Blue Bonnet (11 page)

“And that is bad how?” Billie
asked, pouring coffee in her cup.

“I still don't have anyone picked
out to give it to. I noticed Leta stopped in to see ya again the
other day. Is she still trying to get ya to tell her who the bonnet
is for or did ya tell her?” He asked.

“Don't worry about it. Your
deception is safe with me. For your information, I had Leta make me
a dress. She was just delivering it. She told me the dress had a
narrow escape after it was tromped by your horse when you tried to
knock her down on the boardwalk. Really, Bat, you out to get both
of us mad at you at the same time?” Billie teased.

“Nope, that was an accident. I
told Leta I'd pay for making another dress if that one was damaged.
The dress all right?” He asked halfheartedly.

“Yes, it turned out better than
you seem to be right now anyway. Your burn wound healing all
right?”

“Yip, just a red scar now. Doc
says I'm fine, and I'd just as soon ya wouldn't bring it up
anymore. I feel foolish enough about getting branded the way it
is,” Bat growled.

Billie gave up. “Then spit it out.
What is ailing you?”

Bat rubbed his forehead. “I guess
I just realized I don't have a reason to see Leta anymore. I've
kind of enjoyed her company lately.”

“Why don't you
ask her to make another bonnet if you want an excuse to keep seeing
her,” Billie suggested, smiling at him.

“Somehow, it don’t seem practical
to pay for another one. I don't know who I'm going to give the one
to that I'm already stuck with,” complained Bat. “Besides, I'd just
have to go through Leta's grillin' again about who the bonnet is
for and all the other questions about trimmin', color and such
truck. I didn't have any idea how complicated orderin' something as
simple as a woman's bonnet could be. I'd have forgotten about the
idea if I had known.”

“It might be much simpler just to
ask Leta to go eat with you or for a ride for no reason at all,
other than you want to be with her,” Billie said.

“I can't do that, and I can't have
her make another bonnet just so I can see her,” Bat
growled.

“Oh, for Pete Sakes. Wake up will
you, brother. I was just teasing about the bonnet. Of course, you
can't keep having that poor woman make you bonnets, one after
another, until you decide she's the woman you want to
marry.”

“Is that what I'm doing? That
can't be right,” Bat declared.

Billie plopped down across the
table from him and pushed a plate of fresh baked sugar cookies at
him. “Why can't it be right?”

“For one thing, Leta isn't the
marrying type. She's just like ya are, a business woman who likes
her life like it it,” Bat explained. “That's why it wouldn't work
for me to ask her out for no reason other than a business
excuse.”

“Now where did you step in crap,
as thick as what's in your pasture, like that?” Billie asked
huffily.

“From what ya said about ya not
getting married,” he said quietly.

“Don't blame me
if you misunderstood what I said. For your information, if the
right man came along and proposed, I'd say yes so fast it'd make
his head spin. In that regard, I think Leta is just like me.

We can both have our business and
a husband, too. There isn't any reason why we can't unless you want
to make something out of a woman that works at a respectable
job.”

“No, I don't see anything wrong
with a woman ownin' her own business and being married to me at the
same time.” Bat chose a cookie and took a big bite. He figured it
was better his mouth be full of cookie instead of his
foot.

“What you're doing is making up
excuses one right after another to keep from facing the future. If
you're not careful, you will let that nice woman get away. Remember
what our daddy used to say? The only problem one gets from sitting
on the fence too long is a sore backside. Get off that fence on one
side or the other, and do it soon before Leta gives up on you,”
Billie ordered.

Bat snorted, doubled his fist and
thumbed his chest. “Am I the only one ya shell out this sort of
wise advice to or are there others?”

“So far you're the only one that
needs the benefit of my wisdom. Most people right off know what is
best for them,” Billie said. She looked at her brother like he was
one of his dumb mossyhorns that never knew where he was supposed to
go and had to be driven.

