Marnie: Page 29

  Author’s Note

  When I began my research for the Pendleton Petticoats series and discovered the town had thirty-two saloons and eighteen bordellos during the early 1900s, I knew those two details would work their way into at least one story.

  Marnie first made an appearance in Aundy, as a good-natured saloon girl who saw through Aundy’s disguise as a cowpuncher. She made a brief appearance in Caterina, then turned up a few times in Ilsa. She needed to have her story shared and what better man for her to fall in love with than Aundy and Ilsa’s long lost brother, Lars Thorsen.

  Pendleton has such a rich and fascinating history, especially during the first decade of the 20th century when it experienced a swell in population and almost unfathomable growth for a small western town.

  In 1904, Pendleton really did install paved streets using the macadamizing process. They were the second city in the state to have paved roads. It was at this time they removed the old boardwalks with grates (that men could peep through from the Underground tunnels) and installed cement sidewalks with glass prisms that are now purpled with age.

  My inspiration for Miss Clementine’s place comes from the Cozy Rooms, an actual brothel run by a woman named Stella Darby. She was a well-liked madam in Pendleton who donated to various charities during the years she was in business. In the 1950s, an effort to run all the “soiled doves” out of town resulted in not just the closure, but boarding up of Stella’s business. Years later, her former business became a fascinating stop during the Underground Tours. As one of Pendleton’s most popular brothels, legend states the stairs leading up to her business were referred to as the “31 Steps to Heaven.”

  Electricity, the city water and sewer system, and a telephone office were just a few of the modern conveniences that brought growth and excitement to the thriving town.

  If you ever find yourself in Pendleton, make sure you visit the Pendleton Underground Tours. The tour takes you through the city beneath the city where opium dens, secret gambling lairs, card rooms, saloons, and working girls added colorful flair in the early 1900s. If you do take the tour, you’ll have the opportunity to visit the brothel where Stella Darby reined as well as the card room where you’ll hear about a bartender who lined his pockets picking gold-embedded mud off his boots.

  For more details about Pendleton’s past, I recommend Keith F. May’s book Pendleton: A Short History of a Real Western Town.

  As for the little everyday details in this series, I rely heavily on my 1897 Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue. I’m always surprised when I start searching through it for specific items, like baby teething rings, to find they had so many things back then we might consider modern.

  If you haven’t read President Roosevelt’s speech to the students at Groton School, it really is quite interesting.

  As for those chocolates Lars ordered Marnie from Texas, my absolute most favorite chocolate candy in the world comes from a company based in Texas. If you’ve never tried them, the truffles from Sweet Shop USA are beyond delicious.

  Thank you for reading Marnie. Now that you’ve finished the book, won’t you please consider writing a review?

  I would truly appreciate it.

  Reviews are the best way readers discover great new books.

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  Shanna’s Newsletter

  It’s fast, easy, and only comes out when new books are released

  or extremely exciting news happens.

  Lacy (Pendleton Petticoats Book 5) - Eager to make her own way in the world, Lacy Williams leaves behind her family on the Umatilla Reservation and accepts a job in town at the telephone office as an operator. The work she takes in stride, but dealing with the unfamiliar, unsettling feelings stirred by the handsome banker across the street is an entirely different matter.

  Grant Hill wants a wife. Not just any wife will do. If that were the case he’d make an announcement at the mercantile and cause a stampede to the church. No, he wants a woman who will look beyond his material wealth and see into his heart. All but given up on the possibility, he runs into the lovely Lacy Williams.

  The two of them have to discover if the bonds of love are stronger than the bonds of tradition in this sweet historical western romance.

  Turn the page for an exciting excerpt…

  Chapter One

  1906

  Pendleton, Oregon

  A blast of arctic wind crackled down the sidewalk, whipping frigid currents in its wake. All but the most determined or foolhardy scurried inside out of the glacial air.

