Chapter 4
Why did she come here without asking me first? It’s not a good time. This thing with El Aguila has to be coming to a head now, and the last thing I need is a distraction.
And what a lovely distraction Heather was.
Mark found her terribly alluring. Especially the combination of her wavy, auburn hair and her hazel eyes that were golden like honey.
Her lips were just full enough to be considered generous, and her cheeks were high with a pink flush to them.
Despite having journeyed for a week, she looked fresh and excited.
It should have warmed his heart, but Mark found himself filled with fear. If El Aguila’s men got their hands on Heather … No. That would never happen. He had to add keeping her safe to his list of things to accomplish. It was becoming a very long list.
The coach drew to a halt, and Mark peered out of the window, momentarily confused by the stop. Then he remembered they were expecting a letter from Mac in New York.
At least that was one good thing. Mac had been running an investigation into El Aguila from that end, and from his previous correspondence, it seemed that things were heating up. He had promised more news, and Mark was intrigued to find out what the older man had uncovered.
“I’ll only be a moment,” he said to Heather as he opened the door and slid out. “Wait here.”
She peered out through the open window. “What are you doing?”
“Getting the mail,” Mark said with what he hoped was a disarming smile. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Heather sat back, looking thoughtful and a little sad.
Well, he could find out what was bothering her on the way back to Unity. Ben was already heading into the post office, and Mark followed on his heels.
“So?” Ben asked, looking inquiringly at Mark. “She’s pretty, at least.”
Mark frowned. “Yes, she is.”
“Don’t sound so happy about it,” Ben teased.
“I’m not,” Mark explained. “It’s complicated. I’m glad she’s here, but I wish she had waited until we were done with all this other stuff.” He looked around nervously as though expecting to see bandits actively listening.
As it was, no one in the post office paid them any attention at all.
Ben shook his head. “You’re going to have to make peace with the fact that she’s here, whether you like it or not.”
“I’m very happy she’s here. I am. Just … worried.” Mark joined the line of folks picking up their mail. It was moving quickly for a change. Ben stood beside him, a giant towering over most of the other patrons.
Soon they reached the front of the line, and the clerk handed over the usual thick bundle of mail for Unity. Then he slid another slightly smaller bundle, also tied with twine, toward them.
“You might want to invest in a mail sack,” the clerk said. “It would be better for us all.”
“Or you could open a branch in Unity,” Mark suggested.
The clerk shrugged. “Not my call. You’d have to take that up with management back east. But feel free to fill these out, and we’ll send them for you.” He patted a thick wad of forms on his counter.
“Another time,” Mark said, eyeing the papers with distaste. Paperwork was his least favorite thing to do, and he tried to avoid it at all costs. Which was tough since he was a deputy sheriff again.
Taking the bundles of mail, he had to fight the urge to look for Mac’s letter then and there and read it.
It would be addressed to Andrew or Michael, so he shouldn’t open it, but how he wanted to.
Mark wanted to know if there was light at the end of this seemingly interminable tunnel they were in.
Sometimes it felt like El Aguila and his violence and mayhem would be in their lives forever.
They would never get rid of him and would always be looking over their shoulders, expecting to see a knife or a bullet headed for their backs. It was no way to live.
They reached the coach, and Mark climbed back in, followed by Ben, who made the coach sway as he settled in.
The coach started up again and Heather smiled shyly. “How often do you come to San Antonio?”
“We try for every two weeks or so,” Mark said. “Why?”
“Oh, it’s just that’s a lot of letters,” Heather commented, indicating the bundles on the seat between Ben and Mark.
“There are a lot of folks living in the town now.”
“It’s good that it’s growing,” Heather commented. “Don’t you think?”
Mark nodded but said nothing. He actually thought that it would be easier to keep everyone safe if there weren’t so many people coming and going all the time.
Although he was glad for the farmers and their goods and help, having them and their extended families working and shopping in Unity was making security a big problem.
“Can we have a frank conversation?” Heather asked, eyeing Ben.
Mark looked over at the big man too and nodded. Ben was gently snoring. He could sleep anywhere, any time, it seemed. “Sure.”
