Chapter Five

Unexpected Company

Setting Up Shop

Friday Afternoon

Eliza startled at the sound of the bell above the shop’s main door. Given she wasn’t open for business as a dress shop, she’d not counted on company today. Amanda had stopped by on Wednesday to help her unpack her crates of supplies, and Cole had poked his head in this morning under the pretense of checking on the stove. Otherwise, she’d not had any visitors.

“Hello, who’s here?” she called out as she set aside the costume she’d been working on and made her way to the front.

“It’s just us, Eliza,” a familiar voice responded.

Eliza parted the curtain and stepped forward. “Penelope. Ingrid. I wasn’t expecting company.”

The two young women she’d known since childhood both smiled broadly. “We haven’t had a chance to properly welcome you home,” Penelope said. “And we just couldn’t wait any longer.”

“The town’s all abuzz with your return,” Ingrid added. “Everyone’s sure to want to talk to you after services on Sunday, so we thought we’d stop by to see our returning celebrity beforehand for ourselves.”

“I’m no celebrity,” Eliza insisted. “Far from it.”

“You were on the stage. In New York, for mercy sakes,” Ingrid gushed. “That’s more than any of us have ever done.”

“Not to mention having your name in the papers for designing beautiful gowns for some of the most famous actresses in the theater.”

Eliza’s cheeks warmed at their praise. “I’d hardly call being in three stage plays and understudying four more as a big achievement. Although… I did have a very short scene in the silent film, The Great Train Robbery , a couple of years ago.”

“You were in a silent movie?” Penelope asked. “For real?”

“Yes, for real,” she confirmed. “It was filmed at the Edison Studios in New Jersey, just across the river from New York.”

Ingrid gasped, then threw her arms around Eliza’s shoulders, nearly knocking her off balance in the process. “You really are famous!”

“For what it’s worth, this famous person has a new design to finish. I really should get back to work,” Eliza told them. “It was nice seeing you both again.”

Thankfully, Penelope and Ingrid took the hint and scurried away but not before telling her how great it was that she’d come back to Big Bend. Given both young women were among her tormentors when they were schoolchildren and had even made fun of her for thinking she could become an actress, Eliza thought it quite amusing that they’d quickly changed their tune.

She was barely back in her seat at the marking table when the bell chimed again. Eliza sucked in a calming breath. The train station in New York was less busy than this .

“It’s just me,” Amanda shouted. “I saw the Bellamy sisters leaving. That must have been fun.”

“Lock the door,” Eliza shouted. “Before they come back.”

Amanda’s girlish laughter followed her all the way to the workroom. “Don’t be silly. Why would you want to keep your adoring fans locked out?”

“I’m not sure ‘ adoring ’ is the word I’d use. Curious, perhaps.”

“Are you kidding? You’ve supplied the two of them with enough gossip to tide them over for at least a week. They’re probably already seated at the café, sipping tea and gushing about spending time with a real, bona fide star.”

Eliza shook her head. “If they only knew what it was really like, they’d temper their excitement.”

Amanda lifted herself up onto the corner of the worktable, and ordered, “Tell me, Eliza. I’d love to hear everything you’ve not already told me in your letters.”

Gathering up a fist full of material and spreading it out in front of her, Eliza admitted, “It was definitely not as glamorous as one would think. I’ve shared all the good things with you already and glossed over a lot in my letters to Gram. Truth be told, living in the city can be dangerous for a single woman. If the producers, directors, and the lot had their way, every young ingénue would become their mistress.”

Amanda gasped with feigned surprise. “How absolutely scandalous! Tell me more.”

“It was becoming increasingly difficult to fend off their advances,” Eliza confided. “My refusal to take them up on their generous offers was likely why my career never took off, even though all of my performances were met with good reviews.”

“And here I thought it was because they wanted to utilize your sewing skills, more than your acting,” Amanda teased.

“No doubt that was part of it.”

“So… who did you turn down?”

“A number of backers of the theater’s productions. Rich men who changed mistresses as easily as their fancy suits. My producer, Thad Baker, for another. He probably would have fired me, had my design skills not been so popular.”

“He sounds evil.”

“The lowlife once told a local gossip columnist that we were ‘together’. I thought I would die from embarrassment. I might have, except another far more visible scandal stole Thad’s thunder.”

“How did you manage to resist all their advances?”

“Resisting wasn’t difficult as long as I relied on my faith, attended church as often as I could, and read my bible for strength and inspiration. What turned out to be more difficult was watching my dreams of a career on the stage fade away as quickly as they did.”

“I’m just glad we’ve got you back, for as long as you’re able to stay,” Amanda said sincerely.

“I’m happy to be back. I’ve missed you, Gram, and a few others. I hope this respite of mine will provide me with a clear path for my future, no matter where it takes me.”

Cole stood outside the mercantile and scanned the street, looking for any excuse to make his way to the opposite end. To Eliza’s shop . He wasn’t sure exactly why he was so interested. Sure, she was beautiful with her flowing auburn hair and enticing green eyes. He was also smart enough to realize she wasn’t here to stay. Or, at least, that was the talk around town.

The way he saw it, there was no sense spending time attending to a woman if there was no future in it. Even when he liked the sound of her warm honey voice and got a kick out of her spunky personality… an attribute that hadn’t changed much in the intervening years.