  Grant Hill turned up the collar of his wool coat and tugged down his hat in a futile attempt to defray the cold breeze bent on circling his neck with icy fingers.

  Despite the pain it inflicted on his lungs, he sucked in a deep breath and set a vigorous pace as he headed toward his bank.

  Gone longer than he anticipated, he assumed his assistant could handle a random customer or two until he returned. Anyone with a lick of intelligence remained huddled next to a warm fire rather than traipsing about in the nearly unbearable January weather.

  Ol’ Marvin Tooley swore up and down they were in for a blizzard when he visited the bank the other day. The temperatures continued to hover in the single digits, yet they hadn’t seen a speck of snow. If the wintry spell continued, Grant hoped the insulation he’d wrapped around the pipes at his house would keep his indoor plumbing from freezing again. When a cold snap froze all the house pipes the previous winter, he’d spent two months hauling water from the pump in his barn to the house. He’d been forced to revert to using the outhouse.

  Grant counted that as a blessing as he took his morning stroll around town to clear his head and stretch his legs. After a decade spent managing the bank, he should be accustomed to the tedious hours of sitting behind a desk. Instead, he grew increasingly restless and antsy.

  He longed for… what he wasn’t exactly certain. Something just beyond his grasp, beyond his ability to comprehend.

  What he really needed was a woman.

  In particular, a wife.

  Short on both satisfactory prospects and patience, he’d about given up on finding one.

  Perhaps it was his lot in life to remain single. Not everyone needed to experience the wonder of wedded bliss. However, the happy marriages of his close friends highlighted his pitiful single existence.

  Any number of unwed women, and a few who were, would eagerly jump at the opportunity to become his bride. If he opened the door to the mercantile on a busy day and asked if someone wanted to marry him at that precise moment, a dozen females would stampede him in their haste to get to the church.

  Nonetheless, the majority of available women he encountered held little fondness for him. Their focus centered on his big house, healthy bank account, and respected position in the community.

  He needed a woman who looked beyond his material success and liked him for the person he’d become. He wanted a woman so fiercely in love with him, she would move heaven and earth to be by his side. He dreamed of a woman who made him laugh, cherished his affection, and offered him unbridled passion.

  While he waited for a wagon to pass so he could cross the street, Grant rubbed his gloved hands together. Movement out of the corner of his eye drew his gaze to his favorite restaurant across the street. Deputy Kade Rawlings herded his twin sons to the door. The lawman raised his hand in a friendly salutation to Grant before disappearing inside his wife’s Italian eatery.

  The fiery Italian woman captured Grant’s attention when she first arrived in Pendleton from New York. He considered courting her, but before he quite knew what had transpired, she’d married the brawny deputy.

  Despite his disappointment, Grant wasn’t in love with Caterina. It was easy enough for him to turn his attention elsewhere.

  Briefly, he’d entertained the notion of pursuing the lovely Ilsa Thorsen when she moved to Pendleton. Cultured, petite, soft-spoken, and dainty,
she would have won the approval of Grant’s contrary mother. Unfortunately, Caterina’s brother, Tony Campanelli, swept the little beauty off her feet and down the aisle.

  Grant mulled over his lost opportunities for love as he crossed the street and walked past Ilsa’s dress shop. She and Marnie Jones, now Marnie Thorsen, installed a new display in the large front window with the help of Ilsa’s sister, Aundy. The women waved to him, offering cheery smiles that brightened his day. He grinned at the trio, tipped his hat, and continued on his way.

  Aundy was every bit as tall as Grant and had in independent streak wider than the Umatilla River that flowed through town. She arrived in Pendleton as a mail-order bride to one of his best customers, but the poor man died a few days after their wedding. While Grant respectfully observed a proper period of mourning before calling on the widow, she’d fallen in love with her neighbor, Garrett Nash.

  If the two of them weren’t so well-suited to each other and Garrett wasn’t such a good friend, Grant might have been upset by losing out on another chance to find a suitable wife.

