James put on his shirt and went out the door. Ben’s eyes met Dory’s and held. He moved to her, put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
“Thanks,” he said, low-voiced and husky.
She nodded.
CHAPTER
* 8 *
Dory was bone-tired, too tired to sleep. James had urged her to get some rest. Ben was going to sit with Odette and had promised to call her if there was the slightest change.
She lay in Milo’s bed beside Jeanmarie thinking that she had never, in all her life, lain on this bed. Occasionally she changed the bedding as she had done the first night Odette spent here. Other than that she seldom even came into the room. Milo didn’t seem to mind the dust balls on the floor or the cobwebs on the ceiling, so why should she?
Milo was getting bolder and bolder with his abuse. Tonight was the first time he had struck her face. Usually it was a pinch or a slap some place where the bruise wouldn’t show. Thank heaven James had been too occupied with Odette to really notice her face. By morning the swelling would be down and the bruise less noticeable.
When Dory heard the roosters crowing, she turned her head to look out the window. It was daylight. She eased out of the bed, tucked the covers around her daughter and felt on the floor for her moccasins. After belting her wrapper tightly about her waist, she ran her fingers through her short curls and left the room.
Ben sat in a chair beside the bunk where Odette lay, his head tilted back against the wall. His eyes were closed, his mouth relaxed and slightly parted. Dory stood for a long moment looking at him. As soon as Odette was strong enough to travel, he would take her and leave. This could be the only chance she would have to really look at him, to store away his image so that she could bring it out in the dark lonely days ahead and relive the few short hours they had shared.
His hair, dark as midnight, was thick and wavy and fell down over his ears. His cheekbones were high and his strong jaw was covered with a stubble of black whiskers. His face, she thought, was somewhat sinister looking until he smiled, which was seldom. Dory saw a great deal more than his physical good looks. She saw a kind, strong, restless man seeking to do the best he could for his daughter just as she was trying to do for hers.
Suddenly she realized his eyes were open and he was looking at her. Her heart lurched, but she managed to lift her brows in question and nod toward Odette. The girl lay on her side and from the rhythm of her breathing, seemed to be resting peacefully. Ben looked at his daughter, then back at Dory. His smile told her what she needed to know. Reluctant to leave, but not knowing what to say if she stayed, she hurried down the stairs to the kitchen. Why, she wondered, was she so happy? It was pure madness to feel so light and cheerful because a man had smiled at her.
Dory hummed as she pulled out the large wooden bowl she used to make biscuits. She whipped off the cloth and dropped a chunk of lard the size of an egg into the well formed by the flour in the bowl. Next she added salt, soda and buttermilk. With her hand she worked in the flour until she had a soft dough. From the oven she took a large iron pan she had coated with meat grease. Quickly she pinched off globs of the dough, rolled them between her palms and placed them in the pan. When that was done she set the pan on the back of the stove, washed her hands and began to form sausage into patties and drop them into the skillet. The sausage fat would season cream gravy to go on the biscuits.
She set the table for three after opening a jar of the wild strawberry jam she saved for special occasions. She was pondering whether or not to go to the cellar for apple butter when she heard footsteps on the porch. She scarcely had time to turn before the door was thrown open and Louis, his face red with anger, barged into the room.
“Waller ain’t in the bunkhouse! Is he in here?” His angry voice filled the kitchen.
“There’s no reason for you to shout,” Dory said calmly, although she felt anything but calm.
“Answer me, damn you!”
“Keep your voice down or you’ll be in for more trouble than you can handle.”
“Don’t you threaten me, you… slut.”
“Me threaten you? Ha! Go ahead. Dig your own hole.”
“Look at ya. Ya ain’t even dressed decent. Yo’re just like your ma… paradin’ ’round… half naked… hair hangin’ down.”
“Are you crazy, Louis? My hair isn’t over an inch long.”
“Well… huh… if’n it was it’d be hangin’.”
“And this wrapper is decent!”
