Brides of Banff Springs Read online

  “Ouch. That’s got to hurt.” The cigarette Fliss had drawn from the packet dangled in her fingers as she digested what Tilly had just told her. “What will you do at the end of the season?”

  Tilly shrugged. “Cross that bridge when I come to it. Who knows, I may follow you and Saul to Hawaii.”

  A mischievous gleam appeared in Fliss’ eyes. “Not if Ryan has anything to do with it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Tilly pushed herself up on her elbows and stared at Fliss.

  “A little bird told me that he asked you to marry him.”

  “Well your little bird is wrong.” Tilly drew in a breath of annoyance. “What Ryan said is, ‘I think I am going to have to marry you’ and that is hardly a proposal.”

  “It is coming from Ryan.” Fliss giggled. “Can I be your matron of honor?”

  Tilly threw a pillow at her and Fliss, catching it, dissolved into outright laughter. “Give over, Tilly. Ryan’s a great guy. He’s got a good job with his outfitting company, and I know he works his own trap line in the off-season. Most of the local girls think he’s a great catch, and you should at least consider him.”

  “But I couldn’t marry someone I didn’t love,” Tilly protested. “That would be so dishonest.”

  “Well, I think it would be the ideal solution, and at least you would be able to be open about it.”

  “And what, exactly do you mean by that?” Tilly caught the pillow Fliss tossed back at her, fluffed it up and put it back on her bed. The sudden silence made her look at her roommate. The laughter had gone and Fliss sat pale-faced and tense on the edge of her bed, staring vacantly ahead of her. With dawning apprehension, Tilly remembered the tears in the night. “Fliss? What is it?”

  In answer, Fliss reached hesitantly inside the collar of her blouse. Her fingers caught and held something then she slowly withdrew a chain from which hung a gold ring. “This is my wedding ring. And Saul wears his the same way.”

  Tilly reached out and touched the ring with the tip of her finger. It was warm from its nest against Fliss’ skin. “But why do you have to keep it a secret? Did your families not approve of you getting married?”

  Fliss shook her head and tucked the ring back into its hiding place. “They don’t know, and it had nothing to do with them anyway. It was all about getting and keeping jobs. You must know how hard it is for women in the work place, especially married women.”

  Tilly nodded. “My mom was a school teacher. It annoyed her to no end that she had to give up her job when she married dad, and she never earned as much as the male teachers anyway.”

  “That’s exactly what I mean.” Fliss threw out her hands in exasperation. “We work longer hours for less pay than men, if we can even get jobs. That’s why I started working in hotels. Men won’t do what we do, nor could they survive on such low wages if they have homes and families to support. Saul and I got married two months after we met, but we kept it secret so that we could each keep our jobs.”

  “No wonder you were crying last night.” Tilly moved from her bed and put her arm around Fliss who had covered her face with her hands. “That’s awful. For how long will you have to live like this?”

  “I don’t know,” Fliss whispered. “Saul has an arrangement with the head doorman so the better tip he gets, the more he keeps. We try to save as much as we can, but it will be years before we can even hope to have a place to call our own.”

  “Wait a minute.” Tilly frowned. “If Saul has this arrangement, what happens with the other bellhops? Don’t they get any portion of their tips?”

  Fliss shook her head. “The lower down the ladder you are, the less you get. At some hotels the bellhops get none of their tips.”

  “But how do they manage?” Tilly asked.

  “By the time they’ve paid for the cost and care of their uniforms, meals and accommodation, they’re lucky to have a few dollars left in their pockets.”

  “That’s awful.” Tilly stared at Fliss, who shrugged.

  “But we’re in the same position, too. Until there’s a union to fight for us we’ll carry on working ten and eleven hours a day and consider ourselves lucky that we have a job at all. The sad thing is, that as badly off as we think we are, there are people who are in much worse positions. You, for instance. Tilly, I’m serious. If you’ve got a chance of making a life with Ryan, don’t put him off just because you don’t love him now. You don’t dislike him, do you?”