“All right, I guess I asked for
that. I did come here for advice, but ya don't have to beat me over
the head with it,” Bat said grinning at her. “I surely will give
what ya said some thought.”

By Wednesday afternoon when Bat
walked into the seamstress shop, he had climbed off his daddy's
imaginary fence and made his decision. He just hoped he climbed off
the right side of the fence. “Howdy, Leta. The bonnet done
now?”

“It is,” Leta said, standing up
and laying a dress over her chair. “ I have it on the
counter.”

She went to the end of the
counter, picked the bonnet up and turned it over so Bat could see
the brim. “I went ahead and put gold trim on it. I hope that looks
all right to you?”

“It looks fine. That's a right
pretty bonnet,” Bat said, impressed. “How much do I owe
ya?”

“Two dollars.”

Bat laid the money in her
outstretched hand. His fingertips tingled when he touched her warm
palm. A notion went through his head. He'd like to just grab Leta’s
hand and hold on to it while he leaned across the counter and
kissed her, but he couldn’t do that. A show of public affection in
her store might make her mad. He was just getting started with his
plan. He sure didn't want to upset Leta or scare her off right away
if he could help it.

“Where do I send
the bonnet?” Leta's curiosity was as keen as ever. She was dying to
know.

Bat hesitated, looking into her
blue eyes. He had come up with a good, truthful answer he hoped
would win Leta's hand instead of making her laugh at him. “How
about goin' with me to deliver the bonnet?”

Leta looked shocked. “Really? Are
you sure you want me along?”

“I'm sure. When ya close up the
shop, I'll come by with a buggy. We're goin' for a ride,” Bat
said.

“Where?”

“Out to my ranch. I'd like to show
ya where I've lived most of my life. Would ya like to see the
ranch?” He asked, evading the answer she really wanted to
know.

“I'd love to see your ranch,” Leta
said dubiously.

She enjoyed the ride and listened
to Bat talk, with pride in his voice, about the ranch. He wanted to
familiarize Leta with his life. He could tell she seemed
interested. So far so good, but he wasn't going to breathe easy
until this evening was over.

Suddenly, Leta said, “You know I
really don't know much about you. What I do know I like you
understand, but I've been curious. Bat is a strange name. It must
be short for something. What does Bat stand for?”

“Ooh,” he groaned. “I was hopin'
ya wouldn't get around to askin' me that.”

“Why?”

“I've never been fond of the name
my folks saddled me with. If ya got to know, my name is
Bartholomew. My daddy tagged me with Bat, because it wasn't such a
mouth full to say. I think it was about the time Bat Masterson was
makin' such a name for himself. The older I got the more I was
grateful to my daddy for helpin' me out like that.”

“I see. Well, you would be the
same nice man with any name your folks chose for you. However, I'm
fond of Bat, too,” Leta said, scooting closer to him and wrapping
her arm through his.

When they pulled up in front of
the house, Bat, stopped the buggy and pointed toward the bunkhouse.
“That was my first home where the cowhands live now. Hannah and I
lived there for a few years before I built this house. We needed a
bunkhouse for the men so it was time to move.”

He held his hand out to help her
down. “Climb out of that buggy and stretch yer legs. Seems like a
long drive out here.”

“Not for me. I've enjoyed every
minute of the trip,” Leta assured him. She started toward the
porch, and he stopped her.

“Let's go for a walk. It's cool in
the shade of the path down to Sidewinder Creek,” Bat said. He took
her arm as they walked down the path. “We used this path every day.
Sometimes, several times a day when we needed water. We had to
carry the water from Sidewinder Creek.”

“Why is the creek called
Sidewinder?”

“Ever see a sidewinder snake
crawl?” Bat asked.

“Yes, once there was one in my
front yard. The snake crawled sideways one way and then the other,”
Leta said.

“Yip, and that is the same way
this old creek winds through my ranch,” Bat said.

