Hannah's Dream (33 page)

"I don't know how I feel about taking a gift from a man."

"Is that all I am to you?  Just a man?"

She looked into his eyes.  She felt the heat rising up her neck and turned bright red.  James stood, leaned over, kissed her, and her heart began to beat wildly.  It was the first time she'd ever been kissed.  He touched her cheek and wiped a tear away.

"Please take this," he said, handing her the package.  "Don't say no."

She unfolded the paper and the package fell open, revealing its contents.  It was the red silk Chinese shawl she had seen at the dry goods store in Denver.  She couldn't believe he had noticed her admiring it and she burst into tears.  He truly cared for her.

"I'd like to escort you to the social," he said.

She looked up at him and nodded, then he put his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.  Mindful of his still aching shoulder, he didn't squeeze her, but she put her arms around him and squeezed his waist tightly.

After she left Becky ironing in the kitchen, Marian had gone looking for Evan.  She found him sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of James' house and sat near him.  Evan waited for her to speak.

"Why didn't you write?" she said softly.

The question hung in the air for a moment before Evan spoke.

"I was wounded," he began.  "I was in a hospital for weeks.  I was sent to St. Louis.  That's when I got your letters."

"But you could have written me then."

"Two years had passed."

Two years.  She was married to Randall.

"My aunt told me you had married.  It was too late."

Marian didn't know what to say.  She had misjudged him all these years.  She turned to look at him and saw the pain in his eyes.

"I love you Marian.  I always have.  I never stopped."

"I know.  I've loved you, too."

He reached out his hand and she took it, and they held hands until Adam came to the porch and told them they should be leaving soon.

"May I escort you?" Evan said.

"Of course, you may."

They walked arm and arm to Marian's house and Marian went inside to fetch the others.  Hannah came out the door in her ivory dress with the yellow rosebuds.  Adam didn't think there was anything prettier than a Colorado sunset.  He was wrong.  She took his breath away.

Chapter 56

Autumn had arrived in the mountains and the sun was setting earlier each day.  James had Adam hitch Ulysses and Blue to the large carriage so everyone could ride to town together.  He didn't want the ladies covered in dust when they arrived, and told Adam to attach the isinglass curtains over the windows that not only kept the dust out, but also provided a barrier against the cool night air.

The carriage had two bench seats facing each other.  There was enough room for six people.  Adam rode in the driver's seat, and since Hannah was so small, Jimmy sat next to her.

"Buying this carriage was a wonderful idea, James," Marian said.

"Indeed it was," Becky remarked.

She was sitting across from James and smiled.  He looked so handsome in his frock coat, vest, and silk puff tie.  She put her hand on her new red Chinese shawl and drew the edges closer together.  James smiled.  He loved the look on her face.

Jimmy was looking at Becky.  He thought the dragon on the back of the shawl was scary, but he liked looking at it.  He wished Becky could sit backwards so he could see it.

"You look like a flag," he said to Becky.

"What do you mean?" she said.

"You're red, white, and blue," he said.

Everyone laughed as they, too, realized that Becky's blue dress with the white embroidered roses and the red shawl did look patriotic.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she said.

Marian looked across at Evan.  She was still swooning from his pronouncement that he still loved her.  When a hint of regret seeped into her mind, she wouldn't entertain it.  She was too happy to think about the past and all the years they'd wasted being apart.  Tonight, she would dance with her beau for the first time in twenty years, and she wasn't going to let anything ruin the way she was feeling.

Hannah was meeting Owen at Mrs. Gray's house.  They had made the arrangements while she was in town the day before and she noted that Owen appeared a bit friendlier than the last few times she'd encountered him.  She was still on the fence regarding her feelings for him, and she hoped tonight would sway her one way or the other, but as she looked toward Adam, her heart skipped a beat.  He had dressed for the social and he looked so dashing in his new frock coat that Hannah had to look at him twice.  At that moment, she wished he was her escort, and not the temperamental Dr. Wallace.

