Holding the Fort

by Regina Jennings

  She too sang in a tongue he didn’t recognize, but the words hardly mattered. With a hand clasped to her chest and eyes full of tears, everyone in the room felt the heartbreak of her song. Those who’d never lost a love fancied that they now knew what it felt like, while the poor men who’d been rejected mourned afresh.

  Lieutenant Jack wiped his eyes, no doubt thinking of the sorry girl who’d held his heart all these years. Sheridan fidgeted, probably planning to write home to his wife at the first opportunity. Daniel’s sorrow was tempered by the fact that the one he loved was with him still. He had today with her, maybe tomorrow, maybe a week. But how could he be forlorn while listening to her voice? He let her song wring his heart, knowing that he’d remember this moment for the rest of his life.

  And as though she and he were reading the same sheet music, her song gradually changed. No longer mournful, a challenge entered the melody—hope, determination. Her head lifted as her voice rose strong and sure. Whatever had happened in this woman’s past, she was determined to conquer it. The rest of the audience sensed the change, too. They leaned into the music, eager to be told that they would overcome whatever sacrifices they’d made.

  A ruckus sounded at the back of the room. The cowboys. Although they were trying to be quiet, Daniel resented the interruption. No one else seemed to notice as the dozen or so men filed in and stood against the back of the wall. Louisa wrung out the last of her notes, her springwater-clear voice finally coming to rest.

  No one knew whether to applaud, say Amen, or leave in silence. Even Caroline and Daisy, who he’d assumed had heard her sing before, sat stunned at his side.

  Complete silence ruled, until a grating voice bellowed from the back, “Sing another one, Lovely Lola! Carry me back to the Cat-Eye Saloon.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Daniel jumped to his feet so quickly that he nearly knocked Daisy to the floor. Who would dare yell such a thing? What did it even mean? The culprit was a dirt-covered drover with a mouth as wide as a barn door. He was grinning at Louisa like she should know him. He was grinning so big that he didn’t see the blur of blue until it was too late.

  Bradley Willis socked the drover in the jaw, twisting the giant mouth to the side. Why was Willis so much quicker than Daniel? Maybe because Daniel was still trying to figure out who Lovely Lola was and what the Cat-Eye Saloon had to do with it.

  “Serves you right, Slappy! Embarrassing Lola Bell like that,” an old drover hollered, but the rest of the cowboys jumped into the fray.

  A fellow with a neck like a bull launched into Bradley. A bench of troopers piled on to even the odds. Bradley had the instigator by the neck and was pummeling his face, forcing him backward. The drover lost his balance. Frisco jumped out of the way, exposing the shocked face of an elderly woman. It wasn’t Mrs. Woodward returned to take Louisa’s job. Then who? Her horrified expression was all Daniel saw before the brawlers fell into her, landing them all on the floor.

  Daniel wanted to rub his eyes. Could it be his mother-in-law? Had she finally made good on her threat? This whole thing was a nightmare, but even his tortured imagination wouldn’t have thought to involve Edna. He had to get his men under control. He and his officers rushed to the back of the room.

  “All soldiers return to your barracks,” Daniel thundered. “Lieutenant Hennessey, look after the ladies.”

  Jack rushed to gather Louisa and the girls. General Sheridan would have to take care of himself.

  The room began to empty. A mass of blue-coated soldiers congregated at the door by the stage, wanting to stay clear of any punishment. The troopers in the back, however, were fully engaged with their enemy and couldn’t hear the bugle sound retreat.

  Grabbing man after man by the shoulder, Daniel pried them off and shoved them toward the back door while Frisco did the same with the cowboys. Tomorrow Daniel would have time to identify the aggressors by their cut lips and swollen eyes, but now he had to restore order. He hadn’t seen the woman again and hoped he’d been mistaken, but the kink in his gut told him he wasn’t.

  Finally, they came down to the last two fighters—Bradley and the big-mouthed guy. It took two officers to pull Bradley off him. Considering the affront committed right as Louisa finished her performance, Daniel would have appreciated Willis’s response had General Sheridan not been present. But this was the worst possible time for Willis to act recklessly.

