Ruby (21 page)

“How did you know it was a garter snake?” Ruby laid her hands along Opal’s chin and looked into her eyes. “You know there are rattlesnakes here.”

“Cimarron knows the difference. Besides, it was just a little snake. Cat is really a good hunter.”

Ruby shuddered. “First mice, now snakes. Rand Harrison’s bull and—”

“Rand is back?” Cimarron turned from the stove.

“Yes.” She wasn’t about to explain where she had seen him. Her neck grew warm just at the thought.

“Shame he didn’t stop for dinner.”

The thought of that unfriendly beast tied up at their hitching post made Ruby close her eyes. She didn’t think much could stand in that bull’s way if he decided to go someplace. And to think Rand was leading him around like he was a dog on a leash, not that dogs wore a chain through a ring in their nose.

When they’d finished serving dinner and eaten their own, Ruby gave in to their pleading and told them what she’d learned in Dickinson.

“I knew I shoulda gone along.” Belle gazed at the ceiling along with a harrumph of frustration.

“What good would that have done?” Ruby was still amazed. Belle was acting as if their discussion never took place.

“They know me. I went with Per plenty of times. Sometimes you got to”—she rolled her eyes—“you know.”

“No, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Well, sweet talk, you know. That Mr. Davis at the bank is a sucker for . . .” Belle batted her eyelashes and puffed out her chest, pretending she had a fan to flutter.

“Belle, I never . . .”

“That’s what I was afraid of. But you looked so lovely in that dress and so innocent; I hoped that would be enough.”

“I was asking for operating expenses, nothing more.”

“Did you invite him to come and see the changes around here?”

“Yes, I did that. And I talked with a man from a newspaper during supper. He said he would do a story on the growth here in Little Missouri and include Dove House and the changes we’ve made. He seemed to think there was a story here.”

“Oh, there’s a story here all right,” Belle muttered into her coffee cup.

Ruby chose to ignore her comment. Any publicity would be helpful.

Well, not any. If someone had come in when she and Charlie did, they would have thought things were the same as ever, except for the white tablecloths and the clean floor and the lack of bottles behind the counter.
And Belle? What do I do about Belle?She was as nice as pie when I planned to question her about the missing money and boxes
. Ruby shook off the thoughts. “I’m going out to sweep the porch,” she said and went to get the broom.

“I know there isn’t a lot of fun for you here, with no other children to play with,” Ruby said that night as she brushed Opal’s hair.

“We could go riding again. That would be fun. And when the river warms up, we can go swimming. I like fishing too.”

Ruby dropped a kiss on her sister’s head. Yes, they needed to have more fun. When you came right down to it, there wasn’t much going on in the whole town, other than the men drinking and gambling. Maybe there was something Dove House could do after all—provide genteel entertainment. She could feel an idea stirring.
Have more fun, eh?

“Ruby.” The whisper was accompanied by a slight shake on the shoulder.

Ruby tried to remain in her dreamworld where they were back at s’ and a young man had come calling. A man who looked remarkably like Rand Harrison. That alone jolted her into full alert.

“What?” Her heart leaped into double time. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Ruby opened her eyes to see Opal, fully dressed, sitting on the floor cross-legged beside the pallet.

“Today’s my birthday.”

Ruby covered a smile by letting her eyelids fall closed again and turning on her side. “Are you sure?”

“Did you forget?”

Ruby tried to feign sleep, but the plaintive voice made her smile instead. She reached under her pallet and drew out the packet of red-and-white peppermint sticks she’d purchased the day before just for such a situation as this.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t afford more right now, but . . .” She daren’t look at Opal in case the deception could be read in her eyes. Lying had never been easy or even possible for her.

“Oh, goody. Thank you.” Opal gave her sister a poke on the shoulder. “You didn’t forget.”

Ruby sat up and opened her arms to give her sister a way to burrow close.

“I dreamed I got a horse for my birthday.”

“Oh, Opal dear, how I wish I could give you a horse. Perhaps by next year we’ll be able to think of such a thing.”
If we make it until next year
.

“Daisy said she was going to make something special for breakfast for my birthday. Just think . . . I am ten years old.”

Ruby tweaked her sister’s nose. “Pretty amazing.”
And I’m nearly twenty-one
. Ruby kicked that thought aside as she threw back the covers and went to wash and dress. She’d just dipped the cloth in the cool water when she heard the rooster crow for the first time that morning. No, she hadn’t overslept. Opal just beat the rooster crow. Ruby yawned and buried her face in the dripping cloth.

