Authors: Tammy Andresen

Lily in Bloom (31 page)

“Ready, Mother?” Her tone was innocent but the wry smile said that she knew her mother had been ready for some time. Jessie did not agree with her mother. Men would find her whenever she got there. Better to make them wait.

She shuddered despite the heat and Liz looked up at her. Jessie patted her daughter’s arm and made a mental note to keep her thoughts on the present.

“How much longer do we have, Mama?” Liz’s voice was barely audible over the sound of the wagon.

“We should be stopping for the day soon and we arrive tomorrow.” Her voice was sympathetic. It was difficult enough as an adult to make this trip. At eight, Liz was wise beyond her years, but it must be grueling for her to be so still every day.

She looked down at her beautiful daughter. Her dark, almost black, hair was tucked under her bonnet. Her green eyes sparkled with life even under the circumstances. She brushed her daughter’s cheek. The little girl smiled with her full lips and gap-toothed grin. Jessie’s heart constricted. Liz was her whole life and the reason she had run.

One of the gentleman passengers gave them another long stare and she dropped her head and her hand. He was an older gentleman and seemed to only want to be friendly but she couldn’t take any chances. The less people knew about her and Liz, the better.

She bit her lip at the thought. She was attempting to live in someone else’s home for the next few months. How would she keep him from learning anything about her? What if he saw through her disguise? What if he just turned her away? The last thought made her shudder again but she looked out the window and tried to wipe her mind of thoughts. Soon enough she would find out for sure.

The stagecoach pulled into Butterfield Stage Station. Liz hopped off the coach like she was breaking out of prison. Jessie held her daughter’s hand. The Butterfield Station was safer than many they had stopped in because of its proximity to Fort Chadbourne. Soldiers kept it safe. But as Jessie looked around, she didn’t see another female anywhere. The landscape was beautiful but somehow harsher than the New England scenery she had left behind. The trees were smaller and the ground somewhat barren. But the sky was huge and seemed to hold endless possibilities. A small stone building made up the actual station. The passengers filed in to make arrangements for the next leg of their journeys and Jessie did the same.

After departing the stagecoach, Jessie spent the last of her money buying a wagon and an old horse to make the final leg of the journey from Fort Chabourne to Sherman, Texas. She could have taken another stagecoach but the cost was more than she could afford. She also hoped the wagon would make her destination less obvious.

Liz hopped along next to the wagon Jessie had bought, enjoying the freedom of movement. She couldn’t remember Liz ever looking so carefree. Jessie smiled at her daughter. It was moments like this that gave her confidence that she had made the right decision.

The ride was beautiful. Texas was still frontier country and it was a different world than the one she had left. The East was crowded and busy. While it could be exciting to be with all those people it could also be terribly restricting. Here even the largest towns barely had a general store and a doctor. There was vast open space and beautiful landscape. Jessie inhaled deeply. She was free to be herself here. Many settlers were making the same choice. Not only was it beautiful but there was money to be made. The land was cheap and the longhorns were ready to be rounded up and sent to market.

Jessie patted the gun just on her left side and continued to smile. Alone, in a place like this, some of her cares fell off of her shoulders and she began to breathe new life. Her mind drifted back to another carefree time.

“Stunning.” Was the only word Carl Cartwright uttered as she walked by. His eyes never left her and everyone, including Jessie, knew he was talking about her. She smiled coyly. Everyone in the social world of Boston was talking about him.

“He is incredibly rich!” Mabel Grey fanned herself to cool her excitement.

“And so handsome, how is he not married?” Another girl trilled.

Jessie looked at the man her friends were gushing about. His eyes were devouring her. His sandy hair was perfectly combed back and his dishwater blue eyes crinkled into narrow slits as they roamed up and down her body. She felt a small shiver of revulsion pass down her spine but she ignored it and continued her assessment. His lips were thin and set into a perpetual frown. He was the same height as her and thin with narrow shoulders. But his suit was tailored perfectly. His looks were bought.

Jessie said nothing but her plans were forming. She didn’t have to be attracted to her husband. Many ladies weren’t. But she was attracted by his other assets. She told herself that was more important. The women who fell in love were the fools. They often ended up heart broken or worse, ruined.

That was not happening to her. She was going to make a smart decision. She was going to buy her happiness.

A lone rider appeared on the horizon and Jessie’s attention snapped back to the present. “Always the fool, Jessie!” she hissed to herself, angry for not paying closer attention. She motioned to Liz, who immediately climbed into the wagon, while Jessie brought her gun out from next to her leg to sit in her lap. She tucked her daughter further behind her.

