Mistletoe Courtship (4 page)

He knew then that she was going to teach Patricia. But just to be sure, he said, “You'll need some money even if you get that job in Denver. You'll need to travel. And, once you get there, you may need to stay in a hotel for a few days.”

Before Virginia could answer, there was a noise as the doors opened and Danny stepped inside.

“What's for din—” the boy began as he looked around the saloon. Then he saw Colter. “You're back.”

The boy's face lit up, and, for the first time in months, Colter
had hope that he might make an adequate parent. After all, neither Danny nor Patricia had anyone else to look out for them. He was better than nobody.

Then he got a second look at the boy. What had happened to him? He was cleaned up until he shone. He was wearing a shirt with a collar instead of that sacklike thing he'd been wearing when Colter left. And his hair was cut proper. His ears were probably even clean.

Colter hoped Danny didn't blame him for leaving him with a lady who insisted on that much soap.

“Welcome back, sir,” Danny finally added as he took a step closer to Colter and put his hand out.

Ordinarily, Danny welcomed him back with a grunt or two, but Colter took the boy's hand and shook it. Something had changed and Colter wasn't sure it was for the better. His misgivings evaporated though when the boy left him and went to Virginia, who opened her arms and gave him a hug. Colter couldn't remember anyone ever hugging Danny. If Virginia was willing to do that, then she could scrub the whole place as much as she wanted. He'd even supply the lye for the soap.

“What's burning?” Danny said as he stepped away from Virginia.

“Oh, no,” the woman muttered and started to run out of the room. “I forgot the potatoes.”

Colter decided that the burnt odor of the potatoes made the smell of the kerosene-soaked floor better somehow. It proved this was still their home. He was going to need to find out who had tried to destroy his saloon, but first he'd help Virginia find something for them to eat. It had done his heart good to see the affection she had for Danny. The boy hadn't been so happy since he'd wandered into the saloon a couple of years ago. Colter hoped soon Virginia would feel the same way about
Patricia. That's what his two children needed most. If Virginia insisted in leaving, he'd have to find someone else to marry. His children needed a mother.

V
irginia had never seen a young girl with so many trunks. There were three dull black ones with worn brass hinges. Patricia had opened one slightly and the bright colors peeking out made Virginia blanch. She recognized the dresses. Well, not the exact dresses, but the style. The shiny ones sparkled like the dresses from the women working the saloon next door. Virginia hoped somewhere in the trunk was a dress suitable for a ten-year-old girl.

Patricia didn't seem worried about it though. The most immediate need was for something for her to sleep in and there was a threadbare night shift stuffed on top of the dresses in one of the trunks.

The night showed through the upstairs windows and it would be time to go to bed soon. They had all eaten a dinner of fried potatoes and canned peaches before they started to settle Patricia into the room upstairs that had belonged to Danny. Virginia offered to move back to the boardinghouse so the boy could have her room, but he seemed pleased to be invited to bunk down in the storeroom with Colter. The room was by the back door and they were going to stand watch
tonight in case the man who started the fire came back to finish the job.

Virginia was careful not to mention any of that to Patricia. The girl had enough to worry about already.

“Maybe we can just hang up the dresses that you'll want to wear in the next few days,” Virginia said. “We'll want to take our time and press them.”

Patricia looked up in alarm. “I'm not going to wear them. I'm just saving them for my mother.”

Virginia nodded. Of course. Now she understood why Patricia had treated the trunks with so much reverence. She had even refused to let Danny open the one with the bent latch for her.

Just then there was a commotion downstairs.

“Maybe that's my mother,” Patricia said, springing up in excitement and racing for the door.

Virginia didn't get a chance to say she hadn't heard a woman's voice. Fortunately, the sounds didn't seem like trouble, so she walked over to the door and stepped out into the landing leading to the stairs. She looked down and saw it was Lester. He was wearing his black suit and holding his hat.

“There you are,” Lester said as he looked up at her.

She hadn't noticed before that his hair was thinning on top of his head. The strands were kind of colorless to begin with as well. Not that it mattered. Physical attraction wasn't what drew her to the man.

She was glad she'd had a chance to clean some of the soot and grime off her just in case he cared about such things though.

“I didn't expect you,” Virginia said as she smiled down at Lester.

