“Come on, Lou,” Carl said as he dismounted. “You’ve got plenty of class. Now’s the time to show it.”
That was the trouble with having class. You had to do all sorts of things you didn’t want to do and pretend you liked them. You had to be nice to people when you were aching to scratch their eyes out. You had to be thankful for things you’d rather throw on the ground and grind under your feet.
“Let me help you down,” Will said.
Before she could object, he put his hands around her waist, lifted her from the saddle, and set her gently on the ground. The sound of her feet squishing against the wet socks inside her boots made her feel even more like running away. Could she be more humiliated?
Junie Mae was waiting just inside. The back room of the store was the workroom where dresses were cut out and sewn together. Bolts of material were stacked on shelves lining one wall. One table was covered with material being cut out for a dress while patterns lay scattered over another. Pieces of dresses lay across two sewing tables. Cards of ribbon, lace, and various trims rested in a specially built case along with dozens of spools of thread.
“You poor thing,” Junie Mae cooed. “How awful.”
Idalou wanted to tell her it was no such thing, but it was awful and she did feel like a poor thing.
“We need a dress for her to wear,” Will said. “All her clothes got lost in the flood.”
“I’m sure we have something in your size,” Junie Mae said.
“Nothing expensive,” Idalou said. “I can’t afford to stay in the hotel and buy fancy clothes.”
“I won’t hear of you staying in the hotel,” Junie Mae said. “You can stay with me.”
Chapter Eleven
Idalou was certain it was impossible to be more humiliated. She didn’t want to stay in the hotel because of the lack of privacy and Will’s having to pay for it, but how could she share a room with the woman who’d stolen the only man she’d ever thought she wanted to marry?
“That’s awfully kind of you, Junie Mae,” Will said, “but it is your aunt’s house.”
“That’s right,” Idalou said, grasping at the straw Will had handed her, however unintentionally. “I couldn’t even consider it without your aunt’s consent.”
“She won’t mind,” Junie Mae insisted.
“Still, it might be better if Idalou could choose a dress so we can head to the hotel,” Will said.
Before Idalou had time to look at any of the dresses, Junie Mae’s aunt returned from lunch.
“Somebody blew up Idalou’s dam and the water washed the house away,” Junie Mae said to her aunt. “She was going to stay in the hotel, but I invited her to share my room. Is that all right with you?”
Before Idalou could think of an excuse, Ella Huffman had gripped both of Idalou’s hands in her firm grasp.
“You poor child,” she said. “What kind of horrible person would do something like that?”
“I don’t know,” Idalou said, “but you don’t have to—”
“I didn’t hesitate to give my sister’s child a permanent home when she died,” Ella said, cutting off Idalou’s protest. “Of course you’ll stay with us.”
“The hotel is really quite comfortable,” Idalou said.
“But it’s filled with men, isn’t it?” Ella asked.
“Yes, I suppose.” She didn’t recall a woman ever staying there.
“That’s all the more reason for you to stay with me.”
“That’s very kind of you, but I can’t—”
“I won’t hear a word of protest,” Ella said. “I’m sorry I can’t offer to let your brother stay, but it wouldn’t be right to have a young man who’s not a blood relative in the house with Junie Mae.”
Idalou came to the conclusion that unless she was willing to appear ungrateful, even rude, there was nothing she could do to keep from sharing a room with Junie Mae. However, she intended to do everything she could to make her stay as short as possible.
“It’s very kind of you,” Idalou said, giving in. “Carl’s staying at the ranch to keep an eye on our cows.”
“Where will he sleep?” Ella asked.
“He has his bedroll,” Will said.
“Men do all sorts of things a woman would never do,” Ella said with a wink, as though she and Idalou were sharing a secret.
“I’ll check on Carl to make sure he’s okay,” Will said.
Ella beamed at Will. “So kind. Dunmore is very fortunate to have you with us, even for a short while.”
