Free Winter's Torment by Katie Wyatt Page A

thing, she carefully perused the ads, and after some time arguing back and forth with herself, had written a brief response to a man named Henry Olsen, a blacksmith who owned a shop in Dodge City, Kansas.
    Faster than she would have imagined, he sent her a train ticket and an offer of marriage. At her wit’s end and nearly broke, she had few options. She accepted. What else could she do? She had no real schooling, although she could read and write and do basic math. She could sew, but she was no fancy seamstress that could compete with the fashion makers in New York City, nor even any of the milliners. She could bake, but competition for a job in the city was intense.
    Besides, she didn’t like the crowds, the smells, or the noise. So here she was, sitting on the worn upholstery fabric of the train seat beneath her, thinking once again of Winter before and Winter after . This train journey provided a clear demarcation of her past and her future.
    She was no longer the Winter that she had been when her son was alive. Part of that Winter had been buried with her son. She had no idea what the future would hold, but could it possibly be any worse than her past?
    Day after day after day she had traveled. Henry Olsen had not only sent her a train ticket, but also a little money to pay for food along the way. She used it sparingly, eating only once a day. She was a proud woman, and didn’t particularly care to take anyone’s charity, but then again, he was to be her husband, wasn’t he?
    For her, this journey was nothing more than a matter of convenience. She felt a bit guilty about that, but she had been left with few choices. She would try to do right by Henry Olsen, but she didn’t hold out hope that she would ever feel anything close to love again. She had given most of it to her little Andrew, but with his passing, her heart had been irreparably crushed.
    The sharp and sudden blast of the train horn, followed by the ringing of the bell in the distance atop the locomotive startled her out of her musings. An excited murmur passed among the passengers in the train car.
    “Dodge City!”
    “We’re finally here!”
    She stared out the window, her heart thudding nervously. Other than that, she felt nothing.

Scene 2
    Winter stepped off the Santa Fe Railroad train car and onto the platform into the early evening air, not sure what to expect. The sun slowly settled to the west. The train depot was a little larger than the one in her native hometown.
    She had heard plenty about Dodge City, the rough and wild frontier town that had been built years ago to protect travelers who ventured west on the Santa Fe Trail. She had heard that it was nearly lawless— a cattle town rife with wicked morals and more than several gunfights every day. She wondered when she would see the famous longhorns, or one of the cattle drives that brought, as the tales were told, hundreds, sometimes thousands of cattle, driven right through the streets of the city on their way to the yards after long trail drives from Texas.
    As she stepped off the train she nearly bumped into a man wearing a dark suit and bowler hat. “Oh! E-excuse me, Sir,” she stammered.
    “My fault entirely, Ma’am,” the mustached man murmured, removing his hat and offering a slight bow. “Deputy Bat Masterson at your service.”
    “Winter Lindstrom,” Winter replied.
    He made a noise in his throat. “Fascinating name. May I escort you inside?”
    “No need, Bat.”
    The voice came from behind Winter. She turned around and saw a huge man approaching. Of course, at only five feet tall, most men did look large to her, but this man stood well over six feet tall. His shoulders were broad, his arms long. His long-sleeved shirt was rolled up to his elbows, displaying thick and hairy forearms. He walked with a slightly bowlegged gait.
    The deputy turned and grinned. “How you doing, Olsen?” he asked, extending a hand. He turned back toward Winter. “Ma’am, this is Henry