stay settled in any one place too long. Besides, I wasn’t that good a foreman. Willie is a lot better than I was. I talked Dorchester into giving him the job.”
“You could do worse than marry a wealthy woman,” Libby said. “And she could do a lot worse than marrying you.”
“Are you playing matchmaker now, my dear?” Jay asked.
“I was trying to,” Libby admitted. “Evidently, not very successfully.”
There was a distant whistle as the train approached town.
“All right, ladies, grab your things,” Jay said.
“Libby, could I speak to you for just a moment?” Hawke asked.
“Sure,” she said, walking away with him.
“Libby, don’t you miss the train!” Jay shouted.
“Don’t worry, I won’t.”
“It was you, wasn’t it?” Hawke said when he had her alone.
“What? What was me?”
“When we had lunch that day, you excused yourself early, remember? You sent a telegram, didn’t you? To your father, the North Carolina congressman.”
Libby looked back toward the Jay and the other two women. “They don’t know,” she said.
“What do you mean, they don’t know? When Jay introduced all of you, he said you were a congressman’s daughter. I didn’t believe it until Dorchester got the telegram saying that all the land would be returned.”
“Look, Lulu is not a New York debutante and Sue is not a Russian princess. Jay allowed us to make up our own stories. I just happened to choose one that is true. And what better way to keep it a secret?”
Hawke laughed and shook his finger. “Somehow, there is a woman’s logic there. I’m just not sure I see it.”
“Don’t try to figure it out,” she said, laughing as well. “It will give you a headache.”
“Come, I’ll walk you to the train.”
The eastbound train pulled alongside the depot platform and came to a clanking, squealing, hissing halt. Hawke walked outside with Libby then waited until all were aboard. Once the train got underway, he left.
As he mounted his horse to ride away from town, he heard a distant roll of thunder. Looking to the west, he saw a dark bank of clouds building up, but knew the rain wouldn’t get there. The Wind River Range would steal what moisture the clouds had, but at least it would make the ride a little cooler.
About the Author
ROBERT VAUGHAN is a retired army officer and full-time novelist. His book
