As she disappeared, Tobin leaned closer to Travis. 'You're taking a monster, you know that, don't you? She's had her money building up from the profits of the ranch for the past eighteen years. She can buy half of Austin if she takes a mind to.'
Travis nodded. 'I have a feeling we'd never make it back on horseback. Lucky we'll have the wagon.'
'Are you sure you're up to the journey?'
Travis wasn't about to let his brothers see his doubt. 'It's time, and, much as I hate to admit it, Sage will be a lot of help. This leg will never get any stronger unless I start testing it.'
The next morning with enough food to last a week and several buffalo hides to sleep on if needed, Sage, Travis, and the boy left for Austin. Teagen and Tobin rode with them as far as the bridge.
Travis knew he should be thinking about the half-baked plan he'd invented as a reason for the journey, but finding his fairy woman was all that weighed on his thoughts. He'd read the last lines of her letter so many times he could say the words with his eyes closed.
Once he was in Austin, he could always say he couldn't find a judge willing to test him or let him intern. Or he could even say he'd changed his mind. Or, maybe, he might try for it. At worst, being a lawyer might help him be a better Ranger once he healed enough to ride.
He smiled. It didn't matter what happened as long as he found his fairy. The need to see her had developed into an ache in the center of his chest. He told himself that if he saw her, faced her once more, he'd stop thinking about her. He'd discover there was nothing magical about her. She was just a woman, nothing more.
The only problem was, he knew he was lying.
CHAPTER 17
'Rainey. dear,' Dottie Davis whispered across the dining table. 'Will you help me move something after supper?'
'I'd be glad to,' Rainey answered and went back to eating. She'd learned the rules of the boardinghouse well. No one, except the two German ladies, talked while Mrs. Vivian was in the room. Probably because the others had also discovered that anything they said in front of the boardinghouse owner would be twisted and handed back to them at a later date.
Rainey's first-day comment about not looking for a husband had been turned to 'This young lady has no interest in men or in the respectable bond of marriage.' Rainey was sure the Widow Davis's concern for her being out late the other night while baking had been twisted and repeated to Rainey as 'The widow frets over you as if you had no sense at all.'
Mrs. Vivian was a master at turning a phrase slightly to change the meaning entirely.
Because the three old maid sisters talked constantly about their shop, which was being built now that the materials had arrived, Mrs. Vivian referred to them as boastful-in-triplicate.
So all the women living at the Askew House ate in silence when Mrs. Vivian was in the room and whispered when she disappeared behind the swinging door that lead to the kitchen. In a strange way, it bonded them together. They whispered and stifled giggles when they talked like children playing games.
The stout little woman, Margaret Ann Mathis, who considered herself the leader of the boarders, had gone to San Antonio, leaving one place at the table empty. Mrs. Vivian had agreed to hold her room for a week at half the board fee, but no one seemed to know for sure if Margaret would be returning.
'Wear your coat,' Dottie Davis whispered the next time she got a chance. 'We're going out.'
'But Mrs. Vivian locks the door at nine.'
'Don't worry, I know another way out and in.'
Rainey giggled. She felt like they were planning a prison break.
'Slip down to my room after nine. There is no sense going until she's in bed. The danger will be getting out and back into this house, so if you change your mind, I'd understand.'
Rainey knew, as they all did, the rules of the house. If they were caught, they'd be kicked out. Though, with the three sisters leaving within the month for their apartment over their new store and the German coming after his family tomorrow, Mrs. Vivian might find her house empty if she did make Rainey and the widow leave.
'I'll be there.' Rainey smiled at the widow. Over midnight tea and coffee the two had become friends. They often played poker with the kitchen's dried beans and laughed the next night when their winnings were served at dinner.
Mrs. Vivian came in to collect the serving plates, and they were silent for the remainder of the meal.
Rainey vanished up to her third-floor hideaway and read all three of her letters from Travis while she waited. He'd written about the law, about the boy, and finally about himself. She read her favorite line one more time.
Rainey laughed. She could never imagine her Ranger saying such things to her. But he'd written them… he'd written them to her. And that was enough.
Leaning back on her bed, she forced herself to return to the real world, knowing that he would always be a part of her daydreams.
She hadn't baked pies today. In fact she hadn't even gone to the mercantile. Though Pearl and Owen always welcomed her, Rainey knew they needed time alone. So, on days she didn't bake she tried to stay away, not even dropping by to do her books. Today had been cold and cloudy, forcing her inside with nothing to do. She'd sat in the drawing room for a while. The sisters were already taking orders for dresses, and some of the richest women in Austin were calling. Rainey enjoyed the chatter, but in the end she'd spent most of the day sleeping in her tiny room. There, all alone, she could pretend that someday she'd have a life with Travis. She knew he'd never marry someone he considered to be a thief, but there was no harm in pretending.
A little after nine o'clock, Rainey hurried down the stairs to the widow's room, ready for an adventure.
They didn't say a word as Dottie slipped on her black coat and motioned for Rainey to follow her to the back stairs. The kitchen was dark except for the warm glow of a banked fire. They moved silently across the floor to the washroom. Mrs. Vivian's slave did most of the cooking and all the laundry, so this was one room the owner of the house never went in.
The washroom smelled of lye soap. Several bags of laundry were stacked beside the door. 'Mamie?' Dottie whispered. 'Mamie, you still up?'
Mamie appeared and lit a candle. She looked about to drop with exhaustion most nights and tonight was no exception.
The widow turned to Rainey. 'A few days ago I learned that Mamie has been taking in extra laundry at night. A whole bag for a dime. She does it after Mrs. Vivian goes to bed. She's hiding the money and planning to buy her freedom. Of course if Mrs. Vivian finds out, by right she can take the money.'
Rainey didn't comment, she wanted to say she knew how Mamie felt, but in truth Mamie had it much worse. Though Rainey's father sometimes hit her mother, he'd never laid a hand on her. She'd seen Mrs. Vivian strike Mamie more than once in anger, and she often loaned her out to neighbors when she didn't think Mamie had all the work she could do.
'There's a free man who works for the blacksmith over on Sixth where Mamie takes a pot now and then to be repaired. He wants to marry her, but Mrs. Vivian says he'll have to buy her first.'
Mamie held up her blistered, swollen hands. 'I can't wash as much as I could. Miss Dottie is plannin' to help me so I can be with my man.' Her brown eyes filled with tears. 'I told him I'd sneak out and lay with him, but he wants to jump the broom with me making it all right and proper.'
Rainey looked from Mamie to Dottie. 'What can I do to help?'
The widow nodded and moved further into the laundry room. 'We'll be back in no time, Mamie. You make sure this window isn't locked when we return.'
'Don't worry none. Mrs. Vivian don't ever come in here.'
