Love's Rescue (23 page)

To her chagrin, her audience had followed her.

That unpleasant fact was made considerably worse by their loud cheers, followed by their idiotic evaluation of her disgorging prowess.

“Is that all you got? Bring it up from the toes, girlie!”

“My granny said it helps if ye swaller tobacco juice,” someone supplied.

“Nope. Flies. Dunk ’em in honey and swallow ’em wings and all.”

Jess heaved again. When she could catch her breath, she sat up, fuming. A latecomer handed her a dipper of water. She rinsed out her mouth and then drank, forced to listen to the ribbing the men gave her. When she finally looked up at all the grinning, remorseless faces, she shot them a glare that said she would get even.

“All right, everyone,” Jake said above her, “let’s get some sleep.” He grasped her arms from behind and lifted her to her feet.

The crowd broke up, still chuckling.

***

When Jess made her way downstairs the next morning, Red Deer told her that Jake had left the ranch.

“Oh? Where did he go?” Jess asked, surprised at the disappointment she felt.

Red Deer hung a pot of water over the fire, then carefully stretched her back. She was five months along now. “He went to sell cows from the roundup. He left this for you.”

With a friendly smile, Red Deer took down a letter from the mantel and handed it to her. Then she gathered up a towel that had been hung to dry and folded it as she waddled off toward the kitchen.

Jess opened the brief note, pleased that Jake had chosen to tell her of his plans in a personal way and hadn’t just left a verbal message for someone to pass on.

The writing on the page was straightforward and bold, just like its author.

Jess,

I’ll be gone a few days driving the first group of cattle to a settlement north of here. Lone Wolf is in charge until I get back. If you need anything, ask him or Doyle or Diaz.

Be good.

Jake

Reluctant to face the men after her humiliation the night before, Jess wandered about for a time, smoothing this, straightening that, and growing accustomed to the mild stinging in her leg. She had woken to find that, regrettably, little was left of her favorite yellow dress, so she had dressed in the plainer yellow instead, still buckling on the lovely, braided leather belt. Jess realized she was hiding indoors. That was the coward’s way. With Two Hands at her side, she left the house to pay Luina a visit.

The mare was worse off than she had thought. Jess felt absolutely low when she entered her stall to see so many dark scratches against her fair palomino hide. Jess pulled some carrot sticks from her pocket and fed them to her. Luina didn’t seem put out with her; she nibbled the carrots contentedly. Jess stroked her neck and withers, her guilt clawing deep when she saw that blood was seeping through the bandage on one of her hind legs.

“I’m sorry, girl. I surely didn’t mean for you to get hurt.” Two Hands entered the stall and petted Luina’s nose. He looked up at Jess expectantly, and she handed him a few of the carrot sticks. He accepted them gratefully and fed them to the mare.

Thinking about the previous night, Jess decided a prayer was in order. I suppose I haven’t talked to You in some time, Lord, but I want to thank You for saving me from the wolves last night, and for helping Bennett shoot straight. Jess smoothed a hand over Luina’s back. I don’t know why You keep bringing me back here—well, in truth, I love it here, but it’s impossible for me to do ranch work for the rest of my life, isn’t it? She sighed. Lord, I want to be near where my family is buried, but it seems that You want me to stay here for now. So I’ll stay. Though sometimes, I wish You would tell me why You want me here. I feel like a horse that’s running with blinders on, but I suppose that’s what faith is. So I’ll keep running and, as much as I can, trust that You’re the one holding the reins.

When Jess looked up, Two Hands was near the entrance, watching the goings-on in the ranch yard while he waited for her. Mindful of her stitches, Jess walked slowly toward him. She squeezed the hand he placed into hers, then went to see where she could be of use.

***

Jess was heading toward the cookhouse to lend Ho Chen a hand when she noticed Red Deer preparing to wash the men’s clothes again. She immediately changed directions, sending Two Hands to the cookhouse in her place. She lifted a bucket and began to fill one of the cauldrons. “Shouldn’t you be doing lighter chores, Red Deer?”

Red Deer smiled softly, an empty bucket in her hand. “A woman once told me that if an expecting mother will not work, then she will give birth to a child who is idle.”

