The next morning, Sophia laid out the writing supplies she had purchased at the general store atop the parlor’s shared writing desk. It’s time to put the past behind us. I’m sure when Carver and I are married and settled, my parents will forgive me for running away. Her left hand clutched her gold locket as she slowly dipped her pen into her inkwell and, with a shaking hand, pressed her pen to paper and broke the silence.
Dearest Mother and Father,
My time in the West has taught me many things. For years I struggled to live under the rigorous and unforgiving eye of society. It made me afraid to speak my mind for fear of being judged, but I am not fearful anymore. I discovered that as long as my conscience is clear before the Lord, it doesn’t matter what society thinks of me.
With this newfound freedom, I have come to realize how happy life can be. To think that because of my fear of society, I almost missed out on the greatest gift of my life— the gift of loving the man to whom my heart belongs.
I am so happy to tell you both that I am engaged to Carver Ashton, and we plan on marrying as soon as our home in New Orleans is prepared. We would love for you both to attend our wedding, but we realize Father’s recent illness, or obligations at home, may prevent your coming for the wedding in two months, but rest in the peace of knowing that I am marrying the best man on earth and my former roommate is designing my gown for me and is now working on the finishing touches. Never fear. It will be a gown to rival any Worth confection.
For the next few weeks, you may find me at the Harvey House where I work as a waitress at the Castañeda Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico. If you can’t travel to New Orleans when I telegram that Carver and I are about to wed, please do not be distressed. Carver and I shall return to Charleston a few months after our marriage to visit and tie up any loose ends. I hope my letter finds you better, Father. Mother, kiss the babies for me. I miss them so!
With all of my love, Sophia.
“Sophia!” Harriet called from the doorframe, panting. “I know your shift doesn’t start for another two hours, but Nora’s replacement, Lucy, is working her first shift with us, and the girl is grossly unprepared, despite her training in our Topeka house. I don’t know why they keep shipping us girls who aren’t ready to serve. I will have to fire this one before the week is out, I’m certain.”
Sophia laughed as she picked up her apron. “She can’t be all that bad.”
Harriet stared at her, blankly. “She has dropped not one, not two, but three soup bowls into the customers’ laps. She must have heard how you caught a rich husband and is attempting to pull off the same feat.”
“Very droll.”
“Please come and I’ll let you have tomorrow off.”
“For a day off?” Sophia trotted out the door at once for fear Harriet would change her mind. She found Lucy flushed and scrubbing away at a stain on the hardwood floor. “Stubborn stuff, is it?” Sophia smiled as she gathered dishes from Lucy’s station.
Lucy leaned back on her heels. “I thought I was prepared, but nothing trains you for not knowing a soul and this dreadful heat.” She waved her hand, fanning her limp brown hair.
Sophia nodded as she stacked a tower of bowls. “Yes, the heat is dreadful. Take care to drink lots of water or else you might succumb to it.”
“How’s the girl I am filling in for? Nora, right?” She stretched her back and stood, revealing she was a solid foot taller than Sophia.
“Happy as can be.” Sophia called over her shoulder as she brought the bowls to the kitchen and returned with fresh linens as the front door opened and Nora bustled inside in a sunny yellow dress with her basket in front of her abdomen that Sophia knew she was attempting to disguise as long as possible. “Speaking of Nora, allow me to introduce you. We were just talking about you, Nora. Lucy, this is Mrs. Nora Kane, the sheriff’s wife!”
Nora smiled her greeting to Lucy. “I hope you enjoy working here. These girls are the best people in the world.”
Lucy curtsied. “Nice to meet you, ma’am! I wish I could chat, but I have a lot of work I have to get to before Miss Dolly starts yelling at me again.”
“I know how that is. Have a good day!” Nora called after Lucy as the girl snatched her dirty rag from the floor and hurried into the kitchen. Nora waved Sophia over to her and sighed. “Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later.”
Sophia’s heart clinched. “Knew what would happen?” Kane didn’t leave you, right? Please let it not be so.
“My corset doesn’t fit anymore and now everyone will see that I am not with child from my honeymoon,” she whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she moved the basket aside and let Sophia see that it was swelling with her darling baby. “I’m four months pregnant now, and unless she is very tiny when she is born, people will know.”