  “No.” Tilly smiled. “Quite the opposite, in fact. But going from liking to loving and getting married is a long stretch.”

  “It need not be.” Fliss shook her arm. “I fell in love with Saul right away and, however hard our situation is right now, I can’t imagine not being with him.”

  A sudden thought occurred to Tilly. “So when you went out for your cigarette last night, you went to meet Saul?”

  Fliss nodded. “That’s what I meant about you and Ryan being able to be open. You wouldn’t have to sneak around for the sake of your jobs, you could just be together.”

  But there was no enjoying Ryan’s company later that evening when they wandered along to Sam’s place. There was no sign of him, or Pete and Billy. There were other packers snugged up to the bar but, because she didn’t know any of them, Tilly didn’t like to ask about Ryan. She sipped a cola while Fliss and Saul, holding hands beneath the table, talked quietly together.

  She thought she should go and leave them to enjoy what time they could have together. About to reach for her purse, she stopped when the skin on the back of her neck prickled and a chilly tremor wormed its way down her spine. A fist of fear settled in the pit of her stomach and she drew in a deep breath.

  She was being watched.

  Chapter Six

  “Fliss,” she whispered urgently, “don’t look up, but can you see if that Frederic fellow is anywhere around?”

  Fliss made a great performance of stretching her neck, turning her head from side to side, then tipping her chin up and down. Saul raised an eyebrow at these antics until Fliss leaned in and whispered something to him. He never blinked, but the small smile that quirked his lips told Tilly he understood.

  “You’re not walking home alone this evening,” he said quietly. “Just tell me when you’re both ready to go.”

  “Take your time finishing your cola,” Fliss added. “You don’t want him thinking that he’s rattled you. He’s way behind you, to your left. Don’t worry, I can keep an eye on him from here.”

  Tilly hardly noticed the liquid sliding down her throat as she continued to sip her drink. Her hand shook slightly and she chided herself for being so concerned. Frederic Vanderoosten could do nothing to her here with so many people around. Her fear was unfounded—it had to be. She had caught his eye once and been warned of his reputation by Fliss. Yet a persistent, niggling voice in the back of her mind warned her to beware.

  “He’s gone,” Fliss said at last. “He just walked out the door.”

  “I hope he’s not waiting outside.” Tilly couldn’t suppress a shiver as she pushed her chair back. Life had been so simple when it was just her and her father. For all the times she had wished for excitement and a life away from the farm, at least there she had been safe. She picked up her purse and scarf and wondered what advice her father would have given her.

  “Well, I’m up to weight if it makes you feel more comfortable,” Saul said as they left the bar. “I’ve done some boxing and I’m not exactly weak.”

  He pulled a face and flexed the muscles in his arms, making Tilly laugh. He kept them entertained as they walked back to the hotel and, when she and Fliss were back in their room, Tilly realized that she had not thanked him.

  She had no opportunity to thank him the following day, either. By the end of her shift she was so tired that she did not even want to eat. Giving in to some not-so-gentle nagging from Fliss, she finally agreed that yes, she did have to keep her strength up, and together they went to the staff dining hall. There were new girls, like
herself, and some old hands, like Fliss, but no one seemed to want to sit around talking after they had eaten their meal.

  Tilly overheard a few grumbles about this or that supervisor. One of the serving maids had been reprimanded for not pouring correctly for a guest taking tea. Another complained at the amount of make-up she had to wear, and the time wasted to touch it up at regular intervals throughout the day. Someone else objected to the schedule they had been given that week, which made Tilly thankful that she and Fliss were working the same shifts. At least it gave them the opportunity of spending a welcome day off together.

  “Come on,” Fliss encouraged her at the end of her first week. “We could go to the zoo or the Dominion Cafe for a coffee or an ice-cream. It will do us good to get outside. We can walk into Banff along the river. It’s quite a pretty path and only takes about ten minutes, unless we run into any elk. They don’t always get out of your way in a hurry. A hazard of living here, I’m afraid.”

