Mail Order Melody (6 page)

*****

By the time Calvin got home for supper that evening, he was regretting his harsh words. He knew he needed to apologize, and he was ready to do it. Carrying his hat in his hand he went into the house. He walked up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged it off. "Please stop touching me."

He sighed. "Don't be that way, Eliza. I want to apologize for what I said."

She walked to another part of the kitchen and turned to face him. "You can apologize until you're blue in the face. You had no right to say those things to me, and I won't put up with it ever again." She turned her back on him and continued fixing supper.

He slammed out the door to go and milk the cows, angry that
she was being so stubborn. He'd apologized for his temper. What more did she want from him?

When the door slammed behind Calvin, Eliza sank into a chair and wept, burying her face in her hands. She loved him, and he didn't trust her. What kind of woman fell in love with a man who didn't trust her?

She refused to talk to him as they ate, even refusing to let her eyes meet his. He could see that she'd been crying, and he wanted to make it up to her, but he just didn't know how. What could he do to make her realize that he knew he'd been an idiot?

After doing the dishes, Eliza went straight up to bed going to the room she'd moved her things into that afternoon. She was already in bed when she heard him stomping up the stairs. It took less than a minute for the door to the room she was sleeping in to be flung open and slammed against the wall.

"What are you doing in here? Hiding from me?"

Eliza propped herself up on one elbow and glared at him. "What difference does it make to you? You don't even trust me. This is my room now. Go to bed, Calvin."

Calvin stood there glaring at her, his chest heaving for a long moment, before he left, closing the door behind him. He moved into his solitary bedroom and stared down at the bed they'd
shared. How was he going to sleep there without her beside him? What had he done?

Several days later they were still barely talking to one another. Eliza slept in the spare room every night, and Calvin was so angry with her for leaving his bedroom that he didn't try again to make amends.

"I need to go to town today. Is there anything you need me to pick up for you?" he asked. Even if she was actively ignoring him, he wasn't about to be rude to her. He'd been raised better than that.

"I have several things I need, but I'd like to ride along and pick them out for myself. One of the things I need is fabric, and you know that you're not the best at picking out fabric for me." She didn't meet his eyes as she said the words, simply spoke in a soft voice and took another bite of her eggs. The morning sickness had finally passed and she was able to eat her breakfast again. He'd been thrilled to see her eating three meals a day again and said nothing else about her attempt to lose weight.

"Fine. Be ready around ten." He left the house and went to the bam, saying nothing else to her.

While he was gone, she sat down and wrote out a list of things that she needed from the store. They needed more flour and sugar as well as other staples, and she wanted to get more fabric so she could make a quilt for the baby. She'd already made one for Abigail, and now it was time she made one for her own child. Keeping her hands busy kept her heart from hurting over her husband's accusations.

They were silent the whole way into town. She realized that Calvin had stopped singing since they'd had their fight, and she hated that his happiness was gone. She didn't hate that he'd stopped singing, of course, but she hated that he didn't feel the urge to sing because he was so unhappy.

When they reached town, the mercantile owner smiled at Eliza. "I have a letter for you."

Eliza smiled and took the letter from him. Only Beulah knew she was there so she knew the letter must be from her sister. She walked back to the corner of the store to read it and immediately started shaking.

She was a great deal more emotional now than she had been when she got the first letter threatening her sister. This one was short and to the point.

"Stop singing, even in church, if you want your sister and
nephews to stay alive. We're watching you."

The tears sprang to her eyes immediately, and she shook, scared about what would happen if they realized she was singing.

Calvin found her there several minutes later. He forgot all about being angry with her and put his arms around her, holding her close. "Everything's going to be okay. Whatever it is, we'll work through it together." Would she ever open up to him about whatever it was she was hiding? He wasn't certain how much longer he could support her without knowing what was happening.

Eliza buried her face in his shoulder, needing to tell him everything. She couldn't there, though, so she gulped and sobbed out, "Let's go talk somewhere. I need to tell you something." She knew she couldn't put it off for another minute.

Calvin kept one arm around her as he led her to the wagon, leaving all their supplies they'd selected with a promise to be back for them. He drove to the edge of town and pulled to the side of the road where they wouldn't be seen. "What have you been hiding from me?"

