet. That’s always you.” Sally Mae was her best friend in the city. Even though most of the women who stayed at Mora’s were also her close friends. After all, they all understood how it felt
to be alone in a world of pairs.
“Oh, I guess I should work on not being so quiet. Do you think that’s why the men don’t see me?”
Emma looked up. Sally Mae was wearing one of the four dresses she owned. Each one looked the same except for a variation in the ribbon at the neck. Today she was wearing the blue ribbon. “Partly, although you must realize that none of us at Mora’s are married. That includes Miss Salisbury, who is the loudest among us. So that must not be the entire reason.”
“Oh, you are so right. You are so deductible. Like a detective.”
Emma closed the paper. It was her morning duty to read the newspaper and keep up with what was going on and tell the others. She loved words. And the way that Sally Mae mangled them made her wonder why she and Sally Mae got along so well. “It’s not deductible. Deduce is the word you’re looking for, as in the detective used his gift of deduction to prove that the maid was the only one who could have done the deed. Determines. Reasons logically.”
With a slight blush and shake of her head, Sally Mae smiled. “Oh, you are good with words. I had such fun when we read the detective book and tried to figure out who was the guilty party. Is that what you are going to do to find the man you need to go after, as The Lovelorn suggested?”
Emma stared out the window. Sometimes, despite herself, Sally Mae could come up with the most brilliant ideas. “Yes, exactly. Thank you, Sally Mae. You are a genius.”
The woman brightened. “Thank you. Not many people have said that to me. Remember, when I solved the mystery in that book. I knew it was the milkman.”
Emma stared at the woman. Yes, she’d picked the guilty man. But her reasoning had made no sense. She chose the milkman because he wore the red shirt on Thursday. That was not a clue in the book. Oh well, it was always best to give her the praise. She wouldn’t understand the nuances of red herrings and the trickery the author displayed to get them to pick the blacksmith. Yet, Sally Mae had been the only one to choose the guilty man.
Sally Mae rubbed a finger over the blue ribbon on her dress. “Would you like me to help you pick the right man to go after?”
Emma thought about it. Really, of all the spinsters in Mora’s boarding house, Sally Mae knew the people of Dodge City the best. “I think you would be a great help. Thank you.”
Beaming, Sally Mae put a finger to her chin. “Let’s see. First off, we need to figure out which men are single. Then cross off those that are not worthy of a pet dog, much less a wife. There are a lot of them. Then we will have to see which ones have a good job that would support a wife and a family.”
“Excellent points, Sally Mae.” Emma was beginning to see that Sally Mae would make a valuable partner in her undertaking.
“You know, I think Miss Salisbury might want to join us.”
“Why is that?”
“Because she is standing outside the hallway. I heard her step. You know she has the distinctive clomp of her left foot because her big toe got broke last year. She just stopped in front of your door. Do you want me to let her in?”
Emma was beginning to wonder what she had been thinking by letting all the spinsters in on her letter. But then she knew how it felt to be alone. “Yes, go ahead and see if she wants to help.”
Sally Mae opened the door, and she was right. Miss Salisbury was there and looked as if she’d been caught stealing. Emma figured she’d probably had her ear to the door eavesdropping.
“I was walking by. I didn’t knock.” Miss Salisbury huffed in her loud voice. What Sally Mae lacked in boldness, Miss Salisbury made up for. She was loud, brash, and brusque. But Emma liked her. Miss Salisbury had a heart of gold and was the first to help anyone in need.
Emma rose from her chair and welcomed her. “Come in, Miss S.” That was her nickname. No one knew her first name, and the woman always went by Miss Salisbury until the rest of the spinsters had persuaded her to let them call her Miss S to shorten her name.
Sally Mae giggled. “We’re going to pick through all the illiterate men of Dodge City to find out who Emma should go after.”
Emma discreetly rolled her eyes. At least she tried to be discreet about it as she never wanted to hurt Sally Mae. “Eligible, Sally. That’s eligible men. They have to be single. Nice looking, and most importantly, they must be of good character. And of course, they do need to make a decent living that would provide for me and our future children.”
“How many?” Miss S stared at her with a judgmental glare.
“Well, I don’t know how many. I’m already twenty-seven, but I would like to have two or three.”
Miss S nodded as if to say that was an appropriate number. “What about widowers? Are they to be considered?”
Emma nodded. “Yes, I would consider a widower.”
Sally Mae laid on the bed and sighed. “I always wanted a prince to whip me off my feet.”
