“How’s he doin’, Sammy?” Robert pressed.
“Oh, you know Daddy.” Samuel stared down at his dirty boots. “He just keeps goin’, no matter how he feels.”
Robert turned to Dacee June. “How’s Daddy really doing?”
The near-permanent smile dropped off Dacee June’s face. Her chin sagged. “He hurts every time he takes a breath, Bobby. You can see it in his face and his eyes. He doesn’t hike up to Forest Hill any more.”
“Is that apartment over the hardware workin’ out for him?”
“Yes, but some mornings Todd comes in and Daddy’s asleep on the cot by the woodstove. He couldn’t make it up one flight of stairs the night before.” Tears trickled down her cheeks.
Robert clutched Jamie Sue’s hand. Did I come to Deadwood just to watch Daddy die? Lord, maybe that’s the real reason You drew us to this place.
“I trust you all are speaking kindly of me!”
A tall man with grayish-brown goatee and mustache strolled toward them.
Todd Fortune slipped an arm around Jamie Sue. She kissed his cheek. “Jamie Sue, where are Little Frank and the girls?”
She squeezed his hand. “At the school with the others, Todd.”
Todd stared out at the smoldering embers and slapped Robert’s shoulder. “Well, lil’ brother, just think … it’s all yours!”
“From the description in your letters, I was expecting it to be in a little better shape.”
“Oh, no,” Todd protested. “Didn’t I tell you it would need a little work?”
“Little? I don’t think there is one thing that is salvageable!”
“The dirt didn’t burn,” Samuel laughed. “You still got the dirt, Bobby.”
Todd glanced back at the women. “I suppose they told you about us all waitin’ for you?”
“I was just describing it,” Rebekah said.
“Twenty of us were lined up at the depot when word came about a delay.” Todd pulled out a clean white handkerchief and handed it to Rebekah. She returned Robert’s bandanna. “Something about a hold-up attempt?”
“What happened?” Samuel asked.
It was the first time Robert noticed he was the only one wearing a gun. “Three old boys tried to rob the train, that’s all. But they were dispatched quickly enough.”
“Who stopped them?” Abigail asked.
“The Robert Fortune family,” Jamie Sue explained.
“No foolin’?” Samuel laughed. “Who were the hombres?”
“They called themselves the Wild Bunch,” Robert explained. “I never heard of them. They aren’t friends of yours, are they?”
“Oh, no, not those.” Abby stepped over and slipped her arm into Samuel’s. “That’s the bunch of rustlers that hang around over near Sundance, Wyoming.”
“Are those the ones you stopped?” Dacee June prodded.
“I reckon. But it was a family activity,” Robert reported. “I clobbered one, the kids coldcocked the second, and Mama here shot the third one.”
Dacee June turned to Jamie Sue. “You did? You shot one! I think every Fortune woman has shot an outlaw, except me!”
“They’re all afraid of you, Lil’ Sis,” Samuel teased.
Jamie Sue dropped her chin and spoke softly. “I shot him in the foot. He was harassing my children.”
“And you didn’t even have to use the flying fist of death?” Samuel teased.
Todd sucked in a big breath. “Don’t you two start in with the dime novel parody.”
“No sir,” Robert added. “We won’t argue with our big brother.”
“Bobby!” It was the shout of an old man.
Robert spun around. The man’s hair was pure white, his shoulders slumped, his big hands hung at his sides. The wrinkles around his eyes were leathery tough. Oh, Lord, he looks so tired. So very worn out and tired.
But his eyes danced.
“Daddy!” Robert met him with a handshake, then a big hug. When they pulled back, Brazos Fortune wiped his eyes with thick calloused fingers. “That blasted smoke’s been makin’ my eyes water all afternoon.”
“Hi, Daddy Brazos.”
He stepped over and hugged his daughter-in-law. “Jamie Sue … you haven’t changed one iota in fifteen years! Still the pride of the men of the Texas Camp. Where are Little Frank and my twins?”
“At the schoolhouse with the others.”
“Well, if you grown-ups will excuse me … I’ve got me some grandkids to hug.” He turned and shuffled back across the street. He stopped to let a water wagon pass, then turned back. “Welcome to Deadwood, Bobby.”
