Page 54 of The Heart of Bennet Hollow

William was used to the rumble of a train.

Used to the stop and start at depots. He was accustomed to the hiss of brakes and the long, mournful whistle across a distant, star-studded countryside.

What he wasn’t used to was having a young woman asleep on his shoulder.

Nor the warmth that brought to him body and soul.

William glanced to Lizbeth, who was still asleep.

A tear stained her cheek and he longed to smooth the trail away.

In her restlessness, he’d draped his coat over her.

Pulled up snug now—her own doing. Though he had no such covering, he was far from cold.

He needed to sit up but didn’t want to disturb her. Quite frankly, for a good long while.

This was one of the few times she’d ever been away from home and she had little to turn to, save her own grit and what he might offer. He didn’t blame her for feeling unsettled in the night. To his relief, the cheek to his shoulder said that it wasn’t because of him.

William leaned his head against the padded rest. The world outside the window was entirely dark.

A landscape he needn’t see to gauge their location.

He knew these routes and rails by heart.

Knew how long it took between depots for all the years he’d spent travelling between them.

Though not often from a coach seat, so he took stock of the other sleeping passengers.

No one else seemed concerned about a near arrival, so William leaned back into the velvet seat and closed his eyes.

Time sped on, warm and slow, and with the occasional sigh that reached him even in slumber.

Whether his or hers he wasn’t sure until a soft shaking at his shoulders woke him again.

He opened his eyes to the sight of Lizbeth perched on the edge of the seat beside him.

Rubbing at his face, William sat forward.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “But I need to use the lavatory, and...” At a little tug on the edge of her dress, he realized he was sitting on it.

So, she’d trapped him and he’d done the same in return.

“Of course.” William shifted so she could free herself.

“I’ll leave my coat here to save our seats and go see what I can find to eat in the dining car.

We’ll be to our destination soon and I don’t know when we’ll have another chance.

” He wanted to ensure that she was fed. “Would you mind meeting me there?”

“Certainly.”

“Do you drink coffee?”

She shook her head but the gratitude in her eyes shone in the dimmed sconce lighting. “But thank you.” Gently, her hand touched his arm. “Thank you for all this and more.” She swiped her palm against her cheek as though feeling the sensation of dried tears.

A thumping in his chest made him feel as alive as ever.

“Of course.” They weren’t out of the woods yet, so he rose to make space for her to exit, then started down the length of the car.

Out the doors and into the night air, he crossed onto the jostling platform of the next car and repeated the rhythm until he finally reached the dining car in the center of the train.

There he deposited a bill onto the counter in exchange for a tray of anything the cook could drum up for him.

“Thank you.” Tray in hand, William turned for a dining table, as Lizbeth passed through the doorway, rubbing both hands up her sleeves in the chilly night air. She chose a table between them and he sat across from her and their steaming breakfast.

“I just saw that it’s four in the morning.” Her eyes were wide.

He slid the tray forward to distract her from the fact that it was deep into the night. “Take your pick.”

With an inhale, she surveyed the offerings. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now.”

“Me neither. Please. Don’t be shy.” He angled the tray closer to her. “Looks like we have breakfast potatoes, bacon. Some kind of cherry pie and oats. Coffee for me and I hope you like orange juice.” He doubted she’d ever had it before.

“Thank you.” Her fork broke into the corner of the pie first.

He went for the bacon, gaining only a few bites and a swig of coffee before it was time to rise again.

William pushed away from the seat. “I’ll leave you to eat.

I want to go find someone in charge so I can inquire further about the stock car.

Just to make sure we can find the man who has the keys. ”

“Of course. Can I help you?”

She could. How he wanted her to know that. But he’d rather her take this chance to eat before the long day ahead. “Please enjoy all you can and if you wouldn’t mind, keep an eye out for Westgard. If we see him aboard, I want to try and get your pa’s money back.”

“Of course. What can I save you?”

“I wouldn’t mind that second slice of bacon and a few bites of pie.”

“Consider it done.”

His chest warmed and he forced himself to step away, hardly daring to imagine that this could be his future—sharing each dawn with her—if he could only ask her once more if she might want the same.

“He said he’d meet us near the stock car?” Lizbeth asked as she squeezed down the aisle, past passengers and luggage alike. Her feet and heart carried her to Eugene. If only she could get there.

“That’s what he promised.” William stayed close behind her.

As her shoes touched the platform in the chilly dawn air, she hurried toward the stock cars that took up the rear of the train.

With a gasp, Lizbeth stretched onto the pads of her shoes to try and see above the growing crowd.

Passengers spilled from the train, others boarding in search of a seat and new vistas.

