by Trumbo, Kari
Her soul soared as she left the small room, though it was short-lived. As soon as she saw the pinched look on Ruby’s face, she reined in her feelings.
Jennie sat down at her seat and forced a smile. “Hattie and Eva? Do you think you could work with Francis, Nora, Lula, and Daisy to get the upstairs finished today? I promised Ruby I’d work with her on a project down here and we want to keep it quiet for Aiden so he can rest.”
Hattie sent her a scathing look. “I don’t see why we should be stuck upstairs where it is sickeningly hot. Can’t we explore the town today?”
Ruby shook her head. “No, Beau is concerned that until we know more about what’s expected here, we should stay inside.”
“So, we’re trapped in here?” Hattie crossed her arms. “At least back home we had the freedom to move.”
Daisy laid her hand on Hattie’s. “It’s fine. Let’s make our bedrooms as nice as they can be. Maybe when Beau gets home he’ll take us out to see the town.”
Hattie frowned. “I wouldn’t count on it. If he finds work, he’ll get home late and tired.” She pushed out her chair and stomped up the stairs.
Jennie interrupted. “I know that Beau and Ruby will be gone for a short while after, so he won’t be able to take any of us out after supper.”
Daisy folded her hands in her lap. “I’ll go work on my room until it looks like what we left behind.”
Ruby stood and pushed in her chair. “Thank you, Jennie and Daisy. I’m not feeling well, I’ll be lying down for a bit.”
Jennie watched Daisy and the others file up the stairs and when everyone was gone, she strode back to Aiden’s room. He’d moved his plate off his lap and onto the small table by his bed. His head rested against the wall behind him. She took the plate out to the kitchen but returned quickly. If she could change his bandages while he slept, it might hurt him less.
She padded softly to the end of the bed and knelt by his feet. It took more patience than she realized she had to untie the bandage on each foot without moving him, but unwinding the long bandages would involve lifting his leg. She used some folded blankets and a spare pillow to raise his leg and lifted it as gently as possible. Jack whined at her feet.
“Shush, Jack. You’re going to wake him up,” she whispered, her hands trembling.
Aiden cleared his throat and she jumped, dropping his foot to the bed. He sucked in a deep breath as his heal dug into the cot.
“Aiden, you scared me.” She backed away from him, putting her hands behind her back. She felt like a child caught stealing.
He moved his feet around, glancing at them briefly then up at her. “They feel much better. I’m not sure what Ruby used on them yesterday, but other than being tender when they touch anything, they seem fine. Now, I just need those boots Beau found for me. He’d brought them in here last night, but they’ve disappeared.”
“Just where do you think you’re going?” She stepped forward and continued to unwind his bandages.
“I’m going home. I decided this morning, after listening to you and your sisters, that I’ve missed out on real riches. I haven’t seen my brothers or sister in over a year. They have what makes life worth living, not anything I can find here. I just have to swallow my pride, admit I was wrong, and ask my da to take me back.” He laughed humorlessly. “Should be easy, right? But, you should be happy, at least I won’t be in the mines.”
All the breath rushed out of Jennie’s lungs and she couldn’t speak for a moment as she unwrapped Aiden’s other foot to avoid the hurt welling inside her. It was so foolish, he was going to go home where he belonged. Not with her. He was right, she should be happy. He wouldn’t be in the mines. But for the life of her, she couldn’t be. His feet looked fine, there was only so long she could use that as an excuse for her silence, she’d have to say something. The silence around her was weighted with his expectation of her answer.
“I guess if what you were looking for isn’t here, then you should go,” she whispered against the lump in her throat, clasping the strips of cloth tightly in her hands to hide their trembling. “I’ll get those boots for you. Wouldn’t want you to have to wait around here too long.” Her voice lodged in her throat.
