“I hate bein’ afraid.”
“Corinne, it’s just a contest. I’ll be right there with you.”
Corinne took a deep breath.
Chapter Sixty-Nin e
Corinne watched Lee load his bags on the stallion in the yard. Through the window it looked unreal to her, but it was real. More real than she wanted to admit to herself. Lee’s time was up. Now he was back in uniform, freshly shaved and pressed. She’d even ironed his shirt herself, carefully pressing the collar until it was flat and smooth. He stepped into the doorway and set his officer’s hat on his head.
“It’s time,” he said.
Corinne froze.
“I have to go back but every time I can get away, I will. I’ll get some wood chopped next time I come back. Until then you should be good.”
“I’ll miss you,” she admitted, fighting back her emotions.
“I’ll miss you too, and being here. It’ll be a big change being back at the fort. You can ride out and visit me too, if you like. That would be nice.”
“I might,” she said, trying to sound casual.
“You’ll like it. You can get a hot bath at the fort, no more muddy creeks,” he said.
“No fresh baked pie either.”
Corinne walked out to the yard and waited while he climbed into the saddle. She wondered what he would do if she jumped up behind him and rode with him, even just part of the way.
“Do you mean it? You’ll really come by?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. Lee wasn’t happy about what he was doing, but he had a duty, responsibilities, and she’d said nothing. He wished that, even though he could not, she would ask, just once, for him to stay. He was worried too about Hawkins’ visit, although he had not returned again.
“That would be nice,” she said.
Lee looked at her, lingering a moment more, then tipped his hat and smiled. He turned Chief towards the fort and rode away.
Corinne could not bear watching him leave so she stumbled into the house and closed the door behind her.
When Lee did look back she was nowhere to be seen. He kicked Chief to a fast trot.
Corinne leaned against the door feeling overcome. They both knew it had to end from the beginning. He was her friend, he’d helped her. Now she had her house and it was far better than she would have imagined building alone. She took the wash tub from the wall and carried it out to the yard. She could not picture him living on the plains. He needed to be clean and in nice clothes. She filled the tub with water and went to gather the soiled laundry. She looked into the laundry basket and stopped and stepped back. There was nothing of his in the basket, nothing at all. No shirts. No trousers. Nothing. Corinne began walking around the house. Everything was gone. His bedroll, the books he had brought from the fort. He had taken it all.
“He’s not comin’ back,” she said aloud.
Corinne threw the basket through the open door and pushed over the tub in the yard.
“Get your fancy things washed by someone else,” she yelled out over the prairie. “Now you can stay clean all the time in your fine uniform!” Corinne sat in the dust in the yard wishing she could be angry enough to not cry.
Chapter Sevent y
The days of June melted away quickly for Lee at the fort and every time he thought he’d get a weekend or even a day to ride back to Corinne’s his commanding officer had arranged something for him to do. The captain also talked often about how the lieutenant’s reenlistment was not far off. Lee however, would not be reenlisting, he was certain of that. But he worried that what he wanted might never be his. He could not ignore his feelings for Corinne. She showed no emotion over his leaving and he began to wonder if perhaps she was glad he had gone. She had her place and she could be alone now all she pleased if that’s what she wanted. She could ride well. Why then, in weeks now, had she not once come out to the fort to see him?
In fact, Corinne had been back and forth on many occasions. She had found a place on the rise where she could ride up beneath the shade of the cross timbers and see the fort. Lee was always easy to distinguish from the others. She’d watched him training and drilling men, or teaching young soldiers how to break a horse. She saw him look up her way now and then but she knew that, in the bright sunlight, he could not see her in the shade of the trees.
She’d also been to town several times, gathering supplies for her contest pies. She bought nothing new for her house. It didn’t feel so much like a home to her now. She wondered if he was happy at the fort. He’d not come up to the adobe house even once. Corinne had tried to forget him but still she bought a pretty blue frock to wear for the contest hoping she might see him there. As the day of the contest drew closer her apprehension increased.
An elderly couple spoke softly to Highland as he sat in their shack in his fresh pressed uniform.
“We’d love to have a family share our land. The good Lord knows it’s too much for us here alone,” the old man said.
Lee was a soldier but he was also a diplomat. He knew that in any negotiation all parties involved needed to feel they had been treated fairly when they walked away from the bargaining table. He wanted to feel assured that Tupper Hawkins would leave Corinne alone. Tupper Hawkins felt he had been cheated out of good land. Lee could see a solution.
He thought that, if he could get Hawkins to agree to divide a claim on better land than his own, it could help everyone concerned. If Hawkins would put in a good day’s work here and there the elderly folks could get on better and Hawkins and his wife and children could thrive. Now he only needed to get Tupper Hawkins to agree.
“Why should I slave for some old folks to get land?” Tupper Hawkins paced in the dust beside his wagon while his wife stood by wringing his hands.
“I’m trying to help you, man,” Highland insisted. “Their land is prime. There’s water and trees. They’re willing to divide it in your favor. You give them a little help now and again and you all do well. They would welcome the children.” Lee began to realize he was wasting his breath. He looked at Eve Hawkins and she looked back at him with longing on her face. He knew he could not help a man who would not help himself. He looked around the site and could see that, even after all this time, next to nothing had been done. There was no shelter of any sort and the hot sun was beginning to rot the canvas cover on the wagon. Before long there would be no cover at all.
