Alfie Read online

  Pa rarely gave them money. She and Alex used to always keep a couple of dollars back from what Pa gave them to buy supplies from Amos at the Mercentile They used this money to buy themselves a few special items every now and again.

  She had nearly bought make up for her face, would have, except Amos’ wife, Bella said soiled doves used lip paint and rouge. She didn’t want to risk anyone thinking of her as a fallen woman, although she had once overheard a couple of snooty ladies questioning the morals of the Guilfords. Alfie had been tempted to go up to them and call them out for the liars they were, but Freddie pulled her back.

  “It won’t do any good,” she’d said. “It will make them more vicious.” Keep a dignified silence Preacher Steve’s wife Ruth used to always say. Always hold your head high. This was exactly what they tried to do. It was hard to be thought as female when they worked and dressed like men.

  Alfie couldn’t believe she was thinking like this as she paced up and down, keeping an eye on the front yard, watching for Toby. She didn’t want Pa abusing him and driving him away.

  Snatching up her hat, she dashed out to the front porch when she glanced through the window and saw him ride up. He rode with the ease and confidence of a man used to the saddle.

  “Toby.” She waved to him and he waved back.

  Pa stomped out from the freight shed. He was going to get there before her. She vaulted on to her horse and rode toward Toby.

  “You Joe Montague’s boy?”

  “Yes, Sir. I’m Tobias.”

  “Git.”

  “Pa, Toby and I are going for a ride.”

  “You’ll have nothing to do with anyone named Montague, gal.”

  “Come on, Toby, don’t take any notice of Pa.” She kneed her horse closer to his.

  “I don’t know what beef you have with my family. I don’t know you. I’ve never done anything to you.”

  “Ask your cowardly brother what he did in the war.”

  “I can’t, he died in some hell-hole Yankee prison.”

  “Good, I’m glad he’s dead.”

  “Pa! What a horrible thing to say. Come on, Toby, let’s go.” Alfie heeled her horse into motion.

  “Have her back before dark,” Pa yelled, as Toby followed her.

  “He’s certainly mad as hell with my family.”

  “Pa’s always nasty and ornery. I can’t remember him being any other way.”

  “How old are you, Alfie?”

  “Nineteen. You?”

  “I’m twenty-two.”

  They slowed their horses to a walk. “This is your home town, where do we go for a picnic?”

  “There’s a real pretty place by the river, a couple of miles from here.”

  “A place for lovers?”

  Heat rushed into her face and neck.

  H laughed. “I take it you haven’t been with a man before?”

  “No.” Please God, don’t let him be disappointed in me.

  “You’ve been with women?”

  “Yeah, quite a few,” he boasted.

  She gasped.

  “They were always willing.” He edged his mount closer to hers so their legs almost touched. “I never told any of them that I loved them. Alfie, I know it probably might sound as if I’m loco, but I love you.”

  “Love me?”

  “Why not? You’re a beautiful gal, I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

  “I think I love you too, but it’s too soon.”

  “Let’s get hitched.”

  “What! Your parents wouldn’t approve of me.”

  “Yeah, well your Pa hates me. Why should we care what they think? We could elope and by the time they found out it would be too late.” He picked up her hand. Alfie, Alfreda Guilford, will you marry me?”

  Alfie couldn’t believe she was hearing right. He wanted to marry her? Really wanted to marry her?

  “Yes, Toby, Tobias Montague, I’ll marry you.”

  They came to the river, dismounted and tethered their mounts to a bush. The grass was lush and green so they would be happy to stay put, munching on the grass.

  From his saddlebags, Toby produced a blanket and spread it out on the ground, placing stones on each corner to keep it in place.

  Alfie took out the food, which was in a paper bag.

  “Sandwiches and a piece of cold apple tart.” He grinned. “The lady at Nellie’s Diner packed it for me.”

  They sat on the blanket, with their backs against a tree, legs stretched out in front of them, and crossed at the ankles. He handed her a cheese sandwich. She took a bite. “Mm, nice.”

