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“Who are they?” Amelia Shepard asked the Brenner sisters as soon as she slipped inside the dress shop. Maggie, Molly, and Maisie were staring out the front plate window at the men she'd just bumped into across the street.
"I don't know, Maggie,” the oldest sister answered. "Why would six young men depart the train, look around town, then walk west? Did they say anything to you?"
"The first man apologized when we ran into each other, and the second man walking beside him asked if I was all right," Amelia replied while patting her chest. Why was her heart racing after the encounter?
"The first three men look like they could be brothers," Maisie the youngest sister stated. "Did they look like that to you too, Amelia?"
"I was so surprised I didn't look close. But yes, the first two men had matching brown hair and eyes the color of chestnut brown shoe dye," Amelia answered.
"You didn't look close? But you could tell the exact color of the men's eyes?" Molly, the middle sister, snickered.
One could never tell about siblings. Maggie and Maisie with light brown hair and bright blue eyes were true sisters, but Molly, the middle one, with ash blonde hair and hazel eyes, was adopted from a different family when Sarah and Marcus Brenner took in eight children at the same time.
Did you get a look at the tall man with jet black hair?" Maggie asked. "I like the looks of him."
"No, I was staring at the man who ran into me. He caught my arms, so I didn't fall, and stared into my face a moment."
And Amelia really liked the man's masculine face and those chestnut brown eyes.
"Step back outside and see where they've gone," Maggie urged Amelia.
Amelia slipped back out the door, staying close to the buildings until she peeked past the side wall of the pharmacy. The men were on the parsonage porch talking to Kaitlyn Reagan. The short, red-haired fellow was speaking at the moment. She was too far away to hear what they were saying, but Kaitlyn's stance changed when Pastor came out the door, probably wondering who his wife was talking to.
Amelia stayed in place until the men went inside with Kaitlyn, and the Pastor started walking toward her. She quickly made her way back to the dress shop just as Avalee Paulson left Doctor Pansy's office three doors down. Amelia motioned for Avalee to hurry and join her in the dress shop.
Both of the women slid in and shut the door as Pastor Reagan stepped on the boardwalk.
"Did you see those six fellows leave the depot?" Avalee asked, as soon as she caught her breath. She passed a hand over her curly copper hair because tendrils had sprung free as she rushed down the boardwalk. She hadn't bothered putting on her hat or shawl.
"Yes, we've been watching them," Maggie confirmed. "Amelia got a close look at two of them because she ran into them coming out of the mercantile."
"Did you see where they went?" Avalee asked.
"To the parsonage, and then Pastor walked this way as the men went inside with Kaitlyn," Amelia told them.
"Could he be getting someone to meet with them?" Avalee continued. Being Doctor Pansy Reagan's assistant, she was used to asking a lot of questions to find the source of a person's medical problem.
The five of them chatted while waiting to see who might be going back to the parsonage with Pastor. After ten minutes it was clear who was being summoned to the parsonage.
"Look! Lorna, Millie, and my mother just walked across the street to your pa's shop, Amelia," Avalee exclaimed, and then they all turned to look at each other.
"Huh. I bet the Peashooter Society is up to something," Amelia guessed.
"Grandma Cate must not know about the meeting, or she would have already driven to town," Maggie added.
"Now Pastor is walking back with his son, Mack, and Kiowa Jones. That could mean that there's a new construction project for the town. Mack always builds Kiowa's buildings," Amelia surmised.
"But why did the six men go into the parsonage? They might be hired to help with Mack's building business, but how are the Peashooter's involved?"
“Well, we’ll never know standing here,” Avalee stated. “While Mama’s at the parsonage, I’m going back to the hotel to talk to my sister. Maybe Nadine can overhear something about what’s going on when Mama tells Papa about it. She’s good at cleaning and eavesdropping at the same time.”
“Do you think Mack has told his wife anything about those men?” Maggie asked Avalee.
“I’ll ask Doctor Pansy, but they’re good at keeping secrets, even from each other,” Avalee answered, then tapped her finger against her lips. “I’m supposed to be wrapping bandages while Doctor Pansy went home for a bit. I best run home to the hotel for a minute and then get back to work.”
Avalee still lived in the hotel’s top floor apartment with her parents and five younger sisters. Her older sisters, Iva Mae, and Maridel had already married and had homes of their own.
“Let us know if you hear anything, and we’ll do likewise,” Amelia called as the bell above the dress shop door tinkled at Avalee’s departure.
“I better get back to work too. I just walked down to the mercantile because I was out of heavy thread.”
“Let us know if your Mama lets something slip about the meeting when she gets home, Amelia,” Maggie asked as Amelia left the dress shop.
Amelia wiped a hand down her dirty apron. Why hadn’t she taken it off, so she’d have looked halfway presentable walking down the street? Because she didn’t think she’d plow into a handsome stranger on the boardwalk in their little frontier town.
What happens next?
Click now to read more about Amelia Changes her Fellow.
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Linda K. Hubalek