Alice

  Copyright © 2020 Margaret Tanner – Alice (Cupids & Cowboys Series, Book 4)

  Thank you for downloading this e-book. It remains the copyrighted property of the author and may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed for any commercial or non-commercial use without permission from the author and publisher. Quotes used in reviews are the exception. No alteration of content is allowed. If you enjoy this book, then please encourage your friends to purchase their own copy.

  This story is a work of fiction. To enhance the story, some literary license has been taken regarding setting and geography. All characters are a figment of the author’s imagination.

  Acknowledgements: Many thanks to my author friend Cheryl Wright for all her help and support.

  To my loyal readers: Thank you so much for your support. You can’t know how much I appreciate it.

  Cover Artist: Charlene Raddon

  Edited and Formatted by Lisa Miller of Got You Covered

  Chapter One

  South Dakota, 1890’s

  Emily McGregor flipped her blonde pigtail back over her shoulder as she gazed at her friend, Sophie Kirwin. At ten years of age, she was the youngest of the McGregor clan and resented her family treating her like a baby.

  “I wish we could be real sisters,” Emily said as they sat in the schoolyard eating lunch. The late spring sun was warm, and the shouts of other pupils seemed far away as they sat in their secret place behind a clump of trees. Ma would be mad if she got dirt on her dress, but she didn’t care. This was where they always came to make their plans for the future, or if they had important stuff to discuss.

  “Maybe we could get Alice to marry Devlin. Then we’d be real sisters.” Sophie bit into her sandwich.

  “How could we do that? Devlin is working in Golden Square and Alice is here in Trails End. Alice doesn’t like men much. She’s twenty and will end up an old maid if she isn’t careful.”

  “Why don’t you write to Devlin and pretend to be Alice, and I can write to Alice pretending to be Devlin?” Sophie suggested.

  “What good would that do?”

  Sophie gnawed her lip. “We could tell them we are a secret admirer. I read that in a book a couple of weeks ago.”

  “You did?” Emily was impressed. “Where? Aunt Kate wouldn’t have that kind of book lying around.”

  “It was in the mercantile.”

  “Old Joe O’Brien is too old to read,” Emily scoffed. “He must be a hundred.”

  “No, he wasn’t reading it. There was a bookshelf near the counter, and I started flicking through the pages while Ma ordered supplies.”

  If Sophie’s brother, Devlin, married Alice, her and Sophie would really and truly be sisters. As it was, they were no relation, even though the McGregor kids always called her parents Aunt Kate and Uncle Max. It would be perfect. “How?”

  “You could write a mushy letter to Devlin saying how much you like him and want to meet him at the church dance. You could sign it – A Secret Admirer. And I could write the same thing to Alice. That way, neither of them would recognize the handwriting.”

  “Ohh, that is so clever.” Emily clapped her hands. “Wait, Devlin is working in Golden Square.” She could have cried with disappointment.

  “He’s coming home for that weekend. Ma told me.” Sophie lowered her voice a little. “She wants him to get married and settle down, cause he’s twenty-eight now. He’ll be too old soon.”

  “That is old. I wish I could have seen him more than a couple of times. I can’t even remember what he looks like.”

  “Pa says he has to sow his wild oats first, whatever that means. He’s a Marshal, not a farmer, so I don’t know why he has to sow oats.”

  “Grown-ups are silly.” Emily stared at her friend. “Do you think Devlin would like Alice?”

  “Who cares, as long as they get married so we can be real sisters.”

  The prospect was so exciting, Emily could barely contain herself.

  “It’s a secret,” Sophie said. “You have to promise never to tell.”

  “I won’t. Cross my heart and hope to die. How can we do it?”

  “When you come to my place after school, we’ll write our letters. If you give me your one to Devlin, I can give it to Miss Wilson and ask her to get Jason at the stage depot to deliver it to Golden Square. Did you know she and Jason are sparking?”