They shared a grin. “Who said that?”

Red Deer’s smile faltered. She continued filling the cauldron. “My white woman friend.”

The way she said it told Jess that she did not wish to say anything more about it.

Several hours later, Jess was scrubbing trousers on the washboard. The soap burned her hands, and the cuts above her ankle stung, but she ignored them and kept working to relieve Red Deer of as much of the load as possible. Despite Red Deer’s assurances, Jess could tell that her friend was tired. She also knew many women experienced the same increased fatigue during pregnancy. When her mother had been expecting Emma, she had slept constantly.

“Afternoon, Jess,” sang out one of the passing cattlemen who had witnessed her debasement behind the house the night before. “You done any spewin’ in the sage this morning?”

She scowled at him.

Another one found a reason to come over. He clapped a hand on her shoulder. “You don’t have nothin’ to be ashamed of, Jess. In fact, you can be proud. Why, before last night, none of us would have thought there was a woman what could retch like a mule.” His eyes glinting with laughter, he started to walk away, then turned around to add, “You know, your face is gettin’ red. You should put your hat on.”

Jess wanted to fling a comment after him that he knew perfectly well why her face was red, but she didn’t dare draw any more attention to herself. The teasing was harmless, she knew, but she only wished the skunks weren’t enjoying it so much.

One by one, the others paused in their tasks to do a bit of friendly needling. Finally, Taggart made his way over. Anticipating the sort of comment he was going to make, she bent determinedly over the tub, scrubbing a pair of britches with nearly enough vigor to shred them.

“I can’t tell ye how sorry I am, Jess.”

She glanced up in surprise. “You’re sorry?”

When his blue eyes glimmered, she knew she would regret asking. “Aye. We’re all still tendin’ the cows today. By the way ye were clasping the ground last eve, I thought ye’d found gold, for sure, and the lot of us could pay someone else to work.” At her thankless glower, he restrained his mirth, but he still had to wipe tears from his eyes. He nodded toward the tub with a hearty compliment. “You’re doin’ a fine job with the britches. A fine job.”

As he ambled off, her eyes hurled invisible darts at his back. She grabbed up the trousers, dashed the soap over them, and began to scrub again.

Just then, a clever grin spread over her face.

***

The next morning brought with it a fresh breeze, and Jess hummed merrily as she hung up the last of the clean, damp clothing and called cheery greetings to each one of the cattlemen as they passed by. Sheepish about their ruthless teasing the day before, they returned her greetings with extreme politeness, calling her “ma’am” or offering to lend a hand, should she have need of it. She responded with an outpouring of gratitude and assurances that, yes, she certainly would prevail upon their kindness, should she have a need.

The men went away, glancing at one another anxiously.

When evening came and Jess was just as charming as she had been all day, they began to relax, glad that she apparently had forgiven them. She overheard someone remind the others that they best not tease her again to the extent they had the day before. “After all, good humor does have its limits,” he said.

While they ate dinner in the cookhouse, Jess remained out behind the bunkhouse, humming again as she took down the wind-dried shirts, union suits, and pants. The sun was setting when she returned the neatly folded clothes to the men with a smile as pure as golden honey.

***

Jake returned at sunrise, then rode out again with twenty men. Instead of tending the cattle, they headed east to search for signs of wild mustangs, which had been seen, according to reports, near Pyramid Lake, thirty miles away. Ho Chen went along to cook the meals, following the group in the chuck wagon. Having to care for her stitches, Jess had stayed behind to clean out the stable.

When they finally dismounted at noon, Jake noticed several of the men look at one another strangely. As they walked around, their conversations grew stilted. Every one of them seemed to have an odd hitch in his step. Bemused, Jake accepted a mug of coffee from Ho Chen and leaned against the chuck wagon to observe them more closely. The men were silent now, shifting oddly in their drawers. A few reached around to check things, then all at once they exchanged horrified looks.

Jake frowned. “What’s got you boys squirming in your seats?”

The men looked at him, reluctant to answer. One named Will slowly hitched forward. “I think Miss Jess done paid us back, is all.”

Jake hadn’t expected that. “Paid you back? For what?”

