Donella looked out the upstairs window of her rented room at Hearth and Home. The snow was lightly falling—again this morning. She hoped it let up some so Tuesday Tea wouldn’t be cancelled. She’d have to ask if it was ever cancelled.

She pulled on her wool coat. The brilliant red color made her smile. She’d never worn something so bold before. She had one dress that was purple, but even it was a subdued hue. Now that she had her own money, she would make different choices. She continued fixing the buttons down the front. Maybe she’d buy some fabric after work—bright blue, dark green, rich purple. It felt like a rebellion. It was about time for one. She laughed at herself and headed down the staircase for breakfast.

“Morning, cousin,” Ellis said from across the room. He stood beside his chair and waited for her to join him.

Donella looked forward to having her family in town for her cousin’s wedding in a couple of weeks. “What a nice surprise. What brought you to town today?” Donella seated herself beside him.

A broad smile overtook Ellis’s expression. “I’m picking up my wedding present for my bride.”

“Is it a surprise or can you tell me what it is?”

“Don’t tell her, but it’s a new washing machine.” He looked so excited.

Maybe Dorothy would like that, but Donella wondered.

“You don’t look like you think it’s a good present.” Ellis’s smile had faded, and his eyebrows pinched.

“It’s an amazing thing, and I’m sure she’ll be happy to have it.”

“But . . ?”

“It’s not very personal.”

Ellis seemed to be considering that for some time. “Like she’ll think I just want her to wash my clothes.” He was nodding his head and not even looking at her. “I’d better get something else too. I was going to head home this morning, but I’d better stop by Crowthers’ Dry Goods on my way out of town. Thanks, Donella.” He stood abruptly and tossed his napkin on the table. “See you at the wedding.” And he left.

She couldn’t blame him for wanting to make sure everything turned out well. Ellis and Dorothy had been waiting months. They’d been engaged before Marshall KC and Ellis’s sister Eliza were married. Now Eliza was expecting their first child within a month.

Dorothy and Ellis had one disaster after another that had postponed their wedding. Her parents required him to have a house before they could wed. He’d built a one room cabin but her father had pronounced it too small to be a real house for his daughter. So he built on and then the calamities started. It had washed away in a flooding river, had a tree heavy with snow on it fall through the roof, and most recently caught on fire. It didn’t burn down or even cause much damage, but Ellis had begun to wonder if they would ever get to marry.

Donella was happy that her family would be all together in town in a couple of weeks for the wedding just before Christmas. Even Eliza was going to come, although it was a month before her baby’s birth. She claimed that riding in a sleigh was easier than walking up the stairs.

Donella had been living in town since before the harvest, having found a position in the mayor’s office three partial days a week. She had claimed a homestead outside of town in what everyone now called Turleyville.

Isla McRae delivered a short stack of flapjacks to her. “Millie said you had a visitor yesterday.” Her eyebrows jumped above her eyes suggestively.

And that was why Donella hadn’t told Millie the name. “There was no one.”

“Yeah, she said that too. Mr. No One. Well, I don’t have a suitor even though I’ve met nearly every bachelor in town as they pick up their bagged lunches. I have to live through everyone else’s good fortune.” She set a mug of coffee on the table. “I’d like to hear all the swoony details if you’d like someone to talk to.” Isla dropped into a chair across the table from her and leaned on her elbows.

“Thank you. When I have something to say, we’ll talk.”

Isla left, and Donella spread the chunks of butter around on the pancakes.

Her family had had a lot of change this past year. They’d come to live in Colorado from Texas almost a year ago. Her father’s disease had paralyzed his legs, making it impossible to run the huge spread they had there. They sold it and the cattle, and moved to live near her cousins.

It had been a good choice, and Donella hoped she’d get an idea of what to do with her life, but that hadn’t happened. She wanted a change, but how?

She and her twin sister, Diane, each had filed for homesteads near the rest of the family, but they hadn’t started the improvements on theirs yet. The home on Michael’s homestead was completed a few weeks ago. She wasn’t worried. They had five years to prove up.  

So she had taken the job in town with the mayor. It was nice to have her own money. Although she was busy, the work wasn’t satisfying.