“I was worried,” he said.

Patricia went back into the bedroom when she saw who the visitor was. Briefly, Virginia's eyes scanned the saloon. Colter
was sitting at a table and reading something. No one else was around. She couldn't help but notice that the top of Colter's head was covered with thick, softly curling dark hair. Not that it meant anything to her. It was just interesting to observe what a person could see from a height.

Virginia looked down at Lester and waited for a telltale skip in her heartbeat. She had always expected to have a rush of feelings when she imagined touching the man who might one day be her husband. Her heart just kept up its regular beat though. She supposed thoughts of hair and hearts belonged more to girls like Patricia than to her. She was a grown woman now and knew love was rooted in steadier things than thick hair.

Lester smiled up and she started to walk down the stairs. Truly, it was best that their relationship was a practical one based on a shared love of music; it would make it easier for Lester to understand her desire to teach. If they did marry, she hoped to convince him to move to Denver with her so she could take the teaching job if it was offered to her. Lester had talked of becoming the governor of Montana when it became a state, but until that happened, Denver would be a good place for him to meet important people. She'd told him about all the politicians her father knew, but there was no way to meet any of them in a place like Miles City. Her working for a school in Denver should help with that though.

Of course, she wouldn't be considering marriage to him if she hadn't seen from his sister's letters that he had a lifelong faith in God as well. She trusted the sister's words. Who knew a man better than his sister?

When Virginia reached the bottom of the stairs, she tilted her right cheek and offered it to Lester, who gave it a quick kiss. The sweetness of the moment was spoiled by a disbelieving grunt coming from the left of her.

Virginia looked over and caught Colter's eye. He'd glanced
up from the book he was reading. She hoped the look she gave him rivaled the one her mother had given impertinent tradesmen when they tried to peddle old fish. The greeting between her and Lester was none of
his
business.

“Sorry,” Colter said, looking no such thing as he gave her a wink. “It's just that men out here don't even bother with a puny kiss like that.”

Virginia sensed Lester tensing up beside her so she put her hand on his arm. She'd handle this.

“A kiss on the cheek is a time-honored way of showing a woman respect,” Virginia said, looking closer. Was that a Bible he was reading?

“Back east maybe,” Colter agreed. “But out here a man knows how to kiss a woman.”

Lester muttered something at that, but Virginia didn't hear it.

“It doesn't hurt any man to use good manners,” she continued. Lester did have the sensitive soul of a violinist even if he'd left the instrument with his sister until he could send for it. “East, west, north or south. Besides, the Bible talks about a holy kiss.”

Colter looked stunned as he held up the Bible in his hand and then sighed. “I haven't got to that part yet.”

Lester started to chuckle. “You haven't got to a lot of things yet.”

With that, Lester turned to Virginia and tipped her head back before leaning down to kiss her fully and possessively.

Virginia tried to make him stop. She needed to breathe and—well, she just didn't like the way he was kissing her. Like he was proving a point. She pushed at him a little, but that only made him more determined. Finally, she pushed him harder.

 

Colter had never cared for a man abusing a woman and he grabbed Lester by the back of his collar. He'd do the same to
a stray cat that had wandered into the wrong bowl of cream. Lester came away sputtering and looking mad enough to fight, but Colter wasn't worried about him.

“You all right?” he asked Virginia. Her hair was in disarray and she was gasping a little for breath. He'd seen enough women who'd been well-kissed to know that Virginia wasn't too happy with her beau.

“Of course, she's all right,” Lester answered for her. “She's my fiancée.”

“I've never exactly said yes,” Virginia snapped at him.

That answer made Colter feel pretty good, but he could see it didn't make the lovebirds too happy.

“I'm not going to wait for you forever, you know,” Lester said as he started for the door, forgetting Colter still had a hold on his shirt.

“I think you should apologize to the lady,” Colter suggested.

Lester choked a little and stopped abruptly.

“I don't need to—” Lester began and almost lost his wind altogether.

Colter nodded. “A man doesn't need to do much in this life, not even breathe.”

Lester's face was turning pink so Colter had pity on him and untwisted his collar a little. “Next time you have a shirt tailored, you might want to have them make the neck a little bigger.”

“Aargh,” Lester muttered as he pulled himself up to his full height.

