Prince Charming

  “There’s a saloon right across the street,” Victoria said. There was a bit of criticism in her voice.

  “I wish it weren’t so quiet.”

  The women kept their gazes straight ahead. They were attracting attention and trying not to notice the men gawking at them.

  They were everywhere. They stood in doorways, hung out windows, and leaned over hitching posts. No two men looked alike, of course, but their expressions seemed identical. They all looked stupefied.

  Word of the women’s arrival spread as fast as a flash flood. Before the two wagons reached the hitching posts in front of the general store, the entire town had turned out to look them over. All nineteen of them.

  Victoria didn’t guess at the number. She counted just to be certain.

  Taylor didn’t know what was expected of her. Should she smile and call out a greeting? Or would that be considered too forward? She wanted to start out right. She just wasn’t certain how.

  The crowd was edging closer. Several started making hooping sounds. Hunter looped the reins over the posts and then turned to help Taylor to the ground.

  “Why isn’t anyone talking?” she whispered.

  “They’re having trouble believing what they’re seeing,” he answered.

  Taylor let out a sigh. ordered herself not to be nervous, and then took off her bonnet.

  Bedlam broke loose. Everyone pressed forward to meet the woman. Hunter waved them back. He lifted Taylor to the ground and then turned back to the crowd. “She’s Ross’s wife.”

  A man in a checkered shirt and baggy pants stepped forward. He had an unruly gray-streaked beard, a giant-sized nose, and dark brown eyes. He squinted at Taylor and moved closer. “I haven’t seen a pretty woman in so long I’ve forgotten what they look like.”

  “I ain’t never seen any as pretty as these two,” another man shouted. “We quit thinking of Ma and Alice Browley as women years ago.”

  “Back away, Cleevis,” Hunter ordered. “Let the women breathe.”

  “I just want to get close enough to catch her scent,” Cleevis admitted.

  Taylor could feel herself blushing. She straightened her shoulders and edged her way around Hunter. She heard the man named Cleevis take a deep indrawn breath when she passed him, then cry out in what sounded very like ecstasy, “Roses. She smells like roses, men.”

  “If that don’t beat all.”

  Taylor couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she heard that odd comment. She made her way to the back of Hunter’s wagon and pulled the flap back just enough for her to look inside.

  Georgie was wide awake. She’d obviously just used the chamber pot and was now letting Daniel David fix her bloomers for her. Taylor took over the chore and then lifted the two-year-old into her arms.

  The twin wanted to get down until she saw all the men staring at her. Then she wrapped her arms around Taylor’s neck and buried her face in the crook of her neck.

  Hunter was trying to assist Victoria to the ground. Every time he reached up for her, she’d shake her head at him.

  “You can’t sit there all day,” he snapped. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you.”

  “I didn’t suppose you would,” she whispered back. “Besides, I can take care of myself. I’m not afraid.”

  “Prove it.”

  She decided to do just that. She took off her bonnet, tossed it into the wagon behind her, and then accepted his assistance in getting to the ground.

  Everyone was plying Taylor with questions. They spoke in low voices and when it dawned on her they were whispering so Georgie wouldn’t become any more frightened, she lost her own nervousness.

  “Where are you headed, Mrs. Ross?” a man with thick eyeglasses asked her.

  “We have arrived at our destination, sir,” she answered. “We’re settling here.”

  “Is the red-headed one married?”

  A young, freckle-faced man in the crowd called out the question. Taylor turned to look at Victoria. She thought she might want to answer the inquiry. Victoria wasn’t paying any attention to her. She had latched onto Hunter’s arm and wasn’t going to let go. He was trying to peel her fingers away from him.

  “She was married,” Taylor explained. “Her husband died just a few months ago.”

  No one seemed to be particularly sorry to hear the news. Victoria received three marriage proposals before she’d circled the wagon to stand next to Taylor.

  “I’m in mourning,” she announced. “And I happen to be an expectant mother.”

