The smell of fresh coffee drifted to her nose and Rayne, who had been laying there lost in thought, remembered Lisbet. She jumped out of bed and realized she still had her clothes on. She vaguely remembered Lisbet leading her into the bedroom and laying quilts over her. Her heart began to melt.
Lisbet had coffee made and was working on frying bacon to go with the eggs sitting in the basket on the table. Rayne looked at Lisbet.
God, it has been a long time since someone other than me cooked on that stove. Hell, it has been a long time since anyone has been in my house with me.
“Good morning. How did you sleep, Rayne?” Lisbet smiled.
“I slept very well, thank you. How did you sleep?” Rayne felt a bit uncomfortable. She was still struggling with her feelings of being unfaithful to a woman long gone. “Something smells delicious.”
“I slept, thank you for asking, and I have bacon cooking and will have eggs soon. How do you like them? I can scramble them for you if you’d like.”
Rayne didn’t miss the fact that Lisbet neglected to answer the question. “I asked how you slept, not if you slept.”
“I,” Lisbet paused. “Not…very well. But I’ll adjust. It’s just a matter of getting used to the pallet and how hard it is, and um…making sure the fire has plenty of wood before I go to bed.”
Rayne nodded, then went to the door, grabbed her boots, put them on, then reached for her coat and hat. As soon as she had them on, she walked over to the pallet and tossed off the blankets.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Lisbet asked. “I wasn’t complaining, really.”
“I’m taking it back out to the barn where it belongs.” With that, Rayne dragged the pallet out the door.
“Well, okay, that answers that.” Lisbet said aloud. “Maybe it is best that I sleep out in the barn.”
Rayne scolded herself all the way to the barn and while she was doing her morning chores. She should have known it would be too cold on the floor. She knew the pallet would be too hard for anyone to sleep on. I should have insisted that Lisbet sleep in my room.
†
Rayne walked inside just as Lisbet was placing the meal on the table. She saw cups of steaming coffee, fresh biscuits, and jam and smelled the delicious aroma. Rayne smiled broadly. “That looks and smells wonderful, Lisbet.”
“Thank you, but it’s nothing special…just bacon and eggs.” Lisbet wouldn’t look at Rayne.
“Let’s eat then maybe you can help me figure out how to keep the wind from blowing in through the windows.” Rayne pulled a chair out for Lisbet and waited for her to sit down before sitting next to her.
Just as the night before, Rayne said a prayer of thanks before digging into her breakfast.
†
It took only a few minutes to clean up the breakfast dishes, and while Rayne walked toward the fire, Lisbet looked at the window covered with oilcloth. Moving her hand around the edges, she frowned. “You have this sealed so well that it shouldn’t let in any air but it does.”
Rayne shook her head. “For the life of me, I can’t figure it out.”
“Why don’t we take the oilcloth off and then reattach it?”
Rayne raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think I’ve already tried that?”
“Yes, I figured you did but I bet you did it alone. Maybe with an extra pair of hands you can get it to seal better.”
“Let’s get to it.”
As Lisbet and Rayne worked together, they asked questions of one another.
“So how did you come to be in Willow Springs?” Lisbet asked.
“I had an aunt and uncle who lived here in this cabin that is now mine. My father decided I would marry an older man and rather than doing that I took some of my brother’s clothes, my father’s gun, and my horse and headed for Willow Springs.”
“They died?”
“Yeah, I regret not being here before they passed.”
“Do you have any other family?”
“Yeah, back east.”
“Please tell me about them.”
“Not much to tell, really. I have a brother, Jason. He is older than me by a year and my sister Maggie is about three and a half years younger than me. Now Jason, you’ll never meet a kinder, gentler man than him, that I can promise you.” Rayne smiled at the thought of the big brother she remembered.
“What does your brother look like?”
