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Pearl made her decision in an instant. “We continue on to Singapore.” She hoped her certainty would bolster her friend’s rapidly sinking hopes. “Something good will come of this. I’m certain of it.”
“How can you be so sure? Not only did Mr. Decker not expect us, but he doesn’t want to marry. What happened? Was the advertisement a cruel joke?”
Pearl could not tell her that she’d begun to think it was. Possible explanations tumbled through her head. The most far-fetched she discarded at once, but one lodged and refused to let go. Mr. Decker had claimed that marriage would take away from running a new business. What if the promise of marriage was simply a ploy to bring inexpensive labor to Singapore? What if he was the worst sort of scoundrel, someone who would take advantage of a woman when she was at her most vulnerable?
No, she couldn’t let herself think that. She certainly couldn’t allow Amanda’s thoughts to drift in that direction.
“We will get by,” she said firmly. “My new position includes room and board. We will share the room and make do on my earnings.”
“But you wanted to save enough to go to California.”
Pearl shoved aside that dream. Friends were more important. She had been abandoned by her parents. She would not abandon her friend.
She squeezed Amanda’s hand. “That can wait until we sort this all out.”
“I will find a job,” Amanda declared. “I can be a ladies’ maid.”
Pearl doubted there were many frontier ladies needing that sort of maid, but she didn’t point it out. “You do keep a tidy house and sew beautifully.”
“I love to sew, but do you think anyone will need a seamstress?”
“We won’t speculate on what people do or don’t need. We’ll trust that things will turn out for the best.”
“All things will work together for good for those who love the Lord,” Amanda said, paraphrasing scripture. “We must rely on that.”
“Yes, we must.” Pearl drew in a deep breath. Perhaps her friend was stronger than she appeared. “I’m tired and tomorrow will be busy. Shall we go below to find a spot to sleep?” Third class granted them passage but not sleeping quarters or a meal.
“Let’s not. It’s so noisy with everyone squeezed in there. I’d rather stand here and look at the stars.”
Pearl had to agree. “We will search for some chairs, then, or a spot on the upper deck, and lift our gaze to the skies. You’ll see. In the morning, everything will seem better.”
Especially after she cornered Mr. Decker.
* * *
Morning dawned with scarcely a breeze. The cloudless sky stretched overhead like a blank canvas. This day would usher in a new life for Pearl as a schoolteacher. The prospect excited her even while she kept watch for the man who had crushed her dear friend’s hopes.
Pearl stood at the railing with Amanda, their carpetbags at their feet, as the ship glided toward the mouth of a river guarded by a small lighthouse. Shimmering dunes rose on either side, dotted by clumps of green. Grass or shrubs, she guessed. Any trees were hidden from view behind the sand hills. In both directions the shoreline stretched unbroken except for a small, smoke-belching enterprise a distance to the north. If not for the lighthouse, she would think they were headed into the wilderness.
“How pretty.” Amanda sighed. “I wonder where the town is.”
Pearl wondered that, too. The marriage advertisement had promised a booming town. The employment posting had proclaimed a “bright future in the next Chicago.” She saw no sign of habitation, least of all a thriving city.
“It must be upriver.” At least Pearl hoped it was. She could manage the wilderness, but Amanda deserved a more genteel life. Despite Amanda’s labors in the Chatsworth household, she was ill-equipped for backbreaking drudgery. The Chatsworths kept several servants, including a housekeeper and cook. Rather than being taken in as a daughter, Amanda had worked, but she had never taken on the care of an entire family. Pearl gripped the rail, for the first time doubting her decision to convince Amanda to join her.
Her friend’s fragile hope had been dashed last night by yet another unfeeling man. First she’d suffered Hugh’s unconscionable jilting. Now Garrett Decker had dismissed her. Just thinking of the man made Pearl’s blood boil.
Her first objective of the day had been thwarted when Mr. Decker, despite claiming last night that he must rise early, did not appear on deck. Apparently that early morning business was conducted in the sanctuary of the gentlemen’s lounge, where none of the women he’d injured could reach him.
Not interested in marrying? He had some nerve sending out an advertisement and then withdrawing it once he’d met the prospective brides. Fiona might be a little too forward and Louise Smythe a little too reticent, but Amanda shone like the rising sun. He had seemed to enjoy her companionship last night. Then why snuff out her hopes so cruelly?
She tapped her fingers on the railing. If he could not explain himself, she had a mind to give him a thorough tongue-lashing. Providing she could find him. The wily fox had ducked into his den. He might be able to hide aboard ship, but eventually he must leave. She would nab him ashore.
The ship entered the river, and Pearl spotted the first sign of life. A thin trail of smoke rose from a building on the left-hand shore. Farther upriver, another dark column lifted against the rising sun. The ship rounded a corner, and she heard the growl of engines and a piercing whine that made Amanda clap her hands over her ears.
“What is that?” Amanda asked.
Pearl shook her head. The tooth-shaking howl wasn’t familiar. As they rounded the next bend, the source became obvious. Rafts of logs floated near shore. Sawdust coated the ground. Big, open wood-frame buildings roared with the hum of engines and the scream of huge saws.
