Untamed Journey (38 page)

Sue stood her ground and gave Ruth a good
shake. “Ruth, tell this man he’s made a mistake.”

Ruth paled as she looked her new friend in
the eyes and whispered the truth. “There’s no mistake. I’m so
sorry.”

“Are you telling me you’re a married woman?”
Sue asked, her mouth dropping open.

“Well, yes. Yes, I am, but not really. I mean
we just now met. Isn’t that right, Mr. Masterson?” Ruth faced the
stranger before her, having finally found her voice.

“We’ve been wed, all legal and proper, for
weeks now. Makes no difference how it came about. You weren’t
forced, were you?” Masterson narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer
to Ruth.

“Well, no, not exactly,” she admitted. “But
it was my aunt’s doing, not mine. She gave me no choice. I had to
eat, and she threatened to throw me out on the street,” Ruth argued
in her defense.

Masterson tightened his grip on Ruth. “Don’t
be dramatic, girl. Women all over the world get married to put food
on the table. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. I’ll provide
for you and our children, as my duty demands.” He plastered a smile
on his face, and even tipped his hat to Sue, as they had started to
draw a crowd of curious onlookers. “Now come along, I have a hotel
room right across the street where we can talk about this in
private.”

Sue tugged just forcefully enough on Ruth’s
sleeve to force Masterson to let go or start a public tug of war
with two women.

“Ruth, don’t go with him,” Sue implored in a
low enough voice that Masterson could not hear her over the noise
of the street.

Every passerby was straining to catch a
word.

“I don’t trust him,” Sue insisted. “Not one
bit. And Jackson deserves an explanation. He’s in love with you.
He’ll forgive you.”

Ruth could not swallow past the knot in her
throat, knowing the truth of what she had done. She had lied to
Jackson. She couldn’t imagine why he would ever forgive her.

“But I’m married, Sue. Mr. Masterson is
telling the truth. It is legal. It was a proxy marriage, arranged
by my aunt. I was on that train to come join my new husband when it
was robbed.”

Masterson tugged on Ruth’s arm. “Come along,
now. I have business to see to and can’t wait all day for lengthy
goodbyes. You’ll see your friend again, I promise. You can visit
all you want after we get settled.”

As Masterson started to drag Ruth off the
wooden sidewalk, the red-headed Seamus O’Malley cut him off,
placing his considerable bulk in between the ladies and this
stranger.

“Ladies, is this trash bothering you?” the
Irishman asked.

“You meddling son of a bitch! That’s my wife,
and you’ve got no right. Now, step aside.” Masterson barked his
orders, hand on his revolver.

Ruth quickly intervened. “Mr. Masterson,
please. Why don’t we have lunch here and talk? In private, as you
wanted? I’m sure once I tell you all that has happened, you’ll
understand my dilemma.”

Not wanting to pass the next six months in
the local jail awaiting the arrival of a circuit judge, Masterson
nodded his head in agreement. He even had the good sense to open
the door for Ruth and Sue.

O’Malley ushered all three over to a corner
table, out of view of the front door and the straining necks of the
three old men who warmed the front stoop. “You can sit right here.
I normally have a strict policy of no men on Tuesdays, but since
it’s you, Miss Sue, I’ll make an exception.”

When Sue started to join them at the table
indicated, Masterson protested. “We need some privacy. I understand
you consider yourself a friend to my wife, but you have nothing to
worry about. I may have been a bit short with you out there, but
understand, my new wife disappeared from an armed train robbery. I
thought she was lost or dead – or worse. I’ve been looking for her
everywhere once I found out her body wasn’t on the train. I’ve been
worried sick.”

She turned to Ruth. “What do you want to
do?”

Ruth did her best to smile and reassure her
friend. “I’ll be all right. We’ll just talk.”

Sue nodded curtly. “O’Malley and I will be
right over here if you need anything.”

Masterson pulled out a chair for Ruth, and
she sat down. His nimble mind ran through his options. He had been
expecting to find his wife dead, or at least alone and destitute –
not surrounded by new-found friends.