Lee looked back and forth between Eve’s pitiful look and Hawkins’ stubborn countenance. “Is there somewhere you can take your family?”
“I’ll worry about my family, sooner,” Hawkins spat.
Chapter Seventy-On e
The day before the contest Corinne decided to ride into town and see the opening of the fair. She’d seen the brightly decorated pavilion the last time she’d looked down over the fort, and she hoped seeing the contest tents might ease her fears.
Corinne avoided her usual watching place on the hill and approached the fort by riding through town. The farmer’s market was bustling with the activity of settlers who had come from miles around for the fair.
Looking over the crowd she saw Lee. He was easy to find, taller than most and handsome in his full uniform. Corinne slid from Boomer’s saddle and walked among the crowds. She noticed a pretty blonde who was watching Highland. She was fashionably dressed with a long yellow feather in her bonnet that perfectly matched her canary ensemble. Corinne watched her fill her basket quickly with apples from a fruit stand and hurry in Lee’s direction.
The blonde pretended to stumble, spilling the fruit at Highland’s feet. Putting her hand to her chest she then feigned fainting. Her fall into the tall officer was cunning and calculated. He caught her in his arms and she fanned her face as if embarrassed. Lee gathered her apples gallantly and tipped his hat. When he smiled broadly at the girl Corinne could have screamed. She leapt into her saddle causing a woman beside her to shriek. Corinne looked up and saw Lee’s face. She forced her way through the crowd and kicked Boomer into a
fast run.
Chapter Seventy-Two
Lee looked up and saw her there. It was clear that she had been watching him and something about the look in her eye convinced him that he needed to follow. He knew enough about Corinne Greslin to know that if she needed help she might never ask. In the morning she would be bringing her pies for the contest. He’d really wanted to be part of it.
He rode back to the fort and knocked on the captain’s office door.
“I’d like to leave the fort for a few hours, sir.”
“Is there a problem, Lieutenant?”
“I’m not sure, sir. But I feel it is important.”
“Why not, Highland. Take a few days. It’s only a week until your reenlistment comes up. Go enjoy yourself before getting shipped out.”
Highland thanked him and mounted his horse.
Corinne removed the last of the contest pies from the oven. She had taken a plunge into the creek when she had gotten home and it cooled her body but not her ire. Jealousy had made her physically ill before and by the time she had gotten home her dress was a mess. She tried focusing on her pies. She had carefully planned each one weeks ahead of time. The room was covered in bits of crust and flour, as was she. Corinne didn’t care. If supporting herself did not depend so heavily on the contest she wouldn’t have baked a single pie. She didn’t give a damn about the contest any more, but she needed to live and if she were going to do that on her own she’d need money.
Lee Highland was gone. She’d seen him smile at the blonde the way he once smiled at her. Kind and friendly with maybe even a hint of desire in his eyes. Right now she hated him.
She had filled the cabinet with all but one of the pies and as she picked up the last one she heard Mince barking in the yard. Corinne found her gun and walked over to look out the window.
Chapter Seventy-Thre e
Lee patted Mince’s head and looked up at the house. The woodpile to one side of the door was pretty much depleted now and the big split kegs he’d put in on either side for water were dry. He saw Boomer stomping his feet in the dust and it was obvious she had ridden him hard. Lee knocked loudly on the door.
He heard a cool reply of “hello”, opened the door and stepped inside.
Corinne watched him enter and he stood silhouetted in the doorway, impeccably dressed. “Oh, Lee. Hello,” she said, as if he was merely a neighbor stopping by for a visit.
Lee heard no emotion in her voice.
“Hello,” he said. “I saw you in town. How are you? I wanted to get out here but the captain has been keeping me completely busy,” he said.
“Not too busy to be in town though, I guess,” she said, brushing flour from her apron.
“The cavalry is on watch in town.”
“How easy a job that must be, eh? No man minds watchin’ pretty girls who throw themselves at them I’ll bet.” She looked up at him angrily.
“What are you talking about, Corinne?”
“I saw you… on patrol, was it? Like that night in camp you patrolled past my tent all night. I think she’s more your type though, pretty feather in her bonnet and all.”
“Is that what you think was happening?” Lee felt his blood pressure rising.
“Why are you here? There’s probably an army of pretty girls in town this weekend. With your looks and fine groomin’ habits I’ll bet you could have them all.”
Lee set his jaw and stepped towards her.
“Why not, Corinne? Why shouldn’t I find a nice girl? Don’t I deserve one? Maybe I can find one who I don’t need to break my back to impress?”
Corinne stepped back. “Is that what you were doin’? Tryin’ to impress me? Why would you do that?”
“I can’t imagine now,” he said, his face red with anger. “At the time I thought it was because I was in love with you. Dammit, Corinne. You’re too afraid to let anyone in. I nearly killed myself trying to get you to see that. But you never did, did you? Hank Fisher never raised a finger to take care of you but you let him in. Didn’t you? I genuinely loved you, but that means nothing to you.” Lee’s voice was deep and low. He went on.
