so I can purchase mine.”
Ann paid the clerk, then turned to face the man who had been heckling her. “You, sir, are extremely rude!” With the dignity befitting her station, she left.
Once out of sight of the offensive man, Ann frowned. She had misjudged her money. It was going a bit too quickly. However, she had no idea how she could have spent less. She hadn’t bought a thing she didn’t need.
Ann was about to leave the depot when someone tapped her shoulder. Expecting to see the same irritant she had just encountered, she turned, ready for battle. But she had never laid eyes on the rail thin man standing in front of her. He was too poorly kept to be a gentleman of substance.
“Madam, please permit me to introduce myself.” He removed his worn top hat and bowed deeply. “The name’s Jefferson Davis. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?”
“No.”
Jefferson smiled. “I happened to overhear you talking to the clerk. From your accent, I take it you’re new in our country.”
“Well, yes. I am.”
He glanced around as if to be sure no one was listening to their conversation. “What the clerk didn’t tell you was that when you leave New York City, you’ll be facin’ every kind of no-account known to mankind.” He tried taking the lady’s arm to lead her outside, but she stepped away.
“What does that have to do with you, Mr. Davis?”
“Just trying to be neighborly, ma’am. I wouldn’t sleep well if I didn’t at least give you a warning. If you and a servant or-worse yet-a child, are traveling by yourselves, you are in grave danger.”
Ann’s concern increased. Acquaintances had said that the land surrounding the towns was infested with outlaws and Indians. Absolutely no one was safe. “Well. what do you think I should do?”
“I’d suggest you hire someone to travel with you and your party. Someone good with a gun.”
“Do you know anyone who would fit that description?”
“You’re looking at him, my lady.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” a loud voice blared as Jefferson was jerked about.
Jefferson made a run for it. As Ann watched the bear chase the weasel, she caught sight of an entirely different gentleman standing off to the side, seemingly observing everything. Fear shot through her, as cutting as if she had been pierced by steel. Was he one of Matthew’s spies? She should have left New York the day after they had arrived. But she had thought to wait for the child to be born. Then there was the wet nurse and new clothes. What choice had she had?
Ann lowered her head and hurried outside. Immediately she spotted another suspicious man watching people entering and exiting the depot. Possibly her imagination was running amok, but paranoia had already infiltrated her mind. It was all she could do to maintain a steady step instead of running to a carriage for hire.
Not until Ann had the red-faced driver take several side streets was she finally convinced that they weren’t being followed. Why did one problem seem to compound into another? She had believed Jefferson Davis, which meant she needed to be more suspecting of people. But Mr. Davis had pointed out something very important. Women traveling alone were at the mercy of others. Despite this sad fact she had to continue on to Beau’s ranch and pray that along the way she wouldn’t be murdered, raped or robbed, or all three.
Ann looked out the window just as the coach passed a tailor shop with a man’s suit on display in the window. Could she? She thought only a moment. “Stop!” she yelled to the driver.
The cab came to an abrupt halt, throwing Ann forward. Her hat was pushed to the side, and the hat pin pulled unmercifully at her hair. After taking a moment to repair the damage, she turned and looked out the rear window at the shop.
“You gettin’ out, lady?” the driver called.
“Yes, but I want you to wait for me,” Ann replied to the obnoxious man. Apparently the driver had no intention of helping her down. She was forced to perform the service herself. She disliked New York more and more.
Ann walked back to the shop and stared at the tweed suit on display. She could fit in it. She was tall, slender and, unlike Hester, her bosom was small.
Even though the thought of putting on such clothing turned her stomach to whey, a solution to her problems was taking form. She and Hester could travel as man and wife. If men performed as women in Shakespeare’s plays, why couldn’t a woman pose as a man? A cold wind stirred, and she felt the added chill. She moved to the door and opened it.
Hester’s gaze shifted from the man’s suit to the duchess, then back to the man’s suit. “We are to travel as husband and wife?”
“Don’t look so shocked. We have to do whatever is needed to protect ourselves.”
The thought of the duchess wearing such a suit threatened to send Hester into peals of laughter.
“I trust you won’t have the babe until we find a midwife.”
Hester chose not to point out that it wasn’t something she had any control over.
Turning her attention to the suit, Ann held the trousers in front of her to judge their fit.
“After we’re settled, I’m certain you’ll adjust to the American way of living. I’m quite knowledgeable about the colonies,” Ann stated proudly. “Before I married, friends and I often found it an interesting topic for discussion. For instance, you will be glad to know that this land isn’t even as large as England. Why we bothered to go to war over such a place is still beyond my understanding.”
“You said that sailing on a ship destined for New York wouldn’t cause further delays,” Hester goaded. “If that was so, why did your father book passage on the Dolphin which was to berth in San Francisco?”
“Probably because it set sail sooner. Arizona Territory has to be somewhere in the middle of the two.” Ann unbuttoned her gray wool skirt and let it fall to the floor.
“You also said the ocean voyage was only going to take six weeks,” Hester reminded the tall woman. “But by the time we reached the islands, waited, then sailed again, another two months had passed.”
“The captain forgot to mention the Caribbean Islands,” Ann excused.
Hester sneered. The pampered duchess knew nothing. “I’ll get my sewing basket from the other room. Adjustments are going to have to be made for the suit to fit properly.”
Ann pulled on the trousers. The material was scratchy. “Hester,” she said soberly when the abigail had returned, “we have to be very careful. We can’t talk to anyone. I had foolishly begun to believe we were safe, today I was reminded of how wrong I have been. I saw two men at the train station. Either or both could have been sentries for Matthew. It reminded me of how precarious our position still is.”
Hester wasn’t at all worried. If Matthew caught up with them, he’d have no reason to kill her now. “What shall we call ourselves?”
“What
