Sugar Ellie

by Sarah Hegger

  “Now I have a few things that I keep for…these situations.” The dressmaker winced.

  Ellie was relieved. “That would be fine.”

  The dressmaker nodded and walked through a curtained area to the back.

  As much as lying to these women made her feel bad, these same women wouldn’t share space with her if they knew who she really was. And if Ruth and Myrtle had any idea of who Bridget was, they would not be so happy to comfort her.

  Ellie stood still while the dressmaker helped her into a dress and got pinning.

  Widows were invisible and nobody paid much mind what they got up to. She didn’t want to be anyone’s wife. Growing up like she had, she’d seen whores and she’d seen wives, both of them treated like property, and only one of them getting paid.

  “That’s done.” The dressmaker stood and helped Ellie ease out of the pinned dress. “I have another one like it…” Her eyes gleamed

  Ellie looked at the dress the woman showed her. This one had some beading on the bodice and was cut for evening. Being a widow didn’t have to mean dowdy. “I’ll take it.”

  No, she’d much rather have her own business, maybe even have a discreet lover on the side. For that, she needed to proceed with Cole’s help. She wasn’t asking him to do anything he hadn’t offered a lot of money to do. Her dang head however, kept getting stuck on the idea of Cole being the discreet lover she kept in her life for a good long time, which was plain dumb because she knew better than to build castles in the air. The other thing running a cathouse had taught her, don’t go hanging your dreams on a man. If you’ve got a dream, you’re the one who has to make that happen.

  “Oh my.” Ruth gasped from the other side of the curtain. “That’s terrible.”

  Ellie’s nape prickled. Bridget had been on the quiet side for a while now.

  “Well!” Myrtle huffed. “We’ll see about that.” She ripped the curtain aside and glared at Ellie. “I am shocked, Mrs. Pierce, shocked!”

  On the sofa, Bridget huddled next to Ruth, managing to look enchanting even with her red nose and blotchy eyes.

  “Shocked?” Ellie crept closer to the hovering storm on Myrtle’s face.

  Myrtle pointed her arm at Bridget and puffed up like a rooster. “That poor child. She’s told us everything, and I can’t credit my own ears.”

  Somehow Ellie doubted Bridget had told her new friends everything. The girl might not be the brightest star in the sky, but she had a healthy enough streak of self-preservation to work the truth her way.

  Bridget kept her eyes on the floor as she cowered next to Ruth.

  “Is this about Isaac?” Ellie played her hunch.

  “What else?” Myrtle galloped into her stride, the bow on her bonnet quivering with outrage. “To keep such wonderful young people apart, and for no good reason other than you have a grudge against his father.”

  Now, Ellie wasn’t one to begrudge a girl doing what needed doing to get along, but she drew the line at Bridget shoving her in front of the stampede. Best she head this off before she and Bridget ended up with their butts in the dust. “Bridget is so young.” Myrtle struck her as a sensible woman. “And so very lovely. Her brother and I are concerned for her safety.” She leaned in toward Myrtle. “She’s such a trusting soul as well, and that can lead her into trouble faster than you can say jack rabbit.”

  Myrtle sniffed and simmered down. “Young girls are not always sensible.”

  “But she’s in love.” Ruth ruffled up.

  “I know she thinks she’s in love.” Ellie smoothed down a wrinkle in her skirts and tried to get her thoughts in order. “But she barely even knows the young man in question.” Ellie appealed to Myrtle, Ruth and the dressmaker and got knowing looks and nods in response. “So she’s not thinking straight.” She nodded to Cole standing outside. “That’s why her brother and I are doing her thinking for her.”

  Myrtle was on her side. The dressmaker looked about ready to run Bridget out of her store.

  Ruth’s soft heart kept her teetering to Bridget’s side. “To find a man you love and who loves you and wants to marry you is so rare.”

  “It’s marriage we’re speaking of, Ruth.” Myrtle straightened her bonnet. “No reason to bring love into that.”

  “Right you are.” The dressmaker stabbed Ellie’s hem with a pin. “You don’t marry a man to sigh over. You marry one who provides for you, keeps your children’s bellies full. A man who treats you with respect and attends services every Sunday.”