  “Private Willis, you will make a full account of your behavior.” Daniel’s voice shook with rage. “Until then, you will be in the guardhouse.”

  “Yes, sir.” Louisa’s brother saluted smartly, as if he’d been given a medal instead of a reprimand.

  “Take him away.”

  Sergeant O’Hare started to drag him, but with a shake of his arms, Willis freed himself and walked calmly through the door.

  The mature woman was being helped to her feet. Daniel filled his lungs with air. Time to assess the damage and plan a recovery. All under the watchful gaze of his enraged mother-in-law.

  “Who is responsible for these men?” he demanded. “Who can tell me what just happened?”

  “That would be me, sir.” A lanky old-timer stepped forward. “Name’s Cimarron Ted. I’m a mule driver from Wichita. I told the trail boss that I had a friend here I wanted to see. I brought these boys with me.”

  “These boys interrupted our musical evening and insulted a lady,” Daniel said. “Can you account for their behavior?”

  He needed to get an apology and quickly, because General Sheridan stood at his heels, ready to take over at the first sign of weakness.

  “I’ll explain.” The big-mouthed man wiped at his bloody nose with a dusty bandanna. “That woman is the Lovely Lola Bell. She’s a stage performer at the Cat-Eye Saloon in Wichita, and she ain’t no lady.”

  The red fury that clouded his eyes should have warned Daniel that something bad was about to happen, but he didn’t realize that he’d taken a swing at the cowboy until he felt the pain in his fist. So much for gaining control.

  Louisa’s hands had turned to ice the minute her performance had ended and she opened her eyes to see the row of cowboys standing in the back. Cimarron Ted wouldn’t embarrass her, but Slappy and Rawbone didn’t know and wouldn’t care if they did.

  And then Slappy had.

  While Louisa was paralyzed, Bradley had sprung into action. But didn’t he always? She watched helplessly as he took out Slappy and erased all the good merits he’d earned for rescuing Daisy. Another career she’d ruined. And who was that woman Bradley had tackled? She definitely hadn’t ridden in with a herd of cattle.

  General Sheridan got lost in the melee, his small stature causing him to disappear into the flying fists and struggling bodies. Daniel forged into the mix, casting troopers out behind him as he pushed forward. By that point, Jack had corralled Daisy and Caroline up on the stage with her, lone refugees from the chaos on the floor.

  Daisy slipped her hand into Louisa’s, and Louisa hugged her. “I’m sorry,” Louisa said. “I should never have sung.”

  Caroline wiped tears from her eyes. “It’s my fault. I wrote her.”

  “What? Wrote who?” Who was Caroline talking about?

  “Grandmother. I should’ve never written to tell her about Daisy getting stung. I was worried about Daisy, that’s all. I didn’t think she’d come all the way from Galveston to see us.”

  “I don’t want to go.” Daisy burst into tears and buried her face into Louisa’s skirt. “I want to stay here with you.”

  But after this night, Louisa had to leave. There was no place for her now. Not at the fort.

  “Major Adams!” General Sheridan was roaring orders, but all Daniel could think of was making the drover take back his insulting words.

  Many hands were pulling him back. The cowboys were dragging their friend outside and out of Daniel’s reach. The red haze cleared from his vision. He was in the commissary. There’d been a musical evening, and then this stranger had walked in and insu
lted Louisa. Everything that had happened after that was a blur.

  What was crystal clear was that his mother-in-law was standing before him. Her dented bonnet balanced precariously on her big fluff of white hair. She bounced as she twisted at her layers of skirts to get them where they belonged, but the whole time her eyes were burning into his.

  “Major Adams!” It was the general again. Daniel’s men stepped aside to make way for the fuming ball of rage rolling at him. Sheridan’s face was a thunderous shade. “What in tarnation just happened here? Did one of your recruits attack a civilian during what was to be a cultured and refined evening? And then you—you—”

  “I’m sorry, sir.” Daniel could hear the sound of his career galloping away. “I’ll make amends.”

