Place to Belong, a (23 page)

How she wished she could take Micah along to handle her guns. Then it would really be like old times. But she couldn't possibly ask Mr. Porter to buy Micah's ticket also, and she could not afford to bring him along with her own money. She did not have money; she owed money. She
must
win this shoot!

February 22 arrived long before Cassie felt she was truly ready. She packed what she needed in a carpetbag borrowed from Mavis, wrapped her guns, and nestled them in their bag. She was ready. Ransom bundled her and Mavis into the sleigh and drove off to the train station. Mavis and Cassie spent quite a bit of that travel time praying.

It was snowing lightly when Ransom tied their horse up behind the station. He offered his mother a hand, then Cassie. Even through their gloves she felt a jolt go up her arm. Rolling her lips together to stop the sensation, she sucked in a deep breath of icy air. What was going on? Unable to look him in the face lest he read her confusion, she muttered a thank-you as he lifted out her guns and carpetbag. When she reached for them, he shook his head, ignoring her confusion. Carrying her bags, he led the way to the platform.

“It's all right,” Mavis whispered in her ear then tucked her arm through Cassie's. Together they followed the man with the rigid back and the purposeful stride.

When Cassie walked out onto the long wooden platform, it felt like home. Many were the trains that had carried the show south and north again. She saw the engine's puffs of smoke far
beyond the trees, gray smoke against gray sky. Since the track curved away between the houses and through the surrounding woods, she could not see or hear the train. It wouldn't be there for ten minutes yet, at least.

Ransom suddenly took her hand. “You'll need this for meals and such.” He pressed a roll of something into her hand. A roll of what? She was afraid to look. It was money!

“Oh no! I can't, really.” She stared from her hand into his face.

His jaw was set, the way it squared when he was arguing with Lucas. And always won. “You will. Really.”

“Please, Cassie,” Mavis added.

What could she say? “Thank you.” She slipped it into her reticule.

Of course, Ransom would be taciturn, but now not even Mavis had anything to say, it would seem. They stood about, waiting. Cassie shifted from one foot to the other. She tried breathing around the lump in her throat, and when she wet her lips, the cold reminded her of the folly of that.

The engine appeared from beyond the curve, huffing out extra steam as it slowed down approaching the station. It glistened black in the gentle snowfall. Cassie had forgotten how noisy an engine was and how massive. It thundered and loomed, monstrous, past the platform, rattled and screeched to a halt. A blast of steam roared out from under the wheels. Its bell clanged and a conductor in a black uniform swung down to the platform and placed an iron stepping stool in front of the door on the third car.

Josiah Porter came bouncing off the train with a lively step, beaming broadly and obviously delighted to see them. He swept off his top hat and executed a slight bow. “What a pleasure it is to see you all.”

Mavis looked just as happy. “Hello, Josiah! Have a safe journey. We'll be praying for you all, that's for sure.”

“Thank you, thank you. Here you are, Cassie.” Mr. Porter handed her a ticket.

“Thank you, Mr. Porter.”

Curious. In all her years of traveling on trains, she had never once seen a railway ticket. Always either her father or Jason Talbot took care of travel arrangements. She simply boarded the train with the rest of the troupe.

“Call me Josiah, please. We're business colleagues here. Oh, and Ransom, Mavis, Lucas asked me to tell you both hello.”

Mavis gasped. “You know where Lucas is?”

“Why yes. He and Betsy work for me at the hotel. He does some handyman repairs now and then but mostly goes out hunting. He's very good at providing elk for the restaurant. Brought in a bear recently too. Henri fumed at first until he tasted it with turnips and cauliflower in a mornay sauce. You have to special-order that dish. And Betsy works the front desk. She's very good at welcoming people and keeping records straight. My former desk clerk couldn't seem to do that consistently. I tell you, Mavis, it's hard to get good help nowadays. Lovely girl, Betsy Engstrom.”

Betsy Engstrom. Not Cassie Engstrom. Cassie tried to digest that; her mind would not cooperate. Did she feel sad? She shut her mind on that, something to ponder later.