  Neither statement made any difference to the men. They didn’t even know her name and they were still pleading for her hand in marriage. One gentleman told her he’d be more than willing to let her keep the baby.

  Victoria considered kicking the offensive man. Taylor laughed. Georgie was finally ready to explore her new surroundings. Taylor walked over to the steps and put her down on the wooden walkway. Georgie immediately ran inside the store.

  Taylor straightened up and then took a hasty step back. Another man, wearing a thick, long-sleeved gray undershirt and blue overalls, had worked his way around the crowd and now stood towering over her. He was a giant of a man, at least six and a half feet tall, with huge shoulders and brawny arms. He had long brown hair and a thick beard. He was quite frightful looking, and he was waving a newspaper like a madman in front of her nose.

  She swatted the paper away. “Whatever are you doing, sir?”

  “You a reader?”

  “Excuse me?”

  He bellowed his question the second time. Taylor’s ears started ringing.

  “If you’re asking me if I can read, the answer is yes.”

  Her admission pleased him. He let out a shout of satisfaction that very nearly knocked Taylor off the steps.

  Victoria walked carefully around the giant and went into the general store. Several men chased after her.

  Daniel David climbed out of the wagon and hurried to stand next to his mother. Taylor introduced him to her audience.

  Hunter watched her. She told the men that Daniel David was her son. Someone tried to challenge the notion, but Taylor’s stare stopped the protest cold.

  “Daniel David is my son,” she repeated. “I am his mother and Lucas Ross is his father.”

  She scanned her audience, daring them to disagree with her. No one said a word. Several nodded their acceptance. Taylor was satisfied. She happened to glance over at Hunter and saw him smile. Then she turned back to her son. She patted him and suggested he go inside the store and find out if there were any peppermint candies for sale.

  “But Allie . . .”

  “I’ll get her,” Taylor promised.

  The little boy ran inside. Taylor walked back to the wagon. Allie was still sleeping soundly. She closed the flap and turned to Hunter. He nodded before she could ask him if he’d watch the wagon. She smiled at him and then turned to go inside.

  The giant followed her. He had the newspaper tucked under his arm. Victoria was visiting with the owner. She introduced him to Taylor. The man’s name was Frank Michaels, and he couldn’t have been more pleased to meet her. He pumped her hand up and down for a good minute. His enthusiasm was heartwarming. Frank was approximately fifty years old. He wore spectacles with a crack in one of the lenses and had narrow shoulders and gnarled hands. His eyes held her attention. They were hazel in color and radiated warmth. So did his smile. He kept telling her over and over that he was as pleased as punch to meet her.

  Georgie took off for the back of the store. A few seconds later, Allie appeared in the entrance. She was leaning against Hunter’s leg, staring at the crowd.

  “She’s a quick one, she is,” Frank Michaels announced. “She must have run like lightning to get around to the front so quickly.”

  Allie spotted her mother and ran to her. She had her baby doll in her hands. The owner squatted down close to the child. Allie immediately hid behind Taylor’s skirts. Then Georgie came tearing around the corner. Mr. Michaels did a double
take.

  “Twins,” he whispered.

  “When you have a minute to spare, I’d surely appreciate your attention, Mrs. Ross.”

  The giant made the request from behind her. Taylor turned around and immediately dodged the newspaper he was waving in front of her face.

  “Could you read this?”

  “Yes, of course I could,” she answered. She tried to hide her exasperation from the strange man. “I’ve been reading for years, sir.”

  “Now, Rolly, she only just got here. Let her catch her wind. You don’t want to bother her with the paper.” The owner made the protest on her behalf. He let out a little groan as he straightened up again and pressed the palms of his hands to his lower back.

  “You have a handsome family, Mrs. Ross.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Michaels.”

  “I’d be pleased as punch if you’d call me Frank.”

  “Then you must call me Taylor,” she replied.

  “I’d be honored to,” Frank told her.

  Rolly wasn’t going to be deterred or ignored. “She gave me her agreement, Frank. I heard her clear.”

