Emma awakened around ten the next morning, still in bed with Angel Eyes. He was sleeping on his side, with his arms lightly around her waist, snoring. They'd both drank a fair amount of whiskey in between their physical activity the night before, which no doubt accounted for them both sleeping late.
When she abruptly sat up in bed after realizing she'd stayed all night, Angel Eyes awakened as well. Seeing the light streaming in the room's only window, he realized what had happened.
He pulled her back down beneath him and said, "Let's have one more for the road."
"I should get home," she said, not really wanting to go. "My mother is no doubt worrying about where I am."
"The horse already got out," he said reasonably. "There's no hurry about closing the barn door now."
"You're right," she agreed, leaning into his kiss.
Some time later, as she was dressing to return home, he told her, "I'll make arrangements for stagecoach today. It'll be here tomorrow at nine o'clock, so that will give you time to pack what you want to take with you and send a telegram to your sister to let her know when you'll be on the way." Reaching into his pants lying on the floor, he handed her a few coins. "Here's something to pay for the telegram."
"Thank you," she acknowledged.
"I'll see you tomorrow at the stage, then," he said, before she headed to the door. Seeing the apprehensive expression on her face, he added, "Don't worry, everything will work out."
Giving him a tentative smile, she said, "I hope you're right."
A few minutes later, as she was hurrying through the alley toward home, Emma ran into her brother.
"Where have you been?" Tom demanded. "Ma was fit to be tied when you didn't show up for work this morning. And you're lucky that Pa is away on a buying trip."
Emma rolled her eyes at him. "Where do you think I was?"
"You don't stay out all night when you're with that man," he noted. "Except for the first time."
"He'd been away on business and I'd not seen him in over a week," she explained. "Plus, we drank a fair amount of whiskey, which made us sleep late." After a moment, she added, "Do you think the Janie excuse would work again?"
"I don't think so, but it doesn't hurt to try," he said. "She sent me out to look for you."
"Oh, boy," Emma said under her breath as they approached the back door of the mercantile. She was not looking forward to seeing her mother. But there was nothing for it.
Lavinia Baker was in the kitchen and immediately pounced the moment Emma and Tom came through the back door.
"Please come upstairs with me, Emma," she said in a small, tight voice. "It's beyond time we had a chat."
"Who is running the store?" the young woman asked, wanting to delay the inevitable.
"I kept Mattie and Luke home from school today because you apparently had more important things to do than show up to your job on time," her mother said.
Turning to Tom who was avidly listening to the exchange, she said, "Go help your brother and sister out there. I'll be out to take over once Emma and I are done."
Once Tom had obeyed, her mother told Emma, "Upstairs. Now."
"Who is he?" her mother demanded as soon as the bedroom door had closed behind them.
"Who is who?" Emma said.
"The man you've been sinning with," her mother shot back. "I can smell him all over you." Before Emma could say a word, her mother said, "First Eliza, now you, getting in the family way before the wedding."
"How did you…?" Emma began.
"You haven't had any bloody linen in a couple of months," her mother explained. "And you've been vomiting in the mornings recently. Don't think I hadn't noticed. I've had five children of my own and I know the signs all too well."
"I went to Janie and she told me the same thing," she finally admitted. It was pointless to try to deny it.
"You're going to marry him as soon as possible," her mother told her. "I'll need to talk to his parents."
"His parents are dead," Emma responded, rolling her eyes. "He's not some wet behind the ears kid."
"How old is he?" her mother demanded. "And who is he?"
"In his mid-thirties or thereabouts," Emma estimated. She'd never asked Angel Eyes his age. "He's nobody you know." After a moment, she added, "And neither of us wants to get married. We like each other a lot, but we're not in love."
"You're not in love, but you go to bed with him like some common trollop!" her mother exclaimed, not believing what she was hearing. "You have to marry him or you'll be ruined and no decent man will ever want you. Not only that, you'll ruin the respectability of the whole family."
"I've already solved that problem," Emma told her breezily. "Eliza has already agreed to let me come stay with her for a few months. When I come back here, I'll say I had a whirlwind courtship and got married, but he died when he got bucked off his horse and broke his neck. I'll come home a respectable widow."
"Eliza can't afford to feed you," her mother objected. "She and Henry have had barely two nickels to rub together since the baby came along." Looking at her daughter critically, she added, "And how do you plan to pay for the stage?"
"All that is taken care of," she told her mother. "He is going to pay for the stage and also my board with Eliza. He even gave me money to send her a telegram to let her know when I'm on the way."
"When do you leave," her mother asked.
"Tomorrow at nine," she said. "I'll need to pack and go send the telegram."
"I can't say I approve of what you've done, but I hope it all works out to make you happy," her mother told her. "That's all your father and I have ever wanted for our children."
She reached out to give Emma a quick hug. After releasing her, she said. "I'd better get downstairs and help Tom in the store."
Emma was at the stage depot by 8:30 the next morning. The stage was already there with the horses being hitched to the coach as they arrived.
Tom came with her to carry her trunk, while she managed her carpetbag on her own. Her mother had stayed behind to open the mercantile.
She looked around for Angel Eyes and sensed him behind her a few moments later. He took the carpet bag from her, then quietly said to Tom, *You shouldn't let her carry that in her condition."
"It's all right," she said, smiling up at him. "It's not that heavy."
Quirking his lips up slightly at her, he said, "Before I forget, here are your tickets. The second is for your return to be used on any date you choose."
Taking them from him, she put them in her reticule.
"I'll be riding along with the stage as a guard," he told her. "It wasn't hard to persuade them to hire me to do that." Pausing to light his pipe, he added, "I'll see you safely to your sister's house and pay whatever board she requires,"
"I really appreciate it," she said, not wanting to go into any more detail in front of Tom. But she was amazed at how protective he had been since she'd told him she was carrying his child.
Turning to Tom, Angel Eyes said, "Come on, kid. Bring that trunk to the back of the coach and load it in the luggage compartment. We're about ready to go."
As soon as her things were loaded, Angel Eyes took her hand and assisted her as she got into the stagecoach. He then retrieved his horse and mounted up and waited for the departure.
Looking out of the coach window, Emma said to Tom, "I'll see you in about three months. Tell Ma I'll write."
A moment later, the stagecoach set off with Angel Eyes keeping pace. Unbeknownst to both him and Emma, Lavinia Baker watched from a nearby doorway, getting a very good look at her daughter's lover.