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Amelia's Journey

By Martha W. Rogers

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Chapter 1
Saturday, August 21, 1876
Amelia Carlyle’s face ached from the smile pasted on it for the last three-quarters of an hour. Would this ceremony never end? She balanced first on one foot and then the other to relieve the pain caused by the white satin pumps Amanda had insisted Amelia must wear.
Amanda’s face did glow with the radiance of the love she had for Charles Scott Bishop, the man who became her husband today. If that love ever happened to Amelia, and she decided to marry, it’d be a small and simple wedding without all this pomp and circumstance.
At last, the minister pronounced them husband and wife and Charles leaned forward to kiss his bride. Amelia’s thoughts went immediately to the buffet to be served at the reception. Mother and Father and spared no expense for their oldest daughter’s wedding, and Amelia anticipated the spread of lobster, roast beef, croissants, and wedding cake.
Amanda and Charles made their way back up the aisle, and Amelia dreaded walking even that short distance in her shoes, but she put on another smile and made it to the front steps of the church where carriages awaited to take them to the hotel for the reception.
At the hotel, guests mingled and greeted the bride and groom, but Amelia found the closest table and sat down to slip off her shoes. Her white-stockinged toes wiggled in great relief to be free of their bindings. She turned her back to the room to hide her most unseemly behavior, but comfort won over decorum. She lifted her skirts to run her fingers along the arch of one foot, which relaxed in contentment. Of course if anyone asked her to dance later, she may not be able to squeeze her feet back into the pumps, but she had seen no one with whom she cared to dance anyway.
“Excuse me, Miss Carlyle?”
Amelia snatched the hem of her skirt and yanked it down to cover her legs and feet. She whirled around to find herself looking up into eyes so dark a brown, they were almost black. The man towered over her with broad shoulders that blocked any view of the room behind him. A tingling started in her toes and progressed its way to her heart. Why had she never noticed this handsome young man before? “Yes, I’m Miss Carlyle, but I do believe you have the advantage.” His smile sent even more tremors through her bones. “I…I don’t recall having met you before.”
“Of course you don’t. You were twelve and I was a skinny fifteen year old. Neither of us paid much attention to the other when we last met at our home for dinner after church one Sunday. My name’s Benjamin Haynes.”
Benjamin Haynes, of course, the son of her father’s best friend of school days, but what was he doing in Boston? His family lived in Kansas. “Oh, yes, that was a few years ago. Have you moved back here?”
He grinned and his eyes sparkled with amusement. “No, but my parents found your sister’s wedding to be the perfect opportunity for a return trip, and I must say now I’m glad I came along.”.
Heat rose in her cheeks and her tongue turned to mush. Her brain ceased to work, and all responses flew from her mind like birds set free of their cage. She simply stared back at with what she hoped was not a stupid smile. What if he asked her to dance? Her feet crossed and rubbed against one another beneath her dress. She’d never get her feet back into those shoes.
“May I get you some refreshment?”
Amelia nodded. “A…a cup of punch would be nice.” As he turned to carry out the request, she groaned. Another thing she’d forgotten, no buffet table without her shoes. If she dared walk across the floor without them, her skirt would drag and give away her secret. As if in protest, her stomach grumbled and sent a wave of hunger pangs to her brain. All that food so near yet it may as well be in another town for all the good it did her seated across the room.
Her gaze landed on Benjamin at the serving table. Although she vaguely remembered him from his last visit, he appeared much taller and was certainly more handsome than he had been then with dark brown hair curled slightly at the neckline. Of course she hadn’t been truly interested in boys at that time. Being noticed by him created a bit of delight in her now.
Benjamin returned, not only with a cup of punch, but also with a plate filled some of her favorites from the buffet array. “I thought you might not want to cross the floor to the serving table without your shoes, so I brought it to you. I hope you like what I selected.”
Heat again filled her face. He’d noticed her shoeless feet, and had sought to save her further embarrassment by being so polite. For that her stomach thanked him. “Thank you, Mr. Haynes. This will do quite nicely, but what about you? When will you eat?”
