Sooner or Later

by Vickie McDonough

  A lady with a young girl exited the privy. Rebekah stepped forward with the other women, her mind buzzing with ideas, and formulated a plan. Suddenly she swirled around to the woman standing behind her. “Would you hold my place in line for a moment, please?” The woman nodded, eyeing her skeptically.

  Rebekah took a deep breath, hoping to steady her wobbly knees, and started forward. “Uh … excuse me, sir, I don’t mean to be eavesdropping, but I just happened to hear your conversation.” The two men glanced at one another, then broke into grins like children at Christmas. Rebekah wondered if it was because a female had had the nerve to approach them. “I can sew buttons on your shirt. Uh … I mean for ten cents each—and I’ll supply the buttons. Course, they might not all match.”

  The men exchanged glances again; then the buttonless man looked down and counted the buttonholes on his shirt. “That’d be forty cents. Why, I can pert near buy a whole shirt for that.”

  “Not in this town, you can’t.” Rebekah held her ground, knowing she’d just come upon an idea that could easily earn her the money she needed.

  “Twenty-five cents,” he countered.

  Rebekah straightened. Thrusting her chin in the air, she turned her back to the man and started to walk away. “Oh, all right, how about thirty cents for this shirt, and I’ll pay you to fix my other shirt, too?”

  She knew she must be grinning like a possum as she spun back around. Maybe watching Curtis barter so many times had taught her a thing or two. “Done!”

  “My name’s Ben Hopper, and this here’s my sister’s boy, Carl.” Ben undid the single button on his shirt and started to shed it right there.

  Rebekah glanced around, noticing for the first time all the people watching them and how the buzz of voices near them had quieted. Most of the faces were filled with curiosity and a few with disapproval. “Uh … wait, Ben.” She raised her hand to halt his undressing. “I’m gonna have to go back to my wagon and fetch my box of buttons and sewing supplies. Why don’t we meet under that big tree in about half an hour?” She pointed across the field to one of the few trees offering shade to the weary bunch of travelers.

  “All righty. I’ll do it, and I thank ya kindly.” Ben stuck out a not-too-clean-looking hand. Hesitantly, Rebekah reached forward with her fingertips and gave it a little shake. She had just started her own little business. She raised her head, proud of her accomplishment. “Oh, by the way, my name is Rebekah. And please tell your friends I’d be happy to sew buttons or do repairs on their shirts, too.”

  The men tipped their worn hats and mumbled, “Pleased to meet’cha,” in unison. Rebekah smiled then returned to her place in line, thanking God for answering her prayer so quickly.

  From behind her she heard someone mumble, “Ain’t proper-like for a young woman to be mending clothes for total strangers.”

  Rebekah cringed at the rude comment but refused to turn around to look at her accuser. That person had no idea how desperate she was. If she didn’t find a way to earn some money, she could soon find herself living alone without home or friends. Maybe it wasn’t exactly proper, but if she stayed in plain view of everyone, surely she and her reputation would be safe.

  She felt certain God had arranged this opportunity for her. If only she could be sure Mason would feel the same way. If he opposed the idea, he would try to stop her. Maybe she wouldn’t tell him. He wasn’t her boss. After all, he cared more for a barrel of water than he did for her.

  Rebekah began calculating how many buttons she’d have to sew on in order to have enough money to buy her ticket. If she were lucky, she might make enough to get her all the way to Denver without having to stay and find work in Wichita. It felt good to focus on her goal. She wouldn’t think about how much leaving Mason and the kids would hurt. But she was happy to have met them and to have had a glimpse at what it felt like to be part of a loving family. Mason didn’t think of himself as father material, but she had a feeling he was a much better father to Jimmy and Katie than Jake would ever be. If only there were a way Mason could keep the children … and her. But then, he didn’t even want her.

  Back at their camp, Rebekah climbed into the rear of the wagon. She peeked at Katie, thankful the little girl was still asleep. She folded a pile of clothing and picked up the toys Katie had played with earlier, then located her carpetbag. Inside was a small tin can filled with her mother’s button collection, several spools of thread, and a couple of needles. When she ran away from Curtis, she’d wondered why she’d felt such a strong inclination to take her mother’s button box; now she knew it had been God’s prompting. God’s provision.

