Mail Order Bride: Deception (Historical Western Romance): Clean Romance Series (Western Mail Order Brides Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter 6.

After breakfast the next morning, Beth took Leah to the seamstress as arranged. While they were driving in the carriage, Beth turned to Leah. “I suppose you think that Albert is a homely man?”

“Homely? I’m not sure what you mean.” Leah knew exactly what Beth meant.

“Plain, nothing much to look at.”

“Such a thought never entered my head. He seems a nice man.”

“Well, he’s a good man, and he’s always done right by me. There are many men out there who aren’t who or what they say they are.”

“I’m sure you had your choice of men.”

A small smile twitched at the corners of Beth’s mouth, as if she were thinking of the many suitors she’d had. “I had a few to choose from.” After a moment of silence, Beth said, “Jennifer Pollard is the seamstress. We’ve known her for many years. She’ll be able to sew something up for you, something suitable.”

“It’s very nice of you to take me there. Thank you again. It’s been a while since anyone’s done anything like this for me.” Her thoughts turned to Austin and Beth’s brothers. “Beth, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why does Calvin walk with a limp?”

“He was born with one of his legs too short. More correctly, one bone in one of his legs is too short. There was no real answer as to why it happened, none that anyone knows. I think that’s what led him into medicine.”

“How long has he been a doctor for?”

“Nearly five years now.”

“He’s very young to be a doctor.”

Beth nodded. “That’s all he ever wanted to do, and it’s lucky that he was smart enough to do it.”

They pulled up in front of a small store. “Here it is,” Beth said nodding her head toward the small establishment. It was wedged between a general store and a candy store. The window display was only large enough for one mannequin, and that mannequin was dressed beautifully in a fine black and white dress, with lace, and ruffles. It was the very latest style from Europe, Leah was certain of that.

When Beth entered the store, an attractive lady met her. She had blonde hair caught tightly on the back of her head. “Beth.” She clasped Beth’s hand. “And you must be, Victoria?”

Leah had caught up with Beth. She smiled at the woman who stretched out her hand toward her. “Yes, I’m Victoria.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Victoria. Please call me Jennifer.”

“Likewise. I mean, please call me Victoria,” Leah said.

Jennifer looked Leah up and down. “How many dresses would you like?”  

Beth answered for her.  “She needs a wedding dress, three dresses for everyday wear and one for best.” 

Leah’s fingertips flew to her mouth. “Are you sure, Beth? That’s five dresses altogether.”

“That’s what my orders are, from Austin,” Beth said.

Leah rubbed her chin. Now she felt worse than she. She didn’t want him to waste that kind of money on her. How could she stop this nonsense? It occurred to her that she could pretend she was ill, and needed to go back home. 

“How soon can you get the wedding dress made?” Beth asked.

“I can have something made for you by tomorrow if I’ve got suitable fabric here. Why don’t you see what you like over there?” Jennifer waved a hand toward the rolls of fabric against the wall.

Leah had never been in such a fine store, and figured that it wouldn’t hurt just to take a look around before she pretended to be ill.

Beth eyed the fabric, and then looked at Leah with raised eyebrows.

“Oh, yes, I should be able to find something in amongst all those fabrics,” Leah said.

Jennifer took the tape measure from around her neck, and made a few measurements of Leah’s body. “You go over there, pick out some material, and then I’ll get a few designs ready to show you.”

At that moment, Leah wished she were Victoria. Everyone would be even angrier when they found out who she really was. But what could she do? It was too tempting to wear a fancy dress for once in her life. She allowed herself that indulgence, and did not run out of the store, saying she was ill. As she walked along the wall of fabrics with Beth, she decided that she would pay Austin back every cent of the dresses when she was able.

“What sort of dress do you want to get married in?” Beth asked.

“Well, nothing fancy; I’m not a person to like anything too fancy.”

Jennifer walked over to them. “What about this one?” She pulled out a roll of fabric that had a pale green base with a darker blue floral design. “The blue and green will bring out the blue in your eyes.” She walked to the dress in the window. “I could make something like this one. The sides of the dress and the bottom of the dress in this, with cream gathered ruffles down the front and at the neck.”

“Oh, that would look lovely,” Leah said, playing down her enthusiasm.

“The bottom of the sleeves will be a deep layer of cream lace, and down the back, small fabric covered buttons. You could wear the dress again on other occasions.”

“That sounds so pretty.” Leah turned to Beth. “What do you think?”

“I think that anything would look good with your figure.” Beth laughed.

Leah turned back to Jennifer. “Yes, I will have that for my dress. Thank you, Mrs. Pollard.”

“I can have that for you by tomorrow afternoon, and, if I call one of my other girls in, I can have another dress done for you at the same time.”

Leah and Beth stayed for another hour, and made some choices of fabric and designs, before they left the store, and headed to the Marshal’s office.

“Thank you for coming with me today, Beth. You’ve all been so lovely and kind to me.”

Beth smiled, and glanced over at her. “Of course, why wouldn’t we be? You’ll soon be my sister-in-law.”

“I know, but I just feel a little awkward about Austin being married before. Mostly, I don’t know how I should behave, because I know Austin misses her. It all feels a little odd.”

“It must be hard, but you’re you, and you’re not Charlotte, and no one wants you to feel that you have to take her place.”

“Austin said you were good friends with her.”

Beth nodded. “We were best of friends.” She reached over and patted Leah’s hand. “That doesn’t mean I can’t have more friends.”

Leah felt a wave of nausea wash over her. When was she going to move on? She had to leave soon. Maybe she could disappear and not explain herself? Leah forced a smile at Beth, and wondered if there were some way she could stay on, forever pretending she was Victoria.

