Chapter Three
Edith’s heart pounded, her mind spinning from this stranger buying her from her father. The word “permanently” echoed in her mind. The room shouted at her and the stranger, suggesting things she had never heard of, which made her more confused.
As the man led her from the room, she could see his broad frame cut an imposing figure against the dim light.
His jaw was tight with anger. He wasn’t like the other men in the room, who leered and laughed carelessly.
There was something quiet about him, something unsettling.
Yet, for reasons she couldn’t explain, his presence didn’t frighten her the way it should have.
His tousled, dark hair fell just above his collar, and his eyes—though shadowed—held a depth she couldn’t quite read.
His face was rugged, weathered by years of hard living, with a deep pox marked scars spread across his cheeks, giving him an air of both danger and sadness.
He stood taller than many of the men in the room, dwarfing her tiny frame.
He wore a woolen shirt and trousers with a buckskin vest on top.
As soon as the deal was done, the man didn’t yank her toward the door or drag her away, which she expected. Instead, his grip on her shoulder loosened, and his deep voice, when he spoke, was quiet and steady.
“Come on,” he said softly, as though offering rather than commanding. “Let’s get you out of here.”
He guided her toward the door, grabbing his coat and hat from the seat at the bar where he had been seated. The bartender shook his head in disbelief, watching them leave.
Edith felt so shaky as she followed him, feeling faint and exhausted.
Her breath came in pants, feeling like she needed to catch her breath.
Feeling the room staring at her was unbearable, but the moment she stepped outside with the stranger, the cold night air hit her like a shock.
The freezing wind bit at her skin, but it was better than the suffocating heat of the saloon.
The door slammed shut behind them, the noise and laughter of the saloon fading to a muffled din.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Edith kept her eyes on the ground, her breath coming out in shallow bursts, the cold air stinging her lungs.
She felt him studying her, and she wrapped her arms around herself to still the shaking.
“You all right?” Daniel asked, his voice gentle.
Edith nodded, though she wasn’t sure if it was true. She didn’t feel all right. Her whole body trembled, from more than the cold. Her heart pounded and her head rushed and she felt lightheaded from the terror of what had just happened.
Reality sank in. She had been sold. Her father had finally gotten rid of her, just as he had always promised, and somehow, he had found a way to profit.
Terrible thoughts flooded her mind as to what this stranger might want from her—whether he wanted a servant to take care of him, like her father had, or someone to warm his bed at night.
“My name is Daniel,” The man said after a moment, his voice breaking the silence. “You’re free now. You don’t owe me anything. You can go wherever you please.”
Edith jerked her head up, blinking with confusion.
Free? She looked him in the eye for the first time, her brow furrowing.
His face was serious, the scarring on his cheek catching the moonlight, but there was no cruelty in his expression.
Maybe he wasn’t like the others. He wasn’t demanding anything.
His eyes seemed less hard now than they had when he’d been inside the saloon. For a moment, they stood in silence, the wind filling the empty space between them. Edith didn’t know what to say or if she even should speak.
“You should come inside,” Daniel said finally, his voice low but firm. “It’s too cold out here.”
Edith hesitated. The thought of following him, of being alone with him, sent a jolt of anxiety through her chest. She didn’t know him. What if she had simply traded one prison for another? Would he force himself on her as soon as they were in private? Would he strike her if she resisted him?
“I don’t… I don’t know what you want from me,” Edith said, her voice barely more than a whisper. She kept her eyes downcast, afraid of what she might see in his face if she looked up. “But I’m not… I’m not…”
Daniel frowned, his jaw tightening as if he was trying to find the right words. “I don’t want anything from you,” he said, his voice gruff but not unkind. “I wasn’t going to let your father sell you off to whoever had the most coins in his pocket. You didn’t deserve that.”
“How would you know?” Edith challenged.
He seemed taken aback again. “Because no one does, let alone…”
His words hung in the air, and for a moment, Edith wasn’t sure if she believed him. Men always wanted something. Her father had made sure of that lesson—no kindness came without a price. Let alone… what did that mean? Questions swirled through her mind.
“Then why did you…?” she asked, swallowing a hard lump in her throat. Edith trailed off, having trouble finishing her question.
Daniel exhaled, running a hand through his hair, the lines on his face deepening in the dim light.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve seen enough people treated like they don’t matter,” he said after a pause.
“Maybe it’s because I couldn’t stand by and watch it happen again.
” He glanced at her then, his gaze softening.
“But I didn’t do it to own you, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.
You can go wherever you want. Got any family, any friends you can stay with? ”
“Ain’t got family,” Edith nearly whispered, pushing some snow with her toe.
