A Love Behind The Broken Mask (Western Historical Romance)

by Lydia Olson

  “No. Well, not really,” she replied. “I told him I wouldn’t do it, but then Daddy told him to give me a couple days to think about it.”

  “Well, do you want to?” he asked.

  “Ew,” she said.

  “What?” Henry laughed. “You two are really close! Would it really be that bad?”

  “No worse than marrying you, I guess!” she teased, tearing a handful of grass out of the ground and throwing it at him.

  “Whoa, there!” he said. “Slow down, or you might hurt yourself again.”

  Eloise stood up and brushed the dust off of her clothes. She had always appreciated Henry.

  He was one of few who never doubted her strength for the mere fact that she was a girl, and when needed, he only questioned her actions out of genuine concern for her well-being. Eloise sighed and leaned against a bundle of logs while Henry waded into the creek and resumed taking debris out of the irrigation line.

  Normally, it would offend Eloise if one of the men took her task from her, but in this case, she was not bothered. Henry was different in that way.

  “You know what I think you should do?” he said without looking up.

  “And what’s that?” Eloise prompted, both hands on her hips.

  “I think you should take a trip into town,” he suggested.

  “Right now?”

  “Yes, right now!” he said. “See, your problem is that you are trying to make a life-changing decision while you’re surrounded by people who would be directly affected by it. That means, deep down, you know you can’t trust what any of us think you should do. No matter what we say – for or against – you're gonna have that thought in the back of your head that we’re either supporting you because we think it’s what you wanna hear, or we’re against your opinion because of how it affects us directly. I don’t think being around that is gonna help you make a decision, one way or another.”

  “Then couldn’t I just go wander off somewhere away from all of you and think? Or lock myself in my room for a few hours?” she ventured.

  “Trust me, going into town will be even better,” he pressed. “I think you need to take the day to think without any of the usual worries clouding your judgement. So go talk to some other people, and then come back when you’re good and ready to make a decision.”

  “Well, what would I have to go to town for?” she said.

  “Anything! Town can be fun when you’re not going there for any reason in particular! And I trust you can take care of yourself against their kind...” he said, winking. “Seeing how you’ve got about a dozen plans of what you’d do to a bandit by now – and they’re all pretty good...”

  “Oh, I know I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Last I heard, most of the bandits moved on to the next town anyway after the sheriff hung a couple of them last month...”

  “They always come back...” he said. “Especially to Cayenne...”

  “Oh, I know; I’ll keep my guard up,” she said adamantly. “Been living in this town eighteen years, and they never caught me with my guard down, once.”

  “Better keep it that way,” he added, picking up a shovel and scooping the last of the debris out of the creek. “Now, I can finish up here – and I’ll cover for you with your daddy, too, if need be.”

  “Oh yeah, Daddy,” she said. “He’s not gonna like it if I tell him I’m going into town.”

  “You’re right about that,” Henry confirmed. “That’s why I’ll cover for you here – but if you’re not back by nightfall, young lady, I will send your daddy in after you!”

  “I’m sure I won’t be gone that long!” she told him.

  “Yeah, unless you fall asleep on your horse,” he joked. “But really, please don’t do that.”

  “Oh, I won’t,” she scoffed. “I just didn’t have time to eat breakfast after trying to get a few minutes of sleep in, and I didn’t really finish eating last night, either.”

  “Best get something to eat before you go, then,” Henry suggested. “That’s something you can do in town, too, but I’d suggest you grab a bite now and then stop in for a meal later. Riding’s some tough work when you haven’t eaten for a while – I would know.”

  “Oh yeah, you used to deliver the mail by horse, didn’t you?” Eloise recalled.

  “Sure did – and there was a time or two that my horse couldn’t make it through the harsh weather by the time we were expected to, so I wasn’t prepared with enough food,” he said. “It may be my experiences talking, but it really worries me that you haven’t eaten today.”

  “Really? Why, what happened to you?” she asked.

  “Well, there’s a point when your senses give up on you, and it starts to feel like your insides are eating themselves,” he explained. “You start to feel like you’re going crazy, and the raging blizzard doesn’t help. So, you don’t know where you are, how long you’ll be there, or when you’re gonna eat next, and your body reacts by shutting down as much as it can without killing you. At that point, you’re left to the mercy of the blizzard. A lot of men have died that way, but let me tell ya, you’ll never appreciate how much hard work your body put into riding until you’ve ridden three days through a blizzard on an empty stomach!”

  “That sounds awful,” she said. “How did you survive that?”