Mavis wrapped her in a warm hug. “Blessings, dear Cassie.” She stepped back.

“Blessings on you, Mavis.” The urge to flee back to the sleigh and the safety of the ranch nearly undid her.

Until Ransom pulled off a glove and extended his hand for a shake. “Shoot well.”

Shake hands with a woman? That was not done. Cautiously she accepted his hand. It was warm and firm. “Thank you. Blessings on you too.”

She reached down to pick up her bags, but Josiah scooped them up. She heard Ransom say, “Take good care of her, Josiah.”

Allowing the conductor to assist her, she started to ask where to go but heard instead Josiah's instructions.

“About the middle, on the left.” He followed her to the car.

Then she took the extra-long step that carried her from Dakota's good, solid earth onto the train that would bring her, eventually, to the city of St. Louis.

There sat Abigail Porter. She smiled brightly and scooted over to give Cassie room. A little potbelly stove at one end of the car was supposed to be keeping the car fairly warm, but the leather seat crackled with cold as she slid into it. “Cassie, I have not been to St. Louis for ages. This is going to be great fun!”

Josiah gave Cassie's carpetbag an extra little shove into the overhead rack and settled himself across from her. She so wanted to ask about Lucas and Betsy, wanted to know everything about them since they'd eloped, but she kept her questions to herself. As the train pulled out of the station, she ordered herself to stop her woolgathering and attend to her hosts. After all, traveling like this was nothing new, and she had plenty to look forward to. Now if only she could convince her middle.

The Porters picked the subjects of conversation—well, usually Josiah did—often as questions, and she responded. But she longed to know how Lucas and Betsy were really doing and if Lucas harbored any regrets.

Abigail asked, “Have you been to St. Louis before?”

Cassie smiled. “Yes and no. Yes, the show played there several times. No, I only saw the street between the railway station and the field where we set up. That was all. I never actually saw the city.”

“Ah!” Josiah looked pleased. “Then I believe you will enjoy walking along the riverfront. A great deal of interesting barge traffic goes up and down out of St. Louis. You can stand on the
very spot where Lewis and Clark stood more than a hundred years ago. Amazing how far this country has come since then, the West especially.”

During the rest of the long journey, Cassie learned a great deal about politics and the opening of the American West that she really had never thought about, nor did she care to. But Josiah's political monologues filled the hours, and she could listen with half an ear while she enjoyed watching the lovely scenery pass. So many farms. Homes. Each of them was home to someone, just as the ranch was home to the Engstroms. Would that ever truly be Cassie's home?

She did, however, learn some useful things as well, particularly about the business end of shooting matches. One thing, for instance, was that she would have to place at least third in the contest in order to meet expenses.

When they finally reached St. Louis after two long days on the train, she was given another nice surprise. Josiah and his wife took a room at the hotel and provided Cassie with a room of her own. She had never had a room of her own in a hotel before, and she thanked Josiah profusely. It would feel wonderful to sleep in a bed tonight. It had been all but impossible to get comfortable on the train seat last night. Of course, now if she failed to win the shoot, she would owe him more money than ever. She put that thought aside and simply enjoyed for the moment the lovely room and feeling grand.

That night, as she was returning from the bathroom, she saw the housekeeper's closet standing open, with a broom right by the door. Feeling only a little twinge of guilt, she borrowed the broom and practiced in her room for several hours. Swing up, bang, lower the gun to the floor, swing up, bang, point to the floor, swing up, bang . . . She put the broom back and practiced the same movement for a while with her unloaded shotgun, which was much heavier than the broom. Her arm was still not
what it once was, but she was pretty certain that it would hold up for the shoot. The boost of confidence that flowed through her felt welcome indeed.
Thank you, Lord,
seemed the only possible response.

The first morning of the meet, they ate a hearty breakfast in the hotel dining room. Josiah sure had a lot to say about how the quality of this meal compared with what his Henri prepared. As they were leaving, Cassie glanced toward the tall, well-draped windows. Wait; that man with the graying beard, sitting at breakfast by the window—he certainly looked like Jason Talbot. She sucked in a calming breath. No, it couldn't be. This fellow was heavier, older, more worn-out looking than she remembered Jason to be. Then Josiah was ushering her out the door into a hansom. They were on their way to the match.