  Taylor didn’t know what he was talking about. Before she could ask what it was she had just agreed to, Rolly took hold of her hand, tucked it tight under his elbow, and pulled her back to the doorway. Rolly had to pass Hunter in order to get outside. The giant stopped, gave Hunter a worried look, then muttered, “Hunter.” He added a nod to complete the greeting.

  Hunter was just as ungracious. He frowned at Rolly, nodded his greeting, and then added his name in a grudging tone of voice. “Rolly.”

  They proceeded on. Rolly stopped when they reached the steps. He bellowed his order. “Get the crate, boys. We got us a reader.”

  A resounding cheer went up. Taylor was astonished by the reaction. A crate appeared out of thin air and was placed on the boardwalk next to her. She stared down at it and then turned to look up at the giant again.

  He handed her the paper and lifted her up to stand on the crate. Another man dragged out a rocking chair from the store. Rolly nodded to the man and then took his seat.

  “Mama, what are you doing?” Georgie asked.

  Taylor looked down at her daughter and shrugged. “I don’t have the faintest idea,” she whispered.

  “Your mama’s going to read us the news,” Rolly explained. He gave Taylor a wave. “Get it started then.”

  Taylor looked at Hunter to see what he thought about the man’s behavior. Hunter was standing just outside the entrance to the store, looking bored and unconcerned.

  She unfolded the paper. It was the Rosewood Herald. She had never heard of the town. Then she noticed the date.

  “Why, this paper’s two weeks old.”

  “It’s still going to be news to us,” Rolly explained.

  “We used to get lots of papers from the mining camps clustered up in the mountains,” another man called out. “But we all prefer the Rosewood Herald, don’t we, Rolly?”

  “It seems we do,” he agreed.

  Taylor was dying to ask if her first impression was accurate. Didn’t any of them know how to read? She didn’t wish to offend their feelings, however. She had to be wrong, she thought. In this advanced day and age, surely some of them could read.

  She decided to take a roundabout way of finding out. “Who read the paper before I was given the honor?”

  Everyone looked to Rolly to answer. “Well, now, Frank usually did the reading. Then his glasses got cracked, and he hasn’t had time to get them fixed.”

  “Then there was Earl,” someone called out.

  Rolly nodded. “We weren’t partial to his reading. He had a hacking cough that got in the way of the news.”

  “Henry read once,” Frank reminded Rolly from the doorway.

  “He stuttered,” Rolly interjected. “Drove me crazy,” he added with a nod. “I almost shot him.”

  “You did shoot him,” Frank reminded the giant.

  Taylor’s eyes widened. Rolly clarified his action. “That was for a different reason. Get it started,” he ordered Taylor once again.

  She looked over the crowd of men, their expressions earnest, expectant, and she did the only thing she could do. She read.

  They wouldn’t let her skip any section. She was expected to read every word in print. It took her close to forty-five minutes, as the paper was four sheets thick, and she counted her blessings Rolly hadn’t handed her the Denver Post. It would have taken her hours to read the paper. She was interrupted with hoots of laughter over anything the least bit humorous and long discussions over the bad news.

  Her audience was very appreciative. When she finished reading the last notice and folded the paper, they clapped and shouted their thank-yous. Someone she hadn’t met yet told her she had a right nice pretty voice.

  Taylor felt that she’d learned two things. The first was the fact that the men craved hearing news from the outside world. They obviously weren’t content to live in their own little realm, they wanted to know what was going on all around them. They weren’t passive Americans, and from the heated way they debated the issues, she realized they all took an active interest in their government. The second thing was about Rolly. The other townsmen gave the giant a wide path. He sat all by himself, and from the looks some of the others cast his way, she concluded they were afraid of the giant. He seemed harmless enough to her.

  Taylor jumped down off the crate and handed the paper to the man. “Here you are, Mr. Rolly. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hundred things to do before nightfall.”

  The giant stood up. “We’ll see you Sunday then?”

  “Sunday?”

  “For the reading,” he explained. “Harrison brings the paper on Fridays or Saturdays. We would all wait until Sunday to hear you read.”

