West (History Interrupted Book 1) by Lizzy Ford Read Free Book Online

knocked about bad.”
    “It sounds like quite an adventure.”
    “None of your jests Miss Josie. A woman is safe in her father’s home and her husband’s. Nowhere else in this godforsaken Indian Territory. This isn’t Boston.”
    I considered the words, not certain why they confused me so much. Maybe because my life was so different. It was intriguing to witness firsthand – yet unsettling as well.
    “What if John … Father … doesn’t want me here?” I ventured. “Will my appearance upset his health?”
    “Nonsense, child. You came back … different, I’ll admit, but he has never stopped waiting for you. He will love you as he always has,” Nell said. “You leaving broke him. He’s a different man, Miss Josie. He won’t be angry no more about your fiancé and he won’t force you into a new marriage.”
    Seated in a stranger’s house with a woman who thought me someone else brushing my hair, I felt guilty for a moment, like what I was doing – pretending to be someone I wasn’t – was somehow wrong. If Carter sent me back here, he had a reason. I didn’t think he’d ask me to do something that was bad, yet I couldn’t help thinking the people of this house would be sad when I left.
    “That’s good,” I said. As soon as John saw me, he’d know. A nanny might be fooled, but I didn’t think a father was going to be convinced a stranger was his daughter, no matter how much I resembled the real Josie.
    Nell finished brushing and twisting my hair into an elaborate bun on top of my head before she went to the wardrobe.
    I glanced down at my phone and saw a message from Carter.
    OMG! Of all the things you could send me pics of, you chose THAT?
    It took effort not to laugh. Nell already thought there was something wrong with me for running away. I tucked the phone in a pocket in the gown and gazed around me, amazed at the relative comfort of the room compared to the near squalor of the bedrooms I saw on the tour at Tombstone. John was wealthy – a pleasant surprise I’d thank Carter for later.
    My thoughts turned to my mission. How did I find the two men I sought in a world without so much as a phone book, let alone the internet? Did I go door to door until someone recognized the name? Or wait for the brain chips to activate?
    Nell knelt in front of me with a pair of leather booties. I lifted my feet one by one and placed them in the boots.
    “There,” she said and sat back, satisfied. “Now, we must meet your father.”
    I rose - and almost fell. Lightheaded from the corset, headachy from unexpected brain surgery, I braced myself against the table.
    “Nell, I can’t breathe!” I gasped. “You gotta loosen that thing.”
    “You must be attired in the proper style,” Nell said. “You will adjust.”
    This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of.
    I struggled to catch my breath then straightened. It took a moment for me to find balance. “All right. I’m ready.”
    Nell was smiling, her eyes filled with tears. “Welcome back, Miss Josie. I’ve missed you dearly,” she said.
    Guilt stirred once more. I bit my tongue and forced a smile. I had to play along. If I hurt these people, it wasn’t on purpose. I was here for a very good cause: to save a million lives.
    Except I had no idea where to start or even if I landed in the right place to make a difference.
    I trailed my governess out of my room. Nell was speaking quietly about the people who lived in the house, as if to remind me. I tried to listen but wasn’t able to concentrate, instead taking in my surroundings with curiosity. I was in my own wing of a two-story house that appeared to be quite large.
    A sweeping stairwell led to the first floor and the front door, which was flanked by two massive rooms with expensive, period furniture, including a piano and a harp.
    At least my fake-daddy is rich, I thought. Portraits of stern men lined the wide corridor on the main floor, which was edged by closed doors. Judging by the paintings,