  Holding the tin steady so it wouldn’t rattle, she climbed out of the wagon. Mason, Jake, and Jimmy still sat around the campfire, talking and reminiscing. As she approached they stood, though Jake rose a bit more slowly than Mason and Jimmy, almost as if it were an afterthought. Mason greeted her with a reserved smile.

  “I don’t mean to disturb you all,” she said, glancing from

  Mason to Jake and Jimmy. “But if you’re going to be here talking for a while, I thought I’d go help some folks for a bit.”

  “What folks?” Mason said as he approached her.

  Rebekah shrugged. “Just some people I met—who need some help.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go running around here unescorted.” Mason waved his hand in the air. “There’s a whole passel of unsavory people here.”

  “Aw, let her alone, Mase.” Jake strode over and stood next to Mason. “‘Sides, you don’t own her. She’s got a right to go wherever she wants.”

  Mason scowled at Jake then skewered Rebekah with his glare. She lifted her chin and met his gaze evenly, though her heart raced faster than a mustang on the run. Jake was right; Mason wasn’t in charge of her. Still, she didn’t want to displease him. He’d been good to her, but she had no choice. She had to make the money she needed, even if Mason didn’t like her traipsing about on her own.

  “There’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “I’ve been walking about for more than an hour, and nobody has bothered me. In fact, most folks are friendly.”

  Mason crossed his arms, stared down at her for a moment, then turned back toward the camp. “Guess you’ll be on your own soon enough,” he mumbled.

  “I’ve been on my own for a while now,” she said as she turned and walked away from camp.

  sixteen

  “No, Jake. I’m not riding in the Land Run, and that’s final!” Mason wasn’t about to be sucked into one of Jake’s schemes.

  “Now listen to me, Mase.” Jake glanced around and moved in closer to him. “I’ve seen the land,” he whispered. “I’ve been there already.”

  Mason narrowed his eyes, struggling to grasp Jake’s meaning.

  “I’ve found the most beautiful quarter section of land. Rolling green hills. A creek that cuts across the top third of the land. A section of trees just begging for a house to throw shade on.”

  Mason had seen that faraway look in Jake’s eyes before. It was the same look he got every time he birthed another one of his harebrained ideas that took him from his family. He shook his head, unsure of what land Jake was referring to.

  Jake’s eye sparked with excitement. “It’s perfect, I tell ya, and it’s gonna be mine.”

  “What’s going to be yours?”

  “Aren’t you listening? I told you I’ve been in the Unassigned Lands.”

  Mason blinked, remembering what Jake had said the day they’d found him. “I still find it hard to believe you’re one of those Sooners.”

  “Boomer. Sooner. Lots of folks got different names for it, but, yeah, I’m one of them.”

  “That’s just plum crazy, Jake. The soldiers are arresting and even shooting Sooners.” Mason thrust his hands on his hips. “You’re just beggin’ for trouble, aren’t you?”

  Jake curled his lip but didn’t respond. He squatted by the campfire and poured himself a cup of coffee. The fresh scent tickled Mason
’s nose. He stooped beside his brother-in-law, helping himself after Jake set the coffeepot back on the fire. He swirled the black liquid around, listening to the sounds of people all around. Children squealed; a baby cried. Dogs barked; horses whinnied. Life went on all around him. A smile crept to his lips when he saw Jimmy lasso one of his friends across the way. Every so often, he’d hear Katie or Bekah’s soft chatter in the wagon.

  What if he went west and something happened to Jake? What would become of the children then? How could he just get on his horse and ride away? Maybe if Jake married again—but where would he find someone willing to marry a homeless vagabond with two children?

  Rebekah’s laugh drew his gaze toward the wagon. Hoisting her skirt, she climbed backward out over the tailgate. Katie’s chubby arms emerged from behind the yellowing canvas, and Bekah lifted her out of the wagon. “My, but you’re getting big,” she said. Katie giggled, giving Rebekah a tight hug around the neck before being set on the ground.

