Chapter 1
San Antonio, Texas
A gust of cold air blew a strand of Lucy Rowling’s blonde curls into her eyes. She brushed the strand aside with an impatient gesture. She’d been standing on the curb outside the station in San Antonio for a good ten minutes, and she still had no idea where to go from there.
As a woman more accustomed to the freezing temperatures of Boston in the winter, the chill wasn’t bothering her too much. The lack of information about possible travel routes out of San Antonio was, however, proving quite vexing.
How do folks get around out here? Surely there must be some way to get to Unity?
There was a group of people standing on the curb about a yard or two from her.
They had arrived on the same train as she had.
Being a loud bunch, they had caught her eye as they all lugged their baggage out of the station.
There were three women and four men, and they were all talking excitedly to each other.
“I for one am so glad to almost be home,” one of the men said. He had a mischievous grin and eyes that twinkled with good humor.
“I can’t wait to see what our home looks like,” a woman said. They had their backs to Lucy, and she had no idea which one of the three had spoken. It was funny that all three women had red hair. One’s locks were a fiery red, while the other two would probably be described as more auburn.
She shouldn’t be listening or staring at them, she realized. Turning away, she concentrated on the carts and pedestrians going by. Maybe one of them would know. But what was she to do, reach out, grab someone, and demand they tell her which way to go?
Lord, you’ve guided me this far. Help me to get where I need to be safe, she prayed.
“I wonder where the cart is,” the grinning man said, looking up and down the street. “I don’t see them.”
“Look, I know our travel plans changed a couple of times, but that’s no excuse for Andrew to forget to send someone,” another man said, consulting his pocket watch.
He was tall, thin, and wore spectacles that had slid down the bridge of his nose.
With a long finger, he pushed them back up to a more comfortable position.
A woman with bright green eyes shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t get the telegram.”
“He’ll send someone,” one of the other men said. He had sandy hair that was blowing into his eyes in the wind. “If worst comes to worst, maybe we can stay at the hotel or the inn. We could even hire a cart …”
“What we need is a post office in Unity,” the man with the glasses said sagely. “Then we’d know that Andrew definitely got the message.”
“Yes, well…” the sandy-haired man said with a noncommittal gesture. “That’s like wishing for a dedicated stagecoach service or a railway line to Unity. It will still be some time before we can get that in place.”
Unity? They’d said the name twice. What were the odds of these people heading to the very place that she wanted to go? Thank you, Lord!
Picking up her valise and her larger suitcase, which held all of her earthly possessions, Lucy stepped toward the group, considering what to say. Excuse me, can you please help? Yes, that would be fine.
Something bumped into her with great force. It knocked her off balance and, surprised as she was, she staggered, unable to right herself. She was thrown to one side by the far heavier suitcase and, before she could cry out, went toppling over into the street.
Shouts rang out around her. Lucy landed hard enough on her hip for her teeth to clash. That hurt. For a stunned moment, she sat there, not sure of what had happened or where she had ended up.
She was just finding her breath and turning to get up when something tumbled on top of her.
“What the—” she managed before being borne to the ground again, this time bumping the back of her head on the packed earth. The jolt sent a shock like lightning through her, and Lucy’s world went dark for one moment.
Then everything came flooding back. The heavy weight was lifted from her, and she was dragged to her feet and then hoisted over a shoulder.
“Hey!” she managed to yell as she was bumped along for a short few seconds, before being deposited on the ground again.
“Oh, you poor dear,” a woman said, peering kindly at Lucy. “That was a nasty fall.”
“She was pushed,” one of the men said. It was the one with the grin.
“I was?” Lucy asked, frowning.
“Oh yes,” the grinner said with a nod. “By a messenger. In his defense, I don’t think he saw you. You’re so tiny.”
Lucy frowned, and one of the auburn-haired women shook her head at him.
“What Kyle means is that you’re rather petite and the messenger was in a terrible hurry,” the woman said, glaring at Kyle.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I meant. Thank you for translating that for me, Alice, my darling. You’re so kind,” Kyle said, not missing a beat.
Lucy got hesitantly to her feet and began to dust herself off. A cart trundled by and she remembered that her bags had to still be in the street where she’d dropped them. She lunged forward, but there was no sound of suitcases splintering and snapping under cartwheels.
“We picked up your bags,” the sandy-haired man said with a smile. “I’m afraid the valise popped open. I put everything back, but not terribly neatly.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Lucy said with a chuckle. “I don’t think I packed too neatly to begin with.”