As she watched him drive the horse, she wished, despite the flying dust and cool temperature, that she was by his side with her arm in his.  She would be proud to enter the ballroom on Adam's arm.

She felt as though she was going to cry and turned her head away from the others.  She didn't trust her feelings.  She'd been wrong about John Liberty for so long, and she wondered if she was meant to have true love, or if she should just accept that the companionship of a good man would have to be enough.  It might be easier to marry someone she didn't love, someone who shared her passion for art.  She wouldn't have to worry that he would someday stop loving her.

Still, the pleasant feelings that washed over her whenever Adam smiled were making it hard for her to abandon her need for true love, and the more time she spent with him, the more aware she became of that need.  Especially when he smiled at her, or his eyes lingered on hers across the dinner table on Sunday afternoons.

The irrationality of love was vexing her, too.  She had been aware of James' affection for Becky before they appeared holding hands on the porch as everyone was leaving for the social and wondered why it had taken them so long to admit their feelings when it was obvious to everyone else that they cared for each other.  

She hadn't talked to anyone about it or they might have reminded her that Becky had been a servant in James' house and as such would have felt herself beneath him.  They had been born into a system where feelings were suppressed in deference to duty.  Becky was an honorable woman who knew her place and had accepted her lot in life.  In truth, if they had stayed in Philadelphia, they would have remained apart.

In many ways, Hannah's distance from her extended family had been a blessing.  Hannah didn't have the same prejudices regarding people because Marian had felt the sting of rejection and had always treated Becky with respect.  While it was clear to Becky she was a servant, Hannah had always seen her as a member of their family.

Hannah had also become good friends with Louise, a girl from the wrong part of town, who dressed in rags, and rarely spoke.  Hannah didn't see her as less than anyone else, and embraced her friendship.  Marian had only recently explained her grandmother's rejection of her due to her "breeding," but Hannah still couldn't imagine anyone looking down on her.

As they drove onto Mrs. Gray's property, Hannah saw Owen waiting at the front door.  He wore a cutaway and top hat.  She thought he looked rather comical, and giggled.

"What's tickled you, Hannah?" Marian said.

"That hat Owen's wearing."

Marian, too, smiled.  Wearing a top hat in High Bend was comical.

"Don't say anything to him, dear.  You might hurt his feelings."

"I wouldn't, but it is funny."

Now Jimmy was laughing, too, and Marian put her finger to her lips.

"Shhh," she said, and he stopped.  "We must use our manners tonight."

Becky had helped Jimmy dress for the social and he had his hair slicked back and wore a string tie and a long-sleeved shirt.  He kept pulling at the collar, a separate piece that was affixed to a band around his shirt collar.  It was scratching his neck and he wanted to take it off, but Becky wouldn't let him.

"This is a party and you have to dress for it," she said.  "You'll get used to it.  Just stop fidgeting."

But he still wasn't used to it and as soon as Becky was out of sight, he was going to take it off.

Adam pulled the carriage to the door and they all got out.  Owen came to Hannah and helped her down, then they walked into Mrs. Gray's arm and arm.  Adam watched them go inside and he suddenly had the urge to hit the doctor as hard as he could.  Once everyone had gotten out of the carriage, Adam drove it to the edge of the lawn where the others were parked and left it there.  He had hitched Ulysses to the carriage and Ulysses snorted as Adam walked away.

"There's nothing wrong with pulling a carriage," he told the horse.  "No, it isn't undignified.  It's an honor."

Ulysses shook his head.  Then Blue snorted, too.

"You both have to stay put.  Don't go getting any ideas about leaving on your own."

Ulysses tapped the ground with his hoof.

"I know, but I can't promise when we'll be done.  Talk to her," Adam said pointing to the chestnut mare hitched to the carriage next to theirs.  "She's right pretty.  But don't fight over her."

He walked to the house and stepped inside, and when he entered the ballroom, he saw Hannah dancing with Owen.  The urge to punch the doctor in the face returned, so Adam walked away and tried to avoid looking at them.

Marian was dancing with Evan.  She felt as though she were dancing on air, and even though his uneven gait caused him to jerk a bit, she didn't mind.

