Mid December 1882, Oklahoma (Indian) Territory
Peter Belden tried to stay focused on the meeting but his thoughts kept straying to his oldest son. Brian’s time spent with a lady of the night was rather disgraceful, but Brian was right. He was his own man, a doctor, and Peter had no say in his actions.
“I think we should advertise for a new schoolteacher,” Mr. Ross, a council member said. “Come spring we can break ground on a new school. It’s entirely too small for the amount of children we have now, and by next fall, this town is going to double in size. As it is, I don’t think the chiden are getting the teaching they need, the teacher is stretched too thin.”
“I agree,” Mr. Lytell said. “I can’t stock schoolbooks and slates to keep up with the demand.”
“There are several young ladies in the area who would like to teach,” Peter said, thinking of Trixie. She had yet to retake her exam.
“Jane Morgan is promised to Croton in the spring, when their school miss gets hitched,” Mr. Ross said.
“The Kettner girl lives awfully far out, I think she might look more at Claremore for employment.”
“The only other is Diana Lynch, and I expect with her marrying your boy and starting their own farm, she won’t be interested,” Mr. Hanson added.
“Madeleine Wheeler?” Mr. Lytell asked.
Mr. Ross snorted. “A beautiful, young, rich girl like that? She wouldn’t do it.”
“She hasn’t taken the exam, to my knowledge,” Peter said. He knew how bright Madeleine was, but she didn’t display any interest in teaching that he had seen.
Peter nodded. “To my knowledge those are the only young women of age who passed the exam. I move we place an ad in the Claremore papers.”
They agreed and then began to discuss the terms. A debate over whether the teacher should rotate and stay with each student’s family was finally nixed. She would board at the boarding house that was halfway finished but due to be completed in the spring, with room and board as part of her salary. The came the debate over how to raise the funds for the new school.
***
Ben Riker smiled as he passed money to the man, inspecting the paper he had just been handed. Whoever said that everything had its price was certainly accurate, he thought.
Rolling up the paper and sliding it into his jacket, he left.
***
Ayla Malley studied her husband as he slept. His breathing was shallow and he was still pale. He had been awake half the night coughing, but insisting he was fine.
She rocked in her chair quietly, mindlessly stitching his shirt. On the floor in front of the fire William was drawing horse pictures.
Ayla closed her eyes, trying not to think. It was hard enough to not think of Regan everyday for the last ten years, when she had borne his son. How she longed to fly into his arms, admit it was his son and have him sweep her off her feet! They could be the family she had envisioned secretly all these years. There would be smiles, and laughter and Regan would teach the boy to ride a horse.
It all could have been hers, was it not for her father. She had seen Regan come back the one time. She was heavy with William, about to be married to Malley, but by the time she managed to get outside, Regan and her father had walked off. She never knew what happened to him, other than he never came back again for her. The fury towards her father became hatred, and she didn’t speak to him again, and never forgave him for sending Regan away.
When her father died of a heart attack the following month, she didn’t attend his service. He arranged her marriage to Malley, one of the older men who worked on setting up and taking down the tent. Malley was a nice enough man, but he was sober and serious and never laughed, rarely smiled. Ayla was grateful he had never beat her. He accepted William as his, and after a couple years, gave up on having children of his own. His first wife had borne him none and William was Ayla’s proof of fertility, which indicated Thom was the problem.
He had taken care of her, provided for her, and Ayla did her best to be a good wife to him. Once they left the circus, it was harder, they were together constantly. Jasper was a welcome distraction. He helped with William and the naturally cheerful youth often entertained her. Ayla knew people often thought Jasper was her husband, and Thom her father. She didn’t care.
Ayla wouldn’t allow herself to ask questions about Regan in town. It wouldn’t be proper; she was married. She didn’t go to town often, she usually sent Jasper. The young man was always ready to get off the farm for a while, especially if he could work in a trip to see Miss Madeleine Wheeler.