It also didn’t make any sense that she could set off a cacophony of warning bells inside his head with little more than a coy smile. Not that he could do anything about that short of avoiding her. A step he wasn’t ready to take… at least not at the moment.

“Good morning, Marshal,” the joined voices of the Bellamy sisters called out to him from one storefront over.

“Good morning, ladies,” he responded. “How are you enjoying this cool weather?”

“It’s dreadful,” Penelope whined.

Or was that Ingrid ? They weren’t twins but looked so much alike, he couldn’t keep them straight.

“The wind is chilling me straight through my coat,” the other sister added.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Cole commiserated. “Winter’s not far off. I hear they’ve got four inches of snow on the mountains around Denver.”

Both young women shuddered in unison.

“You don’t seem to mind, Marshal,” the first sister noted.

“Not so far.” Tipping his hat, he told them, “I’d best finish my rounds. You ladies should get yourselves home and warm up in front of the fireplace.” Without waiting for their response, he spun on the heel of his boot and went off toward the livery.

Which just happens to be directly across the road from Miss Carson’s place of business . A conscience, Cole decided, was a pain in the patoot.

He made a show of checking the doors of the businesses that didn’t open until later in the day. He poked his head in the livery, relieved to see Leo was nowhere in sight. About to cross the road, the sound of the blacksmith’s deep, gravely voice called him back.

“Hey, Marshal,” Leo hollered. “Was there something you needed?”

“No, nothing really,” Cole replied. “Just checking up on everything. I couldn’t see you, but I heard the clank of the anvil, so I figured you were busy.”

“I’ve got a pot on, if you want a cup of coffee,” Leo offered.

“Thanks, but no. Maybe on my afternoon rounds. I want to cover the other side of the street before I’m stuck behind my desk doing paperwork.”

“Suit yourself. I can’t guarantee how it’ll taste later today unless you’re partial to chicory flavored mud.”

Cole chuckled, then gave the man a wave as he walked away.

There was a light on in the backroom of Eliza’s shop that beckoned him. With a quick twist of his wrist, the door sprung open, and the newly installed bell clamored loudly.

“Darn it!” Eliza’s soft voice sounded from the back room. “Coming!” She stopped short when she burst through the drawn curtains separating the two spaces. “Oh, it’s you.”

Cole removed the hat from his head and ran the brim through his fingers. Fidgeting wasn’t his habit, but he couldn’t get a firm grip on his thoughts. Eliza’s auburn hair, usually drawn neatly at her nape with a ribbon, had fallen loose in total disarray. Her cheeks were a darker pink than usual, as if she was flustered.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. If you’re busy, I can go,” Cole told her.

“No… I mean… you don’t have to leave if you don’t want to,” she stammered. “It’s just that I’ve had a steady stream of visitors today and I’m not getting much done.”

“Like I said… if you’re busy—”

“I’ve not got enough time to begin another project before I must be home for Gram. I’m just going to straighten up and put away my supplies. You’re welcome to keep me company, if you’d like.”

“I was going to check the firewood supply and carry some inside for you, if need be.”

She raised her head and graced him with another one of her beautiful smiles. “I did that first thing this morning, so it would have time to dry out.”

“You’re picking up on the usual tasks of small town living so easily, it’s almost as if you never left. No doubt you had a proper heat source in the city.”

“Yes, my landlady had one of those new furnaces at the boarding house. The downstairs was like an oven most of the time. However, our upstairs rooms were quite nice.”

“What do you miss most since coming home?” Cole wondered.

“Pastrami sandwiches,” she said without hesitation.

“From Iceland Brother’s delicatessen?”

Eliza’s green eyes widened in surprise. “You know about the Iceland Brothers deli?” When he nodded, she explained, “It’s actually Iceland and Katz now. They took on a new partner.”

“I was stationed in Albany my first year with the marshal service. We spent our days off in the Bronx, but we’d take the ferry to Manhattan Island to eat. My barrack’s mate was obsessed with the chicken soup and corned beef sandwiches.”

“I love their cabbage salad and pickles,” Eliza confessed. “Almost as much as the pastrami.” She gathered up scraps of material and tossed them into a wooden box before turning back to meet his gaze. “Where else were you assigned? After Albany?”

“Let’s see. After Albany, I was sent to the northwest. Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, and then south to San Francisco. There was a second gold rush happening and they needed all the lawmen they could muster.”

“What about before the marshal service, while you were in the military? I’d heard talk when you first went away but, after your pa passed, nobody knew what happened to you.”

“I moved from fort to fort in my first year. Then, I was stationed back east in northern Michigan at the Mackinac National Park outpost. I really liked it there, except for the harsh winters. When they were decommissioned as a National Park in 1895, I was sent to Denver for my last six months. That was where I joined up with the marshals.”

“It all sounds so exciting,” she exclaimed. “My travels were from here to New York, and back again. I did see a few nice train stations along the way. Was Mackinac your favorite posting?”

“Actually, no. I think Big Bend has become my favorite place to be. I never expected to see this place again, but I’m glad it’s worked out.”

“Really? The fellow who couldn’t wait to get away?”

“What can I say? It’s good to be among old friends. I thank the Almighty every day for steering me back home.”