Donella finished her breakfast and tied on her bonnet, then braced herself for the weather outside. As she stepped into the frosty morning, the snow was no longer drifting as it had been before, but seemed to be blowing sideways.

She blinked back the flakes attacking her as she looked at the mercantile. She immediately thought of Mr. Morgan, his blue eyes looking down at her. Maybe she could be so lucky as to see him again this morning. Slipping and falling into his arms again might be too much of a coincidence, but she couldn’t help wishing. She walked quickly but carefully. Since the mines were always open, there were always a lot of wagons in town. She made it across the street just fine. On the boardwalk, she turned north on Main Street toward the mayor’s office. She sucked in a breath and wished she hadn’t. The cold bit her lungs.

The wind out of the canyon blew straight into her face, chilling her teeth if she smiled or her eyes if she opened them more than a crack. Donella blinked slowly to warm them up and hurried toward work.

The icy fingers of the Colorado wind blew past her bonnet and down the collar of her coat. There were also a lot of buggies on Main that morning. She supposed that even though it was winter, people had to make a living. That’s why she was out in the miserable weather.

Donella tucked her head down, trying to use the bill of her bonnet to break the wind. It was a short walk to the mayor’s office. The wind howled around her, but she kept marching up the street. She had never felt the full force of a winter storm before, and she wondered if this meant that a bigger storm was on the way. The worst she had seen in Texas were thunderstorms, and one time a twister. Sometimes the rain has lasted for days or a week or more, washing out river banks and roads.

Donella peeked down through the bill of her bonnet, watching where her feet stepped. She didn’t want to slip on the ice again. There were no boardwalks on that block of town. Just a hard packed trail through the snow. She walked as quickly as she could, holding her coat tightly around her.

A voice yelled near her right. Suddenly strong arms wrapped around her and jerked her to the side against the wooden building. Her heart raced with fright and a scream caught in her throat. She picked up her head and look through the bonnet to see a stage coach rumbling by on the road. She only now realized that she was about to cross in front of it. Likely, the man had saved her life.

The arms released her, and she spun around to thank the man.

“Are you all right?” Boone asked.

“Thank you, Mr. Morgan, again.” She tried to slow her pulse. She was very glad to still be alive and unharmed. “Perhaps you would like to follow me around and keep me safe from harm,” she said.

His expression changed from worried to happy in an instant. “That’s an invitation I would love to take you up on,” Boone replied.

She saw warmth but also something a little more delicious in his smile. She realized she was gaping at him, and shut her mouth quickly. Her brain could hardly think of a reply to his remark.

“I would love to have your Christian name. Since I have held you in my arms twice now, I believe we might be more than just acquaintances.” There was a little laughter in his voice.

Should she acknowledge what he said in jest? After all she had been in his arms. And it was delightful. “I appreciate your service, but I really must get to work.” She looked down the road in both directions before she said, “It appears the road is clear. Thank you again.”

Donella could see the disappointment in Boone’s eyes that she again avoided giving him her name. Her hands were still clenched around her coat, pulling it tightly in front of her. Mr. Morgan nodded, but his smile dimmed from his eyes.

She lifted her foot, but couldn’t commit to walking away. It seemed that a whole herd of butterflies jumbled together in Donella’s stomach. She didn’t know if she should give him her name and have her brother Michael wonder how Mr. Morgan had gotten it. But, oh, how she would love to hear him say her name!

Donella rationalized that with her last birthday, she had turned twenty-one and had become a landowner by filing a claim in Colorado for a homestead. Surely the state agreed that she was an adult in their eyes and could make serious decisions.

Boone turned to continue on his way when Donella grabbed his sleeve. “My name is Donella,” she said. Then she quickly looked both ways on the street and hurried to cross it toward the city office.

Her heart raced, not because of the scare, but because she didn’t know what to do with the feeling she had toward Mr. Morgan. She chided herself for being so silly. His Christian actions made her dream that she was interested in him personally. She admitted to herself that hardly a woman alive would not fall dreamily into infatuation just by looking into his eyes.