“I suppose I shouldn’t tell you, but Austin says he wants to get married on the fifth of July,” Beth said.

“That’s only days away,” Leah said.

Beth gave a sharp nod of her head. “He’s taken his time about things already.”

“Oh, I really didn’t mind that at all.”

They had arranged to meet Hank at the Marshal’s office at noon. At a few minutes before noon, Leah pushed the door open. She stepped into the office, with Beth close behind her. A man behind a large desk rose to his feet. Leah glanced around, and saw that there were other offices behind this one.

Leah looked back at the man who’d just stood. He stepped away from the desk, and looked at Beth. “Hello, Beth.”

“Good afternoon, Jed. This is Victoria Hadley. Miss Hadley was robbed on the train, and Hank said that she should come here and make a formal complaint.”

“Yes.” He nodded to Victoria, and then said, “Please have a seat.” He pulled two chairs away from the window, and moved them closer to the front desk.

Beth and Leah down, and when they were seated, Jed sat too. “I can help you. Hank was called away urgently.” His eyes settled on Leah. “Now, Miss Hadley, what can you tell me about the robbery?”

Leah tipped her chin up slightly. “I can’t tell you anything because I fell asleep, and when I woke up, my two traveling cases were missing. My money was in one of them.”

“How much money?” He dipped his quill in the ink jar, and then looked back up at her.

Leah shrugged. “I didn’t count it. It was money that my parents gave me. I thought it rude to count it in front of them.”

The deputy rubbed his chin, and looked worried. “Shall we say it was a considerable sum of money?”

“I can’t say. It would have been enough for my keep for the next three months. At least, that’s what I thought when my parents gave it to me.”

Jed ran his fingers over the stubble on his chin. “What color were the traveling cases?”

“Brown, just like most other traveling cases.”

“When was the last time you saw them?”

“Just before I got here. I dozed off, and when I opened my eyes, I noticed that they were gone. I asked people nearby, but they hadn’t seen anyone take anything.” Leah took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She never thought one little lie, pretending she was Victoria, would develop into so many.

Beth leaned forward. “What chance would Victoria have of getting everything back?”

“Next to none, and that’s the truth. Things like this happen all the time.”

“Oh, dear.” Leah did her best to look upset, and Beth stroked her arm.

Jed blew on the wet ink. “I’ll send this off to where it needs to go. You might get lucky.”

“Is that all now, Jed?” Beth asked.

“That’s all I need at this stage.” Jed stood up when both women rose to their feet.

“Thank you, Mr... ”

“I’m sorry, Victoria, I didn’t introduce you properly. This is Jed Palmer.”

“Jebediah,” he said with a chuckle. “I prefer plain old ‘Jed.’”

“Well, thank you, Mr. Palmer.”

He lowered his head and gave a big smile. “You can call me ‘Jed,’ if you wish, everyone else does.”

Leah nodded. “You must call me Victoria then.”

* * *

On the second night of Leah’s stay in Dodge City, Austin and Violet came to dinner again at Mrs. Wright’s house.

Leah had offered to help Mrs. Wright with the clean up afterward, but Mrs. Wright insisted that she should not lift a finger. Both Beth and Mrs. Wright shooed her out of the kitchen. With Austin busy tending to Violet, Leah wandered back down to the corral to look at the black horse again. She leaned on the railing, and waited for the horse to come to her.

Leah was so engrossed in staring out at the horses, that she barely had time to react when strong arms wrapped around her. She turned to look up into Austin’s face as he stepped back from placing his coat around her shoulders. “Thank you,” she said softly. She couldn’t help but feel warmth when he was around. He seemed such a trustworthy, pleasant man. Good stock is what her mother called people such as he.

“So…” he leaned against the railing, and stared out at the horses. “How do you feel about our arrangement now?”

The way he said it made her question everything. “Good,” she replied. She thought that he must think otherwise, or he wouldn’t have asked the question. “You?” Her voice quivered.

“Good, great, in fact. After all, you’re great with Violet and…” he hesitated, “I think that we get along pretty well.” He smiled.

She let out the breath she’d been holding on to.

“Just wanted to make sure you weren’t thinking about running.” He chuckled slightly.

She shook her head. “I’m not.” It was partly true; she did not want to run, but she could not be naïve. In the end, she would need to leave before she was found out to be an impostor. Again, she mentally berated herself for not being honest. His family was an influential one, so surely Austin would be able to find her a job, and a place to stay? Now, it was too late, too late to say who she really was. Here was a man who she might have been able to fall in love with, but he’d never be interested in a woman who was a trickster. It was only a matter of time before her secret would be revealed. She knew from going to church with the Bradburys that the Bible said, Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest: neither any thing hid, that shall not be known. Her days of being Victoria were numbered.

The closeness of Austin made her feel a little weak. It would be wonderful to have a man to take care of her, a strong man to put his arms around her, and to love her. How she wanted to be loved one day by someone such as Austin.

“It’s the fourth of July next week,” he said. “You and I have got a lot to celebrate, and a lot to be thankful for.”

She hoped she might still be around when next week came. “I do like the fourth of July. It’s such a lovely time with family, togetherness, and thanking God for our great country.” Leah figured that was the right thing to say, even though she knew nothing of family or togetherness. She knew how she wanted things to be in her life, but things had never gone how she had hoped. Maybe things always went well for the real Victoria Hadley, but she wasn’t the real Victoria Hadley; she was a fake person, and now she was living someone else’s life. Leah had always been the one to watch others having a good time with their happy families, and their happy lives. Things hadn’t been all bad for her; she’d had some good things happen to her. She’d been lucky that the Bradburys had given her a position in their household, and she’d never gone a day without a meal.