  “I am taking over command of this base immediately. You go to your quarters and await my orders there. Sergeant, Corporal”—two men jumped to attention—“escort Major Adams to his quarters and prevent him from interacting with anyone else. Do you understand?”

  “Wait a minute!” Edna pushed through the troopers. “Major Adams cannot leave yet. He has yet to answer for what I just saw. Was that woman performing on stage the governess of my grandchildren? Was that the purported missionary woman giving advice and guidance to my girls?”

  Sheridan glowered at her. “Ma’am, I have already discussed Miss Bell with Major Adams. Right now, my concern is moving him to a location from which he is no longer a threat to our guests—”

  “That might be your concern, but it’s not mine.” Had Edna just interrupted the Commander of the U.S. Army? Sheridan blinked in shock while she continued. “I’ve told him those girls have no business being raised at a godforsaken fort among a bunch of good-for-nothing troopers.”

  Forgetting Daniel, Sheridan turned on Edna. “Ma’am, I’ve taken lives for less of a provocation than that. You will not declare U.S. Cavalrymen as good-for-nothing in my presence. Those men provide protection to thousands of settlers, hunt down outlaws, and keep peace between the Indian nations.”

  “And they shove elderly women to the floor,” she said. “Or were you absent for that part?”

  Daniel tried to help. “That was Miss Bell’s brother responding to her detractors. He was showing family concern.”

  “So our governess of questionable character has a roustabout for a brother? How charming! But then, we’ve already established that he’s in the cavalry, so I’m being redundant.”

  “You are done,” Sheridan said. “Depart.”

  “I’m not in the army,” Edna said, “and I don’t take orders from anyone.”

  “You are on army property.”

  “So are my granddaughters. I’ll leave when they do.”

  Sheridan looked at Daniel. “How do you endure this?”

  “We only correspond when necessary, and always at her insistence.”

  “I’m beginning to have some sympathy for you, Major Adams. So, Mrs. . . .”

  “Mrs. Crawford.”

  “Mrs. Crawford doesn’t approve of Miss Bell, I take it?” Sheridan’s long mustache quivered with each syllable.

  Daniel swallowed the lump in his throat. He wasn’t sure what to think. Why was everyone saying things about Louisa? Why couldn’t he dismiss them as falsehoods?

  “She does not.”

  General Sheridan grunted. “Then I’m beginning to understand your decision.” With a toss of his head, he directed O’Hare and Chandler away from Daniel. “Leave the man alone. He’s the commander here, and as post commander, it’s his responsibility to deal with Mrs. Crawford. I’m retiring for the evening.”

  Daniel exhaled for the first time. There would be reports to write and questions to be answered, but General Sheridan had shown him mercy. What about Louisa? Where was she?

  He turned to the stage, but only Daisy and Caroline were still there. Louisa had fled.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Louisa’s valise was packed. It was amazing that all the shameful memories of those beautiful gowns could be contained by one leather case. One would think it would take the whole prairie to hold her secrets. Picking up Daisy’s composition book, Louisa ripped a page out of the sewn spine. Carefully she printed the address:

  Louisa Bell

  Cat-Eye Saloon

  Wichita, Kansas

  After poking a hole near the top, she attached the slip of paper to the bag handle with a bit of ribbon. While she knew she had no job waiting for her at the Cat-Eye, there was nowhere else to go. She trusted Daniel to get the bag to her. He would want all memories of her out of his house.

  Louisa watched the moon rise over the east barracks. She wanted to explain herself to Daniel—reassure him that she’d never intended to mislead him, not until circumstances forced her to continue the ruse. But she couldn’t ask for his forgiveness. She’d betrayed him, deceived him, humiliated him, and he would think that she’d planned it to the very end. Even now the troopers were probably in their bunks, laughing at how she’d tricked their commander. She couldn’t ask for his forgiveness because she didn’t deserve it, and with his conscience, he’d feel that he should grant it no matter what she’d done to offend.