  They encountered no elk, only birds flitting from branch to branch in the trees beside the river. Tilly stopped frequently to look at the wild flowers blooming along the river bank. She recognized black-eyed Susan and Indian paintbrush, and Fliss pointed out a patch of blue harebells. They stopped several times simply to watch the river flow by. After all the long, dry years she had experienced, just the sound of it calmed Tilly. She stood with her head to one side, eyes closed as she listened the splash and gurgle of the water as it eddied around hidden rocks and boulders.

  “You’re really enjoying that, aren’t you?” Fliss asked.

  Tilly breathed in deeply, savoring the sweet, damp smell that hung in the air. “You have no idea how good this is after nothing but years of dust.”

  “Was it really that bad?” They had reached the center of the Bow River Bridge on the edge of the town and Fliss leaned against the limestone parapet. She had scooped up some small pebbles along the way and now flicked them, one by one, into the river below.

  “Oh, Fliss. You have no idea.” Tilly sighed and watched the light sparkle on the spray thrown up as the pebbles hit the water. “It didn’t matter how well you thought you’d chinked the windows and doors, the dust still got in everywhere. It was ‘wash this and dust’ that all the time and you couldn’t leave food uncovered for a moment. Dad and I were going into Medicine Hat one day. He wasn’t even sure if the pick-up would start, it used to get so choked with dirt. But when it did we just sat there, watching the dust dance across the hood and form patterns from the vibration of the motor. But the dust storms were the worst.”

  “I heard about those.” Fliss sent her last pebble spinning into the water. “I’m glad I’ve never seen one.”

  “I hope you never see one either. You think the end of the world is coming. It starts off as a dark smudge on the horizon that gets higher as it gets closer. It seems as if each side of it is curling around you, and then, if you haven’t already run for cover, it’s too late. You are engulfed by thick, choking, clouds of dirt that sting your skin and get into your clothes.”

  “I guess, living in a city, I never really knew it could be that bad,” Fliss said quietly.

  “No.” Tilly shook her head, as if to drive the memory away. “Unless you lived it, it’s hard to understand how bad it was.”

  “But all that’s behind you now. Come on.” Fliss grabbed Tilly’s arm and pulled her across the road to the other side of the bridge and pointed out the various enclosures they could see in the zoo. “Would like to start here?”

  Before Tilly could decide, she spotted a familiar figure driving a horse and wagon towards them. Her heart gave an unexpected lurch of happiness, and without giving any thought to it she waved. Ryan pulled up beside them.

  “Hello, ladies.” He tipped his hat to them. “Where are you off to?”

  “We hadn’t decided,” Tilly said, unable to keep a smile off her face as she looked up at him.

  “Why don’t you come out to the Cave and Basin with me?” He scootched across the driver’s seat and patted the space beside him. “There’s room for you both.”

  Tilly didn’t hesitate and quickly clambered up onto the wagon. Her heart beat a little faster at the smile in his eyes and the curve of his lips. It was a welcome just for her and she felt the blush rising in her cheeks. To hide her sudden shyness she quickly turned to offer her hand to Fliss, who shook her head and laughed.

  “You go on,” she said, hanging back. “I’ve got to shop for a few things anyway. Get a move on, Ryan, you’re causing a traffic jam.”

  Tilly looked back as the wagon moved off. “I feel a bit bad about leaving her. It’s her day off, too, and we had planned to spend it together.”

  “Don’t worry about Fliss. She knows Banff well enough not to be at a loss for long. Where were you going anyway?”

  “We hadn’t actually decided,” Tilly admitted. “Fliss mentioned the zoo. I’ve never been to one, and thought that would be as good a place to go as any. It’s a nice day to be outside.”

  “The zoo isn’t what it used to be,” Ryan said. “Now that it’s easy enough for tourists to see animals like bears and Rocky Mountain sheep along the highways and railway tracks, there’s not much point in keeping them in enclosures. They still have some wolves and coyotes and a few fancy birds in the aviary, and the polar bear, Buddy. He’s been a great attraction over the years.”

