Page 6

Unique Acquisitions

A St. Louis bound train, one month later…

The stale air, heavy with the unpleasant odor of unwashed bodies, combined with the constant swaying of the passenger car, made her stomach churn. Covering her nose and mouth with her scented handkerchief provided little relief.

Rowie shifted on the hard bench seat for at least the hundredth time since boarding.

Every inch of her body ached, but none more so than her backside.

The accommodations were dreadful, but the train wasn’t solely responsible for her discomfort.

At least half of the blame could be attributed to the first leg of their journey, which involved traversing rut-riddled cow paths masquerading as roads to reach the train station.

She had only ventured beyond rural Carroll County twice in her life.

Both times, they arrived at their destination in time to sleep in a proper bed.

On this trip, because their funds were for train tickets and supplies for their journey west, they’d slept in bedrolls under the wagon, exposed to the damp ground.

She had never experienced such misery in her life, so much so that she was already exhausted and sore from head to toe before setting foot on the train that morning.

She jumped when the door to the washroom at the front of the car slammed shut.

Shared by all the third-class passengers—a few women but mostly men—it was a place she hadn’t dared venture and wouldn’t, not even if she were ready to bust. The incessant banging whenever someone came and went should have been old hat by now, but it had utterly frayed her nerves.

Even though she prepared herself for the next time, she jumped, nonetheless.

Rowena cast her husband of less than a month an envious glance.

Slumped against the window using his folded coat as a pillow, Carson slept soundly.

She couldn’t fathom how. At least thirty other passengers occupied the car along with them, all strangers.

No one looked the type you’d invite for afternoon tea or Sunday supper.

They made her nervous. Further disturbing her was all the noise.

Not just the wheels on the track, but benches creaked constantly, and passengers chattered loudly without consideration for others around them.

Many coughed, yawned, or belched—not to mention the other bodily sounds she’d rather not consider.

Everything combined made it impossible to close her eyes.

But even if she could, an obstacle remained—how to sleep while sitting up.

Their one-way fares for the next step up from a cattle car were dear at $60 apiece. Second class or a sleeper car would have wiped out their savings entirely. Even at that price, it only took them to St. Louis, halfway to their destination.

Beside her, Carson stirred. “How long have I been asleep?”he asked, yawning and stretching.

“I’m not sure,”she stated tersely. “I sold Papa’s watch to help buy the tickets, remember?”

Of course, he remembered. With their lives in turmoil, neither was likely to forget a minute of what had transpired since that awful night.

Carson felt horrible for suggesting she sell her keepsakes and treasures, but it was that or starve.

Bringing it up now wasn’t fair. None of this was his fault.

Carson didn’t marry her witch of a stepmother or give her control of her inheritance; the blame for that rested squarely on her papa’s shoulders. And it wasn’t Carson who snuck out to the barn the night Jael had caught them. In all of this, his only mistake was loving her.

Tears of shame blurred her vision as she laid her hand on his forearm. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m miserable and don’t think I can bear this train another mile, but it doesn’t give me the right to take it out on you.”

He covered her hand with his. “This has been hard on both of us, sweetheart, but we’ll be there soon.”

His gentle touch and sweet words usually made her smile.

This time, she didn’t bother trying to be brave because St. Louis wasn’t their last stop.

Although she’d never traveled by wagon train before, she’d read enough firsthand accounts from Western pioneers to know the bone-jarring trails and harsh conditions ahead of them would be grueling.

Thinking about it made her weary, especially since the first leg hadn’t been a picnic.

The sudden lurch of the train, more violently than usual, had Rowie grabbing hold of his arm to keep from landing on the floor on her already abused backside. What she wouldn’t give for one of the embroidered feather pillows she sold last week.

“How much longer?”she asked irritably as she shifted again.

Carson glanced out the window, but instead of gauging the sun in the sky to tell her the time, he frowned, squinting ahead.

“This doesn’t look good,”he murmured, still peering through the glass as the train slowed.

“What doesn’t? Why are we stopping? What is it, Carson?”

Without taking his eyes from what he saw, he reached over and clasped her hand. “Try not to panic, sweetheart, but armed men on horseback, at least six of them, with bandanas covering their faces, are blocking the track.”

