A Chance at Love (12 page)

“As in vegetables and fruit?”

“Yes.”

“No,” she answered, as if he'd asked her something ridiculous.

He threw up his hands.

Loreli told him. “Look, Reed, you knew I wasn't a con
ventional woman when you met me. Why are you surprised that I'm not all of a sudden?”

“I don't know, maybe I was hoping you had some domestic in you.”

“Domestics clean houses. I buy them.”

He shook his head and she swore she saw him smile, but there was no trace of it when he asked, “Are you coming back tomorrow?”

“I don't want to wear out my welcome.”

“I wouldn't worry about that. The girls will never complain.”

“What about you?” It was a loaded question and Loreli knew it.

He bent and pulled the broken slat free. “It's the girls you're here for, not me.” He paused and straightened, then dusted off his gloved hands on the legs of his denims. “This'll be a marriage in name only, remember?”

Loreli met his eyes, then asked boldly, “No marriage bed?”

He shook his head, saying, “No.”

“We're adults, Reed, anything is possible.”

“That isn't.”

“Why not?”

“Because it just isn't.” He picked up the replacement slat and began to hammer the ends into the gap left by the broken one.

Loreli watched him hammer for a few moments. Feeling more frustrated than she wanted to admit, she asked him, “Is this your way of ending the conversation?”

“You're a smart lady, Miss Winters.”

“I thought you were going to call me Loreli?”

“I'll see you tomorrow.” That said he went back to hammering.

Simmering, Loreli gave him a chance to say more, but when he seemed bent on ignoring her presence, she spun on her heels and walked away.

As Jake watched her storm off, the man in him appreciated the righteous sway of her sassy hips. He agreed with her—anything
was
possible, but their sharing a bed was out of the question; a man as simple and as inexperienced as he had no business in a bedroom with a woman made from sapphires. After being around her for the past few days, he was convinced that her claims of not being a whore were true; however, he was equally convinced that she knew her way around a boudoir a whole lot better than he did, and therein lay the problem.

 

That night, as Loreli lay in her bed at the boardinghouse, she and her slightly bruised ego decided that something had to be wrong with Reed to dismiss her so out of hand. Didn't he know she'd been called one of the most beautiful women anywhere, and that she was supposed to be the one doing the turning down, not him? Jake Reed apparently had no idea that men flocked to her side wherever she went, or that on those very rare occasions when she did say yes, there were no commitments or ties? Loreli could never remember being faced with a man who appeared to have no interest in her at all. It wasn't natural, or at least that's what her ego maintained. Maybe it was a religious issue, she mused, or maybe something was wrong with him, her ego added again. The last thing she wanted to admit was that there might be something wrong
with her, but that's the impression he left her with. Did he still believe she made her living by working on her back?

Loreli had no answers, and as she drifted off to sleep, the questions continued to swirl.

 

Before turning in for the night, Jake went to check on the girls. As he watched them sleeping so innocently, he knew that marrying Rebecca would not have been in their best interest. Yes, they would have grown up to be god-fearing and polite, but he wanted them to be that and more. The world was expanding. Times were changing, and women of all races were beginning to do more than cook, clean, and sew. They were now doctors, heading up newspapers, running businesses. They were working in factories and making everything from shoes to clocks, and wanting to be paid the same as men.
Domestics clean houses. I buy them
! Loreli had said. That's what he wanted his sister's girls to have, that kind of confidence and spunk. Of course he didn't want them to grow up and become poker players; he preferred they marry and have a family, but Loreli was right again—what if they didn't find husbands or even want one? In that case they would have to make their own way in the world, and he wanted them prepared. He was the only family they had, and once he died and passed on, they'd have only each other to rely on. No, Loreli Winters might make him a laughingstock when word got out that he was marrying her, but he didn't care. As he'd noted earlier, the twins seemed happier, and that meant more to him than anyone would ever know.

Content with himself and his decisions, he tiptoed out of the room and closed the door softly behind him.

