Jewel's Dream by Annie Boone Page A

but you can get away with being tart in a courtroom. Doesn’t work so much when you want to sweet talk people into voting for you,” Maria said.
    “I can’t disagree with you about that,” Jewel winced as she thought of James’ usual style of conversation. Maria looked at her curiously.
    “Are you actually gonna marry him?” she asked. Jewel paused before answering.
    “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “I’m certainly not going to marry Mr. Pendleton, I can swear to that.”

Chapter 16
    Jewel didn’t see James until dinner the next day. It made her nervous, but in a way she was relieved to have some time to review the confrontation from the day before. She’d appreciated that James took up for her, but she wished he didn’t act as if she were his possession.
    So she took advantage of the time to write some letters, now long overdue. She wrote to her parents, but also to many of her friends as well. Eva, Sarah, and Angie from Bible study were waiting to hear from her. Even Mrs. Grant had begged her to send a message back. It took Jewel all morning to write to everyone, using up half of the writing paper she’d bought the previous day.
    The walk to the post office took up a little more time, after which Jewel went to the general store and bought more paper, as well as a new writing pad. At least she had something interesting to write about in her journal, now.
    James barely said a word when he arrived to take her to dinner. The meal was similarly quiet, Jewel’s future in-laws coolly discussing the events of the day while James glowered and Julia watched Jewel with open fascination. Jewel had to stop herself from running out the door when James offered to take her back to the hotel before it got late.
    For the first time, Jewel was starting to think she might have made the wrong decision in coming here. James didn’t seem to want to talk to her at all, much less get married. She loved the part of the town she’d seen. She’d even met some friendly people. It was so different than New York, and she thought that was good. But James. This just may not work out.
    It could be very lonely under that vast western sky. She felt that loneliness now. The odd thing was that she wasn’t homesick, she just wanted things to be better where she was.
    She’d expected that she and James would discuss the altercation with Mr. Pendleton, but the event was never mentioned. Jewel didn’t understand why James was behaving this way. It just didn’t make sense to her at all. She was going to have to discuss it with him. Soon. They were going to have to discuss all of it.
    She was praying for guidance through this difficulty. She knew that God had sent her away from New York City, but she was struggling to see his direction here.
     
    ***
     
    Jewel was disturbed the next morning by a knock on the door. It was a quarter after eight, too early for anyone who actually had consideration for other people. She wasn’t sure who to expect but when she opened the door she saw James standing in the hallway.
    “Good morning,” she said, leaning softly against the doorframe.
    “Would you like to go for a drive?” James said bluntly. Jewel nodded, grabbed her hat, and followed him outside. She was getting used to his abruptness. She didn’t like it but it didn’t make her angry like it had at first.
    A buggy was waiting, hitched to a single brown horse with white splashed haphazardly across him. James offered Jewel his hand for her to step into the buggy and relieved the hotel boy of the reins.
    Jewel looked around while the horse worked up to a trotting speed. She’d never been in anything other than a streetcar or the rare taxi cab. Even riding in a little buggy in the middle of nowhere felt like a rare treat.
    “You look happy.” James said, observing the wide grin on her face.
    “I’m riding a buggy.” James snorted. “Servants don’t ride buggies. They ride the streetcar. You have to have money to have a horse.”