A Chance at Love

  The women shared strong hugs and plenty of tears. “We’ll keep an eye on your girls, don’t worry,” Zora told Loreli. “And we’ll all write you so you’ll know how they’re faring.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Do you want to know how Jake’s faring?” Fanny said.

  “No.”

  “Now, Loreli, you love that man,” Ruby said.

  “No, Ruby. I don’t want to know and I don’t want any of you stirring up trouble with him after I’m gone. If he finds himself a wife—treat her nice, for the girls’ sake, okay?”

  They nodded.

  The conductor yelled out his last call.

  Loreli looked at her friends, and the love she felt for them filled her up inside. “I have to go. I’ll write soon.”

  She hurried to board the train. As always, she didn’t look back.

  Loreli decided to go to Philadelphia. As the train chugged East, she tried not to be overwhelmed by her sadness, but it was difficult. Who knew love could hurt a woman this bad? Who knew it could open up an ache inside one’s heart big enough to run a train through? She certainly hadn’t. She also had no idea how long it might take her to heal, or if she ever would.

  Jake stepped out onto the back porch to check on the girls. Since their return he found himself unable to have them out of his sight for more than a second or two. He supposed his paranoia surrounding their safety would eventually decrease, but he didn’t believe it would occur anytime soon.

  They were seated on the porch just as they had been when he looked out at them two minutes ago. They’d not taken Loreli’s leaving well.

  “Do you girls want to ride over and see Aggie and Charlene today?”

  “I don’t,” Bebe said quietly.

  Her sister added, “Me neither.”

  Jake’s mustache thinned. For days the house had been as solemn as a tomb. There had been no giggles, no jacks, no jump rope. It was as if Loreli’s leaving had drained the life out of everything and everyone she’d touched.

  “I think it may be fun. How about we go anyway?”

  They nodded but they showed little enthusiasm.

  Dede turned and looked up at him, and confessed softly, “We miss her, Uncle Jake.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you miss her?” Bebe asked.

  Jake didn’t lie. “I do, but she didn’t want you girls to ever be hurt by any of her friends again. That’s why she left.”

  Bebe asked him, “But why didn’t you tell her to stay? We wouldn’t have been scared.”

  Jake had to look away for a moment in order to corral his emotions, then explained, “Sometimes things are more complicated when you get to be an adult, Be. Loreli did what she thought was best.”

  He sat down between them and gently hugged them close. They put their heads on his chest and snaked their arms around him so they could hold him close as well. He kissed the tops of their heads lovingly. “This is the best way,” he whispered.

  “But we loved her very, very much.” Dede’s voice was filled with tears.

  Bebe was crying softly as well.

  Jake felt the water stinging at his eyes. “I know, sweetheart. We all did.”

  “Do you think if we told her that, she might come back?” Dede asked.

  Jake didn’t answer. He kissed them again instead. “How about we get ready to ride over and see Charlene and Aggie.”

  Both girls were searching his face intently.

  “What?” he asked.

  “You didn’t answer.”

  He held their eyes and the love he had for them made him give the only answer he could. “She’s not coming back, girls, so we need to go on with living.”

  They dropped their heads, then nodded their understanding.

  “All right, Uncle Jake,” Bebe finally said.

  But Dede didn’t reply at all.

  It was raining when Loreli’s train reached the station in Philadelphia. During the stop back in Chicago, Loreli had wired Olivia as to when she’d be arriving in Philadelphia, so Loreli was not surprised to see her chauffeur, Sgt. Caldwell Collins, Civil War veteran, beside the tracks when she stepped off. He was standing beneath a large open parasol.

  When he saw her, he smiled and came forward so she could quickly duck out of the rain. “Welcome home, Miss Winters.”

  Collins was always very formal in his dealings with her even after seven years of employment. “How are you, Sgt.?”

  “Fine, ma’am. Just fine. Carriage is this way. Once I get you inside, I’ll go back and get your luggage.”

