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  She walked over to where the apron hung and lifted the blue fabric. “It’s been with me every day since.”

  He laughed, and said, “Yes, I’ve noticed.”

  She smiled as she turned back toward him. “And it’s proven to be pretty lucky after all, don’t you think?”

  “I sure do. Thank you for telling me, Sadie. I’m sorry that I got upset earlier. And thank you for one last ditch effort,” he said, standing and turning toward her. “And I’m awfully sorry for what I said earlier. I behaved badly, and I hope you can forgive me.”

  He opened his arms to her, and she stepped toward him, wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

  He pulled back, staring at her intently, as if he was seeing her for the first time. She didn’t quite know what to say as he reached up and put a stray lock of her hair behind her ear.

  “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen your hair down before, Mrs. Morgan. It’s beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

  Heat crept into her cheeks as she pulled away, her hand reaching to her hair. “Well, thank you, Mr. Morgan,” she said with a smile as she changed the subject. “And thank you for agreeing to try this. I really think it’s going to be wonderful.”

  She started toward the door.

  “One thing, Sadie. If we do this tomorrow, is there enough time to get the word out? Won’t people be expecting the regular menu?”

  The corners of her lips turned up as she winked at him. As she headed to the stairs to rest up for tomorrow’s event, she said, “You leave that part to me.”

  Chapter 23

  Sadie’s eyes flew open at the first robin’s chirp, the sun not even over the horizon yet. She could barely contain her excitement as she dressed, set breakfast out for Tripp and left a note saying she was going in early.

  Her feet hurt, her skirts flying as she hurried to the restaurant, hoping that she was in time. She breathed a sigh of relief as she rounded the corner and saw Mr. Lewis sitting on the stoop, waiting for her. She rested her hand on her heaving chest as she fought to catch her breath.

  He held out the now-familiar coin bag to her as he stood and tipped his hat.

  “Morning, Mrs. Morgan. Is everything all right?” he said as he stepped down off of the stoop, his hands reaching out to her elbow to help steady her.

  As her breath evened, she was able to say, “Mr. Lewis,” but that was about it. “I’m fine.”

  She tried to smile so as not to alarm him, and as she did, his eyebrows rose and she imagined that her smile appeared more like a grimace.

  She took in one last, deep breath, unlocked the door to the restaurant and waved for him to follow her inside.

  The stools screeched against the floor as she brought them over to the other side, gesturing for him to sit. He’d taken off his hat and held it in his hand as he glanced from side to side, his foot bouncing on the floor.

  “Mr. Lewis, please don’t be alarmed, but I need your help. With the meat pies,” she said.

  His forehead smoothed as he breathed a heavy sigh.

  “Oh, Mrs. Morgan, you had me mighty frightened there for a minute. Whew,” he said, taking out his handkerchief and wiping his brow.

  Her eyebrows ticked up, and she quickly said, “Oh, I’m so sorry to have worried you. That wasn’t my intention.”

  She stoked the fire, set the coffeepot on the stove and turned back to him.

  “You’ve enjoyed the meat pies? I am assuming so based on the bag of dimes you bring me every day,” she said, jingling the bag in the air.

  He turned his hat around on his lap as he spoke. “Yes, ma’am, they’re very popular. I could sell more if you could make them that fast.”

  “I’m afraid I have some difficult news to share.”

  Sadie sat back down on the stool and turned toward her guest. “The restaurant does not have enough patrons to pay the bills, Mr. Lewis. If we don’t find a way to change that, I won’t be able to make any meat pies at all.”

  Mr. Lewis stood, the stool scooting back as he did.

  “No, Mrs. Morgan, that would be a tragedy. A true culinary tragedy,” he said, holding his hat over his heart.

  Sadie stifled a grin. She wasn’t sure that the lack of meat pies was truly a culinary tragedy—but maybe it was, and maybe that was the missing piece of the puzzle.

  “Mr. Lewis, you’d said when we first met that there were many bachelors here who didn’t have a simple, easy place to eat supper. Is that still the case?”