The water level in the creek was
lower than in the spring. They stood on the edge of the bank,
looking at the red, muddy water that moved lazily along. Bat picked
up a pebble and skipped it across the water.

“You have a lot of good memories
on this ranch with Hannah, don't you?” Leta asked.

“Couldn't have held onto the ranch
without her helping me defend it. I went off to get supplies not
long after we moved in, and Indians tried to carry Hannah and
Billie off when they came for water,” Bat said.

“What happened?” Leta asked in a
hushed voice.

“Hannah and Billie fought like
wild cats. Six Indians couldn't calm them down enough to carry them
off. The Indians wound up leavin', and they didn't come back,” Bat
told her. “That was just the first time of many we fought side by
side.”

“Billie's quite a woman, and it
sounds like Hannah was, too,” Leta said.

“She was. Would ya like to see
where she's resting?” Bat asked.

“Yes, show me,” Leta
said.

They walked on the path and came
out behind the house. Leta walked with Bat up the hill. A small
green lizard darted among the rocks in front of them all the way to
a semicircle of cedar trees. Hannah's large stone was in the middle
of the fenced area.

Bat took his hat off and pointed
at the tombstone engraved with Hannah's name and dates. “That's
where she rests.”

Leta studied the landscape she
viewed from the hill. “I'm sure Hannah would have approved of this
spot high on the hill overlooking the ranch she loved.”

“I reckon so.” Bat suddenly
remembered Billie's warning. He shouldn't talk about Hannah to a
woman he dated. He should change the subject, but he had to ask,
“Leta, you mind me telling ya about my life on the ranch with
Hannah and showing ya where she rests?”

Leta turned to him, puzzled. “Of
course, I don't. This ranch is your life and that included Hannah.
You loved her very much. Why would you ask?”

Bat grinned. “Guess Billie might
be wrong once in awhile. She said if I brought a lady to see the
ranch I shouldn't talk about Hannah. Most women didn't want to hear
such talk.”

Leta reached for his hand,
squeezed it and smiled. “I'd say you're right. For once, Billie is
wrong.”

Chapter
Eleven

Bat took her arm. “Come on. Let's
go back to the house and look at where I live when I
working.”

Leta didn't budge. “I'd love to,
but after that, do we deliver the bonnet?”

“Yip, that's the plan if
everything goes all right,” Bat said hesitantly.

Leta questioned, “What could go
wrong with giving a woman a pretty bonnet?”

“I'm hoping
nothing when the time comes,” Bat said nervously, taking off down
the hill to avoid Leta's stare. She walked up the porch steps ahead
of Bat.

The whippoorwills were calling as
he reached into the buggy and grabbed the bonnet package. He held
it behind his back as they went into the house.

He was glad Billie's job of house
cleaning had held up as he gave Leta a tour of the
rooms.

She was complimentary about the
whole house. “I can see why you love it here. This is a lovely
house and ranch. I'm surprised you ever moved to town and left your
home.”

“It got lonesome here after my
wife died. Too quiet in here by myself. Too many ghosts and
memories,” he said truthfully, knowing his voice sounded
sad.

“I can see how that would be
right. Are you ever going to move back here? This is where you
belong you know?” Leta told him.

“Yip, I know. I
miss wakin' up to the sun peekin' over the ridge and shinin' in my
bedroom window to brighten the room and my day.

I miss goin' to bed with the
coyotes yippin' and a hoot owl answerin' them. Lately, while I've
been workin' with the cowhands, I found I missed livin' here where
I can help on the ranch. So I'm fixin' to move out here right away.
Want to help me move?” Rushed out of Bat's mouth.

Leta gave him a curious look. “Me?
Well, if you don't have enough help, I'd be glad to help you get
everything unpacked and into place. I'm glad you're moving back
home if that makes you happy. Of course, I'll miss running into you
in Dead Horse.” She paused when he looked regretful. “I didn't mean
that literally. Now we should deliver the bonnet before it gets any
later.”