Read Tracie Peterson - [New Mexico Sunset 03] for Free Online

worth, managing to pat her pocket and reassure herself that her ticket and money were both still within.
    She approached the train depot cautiously, for the first time worried that someone might see her and try to stop her. Thoughts of Gavin came to mind more than once. She’d only been home for four days and no doubt Gavin planned to see her Sunday at church. Poor Gavin would be so surprised, she thought and stepped up onto the train car’s platform. They would all be surprised, she smiled as she took her seat.

Chapter 5
    A ngeline was filled with anticipation as she rode away from Bandelero. The adventure of what she was doing made her giddy, and she couldn’t help but succumb to her own joy.
    “I’m really doing it!” she whispered, staring out into the pitch blackness of the night.
    In spite of her excitement, the gentle rocking of the train against the rails made Angeline sleepy, and without meaning to, she slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.
    “Miss, this is your stop,” a gentle voice was calling to her.
    Angeline sat up with a start and immediately winced at the stiffness in her neck. She looked up into the face of the conductor and nodded rigidly. “Thank you,” she offered and glanced out the window into the predawn.
    “Do you have folks to meet you?” the man asked her.
    “No,” Angeline responded as if it was unimportant. “I’m catching the southbound train to Santa Fe later this morning.”
    “Well, you’ll have a bit of a wait,” the man offered.
    Somehow, Angeline hadn’t considered this possibility. “I’ll be fine,” she said with a false sense of courage. Taking her case in hand, Angeline followed the man down the aisle and allowed him to assist her from the train.
    “You can wait in the depot,” he suggested. “At least the ticket agent will be nearby, if anyone tries to bother you.”
    “Thank you,” Angeline replied and made her way into the dimly lit building.
    The room was seemingly deserted, and Angeline swallowed hard to keep her nerve. She made her way slowly to a long empty bench and took a seat with a wary glance into the shadowy corners. She clutched her suitcase close and thought to whisper a prayer.
    She stopped, however, before uttering the words. Would God listen to her? She was, after all, disobeying her parents, but wasn’t that a verse for children? Didn’t God intend that to be a guidance for when you were young and didn’t know how to care for yourself? Deciding that she was completely within her rights, Angeline offered a simple prayer and waited impatiently for time to pass.
    ❧
    When the Santa Fe train finally pulled alongside the depot, Angeline was exhausted and hungry. She made her way slowly to the train, wondering how in the world she would find Willa, but to her surprise, Willa found her instead.
    “Angeline!” the older woman cried from the platform.
    “Am I ever glad to see you!” Angeline replied.
    Willa Neal was a rather severe looking woman. Nearing her forty-fifth birthday, she was the very image of cartoon depictions of suffragists. Although, as Willa had already shown Angeline, the newspaper cartoons were much kinder to the suffragists these days than they had been twenty or so years earlier.
    Dressed in her plain brown skirt and jacket, Willa had pulled her mousy brown hair back into a tight bun, without so much as a single wisp to escape the dourness. In actuality, she might have been a pleasant enough looking woman had she styled her hair differently and worn more flattering clothes. But, looking nice was not a concern of Willa Neal. Suffrage was! Suffrage was all she would give her precious efforts to.
    “I’m glad you decided to join us, Angeline,” Willa said, leading Angeline down the aisle of the train car. “Did you have any difficulty in winning your parents to our cause?”
    “Yes,” Angeline replied rather curtly. “I had a great deal of trouble. In fact, they didn’t want me to accompany you.”
    “Typical!”