by Linda Bridey
How have you been? I’m sorry to hear about your ma. I’m sure she was a good woman. I’m blessed with a good family. I hope we don’t have a drought, either. I like your description of what you want in a husband and I can honestly tell you that I can do all of those things. I don’t believe in cheating or lying and I like to have fun as much as anyone else. I’ve done a little hell-raising over the years and I don’t mind doing crazy things.
We raise a big variety of horses; Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, Clydesdales, Morgans, and Quarter horses. Right now we have four foals, but we have three more mares that are due soon. It’s the time of year when mares are usually due because of being bred last spring. We’ve got one colt that’s two who is mean and we don’t know why. As far as we know, no one has ever done anything to him to make him that way. It’s frustrating, but we’ll keep working with him.
As you can see, it all keeps me busy, but I love my job and couldn’t imagine doing anything else. Do you like farming or is there something else you’d rather do? I got started with horses when I was young. My uncle bred horses and taught me everything I know. It makes me feel good that Joe trusts me so much with such valuable horses. We have four studs that make us quite a bit of money, too.
Well, I’ll close for now, but take of yourself.
Sincerely,
Eddie
Dear Eddie,
I am so sorry to hear about the robberies! How awful for everyone. I hope they catch the thief quickly. I’ve heard that you have a good sheriff over there, so I’m he’ll get to the bottom of it soon. I’ve been doing fine. I like farming well enough, but I’ve often thought about being a nurse. I think I’d like helping people when they’re sick or hurt. I wouldn’t know how to go about doing that, though. I don’t think there are any nursing schools around here and I don’t want to leave home.
I would love to see those Clydesdales. I’ll bet they’re gorgeous. I’ve seen foals born a couple of times and I thought it was beautiful. I’m sure that you can handle anything that might go wrong with the birth. You’re a very dependable person if Joe relies on you so much. What’s it like living with a mayor and his family? It must be interesting.
What else are you looking for in a woman? I know what was in your ad, but there has to be more. You take care, too.
Sincerely,
Deanna
Eddie frowned as he pitched in cleaning stalls. He thought about Deanna’s last letter and was frustrated about it. Since they lived so close, wouldn’t it just be easier to go ahead and meet? Deanna sounded very nice and he would like to see her in person. Why waste time with writing letters? If she lived in another state or something, he could see writing, but that wasn’t the case. He finished with the stall and decided to track down his boss to get some advice.
Mitch was back from his short trip to Helena and he was getting caught up on all the goings on in Dawson. All three officers were very happy when no other robberies occurred that day. Rick filled them in on his investigation into the crime.
“We’ve got to catch this guy, or guys,” Mitch said. “There could be more than one of them.”
Rick said, “I agree, but it’s just too soon to know at this point. I asked Joe to be a little patient, but I don’t know how far that’ll go. He’s like Seth’s poodle— high strung and he has an annoying bark.”
Jack chuckled. “Don’t let Uncle Seth hear that. He loves that dog.”
“I know and I don’t know why,” Rick said. “He always nips at my boots. One of these days I’m going to put my foot right up its—well, you get my point.”
Mitch said, “I wouldn’t do that unless you want to get shot.”
Rick smiled as Curtis lay down on his desk and rolled over.
“What is it that Curtis does when you use him to investigate?” Jack asked as he sat down at his own desk.
“He sniffs everything. The floor, furniture, and anything else I think might be useful,” Rick said as he put his feet up on his desk.
“You mean like a dog?” Jack asked.
“Yeah, but only more thoroughly,” Rick said. “Plus, he’s good at finding things that could be important, like that earring at the Keller’s. It was under that dresser that had the scalloped trim on the bottom. I wouldn’t have been able to get my hand under there, but he can fit.”
Mitch cocked his head. “Ok, but what good is all the sniffing?”
“You’ll see,” Rick said, and put his hat down over his eyes.
Mitch sighed. “Why do you always have to be so mysterious?”
“Because it’s fun,” Rick said. “When the time is right, you’ll see what he can do.”