“Please, my dear. Let’s start again. I’m
afraid I overreacted out there, but you can understand how upset
I’ve been, with my new wife missing. You’re my responsibility. I
should have seen to your protection, and I feel I failed you. I’m
ashamed to have made such a huge mistake in sending another man to
see to your safety, when I should have done so myself. I had no
idea Jasper Smith would prove to be so unreliable. He was a
childhood friend. I felt an obligation to offer him gainful
employment, to keep him off the streets.”

“You’ve spoken to Mr. Smith then? Since the
train robbery, I mean?” Ruth cautiously fished for information,
afraid to hope she was not in fact a murderer, but equally afraid
to find herself face-to-face again with her attacker.

“Yes, just recently,” Masterson began. “He
concocted some story of being shot by one of the bandits during the
robbery. But I can always spot a liar. And I know he was hiding
something from me. What really happened on that train? And where
have you been for the past weeks?”

Ruth was so very tired of half-truths and
lies that her first desire was to blurt out the entire story. But
she feared the reaction of her would-be husband.

“I don’t know the entire story of what
happened on the train,” Ruth began. “I just heard a terrible noise
in the middle of the night. I was so scared I hid in my compartment
with the door locked. The next thing I knew, it was all over and
the Marshals came to my door to explain what had happened.”

“Why didn’t you stay with the train, with the
other passengers?” he asked.

“I was too frightened to stay there alone.
All the other passengers had traveling companions, and I thought
Mr. Smith was dead. I was alone in a strange place, where I didn’t
know anyone. Several of the lawmen agreed to escort me to the next
town, and here I am.”

Masterson didn’t buy her story, any more than
he believed that Smith had told him the entire truth. But he didn’t
much care either way. He needed a warm body to be his wife, and
finalize the land claims he’d staked in her name. If Ruth turned
out to be a serial liar, he’d find out soon enough – and make
himself a widower once he had his railroad built and money coming
in.

“Well, I don’t mean to upset you, recalling
that terrible ordeal,” Masterson said. “I promise we’ll never speak
of it again. Now, please. Let’s start fresh. I have the biggest
house for a hundred miles waiting for a woman’s touch. If we leave
in the morning, you can be hanging new curtains by tomorrow
afternoon.”

Ruth started to panic, not knowing how to
persuade this man to let her go. “Mr. Masterson, please understand.
I’ve changed my mind. In fact, I never wanted this marriage. I mean
no disrespect to you. You’re still a stranger to me, but I’m sure
you’d make a wonderful husband to the right woman. But it was a
mistake for me to sign those papers. And you deserve better than a
reluctant wife.”

“I completely understand how any woman would
have cold feet. Especially considering all you’ve endured. But my
dear, correct me if I’m wrong, but you still have no one to go back
to. What will you do?”

Ruth detected the man’s impatience with her,
but wouldn’t quit. “I have friends here now. And please believe me
when I say that I will pay you back for the cost of my train ticket
and the wedding dress you purchased. I’m sure you could easily get
an annulment. I’d take responsibility for the entire situation, and
sign any papers the church might require so you can find a new
wife.”

“I’m trying to be patient, Ruth,” he said,
eye ticking furiously. “But you’d owe me a lot more than the few
dollars I paid for your ticket and a few rags. Your sweet aunt took
me for quite a pretty penny.”

Ruth’s mouth dropped open. “What do you mean?
She didn’t say anything to me about this.”

“I’m not surprised. We both called it a
dowry, although the fact that it went in the wrong direction was
not fooling anyone. Now let’s drop the niceties for a moment, shall
we? Your aunt sold you to me, and pocketed all the profits. But
don’t you worry, I’ve got money, and I’ll be even richer soon. I
have nothing but respect for the practical nature of women. And if
you do as you’re told, and be a proper wife, I’ll keep you in all
the fancy dresses you want. Now, come along. An annulment is out of
the question. But if you cooperate, I’ll forget this ever
happened.” Masterson stood and held out his hand to Ruth.

When Ruth didn’t immediately take his
proffered hand, his mask of politeness slipped. She quickly stood
and begged for more time. “Please, Mr. Masterson. This is all so
new to me. There is so much to take in. Just this morning I found
myself a job working for Sue, thinking I’d never see you again. I
had no way to contact you, and no money to hire someone to locate
you. Now twenty minutes later, I’m facing a stranger who wants me
to come to his hotel room.”

