The Chili Queen: A Novel

by Dallas, Sandra

  Ned didn’t care much about John’s headaches, and he hoped they wouldn’t stop John from handing over the money. Then he thought the headaches might be a good thing, clouding the man’s judgment. “We haven’t got much time. We best transact our business right away,” Ned said.

  The pain on John’s face was obvious when he looked up at Ned. “Yes, I will do it then,” he said.

  “Give me your money now. We have to pay in cash,” Ned said. “I will take care of it while Emma tends to you.”

  Pressing his hands to his eyes again, John rocked back and forth a minute. Then he stood up and faced Ned. “I would see your money first.”

  “What?” Ned asked.

  “Your five thousand seven hundred fifty. If we are each to put up half, I would see the money first.”

  “I don’t have it on my person,” Ned stammered. “You wouldn’t expect me to carry it with me, would you?”

  “I would.”

  Emma looked at Ned with alarm, then said to John, “He has it. I can assure you of that. I have seen the money myself.” She put her hand on John’s arm.

  Staring at Ned with eyes that were the pale blue of ice on a river and brushing off Emma’s hand, John took a step forward and asked, “Do you take me for a fool?”

  Behind John, Emma looked frantic. “We will show it to you later, John. Ned and I will take the morning train to Jasper, where we will complete the transaction. The seller has a fondness for me and says he likes to deal with me. Give me the money now, and I will add it to Ned’s, and we will show you the whole in the morning.”

  “I guess I’ll give you my money in the morning then.”

  Emma took a deep breath that calmed her some. “Oh, no,” Emma said. “We would not want to show bystanders what is in our pocketbooks. If you give me the money now, I will pack it securely, so there will be no chance of Ned and me being robbed.”

  “I am not concerned about what happens to you on the train,” John said in a voice as cold as his eyes. “I am concerned about myself being robbed before you get on the train.”

  “By your own sister?” Emma’s voice was as hard as John’s.

  “By a man I met just today. I have agreed to go partners with him. It is too much to expect me to hand over my money to him. In the morning, after I have counted his greenbacks—and he has counted mine—your husband and I will both give the money to you. Then you alone will take the train, since, as you say, the seller likes to deal with you. Ned and I will stay here, until you complete the transaction and return. If your husband goes with you, then he will have the advantage of me.” When he finished speaking, John shuddered with pain and clapped a hand against his right eye. Then he picked up his bag and asked them for directions to the hotel. “I propose we meet here a few minutes prior to the arrival of the train. If you are not here, then I’ll take the next train for Kansas.” Without a word of good-bye, John started off along the road into town, walking past The Chili Queen without giving it a glance.

  As John disappeared, Ned sat down on the platform. “Whew!” he said. “I never met anybody I disliked so quick.”

  Emma slumped down beside him, tucking her skirt around her, for the wind was fierce. “It was a foolish idea. I should have known John wouldn’t be tricked so easily. If there were a train leaving right now, I would board it, no matter where it was going.”

  Ned looked at her in surprise. “You’re giving up?”

  “What else is there to do?”

  Ned didn’t answer. Instead, he leaned forward, his hands clasped between his knees. “What if your brother goes around town asking questions?”

  “Oh, he won’t do that,” Emma said quickly. “He is too private. Besides, the pain will keep him confined until morning. He will try the raw potato on his eye, mustard plasters on his wrists and neck, and hot footbaths. Then he must take to his bed and lie in darkness. He eats and drinks little when he has these attacks, and sometimes the pain is so great, he cannot even talk. Besides, he would not inquire about us for fear someone would laugh at him. More than anything in the world, John hates being made a fool of; that is another reason why our scheme would have worked.” Emma stood up and adjusted her bonnet. “Perhaps Addie will be kind enough to allow me to stay with her just one more day, so that I will not have to face my brother. When we do not show up in the morning, John will take the train home.”

  “After all we’ve planned, you’re giving up?” Ned asked.

