His Dry Creek Inheritance

by Janet Tronstad

“Oh, no,” Bailey said. “There was no man when Junior was saying those things. Mark has been my friend since we started the first grade. He’s been gone for ten years and hasn’t even been back in the country for more than a week or so.”

  “Oh,” they said, almost in unison. Then they followed it with a collective disappointed sigh.

  “You’re sure you’re just friends?” the first woman asked. “He seems like a very fine man.”

  “And so nice,” another woman offered. “He was so interested in us.”

  “He wanted to know all about what a pregnant woman needed to eat,” another one of them said. “We gave him some pointers on vitamins.”

  “He made me sandwiches for the trip in this morning,” Bailey offered what she could and the women smiled as though that’s what they would have expected.

  “We can get hungry all of a sudden,” one of the women noted. “He’s got a good head on his shoulders.”

  “We’re just friends though,” Bailey added to be sure they knew.

  The women nodded, but she could tell they didn’t have their hearts in it. Bailey decided that all pregnant women must like a good romance story. She wished she had one to tell them.

  It wasn’t until she and Mark were slowly walking back to the pickup that Bailey realized that, even if her relationship with Mark wasn’t what the women thought, she had been proud of him. With Junior, she had introduced him and hoped for the best. No one seemed to applaud him. She realized later that he had a reputation for playing fast and loose with women. No one had told her about that, but she figured that was the reason he’d gone all the way to Los Angeles to convince her to marry him. Eli wanted him to find a wife and all of the women around Dry Creek were wise to him.

  She and Mark got settled into the cab of the pickup and Bailey asked, “Did the doctor help you?”

  “He sure did,” Mark said as he pulled a white paper bag out of his pocket. “He gave me some sample pills.”

  “For panic attacks?” Bailey asked in surprise. She didn’t think they gave those pills out like that.

  Mark shook his head as he started the engine. “They’re vitamins. The ladies in the waiting room recommended them. Even if you haven’t been taking them until now, they’ll still help.”

  Bailey looked at him in exasperation. “You talked to the doctor about me the whole time, didn’t you? You were supposed to talk about yourself.”

  “I’m fine,” Mark said as he pulled out into the street. “You’re the one having a baby. And—” he glanced over sternly “—the women said you need to be resting more. From now on, Josh or I will do the cooking.”

  Bailey waved the concern away. “I’m not doing hard cooking. Mostly it’s just warming up things. And I get plenty of rest. The doctor is always saying I need more rest. But I can’t live my life asleep.”

  Since it was not even eleven o’clock, they decided to go see Arnold about the shirts Mark wanted.

  At first, Bailey wasn’t going to go into the shop with Mark, but it was cold outside and she did want to say hello to Arnold. She’d felt bad when the older man left his job just because he was worried about all of that gossip about her and a mystery man.

  Mark insisted on holding her arm as they made their way down the sidewalk to the door and Bailey was grateful for the support. She’d heard other women complain about feeling like hippos in the last weeks of their pregnancy and she knew what they meant when she started to feel her feet slip on the ice. She probably would have fallen without Mark’s help.

  The store was warm and a bell tinkled when they stepped inside. No one was visible at first, but then Bailey saw Arnold coming out from a back room wearing a tailor’s apron over his clothes. Shelves of men’s slacks lined one side of the shop and hats of all kinds hung on the opposite wall. The rest of the store was filled with racks of suits and shirts of all colors—bright red, black-and-gray plaid, yellow, beige and blue. She loved the brightness.

  “Bailey!” Arnold called out, clearly glad to see her.

  Then the older man ignored Mark and even Bailey as he hurried over to pull the blinds on the front store window. Following that, he reached under the covering and flipped the small Open sign to Closed.

  “What’s happening?” Bailey asked as she took a step closer to Mark.

  Mark looked puzzled, too, as he studied the older man.

  “I thought Eli would be enough, but now he’s gone,” Arnold muttered, almost to himself. His short gray hair stood out in tufts on the side of his balding head. He looked distraught, but determined.

  He turned so he had his back to Mark and was facing Bailey.

  “Is something wrong?” Bailey asked.

  “No, nothing’s wrong. I’m just working up my nerve to have a private conversation and I don’t want the whole town of Miles City to hear what I have to say.”

  Bailey was worried. Was he going to yell about something? “Did Eli—I mean, did the ranch not give you the right amount of pay when you left?”

  That was the only thing she could imagine that would put that pained look on Arnold’s face and have anything to do with Eli. She hoped the amount owed wasn’t too high.

  “I don’t imagine you want your job back.” Bailey kept talking. She did that when she was nervous. “It’s the cold time of year. Your rheumatism would act up something fierce. But if you really want it back, we could—”

  “I’ve decided it’s time to do my duty,” Arnold interrupted, the effort of talking clear on his face. “Just give me a minute.”

  Arnold walked behind a counter and pulled out a wooden chair that he shoved over to where Bailey stood. Then he used the chair for balance as he slowly knelt down in front of her. She winced along with Arnold as his knees hit the hard floor.

  Everyone waited as Arnold caught his breath.

