Thief of My Heart (Watty Awards Finalist 2012)

Chapter 27

Olivia Hope Sanders- Vanderbilt stepped off the train and onto the dusty platform of the train depot.  With lace gloved hands she adjusted the dainty plumed hat that sat atop her mounds of honey blond curls, and smoothed the wrinkles from the skirt of her black silk and crepe mourning gown.  She had donned the customary black dress the very day she had received the devastating news that her younger sister and the nephew she had never met were dead.  The exhaustion she felt after traveling by train for three days was exceeded only by her anxiousness to meet her niece.  Her large blue eyes scanned the platform for any sign of a young woman who might be her. But of the many people there,  few were females and all of them were either too old or too young to be her nineteen year old niece.  A frown pinched her lovely arched brows and turned down the corners of her full pink lips.  She looked up at the sign, "Cold Springs."  This was the right town.  She checked the watch pinned to her lapel.  She was on time.  Where then was her niece?

As the throng of disembarking passengers began to dwindle,  she noticed the man leaning against the wall next to the ticket master's booth.  He was staring at her.  He pushed himself away from the wall and started towards her. She looked him over with appreciation as he approached her.  He was a striking figure.  He walked with a cocky arrogance.  He looked dangerous but not threatening.   He wore a gun low on his right hip strapped to his leg.  His hat pushed back on his head.  He was lean and fit.  And quite handsome.  When he stopped directly in front of her, she had to tip her head back to look at him, not that he was really that tall, she was just a petite five feet two inches.   She was met with the most startling blue eyes she had ever seen.  A slight shiver ran up her spine. How odd, she thought.

"Mrs. Vanderbilt?"  he inquired.

She stood there for a moment not knowing what to say.  What was she supposed to say?  "Uh, uh, yes."

“Welcome to Cold Springs, ma’am."  He removed his hat revealing his abundance of dirty blond curls.  "I’m Thaddeus Jones.  I’m here to escort you back to Red Rock.”

"You're Mr. Jones?  I was expecting someone much older.  And I was hoping my niece would be with you.  Is she here in town?"

"No, ma'am.  She stayed back in Red Rock with Mr. Smith.  She's most anxious to meet you."  It was a half truth.  Evie was anxious, but not in a good way.

"And I her.  I must apologize for not replying to your telegraph sooner.  I was in Bowling Green, Kentucky when you sent it, and you had addressed it to my older sister, Libby.  It took a while for the message to be forwarded to me in Kentucky.  My sister was taken ill many years ago and is no longer able to take care of important matters like this and all the family responsibilities have fallen to me.  But as soon as I received your message,  I started making arrangements for my niece to come to Nashville.  And for the remains of my sister and my nephew to be exhumed and brought home where they should be." 

"I'm very sorry for your loss, ma'am,"  he said with sincerity.  But it didn't go unnoticed that she had not included Evangeline's father in those plans. 

"Thank you, Mr. Jones."

For such a beautiful and fairy like woman, she certainly had a chilly disposition, Kid thought. 

"Are you traveling alone Mrs. Vanderbilt?  Is your husband with you?"

"I have been widowed for sixteen years.  Yes, I am alone.  I'm forty one years old and I run several banks and a newspaper.  I hardly need a chaperon."  For some reason she felt oddly self conscious of her age and her appearance as she stood here in front of this young, handsome man.  She knew she was being a little cold towards him, but something about him unnerved her. Something she wasn't used to. 

A lady banker and newspaper baron.  How fascinating, Kid thought.  "I hope it isn't too forward of me to say that you certainly don't look forty-one.  I would have guessed you to be about thirty."

She actually laughed.  It was a deep musical laughter that Kid Curry found very appealing.  In fact he found almost everything about her physical being appealing.  She was tiny.  She barely came to his shoulder.  He could span her waist with both of his hands.  And her hands and her facial features looked like they belonged more to a child than a grown woman.  Add to that thick honey blond hair,  large blue eyes and a bow shaped mouth and  the sum was a very enticing package.  If the package just weren't covered with frost.  What a waste he thought.

"You, boy!"  she signaled to a teenage boy who was passing the depot on the crowded street.  "Come here and help with my bags!" 

As Kid and the boy collected Olivia's considerable baggage and loaded them into the rear of the surrey,  Mrs. Vanderbilt supervised their every move.  "No, don't put that one on the bottom.  And that one needs to ride in front with me.  Don't toss those around so.   It contains precious family heirlooms.  Please, be careful, young man."   Kid couldn't keep his eyes off her.  She was mesmerizingly beautiful.  Maybe the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.  But she was also one  the bossiest and most austere.  She was clearly a woman who was in charge and liked having her way.  But she was also generous.  He saw the five dollar gold piece she placed in the boys hand as she thanked him for his help.

"How was your train ride?"  Thaddeus asked after riding for several miles in silence.

"Honestly,"  she sighed,  "it was horrendous.  A married couple with seven rambunctious children boarded in Oklahoma.  Perhaps you saw them.  They got off the train just before I did.  The poor woman couldn't keep them under control and her husband wouldn't help her at all.  They climbed the seats and hung from the curtains. Just thinking about it now gives me a headache."

