Chapter 2

He wore a white shirt so crisp and clean that it had to be straight from the tailor’s. His hat was cocked to one side ever so slightly, just enough to give him a roguish appearance, especially with that friendly half grin as he trained his eyes on the doorway from which she was exiting. Bright yellow and purple wildflowers were held awkwardly in the crook of one arm, as if he were not quite sure what to do with them.

Misty tried not to gape as she regarded the man on the platform. She felt her face redden as they stared at one another in mutual shock.

“Mr. Cody! What a surprise!” she called out in greeting, raising a hand in a shy wave as she stepped out into the sunlight.

“It certainly is!” Cody stated as he gazed from her, to the train, and back again. “Good afternoon, Miss Misty. I certainly didn’t expect to see you here. Is Miss Indiana here?”

“Oh no. It’s going to be a surprise,” she stated as she gazed around the platform, looking for Claudius. To her surprise, no one else seemed to be here. Was he running behind? Surely he did not forget that she was coming today?

Cody followed her eyes, gazing on the empty platform. “If Miss Indiana isn’t expecting you, who do is expecting you, Miss Misty?”

“Please, just Misty,” she said as she felt a small wave of awkwardness over the title. It was so strange to hear it after being a maid for so long. Only those who held tightest to titles and etiquette had referred to her as anything but Misty. It sounded especially strange coming from a gentleman such as Cody.

Cody looked quizzically at the train, and then her with a curious expression. “You are waiting for someone?”

“Yes. I am meeting…” It was too embarrassing to say she was meeting her future fiancé, especially being the man in question was nowhere to seen. What if it was all a cruel joke? What if Claudius had no intention of meeting her? “Well, I am meeting someone I have been writing to for the past little while. He must have been delayed, for he said he would meet me when I arrived to town.”

The young woman felt her heart sink a little at the nearly empty platform. She had been so certain this mystery man would be waiting for her to arrive. She didn’t assume they would have a fairy tale meeting, with him sweeping her off her feet and carrying her off into the sunset, but she did expect him to at least be here!

“What’s his name? Maybe I could take you along the way. I know most of the folks round about,” Cody said politely.

“Thank you, but I’m sure he’ll be here presently,” she said as she glanced at the wildflowers with a soft smile. “It looks like you are expecting some company of your own. I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

She also did not want to entertain a pang of jealousy over the lucky mystery woman. While they had never stopped to talk for any great length when he had been in San Francisco, she had developed quite a crush on the rugged yet kind rancher. She chided herself silently for such a childish reaction. Here she was to meet a perfectly nice, if not exactly punctual, man, yet she was becoming jealous of a mystery woman receiving wildflowers from Cody. At times, she scarcely knew what to make of her own behavior.

“It wouldn’t be an intrusion in the least,” Cody said as he gazed at the train once again with a worried frown. And an expression of confusion. “Miss Misty, would you permit me to ask you a rather odd question?”

“Of course.” She nodded hesitantly. They had spoken so little in the past, it was difficult to guess what would be considered an odd question.

“You have been living in San Francisco up until recently?” he asked as he regarded her with a curious expression, on brow raising slightly.

“Yes. After Indiana and I parted ways, I went to take care of my aunt. She passed away recently,” Misty responded. Was the person he was waiting on also coming in from San Francisco? But what were the chances of that?

Cody’s mouth dropped open as if he had seen a ghost, but then he seemed to recover himself, as he smiled widely. “Well now, that does explain a great deal.”

She was glad it explained something. However, she was at a loss as to what it was! Misty blinked in surprise as Cody boldly reached out and took her hand and leaned down to press a light kiss to it. She opened her mouth as she felt the blood rush to her face, trying to remember how to speak after the sudden and unexpected act.

* * *

“Miss Michelle Fields, allow me to welcome you to Pioneer Town. I know it doesn’t look like much compared to what you’re used to, but I hope that you will come to think of it as home.” Cody said with all the formality of a gentleman as he straightened back up.

Despite his display of confidence, his mind was reeling as he reassessed the whole situation. The woman he was waiting on was the pretty little maid from San Francisco. While he tried not to make mention of it, he had been sorely disappointed that Misty had not followed Indiana and her kin to the town when they joined Morgan’s family. He had not had many opportunities to chat with the woman, but there was an open kindness to her that he found very attractive. What were the chances of all the women in the world to read the ad, she would have been the one he would meet here?

He grinned from ear to ear as the woman flustered wordlessly, her surprise at the announcement of her name further confirming his suspicions. The girl always seemed to wear her heart on her sleeves. It was something he liked most about her during their brief encounters in the city.

“Are you Claudius?” she asked hesitantly, the disbelief apparent on her face. He could not help but smile as he gave a brief nod. There was something about the way she expressed her surprise. It almost made him want to tease her a bit, just to see it for a little longer.