  Emma touched his arm and said gently, “Perhaps John was not clear enough. We cannot get the money until we show him fifty-seven fifty of our own. Unless we can rob a bank of that amount between now and tomorrow morning, we are done for.”

  As Ned leaned forward to stare at the ground and think the thing through, Emma suddenly took his hand and squeezed it. “We were foolish to count on the money,” she said, “although it pleasured me to dream about what we would do with it.” She smiled at him. “It will warm me in the years to come to think I might have been by your side.”

  Ned took a deep breath and exhaled. “What if I had the money? What if I could come up with all of it? If I had that ranch, you’d come with me, wouldn’t you?” He blushed, but not on purpose this time. “Would you marry me?”

  For a long time, Emma stared off into the distance. The hills far to the west had turned blue under the afternoon sky. Emma took off her bonnet and used it to swish the air back and forth in front of her face.

  “I never took a chance like this on anybody before,” Ned said when she didn’t answer. “I want the ranch so much I’d kill anybody who took it away from me—even your brother. And I’m asking you to share that ranch with me”—Ned glanced at her slyly—“after we visit a preacher, that is.”

  Emma turned to him, studying Ned’s face and replying in a solemn voice, “This had best wait until later.”

  Ned gripped her arm. “No, I ask for your answer now.”

  Emma looked confused. “What does it matter?”

  “This business with your brother depends on it. I must have your answer.”

  Emma looked away and thought it over. Then she sighed and said, “Yes, I believe if we could buy a ranch together, I would go with you.” She gave a sad smile. “I thank you for asking. I hope you will remember that I care for you and that you will forgive me one day.”

  Ned thought that was an odd thing for Emma to say, but he was suddenly too excited to think about it. “Well, by zam! I have the money. I do. It’s hidden in the barn at The Chili Queen, more than five thousand dollars. I got it in a robbery, and that with what we took from the Minders is more than enough.” As Ned grinned at Emma and gripped her hand, he felt joy come over him. He had proposed, and she had accepted. And they would live forever on a ranch in the Colorado mountains. He pulled her to him and kissed her, lightly and sweetly. Emma kissed him back, then pulled away and looked around. But no one was in sight. Emma leaned forward and kissed him again.

  On the way back to The Chili Queen, Ned talked through his plan with Emma, chuckling that in trying to protect himself, John had given the two of them the perfect opportunity to leave Nalgitas with the money. He and John would give Emma their cash at the station the next morning. Emma would get on the train to Jasper, just as John had ordered. But instead of waiting in Nalgitas for her to return, Ned would ride to Jasper and join her, just as soon as he could get away from John. Since the train did not go directly to Jasper but first turned north to What Cheer, Ned might even get to Jasper in time to meet the train. John wouldn’t expect Emma to return until the following day and it would take another day for him to follow her as far as Jasper, so they would have two days’ start on him, and they probably wouldn’t even need it. John would assume they had taken the train farther west. He’d never suspect they had gone on horseback to Colorado. “You pack only what you can carry on the train, since it isn’t likely Addie would be in a mood to send along your trunk,” Ned told her.

  “Will you tell Addie?” Emma asked, as they turned
into The Chili Queen, slowing their steps so as to finish their conversation before they reached the door.

  “Later. When it’s done. Before I leave,” Ned replied. He didn’t want Addie spoiling things. Besides, he had a presentiment that Addie already knew about his feelings for Emma.

  Addie was not in the kitchen when Ned and Emma went inside, and for that, Ned was grateful. The two hookers were in the parlor, and Ned could hear laughter, then Addie’s loud voice. Emma seemed preoccupied, but that was to be expected. After all, she was about to rob her brother, then marry Ned Partner. It was almost too much for any woman. She told Ned she must get her things together and went into the bedroom and closed the door. Ned had to pack, too. He started for the barn but ran into Welcome.

  “You got my money?” She grinned.

  “Tomorrow,” he told her sharply. “We’ll get it at the station, and I will damn soon give you your amount.”