A bit later after brushing and braiding their hair, they entered the kitchen to find Daisy slipping something into the oven.

“What’s that?” Opal asked.

“What’s what?” Daisy turned with a blank look.

“What’s that you put in the oven.”

“Ah.” She shrugged. “What oven?”

“Daisy.”

Ruby stood behind Opal and wrapped both arms around her for a hug. “Little girls shouldn’t ask questions on their birthdays.”

“Oh.” Opal turned and looked up to her sister. “Can I share my peppermint sticks now?”

“Why don’t you wait until after breakfast?”

“All right.” She put the packet back in her apron pocket. “I’ll go check the dining room.”

A short time later Daisy called her back just in time to see her pull a skillet from the oven that for just a moment had a poof of browned dough that collapsed when the air hit it.

“Oh, how pretty.”

Daisy set the pan on a wood board on the table. “It’s a German pancake.” She sprinkled powdered sugar over the top and slid it out onto a plate. “Happy birthday, Opal.” She set it at Opal’s place, and they all clapped.

“All for me?”

“Yes. All for you. The rest of us get ordinary pancakes.”

Opal cut into her pancake and found sliced peaches with cinnamon and sugar in the center. “I never had a pancake like this.” Her eyes turned blissful at the first bite. “Yum.”

Ruby looked at Daisy. “Where did you learn that?”

“My mother. She was from Germany and loved to cook. I’d almost forgotten about them until I said I’d make something special for Opal.”

“Special is right.”

After dinner was served to their one guest, Ruby stopped Opal. “Why don’t you and Milly go fishing? You deserve some time off since this is your birthday. But don’t be gone too long. I’ll need Milly’s help later.”

Opal threw her arms around Ruby’s waist. “Thank you, thank you. What a perfect birthday I am having.” She grabbed their corks with the hook and string and sinker and dashed out the door before anyone could change their mind.

As soon as the girls left, everyone else, Belle included, prepared for the party. Cimarron set to frosting the cake Daisy had baked. Daisy made a drink out of ginger, vinegar, and sugar boiled together and mixed with cold water. And Charlie headed on over to the cantonment to make sure the captain had returned from patrol. The two men strolled back to Dove House behind the other buildings just in case the fishing girls should return early.

Once the presents were arranged on a table, Belle kept watch and let the others know as soon as she saw the girls returning home, each carrying a string of fish.

Knowing they would come to the back door, the others gathered in the dining room and waited.

“Ruby? We’re home.” When no one answered, Opal called again. “Charlie, Daisy, where are you?” Another pause.

Ruby didn’t dare look at any of the others for fear she would burst out laughing. She bit her lower lip.

“Where do you suppose they all are, Milly?”

“I don’t know,” Milly answered. “Maybe you better check the dining room. I’ll go upstairs.”

As soon as the door swung open, those waiting shouted, “Surprise! Happy Birthday!”

Opal dropped her string of fish. She clapped both hands across her mouth, then lowered them bit by bit. “But I already had . . . I mean, Daisy made . . . oh, look, a cake!”

“I think we surprised her.” Captain McHenry nudged Charlie, who laughed along with him.

“Come and open your presents so we can have our cake.” Daisy beckoned Opal to the table.

“I never had so many presents.” Opal stared at the stack, then turned her gaze on Ruby. “You knew?”

Ruby nodded. “One of the hardest secrets I ever kept. Daisy baked the cake and Cimarron frosted it.”

“And I got you out of here.” Milly hefted both strings of fish. “I’ll go put these in water.”

“Hurry.” Opal sat down at the table, and the others dragged up chairs. She unwrapped the first box and discovered a braided bridle from the captain.

“I know you don’t have a horse yet, but this is to remind you to keep dreaming for one.”

“Thank you.” She stroked the leather with a gentle finger.

The next gift was a beaded leather vest. “Had that in the trunk,” Belle said. “Since it’s too small for me, someone oughta use it.”

By the time Opal had opened the other gifts, she had a new divided skirt of corduroy from Cimarron, a new shirt from Daisy, a tooled-leather belt made by Milly and Charlie, and lace-up boots from Ruby, along with three books from the Brandons.

After she’d opened the final package, Opal looked at each face around the circle, “Thank you all so much. How did you keep such a good secret?”

“It was hard.” Daisy shook her head.