“It will be fine.” Sophia clasped her friend’s hand in her own. “You will look a little plumper, but people won’t know until the baby is born. People’s tongues may wag for a time, but the dust will settle down by the time your second baby comes along. You will have to pray for the strength to endure it.”
Nora bit her lip, sniffing back her tears. “I know, but I’m so worried for the baby.” She placed a protective hand over her abdomen. “I don’t want her, or him, to be treated any less than any other little girl or boy because our timing was a little off.”
Sophia squeezed Nora’s hands. “Parents may whisper, but the talk will die down long before you need to ever worry.”
“It’s my prayer.” She adjusted her basket in front of her stomach once more and cleared her throat. “I was hoping you might be able to come over tonight after you get off work? It’s been forever since we had a decent, uninterrupted chat, and I’ve already bought some baked goods for the occasion.”
“You have only been married two whole weeks, and you already want me to come over for dinner?” Sophia giggled nervously as she set out the silverware. Considering my last conversation with Kane, this would be one awkward dinner.
Nora caught Sophia’s wrist. “It will be more of an afternoon high tea. Please? Kane will be gone until late this evening, and I desperately need someone to talk with. It is rather difficult going from a houseful of sisters to only myself and a not so talkative husband.”
“I suppose if he will be gone, I could accept your invitation, but I can’t stay too long.” Heaven knows what Kane might say if he catches me there.
Nora beamed. “Thank you! I can’t wait to show you what I’ve done with his—our little house.”
Within a few hours, Sophia was dressed in her pink striped chiffon afternoon dress with a simple cream chapeau that she had purchased from the general store and crossing the street to the Kane household.
“Welcome!” Nora gave Sophia her famous Harvey House smile as she ushered her inside, drying her hands on the corner of her pristine apron.
Nora had unpacked her belongings and sprinkled a feminine touch about the house with fresh blue curtains, a doily here and there, and a red knitted throw that she had placed over a wooden rocking chair.
“How lovely, Nora.”
“You can have a seat at the dining room table if you wish while I get the tea brewing,” Nora called over her shoulder, making her way to the kitchen. “I wasn’t sure what time you would be able to get off, so I’ve been keeping the water warm. It should only take a moment to get it to boil.”
“Allow me to help.” Sophia set her small reticule on the oak table.
“Absolutely not. You are my first guest, and besides, I know for a fact that besides serving, you are about as useless as me in the kitchen,” she giggled as she set out the china teacups before rustling into the kitchen to place the tea leaves in the pot. “I’ve been waiting for years to buy my own china, so I am excited to share this afternoon tea with you.”
Sophia sank onto the stiff oak chair and spied in the room adjacent, a bundle of rags on the floor next to the rocking chair in the process of being braided. “What are you creating now?”
“Creating?” Nora came back from the kitchen with her hand on her stomach and one behind her back to see what Sophia was referring to. “Oh! I am making a braided rug. I have already made a smaller one for the bedroom, but I thought the front room could use a little brightening up and nearly all of Kane’s shirts and blankets had holes in them, which led to a plethora of fabric. He complained until I told him I used my savings from the Harvey House to purchase material to sew new shirts and blankets for him.”
She swallowed the retort that Kane should have no qualms about his new wife’s simple purchase with Sophia’s jewels and a thousand dollars in his bank account and more to come. “I wish I could make something like a braided rug,” she replied as Nora made her way back to the kitchen.
“I’ve seen your embroidery work, so I am sure that you would do just fine making a braided rug.” Nora reappeared with a wooden tray laden with her china teapot and a plate of scones and blueberry jam.
“This looks delightful,” Sophia exclaimed as Nora set it on the table and proceeded to pour the tea. She took a sip and tried to suppress a gag. How can this be so strong already? It barely had time to steep! Smile, Sophia. Smile. “Mmm, nothing like a cup of tea with a friend.” Sophia placed aside her cup and reached for the plate of scones.
Nora stirred her tea in silence before saying slowly, “You do know that Mr. Ashton was the reason that Kane and I were able to wed so quickly.”
Sophia nearly dropped her scone into her lap. “Whatever do you mean? How could have Carver expedited your wedding?”
