Lily by Margaret Tanner

Author:Margaret Tanner [Tanner, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: western romance
Publisher: Margaret Tanner
Published: 2018-08-09T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Texas

It was mid-morning by the time they arrived in Houston. A tree had fallen down over the train line a couple of hours out of Houston, and it had taken a long time to clear it

Lily felt disheveled and worn out, and Annie had become exhausted and upset. Matt looked tired and strained also. Black stubble covered his jaw and chin. He still managed to take charge of the luggage somehow juggling the three bags as they alighted.

Lily enviously watched her fellow passengers being met by friends or relatives.

“Well, this is goodbye, Matt. Thank you for being so kind. I doubt if I would have coped with this long journey and the delays without you.”

“My pleasure. You won’t come with us?”

“No.” She blinked back tears. “Goodbye, Annie, be a good girl for Uncle Matt.” She kissed the child on the forehead and gave her a hug, her heart breaking all the while.

The little arms clamped around her neck. “Come with us, Lily.” Tears rolled down the child’s face.

“I’m sorry, darling, I can’t.” She tried to extricate herself.

Matt stepped in and picked Annie up. “Come on, darlin’, we have to go.”

“No. No. I want Lily. Make her come with us.”

Matt walked off holding a screaming Annie in one arm and carrying the bags in the other. The platform had quickly emptied and Lily soon found herself alone except for a porter.

“I want Lily, I want Lily.” The frantic cries echoing in her ears nearly broke her heart because she had to ignore them. She picked up her bag and trudged off without glancing back.

She couldn’t speak to the porter about recommending somewhere cheap to stay, she had to get away from the station. She could always go to the Marshall’s office, the bank manager maybe. Stop dithering like an old woman. I can do this, I have to.

Something grabbed the back of her skirt, spinning her around. She was shocked to glance down and see it was Annie. “What are you doing here?”

“I want to go with you. I want to go with you,” she cried out in anguish. “Don’t leave me. I love you, Lily.”

It was too much for Lily. She picked Annie up and the child sobbed against her breast. Where was Matt, he would be frantic. She stepped to one side leaning her back against the ticket office so as not to hinder passersby.

“Annie! Annie!”

“Over here, Matt.”

A man kicked her carpet bag and it slammed against her ankle.

Matt dashed up. His face was ashen and his eyes burned. “What in tarnation did you run off for?”

“I want Lily.” Annie sobbed.

“You could have got lost or killed, darlin’.”

“Oh, Annie darling, don’t cry so.”

“I’m sorry, Lily. I dropped one of our bags, and when I bent over to pick it up, she all but leapt out of my arms and took off like a jack rabbit.”

“Don’t leave me, Lily. Don’t leave me. I don’t want you Uncle Matt. I want Lily.”

“Listen, darlin’, Lily has to do what’s best for her, not us.

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