  “Um,” he said, looking around for something to change the topic. “It looks like the water-flow is about back to normal. But I’ll either tell them it took longer than we expected and you’re out finishing it up or that you’re taking a nap... which, maybe you should also do before you leave. Either way, don’t worry about anything here while you’re gone, okay? I’ve got it covered.”

  “Henry,” she said. “Thanks for always being there for me. It looks like you’re the only person I have left who I can rely on.”

  “And I’m not gonna trick you into marrying me, either,” he added, winking. “Be safe out there, ya hear?”

  “Oh, stop worrying so much!” she said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Eloise took Henry’s advice and stopped in for a bite to eat, took a short nap, and said goodbye to Piper before sneaking into the stables.

  She spent much of the afternoon preparing her favorite horse and waited until her father was far into the pastures before she dashed out of the stables and down the road toward town. The road was hot and dry, as usual, but in her current condition – exhausted, sad, and slightly dehydrated – it felt worse.

  To add to this, the sun was about to set, and Eloise had been warned her whole life that it wasn’t safe for her in town after the sun went down.

  All things considered, she was relieved when the buildings of the town finally came into view. It was now evening hours, and she felt as if she were about to pass out again. Exhaustion, doubt, and memories of yesterday left her head throbbing and her heart heavy. How did Henry expect this to help her, she wondered?

  Watching over her shoulder for bandits, Eloise slowly went through the usual motions of arriving in town, but she couldn’t help the feeling of dread that overcame her as she secured her horse.

  It wasn’t often that she came to town without a specific destination in mind, let alone in the state of mind she was in; therefore, it was hard for her to think of something worthwhile to do. Still, she trusted Henry’s opinion enough to give it a real shot, and she wandered down the main road. Just as she was passing the St. George Hotel, she heard the familiar echo of someone’s laughter.

  “That’s Miss Maudie,” she gasped. “Oh, she would be the perfect person to talk to!”

  Eloise dashed for the door of the saloon with a huge smile on her face, but as she drew got closer, she slowed her pace and the smile disappeared.

  Miss Maudie’s Saloon wasn’t the place for a lady, but this appeared to be even more true in the evenings. Through the open door, Eloise could see drunken men yelling at each other and doing ungentlemanly things to the Whiskey Girls. Walking through these doors would be like entering a completely different world.

/>   As she stepped inside, she noticed several heads turn toward her instantly, as the drunken men recognized her as a new woman to prey on. Several of them whispered among themselves, and some even had the audacity to approach her.

  Irritated more than scared, Eloise’s face dropped into a scowl. The first man to try to touch her was going to get a slap to the face, she thought. She didn’t care who they were – no man in this saloon would get the better of her.

  “Ah, Ellie!” Miss Maude said, appearing from behind the counter. “Now, there’s a face I don’t usually see at this hour! What brings you into town?”

  “Really, Maude, I just came because I needed some advice,” Eloise told her. “Since my mother died, you’ve always been there for me in a lot of the same ways as she was, and I really need that right now... I’m in a tough spot with all this land deed nonsense.”

  “So I’ve heard,” Maudie said, smiling compassionately. “That in mind, how’s your father doing?”

  Maude passed Eloise a soda, leaned against the counter, and raised her eyebrows. Eloise laughed to herself. She knew Miss Maudie had a different interest in her father than she let on, but it made her laugh to see Maude trying so hard to cover it up.

  “He’s, uh, fine,” she assured the older woman. “Still a little under the weather, but he’s fine.”

  “Aw, well that’s too bad,” Maudie said. “You tell him he’s always welcome in here if he needs someone to talk to. I’m always around.”

  “I will,” Eloise told her. “Now, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”

  Chapter Five

  “Wow,” Miss Maudie said, resting her head on her palm while she thought about Eloise’s story. “Just one of the facts of life, huh?”

  “The facts of life?” Eloise echoed.

  “Yeah, you know – the basic facts that are true, no matter who or where you are in life,” she said. “I’m sure you’ve heard most of them without realizing it, but the–”

  Maudie was interrupted by the shrill laughter of the Whiskey Girl sitting beside Eloise, which caused Eloise’s scowl to return. The girl had been sitting there, acting inappropriately toward one of the men at the bar throughout Eloise’s entire story, and had made it hard for her to think straight. Maudie, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered.

  “Ah, you see?” Maudie said. “That’s the perfect example!”

  “Example of what?” Eloise scoffed.

