Chapter 27

Colt walked down the streets of Plateau, a train ticket in hand and a purpose in his step. He was being crazy, and he knew it, but some things just had to be done for the sake of doing them.

“Colt, my boy! What are you doing in town this fine day?” a voice called out.

Colt groaned inwardly. Not Sam!

He turned around and plastered a smile on his face. Sam and Clark sat at their usual places, playing checkers.

“I’m catching a train outta here for a few days,” he explained.

“What’s wrong with yer ear?” Clark asked, confused.

Colt strove to keep his patience.

“He said he was catching the train outta here!” Sam told the old man.

“Oh-h. Why’s that?” Clark asked.

“I’ve got something to take to someone,” Colt said loudly.

Clark nodded. “What happened to that little lady you had with you? I saw ‘er in town about a week or so ago.”

Colt rubbed the back of his neck. “She… uh… she left.”

“She’s deaf?” Clark exclaimed. “I never would’a known it!”

“He said left! Left, you ol’ scutter!” Sam yelled.

Clark had no reason to suspect anyone else of being deaf but himself.

The train whistled, signaling the last opportunity for any passengers wanting to board.

“I gotta go, gentlemen,” Colt tipped his hat and broke out in a run down the street.

“What you gotta hoe fer? You plannin’ on plantin’ a garden where you’re goin’” Clark yelled after him before he was out of earshot.

Colt rolled his eyes and continued down to the train station.

He prayed that this whole thing would make sense to him once he got in South Carolina.

*****

Jessie sat at the table with her mother, looking through catalogs for wedding dresses. She hadn’t been back home but for three days and the wedding preparations were already underway again. Jessie tried to make herself interested in ever detail, but in her heart, all she wanted was a preacher and a few sprigs of flowers thrown together in a bouquet. She wouldn’t even mind a courthouse wedding at the moment.

“How about daisies, darling? They are gorgeous flowers and perfect for a spring wedding,” her mother asked.

Jessie shrugged, stirring her tea lazily with her spoon and yawning.

“You don’t seem very excited for your own wedding, dear,” Momma said gently, shaking her head.

“I’m just tired, Momma,” Jessie sighed.

“Tired? Haven’t you been sleeping well?”

Jessie paused in her stirring. That was exactly what confused her. She slept fine. She hadn’t woken up once in all the nights she had been home. Yet her sleep was filled with dreams, some reliving past experiences and some just nightmares. She had remembered a little bit every night from some argument that had gone on between her and Adam. She also remembered bits and pieces of a conversation that had passed between Adam and a stranger she hadn’t seen before.

“Well, since you’re not into wedding plans, let’s focus on the engagement ball. Your new dress should be finished any day now and we have the city hall rented for the occasion. Do you prefer white tablecloths or pale blue? Since your wedding will be themed those colors I think it’s important to have the engagement ball coordinated…”

Jessie nodded as her mother rambled on, only speaking when she had to make a decision. She didn’t know how the wedding would happen without her mother there. Jessie tried to make herself get into it, but the same argument that had plagued her mind at night seemed to play over in her mind this day.

She and Adam had been on the front porch late one evening and something had riled her. For the life of her, she could not figure out what had caused her to be angry enough to yell at him, but something had definitely happened between them. Maybe that was why Adam was so relieved to find out she couldn’t remember anything.

It could be that he was ashamed of something he said or how he acted, and just wanted it behind them.

“You’ve stirred that tea until it’s cold, dear. Is something on your mind?” Momma asked.

Jessie looked up at her. “Were Adam and I acting strange before I… came up missing?”

Momma shrugged slightly. “Things were a bit strained between you, but it was nothing too serious, I don’t think. Between you and I, he has a lot of things to prove to me before I’m sure I want to go through with this wedding.”

Jessie froze. “What do you mean?”

“Well, once he caught up with us after we left to go search for you, he…”

“Wait, what? He caught up with y’all?” Jessie interrupted.

“Yes. He came back and said he was giving up the search. I was appalled. The three of us set out looking for you and he caught up later. Anyway, whilst we were in Bottlebrush…” Momma rambled on about the suspicious things Adam had done, but Jessie didn’t hear a word.

He had lied to her.

Well, he might have had a good reason for it. Maybe he was trying to make her think more of him because he felt underappreciated. She might need to be paying him more attention.

*****

The evening of the engagement ball had come, and with it came boxes and bows strewn all over the Steele household in an attempt to finish all of the decorations in time.

“How are we ever going to get these up in time, Momma?” Jessie asked from behind the tower of boxes she was holding.

“Jana and Becky are coming over later to help you get ready. I’ll be heading over to the City Hall as soon as we get these decorations finished and loaded up to decorate. I have a few ladies and your brother to help me,” Momma explained as she placed another hatbox full of decorations on top of Jessie’s load.

