The complete oregon seri.., p.4
The Complete Oregon Series, page 4
Knots formed in Nora’s stomach. She had to swallow against the lump in her throat before she could ask, “The one from last night?”
“Oh, no, girl, don’t worry. It’s not him,” Sally said.
Nora shook her head. If it wasn’t him, why had Sally interrupted her private time with her daughter? She had promised Amy that she’d be there when she woke up, and she intended to keep that promise. “Whoever it is, send him away, Sally. You know that I never see customers in the middle of the day.”
The creaking of the stairs made Nora look up.
The young man who had rescued Amy from the stable owner’s wrath just yesterday stood on the top step, hesitating with one hand on the banister.
Her furrowed brow stretched the skin over Nora’s bruised cheek. He had been polite when he had escorted her and Amy home, but their first encounter hadn’t ended well. What did this strange man want from her now? Had he changed his mind about not wanting to share her bed?
“Don’t worry,” he said as if reading her thoughts. “I’m not here for… I’m not here as a customer. I only want to talk to you for a moment.”
The last three years had taught her to be cautious. Last night’s beating had once again shown her how dangerous her job was and that no customer could be trusted. The lack of facial hair might have made him appear young and harmless, but Nora had an inkling that appearances were deceiving in his case. His slender frame was all sinews and muscles, and his eyes held a wary look.
“It will only take a minute,” the man said when she hesitated.
“All right,” Nora said. “One minute. What do you want?”
“Uh.” He glanced at Sally. “Can we maybe talk inside?” He nodded at the half-open door but didn’t move toward her, calmly waiting for her decision. “I promise that you’ll be perfectly safe, and if you say no to my offer, I’ll pay for your time.”
Finally, Nora nodded. She couldn’t afford to turn down easily earned money, so she would hear him out. If he had wanted her body, he could have taken it three days ago. With one last glance to Sally to make sure that she would keep an eye and ear on her room, she opened the door to let him in. “But please speak quietly,” she said over her shoulder. “My daughter is asleep.”
“Oh. Of course,” he whispered. With his hat in his hands, he followed her.
She watched him closely as he took in the clean, lovingly decorated room with the personal nick-knacks and toys lying around.
“This is not the same room as…” He paused and cleared his throat.
It wasn’t. The other room was cold and businesslike, catering only to the desires of her customers. Here, she had tried to create a safe haven, a home for her daughter. “You may think it’s a waste of money, but I pay Tess extra for this room. I won’t have my daughter grow up in the room where I…” Nora shook her head, interrupting herself. She positioned herself between her visitor and the sleeping child in the bed and raised her chin. “Anyway, what do you want?”
He took a step toward her, keeping his movements slow and nonthreatening. His intense gaze rested on her face.
Nora studied him in the soft light of the afternoon sun. For the first time, she detected the faint lines at the corner of his eyes and the slight bump on the bridge of his nose, attesting to an old break. He was probably older than she had first thought.
“I’m here because I wanted to ask you…” He looked away, hesitating, then back into her face. “I wish to marry you.”
Silence.
Nora blinked once, twice. Then she snorted. “Which of your stupid friends put you up to this?”
“What? No, this—”
“If you think it’s funny to make fun of me like—”
“I’m not trying to make fun of you,” he said. “I’m trying to marry you.”
Nora stared at him. First he refused to lie with her, and now he wanted to marry her? She laughed incredulously. “You want to marry me?”
“I do,” he answered as if they were already standing in front of the altar.
“This is ridiculous. I don’t even know your name.” She never asked customers for their name and never offered hers.
He smiled calmly. “I don’t know yours either—unless it’s really Fleur, which I doubt.”
This man knew more about life in a brothel than she had expected. Nora continued to stare at him but didn’t offer her real name. She hadn’t trusted any man enough to do that for the last three years, and she saw no reason to start now.
It seemed he didn’t trust easily either, because it took a minute before he offered his hand. “Luke Hamilton.”
