With a trembling hand, she lifted the flower and tucked it behind her right ear. This was one time she couldn't ride the fence. It was time to put the past where it belonged.
The decision made, she left the room to find Bordeaux. He wasn't in the lobby, so she stepped outside the hotel and sauntered down the boardwalk. Ashley was growing bigger every time she saw it. It was balanced perilously between a small town that lacked only a sheriff, and a booming frontier town. Even at this hour a piano was pounding out a raucous tune in one of the three saloons. At the edge of town the sound of hammers announced the building of another hotel.
As she stepped off the walk to cross an alley, a familiar figure stepped out of the saloon. Bordeaux had one arm wrapped fondly around the shoulders of a saloon girl. His attention was so focused on the girl that he didn't notice Cassie. He turned his back to her, facing the girl.
Cassie gasped. She wanted to run but her feet wouldn't move. She wanted to scream at him, but her vocal cords were paralyzed. The town ceased to exist as she stood transfixed, watching in horror.
The girl turned to face Bordeaux. There was no mistaking the devotion in the beautiful blue eyes. Bordeaux lifted her chin in his hand.
"I'll always love you, Darcie" His voice was tight with emotion Cassie had never witnessed. "I don't care what other people think. Don't you know that by now? When you ran off like that, I didn't know what to think. I've been looking for you every since. An old prospector told me about a woman he met in Ashley. I had to come and see if it was you. He pulled her close in an embrace. "I can't believe I've finally found you." He lifted her chin again and looked deep into her eyes. "I have a ranch, down in Texas. Come back with me."
She gazed up at him with tear-filled eyes and shook her head. "I can't go back. It'll never work out." She let out a long agonized sigh." It's always the same, Chauncey. Men say they love me. They say it wasn't my fault - but they don't want to marry me. That's why I left. That's why I always wind up in places like this."
"If they don't want to marry you, they don't love you. Come on back with me honey. You've forgotten what constitutes love. You won't find love here in this saloon."
"I know you love me, but when people find out I lived with the Indians for three years..."