“My given name is Claudius Mills. Folks called me Cody when I started to work the ranch, and the name stuck. Everyone calls me by the name nowadays.”

“This is wonderful!” she blurted out with such a delighted expression that he actually found himself at a loss for words. She almost seemed more pleased than he was at the circumstance.

“I have to agree,” he said, glad that his voice sounded more steady than he felt. The last thing he wanted to do was stammer like a madman in front of his future fiancé. Suddenly remembering the flowers in his arm, he quickly gathered them up into his hand and presented them to her. “A welcome gift. We do not usually see roses in these parts, so I hope they are all right.”

“They are beautiful,” she gushed as she hugged the cluster of flowers to her bodice, half hidden behind the blooms as she smiled shyly at him. “Thank you so much Mr. Cody, um., Mr. Claudius, um, Mr. Mills?”

He smiled at the questioning tone in her voice. “Cody is perfectly fine between us. I probably should have mentioned that in the letters.”

“I was no better!” she declared. “Goodness, we could have both stood here for a good hour, waiting to meet each other!”

They both shared a laugh as he studied the young woman, who blushed and started to smooth out some sort of invisible wrinkles in her skirt that only women seemed able to see. He had thought her attractive in their brief encounters before.

Now that he could take the time to appreciate the vision more openly, he was surprised that she had ever been a mere maid to a wealthy family, especially with her hair in a nice style about her shoulders. Her hair almost seemed to glow in the sunlight. She had a fair complexion, as was the fashion in the city. Long lashes framed the most mesmerizing brown eyes that he had ever seen, but her smile was really what drew him the most. It was so bright that if someone told him that she was an angel fallen from the heavens, he likely have believed it. It was the smile only a person without a speck of guile in them could give. Warm, friendly, and open. Vulnerable.

“Just imagine the conversations we could have had, if we knew to whom we were writing,” she mused.

“Indeed. We certainly have no shortage of things to speak of on the way to town.” He nodded in agreement as he gestured to an attendant, and gave instructions to place Misty’s luggage in his cart.

* * *

Misty was half afraid that she was going to wake up on the train. Surely this was a dream? Yet at the same time she hoped with all her might that it was not a dream. She breathed in the scent of the flowers. They had a fresh, clean scent that was new to her. She could see herself filling the rooms of a home with them every day.

As Cody talked to the attendant about her luggage, the reality of the situation came crashing down on her. She felt her heart pound in sudden anxiety as it sank in that Cody was the man from the letter. She knew that Cody was a wealthy ranch owner and that he and Indian’s new husband, Morgan, shared business ventures.

She would never have presumed that he would ever have been interested in someone like her. In fact, she could not see him having any trouble finding a wife at all, even in a remote place like Pioneer Town, Wyoming. Why wouldn’t he have responded to the upper class ladies that answered his ad? Surely there had been a slew of them.

“Are you sure it is all right?” she asked shyly. She tried to melt in behind the flowers as she fought a wave of anxiety. Cody stopped mid-instruction to listen to her question with such suddenness, one would think she was royalty and not a former maid.

“Of course!” he said with a reassuring smile. His expression was so warm and inviting that she was sorely tempted just to drop the issue nagging at the back of her mind. “I know it was a long journey, so I shall not tire you with a tour of the town right now. My mother has invited us to lunch. I hope the two of you will grow to enjoy each other’s company.”

“No.” Misty shook her head as she tried to gather her courage. Better now than later, while she could flee back into the train, before she got attached to this dream.

As he furrowed his brow in that studious, confused way of his, she gazed up at him. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that the man on the other end of the letter was you all along. But I am not a lady of any rank. I told you in the letters that I am only a maid, and I know you said that it did not matter to you, but…”

“Do not worry your head about that,” he said as he offered an arm to her. “We aren’t as picky about class as where you came from. A person makes their own name here. If anything, rank just puts more pressure on the man to live up to people’s expectations.”

Misty gave a hesitant smile as she nodded, but she was not convinced that a family rank in society was taken so lightly, not even here, yet she made no comment. How she had happened across Cody’s ad for a bride had been a small miracle. The fact that they got along so well from the start was an even larger one. There had no doubt been many other women who responded to the ad of better rank than she, and she had contemplated the risk of responding to a stranger many times. Had Indiana not been in the same town as her suitor, she could easily have never put her pen to paper.

Cody had proclaimed that he was content with how things were, so she was not going to push the subject any further. She needed to have faith that his words were as sincere as he sounded. If the difference in their rank was a problem, then she would need to deal with each situation as they came. No amount of discussion over the topic could change that. She either needed to re-board that train now, or accept whatever might come.

After a moment, she lifted her free hand and wrapped her hand shyly into his arm with a shy smile. A grin spread over his face as he guided her to the carriage, proudly pointing out some of the stores in sight of the platform as they walked.

She didn’t know what the future had in store for her, but she was eager to see where this path led. Especially with a man like Cody Mills by her side.