Nora hesitated for another moment, then reached out her own hand. His palm was rough against her softer one and a bit clammy, indicating that he was not as calm as he appeared. “Now, if you would please explain what gave you the ridiculous idea to propose to me, Mister Hamilton?”
“I’m about to join a wagon train heading west,” Luke Hamilton said. “Most other settlers are married or traveling with family, and so I thought it best to take a wife with me.”
At least he didn’t try to impress her with a charming answer, and that secretly pleased Nora. She harbored no romantic illusions about marriage or love. She had long ago given up on waiting for the handsome hero to ride into her life and sweep her off her feet. “I understand why you’d want to take a wife, but why me? I’m not the type of woman a man would make his wife. You’re handsome, I guess, and if you can afford to join a wagon train, you probably have enough money to provide for a family. You would have no trouble finding a wife who’s not…soiled.” She knew very well that as much as men might enjoy her company in the bedroom, most preferred an untouched bride.
“I have no use for one of those high-society girls who’ll do nothing but whine and complain every step of the two thousand miles to Oregon.” He looked her right in the eye. “I figure you’ve had enough hardship in your life not to give up at the first sign of trouble.”
Nora still wasn’t satisfied with the answer. “Why me?” she asked again. She gestured toward the door, indicating the hallway that lay beyond. “You could knock on any door up here on the second floor, and I suspect you’d get an immediate ‘yes’ from each and every one of the girls. So why did you knock on my door? Why burden yourself with a prostitute you don’t desire and a child that’s not your own?” Her eyes widened. “You’re not expecting me to leave Amy behind, are you?”
“Of course not. I could provide for your daughter and give her my name.”
Now Nora understood even less why he’d chosen her. When they first met, he’d clearly signaled her that he didn’t want to lie with her. What else do I have to offer a man like him? I don’t even have a large dowry. What is it that he wants from me? Experience had taught her that most things in life came with a price. Surely men like him didn’t go around marrying fallen women for selfless reasons. “Why me?” she repeated. “Don’t tell me that you’ve suddenly become infatuated with me.”
“No,” he said. “This has nothing to do with love. We’ll be like business partners. I want to start a new life in Oregon, and I think you and your daughter could use the chance to do the same.”
His words seemed honest, and for the first time, Nora allowed herself to think about it. Every spring, when the emigrants left Independence, she had secretly wished she could travel with them. Rumor had it that people were less strict in the West. In the newly developing country of homesteads, cattle ranches, and mines, people didn’t ask prying questions about other people’s pasts. Most wagon trains refused to let single women join them, though, and even if they took her in, she didn’t have the means to afford the journey or to survive in the West. So she stayed because she had nowhere else to go even though she had long since grown tired of suffering daily humiliation at the hands of strangers. But is it better to be subject to the whims and desires of one man than to those of many? You could jump out of the frying pan and into the fire here, girl.
“I won’t tell you that it’ll be an easy trip, and I won’t pretend to know anything about being a good…husband and father, but I can guarantee you that no one’s gonna hurt you again.” He took a step closer, for the first time coming into touching distance, and gently brushed her bruised cheek with a single finger.
Nora flinched. Not because his touch was hurting her—it wasn’t—but because he had seen through her carefully arranged rouge and the façade of normalcy too easily. She was so tired of constantly hiding her bruises, the occasional split lip, and the reality of her job from her daughter. The older Amy got, the harder it became to hide what she was really doing for a living. If she married this man, she could be a respectable woman and her daughter would have the future she deserved.
This might be your chance. What if you really won’t be able to work anymore in a few months? What will you do then? Tess was her friend, yes, but as the madam of the brothel she couldn’t afford the luxury to keep on a woman who wasn’t able to work. Even if Tess didn’t throw her out to fend for herself, Nora wouldn’t be able to pay for a separate room to make a home for Amy anymore.
“So? What do you say?” He waited for her answer as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other.