“I know that coming here without an actual invitation was rather presumptuous of me,” Heather said, “but I didn’t know what else to do. The Millers were moving to Missouri, and I was losing my job and my home. I had to go somewhere. So, I took the plunge and decided to come here.”
“Heather—”
“No, let me finish, please,” she said, holding up a hand.
“I guess what I want to say is that I’m not holding you to anything.
There were no promises made yet in our letters, and I have no expectations beyond friendship to start with.
I’m not expecting you to marry me and look after me or anything like that.
Unity seems like a good place to start fresh.
That’s why I brought all the fabric and things with me.
So that I can start my business in a booming little town. I hope that’s okay?”
Mark was taken aback. What did she mean?
Hadn’t she come out to Texas to be with him?
She had answered a mail-order bride ad, after all!
He frowned. “I thought we were … I thought … Did I misunderstand something?” What am I trying to say?
This is right out of left field. I really thought she had come all this way to be with me.
“I can see I’ve upset you,” Heather said, looking upset herself. “I didn’t mean to do that. Oh, I’m just doing everything wrong.”
“No, no, it’s me,” Mark said, leaning forward and taking one of her hands in his. “Please, Heather. Don’t mind me. I had one idea about why you were coming here, and I was wrong.”
She raised her eyes and gazed deeply into his.
“I thought you were coming here for … you know … marriage or something,” Mark said self-consciously, feeling his cheeks heating up. “That is why I placed the ad, after all.”
“Oh … I thought that would be presumptuous,” Heather mumbled. Her cheeks began to redden too. “I can’t say that the thought hadn’t crossed my mind. I mean, your letters were so sweet and endearing. I hoped they would lead to more. I just didn’t want to assume that you would want that.”
“I would, you know, like to when we’re ready,” Mark admitted. “I had hoped to deal with some of the problems we’re having in Unity first, but I’m really very fond of you already?—”
“You are?”
“Yes.”
“I’m really fond of you too.”
Mark let out a relieved sigh. “Good. I was afraid there for a moment.”
Heather chuckled but soon became serious. “You were hoping to deal with the bandits before I came out?”
“Yes, I was. I wanted them gone before asking you to come to Texas,” Mark said. “But I guess fate had other plans.”
“You know, fate is a bit of a bandit himself,” Heather said with a wry smile. “He doesn’t always play by the rules.”
Mark laughed. “I think you’re right.”
Heather laughed too, and all of the tension between them seemed to melt away.
“So, we’ll take it one day at a time and just see where things go?” she asked.
Mark nodded. “Yes. I would like that very much. I think not making any hard and fast plans is wise. Things change around here a lot faster than most of us can predict or react to.”
“We are living in interesting times,” Heather said sagely.
“That we are,” Mark said. He sighed. “Okay, so, for your safety, I have to tell you the full story of what’s been going on here.”
Heather nodded and gave his hand a squeeze. “Okay. Lay it on me. What’s been going on?”
The sun had set by the time they arrived back in Unity. The drive had been without incident, which was both a blessing and a bit of a worry. El Aguila’s men hadn’t been around much, not since Mark and Jeff uncovered their camps outside the walls.
Still, Mark was grateful for the lull in activity.
It was pleasant not to have to shoot at armed men whenever he poked his nose out of the gate.
It also gave him time to get Heather into the town without scaring her too much, although his brutally honest account of the goings on in town was enough to make her raise her eyebrows and gasp in surprise a few times during the telling.
As they rode into town, Heather peeked out of the window and smiled broadly. “Oh, it’s lovely.”
“Wait till you see it by daylight,” Mark said.
“Yes, it’s one of the nicer towns around,” Ben agreed. “Where is she staying, Mark?”
“I got her a room in the hotel,” Mark said. “Anders gave her a good rate.”
“That’s so kind of you,” Heather said.
“Anders is a good man. He was more than happy to oblige. They’re running specials for the grand opening of the hotel anyway,” Mark said.
Heather smiled at him, and a warm feeling of happiness spread through his whole being.
