by Linda Bridey
“I don’t suppose you ladies know what sort of good huntin’ there is around here,” Mick asked.
“I’m sure I don’t,” Violet replied.
“I do,” Iris cut in. “There’s deer and elk and moose down here on the range all the time, especially in the fall. You know how it is. If you go up into the mountains, it’s even better. There’s bears, cougars, and wolves. And, of course, there’s birds. You go down to the river, you’ll have no end of birds of all kinds.”
Mick squinted at her. “You don’t go huntin’, do ya?”
Iris blushed. “No. I don’t have time. But Pete and Wade go when they have a day or two off.”
“Hmm.” Mick turned back to unpacking his cases. He took out bandoliers of small caliber bullets and boxes of rifle cartridges. He sorted them all and laid them out by size. “Maybe you and me can go for a ride up there, Chuck.” He nodded toward the mountains behind the ranch.
“You go ahead. I want to have a look at things around the ranch.” He caught Violet’s eye and glanced away.
“How ‘bout you, Jake?” Mick asked. “You fancy a little bit a’ huntin’ before you get stuck into work?”
Jake strolled across the porch and leaned against a post. “I could be tempted to go out, if you’re goin’. No sense bustin’ ourselves with work right away, especially if we’re gettin’ married on Friday. Might do to take a day or two to settle in first.”
“If the ranch is anywhere near as behind as you say it is,” Chuck added. “Then we don’t have any time to waste goin’ off huntin’. But I tell you what, I mean to have a look for myself and decide just what’s what. I won’t take anyone’s word on the state of things around here. I’ll look and see for myself.”
“No one’s stoppin’ you,” Mick replied. “But there’ll be plenty of time for work after we get married. I’ve been traveling for three weeks to get here. I’m gonna take at least a day or two off before I start crackin’ heads.”
Violet caught her breath at his words, but no one else seemed to notice.
“We should get down to the house,” Iris remarked. “It’ll be suppertime soon. We can talk about things then. You men’ll want to get settled in, and we’ve had a long day on the road.”
“That’s all right,” Mick replied. “You go ahead. We’ll be down to supper directly.”
“Before we go,” Violet interrupted. “I should show you around the house a little bit. There are some extra supplies in there to make your stay more comfortable.”
“Oh, right,” Iris replied. “I forgot. Violet arranged the house for your coming.”
“If you follow me….” Inside, she showed them to the wood stove in the corner of the main room downstairs. “There’s firewood here, and we always keep a box of matches and candles here on the shelf. I don’t know if you’ll need to light the fire. It’s been pretty warm here the last few weeks, and I’ve arranged with Rita for you three to take your meals down at the main house.”
“If it’s warm and we don’t need to cook,” Chuck replied. “Then I don’t see us needing to light the fire.”
“That’s what I thought,” Violet agreed. “But you never know. Just keep it in mind. And there’s a box of tinder here for getting it going.” She crossed the room to a wooden trunk built into the wall of the room. “In here, I’ve put some food stores, just in case you get hungry. You never know when you might want something between meals. There’s a side of bacon, a couple rounds of cheese, a loaf of bread, and a basket of apples from the cellar. That should keep you going. If you eat all that and you want some more, you let me know and I’ll fix you up.”
Chuck smiled at her. “Very practical. Thank you.”
Violet smiled back. “They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so I figured we’d keep the way well cleared.”
The three men chuckled. “Of course.”
“Now then.” Violet stopped at the foot of the ladder leading up to the loft. “The beds are upstairs. I suppose Rose showed you, Jake. I won’t go up. You can find your way by yourselves. But you’ll find a supply of extra blankets in the bench at the foot of the beds. You shouldn’t need them, what with the mild weather we’re having, but like I said, you never know. If you need something else, you can tell me.”
“No one’s told you yet, Chuck,” Iris interrupted. “Violet runs this ranch. Cornell thinks he’s the one who makes all the decisions around here, but it’s actually Violet who decides who does what and when and where. She even keeps the books.”