Amanda’s eyes rounded, and her hands stayed pressed to her ears.
The ship’s whistle blew, and the vessel glided toward the dock that lined the shore. Beyond the dock stood a scattering of weathered wood buildings tucked between sand dunes. Most were single-story cabins or houses. A few had two stories. One building was particularly large. None bore the markings of a schoolhouse. Boardwalks and streets crisscrossed between buildings, but she saw no carriages or buggies. A couple of wagons waited near the waterfront. Though workers crowded the sawmills and docks, not a single soul walked through town.
Pearl’s heart sank.
“Is this Singapore?” Amanda asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” replied a sweat-stained laborer standing nearby. “Stockton’s town.”
“Stockton?” Pearl asked, her thoughts immediately drifting toward another man. “I thought perhaps Mr. Decker was in charge.”
The man guffawed and slapped his thigh. “That’s a funny one, miss. No sirree, Stockton owns the mills and the store and pert near everythin’ else in town. Decker works for him. Runs the store.”
Oh, dear. In spite of Mr. Decker’s fine clothes and silver tongue, he was not important at all. Moreover, Singapore was no bustling metropolis. “Then it’s a company town.”
The man grinned, revealing a few missing teeth. “Wildest town on the coast.”
Amanda paled. Pearl gripped her arm, afraid her friend would faint. Surely the man was mistaken.
“Do you live here, sir?”
“Board in one of the cabins.” The man gestured in the general direction of town. “Been workin’ here ’most two years now. This was the first chance ta head back home ta see the folks. Heard the mill’s running full steam again.” He rubbed his hands together. “Hopin’ ta make enough ta git me a bride.”
Oh, dear. She hoped the man didn’t see them as prospects. Though a hard-working man was a blessing, both she and Amanda had hoped for someone a bit more sophisticated. Nevertheless, she offered a faint smile, all the while considering what they would face.
“Where is the boardinghouse?”
He waved at one of the two-story buildings set back from the waterfront. “And that there big building is the Astor House.”
“Astor House?” Amanda exclaimed. “Like the hotel in New York?”
“The very same.”
Except it looked nothing like the famed hotel. Clearly the citizens of Singapore thought a great deal more of their town than a stranger could see at first glance. Pearl wondered about the boardinghouse. She had envisioned a pleasant atmosphere with tea served at four o’clock in a formal parlor, not a place filled with rougher sorts in a town with a bad reputation.
“There must be families,” Pearl said, “since there’s a school.”
He shrugged. “A few between here’n the tannery ’n Saugatuck.”
“Saugatuck?” That place hadn’t been mentioned in the employment posting.
“Upriver a bit.”
Pearl struggled to keep her composure. None of this was turning out as expected.
A snort of disgust from behind echoed her thoughts. “This isn’t a boomtown,” said Fiona O’Keefe.
Beside the redhead stood the diminutive Louise Smythe, who looked as pale and frightened as Amanda.
“Maybe looks are deceiving,” Pearl said with more hope than certainty. She had wanted a frontier experience, but this wasn’t at all like the stories she’d read. She had imagined tidy cabins with whitewashed fences. Any Indians would be friendly and helpful. After all, the advertisement had boasted of a civilized and prosperous town.
The crew threw out thick lines and men on the docks wrapped them around large pilings. A gangway was extended and the passengers began moving toward it. Pearl picked up her bag and shuffled forward with Amanda and the other ladies. Below, the first passengers streamed out of the ship. All were men, mostly laborers. One older couple disembarked, but not one other woman. From what she could see, the four of them were the only single women leaving the ship at Singapore. The rest must be going on. That meant they were the only ladies whose hopes of marriage had been dashed by Mr. Decker.
There that fox was! She leaned over the rail to be certain. Sure enough, there he stood on the gangway as tall and proud as the day they’d met, gesturing this way and that while conversing with Mr. Holmes.
The two men stepped ashore, and then Mr. Holmes stopped to talk to a porter. Mr. Decker, on the other hand, roamed down the dock. Pearl followed his movements, determined to find the man once she’d disembarked. He strode the dock, chatting with the men who’d helped tie the ship to the moorings. Judging by the laughter and smiles he received, he was well liked by every one of them.
Slowly she inched forward. Amanda gripped her arm. She’d seen Mr. Decker.
He waved at someone far down the dock, just this side of the large sawmill. That person must not have noticed him, because Mr. Decker cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “Garrett! Over here.”
“Garrett?” all four women exclaimed at once.
That was the name on the advertisement. Could there be two Garretts in Singapore? Or was there more than one Mr. Decker?
Chapter Three (#ulink_19dd9ec1-6b76-571c-91ae-939216eafd2d)
It was good to be home, which is what Singapore had become to Roland since he’d moved here eight years ago. At the time he’d been a clerk in Mr. Stockton’s Chicago emporium. His boss offered him the management of the Singapore general store, and he had leaped at the opportunity. It got him away from the scene of his greatest disappointment.