She finally reached the mayor’s office without another mishap. She opened the door carefully so the wind wouldn’t pull it out of her hands and shut it just as carefully to keep it from slamming. The wood stove must have been burning for quite a while and warmth greeted her. As she hung her coat on the hook by the door, she heard a man’s voices in the mayor’s office. “I didn’t come all this way to have those men steal that company from me,” a gruff-voiced man was saying.

“I don’t think that will happen,” the mayor replied.

“I’m not asking you to think, Giles. You’ll do whatever you must to insure my business interest or there will likely be an accident in Denver.”

“Leave them out of this,” the mayor said. There was strain in his voice.

What was in Denver? She knew the mayor had moved to Creede from there, but so many men had. Obviously whatever it was worried Mr. Mealing greatly.

“Then do what has to be done and stop those men from opening that company.

Donella’s foot kicked the spittoon on the floor, making a clink as it rattled against the wall. Immediately the door to the mayor’s office slammed shut. She settled into a chair at her desk. She could no longer hear what the men were saying, only that they were still exchanging heated words but with less volume than they had done before.

Finally the man left. She kept her head down, not wanting to draw attention to herself. The mayor didn’t ask her to come in to talk about what needed to be done that day. She decided to just pick up from where she left off last Wednesday. There was always something to do since she’d made it her goal to clean the place up. Donella worked on several letters being directed to different mining companies. She had plenty of time in the afternoon to check the addition on several ledgers. She was also creating a filing system for Mr. Mealing. She supposed that up until she was hired, his filing system had been to open any drawer and stuff in the paperwork. Then if he had to find something he would turn the pages over and over looking for it. Every drawer was a new mess of chaos.  

She thought Mr. Mealing looked to be a bit young for being a mayor. However, most of the men in Creede were young. The hard work of being a miner or rancher or simply building a new town in the West demanded a strong, healthy body, and that meant there were many young men. She worked all day and was proud of the dent she’d made in a messy cabinet.

One of Donella’s favorite things about living in town was being able to go to Tuesday Tea every week. Since she only worked partial days three days a week, she could leave work and go directly over to the tea shop. The snowstorm from that morning had tapered off before lunch, but the sky remained cloudy. The wind had calmed as well.

“Is there anything more I can do for you, Mr. Mealing?” she asked, standing in the doorway to his office. He had been looking out his window and turned in his chair to face her. She could see worry on his face. He usually had a pleasant face, but lately his forehead wrinkled with distress. His dark hair was often as neat and tidy as was his suit, but again, because of the worry, his hand often push through his hair, making it frequently skiwampus. That day must have been particularly difficult as his hair resembled a haystack.

The grooves in his forehead were getting deeper over the past week. He opened his mouth but then shut it quickly and just shook his head slowly. She wondered if he thought it was hopeless, like he couldn’t be helped.

“Very well,” she replied. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Donella pulled her coat from the hook and began putting it on. She was glad the sun was still up, though it was behind the clouds. It would still be warmer than when the temperatures dropped at night.

She wondered how her family could prefer this frigid mountain town to their sunny, warm state of Texas. Then she remembered Mr. Boone Morgan. He seemed a good enough reason for her to stick around. She tied on her bonnet and then stepped out, closing the door behind her. It was even shorter walk to the tea shop then it was back to Hearth and Home.

She had a funny thought that if Mr. Morgan really where her guardian angel, he would be lurking nearby in case she were to slip again. It made her laugh at herself. She hurried across Main Street, wishing her little fantasy were true.

When she opened the door to the tea shop, she heard the delightful laughter of her friends inside. She loved meeting with these ladies each week. They made a tight community out of a transient tent-city. Although she saw many of the women on Sunday, Tuesday was the time they got together and talked openly.

She immediately heard Seffi’s laugh. It always started very high-pitched with a funny little scream and then rumbled lower before she quit. It was so full of joy, and very contagious. “Somehow that blamed horse got the door open and was standing inside the back porch when I woke up this morning.”

The women around her finished putting their coats away and settled at tables.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Morgan,” Donella said.

“Good to see you, Miss Turley.”

