Rania Ropes a Rancher

by Linda K. Hubalek

  “Thanks for your hospitality, but I should be going,” Jacob said as he put on his hat, ready to leave. “I’ll ride over with Rania tomorrow to be sure she gets home okay.”

  Hilda waved a hand at him, “Oh, you don’t have to do that. I’ll ride over in the morning to ride with Rania. That will give me a chance to meet your mother and sister.”

  Jacob wracked his brain trying to think of a way to give Rania more time to recuperate before riding again. “My sister Sarah will be home tomorrow afternoon. She’s been in Clear Creek this week with her fiancé’s family. How about you wait until then and the four of you can have coffee together?” He paused to let Hilda accept, but then came up with a better idea.

  “Instead, why don’t you and Dagmar come over for supper tomorrow evening at six o’clock? I’ll let my brother Adam know we’re having a family supper. He’ll bring out Sarah’s fiancé and you can meet the whole family. See you then.” Jacob opened the door and walked out before they had time to say no.

  ***

  Rania moved her head and sighed as the deep feather pillow cushioned her movement. She would have loved to have had a soft pillow like this in her bedroll on the trail. How many months over the years had she slept in a wagon or on the hard ground during their many trips between Texas and Kansas? She really didn’t want to know.

  She slowly opened her eyes; glad she wasn’t on the ground under the open sky. She looked down to the foot of the iron bed, then scanned around the interior of the room to see a large oval mirror on a wooden stand, a polished mahogany chest of drawers, a vanity table, and a row of hooks on the wall where a few dresses hung.

  The delicate lace curtains covering the window to the right of the head of the bed gently fluttered in and out with the breeze coming through the half–opened window. Rania relaxed into the soft sheets again, stroking the smooth cotton that lay beneath her fingers. The pale yellow walls and the pastel patchwork quilt covering her on the bed gave the room a restful but refreshing feel.

  She yearned for a bedroom like this. The security and warmth it gave eased some of the fears she’d felt the last few months. Rania was glad her family had decided to settle in one place instead of continuing to make their living herding cattle up the Chisholm Trail. She just hoped the memories of what had happened to her in Texas would fade with time and distance of miles.

  A slight knock on the door caused Rania to catch her breath until she thought again of the safety of the room. The doorknob turned and Mrs. Wilerson slowly opened the door and walked the few steps to the bed. “Good morning, Rania. Feeling better? Feel like sitting up and eating something?” Mrs. Wilerson put a cup of tea and a plate of toast on the small table beside the bed.

  “Thank you, Ma’am. My headache is down to a dull ache now.” Rania didn’t mention the other problem she was suffering.

  Cate sat down on the edge of the bed and reached for her hands. “Please call me Cate, dear. Those few stitches I put in your gash will hurt even if your forehead wasn’t black and blue. I hope you won’t have much of a scar. With that large bump on your head it was like mending socks with a darning egg.” Cate’s shoulders shuddered a bit, probably thinking about what she had to do with her thread and needle yesterday. Next she laughed, trying to lighten their mood, “Guess what I’ll think about the next time I darn Jacob’s socks?”

  Cate sighed, searched Rania’s face, and squeezed her hands. “Jacob told me I was not to tell your family about your…other bleeding you had earlier, but you can talk to me about it if you want. The conversation won’t leave this room.” Cate hesitated a moment, and then added, “Last night in your sleep you mumbled something about a baby.”

  Rania dropped her eyes, and couldn’t bring them to meet Cate’s. She tried to hold back the tears moistening her lashes, but a tear, then another fell on their hands. Then Rania’s pent up emotions burst with the older woman’s kind gesture.

  “Am I still pregnant since I was bleeding yesterday?” Rania asked the older woman. Surely she’d know and ease Rania’s mind.

  “I don’t know, Rania. Why do you think you’re in a family way?”

  Rania continued to stare at their locked hands, watching them get wet with her tears. When her nose started to drip, she pulled away, wishing she had a hankie. She would hate to wipe her nose on the nightgown Cate had given her to wear.