  “Don’t be so biggity-acting,” Welcome told him. “I earned it as much as you, which is to say not at all.”

  “Without me, there wouldn’t be any money.”

  Welcome dismissed him with a wave. “You sound like a white man preaching.” She passed him and went on into the house.

  Ned continued to the barn and unlocked the door to the little room where he slept. He would have to decide what to take with him—Addie wasn’t likely to ship his trunk, either—but that wouldn’t be a problem. Even after four years at The Chili Queen, he didn’t have much. He opened his trunk and took out a photograph of his family and studied it. Once he and Emma were settled, he’d write his sister Alice, tell her where he was, maybe invite her to Colorado. He smiled at that. After more than twenty years on his own, he would have a family again. By zam, he might even have his own family! Until he’d met Emma, Ned never had thought about such a thing. He wondered if Emma was a bearing woman. She had said she was more than thirty-five this good year, and that ought to be young enough. His mother had had children—pupped, as his father put it—into her forties and maybe longer; he hadn’t stayed around to find out. It would be nice to have a son, maybe two. But if Emma couldn’t, well, then, it didn’t matter.

  Ned rolled his clothes and the picture inside two blankets, then secured the roll with straps so that he could tie it behind his saddle. He filled his saddlebags with the other things he wanted to take, leaving room for provisions. When he had returned the rest of his belongings to the trunk, Ned reached behind a board and drew out a leather bag, loosened the draw-strings, and dumped the money onto his bunk. He added the cash from the bank job in Jasper. Then he counted it, first making five piles of $1,000 each, another of $750. He stuffed the remaining money—almost $500—into his pocket. He placed the $5,750 in the bag and returned it to the hiding place.

  By the time Ned had finished his preparations, the sun had gone down, and he was hungry. He went to The Chili Queen, where Welcome had left a pan of tamales and two plates, and he sat in the dark and ate quite hearty. He wondered if he should take a plate of food to Emma. Then he saw the empty whiskey bottle on the floor. Maybe she had decided to have a shot for supper instead. The door to the bedroom was closed, and while he was tempted to knock, Ned didn’t want to awaken Emma. They had a difficult day ahead, and she might already be in her bedclothes. The idea made Ned smile. He rolled a cigarette and smoked it, listening to the sounds coming from the front of the house. A woman shrieked, then laughed, and there was a loud guffaw. He thought he heard Addie’s voice and the click of glasses. Addie ought to buy a piano and hire a professor. Ned would tell her so. Then he realized he would not see her in the morning, might not ever see her again. Ned wondered if he’d miss the easy life he had had at The Chili Queen, but he knew he wouldn’t—not when he was going to live in Colorado with Emma.

  He rolled another cigarette and went to the window to look out at the night. The stars were bright, and there was a half-moon. That was good, since the next night, he and Emma would be riding until late. He saw something move near the shack where Welcome lived and narrowed his eyes to make out what it was—probably a dog, maybe a coyote. Then he saw Welcome emerge from the shadows and start down the road into town, moving quickly, taking long strides. Where was she going in such a hurry? Ned wondered. But he forgot about Welcome as he himself stepped outside. He breathed in the air, which was scented with sage, tossed the cigarette into the dirt, and made his way to the barn. Ned Partner felt tip-top.

  When he got up the next morning, he still felt good, especially for one who hadn’t slept much and dreamed dreadful solemn dreams when he did. He blamed the Minders and hoped that Emma had slept better.

  Ned went into The Chili Queen, sorry when he got there to find that Addie was up, too, and waiting for him. More likely, she hadn’t yet gone to bed, since she was bedecked with fine feathers and gewgaws. Welcome was at the stove fixing a breakfast of eggs and mutton ribs.

  “Welcome says you don’t have the money yet,” Addie complained. She looked a little blue.

  “Oh, it’s coming,” Ned told her. “Emma’s brother said he’d give it to us at the depot. Emma’s going to take it to Jasper. We told him we had to sign the papers there.”

