Cowboy Homecoming

by Louise M. Gouge

  “Oh, my.” Mrs. Foster fluttered her good hand over the quilt covering her lap. “Seems so complicated. Are you sure you can do this?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Tolley had prepared himself for questions. “I learned that Nolan Means installed the first bathroom in Esperanza even before Rosamond built the hotel. I asked him for advice, and he sent me to the workmen who dug the leaching field to handle the drainage. They’ll do that for us, and I’ll handle the rest, the interior part.”

  “With my help.” Laurie gave him a challenging smile.

  “Yep. Your help.” He wouldn’t argue in front of Mrs. Foster, but before they got started, he’d have to set some rules so Laurie would help, not get in his way.

  “Then let’s get busy.” Laurie stood and bent to kiss Mrs. Foster’s cheek. “Would you like your book?”

  “Why, yes. Thank you, dear.”

  Laurie handed her the volume. “If you need anything, ring the bell.” She nodded toward the brass bell with a wooden handle sitting on the bedside table. The old schoolmaster who’d once boarded here had left it behind.

  “It’s so loud.” Mrs. Foster clicked her tongue.

  “Yes, ma’am. All the better to hear it.” Tolley laughed. “Laurie, let’s get busy.”

  * * *

  Laurie took the last of her dresses from the small wardrobe and moved them across the hall to the larger room. Later, Tolley and Adam Starling rearranged the furnishings for her.

  “Are you sure this is where you want the vanity?” Tolley’s voice held an edge, though Laurie couldn’t imagine why.

  “Well...” She tapped a finger against one cheek thoughtfully. “Another twelve inches or so to the left.”

  He rolled his eyes, but Adam chuckled. “Makes sense to me.”

  “Don’t encourage her.” Tolley scowled at Adam.

  Adam shrugged. “It’s awful close to the stove. Might warp the wood.”

  These two back rooms were heated by small woodstoves, unlike the four front bedrooms, each of which contained a fireplace built back-to-back with the adjacent room and aligned with those on the ground floor to share the house’s two chimneys.

  “Thank you, Adam.” Laurie gave him her sweetest smile and noticed a hint of red beneath the tan of his cheeks. Tolley frowned at her. Did he think she was flirting with Adam? Even if she were, which she wasn’t, it was none of his business.

  “All right, let’s move it.” Tolley gripped one side of the oak vanity. “Careful of the mirror.”

  Once they placed it, Laurie gave them a firm nod. “Perfect. Thank you. Now, I’d better get busy with supper, or I won’t have it on the table at seven sharp.”

  While Tolley chuckled, Adam questioned her with one raised eyebrow.

  “Don’t ask,” Tolley said, but added, “Grumpy boarders.”

  “Ah.” Adam nodded his understanding.

  With all of the people who employed him for odd jobs, Laurie had a feeling he knew plenty about grumpy people.

  “Off you go.” She herded the two from her new room and hurried down the back stairs. She’d have to put her personal belongings away later.

  Tonight’s stew simmered in the cast-iron Dutch oven. She retrieved the peeled potatoes and carrots from the icebox and added them to the meat. Next came the dinner rolls. Earlier, she’d made the dough, so she needed only to shape it into balls to rise again on the baking sheet. That done, she double-checked the cooling apple pie she’d made earlier from last year’s fruit. Mrs. Foster had harvested the green apples from the tree in her yard, then sliced and dried them so she could provide this dessert to her boarders all year long.

  After her first disastrous attempt at cooking supper, Laurie quickly learned to manage the stove. She figured out how to adjust the flue and how to move the wood around to control the heat for both the oven and the stovetop. Although Mrs. Runyan and Mr. Parsley remained hard to please, their complaints often seemed petty, perhaps even an attempt to outdo each other with displeasure. Laurie knew some cowboys here in the San Luis Valley who competed on anything from horse races to eating pie. At least Tolley offered compliments about the food, as did Mrs. Foster when Laurie carried her meal up before serving the others.

