Page 52 of My Heart Will Find You

“I guess we just walk around. Maybe we should buy a gift for Alice. Something expensive. Maybe diamonds.”

“I agree, but I still don’t think they’d make her forgive us.”

She put her arm through his. “When a girl wants a man, she wants a man. Not even diamonds will compensate.”

He chuckled. “If we have to turn this place upside down, we’ll find him. Soon.”

She smiled warmly at him. Once the man was found for Alice, they could turn their attention to each other.

Max drove through the town slowly, and Etta looked hard at every saloon, stable, and store, but she didn’t see anyone who looked like her brother-in-law. She tried to concentrate on the faces in case Old West Phillip had a different body than the one she was used to.

She saw no man who was even close to him.

Max stopped the buggy near the train station. Etta hadn’t seen it, but she’d supposedly arrived there. At least her body did.Whose mind and body did I overtake?she wondered.

To her, the hastily built station was sad. She knew the connection would be moved, and the entire town of Garrett would disappear.

There was a sort-of restaurant nearby. It wasn’t clean, and it was too small for so many people.

“We can get something to eat,” Max said.

“Salmonella in the making,” Etta said under her breath.

As they were about to enter the food hall, she saw someone who looked familiar. It took her a moment to realize that she’d seen his photo and knew who he was. She slipped through the people to stand beside the man and spoke loudly. “Wouldn’t it be great if someone opened a real restaurant at each of these train stations? They’d be clean and serve good food. The waitresses could be girls from the east. I bet they’d marry local men and set up schools and churches. They’d stop the violence in the Wild West. Whoever did that would make an absolute fortune.”

The man was looking at Etta in surprise. Why was she saying all this to a stranger?

She smiled at him. “Think about it, Mr. Harvey. Harvey Girls could change the whole country.” With that, she slipped back into the crowd.

Max was waiting for her. “Another part of your quest?”

“Maybe. I need to go to the, you know.”

He nodded toward a door in the back.

As a child, Etta had seen two-hole outhouses when her parents took her to historical sites, but she’d never really thought about them. By comparison, Alice’s private toilet was a palace. This one had four holes. Two were being used, and the smell of the place made her gag. She wanted to leave, but she needed to go. She soon found out the advantage of skirts. They lifted and kept you covered. Etta’s gaucho pants had to be slipped down and exposed a person. “Sorry,” she muttered when she was frowned at. She’d broken outhouse etiquette.

She reassembled her clothes, again thinking about the joys of elastic, and left the hideous place.

Just a few feet away, rapidly crossing the street, was an older version of her niece, Nola. Her hair was in braids, and she was wearing a dress of blue-and-white stripes. Like always, she was bent on going somewhere and letting no one stop her.

Etta glanced at the door into the train building. She should go tell Max what she’d seen. But if she did, she’d lose Nola. She ran after her niece, but she seemed to have disappeared. Feeling frantic, Etta looked around for her, then saw the skirt disappear through a door. The sign said Garrett Emporium.

Etta hurried after her. Inside, the store was long and narrow. Nola was in the far back where there were bolts of fabric. Etta didn’t know how to approach her. “Hi, my name is Etta. Where is your father?” That wouldn’t go over in any era. It hit her that in this life, Phillip could be married.Please no, she thought.

The storekeeper, in a white apron, was handing canned goods to a boy on a ladder. Fully packed shelves went from floor to ceiling.

She leaned over the counter and said quietly, “Do you know who that girl is?”

The man looked at Etta, didn’t recognize her, and turned away. “Don’t know.”

“I’m trying to find her father.”

The man shrugged. “Lots of other men in this town.”

Obviously, he wasn’t going to give her any information. So did she stalk the girl? Maybe she could lie to Nola, say she was a teacher and gain her confidence.Or I could use Max, she thought. “I’m Max Lawton’s wife,” she said loudly.

Immediately, the shopkeeper set the cans down and went to her. “What can I help you with, Mrs. Lawton?”

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