“Thanks, Daddy,” Robert replied.
“I’ve been waitin’ for this day for a long time!”
“So have we.”
The old man reached up and brushed across his eyes. “It’s that lousy smoke,” he called out.
“He seems old,” Jamie Sue murmured.
“He is old,” Todd offered.
“He’s only 65,” Dacee June added.
“Sixty-five hard years of chasin’ cattle rustlers, runnin’ Union blockades, gunfights with outlaws, Indians, frigid streams, and burnin’ deserts,” Todd said.
Samuel pulled off his hat and watched the old man in the distance round the corner. “Plus, losin’ a wife, twin daughters, and a ranch that he dearly loved didn’t help either.”
“Daddy will do alright. He’s got us all together. He’s been praying for that since the day Mama died,” Dacee June said.
“Well, we’re all here now,” Rebekah added. “But I do believe what he likes most of all is having the grandkids together.”
“Where’s Carty?” Robert asked.
“He just took the men and went back to open the hardware,” Todd reported. “We were going to leave it closed for the day, but the hourly help needs the wages, so Carty said he’d open it.”
The three Fortune boys, their wives, and sister Dacee June stared out at the rubble that had once been Troop-Fortune Lumbermill and Yard.
“What a mess, Bobby. I’m not sure what the Lord is tryin’ to tell us. You can work with me at the hardware until we get her rebuilt, of course,” Todd offered. “It might take a few months to get it goin’.”
“I think the Lord’s tellin’ you to take that job with the railroad,” Jamie Sue blurted out.
“What job?” Samuel asked.
“I already told them no,” Robert replied.
Jamie Sue slipped her arm in his. “You told him you’d pray about it.”
“What are you two discussin’?” Todd pressed.
“It was nothin’ …” Robert insisted.
“Why are you talkin’ that way?” Jamie Sue stepped back, her hands on her hips. “It was a very good offer, and you know it, Robert Fortune.”
Rebekah slipped her fingers into Todd’s and tugged him toward the street. “Would you two like for us to take a walk so you can discuss this mystery?”
Robert’s reply was tense, curt. “Jamie Sue, we will talk about this later.”
Her reply was fiery, determined. “I don’t know what the big secret is.”
“Whatever it is, Jamie Sue, this is probably not a good time,” Todd reasoned. “You’re tired from a long trip, movin’ your family, an attempted hold-up, and now the mill burned to the ground. It’s a natural reaction to be edgy.”
She glared at the tallest of the brothers. “Todd Fortune, are you calling me short-tempered and pushy?”
“Jamie Sue …” Robert hollered.
“I’m talking to your brother,” she snapped.
“And I’m talking to you!” Robert blared.
“Whoa …” Abby slipped her arm into Samuel’s. “I don’t know about anyone else. But I’m beat, and I need a bath. The mill is gone, but we’ve saved the rest of the town, which is quite a rare feat for this narrow gulch. Let’s all meet at the Merchant’s Hotel for supper.” She tugged her husband toward Main Street.
“That sounds wonderful,” Rebekah added as she and Todd inched
along behind them. “We had better go relieve dear Amber from her baby-sitting.”
“And I’ve got to get back to my babies …” Dacee June added. She waltzed over and grabbed her brother’s hand. “Bobby, you and Jamie Sue come with me. I’m sure Mrs. Edwards wants to personally give you a tour of your new home.”
“Wait a minute!” Jamie Sue bellowed. Her face flushed. Her temple drawn tight. “Is this the way it’s going to be? I want to discuss something and everyone shuts me out? My opinion gets totally ignored? I don’t even get to complete a sentence?”
“You’ve had a long day, darlin’.” Robert tugged at her arm. “Let’s go look at our new house.”
She turned to the others and roared, “Robert was offered a very good job by the railroad to supervise security between here and Rapid City that would pay him $350 a month and expenses and a staff, but he won’t consider it because he feels obligated to his family, to work for you.”
“Jamie Sue!” Robert barked. “I said we’d talk about that later.”