  That evening, according to their plan, Tolley offered the blessing for supper and then introduced the subject of the bathroom to the other boarders. It took a moment for either one to grasp the idea. Then the comments began, as she and Tolley expected.

  “Why, the very idea!” Mrs. Runyan served herself a large portion of pot roast.

  “Humph! Never heard of such a thing.” Mr. Parsley ladled gravy over his potatoes.

  “There goes modesty out the window.” Mrs. Runyan waved her fork in the air to emphasize her complaint. “Where I come from, bathing in a tub is considered indecent.”

  “You’d better not make noise and disturb my rest.”

  “You’d better not work on Sundays.”

  As the meal progressed, they continued to make disparaging remarks, seeming to vie for the most indignant expression of outrage.

  She could see Tolley clench his jaw as he struggled to control his temper, so she sent him a meaningful glare. He’d promised her he wouldn’t answer the others’ insults. They both needed to remember Mrs. Foster didn’t want to lose her boarders.

  “Well!” Mrs. Runyan shot a cross look at Laurie and then Tolley. “At least you’ll be too busy to get into mischief.”

  Mr. Parsley blinked and sputtered, clearly outdone. After a moment, he took his last bite of potato. “Miss Eberly, I do hope you have dessert for me. My room-and-board payment includes dessert after every supper.”

  Laurie could hardly keep from rolling her eyes.

  “Yes, of course, Mr. Parsley.” She stood and began to clear the empty plates. “It’ll only take a moment to whip the cream.”

  She carried the stack of plates toward the kitchen and backed through the swinging door. But she couldn’t miss his comment. “Don’t take too long. You should have—”

  She let the door swing closed, cutting off the rest of his complaint. Taking the cold bowl of cream from the icebox, she whipped it vigorously with Mrs. Foster’s new rotary eggbeater, taking out her annoyance on the hapless liquid. This wasn’t funny anymore. Pleasing these grumpy boarders seemed impossible. Only Tolley’s presence kept her calm.

  * * *

  “What do you think?” Early Saturday morning, Tolley stood inside the small room, Adam at his side as he considered the layout of the bathroom. “Any ideas about where to start?” He already had his own plans but wanted to hear the younger man’s opinions.

  “Seems your water pipes will need to come up about here.” Adam pointed to a spot a few feet from the west window and close to the small cast-iron stove. “Drainage over there.” He indicated another spot close to the same wall. “And the vent pipe directly above it.”

  “We should take out this west window and board up the hole. Otherwise, it’ll be pretty cold in here for bathing.”

  “No, you don’t.” Laurie appeared in the doorway. “We need the ventilation.”

  Tolley shook his head. “There’s your ventilation.” He pointed to the open north window, where frilly white curtains fluttered in the breeze. “That’ll be enough. In the winter, the cross breeze would freeze the water in the fixtures.”

  “Cross ventilation works better to keep mildew from forming.”

  Tolley looked at Adam for support.

  Adam shrugged. “Don’t suppose the window needs to be boarded up. That woodstove should keep it warm enough.”

  Laurie gave Tolley a triumphant smile.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be fixing breakfast?” His stomach had growled for a good half hour.

  “It’s in the oven and will be ready at eight o’clock sharp.” Another triumph
ant smile.

  Something kicked up inside of Tolley’s chest. She looked awful cute when she smiled that way, with that sassy dimple making a rare appearance. If she kept on looking at him, he might just give her whatever she wanted. Except he’d built a house and a high school and knew far more than she did about such things. He pulled out his pocket watch.

  “My, my, look at the time.” He showed her the timepiece, which read seven fifty-seven. “This is set to railroad time.”

  “Oh! I thought—” She hurried from the room.

  Adam appeared to hide a chuckle, then sobered. “Mr. Northam, do you mind if I make a suggestion?”

  “You have some advice for dealing with females?”

  Now Adam laughed out loud. “No, sir. I don’t know nothing...anything...about females. But I did help out a bit over at the hotel when they were putting in the washrooms.”

  “Ah, very good.” Tolley looked at the youth with a new appreciation. “What’s your suggestion?”

