Copyright © 2022 by Eliza Ester

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Caleb

  2. Blossom

  3. Caleb

  4. Blossom

  5. Caleb

  6. Blossom

  7. Caleb

  8. Blossom

  9. Caleb

  10. Blossom

  About the Author

  One

  Caleb

  It was late when Caleb finally finished at the forge. Seth had gone home a while ago and Caleb felt like he was the only one still awake in the whole of Carson Valley. He liked working late, being left alone with his own thoughts. When he peered out into the night, the darkness was thick and he didn’t feel like riding out of town in it. Instead, he walked to the cot in the forge and lay down. His muscles ached from working so hard, but it was a good feeling to know he’d used his body and used it well.

  Caleb Hall had come to Carson Valley when he was just a teenager to work as Seth’s apprentice at the forge. He learned everything from Seth—how to shoe horses and make pots and bells, pickaxes and the like, everything the farmers around the area needed. When he’d qualified as a blacksmith, doing what he did best, Seth had asked him to stay on and together they’d grown the business. Even though Seth was much older than Caleb and he had more years of experience, they were partners and respected each other.

  Caleb closed his eyes and tried to envision Blossom, the woman he was to marry. She would arrive with the stage the next day and Caleb would finally get to meet her. She was a mail order bride, coming from the East. Even though there were a handful of women in town who fancied Caleb, he didn’t reciprocate their feelings, and he’d looked elsewhere for his bride.

  He felt like he knew Blossom, even though they’d only communicated through letters. From what he could tell, she was headstrong and determined to make her own way through life, even when she wasn’t dealt the hand she would have liked. It was the kind of woman he needed—someone who would fight through the hard times with him. The life of a blacksmith was not an easy one.

  Of course, he didn’t have much to offer his new bride. He had saved up money over the years of working, using only what he needed and no more, and he’d built himself a house outside of town on a plot of land that was envied by many. So he did have something he could offer, a place where he and his new bride could start a family. Caleb wouldn’t be alone anymore. As much as he enjoyed spending time alone, being the one to work late most nights, everything would change once his bride arrived and he would spend his evenings with her, instead of working late.

  The only thing that remained was for Caleb to see what Blossom looked like. He felt he knew her heart but he had no idea what she looked like. When he thought of her he tried to imagine someone specific, but it was hard filling the void in his mind when he knew nothing. It didn’t matter to him if she was beautiful or not; he felt that she was beautiful on the inside and that was all that counted.

  Slowly, Caleb drifted off, sleep finally dragging him under. He dreamed of a mysterious woman with the intent to make it through, no matter what.

  The smell of smoke forced its way through the deep waves of sleep and Caleb’s eyes flew open. He was fully alert almost immediately. He sat up and checked the fireplace where he and Seth usually made roaring fires to melt the iron into submission, but the embers were cold after Caleb had poured water on them.

  The crackle of fire drew his attention outside, and Caleb hurried to the door. The night was tinted with an orange glow, with smoke billowing into the air. Caleb gasped. One side of the hotel was burning.

  Caleb ran to the hotel door, banging on it when it was locked. No one responded—why was there no one helping? He kicked the door open. Shamus, the hotel proprietor, was asleep on the counter, snoring lightly. Caleb shook the man’s shoulders so that he jerked awake.

  “The hotel is on fire!” Caleb shouted before running out again.

  Shamus jumped up, shocked.

  “How did this happen?” he asked. “I have guests here tonight!”

  Caleb ran to the bell in the center of town. They’d erected it after the coal mine had exploded, trapping some of the men. Anyone who knew of trouble could ring the bell, and it would wake the town, sending men running to help.

  Caleb clanged the bell, the sounds carrying the distress in the night. It was only seconds later when men in town ran from their homes, tugging on pants and shirts and jackets as they came to help. It wasn’t long before everyone knew there was a fire. When Sheriff Russ got a group effort going to bring water, Caleb ran back into the hotel and headed up to the rooms, banging on doors. He helped get the men, women, and children out in trickles.

  Men outside had started to kill the fire, bringing buckets of water from the closest wells. Shouts could be heard, and one of the children Caleb helped was crying.

  When he finally got out, the main door was on fire, too. He joined the onlookers and they watched as flames licked up the side of the building. Shamus was doing a headcount on the survivors.

  “We’re missing someone,” he said.

  Caleb spun around. “What?”

  “There’s still a woman up there! One of my guests. I don’t know where else she’d be this time of night except in her room.”

  Caleb turned back to the hotel. It was far beyond saving, the flames now consuming the entire building. It was impossible to get through the door. It had already been burning when he’d come out. There was no way he would get in through it again.

  He turned back to the rest of the townsfolk. They all stared in horror at the building, frozen on the spot. They had helped with so much but if they didn’t do something now, they would lose someone. Caleb wasn’t about to let that happen. If they weren’t going to do something, it was up to him.