  “Yes, ma’am. And nobody to fix up their lunches for them, either. And they don’t give us much time to eat down in the mines. Need something quick, anyway.”

  “And you’d said before that you weren’t sure about the type of food that was on the menu here at the restaurant.”

  “Well, ma’am, I’m not all that sophisticated when it comes to food. I know what I like and I really don’t care to know no more. Oh, sorry about that, ma’am. Didn’t mean to offend.”

  Reaching for coffee mugs, she said over her shoulder, “None taken, Mr. Lewis. But I wanted to let you know that the menu is changing. Tonight.”

  His eyes widened as he said, “It is? No more Chicken Frackey?”

  She hung her head, a smile playing on her lips, and sighed.

  “Not tonight. Tonight, my husband is fixing the favorites from when he cooked on the trail. And I’ll be selling meat pies from the restaurant, either to eat here or to take home for tomorrow’s lunch.”

  She turned toward him, surprised as a smile broke out over his face.

  “Oh, ma’am, you don’t know what good news that is. Your husband is a legend. People still talk about how good his chili was, and nobody can figure out how he did it on the trail, no less.”

  She clapped her hands together, surprised that Mr. Lewis had heard of Tripp. She hadn’t been around town all that long, though, and hadn’t spent much time outside the restaurant, so it would not be unusual that she hadn’t known that. Her heart fluttered. Even better that he had a reputation and was missed.

  “His dishes are as good as they were, and new and improved with what he learned in New York,” she said, pulling on her apron and tying it behind her. “And the meat pies will be ready tonight at the restaurant, Mr. Lewis. I’m sorry that we’ll have to skip a lunch for your friends, but if you would spread the word about the menu for tonight, I’d be awfully grateful.”

  He opened the door and stepped outside.

  “Oh, that’s all right, Mrs. Morgan. I can wait ’til tonight, and I reckon everyone else can, too. See you this evening,” he said as he tipped his hat once more and strode off in the direction of the mine.

  “Partners,” Tripp had said the night before. She was beginning to like the sound of that and didn’t want it to end.

  She clasped her hands once more, glancing upward, as she said a quick prayer that her plan would work. She set about getting out the ingredients she needed, hurrying to make as many as she needed before Tripp came in to commence his part of the plan.

  They had to rush to prepare, but things couldn’t have gone more smoothly. They’d gotten to know each other—in the kitchen—quite well in the past weeks, and they had developed their own distinct rhythm, almost like a dance. Now, she frequently knew what he needed before he asked, so they were prepared quickly. It helped a great deal that Tripp had set aside his menu cards, and all of the recipes for these dishes resided squarely inside his head.

  While Sadie chopped and diced for him, she also continued to make her meat pies. He’d asked her about them when he came in, laughing as he pointed out to her that she was covered in flour.

  “Oh,” she said as she looked down at her lucky apron, noticing that it was more white with flour than its regular cornflower blue.

  “I guess I’ve really been busy,” she said, smiling and handing him a meat pie. “I thought we could make some of these available tonight, too,” she said, as his eyebrows rose while he chewed.

  “This is delicious. That’s a won
derful idea, if you don’t mind making them. You haven’t been cooking much lately on your own. You sure you have time?”

  She turned, her hand stifling her laugh.

  “Absolutely. No problem at all,” she’d said as she reached into the pantry for the ingredients he’d asked for, getting ready to prep for the evening’s menu.

  Now, after they’d been at it for several hours, she put the last of the ingredient bowls away. Tripp wiped his hands on a towel, taking a look around the kitchen, his green eyes twinkling.

  “What is it, Tripp,” she said, wiping her own hands on her apron and sitting down on a stool.

  “You don’t notice anything different?” he asked, as he sat on the stool opposite her.

  She looked around, her brows furrowed.

  “Okay, I’ll help you,” he said, taking her hand. “When was the last time we were able to sit down before the restaurant opened? When everything was ready beforehand.”

