by Ciara Knight
“Where are my good boots?” Jeb tore around the house like a cyclone.
“Why do you need your good boots?” I asked, but I already knew the answer. He only wore those for important out of town meetings. My muscles tightened, and my mouth went dry. I had to convince Jeb to stay so that he could meet Fredrick. If not, I’d never move forward with my life.
“Some cattle baron farther south convinced the military that he was the better choice to deliver to the fort. I need to get to where they are camped at the moment out east and convince them otherwise.”
I shook my head. This wasn’t happening. I’d planned this all out. “They can’t renege on a signed contract.”
“They are the government. They can do anything they want. Especially out here. Besides, the contracts weren’t signed yet. It was a handshake deal.”
I eyed his boots in the corner, but I didn’t tell him where to look. “Certainly one day won’t make a difference. I told you that we were having our neighbors over for lunch today.”
Jeb crouched and looked under the chair and then stood with a wrinkled forehead. “Do you not understand that we could lose everything? We are barely up and running, and if this contract is lost, we could have a tough year. How would you like to be hungry all winter again?” he snapped before spotting his boots in the corner.
I saw it in his eyes, his fear, the pressure he’d put on himself, and it broke my heart. It was time for him to stop walking around with our past weighing him down and the responsibility of our future crippling him. He needed to stay, stop chasing the next big deal, and start living life. “What about your bride? You can’t be gone when she arrives.” I didn’t want him marrying the woman, but it was a good reason for him to stay here.
“If I am, you can get her settled until I return. For now, I have to go.” He shoved his feet into his boots and kissed me on the cheek. “Teddy already has my stuff in the wagon. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Before I could utter another word of protest, he disappeared out the door. I collapsed onto the chair, inhaling several deep breaths. Part of me longed for him to stay and stop running after deals, but another part of me was relieved. As much as I wanted a life with Fredrick, I knew I wasn’t ready to face Jeb’s opposition of it all.
And for several more weeks, I didn’t have to worry about them meeting due to Jeb’s absence. For once, I was glad that he cared more about business than being home. I needed more time to enjoy what I had with Fredrick before Jeb tried to rip us apart.
I fell into what felt normal for several weeks. I woke, dressed, and raced to see Agatha, Helga, and Fredrick. I was there for the baby’s first kick, for the completion of the cradle, and I had never been happier. I dreaded Jeb’s return because I knew what I’d be facing, and I didn’t want my happiness to end. I felt like part of a real family. A feeling I hadn’t experienced since childhood.
Unfortunately, today was the day everything would change again. Even though Jeb had not returned, his wife would be coming in on the stagecoach. Teddy maneuvered us along the path until we reached Sherman, and he parked near where the coach would be arriving.
Madame Clare raced out of the saloon in greeting. “Mrs. Clayton, I have news for you. Good news. There is a place on the outskirts of town that will be available. You won’t have to build a home to house women. They can live there.”
I stood facing the woman with beautiful material barely covering her voluptuous curves, stunned for a moment. Part of me assumed there would never be a way to help the women, yet I yearned to do so. I’d spent night after night in the empty house thinking of ways women could earn their own money and find their independence. “This is exciting news.” In the back of my mind, I knew I hadn’t saved enough money to buy a place yet, but perhaps I could negotiate. “Who do I speak to?”
Madame Clare shrunk away in an uncharacteristic fashion. She shifted her weight between her feet and scanned the walkway. “That is the only thing.”
“I don’t understand.”
Teddy secured the horses and joined our conversation. “Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong.” Madame Clare lit up at the sight of Teddy, as if she was a young school girl with a crush. Teddy looked oblivious, though. Perhaps that was a good thing. He shouldn’t get mixed up with a madame. Not even one I respected.
“Who is selling their property?” I asked.
Madame Clare cleared her throat with a knuckle to her lips and then straightened. “Mr. O’Keefe.”
I looked around to see if a man was approaching or standing nearby for me to negotiate terms. “Should I know him?”
“He is the man who beat his wife to death,” Madame Clare announced in an emotionless tone.
My blood ran cold. “Why isn’t he in jail?”
Madame Clare laughed, a way too boisterous sound for the situation. A rehearsed laugh that she must’ve perfected over the years in her brothel to flirt with men she didn’t want to be around. “Are you not trying to save women from the same fate because the law will not?”
I nodded. “Yes, but they know it was murder. I guess I had hoped he would suffer in some way.”
“He has. That’s why he is leaving town. My girls told the men who employ Mr. O’Keefe that if they didn’t run him out of town, they wouldn’t see them anymore.”
My mouth fell open. How could a woman dictate such a demand?
Madame Clare leaned in with a gloved hand to the side of her face. “Oh honey, the only way a man can be controlled is by a woman. A woman who offers what they want most. They have all the power.”
The stagecoach rumbled down the street, so I knew I wouldn’t have time to see the monstrous man immediately. Instead I had to deal with the bride-to-be, the woman who came to a man she never met because she knew he had money. That wouldn’t work. An arranged marriage wouldn’t work. “Can you please tell him of my interest in the property?”