“What a fool I am. Even your family told me to trust my heart. Keep being good to her they all said, she’ll come around.” He put his palms on the table, faced her and continued.
“I can’t bring your baby back, I can’t mend all the heartbreak that Hank caused you. I tried. Damn, I tried. I’ve made some mistakes in my life, Corinne, and I’ve done everything I can to become a better man. Maybe that’s where I went wrong. Would you have loved me if I took this big gun you claim to hate so much and flashed it around a bit? Maybe slapped you now and again? Then would you have loved me?”
Corinne stood up to him. “You come in here now and tell me you were in love with me? You left. You left and never looked back,” she screamed.
“No, I did look back. I wanted to be here every minute. Fine, Corinne. You can be alone if you love it so much. The captain would love nothing more than to have me reenlist and get shipped out to California. I’m a real fool if I do look back.”
Lee stood up and looked at his hands, now covered in flour and bits of unbaked piecrust. “Ahhh!” he growled and dusted them off onto the floor. “Maybe it is like you said, Corinne. You said that a promise is like piecrust, flaky and easily broken. I should have said it outright a long time ago. I should have told you aloud that I loved you and promised you my heart the way I wanted to every day that I was with you. I was so damned sure you’d bolt that I just kept it to myself. But inside I wanted to be making and keeping a promise to you.” He turned and left the house, slamming the door behind him.
Corinne looked down at the crust he had dropped on the floor and picked up the blueberry pie on the table. It hit the big door flat and hard.
Lee turned the stallion in the yard and could picture the pie filling oozing down the door. “That’s gonna draw flies,” he thought and rode towards town.
Chapter Seventy-Fou r
The sound of Chief’s hooves faded into the distance and Corinne looked down at the crust Lee had dropped on the floor. It was flaky and fine and scattered on the smooth clay.
“A piecrust promise,” she said aloud. Corinne looked up and saw the rich blueberries sliding thick and syrupy down the big door. Her memories came rushing back to her.
She remembered the hot bath in Lee’s quarters and how he always stopped to help someone. She remembered her whole family, even the dog, welcoming him. She remembered how Daniel had even hugged him goodbye.
She could see him sweating in the hot sun while he stacked bricks, ruining his buffed nails and crawling into a tiny tent at night. She went over their conversations, the ones they had at night when they were too tired to sleep. The look on his face when he had tasted her apple pie. It wasn’t his pie. It was just a pie. He said he wanted a lifetime of pies. Why hadn’t she agreed? He never made a promise in any words at all but he had been living the promise, a real promise with everything he had done for her and everything he had felt for her. A piecrust promise was only words. Lee Highland had given her something that was so much more.
Corinne sat down hard on the bench, looking at the crust on the floor. She was the flaky one. It wasn’t him, it was her. He had never said the words because she had never let him.
She put on her boots as quickly as she could and threw the saddle over Boomer’s back. Then she mounted and kicked him to a fast run. It was nearly sunset but she had to find him. Hank had never come after her and that only made it that much more important. She needed to find Lee.
Corinne rode to the fort but he was not there. She looked in town but there was no sign of him or Chief. At dusk she sat back in the saddle and let Boomer find the way home in the growing darkness. They finally arrived at the house and Corinne wearily dismounted. She pulled the saddle from Boomer’s back and walked into the house. Mince had stayed behind, eating the pie from the floor. Corinne’s shoulders slumped in exhaustion and shame. She filled a bucket with water
and rubbed a big scrub brush across a thick bar of soap.
Corinne scrubbed the blueberry stains from the door miserably. He’d worked hard on the door, on everything. Now he was gone. It wasn’t the same as when she’d lost Dustin, but her chest tightened every time she thought about the things he had said. If he reenlisted he’d be gone forever. Corinne felt wretched.
“You’re no better than Hank,” she scolded herself. “Maybe you ought to start drinkin’, Corinne. Get good and drunk like the old days. Take up with any man who’s so inclined and regret it in the morning. Except that you aren’t worth any real man.” She slumped down into the big chair Lee had liked and began to cry.
Corinne cried for Lee, and Dustin, and even for Hank. She cried for herself. When she couldn’t sob any more she screamed. After several hours she drug herself to her bed and climbed in. Mince put his paws on the edge of the bedframe and looked at her. Corinne was sure he was angry with her too.
Chapter Seventy-Fiv e
First Lieutenant Lee Highland walked into the newly completed hotel and headed towards the dining room.
“Good evenin’,” Miss Paula approached and shook his hand warmly. “I didn’t know you were one of our local cavalrymen when you came in with your lovely wife to sign up for the pie contest. Is she with you?”
“No, she’s not,” he said, shaking his head. “And Corinne is not my wife.”
“A shame. Y’all make such a darlin’ couple. Would you like a drink, or how about coffee and pie? I love bakin’ but I sure am lookin’ forward to findin’ a good pie maker. It’s just too much tryin’ to get this place up and runnin’ and bake as well. Have a piece, Lieutenant.”
Piecrust Promise Page 17