With a sigh, Ayla thought about Jasper. He was smitten with the young heiress, and Ayla didn’t have the heart to tell him he would never have her. Young women of that stature didn’t marry farmers with little money. Ayla was worried the wealthy young woman was going to break her nephew’s heart. Jasper described her as lonely, and Ayla hoped Madeleine wasn’ t just passing the long cold winter with her nephew.
Her attention returned to her sleeping husband. She had asked him to please let her go get the doctor, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Just a fever, he claimed, he’d be fine in a few days. But that was last week.
***
Brian left the saloon in disappointment. Lillian was already taken for the night. He pushed the images from his head. He wanted to give her a better life, take her out of this place.
On his way out, he saw the man he knew to be Swegin, watching him. The man’s beady dark eyes never left him.
***
Trixie found Dan sitting up in bed, Winthrop sitting in the chair next to the bed, their heads bent over some large papers.
Hearing her footsteps, Dan looked up and smiled. “There’s my girl. Come look at the cottage plans.”
Win greeted Trixie cheerfully and scooted his chair over so she could join them.
“I wanted Dan to see the final plans. As soon as Spring is here and the snow thaws, we’ll get to work,” Win said proudly. “Of course, should you two want to speed things up, there are plenty of larger rooms here for you to stay in.”
Trixie forced a smile. Dan brought her attention to the floorplans.
“Father says cottage but it’s a house. Kitchen here, sitting room here, master bedroom, nursery here, right next to it, you can see where they’re adjoined…” Dan went on, his finger moving to each room.
Trixie swallowed. It was going to be huge. And she’d have to clean it. All of it. By herself.
“Made sure to put in a few extra rooms, plenty of room for the grandkids,” Win said gleefully.
Trixie felt her stomach roll over. She wasn’t ready for that part yet.
“It’ll be real close to the lake too, without being on top of it. We’ll put a well in back here, the barn over here. Small barn, I expect we’ll just have Susie and Spartan, at least for a while. Since we’re not farming, we don’t need a second team.”
Trixie nodded. Things were changing, right and left!
***
Madeleine laughed as Jasper spun her around, then pulled her back to him. It was bordering scandalous, the dancing they did but Miss Trask was present the entire time.
He pulled her up close and their eyes met. For a brief flash, Madeleine hoped he would kiss her, but he didn’t. He didn’t dare, with Miss Trask only a few away. With reluctance, he released her and they ended the dance.
They took their seats on the settee, Madeleine picking up her the lacy green and gold fan to cool off.
“That was such fun! Wait until the next social in spring!” her hazel eyes danced.
Jasper smiled at her. “Do they have a lot of those?” he asked.
Madeleine nodded. “Sure seems like it. Trixie says it’s because there’s isn’t much else to do around here.”
“Nothing wrong with some dancing. It’s good for the soul,” he grinned at her and Madeleine wished desperately they were alone, so she could feel his lips on hers.
She couldn’t help but smile and feel good when he was around. His smile was infectious, and he was almost always smiling.
“Miss Trask, would you permit the opportunity to dance with you?” he jumped to his feet and bowed in front of her.
Flustered, the older woman tried to protest but he took her hand and Madeleine laughed as they danced around the room. Miss Trask was an accomplished dancer, Madeleine realized, and she clapped her hands in time to the music.
***
Brian had just settled into bed, lamp blown out when there was a frantic knocking at his door.
Startled, he got up, shoving his feet in his slippers. Hurrying to the door, he was stunned when he opened it and Lillian barreled through the door, sobbing.
“Lillian! What happened?” he caught her by the arms and tried to see her face in the dark. He could see enough of the shiny dark stuff on her face to know she was bleeding.
“Come here.” He led her to the bed, where he lit the lamp and had her sit. He took a good look at her face and messy blonde hair. “Damn. Hold on.”