 

In town the next morning, Loreli went to the bank to see if her money had been successfully transferred. Inside, she saw the smiling Cyrus Buxton, and to her surprise, three of her friends from the wagon train: Gertrude “Trudy” Berry, Fanny Ricks, and Ruby O'Neal.

After sharing hugs with everyone, Fanny, the youngest, said to Loreli, “We thought you were goin' to California?”

“Nope, still here. Probably be here for another year or so.”

The three friends appeared puzzled. Trudy, who'd left her life as a washerwoman to become a mail-order bride, asked, “A year?”

Loreli nodded. “Are you three in a hurry?”

None were.

“Let me check with Cyrus about something, then let's find a place where we can sit and talk. I have a doozy of a story to share.”

They all nodded and waited for her to conduct her business.

Loreli's quick discussion with Cyrus Buxton confirmed that her funds had been wired from her bank on Thursday, and that everything involving the transfer had gone smoothly. Her own flush account brought to mind the dire straits faced by the farmer Peterson. She'd been moved by his plea for the well-being of his five children. She made a note to speak to Reed about the family when she saw him later. Maybe there was a way for her to help Bebe and Dede's friend Carrie. Loreli thanked Cyrus, then exited with her friends.

Since Fanny lived in town, the four women went to her house. Fanny's new husband, Ben Leslie, was a Pullman porter. According to Fanny he'd left this morning and
would be gone for twenty-one days. The women made themselves comfortable on the house's side porch, and there, seated in the early morning shade, shared glasses of lemonade and swapped stories of their new lives.

Loreli asked Fanny, “So, how's life with your new husband?”

The happy look on Fanny's young face told all. “Just wonderful. I miss him already. Loreli, he's the first man I've ever known besides my father who thinks it all right for a woman to be smart.”

Loreli was pleased. Fanny, an Oberlin graduate, had signed on to the wagon train because, according to her, the men she knew back home in Illinois thought her too intelligent to marry. Loreli was glad Fanny's new husband appreciated his young wife's strong mind. Too bad he had to leave so soon after the wedding.

Trudy and Ruby also related good news. The men they'd married appeared to be fine individuals as well. Loreli knew some of the wagon-train women must be unhappy with the men they'd chosen as husbands, but she was glad that the women she'd grown closest to weren't counted in that group. Trudy was married to a man named Samuel Taylor. He was a farmer and the local undertaker. He and Trudy lived on a farm west of town. Ruby, a former schoolteacher, was happy with her pick as well. Her husband, a farmer named Vernon Parker, had an empty barn on his property that Ruby planned to turn into a school.

A bit confused by Ruby's plans, Loreli asked, “Isn't there a school here already?”

“There is,” the statuesque Ruby replied, “but according
to the girls—oh, did I tell you my Vernon has two daughters, twelve and eleven?”

“No,” Loreli replied, smiling with surprised delight. “Do you three get along?”

“No cat fights yet. They're studying me and I'm studying them.”

Everyone smiled.

Ruby continued. “I guess his first wife left him and the girls to go live somewhere else. Vernon said she didn't like the life here. Too slow. Anyway, the girls say the teacher, Mr. Hazel, doesn't believe in teaching females—”

“What!” the women shouted in unison.

“That's the most ignorant nonsense I've heard in some time,” short dark-skinned Trudy declared.

The others nodded with vigorous agreement.

Ruby said, “I agree, so I'm going to teach my girls myself. If there are any other girls who wish to attend my classes, they're welcome. I'm going to call it the Ruby Parker School of Progressive Education for Women.”

“Good for you,” said Fanny. “Count me in if you need teaching help, Ruby. My certificate from Oberlin allows me to teach, and I'm real good with little girls.”

Ruby grinned. “Why thanks, Fanny. Oh, those old biddies around here will have a fit if I open up a school that has
two
teachers.”

Everyone laughed because they'd all had negative encounters with the town's clan of established women. Granted, the brides greatly outnumbered the old guard, but the old guard were accustomed to being the only women around and didn't care to share their pedestals with a bunch of mail-order interlopers.