  “It somehow doesn’t seem right to me to keep animals in cages,” Tilly mused.

  “I guess it all depends on your perspective,” Ryan said. “I don’t like being confined myself, so I tend to agree with you, but when the zoo was first built it was considered to be ahead of its time. All the cages had water flowing through them and good drainage, so the animals were clean and well kept.”

  Suddenly Tilly started to giggle. “Go on,” she said. “Now tell me that you know one of the keepers there.”

  Ryan laughed with her. “Actually, I do. And not just one but two of them. But you should go. It’s worth taking a look and make sure to tour through the museum, too. They’ve got some fine exhibits and it’s actually as world famous as the hotel.”

  Ryan turned right at the end of the bridge, taking the opposite direction to the first time he had taken her up on the wagon. Once Boston had his bearings and settled into a steady trot, Ryan nudged Tilly’s arm.

  “That’s the Sign of the Goat Curio Shop over there. Mr. Luxton has the local Stoney Indians bring in their crafts and sell them there.”

  “Hmm.” Tilly looked over her shoulder at the building as the wagon rolled by. “Mr. Luxton’s name seems to turn up all the time.”

  “That’s because he’s done so much to help establish the town. It’s come a long way from when it was only Railway Siding Number Twenty-Nine.”

  “Why Twenty-Nine?” Tilly asked.

  Ryan grinned at her. “Back then there was no town, only a railway work camp and it was the twenty-ninth siding west of Medicine Hat on the Canadian Pacific Railway line. Seems quite fitting that you’re here now.”

  They passed several houses and Tilly peeked past Ryan to look at them. They must have a good view of the river, she thought. Its constant flow almost mesmerised her and she couldn’t imagine it being the first thing she saw every morning. A creek had run along the southwest boundary of their farm, but through the years of the drought it had shrunk to a muddy trickle.

  “So what’s this Cave and Basin place we’re going to?” she asked when she finally drew her attention away from the river.

  “It’s what made Banff famous,” Ryan told her. “The cave is the site of the hot springs. The basin is the original thermal pool, and now there’s a swimming pool as well.”

  “And you’re going to tell me all about it?”

  The smile became a chuckle and Ryan shook his head. “Only if you want me to.”

  “I do.” Without thinking, Tilly placed her hand on his arm. He looked down at it then covered it with his own.

  “I like the sound of that,” he said
softly.

  Tilly shivered, suddenly remembering the first day she had met him and he said he would have to marry her. She tried to withdraw her hand, but he continued to hold it.

  “You’ve got good, honest hands. I like that.” His smile lit up his whole face and sent Tilly’s pulse in to overdrive. “And I’m still going to marry you.”

  Chapter Seven

  “But you don’t even know me,” she protested, still bewildered that Ryan could be so positive of his future when she could not begin to imagine hers.

  “I know all I want to know for now.” Ryan still held her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Don’t worry, everything will work out fine.”

  Tilly shook her head, making her black curls dance. “You are an impossible dreamer.”

  “Better to be a dreamer than to have no dreams at all. Hup, Boston.”

  He flicked the reins and the horse leaned into his collar as he headed up a steep stretch of road. Tilly looked up to the building above her, which Ryan told her was the swimming pool. She thought the red-tiled pagoda-style turrets at the entrance had a foreign, exotic, appearance. Shouts of laughter and the sound of water splashing drifted over the high stone wall enclosing the area.

  “When I’ve dropped off this delivery I’ll show you the springs and the cave,” he said as he pulled up outside a service entrance gate.

  “How can you do that when you don’t even work here?” Tilly demanded. As soon as the words were out of her mouth realization hit her. “Oh. Don’t tell me. You know somebody who does.”

  “Of course I do.” Ryan chuckled as Tilly rolled her eyes. “Several somebodies, in fact, but especially Scotty Sutherland. He’s been a life-guard here for I don’t know how long. You’ll like him.”