No Less Than the Journey by E.V. Thompson

Author:E.V. Thompson [E.V. Thompson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780709091455
Publisher: Robert Hale
Published: 2010-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

BOOK 2

CHAPTER 1

Anabelita, Lola and Aaron boarded a Kansas Pacific railroad train from St Louis a week before Wes and Old Charlie made their abortive journey along the same line.

It was a much less crowded train than the one boarded by the two men. A special immigrant train had been provided by the railroad company the day before. Lacking many of the amenities of a scheduled train, it had nevertheless attracted many miners and settlers heading west, aware they would be saving a great deal of money by travelling in such a spartan fashion.

Anabelita had become increasingly quiet since leaving the stranded Missouri Belle and, soon after the train set off, when Aaron had gone to spend an hour in the saloon car, Lola tackled her about her lack of conversation.

‘Are you all right, Anabelita? You’ve hardly said more than a few words since we left the river.’

Anabelita started, as though her mind had been far away when Lola spoke. Gathering her thoughts together, she replied, ‘Haven’t I? I’m sorry, Lola, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just … oh, I don’t know! I suppose I believed that my life had pretty well settled down while I was working on the Missouri Belle. Now everything is up in the air again.’

‘Is it the fact that you are going to work for Aaron now…? Or does it have more to do with parting company with Wes?’ Lola asked the question casually, but she studied Anabelita’s face closely for a reaction.

She had forgotten she was speaking to a very accomplished poker player. Without changing her expression, Anabelita lied, ‘It’s the change in my way of life, I guess. I like to plan my life as much as I can. It’s just not possible right now.’

‘We can none of us tell exactly what’s going to happen in the future, but I think we can both rely on Aaron to look after us. He won’t let us down.’

‘I’m sure he won’t … at least, not intentionally. But he’s first and foremost a United States Marshal whose work is out in the Territories. It doesn’t exactly make him the most secure of employers.’

Shuddering involuntarily, Lola said, ‘I’d rather not think about that, Anabelita.’

Reaching out, Anabelita gripped her friend’s arm, sympathetically, ‘I’m sorry, Lola, that wasn’t very tactful of me.’ After a few moments, she added, ‘When I get really depressed I wish I had led a “normal” life and ended up with a safe home and a family, like most women. But had we both done that we would never have met men like Aaron or Wes, would we?’

‘In the long term that might have been for the best,’ Lola said enigmatically, ‘At least, it would have been for me. Aaron is an important man … a friend of the President, no less. I am nothing more than a bar girl … a whore! One day he’ll go back East to his own kind, leaving me to go back to mine. But I accepted that when I let myself fall for him and I’ll make the most of him while I can.

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