The rider approached directly and Jessie could feel butterflies rising in her stomach but she pushed them back down. It was evident even from a distance that he was a large man. Not fat but tall and broad. Every muscle in her body tensed.

When he was a few hundred feet away the man stopped and called out. “Are you Jessie Walsh?” His voice was a deep baritone that echoed through the valley. She immediately relaxed, this must be Jake Tate.

“Yes.” She tried to call back but her voice did not carry the way his did. He seemed to hear her anyway because Jake again began his approach.

Jake Tate assessed the woman on the wagon. She was plump and plain. Not that he minded. It would actually suit the position of cook and nanny just fine in a group of cowboys. Any woman that was too pretty would cause trouble. But he didn’t want a woman from the East Coast. He needed a lady who was tough enough for Texas. He knew from experience that soft society ladies did not fare well in this rugged land. And he certainly did not want one with a daughter. The ranch was barely supporting the cowboys, himself, and his own child.

“I don’t know why you travelled all this way without any acknowledgement from me, Ms. Walsh. I would have told you not to come.” His eyes starred at her levelly as he pulled next to the wagon.

“Mr. Tate?” She looked into his face and a ripple of shock tingled through her body. He was the most handsome man she had ever seen. He was not handsome the way men back East were, with fancy clothes and expensive carriages. He was rugged and tan with full lips and a hard square, jaw. He had a straight nose and high cheek bones. His eyes were a dark brown that pierced into her from under the brim of his hat. He was incredibly masculine and even his casual stance in the saddle seemed to accentuate that. She had never hated her disguise more than she did right now.

He nodded his head to confirm his identity and then she tried to focus back on the issue. “I am sorry to come uninvited…” She hesitated. She had practiced this a hundred times but the damn man was breaking her concentration. “I just, we just, needed employment and…”

He did not seem the least moved and a look of annoyance flitted across his face. “Mrs. Walsh, you have no employment experience and I am not interested in having another mouth to feed besides the woman I hire. I am not even sure you will be worth the extra food I will need to supply.”

Jessie bit her lip. He was blunt and that was hard to argue against. She would have to try another tact. “Have you hired another woman?”

“As a matter of fact, I have not.” He shifted slightly, seeming surprised by her immediate change of tact.

“Perhaps then, I could stay for a bit on a trial basis. At least until you can find someone else? If I am not working out, you can always send me on my way but…” Jessie could see he was considering it. Satisfaction washed through her. If there was one thing Jessie knew how to do, it was read a man. He had made up his mind she couldn’t do the job. Arguing that wouldn’t help now. He was a man that usually got his was. But Jessie was finding a way around that. “…I am sure I would be better than no one at all.”

His gaze pierced into her again and Jessie stopped talking. It would not do to press her hand too hard and annoy him now. Jake continued to stare intently at her and she shifted uncomfortably under his lengthy gaze. He was clearly assessing her Jessie’s feeling of triumph was replaced with discomfort. She felt like he was seeing right under her disguise.

“I’ll give you this, you’re smart.” He looked at her again and then his gaze turned to Liz. She immediately dropped her head and shrunk further into her mother.

“What’s your name?” His voice was considerably gentler when he spoke to her little girl and Liz raised her head slightly.

“Liz, Sir.” The girl’s voice was just loud enough to be heard.

“How old are you?” Jake continued.

Jessie felt Liz’s hesitation. Liz was small for her age so they had been lying to everyone that she was six instead of eight.

“She is eight.” Jessie interjected. There was no way Liz, smart for her age, was going to seem six to anyone she spent any length of time with.

Liz nodded, clearly relieved. She took a breath and then tentatively asked. “How old is your daughter?”

Jake’s appearance softened considerably. A small smile touched his lips and Jessie felt her breath catch in her throat. He was even more handsome now if that was possible. “Casey is seven.”

Liz beamed back at him. “We could be friends!” Jessie stared at her daughter in astonishment. Her dark hair was braided down her back and her green eyes danced in the sun. She looked exactly like her mother and she said the exact words that were penetrating Jake Tate’s resolve. Jessie could see realization dawning on Jake’s face that her daughter was right.

“There is a room off the kitchen that the two of you will have to share. I have one crew boss and nine hands as well as myself and my daughter. You will have to feed all of us.” He turned his horse and was already heading back.

“Mr. Tate,” Jessie suddenly was curious. “How did you know to meet us?”

“I didn’t. There are less than 150 residents in Sherman. Any one new sticks out. We are actually on the border of my property. I was doing the rounds.” He shrugged.

Jessie nodded but her insides tightened. She had to hope that no one could track here because if they did, they would know exactly where to look for the new widow and her daughter

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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