Lilly: Bride of Illinois (American Mail-Order Bride 21) (6 page)

She moved farther from the mirror to see more of her body and gingerly raised her arm to view the bruise on her side. It was an ugly combination of shades of purples and reds, but it would heal, thanks to her escaping and Mr. Reagan finding her.

Lilly turned the knobs to shut off the water. She’d add more when the water cooled, because she planned to soak for a long time. Her feet stung when she stepped into the tub. After a minute, she eased down to her knees, getting acclimated to the water, before sitting to stretch her legs out and lean against the back of the full–length tub.
Oh this feels so good!

Time had passed when she heard the key in the room door, but she continued to enjoy the hot soak.

“Miss Lind, it’s me. I brought...”

Lilly opened her eyes when he spoke and realized he could see her! Apparently the bathroom door latch didn’t catch and it had slowly opened on its own to reveal her in the bathtub.

He stared at her as she sank down in the bathtub, then quickly turned his back to her. “I brought food and I’ll sit this tray on the table. Can I close my eyes and shut the door for you? I promise I won’t look again.”

Her face might be red because she was in hot water, but she was sure her cheeks turned redder, if that was possible. “Yes, please.”

True to his word, Seth walked backwards, feeling for the doorknob without taking another peek at her in the tub. She had almost fallen asleep in the hot comfort of the tub, but she was wide awake now to finish her bath. She rubbed the washcloth against the bar of castle soap to make a nice foam then scrubbed every inch of her body, hoping to get the smell of cigar smoke, cheap perfume, and horse manure off her skin.

Then Lilly slid forward in the tub to lean back and dunk her hair into the water, then sat back up. It felt luxurious to rub the bar of castle soap into her scalp and hair. She slid her head back into the hot water so she could swish and rinse her hair. Once back on her feet, Lilly carefully rubbed her body with a
clean
towel, then used it to wrap around her wet head. Then she reached for…nothing. She didn’t have any clothes to put on after her bath.

Mr. Reagan’s cup of coffee stayed half way to his lips when Lilly opened the door and peeked around it. “Do you have any dry clothes I could borrow?”

***

Miss Lind devoured the toast, eggs and bacon like she hadn’t eaten in…well days, which Seth guessed was accurate. She’d been savoring the hot, strong coffee a slow sip at a time, which looked like it had finally taken the chill out of her bones—along with his wool socks, his night shirt, and the blanket from his bed, which was wrapped around her.

The woman was covered head to toe, but he was still embarrassed that she was in his room. They ate in silence, but now they needed to talk.

“I need to go back to the Stock Show today, so you can sleep here while I’m gone. I brought up extra food you can eat later. Will you be all right while I’m gone?” He had promised to visit with cattle buyers about the Cross C cattle herd for his bosses.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Reagan. I feel safe now and appreciate the use of your room to recover from my ordeal.”

“Since you don’t have the bare necessities you need, how about you make me a list of items I could get while out today?”

“I don’t know how I’m going to repay you for all of this. I was so unprepared coming to Chicago. I assumed I’d be settling into a nice house this week, and getting to know my husband…having money...”

Miss Lind was doing her best not to cry in front of him. It had to be so hard, dreaming of what her future as Mrs. Hardesty was going to be, compared to the situation in which she found herself.

“Don’t worry, buying what you need is no problem for me. My employer is a generous man, with my salary, and expense money for my trip to Chicago. And Mr. Connely is the type of man who would be disappointed to hear if I didn’t help a woman in dire need.” Seth tried to assure her.

“Thank you. If you have a pencil and a note pad, I can start the list, but I’m keeping it to the bare minimum.”

Seth reached into his vest pocket to pull out and hand her the items while asking, “Do you have family or friends you can go to?”

“No family in America that I know of. My friends from Lawrence answered ads from the
Grooms’ Gazette
, too.” Miss Lind wiped her hands down her face, then shook her head. “I hope no one else ended up in a situation like mine.”

“Do your friends have each other’s addresses?”

“Yes, they all left Lawrence weeks before I did, so I’ve gotten a letter from each of them saying they had arrived at their destinations. We promised to go to another’s home if we found ourselves in a bad situation.

“Tabitha left in September, right after the fire, and is staying with her cousin in Missouri.

