Romance: Detective Romance: A Vicious Affair (Victorian Regency Intrigue 19th England Romance) (Historical Mystery Detective Romance) (102 page)

It left her wondering what kind of life she was going to have. Was she going to be cleaning a big house and treated like another housekeeper? Would she fall in love immediately and him with her and live happily ever after?

She shook her head. The future was an incomplete picture. It left her feeling shaky and regretful.
Change
was
needed;
she decided firmly. She wasn’t going to give in to negative thoughts. She’d prayed for change, been lead to change and was thanking God for the blessings.

She took the opportunity to get a sandwich and a Coke from the dining car. Tom had been generous enough to pay for her ticket, which she found out later was typical in a situation like this, and even though she had told
him,
she’d been saving up and could afford it. He was insistent, in fact, that she keep her money for herself or buy something that she wanted before leaving Virginia.

She’d decided to keep her money. She wasn’t sure what her future would be and would feel more secure if she had something to fall back on in an emergency.

By the time the train pulled into the station, she was exhausted with the ride. Sitting in the car on a cushioned bench had left her with aching bones. She was glad to stretch out. When she stepped down from the train on the platform, she walked directly into the building and to the clerk.

“I have several bags that were not in the car with me.”

“They will be dropped off here in a short time.” The clerk nodded, taking a stub ticket from her. “If you’d care to wait over there, we will have them brought in.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

She turned and looked around. She didn’t see anyone who looked notable in the room. She had to assume that a man as wealthy as Tom would
be constantly surrounded
by other people, either his friends or people who wished they were his friends. There didn’t appear to be much wealth in this area of Colorado. There were more men than
women;
she had noticed that. But otherwise, it looked very similar to the place she’d just left. She moved to a bench and sat down, setting her sewing bag on the floor beside her. She turned to gaze at the huge fireplace set into the wall to her right. She admired the stone carvings that surrounded it and imagined it was quite beautiful when a fire was blazing
below it
.

A hand on her arm caught her by
surprise,
and she turned with an, “oh!” She was staring at a young woman with big brown eyes, long eyelashes and brown curls surrounding her slender face. The woman smiled.

“I am so sorry to have frightened you!” The woman said. Joyce stood up. “Are you Joyce Driscoll?”

Joyce nodded. “I am.”

“Oh good!” She looked relieved. “This is Gary
Huffman,
and I am Anne Huffman. Tom is Gary’s brother. We are here to pick you up.”

“Oh!” Joyce smiled. “Hello! It’s good to meet you.” Anne surprised her again by pulling her into a quick but warm hug.

“We are glad to have you here!” She turned to her husband
again,
and Gary held out his hand. Joyce shook it but noticed that Gary looked unhappy or anxious. She had already been worried on the train for the last six hours. His demeanor did nothing to change her feelings. She looked back at Anne.

“Has anything happened?”

“Oh no.” Anne shook her
head,
and her curls danced their
own
jig. “We just do a lot of things for Tom because he is a very busy man. He is very businesslike and concentrates a good deal of his time to his work.”

“He oversees all of his
land
?”

Anne nodded. “There are several…Gary, would you fetch her bags, please?”

Gary looked as though he should have thought of that himself first and nodded to her. “Yes, of course.”

“
There are several businesses being run
on Tom’s land.” Anne continued as Gary walked to the clerk’s desk. “And other threats that he must guard against.”

“I see. Indians and poachers.”

Anne nodded. “Not really the Indians. Their reservation is not as close as it may seem. They do not need to come into town for
anything,
so we don’t see much of them. They are more friendly than hostile toward our little area.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” When Gary came back carrying Joyce’s bags, the three of them set off for the carriage, which awaited them outside. Joyce was impressed the moment she saw the horses and
carriage
.
The vehicle was drawn by two large majestic horses
. The carriage was large, white and a driver was propped up top, holding the reins loosely in his hands. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

“This is very
nice,
” she said. Anne looked at her.

“I think we begin to lose appreciation for the beauty of things after you get used to
them,
” she said in a very low
voice
as if she didn’t want anyone else to hear. Joyce looked down at her, realizing Anne was several inches shorter than she. “I have been riding in this carriage for over a
year,
and I don’t think I’ve ever really looked closely at it.”

Joyce raised her eyebrows, taking in the whole of the large carriage. It was white – a glowing white that made it seem brand new – trimmed with gold edges. The curtains inside were gold with long, thick tassels on the ends. The steps they were to use to get in the carriage were also gold and made of metal. She had to assume they were gold-plated. She couldn’t imagine spending the kind of money it would take
to simply have
even one step made out of gold.

At first, their ride was quiet. Joyce was still uncomfortable with the
nervous
look that Gary couldn’t seem to get
rid of
. She wondered if he always had that look on his face. Perhaps he was worried about something that was completely unrelated to her arrival.

“So please tell us a little about yourself.” Anne prompted after a short time. “We have
about
a half hour drive until we reach the house.”

“I was born in Ireland, in Meade
County,
” she replied. “My family immigrated to America when I was ten. We were in New York for a few years and then traveled
to Virginia
to live.”