“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “I can
wait for my rights in bed and take my needs elsewhere until you’ve
had time to get used to me.”

Sue moved closer to Ruth’s table as Masterson
stood to leave, overhearing his last crude remark. She nodded in
O’Malley’s direction and they quickly surrounded Ruth and
Masterson.

“Please,” Ruth begged. “Allow me a few days
to think things over. You said you had business in town. Couldn’t
you see to that in the meantime? We could meet again tomorrow.
Maybe we’ll see things differently then.”

Ruth felt herself rambling, saying anything
she could think of to buy herself time to flee. Jackson would
likely never speak to her again. But she was young and healthy. If
she could find honest work here in Fort Lyon in only a few weeks’
time, she promised herself she could do it again somewhere
else.

The lurking presence of O’Malley, his cook,
and the dishwasher went a long way to convincing Masterson to
retreat and re-plan. “Of course, my dear,” he agreed, plastering a
smile on his face. “If time is what you need, I can be reasonable.
We have our whole lives ahead of us. No reason for me to be so
impatient. Meet me here again tomorrow for lunch.”

Masterson didn’t wait for her agreement
before grabbing his hat and leaving. He’d find Smith and regroup.
He didn’t plan on wasting any more time talking.

Ruth sank into the nearest chair and took
several deep breaths.

When Sue sat down in the chair next to her
and said only, “Talk,” their three unlikely protectors went about
their business.

Ruth started from the beginning.

She gladly told Sue everything, including
Jasper Smith’s attack and the news that he was alive and well. She
unburdened herself to her new friend, leaving nothing out –
including her feelings for Jackson and her tremendous guilt at the
truths she’d hidden from him and Sue. Although Ruth might never see
either one again, she hoped her late honesty might count for
something in their memories of her.

J
asper Smith absently
rubbed the still red and puckered scar across his left side, as he
listened to the clattering footsteps of Mrs. Ruth Masterson
crossing her hotel room. He heard her throw open the sash of the
only window in the bare bones establishment, while her companion
complained about the noise from the street.

Smith agreed with the ladies that the Fort
could use a nicer place for visitors – mostly so he could have
spent the last two hours lying on a soft carpet instead of this
bare, splintered floor. The cold was seeping through the
floorboards straight into his tired bones, and his damned bullet
wound had started throbbing, not five minutes after he slid under
one of the beds in the tiny room.

Damned if that skirt hadn’t gotten the best
of him, and cost him a pretty penny too, Smith swore silently. He’d
already checked, and his best horse was nowhere to be found at the
public stable. He figured Ruth either had it stabled with the
officers’ nags, or had ridden into the Fort on a wagon. Either way,
his Paint was a straight loss after tonight. Add that to the time
spent chasing her all over the territory, and his costs were
mounting. All due to an uppity miss who’d sell herself to a rich
man, but was too good for the likes of Jasper Smith.

“You’d best shut that window, Ruth. It’s not
likely to quiet down for another two hours yet. It’s payday for the
enlisted men,” Sue explained.

Ruth turned her head in Sue’s direction.
“Can’t we leave it open for a while? This place is musty and I
can’t stand the smell, whatever it is.”

“It’s best not to ask,” Sue advised. “And
before you think of it, I already inquired downstairs, and this is
the only vacant room in the place.”

“And it’s the only boarding house at the
Fort?” Ruth asked miserably.

“I’m afraid so. We’d best turn the lights
out, and leave the window open for a time.”

Ruth smiled her thanks as she finished
changing into her borrowed nightgown. She picked up her worn dress
off the floor, and pushed her only pair of shoes under the bed.

Smith tucked his right leg in further to
allow Ruth’s boots to slide in unhindered.

“I like the sounds of people celebrating,”
Ruth murmured, listening to the rowdy soldiers and lonely cowboys
below.

Sue laughed in agreement. “There’s nothing
better – especially when you haven’t heard much for years on
end.”

Sue turned at the sound of a knock at their
door. She quickly re-buckled her left shoe, and reached for her
pistol.