Idalou wasn’t surprised at Ella’s almost fawning attitude toward Will, but she was surprised to see Junie Mae looking acutely uncomfortable and staring at her feet.
“Idalou is looking for a dress,” Junie Mae told her aunt. “Everything she had was washed away in the flood.”
Apparently, Ella hadn’t noticed that Idalou was wearing only a shirt. Once she did, however, it didn’t matter that Will had pulled her bodily from the water or had ridden next to her for five miles through open country. The rules of propriety had to be strictly observed. She bundled Will out the door with assurances he could, at a suitable time, come see for himself that Idalou was being properly cared for. It would have been funny if Idalou wasn’t afraid that Will was secretly relieved to have her taken off his hands.
“Is she really going to share a room with Junie Mae?” Carl asked Will, caught between surprise and amusement. “I’m surprised she didn’t bolt.”
“If she’d had anything to wear, I think she would have.”
“Idalou is a great gal, but sometimes she needs taking down a peg,” Carl said with a boyish grin. “I could never do it.”
“I wouldn’t even try.”
“You could.” Carl’s expression turned serious. “She complains about you all the time, but she listens to what you say.”
Will would have placed a substantial bet that the only reason Idalou would ever listen to him would be to take the opposite position. They were in the jail, and Carl was carefully packing all the provisions he’d bought into two saddlebags. He’d told Will he didn’t intend to come back to town for at least a week.
“Everybody listens to you,” Carl said. “Now that they know you saved Idalou, you’ll be even more of a hero.”
After leaving Ella’s store, Will had headed to the Swinging Door. There he’d found Carl regaling more than twenty men with his account of Will fighting his way through the floodwaters with Idalou on his back. Apparently, Carl had told Andy Davis about it while buying his supplies, and Andy had insisted that he go to the saloon and tell everybody else. All the men expressed proper indignation over the destruction of the dam and promised to do anything they could to bring the culprit to justice.
“If anyone does listen to me—and I’m not sure they do—it’s only because I was fool enough to take this job when nobody else would.”
“You stopped Van from running over Pepper, you put Newt in jail, and you convinced Jordan he ought to pay us for using our bull. Nobody else has ever come close to doing that.”
Will figured they hadn’t tried very hard. Any one of his brothers—Luke, Zeke, or Hawk—would have had this town buttoned up tight in less than twenty-four hours.
“I haven’t figured out who took the bull, I don’t know who blew up the dam, and I don’t know who’s behind all the trouble on your range. That doesn’t make me sound too all-fired great.”
“You’ll figure it out.”
Will wondered why Carl had more confidence in him than he himself had. “Then there’s Mara thinking she’s in love with me, your sister disliking me, and Junie Mae . . .” He fell silent.
Carl looked up from his packing. “Mara would get over you if her ma wasn’t drumming it into her head that you’d make the perfect husband. Idalou doesn’t dislike you. She’s just real aggravated by the trouble we’ve been having. I didn’t know anything was wrong with Junie Mae, but come to think of it, she has been looking a little peaked lately.”
“I think she
may have been disappointed in love,” Will said, kicking himself for mentioning Junie Mae.
Carl turned back to his packing. “I used to think Van and Webb were both sweet on Idalou, but after Webb died, Van’s pa made it clear he wanted Van to marry Mara. Van can be a real bastard, but he’d never go against his pa. Junie Mae never had a chance.”
If a boy as oblivious as Carl could tell that Junie Mae was looking off-color, it was a surefire bet every woman in town had noticed and was speculating as to the reason. It looked as though things would be coming to a head sooner than Will had thought. He was glad he’d already written Isabelle.
“I’ll come check on you in a couple of days,” Will said, hoping to get off the subject of Junie Mae.
“You don’t have to check on me.” Carl seemed offended. “I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” Will assured him, “but if I don’t check on you, your sister will be mad at me. What’s more, she’ll check on you herself. You get your choice, her or me.”
“You,” Carl said with a defeated sigh. “I’ve got to be the only eighteen-year-old boy in Texas whose sister checks on everything he does.”
