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Praising my Savior all the day long.
The months passed quickly as Adelaide watched Katie marry a widower with two children; Eve and Evangeline marry twins, Franz and Frederick; and even Joanna, after some resistance, start courting. Then Elizabeth and Lane were married and Mr. Harris moved in with Joanna, Mr. Reese, and herself.
Adelaide loved attending each wedding and although she wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to marry, she wasn’t jealous of any of them. Mr. Reese had kept his promise and didn’t try to play matchmaker, but Mr. Harris had never made the promise and when he moved in, he tried.
Mr. Reese did not share her list with Mr. Harris, but Mr. Harris had an uncanny ability to find men who almost fit.
About eight months after moving to Mr. Reese’s house, he asked Adelaide to join him in his den.
“Please sit.” When she was seated, he continued, “Mr. Harris has agreed to stop playing matchmaker after I rejected his last two attempts. That last thing on your list always seems to get them.”
Adelaide bowed her head and twisted her fingers in her lap. “I wondered about that.”
“Is it really that important?”
Adelaide met his eyes. “Yes, it is.”
“Why?”
“If he isn’t willing to court me at least six months and wait that long, he isn’t really that interested.”
Mr. Reese sighed. “All right. I can understand that. I just don’t understand why they aren’t more patient.”
“Me neither.”
He sighed again. “That is all. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Are you that anxious to marry me off?”
Mr. Reese smiled. “I wouldn’t mind you living here the rest of your life, but you are so good with children and keeping the house and all those wifely things that it would be a shame for you not to get married and have a house of your own and children of your own.”
“It will all happen in God’s timing.”
“That is true. Thank you for the reminder.”
Adelaide smiled and left the den.
***
Detective Bradley Connor stepped off the train in Cheyenne and gathered his horse, saddle, and saddlebags from the cattle car. After stabling his horse at the livery and finding a hotel, he headed to the sheriff’s office.
“Are you the sheriff?” he asked the man behind the desk.
“I am. What can I do for you?”
“Bradley Connor. I’m a Pinkerton detective and I need some information from you.”
The sheriff sat up straighter. “Sheriff Leland Granger. I’ll certainly help in any way I can. What do you need to know?”
“Do you know of an Adelaide Brown?”
“Yes, I do. Surely she isn’t a criminal!” Sheriff Granger’s face was filled with horror.
“No, nothing like that. She simply ran away from someone and that person is looking for her. Could you tell me where she is staying?”
Sheriff Granger gave him an assessing look. “Why?”
“I need to speak with her alone. I have an uncomfortable feeling about the person who is looking for her and need to hear her side of the story first. Is she married?”
“No.”
Bradley leaned forward. “But she came out here as a mail order bride.”
“Yes, but she, and four others, were lured here by those ads. They were meant to be sold to saloons, but the outlaw’s plans were thwarted. Four of the five have now married. Adelaide is the only one who has not.”
“Why not?”
Sheriff Granger shrugged. “I don’t know. As for where she lives, she lives with Allen Reese and Edward Harris.” He gave Bradley the address. “But I would be careful about approaching her.”
Bradley nodded. “I will. Thank you.”
Bradley found the house and watched it carefully. It only took a few hours before he caught his first glimpse of her. She was truly as beautiful as his client had said she was. So why had she run away?
He watched the house for two weeks after sending his client a telegram saying he had found her and was trying to talk to her. Adelaide had yet to leave the house alone. One of the older gentlemen or a friend always went with her. In the two weeks, he had learned that one of the men was a former Pinkerton detective. Bradley considered trying to talk with Mr. Harris instead, but just as he thought that, Adelaide left the house alone.
Bradley let her get up the street about five houses before stepping out and walking toward her. He waited until they were in a busier part of town before he fell into step with her. She glanced his way and he saw the slight look of distrust in her face before she looked away.
“Miss Brown, may I talk with you in private somewhere?”
Adelaide stopped and turned toward him. “Why?”
“I need to discuss something with you.”
“About what?”
“Why you left your hometown.”
Adelaide’s forehead furrowed. “Would the café be private enough?”
Bradley nodded. “Yes, it would.”
