She needed a new position. Quickly.
Hopefully, she could purchase a paper from one of the cities at a store in town. Alice would find a different job and escape from the impossible longings that brooding man created in her heart.
Finished with the dishes, she chastised herself once more. “He’s a beast and not someone a girl should fancy.”
As she said the words, she opened the back door. Outside, the beast stood waiting, the buggy ready for her to take to town, “So you won’t hurt yourself walking that distance.”
Oh, why did the beast suddenly turn into such a prince of a man!
Chapter 4
Niall’s lesson in driving the buggy slowed her down. So much so that the old woman had already limped nearly to a small house before Alice caught up with her.
Calling from her seat under the buggy’s bonnet, Alice waved her hand when the woman turned at the sound. “Wait a minute, ma’am. I have something for you.”
The woman leaned wearily on a gnarled wood cane, something that appeared to have been made from a branch of a tree and left rustic. By the time Alice drew level with her, the woman snarled her greeting. “Well, it’s a fine thing to make old people wait so long. I gave up on help from anyone in that house.”
Ignoring the words, Alice secured the brake and the leathers before climbing slowly out of the buggy. With her hurt left leg, she sat to the right of the seat so her right leg could be eased out of the vehicle first. Leading with the right helped stabilize her before the weak left one followed it.
Once she felt able to take a step, Alice rounded the buggy to join the woman on the side of the road. “I am sorry. It took a bit longer that I expected for me to catch on to driving this buggy.”
With a shake of her head, Alice dismissed the fact. “Never mind. I’m here and have what you asked for.” She held out a small wad of paper, wrapped carefully around the precious bark that the woman would steep in hot water.
The woman’s hand darted out to grab it, exposing her gnarled and swollen knuckles. After tucking it carefully into her small basket, the woman drew out a jar of some kind of red jelly. Thrusting this into Alice’s outstretched hand, the old woman nodded.
“I thank you for this remedy. Since Old Mick’s death, nary a one pays attention to this old woman’s needs.”
“Old Mick?”
She nodded sadly. “The old man wandered the town most nights. Saw a lot too.” Then she huffed. “Not long after the Murphy girl raised the fuss, some rotter beat the old man to death. Told me he knew a secret only the day afore.”
Alice badly wanted to hand the jelly back and refuse anything this bitter old woman made. Instead, she smiled and thanked her. Just before the woman entered her home, she looked back at Alice.
“You’ve done me a kindness, so I’ll tell you. Be on guard against that devil you work for. He’s an eye for the pretty ones.”
Her words ended on a hiss and then she was gone. The woman had stood at the end of the short path leading up to the house. She must have been waiting, hoping that Alice would follow through with her promise.
The door slammed loudly in the stunned quiet that followed the woman’s words. He’s an eye for the pretty ones. Those words reverberated as the memory of his lips coming close to hers played over in her mind. Was Niall a womanizer?
Moving into the road, Alice twisted and maneuvered her legs back into the buggy. With a quick command, the horse pulled her into Kilbourne City.
Her first visit to her new community. At least, she hoped it would be her new hometown that welcomed her. Or would others be like the woman she’d just left, urging her to leave.
Odd, but only a little bit later she wanted to leave!
Alice edged the buggy to a stop in front of the only grocer. A sign proclaimed it a mercantile. Dismissing any difference, Alice made the cumbersome climb over the wheel of the buggy.
As awkward as descending from the vehicle was, that was nowhere near as disconcerting as the stares she met when Alice turned to the store after straightening her black, cotton skirt. Roughly dressed men—all tall and blonde--stood in front of the store, watching her as if she were a circus act.
They jabbered amongst themselves in a language she didn’t know and pointed her way. And not one of that bunch volunteered to help her down from the buggy! Why would they when that would ruin their fun?
With a huff, she moved around the small knot of males and entered the store. At least there, she’d find safety. That uncivil group outside made the hair on the skin on the back of her neck crawl.
Kilbourne City was a small town. Alice knew already that it had existed for just a little over a decade. The older lady on the train told her that the town was there because of Mr. Kilbourne’s lobbying for the Milwaukee and Indiana Railroad’s bridge to be built across the river at this site. He’d convinced the right men in Madison, the state’s capital, and the town had the all-important bridge just outside of it.
Kilbourne named the town after himself. Still, most people she’d talked to called it The Dells. Then whimsically she wondered if that bothered Kilbourne.
The ring of a bell over the door brought Alice’s attention back to her mission. She needed to get her list to the grocer and select a cane. Niall might not plan
