The Chili Queen: A Novel

by Dallas, Sandra

The bed was hot, so Addie took off her nightdress and lay down on top of the sheet, banging the pillow to fluff it up. She hoped Emma had had just as much trouble falling asleep, but she doubted it. Addie felt a bite on her leg and hoped Miss Frankie hadn’t left behind bedbugs. She spread her nightgown over the top of the bed and lay down again. There was yelling and a gunshot from the direction of the saloons. Then a horse galloped past The Chili Queen. Those were comforting sounds, and lulled by them, Addie at last fell asleep.

  She did not know how long she’d slept, but the sky was light when a woman’s scream made her jump out of bed. Probably, one of the girls had had a bad dream, most likely Miss Tillie, who had been in a sour mood all evening and so unpleasant with a cowboy from Raton that Addie had returned Miss Tillie’s half of his money. Addie settled back in the bed. But the woman screamed again, and Addie sat bolt upright, as she realized the sound wasn’t from one of the girls. It had come from downstairs: The mail-order bride was the one having a nightmare. There was nothing Addie could do about it, and she settled back in bed. But the woman screamed a third time, making so much noise that Addie knew she’d have to shut her up or she’d awaken the whores, and they would go downstairs, and Addie was too tired to explain to Emma what a pair of hookers was doing in a boardinghouse. So she got out of bed again, wrapped the soiled robe about herself, and barefoot, she made her way down the dark stairs, stepping on something wet. She prayed it was water but didn’t think so.

  As she reached the kitchen, Addie heard a key in the back door, and she picked up the poker from the stove in case of an intruder. But it was Welcome who came through the door, muttering, “That noise pesters me. It’s louder than a skeleton dancing on a tin roof. Is it Miss Tillie again?”

  Addie was glad Welcome had come. If Emma had the hysterics, it might take two of them to calm her down. Addie jerked her head toward the bedroom door. “No, it’s that damned old maid, probably dreaming about her wedding night—which is as close to it as she’s going to get.”

  But just then, they heard a swack and a man cried, “Ouch!”

  Addie swore softly, starting toward the room. But Welcome got to the door first, opened it, and rushed in ahead of Addie. Emma, clutching a hairbrush, was standing over a man, who had his hands to his head. “Addie, by zam, it’s me,” he said.

  Welcome gave a deep, throaty chuckle. Then Addie, too, began to laugh. Emma raised her arm to strike again. “He came through the window. I believe he is a masher.”

  Addie grabbed the hairbrush from her. “Naw, he’s no masher. He’s Ned.”

  “Who?” Emma asked, looking around for a second weapon. The man on the floor had lifted his head and was staring from one woman to another.

  “He’s Ned. Ned Partner is who he is,” Addie said.

  A look of terror crossed Emma’s face as she recognized the name. “The outlaw?” she asked, drawing back against the bed, her hands crossed over her chest.

  “Oh, Ned won’t hurt you. He comes here all the time. He’s my—” Addie stopped, suddenly shy in front of Emma. She tightened the belt of the wrapper and pulled the lapels over her chest. “He’s my brother.” She couldn’t say why she’d become self-respecting all of a sudden.

  “What?” asked Ned, as he got to his knees. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Oh, she won’t tell anybody about you. This here is a maiden lady I met on the train. She doesn’t know anybody in Nalgitas. I gave her my room,” Addie explained, then added, “just for tonight.”

  Ned got to his feet, gently touching the spot on his head where Emma had hit him, then checked his fingers for blood. There wasn’t any. “You picked a maiden lady with a good arm,” he said. “You got any ice for this goose egg?” he asked Welcome.

  “Any gentleman would have come in at the door, but I guess you ain’t one of them. Now come along,” Welcome told him, and the two went into the kitchen, followed by Addie and Emma, who had slipped a robe over her nightdress. Addie wondered, with the heat, how Emma could sleep in a long-sleeved bedgown that was buttoned up to her neck, especially with all that hair hanging down her back. Emma’s hair might have gray streaks, but it was long and thick and curled prettily around her face. Addie twisted her own scraggly hair into a knot at the back of her neck.

  Welcome used a pick to chip off a piece of ice, then wrapped it in a towel and placed it on Ned’s head. “You hold that,” she told him. “I’d be guessing you’ll want eatments.”