Trudy said, “I had a group of them hiss at me when I was coming out of the general store yesterday. I had to remember my manners. Good thing Sam was with me.”

Loreli added, “Well, I'm sure the heat's going to rise once my news gets around.”

“What news?” Fanny asked.

“Well, girls, I'm getting married next Saturday.”

Shocked silence came over the porch.

Trudy's eyes were wide. “To whom?”

“Jake Reed.”

Ruby, equally as wide-eyed, gushed, “The doctor? He came out to the farm a couple days ago. Loreli, he's gorgeous. Vernon said all the eligible women around here have been after him for years!”

“Well, I may let them have him.” Loreli told them the story of her initial encounter with the twins and what had come about as a result. She also gave them the rundown on the limits Reed wanted to impose on this marriage of convenience.

“And you're going to marry him?” Trudy asked.

Loreli shrugged. “Yep. Crazy isn't it?”

Ruby disagreed. “I don't know, Loreli, the girls sound mighty needy to me, and you'd be good for them, but how's the uncle going to find this so-called new wife with you around?”

Loreli shrugged again. “No idea, but he seems to think it's possible.”

Fanny confessed, “I certainly wouldn't want to follow you, Loreli. No woman with any sense would.”

“Well, that's not my concern. I'm doing this for the twins. Wait until you meet them. They are such sweethearts.”

Trudy had a doubt-filled look on her face.

“What's wrong, Tru? Don't you think I can be a mama?”

Trudy said, “It's not that. I think you'll make a hell of a mama, Loreli, but I just can't see you married to a man who had a fit simply because you were playing cards with the sheriff.”

Loreli thought that a good point. “The way I live my life is an ongoing point of contention, it's true, but he's really sticking his neck out for those girls, and I respect that. Besides, who knows what might happen in a year's time. Maybe he'll mellow a bit.”

“Suppose you fall in love with him?” Trudy asked in a serious tone.

Loreli raised an eyebrow. “Bite your tongue.”

“That's something to consider, Loreli,” Ruby added sagely.

Loreli disagreed. “No, it isn't. He's already said we aren't going to share a bed.”

Fanny's mouth dropped in astonishment.

Loreli chuckled. “Close your mouth, Fan, before something flies in.”

Fanny finally found her voice, “No marriage bed? Is something wrong with him, Loreli?”

“There can't be,” Ruby answered first. “The Lord would not make a man that good looking for no reason. Girls, wait until you see him. He's tall, dark, has a mustache, and that form—”

“Ruby!” Loreli told her laughing.

They all laughed.

Fanny said, “Well, Loreli, you know I'm a romantic at heart, and if I were you, I'd watch my step. When Cupid
shoots his arrows, he doesn't always care what you want.”

Loreli rolled her eyes. “I'll keep that in mind.”

“But suppose you do fall in love with him, Loreli?” Trudy asked. “Then what?”

“There is no
what
, Trudy, because it isn't going to happen. In a year I'm pulling up stakes, and I'll be gone.”

Her friends looked skeptical but let the subject drop for now.

“Okay,” Ruby announced, “now that that's settled, let's plan Loreli's wedding.”

Loreli began to protest, but her friends, like Cupid, didn't care what she wanted. They went right ahead and made plans.

After leaving her friends, Loreli went back to the bank. She knew the twins were anxiously awaiting her arrival out at the Reed place, but she had one more bit of business to take care of.

Cyrus greeted her return with puzzlement. “Did you forget something, Miss Winters?”

“In a way, yes, Cyrus. I'd like to speak with Mr. Diggs, if I might.”

“He's in with his wife, right now. Would you care to take a seat while I tell him you're here?”

“I'd love to,” Loreli said.

So Loreli sat on the bench, and Cyrus went to alert Mr. Diggs.

A few moments later, a very well-dressed woman came sweeping out of Diggs's office, saying, “And don't forget, I'm having the club members over this afternoon. It might be nice if you came by and put in an appearance.”

Sol Diggs came out behind her, responding tightly, “I
have a meeting this afternoon. Maybe next month.”