Sensing that Rick would say no more on the subject, the other two officers let the matter drop.
*****
“So you want to speed things up, huh? Does that mean based on her letters that you think there could be something there?” Joe asked as he trained a horse on a lunge line.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I just think that since she’s only a couple hours away, we should meet and find out,” Eddie answered. “What would you do?”
Joe turned in a circle as the horse trotted around the riding ring. Eddie stood next to Joe and moved with him so he didn’t interfere with the lunge line or get in Joe’s way. Joe thought about Eddie’s situation and tried to put himself in his shoes. It was difficult because Joe had a hard time remembering what it was like to be a single man. Lacey was the only woman he ever wanted to be with and it had been that way ever since they’d met.
He thought back to those days, however, and gave Eddie’s situation careful consideration. Joe could see where Eddie was coming from and he might want to do the same thing. Men were sometimes impatient in these situations. Eddie was one of those men. He was a busy person and preferred to get things done as quickly and efficiently as possible. That was part of his job. But this wasn’t his job and romance couldn’t be rushed.
“Eddie, I would ask her, but don’t get perturbed if she says she’s not ready. It’s never a good idea to rush a woman. Some of them are like a high strung filly that needs careful handling. If you push her too fast or too hard, she’s gonna balk and then you gotta start all over again which, as you well know, ends up takin’ more time.”
“This from the guy who got married four days after meeting Lacey,” Eddie said with a smile.
Joe laughed. “Yeah, well, my situation was completely different. I needed my inheritance and she needed to get away from her jackass of a father. We both had an understanding from the beginning that it was a business arrangement, but I’ll tell you, it was the best business deal I ever made. And look what our mergers produced.” Joe sent Eddie a wicked grin.
“Yeah, you certainly got lucky with Lacey, Joe,” Eddie agreed.
“You know, you could just save yourself some time by askin’ Deena out. I’m tellin’ you, Eddie. That girl likes you,” Joe said.
Eddie sighed. “I told you that she’s taken.”
“How do you know? Did you ask anyone?” Joe asked, and clicked his tongue to get the horse to move into a canter.
“I’m not askin’ around about it, Joe.”
“All right, so ask her.”
“And just how am I supposed to do that? Just say, ‘Hey, Deena, are you still seein’ Scotty?’”
Joe laughed as he watched the horse’s leg action, checking to see if there was any evidence of lameness. “Eddie, you just did it. Now, instead of askin’ me, ask her.”
“Joe, that’s what you would do. That’s embarrassin’. Like I’d be … aw hell … I don’t know. I just wouldn’t be comfortable doin’ it,” Eddie said.
“Think of it like a stallion who’s trying to see if a mare is receptive to him, Eddie. He has no idea if she really is or not. It seems like she might be, but he wants to know for sure. He also wants to make sure that no other stallion is around to challenge him for the mare. Your situation is just like that, Eddie. Think of Scotty as that other stallion. That’s it! Find out from
Scotty. Then you’ll know.”
“Ok, but what if I ask her out and she says no?” Eddie asked.
“Then she says no and you move on. Keep sending letters to your Wolfe Point lady. There’s no commitment made to this woman or anything. If something good would come out of askin’ Deena out then just gently end things with her.”
Eddie mulled over Joe’s words, but he still didn’t know what to think. Joe’s advice sounded good, but Eddie wasn’t experienced with looking for a permanent relationship with a woman. He usually had no trouble with the opposite sex, but for some reason he was all twisted up inside about this.
Joe looked behind him at Eddie. As if reading his mind, Joe said, “What’s got you so worked up about this? It’s not like you’ve ever had a problem with finding female companionship.”
“That’s different, Joe. That’s just havin’ fun. This is for life. I don’t want to make the wrong decision.”
Joe said, “Eddie, it’s not like you gotta get married tomorrow or somethin’. You gotta calm down about this.”
Eddie sighed and said, “Have her switch leads.”
“Yeah, there’s an idea. Get Deena to switch guys.”