Donella hoped that Seffi sat at a table that had enough room for her to join. She wanted to hear any little piece about Boone. She hung her coat and turned around. There were two chairs at Seffi’s table. “May I join you?” she asked.

“Yes, please do,” Vivian said in her lovely English accent. “How are you enjoying your work in Mayor Mealing’s office?”

“I’ve learned so much about our little town,” Donella replied. “I had thought Creede was always a mining town.”

Seffi was smiling but shaking her head before Donella finished her sentence. “Tourism originally brought people to this area. People from the East were anxious to see the wild west.” Donella kept trying to think of some way to turn the conversation to Boone without being so obvious that she was interested.

“I can certainly see why,” Vivian replied. “I was astounded at how gorgeous this part of Colorado is. I had seen little hills that we of course called mountains, but I had no idea the towering majesty of these mountains until I rode through them on the train ride here.”

“Exactly,” said Donella. “Texas has little mountains too, but they are certainly nothing like this.” Donella thought about it. She supposed that was another thing that she liked about Colorado. She would be able to survive the cold winter to have the gorgeous scenery around her all year long.

“My husband and I were one of the first settlers. Not exactly here, but we settled, and my husband opened the Topaz Mine. Oh,” she chuckled, “we weren’t minors by any stretch of the imagination and quickly turned to cattle. It was the best decision we have made. Even on years when we didn’t have a lot of income, we still ate.”

The women ordered tea and a little treat for each of them. “What horse are you telling about when I came in the door?” asked Donella.

“Before he left Creede a while ago, my son Boone went out and got himself a new horse, and it’s quite the pest. The horse’s name is Magnificent, and she’s a beauty to look at, a sleek black coat with a white blaze and white stockings. She stands sixteen hands high. I just call her Magpie. She’s an infuriatingly curious animal. Anything goes on in the yard, and she has to trot over to see things for herself. She wouldn’t stay in her stall although we shut it and latched it. Can you believe that horse used her lips to open the latch and let herself out? She did. I watched her do it. But she doesn’t wander off. She just wanders around snooping into the other animals’ business.”

“Why do you suppose she went into the back porch?” Donella asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe she saw us all going through that door and wondered what it was. Or maybe she just wanted to be a little warmer than she would’ve been in the barn,” Seffi replied.

“Or maybe she has a funny sense of humor and was playing a practical joke on you,” said Vivian. “You should have heard Seffi scream.” Seffi and Vivian both laughed at that.

“Did you say that the mare belongs to one of your boys?” Donella asked, trying to keep the interest out of her voice, but she was interested, very, very interested. “When did they come back?”

“Yesterday,” Seffi said with a frown on her face. “I guess they sauntered into town early yesterday morning and didn’t bother coming out to visit their mother. They didn’t even send me a message. I found out from Willy Meeks when he delivered the merchandise I’d ordered.”

“We’ve all been waiting to hear what the big secret is,” someone called from the next table over.

“Yeah, what are your boys up to?” asked someone else.

Before Seffi could answer, the door opened and Eliza Murray and Donella’s twin sister Diane came inside. Donella jumped up and gave her sister and cousins each a hug. “I hadn’t expected you so early,” she said. “Why are you here? There is something wrong, isn’t there?”

“No,” Eliza said. “Not if you consider snowstorm after snowstorm nothing wrong. I just wanted to get off the mountain so I could come to the wedding. I was afraid I would get snowed in and missed the whole thing.”

Eliza and Ellis were also twins. That was something that ran heavily in their family. In fact, Donella and Diane had younger sisters who were twins, too. She could understand not wanting to miss her twin’s wedding. She didn’t know how children who weren’t twins felt, but she knew there was a special bond between her and her sister, and she suspected as much between the other sets of twins in the family.

“I’m curious—why are you staying in town, Seffi?” Beatrice asked. “You trying to find out what your boys are up to?”

Seffi got a sly look on her face. “Oh, no,” she said in a thick sweet voice. “I just decided to stay in town so I could see my boys. They said they wouldn’t be coming out to the ranch until their work was done.”

“Oh!” “Ha!” and “I see,” called out several voices around the room.

