By Any Other Name

Chapter 2

The day was coming to a close and sunset wasn't too far off when the train came to a stop in front of the station in Marshall.

When I decided to come here, I thought it would be a smaller town with only a handful of local businesses and a church. But as I stepped down onto the dusty street, I realized that this place was closer to a small city. There were hat shops and tailors, restaurants and any number of other businesses lining the bustling main street. Among them, to my disgust, was a tavern - or I suppose they were called saloons here. The despicable establishment stood not fifty feet from me. A large man guarded the entrance, wearing a gun on his hip, and boisterous music and laughter floated out from behind the swinging doors at the man's back. Apparently the party had already started and it wasn't even dark yet.

A man pushed through the doors, causing me to catch a glimpse of a scantily clothed and brightly smiling girl, sitting in the lap of a large man at a poker table. Embarrassed, I turned my face away, hoping that the boarding house, where my job was supposed to be, was far away from that awful place.

But as I scanned the busy street, I realized that I had no idea where to go. I'd expected to head straight for the boarding house but I hadn't counted on having to search too extensively or on the fact that if I didn't find it very soon, I'd be wandering around in the dark. How would I ever find it in such a large place? Especially on foot.

This street appeared to go on for a while, and with all the side streets and other places that I couldn't even see yet, a search might take hours.

What if the boarding house wasn't even in the main part of town?

I shivered, glancing toward the saloon again. I did not want to wander around this place at night, alone.

Spying a large official-looking man, I hurried over to him, clutching my small carpet bag.

"Excuse me?" I waved to him with my free hand.

"Ma'am." He smiled and tipped his hat revealing sparse, graying hair as I stopped before him.

"Could you show me where the boarding house is, please?" I asked, relieved to have found someone like this. He was some sort of law enforcement officer, possibly the sheriff.

"Boarding house?" His eyebrows pulled together in puzzlement and I began to worry. What if there was no boarding house and this was some sort of cruel joke?

But no. The woman who told me about the job wouldn't trick me. She was too kind for that. But she might have gotten her information wrong....

"Yes." I quickly pulled the paper with the address from my bag and handed it to him. He examined the paper for a few seconds before his confusion turned to understanding.

"Ah," he said. "You want Minnie's place."

"Minnie?" I felt foolish asking since she would apparently be my employer, but I really hadn't recieved much information. I only knew that there was a job available for someone willing to clean and maybe cook.

"Yep," he said before turning his face to the left and then to the right, apparently looking for someone.

For a long moment, I waited uncomfortably while the man scanned the people on the street. Was he going to help me?

"Levi!" he suddenly shouted, startling me.

"He's probably headed that way," he said to me. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind bringin' ya over." He waved his arm in the air to get the other man's attention.

"Oh, but..." Before I could protest, the man who must be Levi, came to stand beside the officer.

He was tall, close to six feet at least, which made him a full foot taller than me. His hair was mostly tucked under his hat, but the bit that peeked out from underneath was dark brown. His eyes were a pleasant light green color, and he was undeniably handsome. My sister, Lily would have fallen in love with him on the spot.

"Afternoon Jasper," the man said and then turned to me tipping his hat the same way the officer had. "Ma'am".

I nodded coldly, having no interest in meeting Levi, despite his looks. He was the man I'd seen exit the saloon.

Levi watched me curiously until his attention was drawn by the officer again.

"This little lady's headed for Minnie's place," he said. "Would ya mind bringin' her?"

"Minnie's?" Levi looked at me again, this time assessing and I wondered why he seem so surprised.

"But I thought that you might show me," I addressed the officer, not wanting to go anywhere with the other man, knowing where he'd just come from.

"Sorry, I can't leave town while I'm on duty. Too many-" A loud crash interrupted him.

We all turned to the saloon where two men had apparently gone through the front window and were wrestling around in the middle of the street.

"Knock it off!" The officer called before glancing back at me. "Levi's a good man. He'll get ya where ya need to go." With that, he took off to break up the fight that was beginning to draw a crowd.

"Guess you're stuck with me." Levi gave me a lopsided smile.

"Oh..." I didn't like him, but I didn't purposely want to be rude either. "That's alright. If you'll just tell me where to go, I'll be fine."

"Do you have a horse?" He glanced around quickly. Finding none, he watched me curiously again.

"I have two perfectly good feet," I said primly.

He fought a smile. "Alright then. You head that way." He pointed in the opposite direction of the saloon, thank goodness. "Turn right at that corner, and then it's about three miles, straight down the road."

"Three miles?" I asked dismally. A three-mile-walk in the soon-to-be dark and damp night air? I could see the beginnings of a forest in the distance and knew there would be any number of wild animals out at night.

I guess I got my wish of the boarding house being far away from the saloon though.

"Yep." He was still trying to keep a straight face. "It's a pretty long walk out of town."

I stared down the road, biting my lip. My bag wasn't very heavy, but a three-mile walk would make it feel as if it weighed a hundred pounds by the end of it. My shoes weren't the best for walking long distances either.

"Or you could just jump on the wagon I'm driving out that way."

I glanced at him warily. Going anywhere with this man was one of the last things I wanted to do right now. Unfortunately, even further down that list was walking alone in the dark for three miles through the woods in a strange place.

And the officer did say he was trustworthy...

"Alright." I nodded and then forced myself to add, "thank you."

Levi grinned. "This way." He bobbed his head, gesturing to the left.