Hays left the glorious smells in the kitchen and walked through the dark hall.
Travis was just closing Pa’s office door. A frown puckered his forehead until he glanced up at Hays’s approach. He cleared the concerned look from his face. “Hays.”
“Is everything all right?”
“Everything is fine.” Travis took his pocket watch out of his vest and glanced at it before he tilted his head toward the front of the house. “Walk me out. I told Widow Hanson I’d stop by to check on her this afternoon.”
They passed through the front hall and into the vestibule, Hays trying to keep up. “I came to ask you a favor.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“I’m helping Miss Longley raise funds to build a new school, and she’s put me in charge of a bachelor auction.” Hays followed Travis onto the front porch. “I need to find at least a dozen bachelors to auction off on the night of the street dance.”
Travis stopped on the top step and turned to face Hays. “You want me to volunteer to be a part of the auction?”
“Would you?”
Travis studied Hays for a moment, a glimmer lighting his brown eyes. “I thought you might be sweet on Miss Longley.”
“This has nothing to do with—”
“Of course it does.” Travis grinned. “And I’m not surprised.”
“Will you do it?”
His smile fell. “I don’t know, Hays. I hardly have time for a decent meal, let alone attend a dance. I don’t remember the last time I went to a social gathering.”
Hays hated to beg, but he was running out of time. He only had a few days before the next meeting, and he needed to show Emma he was serious about helping her. “Please. For me.” He knew his brother was busy, but he also knew that Travis had a hard time saying no to his family.
Travis sighed. “I suppose. But I’m not doing it just for you, I’m also doing it for Pa.”
“Pa?”
Travis set his hand on Hays’s shoulder. “He’s serious about seeing his sons get married. I’m afraid I’m too busy to look for a wife, and besides, my life isn’t conducive to a family. You, on the other hand”—he squeezed Hays’s shoulder—“would make a good husband.”
It was the first time one of his brothers had recognized him as a man. “Thank you, Travis.”
“Good luck convincing the rest of your brothers. You’ll need it.” Travis turned and walked down the steps toward his waiting buckboard.
It would be impossible to convince Bowie, so Hays wouldn’t even try, but with Travis’s involvement, Crockett and Austin might say yes.
And there was still the matter of convincing Gage.
On Saturday morning, Emma stood outside the post office holding the packages she had picked up for Mama at the mercantile, as well as the letters that had just arrived from Minnesota. One in particular held her interest. It was addressed to Emma from the director of the Belle Prairie Mission, where Emma’s parents had served for years and where Emma had grown up. She had written to inquire if there was a teaching job available. Would Mrs. Greenfield want her to return? Emma was almost certain the answer was yes, but there was only one way to find out … though she couldn’t bring herself to open the letter here on the street.
She slipped the letters into her reticule and turned left to head back to the parsonage.
Her mama would be eager to hear the news from home. Minnesota held mostly good memories, though there were a few events in Emma’s life she’d rather forget. But it didn’t pay to dwell on the past—not when she had so much to look forward to.
Downtown Hartville was alive with activity. People greeted each other as they went about their business, horses kicked up dirt on the dusty street, and the sun cast short shadows across the dry earth. In Minnesota, she would have been bundled up on this January day, happily shuffling from store to store—she halted her thoughts, remembering her promise to Hays that she would stop comparing Texas to Minnesota.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them, she looked at Hartville with a fresh perspective. At first, it looked just like it had before, but then she started to notice the quiet hum about the town. It was punctuated with the drawl of the local citizens, the scents of spicy food wafting out of the hotel restaurant two doors down, and the ring of spurs on the wooden sidewalks.
An older cowboy passed by, tipping his hat at her with a kind nod before continuing down the street. His leathered skin suggested a lifetime of hard work under the Texas sun. What story could he tell her about life in Texas? By the contented look on his face, she sensed he wouldn’t exchange it for anything.
A gentle smile found its way to Emma’s lips as a soft breeze ruffled her hem and tossed the tendrils of hair against her cheeks. She felt as if she had dipped just beneath the surface of the town, and it felt strangely refreshing.