“I’m twenty-eight and my mother still checks on me,” Will said. “My father, too. And that doesn’t count two sisters and nine brothers. Fortunately, they’re not all home at the same time. Want to trade places?”
“No,” Carl said with a grin. “I’m surprised you didn’t run away.”
“I sort of did.”
Carl’s eyes grew wide. “Men your age don’t run away. They just leave.”
Will didn’t know what had gotten into him. He’d nearly given away Junie Mae’s secret, and now he was trying to do the same with his. As for leaving, Carl didn’t understand. No one left Isabelle. Even when she was a thousand miles away, she was with you, looking over your shoulder, whispering in your ear, reminding you of the lessons you’d forgotten. Luke said she followed him like his personal rain cloud.
“We’re a very close family, and I’m the youngest male.”
“I feel sorry for you,” Carl said. “I’ve only got a sister.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Will said, remembering the sweetness of Isabelle’s smile and the comfort of Jake’s presence when he was a kid. “I love my family. I even love the little brats they keep having, but I had to get away. They wouldn’t let me breathe.”
That sounded silly even to himself, but it was true. He could still remember the feeling of relief when he rode out of the Hill County. And the guilt for feeling relieved. The desperate need to leave, and the feeling of loss once he had. What did you do when the thing you wanted to get away from most was the thing you loved the best? You established the sort of independence Buck, Drew, Sean, Chet, Matt, and Bret had. And you didn’t do it by running away like Pete, Luke, Zeke, and Hawk. He had run away, but it was just temporary.
“Sometimes I don’t want to come home because Lou makes me feel like such a baby,” Carl said. “Even Jordan treats me more like a man, though he told Mara she couldn’t marry me because I’m too green.” He looked up at Will and grinned. “Maybe we ought to make a pact to help each other out.”
“If you want to help me, find that bull.”
Carl’s grin faded. “I guess I have to face the fact that somebody stole that bull. We’ve looked everywhere. Even Sonnenberg’s hands couldn’t find it.”
The mention of Sonnenberg caught Will’s attention. “Sonnenberg had his hands search his land for the bull?”
“No. Van let Idalou search his land. His hands searched our land in case we’d missed something, but I’ve gone over every inch of our place. Let’s face it. The bull’s gone.”
Will didn’t trust Van and had no reason to trust his father. He could see why Van might invite Idalou to search his ranch, but he didn’t see why Van’s men should search Idalou’s property. According to what he’d learned since he’d been in Dunmore, Frank Sonnenberg wanted Idalou and Carl’s ranch as much as Jordan McGloughlin did. If Van was anything to go by, Frank would be more willing than Jordan to use any method he thought would work.
But would he go so far as to blow up the dam? Will didn’t know anybody in Dunmore terribly well, but he didn’t believe Jordan would do that. In all fairness, he had to say he didn’t have any reason to believe Sonnenberg would, either.
Carl looked up. “What will you do if we don’t find the bull? You must have considered that possibility when you paid the loan. You don’t strike me as a man to do anything without thinking it through first.”
Will wished his family could hear that. “I’ve got a feeling that bull is still here, but if he’s gone, I’ll pay you to run the ranch for me.”
“You wouldn’t stay in Dunmore?”
Will had never considered leaving his family. His parents and siblings were all too much a part of him. He was relieved to be away, but he missed them, too. “I’ve got some land already set aside for my ranch. As soon as I get the bull, I’ll buy some cows and set up my own operation.”
“There’s plenty of land around here.”
“It’s not the land, it’s my family. I don’t want them looking over my shoulder all the time, but I do want them close by.”
“I guess I feel the same way about Lou.”
“Of course you do. Now tell me where you’ll set up your camp. I don’t have time to go looking all over for you.”
Idalou hated to admit it, but Junie Mae’s clothes looked better on her than her own. “I’ll only take one dress,” she told Junie Mae. She couldn’t deny being pleased that the dress made her look so attractive, but she felt uncomfortable in clothes that weren’t her own.