“For teasin’ her about vomitin’, I reckon.”

Jake glanced at Ho Chen. The small man bent studiously over his cooking, seeming not to notice. “What did she do?”

Will sighed. “I think she done snipped the buttons out o’ the seats of our johns.”

Jake threw back his head and laughed in a way he hadn’t laughed in years. He wiped his eyes as his mirth gradually subsided, and when he managed to speak again, he was able to use his tone of authority.

“I suggest you boys go apologize to the lady, then get yourselves put back together. You’ll miss dinner, but I’m sure Ho Chen will keep it for your supper.”

With red faces all around, they mumbled their agreement, then made their ways into their saddles with slow, precise movements.

Jake rested an arm on a wagon wheel while he watched his men ride for home. Finally, he allowed another smile to cross his face.

Ho Chen came up beside him, coffeepot in hand. “You are not unhappy with Miss Jessie?”

Jake shook his head, his smile widening. “I don’t know how we ever got along without her.”

***

Jess had been laying fresh straw in the stable, and she came outside to watch the men return. She leaned on a rake as the group of humbled men reined in their horses nearby. Hats came off all around.

Jess smiled broadly at them. “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

Again, Will spoke for them. “If’n you could, Miss Jess, we’d like you to forgive us for behavin’ like ill-mannered hogs, and, if it weren’t too much bother, ma’am, we’d like to ask you to sew our buttons back on.”

Jess leaned away from the rake and stretched. “I don’t think so. Oh, I forgive you, of course, but don’t you suppose you’d be more inclined to mind your manners if you sewed the buttons on yourselves?”

She gazed at them amid murmurs of “Yes, ma’am,” then she bent again to sweep away the straw. “I left needles and thread for all of you in the bunkhouse,” she called out. “Good day, gentlemen.”

Seeing that they’d been dismissed, they reluctantly turned their horses away. The men loosed them in a corral, then shuffled to the bunkhouse.

It was nearly half an hour later when they began to trickle out. They mounted their horses and rode past her, tipping hats respectfully and mumbling appreciative words for her good kindness in laying out the needles and thread.

Jess smiled at each of them as he went by, feeling, of all things, a sense of ease and belonging that she hadn’t yet felt at the ranch—hadn’t felt, perhaps, since she had left Kentucky. The ranchmen had come to accept her, and she had found a place for herself. Even her rolling accent had smoothed out into the comfortable tones they used, as though it had always been that way. She swept her rake through the pile of straw, feeling wholly contented.

***

Hours later, when Jess shut herself in her room for the night, she discovered that someone had left on her bed a large bundle wrapped in brown paper, along with a small leather pouch that jingled when she picked it up. Her heart fluttered with delight. Jake had brought her something from town.

As eager as a child with a present, she slipped off the string that bound the paper wrapping and unfolded it in loud crinkles, startling the rust-colored cat, which had made a kingly bed of her pillow. Inside the paper was a new supply of yellow calico cloth—it was exactly the same pattern as that of the dress she’d liked, and which the wolves had left in tatters. Jess caressed the cotton fabric as reverently as if it were satin, her fingers finding curious bumps within its folds that she quickly found to be buttons, needles, and thread, and yards upon yards of white, machined lace.

Touched that Jake had wanted to replace the gown, Jess shifted her gaze to the leather drawstring pouch. Slipping it open, she found exactly forty dollars in coins. Her joyous laughter filled the room. It was her first month’s wages for working as a ranch hand.

Jake took a sip from his coffee mug. “I’ll be going after breakfast. I won’t be back until the middle of next month.”

Jess sat across the table from him, the cookhouse empty now except for the two of them and Ho Chen, who was drying clean plates in the kitchen.

She looked up from her toast, feeling the same disappointment as when she’d woken to find him gone the week before. “Going to search for the mustangs again?”

“Not this time. I have to deliver the rest of the cows we brought in to Virginia City, Gold Hill, and Carson City. I’ll be taking several of the men and Ho Chen, and, yes, I’ll talk to Tom Rawlins to find out if he’s learned anything more.”

Her mind started racing. “Surely, Bennett, if I ride along, no one will recognize—”

He was already shaking his head. “No, Jess.”