“No. The horse, Joe, not Deena.”
Joe laughed. “Oh. Sorry.” Joe whistled and the mare faltered a little as it moved into the opposite lead. Joe made a displeased noise. “That should have been smoother.”
“Run her in that lead for a long time before you let her go back to the other one,” Eddie said.
“I guess by now I know how to train a horse, Eddie,” Joe said.
“I’m tellin’ you. Don’t put her back in the right lead for a little bit,” Eddie said. “Thanks for the advice. I’m gonna go check on a couple of things.”
“All right.”
Chapter Five
Deena was in a panic after reading Eddie’s last letter. He wanted to meet her other persona. She hadn’t been expecting it so soon. It hadn’t even been quite a month, and although he made perfect sense in his letter, Deena was scared to death about meeting Eddie. How would she even do that? When she started this, Deena hadn’t given that part any thought because she hadn’t expected Eddie to want to meet so soon.
Now, though, Deena had to come up with a plan for that. She could just never answer him. That would work, but then she’d be back to square one. Eddie was never going to notice her. He might get mad when she told him, but at least she would have his attention. Maybe it would be best to meet now. The longer she let it go on, the more upset he would be when they did meet.
Yes, that’s the best way to handle this. Better to get it over with quickly. But where and when? I don’t want to do it somewhere public because I don’t want either of us to be embarrassed.
Then it came to her. As soon as her shift was over, Deena rode home and answered Eddie’s letter.
Dear Eddie,
I think you’re right. Why shouldn’t we meet and see if we’re compatible or not? Meet me next Thursday night at eight o’clock at the old grist mill between here and Dawson. It’ll be out of the way and if we don’t seem to like one another, we can part with no one being the wiser. Let me know if that’s all right with you.
Deanna
“Huh. I wasn’t expecting that,” Joe said. “Maybe she’s in as much of a hurry as you are, Eddie.” They sat in Eddie’s office, both men with their feet up on the desk. Fatty lay in Joe’s lap, rolled over on his back, sound asleep.
“I’m not in a hurry exactly. I guess I’m just impatient,” Eddie said.
Joe gave Eddie a sardonic smile and said, “Impatient is a synonym for being in a hurry, Eddie.”
“Cinnamon? What’s food got to do with this?” Eddie said.
“Not ‘cinnamon’, ‘synonym’,” Joe said, pronouncing each syllable clearly.
“What’s that?” Eddie said.
“It means two words that mean the same thing,” Joe explained.
Eddie started laughing. “I know what it means, I just wanted to make you tell me.”
Joe threw the letter back at Eddie. “You’re a jerk.” Then he picked up Fatty and said, “I’m gonna sick you on that rat the next time Rick brings him around, Fatty. He’d make a good meal for you.”
Eddie shook his head at Joe. “It amazes me that a grown man is afraid of a ferret.”
“It amazes me that a grown man is afraid to talk to a woman who wants very much to talk to him,” Joe countered.
“It amazed me the night that you got up on the dining room table and ran across it to get away from that ferret. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever seen that much emotion on Randall’s face. I’ve never heard him laugh like he did that night, either.”
Joe kicked Eddie’s feet off the desk in retaliation. “Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard it all a thousand times.”
“And yet it’s still funny,” Eddie said.
“Well, you ain’t gonna find it so funny when you don’t have a job,” Joe said.
“Don’t you have to go sing? You’d better get a move on,” Eddie said.
Joe put Fatty down in a hurry and stood up. “Dang it! I almost forgot. Thanks, Eddie. See you tomorrow.”
Every time Eddie came into the restaurant that week, Deena’s heart beat harder inside her chest. She had trouble concentrating on taking orders, especially when she had to wait on Eddie. She kept her eyes averted and got his orders to him as quickly as possible. Each time he left, Deena breathed a sigh of relief.
Eddie tried to see what it was Joe had seen, but though Deena was friendly, she wasn’t overly so. He had to admit that she was very pretty. Her dark eyes were a surprise since she had such light hair. It was a change from a lot of blondes who had green or blue eyes. Suddenly, he found himself wondering how that had come to be.
