“I know you said it gives you an advantage,” Emily went on as the steam rising from the oncoming engine billowed out over the eastern horizon. “But what if you get there and he . . . he . . .”
“Rejects me?” Tilly took the carpetbag from her sister. It was all she could bring. Carrying a trunk out of their farmhouse in the dead of night and riding it on horseback was impossible. She gave Emily a reassuring smile. “It’s much better to persuade him in person. And if he isn’t to my liking, I’ll simply find Jamie.” She didn’t want to think of how it might feel if this Mr. Liam Hannan found her not tohisliking. Going to her brother fresh from that rejection would sting even more.
Emily nodded, but her face was still creased in unresolved worry. She pulled her coat tighter around herself. “Perhaps you should find Jamie first? He would know this fellow and could speak to whether he’d make a worthy husband.”
“And he’d promptly set me on the next train back here.” Tilly loved her older brother dearly, but he was more stubborn than their old mule. And healwaysthought he knew better than either Tilly or Emily. “I’ll find Jamie—afterI convince Mr. Hannan to marry me.”
She spoke with more certainty than she felt. A hundred different worries pulled at her thoughts, but Tilly knew she had to remain optimistic, or she wouldn’t stand a chance of stepping foot on that train, much less succeeding in her endeavor.
“Paul would marry you,” Emily said in between the engine’s whistles as it drew up to the platform.
Tilly laughed. “That would require him to dredge up the courage to ask. Besides, I’m not in love with Paul. He’s like another brother.” She leveled a gaze at her sister. “Perhapsyoushould marry Paul.”
Emily’s face turned bright red, and Tilly bit back a smile. Emily had harbored an admiration for the boy who lived on the farm next to theirs for years. Of course, Paul was entirely too dense to realize it. He’d spent the last several months casting longing gazes at Tilly instead. Gazes she pointedly never returned. Tilly didn’t mind farm life, but deep down in her heart, she knew there was something more—something new—out there that she wanted. It made her feel restless.
She hadn’t even realized it until Jamie began sending them letters from Crest Stone, a new little town in Colorado where he’d been dispatched to keep the peace, first as a sheriff’s deputy and now as the town’s elected marshal. There was something about the way he described the town and the people in it that caught Tilly’s imagination. It was all so verydifferentfrom herlife on their Kansas farm. It sounded busy and exciting and somewhat dangerous—although not too dangerous. Tilly wasn’t quitethatbrave. But the more she read her brother’s letters, the more she yearned for this place she’d never been. She wanted to see the mountains, meet the people who had come from all over to take a chance on a new town, watch the buildings grow.
She wanted, more than anything, to be a part of it.
That couldn’t happen if she remained here in Kansas. Becoming a mail-order bride was the perfect opportunity. She was certainly old enough to marry. She had always wanted a home and family of her own. And Mr. Liam Hannan sounded like just the sort of man she’d like to have as a husband.
She only hoped he felt the same way.
Emily was watching her, her mouth slanted into a worried frown as the train came to a stop. “You can change your mind,” she said, her voice quiet against the sound of the engine and the chattering of the people around them. “We could ride back home and simply tell Mama and Papa that we felt like an early morning outing and lost track of time. They’d never know.”
Tilly chewed on her lip as she glanced from her sister to the train, where people were beginning to emerge from the cars. Emily’s concern settled into the doubts Tilly had pushed toward the back of her mind. She could go home. After all, no one expected her to arrive in Crest Stone. It would be so easy to return to her regular life of farm chores, conversations with Mama, and riding the horses clear down to the creek in the late afternoon.
But none of that would get her what she wanted. All she’d find with that life was a dull marriage to a man like Paul and the same life on a different farm. She’d never see the mountains or meet anyone interesting or have the opportunity to marry someone who wasn’t a farmer.
“No.” She shook her head. “I’m decided. I’m going to Colorado.”
Emily’s hopeful expression fell, and her eyes grew watery. “What am I to do without you?”
Tilly dropped her carpetbag and wrapped her arms around her sister. “Well,” she said, pushing away from Emily but keeping her hands on her sister’s arms. “For one, without me around, perhaps Paul will realize that he’s meant for you.”
Emily let out a weak laugh. “And Mama—”
“Remember what we discussed?”
“I won’t breathe a word for as long as I can. And then I’ll say you left on a westbound train.”
Tilly nodded. She knew it hurt Emily not to be entirely truthful with their parents, but it was imperative they didn’t know where she was going until she arrived. If their worried telegram reached Jamie before Tilly arrived in Crest Stone, her entire plan would be in ruins. She wouldn’t even have the opportunity to meet Mr. Hannan, much less convince him to marry her.
“I’ll send a letter as soon as I can,” Tilly said. “Once we’re married. I don’t want them to worry.”
Emily nodded, and Tilly retrieved her carpetbag.
“I’ll write to you as soon as I can.” Tilly squeezed her sister’s arm. “I love you, Em.”
Emily smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Please be careful.”
“I will.” And then, with one last look at her sister, Tilly boarded the nearest car.
She watched Emily as the train began to move forward, until she could no longer see her. Then she watched the depot, and Great Bend, disappear into miles and miles of brown winter grasses, dusted here and there with a light covering of snow. At least it was warm here on the train, with the stove to make the car comfortable.
Would there be snow in Colorado? Of course there would be, on the mountains. Tilly leaned her head back against the seat and tried to conjure up an image of what those mountains might look like. And the town, busy and new. And Mr. Hannan, confident and friendly, with the dark auburn hair and the blue eyes he described in his advertisement. And the look on her brother’s face when she turned up unannounced.
Her eyes flew open. No, she wouldn’t think any more about Jamie. At least not untilaftershe was married to Mr. Hannan.