She folded her arms across her chest and glared back. “Well, I talked about it now!”
Robert stomped off toward the burning embers, stared up at the smoky clouds, sighed, then jammed his hands into the front pockets of his light wool trousers.
“Oh, no you don’t, Robert Fortune.” Jamie Sue paced after him. “Don’t you go into that silent routine with me!”
Samuel Fortune began to laugh.
“Sammy, that’s very rude,” Abigail insisted.
Samuel glanced over at Todd. “Isn’t this the way he always was?”
Todd nodded. “Sammy’s right. Bobby argues, clams up, goes off and thinks about it, then comes back with his mind made up. Just like Mama.”
Jamie Sue’s eyes widened. She paused and turned back toward the others. “Really? He’s always been this way? We’ve been married fifteen years, and you never told me that before. Your mother acted the same way?”
“All Fortune women are strong-willed and spirited and handsome …” Samuel replied.
“And all the Fortune men are stubborn, opinionated, and …” Dacee June added.
“And sweet talkers?” Rebekah finished.
“You can say that again,” Abby grinned.
“Are you telling me things like this happen to you guys too?” Dacee June asked.
“Arguments?” Rebekah asked. “You better believe it.”
“Shouting, yelling arguments?” Abigail added. “Honey, I was an actress too many years to be demure or shy. Why do you think Sammy and I live out of town?”
“And I thought Carty and I were the only ones who ever disagreed.”
“You mean Carty Toluca has actually disagreed with his darlin’ Dacee June on somethin’?” Samuel jibed.
“I don’t always get my way,” Dacee June insisted.
“Now that must have come as quite a shock,” Todd grinned.
“Alright … you two are ganging up on me.” She looked out at Robert, still by himself near the water-soaked ashes of the lumberyard. “Bobby, I need your help. They’re picking on me! Bobby!” Dacee June’s voice turned into a high-pitched whine.
Slowly, Robert Fortune turned around. His arms dangled at his sides. He shook his head and let out a long, deep breath. “This is really going to be just like old times, isn’t it?”
“Some of them were good ol’ times, Bobby …” Samuel insisted.
Robert stepped back over to Jamie Sue. “I guess I am kind of bound up and tired. Forgive me for snappin’ at you.”
“I’m sorry, too, Bobby. I guess I’m more nervous than I thought about moving to Deadwood,” Jamie Sue admitted.
“Nervous?” Rebekah questioned.
“Well … you see how these Fortune boys act. They know exactly their place in family life. And Dacee June has her role clearly defined. You and Abby have been living here long enough to find your place too … but I’m the last.”
“You were the first of us to become Mrs. Fortune,” Rebekah said.
“But the last to move in with the clan.”
“Jamie Sue, you are our example of the ideal wife and mother,” Rebekah insisted. “For fourteen years I’ve tried to live up to your standards.”
“You’re kidding me? You … you’re …”
“Older? Yes, I am. But the way you take care of Robert … the way you raise Little Frank and the girls … well, it’s quite a tough act to follow,” Rebekah continued. “I have to admit, I feel a little intimidated having you in town.”
“Now you’re trying to sweet-talk me just like the boys.”
“You’ll never know how many times I’ve heard, ‘That’s nice, but I don’t reckon Jamie Sue would do it that way,’” Rebekah replied.
“I … I can hardly believe that,” Jamie Sue murmured.
“You two think you have it bad?” Abigail added. “Look at me. On the one hand is the stylish Rebekah Jacobson from Chicago … on the other, the model mother Jamie Sue Milan. And then there is Dacee June Fortune, the uncontested queen of the Black Hills. Now, how on earth do I compete with that?”
Jamie Sue shrugged. “I guess we all have adjusting to do. I am really sorry for blowing up in front of everyone. Maybe I am just too exhausted.”
“That’s completely understandable,” Rebekah added. “Now, do you want us to leave so you can kiss and make up?”
Abby’s smile would have lit up an opera house full of grumpy old men. “That’s always the best part, isn’t it?”
“Carty and I always … whoa … I mean … forget it!” Dacee June’s face blushed.
