A Chance at Love (23 page)

The kneeling Bebe hugged the dog close. “It's because he's scared of rabbits.”

A surprised Loreli had never heard of such a thing.

Bebe said, “Uncle Jake has had Rabbit a long time.”

Dede stroked the old dog's back. “Uncle Jake said the man who owned Rabbit was going to shoot Rabbit because Rabbit was scared of everything, but Uncle Jake took him home.”

Loreli thought Uncle Jake had a very kind and generous heart. “So, is Rabbit scared of everything around here too?”

“Pretty much. He's even scared of his own shadow, but we love him anyway.”

Loreli stroked the old back one final time, then she and the girls moved on. Loreli could see the goat kid tied to a corner of the horse paddock. The first time she'd noticed the animal had been on a previous visit. At that time the young goat was being harassed by a pair of geese. Today there were no geese to be seen. “Why's that goat over there by himself.”

Dede corrected her. “It's a she. Her name's Elvira.”

“She sick?”

“No,” Bebe said. “She bites. Mrs. Mitchell, her owner, says that dumb old goat will bite anything and anyone.”

Loreli chuckled. “Really?”

Bebe nodded. “Yep. After she tried to bite me and De, Uncle Jake tied her up over there.”

“Does your uncle or Mrs. Mitchell know why Elvira likes to bite?”

“Elvira thinks she's a dog,” Dede said sagely.

Loreli's shoulders shook with humor. “A dog!”

“Yep. That's what Mrs. Mitchell said.”

“What'd your uncle say?”

“The same thing,” Bebe replied.

An amused Loreli shook her head. A sheepdog scared of his own shadow, and a goat named Elvira who thought she was a dog. Jake Reed had quite a menagerie.

When they all walked back across the yard to where the caldrons of water were heating, the water was hot, so they began the day's big chore.

Washing was hot, grueling work, especially on such a humid day. Loreli, wearing an old tan blouse and dark flowing skirt was wet from her breasts to her thighs, mostly from the washboard and the wringer, but also from sweat. Her life, and more recently, the rigors of the wagon train had taught her not to be ashamed to do a hard day's work, or be ashamed of her own perspiration. And washing was just that—hard work. Whether it was the flesh-stinging, skin-chaffing lye water the clothes were washed in, or the struggle hanging sheets and other large items on the clothesline, it wasn't easy.

By midafternoon, they were done. Hot, wet, and sticky, she and the girls looked over the lines of clothes drying in the sun, and Loreli felt a real sense of accomplishment. She knew it was only wash to the girls; she'd even had to fuss at them a few times in order to keep them on task, but for her, the new mama, washday represented her first real task. She was proud it had been done well. “Thanks for your help, girls.”

Bebe groused, “Are we going to have to do this every Monday?”

Loreli told her plainly, “Yes.” Then she asked the twins, “You've never helped with the wash before?”

“No.”

Dede chimed in, “Sometimes. Rebecca did our wash. She said we only got in the way.”

Knowing the girls a bit better now, Loreli wondered if they had made themselves unwanted on purpose. At eight years old, Loreli knew she wouldn't have wanted to be toiling over a wooden scrubboard, wrist-deep in hot water that burned her hands. Children were children and they didn't like to work, at least not for a long span of time; however, Loreli planned on having them assist her every Monday. A bit of hard work never harmed anyone, least of all two healthy eight-year-old girls.

B
ert Green's new foal, Sunshine, appeared to be thriving. Its dark coat was sleek and shiny, and although the filly's spindly legs looked as delicate as twigs as it ran back and forth around its mother, the foal was healthy and strong.

Jake folded up his bag and stood. Bert Green was in town running his store, so his wife, Belinda, stood watching from a spot outside the paddock. “Sunshine okay?” Belinda asked as Jake left the paddock and slid the bolt on the wooden gate.

“She's doing just fine.”