She tried to flee the room but Aiden reached out and grasped her hand. Drat the cramped room that allowed him to reach her! “Jennie, what’s the matter? You’re never this quiet. I thought you’d be happy. I’m not going back to the mines. It’s what you wanted.”
She wouldn’t look down at him. “I’m sorry. I have a lot of work to do. This is a big house.” She pulled free of him, a little more forcefully than was necessary, and left the room as a tear escaped down her cheek. When Beau had found Aiden again, she’d thought he would be around long enough to convince him he didn’t need to work in the mines. Now that he’d decided against mining, he would leave her behind. Stuck in Deadwood.
Chapter Ten
AIDEN LIFTED HIS FEET one at a time and flexed his toes. They weren’t painful or achy now, he just had to get his boots. Jennie hadn’t come to see him in the two days since he’d told her he was going home. Since then, no matter who came in to feed him, they didn’t bring them and he couldn’t leave the room without them. While he wasn’t a man of great manners, walking around the house barefoot wasn’t an option unless you were a toddler. Jennie’s distance, and the fact that she hadn’t brought the boots like she’d said, bothered him. Her distance had forced him to think about her, far more than was good for him.
He gingerly put one foot than the other on the floor and tested his weight on them. Finding them as good as ever, he stretched up on his toes then back down. Standing felt wonderful after lying in bed for days. He found the socks Beau had left with him near the ointment at the end of his bed. He slipped them on and relished the warm comfort of new wool socks. He walked to the door of his little room and Jack yipped at him.
Aiden patted the dog’s head and moved further out into the short hall that led to the kitchen. Ruby stood by the stove stirring something in a large pot.
She glanced up and a smile played at her lips. “Aiden, so good to see you up and walking about. I was resting a bit the last few days myself and took that time to knit you some more socks. I’ll get them for you.”
She tapped her spoon on the side of the pot and rushed to the stairs, returning a minute later with another pair of black socks. He held them for a moment, feeling their thickness. He hadn’t had a new pair of socks in longer than he could remember and now he had two.
“Thank you, Ruby. I won’t forget your kindness.” He sat at the table and she set a cup of coffee in front of him. He felt better now that he was up and moving.
Beau came in and kissed Ruby on the back of the neck. “Aiden, I have those boots near the door.” He dug around and pulled out the old pair of boots he’d brought before. Beau dropped them by his feet and waited as Aiden tried them on. They fit as well as any other boots he’d ever had before, which wasn’t great, but expected.
Ruby turned and smiled. “Jennie tells us you plan to head out soon. Heading home. That’s wonderful.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll need to work to earn a railroad ticket. But then I’m going home to my family.”
“That’s good to hear. But you’ll have to keep in touch. You feel like family now.” She turned back to the stove.
The words struck him. It was true. Beau and Ruby felt like family and he would miss them. The younger Arnsby girls had all wound their way into his heart like little nieces. Jennie, though, as hard as he tried, he couldn’t picture her in the same way.
Beau sat at the table across from him. “They need a type-setter at the paper where I work. It’d be easier for you if you can read.”
“I can.” He stood and tested the boots, flexing his toes within them, glad there were no rough spots to poke holes in his new socks.
“Then you can come with me tomorrow morning. It’s messy work, but nothing like the mine. If you can carve, they may even have you making the blo
cks, that would earn you more money, quicker.”
“I don’t aim to make this a profession. I just need to work long enough to earn my way south.”
“It shouldn’t take too long, maybe a month or so. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need. You know that.”
He tried to keep his emotions in check. A month was a long time. Too long. If he let himself think about Jennie for a month, he’d be too attached. Either way, he had to find out what a ticket cost and see if his pack with the little money he had left was still where he’d left it. “I’d like to go back to the cabin Boom gave me before I ended up here. I left my bag back there.”
“I’d take Jack with you. I’ve heard there are two places you want to avoid in Deadwood, the shanty town and Chinatown, whether either warning is true, I don’t know, but that’s what people tell me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He whistled for Jack and headed for the door. “Thank you, Beau, Ruby.” He plopped his hat on his head and tipped it to her.