“I’m glad to hear it.” Chuck nodded to her. “It’s good to know my future wife knows how to manage a place. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Violet flushed with pride. “I’m only doing what I have to do. I feel the same way Iris does. This ranch is our inheritance, and I want to make sure we have it in good working order to hand down to the next generation. Cornell can only do so much. He can’t run the ranch with a woman’s eye for the small details. He can’t know how to run the kitchen for maximum efficiency. He can’t know all the things we could be doing for ourselves instead of paying for them in town.”
“Violet tells Rita what to cook for our meals and what ingredients to use,” Iris told them. “She even tells her how much soap to use in the laundry and how to make the soap. She mends all our clothes, and she does it so well that Cornell doesn’t even notice they’ve been mended. If he did notice, he would tell us to throw the clothes away and buy new ones.”
“It’s a waste of money,” Violet insisted. “Take a look at this dress.” She held up the skirts of her own dress. “Look at that seam. You would never know that dress had been mended.”
The three men examined the seam, and nodded their heads in mute agreement.
“This is a perfectly good dress,” Violet declared. “Why should I throw it away when it could be mended as good as new? And the laundry soap. If Cornell knew we used homemade soap for the laundry, he would tell us to use store bought soap instead. It’s just wasteful, and it’s our own money he’s wasting, too. He doesn’t care about spending our money the same way he would care if it was his own.”
“I agree with you absolutely,” Chuck replied. “A woman should do everything possible to safeguard the family economy. My mother made all our clothes, all our soap, mended all our clothes, and cooked all our food from homegrown ingredients. It’s the mark of a sensible, practical woman. And it’s everything I hoped my wife would be, too.”
Violet blushed to the roots of her hair. “It’s the least a woman can do to run her own household. We’re not royalty, although Cornell certainly would like to think we are.”
“And do you know,” Iris continued. “Violet sneaks Cornell’s clothes and mends them on the sly. That’s how practical she is. He doesn’t even know his clothes have been mended. That’s how far Violet goes to keep him happy. He thinks she’s his strongest supporter around here. He doesn’t even know she disagrees with him.”
The three men stared at Violet with new appreciation. “It’s amazing,” Chuck murmured. “That’s certainly going above and beyond the call of duty.”
Violet shook her head. “It is the call of duty. I wouldn’t get anywhere arguing with him about it. I’ve found that out too many times. If he doesn’t have the eyes to see that his socks are darned and his shirts mended, why should he get new ones? My word, he doesn’t even notice when they have holes that need mending!”
“Then I guess he can’t really express his appreciation for your efforts,” Mick pointed out.
“Oh, I don’t want him expressing his appreciation,” Violet exclaimed. “I’m very happy for him to remain in the dark. As I say, if he doesn’t notice, he doesn’t deserve new clothes. He doesn’t deserve new clothes, anyway, not at our expense. If I’m the one paying for his clothes, then by golly, he’ll get them mended when they wear out.”
“I’ll say!” Chuck agreed.
Violet looked at Chuck and found him studying her. When their eyes met, they both smiled and blushed
and looked away.
Violet didn’t hear what the others said. She didn’t hear what Chuck said or what she herself said. They managed to separate somehow, maybe without speaking at all. Violet and her sisters strolled down the hill to the main house. Only about halfway down the hill Violet heard the door of the Fort House shut behind them. The men had watched them go.
Violet didn’t bother to try to talk to her sisters on the way back to the house. She didn’t even look at them. Her mind wandered away over the range under the pendulous moon. Chuck strolled at her side, his delicate fingers tickling the palm of her hand.
And then, when they came to the creek bottom under the poplar trees, he stopped and moved just a little closer to her. And all the while, her heart thudded in her chest until her legs wobbled underneath her. She saw his eyes, his face, his mouth, and his fingers caressed her hands.
Chapter 14