“You know, we are good at figuring things out,” Beth said.

“Yes, we are,” replied Seffi. “I suppose that the women around town could just keep their eyes open and pretty soon we’d know what those men were up to.”

Just then the door swung open and in walked Boone and Holt. Every woman in the store stopped talking and stared at them. Boone’s eyes looked directly into Donella’s, then at his mother and then back at her again. Donella felt the least bit guilty to be sitting beside his mother, like he could tell that she was hoping to find out more about him.

“It looks like business is doing well, so we thought we’d stop by for a cup of tea,” Boone said with a huge grin.

“Tsk, tsk. We forgot to lock the door,” Kara said.

Donella enjoyed the surprise look on Boone’s face. She wondered if a room full of women had ever before treated him with such indifference. Not likely.

Seffi stood and walked to the door. “I’m sorry, boys, but the tea shop is closed on Tuesday afternoon—women only. Of course, you’ve been out of town and didn’t know that, so we’ll forgive you just this once.” She walked them back out the door then closed it between herself and the men. She twisted the lock shut.

The whole tea shop burst into giggles, and Donella noticed Boone walking slowly by the window beside her, trying to look inside. It would have been nice to sit at a small table with him on a cold winter day and warm up with some spicy tea. She imagined him smiling at her, his eyes bright, enjoying her company. It was possible, so maybe someday. He walked on by and was out of sight.

“I’d hate for those boys to get wind that we are snooping on them, but it really must be done.” Seffi sat back down by Donella. “Maybe even for their own good. Boys are never too old for their mama to look after them.”

“I can’t imagine your sons doing something illegal,” said Millie.

Seffi shook her head. “No. I can’t either. But they often did things that were dangerous.”

Donella knew it didn’t take much in this town for something that seemed innocent to turn bad. She hoped whatever the surprise was, it was done quickly, and then be over with.

“My how Boone has grown up to be a very handsome man,” Katie said.

The giggles erupted again, and Donella felt her cheeks turn warm. She had been thinking the exact same thing.

Vivian fanned herself. “Yes. I believe Seffi’s boys are too good looking by half,” she said with an exaggerated sigh.

Seffi put her cup down. “Even as a baby, complete strangers would stop us at the railroad station to comment on Boone’s piercing blue eyes. I thought they’d dull as he grew older but they haven’t.”

“I think Holt has the sweetest dimples I’ve ever seen,” said Katie. “All three of your boys have grown up into fine men.”

Isla got up to get another piece of cake and faced the group. She pressed the backside of her wrist to her forehead. “I could swoon just thinking about them.”

Seffi laughed along with the women and then commented, “You know, I’m sure that to all of you, they appear to be very grown-up based on their height. I have to agree I usually think they’re grown men too, but now and again, I still see them as little boys that were always getting into trouble with each other.” Seffi smiled, but there was a little sadness about it. “They’re good men, and I want to see them stay that way. That means they need good women. Waylon’s been taken care of.” Seffi nodded and patted Vivian’s hand. “Now, I just have to see to the other two.”

Donella’s heart thudded in her chest. She knew that marriage was the next big thing coming up in those men’s lives. They might already be looking around. She swallowed and looked deeply into her teacup, wishing the old wives tales about seeing the future in tea leaves was true.

“Let’s see who we have that’s not married?” Rachel said.

“Diane and Donella are both marrying age,” Eliza said.

“So are a couple of the Crowther girls,” Ashleigh added.

“How about those two women that joined us in October. You know the ones. They helped us trap that phony mail order matron. What were their names?” Bridgette asked.

“Susie and Linda. They work at the theater,” Rhona answered. “They’re very nice girls.”

“Well, since no one else is going to mention it, I’m unmarried and available and also too old for either of them so don’t mind me,” Isla said as she freshened her tea from a pot on the counter.

“Reverend Hensley in South Fork has some daughters that are old enough to marry too, doesn’t he?” Katie asked Seffi.

“Two,” she answered. “Sure seems to be a lot of twos.”

In a town chock full of men, Donella realized there were many young women who hoped for a loving husband. The Morgan men did seem to stand out as some of the good ones.