  “There isn’t any, so let’s go on home.”

  Sgt. Collins served as both chauffeur and houseman. He knew her well. Loreli could see he had questions, but she said, “Tell you all about it later.”

  He nodded, then directed her toward the carriage.

  After riding around in a rented buggy during the stay in Hanks, and spending the month before that on the hard seat of a Conestoga, the soft leather seats and the finely appointed interior of her own carriage made her sigh contentedly. She was home and once she arrived at the house planned to do nothing but let herself be waited upon. She would bathe in her own tub, sleep in her own bed, have strawberries and chocolate for breakfast if she desired. She wouldn’t have to rise before dawn or smell the distinctive fragrance of hogs the moment she took her first waking breath. She was home, or at least the closest thing she had to one.

  Olivia met her at the door and the two women shared a great big hug.

  “Welcome. How are you?” Olivia said.

  Loreli shrugged. “I’m here, that’s all I can say.”

  Olivia, standing with Sgt. Collins, looked to have questions as well. “Well, the new tub I ordered arrived, so your bath’s ready and you can eat afterward.”

  Loreli was tired. “Thanks.” She then added with a small smile, “And since I know the two of you are about to burst, I’ll answer all of your questions as soon as I’m washed and have eaten.”

  They nodded and watched her slowly climb the grand, carved stairway to her second-floor suite.

  The bath was glorious, the water hot and full of scented salts.

  Olivia had come in to bring her employer some fat hot drying sheets, and set them on the small table beside the big clawfooted tub. Loreli didn’t have any family, and neither did the fifty-year-old Olivia, but because the two women had been together now almost fifteen years they shared a close and personal bond. Basking in the tub, Loreli sighed. “I could spend the rest of my life, right here.”

  Olivia laughed. “And you’d look like a shriveled up apple.”

  “Well, after what I’ve been through that’s how my heart feels,” Loreli replied.

  Loreli then told her all that had happened.

  When she was done, Olivia was appalled. “And they never found Trevor?”

  “No, good thing, though. Jake and I were going to take turns killing him. I hope I never see him again. The sheriff was pretty much convinced Trevor murdered the Tate woman.”

  Olivia shook her head, “Had I known what he was up to, I’d’ve brought the paintings myself. I’m so sorry they’re gone.”

  “It’s all right. You thought you could trust him, so it isn’t your fault. He took advantage of all of us.”

  “I’m glad the girls were found alive, though. Those poor babies must have been scared to death.”

  “I’m sure they were. I was so glad Trevor hadn’t hurt them.”

  It still pained her that she hadn’t been with them when they awakened. That they’d recovered was all that mattered, however.

  “By the way, Olivia, thank you for their beautiful dresses. The twins wanted to give you a kiss for sending them. Give yourself a raise in pay tomorrow.”

  Olivia smiled. “So, are you going to stay around here, or head off somewhere else?”

  “I don’t know. I may stick around. I need to lick my wounds a bit.”

  Olivia’s eyes reflected understanding. “I wired the staff at your
place in Denver that you’d be here awhile. They send their regards.”

  “Thanks.” Loreli was thinking of letting the staffs go at the other two houses that she owned. They served no purpose really, and she was getting too old to be gallivanting around. Being in Kansas had settled her restless soul in ways she still didn’t understand.

  Olivia then said, “Answer this one question, and then I’ll leave you alone.”

  “Go ahead.”

  “Did you love him?”

  Loreli went silent for a moment. Jake’s face shimmered across her memory. She confessed truthfully, softly, “Yes, I did. Hurts like hell too.”