She told him her story in gulping sobs, explaining about how her parents had died, and her sister had married. She revealed how when Sebastian had heard her sing, she'd agreed to travel with him and begin her career. She talked about the long hours on the
road and of how little she'd been allowed to see her family.

"In November, we pulled into a small town in Massachusetts, and I was at the end of my rope. I was tired of Sebastian treating me like a child and making all my decisions for me. I escaped from him toward the women's waiting room, but on my way, someone gave me a note. I didn't see who it was in the crush of the crowd waiting for the next train." She told him what it said, and he stared at her with surprise.

"Is that why you agreed to be my wife? To try to save your sister and nephews?" It suddenly all made sense. She hadn't been hiding it from him for herself but instead, it was to save her sister. He wished she'd trusted him, but he understood wanting to save her family.

She nodded. "I didn't know what else to do. When I heard the conversation between Elizabeth and Dorothy, all I could think was that God had provided me with this opportunity to save my family. So I took it. I didn't know what else to do." She stared off into space for a moment. "I got here and everything seemed so wonderful. I love being your wife. You have always treated me so well, as if I was a lady and not a performer. Well, until a few days ago." She glared at him, remembering just then that she was angry with him. Did he think less of her now that he knew she'd been on the
stage singing for thousands?

He slipped his arm around her shoulders, holding her close.

"I had no idea you'd once performed. No wonder you reacted so strongly to me saying that. I'm very sorry, Eliza. I don't think of you as a performer. I promise." Knowing she'd been on the stage at one point made him feel ashamed. Eliza had done nothing wrong, but still Calvin had added to the shame she'd felt for doing what she was good at.

She nodded, her head down. "I know you don't." She handed him the letter she'd just received, watching him read it. She said a silent prayer for his support and help with the man who was threatening her family.

"They found you? Whoever it is?" His brown eyes met her green.

"Yes, and I don't know what to do. All I can think of is bringing her and the boys here so I can make certain they're all right, but I've been found. What am I supposed to do now?"

He studied her for a moment. "Do you have any idea who it is who's threatening you?"

She shrugged. "I think it's probably another singer. The profession is fiercely competitive and the others would do just about anything to get me out of the way." She hated to point
fingers at other women who had been her only friends and colleagues for years, but she knew it had to be one
of them
.

"We have to find out who it is. You can't spend the rest of your life being afraid to sing."

"I know, but I have to make sure my family is safe first. I can't risk them." How could she let him know just how desperately afraid she was for her sister and nephews?

"Does your sister know she's been threatened?"

"No, I never told her. I didn't want her to worry about the boys." She stared at her hands where she was worrying her drawstring purse. "I guess I need to tell her. I sent her a letter through her mother-in-law, telling her to be careful and asking her to respond the same way. I don't want them to be hurt." She couldn't live with herself if her family was hurt because of her career.

"No, of course not. What about your manager? What would he do if he found you?" Her manager really frightened him more than the man threatening her family. He had never met her family but he knew he needed her in his life.

Eliza shook her head. "I don't think there's anything he can do. I'm not under contract." She shrugged. "He'd want me back because I made him rich, but I'm not obligated to him in anyway." Sebastian frightened her, but he really wasn't a bad man.

"Could he help us?" His mind raced to find a way they could get her sister out to them so they could be certain she was safe. He could see on Eliza's face that she wouldn't feel safe until her sister and both nephews were somewhere that she could see them on a daily basis.

She thought about that for a moment. "He might be able to, but he'd want me to go back on the road with him." She didn't want to have to deal with Sebastian again. He would try to get her to leave Calvin because he wanted the money she would make him.

Calvin studied her carefully. "Do you want to go back on the road with him?" He hated the idea of losing her, but would she be happier if she were singing again?

"Not at all. I hated being on the road. And...well, I'm pregnant, so now isn't a good time to go on the road anyway. I can't ever sing on stage again if I don't want my child to spend their life being looked down on." She knew it wasn't the way she should have told him about the baby, but she needed him to understand exactly where she was coming from.

"Wait...you're pregnant? How long have you known?" He was excited about the baby, of course, but he couldn't understand why he was just now finding out.