Belinda and Bert had been married for fifteen years. She was as thin and tall as her husband was short and round. Smiling, she said to him, “Don't know what folks 'round here would do without you, Jake.”

“Just helping out my neighbors. That's all.”

“Well, we do appreciate it.”

Jake didn't care to acknowledge the effect his physique
and face seemed to have on some women, but ladies like Belinda Green always made a point of reminding him by shamelessly flirting with him at every opportunity. Today she had a light in her eyes she probably hadn't shown her husband in years, if ever.

Her voice throaty, she asked, “Would you like some coffee? Got some fresh on the stove, inside.”

Jake ignored the emphasis she'd placed on the word
inside
. “No thanks. I have a few more stops to make this morning.”

Jake began walking back to where he tied up Fox. The sooner he got away from Belinda the better.

Belinda fell in beside him. Her long legs beneath her pink and brown calico dress easily matched his own. “What's this I hear about you marrying up?”

Jake untied Fox. “Saturday.” He hitched himself up onto the stallion's saddle.

Belinda looked up. “Lot of women around here disappointed at that news, Jake Reed.”

“Don't know why,” he replied. “Most of the women around here are already married. Those that aren't, we don't suit.”

“Well, when the gambler woman breaks your heart and you need a soft shoulder, I'm here.”

Jake ignored that too. Bringing Fox around, Jake rode away from Belinda Green.

On his way back home, Jake stopped in to check on: a sick lamb, a dog accidentally shot by his drunken owner who mistook the domesticated canine for a wolf, a sow that wouldn't eat, and a mule with an infected hoof. Jake treated them all to the best of his ability, and in exchange received: a jug of apple cider, two wild turkeys, and a
grouse. Very few of the farmers had cash to spare, so they paid him with whatever they could, however they could. Jake graciously accepted it all as payment in full.

As Jake approached the road that led to his farm, he saw a heavy laden caravan of wagons up ahead. There were three of them, and whatever they were hauling in the beds lay hidden beneath tightly corded tarps.

Curious, Jake gently urged Fox into a faster pace in order to see where the wagons might be headed.

To his surprise, Brass Barber was driving one of the wagons. Commanding the other two were Brass's son, William, and Brass's widowed daughter, Nora. No Nonsense Nora, as she was known, had taken over the running of her husband's small freight-hauling company after he died unexpectedly a few months back. Outside of Loreli, Nora was probably the prettiest woman in the county.

When Jake caught up to the wagons, a smiling Brass halted his team. “Afternoon, Jake.”

“Brass.”

Jake then turned to the other drivers. “Hey, Will. Nora.”

Nora, never known for her tact, asked, “Is it true you're marrying a gambling queen?”

“Yes, I am.”

Nora laughed. “Well, she'll probably be a whole lot more fun than any of these local crows, so congratulations. Can't wait to meet her.”

Jake and Nora had grown up together, and she'd also been one of Bonnie's best friends. Nora might have been one of the women he considered marrying had he not looked upon her as a younger sister. Their sibling-like relationship excluded her as a candidate, that and the fact that she could handle a sling shot like the biblical David.

William, five years younger than Nora, added, “Yes, congratulations, Jake. That bride of yours must be a pretty good gambler, because she owns a lot of stuff. We're hauling all of this to your place.”

Jake viewed the wagons with confusion and alarm. “My place?”

Brass chuckled at the look on Jake's face. “Yep. All of this is hers. Came in on the train this morning.”

Jake continued to eye the tarp-covered wagons with amazement. “She said
some
of her things were going to be shipped.”

“Well, son, the word
some
can mean different things to different people. In this case she should have said
many
things.”

Nora, smiling at Jake's stunned face, added, “There's so much here, we thought we were going to need four wagons, but we managed to load it all into three.”

“My lord,” Jake whispered. The house wasn't large enough to hold all this. “What could she have been thinking?”

Brass slapped the reins down on the backs of the team to get them moving again. “Don't know, but there's a piano in the wagon Will's driving.”

