The older man coughed as though suddenly uncomfortable with the morbid topic around a lady, but Nick thought the sheriff shouldn’t feel that way. The fire burning in Frances’s eyes did not bode well for anyone who might have played a hand in her father’s death.
3
“Are you listening?” Doris asked a few days later, tapping Frances on the knee.
“I’m sorry.” She’d been pulled into the sisterly gathering at the Circle B Ranch, where Doris lived with her new husband. His sister, Judith, had insisted that Frances be part of the wedding plans. Since it had been a kind overture, she’d agreed. “What were you saying?”
“Will you wear a dress to the wedding?” Judith asked. “Please do. My mother and grandmother will both be in attendance, as will my grandmother’s husband.”
“The guy with the title.” Frances didn’t try to hide her lack of excitement about such prestigious people coming to her brother’s wedding. She liked the rough Wyoming town of Lilac City with its down-to-earth folks. It didn’t bother her that a few thought she didn’t act like a lady. She didn’t, and she was quite proud of it. Times were changing, and it was time people got used to it. When these self-important relatives arrived from England, they were bound to stick up their noses at all the things Frances loved.
“The viscount, yes,” Judith said with a disapproving glance.
“I don’t care if the man has a title. It means nothing in America. That’s why we had a revolution, so we wouldn’t have to bow down to folks like them anymore.”
“Will you please wear a nice dress to Luke’s wedding?” Doris asked in her most appeasing voice. “For him?”
Frances scanned the parlor, studying the faces who watched her, from her two sisters and her future sister-in-law to the members of the Ladies’ Improvement Society. Frances didn’t see disapproval in any of their expressions, not even Judith’s.
The womanhadchanged a lot since she’d first come to Lilac City, but especially since Luke had started courting her. Once the wedding took place, she would be the mistress of the house where Frances lived. She didn’t want to make her brother’s life miserable by not getting on with his new wife.
“I’ll do it for you, Judith, because I know it’s important to you,” Frances finally said, and a few of the women gave sighs of relief. “But I don’t want anything fancy. And I want a shorter skirt, about boot high.” She held out her foot to showcase the split skirt she preferred to wear.
If the cowhands didn’t stare at her rear end so much when she wore trousers, she’d wear them more often. She was getting tired of smacking their faces, and Nick had come to blows with one of them about it. That particular cowhand had moved on once Tom McDaniel, the ranch foreman, had threatened to tell Luke about the man’s wandering eyes.
“Besides,” Maude said, “the bride should be the one who stands out.”
“Rightly so.” Frances shot her oldest sister a grateful look.
“That should be fine,” Judith said, her expression relieved.
Frances really didn’t give the woman enough credit and shouldn’t keep judging her. She’d proven she was more than she’d seemed. Well, she had to be more than a pretty face, or Luke wouldn’t have fallen for her so thoroughly. Frances needed to pay better attention, like Sherlock Holmes did. It’d been a surprise when she’d first cottoned that her brother was sweet on Judith. It shouldn’t have been.
As the ladies moved on to discussing other aspects of the wedding, Frances gave her full attention to the group. Not so much what they were talking about, but the women themselves. What would Holmes notice?
Maude and Doris seemed to be getting so much pleasure out of helping to plan their brother’s wedding, perhaps because their own had been so rushed. Because of Uncle William, her two older sisters had been forced to have quick weddings. They’d missed out on having new gowns and trousseaus, something they’d both talked and planned for since they’d been girls. Maude and Charles hadn’t even had their wedding trip yet but were planning to go to San Francisco to see his old friend in April, before her pregnancy made travel difficult.
“Well, I believe that should about do it,” Edith Vosburg said, rising. “It’s lucky your grandmother’s husband is willing to make the trip from England and can afford it, but it’d sure be a much simpler wedding to put on without such an important man in attendance.”
Judith bristled which Frances also found curious. Luke had said once that Judith wasn’t all that impressed by the man’s title either. So, was she just defensive of her family in general? It must have something to do with the family scandal back in New York no one would talk about. Not even Edgar, and he’d talk about anything.
Shooting Judith a nervous glance, Mrs. Phelps, the mayor’s wife, asked, “When do you plan to stop teaching, Doris?”
“I’ve been hoping to see the school year through. That will give the board time to advertise for a new teacher for the fall.”
“At the rate you all are breeding, we might need a bigger school in a few years.” Frances glanced at her sisters who were both increasing now. Four more of the recently married women had announced they were also expecting. Two of them had been mail-order brides.
“Breeding, indeed.” Judith sniffed. “Must you be vulgar? Women arenotanimals.”
“Sure, we are. We’re not vegetables or minerals.” Frances grinned. “That leaves animals.”
“There’s one more thing,” Maude said, looking at Frances. “Luke wants you to play for the wedding.”
A myriad of emotions flooded through Frances, and she found it necessary to glance away. A year ago, her music had been the single most important thing in her life, aside from her family. When she’d grown to look so much like their mother, Father hadn’t been able to look at her. Frances had found solace in the piano.
Fleeing from Indianapolis had meant leaving her music behind. She’d thought it gone forever, but then Luke had bought her a used Steinway for Christmas. Thinking about it, her fingers fairly itched with the desire to get home and play it again.
Luke wanted her to play for his wedding. It meant more to her than she’d let anyone know.
