Under the Summer Sky Read online

  The Lord knew Pauline’s time, and it wasn’t here yet.

  Sunday morning, just as the sun was climbing in the sky, Jones and Trinity boarded the train to Piedmont. Pauline had rallied and there was nothing preventing them from making the short journey and settling the matter of the deed once and for all. Doc couldn’t say whether or not her aunt’s rally was a permanent one, but they’d agreed to take it one day at a time.

  There were few travelers this morning, and they had their choice of seats. It felt, oddly, as if they were a couple. Trinity rather liked the feeling. She relished the sense of Jones’s warmth, though they kept a proper distance from each other. He was the missing ingredient in her life, and the knowledge thumped her. The touch of a mother’s hand or a father’s voice—folks took those things for granted, but both had been missing from her life. Until now, she hadn’t realized how much she wanted what others took for granted. Rob had been a fine big brother but he couldn’t take the place of her parents. He dried her tears and cooked her meals when he hadn’t been much more than a boy himself. Had he too felt the need of a pa’s hand? A man’s wisdom? A ma’s apple pie? She’d heard him cry once, shortly after her parents failed to return. When she’d caught him he’d told her he had something in his eyes, but today she understood that that “something” had been a boy’s fear. A boy’s uncertainty at becoming a man long before his time.

  Trinity glanced at Jones as he removed his hat and rested it on his knee. Having this strong, handsome man at her side filled her with comfort and pride. She could make it on her own, but did she want to? She’d never depended on anyone but herself and Rob. She was a bit independent and headstrong and didn’t always take well to orders, and Jones would certainly be prone to bossing her around, but she could hold her own with any man. She sighed. There was much to consider, but now the thrill of anticipation overrode her growing confusion regarding her personal life. The deed was almost in her hands—she was sure of it. She settled on the seat and waited for the train to start chugging forward.

  Outside movement caught her eye, and she watched an attendant lead Sue to a back railcar. She turned to Jones, aware that her jaw had dropped. “You’re taking Sue?”

  “Calm down,” he said quietly. “I was going to tell you earlier, but we got…distracted. When we conclude our business in Piedmont I’m leaving. I’m long overdue to meet a prospective seller.”

  Disappointment crushed her. “But we have to meet with the banker, and you need to see the land…”

  His gaze softened. “I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier, but we’ll have time for both. I won’t leave until I see your land and what that box contains.”

  “And if the deed isn’t there?”

  He shook his head. “Then you convince Pauline to sign that lawyer’s paper and apply for a new one. We can’t spend day after day chasing after a piece of paper. In a few weeks—or months—we can make the transaction.”

  She turned to stare out the window.

  “I’ll give you the money to get back home.”

  “I don’t want your charity and I’m not going back to Sioux Falls. I’ve decided to move here to be with Pauline.”

  “I’d say you’ve made a wise choice.”

  “Mae and Tom will help me get settled.”

  “I’m sure they will. You’ll be in good hands.”

  He refused to meet her eyes. He was not obliged to her, and he didn’t owe her an explanation about his plans. He didn’t.

  And yet he did. He was walking away with her heart and he knew it. She fumbled for a hanky as a second passenger boarded the car. Wearing a large hat that sported a huge peacock quill, the young woman reminded Trinity of a proud bird. Her daringly low-cut ruby-red dress and matching hair color was intended to capture a man’s eye. She glanced at Jones, who discreetly avoided an overlong perusal. The newcomer flashed a white smile and took the seat directly in front of them.

  Trinity shifted. Why, when there were at least a dozen empty benches, did she have to sit so close? She’d hoped to have the time alone with Jones.

  A whistle sounded, and then, with a series of groans and clanks, the train started to roll. Trinity settled back, watching her companion. He wasn’t exactly staring at the woman, but he wasn’t avoiding her either.

  The woman turned in her seat. “Good morning!”

  He nodded, and Trinity returned a soft hello. She reached for Jones’s hand as the locomotive picked up speed. He gave her an inscrutable look, then let go. Farms flashed by. Cattle stood in the fields, heads held high as they watched the big steam engine pass.