  “I guess,” Ned said.

  Welcome stirred up the fire in the cookstove, then picked kindling from the box and fed it into the coals. She sliced bacon into the skillet and mixed up batter for hotcakes. “You want I should fix your breakfast, too?” she asked Addie.

  Addie had had too much whiskey the night before, which had caused a hurting in her head, and the idea of food made her stomach churn. She shook her head. Welcome turned to Emma, who replied, “I would, if it’s not too much bother. I could help.”

  Welcome shook her head, and Emma sat down at the kitchen table as far from Ned as possible, staring at him.

  He stared back, amusement in his eyes. Ned’s eyes always laughed, even when he was angry, Addie thought. Ned was the best-tempered man she’d ever known—and the handsomest. He was just under six feet tall and muscular, and he had green eyes and curly brown hair that turned a little red in the sun. Women could just hardly keep away from him. Still, with all that temptation, Ned was loyal. He was loyal to a hooker, and that made Addie feel good.

  “You have the advantage over me,” Ned said to Emma. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

  “Oh, she’s Emma Roby, and she’s a mail-order bride from Kansas, only her intended thought she was too old and left her at the station,” Addie said. Emma bit her lip, and Addie felt ashamed of herself. It wasn’t necessary to be so cruel. “If you ask me, she’s better off,” she added lamely.

  “So you’re going back home?” Ned asked.

  “She can’t. Her brother won’t take her back.”

  “You got a tongue, or just a right arm?” Ned asked Emma.

  The corners of Emma’s mouth turned up a little, and her eyes, almost the color of forget-me-nots, got bigger. She seemed less frightened when she glanced at Addie, who nodded for her to answer. “I thought I’d stay here a few days, with Addie, with your sister,” she muttered.

  “My what?” Ned asked.

  “Your sister,” Welcome said. The sound of batter poured into the hot skillet didn’t quite drown out her chuckle. She browned sugar in a saucepan and added water.

  Addie wondered why Welcome went to the bother of making syrup, since she’d always set a can of molasses on the table for Addie and her girls and for Ned, too. Then Addie realized Welcome was putting on airs. Most likely, she had worked for gentry once. Addie didn’t know, because in the business she was in, you didn’t inquire into a person’s background. For sure, Welcome thought Emma was more refined than a house full of whores, and Addie was offended. “We don’t need napkins.”

  Welcome didn’t reply. She flipped over the hotcakes and put them on a plate, pouring syrup over them. Then she set down the plate in front of Emma.

  “I expect that’s Ned’s plate,” Addie said.

  “Ladies first,” Welcome told her.

  “Then it’ll be for me.” Addie hoped she’d made it clear that this was her house, and she came first. She wasn’t sure she had.

  Emma smiled and pushed the plate toward Addie, but the smell of food gagged her, and she felt foolish, remembering she had told Welcome she didn’t want breakfast. “No, you take it,” Addie said. The plate sat between the two of them until Ned put down the ice and reached for it and began to eat.

  Welcome set down another plate before Emma, then brought coffee. She picked up Ned’s empty plate and stacked half a dozen flapjacks on it and handed it back to him. While Ned and Emma ate, Welcome leaned against the kitchen wall, watching Emma, who took tiny bites and chewed delicately. When she
finished, she put the fork upside down, the tines in the center of the plate.

  “When do the other boarders eat?” Emma asked as Welcome removed her plate.

  Welcome shrugged. “They sleep till noon. Sleep after noon, too. Sleep all the time except when they’re working.”

  “That’s very accommodating of you. If I ran a boardinghouse, I would insist people ate at regular hours.”

  Ned laughed and looked up at Addie. “I know you got boarders, but I never knew you to call The Chili Queen a boardinghouse.”

  Addie mouthed the word “no” at him.

  Emma looked confused. “It’s a boardinghouse. The Chili Queen takes in boarders. What else would you call it?”

  “A hookhouse,” Ned said with a grin.

  “A what?” Startled, Emma looked at Addie, then back at Ned.

  Addie shook her head at Ned, but he ignored her. “Honey, you must know what this place is,” he told Emma, as he moved his empty plate aside. He folded his arms on the oilcloth that covered the table.