  At one time, he’d even considering courting Marnie, a past employee of the most notorious madam in Pendleton. The girl straightened out her life and went to work for Ilsa. As luck would have it, she’d already fallen in love with Ilsa and Aundy’s brother, Lars, prior to Grant’s interest in her.

  In hindsight, it was probably best Marnie married Lars. Regardless of her keen intellect and fine manners, Grant’s mother would never have come to terms with a former harlot as a daughter-in-law. Not that he kowtowed to his mother’s every whim, but the woman did live with him part of the year.

  Admittedly, Grant didn’t think he could put up with a wife as temperamental as Caterina or with the stubborn independence of Aundy and Ilsa.

  No, he wanted a gentle wife. A submissive wife. A meek and mild wife.

  Balderdash! Who was he kidding?

  He’d take a screeching banshee shaped like a walrus for a wife if she looked at him with even a smidgen of adoration in her eyes in place of the greed he so often saw in the fairer sex.

  The sigh Grant expelled turned into frosty crystals as he hunkered down into his coat, grateful for the warmth it provided. On days like today, with a dark gloomy sky overhead, he wanted to cast aside his responsibilities, mount his horse, and ride into the hills.

  In lieu of giving in to his whim, he quickened his step and hastened around the corner, right into a soft, feminine form.

  Quickly reaching out, he grasped the woman’s arms in his hands, keeping her from falling to the sidewalk.

  “I’m terribly sorry, miss. Are you injured?” Grant continued to hold onto the woman’s elbows as she gained her footing and caught the breath he’d knocked out of her.

  Almost imperceptibly, she shook her head.

  Grant admired the abundance of black hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head. The simple knot contrasted sharply to the elaborate, poufy styles popular with most women.

  “My sincere apologies. May I escort you somewhere? Offer my assistance in some way?”

  She shook her head again and stepped back.

  Rather than relinquish his hold, Grant took a moment to study the woman. She was of medium height, wore no hat, and had a black shawl draped around her narrow shoulders. Neat and respectable, her dark blue blouse and wool skirt did little to stave off the cold. Even through his glove, he felt her shiver.

  He experienced the most unreasonable longing to pull her against his chest and wrap his arms around her.

  Unsettled by his thoughts, Grant released her elbows, hoping she’d at least tip up her head so he could see her face. “Again, my apologies. Generally, I pay some attention to where I’m going but this cold wind must have siphoned the sense right out of my head.”

  The woman raised her face and smiled. “The wind reminds us old man winter is in charge of the season, full of bluster and bravado.”

  Immediately drawn to her beauty, Grant took in her dark eyes, high cheekbones, and bronzed skin. He wondered if the woman lived on the nearby Umatilla Indian Reservation with a husband. She certainly appeared of a marriageable age.

  Something primitive and painful twisted in his gut at the thought of her belonging to another.

  Surprised by the smooth cadence of her voice as well as his reaction to her, Grant returned her smile. “I wouldn’t mind if the old man decided he’d blustered enough today and returned another time. Near year would be soon enough to suit me.”

  A laugh that put Grant in mind of summer sunshine, full of warmth and light, fell on his ears while his heart skipped a beat, then two.

  Mindful that the woman was thoroughly chilled, Grant hesitated to keep her in the cold any longer, yet he didn’t want to walk away so soon after meeting her.

  Politely tipping his hat to her, he summoned a charming smile. “To compensate for my carelessness, may I please escort you to your destination, Mrs…?” He paused, hoping she’d share her name.

  “Williams.” The woman’s eyes snapped and sparkled with lively awareness. “Miss Lacy Williams.”

  “Miss Williams. I’m Grant Hill, at your service.” He executed a gallant bow, earning a delighted smile from the woman. “Do you live here in town?”

  She took another step back and again shook her head.