“Anyone from church?” he continued.
“Ain’t never been to church,” she responded, feeling as troublesome as her father always told her she was.
“Guess I shouldn’t be surprised,” Daniel sighed. “I’ve known your pa for a while. I’ve never liked him, but still, never thought anyone could sell off their kin for drink.”
She didn’t know how to respond and returned to the imprint her toe had made in the snow.
“I… I don’t have anywhere to go,” Edith admitted quietly. Her hands trembled as she spoke, and she twisted the edge of her shawl between her fingers. “I’ve never been away from home. Not really. Just into town for the grocer.”
Daniel nodded, though she could tell he was trying to make sense of it all. “I figured as much,” he said, his voice lowering. “You’ve lived your whole life with him?”
“Yes,” Edith replied, her throat tightening at the thought of her father. The years of control, the cruelty that had kept her in place, unable to think beyond the walls of his house. “He… he never let me go anywhere. Never let me do anything on my own.”
Daniel’s jaw clenched, and for a brief moment, Edith thought she saw anger flicker in his eyes—not directed at her, but at the situation she had endured. “He had no right to do that,” Daniel said, his voice tinged with an edge of frustration. “No father should treat his daughter that way.”
Edith blinked, surprised by the softness in his voice. There was something different about him. Most men she’d known had treated her with disdain or indifference at best. Daniel’s voice carried something she wasn’t used to—concern. Even if it was buried under layers of gruffness.
No one had ever spoken to her like that before, not with such certainty that her father’s treatment of her was wrong. She had grown up believing it was just how things were, that her father’s authority over her was absolute.
She swallowed hard, her voice barely audible as her shivering intensified. “But now… what happens now?”
“Well… I ‘spose we’ll have to figure it out in the morning; it’s late and cold now.”
She shivered violently, the cold finally breaking through the numbness in her body. Her thin shawl was no match for the biting wind, and her fingers were already stiff from the chill. Daniel noticed her trembling, his brow furrowing as he looked her over.
Without a word, he shrugged off his buckskin coat and held it out to her.
“Here,” he said, his voice gentle despite the gruffness of his tone. “You’ll freeze if you don’t put this on.”
Edith stared at the coat, hesitant to accept it.
She wasn’t used to kindness. Even the smallest gesture felt foreign to her, and she couldn’t help but wonder what the cost of this one might be.
But the cold was too much, and her body ached with exhaustion.
Slowly, she reached out and took the heavy coat, wrapping it around herself.
It was warm, far too big for her, but its weight felt like a shield between her and the world.
It smelled of woodsmoke and soap, which struck her with how different the clothing smelled than her father’s.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice soft again.
“I’m staying with Sam and Mary Greene, the barkeepers. I’m sure they’d let you stay, too. Just for tonight,” he added, noticing her fear. “ You can rest, get warm. Figure out what you want to do next.”
Edith hesitated, trying to decide if the idea of going with him was terrifying or comforting. She didn’t know what he wanted from her. He had paid ten dollars for her. Surely, he wanted something. She just couldn’t believe otherwise.
She needed to know his motives before she went with him. “You sure you don’t want nothin’ from me?”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck, his gaze dropping to the ground for a moment. “Listen, I didn’t think of anything when I offered to buy you, other than thinking I couldn’t just stand by and let someone else buy you and…” he trailed off with the implication.
The wind howled around them, but for a moment, Edith barely felt it.
She looked at Daniel, really looked at him, and something in her chest loosened.
She didn’t know why he was helping her, but she wanted to believe him.
She wanted to believe that he didn’t expect anything in return, that maybe—just maybe—someone could be kind without demanding something back.
Daniel nodded, though he didn’t say anything else.
He watched her with a gentle expression, but he quickly looked away, as though he didn’t want to intrude on her thoughts.
He turned his gaze toward the side of the saloon, where a small staircase led up to a door to the living quarters where Sam lived.
“Come on,” Daniel said, tilting his head toward the door. “Sam’s place is just through here. It’s not much, but it’s warm.”
Edith hesitated again, wondering if this sense of security was just a way to break down her guard.
Every instinct in her screamed to be cautious, to be wary of anyone offering something without demanding something in return.
But she wanted to believe him. The cold bit into her skin even through the coat, and the thought of spending the night out here, alone and freezing, was too much to bear.
She couldn’t go home, couldn’t stay in the cold.
Her fingers gripped the edge of Daniel’s coat, still wrapped around her shoulders. The warmth it offered was fleeting against the chill of her fear, but it was real. He was standing there, waiting, not pressuring her, not pushing her. Just waiting for her to decide her own fate.