By the time she got to town, the sun warmed the streets enough that the horse’s breath no longer made clouds of steam. Allegra smiled and spoke to a few people she knew on the way through the streets. No one mentioned a stranger waiting in front of the store.
She steered her horse around the back side of the plaza where she could get a glimpse of the terrain without making an appearance herself. She stopped under the oak tree behind Marta Felicia’s house. Allegra climbed down from her saddle and tied her horse to the wooden table.
She adjusted her hat on her head. Then she remembered her hair hung down around her shoulders now. She couldn’t pretend to be a man anymore. Anyone who saw her would know she was a woman. She snuck around the corner of the house and looked across the plaza.
The sun reflected off the front of the store. Several men leaned against the adobe wall, trying to warm up in the cold. Dogs lay around their feet for the same purpose, and horses tied to the hitching rail swished their tails and blinked their long eyelashes in the sun.
Allegra scanned their faces. She knew a few of them. Some of the others wore ponchos and sombreros with long moustaches. The man she came to meet wouldn’t be any of those. The remaining handful of men wore the usual cowboy attire of boots, gun belts, hats, and button-up shirts. Most of them hooked their thumbs into the front pockets of their pants, shooting the bull with the locals.
How many times in her life had Allegra walked in and out of that store and passed the off-hand greeting with the men standing out front? More times than she could remember. She even knew the dogs flopping around in the dust at the men’s feet. She would pat them and play with them while she exchanged pleasantries with the men. They all knew the Goodkind sisters.
All of a sudden, another man came out of the store and stopped on the doorstep. He wasn’t as tall as some of the others, and his light body sprang a little bit when he walked. Black, close-cropped hair peeked out from under his hat.
Allegra stood stock still. Now she knew how Amelia could recognize Bruce across the plaza when she spotted him in front of the church on their wedding day. This was the man she came here to meet. She knew it was him. She didn’t need any further confirmation.
A glow of energy surrounded him. How could the rest of the men fail to notice it? Maybe only she could see it. Maybe it was the halo of destiny, calling her toward him.
He glanced around, and his bright blue eyes twinkled in the sunlight. Did he see her there, hiding behind the corner of Marta Felicia’s house? Then Allegra remembered the sun was behind her. He would be looking directly into it. That’s why he didn’t see her.
He glanced around the plaza again. Did he feel the same charge of destiny about to unfold? Did he sense her presence there?
She couldn’t wait any longer. She stepped out from behind the house and walked across the plaza.
Before she even got to the store, the men along its front wall saw her and recognized her. One or two of them called out, “Allegra Goodkind!” and other colloquial greetings.
The man glanced over his shoulder at them, then back out toward her, before he realized what they meant. By the time she reached him, a broad smile stretched across his face and his bright teeth glinted in the sun.
Allegra smiled back, and she held out her hand. “Carl Harris? I’m Allegra Goodkind. Good to meet you.”
Carl shook her hand. “You’re right on time.”
“Have you been waiting long?” Allegra asked.
Carl shrugged. “I got in this morning, but I’ve just been hanging around the store ever since, waiting for you. These fellas,” he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, “they told me all about your whole family—chapter and verse.”
Allegra pricked up her ears. “Really? What did they tell you?”
Some of the men guffawed with laughter. “You can’t hide from us, Allegra. We know all about you.”
Carl smirked. “They told me about how your sisters married mail-order husbands, and how your father died a few months ago, and how your sister just had a baby daughter. It was all the same information you told me in your letters.”
Allegra relaxed. “All right. So what do you want to do? Do you want to go sit down somewhere, or do you have business to do in town today?”
Carl shrugged. “I don’t have anything to do. I can come and go as you please. If you want to do something in town before we get married and go home, we can. Otherwise, I don’t have any reason to stick around.”
Allegra glanced around. “Let’s walk over there. There’s a table where we can sit and talk.”
“All right.” Carl followed her back to the oak tree, and they sat in the sunshine.
“I thought you wanted to spend a day or two in town,” Allegra began. “I thought you wanted us to get to know each other a little better before we got married.”
“I thought you wanted to,” Carl replied. “I’m ready to get married any time you want.”
Allegra glanced around again. “But I don’t have a wedding dress or anything. If I don’t want to get married in my old range rags, I’ll have to figure something out.”