Tobias handed her the squirming infant. “I gave him water, but he’s not happy. Is everything all right with the little girl?”
“Just fine.” She jiggled Toby to calm him. “Her father’s a deputy. He found us.”
“Good.”
“She misses her mother,” Pearl added. “Apparently I look like her.”
With Toby in her arms, she thought of Sarah’s hopeful eyes. Under different circumstances, she’d have given Matt Wiley her full name. She’d have offered to braid Sarah’s hair again. If he’d asked her to supper, she’d have said yes and worn her prettiest dress. Toby kicked again, reminding her such dreams were foolish. What man would want her now? She was damaged goods and had a baby to prove it.
“I better feed him,” she said to her father.
Tobias motioned to the second bedroom. “Your trunk’s in there.”
“Thank you, Papa.”
“We have plenty of time,” he added. “Carrie left a message at the desk. She’s expecting us at six o’clock for supper.”
Pearl had mixed feelings about meeting her cousin. Four months ago, when the trouble in Denver had reached a peak, Tobias had written to Carrie and asked for information about Cheyenne. She’d written back and invited them to visit her. They’d accepted, and Carrie had generously made arrangements for Pearl to interview at Miss Marlowe’s School for Girls.
Tonight Pearl would tell Carrie about Toby and the circumstances of his conception. She’d either keep her cousin’s respect or she’d lose it. If she lost it, she wouldn’t have a chance of being hired as a teacher and would have to find another way to earn a living. Tobias had a small pension from his years as a minister at Colfax Avenue Church, but it wasn’t enough to support all three of them. Neither did Pearl want him looking for work. Twice in the last month he’d had bouts of chest pain.
Sighing, she glanced at the clock on the mantel. If she moved quickly, she’d have time to feed Toby, wash the train grit from her face and take a nap. Determined to be at her best, she closed the bedroom door and did all three.
An hour later, a rap on the door to the suite pulled her out of a troubled slumber. In her dreams she’d seen the wagon bearing down on Sarah. The picture had shifted and she’d been braiding the child’s hair. It had turned to shining gold, and Matt Wiley had been watching her hands.
The knock sounded again.
Had Carrie come to meet them? Pearl bolted upright and inspected herself in the mirror. She’d put on her oldest day dress and her hair looked a fright. The knocking turned hammer-like. Not Carrie, she decided as she turned from the mirror.
In the sitting room she saw her father, pale and stiff, coming out of the other bedroom. He motioned her aside, but she couldn’t bear the sight of him trying to hurry. Ignoring his gesture, she opened the door and saw a delivery boy holding a small package wrapped in brown paper.
“Are you Miss Pearl?”
“Yes, I am.”
“This is for you.” He held out the package and Pearl took it. Perhaps Carrie had sent a welcome gift, though the gesture seemed too formal for cousins.
As the boy waited expectantly for a coin for his trouble, Pearl looked at her father. Tobias reached in his pocket, extracted a few pennies and handed them to the boy. As he shut the door, Pearl fingered the package in an attempt to guess its contents. It felt soft, like fabric of some kind. Perhaps a pretty handkerchief. That seemed like the kind of gift Carrie might send. Pearl lifted the card bearing her name and turned it over. Instead of her cousin’s prim cursive, she saw bold strokes in a man’s hand. As she read the message, her cheeks flushed pink.
“Who’s it from?” Tobias asked.
“Deputy Wiley.”
Her father hummed a question. “What does it say?”
“‘To Miss Pearl with our deepest gratitude. You are a woman of uncommon courage.’” She looked up at her father. “It’s signed ‘From Deputy Matt and Sarah.’”
His gray eyes misted. “I like this man.”
“Papa, don’t—”
“Don’t what?” He scowled at her. “Don’t hope for happiness for my little girl? Don’t believe God for a second chance?”
Pearl wanted the same things, but she couldn’t go down the same road, not one lined with mysterious gifts and the curious shine in Matt Wiley’s green eyes. She set the card on the table, then looked at the package. The brown paper spoke of ordinary things, but someone had tied it shut with a lace ribbon instead of twine. Pearl didn’t know how to cope with a man’s interest, not anymore.
Her father nudged the package with his index finger. “Open it.”
She felt as if it held snakes, but she tugged on the ribbon. The bow came loose and the paper unfolded in her hand. Instead of snakes, she found hair ribbons in a dozen shades of blue. The colors matched the sky in all seasons, all times of day. Some of them matched the dress she’d ruined saving Sarah. Others were the pale blue of her eyes.
Pearl would have known what to do with a snake. She’d have cut off its head with a shovel and flung it away. The hair ribbons struck her as both treacherous and lovely…but mostly lovely. Startled by the thought, she caught her breath.
Her father touched her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“I think you know.”
Tobias indicated the divan. “Sit with me, Pearl.”
“I should check Toby.”
He gave her a look she knew well. For ten years he’d pastored the biggest church in Denver. He’d learned when to bend and when to fight. Right now, he looked ready for a fight. Pearl gave up and sat next to him. “There’s nothing to say.”
“Yes, there is.”
Looking older than his fifty-eight years, he lifted a cobalt ribbon from the pile of silk and lace. “Look at it, Pearl. What do you see?”
She saw a pretty snake. It declared a man’s interest and tempted her with hope. To hide her feelings, she shrugged. “I see a ribbon.”
Her father held the silk within her grasp. “Touch it.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
Because hope would sink its fangs into her flesh. Her mind would spin tales of princes and husbands, and she’d see Matt Wiley in her dreams. What woman wouldn’t be charmed by the deputy? He loved his daughter and did honorable work. His brown hair framed a lean face and his eyes were the color of new grass. They had a subtle sharpness, a sign of a fine mind, but they also looked steady and true.
Her father turned his wrist, causing the ribbon to shimmer and twist. Her fingers itched to touch it. Knowing Tobias wouldn’t budge until she surrendered, she lifted the ribbon from his hand.