“Do you see him yet?” William asked. “The man?”

“Not yet.” Ducking through the crowd, Lizbeth worked her way forward, feeling as though she were wading through a vast sea of people amid the coming sunrise. William touched the small of her back, a reassuring presence.

Since she was a girl, she had believed that in order to truly help her family, love had to come second.

It was the very voice she reckoned with the day she had helped Pa lead the mules to the mine.

And ever since, she’d kept her heart on careful guard, believing that anything more than duty was a distant dream.

But more and more, she was learning that wasn’t so.

That instead, her heart could guide her, not disarm her.

Pa had acted with courage when he needed to do what was best for his family and the farm—and now she could, too.

Each of them had their own path to carve out.

With the help of those around her, she was finally finding her way.

It was a path she might have missed had she held people like William at arm’s length, choosing instead to put too much stock in falsehoods.

Be that pride or prejudice, she was learning to observe a person’s actions much more than their words.

Now it would be William who helped her bring this hope to completion—that there could be a home for her mules.

And that Bennet Hollow would be saved in the process.

A home for her sisters and herself for many years to come.

There was no time to think more on it when the rattle of keys caught her attention near the second stock car.

“Hello?” she called over the tall structure.

“Over here!” a man called back from the other side. “Are you the ones lookin’ for the one-eared mule?”

“Yes!” She glanced back to William. “He’s opening the door on the other side.” Hiking up the edge of her dress, she clambered over the coupling that bridged two cars together, just feeling William’s hand at her elbow as she climbed onto the other side of the track.

He slid across after her.

“Hello?” There on the other side of the car, she blinked into the blinding light of sunrise. She held up a hand, just barely making out the shape of a man with a jangling ring of keys. Then his lined face. Last of all, a friendly smile. “I hear we’ve got a stowaway that doesn’t belong.”

“Yes, sir.” It was all she could do to stand still as the man fiddled with the lock.

He tried a key. Then switched to another one. Lizbeth shifted her feet. William checked his watch.

“If we could somehow help—” William began.

Click. The lock opened. With a shimmy of the metal padlock, the man tugged it free. He pushed on the edge of the massive door, inching it open. Lizbeth gripped the edge to climb in.

“Miss!” the man called.

She scrambled up, aided by William’s hands at her waist. She brushed straw from her palms and hurried past each stall, glimpsing dozens of mules confined to pens. William followed right behind. Finally, she reached the end. There was no Eugene.

Lizbeth worked her way back out. “He’s not here.”

“There’s two more cars but we only have so much time.”

Lizbeth was about to hop down when William reached up and took her waist. She paused before letting him help her down and the gesture made her head a little light.

Back on the platform, she searched the slats of the car, seeing hooves of every shade of brown.

There was no telling which belonged to Eugene.

Then she saw a mule duck his head. He blinked at her and the one missing ear said it was Eugene.

The damp muzzle that bumped her palm through the slats said he’d been awaiting his ticket home. “This one!”

The man hustled her way and fiddled with the lock. William waited impatiently until the latch finally clicked free. Lizbeth was inside before she could think and once again, she dashed down the length of the car. Tethered to a post, the final mule tossed his head in her direction.

“Eugene!”

Her throat tightened as she wrapped both arms around his thick neck.

She pressed her face closer and squeezed tight.

He snorted in satisfaction and she blinked back the sting in her eyes.

Somewhere in the distance, rail yard workers shouted out commands followed by the crash of boxes and cargo.

The fur on Eugene’s back prickled and she smoothed her hand there.

“We’ll get you out of here.” As she untethered his line, she ached for the mules that would be left behind.

Lizbeth tugged Eugene’s lead rope back down the aisleway.

Just below, William slipped a fold of bills to the car owner.

The price of Eugene’s freedom. Two men slammed a ramp into place and she led her friend down the length of it to the platform below.

Eugene tossed his head as though he were a fine racehorse.

William angled his shoulders to block Lizbeth from the rising sun. “I’ve made plans for us to travel home again on the two o’clock train.”

“Thank you. More than I can say.” Lizbeth thought of the bills William had passed to the car owner. As for West, she doubted they’d ever see him or the money again. “I—I want to repay you somehow. Some way.”

“Say nothing more of it. I’m just sorry we can’t take the others.”

“Maybe we’ll find a way one day.”

He smiled as he peered down at her. “I say we try. Now how about we head on home?”

Home. “Please.”

Eugene’s hooves clopped down the brick pavement toward a waiting train.

This one leading back the way they’d come.

Lizbeth could scarcely remember what town they were in.

All she knew was that Eugene was at her side once again and thanks to William’s care and kindness, her oldest friend was finding his way back home. As was she.