  “Love can be painful,” Olivia offered sympathetically. “I’ll bring your dinner up whenever you’re ready.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  The month of August slid into September bringing with it cooler temperatures and, in Kansas, preparations for harvest. Jake Reed woke up in the attic room and decided to go back to sleeping in his own room. He was making some progress in his quest to forget Loreli; he was only dreaming about her every other night instead of every night. He looked around the dawn-lit room. Her furniture and clothes were still in residence as if he expected her to walk in at any moment, but she wouldn’t. He leaned back against the down pillows. Even though he kept telling himself that her leaving had been best for everyone concerned, he continued to reach for her in the middle of the night. The dreams he had about her were vividly erotic. He’d awakened more mornings than he could count, hard and ready, and that wasn’t helping his situation either.

  At breakfast he told the girls, “I’m going to move back into my old room. I don’t like sleeping so far away from you.”

  “Can me and Dede have Loreli’s room, then?” Bebe asked,

  The girls were no more happy with her leaving now than they’d been at first. They were silent, moody, and continued to put Loreli in their prayers. “I don’t see why not.” Jake hadn’t the heart to deny the request. Maybe being around her things would soothe their sadness and feelings of loss.

  “Thank you, Uncle Jake,” Dede said.

  The girls exchanged a smile, the first ones Jake had seen since their recovery.

  In mid-September, Loreli received a letter from Trevor. It read:

  Dear Lass,

  I’m writing you at the Philadelphia house because I know Olivia will forward this to you wherever you are. I know that you’re probably still angry at me, but I must write. I’m sorry for all the pain I’ve caused. I lost my head when Millie refused to let me hide the girls in her shop and threatened to go to the sheriff, so I killed her. A grave mistake. I hope you found the girls in the cellar and that they are well. I am presently in a filthy jail in Brazil. I know it is presumptuous of me to ask, but if you will wire the warden here two hundred in American gold, he will let me out. Please, Loreli. I will die here if you do not answer this plea. You are my only hope.

  TC

  Loreli wrote down the address where Trevor wanted the money to be sent, then fed the letter to the fire in the grate in her bedroom. Tomorrow she would be turning the address over to the authorities. She’d let them come to his rescue.

  Chapter 17

  Jake fixed his tie, then looked at himself in the mirror. The items Loreli had ordered from Bloomingdale Brothers arrived about six weeks after her departure, and among the roller skates, rugs and such, had been this tie. It was plain enough to satisfy his conservative tastes yet classy enough to be worn on special occasions. He considered this night to be just that. A cousin of Denise Gibson’s was visiting from St. Louis, and Art and Denise wanted Jake to come over and have Sunday supper. Jake got the sense that Denise was playing matchmaker, but he was willing to go along with it. He was still looking for a mama for the girls, and the pickings were no better now than they’d been before Loreli came along. Thinking of her name made her golden face shimmer across his mind’s eye. He pushed it aside. Going to meet a woman while thinking of another was a recipe for disaster. Jake had already decided that if the cousin were even-tempered, got along with the girls, and was amenable to courting he’d pursue her with the intentions of marrying. The girls needed someone to help them get over Loreli as soon as possible, and he needed to stop putting off the search. Whatever she looked like, he’d marry her. It wouldn’t be a love match, but many marriages were built on respect. This one could be too.

  The cousin’s name was Cordelia Dean. She was twenty-five and a seamstress. She was also a pretty little thing. As the evening progressed, Jake found he liked her wit, and her shy smile. Denise was pleased that the two of them seemed to hit it off so well, and admittedly, Jake was pleased too.

  After supper, he sat on the front porch with her while Art and Denise sat out back with the girls.

  “Your girls are sweet,” Cordelia said. “So well mannered.”

  “Thanks. I think so too.”

  “I’ll bet not many folks can tell them apart.”

  “You’re right. Took me a few days to be able to.”

  She smiled. She was dressed in a plain brown dress and the shoes on her feet were buffed but worn. She appeared to be a simple woman.

  She said then, “You are aware that Cousin Denise invited you to supper so you could take a look at me, and I could get a look at you?”

  Jake dropped his head to hide his smile. “I am.”

  “Well, I—like what I see.”

