by Merry Farmer
Skipper waited until he was done before saying, “Then it’s obvious what you have to do.”
“What do I have to do?” Rupert’s stomach churned. He knew the answer.
Skip grinned. “You have to go after her, matey. You have to go win her back.”
Rupert frowned. “It isn’t going to work. She made it pretty clear that she doesn’t want me. She’s choosing her…her business over me.”
Skipper shrugged. “Who says she can’t have both?”
“I can’t just leave Everland when we’re in the middle of building those new cottages, not to mention the renovations on the old bank,” Rupert argued.
“Yes, you can. We’re a partnership, remember?” He thumped Rupert on the arm with his free hand. “I’ll stick around so you can go off and win your lady.”
Rupert had serious doubts as to whether it was possible to win Bonnie, but the fact that Skipper would keep a lid on things while he tried, that he was willing to give Rupert the time to go after a dream…
“I don’t see John Henry at the party,” Skipper added, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I bet he’s at the station. He’d probably know when the next train to Haskell comes through. There might even be one tonight.”
Whatever resistance Rupert had was fading fast. Haskell wasn’t that far away. He could hop a train and zip over there, if only to demand answers from Bonnie. At the very least, she needed to explain to him why she left without saying goodbye. He’d settle for a good, solid explanation as to why—
Who was he kidding? He wanted her back and he wanted her now.
“Thanks, Skip.”
He thrust his half-empty lemonade cup into Skip’s hands, then turned and darted away from the reception, dodging everyone who tried to stop him or pull him into conversation. As he reached the edge of the churchyard, be broke into a jog. That jog became a run as he neared Everland’s train station. By the time he reached the ticket window, he was running so fast that he skidded to a halt.
“John! John!” he called into to the office. “When’s the next train to Haskell?”
John Henry was eating his supper at the station’s desk, but he got up with a smile—as if he knew what was going on—and checked the train schedule. His smile turned into a slight frown. “Looks like the next one isn’t until tomorrow morning.”
Rupert wanted to shout in frustration. But behind that burst was a growing sense of rightness and purpose. “I’ll take one ticket,” he said, reaching into his pocket for his wallet. Tomorrow morning was a long time to wait, but the hours between now and then would give him time to prepare a few things. He needed to pack for a long trip, because he wasn’t going to leave Haskell until he and Bonnie had sorted things out, once and for all.
Chapter 7
“Haskell! Haskell station!”
Bonnie jolted from her hazy half-sleep, her head pressed up against the train window as the porter—one she didn’t know this time—called out her destination. She shifted across the seat toward the aisle and pushed herself to stand. Every muscle in her body groaned in protest. Some were sore from the unusual activities she’d engaged in with too much abandon the night before. The rest were just plumb worn out.
She was getting older. Her back protested as she reached for her carpetbag on the rack above her seat. Older but in no way wiser. Her heart thudded in her chest like a great, wet blanket every time her thoughts drifted back to the low-down, rotten, shady thing she’d just done. She was wrong to have left Rupert without a word, wrong not to have sat down and explained things to him, wrong, wrong, wrong. But what could she have done?
Nothing. There wasn’t a single thing that would have made the situation any better. In fact, she thought as she slogged her way up to the front of the train car near the door, by trying to do anything at all, she’d only made matters infinitely worse.
“Haskell!” the porter called one last time as the train’s whistle blew and its brakes screeched. “Haskell station! We’ll be stopping for half an hour, if you want to get out and stretch your legs.”
Some other time, Bonnie would have considered putting in a plug for any single men in need of a little company coming up to her place. Heaven knew she should wrangle up some business. Sick as it made her, the girls would need to carry more responsibility for making the money the Place needed to keep its doors open once Rex found out the truth. The train lurched to a stop in perfect timing with the wave of nausea that hit her with thoughts of Rex. She’d be lucky if he let her keep her Place. She’d be lucky if he didn’t murder her.
