The ranch hands appeared excited about her party. Rosa, who seemed to be softening toward Cenora, volunteered to gather eggs and feed the hens. She also offered a warning.
“I worked for that Mrs. McClintock before I marry my Xavier. There is something wrong here, and you must prepare yourself for a bad thing to happen. She no like your husband because she think he’s not good enough for her family.”
Dallas shared Rosa’s opinion, but his eyes glowed with pride when he saw Cenora in her new clothes. “Now you look even more like an angel.” He kissed her cheek, careful not to muss her hair, then took her hand.
“If things don’t go well, please remember you have a place you belong now and a family who are proud of you.”
Dallas didn’t own a buggy, so Ma and Cenora rode in the supply wagon. A light breeze threatened her carefully-arranged hair, but the warm sun eliminated any need for a wrap.
Finn drove the team with instructions to find the elder McClintocks’ home. “Dallas said look for the pillars at the gate. This must be it.”
The red brick house stood on a slight rise. Tall trees lined each side of the long drive. A large half-moon porch descended from massive white columns. White shutters set off the windows in the two lower floors, and pointed gables ran along the roof.
Dozens of buggies parked nearby, many with drivers loitering beside them or talking to one another. They watched the buggy in front of them stop under a covered spot on the drive. A man stepped forward to assist a well-dressed woman from the vehicle.
Finn clicked to the horses and headed that way. “Reckon there’s where you’re supposed to get out. Saints preserve us, you’ll be rubbing elbows with the nobs. Look at some o’ these carriages.”
Cenora’s eyes almost popped from her head. “That house is more than twice the size o’ ours.”
Ma grabbed Cenora’s hand. “Let’s turn around and go back.”
“No, Ma. ‘Tis me chance. All me life I’ve dreamed o’ going to teas and parties and dances in fine places like this one. We’ve new dresses, and our hair looks almost like the picture the dressmaker showed us.”
A man in uniform goggled at them but helped them alight. At the door, a butler in a fancy uniform asked for their invitation.
“Good thing I thought to stick it in my reticule.” Cenora dug around and produced it. “But I want it back so I can save it.”
The man read it then checked the front and back before he returned it with a sniff and curl of his lip. He turned for them to follow him across a hall with a wood floor laid in a design to look like a checkerboard, the polish near to mirror finish.
Ma leaned toward Cenora. “See, lass, even the help are snobs. We should have stayed home.”
“It’ll be fine, Ma. You’ll see.”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, she hoped so. In spite of the awe her surroundings stirred, excitement bubbled up. She tried to take it all in without appearing to stare.
Splendor more glorious than she had imagined greeted her eyes wherever she looked. The lights must be the ones she’s heard of powered by gas, for there were no candles. She couldn’t understand where the gas went and how it got there, but in the mid afternoon no flame burned.
“Imagine, fabric on the walls. How on earth could they clean it?” She kept her voice low so only Ma could hear. “Is this as fancy as the one you worked in?”
“No. Akh, I don’t know, for ‘tis so different.”
They swept into a room full of women of various ages. Cenora looked for Kathryn but couldn’t spot her. Gran looked up, and her mouth dropped open. She dropped her cup, and it splashed her lavender gown on the way to the floor, where it rolled in a semi-circle on the carpet at her feet.
A servant rushed to scoop it up and blot the rug. Another servant hurried over with a replacement cup of tea and a towel for her dress. After a few dabs, Gran waved the maid away.
A woman of wide girth beside Gran clasped her arm. “Why, Zarelda, introduce me to your latest guests. I don’t believe I know these ladies.”
Pure hatred glared from Gran’s eyes then she recovered and smiled, but the smile never reached her eyes. “Martha, allow me to introduce Cenora McClintock, my grandson’s bride, and her mother, Ada O’Neill. This is my dear friend, Martha Marston.”
Cenora curtsied. “So ‘tis your family built the grand house we live in. ‘Tis pleased I am to meet you. And me mother’s name is Aoife O’Neill”—she said it slowly the way it sounded—”A-a-eyfa, not Ada.”