  “It’s okay, honey,” Cate gently said as she passed her own handkerchief to Rania. “Take your time, but I think it will help to talk it out. It can’t be good to keep it bottled up inside.” Cate asked another question when Rania didn’t stay a word, “Did you have to leave someone special back in Texas?”

  Rania blew an unladylike snot bubble when she snorted on that question. “No.” She could guess what her face looked like about now. It always got very red and blotchy when she cried.

  It was several moments before she continued. Cate seemed sympathetic and not judgmental, so Rania couldn’t help herself from blubbering on. “Poppa hires extra hands to help on the drive. About the second week on the trail a new hand started talking to me, bringing me a handful of bluebonnet flowers in the evening. We were behind the wagon where the campfire’s shadow didn’t reach and I received my first real kiss. I felt so special. I’m so tall and gangly–thin that I look most men in the eye, or down on them. It’s usually embarrassing to talk to men, but he didn’t make me feel that way.”

  “Did your love just get out of hand?” Cate asked, not wanting Rania to continue if that was the end of the story.

  “He’d suggested we sneak out when everyone was asleep. I thought it was kind of thrilling to get away with it. But when he got me away from the camp, he didn’t stop his mouth or hands even when I begged him. He threatened ‘accidental deaths’ to my family by a stampede or a rifle misfire if I didn’t do what he wanted, or if I told anyone.” Cate squeezed her hands so hard, that Rania guessed Cate knew what happened that night.

  “Did this happen the whole way up here?” Cate whispered in shocked horror.

  “No. It ended a couple weeks later when Hilda caught the man with his trousers down when he and I were by the creek, supposedly to fetch water. Between a blow to the side of his head with a tree limb from Hilda, and my momma’s cocked gun, he ran off that night. Cowhands sometimes drifted away if they didn’t want to work so hard, so we didn’t say anything when he disappeared. I’m pretty sure my mother didn’t tell my father, because he’d have hunted the man down and shot him, causing my family more trouble than I’m worth.”

  The older woman drew Rania close to her chest, and soothingly rubbed Rania’s back. “Oh young lady, you are so worth being loved and cared for. Don’t ever think otherwise.”

  Rania pulled away to use the wet hankie again. “I haven’t had a monthly since before we left on our trip, I feel faint in the morning, can’t fathom eating breakfast…” She paused to blow her nose. “Yesterday I felt sick when out riding and didn’t get off the horse fast enough. When I started bleeding, I hoped I was all right and not expecting…but it really wasn’t very much.”

  “Yes, you can still spot a little at first when you’re with child. I’m guessing you could still be in a family way then, with your other symptoms. But I’m afraid you won’t know for sure until another month. Did you tell your mother or Hilda?” Rania just looked down and shook her head no. “When will your parents be back?”

  “It could be six to eight weeks, depending on whether they travel by themselves or hook up with another cattle trail outfit. I’m guessing they’ll work their way back up here for the money, though, so it will be July before they’re here.” Rania paused to draw air, but then her features crumbled with emotional pain. “And I’ll be showing by then…”

  ***

  It was good to see the dining room table surrounded by family and friends again. Silverware clicking against china plates, and voices mixed with the steady tock of the wall clock on the fireplace mantel gave a wave of peace to Jacob’s soul.

  Jac
ob was glad his mother didn’t mind his impromptu idea, because besides Adam, he invited Sarah’s fiancé Ethan Paulson, and ranching neighbor, widower Isaac Connely for supper too. He missed seeing his deceased father, Moses and wayward brother, Noah around the table, but that couldn’t be helped.

  This mixture of new neighbors and old friends made lively conversations around their dining room table. Dagmar and Hilda competed in telling stories, while Rania just smiled and listened. Sarah and Ethan acted more like acquaintances than a couple about to get married. And Isaac and his mother kept glancing and smiling at each other when they thought no one was looking. Hmm. Interesting.

  “Men, what’s your favorite way to have your potatoes cooked?” All the Wilersons groaned when Jacob asked the question. “What? Questions are a good way to get to know people. Last year when we were together at the rail yards, it was mostly on horseback with a bunch of longhorns between us…”

  “Okay. All our ma fixes is boiled potatoes, but these mashed potatoes melt in my mouth, Mrs. Wilerson.” Dagmar grinned before digging his fork into the pile of potatoes on his plate. “I now have a new favorite.”

