Nothing Compares to You (The Terrible Trentons: Book 2)
by
Andrea Jenelle
Chapter One
Cassius
1888, Leadville, Colorado
Cassius Trenton held a losing hand of cards, and he doubted his charm would help extricate him from the situation.
The man across from him was of even more questionable character than his own, so he knew any failure to produce the funds he’d pledged would not work in his favor.
Cassius debated the merits of heeding the telegram that his landlady had handed him that morning.
Please come home. Archie’s disappeared and your family needs you.
He was certain his mother had sent it -not his father. If his father had sent it, there would have been no please attached to the request.
When his father had threatened to ruin Deirdre Flaherty's life and that of her family if he didn’t apply himself to the family legacy and put her aside, Cass had headed west. He knew he couldn’t be anywhere near her and not want her, so he’d taken his shredded heart and the bitter pill of the knowledge no one else would compare, and applied himself to the Colorado silver mines instead of his father’s plans for his life.
For the last seven years, he’d wandered aimlessly through the Rocky Mountains - pining for the woman he’d left behind. He lost track of things - because she’d always been his compass.He was losing track of things now-the cards he held, what his opponents had already laid on the table, because he was distracted by the telegram. He couldn’t stop thinking about it - if he went home, would she still be there waiting? Was she angry? Or had she found someone else? Or worse, died of a broken heart?
Archie was the obedient son and Cass had always been the rebel. Even though Cass was the oldest, he preferred a fishing rod to a column of numbers. Archie was the opposite- it’s why Cass hadn’t felt guilty about leaving. Because Archie had been there to learn the family business and hold down the fort.
It had always been Archie who had their father’s ear. Archie with his level-headedness and fondness for books. Archie who was perfectly content to play peacemaker and smooth over the ripples of discontent between Cass and their father.
But now Archie had left too - and there was an undertone of desperation in his mother’s summons.
He laid his cards face down on the table. “I fold, gentlemen. I’ve been ordered home for the holidays.”
***
Cass had sold his horse, his tooled leather saddle and his pistols to meet the bets he’d placed. He’d settled with his landlady and purchased train fare home with what remained.
When he knocked on the door of his childhood home, he’d have little more than he left with. At least materially.
The green, heartbroken day dreamer he’d been was far behind him - lost in the dust and scuffle and grim reality of life beyond the Mississippi. Replaced by a man who’d grown accustomed to sleeping under the stars and acting like an opportunistic bastard in order to survive the world alone.
When the familiar outlines of the brick factory on the edge of town came into view, Cass’s whole body started vibratingin anticipation. He didn’t know if his father even knew his mother had sent the telegram - or if he’d receive a warm welcome.
As soon as the train came to a screeching stop, he grabbed his satchel and exited. Everything was the same. The sounds - children laughing, the bell choir ringing away in a corner under the eaves collecting money for the poor, the muffled tears as families embraced each other on the platform. The smells were the same too - the sharp, acrid burn of the steam engine, the rich, briny tang of boiled peanuts in a barrel just to the right of the busy station.
Cass slung his satchel across his back and pulled his hat over his ears. He pulled his collar up too - because he wasn’t quite ready to be recognized. He was much changed in appearance - broad and hard when he’d once been softer and yet more angular. He’d barely sported a thin mustache then, and now wore a full beard.
But most of all, he was different on the inside.
A quarter of an hour later, he was knocking on the front door of the home he’d grown up in.
It swung open and a flurry of dark skirts surrounded him.
“You’re finally here,” Perry said as she drew back, one hand pressed to her mouth, her eyes full of tears.
His little sister had changed too. She was a woman grown - garbed in a summery blue with a cameo at her throat.
“I’ve been watching the train schedule like a hawk,” Dio said as he came to stand beside Perry, sliding an arm around her waist.