  “Not as nice as you, darlin’.”

  As they ate their lunch, they shared a bottle of sarsaparilla. For a couple of hours they sat talking, swapping stories about their family and their lives. His family was so rich and powerful around Austin she knew they wouldn’t welcome her as a daughter-in-law.

  “Your parents won’t like me.”

  “They will once they get to know you, they’ll love you like I do. Anyway, once we present them with a grandson to carry on the name they’ll be as happy as a weasel in a henhouse.”

  “How do you know we’ll give them a grandson?” Her heart swelled with love for him. He wanted out of life what she did.

  “Easy.” He laughed. “There haven’t been any females born in the Montague family for generations. Montague men only sire male offspring,” he gloated.

  “We might have a girl.”

  “As long as she’s pretty like her Ma, I wouldn’t mind.” He leaned in for a kiss.

  Once she felt his lips on hers, she lost all coherent thought, and opened her mouth to him. As the kiss deepened, his hand cupped her breast, then she felt his fingers needing the soft flesh. An explosion of hot need shot through her entire body.

  “What in tarnation are you doing to me?” He gasped the words out as great tremors shook his body. “Let’s get out of here before I completely lose my head. I love you, Alfie. I’ve never thought, let alone uttered those words to any other woman. I swear it.”

  “I believe you, Toby, neither can I believe what is happening. I would have let you go further if you’d wanted to,” Alfie admitted, wondering why she had become so wanton. Pa would kill her if he knew her thoughts.

  “If you had been any other gal, I would have taken you on the ground right here and now, but I respect you too much. Come with me tomorrow when I leave.”

  “I can’t, not tomorrow, Alex and I have to pick up a wagon from La Grange and bring it back here. If I drop out now, Pa would make her bring it back on her own. It’s a special order for a new customer.”

  “What if I wait on the road just out of Guilford Crossing, that wouldn’t be too far for Alex to drive on her own?”

  Alfie gnawed her lip. “That could work, only if it was too close to home, Pa might come after us. About three miles up the road is a burnt out ruin of a homestead, we could meet there.”

  “Good idea. You can tell Alex to take it slow from there on to give us more time to get a good head start. I know a short cut. It’s rough, but we could do it. Your Pa wouldn’t think we’d go overland. There are plenty of old cattle trails that will eventually bring us out near where we need to go.”

  By the time they had made their plans, Alfie’s excitement was tempered with fear. If Pa caught them before they were wed, he’d drag her back by the scruff of the neck.

  “There’s an old Mission church we could go to on the way. The priest there would marry us.”

  “Oh.”

  “Yeah, I’ve met him a couple of times. He runs an orphanage for Mexican kids, the ones whose parents have been working on the ranches and died. A couple of our Mexican hands go there occasionally with donations. It would be perfect. We get married there, then spend the night at a hotel in Bakerville, that’s not far from Austin, then go to the ranch. There will be nothing Pa can do about it by then.”

  “You think it will work?”

  “Yeah, all you have to do is get your
sister to help. I’ll bring an extra horse with me.”

  “What about my clothes?”

  “I’ll buy you new ones after we’re married.”

  Hand in hand they wandered down to the river. It flowed silently by, with the only sound breaking the tranquility being the rustling of leaves, combined with the steady thudding of her heart.

  Toby drew her into his arms and kissed her long and slow. Her stomach and secret places quivered with excitement. She had never known such ecstasy. What would it be like when he really and truly made love to her on their wedding night?

  Chapter Three

  Alex’s voice intruded into Alfie’s thoughts. “He’s waiting for you.”

  Alfie glanced up. Toby sat astride a large chestnut holding the reins of a nondescript bay gelding.

  “Are your sure about this? There’s still time to change your mind,” Alex said.

  “Yes, I’m certain.” She didn’t want to leave Alex, she loved her sister but had to go with Toby.