  She turned and met his eyes.

  He nodded, “I like what I see, as well.”

  She turned back. “Tell me about you and Loreli. Denise said she thought you loved her very much.”

  The question caught him by surprise. It took him a moment to recover. “What do you want to know?”

  She shrugged. “Mainly, do you love her still?”

  Jake drew in a deep sigh. “I could lie to you and say no, but—”

  “It wouldn’t be the truth.”

  “No.”

  Jake got up and slowly walked over to the edge of the porch. He looked out on the countryside. The day was ending. The sky was showing the dark purple bands of dusk. “Loreli is a very unique woman.”

  Cordelia added softly, “Beautiful too, from what I’m hearing.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  Silence grew between them for a bit, then she said, “I can hear the love in your voice when you speak of her.”

  “Sorry,” Jake said.

  “No, you’ve nothing to apologize for. Every woman wishes to have a man who speaks with such feeling.”

  Jake had no idea how to respond to that, so he set his attention back on the sky.

  “In fact, I’m looking for that kind of man myself—one who has love in his voice when he speaks of me,” Cordelia confessed. “I thought you might be him.”

  Jake turned back to view her. “But I’m not?”

  “No. I want to be first in your heart, and right now that position is filled.” She shrugged.

  Jake respected her honesty, although it never crossed his mind that he would be the one turned down.

  “No hard feelings?” Cordelia said.

  He chuckled. “No.”

  “Good, then shall we go and see what everyone else is doing?”

  He smiled. “After you.”

  In an effort to purge herself of Kansas and the memories she’d left behind, Loreli plunged head-first back into life. She began gambling with her high-powered partners again and accepting their invitations to dinners and to balls. Other gentlemen friends competed with one another to escort her to the theater, and baseball games, and she had a grand time picking the winners. Loreli was burning the candle at both ends, and moving at such a fast pace that she rarely returned home before dawn and never rose from her bed before late afternoon.

  One afternoon in early October, Olivia came in with Loreli’s breakfast. The tray Olivia was carrying was topped with a small bowl of sugared strawberries and a pot of hot chocolate. Seeing that Loreli was still asleep, Olivia set th
e tray down as loudly as she could on the small bedside table.

  Beneath the sheets, Loreli jumped, then growled, “If you’re trying to wake me up, you’ve succeeded. What time is it?”

  “Four in the afternoon,” Olivia said disapprovingly.

  “Even with my eyes closed I can see your face. What am I in trouble for now?”

  “Have you written to Jake?”

  “No, and I’m not going to.”

  Loreli sat up, then dragged the sheets over her waist.

  “He has a right to know, Loreli,” Olivia told her plainly.

  “No, he doesn’t.”

  Loreli was pregnant. Had been for a good four months now, according to the doctor. She could have easily prevented the need for this argument had she used her sponges during those passionate nights, but she hadn’t—because, frankly, she’d wanted his child. She wanted something to remind her of just how much she’d loved him, a piece of him that would be with her for a lifetime. Their child. Granted, at her age her body was not happy with the changes it was undergoing, but she was prepared to endure.

  “It’s not good for the baby if you’re out until all hours of the night.”

  “Olivia, I’m just out playing cards, not kicking up my legs on stage. Gambling is a very sedentary life.”

  “And you’re not drinking?”

  “No.”

  “So when are you going to tell Jake?”

  “Clean out your ears, old friend. I am not telling him. The last thing I need is him running here offering to make me an honest woman. I don’t want the girls hurt again, and he doesn’t love me, so I’m not marrying him.”

  “Shouldn’t he be allowed to make that choice for himself?”

  “He’s a Kansas farmer, Olivia. He will walk here to give this child his name, if he finds out. He’s that decent of a man.”

  “All the more reason to let him know.”

  “No.” Loreli reached for the tray.

  “It’s his child too.”

  “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

  Olivia sighed. “All right, be stubborn. You could be happy, you know.”