  Concerned, Grant frowned. “Surely, you don’t plan to travel back to the reservation in this chilly wind.”

  “I’m in town on business. As soon as it’s completed, I’ll return home.” Lacy took another step away from him and wrapped her shawl tightly around her shoulders. “It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Hill.”

  “Likewise, Miss Williams. I would be more than happy to…”

  Lacy ducked her head and turned away, hurrying down the sidewalk and around the corner.

  Although everything in Grant urged him to follow the woman, he crossed the street and entered the bank.

  Loren Miller, his assistant, glanced up from where he helped a customer at the bank window. He nodded his head in greeting.

  Grant removed his outerwear then stoked the stove in the center of the bank, holding his hands out to the warmth. He should have insisted the woman come with him and at least warm herself before she continued with her errands.

  For a moment, he considered going back out to find her, but then thought better of it. It was ridiculous to feel so attached to a girl he’d just met, no matter how lovely and enchanting she appeared.

  He just hoped she didn’t freeze to death before she made it home.

  Lacy Williams dashed around the corner and leaned against the brick wall of the building.

  Frantic to gather her wits and her nerve, she smoothed a hand over her hair, making sure none of the hairpins had slipped when the banker almost knocked her down.

  The skin on her elbows where he’d held her upright still tingled from his touch. He was even more handsome up close than she imagined.

  Hazel eyes rimmed with dark lashes had looked at her so intently, she was sure he peered right into her heart. When he smiled, her heart beat as swiftly as ceremonial drums.

  Although she’d never met the man, she knew who he was.

  Her grandmother, Rebecca, held a special affection for Tony Campanelli and his friends. That particular circle included the Nash family, Deputy Rawlings and his family, and Grant Hill.

  During the summer months, Tony delivered ice to the reservation, free of charge. He sometimes brought special treats out for the children, like a whole jar of licorice whips. In the months when no one wanted ice, Tony took beautiful photographs. In fact, a photo of Lacy’s sister, Ruth, hung in Tony’s studio. Rebecca had proudly shown it to her after Tony put it on display.

  Lacy liked Tony, Ilsa, and the people in their group she’d met. She sometimes wished she could join in their lighthearted fun and teasing. The few times she’d tried, her father had chastised her for her foolishness and cautioned her about melding to the “ways of the white man.”

  It was
a good thing her father worked at her uncle’s ranch today or he would have forbidden her from riding into town.

  While Uncle Charlie embraced the changes that came his way and thrived, Lacy’s father fought against each one. Joe Williams was a good man, an honorable man, but he was a man mired in the past without much hope for the future.

  Due to his emphatic refusal to move into the new century and a new way of life, Lacy’s family struggled to stay warm and have enough food to eat. Tired of being cold and hungry, Lacy decided to take matters into her own hands. If she could get a job in town, the money she earned would go a long way toward easing their financial burdens.

  Lacy willed her trembling limbs to still. It wasn’t so much the cold as it was Grant’s presence that sent shivers racking through her. The only male beyond her family who had dared touch her was Phillip Redhawk, the man her father insisted she marry.

  With enough on her mind already, she forcefully shoved aside thoughts of Phillip and Grant Hill.

  Purposeful, she inhaled a calming breath. The scent of Grant’s shaving lotion lingered in her nose. Irritated by her attraction to a man who would never give her a second glance much less the time of day, she straightened her spine. Briskly marching around the corner, she rushed down the street to the telephone office.

  Resolved to acquiring a job, she’d refused to go home until she secured one. Lacy hoped she wouldn’t need to resort to seeking employment at some of the questionable business establishments she’d heard her older brother discuss with his friends. The last place she wanted to end up was working in the Underground in one of the shops, or worse, as one of the saloon girls.

  She’d already tried the mercantile, the candy shop, and the stationery store with no luck. Mr. Johnson at the mercantile was incredibly kind. He suggested she apply for a position at the telephone office, since they were short-handed.