answered, then they all nodded in unison. He pointed and they turned, and with one final word, the men headed off to do his bidding.
A longing, deep and strong, bloomed in Marlee. Such command. Such presence. Such power and strength.
The man, whoever he was, was important. Very important.
And everyone in the town of Harmony knew it.
She watched as he moved down the platform, talking to the train conductor.
Two weeks. Two weeks here wouldn’t be bad—not bad at all. In fact—
Squeals of delight jarred Marlee from her thoughts, forcing her back to reality as two young women raced through the crowd and dashed up the steps onto the platform.
“Marlee!” one of them cried.
“We’re so glad you’re here!” the other said.
Her cousins. Audrey, only one year younger than Marlee’s own twenty years, and Becky barely a year younger still, wearing gingham dresses and matching bonnets. Both girls threw their arms around Marlee and hugged her tight. Becky pulled the carpetbag from her grasp.
“We thought this train would never get here,” she declared.
“How was your trip?” Audrey asked. She leaned back a little, looked closer at Marlee then let out a little squeal. “You look so much like Mama. Doesn’t she, Becky?”
Her sister gasped. “She does! And that means you look like us!”
Marlee saw the resemblance immediately. All three of them were tall and slender, with light brown hair and deep blue eyes.
“It’s like we’re really sisters,” Becky declared, and gave her another hug.
“You must be starving,” Audrey said, and linked her arm through Marlee’s as they crossed the platform. “Mama’s been cooking all morning.”
“We’ve fixed up a room for you,” Becky said.
“It’s small,” Audrey pointed out.
“But it’s so pretty,” Becky said. “Audrey made new window curtains.”
“Becky hooked a new rug,” her sister said.
“I love your dress,” Becky declared. “You have to tell us about what the girls in Philadelphia are wearing.”
“Wait until you hear what the town is doing for Christmas this year,” Audrey said.
“This is going to be the best Christmas we’ve ever had,” Becky declared.
With a cousin on each side of her, Marlee descended the steps and headed toward town. She glanced back over her shoulder and spotted the man still talking to the conductor.
Five weeks. Five weeks, as originally planned. Five weeks in Harmony, Texas. It really might be the best Christmas she’d ever had.
Chapter Two
“This Christmas is going to be marvelous,” Becky declared, as Marlee walked with her cousins down the boardwalk away from the train station.
Marlee spotted a few women wearing simple dresses covered by long cloaks. Some carried market baskets; most tended the small children who swarmed around them. The street was filled with carriages, horses and wagons.
“Here we are,” Becky announced and gestured to a large display window filled with blue speckled pots and pans, an array of colorful blankets and knitted hats and scarves. Harmony General Store was painted on the glass.
Marlee followed her cousins inside. She’d read about the store her aunt and uncle, Viola and Willard Meade, owned in the letters she’d received from them over the years. It was exactly as she’d imagined, with aisles and shelves filled with merchandise, everything organized and spotless. But she hadn’t expected the place to look so warm and inviting.
“She’s here!” Becky shouted.
Customers turned to stare. At the rear of the store, the woman behind a counter looked up and smiled. Marlee knew immediately that this was her aunt Viola. Tall with slightly graying hair, she resembled Marlee’s own mother.
“Oh, Marlee, welcome,” she said, as she hurried down the aisle. She threw her arms around her. “We’re so blessed to have you here this Christmas.”
“Thank you. I’m pleased to be here,” Marlee said, and decided there was no sense mentioning that only a few minutes ago she’d seriously considered jumping aboard the next eastbound train to escape this place.
“Your uncle Willard is seeing to the arrival of the new merchandise,” Viola said. “You girls show Marlee her room and get her settled.”
They passed through the curtained doorway into the family living quarters, a large room with a wooden table and chairs, cupboards, a sideboard and a cookstove. Ruffled curtains covered the windows. A narrow staircase led up to the second floor. The room was warm; the aroma of baking ham hung in the air.
“We used this for storage,” Becky said, as she headed toward the rear of the room. “But we emptied it so you could have a place of your own.”
Marlee lingered in the doorway as Becky and Audrey went in ahead of her. The room was small, but larger than the quarters she’d been assigned at Mrs. Montgomery’s Philadelphia mansion—and much more inviting.
Dark green curtains hung on the windows, bringing out the warm colors in the patchwork quilt and rug. A bureau stood against one wall, and on another a small writing desk and stool; a rocker with a soft cushion sat in the corner.
Emotion rose in Marlee. They’d put this room together for her? Her? It seemed too good to be true.
“It’s lovely,” she said, in little more than a whisper. “Absolutely lovely.”
“We picked green because it’s Christmas. We even decorated a little,” Becky said, pointing to the bureau where a golden star was nestled among evergreen boughs. “You’re going to love our Christmas this year. We’re having a big festival. The whole town is going to be decorated.”
“We’re going to have music almost every night,” Audrey said.
“Real musical performances at the social hall,” Becky said, then gave her sister a teasing smile. “Performances that will include a certain man.”
Audrey blushed. “Nothing is going on between Chord Barrett and me.”
“Nothing?” Becky said. “Well, he certainly finds every excuse possible to stop by the store a dozen times every day.”
“He’s just seeing to his duties,” Audrey insisted, then said to Marlee, “Chord is one of the town’s deputies.”
“A deputy and a musician?” Marlee asked.
“Chord’s whole family is singers and musicians,” Becky said. “The Barrett Family Singers, they call themselves.