“A
piano
!”

Will said, “Yep, a piano. Guess you'll have music at the wedding.”

Nora, driving her team as efficiently as the men, laughed. “I really can't wait to meet her.”

Jake couldn't either.

When the wagons drove up, Loreli paid them little mind. It was the tersely set face of Jake as he rode up on Fox that drew her attention. She wondered what was
wrong. Loreli put down her lemonade and stood on the steps. The girls, who'd thought a glass of lemonade more than adequate pay for helping with the wash, had their attentions fixed on the wagons.

“What do you think is in them, De?” Bebe asked.

The always sage Dede responded, “Whatever it is, it's a whole lot more than our roller skates.”

Jake dismounted. He stalked to the porch and said to Loreli, “We need to talk.”

“What's in all those wagons?” Bebe asked.

“Loreli,” Jake gritted out.

But before she could respond, Brass Barber eased himself off the wagon seat and down to the ground. He looked up at Loreli on the porch and said, “You Miss Loreli Winters?”

“I am.”

“Well, I'm Brass Barber. This here's my daughter, Nora, and my son, Will.”

“Pleased to meet you all,” Loreli replied.

Nora called out, “How do, Loreli. Hi, girls.”

The twins grinned and called back, “Hi, Miss Nora. Are our roller skates in there?”

“Not that I remember seeing, but there's a whole mess of other things.”

Loreli brightened. “Are those my things from Philadelphia?”

Brass said, “Yes, ma'am.”

Loreli flew off the porch. She asked excitedly, “Is there a bathtub? Oh, please tell me Olivia sent it like I asked her to.”

Nora's shoulders shook with humor. “Now, that I did see. Got it on this wagon here, as a matter of fact.”

Loreli declared, “Then by all means, let's get yours unloaded first. Lord, I can't wait to take a real bath!”

The girls came down and stood by her side. “Can we help?”

Loreli hugged them both to her damp, sticky side. “Of course, and when we're done, we are going to have the best bath any girl has ever had.”

Their eyes grew bright as diamonds.

On the porch, Jake tried to banish his bad mood but failed. As Loreli and the others went to work on the cords holding down the tarps, Brass stepped up onto the porch and looked into Jake's eyes.

The older man smiled and offered wisely, “Son, women are a race unto themselves, and they have different needs than we men. If you're marrying up, you need to remember that.”

Jake heard him, but it didn't mellow his mood. “You'd think she was furnishing a castle.”

“But she's happy. Look at her. That is a gorgeous woman, Jake. Why be mad at something that fine, and I've seen that bathtub. It's big enough for two.”

That said, Brass went down to help with the unloading. Jake, humorously shaking his head at Brass's parting words, followed suit.

Waiting beneath the tarps were, among other things, upholstered chairs with embroidered backs and finely curved legs, dining china, flatware and a hutch to put them in. The girls carried in lamps, and then hatboxes, while Nora and Loreli hauled in trunks and the drawers to the two chifforobes. The men somehow managed to get the piano inside. Next came Loreli's massive bedframe and its accompanying headboard. Brass likened the procedure to
trying to thread hogs through the eye of a needle.

Jake's mood had lightened but he still had trouble handling what he saw as Loreli's excessive amount of possessions. Having been raised on a Kansas farm under an austere, Bible-thumping daddy, he'd never had many material things; even now, a man full grown, Jake lived modestly. He grabbed hold of another fancy-legged chair from Will's wagon and headed for the porch.
How much money does this woman have?
his mind kept asking. It took him a moment to find a place to set the chair because by now, the parlor was so filled with goods, it resembled a big department store back East. Furniture, dishes, clothes. One would think England's queen was coming to visit. The only thing missing were servants, and knowing Loreli, Jake wouldn't be surprised if there weren't a butler or a chambermaid hiding under the tarps as well.

In the midst of the hubbub, his eyes met hers. He was certain she could see his discontent because he didn't try and hide it.