“Trinity wrote she was in Clarksburg, West Virginia, set to marry widower, John Witherspoon.

“Hope is living on an estate outside of Newark, New Jersey. She wrote saying she was getting to know her eight-year-old charge, Addie, but hadn’t met Roscoe Edwards, the guardian of the girl yet. He was away on a business trip, but Hope and Mr. Edwards would marry on his return.

“Isabella arrived in Yellow Springs, Ohio after a delay because of an incident at a train station. She was getting married right away so I need to address her letters to Mrs. Donald Jenks.”

Now Seth was worried about the other women writing to Miss Lind at Mr. Hardesty’s address, or traveling here expecting refuge if they found themselves in bad situation…because they could be arriving to a worse situation than what they left.

“I think you should send your friends telegrams so they don’t travel here by chance and end up at the Emporium, too. And to your matchmaker so she’s aware of the situation.”

“I didn’t think of that! But…I don’t have the money to notify them,” Miss Lind quietly stated.

“I can send the telegrams for you tomorrow. How about you make your list and I’ll get ready to go?” Miss Lind had a lot of decisions to make about her future, but she needed sleep, and a clear head first. And he needed to get away because being close to Miss Lind was clouding his brain. Even though she was tired and forlorn, he still enjoyed visiting with her.

Chapter 5

Lilly slowly awoke, needing to get up to relieve herself.
Why does my side hurt?
She rolled over in bed and pushed back the covers to swing out of bed, but stopped when hearing a light snore. It was a deeper sound than Isabella’s breathing. The room was dark, but there were light shadows coming from the widow and beneath a door.
Where am I?
Lilly put her hand up to her throat.
This isn’t lace at the neck of my night gown…and these sleeves are so long.

The Emporium!
No, the room layout wasn’t right. The extra door…was the bathroom in Mr. Reagan’s hotel room. And the poor man was sleeping in the chair near the window. He was going to have a kink in his neck in the morning.

Had she slept all day and into the night, not hearing Mr. Reagan come back to the room?
Apparently.
Lilly slowly slid out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom, trying not to wake the man.

Lilly knew Mr. Reagan was awake before she opened the door. His chair scraped the floor, then light showed on the other side of the bathroom door. She had no choice but to walk out in his night shirt, which didn’t cover her ankles.

“Good evening, Miss Lind. Did you have a good rest?”

“Yes, it helped.”
But I’d like to crawl back into bed to sleep some more. “
Sorry I slept so long. What time is it?”

Mr. Reagan pulled his watch out of his vest pocket. “Eleven fifteen,” he said before snapping the watch cover closed and slipping it back into his pocket.

“Eleven fifteen…
at night
? How could I sleep that long?”

“Apparently you needed it. Want a bite to eat now? I ate earlier, but saved you a sandwich for when you awoke.”

Lilly pulled the chair out from the table and slid into it. She was hungry and thirsty again, and she appreciated that he had saved food for her.

“My day was productive,” Mr. Reagan hinted as he watched her take her first bite of sandwich, “besides finding you.” Lilly looked up, glad to see a smile on his face when mentioning the rescue instead of a frown.

“I talked to two bull breeders whose stock I’d recommend to Mr. Brenner for the Cross C cattle herd. One was from St. Louis, Missouri and the other from Topeka, Kansas, so closer to central Kansas than most of the breeders at this show. I’ve met people from Canada to Maine on this trip. It’s amazing how far people travel to bring livestock to this show, but it’s a great way to advertise your pedigreed stock.”

A thick slab of ham, plus a slice of a cheddar cheese between two buttered pieces of fresh-baked bread made a filling sandwich. Lilly enjoyed every bite while watching Mr. Reagan talk. He didn’t do gestures as some people, but sat telling her about his day in a calm, gentle manner.

“I also spent time looking at the horses this afternoon. I actually liked the mare group you spent last night with, and I picked several stallions I’d be interested in, too.”

“When’s the sale?”

“Day after tomorrow, so maybe you’ll be rested enough to join me at the auction, give me your advice,” he slowly grinned.

“Besides seeing horse teams pulling wagons and carriages in Lawrence, it’s been a few years since I rode a horse.”