  Alex pulled the horses up. Tears trickled from her eyes. Alfie flung her arms around her sister and kissed her cheek. “Thanks for doing this for me. I’ll be in touch one day soon, even if it is through cousin Jeb.”

  Alfie jumped down from the wagon and stepped over to Toby.

  “Good luck to both of you.” Alex slapped the horses’ rumps to get them going again.

  “Thanks for your help, Alex,” Toby called out.

  Alfie mounted and with one last wave, turned her horse around. How long would it be before she saw her sister again? Never, if Pa had his way. She felt sad at leaving her family, yet happy and excited about starting this new life with Toby.

  They rode across country at a steady pace considering the terrain had become rough within a couple of miles of leaving the road to Guilford Crossing. They stopped only to rest the horses. It was imperative to travel as far as they could for the first couple of days.

  Alex had promised to make it a slow journey home to buy them extra time. If Pa wasn’t there when she did arrive back, it would be even better, but they couldn’t bank on it.

  Night fell quickly once the sun slid behind the distant mountains, causing her to shiver slightly.

  “There’s a place not far from here where we can camp for tonight. I made sure we had bedrolls.”

  He must have bought everything from the livery. Money was obviously not a problem for him.

  Five minutes riding brought them to a small forest. “Here I think,” Toby said. “With any luck, there will still be a fireplace here.” He dismounted and disappeared into the undergrowth. A coyote’s howl had the hair on the back of her neck standing up.

  “Yeah, this is it.” He stepped out of the trees and startled her.

  “Tarnation, Toby, you almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “Sorry, darlin’, but we’re here. You’ll have to dismount and lead your horse through.”

  The trees grew thickly, but were not very high, maybe they were only tall bushes. She wasn’t sure as the branches meeting overhead formed a canopy. Had she been mounted, even though she was short, her hair would have got tangled in the foliage.

  After a few yards they came to an almost circular clearing. How pretty and green it was. “This is lovely,” she said to Toby as he came up to her. “How did you know about this place?”

  “I helped a couple of our Mexican ranch hands to drive cattle around here once, a few steers for the Mission school, and we camped here overnight. Not many people know about it. Someone used to live here once. Nothing left of the place now except for a brick fireplace, and it’s still here. I can make coffee and heat up beans.”

  “Oh.” She clapped her hands. “It will be a feast. This is magical. I saw something like this once in a story book about fairies who lived in mushroom houses and played in a place like this.”

  “Yeah,” he scoffed.

  “It’s true.”

  “You don’t look the type of gal who believes in fairies and all that girly stuff.”

  “I did once, before Ma died. She used to read us stories like this every night before bed. After she died, Pa burnt all the story books, said we wouldn’t be needing them anymore, we’d be too busy with chores. He was right.”

  They unsaddled their horses. “It’s so green here but there’s no water, we’ll have to use what’s in our canteens,” he said.

  “Maybe there’s an underground spring.” She glanced around.

  “There could be.”

  “There has to be,” she said, automatically collecting twigs. “With everything being so green and all.”

  “If there is one, I don’t know how to get to it.”

  It didn’t take long for them to gather enough wood for the fire. While she unpacked the saddlebags, he prepared the fire. She laid out their bedrolls side by side. Sleeping out in the open was something she did quite regularly with Alex if they had a heavy load of freight necessitating them to go slowly. Night animals held no fear for her as a rule, it was the two legged varmints her and Alex used to worry about, although they had never been attacked.

  They ate beans washed down with hot coffee, and somehow the simple fare tasted better out here in the open. After they finished eating they lay on their backs staring up at the thousands of tiny stars dotting the black Texas sky. It was here that they made love for the first time. As far as Alfie was concerned, they were now man and wife, even though they hadn’t seen the priest, and she wore no gold band on her left ring finger.

  “Are you sorry we didn’t wait,” he asked once their passion was finally spent and Alfie lay wrapped in his strong young arms, with her head resting on his bare chest.