She sighed. "A couple of weeks. I wanted to feel like I could tell you everything before I told you about the baby. Now that I've told you all about my past, I feel comfortable telling you about him." She touched a hand to her slightly swollen belly, wanting to protect the child that lived within her.

Calvin thought about that for a moment before nodding. "I think I can understand that. I'm thrilled about the baby. I just need you to know that." Thrilled was putting it mildly. He wanted to shout and dance in the streets, but the conversation was too serious for that.

She smiled. "So am I." She looked down at the letter in his hands. "What are we going to do about that, though?"

"I'm going to hire an investigator, and we'll go from there." He'd never even tried to hire an investigator, but he'd heard good things about a firm in St. Louis. They'd drive there and talk to them, doing everything they could to keep her family safe.

"I do have some money. Most of it was kept by Sebastian, but I always carried a little. I have what was in my purse the day I ran from him." She opened her purse to pull out whatever money she had.

He put his hand on her arm to stop her from getting the money out. "I'll let you know if I need it. For now, keep it safe." He put
one finger under her chin, tilting her face up for his kiss. "Now that I know about the problem, we'll solve it together."

She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder as he turned the wagon around and headed back to the mercantile. "You'll stop asking me to sing 'Yankee Doodle' now that you know I'm an opera singer, right?"

His eyes were dancing as he looked down on her. "Why would I do that? You have a beautiful voice, and you should put it to good use. That opera stuff is boring. You should sing something worth listening to." He hid the laugh bubbling up inside him, waiting for her reaction.

She laughed softly knowing he was never going to change, and for once being happy about that fact. He could sing all he wanted, and she'd put up with it as long as he worked to keep her family safe.

*****

They left early the following morning to head to St. Louis to see the investigator Calvin had heard about. "Are you sure you're up to a long drive in your condition?" he asked, his eyes going to her stomach. If it was up to him, he'd put her in a glass case for
the next seven months.

Eliza laughed. "It's too early for you to be worried about my condition. I n a few months you can worry all you want but for now, you need to let me do what I feel like doing." She'd moved back into their room the previous night, and he had made sweet love to her. He'd been so tender, she had been ready to scream at him to go faster. He was convinced he was going to hurt the baby.

"How can I not worry about you and the baby?" He shook his head. "You're the most important person in my life, and you're carrying my child. I'll do nothing but worry until he's born, and then I'll worry some more." He climbed up into the wagon beside her, picking up the reins.

"Well, there's really no reason to spend all your time worrying.
I feel good, and I think he's doing fine in there." Not that she knew. She'd never had a child and really wished she could see a doctor, but there just weren't any close to them.

"We'll make sure of it while we're in the city today."

"How will we do that?" Did he think there was a magic scope that would see into her belly? Let them know that the baby was growing well before he was ever bo
rn
?

"There's a good doctor in town that I saw a few years back when I broke my leg. I'm going to take you to him while we're
there. He'll put both of our minds at ease." He didn't ask if she wanted to see a doctor, because her answer really wasn't going to sway him either way. He needed her to seek medical attention, so she would see a doctor.

The whole four hour drive was spent talking about potential names for the baby. He had some strange names that he liked, and she told him 'no' to most of them. First he suggested Egbert which caused her to wrinkle her nose. Then he asked about Philomena. She refused.

Some of the names were so ridiculous she couldn't help but laugh. "Where do you come up with these names?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. They're just unusual names that I've heard over
the
years. How about Lela?"

"I like Lela. I've never heard that name before, but it's nice. Fora girl, I hope?"

He nodded. "I heard about a saloon girl by that name once. It sounded pretty to me."

"I'm not naming my daughter after a saloon girl! Are you kidding me?" She couldn't believe he'd even suggest such a thing. What was wrong with the man?

"Well, we wouldn't be naming her after the saloon girl. We'd be giving her a pretty name that also just happens to belong to a
saloon girl. She won't mind." He watched her out of the corner of his eye to get her reaction to his words, hoping she wouldn't realize he was doing his very best to tease her.

Eliza shook her head, refusing to even respond to him. He suggested another name, and so it went the whole way to St. Louis.