At first, she didn’t react, staring at him as she tried to process what he’d just said. The accounts she’d read of train robberies sparked images of masked villains terrorizing innocent passengers, going so far as shooting some of them. Rowie did precisely what he warned her not to—she panicked.

“Dear god!”she gasped, her nails digging into his arm as she clung to him in fear. “They’re going to rob the train.”

“It appears so.”

The other passengers who had rushed to the left side of the train, peering out, saw what her husband had and were raising the alarm. Some had grabbed their bags and were headed for the rear door.

“Maybe we should get off too,”Carson suggested, frowning with worry as he looked toward the back of the car.

“And go where? We’re in the middle of nowhere!”

He spun around, his face deathly pale, and retrieved her mama’s oiled silk cloak from her bag under the bench. He shoved it into her arms, urging, “Cover yourself and stay quiet.”

“Why?”she questioned, even while she hurried to do as he asked.

“You’re beautiful, and your traveling dress is of fine quality. You stand out like a ray of sunshine breaking through a blanket of dark clouds on a dreary day, especially in third class.”

When he tucked her hair under her collar, he pulled the hood over her head and tied the ribbons beneath her chin. A lady wearing a hat on the train was commonplace, but a hood, especially a fur-trimmed one at this time of year was odd.

It all became clear when a loud crash from the rear of the car sounded, and a gravelly voice demanded, “Don’t nobody move!”

She froze, an icy dread settling over her. Carson’s hand found hers, his touch welcome but far from reassuring.

Boot heels rang out on the wood floor. They grew louder as he walked toward the front of the car, where they sat on the second bench.

“We’re gonna do this calm and orderly like. My friend is going to bring around a bag. Put your money and all your valuables inside it. Cooperate, and no one gets hurt.”The words hung heavy in the air: a promise and a threat.

“This is the poor folks’ car, mister. First class is farther up the train.”

She heard dirt grate between the soles of his boots and the floor. Although she didn’t witness it, she pictured in her mind the robber spinning to face the outspoken passenger.

“Not so poor you can’t afford costly rail travel,”he snapped. “Now, what part of no arguments didn’t you understand?”

Silence followed not the gunshot she expected.

It gave her hope the outlaw wasn’t quick on the trigger.

At a tug on her left hand, she looked down to see Carson trying to remove her wedding ring from her finger.

Carson didn’t have the funds to buy one, not even a plain silver band.

They’d used the pearl and amethyst ring Maw McPhee had packed with her belongings.

It was beautiful, and because it was her mama’s, Rowie cherished it.

It wouldn’t budge no matter how hard he tugged or when she tried to help and twisted it.

“Hide your hand,”he insisted, pulling her cape closed in front, moving quietly and slowly not to draw the outlaw’s attention or ire.

Minutes passed as they sat motionless, Rowie mainly hearing her heart pounding in her ears.

Suddenly, a burlap sack appeared in front of her.

“Everything you got,”a different voice ordered, this one younger, not high-pitched like a boy but also not deep like a man fully grown. But she didn’t dare look, keeping her gaze downcast instead.

“We’ve got a small amount of cash,”Carson told him as he dropped coins and a few greenbacks into the sack. “But that’s all we have after buying our tickets.”

“What about her?”he asked.

“She’s my wife. I carry the money.”

She could feel his eyes on her. “You’re married, are you?”he grunted. Abruptly, he grabbed her left hand from beneath her cloak. “I’ll take that ring.”

Rowie hesitated. Along with the green cape, it was one of the few things she had of her mother. It ran all over her that after having it barely a month, she had to give it up to a thief.

“It won’t come off,” she told him.

“Ain’t my problem,” he replied, his cold, determined tone making her wonder what lengths he would go to remove it.

“Give it to him, Rowie,” Carson urged. “It isn’t worth the trouble resistance will bring.”

“Listen to your man, Row-ee,”the outlaw crooned in a mocking, singsong voice. “It’s the smart thing to do.”A sharp poke in the arm from the muzzle of his gun accompanied his subsequent demand. “I’ll take that cape, too. My girl will fancy it.”

This time, she hesitated too long. “Now!”he barked. “Emmett don’t like to be kept waiting. He ain’t got much patience for argument and pointless acts of bravery, neither.”