“Welcome back, Miss Bonnie.” The bright, smiling face of Athos Strong met Bonnie as she stepped down from the train. Always sunny since his marriage to Elspeth earlier that summer, Athos rushed to give her a hand as she descended the last big step to the station platform. “Did you have a good trip?”
Bonnie answered with a wry laugh. “Not even close.”
Still smiling, Athos said, “I’m sorry to hear that. We’re certainly glad to have you home, though.”
Of all things, that little slice of kindness cut straight to Bonnie’s heart. She squeezed Athos’s hand before letting go. “It’s good to be home.”
That much was true, at least. Haskell had become her home in so many ways in the last few years. Far more than the sad patch she’d grown up on in West Virginia, and infinitely more than Denver. The very thought of Denver made her already touchy stomach churn more.
“Morning, Bonnie.” Sheriff Trey Knighton touched the brim of his hat and nodded to her as their paths crossed near the juncture of Main Street and Station Street. “Where’ve you been?”
“Everland,” she answered. There was no need to make up stories when she was on her home turf.
“Interesting place, Everland.” Trey nodded. “There’s more trees there than any place in Wyoming that I’ve seen.”
“There are.” She hadn’t really noticed, but that seemed the right response. “You have yourself a good day, Trey.”
“You too.”
They both moved on. It wasn’t anywhere close to the sort of balm she needed for her soul, but kind words and familiar, smiling faces were starting to loosen the knots in her back. She nodded to her neighbors as she made her way up Main Street to her Place. Even the folks who routinely turned their noses up at her seemed a comfort in their predictability.
“Bonnie, you’re back!” Pearl burst with enthusiasm as soon as Bonnie walked through the front door.
“Bonnie! It’s Bonnie!” several of the others called out.
Bonnie’s brow flew up as she shut the front door behind her. Where most people would have expected to see a lurid display of carnality upon entering a self-professed house of ill repute, Bonnie was met with nothing more than a somewhat extravagantly-decorated home. The Place must not have been opened for business, even at that late hour of the afternoon, because instead of wearing low-cut tops, corsets in vivid colors, and skirts hiked up to show shapely calves, almost all of the girls wore what they called their “normal” clothes. Modest sleeves, simple cuts, and subdued colors were the order of the day. Della even wore one of the high collars that were becoming so popular with the respectable set.
“What’s going on here?” Bonnie set her carpetbag on the hall table and moved into the large main room. It was decorated with crepe paper streamers and flowers. A cake and a bowl of punch sat on the table where the girls usually played cards with guests. A festive air filled the room.
“It’s Samantha’s going away party,” Pearl explained. She took Bonnie’s arm and led her deeper into the room. “She’s all set to head off to England on tonight’s train.”
In a flash, the gloom of all Bonnie’s personal problems shifted to the side, making way for guilt over forgetting something so important in the life of one of her girls. “Samantha.” She opened her arms and crossed the rest of the room to give the shy girl with a heart-shaped face and long, chestnut braid a hug. “I’m so glad I could make it back in time.”<
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“Me too.” Samantha hugged her in return as if it was the last hug they would ever share. “Oh, Miss Bonnie, I’m so excited.”
“I’ll bet.” Bonnie held Samantha at arm’s length and studied her. “You look downright pretty, my dear.”
“I don’t need to look pretty to be an upstairs maid,” Samantha laughed. A second later, tears came to her eyes. “Oh, Miss Bonnie, I can’t tell you how grateful I am for everything you’ve done for me.” She started to sniff and weep.
“Stop it, sweetheart.” Bonnie laughed, hugging her again. “You worked hard for this, and you deserve all the credit for it.”
“But if it wasn’t for you,” Samantha argued, “I might still be stuck in that awful saloon in Jackson Hole, taking two or three men a night.”
Bonnie shook her head. “Say no more about it. That girl doesn’t exist anymore. You’re off to a new life.”
“With a new name,” Pearl added. She giggled and turned to Bonnie to say, “She’s chosen the name Millicent Horner.”