  “No, they are both so old. I overheard someone say she was thirty-five and left on the shelf until she met Jason. Why do grown-ups talk in such a funny way?” Emily stood and brushed down her dress. “I think the bell is ready to go. What about the letter to Alice?”

  Sophie jumped up on hearing the bell to return to class. “You can slip it in the box outside your place, and Uncle Logan will pick it up and think it came through the mail.”

  They linked arms and ran toward the one-room schoolhouse where Miss Wilson stood ringing the heavy brass bell. Alfie Thompson caught up to them and pulled Emily’s plait. She swung around and pushed him over.

  “Emily!” Miss Wilson called out. “Young ladies do not go around pushing people over.”

  “He pulled my pigtail.” Sophie had her two pigtails crossed over the back of her head and secured with a ribbon. Maybe I should ask Alice to do that for me, she thought, then Alfie couldn’t grab it. She was dying for school to be finished so she could walk to Sophie’s place and get started on their letters. The sooner they wrote, the sooner Alice and Devlin could get married.

  Sophie was lucky to live close enough to walk home from school. She envied her friend, although she did like living on the ranch and loved her pony Boots. If they became true sisters, they could share their time between both places. That would be fun.

  After school was dismissed, she and Sophie headed to Aunt Kate’s. She led Boots and her friend skipped along beside her. Ma would be there with the buckboard, as every second Wednesday, the ladies went to the church auxiliary meeting.

  On arrival at Sophie’s house, Emily saw her mother’s buckboard under a tree in the front yard with the horse eating from a nose bag. Ma would be having coffee with Aunt Kate. The two women were best friends and the two families spent a lot of time together.

  Pa and Uncle Max were good friends, too. Pa had always been a rancher. Not Uncle Max, though. He had been Sheriff of Trail’s End until he took up farming.

  “Ma!” Sophie yelled as they rushed into the kitchen to confront the two women.

  “Goodness me,” Aunt Kate said. “You nearly frightened the wits out of us.”

  Sophie gave her mother a hug.

  “Did you have a nice day, sweetheart?” Emily nodded and kissed her mother’s cheek.

  “Have you got any chocolate cookies, Aunt Kate?”

  “Emily! Remember your manners.”

  “Ma, I do, but I’m hungry.”

  “Me too,” Sophie chimed in. “We’re in a hurry. We’ve got a lot of homework to do.”

  “No, we…” Emily swallowed the rest of the sentence after being on the receiving end of Sophie’s warning glare.

  “I mean, we’ve only got a little bit to do.”

  Aunt Kate laughed. “Is it a little or a lot, girls?”

  Emily stuffed a cookie in her mouth so she would not have to answer. Sophie did the same. They gulped down their glass of milk and dashed out of the kitchen.

  “Oh, those naughty little girls. I don’t trust them as far as I can throw them.” Jemma smiled indulgently at their disappearing backs.

  “They’re both spoilt,” Kate admitted. “How can we help it? I mean with Sophie losing her parents so young and you getting Emily after all those miscarriages.”

  “I know, we’re both lucky,” Jemma said.

  “Devlin is coming home for the church dance.”

  “That’s good.”

  “Yes, Max loves it when he does come, infrequent though it is. They can talk all about this lawmaking business. He’s so proud Devlin has made good after the tragic way his parents died.”

  “I know, it must have been awful for him to lose his parents at eighteen and have a baby sister to care for.” Jemma took a sip of coffee.

  “I’m glad he was sensible enough to realize looking after a two-year old was beyond him and contacted us. He readily agreed for us to adopt Sophie, once he realized how much she meant to us. He’s a good man. I just wish he could find himself a nice girl and settle down.”

  “These cookies are really good, Kate. Would you mind giving me the recipe?”

  “No, it’s one of my old recipes from my days at the diner.”

  “Do you miss it?”

  “No, not really. I’m busy here helping Max with the hogs. That smokehouse Logan built has been the makings of us. The mercantile here and at Golden Square are taking meat from us, not to mention the orders from the butcher in Deadwood.”