“Whisk. You don’t want to be whipped, Sally Mae.” Emma went back to her desk and picked up her pencil and put it to her notepad. “So, let’s just start naming men.”
Another knock on the door stopped them. Sally Mae opened it and welcomed Jenny into the room. After a quick explanation of the job at hand, Jenny laughed and sat down on the bed next to Sally Mae. Miss S disappeared and soon came back in with a chair and was quickly followed by Mora, who sat on the bed with the other two ladies.
Emma drew in a long breath. This was going to be an undertaking all right. She stood and waved her pencil in the air as she gave out her ideas of an ideal husband.
Miss S raised her hand. “Since you’re so old, I think you need to bend a little. In your rules anyway. At this stage of our lives, we can’t be too fussy. If the man is overweight, bald, limps, or is missing teeth, then I think we should accept him.”
Emma stared at the woman. There was no we accepting anyone. This was to be her husband, and she wasn’t sharing him with anyone. Then again, there was truth in what Miss S had said. “All right. Let’s just start with men who are not married. Then we can eliminate those that don’t fit my criteria.”
Soon names were flying at her quicker than she could write them down. “Wait. Slow down. The name I miss could be the man for me. I do want someone I can love and that will love me.”
Miss S, her lips tense and in an unbroken line, shook her head. Finally, she spoke. “We can’t be choosy.”
There was that we again. Emma started a new page. “All right. Let’s go slow. Mora, do you know any single men that might qualify?”
Mora tugged on her gray hair. A habit she had when she was deep in thought. “There’s Jerry Haskell and his brother Ed.”
Miss S raised her hand. “Those brothers won’t part. If you marry one, you’ll have to marry the other.”
Emma nodded and crossed them off the list. “Not acceptable. Anyone else?”
Mora nodded. “The teacher isn’t married.”
Sally Mae stood up. “It’s because he’s meaner than a snake. I wouldn’t want to be married to him either. He doesn’t fit the critique.”
“Criteria, Sally Mae.” Emma wasn’t that well acquainted with the teacher, but she knew if Sally Mae didn’t like him, he probably wasn’t likable.
Mora’s brows bent down. “There is Harrison Gordon. I don’t know him well, but he seems to be a nice man. I heard his farm was making him money. He delivers vegetables to the store when they’re in season.”
Emma wrote his name down. She wondered what she would call him. Harrison was such a long name. Harris maybe. She liked the sound of that.
Jenny laughed. “The blacksmith. He’s a good man and strong.” She giggled. “I got to put my hands around his arm once. His muscle was so big that I couldn’t make my fingers reach. He’s kind of handsome, too.”
Emma nodded and wrote Kyle Torrance’s name on the list.
Sally Mae blushed. “The deputy is handsome. He waved at me once.”
Miss S shook her head. “Lawmen don’t last long in Dodge City.”
“Now that it’s
not so wild, they might have a better chance. I do like Howie.” Sally Mae blushed again, turning her face a deep red.
Emma smiled at her friend. “I’ll save him for you.” But she did write Howard Cravats down just in case.
Miss S stood and announced her choice with a solemn voice. “The man who has a ranch just west of town. I have seen him several times. His name is Tom, I think. I don’t remember his last name. He is tall, taller than me. He has dark hair and blue eyes. Muscular and doesn’t cause trouble.”
Mora nodded. “I know the one you’re talking about. Tom Cooper. Yes, he is a nice-looking man. Be sure to write his name down, Emma.”
Emma did as they suggested. Finally, she had a list of men who might be husband material. The women had recommended others, but each one had troubles with one of the other women and had been eliminated.
Emma read off the final list of names. “Harrison Gordon, Tom Cooper, Kyle Terrance, and Howard Cravats. Thank you, ladies. I think I have a good list right now.” Emma smiled at them and hoped they wouldn’t be going out with her to determine who fit her needs.
Then again, all the ladies looked so interested that Emma doubted she could stop them.
Chapter 3
Harrison Gordon finished packing his cabbage to take into town. The cooler spring had given him a good crop, and he was proud of his harvest. He stared back at his house and the fresh coat of white paint he’d just given it.
He was proud that he’d used real paint and not the cheaper whitewash. He was doing well and had plenty of money in the bank. Today, he’d pick up more seed to plant and order some roses. The house was built and spruced up, the farm was doing well, and his spring crops were in the ground.
Next on his list of plans was to find a wife. He’d waited until he was ready for the right woman to come along before he got serious. He hadn’t even allowed himself to pay attention to the women in town until he was ready. He’d thought about one of the mail-order bride services but wanted to give the ladies in town a chance first.