  “No, it seemed, well sort of right to do it here.”

  “That’s what I thought. Oh, Alfie, I love you now and forever.”

  “I love you so much it scares me.”

  “We’re only a couple of miles away from the Mission now,” he said. “Tomorrow evening, or early the next morning we should make it to Bakerville.”

  ****

  At day break the next morning, after sharing a plate of cold beans, they set off again. Alfie’s first sight of the Mission was of a white stone chapel with a bell tower, set amidst a few ramshackle houses.

  Several steers grazed in a fenced off paddock and a couple of horses were tied up at the hitching rail in front of a small general store. At some stage it could have been a bustling town Alfie thought, although now it had obviously fallen on hard time.

  “The people here are real poor,” Toby said, mostly widows and kids and a few old men. Once the stage stopped calling into the place is just about died. They only get a few drifters in now. Father Antonio does his best.” He shrugged. “Always too many people needing handouts, and not enough to go around.”

  They dismounted outside the store and stepped on to the sagging porch. A large, middle-aged Mexican lady plodded out to greet them. Toby swept off his hat. “Howdy Ma’am, we’re looking for Father Antonio.”

  “He’s at the church.”

  “Thank you, Ma’am.”

  “You wanting him to marry you?”

  “Yes.”

  She laughed. “You ran away to get married, eh?” She dug Alfie in the ribs. “You’re already man and wife.” It was a statement not a question and Alfie’s cheeks burned at the knowing gleam in the woman’s eyes.

  Toby shuffled his feet.

  “At the church.” She laughed again, causing her double chins to wobble.

  “How could she tell?” Alfie asked as they headed toward the church.

  “She couldn’t. It was a lucky guess, and when we acted so embarrassed it confirmed her suspicions.” He grinned. “We’ll be married within the next few minutes, so it won’t matter what people think.”

  The small church had an intricately carved wooden entry door and arched windows, otherwise it was perfectly plain inside and out. Several wooden pews were set along one side, leaving an aisle of about five feet wide. The altar looked to be made of whit
e marble. Candles in gold holders and a gold cross were the only adornments.

  “Father, are you there?” Toby called out, his voice echoing in the silence.

  From a side door a bald headed priest emerged. “Who wants to know?”

  “I’m Toby Montague from the Montague Star ranch near Bakerville, and this is Alfreda Guilford. We’d like you to marry us please.”

  “You’re coming here of your own free will, Miss Guilford?”

  “Yes, I love Toby and want to marry him.”

  “Do you have witnesses? I’ll need two.”

  “No, Father, we don’t,” Toby said. “I’m prepared to make a donation to the church.”

  Alfie inwardly cringed at the offer. Rich people thought money could buy anything. It would have been the way he was brought up, so he wouldn’t realize it could be thought of as a bribe.

  “Thank you, my son. A donation would be helpful, but not required. You both believe in God?

  “Yes,” they chorused.

  “In the sanctity of marriage, until death do you part?”

  “Yes.”

  “No impediment to your marriage?”

  “What?” Alfie asked.

  “No,” Toby said.

  “You aren’t close blood relatives?”

  “No, Father, we aren’t related at all,” she said.

  “I’ll get Mrs. Cortez at the store, and her son to be your witnesses. They can both read and write.”

  Chapter Four

  Mr. and Mrs. Tobias Montague arrived in Bakerville, a small town eight miles from Austin, late in the evening. They and their horses were exhausted from the long trek. Toby had to get the livery owner out of bed to care for their mounts, and the man was none too happy about it.

  Alfie could barely drag one foot after the other as they walked to a small hotel and knocked on the door.

  “Oh, Mrs. O’Connor, sorry to arrive so late, but could I have a room?”

  “Certainly, Mr Montague.” She eyed Alfie with undisguised interest.

  “Mrs. O’Connor, meet my wife Alfreda.”

  “Wife! But, but….”