“Zarelda, you didn’t mention what a beauty she is. I’ll see she gets acquainted.” Martha grabbed Cenora’s hand and pulled her toward a cluster of women who clucked like Dallas’s hens. “What a lovely accent you have, dear. Are you Irish?”
“Aye, we are.” Suddenly, Cenora regretted coming. Her stomach knotted, and she wanted to slip into a corner. This adventure now seemed a terrible mistake.
Ma trailed behind her. “I’m feeling a wee bit shaky. You go and visit, and I’ll sit on that chair there by the window.”
Oh, dear. Ma deserting her?
Cenora pasted a smile on her face and hoped she didn’t say anything too awkward. Mrs. Marston clamped her arm in a grip sure to leave a bruise. She wished the large woman would at least release her so she could sit beside Ma and watch everyone.
Mayhap a perch behind the folding screen in yon corner allowed a body to view the room in secret. At her first chance, she’d slip behind it and peek through the fold. That’s what she needed, a chance to see without being seen.
Ma said she was bright. True, Cenora learned new things fast enough. If she could slip away and watch the women in their beautiful dresses, she might learn how to act like them. Surely it didn’t take a lifetime to know how to hold a cup just so. To sit and arrange the folds of her skirt with a flick of the wrist.
No. She raised her chin. Sure and she’d come to experience this, and she’d get through every detail. Hadn’t it gone fine so far?
Chapter Fifteen
“So, was it as you imagined.” Finn guided their wagon in line behind departing buggies.
Cenora thought her happiness must shine like a beacon. “Aye. And I received three invitations from women at the tea. They acted friendly to me, asking me all sorts o’ questions.”
Beside her, Ma sat silent.
Finn leaned around Cenora to see Ma. “You’ve not said anything. Did you have a nice time, Ma?”
Ma cast a sideways glance then looked ahead. “Fine. It was fine.”
Cenora knew she babbled, but she couldn’t stop talking about everything she’d seen. Beautiful dresses, lovely china and crystal, and lavish furnishings of the McClintock’s home all surpassed her dreams. Ma said nothing, but mayhap the excitement had tired her.
When they arrived home, Finn took the wagon to the barn, and Cenora and Ma had the house to themselves. Cenora helped Ma to her room for a rest. She unbuttoned Ma’s dress for her.
Ma stood with one hand braced against the bedpost. “Will you be going to them other parties those women invited you to?”
Cenora’s paused her fingers, and then went on. “O’ course, Ma. Why wouldn’t I?”
“You’ve a fine home and a husband who takes good care o’ you. There’s no need to go to such dos.”
“Ma?” Cenora frowned, pulled the dress over her mother’s head, and waited for her mother to turn around. “What are you meaning?”
Her mother sat in the rocker and slipped off her shoes. As she rolled down her stockings, she looked up. “All I’m saying is, I think those women made fun o’ us. Some o’ their questions seemed odd.”
Cenora turned back the bedcovers for Ma. “They were only curious about us. ‘Tis natural, isn’t it? They’ll not be asking so much when we go to Mrs. Lippincott’s tea tomorrow or the Marston’s party on Friday evening.”
Ma said nothing until she’d lain down and exhaled a weary sigh. “I’ll not be going. It was tiring, and ‘tis not welcome I felt. Your man has always made me welco
me here, so I’ll stay where I’m wanted.”
What had happened to Ma? “But, Ma, I want you to come with me. I—I can’t go alone.” Could she?
“No, lass. I’ll not go, and that’s me final say.” She turned her back to Cenora.
With a shake of her head, Cenora put the dress and shoes away and the lovely stockings in the bag of laundry. If Ma wouldn’t come with her, she’d go alone, though the thought made her nervous. Wondering at her mother’s strange behavior, she climbed the stairs to change into her plain gray muslin dress.
****
“Victor, I’ll speak with you in your study. Now.” Zarelda’s face screwed up like she sucked a lemon.