“Really, you need to let him go,” Virginia commanded as she stepped closer.

Colter looked at her to be sure she meant it. Then he released Lester completely. “I suppose I do need to let him talk. Anyway, I've been meaning to ask him why he wasn't over here this afternoon when everyone thought there was a fire.”

“I have a business to run,” Lester said as he straightened the
front of his shirt. “I can't be stepping outside every time the men decide to go look at something.”

“The men do get excited about things. I think they make bets,” Virginia said with disapproval in her voice. “Sometimes it's a horse race. Sometimes when the stage will get in.”

Colter thought a minute. “I don't suppose any of them would bet on how long it would take for a saloon to burn down.”

“Oh, absolutely not,” Virginia protested. “They read the telegram about you coming back and—”

Colter nodded. He knew there were rumors about his gun days. Not many of the men around would challenge him. Although, he realized, the man with the match didn't exactly leave a name. Lester was coward enough to do something like that. So he looked back at the man. “Do you have any kerosene stored in that shed in back?”

Lester's face darkened at that. “Anybody could have gotten some from there. I'll bet that's what happened.”

Colter grunted. “Well, I guess we're not going to figure it out tonight.”

Now that Lester was free to leave, the man didn't seem too eager to go. Which made the man a fool as well as a coward in Colter's eyes.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” Colter finally asked. After what had happened today, he'd only lit a few of the lamps around so the shadows were deep in parts of the saloon.

“A man has a right to say good-night to his fiancée in private,” Lester said.

Colter shrugged. “He does if he's saying it in his own establishment.”

What was it about Lester that reminded him of a rooster? Maybe it was the way his neck stretched when he got indignant.

“It's still snowing out there,” Lester protested. “I can't ask Virginia to walk outside just to say good-night.”

Colter nodded. “I suppose not.”

“You can say good-night here,” Virginia said as she reached out her hand to Lester.

Colter had to respect the woman for not letting the man kiss her after his earlier performance.

Lester still didn't look any too happy, but he finally shook Virginia's hand before saying good-night and shuffling out the door.

When the other man had left the building, Colter turned to Virginia. He figured she would want to thank him for coming to her rescue, but he didn't want her to fuss over it. He would do as much for any woman who was in trouble.

“What did you think you were doing?” Virginia turned to him and demanded.

Her voice wasn't as grateful as Colter had been expecting and it turned him cautious. “I—ah—”

“I had it perfectly under control,” Virginia continued without letting him answer. “If you'd waited, I would have explained to him how a gentleman should behave and—”

“I don't think he was set to listen,” Colter added mildly.

“I would have explained how he should behave,” Virginia kept on going. “And then we would have been of one mind on how to be when we're together. We'd have had an understanding.”

Colter was flabbergasted. “I interrupted all that?”

“Yes, you did,” Virginia declared and then she sat down in a chair and burst into tears.

Colter was silent for a bit. “I could go get him and bring him back.”

“I don't want him back,” Virginia said, as she lifted her tear-streaked face and then hiccuped. “But he plays the vi-oo-lin.”

She hiccuped again.

“Breathe easy now,” Colter said as he moved close and patted her on the back.

Then he stepped over to the bar and brought back a cup of cold coffee. “Here, take a swallow of this.”

Virginia took the cup and drained it. They were both quiet for a minute, but she didn't have another hiccup. Colter had never listened so intently to another person's breathing though, and he began to have some sympathy for poor Lester. In the light of the lamp, Virginia's skin glowed and her hair shone and—

“That holy kiss you were talking about,” Colter finally said, his throat thick enough he was afraid Virginia would know his thoughts by the way his voice sounded. “Is it something like this?”

God was going to have to forgive him, Colter thought as he leaned down and touched his lips to Virginia's. He was a doomed man.

“That's not right,” Virginia whispered against his lips.

Colter moved his head back.

She cleared her throat and continued, “A holy kiss is for church.” Her face was flushed pink, but she was smiling a little.

“It's almost Sunday,” Colter said as he straightened up and smoothed Virginia's hair back. “I don't recall any kissing in church before I left here. 'Course I didn't get a chance to go more than a few times before I left.”

He had wished he had time to talk a little more with the pastor before he was called away to get Patricia. He'd been reading the Bible alone to try to make sense of things, but he had some questions.