  Adrenaline surged through his body. He had to help. There had to be some way. He scanned the building, looking for a way in, somewhere he could penetrate the building and look for the missing woman. He had no idea if she was still alive—the flames were licking mighty high and the building had been burning for some time, with smoke billowing from all the openings in the wooden structure. Caleb’s heart sank. Still, he had to try; he had to know for sure.

  Finally, he spotted a possible entrance. It was dangerous, at best, but it was better than nothing. A window was open on the second floor just above the awning, miraculously still untouched by the flames. Smoke came out in a thick cloud, telling him the fire was close to consuming that wall, too.

  Caleb turned and raced back to the forge, where he found a length of rope. The men trying to put out the fire were starting to give up. Caleb ran past them with his rope. He stopped, dumped a bucket of water over his head to make his clothes less likely to catch fire, and hung the rope around his neck and one arm. He climbed the awning, pulling himself up one of the wooden pillars that held it up.

  Two

  Blossom

  There was no way out. Blossom was starting to panic. Was this how she was going to die, just as her new life was about to start? It seemed incredibly unfair.

  Blossom had awoken to shouts outside and the moment she’d opened her eyes, she’d realized she was in trouble.

  The room was filled with smoke and she coughed, struggling to breathe. The crackle of flames could be heard outside her bedroom door.

  She grabbed her trunk and dragged it to the door. These were her only belongings and she would save it if she could. When she opened the door, she let go of the end of the trunk and it fell with a thump to the floor. There were flames everywhere, clawing at the walls, burning the carpets. She couldn’t even make it to the staircase that led down to the hotel lobby.

  “Help!” Blossom cried out. She listened for a response but there was none. She couldn’t hear voices—screams or shouting—from any of the other hotel guests. Had they all died? Or had the hotel been evacuated and somehow she’d missed it? She was a very deep sleeper, and she might have missed the initial cries of alarm.

  Panic clutched at her throat and Blossom couldn’t breathe. She spun around, running toward her window. When she looked out, the town was collected in front of the hotel with men trying to put out the fire with buckets of water. It was too late, Blossom realized. They would never be able to put it out in time to save her.

  “Help!” she shouted again and some of the men looked up, pointing.

  They were all frozen, staring up at her, and she knew what their faces were trying to tell her. It was too late.

  Blossom started coughing, struggling to breathe through the smoke that had been getting thicker and thicker. She turned back toward the bed and let her legs collapse from underneath her as she fell to the mattress. She put her sleeve over her mouth, trying to breathe through it.

  Her life flashed before her eyes—all those years working for people who had it better than she did, fighting to make a better life for herself, the times she had nearly given up because she’d been scared that it would never happen. And then, her big break to go west and become someone’s bride, start a new life, be a new woman.

  And now? It had all been for nothing. She was going to die on this night, and never know freedom and a better life without so much pain and hardship.

  A cry from the window whipped Blossom’s head around and she saw an arm gripping the windowsill. With a grunt, a man hoisted himself up and into the room, collapsing on the floor.

  “Oh, dear Lord,” Blossom cried out. A fit of coughs overcame her when she gasped for air to speak and she folded herself double on the bed, unable to rush to the man’s aid.

  “Ma’am,” he said in a thick voice before he also coughed from the smoke in the air. “I’m here to help you.”

  He pushed himself up and made his way to the bed. Blossom tried to push herself up.

  “May I lay my hands on your body?” he asked.

  Only when Blossom nodded, still coughing, did he lean over and put his arm around her, helping her up. He guided her to the window and leaned her out so that she could breathe. She gulped down the fresh air, her chest aching.

  “I have only a rope,” her savior said. “And it’s some distance down to the ground. Hold onto me, trust me.”

  Blossom nodded. The man pulled her against him, his arm tight around her waist.

  “Here we go,” he said, looking into her eyes before he pulled her out of the window with him. For a moment, he feared she would fall, but he stepped against the wall and they were safe.

  Slowly, they inched down the wall. They were far from safety, but being away from the flames and the suffocating smoke made everything feel better already.

  They reached the awning and her savior stood on it, holding her.

  “I’m going to pass you to someone on the ground,” he said to her. “You are safe.”

  Blossom nodded, trusting this stranger with her life. He held onto her hands and she sat on the edge of the awning, relying on him. Someone on the ground stood with his hands up, waiting. The man who saved her held her arms and slowly lowered her down as far as he could before letting go. The man at the bottom caught her and set her down on the ground.

  Blossom felt weak and started coughing again.

  “Make way!” someone shouted. An older man came to stand before her. “Good evening, ma’am. I’m the town doctor. Folks call me Doc. Let me have a look at you.”