"You look just as you did that first night I saw you," he said.

Marian blushed.  "But that was twenty years ago."

"It hasn't touched you.  Not one bit."

They waltzed around the floor and passed James and Becky, who were sitting near the wall.  James' arm was weak, but it didn't stop him from holding Becky's hand.  Feeling his hand on hers almost made her swoon.  She'd resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood and now, not only having a good man but the man she loved above all others wanting her, was almost more than she could handle.  Tears kept forming in her eyes, and it made her angry.

"I can't stop crying," she said.  "I feel like such a fool."

"But they're happy tears, aren't they?"

"Oh, yes," she said.  "The happiest."

James looked into her eyes.  She could see them glistening with tears in the gaslight.  This took her by surprise, like the warmth spreading through her body.  She squeezed his hand.

"I love you, Becky," he said.

"I love you, too," she whispered, her voice choking with emotion.

Hannah was having a delightful time.  Owen was a wonderful dancer, and whatever had been troubling him seemed to have vanished.  He talked with her as he had when they first met, discussing with her the museums in New York, and his dream of creating a sanitation department in High Bend.  He wanted to establish a dump outside of town and hire men to collect refuse and haul it to the dump.  In order to do that, people would need bins for their garbage, and be required to put their refuse in the bins instead of leaving it behind their houses where it attracted rats and other disease-carrying vermin.

"I have to persuade the city council to buy the land," he said.  "If people would only listen to me, they wouldn't get sick as often.  But these are the most stubborn people I've ever met."

"They have to get used to new ideas," Hannah said.

"Well, they'd better do it quickly, or we'll have a cholera epidemic on our hands."

"Is it that serious?" she asked.

He looked down at her pretty face.

"I'm sorry," he said.  "This is a party.  I shouldn't be spoiling it by talking about such things."

"I don't mind.  In fact, I like talking about something other than the new calves that were born over the summer, or the horse auction in Denver."

He smiled.  "I imagine for a girl from the east the people here can be rather dull."

"Oh, no, I like the people here, it's just that the ranch and everything that goes on there is all we ever talk about at home.  The only time I'm around other people is when we come to town, and then there's no time to talk as we are now.  I'd truly like to meet some of them and get to know them."

Owen laughed.  "You are funny, Hannah."

She didn't realize she'd made a joke.

As they were dancing, Evan began to slow down and Marian thought his leg might be bothering him.  She suggested they have some refreshments and sit for a while, and he agreed.  She volunteered to get them something to eat, and he wanted to say he would get it, but the pain in his leg was too great so he just nodded his head.  He sat next to James, who was waiting for Becky to return with some punch.

"This is a nice party," Evan said.  "I'd like to keep dancing but my leg won't let me."

"I know how you feel," James said.  "My arm is aching something fierce."

"But it's healed, right?"

"Almost."

"Where's Hannah?" Evan asked.

"She's over there with the doc," James said, pointing to the dance floor.  "The man who shot me, you said you think he killed a woman."

"Agnes Welsh?"

"Yes, that's the one.  Marian told me she was Jimmy's ma."

"Truly?"

"Yup.  We decided not to tell him.  No use upsetting him."

"Marian told Becky and Adam to keep an eye out for him.  I told Tom to tell the crew.  If he shows up, we'll find him."

"Did you tell Hannah?" Evan asked.

"Marian said she would after the social."

The men hadn't seen Jimmy come and take a seat behind them, and when he heard the name Agnes Welsh, his eyes filled with tears.  His mother had left him with Marian years ago, but he still remembered the way she hugged him, how her cheeks were so soft, and how sad she would get when the man who visited her sometimes didn't come.

Tears rolled down his face as he imagined the bad man who had killed Grady killing her.  Soon, sadness was replaced by a desire for vengeance, and Jimmy swore if he ever saw the man, he would kill him.

Chapter 57

The ballroom was full of people, so when Owen suggested they step out on the balcony, Hannah agreed.  The air was cool but refreshing, and she took deep breaths.