Dang. Victor McClintock had known she’d light into him once her fancy tea broke up, and he’d prepared himself for one of her hissy fits. He followed her brisk steps and swishing skirts to the study. No sooner had he closed the door behind him than she whirled.
She balled her fists at her hips and let her temper fly. “I can only suppose you’re responsible for inviting those two common Irish gypsies into my home.”
By doggey, he’d stand his ground this time or die trying. “It’s our home, my dear. And yes, I took them an invitation. And had their dresses made so they’d fit in.”
“Fit in? Ha, as if they ever could.” Her face turned so red he feared she’d have apoplexy. Instead, she stamped her foot. “You had no right.”
He hated her anger, had never been good at meeting it head on. Puzzled him how he could have fought Comanches, founded this town, and earned medals in the War, and yet he repeatedly let this woman back him into a corner as if he had no backbone. No more. This time he’d see this through or be damned.
He gathered all his starch into his spine and met her angry glare. “I have every right.”
“How could you? You knew this tea was important to me, and you deliberately ruined it.”
“Zarelda, how could having that pretty child and her mother attend ruin your little party?”
“You’ve made me a laughing stock, that’s how, inviting those two as if they belong here.”
“They do belong, at least to this family. Like it or not, Cenora’s the wife of our grandson. Aoife is his mother-in-law.”
She stamped her foot again. Why had he ever thought that spunky and cute?
“He’s not my grandson. He’s the child of that woman, the one who stole Houston from us.”
He placed his hand on his heart. Suddenly he felt old. Really old. Maybe a hundred or more. And tired. Bone weary.
“No one stole Houston. Zarelda, you drove him away. To compound the wrong, you’ve shut out his son, our own blood. It’s a crime, all these years wasted.” He shook his head, the sorrow of it all weighted him down.
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Victor, how can you speak to me this way?
“Should have stood up to you long ago. Maybe then we’d have had more years with Houston, got to know his wife, watched Dallas grow.”
“You can’t mean you’d have let that, that heathen woman come into our home?”
“Heathen? How would you know? Maybe if we’d welcomed her into our home they’d have lived near us. Maybe then they’d still be alive.” He waved a hand. No, he couldn’t let himself think that his taking a stand years ago might have spared his son’s life or he’d go mad.
He exhaled and tried to reason with his unreasonable wife. “You never met her, never spoke to her, or bothered to find out about her.”
“I didn’t need to, after all, she was Indian. How much more did anyone need to know? She enticed him away. Probably lured him into her bed or her teepee or wherever to get him under her spell. No telling how many men she’d had before Houston.”
“Do you think Houston was that stupid? Zarelda, he didn’t poke her a few times in lust. He married her, stayed with her because he wanted to be with her for all time. She must have been a good woman, or he wouldn’t have loved her.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Poke? Lust? How dare you use such common language to me.”
He ignored her protests. “She was a fine woman, and you’d know that if you’d taken the time to meet her when she and Houston brought Dallas to visit those two times.”
He sank onto his chair, his legs unable to stand any longer. “And her father is a fine man. You know I met him when he brought Dallas here to live and when he’s come to visit. Kathryn studied with her, and both Kathryn and Austin thought a lot of her.”
She pointed at him. “Don’t get me started on that—”
He held up a hand to stay her. “The thing is, you’ve let your snobbish ways steal Houston from us and drive a wedge between us and Austin’s family. I didn’t have the gumption before to go against you outright.”
With a slam of his fist into his other palm, he met his wife’s gaze. “That’s got to change and right now. I lost a son because of your narrow-minded ideas and lost a lot of time with my grandson. He’s a fine man, as good as they come, and the first of our grandsons to marry. Likely, he and Cenora will have a passel of children. You’ll not cheat me out of time with them.”
Standing and raising himself to his full height, he looked down at her. “You’ll treat this girl and her kin as if you couldn't be happier with them, or I’ll see everyone in town knows the truth about your own family. And while you’re about it, you’ll be friendly to Kathryn now.”