  Rebekah turned her head, smiling when her gaze caught Mason’s. Somewhere in his belly, he felt a zing of emotion. “Katie and I are going for a little walk.” She smiled and gave a wave. She and Katie had been going on lots of little walks in the past few days. Bekah’s arms held several articles of clothing he didn’t recognize. He wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling Bekah was working on her own scheme of some sort. She and Jake would make quite a pair. Whoa! Where had that thought come from—and more importantly, how did he feel about it?

  Her long braid swung like the pendulum of a mantel clock, ticktocking back and forth. Katie skipped along beside her. Anyone who didn’t know them would surely think they were mother and daughter. Mason peeked over at Jake. Bekah needed a home. Jake needed a wife. The kids loved her. It seemed like a perfect solution. He could ride west and no longer have to worry about the children—Bekah would take care of them. But who would take care of her? He sure couldn’t count on Jake for that. Bekah deserves better than Jake, he thought, pushing away the feelings of unrest and jealousy that surfaced at the thought of Bekah and Jake together. Still … it would solve his problem.

  “Why you scowlin’? I don’t think you heard a word I said.” Jake tossed his coffee grounds into the fire. The flame flared and sizzled, filling the air with the pungent scent of burnt coffee.

  “I heard you.”

  “So what do ya think? Will you ride with me and try to get the land next to mine?” Jake pinned him with a hopeful stare.

  Okay, so maybe he hadn’t been listening all that closely. He didn’t want the land next to Jake’s. His heart couldn’t handle seeing Rebekah with Jake. That would be worse than watching her get on the train and head for Denver. When had he started to care about her so much?

  “Mason. Pay attention. This is important.” He looked up to see Jake staring at him. “If we both ride, we’ll have a double chance of getting the land I want. If something happens to me, you can claim it.”

  For once, what Jake said made sense, but Mason shook his head. “It’s too late. The Run’s tomorrow and I haven’t registered.”

  Jake broke out in a smile that would rival a kid’s at Christmas. “Not a problem.” He strode over to where his saddle lay next to the wagon. For several moments, Jake rustled around in his pack. Then he turned, raising his arm in victory. In his hand, he held two wooden stakes with colored fabric flags nailed to them.

  “Are those what I think they are?”

  “Yep.” Jake beamed with excitement. “I’ve got two stakes for the race. Now all we’ve gotta do is get to the land first, hammer in our stakes, file the claim, and the land’s ours.”

  Mason set his coffee cup on a rock near the fire and stood. “How’d you manage to register twice? Isn’t that illegal?”

  Jake shook his head. “Nope. Not since I signed your name in the registration book for one of them.”

  “Jake!” Mason hissed. “You got no right signing my name to anything. If Jimmy wasn’t so near, I’d be tempted to knock you clear back to Missouri.”

  “It’s no big deal, Mase. All I did was sign your name. Now you can ride with me.”

  Mason rubbed the back of his neck. “Even if I wanted to ride with you, I don’t have a fast horse.”

  Jake beamed. “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’ve got two.”

  Mason glanced over to where Jake’s two mounts grazed with his four horses. He studied them for a moment. Both looked solid. Long-legged, trim—probably fast. Maybe Jake was finally ready to settle down. If Jake had thought this thing through so well, it might be a sign he had matured—finally.

  He sighed, feeling cornered. He could ride for Jimmy and Katie. Getting the land would ensure they would have a home. But they still needed a mother.

  “All right. I’ll ride.” Mason straightened and looked Jake square in the eye. “Under one condition.”

  Jake’s eyes glowed. He smiled the smile that Mason felt sure was the one that had won his sister’s heart. “Sure, Mase. Anything. This is the opportunity I’ve been dreaming about all my life.”

  Mason closed his eyes, gathering the strength he needed to utter the words that made him sick to his stomach. “I want you to ask Rebekah to marry you and be Jimmy and Katie’s mother.”

  Rebekah stumbled and nearly fell down. She’d forgotten her button box and had come back to fetch it. From the far side of the wagon, she couldn’t see the men, but she heard them. “I want you to marry Rebekah. …”

  If she’d had any doubts about leaving Mason and going to Denver, they suddenly evaporated. She felt as if he had plunged a knife into her heart. He had no way of knowing she’d fallen in love with him. Now he never would.