  Ruth bit her lip and glanced at Bridget. “Only she looks like a princess. I want her to have her prince.”

  “Never mind a prince.” Myrtle snorted. “A farmer is what that girl needs, or a storekeeper like Jeremiah Barnes.”

  “I don’t want to marry a farmer, or Mr. Barnes.” Bridget wailed, tears streaming down her face. “I want to marry Isaac.”

  She looked so exquisitely pitiful, Myrtle and the dressmaker wavered.

  “I thought you needed to think on it a bit before you made up your mind,” Ellie said, but she had to admit she’d made an awful lot of assumptions about what was good for Bridget. If anybody needed to think more on the matter of Bridget and Isaac, it was her. “And nobody said you couldn’t.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Both new dresses tucked under her arm, Ellie chewed the scene with Bridget and the other women over in her mind as they left the dressmaker. If Bridget really did love Isaac, then she’d done her a huge disservice. She’d just wanted to protect Bridget from tumbling into another bad situation. If she had left Bridget at the cabin, and she’d been unhappy, there would have been nobody she could turn to.

  “What’s up?” Cole lengthened his stride to keep up with her.

  Ellie sighed. “I’ll tell you back at the hotel.”

  A cowboy staggered out the saloon, looked at her with a sloppy grin then gaped at Bridget. “Hey, honey,” he slurred. “You’re mighty pretty.”

  “Thank you.” Bridget giggled.

  Ellie tucked her arm through Bridget’s and glared at the cowboy.

  He flattened himself against the wall of the saloon as she led Bridget past.

  Bridget was so blindly trusting that Ellie had gone right ahead and made the girl’s decision for her. She’d run girls like Bridget at the Four Kings, the sort of girls who needed a firm hand at the reins.

  The hotel clerk looked up. “Good Eve—”

  “Good evening,” she said.

  “Will you be joining us for dinner, Miss…um…”

  “Missus.” Ellie fixed him with the sort of look she imagined a respectable woman would use. “That’s Mrs. Pierce.” She managed a sniff. “I lost my husband recently.”

  Cole snorted softly.

  The clerk’s face nearly touched his desk he inclined his head so low. “I’m terribly sorry Mrs. Pierce. I didn’t know.”

  “Mrs. Pierce’s bereavement is such a recent occurrence, it hardly seems real,” Cole said.

  That man was too cute for his own good sometimes. She held her parcel up to the clerk. “Which is why I needed to get myself some mourning dresses right away.”

  “I see.” He glanced at the stairs as if willing her to take them at a run and straightened his lapels. “Will your…family be joining us for dinner? Only, the chef likes to know.”

  “No, thank you.” Ellie motioned Bridget up the stairs. They needed to talk.

  Adoring gaze locked on Bridget, the clerk said, “I could have dinner sent up to your rooms. It’s not something we normally do, but given—” He flushed deep red and dragged his gaze back to Ellie. “Given your recent bereavement, I feel sure we can make an exception.”

  “Could you?” Ellie was not above using Bridget’s ability to render people smitten. “And for my brother as well, if you would.”

  Cole leaned closer to the clerk and lowered his voice. “That would be wonderful. Between us men, I don’t like leaving my sister alone. She’s inclined to become overcome by her emotions.”
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br />   “Ah…oh, certainly. Most understandable.” The clerk swallowed and watched Bridget climb the stairs.

  Inside their room, Bridget stopped and turned to her. “You’re mad at me.” Bridget was eyeing her warily, probably thinking she was going to be mean to her like almost every other woman in Bridget’s life.

  “No. No, I’m not mad at you. I didn’t understand how you felt about Isaac.”

  “I love him.” Bridget’s eyes filled with tears.

  “Are you sure?” If she was mad at anyone, it was herself. “I mean, the cabin is a long way from anywhere, and there is Pete.”

  “Pete’s funny.” Bridget took her hat off and put it on the dresser. “He makes out like he’s so mean and ornery, but he’s got a kind heart.”