When they pulled into the city, he drove down the main street for a while, before finally stopping and asking about the detective agency. Eliza mumbled about men not asking for directions. They were directed to a street just two over from where they were, and she held tight to the wagon while he made a sharp turn in the middle of the street.

When they reached the investigator's office he helped her down, and they went to the door together. "Let me do the talking please," he asked.

Eliza bit her lip but nodded readily. She didn't want to have to explain again. She wasn't sure she could do it without crying her heart out.

The man who came to greet them was nothing like she'd expected a detective to be. He had gray receding hair and was shorter than she was. He was almost as round as he was tall. She couldn't imagine the man would be able to apply any stealth to an
operation, but if Calvin had heard good things about him, then she was determined to trust him.

He introduced himself, his gaze remaining on Eliza's face. "I'm Grant Bigelow," he told them.

Calvin smiled, shaking his hand. "Calvin Simpson. This is my wife, Eliza."

"What can I do for the two of you today?" His eyes were still glued to Eliza's face as if he were trying to figure something out.

"We'd like to hire you. Someone has been threatening my wife's family."

Mr. Bigelow nodded, inviting them into his office and sitting down to hear their story.

Calvin explained everything in detail. When he mentioned that Eliza was an opera singer, Mr. Bigelow's face lit up. "That's where I know you from! You're L'Angelina. You have the voice of an angel."

Eliza nodded once. "Thank you." She was used to the compliment and had even been given her stage name because her voice was so angelic.

Calvin finished the story, telling him about the letter that Eliza had received the previous day. "We're not certain what to do at this point. My wife can avoid singing, but we want to make certain
her family stays safe. She likes to sing in church, and we'd like her to be able to do so when she wants to."

Mr. Bigelow shook his head. "She can't avoid singing. That would be doing a great disservice to the world." He leaned back in his chair, his face thoughtful. Looking at Eliza, he asked, "Your sister is a widow?"

Eliza nodded, not certain what that had to do with anything. "Yes, she is."

"You came out West as a mail order bride. Would your sister consider doing the same? Maybe she could marry someone close to you?"

Eliza shrugged. "I don't know any of the single men around. I'm not even certain that Beulah would agree. I know she's short of funds, but I'm not certain that she's feeling that...well, desperate is the best word I can come up with." She hated using the word desperate in terms of a mail order bride because she'd been one, but nothing seemed to fit better.

Mr. Bigelow nodded. "Is your sister near a telegraph office? Could we get a message to her inviting her to come West? Perhaps while she and her boys are traveling you could be finding her a husband. Then she could she stay with you for a short time until the danger is past."

Eliza looked at Calvin who nodded. "I think I even know someone who she could marry. My closest neighbor told me he'd like a wife, but he's older than I am. He didn't want to send off for a bride and end up with a young girl."

"That would probably work out well for Beulah if he wouldn't mind her having two boys already that is." Eliza would love to have her sister and nephews that close to her. She couldn't imagine anything that would make her happier.

"I don't see that being a problem, but we can ask him when we get home." Calvin turned his attention back to Mr. Bigelow. "What about the man threatening her? Can you find him?" His biggest concern was for his wife's safety, but she cared about her sister, so that made Beulah and the boys a priority as well.

Mr. Bigelow looked at Eliza for a moment. "Would you make me a list of all of your fiercest competition? I'm certain the threats must be coming from another singer." He pushed a pencil and a piece of paper at her.

Eliza took the paper and began making a list of anyone who could possibly want her to stop singing. Every opera singer she'd ever come into contact with went onto the list. She had no close friends in the industry. She'd never been allowed to spend enough time with someone away from rehearsals to become close. While
she wrote, she listened to the men with only half an ear.

"Does her manager know where she is now? Is he looking for her?"

Calvin shrugged. "I haven't heard anything about that. Why do you ask?"

Mr. Bigelow opened his desk and pulled out a folder with papers in it. He found the one he was looking for and laid it on his desk. There was a drawing of Eliza with the name "L'Angelina" under it. The words, "Reward for helping me find my daughter" were under it with the amount of two hundred and fifty dollars printed beside it.

Calvin picked up the paper and sighed. "His daughter?" He nudged Eliza with his elbow.
"It looks like Sebastian is looking for you. He's calling you his daughter." He watched her face carefully for a reaction. Knowing how she felt about Sebastian, he expected a very big reaction.