  “Ned!” Addie said, but Ned ignored her. Maybe he was getting even for the knot on his head.

  “Ma’am, you just spent the night in a whorehouse and no mistake,” he told Emma.

  “Addie here’s the head—” Ned stopped at last when he saw Addie glaring at him and finished, “She’s the madam is what she is.”

  Emma didn’t move a muscle, but the blood drained from her face until Addie wondered if the woman might faint dead away. Being left at the railroad station would be nothing to her compared to spending a night in Nalgitas’s only whorehouse. Addie glanced at Ned, who seemed pleased with himself. He put the tip of his finger into a drop of syrup on the oilcloth, then licked the finger. Emma continued to stare at him, then slowly she turned to Addie, who quickly glanced away. Emma looked at Welcome then. The big black woman folded her arms across her chest and grinned. “I guess you are bad mortified,” she said.

  Emma blew out a breath. “I am. I am mortified, indeed,” she said. “What will people think of me?”

  “What do you expect they think of you anyway, coming here like you did to marry a man in a picture?” Addie asked, offended.

  Emma’s lip trembled. “You should have told me. Yes, you should have.”

  “You expect me to stand up in the train and announce what I do and maybe get thrown off? You chose to sit next to me. I didn’t ask you. I didn’t invite you to The Chili Queen, either. You did that yourself. I fed and homed you. You had my bath, and you were so busy feeling sorry for yourself that you never once said thanks to you.” Addie was feeling plenty sorry for herself, too, and she leaned forward to say more, clutching the robe that gaped open.

  But Emma broke in. “No, I did not, and I say it now. Thanks to you for the hospitality. If there is fault to be found it is with me.”

  “Oh,” Addie said, a little deflated.

  “And I’m sorry about the bath. I didn’t know. I intend to pay you board and room. I do.”

  “Oh, that’s all right. I wouldn’t know what to charge.”

  “Hell, Addie, it’s not like you didn’t ever charge anybody before,” Ned put in.

  “You never paid,” Addie shot back, then added, “I never charged a woman. And I never charged for supper.”

  “I shall certainly find a room elsewhere,” Emma said.

  “There ain’t hardly nobody in Nalgitas that’ll take in such as you,” Welcome told her, “only bad women would.”

  Emma shivered a little. “Then I shall find a little store and live there. I am thinking of setting up a millinery shop. Miss French says there is none in Nalgitas.”

  “A what?” Welcome asked.

  “A hat shop. I fancy I am rather good at making hats.” She looked down modestly.

  Welcome snorted and went to the stove, stirring up the fire. “Well, if you made that hat you brung with you, you won’t find nobody here to buy it. Even Miss Addie’s whores wouldn’t wear one of those. Ain’t that a fact, Miss Addie?”

  Now Welcome was the one being cruel, although Addie agreed that someone had to disabuse Emma of the idea of a hat shop. “Mind your business,” Addie retorted, but Welcome only laughed and asked Addie if she wanted some fried-up eggs.

  Addie ignored her and stared at Emma, wondering what to do with her. It was a dilemma, because there was only one thing Addie knew to do with women. In the morning light, Emma wasn’t so bad. At the moment, Addie supposed, Emma looked better than she did. Emma appeared younger than the day before, and from what Addie could tell, Emma’s body was firm, even if it was scrawny. But although Addie was short one whore, she didn’t believe Emma was much of a prospect. She’d surely be insulted at the offer, although it paid considerably better than anything else in Nalgitas, certainly more than making hats. As Addie stared at Emma, the woman looked up at her and smiled. Then she began to chuckle.

  “What?” Addie asked.

  “I was just thinking how John would respond to this. What would he do if he knew I’d spent my first night in Nalgitas inside a…a…”

  “A hookhouse,” Ned said.

  “Yes.”

  “Who’s John?” he asked.

  “My brother. He has a farm in Kansas. He’s the reason I can’t go back. She knows.” Emma dipped her head at Addie.

  “Yeah.” Addie didn’t elaborate. She leaned back in the wooden chair and rubbed her eyes. She was tired enough to sleep sitting up.

  “What am I going to do, Miss French?”

  Addie slowly focused on Emma, wondering why the problem had been turned over to her to solve. “I’ll sleep on it,” Addie said.