“Ah, but you’ve ridden, so you grew up on a farm? We haven’t talked about your family or life in Sweden. What did your father do, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Sharecropper for a rich man,” was all she said before taking another bite of sandwich.

“So you’ve been around livestock then.”

Lilly chewed and swallowed her bite before answering him. “My parents were too poor to have more than a milk cow and a plow horse, but when I moved to the manor farm, I did livestock chores besides taking care of their young children.”

“That’s kind of a strange job combination for a housemaid, isn’t it?”

How did she answer his question, and how much did she want to tell him about her childhood? “I wasn’t a housemaid. I moved there when I was ten years old, doing chores early, before the master’s children woke up. After they went to bed, I did my evening chores.”

“That’s young to start working outside the home, but I guess no different than child labor in America—be it on the farm or in a factory.”

“Yes, in Lawrence, Boston, and wherever factories are, children work in them as well as their parents. And the families still have a hard time surviving on the low wages,” she sighed, thinking of some families she’d known in their neighborhood.

“Our family was ‘as poor as church mice’, as they say, when us six boys were little, since Da, my father, is a preacher. Probably half his pay was in meat and produce though, so we always had enough to eat. Ma had a big vegetable garden behind the house, too.

I’ve been half starved all my life,
Lilly thought.

“I always raid Ma’s canned goods when she’s done pickling in the fall. I love her dill pickles and they aren’t something I could make myself or buy in the store. She has a special recipe she rarely shares. I’ve been doing it for five years now, so she makes extra jars of them just for me.”

He looked lost in thought. “What made you decide to come to America?”

“Like all immigrants, it was a way to start over,” Lilly quickly said before taking the last bite of the sandwich.

Mr. Reagan sat back in his chair, staring at her face. “I’d say there’s more to your story—and, if you ever want to share it with me—I’ll listen without judgement.”

Why couldn’t Mr. Hardesty have been a decent man like Mr. Reagan?

“The other thing I need to mention is the police are looking for you, but a certain blue dress will be found stained and torn in Bubbly Creek fairly soon, so hopefully that will stop Hardesty’s active hunt for you.”

“How did you manage that?”

“Better you don’t know,” was all he’d reply. “I hated to throw the dress away though because I thought the dark blue color was very fetching with your pretty strawberry–blonde hair. Don’t get me wrong, not the style of the dress, but the color.”

Lilly blushed at his compliment of sorts. At least she’d have a good memory of the dress now because Mr. Reagan thought she looked pretty in it

“Ah…were you able to get a few things for me?” Lilly hated to ask, but she really needed some items on the list, and to change the subject.

“Yes, you’ll find the packages on the settee. I thought you needed to sleep rather than looking through your items when I got back to the room.

“And about sleeping arrangements…I checked and the hotel is full, so I couldn’t get another room. I’m sorry, it isn’t proper, but I’m going to have to sleep on the floor in this room.”

“Mr. Reagan, you are paying for this room so
I’ll
sleep on the floor. I’ve slept in much worse places,” Lilly could have bitten off her tongue telling him about her past living arrangements, but he didn’t comment on it.

“You’ve been hurt, so you stay in the bed tonight. But I do ask for the spare pillow and a blanket,” he asked as he yawned.

She’d gladly give him most of the bedding for his generosity.
Why couldn’t he have been the groom waiting for me at the train station?

It didn’t take Mr. Reagan long to fall asleep, even if he was sleeping on the carpeted floor. But after Lily heard his even breathing, she rolled on her side toward him, just so she could look at him. The window drapes weren’t quite closed in the middle and he’d moved enough so she could see his face in the shadowed light sneaking across from the window to the floor.

She studied his features, wishing she had the liberty to feel the dimple in his chin, follow the line of his eyebrows, and trace the calluses on this working rancher’s palms. The few times she’d touched his arms or chest, she felt hard muscles of a man who did honest, manual labor.

Lilly automatically compared him to Mans Soderstrom, the only man she’d ever touched—because they were to be married—or so they’d planned. But his parents didn’t want Mans to marry a
piga
, a servant girl way below his family’s social class.

Mr. Reagan may not have been as handsome as Mans, but she liked his rugged looks. And he’d proved he could be trusted and had followed through with his promises, where Mans hadn’t.

