Sarah Sunshine: A Montana Romance Novella (10 page)

Chapter Nine

The street in front of the new hotel was packed with men, women, and children—the good citizens of Cold Springs come to celebrate in spite of the cold.  There may have been a fine dusting of snow on the ground and curls of mist in the air as they breathed, but that didn’t stop people from talking and laughing and visiting with their neighbors in their Sunday best.  A band stood to the side of the grand new hotel, playing the latest Souza march with gusto.  Their red and white uniforms were as crisp as the fresh coat of paint on the hotel and the bunting draped across the porch.  Children played and danced around the band while their parents looked on and smiled.

The hotel porch was as packed as the street below.  A group of reporters stood amongst the white wicker furniture at one end, their note pads at the ready.  Some of the children from the school, their teachers nearby, stood with them, looking up in awe and imitating the reporters’ calculating expressions as they surveyed the scene.

Delilah stood at the center of the porch, between a podium that had been set up for speeches and the hotel’s front door, which had a ribbon tied across it.  Mr. West from the general store stood with her to cut it.  Cold Springs still didn’t have a mayor, and Mr. West was the town’s most prominent citizen, at least in Delilah’s opinion.  Mr. West’s wife stood near the front of the crowd in the street below, bouncing their baby in her arms and chatting away with Mrs. Quinlan, who cradled her own baby.  Even the two little ones looked like they were giddy with gossip and ready to get things going.

Roy smiled at them, but behind his smile was gnawing impatience.  He shifted from foot to foot, searching out over the crowd for any sign of Sarah.  She hadn’t left his thoughts since he’d let her walk away with Miss Jones.  For the second time that day he felt like he never should have left her.  He would never leave her again if he had his way.

“Roy, I hate to be a pill,” Delilah said, stepping over to his spot near the railing, “but we need to get started.  Folks is getting restless.”

“She said she’d be here,” he told Delilah without looking at her.  He craned his neck to look around the corner, guessing which direction she’d be coming from.

“Be that as it may, it’s already ten past twelve and we promised people a show,” Delilah went on.

“Yeah,” Roy drawled.  He rubbed a hand over his chin and itched the back of his neck, trying to figure out if Sarah would understand their need to start without her.

He was spared the trouble as Sarah and the Biddy Brigade turned the corner at the far end of the street and started towards them.  The four women marched in a block, Sarah at the back.

“There they are!”  He sighed in relief.

“Saints be praised,” Delilah drawled and immediately stepped forward with, “Ladies and gentlemen!”

She held out her arms.  The band finished up the last notes of their march.  The crowd applauded for their finish, then turned that applause to Delilah, their faces alight with expectation.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Delilah repeated, taking her place at the podium.  “Welcome to our celebration of the opening of my new hotel, the Cold Springs Retreat!”

Another round of applause followed.  Roy smiled and clapped along with everyone else, his eyes trained on Sarah.  She and the biddies made good time stomping up the street.  They reached the fringes of the crowd as Delilah said, “Now why, may you ask, am I holding such a shindig for something like a hotel opening?”

“’Cuz we ain’t had a picnic in months!” someone called from the crowd.  They were met by jovial laughter.

“Angus’s got a point,” Delilah said.  “We here in Cold Springs are all about togetherness and sometimes that can be mighty hard when the weather gets cold.  But we’re also here to celebrate the growth of our fair town.”

A few people hummed in agreement.  Roy watched Sarah as the biddies began picking and pushing their way through the gathering to get to the front.  With so many people, all focused on the speech, it was slow going.

“In the last year our town has undergone a transformation,” Delilah continued.  “We’ve watched a new school, a slew of new houses, and new businesses go up.  So many, in fact, that we’ve had to build more streets!  We’ve even got a new grocery store to give Mr. West here some competition.  Sorry, Michael.”  She turned to Mr. West with a wry grin.

Mr. West shrugged.  “Competition is good for business.”

“It’s good for all of us.”  Delilah nodded.  She received a smattering of applause and a fair bit of laughter.