“Last time I saw him, he was tall with broad shoulders, hair and eyes the same color as mine. If I remember correctly, he was trying to grow a mustache… looked like a caterpillar had crawled up on his lip.” Rayne laughed at the memory.
“Ah, so he’s handsome then.”
When Rayne turned to look at Lisbet, she smiled. The smile was warm and comforting to Rayne and she gave her a smile in return. “Yeah I suppose some would say he is handsome.”
“What about your sister?” Lisbet held the oilcloth in place as Rayne worked on fastening it to the wall.
Rayne had to stand between Lisbet and the window and she could feel the heat radiating off Lisbet’s body. She groaned inwardly. “Maggie, now she took after my mother, with hair as gold as the sun. Course she has the same blue eyes that Jason and I have, got those from our father, along with the dark hair. The last time I saw her, Maggie was beautiful and full of fun with a zest for life and a laugh that would make everyone join in. She could sing too, a voice that could get the angels to cry.”
“Mmhmm, she sounds wonderful. You miss them don’t you? I can hear it in your voice.”
“I do with all my heart.”
“So your father and Luke were brothers?”
“Yeah, Uncle Luke decided he didn’t want to be a preacher so he took off as soon as he could. Something I don’t think my father ever forgave him for doing. But being the good Christian man he was, my father would bring us out here once in a while to try and make Uncle Luke feel bad for leaving.”
“So if your father was so upset about being a preacher, why didn’t he do something else?”
“My granddad wanted one of his sons to serve the Lord. Uncle Luke took off leaving my father to fill that expectation. According to my father, his father made it real clear that it was gonna be him. So in order to not disappoint granddad, my father did what he had to. Now keep in mind that he was perfect for preaching. Damn good at it… his congregation adored him.”
There was silence for a while as they worked on the window.
“I wish I had a big family like you, Rayne. I didn’t know my father, and mama ran off, so the only family I had were the girls at the saloon.”
“Did they treat you good?”
“Yeah, they looked out for me.” Lisbet stared at Rayne.
“What?”
“Did you really tell your father you wouldn’t marry?”
“Yup. I left home and never looked back. I had kept in touch with Uncle Luke through letters,” Rayne said. “I do miss them. A lot.”
†
Lisbet found herself smiling as she listened to Rayne talk about her family. As far as Lisbet was concerned, Rayne was like a child talking about her favorite toy. She loved seeing the excitement in her eyes—it was better than the sadness that appeared when she spoke of her father.
I wonder if Emma got to see this side of Rayne all the time.
She chewed on that thought for a while. Well of course she did. They were a couple and she lived with her for a year, you idiot.
“What about you, Lisbet. When you left the saloon life, where were you going and what were you planning on doing?”
“I don’t know really, I love kids and reading, knitting…maybe I thought about marrying. I suppose I never gave it much thought.” She shrugged. “I wish I had a real family. Not that the girls didn’t treat me like family, but I always felt like I was on the outside looking in. I always wanted a sister.” Lisbet laughed. “I always hoped that one of the girls would get pregnant and have a little girl that I could take care of like a sister.”
“I use
d to feel that way when I first came to town but then I found Emma. I do miss my sister and brother every day that I’ve been out of their life.
“So why don’t you go visit them?”
Rayne ducked under Lisbet’s outstretched arm. “There, it’s done. Will you feel around the edge and tell me if you feel any draft.”
Lisbet ran her hand around the oilcloth. “Nope; nothing.”
“Good now let’s do the other window in here.”
For the rest of the day, the two women worked together making sure the oilcloth on all the windows was sealed properly. Every time Rayne stretched her arms, Lisbet could feel the soft roundness of her breast pressing against her as they worked the oilcloth. She sucked in a breath every time and felt bereft when they had finished the windows.
“You do know that once spring truly gets here we will have to take the one in the kitchen off and open the window. It gets hot in here in the summer.
“I figured as much,” Lisbet said. “Oh, we’re almost out of flour, sugar and coffee.” She added as her mind went to the kitchen.
