Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“Time to go!” Ellen exclaimed, pulling his wife with her as she followed Sam toward the exit. Most women seemed to understand and stayed back, but the older one was still hanging on, following them all the way to the doors.
“It was nice to see you again, Sadie!” she called after them. “Let me know if you need any help with anything!”
Sam lifted Ruby into the back of the Buggy, then helped Ellen and Sadie.
“What was that all about?” he finally asked, once they’d left the library. Ellen released a deep sigh.
“Sometimes, Sadie can’t go anywhere without people descending on her like vultures,” she shared, sounding slightly annoyed.
“That never used to bother you,” Sadie replied, surprised, as Sam steered the carriage down Main Street toward the general store at the other end of it.
“It’s true. It didn’t,” Ellen admitted. “I’m just a lot more wary these days.”
“Understandably so,” Sam added. “We can’t be too careful.”
They traveled the rest of the way in silence. It was tiring to constantly have to be vigilant. Trips into town had turned into dreaded experiences, and Sam hated that for all three of them. They used to be so carefree, but that had been stolen from them.
Sam was reluctant to stop the carriage in front of the general store. The area was noticeably less nice than where they’d just come from, plus there were a lot more men around. Sam had his head on a swivel once again.
“Do you need a lot of things?” he asked Sadie, as he helped her out of the carriage. She shook her head.
“You don’t even have to come with me, if you’d rather wait outside,” she told him with a soft smile. “It won’t take us longer than a minute.”
“Make that five,” Ellen said with an eyeroll before she took Sam’s hand as he helped her down as well.
“I’m not leaving you alone in there,” he said as he turned around, grabbing Ruby from her seat. All three made their way up the porch and into the store.
It wasn’t busy. The only other two customers were two elderly gentlemen talking about the price of corn and grain, with another older man behind the counter for dried goods.
Once the door was shut behind them, Sam put Ruby down and allowed her to run around the store, though he kept a watchful eye on everybody around. He saw his daughter faithfully following Sadie and Ellen.
Sadie went straight to the counter to place her order while Ellen was looking at a display of buttons and haberdashery items. Sam didn’t know what Sadie needed, but that didn’t matter.
He slowly walked over to the large shop window and peeked outside onto the street.
He allowed himself to relax in the quiet of the room.
“If you’d like to follow me to the back, I can show you what I’ve got in stock,” the store owner, Mrs. Jameson—a spritely young woman with curly red hair—offered as she walked toward the back.
Sadie and Sam exchanged a quick look, which he acknowledged with a quick nod.
He heard Ruby’s voice as she followed both women.
Sam kept watching the road as all of their voices disappeared in the back.
A few minutes passed. Then a few more.
As Sam stood there, waiting for them, it almost felt like an eternity.
He didn’t like the fact that he hadn’t gone back there with them. The longer they stayed away, the more restless he got. He was about to turn around and follow them into the storage room when he heard Ruby’s loud cackle.
He released a long sigh.
The front door chimed and a woman walked in. She was middle-aged and wore a dark gray coat. Sam watched her as she looked around, almost ignoring him as she walked past him. When she glanced up at him, Sam recognized her as one of the ladies who had been at the library.
Had she followed them? She had to have, because she would have had to ignore the many stops in between on the way here. Sam didn’t like that, but it wasn’t a crime to visit a general store at the same time, so he had to let it slide.
Sam stared back at the doorway to the back room.
This time, he couldn’t hear anything.
Once again, he was about to turn and follow his girls to the back when he heard Ellen and Sadie talking with the young owner as they returned to the front room. He released a heavy sigh. His paranoia had clearly gotten the better of him.
Sam looked back out of the window, ready to leave and to return home.
This trip had been more nerve-wracking than he’d anticipated.
Thinking back, maybe Daniel’s offer to watch them hadn’t been such a bad idea after all, as long as he’d put enough men on guard.
He listened to Ellen and Sadie talk to the owner, finalizing their sale.
He didn’t hear Ruby.
Sam spun around and started to walk toward the women. He couldn’t see his daughter.
“Ruby?” he called, staring out into the storage room. “Ruby, come back here, Sweetheart!” Sadie and Ellen both turned and looked around.
“She was just here a second ago!” Ellen exclaimed.
“Ruby?” Sadie called her. “Let’s not play hide and seek now!” she added, as she rushed back into the storage area. Sam followed her, and he didn’t even ask the owner for permission.
“Ruby!” he called sternly, but there was no answer.