by Zina Abbott
Zeb looked over at the woman next to him who kept her hand gently resting on his forearm. Only three or four inches shorter than he was, she was just the perfect height. Her brown hair done up in a chignon flattered the face it framed. She was a little on the thin side, but once Juanita got ahold of her and fattened her up a little with her good food, she’d be built just right.
Where did that thought come from? You have no plans to take her to the ranch.
Zeb faced straight ahead as he rounded the corner at the edge of the Howard Boarding House. If he had known how pleasurable it was to have a beautiful, obviously well brought up woman like Bessie Carlson on his arm as he walked down the street, he would have done it years earlier.
~o0o~
Simon walked over and put his arm around Desi as the pair watched Zeb and Bessie leave the store. Desi turned to her husband. “If I’m not mistaken, I think Bessie finds Mr. Jacobson attractive. What did you say to her to convince her to go to the inn for dinner with him?”
“I told her she would be helping to promote business for the mercantile. And, trust me, as far as I know, Zebulon Jacobson has never shown an interest in women, not even the kind at the Silver Dollar Saloon. But he is interested in our Bessie.”
“Do you think she suspects you sent her off to spend time with him so they can get to know each other better? He’d be the perfect match for her, you know.”
“I know. Unfortunately, she’s too worried about paying off all these debts she thinks she’s single-handedly responsible for. I’ll let Mr. Jacobson convince her she wants him to court her. We’ll take care of the other issues from there.”
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CHAPTER 10
~o0o~
The owner of the River Valley Inn, Jude Debenham, waited on the couple. He told them the daily specials which were chicken and dumplings over mashed potatoes and pan-fried steak with mashed potatoes and gravy. Bessie chose the chicken. Since Juanita rarely cooked a steak rare enough for his liking no matter how often he asked, Zeb chose the steak, taking care to give precise instructions on how he wanted it served.
After Jude left for the kitchen to give the cook their order, Zeb turned to Bessie. “Miss Carlson, I know you’re from back east somewhere, correct?”
“Further east than here, but not what most people consider the East. I’m from Terre Haute, Indiana, not too far from Indianapolis where Uncle Simon and Aunt Desi came from.”
“It’s probably east enough, especially coming from a city, you’re used to things being a little more formal. We out west aren’t quite so formal. I’d consider it an honor if you would call me by my first name, Zebulon, or, better yet, Zeb.”
Bessie studied his face as she considered his request. Was this part of the public relations for the business her uncle had talked about? “Thank you, Mr. Jacobson…Zeb. And please call me Bessie.”
“Thank you, Bessie. I will.”
From the grin on Zeb’s face, Bessie suspected he felt like he had just won a large concession from her. She hoped she had not made a mistake by allowing such familiarity.
While they waited for their meal, Zeb questioned her about her life before coming to Jubilee Springs. Bessie told him about her parents, and how her father’s position as an engineer for the Wabash and Erie Canal had taken the family from Indianapolis to Terre Haute years before she was born. She told how they had lived in a nice three bedroom home which boasted both a formal parlor and the family sitting room as well as a formal dining room and large kitchen. Her father had even installed a bathing room next to the kitchen when she was a teenager. The home on a quarter acre with its many mature trees and green lawn had brought much joy to her brothers, sister and herself during her youth.
Zeb looked at her thoughtfully. “I didn’t even know they still use canals back east. I figured with all the train track laid all over this country, most things traveled by rail now.”
“Almost all the canals have fallen into disuse. Unfortunately, my father held most of his investments in the Wabash and Erie, so when it failed, he not only lost a job, he lost most of his investments. That is why our circumstances changed drastically within the last ten years.”
Bessie didn’t share with Zeb that she had been engaged at the time. However, as soon as her fiancé realized the family was headed for bankruptcy and had fallen from its position in society, he had broken off the engagement. Friends had encouraged her to pursue legal action for breach of contract. However humiliated over her family’s situation and empathizing with a young man just starting in life who didn’t want to take on the responsibility of a destitute family of in-laws, she had gracefully released him from their engagement. To keep Zeb from asking additional questions about her family’s change in status, she posed a question. “Do you know what my father claimed was the biggest enemy to the success of the canal system?”
Zeb canted his head as he considered her question. “Railroads?”
Bessie smiled and shook her head. “Muskrats. The varmints constantly tunneled through the canal banks and weakened them. Then the pressure of the water broke through and drained large sections of canal. My father was always sending out inspectors to search for signs of muskrat activity to try to prevent break-throughs. Where one took place, he often traveled to the site to supervise a crew on how to build up a new bank and prepare the canal so it was once again usable. I grew up with an abundance of muskrat stories.”
Zeb laughed in appreciation. There are problems like that all over. Before I got my own spread, I worked driving herd to the rails in Kansas. Out on the plains there are places with prairie dog villages over a mile in diameter. A man has to watch that he doesn’t let his horse get a hoof caught in a prairie dog hole and break its leg. Usually you have to put a horse down when that happens. Walking miles to the next place you can buy a horse while hauling your saddle on your shoulder is no fun.”