Adelaide headed toward the café and they sat across from each other. Bradley noticed that Adelaide didn’t make eye contact with him and wondered if she had already guessed what he would be discussing.
The waitress came and she ordered some tea while he ordered coffee. They remained silent until the drinks were delivered.
“I was hired by a man from your hometown. A man who says you are his fiancée.”
Adelaide’s head jerked up. “What?”
“This is news to you?”
“Go on.”
Bradley puzzled over her response and tried to concentrate only on his explanation, not the puzzle. “Theodore Raskins told me that you and he were engaged and you left just two weeks before the wedding. I am supposed to bring you back with me.”
Adelaide picked up her teacup with trembling hands. “I know the name Theodore Raskins, but I was never engaged to him.”
“Did you know him beyond his name?”
“I ran into him once, although I still believe he purposely stepped out in front of me. After that, I saw him a few times in town, but we rarely talked and it was always initiated by him.”
Bradley stared out the window. Was this the reason he had been uncomfortable with Theodore Raskins’s story about Adelaide? “Why did you choose the man in Cheyenne instead of the man in Kansas?”
Adelaide blinked. The change in conversation must have thrown her off. “The man in Kansas didn’t know how to spell and didn’t sound very educated. The letter I got from Cheyenne already had the tickets and he told me more about himself than the other man did and with good spelling. Why?”
“I went to Kansas first since it was closer. It’s a good thing you didn’t go there. He wasn’t worth it and you would have been miserable.”
Adelaide chewed her lip. “My instincts were correct then.”
Bradley narrowed his eyes. “What about the other man?”
“I’ve met the man who the outlaw was impersonating. The outlaw did a good job.”
Bradley rubbed his forehead. What could Theodore Raskins want from Adelaide?
“Why would Mr. Raskins want me?”
Bradley smiled. “I was just wondering the same thing. You are very lovely. I’m sure if he knew your financial situation, he probably thought he could take advantage of that. Then you disappeared. Now he seems to be obsessed with you. I wish I could go back and not send the telegram I sent him.”
Adelaide’s face reddened at his first words. “How do we get him to leave me alone?”
“The simplest way would be to get married.”
“He would just kill my husband.”
“Not necessarily. Killing a person is pretty risky and hard to make it look like an accident. Let me go back and have a chat with him. In the meantime, figure out someone to marry if the need arises.”
Adelaide stared at him, dumbfounded. “Just like that? Just find someone to marry? Don’t you think I’ve been trying to do that? It’s not that simple. Marriage is for life. It takes careful prayer and consideration.”
Bradley sighed. “I know. I understand, too. I’m not sure I ever want to marry, but if I do, I want to take time with it. But you should talk it over with your guardians. May I come to discuss it with them this afternoon?”
Adelaide nodded. “Plan to stay for dinner as well.”
Bradley smiled. “Thank you, I will.”
“I assume you know where we live.”
Bradley’s cheeks warmed. “I’ve been watching the house for two weeks and waiting for you to go to town alone since then.”
Adelaide cocked her head. “I didn’t go alone before this?”
“No, you didn’t. Mr. Raskins is getting rather impatient.”
“I’m sorry. Why didn’t you just come to the door and ask to talk to me?”
“I didn’t know how Mr. Reese and Mr. Harris would respond, and I did want to talk to you alone about it first.”
“They wouldn’t have let you, but they would have simply listened and not said anything.”
Bradley sighed. “I know. I’m glad it took two weeks, though, because I thought there was something odd about his request. Over the last couple of weeks, I have observed enough to know that you wouldn’t lie, especially about something like this. It gave me more of an open mind about you. Rather than the dirt-poor bride who has the audacity to jilt her wealthy husband, you seem to be a gentle, willing servant who wouldn’t jilt a bridegroom without good cause.”
“Thank you for the information. I will see you this evening. I will be telling Mr. Reese and Mr. Harris so they can be thinking about everything.”
Bradley gave a curt nod. “Excellent. I will pay for your tea and let you get on with your day. I’ll be there around five, if that is all right.”
“That sounds perfect. Good day.”
Bradley watched her walk away. She would make some lucky man a wonderful wife. He shook the cobwebs out of his mind. It was time to get to his second assignment in Cheyenne. If God willed, maybe he could even finish both assignments in one day.