Samantha blushed and lowered her head. “I hope you don’t mind me taking your last name. I wanted it to be a tribute to you for all you’ve done.”
The compliment stung Bonnie’s heart, especially since Horner hadn’t really been her name for nearly ten years. She wiped a tear from her eyes before saying, “That’s just fine.”
“I’ve got her documents all prepared,” Pearl said, tugging Bonnie over to one of the room’s side tables to show her. “Brand new birth certificate, school report cards, even a few letters from her Granny Pearl in case anyone asks questions.”
Bonnie gaped as she picked up the forged birth certificate. Anyone with any inclination to question Samantha’s new identity would have a hard time proving she wasn’t who she said she was. That had become Pearl’s specialty and joy. And Samantha would need it.
“Has Mr. Gunn approved all these documents?” she asked.
“Mmm hmm.” Pearl beamed proudly. “He says I would have made a right good spy.”
Bonnie didn’t doubt it. She didn’t doubt that Theophilus Gunn would know all about spying either. The man’s life before he came to Haskell had been vivid enough to fill a whole library’s worth of dime novels. Bonnie was glad she had him on her side.
She glanced across the room to where Samantha had gone back to celebrating with the others. She was glad Gunn had brought up the idea of sending girls who had turned their life around at Bonnie’s Place overseas to England to start anew. Elspeth Strong had gotten involved in the last few months too, using her connections in great English houses to find positions for a few girls as maids. Not all of the girls had wanted to go to such extremes to start over, but plenty of them had jumped at the chance to flee far away from the misery of their early years that an ocean was just the sort of thing they wanted separating them from their past.
“Samantha will do well.” Bonnie’s smile grew wan as the surprise of the moment fell back into the gloom she’d carried with her from Everland.
“I think so too,” Pearl agreed. Pearl had one of those voices that made her sound like she was about twelve years old, in spite of being well into her twenties. So it was jarring when she turned around and asked, “Were you able to take care of your special business in Everland?” with all the authority of a judge.
Bonnie’s smile vanished completely. Tears threatened to spill all over again. She shook her head.
“Uh oh.”
Pearl took her hand, leading her through the throng of celebrating girls, across the hall, and down to Bonnie’s private sitting room. Bonnie managed to grab her carpetbag along the way. She went to work emptying its contents to keep herself from having to look Pearl in the eye.
“What happened?” Pearl asked. “Didn’t he want to sign those divorce papers?”
Bonnie shook her head.
Pearl frowned and pursed her lips. “But you and he haven’t lived together in, what was it? Five years?”
“More like eight.” Bonnie paused. “No, nine.” She sighed. “It doesn’t matter anyhow.”
“Because he won’t sign?”
“And other things.”
She felt her cheeks blaze red-hot as the memory of her body and Rupert’s entwined, both of them wild with passion, sweating and straining to be one in every way possible.
“Ohhh.” Pearl drew out the single syllable. She may have looked and sounded younger than her years, but she was as worldly as they came. “It went that way, did it?”
Bonnie swallowed and forced herself to stop fussing with the contents of her carpetbag. She dragged her eyes to meet Pearl’s. “I forgot that it could be that good.”
No further words were needed. Pearl understood her completely. Her frown turned puzzled. “But this is a good thing, right? I mean, he is your husband, even if the two of you haven’t seen each other or lived together in so long.”
Bonnie planted a fist on one hip. “You want to be the one to explain things to Rex?”
Pearl bit her lip and flopped against the back of her chair. “He’s gonna be madder than a hornet in a jam jar.”
“Madder,” Bonnie said with a sigh. She went back to unpacking. “I hate to say it, but we’re all going to have to tighten our belts around here.”
“Loosen them, you mean,” Pearl said. When Bonnie turned to her with a questioning look, she shrugged and said, “We’re either gonna have to raise our prices—which we should be doing anyhow, if you ask me—or draw in a lot more business.” A sour look twisted her mouth as she fell into her thoughts. “I hate quick transactions, especially when there’s not a real bed around, but I suppose we’ll have to start riding out to distant ranches or renting space in one of the warehouses when the train comes through again.”