  “Ma’s mashed potatoes are my favorite too, although at home I just cut up and fry a potato in butter before adding eggs to the skillet,” was Adam’s answer. “Don’t want to wash more dishes than I have to since I’m baching.”

  “And I’m betting you eat right out of the skillet and don’t bother putting food on a plate,” Cate guessed. Adam just smiled with his mouth full, dearly loving being asked out for one of their mother’s special meals.

  “Sarah knows I like my potatoes baked,” Ethan said smiling at his fiancé, who didn’t do more than shrug a shoulder.

  “Isaac?”

  “Scalloped potatoes loaded with cream, butter and baked slow in the oven so there’s a crisp edge to dig out of the pan.”

  Everyone laughed, then took another bite of his mother’s mashed potatoes. Jacob had to agree that mashed was his favorite too, and hoped that Rania would ask his mother how to make them.

  “So when’s your wedding, Sarah?” Hilda asked, trying to pull his sister into a conversation.

  “I’m not sure…” Sarah put her fork on her plate and looked down at her lap.

  “Saturday, June 14th, Flag Day,” Ethan interrupted Sarah. “I wanted it the first weekend in May but Sarah thought the hotel my parents are building should be done first. My parents and I agreed because the wedding will make a grand opening for the hotel, and a nice place for the reception.” The Paulsons’ plan was for Ethan and Sarah to live in the new Clear Creek hotel and manage it once they were married.

  Both Sarah and Cate’s mouths gaped open like it was news to both of them. After looking at her daughter’s flushed face, Cate tried to soothe over the awkward situation. “I’ll talk to your parents first, Ethan, before we announce the date.”

  “Well the hotel is almost finished, so we need to get the grand opening set, move in and start running it.”

  “Ethan,” Cate evenly said, turning to look him straight in the eye, “the wedding doesn’t have to coincide with the hotel’s opening.” Jacob could see his mother’s right eyebrow go up and her left eye narrow when she responded to Ethan. She was a patient woman—unless she felt her children were being threatened—and her patience was starting to wear thin on the subject of her daughter’s wedding. The Paulsons were a wonderful family and pillars of the community, but Cate was concerned that Ethan wasn’t the best match for Sarah. He was nine years older than her, but the real problem was there was absolutely no spark between them, let alone affection or two–sided conversations.

  “In Sweden, you don’t worry about getting married right away.” Everyone turned to Hilda. “You announce in church three Sundays in a row that you’re going to be betrothed, exchange gifts, and move in together. You can have the wedding ceremony sometime in the future, and many wait until the woman is pregnant.”

  “But you don’t get to wear the bride’s crown if that’s the case,” Rania had added without thinking who else was at the table.

  Sarah asked, “What’s the bride’s crown? Do Swedish brides wear it instead of a veil?”

  Rania’s face was red, but she answered Sarah’s question, “Nowadays brides get to wear the church’s bridal crown if they are…untouched. It’s the church’s way to try to get the couple to marry before living together.”

  “Well, I’m glad we’re in America now,” Hilda piped in. “When the right man comes along, I’m just going to get married. I won’t fuss with a fancy dress, veil or crown.”

  Jacob laughed with the others at the table. There was such a difference in personality between the twins, but Rania was still the one he preferred, and he couldn’t wait to get to know her better.

  Conversation changed to other neighbors who the Hamners had yet to meet. “Who lives between our place and yours? The place looks abandoned with no smoke in the chimney,” stated Dagmar.

  “It’s our brother Noah’s place,” Adam spoke up, “and I’m worried that someone’s going to jump his claim pretty soon if he doesn’t come home. I was in Ellsworth yesterday and the county land agent told me there’s one guy in particular who’s been giving him heck for not signing over the claim to him.”

  “Why isn’t your brother on his place? A person has to reside on the land to prove up and own it, don’t they?” asked Dagmar.