  “Well, I never thought Logan would agree to having pigs on our ranch, but it is a good sideline for us, too.”

  “Fancy Logan McGregor raising hogs.” Kate went into peals of laughter and Jemma joined in. It was hard to believe Logan would agree, but Max was his friend with not much land, while he had plenty, with some of it unsuitable for cattle.

  The partnership had worked well for both of them. Max was able to sell more meat, and they had extra income when cattle prices fell, as they periodically did.

  Loud giggles coming from Sophie’s room had Kate rolling her eyes and shaking her head. “What mischief are those two planning?”

  Jemma enjoyed visiting Kate, who was always able to cheer her up, and right now she needed it. Logan was
always supportive, but it was never the same as having a woman to talk things over with.

  Alice would be twenty soon and she worried about whether to tell her about her real father, Daniel, and those dark times in her life.

  Logan had been insisting she tell Alice about Daniel in case she found out from someone else. Max and Kate had agreed with him. The longer Jemma left the confession the harder it became. Dare she say nothing and hope the past would stay buried like it had for the last nineteen or more years?

  How would Alice ever find out? Most people in Larriet who knew the true story would be dead, or if they were still alive, they would not be prepared to risk their involvement in such terrible deeds ever being found out.

  “Read what you wrote,” Emily said. Sophie had sneaked some writing paper and envelopes from her father’s desk drawer.

  My Dear Alice,

  I have dreamed of holding you in my arms for so long.

  “Ooh, I like that.” Emily squealed. “Keep reading.”

  To feel your sweet lips against mine.

  “Yuk.” Emily screwed her nose up.

  “Should I change it?” Sophie asked worriedly.

  “No, I like it, but it’s yuk.” She grimaced with disgust.

  I will worship you forever.

  Your Secret Admirer.

  “Now you read yours,” said Sophie.

  My Dearest Darling Devlin.

  Sophie laughed gleefully. “Yes.”

  You don’t know me, but I have loved you from afar.

  “That sounds real grown up, Em. What else?”

  Emily nibbled on the top of her pencil.

  “Cupid fired his arrow and it went straight through my heart,” Sophie suggested.

  “I don’t know what that means. Is it good?”

  “Yes. It’s romantic. I read it in that book I was telling you about.”

  Emily wrote the words out. “I wonder what it means?”

  “I don’t know exactly.” Sophie shrugged. “It sounds mushy and good.”

  “All right, what else?”

  I will be at the church dance. Please try to find me. I will be wearing a blue dress with white lace on the collar.

  Love eternally,

  Your Secret Admirer.

  “Are there two LL’s in eternally? We can’t make mistakes. It might make Devlin think it’s from a kid. He’s real smart,” Sophie said.

  Emily wrung her hands. “I never thought of that.”

  “Just say Eternal Love.”

  “Okay.” This was the neatest writing she had ever done. Emily finished off the letter and addressed the envelope

  Marshal Devlin Stone

  Golden Square

  “Give it to me,” Sophie said. “I’ll hide it, then tomorrow I’ll give it to Miss Wilson and she can give it to Jason. I’ll tell her a pretty lady gave it to me to pass on to him because she knew Devlin was my brother.”

  “That’s clever. I can just put the letter you wrote to Alice in our mailbox.”

  “Emily, it’s time to go, sweetheart. I need to get home and put supper on.”

  “Alice can do it.”

  “No, she’s helping your father and Sam.”

  “Oh, all right. She’s always helping them. Why doesn’t she do lady stuff?”

  “Pa and Sam need her help and Alice prefers farm work to household chores.”

  “That girl needs a husband,” Kate said.

  “Yes, I wish she would find a nice young man. Daniel had a wild streak in him, and I sometimes fear she might be the same.”

  “Who’s Daniel?” Emily asked

  “No one you need worry about. We have to go. Thanks, Kate.”