  The young lady extended her hand. “I’m Melissa—Missy. I’m on my way to visit my daddy. He lives in Farlene. I’m an only child, so I’m rather a daddy’s girl—or I was until I left home two years ago. Papa didn’t want me to go but I can be a bit strong-willed, or so he says. I adore your dress. Do you sew?”

  Trinity nodded. “A bit.”

  “Oh, I knew it! I can always tell a fellow fashion aficionada. Did you purchase those darling shoes in Dwadlo?”

  Jones’s gaze shifted to Trinity’s boots.

  Missy sighed. “I haven’t been able to find a decent pair since the train wreck did all that damage. The mercantile used to carry simply everything but now they’re so limited in their stock. I’m desperately hoping that once the town is back to normal, and Dale assures me it soon will be, the store will carry a better selection of dry goods. Do you like tomatoes?”

  Jones stared at her. She was addressing him now. “Pardon?”

  “Do you like tomatoes?”

  Trinity noted how closely he fixed on the blood-red lips and the carefully enunciated sentence. “I eat them.”

  “They give me the hives. Isn’t that odd? I ate them all the time when I was a child and they had absolutely no effect on me, but lo and behold I ate one a couple of summers ago and broke out in a rash you would not believe.” She scooted forward and bared one arm for his inspection. “For a while I thought I’d gotten into poison ivy or something like that but no, the doctor thought I might be allergic to something and then I told him I’d been eating a lot of tomatoes that summer and he said, ‘Well, you might think about avoiding tomatoes for a while and see if that rash won’t clear up.’ So I did and lo and behold my skin improved within a few days—well, maybe it took a week, but soon after I quit eating tomatoes. Isn’t that strange? And then…”

  Wheels clanked against steel as the locomotive chugged across the countryside. Missy’s voice droned on and on.

  And on.

  By midmorning Jones was dozing, and Missy’s voice was still filling the near-empty car. The woman chattered like a magpie. “I love prairie flowers. Do you like flowers? I’ve often thought I should move to the big city and open a florist shop—they’re quite popular in the East. Of course, flowers can be very expensive, so I guess before I’d attempt anything that daring I would have to research the prospect more carefully but being around flowers every day would make a person so happy. Don’t you agree? I work at the saloon—now before you judge me let me tell you that I don’t do anything but sing. Three songs a night, and if a gentleman asks I’ll occasionally draw a fresh draught, but none of that funny stuff, you know? Men don’t try anything fussy with Missy.”

  Jones was grunting answers in his sleep. “Hum. Uh huh. Hmmm. Oh?”

  Missy bent and whipped out a pistol, aiming it straight at Trinity. Trinity gave a small shriek and clutched at Jones, who salt bolt upright.

  “Ain’t she a beaut?” Motherly pride shown on Missy’s face. “My daddy sent her to me when I first took the saloon job. Said no daughter of his was going to work in a place like that—if you know what I mean—without proper protection. If you know what I mean.”

  Trinity didn’t know what she meant. She hadn’t understood half of what she’d said since they boarded.

  Jones came to her rescue. “Lady, don’t wave that gun in our faces. Someone could get hurt.”

  She fro
wned. “It’s not loaded.” A foxy grin crossed her features. “You thought it was loaded! Shame on you! Do I look that idiotic?”

  Trinity was disappointed when he allowed the question to go unanswered.

  “Good gravy.” Missy slid the pistol back into her ankle holster. “I’m not addled, you silly man.”

  Shifting, Jones muttered under his breath. “Couldn’t prove it by me.”

  The train wheels screeched, diverting everyone’s attention. The locomotive’s speed slowed, and then it slowly rolled to a halt. Jones scrubbed at the window pane to try to clear it enough to see out.

  Trinity peered over his shoulder “What’s happening?”

  “Who knows? I’d say there’s an animal out there, or some kids have put something on the track.”

  “Are we about to be killed?” Missy’s eyes were as wide as her face.

  “Nothing like that.”

  “I have my gun.”

  “I know.”

  It wasn’t long before the conductor came through the car. “Everyone can relax. We’ve got a snake on the track.”