  Ellie took a seat on the bed. She should have had this conversation with Bridget at the cabin. “How can you be sure of that? He kidnapped me.”

  “But he didn’t hurt you, Ellie.” Bridget sat next to her and took her hand. “Not really, and if he was a really mean person, he could have done anything to you at any time.”

  She might have done the worst thing possible to Bridget. “He stabbed Cole.”

  “He thought Cole was going to kill Isaac.” Bridget sighed. “I’m not clever like you, Ellie. I don’t need big things in my life. I wouldn’t be very good at big things anyway. I’d just get confused and that would make me unhappy.”

  Then Ellie asked what she should have before deciding for Bridget. “You said you wanted a man of your own, and a house?”

  “That’s what I want.” Bridget’s expression grew wistful, and she looked heart stoppingly beautiful with the waning sunlight kissing her face with pink. “A place where I can be me and people don’t stare at me all the time. I don’t feel silly or like I talk too much when I’m with Isaac. And Pete doesn’t yell at me when I get things wrong.”

  Ellie had made a big mistake. Huge. “In the morning, we’ll take you back.”

  “No, Ellie.” Bridget shook her head. “Cole is hurt, and we need to get him to Denver. And this way, if I still miss Isaac when we get to Denver, I’ll know for sure.” She patted Ellie’s hand. “And you’ll know for sure as well, and then you won’t feel so bad about me going there.”

  Ellie wanted to cry, and then kick herself. If she’d been Bridget, she was damn sure she wouldn’t be trying to make the woman who had made a bad decision for her feel better about that decision. She needed to talk it through with Cole. “I’ll be right back. I want to make sure Cole is all right.”

  “He’s doesn’t like anyone to know when he’s not all right.” Bridget brightened all of a sudden. “Do you think they’ll bring me cake with my dinner?”

  “I’m sure they will.” Cake didn’t make up for the wrong she’d done Bridget, but if it made Bridget’s evening even a touch brighter, Ellie would shoot up the town for that cake. “I’ll ask him before I see Cole.”

  “Okay.” Bridget took the package with Ellie’s two dresses in it. “But don’t get any for Cole, because he doesn’t really like cake.”

  Cole opened his door, took one look at her face and motioned her inside. “What happened?”

  “I think I made the wrong decision with Bridget.” She went on to tell him about the dressmaker and her recent conversation with Bridget. “I think she really does love him.”

  Cole grimaced. “I agree we should have asked her, but we’ve both seen how she is. I wasn’t going to leave her there either.”

  “We should get to Denver, and then we can send someone to Pete.” And hope Pete didn’t shoot a strange rider on sight.

  Cole nodded. “You want to leave in the morning?”

  “Maybe.” The idea of being back on a horse didn’t fill her with joy.

  “We can make this right, Ellie.” Cole smiled. “And maybe a day or two will give all of us some perspective.”

  “Do you really think so?” Ellie was grasping at straws.

  Cole shrugged. “I really don’t know, Sugar. But I know you, and I know you were acting out of what you thought were her best interests.”

  “Thank you.” Ellie was now out of reasons to stay in his room. The air grew thicker and harder to breathe. “How’s your back?”

  “Right now it feels just fine.” His eyes glowed like liquid gold. It was like being trapped in a mountain lion’s stare, only she wanted to run toward him not away from him. “Ellie?”

  “Yeah, I’ll see you in the morning.” Her feet rooted to his floor and wouldn’t move.

  Cole shifted closer to her. “In the morning.”

  “I should get back to Bridget.”

  “Yes, you should.” His shoes nudged hers. He loomed over her, his face in shadow. He must have shaved while they were out because his cheeks were smooth and he smelled of sandalwood. His gaze drifted to her mouth. He whispered her name like a hoarse promise, “Ellie.”

  A knock on the door made her jump.

  “Mr. Mansfield.” The clerk spoke through the door. “I have your dinner here. The one your sister ordered for you.”

  “Thank you,” Cole called and lowered his voice so only she could hear. “But she’s really not my sister. Not in any way.”