Loreli didn't need to be a carnival mind reader to sense Jake's disapproval, but she didn't care. If she was going to live in this backwater, she would at least be comfortable; and if her possessions somehow offended his small-town sensibilities, then he could register his protest by continuing to sleep on that board he called a bed, and by refusing to use her big luxurious bathtub. She shot him a look, then went back outside to help with the ongoing task of emptying the wagons. If he wanted to fight, she'd oblige him, but not until after she had her bath.

In all, it took the men, women, and children over an hour to empty the three wagons, and when they were done, they were all weary but pleased.

After the Barbers left with the bank draft for their services, and Loreli's deepest thanks, she and the twins stood in the middle of the packed parlor and just looked around at all that was there.

Dede asked in a soft, awed voice, “Where are we going to put all of this, Loreli?”

Jake, stepping over an ottoman and squeezing by the chifforrobes, drawled, “My question too.”

Loreli heard the censuring tone in his voice and so tossed back, “We'll just build a bigger house. How's that for a solution?”

The girls eyes widened with glee.

“She's just fooling, girls,” Jake clipped out. “We are not building a bigger house.”

The twins looked deflated.

“I'm sorry, girls,” Loreli apologized. “I was just fooling, but I wasn't fooling about that bath, so who wants to be first?”

They began jumping up and down in an attempt to be the first picked. To aid in the decision, Loreli fished a coin out of the pocket of her skirt. “Heads or tails?”

They chose and she flipped the coin into the air. When it landed in her open palm, she showed it to the girls. Tails. Dede would be first.

Loreli had instructed the Barbers to take the tub around to the back and set it on the ground near the back porch, and when she and the girls stepped outside, that's exactly where it was. The girls dragged the twin caldrons to the pump, and while Loreli pumped the water, the girls investigated the tub.

Bebe confessed. “I don't think I've ever had a bath in a tub
this
big, Loreli, at least that I can remember.”

“Well, you will tonight, and it's going to be heavenly. Oh, do me a favor and take those rugs out of it. My housekeeper, Olivia, put them in to protect the tub's finish.” Loreli went back to pumping. The quiet over by the tub caught her attention and she looked over to find the twins standing speechless. Each held a long box wrapped in pretty foil paper. “What's that?” she asked.

“They have our names on them, Loreli.”

Loreli left the pump. Jake stepped outside at that moment.

Dede held up her box. “Look what we got, Uncle Jake.”

Loreli surveyed the box in Bebe's hands and upon seeing Olivia's familiar script, Loreli smiled. “You're right, they are for you. Go ahead and open them.”

Having been given permission, the twins tore into the paper. The boxes were opened carefully, however, and the dress that each girl found inside made them speechless once again.

“Oh, Loreli…” Bebe whispered in an awestruck voice.

The dresses were fancy enough to wear to the wedding. Both were a soft blue velvet, but the trims and styles were different enough so that the girls would look like distinct individuals.

Dede held hers up for inspection, and as her eyes wandered over the lace-edged cuffs and the little rosebuds around the neck, she said, “This is the most beautiful dress in the whole world.”

Loreli looked up at Jake a moment and saw in his eyes that he was moved by the twins' show of happiness.

Bebe asked, “May we wear these to the wedding, Uncle Jake?”

“Of course,” he said softly. His eyes met Loreli's again, and held. Her generosity when coupled with the delight showed by the twins effectively negated his bad mood. As Barber said, Who can be mad at a woman so fine? Jake certainly couldn't, at least not for very long. He finally said to Loreli in a tone he hoped conveyed his sincerity, “Thank you.”

She bowed elaborately. “You're very welcome.”

They were distracted when Bebe gushed, “De! Look?!”

In the bottom of each box, and hidden beneath the paper holding the dresses were two pairs of white stockings and a pair of fancy young-lady slippers. They were black and each shoe had a tiny rhinestone on the front.