  “First, you gotta make sure the structure can bear the weight of a water-filled tub.” He waved a hand over the bare floor. “We should probably pull up a board or two and check the strength of the wood underneath.”

  Tolley nodded. The idea made sense. “Shall we get started?”

  “I wish I could, sir.” Adam shook his head. “This being Saturday, lots of folks come into town, so Mr. Russell needs me over at the livery stable.” He cast a worried look at Tolley. “I can help on Monday...unless you want to find someone else to work for you today?”

  Tolley clapped him on the shoulder. “Nope. I’ll need your experience, so I can wait until Monday.”

  “Thank you, sir.” The relief on Adam’s face touched something deep inside of Tolley. Maybe this project wasn’t only about helping Mrs. Foster.

  Later, as Tolley sat at the desk in his room sketching possible layouts for the bathroom fixtures, a knock sounded on his door.

  “Tolley, Rosamond and Garrick came to see you,” Laurie called. “They’re downstairs.”

  Rosamond! His family hadn’t entirely deserted him. “I’ll be right down.”

  He quickly donned his suit jacket, mainly to look good for his always well-dressed English brother-in-law, and started for the door. On a whim, he grabbed the sketches. Maybe Garrick could give him some advice about adapting the room.

  Halfway down the stairs, another thought struck him. Had they come with news of the Colonel? Had his father died?

  “Tolley!” Rosamond rushed into his arms and held him fast.

  As he enfolded her in a firm embrace, his sketches fluttered to the floor.

  Over her shoulder Garrick wore an unreadable expression. But then, he was English, so most of his expressions were unreadable.

  Tolley squeezed his sister before moving her back to arm’s length. “I-it’s good to see you, sis. What brings you here?” He stilled his racing heart, preparing for bad news.

  “Tolley, we’ve all been so taken up with Father’s illness.” She wiped away tears. “He’s doing as well as can be expected. But this morning as we were getting ready to move back to the hotel, I realized how we’d barely acknowledged your homecoming.” She hugged him again. “I’m so sorry. I’ve missed you terribly. We all have, especially Mother. She sends her love.”

  He patted her back and swallowed the unexpected riot of emotions her words caused. So the Colonel still lived, thank the Lord. And Mother hadn’t entirely forgotten Tolley. “Thanks. Did the family get word about Mrs. Foster’s fall?” He needed to move to a safer topic so he wouldn’t break down in front of Garrick. Or Laurie, who stood nearby. He didn’t mind her being here, but a man had his pride when it came to emotional matters, especially in front of other people.

  “Yes, Doc told us.” Rosamond moved to Garrick’s side. “We’d like to see her, if she’s well enough.”

  Doubt crowded out his growing joy. They’d come to visit Mrs. Foster, not him.

  “I’ll go check.” Laurie skipped up the stairs, her light footfalls as dainty as any Boston belle’s.

  At least Tolley could count on her friendship, even if he did have to put up with her prickliness.

  “I say, old man.” Garrick clapped him on the shoulder. “What’ve you done with yourself these past few days?” He picked up the sketches and gave them a cursory glance before handing them to Tolley. “Building something?”

  “Yes. An upstairs bathroom.” As much as he wanted to feign indifference, Tolley couldn’t keep the eagerness from his voice.

  “Absolutely brilliant.” Garrick inspected the pages.

  Rosamond moved to Tolley’s other side and did the same. “How exciting. Tell us all about it.”

  “Laurie and I—” he paused, savoring for a moment the partnership they’d formed to take care of the elderly lady “—we think it’s ridiculous for our Mrs. Foster to carry water upstairs any longer, so we decided to turn the smallest bedroom into a bathroom.”

  “Oh, Tolley.” Rosamond’s eyes filled with tears, and she gripped his arm and gazed up at him with sisterly admiration that brought a homesick ache to his heart. “How good of you.”

  He gulped. “I have to do something to fill my time before my law practice picks up.”

  “Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.” Garrick continued to study the drawings. “Where did you plan to get the fixtures?”