She blushed. “I’m reluctant to remind you, but I once told you that Kane’s main motivation for marrying you was for money. He said he had always loved me and always would, but he needed your money. At the dance, he offered to keep me on the side as his . . .” Nora cleared her throat and pushed out her words, “his second family.”
“Oh, Nora.” Sophia pressed her hand to her lips.
“I refused his proposition, of course,” Nora continued. “But then, out of the blue, he appeared for breakfast at the Harvey House, saying that he was ready, and we were wed at once. He has been most gentle toward me and his mother—oh, Mrs. Kane is the sweetest woman I have ever met and even asked me to call her ‘mama.’ I was so touched that I told her I was pregnant and she actually started weeping in joy.”
Tears sprang to her eyes at her friend’s happiness. What were her jewels in the face of someone so happy with her new life?
She cleared her throat. “But, back to the matter at hand. This morning, while I was cleaning, I found these.” She handed Sophia three telegrams from New Orleans. “Somehow, Mr. Ashton had found out about my plight and provided Kane with an incentive to propose, followed by a ghastly sum upon our marriage.”
Sophia’s fingers trembled as she read that the exact agreed upon sum had been wired to Kane upon the receipt of the marriage certificate. “I had no idea, but how? Carver had already been gone a month and I promise you, I never told him—”
Nora wrapped her fingers over Sophia’s hand. “He discovered it from the withdrawal you made for Kane’s first installment and after an inquiry, Kane sent him the signed contract.” She nodded to the telegrams. “Mr. Ashton said the sum should be enough for us to move to a larger city if needed, or desired, and find a new job.”
Had he used the profits from his first month at the store to secure her friend’s happiness and therefore, her own? Dear sweet Carver.
“I know I should be ashamed of how our wedding came about, but it gives me some consolation that Kane does love me . . . in his own way, and he will love our child.” Nora rested her hand over her growing abdomen. “Although, I try not to think about what would have happened to me if Mr. Ashton had not been so kind and generous as to finish what you began. I want to thank you, Sophia. And Mr. Ashton, of course. He even mentioned that he knows of another city that needs a sheriff and has written to them, suggesting they hire Kane.”
“But both of your families are here.”
Nora met her gaze. “If I stay, I know my family will realize what we’ve done when I have such an ‘early’ birth. And I cannot live with that right now. I’m not strong enough, so I am encouraging Kane to move us within the month, and I’m hoping Mrs. Kane will sell her holdings here and come with us.”
“And your moving will protect your reputation and the baby’s future,” Sophia nodded, understanding.
“I know Kane was angry at first with being coerced into marriage, but the money helped calm him down enough to where every day, he has been a little less grumpy at having to marry me, but he has been refocusing his resentment toward Carver and it concerns me.”
“But Carver gave him so much!”
“Yes, he did, but Kane will always want more. He sees Carver’s fortune as his own that was stolen from him. Thankfully though, Carver has given Kane’s and my child a better future. Maybe, one day, he will be able to see beyond his bitterness and realize what Carver has done for us.” She swallowed. “Carver is a good man. You should hold on to him.”
“I intend to,” Sophia smiled as she took a tiny, polite sip of tea. “I think I may send him a little book of poems to remind him just how much I love him.”
Nora sighed. “A true hero you have found. A man who would rise to the defense of a nearly perfect stranger and who also has the ability to quote poetry to his lady love.”
The door shut and the ladies turned to find Kane, hat in hand. “Sorry to disturb you ladies, but I was at the telegraph office getting updates on—well, it doesn’t matter.” He withdrew a telegram and extended it to Sophia. “This came for you, Miss Bird, and as I knew you were here, I thought I’d bring it over.”
A telegram? She bit her lip and opened it, gasping at the contents.
“What? What’s wrong?” Nora rose and moved about the table to rest her hand on Sophia’s shoulder.
“It’s Carver. He wishes for me to come to New Orleans.” Sophia squealed as she jumped out of her chair and embraced Nora. “He says we can marry at once!”
Nora twirled her about. “Then I must fit your wedding gown right away!”
“I need to get to the telegraph office and tell him I will take the train tomorrow morn—”
“Nonsense.” Nora nodded to her husband. “Kane will send your response. We have much to do.”