Hurrying downstairs through the inside staircase, he grabbed a few supplies and hurried back up to her. Sitting on his bed, she was shuddering and Brian realized she wore only bloomers, a shift and she was barefoot.
“My God, no wonder you’re freezing,” he muttered. Grabbing the big quilt from his bed that his mother had made him, he wrapped her in it and found a clean pair of socks, pulling them over her feet.
With warmth on the way, he tended to her bloody nose. Her eye would be swollen shut by morning.
“Who did this?” he demanded. “Swegin?”
She shook her head, hiccupping on her tears.
“Okay, just calm down. Hold still, this will sting.”
She flinched at the stinging of whatever he pressed to her nose and he cleaned her face up tenderly. By the time he was done, she wasn’t shivering and her eyes were sad.
“Lillian, please tell me what happened,” he said quietly. “I can’t help you if I don’t know what going on. If it wasn’t Swegin, then it was a client.”
She swallowed. Brian waited, then rose and went to his cabinet. Removing a glass and a bottle, he poured some liquid into the glass and brought to her. She sipped it, making a face as the taste of the whiskey hit her.
“Lillian, please,” he coaxed.
“I ran away from home,” she whispered.
“I figured that,” he answered.
“I met up with Swegin and his girls in Fort Kearny. It didn’t seem like a bad idea at the time, Lucy taught me how to kind of, step out of my head, so I didn’t really notice what was going on.”
Brian nodded as he sat next to her. He didn’t interrupt, he wanted to hear the story.
“I hate it though,” she whispered. “I hate it. But there’s nothing else I can do. I can’t use my real last name or he’ll find me.”
“Who?” Brian asked.
“My father. He had arranged for me to marry an old neighbor, a wealthy neighbor. So that way, when the old man died, my father could claim his land and money, since women can’t own property. My father gambled away everything we had.”
Brian looked away.
“He used to…he used to hit me too,” she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks. “Sometimes I deserved it for being fresh, sometimes he just wanted to see me bleed.”
Brian felt his fists clenching.
“My brother too. He took over when my father wasn’t around. Finally, one night, I had enough. I just ran away. All I had was the dress I was wearing, my coat and a few dollars I was able to steal. I left during the day, when they were out. I don’t know if they’re still looking for me or not, but I just ran.”
“Where are you from?” he asked.
“Louisiana. I just took off. Met up with a caravan of travelers, they let me ride with them for a while. I swapped my horse for one of theirs, headed northwest when we hit the Missouri line. I just wanted to put some distance between me and them. When I met up with Swegin, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Brian swallowed, feeling ill. Her voice grew stronger as she sipped the brandy.
“Until I met you. You were different. You were nice. You didn’t want to just bed me. Swegin didn’t care what we did as long as we charged. But when he found out you were seeing me regular, he figured out pretty quick what was going on. That was the first time you saw me beat me up.”
Brian stood and paced the room, his brain racing. “Did Riker do this, tonight?” he finally asked.
She didn’t answer but when he turned to look at her, she nodded.
“He’s rough and mean. But he pays extra, so Swegin told him to come in earlier, so he could have me all night and you couldn’t. But he’s really rough,” she whispered. “He hurts me, pinches me, slaps me. Tonight he was in a bad mood and gave me the bloody nose. I ran out, and complained to Swegin and he just laughed. So I left.”
Brian ran his hand over his face, a thousand emotions swirling through his mind. He wanted to kill both Swegin and Riker. He wanted to hunt down her father and brother. He wanted to take care of her, heal her. He didn’t want her going back to Swegin.
“You can’t go back to Swegin,” he finally said.
“I have to Brian, the other saloon won’t take me. I already tried.”
Brian knelt in front of her. “No, you don’t. There’s another way I can protect you.”
“How?” she cried.
He gave her a small smile. “Marry me.”
 
Author Notes
- a huge yee-haa! to Julie (Macjest), my ever patient and helpful editor for this universe! All mistakes are mine.
-Word count 2,444
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