  Bailey wondered if he would mind if she sat in that chair now that it was so convenient and he was no longer using it. She was feeling a little faint. Maybe it was too warm in here.

  Arnold’s face shone with perspiration, but he seemed intent as he extracted a white handkerchief from a pocket and wiped his forehead.

  “Are you all right?” Mark asked as he stepped closer to the older man. Bailey shared the same concern.

  Arnold turned to frown at Mark. “I wouldn’t need to do this if you were doing the right thing. When I saw you here, I thought it was why you came back. But Josh tells me it’s not.”

  Mark looked at Bailey as though she might know what was going on. She shook her head; she didn’t have a clue.

  Arnold turned back to her and cleared his throat. Then he began to speak formally, “Miss Bailey, I would like to honor me—mean, I would like the honor of having your hand in marriage.”

  “What?” Bailey exclaimed, her voice faint.

  “I’m willing to marry you,” Arnold said, his voice regaining its strength. “Right and proper. That baby of yours needs a father and I’m willing. If Eli were still here, it would be different, but he’s not. I am though and I stand ready.”

  “I don’t think—” Mark began and Arnold looked at him sternly.

  “No, you probably don’t think,” Arnold said, scolding Mark. “I don’t know why men aren’t willing to shoulder their duty these days. You should be the one marrying Bailey.”

  “But Mark isn’t the father,” Bailey said, her voice rising defiantly. “And you know that very well, Arnold Green.”

  “Well, I’m not the father either,” Arnold retorted emphatically. “But Junior’s dead. There’s nothing we can do to bring him back. So, we need someone to step up and do the job.”

  Bailey wondered if any woman anywhere had received a less flattering proposal.

  “No one needs to marry me,” she said, feeling a headache coming on. “I’m a grown woman and I can take care of myself and my children. Single parents do it all the tim
e.”

  She decided she better sit down on that chair after all. She was already a little woozy. Mark was right there steadying her or she might have tipped sideways before she made it to the chair.

  “See,” Arnold said gruffly. “You need help.”

  “Well, maybe I do.” She had to admit that. “But just until the baby comes.”

  “Any pregnant woman or animal needs some assistance,” Mark said, agreeing with her forcefully. “It says so in the book.”

  “What book?” Bailey asked, feeling a little disoriented.

  “You read a book about pregnancy?” Arnold asked in astonishment, looking at Mark with some respect. “Maybe you will do as a husband after all.”

  “I prefer to arrange my own life,” Mark said. “I’m sure Bailey does, too.”

  “Well,” Arnold said as he pulled himself to his feet holding on to the back of the chair Bailey was using. Once upright, he brushed his slacks with his hands and then adjusted his apron. “You have my offer, but I’ll put it on hold until you both come to your senses. I will expect you to inform me when you two have the situation in hand.”

  Bailey was going to respond, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. She wondered if she was experiencing some low blood sugar. Maybe she should have eaten two of those sandwiches that Mark had brought along for her.

  “Now,” Arnold said just like they hadn’t had their discussion. “What can I help you with today?”

  The shock of that change of topic stopped everyone.

  “I need some shirts,” Mark finally said. “A few work shirts. A white shirt. And a nice black suit that works for funerals and such.”

  “I suppose you were wishing you had one at Eli’s send-off,” Arnold said in a friendly clerk voice. “You can always rent one, you know.”

  Mark nodded. “I have long arms so I’m hard to fit. It’s best that I have my own. And I don’t want to be caught up short again.”

  Arnold turned, walked to the counter and came back with a measuring tape.

  Mark stood patiently while Arnold measured him.

  Bailey smiled quietly. Now that the drama was over, she realized what a pleasure it was to watch Mark.

  Twenty minutes later, he was at the counter paying for a pile of clothes and two top hats. Mark had bought the small top hat as a gift for her daughter.

  “Rosie will be excited,” Bailey said quietly. “I can’t believe they had such a small top hat. I thought we’d have to make one out of black construction paper.”

  Mark shook his head. “That wouldn’t stay on her head. Not when she’s tapping her heart out. And she’ll want to take it off for when she makes her bow at the end. I thought we’d have to buy one online though from a party store.”

  Arnold finished bagging the shirts and put a cleaner’s plastic cover around the suit.

  “Too bad they don’t have canes here,” Mark said as he paid for his new clothes. “Short ones.”

  “They have canes at the drug store on the next street north of here,” Arnold said. “I don’t know the sizes, but some of them adjust quite a bit.”

  “I have a cane for her,” Bailey said. “Mrs. Hargrove had one that she used for Sunday school programs over the years. It’s kid size. And we bought several taps for her shoes already. And she has a dress to wear that works. She’s already rehearsed some.”

  “That’s good then,” Mark said as he picked up the two bags that held his new clothes.

  Mark turned around and then looked at her.

  “I’m going to have to make a couple of trips,” he said. “My cane takes one arm and I only have two.”

  “That’s okay,” Bailey said as she stood. “I can get myself out to the pickup.”

  “Not on my watch,” he said as he walked over to where she sat and set the bags on the floor. “I’ll take you in the first trip.”

  By the time Mark settled her in the pickup and returned to get his bags, Bailey saw the first snowflake fall.