  “That girl understands the first fact of life – that a job is a job,” Maudie clarified. “Anything worth doing, you’ll have to work for, and sometimes you gotta do jobs you don’t like to get there.”

  “She doesn’t seem to understand what her job is, then, because she’s sure not done anything productive since I sat down,” Eloise muttered.

  “But that’s just it – she has,” Maudie whispered. “I didn’t get where I’m at by sitting around and doing nothing, and I tell all the girls I hire the same thing – if you want to be successful like me, you’ve gotta put in the work and make the money, first.”

  “How’s she making money by doing that?” Eloise said, gesturing at the Whiskey Girl.

  “That man beside her is a new customer – we've never seen him before,” Maudie said. “I tell all my girls that returning customers are important, but it’s the new ones that are the most important if we want them to become returning customers. What she’s doing now – she’s putting in the work to make that man a returning customer. And a fine job, I might add!

  “These girls are just starting to understand what I learned a long time ago. See, when you do your job and do it well, you’re putting money into the business. When the business has money, it can afford to do things with it – like hire Whiskey Girls. And if the Whiskey Girls keep bringing in that money, not only is their job secure, but their craft becomes more valued.”

  Eloise watched as the Whiskey Girl flirted with the man, this time paying attention to what exactly she was doing.

  The man blushed, kissed the girl on the cheek, and raised his hand to order another drink for the two of them. She hadn’t realized it before, but just as Maudie said, the Whiskey Girl was bringing more money into the saloon just by making the man feel validated. The more the girl smiled and complimented him, the more drinks he bought.

  “Oh, I get it - is that why the bandits always come back to town?” Eloise asked, turning back toward Maudie.

  “Yeah, make your jokes, but I’m serious,” Maudie scolded gently. “My saloon was falling apart when I first came to work here, and it was me what saved it. They couldn’t handle the business of all the rowdy men with nothing to do wandering through here, but I came in and gave them something to do. If it weren’t for me, honestly, we probably would’ve become one of them abandoned towns long ago!”

  “Just your saloon did that?” Eloise asked skeptically. “What about people like my daddy, whose business keep it so there’s a need for a town?”

  “Sweetheart, you can get supplies for businesses like your father’s without needing an entire town. What a town needs is people who wanna stay there... and the trouble we had when I first came to the saloon was the people coming through here didn’t want to stay. We don’t have too many families in this town, and the saloon sure wasn’t getting business from them, anyway!

  “That’s when I realized we were running our business to serve the wrong people. We were treating it like it was the families coming here, when we all knew full well it was the ruffians who really needed our services. The saloon didn’t know how to treat the men who were a little rough around the edges – they used to not let ‘em stay here – but when I came around, I changed all that.

  “I started encouraging them to stop by, and never treated them like strangers. I’d laugh at their jokes, smile when they walked through the door, remember their names, and make them feel important. It was tricky at first, but we learned how to make basic rules that everyone would abide by, and I started proving to everyone else that these ruffians are just men in need of a little compassion.

  “It wasn’t long before everyone else realized my way was the best way to keep the saloon running, and not long after that, my former boss became my husband. The two of us have done well in this town for a long time, now, and it all started with the first fact of life. Because of that fact, in his death, no one dares take the saloon from me! They know it wouldn’t be the saloon without me!”

  “Yeah, and everyone seems to respect you for it,” Eloise noted. “And then there’s me – I can’t even get Daddy to respect me.”

  “Sweetheart, I don’t think ‘respect’ is what’s missing,” Maudie pointed out. “I think your father’s just trying to help you see the first fact of life. You want to keep the cattle, don’t you? You don’t want people challenging your right to the land your father’s been on for almost four decades, do you?”

  “Well, of course, I don’t wanna lose the land,” Eloise confirmed.

  “Sometimes, you’ve gotta do the jobs you don’t want to get what you do want – and marriage is a job, sweetie. Do you think I wanted to start out where the Whiskey Girls are now? No! But I knew it’s what I had to do – just like you know marrying that boy is what you have to do. A job is a job,” she finished, shrugging.

  “That’s not really the advice I was expecting from you,” Eloise muttered.

  “It never is,” Maudie said gently, patting her one the shoulder. “But that’s what makes my advice so good – it’s never something you would’ve figured out on your own!”

  “But can you really know the trouble that faces homesteaders if you’ve never been one?” Eloise said. “How do I know your advice is gonna take me the right way if you’ve never been in a situation like mine? You weren’t forced to marry someone you couldn’t even imagine kissing.”