Nessa Read online

  Nessa

  Derelicts and Debutants

  Sara Jolene

  Copyright © 2018 by Sara Jolene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Epilogue

  Also by Sara Jolene

  About the Author

  Introduction

  Nessa Dobbs is done running. After her father’s untimely death, Nessa and her sister Kara fled New York City for Creede, Colorado, where the change in scenery left more of an impact on Nessa than she ever could have imagined. Quickly realizing that the privileged life she once led as a debutante wasn’t all she’d once thought it to be, Nessa finds that the things that are most important to her in life are ones you can’t buy. Spurred by watching a close friend find their soul mate, Nessa has boarded a train and is headed back to New York to reclaim all that she left behind, including the man she loves.

  Heartbroken after the love of his life disappeared; Henry Collins is moving on. He has found a new position working for one of the most influential families in New York City doing the only thing he’s ever wanted to do, taking care of horses, but all that is about to change. When the one person he never thought he’d see again, returns, Henry gets the shock of his life. One that makes him question everything he’s ever wanted.

  Nessa is determined not to let her past mistakes and prejudices influence her future but can she convince Henry to do the same?

  Chapter One

  Nessa squeezed her sister tighter. “I’ll send word the moment I’m off the train.” She could feel the tears beginning to pool in her eyes. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t cry.

  “The very moment! And please look after yourself. I know Dutch and Byron have helped in every way they can, but I’m still not sure this is the best idea.”

  Nessa shook her head and released her arms. “I have to go. My life is there just as much as your life is here.”

  Kara nodded and smiled timidly. “I’ll miss you terribly.”

  Nessa hugged her sister one more time, the train’s whistle piercing the moment. “I’ll miss you too.” She smiled at her sister then turned to her new brother-in-law. “And you too, I suppose.”

  Nessa let go of her sister, and Aedan swooped in and took her place. Nessa couldn’t help but think of how perfect the moment was. She knew she’d never have had the wherewithal to leave her sister in Colorado while she went to New York if it hadn’t been for him. She knew that Aedan would care for Kara the way she deserved.

  Nessa climbed the first two steps and looked over their heads to where Dutch was standing with his new bride. She owed them everything.

  The way they stood so close to each other but not quite touching, one could almost see the friction, the heat between the two. She felt privileged to have had a first-hand view of their coupling. She’d been there when they’d first met. She had watched how Dutch, a person she’d known almost her entire life, had gone from a strong thug to soft and pliable. It had been almost instantaneous, and she knew in that moment that the life she was suppose to have in New York, the one that her father had planned for her, was completely gone. She didn’t have her father or their home, and she didn’t have Dutch. Not that she’d ever really wanted him. Being with him was what she was supposed to do, and she was a dutiful daughter.

  But now…now she had no duty to anyone but herself. She smiled past her sister and Aedan and waved. Dutch put one arm around his wife and lifted the other in a short salute. Rachel smiled, waved, and leaned into his arm. Nessa knew that Rachel was the absolute best of what could have happened to Dutch in that crazy town.

  She gave Creede one last sweep. She would miss it there, and she would miss all her new friends, but she’d learned a lot in the short time she’d been in Creede. The most impactful of which taught her that a life worth living is a life you make for yourself. She knew where she belonged and who she belonged with, and though her letters had gone unanswered, she held out hope that it was merely because he’d done as they’d asked. That he’d found another post and kept himself safe, because she was going back for him, but not just him. She wanted to live her best life, and she knew New York was where that would happen. Nessa braced herself as the train lurched forward. They were on their way. She was on her way, to the life she was meant to live.

  The ride had been long, even longer than she’d remembered. She assumed that was because she didn’t have her sister or her grief to keep her company. When they’d fled New York, they were in the wind. Nessa had been naive to their entire situation, and though she knew something was majorly wrong, never would she have dreamed that her father had been connected to the Whyos.

  She sat in her assigned seat and shook her head as she shuffled through the daily paper. They were almost there. She’d spent her last few days in Creede planning exactly how’d she reenter the City. Where she’d go first. Who she’d talk to. Dutch and Byron had been wonderful. Byron had written his family, and they’d been kind enough to give her a position at one of their banks in the City. She’d been working for the bank in Creede and had found she enjoyed it. Providing for herself wasn’t something she’d ever planned on, but she was now grateful she was doing it. It made her feel good.

  Dutch had helped her to wade through all the people and issues she’d encounter when it came to the estate and her father. Dutch didn’t know all of Holden’s business dealings, but he knew about the Whyos. They’d decided she’d go straight to the house after she sent a telegraph to Creede the moment she arrived. She would return as if nothing had happened. Nessa flipped the page of the paper she was holding over. A familiar name caught her eye and distracted her from reviewing her plan.

