Chapter Thirty-Seven: A New Adventure
This time, we paid to board the horses on the train. It cost nearly as much to rent a stable for them at the local livery as it did for the train passage, and I was honestly looking forward to riding into a city on the back of Diamond. The shock on the other's women's faces was something I wanted to see. I could hear them already commenting on how uncouth I was and what a heathen I must be: A wild woman from the West. I found it most amusing. If they only knew where I'd come from and everything I'd been through to be who I had become; a strong, independent woman, married to a most remarkable and brave man.
They could have their big, fancy houses, their lavish lifestyles and expensive clothing. I was happier camping outdoors and gazing up at the stars while being held by the one person I loved more than anything. I wouldn't trade places with a single one of them!
The train wasn't crowded as not people many were heading back East. Obi and I spoke quietly about the other passengers as we wondered about them. Many of them looked weary and worn out, as if the West had taken everything it could from them and they had no choice but to return to the city.
If it hadn't been for the people I had met in the West, the support of family and friends, including Obi, I could easily be one of them. I couldn't imagine trying to make it on my own, or even with just a spouse. Survival out West required an entire support system, and I was lucky to have just that. Once this was over, I needed to return to the Grange and see Annie and Kenneth again. I missed them terribly.
"Are you all right?" Obi asked, placing his hand over mine.
I must've expressed an emotional response in recalling happy days with Annie, laughing and making herbal concoctions together. I wiped my eyes with the handkerchief I kept tucked beneath the lace lining in the bodice of my purple gown and smiled.
"I was just thinking of Annie," I told him.
"As soon as we're finished here, we'll head back that way. We'll stop and take care of a couple of new settlements first and then should be able to spend a short spell with 'em. I'm curious to see if Kenneth's improved his card game."
I squeezed Obi's hand in gratitude. He knew my heart and he wished to make me happy. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Once we'd arrived and made our way to the busy city street, I came to realize I hadn't missed anything about my past home. Not even the smell and sound of the ocean. Watching the barges and ships come into the docks used to be one of my favorite things to do. When I looked at it now, all I could see and smell was grime, pollution, and dead fish. We couldn't get back to the West quickly enough to suit me!
"Let's go find a hotel and then we'll eat supper. Come morning, we'll try to get an audience with the governor."
"Easy as that, you think?" I teased as we walked toward the rear of the train where we'd unload our horses.
"He's a public servant. They allow visitors, don't they?"
"I guess so," I told him honestly. Actually, I had no idea. The evil man had been in our house enough times that I'd never felt the need to go visit him personally.
"We'll need to find out. If we can manage to get inside the mansion, perhaps we can slip away and go find him."
And put a bullet between his eyes, I said to myself, immediately regretting the murderous thought. I couldn't allow my anger and disappointment to change who I was. Throughout all these years, Obi had managed to do his job while upholding the law. He had never taken a life in cold blood. He had only defended himself. During all that time, miraculously, he had managed to maintain his sweet and caring disposition. I could and would do the same – with his help.
We rode through the city, drawing eyes as I'd suspected, up to a stable in the middle of town, rented a single lodging for both horses and then purchased a hotel room for the night. The most popular hotel in the city was the Grand Coast Hotel and it was seven stories tall. Obi was impressed for that fact alone and stared upward at the building in amazement, but I was more interested in showing him what was inside.
After we'd checked in, I took him around the corner and walked right past the double sets of stairs, noticing the confused expression on his face. What I was wanting to show him was around the corner.
"Good afternoon, ma'am," a young male attendant holding a pair of sliding doors told me as I stepped inside the red-velvet box.
"What in the world?" Obi said quietly and simply, although he bravely followed me in.
"Sixth floor, please," I told the man who shut the doors and pulled a lever, which activated a steam powered engine that began to pull the contraption up. There were rails around the box, which Obi took advantage of by grasping hold of one.
"Isn't it amazing?" I asked him. "It's called an elevator. Can you imagine? No more climbing stairs? Someday people will be able to save their lungs and legs and get to the top of a building twice this size!"
"Mm hmm," Obi replied, while staring down at the shadows of the floors we were passing. His grip upon the brass rail had tightened and he looked a bit pale. I had never imagined he was afraid of heights!
When the elevator arrived on our level, it did so with a loud bang and a rather bumpy landing. The attendant then pried open the doors and announced our arrival.
At some point between the third and sixth floors, Obi had closed his eyes and I nearly had to pry his hand from the bar.
"Thank you," I told the attendant while handing him a silver half dollar.
"Thunder and damnation!" Obi exclaimed nervously. "I'm never doing that again! You can ride that contraption all you want but I'm using the stairs!"
It would be rude to laugh at his discomfort, since there was one more thing for him to see. Once inside our room, which was large compared to others we'd rented in the West, I took him over to the windows and pulled back the heavy curtains.
"Well, as I live and breathe. I never thought I'd see the likes of this!" he exclaimed.
"Isn't it remarkable?" At one point I would've said beautiful, but staring out over a ridge toward a green valley filled with nothing but rivers and pine trees was my new definition of beauty. From this vantage point, one could see the ships coming into the harbor, the distant ocean, as well as the busy streets below.
"It makes me feel rather…small," Obi commented while pressing his forehead against the glass. "How has the world gotten so big?"
What he said may have made little sense to some, but I knew exactly what he was talking about. Out in the wild, with no one around for miles and miles, it sometimes felt as if Obi and me were the only two humans on the entire planet. Here, in the city, the last I heard, there were nearly 300,000 people roaming about. Indeed, it gave you the feeling of being a tiny piece of some enormous puzzle.
Obi must've felt the same because he drew me closer to his side, wrapped me in his arms and together, we glanced out over a place I knew I no longer belonged.