First Class Male by Jillian Hart

fifteen.” Mariel set down a plate in front of Callie and marched to her chair at the head of the table. “Poor thing had no one, didn’t have a penny to her name.”
    “My pa kicked me out when he got married again.” Lena shrugged as if it had been no big deal. “But I found a job with Big Red and I was a working girl for years. It wasn’t too bad. You get regulars, and some of them almost treat you well.”
    “Oh.” Realization hit her. Lena hadn’t been serving drinks or washing dishes for this Big Red fellow. She’d been selling herself. She’d been a prostitute. “That had to have been difficult, making a living like that.”
    “I can’t say you’re wrong.” Lena’s eyes shadowed, but her indomitable smile remained. “I’m just thankful Mariel had been friendly with me, told me she’d help if I ever needed it. So that night when I begged Big Red one more time to let me go, and he got mad and violent, I ran straight here. Of course I took the side streets and alleys, and I hid whenever I heard footsteps or a horse clomping toward me. I don’t think too many saw me. Now I’m working as a milkmaid over at a dairy farm. I’ve got the afternoon shift, so I’ll be heading to work soon.”
    “Speaking of which, I found a job for you, Callie,” Mariel said around a mouth of chicken sandwich.
    “A job?” She blinked, the food before her still untouched. She was hungry, but she didn’t feel like eating. Maybe because she was all tangled up over Mason and his chaste, platonic kiss. Her heart ached over that. She’d really wanted him to kiss her in a way she’d never forget. It would have been her first kiss.
    “I didn’t know if you would be interested,” Mariel went on, reaching for her cup of milk. “But that’s me, I’m nosy and I meddle. If you stay with me, you’ll just have to get used to it. Mrs. O’Dooley just had a baby this morning, a precious little boy, but she’s doing poorly, the pregnancy weakened her, poor thing. You could help her with her newborn and her little toddler, until she’s feeling stronger.”
    “Well, I am leaving on this afternoon’s train.” She felt badly, after Mariel had gone to all this trouble for her. “I have a ticket and everything.”
    “Oh, well, if that’s what you want, dear, you should be with family after what you’ve been through. That’s best.” Mariel nodded sympathetically. “Don’t you worry. I’ll go over and help out Mrs. O’Dooley, right after I walk you over to the train depot, give you a proper send off. It’s just a shame your hopes here didn’t work out.”
    “What hopes were those?” Lena asked curiously, as she munched on a carrot stick.
    “Callie was going to marry Doc Reynolds,” Mariel answered. “She was to be his mail-order bride.”
    “Oh, I know Earl.” Lena waved her carrot in the air like a wand. “He was one of my regulars.”
    What?
Callie dropped her sandwich. Plop. It tumbled onto her plate. A slice of tomato shot out from between the bread. Her hands shook as she shoved the tomato slice back into place. “Uh, Earl visited you to—?”
    “Oh, yes. He came twice a week, as regular as clockwork. Literally.” Lena giggled. “Trust me, you didn’t miss out on much, if you know what I mean.” She wiggled her carrot stick tellingly and giggled again. “Sorry, Mariel. I didn’t mean to be rude and talk of man parts at the table.”
    “It happens.” Mariel bit her bottom lip, turning pink from trying not to laugh. “But, trust me, that was more information about Earl than I wanted to know.”
    “Trust me, me too.” Lena broke into laughter.
    Callie blushed. “The more I learn about Earl, the luckier I am that this marriage didn’t work out.”
    “That marshal, now.” Lena set down her carrot stick, growing serious. “I was looking out of my window when you were out there in the street with him. Unlike Mariel, I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just looking outside, but the way he looked