by Zina Abbott
CAT’S MEOW
Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs
Book 6
ZINA ABBOTT
Copyright © 2017 Robyn Echols writing as Zina Abbott
All rights reserved.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to
The hard-working authors of the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog who provide the world with sweet/clean historical romances about North Americans between 1820 and 1929.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book is part of a multi-author series sponsored by the authors who write for the Sweet Americana Sweethearts blog. My appreciation and thanks go to those other authors who helped develop the fictional mining town of
Jubilee Springs along the Arkansas River in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
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DISCLAIMER
The town of Jubilee Springs, and all the characters described in this story are fictional. They are not based on any real persons, past or present. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and unintended.
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FOREWARD
Welcome to Jubilee Springs
This town of friendly folks in the Arkansas Valley of central Colorado sprang up right after silver was discovered in the nearby hills a decade or so ago. The western horizon is filled with vistas of the Rocky Mountains. Mount Shavano at 14,000 feet in elevation towers over other peaks. In the spring, melting snows reveal a shape that some call “The Angel of Shavano.” If looking south, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains can be seen. The Arkansas River that runs through the valley provides plenty of irrigation for ranching and crops.
About three years ago, brothers Clive and Royce Bainbridge took ownership of the Prosperity Mine where silver is mined using labor-intensive methods. Raised by a father who owned a coal mine in England, they know the value of a loyal employee. When grumblings about Jubilee Springs not having enough women were heard, the Bainbridges took action and contacted the Colorado Bridal Agency in Denver.
The brothers have built three-room row cabins which are available to the first ten men who marry. Arrangements have been made for Missus Lizett Millard to bring brides to the mining town for the Fourth of July weekend in 1881. Community events are planned to provide opportunities for the women and miners to get acquainted. Hopefully, each bride will make a selection and the lucky couples will marry on Monday, July 4th.
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ellsworth, KANSAS – april 1881
CHAPTER 1
~o0o~
Catherine dabbed her hankie to her eyes as she watched her cousin Arnold throw the first handful of dirt on her Aunt Sophie’s grave. She loved her aunt who had been like a mother to her these past thirteen years. She and her sister, Caroline, had come to live with their aunt after her own parents had died. Although the woman was not wealthy, she did own her house. With the help of the girls doing laundry and mending for others, plus keeping a large garden, her aunt had managed to keep all three of them fed and clothed.
It had taken some strain off the family when Catherine’s sister, Caroline, had married a young cow hand who had met her after he and the crew of drovers he worked with had brought a herd up to the stockyards to be shipped by train back east. He had saved enough money to homestead a place, and had settled on a plot west of Abilene, Kansas. All he needed was a wife, and so he and her sister married and the couple left to create a life together. Catherine felt grateful her sister had enough funds she and her young daughter could travel by train long enough to attend Auntie Sophie’s funeral and help her sort through a few things at the house.
Arnie was older than Catherine was by ten years. He had left home shortly after Catherine and Caroline had moved in with his mother, claiming with them there to look after her, he was free to pursue his dreams. His “dreams” evolved into a grist mill in Kansas City. He met and married his wife there, and they had three children whom Catherine had never met.
Arnie had come alone to the funeral, claiming his wife needed to stay to properly take care of their children. Perhaps it was because her cousin was overcome with emotion, but Catherine had noticed ever since he had shown up at the house the night before, he had hardly said a word to her. She knew they would need to speak soon, especially since he needed to leave on the next train going east the following day. Catherine was the only one left to care for the house, yet she knew Arnie had inherited it. She needed to know what her cousin wanted her to do.
For the next couple of hours after they arrived back at the house, Catherine, Caroline and Arnie greeted guests who stopped by after the services with food offerings and condolences. Although Caroline had been gone a few years, this had proven an opportunity for her to renew old friendships and show off her young daughter. It was all Catherine could do to paste a smile of greeting on her face and hold herself together until the last mourner left just before dinnertime. As for Arnie who had been gone much longer, he mostly stayed outside and seemed to make himself scarce.
Catherine surveyed the food left on the dining table and kitchen counter. If nothing else, she, Caroline and Arnie would have plenty to eat for the next couple of days. She felt grateful some of it was bottled fruit, which she would add to her meager store that remained in the fruit cellar. The loaf of raisin and prune bread she wrapped and doused with a healthy dose of rum from the bottle her aunt kept high in the kitchen for preserving her Christmas fruitcakes. That she would put in a tin and store in the cellar in case food stores ran low before she found work.
