The Wildflowers at the Edge of the World by Shaylin Gandhi

Author:Shaylin Gandhi
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Briar Rose Publishing
Published: 2020-04-01T04:00:00+00:00

36. Sophia.

As Sophia sipped her coffee, she caught Temperance’s glance from down the bar. Again.

Madam Hyacinth kept looking. And looking. And Sophia had no idea what to make of it. Some glances were shy, others speculative—but every one of them was new. Different.

Then again, Sophia had never saved someone’s life before. Maybe those were looks of undying gratitude.

Temperance ran graceful brown fingers around the rim of her teacup, her eyes narrowing in calculation.

Or not.

Glancing down, Sophia sought refuge in her mug. Wondering made her head hurt. Add that to the insistent throb in her back, and all she wanted to do was lie down.

“Morning, y’all.”

Finally. A reprieve. Or at least the hope of one—Annie hadn’t really been herself since the robbery. For days, she’d glowered, probably because once they’d emptied Henry’s shotgun shells, they’d only come away with three thousand dollars.

Still seven thousand short, and everyone was back to spending long nights upstairs.

Annie shuffled down the staircase, stuffed into a low-cut gown of sky-blue taffeta that set her eyes shining like two coins in the snow. A steaming mug awaited her, and alongside that, a flask.

Sophia’s mouth quirked. She had to give the Professor credit—he never scolded Annie for drinking at breakfast. He just placed whiskey beside her coffee every morning, without a word.

No wonder Annie’d fallen for him.

She should’ve realized it sooner. Somehow, though, she hadn’t noticed Annie’s necklines getting lower and her glances getting longer until it’d become painfully obvious.

Maybe that was why Annie was all bent out of shape. Somehow, her feminine wiles held no sway over the Professor. Even now, he stared down, preoccupied with the floor. Riley gazed back, besotted, then capsized onto his back, his eyes narrowing to blissful lines the moment Palmer crouched to touch his belly.

Sophia felt a pang of sympathy as Annie deflated even further. How a red-blooded man might ignore the Flower of the North in order to pet a dog was anyone’s guess.

With a morose sigh, Annie tipped a larger-than-usual whiskey dose into her coffee and sifted through the newspaper.

“Anything good?” Sophia asked, trying to distract her friend. And herself. Two days had passed since they’d robbed Henry, and while it seemed he hadn’t gone to the Mounties, the silence still made her nervous.

Annie tossed back half her coffee in one gulp. “Here’s one about you and me. Page three.”

Sophia leaned in. “Really? What’s it say?”

With a dramatic throat-clearing, Annie recited. “Two women created a stir on Sunday of last week, when, shortly after church services, they appeared in the aisle, heavily armed. Shocked bystanders reported that the women carried illicit revolvers and, in a scandalous fashion rarely witnessed outside the dance halls, went so far as to expose their thighs in full view of the public.”

Sophia gave a half-smile. “Hey, now. That could’ve been anybody.”

Annie scoffed. “By the time the Mounted Police arrived, the women had fled, and no arrests were made. However, a miner later interviewed by the Nugget identified one culprit as none other than the

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