“I ask ya a civil question and I want a answer. Is he in here? If he is…”
“I’m here, Callahan. What are you going to do about it?”
Dory turned to see Ben lounging in the doorway, his hair rumpled and his shirttail hung out over his britches.
Ben had been looking out the window when Louis had ridden into the yard. He had watched him dismount, make a beeline for the bunkhouse, then slam out the door and head for the house. He knew exactly what Louis’s nasty mind would conjure up when he found Ben here with Dory, and he decided to see if he could irritate Louis to the point where he would show his hand. Evidently Louis didn’t know that James was in the house or he’d not have called Dory a slut.
“I knew it! By gawd, I knew she’d get her hooks in ya and ya’d slack up on the job. Ya didn’t get that engine half done and ya had to sneak off down here to her!”
“Didn’t your brother tell you that he’d fired me?” Ben came into the room and faced Louis from across the table.
“Shitfire! He didn’t hire ya. Nobody fires ya, but me.” He turned on Dory and vented his frustration. “Ya just had to get yore itch scratched, didn’t ya? Ya couldn’t wait till he was done with—”
“I think you’d better shut up, Louis,” Dory said, louder than she had intended. Now was not the time for James to have it out with Louis and Milo. When Ben left, it would be one against two.
“No, Dory,” Ben said calmly, and placed his hand on her shoulder in an intimate gesture that he knew would further infuriate Louis. “Your brother is entitled to have his say.”
“Yo’re damn right I can have my say. This is my house, by gawd. Ya’ll not be doin’ no whorin’ here. Yo’re just like yore ma, a pantin’ after ever’thin’ with a stick ’tween his legs.”
“This is half your house,” Dory said calmly, although embarrassment was causing her heart to thump painfully. “The other half belongs to me and James.” She could endure anything, she decided, as long as Ben stood beside her, his hand on her shoulder.
“Ya ain’t doin’ no whorin’ in that half either!” Louis’s anger had burst into full bloom and he failed to hear the heavy footsteps coming down the stairs, but Ben had heard them and smiled down at Dory.
“It’s true I’ve been here with your sister for most of the night—”
Louis’s anger was so great that he would have struck Dory if not for Ben. All he could do was ball his fists and sputter.
“Ya… gawddamn wh—” The word was cut off like a slice from a sharp knife when James came barreling into the room.
“Did you say what I thought you said?”
Louis’s face turned pale as if the blood had been drained from it. He took a step back. His mouth hung open and he seemed to have difficulty drawing air into his lungs.
Ben realized the situation had suddenly turned dangerous when Dory jumped in to fill the deadly silence.
“Louis misunderstood the reason for Ben’s being here, that’s all. Calm down, all of you. I’ll put the biscuits in the oven and make gravy. There’s hot water in the reservoir. So wash up.” She moved out from under Ben’s hand and he let it drop to his side. “James, did you look in on Odette?”
Ben realized that Dory was desperately trying to defuse the explosion she feared would happen. James ignored his sister’s question. His face was hard. It showed none of the gentleness Ben had seen last night. Narrowed eyes were on his brother’s face. He looked as if he was wound as tightly as a spring that was ready to snap.
“What did you think was going on here, Louis? Did you dig down into your dirty mind and come up with only one reason for Waller being in the house with Dory?”
“Ya can’t be too careful with… womenfolk. And ya know Dory’s knowed to be…”
“Careful, Louis. Watch your mouth when you talk to or about Dory. You were about to call her a whore when I came in. Don’t ever do that because if you do, I swear to God, I’ll cripple you so that you’ll walk around on stumps for the rest of your life.”
Louis tried to shake off the chill that slithered down his spine. He began to sputter.
“As the eldest… it’s my duty to… keep a… rein on her. Lone woman like her… is game for ever’ diddler what comes along.” He glanced at Ben, then away.
“My, my. When did you ever give a damn about Dory? You’d be happy as a lark if both of us dropped into a deep pit never to be heard from again.”
Louis didn’t rise to the bait. He turned and looked out the door and then back to see that James had pulled a chair out from the table and straddled it.