  “Maybe we should take a rain check on that fancy dinner,” she said when he climbed back into the cab. She had counted a dozen more flakes that had fallen in the time he’d been gone. “We’ll do best to get the groceries and head on home.”

  “I don’t want you out in a blizzard, that’s for sure,” Mark said as he put on his seat belt and turned the key in the ignition. “Did you make a list? I can go in and get what we need.”

  Bailey nodded. “The only thing I don’t have on the list is dog food. I didn’t know if you wanted to get it at the grocery store or the farmer’s co-op—it’s cheaper there.”

  “I figure the grocery store given the snow,” Mark said.

  Bailey gave him directions to the store she usually used and a half hour later they were loaded up and leaving the parking lot to head for the freeway.

  “I can drive through some place and get hamburgers for us,” Mark said as they pulled onto a street with several fast-food restaurants. “You pick which one.”

  Mark pulled up to the one she chose and they ordered from the window.

  Minutes later, Bailey accepted the foil-wrapped burger he handed her and opened it, breathing in the blissful aroma of warm bread and grilled meat.

  Mark chuckled. “You still look like a Madonna.”

  “Huh?” she turned to him.

  “It’s nothing,” Mark said. “I think I’m beginning to see that you really haven’t changed much since grade school. Not in the important ways.”

  Bailey thought about it. “I never did need fancy things to make me happy even though I do think we should go out to a nice dinner sometime.”

  “When there’s not a storm coming,” Mark said.

  “I’m going to hold you to that,” Bailey said and took a bite out of her hamburger.

  A few minutes later she put her food down. After one bite she started to fret. “I want you to know that Arnold is wrong. There’s no reason you should feel beholden to marry me. I’ll be fine.”

  “I know you will,” Mark said. “But I can’t hold it against Arnold that he cares about you and the baby and Rosie. I’ve been worried about all of you myself.”

  “You don’t think he’ll go find someone else and suggest they marry me, do you?” Bailey asked. She knew she should leave this alone, but she couldn’t.

  “No, I don’t,” Mark replied confidently. “I’ve already thought about all of the single men around.”

  She gasped. “You’d set me up with somebody?”

  “No,” Mark said patiently. “I just told you. I couldn’t think of anyone good enough.”

  Bailey didn’t know what to say to that.

  “Well, don’t set me up,” she finally managed to say.

  Bailey waited to see if he had anything to add, but he apparently didn’t. She told herself she never should have asked her question. She did note that he didn’t seem to have any remote notion about marrying her himself. That alone made his position clear.

  * * *

  Mark drove carefully all of the way home. He might never want to get married, Bailey thought, but she knew he would take care of her. She couldn’t really ask anything more of a friend. Except perhaps—

  “That white shirt,” she said when they were about halfway home. “Do you plan to go to church this coming Sunday?”

  Mark was silent for longer than she had hoped.

  “I might go,” Mark finally said. “I don’t want people to think I’ve been run off with their comments about my dog.”

  Bailey nodded. There was a chance Mark would learn to care about others, maybe even to love them. He was trying. She’d leave the rest to God.

  Chapter Eight

  Mark woke up early on Sunday and wished he could stay in bed. But he had to go to church this morning. He heard a whining and rolled over to find his dog standing beside the door. Mark vowed to
build a doggie door in the bunkhouse as soon as he could. He didn’t know why it hadn’t been done already.

  “Just a minute,” Mark muttered as he stood up and wrapped the blankets around him. Then he fumbled around until he could put his feet into the pair of slippers he’d found in the closet off the laundry room. With that, he walked over to the door and let the dog out into the dim light of morning.

  Mark noted more snow had fallen during the night. He knew folks in this kind of country didn’t let a few feet of snow stop them from going to church, but he wished they did.

  When they had arrived back to the ranch yesterday, he’d had mail. Mrs. Hargrove had sent him an embossed card, asking him to come and talk to her kindergarten Sunday school class about what it was like to be in the military. She said he could pick the date, but she hoped he would do the talk on the eighth, which was today, since next Sunday would be Valentine’s Day weekend and she planned to do a whole section on love.

  Mark wasn’t sure about her doing war one week and love the next, but he knew the older woman would find a way to make it fascinating to the children.

  When his dog came back inside, Mark sat down on the bench by the door and used a ragged towel to dry the mutt off. By the blissful look in the animal’s eyes, he seemed to enjoy the snow, although he never did want to stay outside for long. Come to think of it, maybe the canine liked the drying-off time and not the snow itself.

  “We need to get you a name, don’t we, partner?” Mark murmured once the dog was dry. He noticed the animal was already looking better than it had when he first saw it. It no longer looked like a stray.

  Thinking of looks, Mark wondered if he should wear his army uniform for the class today and decided he would. He had a few shiny medals and bits of color here and there that would give the children something to look at if they didn’t want to listen. Of course, he’d have to say something.

  As he sat there wondering what to say to the children, more light streamed into the bunkhouse and finally it was time to get up.

  Mark and Josh were seated at the breakfast table with Bailey and Rosie when Mark gave up on trying to figure out what to say to the class.