Nora knew that she didn’t really have a choice. “Are you sure that you’re not going to regret this?”
“No. Not sure at all.”
The honesty of his answer surprised Nora, and once again she thought what a strange man he was.
“I admit it’s one of the craziest things I’ve ever done,” he said.
One of the craziest? He’s done things crazier than this? I’d really like to know what that was. She felt his gaze on her, knowing that he was still waiting for her answer. “Yes,” she simply said.
A dark eyebrow rose. “Yes, this is crazy? Or yes, you’ll marry me?”
“Both.”
“All right.” He nodded as if he had just closed a business deal. “Can you be ready in an hour?”
Now it was Nora’s turn to lift an eyebrow. “One hour?” How could her life change so dramatically in one short hour?
He shrugged. “There’s not much time. My wagon train pulls out tomorrow morning at seven. I’m leaving then—with or without you.”
Nora gave a nod. With me, she silently decided. She would grab this chance to change her life and hold on to it with both hands.
“All right. Then you better start packing,” he said.
“Not much to pack.”
He looked about the room as if counting her few belongings, then strode to the door. “I’ll be back in an hour with the judge and the ring.”
Nora nodded numbly. The thought that she was going to be a married woman in an hour was still unreal.
At the door, he paused and turned back around to look at her. “So, will you tell me your name, or should I just call you ‘darling’?”
Nora had to smile. At least her future husband had a sense of humor. She hesitated for another second, then decided that she had to trust him, if only a little bit. “Nora will be fine,” she answered. “Nora Macauley.”
“Nora Hamilton,” he said over his shoulder and closed the door behind him.
“Luke? Luke, is that you?”
Tess’s voice stopped Luke before she reached the stairs. She turned around with a sigh, not looking forward to explaining to her old friend what she was doing in the room of one of her girls in bright daylight. “Hello, Tess,” she said, trying for nonchalance.
Tess folded her arms across her ample chest. “You know that I don’t allow male visitors upstairs in the middle of the day.” A hint of a smile played around her lips at the mention of male visitors, but Tess didn’t relax her threatening posture. Outside of the bedroom, she had never treated Luke any different from male customers she had befriended—and Luke didn’t want it any other way.
“I…” Luke cleared her throat. “I know. I just wanted to speak to her for a minute, nothing else.”
Tess looked at her for another moment, then finally relaxed and grinned. “So you liked speaking to her, huh?” She winked at Luke. “I’d hoped that I didn’t make a mistake in introducing you to Fleur.”
So Fleur…Nora didn’t tell her that I refused to share her bed. It was good to know her future wife knew the meaning of the word “discretion.” Just in case. “It’s not like that.”
“Of course not.” Tess was still grinning. “You visited her room in the middle of the day because you didn’t find her appealing at all, uh-huh.”
With a sigh, Luke gave up her attempts to explain. A quick glance at her battered pocket watch told her that she had to hurry if she wanted to catch the judge before he left his office for the day. Another thought made her pause. Would the judge require a witness to the marriage ceremony? She had been expected to take part in one or two military weddings, and as far as she could remember, there had always been a best man and a matron of honor. Taking a deep breath, she turned back around to face Tess. “I asked her to marry me. Would you do us the honor and stand up for us when the judge arrives?” she asked as fast as she could.
Tess stared at her. “You are going to marry?”
“Yes.” Luke could hardly believe it herself.
“A woman?”
Luke nodded. Marrying a man had never been an option for her.
Tess’s eyes widened, and her gaze strayed to the room Luke had just left. “You want to marry Fleur?”
Luke straightened her shoulders. “Nora, not Fleur,” she said. Among many other reasons for her proposal, she had wanted to give Nora the chance to leave behind her old pseudonym and the life that came with it.
“She told you her real name?” Tess asked.
Luke nodded. “She agreed to becoming my wife, so of course I had to know her name.”