He had not expected his older brother to follow four years later. Garrett was as different from him as night from day. Garrett preferred to work with his hands. He boasted a massive frame and their father’s auburn hair. He never opened a book other than the Bible and enjoyed playing a harmonica at night. He was as rustic as the society in this lumber town.
What had Eva seen in him?
That’s the question that had haunted Roland for over eight years. He and Eva were the same age, while Garrett was four years older. Roland had taken her to the finest shows in Chicago. He’d spent every spare dollar on gifts for her. He’d shared his excitement over the latest scientific discoveries with her. He sought progress whereas Garrett preferred the stability of tradition. Roland thought Eva loved him, yet she had chosen his brother. She had married Garrett and in rapid succession bore him a son and a daughter.
Then they moved to Singapore.
Seeing her again had been difficult. He had kept his distance, but they could not avoid each other in such a small town. Disputes arose until brother separated from brother. Few words passed between them until Eva died. Even now, the memory of that day scored him to the bone. Every time he looked at Garrett’s son and daughter, he saw her. Garrett must have felt the same way, for he holed up with his grief and ignored the children. Roland made the first move. For the sake of the children. He could still hear Garrett’s hollow refusal. Yet in the end his brother relented and moved in with Roland.
The brothers reached a truce. The children were their bond. The two men did their best, but the children hadn’t rebounded. Little Isaac carried the weight of the world on his seven-year-old shoulders, and Sadie wouldn’t say a word.
“Give it time,” Mrs. Calloway, over at the boardinghouse, had told him. “It’ll take a while for those young’uns to get over losing their ma.”
Months and months had gone by, and it hadn’t seemed to help. Maybe this glassworks factory would be just the thing to pull those children from their self-imposed isolation. With success, he could provide the finest of everything. New toys for Isaac. Fancy dresses for Sadie. The prettiest dolls. Whatever their hearts desired.
To get the factory off the ground, Roland needed investors. Stockton had held back, calling the venture shaky at best, but if Roland could get Holmes on board, Stockton might follow. Two days in Chicago and another aboard ship showed him that Holmes valued honest labor and deep morality—the latter in short supply here, with the exception of his brother.
He called out again to Garrett, who apparently couldn’t hear him above the whine of the saws.
His brother looked this way and that.
Roland waved and pushed past the passengers and curious onlookers. Again he cupped his hands around his mouth. “Garrett!”
“Garrett?” The sharp question came from that new schoolteacher, Pearl Lawson, who stood an arm’s length away with her hands perched on her hips.
If she hadn’t been so obviously miffed, he might have found her flushed cheeks and flashing eyes irresistible. Instead he looked for his brother, who had disappeared again.
“Miss Lawson. I am busy.”
Holmes was walking toward him. He didn’t have time to deal with ladies who mistakenly thought he was in the market for a wife.
She stepped in front of him. “You are not too busy to answer a simple question.”
“Excuse me.” He skirted around her, using his long strides to reach Holmes before she could catch up. “Did Charlie agree to take your bags to the hotel?”
“Yes, he did,” Holmes said with a shake of his head. “Wouldn’t take a penny for his efforts.”
That’s what Roland had hoped would be the outcome when he told Holmes to inform the lad that Roland Decker had suggested him. Later, he would add a little extra to the lad’s wages, but now he had to catch Garrett. “There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
“Mr. Decker!” That schoolteacher was pestering him again. “I must have a word with you. In private.”
Roland bit back frustration. The candor that he’d once found refreshing was now beginning to irritate him. “As I said, I have business to attend to.”
“It will only take a minute.” Her jaw was set and her gaze did not waver. “It is most urgent.”
Holmes nudged Roland forward. “I can wait. Please take care of the lady.”
Roland did not care to address what he was certain she would ask, but to deny her would throw doubt on Holmes’s opinion of him and his project. He glanced up to see his brother had halted on the docks, staring up at the steamship, doubtless looking for him. Roland had a moment to calm the brewing storm.
“What is it, Miss Lawson?”
Holmes had thoughtfully stepped out of hearing range.
She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a tattered newspaper clipping, which she held out to him. “Did you or did you not place this advertisement?”
Roland had placed an advertisement in the Chicago papers looking for investors, but he couldn’t imagine why Pearl Lawson would get upset over that. He accepted the clipping from her gloved hand. It took only seconds to recognize the wording, but how on earth had it leaped out of the fire and onto the pages of a newspaper?
Garrett. It had to be. He must have taken Roland’s prodding seriously and rewrote the advertisement from memory. Roland pulled off his stifling hat. His brother’s memory was better than he’d figured. This advertisement was word for word what Roland had written as a joke.
“Where did you get this?” he asked Pearl.
“From the New York newspaper.”
“New York?” He faintly recalled that all the ladies attempting to claim his affections hailed from that city. He swallowed the lump building in his throat. How it had gotten to New York was only the tip of the problem. The fact that it offered no means to whittle down prospective brides meant these four women might be the first in a deluge.
“When?” he choked out.
“When what?”