  “Mrs. Winsted’s Montgomery Ward catalogue has tubs and sinks for sale. Not sure about the commode.”

  Rosamond grinned at Garrick, and he nodded.

  “Well, old boy, you don’t want to wait for a delivery from Chicago. We have the items you need in our hotel storeroom.”

  “Do you mean it?” Tolley laughed in surprise. “Why, we can have the whole thing installed within weeks.”

  “That’s very generous.” Smiling, Laurie descended the staircase. “I know Mrs. Foster will be pleased. By the way, she’s waiting for you both to visit.”

  “Very good.” Rosamond’s voice held a hint of her husband’s English accent. “Let’s go.”

  While she and Garrick ascended the stairs, Laurie peered at the sketches. “So does this mean you plan to put the tub in this corner?” She pointed to the page.

  “Yes.” Tolley tried not to sound defensive. After all, Garrick said the plan looked “brilliant.”

  “I think it should be here by the stove so we don’t need to carry the hot water across the room.”

  “All six feet?” Tolley rolled his eyes.

  She lifted her perfect little chin. “Still a long way for Mrs. Foster. Our purpose is to make things as easy for her as possible.”

  Tolley briefly clenched his jaw. “The design isn’t complete yet.”

  “By the way, as much as I’m pleased by Garrick’s offer of a porcelain tub like those at the hotel, they’re pretty large. Have you seen them? One of them might not fit the room along with the other fixtures and the woodstove. We should probably order a smaller copper tub through Mrs. Winsted.”

  Tolley exhaled crossly. “Why postpone the installation? Let’s use what we have.”

  “A small tub will require less water to fill than the larger one... Less for Mrs. Foster to heat.”

  Tolley folded his sketches. As annoyed as he felt over her disagreements with almost everything he said, part of him agreed with her reasoning. But he would pay for this endeavor, would do the hands-on work. The final decisions would be his. Before he could figure out a way to tell her as much, Rosamond and Garrick descended the stairs.

  “Mrs. Foster wasn’t up to a long visit,” Rosamond said. “But she did look pretty well, considering such an awful accident at her age.” She looped an arm around Laurie. “Is there anything we can do?”

  They stepped into the parlor, obviously wanting to keep their discussion private. Tolley grabbed
this opportunity for some private discussion of his own.

  “Say, Garrick, how large is that bathtub you offered?”

  His brother-in-law shrugged. “I’m not certain. Why?”

  “Need to be sure the floor will hold it.”

  “Good thinking.” Garrick nodded.

  In the past, Tolley would’ve taken the praise. Now he gave credit where due. “Adam mentioned it. Said he helped put in the plumbing at the hotel.”

  “Adam’s a good lad. Smart. Hardworking.”

  “That he is.”

  Garrick clapped him on the shoulder again. “You’re doing a good thing, Tolley. I’ll help any way I can.”

  Pleased at his approval, Tolley grinned. “Thanks. I’ll be calling on you.”

  And he’d be calling on the Lord to help him overcome this desperate need for approval. He’d try to recall his Boston pastor’s last words to him: serve God and leave the results to Him. While that attitude had sounded good on the train platform in Boston, it was turning out to be much harder to adopt than Tolley had expected.

  Chapter Five

  Laurie carefully cut a few of the tender beet greens for this evening’s supper, making sure to leave enough to nourish the tiny beets below the ground. In a nearby row, Pepper chased a small garden snake, so Laurie tossed a rock beyond the cat to distract him.

  “Pepper, snakes help you keep the field mice out of our garden. You can’t catch them all yourself.”

  Pepper meowed indignantly but stopped his chase and pranced over to her side.

  “Come along.” She gathered her harvest in her apron and stood. “Let’s get these washed and ready to cook.”

  Tolley stood inside the back door as if waiting for her. Under his arm he clutched a long package.

  “I’m going over to my office to hang my shingle. Do you need anything from Mrs. Winsted’s?”

  Laurie’s heart warmed at his thoughtfulness and his beguiling smile. He could be helpful when he wanted to be. “Yes, but first I want to see your sign.”