The Bride of Willow Creek(18)
Fascinated, Angie nodded.
“Now your family’s gone and you’re dead broke, so you came here looking to Sam to pay for a divorce but he can’t, so you got mad and walloped him up at the depot and had a big fight with him at the new pastry shop, and here you are. Stuck, as I figure it, both of you. Waiting for a divorce that ain’t going to happen anytime soon.”
“That’s the gist of it.”
“Here’s my story, the parts I’m willing to tell anyway. I was raised in Wisconsin, spent some time in Chicago, likely before you were born, and then spent some more time in Denver. That’s where I met Cannady Johnson and married him fifteen years ago. We came here a little before Sam did, about three years ago, so Can could do some prospecting. He ain’t found anything to speak of, but he’s too stubborn to give up, so I reckon we’ll be here until they plant us in the Mount Piscah cemetery. I’ve done things I’m not proud of, but my only real regret is that I never had children. There.” She beamed at Angie. “Now we know each other.”
Angie blinked, then laughed. “Well, it’s a beginning.”
“Actually, I came to answer any questions you might have about Willow Creek. The town’s only about three years old. Has more saloons and parlor houses than churches or schools. If you live above Bennet Street you’re respectable or trying to be. If you live below Bennet, you’re either stone broke or no better than you ought. Same with Poverty Gulch up behind the depot. That’s the one place ’round here that you never want to go. There’s nothing up there but tents and cribs. The high-end parlor houses are on Myers Street, but you can walk there; lots of respectable women do. One thing you’ll appreciate, being from Chicago and all, a woman doesn’t need an escort here. You can walk alone anywhere you like with no fear of insult. Our men are proud of the fact that women are safe and revered in this district.”
Answering Angie’s occasional question, Molly continued talking, recommending the best grocer, the most reliable seamstress, the most meticulous butcher. In short order, Angie had a list of the merchants and deliverymen who would ensure that her new life ran smoothly and as cheaply as possible.
But the questions she wanted to ask had nothing to do with the town. Besides, it was too soon in her acquaintance with Molly to inquire about things that were none of her business. But a burning curiosity overcame any practical arguments.
“I guess you knew Laura.”
“I knew her well enough that you could have knocked me down with a whisper when Sam told me about you. I would have sworn to the Almighty himself that Laura Govenor was not the type of woman to set up residence with a married man. Even a married man with a wife who didn’t want him and refused to live with him.”
Pink heated Angie’s cheeks. Molly had only stated the truth, but it sounded so bald and stark and cold.
She let the moment pass and then said, “I regret that my presence is going to reveal that Sam and Laura weren’t respectably married.” Was that true? Not when it came to Sam. But for Laura? No, she decided that she didn’t care about Laura’s reputation either. But she did care that Lucy and Daisy would be exposed as illegitimate. They were innocent of wrongdoing and didn’t deserve the label they would now wear.
Thinking about it swamped Angie under a wave of guilt. The girls would never have been branded as bastards if she hadn’t popped up in Willow Creek. No, that wasn’t the way to look at it. Sam and Laura had flouted convention and now their sins were coming home to roost. Still, she felt bad about the girls.
“There’ll be talk for a few days, just because it’s interesting, then something else will come along. Someone else will get shot, get in bed, or get rich.” Molly shrugged. “In the end, no one cares about anyone but themselves.”
“Sam said much the same thing. But it’s hard to believe.”
“Up here your life is your own business and you can mess it up any way you want to.” Molly laughed. “ ’Course they’ll always be a few folks, like Laura’s parents, who hit a jackpot, then turn into hoity-toity society with a whole new way of looking at things. They aren’t going to be happy about you.”
“Laura has parents?” It hadn’t occurred to Angie to wonder if Laura might have family in the area.
“They live in Colorado Springs, in a house about the size of a palace.” Molly made a face. “Can knew Herb and Winnie Govenor when Herb drove a freight wagon and Winnie was selling pies out her back door. Now they live in a mansion and rub elbows with the swells down there in the Springs. The last time Winnie and Herb came to Willow Creek, Winnie walked right past Can without a nod or a fare-thee-well, like those days of selling pies never happened.”