“James tells me you’re worried about your safety in Crest Stone,” Edie said quietly as the men spoke of business matters.
Izzy clamped her hand around her fork. Of course, the sheriff had noted her reaction to his visit the other day. She wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or thought it a kindness of him to mention it to his wife. Particularly when it wasn’t safety she was worried about at all.
“I lived most of my life on an isolated homestead,” she said to Edie. It was the truth, even if it had nothing to do with her nerves.
Edie gave her a kind smile as she set her fork down. “My family lived an isolated life too. It’s a brave thing to leave that behind for something new.”
Izzy’s heart ached. Edie’s eyes were warm and friendly, but there was something else there, too. Almost a kind ofunderstanding that Izzy couldn’t place. “Where did you come from?” she asked out of curiosity.
“Kansas,” Edie replied. “My family was . . . not traditional. I was ready for a different sort of life. So, I came here and worked as a waitress in the restaurant at the Crest Stone Hotel.”
“Is that where you met Sheriff Wright?”
“Yes. And no. He was staying there, but I don’t think he noticed me until I fell in a mud puddle and he had to help me out.”
“A mud puddle?”
Edie grinned. “It was the most embarrassing moment of my life. I fell in the mud and ruined a book I’d borrowed. That was before I ran away from him.”
Izzy covered her mouth to keep from laughing. It reminded her too much of falling into the creek with Hale.
“Did you grow up nearby?” Edie asked.
“I lived most of my life in the Wyoming Territory,” Izzy replied.
“How did you meet Mr. Darby?”
“Oh . . .” Izzy flushed, uncertain how usual it might be for a man to place an advertisement for a bride in Crest Stone.
Edie grinned. “He worked with Dora and Penny’s mail-order bride service, didn’t he? They’re friends of mine. Dora Gilbert and Penny Young. They started the service for gentlemen here and in Cañon City who wished to marry,” she added upon seeing Izzy’s confused expression.
“Yes,” Izzy said, grateful that Edie wasn’t appalled at the idea.
“What convinced you to take such a chance?” Edie asked. “I’m sorry, if that’s too intrusive, you needn’t answer.”
“It’s perfectly fine.” It was the last question Izzy wanted to answer, but she didn’t want Edie to suspect anything was odd about her. “I was alone, and the only means I had of supporting myself was taking in laundry. I wanted a better life.” It was thetruth, even if it wasn’t theentiretruth. And it was the same as she’d told Hale.
She glanced at him just then, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth as she watched him converse with Sheriff Wright.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” Edie said, pulling Izzy’s attention back to their conversation.
“Thank you. My father is still alive. He was away all the time.”
“Away?”
Izzy’s throat went dry. Hale hadn’t asked her to elaborate on that. He’d filled in his own assumption. What could she say to Edie that wasn’t a lie? “Yes, with my brothers. I was alone, providing for myself.”
Edie tilted her head, clearly curious to hear more.
“The potatoes have such flavor. What did you cook them with?” Izzy speared a slice of potato, pretending to examine it.
“I used a bit of sage, salt, and butter.” Edie still looked as if she wished to redirect the conversation back to Izzy’s time in Wyoming, but Izzy pressed on, asking about sage and whether Edie could share a plant with her.
As Edie talked about what else she cooked with sage, Izzy forced herself to take a deep breath.
She was safe. Everything here was fine. No one could connect her to that description and poorly drawn image hanging in the sheriff’s office. As far as Hale knew, her name was Isabella Sutter.
She snuck another glance at him, and a pang shot through her heart. She’d have to tell himsomething, and soon. Or all of this was for naught. She did this to help her family, not to improve her own lot.