“Lil’ Sis always was demure and shy, wasn’t she?” Samuel laughed.
“You all don’t need to leave.” Jamie Sue marched straight over to Robert and threw her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry for blurting everything out.” Then she pressed her wide full lips into his.
“Quick!” Samuel hollered. “Get me another bucket of water, Todd, I think little brother’s about to ignite!”
“Jamie Sue …” Robert protested. “I forgive you. Maybe we should wait until …”
“Wait to argue … wait to make up,” Abby teased. “I’m glad I married the Fortune who doesn’t wait for anything!”
“I think we should all wait until supper,” Todd added. “How does six o’clock sound?”
“You make sure Daddy Brazos comes with you,” Samuel insisted.
“Oh, no,” Todd replied. “I’ll have the twins insist that he come. There’s no way on earth he could turn them down for anything.”
“Sometimes he does treat them as if they were his own Veronica and Patricia,” Jamie Sue concurred.
“I can guarantee you in Daddy Brazos’s mind, they are his twins,” Todd added.
Louise March Driver Edwards gave them a tour of her former Ingleside home, a block away from where she now lived with her sister, Thelma. She led them through the backyard, naming each plant her husband had so carefully planted.
“It is my great delight to sell this house to you and Jamie Sue. It’s like keeping it in the family.”
“There has never been a time, Mrs. Edwards, when you and your sister weren’t part of our lives. You were Mama’s best friends … you were there when Jamie Sue and I met … you’ve looked after Daddy … and mothered and grandmothered all of us. You are family.”
Louise’s dark brown hair showed no sign of gray. She reached up and pushed the tears back from the corners of her eyes. “Robert, you have your mama’s spirit, through and through. I never knew a woman in my whole life who could lift me up and make me glad to be alive like Sarah Ruth.”
“We’ll take good care of your place,” Jamie Sue insisted.
“Oh, no, it’s not my place now. It is the Fortune home.”
Robert and Jamie Sue walked with Louise toward Lincoln Street in front of the house. “There are other houses around town that are called Fortune houses. We’ve decided this should always be called the Edwards house.”
Shoulders back, chin rai
sed, Louise Edwards paused. “Grass … I mean, the Professor, would like that. You boys and Dacee June were the only ‘children’ he ever had.” Louise patted his hand, before continuing her stroll.
“Would you like me to walk you home?” Robert asked.
“My heavens, no, I’m not that old … yet.”
When Robert and Jamie Sue returned to the living room, the twins sprawled on the box bench windowsill.
Veronica pressed her nose against the glass and stared up and down Lincoln Street. “Mama, we really like this house.”
Patricia sat with hands folded and chewed her tongue. “Do you like it, Mama?”
“I think it’s perfect for us!” Jamie Sue said. “I didn’t know that we were buying so much furniture in the purchase price.”
“Mrs. Edwards was very generous,” Robert replied.
“And no wonder, what glowing things you told her.” Jamie Sue eased down on the charcoal gray sofa.
“They were all true,” he insisted.
“And that, Mr. Fortune, is exactly why we have so many pieces of furniture left to us.” She patted the sofa seat and he sat down next to her.
Veronica rocked back and forth on her knees. “We don’t have any beds or dressers.”
“Mrs. Edwards never had anything but her sewing supplies up in your room. We’ll all go shopping tomorrow and see what we can find,” Jamie Sue announced.
Veronica spun around and plopped down beside her sister. “We want French provincial furniture, with separate four-poster beds and matching wardrobes painted white with gold trim,” she blurted out, keeping time with each word by tapping both shoes on the hardwood floor.
Jamie Sue surveyed the high ceiling of her new living room. “You will get one bed … comfortable and sturdy, and well within our budget, and share a wardrobe as you did in Arizona.”
“Mother …” Patricia paused and wrinkled her nose. “When do we get separate things?”
Immediately Veronica wrinkled her nose also.
“When you get married,” Robert grinned.
Veronica sighed. “But we’ll have to share a wardrobe even then!”
“There are worse things in life. You wear each other’s clothes every day of the year. Why would you need to separate them?” Jamie Sue challenged.
Friends and Enemies Page 5