  “Noah met a special girl when he went to Illinois and lived with our grandparents for a while. He and Victoria wrote regularly after he moved back here to build a home for her. When Noah went to get his bride, he found out she had already married someone else. Since then, he’s been wandering around working odd jobs instead of coming home.”

  “Well, after meeting Victoria when we visited our grandparents last year, I’m sure Noah scared Victoria when he wrote that he built her a sod house. That’s not quite what a banker’s daughter is used to,” Sarah injected.

  “Did he get around to building any outbuildings on the place?” Rania could almost see Hilda’s mind churning when she asked the question.

  “Besides the soddie, he built a small barn and chicken house. He planned to add on to the barn at a later time. Some fences are up, but there’s more work that needs to be done on the place. It’s one hundred sixty acres, with some flat, tillable ground besides a sloping section he planned to use for pasture. It also has the creek running through it, so the water rights are important for those below him, too.”

  “How would a person take over the homestead?” Hilda asked next.

  “Unfortunately, he only paid the $10 temporary file fee, so someone could come in and buy it. Don’t know all the particulars though.”

  “Well I have talked to the agent, and I can buy land at $1.25 an acre.”

  “You have that kind of money?” Sarah asked in surprise.

  All three Swedish siblings smiled in unison and Dagmar piped up, “Hilda and her gelding Nutcracker enter every horse race she can find, and she usually wins the prize money.”

  “But she’s a woman…” Sarah continued.

  “So?” Hilda shot back across the table at Sarah. “I just tuck my hair under my hat, join the racers at the starting point, and leave all the men in Nutcracker’s dust.” Hilda beamed a wide smile to everyone around the table.

  “You know, if you’re worried a stranger might take over Noah’s place, how about I buy it? My folks would be neighbors on one side, and your family on the other. It sounds like a perfect, safe place to breed and train my horses.”

  “And Hilda wouldn’t mind roughing it in a sod house,” Dagmar teased his sister.

  “What do you think? Should we let Noah’s homestead go to Hilda?” Adam looked at Jacob and his mother for their opinion.

  Jacob smiled, thinking of what Noah would say when he finally came home and found this spunky Swedish woman living in his home. Actually this might be exactly what Noah needed to get his life back on track.

  “Can we go see the place
tomorrow?” Hilda asked Jacob.

  “Sure. How about I meet you over there in the morning, say around ten o’clock?”

  “I have a better idea,” his mother gently intervened. “Besides stopping at Noah’s place, I’ve love to go see Dagmar’s new bachelor home. We’ve never been invited while the Elisions were in residence. I think Dagmar might need a woman’s opinion on what to use and set aside.”

  Sarah grinned with the idea. “We can pack a picnic lunch, and we four women can give him some advice while we dine there.”

  “Oh, I don’t know…” Dagmar started to protest.

  “You don’t know what you’re getting into, living in a big house by yourself, Dag, so you best take our advice,” Hilda quickly cut him off.

  “Rania, we’ll pick you up in the wagon tomorrow so you don’t have to ride over.” Jacob gave a silent nod of thanks to his mother for her statement. He was still worried about Rania after her tumble.

  Chapter 3

  “Oh my…”

  Jacob was getting tired of the women saying that phrase as they walked through the Bar E Ranch house. Yes, the two–story sandstone home was huge, and the furnishings were elegant, but their comments as they walked through the house were getting old, and he was getting hungry for the chicken dinner his mother had packed.

  Actually it was Hilda doing most of the talking, and picking up almost every fancy crystal glass that caught her eye. His mother and sister had seen fine furnishings before, but the twins seemed to be completely out of their element. Rania just stared, acting like she’d love to touch things, but was too afraid to do so. From the comments between the twins, it sounded like most of their lives had been spent on the trails or in a crude shack on the ranch where they had worked.

  “Did they ship all these things from back East? How many are in the Elison family and what do they do in Boston?” The questions kept coming from Hilda faster than Dagmar could answer them.

  “Besides Mr. and Mrs. Elison, there are the two sons I mentioned, plus a daughter…I think her name is Cora.”