Eliza shook her head. 'That man is not my father. He is just hoping someone will turn me in so he can force me to sing more." As much as she loved to sing, she hated the opera singers' lifestyle. Keeping a home and having babies was what she wanted to do. She was finished with being on the road.

Mr. Bigelow looked at Eliza. "Did he force you to sing before?
Were you his prisoner or something?"

"No, sir. I sang willingly for the most part, but he became more and more controlling as time went by. I ran away from him because he never would have willingly let me go. I honestly think that if I'd tried, he'd have made me his prisoner. As it was, I wasn't allowed to get more than five feet away from him while we were out. He watched over everything I did. It made me crazy." Eliza kept writing her list as she talked, not really wanting to explain just how much control Sebastian had over her life.

"Did you sign a contract with him? Can he legally come and get you?"

"No, there was never any contract. He just kept telling me that I owed him my life for the way he'd 'rescued' me from a life of poverty." She shook her head. "My sister had offered to let me live with her and her
fiancé
once they married, but I didn't feel right about that. I took his offer to sing, because my sister deserved to have privacy with her new husband."

"I understand." Mr. Bigelow looked at Calvin. "Your wife may need to have someone with her during the day. Someone who can protect her."

Calvin nodded. "I think so too. Do you have a man you can send with us, or should I have one of my ranch hands stay with
her and keep her safe?" He could spare a man after a day or two. They would get ahead on the work needing to be done, and then someone could stay with her constantly.

"I think a ranch hand is a better bet. I have men, but I'm going to be employing them all to help me find who is threatening your wife. I think with the right questions, we can get to the bottom of things relatively quickly."

Eliza let out a sigh of relief. "I certainly hope so. I've been living in fear for my sister and my nephews for too long." She'd never imagined her singing career would put people she loved at risk. Never again. She'd sing in church, but they'd have to carry her in kicking and screaming to get her to do anything else.

Calvin took her hand in his. "We'll telegraph your sister today, and hopefully she'll be on the next train out here. We can watch over her for as long as we need to. Even if my friend has no interest in marrying her, we'll find someone."

Eliza nodded. "That would make me feel a great deal better. I need to know she and the boys are safe." She was relieved there was a plan in place, but she knew she wouldn't be able to rest easy until her sister was by her side.

"They will be," Calvin promised.

After they left Mr. Bigelow's office they went straight to the
telegraph office. She sent a message to Beulah, and they got a recommendation for a hotel. They'd wait for a response from her sister before going back home to the ranch. Knowing it could take a day or two, they made an appointment on their way to the hotel with a doctor for the following morning.

Calvin found a small restaurant not far from where they would be staying, and they went inside. The menu was printed on a huge blackboard on the wall, and they both read it trying to decide what they'd have. When the waitress came over, they gave their order.

"I just want the pot roast with mashed potatoes," Eliza requested. She'd been wanting mashed potatoes with every meal ever since she'd found out she was carrying.

"Steak and baked potato." Calvin turned back to Eliza taking her hand as the waitress walked away. "What do you think of the plan to get your sister out here and married?" He thought it was a good one, but if she wasn't comfortable with it, then they'd have to do something else. He wouldn't have her worrying while she was nurturing his child.

"I like it. I like the idea of her being close, but not only so I can watch out for her. I feel like I don't even know her boys, and I'm their only aunt." She hated that her work had kept her away from her family for so long, but she understood the necessity as well.
She'd sent her sister money many times over the years.

"Do you think she'll agree?"

Eliza thought about it for a moment. "I do. She and I have wanted to live closer together. She's invited me to move in with them many times over the years, but I wasn't willing to be a financial burden on her husband. After he died, I knew that she couldn't afford to have me there. They needed the extra money I was able to send." She wasn't certain how Beulah would feel about being a wife to one of the men there, but she knew that she would want to be close to her.

"How did her husband die?" he asked.

"He was working in his field one day and just fell over. The doctor thinks it was his heart, but he was such a young man." She shrugged. "I guess we'll never really know what happened to him." She'd liked her brother-in-law and was still angry with herself for not making it back for his funeral.