“You can’t buy it. You’re a woman. No right to own that property without a husband.”
I fisted my hands. Someday these laws would be changed. Maybe not in my lifetime, but someday. “Tell him Jeb Clayton is interested.”
Teddy grumbled something under his breath. I turned on him, but he held up his hands.
“I will send word to him.” Madame Clare backed into her brothel with a finger flutter at Teddy, who only waved back and headed to the wagon.
It would take a minute to unload the stagecoach, so I followed Teddy. “Did you know that Madame Clare is sweet on you?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Teddy said flatly.
“Why not?”
“She’ll never give up her independence, and I can’t marry a woman who runs a brothel.”
I understood his words, and I understood why Madame Clare would never relinquish her own power over her life. Is that what kept me from marrying Fredrick? Even though I knew he was a fine man, did I want my freedom?
I looked over to the stagecoach, and to my surprise I saw Jeb exit. Great. They had to have met, then. Was I too late?
“Did you know he was returning today?” I asked.
Teddy shook his head and walked by my side to the stagecoach. Only halfway across the road, a woman in a tattered dress with flaming red hair stepped out of the stagecoach.
Jeb abandoned her behind as if he didn’t know the woman was his betrothed or he didn’t care. I couldn’t help but smile at his ignorance. It only proved the point that he knew nothing of this woman. “You forgot your bride,” I blurted and pointed at the woman standing on the walkway looking around.
“You must have lost your mind, Mother.” Jeb threw his hands up in the air and whispered, “You’ve gone mad. There is no way.”
He marched back to the woman with red hair. “Not this girl. Put her back on the stagecoach.”
If only for a moment, I enjoyed Jeb’s realization that he couldn’t control everything in life. I outstretched my hand to the girl. “Hi, I’m Mary Clayton. You must be Francine McKinnie
.” Of course, I knew otherwise, but this was the perfect chance to catch her in a lie.
To my surprise, she shook her head. Her eyes darted around and landed on Jeb. “No,” she mumbled. Her eyes grew wide.
Jeb let out a breath that whistled between his teeth. “Thank you, Lord in Heaven.”
The girl lifted her chin. “I’m her sister.”
“What?” Jeb said in a tone that left no room for doubt that he was not happy.
I played the surprise game and patted Elizabeth’s shoulders with a motherly touch. “How is it that you are here instead of Francine?”
“Miss Scarborough stated that she’d sent word to both of the betrothed that we were switching.”
Jeb did his frantic pacing that he always did when things didn’t go his way. “I don’t have a say in such matters? This manipulative woman already cost me hours of work. Now she says I’m responsible for her because she traded with her sister? A woman that we vetted based on my criteria that we agreed to.”
I thought about pointing out the fact that I hadn’t been part of the vetting but decided to stay on topic. “Why did you switch?”
Elizabeth searched the ground, the sky, and then my eyes. “Because she was sick. The man in Seattle had a comfortable home with an easier life. I figured a cattle ranch would require someone sturdier.”
Jeb’s face turned all shades of desert. “I didn’t care if she couldn’t work the land. I just need her to—”
“Be a good heifer and produce your livestock,” Elizabeth said in a heated voice.
I spun on my son. “You didn’t say that.”
He grunted and continued pacing. Then stopped, removed his hat, and ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I don’t want her. Send her back.”
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, lifted her chin, and pushed back her shoulders. This girl was nothing like I had expected. She was not a manipulative woman who would use her beauty to get what she wanted. Instead, she challenged Jeb in a way no woman had ever dared.
“I don’t want you, but you made a promise. Are you breaking your word?”
He whirled on her, gripping his hat so tight it crumpled. “No, you did. You came on a lie. That’s all women know how to do—lie, cheat, and manipulate.”
Men began congregating around as if to put their name in the hat to take her home. No way I’d let that happen. Not when I was trying to save women from such a fate. I’d take her home for a bit until I could figure out what to do. If anything, she might be a challenge to my son until I managed to get a home for independent woman up and running.
“You would bring a girl all the way out here with a promise of marriage and then break your contract? What kind of man are you?” She cried into her hands with a little extra shoulder bounce. She was good. Madame Clare would be impressed.
“Stop that. You’re causing a scene,” he ordered, but the more he barked, the more she cried.
Perhaps she did have a slight manipulativeness to her, but she was smart and was handling Jeb, despite his ornery personality.
“If you don’t want me, if you want to be a scoundrel, then you need to take care of your financial obligations.” Elizabeth dotted her eyes with the corner of her handkerchief.
That sealed her fate to go home with us. Jeb would never part with his precious money.
“No way. I am not giving you anything. You’re the one in breach of contract.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stood in a defiant, firmed-jaw, puckered-lips stance.
But that’s when I saw it, the slight curve of his lips. He was frustrated and angry, but there was more. This woman got his attention like no other woman ever had. Perhaps there was something to this girl worth investigating further.
“Come, dear.” I wrapped my arm around Elizabeth and nudged her toward our wagon. She kept the tears rolling until we rode out of town.