“What’d ya come down here for? Steven said ya left a list at the mill.”
“I came to see Dory and Jeanmarie. Do you have any objections?”
“No. Why would I? Steven said you’ve got more’n two hundred logs down, trimmed and some peeled, all ready to be reeled to the flume.”
“And a hundred more ready to be milled.”
Louis rocked back on his heels, darting glances at Ben. Finally he said, “When’ll the engine be ready to move?”
Ben took his time answering. “That’s up to you. It’s not my engine.”
“But… it ain’t ready yet!” Louis’s voice boomed.
“No. But that’s your problem, not mine.”
“By gawd, you contracted—”
“I was fired. Remember?”
“Hell!” Louis snorted. “Nobody pays attention when Milo fires ’em.”
Ben put his hands on the table and leaned toward Louis on stiffened arms.
“Listen and listen good. That horny, sonofabitchin’ brother of yours came down here and pestered my girl. If not for your sister’s keepin’ his hands off her, I’d a killed him quicker than swatting a fly. A man who has no respect for a woman is lower than a snake’s belly as far as I’m concerned. I’ll not stay at a place where my daughter is in danger of being raped. Now you tell your brother that word travels fast in this country; and after I leave he’d better not take his spite out on Dory, or I’ll blacken his name with every lumberman from here to the coast… that is after I come back and beat him within an inch of his life.” Ben paused and then added, “Most lumberjacks feel the same as I do about womenfolk.”
Ben’s eyes were on Louis and he didn’t see James get slowly up off the chair.
“Is that why you hit Milo?” James asked Ben.
“Among other things.”
Dory began to feel a terrible dread. What would James do if he knew Milo had grabbed Odette and had hit her with his fist? Would Ben tell him? At that moment Ben looked at her and sent her a silent message. Don’t worry. I won’t tell. Her shoulders slumped with relief. The relief lasted only until James spoke.
“What is this about Milo bothering Odette?”
“He was probably just funnin’,” Louis said quickly. “You know how Milo is.”
“That’s the trouble.” James’s voice was quiet—too quiet. “I know how Milo is with women. He’s bragged about it to every man in the territory.”
“That’s all there is to it. Brag.” Louis shrugged, trying to act indifferent, but it didn’t quite come off. His shoulders and neck were stiff as a board.
“Dory.” James turned to his sister. “What happened?”
With her back turned, Dory forked the sausage patties from the skillet and added a few spoonfuls of flour to the grease.
“Milo was in one of his flirting moods and as usual went too far. Odette is shy and not used to… to being… teased. Oh, shoot, my biscuits are getting too brown.” Dory glanced at Ben before she bent to peer into the oven. As usual his face was unreadable.
“Waller, I’d be obliged if ya’d not take it to heart what Milo did. Get what ya need from the smithy and get the engine goin’. Yore girl’ll not be bothered no more. My word on it.” Louis stood on first one foot and then the other while he waited for Ben to reply.
Ben took his time answering. He weighed his options. Odette wouldn’t be well enough to travel for at least a week. And, he needed the money. There was another reason for staying, too—one that, if he thought about it, would fill his mind until there would be no room for logical thinking. He hadn’t even dared to bring it out and mull it over until now. Dory Callahan and her little red-headed mite were seeping into his heart, little by little. Maybe if he stayed long enough he would see that she was a woman just like any other and get her out of his system.
“I’ll stay and set up your engine… if you keep Milo away from me and my girl. It should be ready to move in about a week or ten days. I don’t like working for you, Callahan.”
“Our money’s good as anybody’s and yo’re gettin’ plenty. I suppose ya’ll go to Malone,” Louis sneered.
“It’s no business of yours where I go after I leave here.”
Louis stomped out the door. He was smart enough not to press his luck after Ben had agreed to stay and finish the job. Beside that, he felt the need to get back to the mill and give Milo a dressing down before he ran into Waller again.