“You almost caught me a couple of times.” Cimarron shrugged. “We did most of our work up in Belle’s room since you never go in there.”

Milly giggled. “Charlie helped me. You came in one time, and I thought for sure you saw it.”

“How about cutting that cake I’ve been eying? You know what we eat out on patrol?” Captain McHenry made a face that made Opal giggle.

After the cake was passed around and everyone had complimented Daisy and Cimarron on their creation, they all rose and headed for the back porch to enjoy the cool breeze.

Opal went upstairs, put on all her new things, and came back down to show them off. “I look like a real cowboy now.”

“Cowgirl.”

“Ah, Captain, you knew what I meant.”

“How about we go riding tomorrow so you can make sure all that stuff works?”

“Yes, please. Ruby too?”

“Oh, most certainly, if she can get away.”

Ruby shrugged. “Why not?”
I have so much to do I’ll never catch up anyway, so I might as well go riding. Tonight I am going to search for that box again. The buksbom. I know that was what Far said. And the money box too. Wish I dared search Belle’s room while she’s dealing cards
.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Late June

Summer in Little Missouri left a lot to be desired. The heat, or something, had gotten to them all. Ruby hid out on the porch with the peas to get away from the bickering.

“I sure miss the Brandons.” Opal leaned against a back-porch post.

“You can help me shell the peas.”

“I picked ’em.”

“And you’ll help eat them too, so sit down here in the shade and put your fingers to work.” Ruby knew she’d said something unpleasant about the time it passed her lips, but too late to remedy.

“Do we have to work
all
the time?”

Ruby breathed a sigh, similar to those her sister issued repeatedly.

“I know, why don’t you go get the book and help Milly with her reading? That way you both can sit out here in the shade and keep me company.”

“All right.” Opal jumped off the porch and ran out to the garden where Milly, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, knelt to pull the weeds from along the carrot rows. She’d stormed out there when Cimarron said something that hurt her feelings. Charlie turned from hoeing the potatoes to say something that made Opal laugh. Making Opal laugh was never hard. While Ruby couldn’t hear his comment, she smiled at her sister’s lilting laughter that sprinkled smiles wherever it went. If only she’d hear laughter again from the others. And if Belle didn’t stop snipping, she was going to get snipped herself.

Opal came leaping back. “She’s going to finish the row while I get the book and glasses of sweet tea. You want some?”

“Of course. Thank you.” Ruby split open another fat pea pod and, using her thumb, popped the line of peas into her bowl. The next pod, she thumbed the peas into her palm and then into her mouth. Fresh peas, straight from the garden, sweet and crunchy, were better than cooked peas any time. Unless, of course, they could have creamed peas, new potatoes, and ham over biscuits. She’d have to ask Charlie if there were any tiny new potatoes under the vines he’d been hoeing.

She thought back to the letter received the day before from Mrs. Brandon. Like Opal said, she missed them dreadfully. And they were sorely missed as well. According to Mrs. Brandon, no one could manage the children as well as Ruby had—they’d been through two more tutors, and now Mr. Brandon was threatening to send Jason off to boarding school and the others to a private school for girls.

A private note from Alicia said how much she abhorred that idea.

“Look, if you don’t like the way I iron the tablecloths, you can get up here and do them yourself.” Cimarron’s voice carried clearly through the screen door.

“I was just givin’ you a suggestion.” Belle’s
suggestions
had a queer way of always sounding like orders.

After deciding that she was in no way going to get involved with the conflict inside and with the song of peas pinging the pan, Ruby let her mind drift over the preparations for the Fourth of July celebration, the first one for the town of Little Missouri. There would be horse racing and calf roping in the morning. The cowboys from the local ranches and the soldiers from the cantonment would all be competing. Mr. Williams had set that up, since Ruby had no idea what that entailed.

Captain McHenry had encouraged his men to send for their families to join in the festivities. Perhaps there would be someone for Opal to become friends with.

So far the hotel was fully booked, and the evening’s entertainment would be dancing in the street with the musicians playing from the Dove House porch. Invitations had gone out to all the local ranches, not that there were that many of them. To her surprise, Rand Harrison had offered a steer to roast over a pit, which according to Cimarron was a western specialty called barbeque.

“Okay, Ruby, you ready to listen?”

She hadn’t even heard the girls settle on the porch. “Of course. And thank you for the drink.” She took a long slow sip, savoring the coolness.

Opal read first, and Ruby could hear improvement in her reading. She believed what some folks said: the best way to learn something was to teach it to someone else.

