Chase (Prairie Grooms, Book Four) (17 page)

Imogene slowly turned
to look at Cutty and studied him. “I apologize,” she finally said. “I know you've been through a horrible ordeal, but I've seen worse.”

Cu
tty looked her up and down with his one eye. “Where?”

She stood proudly. “India,” she said with her usual ominous tone.

Cutty studied her a
new. “India? Ain’t that where them funny fellas use those towels to put on their heads?”

“Turbans
,” she corrected.

Colin made to move past her, and shoved the Bible in her hands. “Here, he likes the Psalms.” He then grabbed Doc and they left the room.

“
Well, I never!” huffed Imogene.

“
Come now, cousin,” said Lena. “What can reading to the poor man hurt? He must be bored to death being stuck in this room all day.”

Imogene
studied him a moment, and her face softened. “Just a verse or two, then after that we leave.”

Le
na smiled at Chase. “Don’t let her fool you, Cousin Imogene loves to read.”

“
To myself,” she corrected.

“
I read to myself too,” rasped Cutty. “But I can't hold a book.” He raised his bandaged hands for added effect.

Imogene looked at them, then to his half-bandaged face, missing hair, and other injuries as a result of the fire. “You poor wretch,” she muttered to herself.

“You can
call me that when I'm dead,” he told her. “And I ain’t dead yet, so how's about you read to me now?”

“
Well you don't have to get so ruffled about it sir,” she remarked.

“I ain’t gettin
’ ruffled! You're the one done got ruffled when Colin asked you to read to me!”

“
Stop it, the both of you,” said Lena. “Cousin Imogene, read to the man and we’ll listen as well.”

She felt Chase tighten his hold on her and noted the warm smile on his face. She took a moment to study him out the corner of her eye as Imogene began to read. The woman had a calm, soothing voice that seemed to affect everyone in the room. She felt the muscles in Chase’s arm relax, and when she looked at Cutty, his eyes were now closed. Before she knew it, Lena leaned her head against Chase’s shoulder, and sighed.

The man stopped breathing as if afraid to move
. Imogene, immersed in her reading, didn’t notice. Lena prayed that if they stayed still and kept quiet, she’d not see how close they were to each other until her reading was done.

* * *

The next day, Jefferson drove Edith and Lena out to Chase’s place. It was a couple of miles out of town, and out of curiosity, Lena timed how long it took to drive from Clear Creek to their destination. She tried to imagine herself driving to town on her own to go to the mercantile, or perhaps the ladies sewing circle that she'd heard so much about. Thankfully, her future home was closer to town than the Triple C was, and took just a little over a half an hour to get to.

“H
ere we are,” Jefferson announced as he reigned in the horses. He set the brake, and carefully climbed down, (he was still recovering from his own injuries at the hands of the outlaws), and then helped the women out. Edith went around to the back of the wagon and gathered the supplies she'd brought: two buckets, a scrub brush, a broom, and some clothespins. Lena had the soap. Together they turned from the wagon and took in the sight of the house Chase Adams built.

“
Well, it ain't as small as Ryder’s, but it ain't as big as August’s,” commented Jefferson.

“
I've not seen either home,” said Edith. She turned to Lena. “So I'm afraid I have nothing to compare it to, my dear.”

Lena stared at the humble dwelling. It was a cabin of modest size, the outside well kept and orderly. A porch ran the length of the structure, which had a center door with a window on each side. There were two stories, and Lena assumed the bedrooms would be upstairs. But how many were there? Was it one large room or two smaller ones?

“
Let's not waste time,” said Jefferson. “You ladies get started on the inside and I'm gonna go check out the barn.”

“
Don't trip over anything, dear,” Edith warned.

“I
ain't gonna trip over nothing,” he barked over his shoulder as he walked off toward the barn.

“
Is your husband always so cross?” asked Lena.

“
Oh you've seen him in all his moods,” said Edith. “Sometimes he barks, but other times he purrs like a kitten.”

Le
na laughed. “I'm afraid I cannot picture Jefferson Cooke purring.”

“Some men purr, some bark. But I like one that does both,”
Edith told her. They laughed, and then headed into the house. What greeted them inside was not the same pristine order that surrounded it outside. Clothes were strewn here and there as if Chase took them off, tossed them, and left them wherever they landed. Dirty dishes filled a tub in the dry sink, but the women did notice one thing to be grateful for, an indoor water pump. Not even the Triple C had such a luxury.

Lena continued to look around.
There was no rhyme or reason to anything. She was glad the cabin’s first story was one huge room divided by an open staircase. The kitchen and dining area were on one side, the living area on the other. Curious, she ventured behind the staircase and discovered some bookshelves and a small desk. “Oh dear,” said Lena, dismayed. “This looks like it's going to take forever to clean up.”

Edith began to roll up your sleeves. “Bachelors!” she huffed. “Well, don’t let it scare you. I've cleaned up far worse messes than this.”

“
Worse than
this
?”

“
Didn't you know my sisters and I used to run a boarding house in Oregon City?”

Lena shook her head. “No, I didn't.”

“
Well we did, and let me tell you, some of the men that stayed there were mighty messy! On top of that, they had no manners at all. Why, you'd think they were born in a barn!”

“
If you ask me,” Lena began, her voice week. “This doesn't look far from it; a barn I mean.”