As soon as Louis left, Ben went back upstairs to see about Odette. He returned saying she was awake and thirsty. Dory had the meal on the table and insisted the men sit down. She filled a pitcher with fresh water and left the room.
“Dory keeps things from me,” James said, reaching for the biscuits. “She’s just like Ma was—always trying to keep peace between Louis and Milo and the rest of us.”
“Women are like that… I guess.”
“What really happened between you and Milo?”
“You heard it once.” Ben split open two biscuits and covered them with gravy. “Your sister’s a damn good cook.” “Milo’s got a mean streak a yard wide.”
“Yeah,” Ben said. “Mean and crazy to boot.”
“He mouths off at Dory some, but he knows better than to touch her.”
Ben lifted his head and looked James in the eye. “You don’t come down here very often, do you?”
“I try to make it ever’ couple of weeks. Can’t always do that in the dead of winter. I’ve got a crew to work.”
“You should get your sister and her little girl out of here. Get them set up in a town. This is no place for a lone woman.”
James carefully placed his knife on the side of his plate. “You know something I don’t?”
“I know Louis is mouthy, but Milo is dangerous—not only around women, but around men. He’s got the devil riding on his back. His temper causes him to lose control. I’d not work with him around a saw blade or on the river. Too many things can happen accidentally.”
“You think he’d hurt Dory or Jeanmarie?”
“If he was in the right mood and she crossed him.”
“Dory said he teased Odette. Scared her.”
“It was a little more than that, but not enough for me to kill him.” Ben spoke with a certainty in his voice.
James let out a shuddering sigh. “Godamighty.”
“Odette can’t hear. She reads lips some but goes mostly by actions and facial expressions. She knew Milo wasn’t funnin’.”
“How old is she?”
“Sixteen. Almost seventeen. She’s the most important thing in the world to me. She’s smart. She reads and writes with a good hand. Ciphers, too. Some think that because she can’t hear, she’s not bright. That’s not so.”
James lowered his head and continued eating. He liked Ben Waller. He talked about his daughter as a father should. Ben was the first man James had met who he thought was good enough for his sister and woul
d be able to take care of her if something should happen to him. He hoped Ben and Odette stayed a while so Dory could get to know him.
“Odette is hungry.” Dory made the announcement happily. She paused in the doorway to smile at the men at the table. “Her throat is sore, so I have to fix something that will slide down easily. If we had fresh beef, I’d make beef tea. There’s nothing more strengthening than beef tea. Remember Mama saying that, James?” Dory continued to chatter while she moved a skillet over to the hot part of the stove. “I think she could eat milk toast. I’ll butter some bread and brown it in the skillet. Oh, shoot, I’ve got to run down to the cellar. Yesterday’s milk is still in the pail.”
James grinned at Ben and stood. “I’ll get it, Sis.” As he passed her, he flung an arm across her shoulders. “You’ve got the runnin’ off at the mouth this morning, curly-top.”
After James disappeared through the cellar door, Dory turned to look at Ben. Her eyes were shining.
“I was rattling on, wasn’t I? I’m just so happy Odette is better. I haven’t been that scared in a long time. Papa took down just like that and was gone before James could get back with the doctor.”
“We’re lucky your brother came home. I had heard about the Indians using sweat lodges, but I didn’t have any idea it would help Odette.”
“James is awfully smart. He knows a lot of things,” she said proudly.
“I’m glad you’ve finally admitted it.” James came in carrying a pail with a cloth draped over it.
Dory laughed. “Oh, you! Go finish your breakfast. As soon as I put some milk on to heat, I’ll refill your coffee cups.”
Dory was feeding Odette the bread and milk when James and Ben came into the room. Odette’s large blue eyes went to Ben, then flicked briefly to James and back. Ben stood behind Dory and spoke slowly.
“Feeling better?”
Odette nodded. She glanced at James, then back to Ben. “You going?” Her voice came out in a whisper.
Ben shook his head. “Not till you’re better.”
Holding the almost empty bowl in her lap, Dory reached for James’s hand and pulled him closer to the bed.
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