“Well then, we will have to go to town tomorrow. If you’d like, I’ll take you for a meal at the hotel’s dining room.”
“Never been to anything like that before.”
“Then it is settled. We’ll go to town and have a proper meal
†
As the evening grew later and supper was over with, the dishes done, Rayne walked into her bedroom and came out with a small table that matched the one already in the room and another lantern. She placed them on the other side of the second rocking chair which she now had sitting where the pallet had been the night before.
“You won’t mind if I take the lantern out to the barn tonight will you? I didn’t notice one out there last night when we fed the animals.”
“There’s one out there, but why would you need to be out in the barn? I fed the animals already. They are set for the night.” Rayne looked at Lisbet in confusion.
“Well, because that’s where my bed is,” Lisbet answered sensibly.
“You’re not sleeping in the barn.” Rayne sat down with her book. “Oh, hey, before I forget, I have a couple of new dime novels if you’re interested.”
“Wait. What do you mean I’m not sleeping in the barn? Just where the hell am I sleeping? If you had changed your mind about me staying here, you should have told me and I would have headed into town.” Lisbet’s teeth were set and she ground them.
Rayne stood, walked over to where Lisbet was standing, and with a frown on her face studied the young woman. “You can stop shouting now. I can hear you perfectly well. I haven’t changed my mind about anything other than the fact that it’s too cold for you to sleep on the floor and a pallet is not a bed.”
“Okay, so the floor is too cold, fine I assumed that’s why you took the pallet back to the barn…I can make a warm bed from the straw and hay out there,” Lisbet said.
“What is it with you and sleeping in the barn? No, you’re sleeping in my room, end of story.
Lisbet just stood staring at the taller woman. “I can’t...”
“You can, and I’m not discussing this anymore.” Rayne spoke in a loud voice before she slammed out the door.
†
“Lisbet, I’m sorry for earlier, I can sometimes act like it’s my way or no way. And…I’m sorry. It’s just that it makes more sense to share the bed than it does to have you sleeping on the floor or out in the barn. I can’t leave you out in the barn without protection.” Rayne said in way of an apology when she came back inside.
“I understand. I’m sorry I gave you such a hard time about it. I guess I’ve been burned by people being nice and having ulterior motives.”
Rayne thought about that and decided that Lisbet had a point. “I suppose you have a point, and I’m sorry you had to deal with people being nice to you then wanting payment in return. I’m not like that, I offered you a safe place to stay here, and I mean it to be safe. I don’t expect anything you ain’t willing to give.” She paused. “It’s been a long day, I think I’m gonna turn in.”
Lisbet stretched and realized then that she too was tired. Adding the work on the windows to her regular chores had worn her out. Plus the fact that she hadn’t slept well and had fallen asleep only about an hour before sunrise. Then she’d been worried she would oversleep and not have breakfast ready for Rayne.
“I think I’ll turn in. It was a long day. Rayne, thank you for such a nice day.” Lisbet smiled and stood.
Rayne was turning down the lantern by her chair and paused at the warm feeling that went through her at the thought that Lisbet had enjoyed the day with her. It put a smile on her face as she followed Lisbet into the bedroom.
†
In the bedroom, Rayne saw Lisbet sitting on the far side of the bed, which sat in the middle of the east wall. That left Rayne the side next to the door, which was fine with her since that was the side she preferred. As quietly as she could, Rayne stripped her shirt off and tossed it on the chair that sat in the corner, and then she started on her pants, kicking them off her feet before placing them on the chair as well.
Lisbet turned just in time to glimpse Rayne in her long-john-covered body. Rayne thought she heard a small groan from Lisbet.
“Are you all right?” Rayne asked, as she turned out the light to give Lisbet some privacy. She slipped under the blankets.
“Um, fine, I’m fine.” Lisbet said. Material rustled and then she crawled under the blankets.