“I really wish we had gotten on this sooner,” Jessie said with doubt in her voice.

“We’ll have it done, dear. Nothing drives me more than limited time,” Momma smiled.

Jessie smiled and shrugged. She sure hoped it all pulled together.

“Now, you take those to the wagon and I’ll finish gathering the decorations,” Momma said, shooing her out the front door.

Jessie walked out onto the porch and then down the stairs toward the waiting wagon.

She began humming as she maneuvered the tower of boxes in her arms down the stairway and in the general direction of the wagon. She kept walking toward it.

And kept walking.

When she finally looked around the boxes to determine how close she was to the wagon, she saw the wagon behind her out of the corner of her eye.

“Blasted boxes. I’m not a pack mule,” she huffed.

But someone had to carry them, as her brother was currently tending the stock and her father gone on business to town.

After carefully navigating her way back to the wagon, she unloaded the various boxes into it and began walking back toward the steps.

It was a beautiful day in South Carolina, perfect for an engagement ball.

She hadn’t seen her fiancé all day, which was odd because he had promised to help load the decorations. Jessie shrugged. He was probably just busy with some sheriffing something or other.

Shoving ill thoughts of her fiancé aside, she walked up the stairs and toward the front door. This was a joyous day, not one to be muddled with petty insecurities.

*****

Colt stared out the train window as it pulled into Myrtleville later that afternoon. After his declaration of a hasty departure, he left Doc to look in on his grandmother and to give an explanation to the people back at the ranch. One the long journey across the country, it had occurred to him how petty returning a simple old dress was. Maybe it wasn’t the need to return the dress that drove him here but rather and need to find an excuse.

He didn’t even know what he would say to her.

He just had to see her.

The train came to a stop, and Colt let out a deep breath and looked at the sky out of the window.

Okay, Lord. I’m taking a leap of faith here. I give the outcome to you.

Myrtleville was a busy yet quaint little town, with women dressing in high fashion and men walking around in suits on a Saturday. The place was a little too gussied up for Colt’s liking, but this is where Jessie called home, and it was good enough for him. Stores and varied businesses bustled with people here and there as Colt exited the train with his small suitcase in hand. He didn’t know what to do now.

Maybe he should ask around for directions to the Steele place. Surely someone around here would know where the bank owner and his family lived.

*****

With the time drawing near to head to the City Hall for the engagement ball, the Steele home was overflowing with guests and dresses and some of Jessie’s old friends that had come over to help her prepare.

Jessie sat in front of the mirror on her vanity, listening to the chatter around her.

“It sounds do frightening, Jessie, to be out there in the wilderness with wild men everywhere. I hear there are many outlaws hiding out there,” Becky, one of Jessie’s closest friends, said as she wound another strand of hair around the back of Jessie’s head.

“Oh, I assure you that I was very well protected against any harm that wished to come to me,” Jessie said with a smile. “At the place where I was taken care of, there was this dog named Worthless…”

“Worthless?” Another friend, Jana, asked with a giggle.

“Yes, I thought it was a mighty peculiar name, too. Anyway, Worthless barked at any little old thing that made a noise. Every singe day for three weeks, that dog barked every time his master came home. He wouldn’t stop barking until someone patted him on his little head. He was the sweetest dog, though quite noisy.”

Jana smiled and shook her head. “You’ve always had such a soft spot for anything with four legs. It’s a wonder you ended up with Adam. He kicked the jailhouse dog across the room one day, I heard. And for virtually no good reason.”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “Jana, dear, you know better than to believe such rumors. They spread like wildfire up in here, growing and growing, with each passing tale.”

“I heard this straight from Missy’s mouth, I did,” Becky nodded as she spoke.

“Oh, and Missy is known for her accuracy, is she not?” Jessie said in a sarcastic way.

“You’re refusal to believe anything wrong about anyone you love is positively growing more annoying,” Jana shook her head.

Jessie smiled. If that were her only fault, she would gladly accept it. Though one glance down at her stomach told her that she did indeed have other flaws.

“Becky, would you try to tighten my corset strings one more time?” she asked.

“We’ve already tried, Jessie. They won’t tighten any more,” Becky assured her.

“I just want to make sure I fit into that dress,” Jessie defended.

“Well, that dress is indeed a beauty,” Jana eyed the yellow satin gown that lay carefully draped over a chair on the other side of the room.

“Daddy was so good to buy it for me. I don’t know what Adam’s going to do with someone as spoiled as I am,” Jessie said with a faint smile.

“Well, you won’t want for much,” Becky said as she cast a look toward Jana.

“What do you mean? We’ll have to work like anyone else,” Jessie pulled her eyebrows close together.

Becky and Jana stared at her.

“Do you two know something I don’t?”