  As it turned out, over breakfast the next morning they decided that even though it wouldn’t leave until the next day, they would take the train to Denver. It was far more comfortable, and Bridget was even unhappier than Ellie about getting back on a horse. True to his word, Cole provided distraction. Shortly after breakfast, he pulled up to the hotel in a hired buggy.

  Ellie blinked in the bright morning sun. “What are we doing with that?”

  “Picnic.” Cole grinned as if he’d turned water into wine. “Maybe some fishing.”

  “Fishing.” Bridget squealed and jumped up and down. “I love fishing and I’m really good at it.” She clapped her hands like a little girl. “I bet I can catch more fish than any of us.”

  Cole must have been a genius or the luckiest man alive to have gotten it so right. “Let’s go and get our bonnets then.” She herded an obedient and smiling Bridget back to their room and they fetched their bonnets.

  Riding out, even jammed between Cole and Bridget on the buggy seat, Ellie approved more and more of his idea. The day was beautiful, and a series of streams made the land greener than she was used to.

  She’d never been on a picnic, and never been fishing either. Another part to her adventure was unfolding and she planned to enjoy it.

  “You’re smiling.” Cole looked down at her with a warm expression.

  A blush heated her cheeks. “I plan to have a good day.”

  His smile broadened into a grin. “And I plan to see that you do.”

  They found a shady spot outside of town and Cole unloaded a hamper, a blanket and fishing poles from the buggy.

  Bridget immediately went about baiting a hook with the sort of efficiency that meant she really did know how to fish. It was the first time she’d smiled since they’d left Isaac, and Ellie felt relieved.

  Taking off her shoes and stockings, Bridget tucked her skirts into her waistband and armed with her pole, waded knee-deep into the clear mountain water.

  With Cole’s help, Ellie spread the blanket and opened the hamper. She took a seat and pulled her bag of sewing closer to her. The dressmaker had done a good job, but she wanted to make alterations. If things went her way, her next dress, she’d be making for herself.

  Cole stretched out on the blanket, wincing a little as he got comfortable.

  “How’s your back?” She watched him as she threaded her needle.

  He shrugged and then winced. “Getting better every day.”

  “Uh-huh.” For a poker player, he was a bad liar. “So, Denver tomorrow?”

  “Denver tomorrow.” He nodded. “And we can get you all set.”

  “I’ll pay you back.” She met his gaze and held it. “For everything you’ve paid for, and for getting me set up in my store.”

  He lay down on his side and pro
pped his head on his hand. “We’ll talk about that when it comes to that.” Cole could be a slippery fish when he chose.

  “We’re talking about it now. And I don’t want to take your money.”

  “Ellie.” Face serious, he stared at her. “I don’t need the money. In fact, you’ll be doing me a favor.”

  Eyes on her sewing, she chuckled. “This, I have to hear.”

  “I’m leaving Denver,” he said. “Forever and going to New York.”

  Denver would be their goodbye, and the idea felt like a rusty blade in her chest. Once Cole went to New York, she wouldn’t see him again. She kept her expression blank and bent over her sewing. “That’s where your people are, isn’t it?”

  “My mother.” He sat up and dug through the hamper. “And my brother. My father died a couple of years ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” His face hardened. “He was a mean son of a bitch, and the world is a better place without him.”

  Cole didn’t talk about himself much, especially not that time before he came west. The bright morning light etched the clean, handsome lines of his face. “Are you going back to see your mother?”

  “In part.” He plucked a long strand of grass and chewed on it. “My brother, if he’ll see me, but he was always my father’s son.”

  Ellie sensed there was more and waited.

  Then, so quietly she almost didn’t hear him, Cole said, “And Victoria.”

  “Victoria?” She didn’t even know who Victoria was, but the reverent way Cole said her name told her much more than words might have. “She’s waiting for you?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “She got married. She’s not waiting for me.”

  Ellie trod carefully. “But you wish she was?”

  “Yeah.” He breathed soft and slow. “I don’t talk about her much.”

  “I’d like to hear about her. If you had a mind to talk about her now.”

  Cole stared at the river.

  Intent on her fishing, Bridget was still in the water.

  “I loved her,” Cole said. “She was the woman I was going to marry.”