  Blossom nodded and the doctor did a few quick checks to make sure she was all right.

  “A bit of smoke in your lungs. Your chest might burn for a day or two but you will fine after that.”

  “Thank you, Doc,” Blossom managed to say.

  The doctor moved aside to make way for someone else and when a man kneeled before her, Blossom recognized him as her savior.

  “Oh, thank you so much for returning for me,” Blossom said to him in a husky voice. “You saved my life.”

  “You’re welcome, ma’am,” he said, and Blossom studied his features. The man was handsome, with hair that looked almost red in the blaze and eyes that were drowning deep. He had a square jaw and a nose straight as an arrow.

  “Might I ask your name?” he asked.

  “Blossom,” she said. “Blossom Sutcliffe.”

  The man’s eye’s widened. “Are you joking?” he asked.

  Blossom frowned and shook her head. Why would she joke about who she was, especially at a time like this?

  “Why, I’m Caleb Hall,” her savior said and Blossom blinked. Slowly, her sluggish mind put two and two together.

  This man was no other than her Caleb, the man she had come to Carson Valley to marry.

  “I can’t believe this!” she cried before she started coughing again.

  “Take it easy, Blossom,” Caleb said. “Don’t raise your voice.”

  She nodded and swallowed hard, trying to clear her throat.

  “This is the strangest fate,” Caleb said, echoing what she felt. “That I would go in to save the woman who is to be my wife… unbelievable. I’m so relieved I came in for you.”

  “Me too,” Blossom said and smiled. “I owe my life to you.”

  Caleb grinned at her. “It’s all in the name of duty, ma’am. In Carson Valley, we all stand together.”

  Blossom looked up at the rest of the townsfolk standing huddled, watching the rest of the hotel burn up. Women walked between the survivors, handing out blankets and hot broth. They really did seem like a community that cared. It was so different from how it used to be in New York. In a city that was much larger, people were inclined to have an every-man-for-himself mindset. At least, that was how Blossom had grown up.

  “Oh no. My trunk is in the hotel,” Blossom said, realizing she had lost all her belongings.

  “We will take care of clothing for you,” Caleb said. “In the meantime, come home with me. I have a room prepared for you and we will take care of the rest in the morning.”

  Blossom nodded. There was nothing else to do about it. She let Caleb help her up and together, they set out for her new home.

  Three

  Caleb

  It was strange how things fell together sometimes. When Caleb woke up the next morning, he had a sense of fulfillment that swelled in his chest. He had helped with the fire at the hotel the night before and being useful like that always gave him a sense of purpose.

  The hotel couldn’t be saved, sadly—a fire that serious had to run its course. The only thing the men had been able to do was ensure it didn’t spread to the other buildings. If not contained, a fire like that could obliterate the entire town.

  That hadn’t happened and Caleb had brought Blossom back home with him. What were the odds that he would save the woman he was to marry? He hadn’t known that she was in town already; apparently the coach had arrived late in the evening, and Blossom had decided to get a room at the hotel and look for Caleb in the morning. If he hadn’t slept in the cot at the forge and woken up from the smell of smoke, he might never have known about the fire until someone else alerted the town with the bell.

  And if they had come across the fire so much later? Blossom might have died. Just the thought made him shiver.

  Someone knocked on the front door and Caleb opened it to find Dory and Caroline. They had a large parcel with them.

  “Come in, ladies,” he said. “What a surprise so early in the morning.”

  Dory smiled, her dimples showing, and nodded. “We’ve been going around town, collecting clothes for the victims of the hotel fire. Everyone who had clothing to spare donated.”

  “We brought your lady some dresses to wear until she can acquire some of her own again,” Caroline said. Her blue eyes were serious, her dark hair pulled back making her look older.

  Caleb smiled. “Thank you so much. I know she was very worried about her belongings burning in the fire.”

  Caroline handed Caleb the parcel. “We do what we can. We’d love to stay and meet your new bride, but we have to move along, we have more homes to visit.”

  Caleb saw them off before closing the door again. He looked at the parcel. The women were incredibly kind.

  “Caleb?” Blossom said, standing in the doorway.

  “You’re awake,” he said and smiled. Blossom was beautiful. Her light brown hair hung in waves over her shoulders and her eyes were a cornflower blue, with delicate features and an unsure expression.

  “The women in town have collected clothes and brought you something to wear.”

  He took the parcel to Blossom.

  “This is for me?” she asked.

  Caleb nodded. “So you can dress yourself.”

  Blossom looked surprised. “Let me go change, then,” she said and walked to her bedroom again, closing the door.

  When she emerged a while later, she wore a dress the same color as her eyes. Her hair was still loose but it looked like she’d tamed it a little and she looked fresh and happy.

  “Thank you,” she said. “This is much better.”

 

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