The new hotel was a fine building. It was built in a similar style to the houses and other buildings in the town, with a pitched roof and a wide front porch, although everything was bigger and grander.
There were window boxes bursting with flowers and lanterns casting a golden glow on the ground around the place. It looked welcoming and pleasant.
“You want us to wait?” Clary asked as she drew the coach to a halt in front of the hotel.
“Please, if you don’t mind,” Mark said.
“Okay,” Evelyn said with a shrug. “Don’t be long.”
Mark shot her a look as he helped Heather out of the coach.
“Thank you for the ride,” Heather said.
“It’s a pleasure,” Clary said.
They turned and headed up the steps to the hotel.
A dark wood reception desk stood to the right of a grand staircase that led up to the other floors. The steps were carpeted with a plush carpet, and the art on the walls was some of Duncan’s sketches and watercolor landscapes. They were beautiful.
“Oh wow,” Heather said, her eyes wide. “This place must cost a fortune per night.”
The man behind the reception desk smiled. He was one of the new additions to Unity, and Mark thought his name was Pete. He was one of the farmers’ sons.
“Welcome to the Cartwright Hotel. Do you have a reservation?” he asked.
“She does. It’s under Miss Heather Barnaby,” Mark said.
Pete checked the book and nodded. “I will just need a signature here in the book, and then I can take you up to your room.”
“I’ll need somewhere to store three crates,” Heather began.
“I’ll take them to my place,” Mark said. “I’ve got loads of room.”
“Oh, great, thanks.”
“In the morning we can go to the general store and get you set up,” Mark said.
Heather smiled. “Thank you, Mark, for everything. I’ll see you in the morning.”
He watched as Pete took Heather’s luggage up the stairs and they disappeared.
Ben sighed. “I think you salvaged that nicely. For a while I was worried you’d mess it up when you were talking in the coach.”
“You were listening?”
“Of course. It just makes people less nervous when I pretend to be asleep.”
“I’ll remember that,” Mark muttered.
“We’d better deliver the mail,” Ben said.
Mark nodded. He still wanted to know what Mac had to say.
They climbed back into the coach and first stopped at Mark’s place to offload the crates. Ben dumped them in Mark’s parlor, which was just fine. He never had visitors, mostly because he was never at home to receive them.
Mark sent Clary and Evelyn home from there. Then he and Mark set off walking to Andrew’s house.
Luckily, it was still early enough that they wouldn’t wake the baby by knocking on the door. Christopher was a toddler now, running around on podgy little legs, but he was still a challenge to get to sleep, and Mark had been chewed out numerous times for waking him.
When Mark knocked, Andrew answered the door.
“Ah, you’re back,” he said, smiling. “How was the trip?”
“Good,” Mark said.
“Nothing to report,” Ben said.
“And you got the mail. Anything from Mac?” Andrew asked, stepping back and allowing them entry.
From down the hall, they could hear raised voices.
“Christopher, you will put your pajamas on right now!”
“No!”
Andrew sighed as he led them into the kitchen. “You know, ever since he learned that word, that’s all we hear.”
“No?” Mark asked.
“No,” Andrew confirmed. “Just no.”
“He’ll get over it,” Ben commiserated. “My sister’s twins started out like that too. By age three, they were saying a whole lot of other things that annoyed her.”
“Oh, wonderful,” Andrew said, offering them seats at the kitchen table. “Coffee?”
“No thanks,” Mark said, placing his bundle of letters on the table. “I’d like to get right to it.” He quickly searched through the mail and came up holding a letter with a New York postmark on it. It was addressed to Andrew. He held it out. “There you go.”
Andrew took it and opened it.
A scream came from upstairs. Mark and Ben both reacted, ready to spring to their feet and hurry to rescue the person in trouble.
Andrew shook his head. “It’s just Christopher resisting brushing his teeth. Julie has this down to a fine art. I’ve realized that if I interfere, it just takes longer.”
“Oh,” Mark said, wondering if he should rethink his dreams of one day having a house full of children.
Andrew opened the letter and began to read it out loud to them.