“If you’ll allow me, I’ll get my plate and rejoin you.”
“I’d like that very much, thank you.” Her heart beat in double time as he returned to the buffet and made his own selections. His broad shoulders hinted at the muscles and strength that must be hidden beneath the sleeves of the black suit he wore. The evening took on a whole new interest, and Amelia tucked her feet well beneath her skirts to keep them hidden from view.
When he returned, he sat in the chair next to hers. Miracles of miracles, no one asked to join them, and they remained alone. Her father may have a few words about that later, but for the time being, Amelia planned to enjoy every minute she could have with one Mr. Benjamin Haynes.”
He spread a napkin across his lap. “Tell me, Miss Haynes, what have you been doing since the last time I saw you.”
It had only been a little more than five years ago, but it may as well have been a lifetime for all Amelia could remember. Her mind a blank, she could only stare at him. He must think her to be a complete ninny. She cleared her throat. “In school, but of what interest could that possibly be to you? I would imagine yours has been much more eventful and interesting.”
Benjamin grinned at her and sipped his punch. He set the cup back on the table and cocked his head to one side. “My life has been herding cattle and getting them to market as well as bustin’ broncos to have horses to ride.”
“Now that sounds a lot more exciting than going to school, and taking piano lessons, and learning to embroider.” She pictured him sitting on a horse riding herd on cattle or riding a bucking horse with his hand in the air. That image had great appeal to her love of adventure and new things.
A young man approached the table, and Amelia cringed. The last person she wanted to see wore a determined expression on his face. Rudolph, Charles’ brother wanted to dance, but his surly attitude the night before at a family dinner had frightened Amelia in a way she couldn’t quite explain.
He stopped beside Amelia and Benjamin. “Miss Haynes, may I have the honor of this dance with you?” His dark eyes held nothing but malice even though his words were polite.
She stuck a shoeless foot out from under her dress. “I’m sorry, Mr. Bishop, but I don’t have my shoes on, and have decided not to dance this evening. I’m sure you understand I can’t be on the dance floor in my stocking feet.”
He glared at her for a moment then without a word, swiveled on his heel and strode across the room. Amelia shivered, thankful she had removed her shoes.
“I must say, that was rude.”
Amelia nodded then smiled at Benjamin. “He’s Charles’ brother and I’m glad I didn’t have to dance with him.” She picked up a pastry. “Let’s enjoy ourselves and not think about rude men like Rudolf Bishop.” Indeed, she wanted to know everything she could learn about one Benjamin Haynes.
***
Ben wanted to know more about this intriquing young woman he’d known in childhood. Until his father decided to pick up stakes and head west to start his own ranch, the Bishop and Haynes’ families had spent many weekends together as his father and Mr. Bishop had been close friends and schoolmates.
How thankful he was now that he had not insisted that he be left behind to help the ranch hands with the herds. If he had, he would not be sitting across from the lovely young woman in a pink dress and almost barefoot.
“Amelia, do you remember the week my family left for Kansas? Your parents gave a wonderful farewell party for us. Of course you were only five, but I hoped you might recall that night.” If she did remember, he might find himself in trouble as he had delighted in pulling her golden brown curls more than once just to see her reaction, and she hadn’t disappointed. She had stomped her foot and hit him each time until his mother corralled him the third time and made him stay by her side.
Amelia chewed a piece of pastry and narrowed her eyes at him. She swallowed and pursed her lips. “Was that the time you kept pulling my curls?”
Heat rose in his face. “You do remember. I apologize for my awful behavior that evening, but you looked so cute with those long curls hanging down from that big yellow bow.”
Amelia laughed. “I forgive you, but it hurt that that last time, and I wanted to cry. I wasn’t about to let you see me in tears, and I believe your mother took care of you. Mary Beth and I had fun after that.”
“Yes, Mama made sure I stayed by her side, and I didn’t have much fun the rest of the evening. I’m glad you did though. Then your family came to the railway station to see us off on our adventure westward.” That had been some scene with both their mothers crying, and their fathers promising to keep in touch.
