LEGEND Read online

  Kady had run from the office so fast she’d nearly knocked the stove over. Thank heaven it hadn’t been lit or she might have set herself on fire. “At least I would have been able to cook something,” she muttered, as she trudged down the street.

  After the cold night in the schoolhouse, she’d had no more luck the morning of the second day. She’d started knocking on the doors of houses. Once she’d looked into the kind eyes of a gray-haired woman and asked her for something to eat. The woman’s face had dissolved into pity, and Kady felt the woman had been about to speak when her husband appeared by her side, glared at Kady, and said, “We don’t take kindly to beggars in this town,” then shut the door in Kady’s face.

  So now Kady was walking toward the church to meet Cole. What attitude should she take? That everything was fine and she needed no help? Should she keep her pride at all costs?

  Odd how pride fled when one’s belly was involved. When she got back to the twentieth century, maybe she’d write a book titled Time Travel: The New Weight-Loss Plan.

  Dignity, she told herself as she walked along the road, she must keep her dignity. There was a long hill just behind the firehouse, crosswise of the road, with a short hedge running atop the ridge. As Kady walked up and over this hill, past the hedge, the town seemed to change. The part of Legend that she’d seen was pretty, but on the other side of the hedge, the town seemed to blossom into heaven. The road forked right and left and the church stood to the left. On the right was a perfect little building with a big porch and round-topped windows. A sign across the front said Legend Library. To the right of the library was a long dirt drive that led up a slight hill, and Kady had to blink twice at what she saw at the end of the drive. Unless she missed her guess, the beautiful white building, with the distinctive dome top, was a mosque.

  She’d certainly never heard of a mosque in the Old West! she thought as the turned toward the church. Flowers grew beside the perfectly kept road, and the churchyard was a blanket of tiny blue blossoms amid the luxurious grass. Obviously, Legend’s mines were prospering if they could afford to keep public buildings in this state.

  As she neared the church, she could hear singing, and it made her smile. Perhaps the church people would have more pity on her situation. Perhaps she could talk to the pastor and he could help her find employment. Why hadn’t she thought of that before?

  Slowly, Kady climbed the steps of the church and sat down heavily in the shade of the porch overhang to wait for Cole. He would, of course, buy her a meal, she thought, then smiled at the prospect.

  She didn’t have to wait long, for he rode up on his horse just minutes later, and the sight of him made Kady feel relief. He was her friend; he’d help her.

  “Am I late?” he asked anxiously. “I thought I was to meet you at two.”

  “No,” she said, smiling, wishing with all her heart that her hair were clean and she had on something other than a filthy, torn wedding dress. “I’m early.”

  He took his time dismounting, slowly came up the stairs, then hesitated as though deciding what to do. “I’m to rehearse my solo for the service tomorrow. The pastor is leaving town for a couple of weeks, so we need music to fill up the time. After a couple of songs from me, they’ll be begging for his return.” He was grinning at her, not a care in the world, as though he didn’t see what a mess she was.

  He took a step toward the door, then turned back and sat down on the step beside her. “Are you all right?”

  Part of Kady wanted to say that yes, everything was grand, but her stomach growled, so she couldn’t lie. “No, nothing is all right.”

  He took her dirty hand in his big, warm, clean one. “Want to tell me about it? How’s your new job?”

  “I have no job!” she said passionately, but when he glanced at the half-open church door, she quietened. “No one would hire me. No one anywhere, not in a public kitchen or private. I even applied at the laundry, and they turned me down too.”

  “Family owned,” he said, making her look at him in question. “The laundry is Mr. Simmons’s, and he has six daughters, so he’d not want to pay an outsider.”

  Kady looked at him hard. Was he missing the point? “I couldn’t find any job anywhere,” she said evenly. “No one would hire me.”

  “Did you try the mines?”

  She blinked, then said in a steady, slow voice as though explaining to an idiot, “I tried the Tarik Mine, but I didn’t go to the others because they were too far away. I’m on foot. And in this dress it’s a bit difficult to get around.”

  “Ah, yes. Bet you the manager was nice, but his foreman sent you away.”

  “Yes,” she said, looking at him in wonder, since he still didn’t seem to be understanding what her problem was.

  “Last month the foreman’s girlfriend in Denver married someone else, and he’s, well, a bit off women at the moment. Doesn’t want to see any of them.” Cole put her hand back in her lap. “Rotten luck that you tried the Tarik first. I’m sure the Lily or the Amaryllis needs a cook. And what about the jail? It’s a couple of miles out of town, on the way to Denver, but maybe they need someone.” He glanced at the church door. “I have to go now. Thanks for coming, and I’m very glad to see that you’re all right.”

  For a moment Kady sat there in stunned silence. He couldn’t be going to leave her just like that, could he? “Cole!” she hissed at him, making him turn back, his body half inside the church.

  “Yes, Miss Long?” he whispered so he wouldn’t disturb the people singing in the church.

  “I am not all right,” she said. “I’m not all right at all.” Then, to her disgust, she began to cry. Turning her face away so he wouldn’t see her, she looked back when he handed her a clean handkerchief. He had seated himself beside her and was waiting with a small frown on his face. No doubt he was annoyed that she was keeping him from choir practice. She was in danger of starving to death, and he was worried he’d be late for choir practice!

  “I don’t mean to keep you here, but I . . . I need help,” she said, the words foreign to her. Even in the kitchen she refused to ask the men to lift the huge copper stockpots; she liked to do things by herself.

  “What can I do to help you?” he asked softly.

  “I can’t find a job,” she repeated. “No one needs a cook; no one will even give me a chance to prove that I can cook.”

  He was silent.

  Kady blew her nose. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

  “I don’t know what to say. You’ve made it clear that you don’t want me to protect you, so there is nothing I can do. I can’t very well force someone to give you a job, now can I? It’s not as though I own the town.” He chuckled at this thought.

  “But couldn’t you put in a good word—”

  “If I did that, later you would hate me. You’d think I’d interfered in something that was none of my business and you’d hate me. Miss Long, I value your friendship too much to do anything to jeopardize it.”

  He patted her hand, glanced toward the church door, and looked as though he was going to leave again.

  Kady grabbed his arm. “I wouldn’t hate you no matter what. You’ve lived in this town all your life and—”

  “Actually, I came here when I was four.”

  “That doesn’t matter!” she gasped, then took a breath to calm herself. “All I’m asking is that you talk to some people.”

  He looked at her in sympathy. “The problem is that there are ten people for every job. When we needed a new schoolteacher, every man’s wife and half the daughters in this town wanted the job. The town council had a devil of a time choosing just one person. It’s the silver, you see. Legend is fairly rich in silver, and everyone wants to be here in hopes of striking it rich.” His face lit up. “I could take you to Denver. Maybe there you’d find—”

  “No! I can’t leave here because I must find the rocks where I came through. If I’m ever to get back, that’s the way.”

  Turning away, he looked