“Did you have trouble leaving your family and coming so far away?”

Joyce shook her head. “I will miss the family I left
behind,
” she replied. “But I lost my parents early on in a boating
accident,
and my aunt and uncle raised me. I have two brothers, a sister, and many cousins.”

“So you come from a large family?”

Joyce nodded. “I
do,
but I have been living on my own for several years. I prefer solitude and quiet to what I
was raised
with.”

“I imagine you do!” Anne replied, nodding. “You… won’t have to worry about that here. There’s hardly any people in the house.”

Gary made a small noise in his mouth and gave Anne a look. Anne’s face
tensed,
and she gave him a return look. This action confused Joyce. She wrestled with whether or not she wanted to say anything about this strange behavior.

“You should tell
her,
” Gary said. Joyce was immediately on alert. She narrowed her eyes.

“What is it?”

Anne licked her lips and pulled in a deep breath.

“There’s something about Tom you should know.”

Joyce tried to prepare herself for something horrible. She clenched her jaw and tried not to let her fiery temper take over before she even knew what the deal was. “Please tell
me,
” she said, clenching her hands in her lap, gathering up her skirts in her fingers.

“He’s…he’s been very upset since the death of his wife 16 months ago.” Anne’s voice was
low again,
and Joyce sat forward a little. “He took to building on to his house and has added about a dozen rooms to it since then.”

Joyce was a little confused but said nothing. She wanted the whole story and reserved judgment till she had it.

“The house has about 32 rooms now. It was already a mansion before. Tom… hasn’t even put furniture in some of them. He moved all of his things into the new rooms and
keeps
several of the old ones the way they were when Lizzie died.”

Joyce felt her temper waning. Tom’s depression had led him to do something
strange,
but
at least,
he hadn’t murdered someone. “Well, I’ve heard of people in mourning doing that before. How did she die?”

Gary’s eyes snapped down to his wife. “Tell her,
Anne,
” He said.

Anne pursed her lips for a moment. Finally, she said, “In childbirth.” She let her eyes move up to Joyce’s face as the woman registered what she’d said.

Joyce frowned. “So he lost his wife and his baby at the same time?” She asked.

Gary shook his head. “No, Miss. The baby is healthy and alive. Her name is Eliza, named after her mother.”

Joyce processed the information. “So…there’s a baby?”

The couple sitting across from her stared at her with open faces. Gary seemed to expect Joyce to jump from the carriage at that moment. Anne’s
face
looked hopeful and anxious at the same time.

Joyce was taken aback, unsure how to feel. She had
been lied
to about something that was
very important
. Something that may have made a difference in her choice to come here. She felt betrayed and frowned deeply. She wasn’t going to have her
own
family. She was going to have someone else’s family.

“That is deeply
disappointing,
” Joyce said. “I would have liked to have known about that before I agreed to come here. I have no experience with small babies. None whatsoever.”

“You didn’t take care of your nieces and nephews?” Gary asked.

Joyce shook her head. “No. I never did.” She was trying to control her disappointment and anger. She wasn’t sure she wanted to start out with a new baby she hadn’t even had. And this man sounded like he was going to be distant and mournful of his dead wife all the time. Where did that leave her? As a nursemaid and housekeeper? She looked out the window without putting words to her emotions. She had money. She could buy a train ticket and go home.

But was that really what she wanted?

Anne leaned forward and put her small hands over Joyce’s. “Please don’t be angry with Tom, Joyce. He’s such a good man and he just needs to be shown that life isn’t over. He needs someone to show him that there can be love again. I believe you will do that for him. All you have to do is reach out to him and try to understand him.”

Joyce didn’t respond but did look at Anne with a soft look. It was her Godly duty to try. She had
to try at least
. She wasn’t the kind of woman who started something she didn’t finish, even if there were obstacles put in the way.

*****

The rest of the ride back was quiet as Joyce thought about her options. She certainly didn’t have to stay. But she felt obligated to do so. This child had
been left
without her
mother,
and her father didn’t seem to be in any condition to take care of her. How could she possibly let the child grow up in an atmosphere like that?
At least,
she had her parents until she was 12. She’d gotten to experience a family. How could she not ensure this innocent child had the same thing?

She tried to reassure herself but still felt resentful. Everyone had problems. Surely Tom could muster up the courage to let go at some point. She had moved on from the death of her parents. It hadn’t been
easy,
but it had been necessary.

She was once again in awe when they pulled into the long dirt drive that led up to the biggest house Joyce had ever seen. She leaned slightly out the window and scanned the landscape. There was a row of trees lining the dirt drive that reached up into the sky and bent
over the path
to
make
a natural shelter. The leaves were in full bloom. Coming from the drab exterior of the town she’d left behind, she was highly impressed.

Beyond the
trees,
she could see fields stretching out, tall grass waving in the breeze. She moved her eyes to the house they were approaching. It was three stories high and made
from
what looked like solid red bricks. The porch roof was held up by two opposing
huge
round stone pillars.
There were six long steps that formed
a “c” in front of the porch. They
were also made
of the same light colored stone as the pillars.