He kept telling Joe that there was no way Deena was interested in him, but Joe didn’t believe him. One morning, Eddie made Joe go with him to the Grady House for breakfast so Joe could see for himself.
Deena’s stomach began to hurt when she saw Eddie and Joe come in the door. She almost groaned out loud, but was able to hold it inside.
She walked over to the table and smiled. “Good morning, fellas. The usual?”
Joe said, “Yes, ma’am,” and sat back to watch her reaction to Eddie.
“For you?” she asked Eddie. Somehow Deena was able to keep her face fairly bland as she looked at Eddie. He smiled at her and Deena thought she was going to fall over.
“I guess we’re pretty predictable, huh?” he said.
Deena said, “Well, it’s easy to get into a habit. So is that what you want?”
“Yeah, sure,” Eddie said. His brow puckered a little at her slightly brusque tone.
“Ok. I’ll go tell Horace. Thanks, fellas,” Deena said.
As she walked away, Eddie said, “See? I told you. She doesn’t have any interest in me.”
Joe didn’t answer right away. Something didn’t add up to him. He knew women very well and he knew that Deena had been interested in Eddie. Why the change? Two possibilities occurred to him.
“Eddie, she’s either playin’ hard to get now, or she figures she gave you your chance and she’s not gonna keep wastin’ her time on you,” Joe said. “That’s what’s goin’ on here. If I were you, I’d ask her out as soon as possible.”
“What about Scotty?”
Joe said, “Glad you mentioned that. They broke up a little while back. I found that out last night from Caleb Benson, our newest bouncer. He and Scotty are friends.”
Eddie thought about that as he watched Deena move around the dining room. Joe noticed Eddie’s perusal of the pretty waitress and smiled to himself.
Deena walked behind the counter and knelt down to get more napkins and silverware to put on the tables she’d cleared. She stood up and gasped in fright. Eddie was right on the other side of the counter.
“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She laughed a little. “That’s ok. Did you need someth
ing? More coffee?”
Eddie smiled and Deena’s stomach felt like it had suddenly come alive and was jumping around. He was so handsome with his strong jaw and blue eyes. He had a gorgeous smile. His nose was slightly crooked, most likely from a fight of some sort in the past. Instead of detracting from his appearance, it added character to his face.
“No. I don’t need more coffee. Is it true that you and Scotty aren’t seein’ each other?”
“Uh, yeah, that’s true,” Deena said.
Eddie was relieved to hear her confirm it. “Ok. So do you like to dance?”
Deena’s heart joined her stomach in flopping around. It was as if two fish were dancing around inside her. “Yes. Why?”
“Well, I thought maybe you’d like to go dancin’ at the bar tonight,” Eddie answered.
No! No! It can’t be! He’s asking me out now? Damn! We’re supposed to meet in two days. What do I do? I want to go so bad. I’ve waited for so long for this, but how can I go and then…Aaargh!
Eddie waited for her answer. He thought that Joe must be right, she was playing hard to get. “C’mon, Deena. It’ll be fun. I promise.”
Deena smiled and said, “Eddie, I’d love to, but I promised to babysit for my cousin tonight.” She hoped she’d be forgiven for the lie.
“All right. I know it’s short notice, but I thought I’d take a chance anyway.” Not to be deterred, Eddie asked, “What about tomorrow night?”
“I’m working,” she said, which was not a lie.
“Yeah, but you get off at eight, right?” Eddie pressed.
“Eddie, my feet are gonna be so tired that I won’t feel like dancing,” she said.
Eddie grinned. “Ok, Deena, but I’m gonna ask again sometime.”
“Good,” Deena said with a smile.
Eddie went back to sit with Joe, but he smiled at her from time to time. When he left, Deena breathed that sigh of relief again and went back to working.
Joe stood in the sheriff’s office later that day. There had been another robbery and he wanted to know where things stood with the investigation. He was not a happy man.