  “I would be happy to read on Sunday,” she agreed.

  Rolly bowed to her. “I’d be willing to show you my appreciation, Mrs. Ross.” He turned to glare at the crowd. “It’s only right.”

  Heads bobbed up and down in rapid succession. Taylor surmised Rolly didn’t want to be seen as thoughtful or courteous.

  “Is there something in particular you might be needing?” he asked her.

  “We need lodging, Mr. Rolly,” Taylor explained. “Could you tell me if there are any vacant houses in the area? I know it’s probably wishful thinking on my part, but we’ll be more than willing to live in an abandoned soddie for a while. Do you know of anything?”

  Rolly smiled at her and then turned to the audience watching from the street.

  “She’s wanting a house, men. Anyone disagree?”

  The giant waited a full minute and then turned back to Taylor. “It’s settled.”

  “What is settled?” she asked.

  “Your house,” he explained. “We’ll start building you one tomorrow.”

  Her mouth dropped open. Rolly picked up the rocking chair and took it back inside. As he passed her, he suggested she pick her spot this afternoon.

  He wasn’t jesting with her. She told him he was being overly generous. He told her he didn’t mind. No one else minded either, she realized. One gentleman told her the only way they could be certain she’d stay on is if they provided a home for her.

  “We don’t want Ross hiding you in the mountains,” one earnest-looking young man admitted.

  Frank Michaels had stayed outside to listen to Taylor read the paper. He had already scanned the news but he liked listening to the sound of her voice. “You could all sleep in Callaghan’s house tonight,” he suggested. “It’s nice and sound.”

  “It’s got wood floors,” someone called out.

  “Callaghan won’t be back until summer,” Frank told her.

  “Won’t he mind if we use his house?” Taylor asked.

  “It ain’t Callaghan’s,” Rolly explained. “He just took a liking to it. He ran the owners off years ago. They.deeded the place to Lewis.”

  The freckle-faced young man named Billy stepped forward.
“Whenever Callaghan comes to town, he stays in the house. No one knows how he gets inside. The house has four fancy glass windows, but none of them have been broken. He sure doesn’t get in that way. There are locks on both doors, too. He’s a crazy old mountain man,” he added with a nod. “You don’t want to be running into him.”

  “A real mountain man?” Taylor repeated the words in a whisper.

  “I don’t believe you should stay there unless your husband agrees. Where is Ross?” Frank asked.

  “On an important errand,” she answered. “He’s really a mountain man?”

  “Who?” Rolly asked.

  “Callaghan,” she explained.

  “He’s a real one, all right,” Rolly confirmed with a nod.

  “Would Mr. Lewis be willing to sell the house?” she asked then.

  “He’s wanting to sell it,” Frank explained. “The couple who left made him their agent. Lewis holds the papers, and if he ever sells the place, he’ll keep his cut and send the rest on to St. Louis. That’s where the past owners were headed. You aren’t thinking you want to buy the place, are you?”

  “Lewis is the town’s lawyer,” Billy said.

  Taylor was impressed. For a town this size to boast a legal advisor was quite a surprise. Then Frank pointed out the fact that Lewis had never had any formal schooling. He’d read a couple of books, followed a fancy attorney around for the year that he lived in Virginia City, and when he settled in Redemption, he put his own shingle out. Lawyers apparently didn’t need diplomas.

  “Does Mr. Lewis have specific office hours?”

  The men found her question vastly amusing. When they stopped laughing, Frank explained Lewis didn’t have an office. He owned the stable, and when he wasn’t busy taking care of the horses, he took care of any legal matters.

  “Why doesn’t he read the paper for you?” Taylor asked then.

  “He charged too much money,” Rolly explained. “Frank, I’m thinking she’ll be safe enough. If Callaghan knows she’s married to Ross, he’ll leave her alone. He won’t tangle with him.”

  Victoria came back into the general store with the twins trailing behind.

  “Where’s David Daniel?” Taylor asked.

  “He’s helping Hunter with the horses.”