  Her one consolation was that God knew she was sorry. God knew how it had grieved her to reject Daniel’s marriage offer. God knew how torn she’d been over her decision to leave Indian Territory. At least she knew that she’d made that decision before she’d been exposed. She’d decided on her own to stop the lies and start new.

  The look of shock on Daisy’s face, Caroline’s horror—Louisa would never be able to erase that. And now their grandmother was here to take them away, and she could do nothing about it. That was what she got for pretending to be decent. She didn’t belong, and she never had.

  Voices were raised downstairs. Daniel was arguing with Mrs. Crawford. Arguing over her, and Daniel wouldn’t win that debate. Louisa eased down on her bed, closed her eyes, and tried to picture her next step. She didn’t want to perform anymore—the demands on her appearance; the constant stream of strangers coming through, insisting that she treat them as intimate acquaintances; the bickering of the ladies over the wardrobe closet; the unwanted advances; and the shunning of every decent person in town. She was done with that.

  But what came next? At least her time at the fort had taught her a thing or two. She’d buy some textbooks, maybe the same ones she’d been using here. Then, when she was ready, she’d write to the Kansas Board of Education and look into taking a teacher’s exam. Wasn’t that how it was done? She would prefer another family position like she had now, but who would hire her without credentials? What would they say when they heard of her previous career? Louisa would have to try. With Bradley’s help, maybe she could leave Wichita behind and start somewhere new.

  The voices downstairs quieted, and then Edna could be heard next door as she settled into the room with the girls. She was their grandmother. They didn’t need Louisa anymore.

  After the house had fallen silent, Louisa checked the money in her reticule to prepare for her journey. She’d head to Darlington, and from there she’d catch the stage or see if she could travel the rest of the way to Wichita with Cimarron Ted and the drovers.

  Praying that no squeaking hinge gave her away, she opened her door. The hallway was dark. She mustn’t let Daniel hear her. Seeing him, talking to him was the last thing she wanted to do, primarily because she didn’t have any idea what she’d say. There was nothing she could say.

  Holding her reticule closely beside her, she tiptoed down the staircase and into the kitchen. Louisa took one last look around the room, then slipped outside. She waited on the back porch until her eyes adjusted. She’d be heading out blind across the prairie to reach Darlington, so she looked up to get her bearings, then realized she could follow the telephone line to town.

  The kitchen door slammed closed behind her. Louisa nearly jumped out of her skin. It was Edna. Her ghostly white gown snapped in the wind, but her long gray braid lay still and lifeless. />
  “I knew it was you,” she snapped. “Sneaking out after dark, are you? A secret assignation? Which trooper is it tonight?”

  “It’s me.”

  At the sound of Daniel’s voice, Louisa hiccupped. He’d been sitting on the chopping block next to the woodpile the whole time. The wind teased his white shirt as he approached them.

  “Miss Bell is coming to see me. I’m her secret assignation.”

  Edna’s eyes narrowed. Louisa wanted to hide, but with a hand at her back, Daniel made her face the dragon.

  “This explains much,” Edna said. “I have to protest you meeting alone out here while your innocent daughters are inside.”

  “Where would you rather I meet her? Away from my daughters seemed like the best choice.”

  Louisa hung her head in shame, but no matter what he said, Edna wouldn’t think any less of her. That was impossible.

  “Go inside the house, Edna.” He might not be wearing his uniform, but Daniel was clearly in command. “You have no business interfering with my family. If I can convince myself that your intentions are unselfish, then we’ll arrange for you to see the girls, but if you continue to insult this fine lady, there’s no reason for me to allow you to disrupt the peace of our household.”

  Edna knew when to bide her time. With a last questioning glance, she departed.

  The door closed, and nothing could be heard besides the crickets and the bullfrogs bellowing their night song from the river.

  Daniel’s hand dropped from Louisa’s back. “You told me you were leaving. I didn’t think you meant in the middle of the night.”

  “It’ll be easier for everyone.” The sliver of moon barely threw enough light for Louisa to see the toes of her walking boots.