“No.” Bonnie stopped her before she could plan any farther. “I’m not asking any of you to do anything like that again. I only want you keeping a regular clientele of friends or entertaining the men you choose the way you want.”
“Yeah, but if it’s that or going hungry…”
Pearl’s words faded off. A shiver slipped down Bonnie’s spine. Never again. She never wanted to be faced with the decision of surrendering her dignity or starving again. It robbed a woman of her humanity, gave her a damaging kind of guilt that she could never shake. The whole point of the Place was to save women from that, not to force them back into it.
“I’ll come up with something.” Bonnie sighed, carrying an armful of clothing into her bedroom, which adjoined the sitting room. She left it on the bed where she could decide what to wash and what to simply put away later. Pearl was still lost in thought when she crossed back into the sitting room. “I said, I’ll think of something,” Bonnie repeated. “You don’t have to worry yourself about it.”
“I most certainly do.” Pearl sat straighter, her blue eyes going wide. “You’re my friend, Bonnie. No, you’re like a sister to me. I’m not letting you, not letting us, go down without a fight.” She jumped up from her chair and over to the table where Bonnie continued to unpack.
Bonnie shook her head. “I got us into this mess, I should be responsible for getting us out.” She took the last of her toiletries and the blasted divorce paper out of her carpetbag, then marched to toss the bag into a cupboard. “I…I suppose I could see if any of the other successful ranchers nearby need a…” She couldn’t bring herself to say any other words but, “lady friend.”
Pearl picked the divorce decree up as Bonnie spoke. When Bonnie choked out her last word, Pearl fixed her with a frown. “The whole point of attaching yourself to Rex was that you didn’t have to give him the sugar to get the cream in return.”
It was a statement of fact. There was no point replying. Not even to say how sick it made her feel to think of sharing a bed with anyone but Rupert. She had no qualms about any of her girls choosing to continue their profession, but the thought of going back to the oldest way a woman had to make money herself would probably kill her soul for good.
“Rupert wo
n’t sign,” she mumbled, rehashing the impossible situation. “I can’t marry Rex if he doesn’t. Rex will cut us all off once he finds out. There’s nothing I can do.” She paused before adding. “I should have just married him anyhow and never mentioned a thing about Rupert. At least my chances of securing the Place before being caught and prosecuted for bigamy would have been pretty good.”
Of all things, Pearl laughed. The sound came close to offending Bonnie in her current mood, but when she snapped to face Pearl, she was surprised to find her friend not even paying attention to her. She was staring at the divorce decree instead.
“What?” Bonnie demanded.
Pearl blinked out of whatever thoughts were making her grin and turned to Bonnie with a smile. “The solution is obvious, isn’t it?”
Bonnie arched a brow and rested her hands on her hips. “No.”
“Of course it is.” Pearl’s smile grew, and she searched around the room. “Do you have a pen?”
Bonnie didn’t need to answer. Pearl spotted one on the writing desk to one side of the room and skipped over to get it. She plunked the divorce paper on the desktop, tested the fountain pen on the desk’s blotter, then scribbled something on the decree.
“What are you doing?” Bonnie jumped toward her in alarm.
“There!” Pearl finished writing with a flourish, then held the decree up to Bonnie. “Your husband has officially signed the papers. You’re divorced.”
Bonnie gaped and took the decree from Pearl with shaking hands. Pearl had signed Rupert’s name to the paper in big, bold strokes. “But…but you can’t just do that.”
“Why not?” Pearl shrugged. “I’ve been forging documents for over a year now. Mr. Gunn says I’m a natural. Why not forge Rupert Cole’s signature too?”
“Because…because it won’t hold up in a court of law,” Bonnie answered.
“Does it need to? Is Rupert going to come over here and contest the claim of divorce?”