“Okay, now your turn.” Opal handed the book to Milly and pointed to the place. “Start right there.” Opal certainly enjoyed telling someone else what to do. She had adopted a schoolmarm attitude she’d learned from some of the former governesses at the Brandons’.

“John ran through the bush . . . es. His dog, Blacky, ran in front of him. John t . . . r . . . i . . . pp . . . ed, tripped”—her smile beamed at sounding out the word—“over the dog. He hit the g . . . r . . . ound with a smack. Ouch! Blacky barked at John, wa . . . gg . . . ing his tail, his t . . . o . . . n . . . g . . . u . . .”

“Tongue.” Opal supplied the difficult correction.

“Tongue? How can that be?”

Opal looked at Ruby. Ruby shrugged.

“Just the way it is. You’ll find lots of words that just don’t make sense sounding them out.”

“Then how am I supposed to figure them out?”

“That’s what teachers are for.” Ruby smiled at Opal. “Gives them plenty to do.”

Milly turned up her nose. “Well, I sure wouldn’t be a teacher. You got to know too much.”

“Keep reading.” Opal pointed back to the place.

While the words were slow in coming, Milly was persistent. When she finished the page and turned to the next, she traced the new line with her finger, the better to keep her place.

“Someday I am going to read the Bible. My ma used to read to us from the Good Book. She said that was the whole reason to learn to read.”

“It’s a good reason, all right, but there are a lot of other books out there too, and magazines and newspapers. Just think, you’ll be able to read Charlie’s newspaper.”

Milly laughed. “Now won’t that just set his tail on fire.”

Ruby looked up from the bucket where she’d just emptied the last of the pods into her apron lap. “Why?”

“Well, Charlie don’t like no one messing with his paper, leastways until he’s read it.”

“Guess I hadn’t noticed. I’m just grateful he shares what he’s read with the rest of us, or I would have no idea what is going on in this country, let alone the rest of the world. Like the amazing invention in France that makes moving pictures, and Thomas Edison building an electricity plant in Wisconsin. Even though I don’t understand how electricity works and can’t begin to picture lights by a wire and no flame, I still enjoy learning about them.”

“I like the one you are reading to us. Do you think Pilgrim will ever get to the Celestial City?”

“What do you think?”

“I sure want him to be happy. He’s had a hard go of life.”

With a laugh Opal joined in the conversation. “I like
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
. Ruby read that to us back at the Brandons. It was written before the Civil War.”

“Rand Harrison’s father fought in the Civil War.”

“How do you know that?” Ruby asked.

“I heard him telling some men one night. His family lived in the South. That’s why him and the captain didn’t get along too good at first.”

“Well.” Ruby automatically corrected.

“Well what?” Milly watched and waited.

“You need to use the word well in place of good in a sentence like that.”

“Like what?”

“Mr. Harrison and the captain don’t get along well.” Ruby emphasized the last word. She started to give the proper reason for the word usage but just smiled instead. No sense overwhelming her pupil.

Milly returned to her reading, and Ruby dug a handful of peas from the bowl and ate them one at a time, savoring the sweet ones and spitting out ones that had grown old and bitter. While she heard horse’s hooves on the street, she paid no attention, leaning her head back against the post and enjoying the western breeze.

“Look who’s coming.” Opal leaped to her feet as she called, “Hey, Captain!”

Captain McHenry dismounted and tied the two horses he’d been leading to the hitching rail, along with his own. “I wondered if possibly you might be able to exercise these two horses for me.” He tipped his hat to Ruby. “If you can find time, that is.”

Opal was halfway to the horses before she remembered her manners enough to stop and look to Ruby. “We can go riding, can’t we?”

Ruby thought through the myriad of things she had to do and the building tension inside Dove House, but she took in the look of pleading on her sister’s face and capitulated without a fight. “I imagine we can work it in, as a favor to Captain McHenry, of course.” She smiled up at him as he stopped in front of her with a slight bow. “Have some fresh peas, Captain?” She held out the bowl.

“Can’t turn down an offer like that. My mother used to wonder why there were so few pea pods on the vines.”

“You think she ever figured out that her children, rather than the rabbits, were eating them?”

“Well, even the most intelligent rabbits might have a hard time picking the pods off vines trailing on a six-foot fence.” His sneaky smile made her laugh outright.