"Do you have children of your own?"

"No.  I never had children.  My husband died before our second anniversary.  And I've never remarried."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you.  It was a long time ago.  Since my father died and Libby became ill, I've had to take over the family businesses.  I don't have time to think about much else.  This trip to collect my niece is the first time I've been away from home for something other than a business transaction or corporate meeting since....well, I don't remember when."

"Then you'll enjoy the peace and quite at the ranch.  Mr. McCreedy has the guest room all made up for you."

"Mr. McCreedy?"

"Patrick McCreedy.  He owns the ranch where you'll be staying,  if you accept his invitation of course.  There's a nice hotel in town if you'd rather have your privacy."

"Wherever Evangeline is, that's where I want to stay."

"That would be the ranch then."

"So, Mr.  Jones, have you gotten to know my niece well?  I'd like to know a little about her before I meet her.  I don't even know what she looks like."

"Well, I must say, that beauty runs in your family.  She's just as beautiful as you."

"Thank you,"  she managed after the shock wore off.  She hadn't thought of herself as beautiful in a long time.  Dear, Lord her face felt hot.  Surely she wasn't blushing.

Kid Curry smiled to himself when he saw the flush on her cheeks.  Maybe he could melt a little of that frost.  He didn't know if he could but he could sure have some fun trying.

As they rode along the rest of the way to Red Rock, Thaddeus shared many of the experiences he'd had with Evangeline and Joshua.  He didn't however let her in on the fact that the afore mentioned were now in the throes of a blossoming romance.  He thought it best if she found that out on her own.

Every mile that they traveled, a little more of the frost melted.  Kid's natural charm and easy going presence had her laughing by the time they arrived in Red Rock.  She found him funny, charming and very handsome.  He in turn was becoming quite intrigued by the sprite like beauty who was the head of a family and four  businesses.  And he found her much more beautiful when her face was smiling and laughing instead of pinched in a cold,  distant scowl,  as it had been the first hour he'd known her.  He thought he was going to like Olivia Vanderbilt quite well.  He just hoped her stubborn niece would too.

                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heyes stood on the front porch of Mr.  McCreedy's house watching as the fringed canopy of the surrey that would bring Olivia Vanderbilt face to face with him came into view over the hilltop.  He was nervous.  He felt like  one of the horses they had trained, getting ready for inspection by a prospective buyer.  He didn't know why he felt like he needed her approval.  But he did.  He wanted Evie's aunt to like him.  But more important than that, he wanted Evie to like her.  She had been upstairs all afternoon getting ready for her first meeting with one of  her few remaining kin folks.  She hadn't eaten anything all day, complaining of nausea and a headache.  She had fretted for hours about what to wear and how to fix her hair.  He took out his pocket watch or the umpteenth time and checked the time, knowing already it was only a minute past the last time he'd checked.  Four forty-five.  Kid had gotten her here right on time.

"Right on time, I see."

The voice of Patrick McCreedy sounded behind him.  "Yep.  Guess you better tell the ladies they're here."

As Mac went back inside to inform the ladies that their guest had arrived, Hannibal Heyes reminded himself that he was a safe cracking,  train robbing genius and former leader of the Devil's Hole gang.   A mere slip of a woman wasn't going to rattle him.  What did it matter what she thought anyway.  As long as Evie loved him and he and the Kid where safe from the law, life was good.  No matter what this woman thought.  But it sure would make things easier if he got off on a good foot with Mrs. Vanderbilt.  If she liked him,  Evie would like her.

Big Mac and Georgia joined him on the porch just as Kid brought the surrey to a halt in the dirt drive cutting across the front yard. 

Evie had been watching the approaching buggy from her bedroom window upstairs.  The same window Hannibal had dangled from last night.  Recalling the events of the previous night made that tightening feeling come into her womb again,  and in her heart.  It made her even more determined to stand her ground and by her man.  He had been so sweet and attentive to her all day.  He knew she was nervous and he was doing his best to put her at ease.  "She's only a woman.  She's just here because she wants to be a part of your life.  Just meet her and get to know her.  Trust your instincts.  They're usually right."    His words of wisdom echoed in her brain now as she watched the surrey get closer and closer.  So that was her.  She was too far away to make out any detail of her appearance, but she didn't appear to have horns or cloven hooves.   And there was no black pointed hat and broom.  "She's only a woman."  Hannibal's words continued to echo as she checked her reflection in the mirror one last time.  She had to admit, she looked quite beautiful.  She had allowed Georgia, after considerable prodding, to truss her up in a corset.  Her waist appeared tiny, her hips and breasts generously full.  She had chosen the most expensive gown that Mr. McCreedy had purchased for her.  And it was the most beautiful.  It was the only silk gown she now owned.  It was a deep scarlet with a print of small golden flowers.  It was adorned with golden silk bows at the end of her three quarter length sleeves and at the neck line which came just below her collar bone.  Georgia had used the hot iron to curl her hair and it was pinned atop her head in a mass on cascading ringlets.  She heard Mac's voice summoning her and Georgia to the porch to meet their guest.  Trust your instincts.  God, let me have .  the right instincts. And tell Mama I wish she were here.  She spun on her heels and headed out the door and down the stair case.