  Nathan Straus had been busy over the summer. He and his wife had created milk stations throughout the parks in the City in an effort to dampen the spread of childhood illness in the streets. The Strauses were very prominent, and though they hadn’t been terribly close, she knew her father and Nathan had been friends. They were also neighbors of her very best friend, Genevieve McCarthy.

  The train’s whistle cut through the rambling thoughts the article had produced, bringing Nessa back to the present. She had to be very careful on her trip between the station and the house. There was no telling who would still be looking for them. Dutch had been sent to fetch them, and though he’d done all he could to settle the situation, he’d also told them that no one was to be trusted. Nessa sat rigid in her seat as the train slowed. She sighed deeply as they stopped. She was finally home.

  Henry sat on the bench of the carriage, waiting. Lady Genevieve had asked him to come back around for her at exactly ten o’clock. His time piece told him it was a quarter past. He tapped his foot impatiently. The woman was mostly always running behind. She was one of those girls that spent more time than needed primping and preening, wanting to look just so. He looked around and searched the crowds, hoping to spot her familiar face.

  A train must have just arrived, because there were more people about than usual. He really wished she’d hurry. The carriage would soon be in the way. If a train had come in, then they’d be lining up to take folks to their destinations within the City. He scanned the crowd again. When he’d dropped her off two hours earlier, she’d been wearing a pale yellow dress and hat. They’d made her tanned
skin glow. It was the end of summer, but the heat was intense. He wiped a handkerchief across his forehead.

  He missed working solely in the stables. Driving around the City hour after hour, day after day, wasn’t his favorite thing. He’d started working as a stable boy when he was very young, but he’d done it for the horses. He loved the animals. They were far more intelligent than most people gave them credit for, and though there’d been talk of finding other forms of transportation, he’d vowed to never travel another way.

  Henry watched the line of people filing out of the station. He had no idea where his charge was but thought to entertain himself while he waited. It was fun to see the dress of people from different parts of the country. It was one of the perks of living in such a busy place, people from all over traveled there for one reason or another.

  Henry hadn’t been looking long when he spotted her. Immediately his heart felt like it had stopped. His chest cramped, and he couldn’t breathe. It couldn’t be. She wouldn’t return. He’d checked every day for over two months. He’d gone back to the house every morning and every night looking for some sign. At first he’d gone straight to the door. Lillian had told him day after day that she wasn’t there and that she wouldn’t be. She told him to stop. He couldn’t. He’d held out hope, so he’d return each night and watch, waiting and hoping she’d return. If not for him, then for anything else.

  He held his breath as his heart started to beat again, only now much harder and faster than before. He fought the urge to stand up and call out to her from his post. He had to stay put. He was waiting for Miss Genevieve. Plus, he wasn’t even sure it was her. Sure, this woman’s curls looked just like Nessa’s had, and the way she was standing, with one hip jutted out to the side as she was talking with the station worker, was the way she used to stand. And so what if the dress she was wearing looked oddly close to the one she’d been wearing the first time they’d touched. None of that mattered. It was all coincidence. She couldn’t be there. She’d left New York. Left him. And she wasn’t coming back.

  “Could you give me a hand?” Genevieve had appeared. Henry sighed with the timing of it. He hopped down from his seat and exhaled hard as his feet hit the ground. He offered a hand to the lovely Genevieve as she climbed into the carriage. He waited until she was seated before letting go of her hand, or trying to. She’d gripped him tightly. He looked back to her face. His breathing was becoming erratic once again. He desperately wanted to be outside of the carriage, watching and hoping that the stranger at the station was the girl he’d thought he’d lost.

  Genevieve smiled coyly. “Thank you, dear Henry.”

  He nodded and licked his lips. His throat had run dry. He could barely swallow. “Madam.” Tugging his hand from hers, he backed out of the carriage. He climbed quickly back to his post, for he couldn’t see the entrance to the station from street level. He quickly turned his focus back to where she’d been standing. Despite what he’d told himself, he let hope rise in his chest.

  “Could we be off?” Genevieve called from behind him.

  He picked up the reins and started to move. It didn’t matter if they left; he’d lost sight of her. She could be anywhere. Even on another train, headed somewhere away from the City. His chest hurt almost as much as it had that night as he’d watched Nessa and Kara drive off. He needed to move on. Enough was enough. He thought of the pretty girl he was ushering around the City. She’d shown interest in him many times, so many, in fact, that the other stable help had started to razz him about it. She was different than Nessa, but the situation was the same, she was from wealth and he was not. She found him fun to look at and toy with but not to spend time in public with. The only time they’d ever be seen together would be as they were right then, just as it had been with Nessa. He was in the front while she was in the back of the carriage.