  Welcome set a plate in front of Addie, who shoved it over to Ned and leaned forward, her pillowy bosom resting on the table. “Are you going with her?” Addie asked.

  Ned shook his head as he reached for the plate.

  “You trust her to take that money all by herself?” Addie asked.

  Ned glanced toward the bedroom, but the door was closed. “Her brother won’t let me. I trust her. I’ll ride out and meet her in Jasper and bring back our share. Why, if something goes wrong, I’ll pay you myself.”

  Addie sniffed, then signaled for Welcome to bring her another plate. “I stayed up till I don’t know how late, then went to bed sober. I guess I got an appetite after all.” Then she turned to Ned. “That man’s going to hand over his money just like that?”

  The door to the bedroom opened then, and Emma stepped out, wearing her traveling costume. She looked as if she had not slept much, either. She must have been listening on the other side of the door, because she said, “Ned will have to show his own money. Do you remember that I wrote John that Ned would put up half?” she asked. “Well, John wants proof. Ned says he has the amount hidden away.”

  Ned was sorry Emma had brought that up, and he glanced at Addie, who frowned and stared into the cup of coffee in front of her. Suddenly, she brightened. “I believe I would like to see that, too,” she said and turned to Welcome. “Wouldn’t you like to see it?”

  Welcome glanced at Addie, then at Emma. Instead of replying, she asked Emma if she wanted breakfast. Emma shook her head no. “What would we be doing at the station ’cept interfere?” Welcome asked Addie.

  “I guess we’ll see about that, as well,” Addie replied. “Yes, we’ll see what we see.”

  Ned felt uneasy. This was his main chance, and Addie getting mixed up in it threatened to spoil it. So he told her straight out to stay away. Emma, too, protested, saying Addie and Welcome would make John suspicious. Besides, Emma added, John might remember Addie, since he’d seen her when Emma had boarded the train in Kansas. John was good at remembering faces, she said. Even Welcome remarked that Addie might jeopardize the black woman’s $250.

  But Addie waved her hand, dismissing the objections and saying the three of them did not rule her. She had a right to go to the train station if she wanted to. Besides, she would dress herself as plain as Emma, and even last night’s customers wouldn’t recognize her. No matter what Ned and Emma and Welcome said, Addie was adamant. So Ned did the only thing he could think of: He made Addie part of the plan. Actually, it was Emma’s idea. They would tell John that Addie ran the boardinghouse where they stayed and had overheard them talk about taking five thousand dollars to the station. She insisted on going along—no matter that they said they didn’t want her to—to make sure they weren’t robbed. They’d say she was a little crazy and were afraid sh
e would talk if they didn’t humor her.

  Addie went into the bedroom then, calling for Welcome to bring her a pitcher of hot water. Welcome took in the teakettle and filled the bowl, shutting the door as she left. Addie was in the bedroom so long that Ned had to bang on the door and threaten to leave without her. At that, Addie emerged, looking every bit as plain as Emma. She wore a two-piece dress of drab cotton that was cut big in front and made her look dumpy. A sunbonnet covered her brassy hair, and she carried a purse as ugly as a picnic hamper. Addie had been right: A customer from last night wouldn’t have given her a second look. Ned himself would pass her on the street without recognizing her.

  John was waiting on the bench outside the depot when Ned, carrying Emma’s heavy portmanteau, and the three women arrived. John stood up and looked from Ned and Emma to Addie and Welcome, and it was clear he was not pleased. “Who are they?” he inquired.

  “Good morning, John,” Emma said. “I hope your headache has abated.”

  “Enough,” he said.

  “John’s headaches leave him sore-headed the next day. He can take little else but brandy and sugar. Have you eaten?”

  “I ate bread and honey and sucked eggs.” John waved his hand, dismissing the talk of his health. “Will you make me ask you a second time who these women are?”

  Emma said meekly, “This is Mrs. French, who runs the boardinghouse where we stay, and her hired woman, Welcome.”