Roy laughed too, until he saw the expression on Sarah’s face.  The biddies had pushed enough people that the rest were stepping aside and letting them through.  Rather than looking excited as he’d hoped, Sarah’s face was drawn and wary.  She kept her head down and hugged herself as she followed the straight-backed women.  He could just make out her eyes darting from side to side as they crossed through the crowd.  Roy’s heart dropped to his stomach.

“Cold Springs is on the rise,” Delilah declared.  If she saw the biddies rushing towards her she didn’t let on.  “In this time of transition there are towns that will fall by the wayside, their mines and ranches dried up.  But not us!”

The crowd cheered.  The biddies scowled as they reached the bottom of the stairs, Sarah hunched behind them.

“Our town has seen improvements, innovations, and industry come our way.”  Delilah spared them a glance, but continued on, her head held high.  “We’ve weathered the changes we’ve been through and we’ll get through even more, because we’re hard-working, proud folks.”  Instead of letting the crowd hoot and cheer, this time she went straight on with, “That’s why I’ve built this hotel.  It’s more than just a bunch of beds.”

“What’s wrong with a bunch of beds?” an old coot near the front with one of the saloon girls on each arm heckled.  He and the girls with him laughed.

“I got no issue with a bunch of beds,” Delilah answered him.  “If that’s all you want, Paul’s got what you need.”

Paul, who leaned against one of the posts at the base of the hotel porch with his arms crossed and his perpetual scowl in place, nodded.  His eyes were trained on Sarah, just like Roy’s were.  And just like Roy, Paul clearly didn’t like what he was seeing.  The biddies had their heads together, whispering behind their hands as Sarah stood apart.

“The Cold Springs Retreat is what I would call an expanded hotel,” Delilah went on, watching out for the biddies.  “We have a fine restaurant and a chef on his way from Chicago to run it.  We’ve got a grand ballroom.  Right now it’s filled up with refreshments for all you good people, but it’ll be available to rent out soon.  So anyone who’s got a party or a meeting of any sort scheduled but no place to put it, look no further than right here.  And ladies, we’ve also got a salon and spa that uses the world-famous Harper Method.”

Several ooos and aahs  rose up from the more well-off women of Cold Springs, including Mrs. West and Mrs. Quinlan.  Roy hardly noticed their enthusiasm.  The biddies had finished their little conference and were standing straighter, brushing their clothes and patting their hair as if something was in the offing.  Miss Jones took a step back and grabbed Sarah’s arm, yanking her to the front.

As Sarah stumbled, Roy jerked forward.

“Running this fine hotel will be my handsome young protégé, Roy LaCroix.”  Delilah made use of his sudden movement to introduce him to the crowd.  She stared at him with a warning look, telling him to keep his head.

Roy forced something like a smile onto his lips.  He faced the crowd and met their light applause with a wave.  His eyes snapped back to Sarah, who was now being wedged between Miss Archer and Miss Pickering like she might get away.

“Roy’s been working real hard to learn the business and I’m sure he’ll do a fine job of meeting the needs of Cold Springs and its visitors.”

“Blasphemy!” Miss Jones shouted at the end of the introduction.  “Sin and depravity, the lot of it!”

“Oh lord,” Delilah muttered.  She forced her features into a cherry smile and said, “Good morning, Viola.”

“Friends!” Miss Jones called out, racing up three steps and turning to face the citizens of Cold Springs.  “Turn away from this house of sin and fornication!”

“They got fornication too?” the old coot with the saloon girls called.

A ripple of nervous laughter followed, the crowd suddenly tense.

“This is nothing more than a house of ill-repute with a fancy title!” Miss Jones raged on.

The reporters perked up, glancing from Miss Jones to Delilah.  Delilah caught their looks and sent them an apologetic smile.

“Ain’t it a blessing that we live in a place where folks are free to disagree about things,” she said and tried to laugh.

“What you see before you,” Miss Jones went on, ignoring Delilah with a haughty tilt of her chin, “is a house that sin built!”