“I’ll go change and be right back.” Amazing how the thought of an outing lent spring to her step as she set the bowl of shelled peas on the table. Cimarron and Daisy were trading barbed silences now.

Ruby headed up the stairs without comment, and within minutes she had arranged her hair into a club so the broad-brimmed hat rode her head more securely, donned her soft deerskin shirt and divided skirt, and taken her boots to sit on the stairs and lace. With her gloves tucked into the back of her waistband, she returned to the kitchen where Daisy was rolling out pie dough.

“What kind of pie are you making?”

“One canned peach and the other canned cherry. Sure would be good if we could can our own.”

“But we don’t have peach and cherry trees.”

“I know, but we could.”

“In Dakota territory?”

“You’d be surprised what all will grow here in the valley if given half a chance.” She flipped the dough over to give it another pass.

“If peaches grew, I’d really be surprised. Back in New York we’d get some off the train from Georgia. Folks aren’t kidding when they talk about sweet Georgia peaches. Where’s Cimarron?”

“Cleaning out the cardroom.” Her rolled-eye look said “Good thing.”

“Opal and I are going riding with the captain. Do you need us to help with supper?”

Daisy shrugged. “Not unless we get a houseful, and you know the odds on that happening.” She wiped the perspiration off her forehead with the back of her hand.

“Would that we had such a difficulty.” Ruby snagged another handful of peas as she passed the table. “You better put these away, or there won’t be any left for supper.”

McHenry had Ruby’s horse standing beside the mounting block when she went back outside. Opal was already mounted and walking her horse in a circle out by the garden. “Ah, this is so much easier.” Ruby settled in her saddle and wiggled her legs so her skirt left off bunching and hung straight. Even so more of her leg showed than was proper, but at least not much above her boot tops was exposed.

When they trotted down the street, she waved to Mrs. McGeeney, who was scrubbing her front porch.

“She still hasn’t forgiven you for taking over Dove House, has she?”

“No, and I doubt she will. The ladies of Little Missouri seem to hold an exaggerated view of their propriety.”

“Perhaps the Fourth of July celebration will help remedy that.”

“I hope so. Before I came here, I never imagined how few women there were in these parts.”

“That’s going to change real soon. On patrol we talked with two families on their way here from Minnesota. They’re coming in covered wagons. They should be in Dickinson about now. They hope to homestead on the Little Missouri or one of the tributaries. The ranchers most likely won’t be real happy about that.”

“Why not?”

“Cuts into their cattle range.”

“These new folks won’t want to run cattle?”

“Who knows.”

“Surely there’s enough room for everyone.” Ruby thought of the land that went on forever.

“Takes a lot of land to feed cattle. But more people will come. You can count on it.”

If I can only hold on till then
. She watched Opal trotting ahead of them, following the river northward this time. She turned in her saddle and beckoned them on.

“That girl rides like she was born in a saddle.”

“Well, having been nearby at the time, I know for a fact she wasn’t. She’d never been on a horse until the first time you put her up. I can never thank you enough for this. As you’ve noticed, there aren’t many children in this part of the prairie.”

“As I said, that’s going to change. Most likely you’ll need a school here soon.”

“Who will teach it?”

“Oh, the state would advertise for a teacher. That’s what they’ve done in other places.”

“But where would they meet?”

“Have to build a schoolhouse. Might have to build for a cattle company too.”

“A cattle company in Little Missouri?”

“Sure. They’d have their headquarters here and range the cows wherever they want. That’s the value of free range.”

“How does anyone know whose cattle is whose?”

“They round them up and brand the new calves every summer.”

“Brand them?”

“Heat up an iron brand to red-hot in a fire, then slap it on the calf’s rump. Smells something awful.”

“How terrible for the calf. Why, a burn hurts worse than anything.”

“Don’t bother them none. They jump up and run back to their mothers. Spring roundup is a real busy time for the ranchers. In the fall they round up the steers, and those that are big enough are shipped back east for butchering.”

“On the railroad?”

“There used to be cattle drives. Some still come up from Texas that way, but east and west they use the railroad.”

“I see.”

When the trail widened, Opal dropped back to ride with them.

“You will understand things better once you’ve been through a year here.” He stopped his horse and pointed ahead. “See that snag up there?” At the look of confusion on her face, he explained. “See that dead tree along the river? That bed of sticks in the upper branches is an eagle’s nest. Been there for three years that I know of. Eagle chicks ought to be learning to fly pretty soon. Sometimes their mothers have to push them out of the nest to make them fly.”