Zeb regretted his words as soon as he spoke them. Since she wasn’t from the west, he worried how Bessie would react to the thought of having to put down a horse with a broken leg. He sensed a feeling of relief when she seemed to take it in stride.
Bessie turned to Zeb. “What about your family? Are they nearby?”
Zeb shook his head. “My pa was killed in a farming accident when I was about twelve. I didn’t care much for my step-father when my mother remarried several years later, so it was with a certain amount of relief when the Civil War gave me an excuse to leave home. Somehow I survived, but I came away angry with everyone and everything. I went home for a visit, but refused to stay. I headed out west and got on driving herd for a rancher. Not long after, my mother died. My half-brothers and sisters are so much younger than I am and I didn’t really get to know them before I left for the war. I wrote a few letters back home once I got my own land and was a little more settled, but I never heard back from any of them.”
Bessie looked at her lap and spoke quietly. “That’s too bad. Family can add so much happiness to a person’s life, but also some heartaches.”
Zeb considered her words. They struck him as being full of wisdom. He smiled as his next request coaxed her to reveal more about herself. “It’s your turn. Tell me more about the happiness and heartache of your family in your life.”
She told about her siblings and where each of them lived while glossing over the failings within the family and avoiding the hurt feelings she held for some of them. She only talked briefly of her mother’s illness and death. It was still too recent and painful.
“It sounds like they all ended up back in Indianapolis. Yet you decided to come west with your aunt and uncle rather than join your sister and brother and their families.”
“Yes. They both have children at home and my presence would have been an imposition. I could have stayed in Terre Haute. I’m sure the hotel where I worked before my mother grew too ill to be left alone would have hired me back. However, I would have been alone without family close by. I was
happy to accept my uncle’s offer of work in Jubilee Springs.” She didn’t tell him she was not offered the job until after she arrived.”
“Did you enjoy your work in the hotel?”
Bessie laughed. “It was honest work and it paid the bills, but it was nothing fancy. I much prefer working in the mercantile.”
By this time their meals arrived. As they ate in silence, Zeb considered what Bessie had shared with him. Like him, she had experienced ups and downs in her life, but kept moving forward. She had remained dependable and responsible, regardless of her circumstances. He liked that about her.
His young life before his father died had been filled with happiness and a sense of confidence about his place in the world. For years he lost sight of who he was and what he should do with is life until he decided to save his money, buy land no one else at the time wanted, and started his own ranch. Now his ranch gave him purpose and had restored that sense of self-confidence. It was only as he studied the attractive woman who shared his table he realized something was missing from his life. What was missing was someone with whom he could share what he had built, and who would help him take it into the future.
That someone was Bessie Carlson. Now he just needed to convince her of that.
As they finished, Zeb paid for their meal. They walked back to the mercantile, Zeb feeling more satisfied by being with Bessie than he had been consuming the superb steak on his plate. However, before he proceeded further, he needed to know where Bessie stood. As scarce as women were in this part of the world, had some other man in town already claimed her and started courting her? Is that what explained her initial reluctance to take dinner with him?
There was only one way to find out. Zeb took a deep breath. “Bessie, I’m sure your presence in Jubilee Springs has been noted. I imagine you’ve already met a lot of the men who work in this town. I sincerely appreciate you sharing my dinner with me today. I hope you don’t view it as interfering if you are being courted by someone.”
Bessie’s laugh caught Zeb off guard. “No. I’m not in a position to be courted by anyone. Even if I was, so far I’m not impressed with most of the men I’ve met here. Do you know what some of the miners call me? Bargain Bessie.”
“What? I’ve never heard of anything so ridiculous. A woman like you should be viewed like a priceless treasure.”
“Bessie laughed even louder. “I’m not so sure of that. And, to be fair, I only heard one man say it. However, considering what is involved with these miners sending for wives through the bridal agency in Denver, I can see where they might come to the conclusion I’m a bargain. It’s just if I should ever marry…and that is a big if…I don’t want my husband to regard me as someone obligated to fulfill several tasks as part of a job. I’d prefer that he care for me as a person.”
Zeb stared at her as Bessie kept her face forward and expressionless. He didn’t need a wife to perform household tasks. That’s what he had Juanita for. Well, all except what most men expect from a wife in the bedroom. He couldn’t believe some of the men in town were so callous as to say something like that where she might hear. Then, the rest of what she said jumped to the forefront of his thoughts. Why did she think she wasn’t in a position to marry?
Only one way to find out. “I don’t know what is involved in sending for a bride, but the man who said that about you was an idiot. Now, please explain to me why you aren’t in a position to marry. You said nothing before about already being married, and you already told me you aren’t being courted by anyone here in town. Quite frankly, I’d like your permission to court you.”
Bessie dropped her head to stare at the ground in front of where she stepped. How embarrassing that he wished her to explain the results of the family’s reduced circumstances. “As I told you, my mother’s health was not good. After my father died, the family was in debt. My brother and sister left town, and neither one felt they were in a position to help. I worked and did what I could, but I was forced to quit work to care for my mother the last few months of her life. We…well, there are debts owed. I cannot in good conscience go forward with my life until I do everything I can to be sure everyone my parents or I owe money to is repaid. I’m afraid I need to decline your offer to court me.”