Beau smiled. “Don’t thank me yet. You haven’t put in a day of work.”
Aiden let Jack run around the front of the house as he closed the door. The fresh summer air buzzed with expectation. He’d been chained to that room because of his feet for too many days. The sun was high in the sky and he realized Beau must have come home during the midday meal. He’d lost all track of time. Even with the small window in his room, the light never seemed to fully make it into the space. Tilting his face back, he closed his eyes and let the sun warm his face. The weather was so much different than Kansas or California. It was like the best of both.
He made his way down the streets, following the glimpses of the shanty town he could see as he went by rows of homes. The closer he got, the older and more decrepit the houses appeared. He walked by a few homes that were little more than burned out shells. Blackened boards stuck out at odd angles from deep craters. Some houses were still upright, but gray with soot, the glass in the windows long gone, and tattered curtains fluttering in the breeze. He shook his head. That was the mark of enough devastation to make a man pick up his family and leave…if the families who’d lived in those homes even survived.
As he walked down the rows of tiny homes in the shanty town not a soul was in sight. Every working man was off in the mines. There wasn’t a woman or child, not dog or even chickens, to be seen. Even the cribs were quiet. He searched for and finally found his small place. The door remained open, hanging precariously off the makeshift hinges as it had when he’d gotten there.
He pushed the door further open and saw the tick he’d spent the day filling was now flat and clothes he didn’t recognize hung on the pegs on the wall. Boom had already given away his home to someone else, so where was his saddle? He searched through the few things inside, but his saddle was gone, probably sold.
A coldness lay on him as he closed the door behind him to leave. His da had got him that shaving kit when he’d finally started taking on whiskers. The pack and saddle itself had been a gift from his older brother. He’d carried it for more miles than he could count because it was all he’d had left of his family and he couldn’t leave it behind. Now, his travels away from home had cost him everything. His snide insistence that the world held something better than what he’d had rang hollow in his ears. How would they ever forgive him?
He trudged back to Deadwood with Jack on his heels. His shoulders slumped and he passed Beau’s house as he walked further up town. There were shops, barbers, grocers, restaurants, and other businesses that he only noted in passing. What he needed was the railroad station. Deadwood’s rail system wasn’t old, but it’d been carrying mining equipment for a few years. It had only recently connected with three other nearby rail systems to take passengers to and from Deadwood, making it more appealing and accessible. Though his only interest was in how to leave, and if those few rail systems connected with a major one to get him home. He searched the fare board and found what he was looking for. The new lines didn’t go many places; he’d have to connect at another larger station further south.
It would cost him thirty dollars to get home. If he could get the pay Boom had told him about as a miner, he could leave within two weeks. If not, he’d be here longer. There was just no way to know what Beau’s job would offer until he showed up to check it out. Thirty dollars was a daunting amount when he currently made nothing. And four weeks was a lifetime when he had to leave quickly or risk caring too much. If he cared too much, he might not ever go home and make things right.
The walk back to the large house was a short one. His feet had already begun to throb and the front steps would make an excellent place to rest out of the way of the ladies in the house. While mining might not have been good for him, his body was in good condition because of it; swinging a pick for a year on the prospector’s claim had worked fine for him. He’d been younger, and foolish to think the old man would give him his share. But here…miners were under contract and the experienced ones could make as much as seven dollars a day. He was sorely tempted to find Boom. But there was always the possibility Boom would be no different than the old coot in California.
He let himself fall comfortably on the steps of the porch back at the Rockford’s and let the sun shine on him. Jack sat next to him and rested his head on Aiden’s leg. He stroked the dog’s ears but let his mind wander. During the day, the city of Deadwood was an amazing ruse. It looked much like any bustling western town. They lived on the edge of the municipality where a few stores were still wooden with high false fronts painted white with bold black lettering announcing their business to the world. Men in white aprons, sleeves rolled high, helped farmers bring cattle in to the back for butchering. He’d walked by just about any business a man could imagine.