“You were on the train, weren’t you?” the smaller of the redheads asked.
Lucy nodded.
“Where are you heading? Can we give you a ride?” Kyle asked.
“What in?” Alice asked with her hands on her hips. “Honestly, Kyle, it’s not like the cart has arrived for us yet.”
“True,” he said and rubbed the back of his neck. “I need some sleep.”
Well, this was it. They were offering to help her. Maybe all she had to do was ask.
“I’m heading to Unity, actually,” she said.
Seven sets of eyes stared at her.
“I’ve been corresponding with Robert Hayes for the last few months,” Lucy said, gabbling as she tried to get the words out quickly before they could say anything and potentially stop her. “He doesn’t know I’m coming. I thought I would be a nice surprise …”
Kyle’s eyebrows disappeared into his bangs as his mouth made a perfect O. “You’re surprising Robert?” He turned in a circle, looking ecstatic. “This is going to be wonderful!”
“Only if the cart ever comes,” Alice said.
The sandy-haired man nodded. “Well, then introductions are in order. I’m Michael.
This is Kyle and his fiancée, Alice. The two there are Warren and Dorothy …
” The man with the spectacles and the woman with the fiery red hair nodded at her.
She nodded back. “And this is Alice’s sister, Chrissie, and her husband, Jason.
” The last two silently shook Lucy’s hand.
They were thin, almost gaunt, and had a haunted look in their eyes.
“Ah,” Michael said, drawing Lucy’s attention to him. “It would seem that Andrew got the message after all. Here they come.”
A cart came trundling up the street. There were three men squashed together on the driver’s seat. Michael, Kyle, and Warren raised their hands and smiled, waving.
A moment later, the cart had come to a halt, and a man who looked a lot like Michael but taller and less stocky climbed down from the seat.
“Troy!” Michael said, hugging the man. “Good to see you, little brother.”
“And you,” Troy said, grinning. He had a smile that carried as much mischief as Kyle’s. “We were so relieved to finally get the message that you were coming home. It’s been ages since we last saw you.”
The next to climb down was a blond man who said his name was Jeff and, last, a dark-haired man named Kevin.
They bundled everyone into the cart, luggage and all, and set off.
Heading out of San Antonio into a wild, unkempt land of flowing grasses and solitary trees that stood like sentinels, Lucy felt she was truly in another world.
She couldn’t believe her luck. Being knocked over by a messenger was the best thing that could have happened to her. She was safe in this group of people and heading to a place that was as remote as she had hoped it would be.
To top it all off, from their conversation, it seemed that folks didn’t just arrive there. They had to be invited or at least get a ride on a cart heading that way. This was good for Lucy since, most of all, what she needed was to disappear for a while.
“So, Lucy,” Troy said. “You’re the one who’s been writing to Sheriff Hayes?”
“Um … yes.”
“He’s been slightly more pleasant since your letters started arriving,” Troy continued.
“Only slightly,” Jeff added with a chuckle.
“He’s not pleasant?” she asked. This was in direct contrast to what she’d learned from his letters after answering Robert Hayes’s mail order bride ad.
When he wrote to her, it seemed that he was a kind, thoughtful, direct man who didn’t like shenanigans of any kind.
Mostly in his letters, he had come across as busy, not gruff, sullen, or unfriendly.
Could his letters have painted him in a better light than was true? What had she gotten herself into?
Well, just about anything is better than what’s back home.
“He’s not that bad,” Kevin said hastily. “Jeff and Troy work for him as his deputies and that makes them think he’s gruff.”
“Volunteer,” Troy corrected Kevin. “I’m a volunteer deputy. Most of the time I work at the mine, fixing things that keep breaking.”
“Troy’s an engineer,” Kevin explained. “Anyway, Robert is just focused on keeping us all safe. So sometimes he’s a little short with people.”
Lucy smiled in relief. “That’s understandable.”
“Why are there three of you?” Michael asked.
Kevin sighed. “We’ve had a couple of attempts on the shipments.”
“And? How much copper did we lose?” Michael asked, not seeming surprised.
Lucy stopped listening at that point. She didn’t care much about copper. She had a lot of things of her own to consider. The most pressing was what she was going to say to Robert when she arrived on his doorstep, unannounced and uninvited.
The truth? Should I just tell him what’s going on?