  Trinity shuddered. “A snake? Why don’t they just run over it?”

  Jones slid out of his seat and followed the conductor out of the car. The women trailed behind him. Minutes later they were staring at the biggest reptile any of them had ever seen. The long snake was stretched along the rail, sunning himself. The engineer glanced at Jones. “Those things give me the willies. Never saw anything that big—must have fallen off one of those circus trains that come through every so often. It sure ain’t native to these parts.”

  “Is it alive?”

  “Don’t know. Haven’t asked it, and I don’t plan to get that close. I’d have hit it but I wasn’t sure what the thing was, so I stopped. The railroad’s really antsy about this route these days. We’re supposed to check everything.”

  “Two derailments in less than a year. Yeah, they’re getting finicky.” Jones stooped and squinted at the snake. “What do you want to do?”

  “I say just plow ahead and run the thing over.”

  Jones shook his head. “The females on board would be squeamish about killing a helpless animal.”

  “I don’t care,” Missy said.

  Trinity eased closer. “It…can you move the thing? It looks rather helpless.”

  “Helpless my foot. That thing looks like it could swallow a body live.”

  The snake looked like it could swallow more than a body, and it wasn’t going to be Jones if he could help it.

  The conductor’s eyes fixed on the snake. “Looks like one of those freakish things a circus man carries around his neck.”

  Trinity shivered. She’d never been to a circus, and she couldn’t imagine anyone putting something like that around their neck.

  The thing lay motionless. Sleeping. Dead.

  Waiting to pounce.

  The conductor pulled out his watch fob and consulted the time. “We need to do something. We’re running late.”

  Jones shifted on one boot. “If we can find a stout limb I might be able to scoop it up and fling it far enough away that the train can move. Can you tell if it’s breathing?”

  The engineer’s color heightened. “I told you, mister. I don’t know if it’s dead or alive but either it moves off the track or I run it over.”

  Trinity eased closer. “It’s a shame to kill it. Let’s try to move it off the track and let it go its way.”

  “And pity the poor rider who encounters it later,” Jones said.

  He started as a shot rang out. Trinity muted a scream when she saw the blood draining from his face. Bright red blood was oozing from his thigh.

  Missy smiled tranquilly, holding the smoking pistol. Trinity stared at her, aghast, but then her focus was drawn back to Jones. He wavered, turned a shade whiter, and then passed out.

  Trinity’s ears were still ringing from the shot and she could barely hear, but she could just make out Missy’s elated words.

  “All gone. Snake’s dead.”

  Nineteen

  He looks to be coming around now.”

  “Jones!” Trinity cupped his ruddy cheek in her hand. “Wake up!” She turned anxiously to the doctor. The remainder of the trip had been a frantic blur. The conductor and engineer had loaded an unconscious Jones into the railroad car, bound his wound tightly, and then set off full-steam for Piedmont. Now the patient lay on a long, straight table in the doctor’s office, slowly coming around.

  “Sugar?” Missy bent close, speaking loudly in his ear. “I didn’t mean to shoot you! I was aiming for the snake and I got it, but goodness, at what cost? Look at you, poor thing! Your thigh’s just oozing blood and it’ll be mighty sore for a few days, but don’t worry your head a minute. I’ll take good care of you.” She rose and met Trinity’s eyes. Her tone cooled. “You did say you weren’t married? Or affianced?”

  Trinity shoved her back from the table with her shoulder. “I don’t recall saying. But married or not, he’s not your responsibility. I’ll care for him.”

  A wicked smile that only another woman could read appeared on Missy’s lips. “If he’s not married, then he’s fair game.”

  Meeting her brazen eyes, Trinity returned the cutting smile. “You step one foot over the fence, and you’ll see who he belongs to. Sugar.”