  She let out a whoosh of breath as she realized he was right. This was the first time they’d been ready…before the doors had opened.

  “And you know what the best part is?” he asked, sweeping his arm around the kitchen. “Everything is ready. The biscuits are done, the stew is in the pot, the requested chili is also ready and the meat pies are stacked and ready to go. The coffee is made, the dessert is in the icebox.”

  “That’s a really good thing, you two,” Suzanne said as she rushed in the door, slamming it behind her. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Customers are waiting out front, and the line goes all the way past the mercantile.”

  She fanned herself for a moment, catching her breath. “I hope you’re prepared for this.”

  Sadie and Tripp looked quickly from Suzanne to each other, their wide smiles mirroring each other’s. Tripp stood, grabbing Sadie’s hand and pulling her up. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks as he pulled her close, whispering, “Thank you,” in her ear before he brushed his lips on her cheek and turned to put his own apron on.

  Sadie’s heart fluttered as she turned to Suzanne, whose hand was clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide. Sadie laughed, grabbing Suzanne’s apron and handing it to her as she pushed her out the door into the dining room.

  “I saw that, Sadie. Has he done that before? The way he looked at you—“

  “Enough, sister,” she said, taking Sadie’s elbow and heading for the door. She looked out the window, her jaw dropping at the sight of the line of people snaking down the road. “We have something more urgent to think about.”

  Chapter 24

  The evening was a whirlwind of activity as people came and went, oohing and aahing as they enjoyed their meals. Tripp was keeping up quite a pace now that he wasn’t creating each dish from scratch, and customers ordered, ate and left, with four sets of guests at each table over the hours they were open rather than the customary one or two.

  Tripp poked his head out of the kitchen a few times, always waving at Sadie to catch her eye and give a smile.

  Sadie had gone into the kitchen around mid-shift and given Tripp an order for ten more meat pies. He turned around, his eyebrows raised and his spoon held in mid-air.

  “That’ll be it, then, Sadie. Sold out,” he said, giving her an appreciative nod. “Well done.”

  “Oh,” she cried, her hand to her chest and her heart fluttering.

  She’d seen Mr. Lewis right when they’d opened and he’d introduced her to some friends he’d brought with him. “And there are more coming,” he said with a tip of his hat to her, like always.

  “I just can’t believe this,” Suzanne had said as the patrons trickled out. “I can barely catch my breath.”

  She laughed, fanning herself with a menu—the new one. “This is fantastic, Sadie.”

  Sadie squeezed her sister’s hand. “We could never have done it without you.”

  “Sure you could have, but it’s been wonderful to be a part of it all,” she said, her head turning to the door as cries of “Mama, Mama,” carried across the room and Lucy and Lily broke away from a beaming James and ran to their mother.

  “Hello, lovelies,” Suzanne said as she bent down to hug them. “Are you here for supper?”

  Suzanne stood to smile at James as he rested his arm around her shoulder, giving her a squeeze.

  “I promised them meat pies,” Sadie said as she bent to give each of the girls a quick kiss.

  “I thought we were sold out.” Suzanne pulled out two chairs for the girls at one of the tables in the now-empty restaurant.

  “I’ll be right back.” Sadie wiggled her eyebrows at the girls, which set them to giggling. “James, can I get you something?”

  “Thought you’d never ask. I haven’t had Tripp’s chili for ages and I’d love some if there’s any left,” he said. “And a few of your biscuits?”

  “Absolutely,” she said over her shoulder as she pushed the swinging door open into the kitchen.

  She caught herself humming as she gathered the meat pies on plates and dished up James’s chili into a bowl. She snapped her fingers after she’d set it all on a tray, remembering the peach pie she’d made before Tripp came in.

  She picked up the heavy tray, opening the swinging door with her behind, and said, “Here we go, dinner for all. And for dessert we have—“

  She stopped short as she looked up to see five sets of eyes on her. Lily and Lucy held hands, and each held the hand of one of their parents on each end. The girls giggled as Suzanne, her eyes twinkling, turned to shush them. James rocked from his toes to his heels, his smile as broad as Suzanne’s.