  He sighed to himself, knowing it didn’t matter. Whoever he ended up with now would pale in comparison to the one he wanted. He couldn’t do that to himself or anyone else. As they made their way through the streets to the center of the City, where Genevieve lived with her parents in their newly built mansion, he resigned himself to being forever alone. Wasted and not wanting, because the love of his life had been too far above him in station and had left him because of it.

  Chapter Two

  Nessa pulled the shawl tighter around her chin as she turned the corner. She had just the one small bag with her. Kara had promised to send the rest of her things along as soon as Nessa wrote to her and told her it was safe to do so. She wasn’t worried about clothing. If all went the way they’d planned, she’d be staying in the house, undetected.

  She braced herself to see the house cold and still. She and Kara both loved that house. Their father used to tell them stories about how he’d had it built for their mother. She’d picked out each detail, and he’d not had a say in any room, even his office. Nessa laughed to herself thinking about the hidden compartment in the floor. He had obviously had more say in how the house was built than he’d ever let on.

  She shook her head as the front of the steps came into view. She was surprised to see that the yard had been maintained. She’d expected high grass and covered windows, but the closer she got, she realized that not only was the house not still, there were people working. She took a deep breath as she stopped and ducked behind the neighboring house.

  She had no plan for this. Dutch had told her that the house had been boarded. She’d planned to keep it as such. It was still warm enough that she wouldn’t need heat, and she had enough money to eat at restaurants. She just needed a bed. Besides, what better place to stay than home. She watched as carefully as she could from her hiding spot. She didn’t see anything or anyone unusual. The man trimming the greenery in front was Joe, the man who’d done so for as long as she could remember. There didn’t seem to be anyone else around. Deciding that she had to be closer to see more, she went behind the house and hid in the trees as she made her way to the back of her childhood home.

  The back door was open, and soon, crouched in the trees getting herself filthy and with twigs poking at her head, she saw Lillian come out the door with a rug and hang it on the line. Nessa felt herself relax as she watched the older woman beat the rug the way she always had. Everything seemed exactly the same as it had before they’d left. But then she remembered that it wasn’t. Her father was dead, and she was hiding in the trees because her entire life had been a lie.

  She took a breath and let it out slowly. Lillian finished with the rug and went back inside. Nessa fell out of her crouch and sat on the warm earth. She needed a plan and decided her best bet would be to wait until dark. Once she had some cover, she would go to the back door and have Lillian let her in. Once inside, she’d find out everything that had been happening since she and Kara had fled in the night.

  Nessa wiped the tears that had started to roll down her cheeks. She couldn’t help but think that if everything was this calm, why they’d had to leave in the first place. Maybe Kara had been wrong. Maybe they could have stayed. Nessa’s life could have been alright. After all, Dutch had turned out to be more the way Nessa had always seen him rather than the reputation he’d gained. She’d seen the good in him from the very beginning. Maybe it was the same here. Maybe they’d have been happy. Not as happy as they would have been if their father had lived, but at least they could have been together. Now she was alone and her sister was on the other side of America. Nessa leaned back against the trunk of the closest tree. She was too tired from excitement. She closed her eyes. Soon she would know. Soon she would set everything to rights. Soon she’d have her life back.

  Nessa woke, startled by a rustling very close to her. She jumped and screamed, realizing too late where she was and why she was there. The moment she did, she snapped her mouth shut and held perfectly still, listening.

  A door creaked open, and Nessa held her breath. She wanted to look and see if it was Lillian but didn’t dare. If it was a neighbor, her entire plan could be blo
wn. She held her breath but also kept her hand over her mouth. She didn’t trust herself not to scream again if a critter or something else popped out of the brush. Finally, she heard the door creak shut. Nessa exhaled hard.

  Shaking the fear and anxiety from her body, she stood and brushed herself off the best she could. She really needed a bath and couldn’t wait to be inside. She uncovered her head, stowed her shawl in her bag, and stepped out from the trees. The moon was high and almost full, so she had plenty of light to see her way to the door. She climbed the stairs and knocked softly.

  She heard shuffling almost immediately. It had to have been Lillian that had looked out the door. She was so close. Fear gripped Nessa, her heartbeat sped, and her mouth went dry. Now that she was thinking about it, seeing Lillian could be a bad thing. She didn’t know why the woman had stayed on or who was paying her. She could be working for her father’s associates or even worse. She tried to gain control, but before she knew it, the door was pulled open and Lillian stood tall, bathed in the soft light from the far wall. A look of hesitation, then confusion, followed by terror crossed the older woman’s face. She opened the door, took Nessa by the arm, and pulled her inside so fast Nessa didn’t have time to fully register what was happening.

  Henry was only half paying attention as he steered the horses through the crowded city streets. It was late afternoon and people were bustling about, which didn’t bode well for his half-dazed state. He hadn’t been able to get the woman off his mind. She had resembled his Nessa so much. He chastised himself for thinking of her as such. She wasn’t his and never would be.