  “Ladies.” The dark-haired young doctor with a handlebar mustache, standing near the head of the table, interrupted the biting exchange. The young doctor didn’t look much older than Rob had been when he passed. “I can assure you that your man…or traveling companion…isn’t going to require much care. It’s a superficial wound, but he will have to tend the injury well or risk infection. And his hearing should return just fine, though he may experience a ringing in his ears for a while.” He opened a glass-front cabinet and removed a tube. “He’ll need to apply this salve four times a day after he’s thoroughly cleansed the injury.” The patient moaned, and the doctor bent over him. “Sir, your injury isn’t grave, but you’ll not be able to ride for a couple of days.”

  Both his eyes popped fully open. Trinity offered an encouraging smile. “Are you in much pain?”

  Wincing, he tried to sit up. “What happened?”

  “Well, the good news is that the snake is gone.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  “Gone. The snake’s gone and we’re in Piedmont.”

  He cupped a hand behind his ear. “What? I can barely hear you.”

  “It’s fine. The doc says your hearing will clear.” She glanced at Missy. “We hope.”

  Missy bent close to his face, yelling. “I shot the snake!”

  “And you,” Trinity felt compelled to add.

  Shaking his head, Jones muttered. “Great. My hearing for a snake’s life.”

  Easing Miss Know-It-All aside, Trinity offered Jones a cup of cool water. He pushed it aside. “How did I get here?”

  Missy nudged Trinity to the back. “The conductor and engineer carried you here. You fainted.”

  “I don’t faint.”

  “He doesn’t faint,” said Trinity. “The sight of blood just makes him slightly…lightheaded.”

  The young woman’s eyes narrowed. “He passed out.”

  Stepping between the two squabbling women, the doctor helped Jones to his feet. “I’m afraid you’ll be on crutches for a few days. You’ll need to keep weight off the injured leg.”

  “Can I ride? I’m due fifty miles up north in a couple of days.”

  The doctor shook his head. “No riding for now. We can’t risk reopening the wound. You’re fine for now, and I don’t anticipate trouble as long as you follow orders.”

  Jones looked at Trinity. “I’ll inform the railroad,” she told him. “I’m sure they’ll understand.”

  He grunted. “I’m glad you’re sure.”

  She wasn’t certain. Of anything. If he had never run into her, or helped her look for the deed, none of this would have happened. She turned impersonal eyes on Missy. The woma
n was sorely grating on her nerves with all that chatter, and now she was openly flirting with Jones. And if she didn’t stand back and stop hovering over him…

  Jones lifted himself up and tested his weight on the wounded leg, sucking in a deep breath. The doctor handed him a pair of crutches. “I hope you’re planning on sticking around a few days.”

  “I wasn’t. Are there rooms for rent?”

  “I’ll have my wife arrange for something…” His gaze traveled to the two hovering women. “How many?”

  “How many what?”

  “Rooms.” His eyes shifted, indicating his dilemma.

  Trinity filled the awkward silence. “Please arrange for two rooms.” She fixed her eyes on the other woman. “Missy plans to continue her journey.”

  Missy bent close to Jones and spoke low. “I could delay…”

  “No,” Trinity interrupted. “You’ve been too kind. We have mutual business in Piedmont, and I’m certain your father is eagerly anticipating your arrival.”

  A shrill whistle sounded, its high-pitched tone filling the small room. Taking Missy by the arm, Trinity ushered her to the door. “So kind of you to help. I sincerely hope that the remainder of your trip is uneventful.” She didn’t. She didn’t care what happened to Jabber-Jaws.

  “But…”

  Trinity nudged her out the door and shut it behind her, none too gently. She turned to meet two sets of amused male eyes. Heat crept up her neck. She supposed she was being a bit obvious.

  Jones chuckled. “Doc, you were saying something about salve? Four times a day?”

  “Yes. And see that you keep that wound clean!”

  A blazing ball of sun dipped low in the west as Jones and Trinity emerged from the doctor’s office. The crutches were awkward and only inflamed Jones’s foul mood. His persistent grumbles and outright blasphemy—twice—brought a flush to her cheeks, but she couldn’t fault him. She’d caused him more trouble than a lawsuit. He’d suffered more than a loss of dignity; he was running the serious risk of losing his job. All because she had this insane need to be with him. For the life of her she couldn’t imagine where she’d misplaced her independence.