  She set the tray down and looked from them to Tripp.

  James cleared his throat and handed Lucy off to Suzanne. “We decided that we should go eat this next door, at the mercantile. I’m not quite done with inventory, and the girls can keep me company.”

  He took the peach pie and placed it on the table, winking at Tripp as he picked up the tray. “Come on, ladies, let’s go next door.”

  “But Papa, I want to—” Lily said, her eyes round.

  “Shhh,” Suzanne said, laughing as she pulled the girls toward the door.

  Lucy looked back at Sadie as she was pulled along with her sister toward the front door. “But Mama, Uncle Tripp said he was going to—”

  Suzanne bent down to pick up Lily and grabbed Lucy’s hand as she followed her husband toward the door. She turned around before they left, sighing heavily as she looked at Sadie, beaming.

  “Come on, girls. Uncle Tripp and Aunt Sadie need some privacy.”

  Sadie’s eyebrows furrowed as the door swung shut behind them.

  “Tripp, I don’t understand. I thought they were going to—we were going to—”

  She sighed as he walked toward her, gesturing for her to sit down. She felt locked in place, wondering what had happened while she was in the kitchen. Why had everyone left in such a hurry? And she’d made peach pie.

  Sadie slowly sat down, her hand rising to her mouth as Tripp took her hand and got down on one knee in front of her.

  “I know we’re married and all, Sadie, but I don’t think we did it quite right the first time. That time, it was a business arrangement, and I will be grateful to you forever for accepting. And making it wonderful.”

  “Oh, Tripp, I—“

  He held up his hand as he reached in his pocket. “I wanted to do it right this time,” he said as he opened his hand, the beautiful diamond ring sparkling in his palm.

  “I love you, Sadie Morgan. Will you do me the honor of being my wife? Really being my wife? And being my partner in all things, not just the restaurant?”

  Tears threatened to spill as Sadie watched him take her hand and slip the ring on her finger.

  She looked from him to her hand, her heart in her throat as she said, “Yes, of course I will. I can’t think of anything that would make me happier.”

  He placed his hands on her cheeks, pulling her toward him as he pressed his warm lips against hers.

  She closed
her eyes and her heart fluttered as she placed her hands on his, and when she opened her eyes, she was gazing into the handsome face of her husband. Her real husband.

  “Is that peach pie?” Tripp said, eyeing the pie on the table.

  “Absolutely. Nothing but the best for my husband on our wedding night.”

  She shook her head, laughing at how everything had turned out.

  Epilogue

  “I’m a little nervous,” Sadie said as Tripp guided the horses up the road to Beau Archer’s ranch and the buggy bounced.

  He put the reins in one hand, patting her knee with the other. “I don’t understand that at all. We know these people. The party is for us,” he said, smiling at her.

  Sadie fiddled with the hem of her sleeve as she turned around to make sure Suzanne and her family were still behind them. She gave Suzanne a weak wave as her sister responded with a big smile.

  “I know, and they are all lovely people. It’s just that this is our wedding reception, after all. We never had a real one, with lots of friends, and this is so nice of everyone to do. But I’m still nervous.”

  “Why? Because we’re not doing the cooking? Sort of nice for a change, isn’t it?”

  He pulled the horses to a halt and hopped down, tying the reins to the post outside one of the biggest houses Sadie had ever seen.

  On top of a knoll, it spread out wide, like every ranch she’d ever imagined, and the barn and what she assumed to be the bunkhouse for the ranch hands stood to one side.

  Her nerves eased up a bit as Tripp grabbed her around the waist to help her down from the buggy, giving her a swift kiss as he did.

  “Tripp, stop that,” she said, her cheeks reddening. “Everybody will see.”

  “Since when have you cared about any of that, Mrs. Morgan? And besides, we’re married,” he said, pulling her toward the house.