“I see.” Zeb looked straight ahead as he considered her words. He didn’t know Bessie very well, but he suspected that just as she felt a responsibility to pay back any debt she felt she owed, she would not allow him to pay it for her so she could be free of the burden. He would need to find a way to get around that. For her sake, to give her time to fall in love with him, he wanted to court her. However, he had already made up his mind he wished to marry Miss Elisabeth Carlson.
Zeb noticed the wagon parked out front of the mercantile already loaded. Zeb’s horse was tied to the tailgate, saddled and ready for travel. Rusty leaned against the side, his arms folded across his chest. As soon as he saw Zeb, he stood straight on his feet and waved. “Ready to go when you are, Mr. Jacobson.”
“Thanks, Rusty. I’ll be out as soon as I settle up with Mr. Brinks.”
Zeb held the door to the mercantile open so Bessie could enter. Simon walked over from where he was restacking inventory. “Everything’s loaded in the wagon, Mr. Jacobson, all except one item I need to discuss with you. Did you two have a nice dinner?”
Zeb looked down at Bessie who still had her hand in the crook of his elbow. “Very nice. I couldn’t have asked for better company. Thank you for allowing her to take the time to dine with me.”
“Glad to hear it. Glad to hear it.”
Zeb studied Simon’s smile which reminded Zeb of how a cat that had just caught a mouse looked. It left Zeb wondering what was going through the man’s head. Zeb felt a sense of loss as Bessie slipped her hand off his arm. He turned to her with a smile. “It truly has been a pleasure, Bessie. I hope to do this again soon.”
Real soon.
“Thank you for dinner, Zeb. I don’t know when the last time was I had such an enjoyable time. If you’ll excuse me, I better go upstairs and get ready to return to work.”
Zeb tipped the brim of his hat with his hand in acknowledgement. His eyes followed Bessie as she climbed the stairs. Then he turned back to face Simon Brinks. Zeb once again studied Simon’s smile that, if possible, had grown even wider.
“I see you and my niece are now on a first name basis.”
Zeb refused to acknowledge the comment, or think too hard on why Simon had chosen to make it in the first place. “Need to talk to you, Mr. Brinks. Do you mind if we step back into your storeroom?”
Once they were behind closed doors Zeb got right to the point. “Bessie says she is not free to be courted because of debts she owes. What do you know about them?”
Simon sighed and related what he knew of the debts Bessie had mentioned to him. “She thinks she needs to pay me back for her and my sister’s room and her train ticket here, but she doesn’t. It was my failing to not discover the details of their circumstances sooner and give them the financial assistance they needed.”
“All right. But I need to figure a way to see she gets the money soon to clear her debts. I suspect she won’t just let me give it to her. I’m not a patient man, and once I’ve made up my mind, I don’t like to wait forever to have what I want if I don’t need to. I may need your help. And not word to her, Mr. Brinks.”
Once again, Simon smiled. “You’ll have my cooperation, Mr. Jacobson. Now, like I said, I didn’t have enough barbed wire to fill your entire order. I can get it in on the train within the week. If I have it by Saturday, I can ask my son to drive it out to your ranch. Or, if you’re planning to be in town anyway…”
Zeb interrupted him. “I’ll be in town Sunday. Your family church-goers?”
Simon nodded.
“Church still start at ten?”
Another nod.
“I’ll be there. Save me a seat next to Bessie. I’ll take care of the bill now so all I have to do is ask you to stop by the store long e
nough to let me load the wire into the wagon. Oh, and I’ll want to take Bessie for a picnic lunch before I leave town. Can you have your wife put together a nice basket for us? Put it on my tab and I’ll settle up with you when I get the wire.”
After Zeb finished with Simon, he walked out the door straight over to Rusty. He dug a few coins out of his pocket. “Here. Go to the bakery and see if they have any decent sweet rolls left, then take the wagon over by the park and find some shade for the horses where they can graze. I have one more bit of business to take care of, then it will be time to head back to the ranch.”
“Yessir, Mr. Jacobson.”
“And Rusty? I know you saw me escorting Miss Carlson back to the mercantile. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t carry on about it when we get back to the ranch.”
“Not a word, Mr. Jacobson. You think the mercantile has some bottled juice in there? I’m getting a mite thirsty with all this waiting.”
Zeb nodded and mounted his horse. His one last errand to run before he left Jubilee Springs was to run one of the Bainbridge brothers to ground to find out exactly what was involved money-wise in getting a bride to Jubilee Springs.
Once Zeb returned to where Rusty waited for him, they started for home. He thought about all the expenses and requirements involved for the miners to send for a wife through the agency. He could see where some of the men who had no consideration for her personally, but who looked at it strictly from a financial point of view would consider it a bargain to be able to marry a woman who already moved to town. However, no man was going to treat Bessie Carlson that way if he had anything to say about it. He’d pay ten times the expense, maybe a hundred times the expense, to have her for a wife.