“Looks like a hotel to me,” one of the townsmen called out.  Nervous laughter bubbled.

“Do not be deceived!”  Miss Jones wasn’t deterred.  “Friends, I have tried to warn you before.  Heed me now!  What is a hotel but a brothel with a fancy title?  Men and women, married or not, cohabiting under the same roof!  The wily and the wicked sharing the same space!  I shudder to think what kind of demonic congress goes on in establishments such as this.”

“A hotel is a home away from home,” Delilah said, fighting to keep the smile on her face.  “It is a place of rest for the weary traveler.”

“It is an excuse for fornication!” Miss Jones countered.

“It’s an honest business,” Delilah argued, all humor gone.  “Just because you don’t like it-”

“Have I not warned you about the mistress of this establishment before?” Miss Jones went on. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides.  Red splotches formed on her face that had nothing to do with the cold.  “She is nothing more than a dressed-up harlot, stealing the souls of the men of this town!”

The crowd gasped.  Roy frowned and leaned closer to Delilah.  The only thing keeping him from jumping to her defense was the pale look of panic on Sarah’s face as she stood at the foot of the stairs.  Her head was lowered and she hugged herself tight.

“Miss Jones, please.  There are children here,” Mr. West said, moving to the edge of the porch as if he could do something.

“Yes,” Miss Jones agreed, “and their parents should be ashamed for bringing innocent ones so close to the devil’s handiwork!”

“That’s right!” Miss Archer seconded her.  She glared at Mrs. Quinlan.  “Any woman who would bring her child to this place is no better than the degenerates running it.”

Mrs. Quinlan sent a nervous look to her husband, who put his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear.  A few of the mothers in the crowd exchanged looks as if deciding whether the biddies were right.

“Friends, why are you celebrating the accomplishments of a whore?” Miss Jones asked.

A few gasps and rumbles of disapproval followed, but Roy couldn’t tell if they were in agreement or protest of the words Miss Jones was using.

“Mrs. Reynolds is no whore,” he said, mustering his courage and stepping forward.  His gaze flickered down to Sarah as he moved to stand by Delilah’s side.  “She’s a respectable woman who has turned her life around, and you all know it.”

“And you,” Miss Jones rounded on him, “are the very worst kind of degenerate!”

“Me?”  Roy blinked.

Miss Jones turned back to the crowd.  “Would you patronize an establishment overseen by this forsaken man?  This supporter of prostitutes?  Do not be deceived by his handsome appearance.  This is no fine gentleman.”

Delilah sighed and planted her hands on her hips.  “Leave the boy out of it, Viola.  Everyone here knows why you got such a bug up your … you know.”

Miss Jones turned purple.  “Vulgarities!” she shouted as if Delilah had said what she meant to say.  “Do you see, ladies and gentlemen?  Do you see what you are celebrating here today?  This corrupter of men and defiler of our town?”

“If you got business to air with me, then come on over for tea and we can sort it out on our own,” Delilah told her.  “Leave the rest of the town out of it.”

“I cannot stand by and watch you good people be deceived by this … this….”

“Viola, get down from there and leave Delilah alone!”  Paul’s order silenced both Miss Jones and the buzzing crowd.  Even the wind held its breath.

“You would say that,” Miss Jones finally burst, her face twisted with old pain that hadn’t been forgotten.  “You stand there defending her when she ruined your life and mine.”

The silent crowd shifted its gaze between Miss Jones, Paul, and Delilah.  Roy ached with the need to do something to save the situation, but he had no idea what that would be.

“Delilah did what she wanted to do,” Paul stepped in to say something instead.  “You can’t blame her for that.”

“Yes, I can!” Miss Jones fired back.  “She’s a sinner!  A rule-breaker!  I did everything right.  I was respectable!  It’s not fair that-”  She clamped her mouth shut, eyes darting to and fro as she realized she’d said too much, and in public too.

“You got a strange notion of what makes someone respectable,” Delilah said.  “Bullying and judging everyone for being human.  You wanna know what a truly respectable woman looks like?  Look at Sarah.”