  Holding on to the side of the wagon, she leaned her head against her arm. How could she have been so wrong? She felt certain Mason had feelings for her.

  “I can’t marry Rebekah,” she heard Jake say on a choked gasp.

  “Then I can’t ride with you.”

  “Now be reasonable, Mase. I don’t love her—I don’t even know her.”

  Bekah eased back behind the wagon. She wanted to run away, but her feet wouldn’t budge. With blurred vision, she looked up, checking to be sure Katie was still playing with the neighbor’s puppy.

  “But she loves the children—and she needs a home. She’ll take good care of them and you, too. She’s sweet, pretty—sure, she has a temper and can make you madder than a cornered bear, but she’s fun to be with. You’ll really like her if you just take the time to get to know her. It just makes sense for you two to get together.”

  Rebekah blinked back her tears as she listened to the words glide on Mason’s smooth Southern accent. If he thought all those things about her, why couldn’t he love her? Maybe she’d pushed him too far—bucked his authority one too many times. If only she could go back and change things. But she hadn’t known him back then. She’d been wrong about him. Mason had a heart bigger than the whole West.

  “I just don’t know, Mase. It seems … well, odd, marrying up with someone you don’t know.”

  “Danielle barely knew you when she married you.” Rebekah could hear the unspoken censure in Mason’s words. “If she’d known you, she never would have married you. I wouldn’t have let her.”

  “Let me think on it a bit, okay?”

  “All right, Jake. You’ve got till noon tomorrow—that’s when the race starts, right?”

  She didn’t hear Jake’s response. Fighting back her tears, she tiptoed away from the wagon, her heart in more pieces than a new quilt ready to be assembled. She spied Jimmy playing with Katie and the puppy and numbly moved in their direction. Jimmy gave her an odd look when she asked him to watch Katie for a while. Could he see that she was upset?

  She hurried through the field of humanity, desperately looking for someplace she could be alone. People were everywhere. With the big race being held tomorrow, an epidemic of hope and excitement ran rampant throughout the huge tent city. By evening tomorrow, how many of them would feel like she did now—dis
illusioned, disappointed, their hopes destroyed? All the time she’d been sewing on buttons and repairing clothes to make money, she had hoped deep inside that Mason would ask her not to go. That he would take her west with him—or even better, that they would stay here and make a home near Jimmy and Katie’s.

  “Hey, lady,” a heavyset man in baggy overalls hollered to her. She turned her head, quickly wiping the gathering tears from her eyes. “Yer that Button Bekah lady that fixes shirts, ain’t ya?”

  She forced a smile and nodded, though thinking about clothing was the last thing on her mind.

  “I gots me two shirts that need fixin’, and my other pair of overalls gots a hole right in the—” He reached toward his seat then halted his hand and blushed. “Well, they’s got a big hole … um, well, you’ll see.”

  She couldn’t help but smile at his discomfort.

  “I’m figuring on gettin’ me some land come tomorrow. I don’t reckon I’ll be back in town fer a while, so I need to get my duds fixed up fore I go. You reckon you could have ‘em done before tomorrow? I’ll give ya a silver dollar.”

  A whole dollar. Though she hadn’t prayed yet, God was already providing for her again. Thank You, Lord If she had any doubts as to what to do, they just went up in smoke.

  She followed the man back to his camp, got his clothing, and arranged to meet him tomorrow, then headed for the train station. Tallying up her funds in her mind, she figured she had close to twelve dollars—thirteen with what she’d make today. That was more money than she’d ever seen in her whole life.

  It suddenly dawned on her what the man had called her—Button Bekah. The label brought a soft smile to her face.

  In a matter of minutes, Rebekah had purchased her ticket to Wichita. She felt certain she’d have enough money to get to Denver now—maybe even enough to stay in a hotel in Wichita and get her first bath in one of those fancy porcelain bathtubs.

  Now all she had to do was figure out how to say good-bye. It would break her heart to leave Jimmy and Katie. For the past few weeks, she’d almost felt like a mother. She’d grown to love them both, but they weren’t her children—they didn’t belong to her—and wishing wouldn’t make it any different.