When the actual moment of the shoot arrived, she expected butterflies to be fighting to get out of her clenched stomach. They did not. Why was she not more nervous as she stepped forward to be introduced, the only young woman in the meet? She ought to be terrified. This was a shoot of national ranking with experienced participants from all over, like she used to participate in, not just a local contest in Hill City. She would take her sense of calm as an effect of Mavis's prayer. For surely Mavis was praying this very minute.

Beaming like a new father, Mr. Porter served as her assistant and only made two minor mistakes. How he loved being near the center of attention, if not in it. Ty Fuller and George Sands, who had placed one and two in that shoot of Josiah's, survived the first day, as did Cassie. Nine fellows dropped out, already too far back to place.

The second day of the shoot dawned cloudy and windy, but not windy enough to affect shooting. Cassie did not see the Jason Talbot look-alike in the dining room. She noted that
Josiah ate heartily in spite of his opinion that this cuisine was not the equal of Henri's.

As typical of a two-day shoot, the audience today was much larger than yesterday's, and noisier too. Cassie felt herself blooming under their attention, just as she used to. Her father had always said their job as entertainers was to give the audience a good show. She breathed in a calming breath and let herself respond to their clapping and cheering for every good shot.

Many of the contestants remaining were effectively eliminated in the first round. Cassie was still standing, with a perfect score. Tyrone Fuller and George Sands, also with perfect scores, stood beside her. Ty Fuller was the person who had written to tell her of this contest. He turned and beamed at her, as if he were responsible for her being there.

Well, he was. As they prepared for round two, she stepped over to him. “Mr. Fuller, thank you for letting me know about this shoot. We deeply appreciate it.”

He nodded enthusiastically. “It's my pleasure. You're a joy to shoot against; you always do your best, and you're very, very good, but you're never nasty. You'd be surprised how many of these fellows have a mean streak. You're a fine challenger but a real lady. We need more women in the sport. You remind me of Annie Oakley.”

“That's very nice of you. Thank you.” She didn't have time to mention Annie Oakley had always been her hero.

All but five fell away by the end of the second round. Cassie, Mr. Fuller, and Mr. Sands were three of those five. So far she had not missed, including the overhead shooting.

This was it. These people would rank first, second, third, fourth, and fifth. Only the first three would walk away with prize money.

She didn't miss any of the stationary targets. In fact, they were easier to see than her practice targets, because there was
no glare from fresh snow. The other four contestants also shot perfect scores. She didn't miss any of the distance targets and scored perfectly on the pendulum targets. Only Ty Fuller equaled that. George Sands missed one and the others missed two each. Now Cassie and Mr. Fuller would have to fail in the overhead shooting to give those two any chance to place.

This was not a shoot where someone tossed wood chips in the air. They released live pigeons, five for each contestant. Cassie was slightly better shooting right-handed, so she took the first three left-handed to save her arm. They tumbled from the sky one by one, with spectators clapping for her with each good shot. She switched to her right hand and fired on the fourth pigeon. It dropped, as gray feathers floated down behind it.
Please, Lord, one more
. The fifth pigeon fluttered into the air with the tiny
whish-whish
sound that flying pigeons make. She fired. Missed. Quickly fired again. The pigeon dropped. The audience applauded.

Mr. Fuller stepped forward. One. Two. Three. Four. So far he and Cassie were tied. His fifth pigeon flew up and he took it with his first shot. The audience applauded.

Cassie was now second.

The remaining contestants shot, but Cassie did not pay attention to who placed third. The shoot was over, the noisy audience standing up and milling around.

She had not won. Again.

“You did it! Wonderful!” Josiah seized her shoulders, swung her about to face him, and squeezed.

“Josiah, no! I placed second.”

“Cassie, second place pays more money than expenses. We made a profit—
you
made us a profit.”