“I have more clothes than I need,” Junie Mae said, pulling two more dresses out of the closet and laying them on the bed. “Besides, that dress looks better on you than it does on me. You can keep it.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I’m blond and pale. You’re a brunette and your skin has real color. I’m going to go through my clothes and give you everything that makes me look washed out. Look,” Junie Mae said when Idalou started to protest, “my aunt says the clothes she and I wear are her best advertisement. Nobody asked about that dress when I wore it, but you’ll get plenty of notice. Aunt Ella will probably give you more dresses to wear.”
Idalou didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t go around wearing one dress every day, but she didn’t see how she could accept so many. And try as she might, she couldn’t forget that Junie Mae had stolen Webb from her. His jilting her without warning and without a reason had been a terrible shock. It had hurt her deeply to know how little she meant to him.
Yet there was something about Junie Mae that puzzled her, that made her feel Junie Mae was clinging to her, that as incredible as it seemed, she needed her. It wasn’t just the lost color or the gauntness in Junie Mae’s face. There was fear in her eyes. Idalou doubted her impressions at first, but changed her mind when she noticed how nervous Junie Mae was around her aunt, how she did little things to keep out of Ella’s range of vision. The whole time her aunt was with her in the store, Junie Mae had fiddled with a couple of dresses, holding first one and then the other in front of her to show Idalou why it would look good on her.
“I’ll move back to the ranch as soon as everything dries out,” Idalou said to Junie Mae.
“You said the water washed everything away. Where will you stay?”
“I plan to buy a tent.”
“Why would you want to go back?”
“It’s my home,” Idalou said. “Besides, I have animals to care for.”
“Won’t they have drowned?”
“I let them out before the floodwaters reached us. I’m hoping they survived.”
The two of them were in Junie Mae’s room with dresses spread over the bed they would be sharing, over two chairs, and hanging on the door. Idalou had never had a mirror larger than six inches high, but Junie Mae had a mirror on the back of the door that was so big Idalou co
uld see almost her whole reflection. As much as she castigated herself for her vanity, she couldn’t stop looking at herself in the mirror. It was wonderful to feel attractive.
“I’m sure the animals can take care of themselves,” Junie Mae said.
Junie Mae’s bedroom was bigger than the little parlor in Idalou’s ranch house. The walls were covered with a cream-colored wallpaper decorated with bunches of blue and red flowers tied with pink ribbon. The two windows had shades to keep out the sun and gauzy white curtains embroidered with dozens of blue forget-me-nots. The big four-poster bed had been fashioned out of a dark wood and was piled high with comfortable mattresses. A white bedspread covered with white tufts reached down to the floor on each side of the bed. A chest of drawers filled with underclothes was flanked by a dressing table covered with combs, brushes, ointments, rouge . . . more things to make a woman beautiful than Idalou had ever seen.
“The chickens provide eggs as well as meat,” Idalou told Junie Mae. “The pigs will be slaughtered in the fall, and we need the cow for milk and butter. I had a garden, too, but I’m sure there’s nothing left of it.”
Junie Mae laid aside the dress she’d been holding and sank into the chair at the dressing table. “Do you like living on a ranch? It sounds awfully hard to me.”
Idalou used to believe that living on a ranch was what she wanted because it would be the only thing she could have. Unbidden, Will’s image popped into her mind. He was a rancher, but he didn’t look or act like McGloughlin or Sonnenberg. He obviously had money, but he didn’t use it as an excuse to grow soft. He was as comfortable in a hotel or at a supper table as he was in the saddle or fighting floodwaters. Somehow he had made being a rancher fit him, not the other way around.
“I don’t like having to struggle to keep from losing the ranch or having people cheat me.”
“Van used to say he was afraid McGloughlin would get tired of waiting for you to fail and run off your herd.”
“Nobody would try that now, not with Will . . . I mean the sheriff around.”
Texas Tender Page 15