The Green Lace Corset, стр. 25
She needed to find the cash and escape soon, before he killed her.
A few minutes later, he came in, carrying a crate full of supplies from the barn. “Here, you’ll need this.” He handed her a men’s coat.
“Thanks.” She took it from him. Even though it was too big, it would keep her warm.
Then, lo and behold, he cooked her flapjacks for breakfast, garnished with melted butter and honey. Imagine a man cooking like that.
“That was delicious.” She pretended all was fine with her. She didn’t want him to suspect she planned to slip away.
While he washed the dishes, as if she planned to stay, she unpacked her basket, putting her brush, Bible, and nightgown on top of the trunk at the foot of the bed.
He drew the buckboard out in front of the cabin, and she helped him unpack the goods. They placed their perishables in a box on the porch. “Always keep the lid on tight so animals don’t help themselves,” he told her.
They put in the cupboard a coffee grinder, spices, dried beans, and many other items. She was amazed by all he’d been able to buy. He must have robbed a bank. She put a hand over her mouth to conceal her smile at her own joke.
Right when they’d finished their work, snow fell and continued all afternoon. They sat by the fire. She tatted, and he smoked his pipe. They didn’t say much.
That night, certain Cliff had fallen asleep in the barn, she lit the lantern. The loot was probably with him, but it would be worth a try to search high and low in the cabin for the money: every shelf in the cabin cupboards, under her bed; she even rolled up the carpet and checked for a hole. But she found nothing. She’d have to go ahead and leave without it.
Bundled up in the clothes he’d given her, Sally Sue held her basket and stepped out onto the porch. Darkness contrasted with the white snow below. The frozen pond shimmered as if candlelight shone across it. Sally Sue’s eyes drifted above. The lights were only the reflection of pinprick stars in the dark sky. The moon hadn’t risen yet.
She wished she could reach up, pull down a star, and toss it into the barn, explode it like a Civil War cannon. Way out here, no one would know if she killed Cliff while he slept inside the barn and set it on fire in a burst of hot flames. Then she’d be free to go home.
She paused. As frightening as he was, had he really harmed her? He had given her clothes and food. Did he deserve to die? Would God forgive her?
Her feet crunched in the snow, and she searched for the horse trail that the buckboard had made the day before, but the evening snow had covered it. She shivered with cold.
On their way in, she hadn’t seen any other cabins for miles. It didn’t matter. She just had to get away. She hoped she could find her way back to town. There, she’d go straight to Sheriff Mack and convince him Cliff was the wanted man. The sheriff would come out and capture him, and she’d be safe.
They could contact her ma, and she’d send money for a ticket. Or the McMillans at the mercantile might hire Sally Sue until she made enough. She was good with figures. She’d never had a real job. Plus, she’d be able to see that delightful young Isaiah again. She’d like that.
Wisps of clouds escaped from her mouth. She tightened the shawl over her head, wrapped her arms around her chest, and kept pace to warm herself and let her imagination keep her company while she slogged along.
Perhaps she’d become a saloon girl and wear a colorful outfit like the women she’d seen. How hard could it be? She could carry a tune and do dance steps. She’d seen the way that one girl in the green corset had flirted with Cliff, blinking her eyelashes and smiling. Sally Sue could do that too.
She’d had such a crush on Johnny Jones, and he’d smiled at her in a special way—at least, when his ma wasn’t around. It would be a challenge, though, to be a coquette with the dirty men she’d seen in town. Maybe if she pretended the men were Johnny, she could do it—wiggle her shoulders forward and back, tilt her head, and laugh at their jokes, maybe even touch a hand.
She’d observe what the other women did and follow their lead. God wouldn’t think she was a sinner. It didn’t count, because she was in a desperate situation and she really had no choice if she was going to survive.
Sally Sue remembered the way that girl had looked at Cliff. Possibly, he had known her before, or maybe she just considered him appealing. Sally Sue couldn’t blame her. On the train, before Sally Sue realized he was the man who’d held a gun to her chest, she’d also thought he was handsome.
Even though she was uncertain of her destination, she kept putting one boot in front of the other. As she crossed the hoarfrost-sprinkled bridge, she had to concentrate in order not to slide and fall. On the other side, her body began to warm, and her tension eased. Maybe she really could get away.
She could see the path more clearly as a crescent moon began to rise, but soon dark clouds covered the sky. In the afterglow, snowflakes began to fall and sparkled like sequins. Within minutes, the snow fell more fiercely. Her clothes were soaked through, and