“Now
don't get discouraged,” Edith consoled. “I'm sure that once we get this place cleaned up, Mr. Adams will help you keep it that way.”

“
Belle told me that out here, it was the woman's job to keep the house clean.”

“
That may be true,” said Edith. “I guess a better way to look at it is, once you clean it up,
you
can keep it that way. You'll just have to train Chase to help you.” Edith caught Lena’s half-hearted look and waved it off with a dismissive hand. “Menfolk are easy to train. All it takes is their favorite pie, a little lovin’, and they're all yours.”

Lena could only stare at her. “Their favorite pie and loving?”

Edith looked at her as if she were daft. “Of course.”

“Surely you jest.”

“Now you can't be that innocent,” said Edith. “You know about makin’ babies don't you?”

“
Heavens! Must we have this conversation?” gasped Lena.

“
Well,” began Edith. “You'll find out for yourself once you're married, but trust me, give a man pie and a little lovin’, and they're all yours.”

Lena took one of the buckets to the water pump. “Is that how you won Jefferson?”

“My pies won
Jefferson. My love and understanding pushed him over the edge.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
Once I started to get to know him, I began to understand he was a tortured soul and just needed to be forgiven,” Edith explained.

“
Forgiven for what?”

“
It's a long story, dear. One day I'll tell you, but right now we need to get this place cleaned up. Then I’ll teach you how to make one of those pies.”

Lena also rolled up her sleeves, and began to pump water into a bucket she found near the sink. “At least there's this one luxury,” she pointed out.

Edith nodded her head as she picked up the broom she’d brought and began to sweep the floor. “Yes, that is a luxury. We still have to go outside to get our water.”

“
However did he manage it?”

“My guess is he built his house over his well. B
e glad he did,” said Edith.

After Lena filled the bucket,
she set it aside, then began to gather the clothing strewn about the cabin. Once she had it all together, she put them in a basket she found near the kitchen table. Each piece of clothing was dirty and needed to be washed. “I hardly know what to do first,” she told Edith.

“
Best take that out back and get the laundry done, then hang it up to dry.” Edith told her.

“
What are you going to do?”

“I'll clean
up in here while you work on that. It'll save us a lot of time with both of us working, and then we can get some pies started.”

Lena nodded and took the basket outside. She then came back in and hauled out the water she would need. This was going to take a while.

Twelve

After three hours, Lena’s back and arms were killing her. Edith had hauled some hot water out for her to use, and at first the warm soapy water felt good. But over time the water had cooled, and her fingers felt raw from scrubbing Chase’s clothing. To make matters worse, she had nothing to sit on while she scrubbed, at least not for the first two hours of her labors. When she could take it no longer, she found a piece of wood to sit on so her back wouldn't suffer so. When Edith came out to check on her, she felt as though she might faint from exhaustion.

“What are you doing?” c
alled Edith as she crossed the yard.

“
Laundry,” Lena breathed then wiped her brow.

“
Tarnation girl! Why didn't you think to use a table?”

“
What table?” Lena gasped.

“
The one on the other side of the house,” Edith informed her.

Lena's face fell. There was a table? On the other side of the house! A mere twenty feet away no less?! Lena groaned. “Now you tell me,” she said and tried to keep the whining sound out of her voice.

Edith shook her head, and then looked to the sky. “Dear Lord,” she prayed. “Give this woman strength.”

“
Thank you,” said Lena. “I'm going to need it.”

“I can fetch the table,”
said Edith. “Although it looks like you're done with the washing. I suppose now we’d best hang it up to dry.”

Lena
nodded as she gingerly stood. She stretched, put her hands to her lower back, and groaned in pain. “How often does one have do the washing for two people?”

“
I guess it depends on how fast they get their clothes dirty. Edith answered. “That and how many clothes they have.” She looked at the pile of clean, wet clothes Lena had placed in not one, but two baskets. “Come to think of it, I've never known a simple blacksmith to have so many. Where'd he get all of these?”

Lena gaped at her, too tired to speak, and glanced at the baskets. She shrugged her answer, took a step, and almost stumbled.

“
I think you need a break,” said Edith. “Let's go inside and I’ll fix us some coffee.”

Grateful,
Lena followed her into the house, took one look around, and let out a tired moan. It was immaculate. In the three hours Lena had labored over the laundry, Edith had cleaned the house spotless. How could she have possibly accomplished such a task in so little time? From the looks of the place when they'd first entered, Lena thought it would take days to clean up. But no, Edith had done it all in a few short hours. The floors were scrubbed, the windows cleaned, the dishes done, she'd even started on some mending as one of Chase’s shirts lay on the kitchen table, a needle and thread attached to it. “I'll never be able to do this,” she whispered to herself.

“
Sure you will,” Edith once again consoled. “It just takes time to learn, and then get your routine down.”

Lena walked to the kitchen table and fingered the shirt. From the looks of it, Edith had been sewing on a few buttons. “I'm going to be a horrible wife.”

“
Stop your fussing,” scolded Edith.

Le
na looked at her. “I'm not whining, if that’s what you’re thinking. I'm speaking the truth.”

“
How do you know if you're going to be a terrible wife unless you try it? You can't say such things when you haven't tried it yet.”

“
Yes, but once I do, then I'm stuck with it. I feel like a failure before I even get started.”

Edith went to her and gave Lena
a fierce hug. “You'll be fine. You're too hard on yourself. You have to learn to give yourself a chance.”