She took a step back and clutched at her chest. “You wouldn’t tell about Papa? You promised you’d never say a word. It’s taken me all these years to establish our reputation here. Why, I could never hold my head up in this town again. Besides, I did it as much for you as for me.”
He shook his head. “No, you did it all for yourself, for I never wanted anything but a happy home. I let you have your way to keep peace. Now I’ll have my way, or everyone will know your father died in prison for embezzling from those who trusted him.”
He hadn’t wanted it to come to this, but he should have done something years ago. His failure to fight for his son gnawed at him, showed him up for a weakling, made him cringe inside like the coward he’d been.
Zarelda sank to a chair and buried her face in her hands. “I never thought you’d turn against me. I—I trusted you.”
His heart broke for the precious time wasted, but he gently pulled her up and into his arms. He didn’t understand how he could love this selfish woman, but love her he did. “I haven’t turned against you, dear. I’ve finally turned both of us toward our family.”
****
Dallas had surprised Cenora by driving her to the Lippincott’s with the excuse he had business in town.
Now that the event was over, he glanced at her. “You’re awfully quiet. Did you not enjoy it as before?”
How could she answer him? At first she’d had a grand time. Then she noticed a couple of women snickering while a third questioned her about her family. Were they making fun of her? She thought they had.
“Aye, it was a fine party. Your grandmother stuck by me side.”
Dallas’s eyes widened. “Gran did? That’s a surprise.”
Cenora nodded. “For me, too. But she was very nice to me. Well, nice for her.”
“Can’t figure that one out.”
“She invited you and me to ride with her and your grandfather to the Marston’s party Friday night.”
“I told you I don’t truck with any parties. If you want to go with Gran and Grandpa, that’s fine, but don’t try to drag me into it.”
“But it won’t look right, me going without you.”
“Cenora, I know how those people in town feel about me. It’s not my intention to give them another opportunity to snub me for being half Cherokee. The Marstons were happy to sell me their ranch but don’t reckon they ever intended to socialize with me.”
Cenora’s temper flared. “That’s a strange way to act. If they were going to snub you, they wouldn’t have invited us in the first place.”
Dallas exhaled and hunched his shoulder
s. “You’ve a lot to learn about people’s prejudices if you think that. They invited us because of Gran and Grandpa, but I can guarantee you they never expected us to accept the invitation.”
“Maybe, but I’ll not know unless I go. You could think it over and change your mind before tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “Not going to happen. I’ll not set myself up to be humiliated or drawn into a fight. If I went, I’d hear people insult me, see them insult you, and I’d have to bust some man in the mouth. That would only make them more sure I’m a savage. As it is, I’ll be worried about you all the while you’re gone, but I know Grandpa will protect you.”
She gasped. “Is that why you drove me today? Because you were worried about me?” Pleasure shot through her. He must care for her a little if he worried about her.
“Partly. I do worry about you, but not so much when it’s some tea with only ladies present. At Marston’s, there’ll be men taken with your beauty and thinking things they’ve no right to. I hope they’ll respect Grandpa enough to hold their tongues with me not there to anger them.”
Once again he shook his head. “No, if you insist on going, ride with Grandpa and Gran. Grandpa will take good care of you.”
Cenora tried again to change Dallas’s mind, but he held stubbornly to his refusal. On the evening of the party, she dressed with special care in her silver silk gown. She’d rolled her hair in curls the night before. Dallas had laughed at her head full of ringlets tied with narrow strips of cloth, but the laughter had soon turned to lovemaking. She smiled, pleased that he had wanted her even with her hair looking like something he’d called a “Medusa.”
Dallas watched her ready for the party. He fastened up her dress and kissed her bared shoulder. “You’ll be the most beautiful woman there.”
“You could still come with me.” She turned to meet his gaze, hoping he’d change his stubborn mind.
“No, angel, I can’t.” Sadness tinged his eyes.
She raised her chin and sent curls bouncing. “You mean you won’t.”
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