Catherine set aside three food offerings for Pastor Simpson and his family as a thank you for conducting the service even though she knew it was up to Arnie to cover the gratuity. The last thing she wanted was for anything to go to waste because the three of them couldn’t eat it fast enough. From the rest, she chose what to serve for dinner, and the rest she put in the icebox.
The late dinner was a quiet affair. Catherine still felt consumed with grief. Caroline not only was sorrowful, but young Emma who had no idea what was going on and didn’t understand the emotions emanating from the people around her kept her mother busy. Catherine assumed Arnie also felt sorrowful about his mother’s death. She noticed he kept his eyes on his plate the entire time.
After the meal ended, Arnie rose to his feet and heaved a sigh as if preparing himself for facing an unpleasant task. “Catherine, once you and Caroline are finished washing the dishes, I need to speak with you in the parlor.”
Catherine noticed he only said he needed to talk to her. He must intend to already discuss the terms of her caring for the house. She wondered if he exp
ected rent from her, or if keeping up the house and property until he was ready to live there would suffice.
The two women washed dished and cleaned the kitchen mostly in silence, although little Emma crawling around on the floor kept them both busy. After they finished, just as Caroline picked up her daughter, she turned to her sister, keeping her voice low enough their cousin in the parlor wouldn’t hear. “Catherine. I hope he lets you stay.”
“I don’t know why he wouldn’t. Someone needs to look after the house, and he and his wife have their own home back in Kansas City.”
“Just so you know, if he asks you to leave, you can come live with us until you get something settled for yourself. It’s only a one-room soddy, but we’ll make do.”
Catherine grabbed her sister’s arm and squeezed it in gratitude as Caroline rocked a child that obviously needed a nap but was fighting sleep. “I appreciate your offer, Caroline. I hope it won’t come to that.”
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CHAPTER 2
~o0o~
Catherine entered the parlor where Arnie paced in front of the fireplace. Upon seeing her, he motioned her to the settee and sat in the overstuffed armchair that had once been his mother’s favorite. “Catherine, I need to go through the house and inventory Mother’s things. Some I will take with me tomorrow, some I’ll send for later, but most I intend to sell.”
Catherine’s heart sank within her. When he said he intended to sell, did he mean just her aunt’s personal belongings, or the household furniture too? His next question prompted her to sit taller and stare him in the face.
“You haven’t taken Mother’s personal things, have you? If so, you will need to give them back. I notice you’re wearing one of her brooches.”
Catherine reached up and fingered the cameo pinned to her collar. “It was one of her brooches, Arnie. I know you were too busy with your business to come for Caroline’s wedding, or maybe you would have known. At that time, except for the rings with precious stones your father gave her, she offered for each of us to pick out a piece of her jewelry for ourselves as a keepsake. Caroline chose the silver locket with the china front painted with pink flowers. I chose the cameo. She had to sell a few pieces to meet expenses once her health started to go downhill last year. There are still some lovely pieces for your wife. I suggest you take it all with you when you return home. I don’t want the responsibility.”
Or the accusations of you thinking I took something.
“I intend to.” His eyes narrowed into a calculating gleam as he continued to study the brooch. “It’s backed in gold, isn’t it?”
Caroline swallowed as she pushed down a bought of nervousness. She had worn the cameo to honor her aunt as a symbol of the love between them. Now she regretted it. She should have kept it hidden from her cousin’s greedy eyes. Surely he did not intend to take it from her. “I believe so. It’s the sentimental value that means the most to me, just as some of the rings your father gave her will probably mean the most to you.”
Arnie grunted. “I’ll have a jeweler back in Kansas City determine what value they are to me. I’ll let the jewelry you claim my aunt gave to you and your sister go, but I don’t want you or Caroline to take any more of Mother’s things, do you understand, Catherine?”
Catherine began to feel anger well up within her. How dare her cousin treat her like she was a common thief? Granted, they had spent very little time together before he left his mother behind to make his own way in the world, and he didn’t know her or her sister well. However, he should realize his mother had raised them to be better than what he insinuated. “Arnie, we have no intention of taking things that do not belong to us. I don’t appreciate you implying that we would do that. I will only claim what is mine.”
“And what do you consider yours exactly? You aren’t going to try to tell me Mother gave you half her household goods, are you?”