The door clicked behind him and he heard the rustle of petticoats swish toward him. It was strange how Jennie could use the very same soap as the rest of her family, but he could tell without turning that the scent of rose soap clung to her. He turned and she joined him, sitting a few feet away on the other end of the step. Her hair was the same color as a flake of gold and it shone just the same in the sunlight. She laid her hands in her lap and searched the area around them. Jack got up and went to her, plopping down by her side and licking her face. She laughed and patted her lap. Jack immediately obeyed and laid his head down for some attention. That dog was stealing his girl.
“How’s your arm?” he mumbled, at a loss for what else to say.
She stopped petting Jack and touched her forearm. “Fine, it wasn’t as bad as it looked at first. He’s so good now, it’s hard to imagine he did that.”
“I think he was just scared. He’d been rescued the night before; the camp was new with different noises… I’m so sorry, Jennie.”
She turned her face away and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “You already apologized and I forgave you. It wasn’t your fault. When do you think you’ll go?” Her face didn’t change but her body did, and Jack noticed the change as much as he did, whining at the sudden tension in her shoulders and back.
“Well, that all depends on that job Beau has for me. If I can make what I would’ve in the mine, less than two weeks. If not…” he shrugged, he couldn’t lie to her about his desire to go quickly. She would take it wrong and part of him still wanted to stay with the golden-haired beauty next to him, even if it was dangerous.
She turned toward him. “And will you go work in the mine if you can’t get that much with Beau?” Her face was set, just as it had been when he first joined them. She’d already shut him out and counted him as gone.
“No, that isn’t my plan. I’m not strong enough to say no. If I started in the mine, it would be too easy to think just one more day and I’ll be richer, just one more day until I strike it big. I may go home with nothing in my pockets for my da except an apology. I’ve got to pray that’s enough.”
She nodded. “So, what you really want is in Deadwood, you’re just not willing to let yourself go for i
t. Temptation is a terrible thing.”
He clenched his hands to keep from reaching out to her. No one knew about the difficulty of temptation more than him at that moment. He glanced away from her. “The cost of searching for gold is much higher than buying it. I see that now. Is Ruby going to be all right?” He ran his hand up the back of Jacks fur and scratched his neck, using the dog as an excuse to inch closer to Jennie.
Jennie hid a smile as she tucked her chin. “Yes, the doctor says it’s pretty common to get sick. We didn’t know. Mama never got sick with us.”
“What do you mean?”
Jennie cocked her head to the side and smiled faintly. “I guess I can tell you, since she finally told the family. Ruby is in a family way.”
For some reason her words came back to him and he wished he could’ve been included in the celebration. She must have told them when he was out of the house or he’d have heard it.
Jack rolled off Jennie’s leg and turned over between them. His lips flopped open like a lopsided grin. Jennie laughed and her face softened.
“I’ve never seen a dog do that before.” He couldn’t take his eyes off Jennie, and he said a prayer she didn’t notice. “I wish I knew where he came from. I guess he’s mine now, though I don’t know if they’ll let him travel by train.”
“Maybe you’ll just have to leave him here… with me.” She glanced up at him, her eyes asking for much more than the dog.
He wanted to give her assurances, but he couldn’t. If da didn’t forgive him, he’d work hard until he could earn forgiveness. Jennie was too good a girl to make wait. He’d never considered coming back, though, maybe it was possible. He still couldn’t give her hope where there might be none. “I can’t do that. Might be tempted to come back and get him. Like you said. Temptation is a terrible thing.” He stood up and strode into the house before Jennie could make him admit more than he wanted to. Talking with that girl always made him feel as if more was being said than he meant, and he hated the tight feeling in his chest whenever he thought about what to say. He hated it even more when he left her.