She shut her eyes when tears trailed down her cheeks and onto the crisp, white pillow case. Lilly had thought Mr. Hardesty was her destiny when he answered her letter regarding his ad, asking her to come to Chicago. She’d memorized the short, cherished letter because she was excited someone wanted her.

Dear Miss Lind,

I received your letter requesting to come to Chicago, and I agree after seeing your photo. Enclosed is a train ticket to travel to the Union Station Depot. It is a six day trip so I’d like you to arrive here on November 10th.

Sincerely,

Mr. Wilber Hardesty, Esquire

But after meeting him and seeing the Emporium, Lilly realized he never asked her to be his wife,
nor
was the letter sent through Miss Miller as it should have been. The letter was short, to the point, telling her to be in Chicago by a certain date—that was all, absolutely no mention of marriage. She knew better, had been hurt before, and swore she’d never get in a situation she couldn’t control again…but Lilly took the first chance she saw to have a new life, without thinking it through as she should have.

Now she was back to being alone, penniless, and in a new city where she didn’t know a decent soul—except for one man who’d be going back to Kansas in a few days.

***

Seth was surprised at the amount of food she
again
ate this morning for breakfast. If she was a horse, he’d be worried about her floundering because she shoveled food into her mouth like she couldn’t get enough. It made him wonder—was she naturally very slim by nature, or because she hadn’t had money for food? She still hadn’t talked about her past, but he was about to suggest a future.

Seth couldn’t get the idea out of his head when he thought of it yesterday. It would help Miss Lind get out of Chicago and away from the Stockyards Emporium owner.

Miss Lind was free to do whatever she wanted to do, but Seth was worried Hardesty would find Lilly and have her imprisoned in the saloon again. Seth couldn’t believe the obsession Hardesty had for the woman, probably because her looks and voice could add to his coffers. Hardesty considered Miss Lind his “property” even though she wasn’t an employee—if there was such a thing as legally hiring a soiled dove—and he never married her. So…

“Miss Lind, I’d like to propose an idea to help you with your predicament,” Seth’s stomach was swarming with butterflies. Was he nervous about what he was about to ask her, or excited with the prospect she’d say yes?

She was eyeing the last piece of toast on the breakfast tray, but quickly looked up when he spoke to her.

“Miss Lind,” he waited for her to look across the table at him, “will you marry me today?”

Luckily she wasn’t eating the toast or she’d have gagged on it trying to sputter out, “What?
Why?
We barely know each other!”

“You were going to marry a man you only had contact with through one letter.”

“Yes, but he’d been checked out by the matrimony agency so I assumed he could be a good husband.”

“Which he wasn’t. I am a sincere, honest man and you can send a telegram to the town marshal to confirm it. Marshal Wilerson, town merchants, and my father, Preacher Patrick Reagan, can all vouch for me if you need assurance.”

“You would marry me, even though you don’t know my…background?”

“Yes. But, what I’m offering is a
marriage of convenience
so you can get out of Chicago and have a new start in Kansas.” Seth took another breath to continue, “We can annul the marriage once you’re settled in the Swedish community near Clear Creek.”

Seth didn’t know how to react when tears formed and slowly trailed down Miss Lind’s cheeks. Was she upset, sad or happy he made the offer? It was so hard to tell what the woman was feeling.

“Are you
sure
of this, Mr. Reagan?”

“Positive, or I wouldn’t have offered.” He realized she’d had a very hard life and found this opportunity to start over difficult to believe.

“Yes, Mr. Reagan, I gladly accept your proposal of a marriage of convenience, and I can’t believe my luck of coming to Chicago and finding you,” she whispered as she folded her hands in prayer and looked up to heaven and back to him.

“I’m glad I found you, too. And I believe we can be on a first name basis now, right, Lilly?”

“Yes, Seth.” She beamed back at him even though she had tears of relief running down her cheeks. Seeing her grateful face made him feel good about his decision

“So, your
fiancé
,” Seth enjoyed saying the word, “bought his bride–to–be some clothes yesterday—besides the meager list you gave me.”

“Oh, but I can’t…”

“Uh, uh. You need to learn to say
tack så mycket
and open the packages on the settee so we can go get married, Lilly.”