What’s that was all about? Rayne tried to figure out.
Wait what is she wearing? Oh my, God. Rayne was trying very hard to ignore the fact that she thought Lisbet might have been naked. She is not naked, she had something on. No, she is naked.
Her brain screamed back and forth. Don’t roll over, don’t ask, don’t think, and don’t speak.
Rayne, what’s the matter, sweetheart? Is your mind wandering to places you aren’t comfortable with?
Rayne heard the whisper in her ear—and she ignored it.
Come on, sweetheart, I know this isn’t the first woman you’ve been to bed with. Yes, I know you’ve been with Grace, and Teresa. And oh, what’s that cute one’s name? She is new…you know who I’m talking about. Emma sat in a chair in the corner with her hand lovingly stroking Rayne’s shirt as she spoke.
Oh God, Eve! You know about Eve and Grace…oh, God.
Rayne felt her brain screaming and her body cringed at the thought
Of course I do, love. Oh, yes, I’m sorry…I should have told you I can hear your thoughts. So we can speak and you don’t have to ignore me.
How do you know about Eve?
I told you, I’ve been with you, Rayne. Don’t you ever listen to me? Of course not, you didn’t when I was alive, why would you listen to me now, Emma said in annoyance.
I’m sorry.
Rayne, I didn’t expect your life to end when I died you know. I’m well aware that you have needs and I fully expected you to find someone to see to them. Oh, relax it’s not like I watched. I said I realized you have needs not that I enjoy torturing myself with that knowledge.
Emma stood and folded the shirt she had been holding, then walked around the room in the dim light. You know, I do have to say I think Grace and the others are very lucky. You are very talented in that area. I’m sorry I wasn’t around to enjoy that more.”
Emma!
Oh, stop it.
No, you stop! I don’t want to hear how Grace and the others are lucky. I didn’t want them I wanted you and you weren’t here. You left me! Did you know you were that ill?
I suspected that morning when you went to the field. I tried to hold on long enough to say goodbye, but sometimes we don’t have a choice in that.
Why? You were the only thing good I had left in my life. I had just found you. Tears were brimming in Rayne’s eyes.
I can’t tell you why, baby, I don’t even know. But, there is always a reason, sweetheart. Never doubt that. Now, le
t’s talk about this woman in your bed.
No, I don’t want to.
You’re acting like a child. Stop pouting.
I …
I think she is a good match for you. She has spunk and you need that.
I don’t want that. I want you.
I know. Do you find her attractive, Rayne? I think she is very pretty. I tried to find someone pretty for you.
What do you mean you tried to find someone pretty for me?
What does it sound like I mean, sweetheart?
You? How? How did you set me up to meet her?
Rayne tried to understand what was happening.
Well, okay, I never discount ghosts. I mean there are angels so why not ghosts? But, do you expect me to believe that they go around making things happen? Oh come on, that’s hard to swallow.
I told you, we can suggest things and nine times out of ten, it works…but we can’t make them happen.
Wait… how?
You honestly don’t listen to me…I said that I can hear your thoughts.
Emma looked at Lisbet who lay sleeping peacefully.
Rayne’s eyes followed Emma’s and they too fell on Lisbet. She is pretty, and yeah, she is naked.
Emma’s laugh was soft and low.
Rayne remembered that laugh well.
I knew you would think she is pretty. And, rest your mind, she isn’t naked. She has her slip on. She isn’t a tart, you know.
Emma’s eyes locked with Rayne’s eyes. You should sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day.
Will I see you tomorrow? Rayne closed her eyes.
Of course, you will, my love.
Emma disappeared and Rayne drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Six
The next morning Lisbet made breakfast and after they ate, it took about an hour to clean up the breakfast dishes and hitch the horses up to the buckboard before they were on the way to town. As the buckboard bumped its way along the rutted road, Lisbet and Rayne sat in companionable quiet.
Rayne's New Beginnings Page 5