Chapter Fourteen
After I knew Elizabeth was settled into the house and Jeb was put out, I decided to make myself scarce. The next day, I hid in my room and watched from the window and listened from my door. As I had expected, Elizabeth was a force to be admired. She’d won over all the ranch hands with one meal and a smile. Ten or so men on her side to Jeb’s one or two would tip the scales.
That evening, I took my dinner in my room. When I heard a commotion outside, I spied Elizabeth stomping from the barn with her hair and attitude on fire. Jeb followed a few moments later with a pile of food on his head and down his shirt. At that moment, I knew I could leave Elizabeth to settle the matter between her and my son. It was time for me to figure out what I wanted, so the next morning and many after that, I rose and hurried to the Krause place. It was amazing now that the weather had given way to flowers and hope.
Of course, when I arrived Fredrick was hunched over a project working hard. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” he bellowed. “How is new bride-to-be?”
I laughed. “Oh, she is giving Jeb something and more. I mean, I think she has him twisted all up inside. He may not know it, but he likes Elizabeth. I figure it is only a matter of time until they are married. That is, if he doesn’t drive her away first.”
Fredrick put down his chisel and scooped me into his arms. “This mean you ready to marry? Now that son has found wife?” he asked with a hint of command in his voice.
“Maybe. I mean, she only just arrived. I need a little more time, Fredrick. Please, be patient with me.”
He took in a deep breath, his chest pressing to my face. “I patient man, but I hope you marry me soon. Even patient men will realize when love won’t stick around.”
A sharp pain stabbed me in the heart. “What are you saying?”
“I saying it has been long time of courting, months and months. I think you never want to marry.”
“What?”
He slid from my arms and resumed his work as if the conversation had ended.
“Please, you need to understand. I need a little more time.” I moved to his side, but he didn’t look up at me, and I could feel the pain. The way he chiseled wasn’t smooth and clean but chunky and angry. “Did I tell you there is a house for sale that I can buy for the women?”
He stopped chiseling for a moment and then continued with a smoother stroke. “No.”
“I know it is a long shot, but I was going to use Jeb’s name to buy it since they won’t let a woman.”
“So, Jeb will buy it for you?” Fredrick asked.
I shrugged. “I am hoping they will sell it to him through me so I don’t have to ask. I will keep saving from the money he gives me weekly. Right now, he is headed out for a cattle drive. He’s determined to get this done so that he can land some sort of big contract. I hope Elizabeth understands that he will always be away on business instead of home.”
“I would have bought it in your name for you, but you didn’t ask me,” he said in a wounded tone. “Perhaps he will decide that being home is worth it when woman there.”
I could feel the pressure to tell him right now that I had decided it was time to marry him. Part of me wanted it more than air, but another part felt the pull of parenthood. That guilt that I’d already done so much wrong to Jeb. “I’m going to check on Agatha now. I want to see how she’s feeling.”
Fredrick only waved me away, so I thought I’d give him some time to settle before I tried to speak to him again.
I found Agatha bent over the table rubbing her back. It was a little early, but she had swollen, and her body appeared to be preparing for birth. “How long have you been feeling this way?”
Helga bolted from the chair, waving her arms about and hollering at us both.
Agatha ignored her, which only agitated Helga more. “It just started. Only two since I woke.”
I smiled. “It could be any day, but probably not now. Rest. I’ll fix you something.”
“I already ate.” She took two long breaths and then sat in a chair. “We need to talk.”
“There is nothing to worry about,
Agatha. I will be here through it all. And you are strong and will make an amazing mother. Much better than I ever was.”
She pressed her lips tight, and tears pooled in her eyes. “Will you ever marry Papa?”
“What?” I lowered to a chair at her side and rubbed circles on her low back.
“It has been long courtship. Papa is scared you will never marry him. Is this true?”
“I…I don’t know. I mean, yes, but I need more time.”
“If you not want to marry him, tell me. I know of a nice German woman in Sherman who lost her husband. She would do well here, and my papa and her would get along.”
My head swarmed, and my insides revolted. The idea of Fredrick with another woman made my head feel light and confused. “No, we are going to get married. Why would you want him with another? Did I do something to offend you?”
Agatha rubbed her belly. “No, it is just I see something. You still scared to marry again. Will you ever be able to?”
Helga quieted and sat in her chair again, but if I didn’t know better, she was listening to our conversation. Perhaps she’d picked up on something based on our emotion or a few words. I sat by Agatha’s side and took her hand. “I love your father. It’s just that things are complicated right now with Elizabeth arriving and Jeb trying to work on this big deal with the government.”
“So you said, but if you care for my father, truly care for him, please think about what is next. When the next problem with your son happens, or the next storm hits, or when you finally realize that you cannot fully commit to any man because you will never fully let go of your past.”
I shook my head. “It isn’t true.”
“I believe it is. And I will not let you hurt my papa. Please, go home and think about what you will do. If you can figure out why you not able to marry him yet, then maybe you will be able to move ahead and he can find happiness with another.”
“Or maybe I can marry him and live a happy life with you both.”
Agatha sighed. “Perhaps, but if you do not figure it out by the time the baby is here, then we are leaving. Papa will be setting up shop in Sherman and will move on with his life.”