  Ned yawned, then stood up and stretched. “I’m going to bed, too.”

  He started for Addie’s bedroom, but Welcome gave a warning, “Uh-uh.” When Ned stopped, Welcome asked Addie, “You want your brother to sleep in the barn?”

  Addie looked confused for a moment, then said, “Oh, yeah.” She looked at Emma. “My brother always sleeps in the barn. He came through my bedroom window because the back door was locked.”

  “Aw, come on, Addie. She knows who you are. She knows who I am, too,” Ned protested.

  Addie stood up and drew the wrapper around herself, sashing it so tightly that she looked like a mattress-worth of feathers stuffed into a pillow tick. “The barn,” she said stubbornly.

  She didn’t care if she annoyed Ned, but she hadn’t. He rarely got angry. He grinned at Addie and gave a mock bow. Then he turned to Emma and touched the sore spot on the top of his head. “Ma’am,” he said. “Good night to yourself and to my sister—my older sister.” He went outside, the screen door banging behind him, and called over his shoulder, “My much older sister.”

  Addie went back to Miss Frankie’s room and fell asleep. When she got up, it was dinnertime, and she went into the kitchen, where Welcome was working at the stove. “The girls are fed and gone to town. She’s out back taking wash off the clothesline. A man brung your trunk from the station, and I unpacked it, and she washed up your things, the sheets on your bed, too. Maybe she expects to stay. She earns her keep.”

  “Doing your work, you mean,” Addie said.

  Welcome ignored the remark. “I got the kettle on. You smell like chickens. Tub’s in there.” Welcome nodded at Addie’s old bedroom.

  Addie had enough dirt on her to grow beans. She went into the bedroom and stripped off her robe, then got into the tin tub and scrubbed herself until there was a thick scum on the water. Addie toweled herself and put on a clean gown and told Welcome she was going into town and would be back by suppertime. When she returned, Ned and Emma were sitting at the table, drinking coffee, waiting for her.

  “I told them I wasn’t dishing up till you come back,” Welcome said.

  Addie blinked at the hired woman’s sudden deference. “Oh,” she said, waving her hand graciously. “Well, you can see I am here.” She sat down at the head of the table.

  “Miss French—” Emma began, but Addie stopped her.

 
“Addie’ll do. You call me Addie. I’ll call you Emma. We’ll both call him Ned.”

  Ned smiled at her, and Addie felt warm to her bones. “We’ve been talking about what she ought to do,” Ned explained. “She told me all about her brother and why she can’t go home. She even told me about the family money that’s hers by rights. But I guess she can’t do anything about that. There isn’t any school in Nalgitas where she can teach, and you already got a cook. Hell, I don’t know what to tell her. I haven’t worked a real job myself since I left Iowa.” He turned to Emma. “That was twenty-and-one years ago, during the war. My father was a devil for work. He cuffed me every day for no good reason.” He glanced at Addie and winked. “Our pa, I guess I should say.”

  “I guess,” Addie said.

  “You’ve been an outlaw since then?” Emma asked, her eyes wide.

  “Well, I just rightly never held a job, except now and then,” he said. There was a touch of pride in his voice. “I didn’t have to. I’ve had a rambling time.”

  Addie gave him a warning look, but Ned said, “Oh, that’s all right, Addie. You told her yourself that I work the other side of the law.” He explained to Emma, “There’s not much law in Nalgitas. Seems like half the people in town have a price on them. The only folks who think they’re quality are the blacksmith and his wife.” He winked at Addie.

  “Emma here could make herself two hundred dollars turning you over to a U.S. marshall,” Addie warned him.

  “Oh, she wouldn’t do that.” Ned turned his sleepy grin on her, and Emma smiled back a little uncertainly. Addie felt a tiny shock of jealousy. “Besides, anybody who turned on me wouldn’t have long to spend the money,” he added. He continued to grin, but Addie knew he spoke the truth. Emma studied Ned for a long time, then exchanged a glance with Welcome, who set down three plates of food on the table.

  Addie looked down at the potatoes and some kind of meat on her plate. She figured it was best not to know what the meat was. The first week Welcome was at The Chili Queen, one of the girls asked about the supper, and Welcome told her it was hog jowl and black-eyed peas. “You ought to study on how to get at that money of yours,” Welcome said.