  “See you tomorrow, Em,” Sophie said, crossing her fingers.

  Emily skipped along beside her mother. “Tie Boots to the back of the buckboard and you can ride up with me.”

  “Can I drive?”

  “No.”

  Chapter Two

  Alice helped Sam drive the last batch of cattle into the home pasture, readying them to be driven to Golden Square in the morning. There was nothing she liked better than to wear male attire and ride like a man. She hated being female with all the restrictions it placed upon her. Ma and Emily were home by the looks of it, meaning she was let off starting supper.

  With a wave, she left Sam to deal with the last of the cattle in preparation for their early start in the morning. Pa had been cleaning out the pig pen, a detestable chore that she refused point blank to do.

  She rode to the stable, which was an enclosed section at one end of the barn. It opened up into a fenced area where the horses could graze. She noticed Boots and the buckboard horse grazing there.

  After unsaddling her gelding, she gave him a quick rub done then set him loose. Even though the sun was setting, warm air brushed her cheeks. Life was good out here.

  On arrival at the back porch, the dish of water, towel, and soap were laid out ready as usual. Hearing the murmur of voices, she realized Pa was also in the kitchen. How could he eat food after working with those hogs? It was an enterprise with Uncle Max that did bring in good money and she enjoyed smoked ham or the roast pork. It was the smelling squealing animals themselves that gave her the shudders.

  After washing up, her foot was on the doorstep when she heard her father speaking.

  “You should tell her about Daniel. She’s a grown woman now and needs to know.”

  “I am going to tell her. I just want to wait for the right time.” Ma’s voice rose slightly.

  “Listen, darlin’, it’s not for me to interfere, but if someone else tells her it would be much worse.”

  What on earth were they talking about? It was despicable eavesdropping on her parents, but wild horses would never be able to drag her away now. Maybe she should cough to alert them to her presence.

  “I don’t want to talk about it yet, Logan.”

  “It’s your story to tell, darlin’, I just don’t want this silence of yours to backfire on you.”

  “Alice will never go to Larriet.”

  “How do you know? People are much more mobile these days than they once were what with the rail line and updated roads. Look how much time the new road cuts off for us when we go to Trails End. Golden Square is even closer.”

  “I’ll never set foot in Golden Square while there is even one breath left in my body after what they did to me.”

  “I know, darlin’, I know. And there is not a person on this earth who would blame you for feeling this way.”

  “Is supper ready yet?” Emily’s question stopped the conversation.

  “I’m waiting for Sam and Alice to get here, then I can dish the food up.”

  “Alice is already here. I saw her a few minutes ago.”

  Alice could strangle her young sister sometimes. Hurriedly, she pushed open the door and entered the homely kitchen with its large pine table and matching chairs. “Sorry I didn’t come in straight after washing up. I thought I had stepped in something and was checking my boot. Supper smells good.”

  “Don’t bring anything into the house,” her mother admonished.

  Pa winked at her. For his age, he was still a handsome man with copper colored hair with only a few flecks of grey, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin beneath the bristles on his face.

  “I’m back,” Sam yelled from the porch.

  Saved by my brother, Alice thought. If only he knew what a predicament he had gotten me out of.

  Once they were all seated, they said grace. Ma’s stew smelled delicious and spicey, and she had bought crusty bread from town to soak up the juices. Not to mention one of Aunt Kate’s apple pies.

  “Mm, this pie looks good.” Sam licked his lips. “Aunt Kate sure is a great cook.”

  “So is your mother.”

  Ma smiled. “Thank you, darling.”

  Alice was surprised because her parents were still so much in love. It was nice. She was envious of them sometimes and wanted to find a loving man like Pa. At other times, she thought it would be better to remain unmarried. It worried her not one little bit that quite a few of the girls she had attended school with were already married. A couple of them even had babies.

  “Who is Daniel?” Emily suddenly asked.

  Alice watched the color fade from her mother’s cheeks, leaving her face ghostly white.