For a moment, Tess didn’t say anything. Then she sighed. “Luke, I’m not sure this is a good idea. I know in the heat of passion, everything seems—”
“There was no heat of passion,” Luke said. “I never shared a bed with her. She doesn’t even… She doesn’t know about…me.”
“Are you insane?” Tess posed the question Luke had already asked herself a hundred times today. “You asked her to marry you even though she has no idea that you’re not—”
“Tess!” Luke looked left and right, making sure that no one could overhear their conversation.
Tess lowered her voice. “She doesn’t know that you’re not exactly what one would expect in a husband?” She laughed roughly. “I’m sure Nora thinks that after working in a brothel for three years, there’s nothing left that could surprise her on her wedding night, but, Lord, the body under that male attire…” Tess shook her head. “You can’t hide that from her.”
“Yes, I can,” Luke said. “There’s no reason why she should know. I won’t share her bed on the wedding night—or on any other night. We both agreed that this marriage is gonna be a business arrangement, nothing else.”
“A business arrangement?” Tess’s brows rose. “And in what way do you profit from this arrangement?”
Luke shrugged. “Well, for one thing, it certainly won’t hurt my reputation to be married to a beautiful woman. If people think I’m married and even fathered a child, no one will suspect my true nature.”
They stared at each other for a few moments, then Tess sighed. “I still think you should tell Nora and let her decide if she still wants to marry you.”
That was not an option in Luke’s mind. No woman who knew who she really was would ever want to share her life with her, not even a desperate prostitute. “So, will you be the matron of honor at the wedding?” she asked instead of answering.
“I should really tell you no. You’re intending to steal my best girl.” Tess shook her index finger at Luke.
Best girl? Luke swallowed and tried not to think about her future wife’s talents. “You’ll be there?”
Tess sighed. “I’ll be there.”
Independence, Missouri,
April 30th, 1851
“It’s not exactly the kind of wedding we all dreamed of when we were growing up, but it’ll do,” Tess said as she pinned orange blossoms to Nora’s hair.
No, it sure isn’t. Nora glanced down at herself. Instead of a white wedding dress, she wore her best respectable blue dress. A few years ago, when she had still dreamed of marrying Raphael Jamison, she had pictured a large ceremony in a flower-decorated church and Boston’s wealthiest families dancing at her wedding. Now an impatient judge and a handful of parlor house girls waited for her. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t have the money or the time for anything else.”
Tess adjusted one of the orange blossoms. She looked into Nora’s eyes. “Fleur…Nora, are you really sure you—?”
“Auntie Tess.” Amy tugged on Tess’s skirt. “Can I have pwetty flowers too?”
“I don’t know, sweetie. Only the bride gets to wear orange blossoms at weddings.” Tess looked from Amy to Nora. “What do you think?”
“This isn’t exactly a traditional wedding, so I think we can make an exception.” Nora smiled at her daughter. Growing up in a brothel, Amy had few joys in her life, so Nora tried to show her how special she was whenever she could. She plucked two of the blossoms from her hair and weaved them through Amy’s locks.
Amy held her head up high as if she were a queen receiving the crown. Then she skipped away to show off her flower-crowned head to Sally and the other women.
“All right.” Nora straightened her shoulders. “Let’s—”
“Wait a minute.” Tess held on to her elbow. “Did you really think this through?”
Nora shrugged. “What’s there to think about?”
“You’re marrying a total stranger. You don’t know anything about Luke.”
She was right, of course, and Nora secretly admitted to herself that she was worried, but what other options did she have? If she wanted to start a new life, she needed to take a chance. “I know my life here, and I don’t want to live like this any longer.” Nora paused when she realized how that sounded. She touched Tess’s hand. “I mean, compared to the girls in other parlor houses, we have a good life. I’ll always be grateful to you for taking me in and helping me care for Amy. But this is no place for a child, and Amy’s getting older. If we stay, she’ll find out what I’m doing for a living.”