“Oh yes, I recall that I was afraid of that big engine with its smoke and loud whistle. When it started up and began rolling on the track, I hid behind Mama’s skirt, but I saw you wave at us from the window. I thought you were so brave to move away like that with your family.”
“It was quite the adventure.” And one he would never forget. He held no regret at all for leaving Boston all those years ago.
A young woman squealed and grabbed Amelia. “I’ve been looking all over for you. I should have known Ben would have you all to himself.”
Amelia hugged the girl in return. “Mary Beth, I’m so glad to see you. Sit down and join us.”
Benjamin shook his head and glared at Mary Beth, but she paid him no mind and plopped down in the chair on the other side of Amelia. “I’d be delighted. What has my big brother been telling you? I could reveal a few of his secrets if you’d like to hear about some of his antics.”
“We were just talking about one on the night we had that party before you left.”
“Oh, yes, that was some fun watching him get into trouble.” Mary Beth grabbed Amelia’s hands. “How I wish you could have come out to visit us, and I wish we could have come back to Boston more often. Ben almost didn’t come with us, but Pa persuaded him.”
Amelia glanced at him and grinned in a way he could only call wicked. “To think we might have missed reminiscing about old times if you’d stayed back with the cows. What a shame that would have been, Mr. Haynes.”
Again heat rose in his cheeks, but he would not let her teasing get to him. “Since we’re such old friends, call me Ben, everybody else does.”
“All right, Ben it is.” Then she turned back to his sister. “Now, tell me what it’s like living on a ranch with all those cattle and horses.”
Ben groaned. Once Mary Beth started, he’d never get a word into the conversation. He may as well just enjoy his food and listen to their prattle. At least he could sit back and show interest in what Amelia had to say without being obvious with his attraction to her.
Her chestnut hair sat piled on top of her head in an elaborate arrangement that must have taken hours to accomplish. Two long curls like those of long ago hung down in the back from the curls amassed atop her head. His fingers itched to reach over and pull one of them as he had that night when she was five. Now at seventeen, she had become a beautiful young lady with a sense of humor and a smile that could melt the heart of any man in her presence, just as she had melted his.
He blinked his eyes and shook his head as Amelia squealed with delight and clapped her hands. “What was that you said, Mary Beth? About returning to Boston?”
“Ma and Grandmama talked with me last night, and Pa agreed. I can come back here for social season this fall.”
“Isn’t it wonderful, Ben? Mary Beth and I can do so many things together and have fun, and I’m sure there will be lots of parties.”
Ben narrowed his eyes. “I’m sure there will be.” This was the first he’d heard of any desire from Mary Beth to come back here. She loved the ranch, or at least he’d thought so.
“What will Ma and Aunt Clara do without you?” She’d been such a big help to them that he couldn’t imagine life without her around despite their differences of opinion about many things.
“They’ll get along just fine. After all there aren’t any more babies around. Gideon, Grace Ann and Billy are old enough to take care of themselves, so they don’t need me looking after them all the time.”
That was true. With his youngest brother now eight years old and in school, no more children stayed at home needing care. Ma and Aunt Clara would manage just fine. Still, he had a difficult time believing his pa would let his oldest daughter live so far away.
Amelia and Mary Beth sat with heads close together discussing all the things they wanted to do in the coming months after his sister’s return to Boston. Then a new bright side occurred to him. With Mary Beth here, that could mean Ma taking more trips to see her. Pa wouldn’t want to leave the ranch, so that would leave Ben to accompany Ma on such trips, and Aunt Clara could stay behind to take care of the others.
More trips to Boston meant more opportunity to see Amelia Haynes. Of course, he’d have to gain permission from her parents, but that shouldn’t be a problem since their families were long time friends. The future began to look brighter and brighter. This had been the best trip he’d taken in a long time, and he looked forward to many more like it, that is if Amelia agreed to his calling on her.

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