Catherine studied him with a baleful eye. When she answered, she spoke slowly and softly. “No, I’m not. Most of what is mine came from my mother. It is packed in a trunk and a barrel up in my room. Caroline already took her share, which amounted to a set of bed linens, a blanket, a quilt our mother made, half the kitchen linens, a mirror, ceramic bowl and ewer, and half of the china our Mother ordered from England before she got sick and half the flatware. I took the other half, except I ended up with the copper kettle and iron trivet instead of the dressing table items. I came with the clothes I owned at the time, and a set of bedding. I intend to leave that way.”
Arnie looked away and harrumphed. “I still intend to do an inventory, starting tonight. When it is time to sell, it better all be there. Catherine, you are going to have to move out.”
“Move out! Why? You’ll need someone to take care of the house and yard, otherwise it will fall into disrepair or be destroyed by vagrants.”
“I think I have a buyer for the house, a family where the husband works for the railroad and plans to ask for a transfer to Ellsworth. If all goes as planned, by the time we finalize things and he’s ready to move, it may be the end of June at the latest. I’ll need you gone before they get here.”
“You’ve already made plans that quick? Auntie Sophie just passed.”
Arnie shrugged. “We all knew she has been failing the past year. It was only a matter of time. Of course I started to look at possibilities for selling the house months ago instead of waiting until the last minute.”
“But, why? Why can’t you keep it and let me stay here? I can get a job and give you a little for rent, plus you know I will take good care of everything. Plus I will have to bring in another woman, and she can contribute. You know it isn’t proper for a single woman to live alone.”
Arnie turned to Catherine and his eyes drilled into hers. “Where do you think you can find a job close enough that will allow you to still live here? As I recall, there wasn’t that much work for me to choose from. As far as you as a woman finding work…well, there’s only one place I know of that is always looking for new women to work their upper rooms, but I don’t think that is what you have in mind.”
Catherine flushed. “I don’t know how you can even suggest that, Arnie…even bring it up in polite conversation.”
“My point is, Catherine, even if I didn’t want to sell the house, you would not be able to afford the rent on the place, not even if you found someone decent to share the expenses. And it is far too big for one person alone.”
Catherine’s breath caught. She had been so focused on caring for her aunt, she had not given any thought to what might happen to the house—or her. She had just assumed she would still continue to live there and take care of the place like she had done for years, ever since her aunt had started getting weaker. “Why do you want to sell the house, Arnie? It would be a lovely place for you and your wife to move to in later years.”
Arnie stared at his cousin like she must not have an ounce of sense in her head. “Why not? I don’t live here now, and don’t plan to. My life and work is set up in Kansas City, so I have no use for Mother’s house. Besides, I want to use the money I get from the sale to expand my mill.”
Catherine felt herself deflate, almost folding in on herself. She forced out her whisper. “I see.”
“I have no desire to rent it and worry about it losing value because whoever lives in it cannot afford to keep it up. It’s not like you’re in a position to buy it. In recent years I haven’t heard of there being any marriage prospects for you. Whatever happened to that man you were stepping out with, anyway?”
Catherine stared at her cousin. Whatever happened to Manfred indeed? She had been seeing him for over two years. He didn’t live in the area, but his work often brought him into town. He would notify her ahead of time when he planned to be there so she planned her schedule to be free for him. He took her to dinner, on long drives, and attended church with her if he was there over the weekend. He professed his love for her, but lamented he was still buildi
ng up his business, and would not be prepared to consider a deeper relationship for another couple of years. Catherine had taken it that he was not yet in a position to propose, but he would as soon as he had his affairs in order.
That had not stopped him from inviting her to travel with him for several days at a time to larger cities in which he conducted business in order to see some of the sights not found in Ellsworth. Although he insisted everything would be handled properly, something told Catherine it was better to wait until they were married. She had used her aunt as a reason why she could not be gone.
A couple of times after some passionate kissing, he had invited her to his room. Each time she had come to her senses enough to decline. After it happened the third time, he had sighed with resignation and left her at her home without further comments. A short time later, she had received a terse note saying it would not work out between them and he would not be calling in the future.
Manfred’s rejection had hurt Catherine deeply. During her prime courting years, she had watched her friends and her sister two years her junior marry while she waited for Manfred to build his business enough to offer for her hand. After his rejection, she had turned away from social engagements for the better part of a year as she mourned his loss and the loss of what could have been. When her aunt began to fail in earnest the previous winter, she had focused on caring for her. Such was the short story of how an attractive woman such as herself had ended up as a twenty-four year-old spinster.
However, Catherine had no intention of subjecting herself to further derision at the hands of her cousin by telling him all this. “Manfred and I kept company for about two years, but at the end, he informed me he saw no future in the relationship. He ended it.”