“Leave it,” she said. “I’ll have someone take it home for me.”
“All right,” he told her.
The luggage would be safe sitting there for ten minutes. It would take her five minutes to walk to Aunt Grace’s home, and after they said hello, she was certain a servant could come fetch it for her.
Leaves blew along the street as she walked toward the house where she had grown up. The same house that once belonged to her parents before they were killed. Now the doctor and her aunt lived in the big home.
A cold wind howled out of the north and she huddled into her coat. She was fortunate to have made it home. Another week and the trails would be impassable. But once the headmistress had kicked her out, she didn’t tarry. She’d taken the first stage home.
It was something she should have done months ago. At the first signs of her receiving the society snub, she should have packed her bags and told those rich bitches she was going searching for her two husbands. Wouldn’t that have set them off in a tizzy?
With a giggle, she hurried up the street, remembering playing along this avenue as a child. Things were about to get interesting.
After running up the steps to the house, she knocked on the large wooden door. The house looked the same, only a little more weather-worn. Montana winters were hard on the wooden structures.
Her aunt opened the door, her sapphire eyes growing large, and she couldn’t get the door opened fast enough.
“Carrie,” she cried, “what are you doing here?”
“I’ve come home,” she said as her aunt threw open the door and wrapped her arms around her. “That fancy school didn’t want a girl who believed in more than one husband.”
Her aunt hugged her tightly, and it brought tears to her eyes. She was tired of not feeling like she belonged and now she was home. Here in her aunt’s arms, she felt reassured that she’d made the right decision.
This was home.
“Oh, darling, I’m so happy to see you. It was long past time for you to come home. Where are you staying?”
Carrie giggled as her aunt stepped back. “I don’t know. No one knows I’m here but you.”
“You didn’t tell your brothers?” she asked, shocked.
“No, I knew they would try to convince me to stay and I couldn’t for one more minute.”
“You’re right,” her aunt said. “Stay here with us. You can have your old bedroom back. We’d love to have you. You know your brothers have all married.”
“Oh, yes,” she said. “That’s why I didn’t know where I was going to sleep. Nothing is the same since the accident.”
“No, it’s not,” her aunt agreed sadly.
The thought of staying in her old bedroom brought warmth to her chest. Tears welled in her eyes. “I’ve been so homesick.”
“Well, then, it’s fitting you stay here with us. Where is your trunk?”
“Down at the station,” she said. “I couldn’t carry it.”
“Of course not,” her aunt said. “I’ll get Henry to fetch it for you.”
Just then she remembered her mother’s jewelry was in the trunk and it wasn’t locked. “I need to get back to my luggage. Tell Henry to meet me at the station. I’ll be right back.”
The heirloom jewelry was the only thing she had of her mother and she wasn’t about to let someone take those few precious pieces. They weren’t worth a lot, but their sentimental value was worth millions.
“I’ll fix a warm pot of tea and have it waiting for you. You go and I’ll send Henry.”
Carrie stared at her aunt, tears filling her eyes. Her aunt had grown older, her hair almost completely gray. She wondered how her mother would have looked at this age. A mining accident had taken her parents, and to this day, Carrie yearned to hear their voices.
“I’ve missed you so much,” she said.
Her aunt reached out and hugged her again. “Darling, it’s so good to have you home. Now get back there and gather your things. Then we can catch up when you return. You can tell me all about how this finishing school decided you no longer needed to be there.”
Carrie chuckled. It was quite the story. People who didn’t know about Treasure Falls’s way of life had no idea what a great family town it was. Their loss.
And now she was home. It was only a matter of time before her brothers learned she was here and then the explosions would commence.
Didn’t matter, she wasn’t going back, and since today was the last stage coming into Treasure Falls, they couldn’t make her return.