Tenderness (27 page)

On Saturday, Jesse, Pauline and the doctor were at the schoolhouse at seven o’clock preparing for the mass smallpox vaccinations.

Jody had been vaccinated the evening before, after Susan had teased him for being a coward and a crybaby. She and Todd had
been vaccinated several years earlier and proudly displayed the scars on their upper arms. By morning Jody was running a slight
fever which was sure to rise during the day. Doctor Forbes had sent him back to Ike’s with orders for him to take it easy
for the next two days.

The number of people who came for vaccinations far exceeded what the doctor had expected. The townspeople came early. Wagons
loaded with families from outside of town started coming in by mid-morning. Some came later after the farmers had done their
day’s work. The doctor welcomed all in the same manner whether they could pay or not. Most everyone dropped a few cents into
the donation box.

By late afternoon Jesse was tired of hearing the sound of her own voice saying the same words over and over.

“There will be a festered sore on the arm. Cover it loosely so that air can get to it. You may wish to have one of those little
celluloid bubbles to put over it. The druggist has them for two cents each. There will be a fever for a few days. Be sure
the patient gets plenty of rest and drinks plenty of water. Should the fever be very high and you cannot bring it down with
a sponge bath or if the sore should become infected and you cannot bring the patient to the surgery, send word. The doctor
or I will come out.”

Mothers held screaming younger children. Boys and girls of school age tried to act nonchalant about the vaccination but cringed
when the doctor approached them with the instrument he used to scrape their arms. Fathers shuffled their feet and talked crops
with the other farmers as they waited for their families.

Finally the day ended.

Tomorrow, Jesse thought, as they trudged home after having inoculated more than three hundred people, she would see Wade.
All day long, as busy as she was, eagerness for the sight of him had crept into her bones like an ache.

Pauline’s thoughts were also on the morrow. She wondered, as she walked beside her friend, if Ethan would show up to go with
them to the ball game after she had pointedly told him she did not want to go with him. Frustration throbbed in Pauline’s
throat. That damned man had skin as tough as an elephant’s and didn’t know how to take no for an answer.

Sitting on the porch of the rooming house, Ethan saw Jesse and Pauline come down the street at the end of the block, then
turn to go toward the doctor’s house. It was a puzzle to him why he was so attracted to the blond beauty who was so cold to
him. It was irritating too. He was here to do a job, but she was constantly in his thoughts. Inside that cold exterior he
was certain there was a passionate woman; if only he could break down the barriers she put around herself, she would be warm
and loving in his arms.

After the women were out of sight, Ethan mused about the conversation he’d had that day with the postmaster. Ralph had assured
him that Dick Efthim was a trustworthy man and that he and his wife Patricia ran the post office and store completely free
of Harper control. The Emporium across the street from the store was Harper-owned and-operated.

After introducing himself, Ethan had shown Dick his credentials and said that if he wanted verification he could talk to Ralph
at the paper. After that they had talked quietly for several minutes.

“I’ve never done anything like this.” Dick was a careful man. His being a competitor of the Harpers and the fact that the
Postal Department had refused Harper’s request to have the post office moved from Efthim’s store to the one Harper owned had
put Efthim in a precarious position.

“It’s important, or I wouldn’t ask you to do it.”

“What’s she done?”

“I can’t tell you that. The less you know the better off you’ll be. If she gets a letter or if she mails one, lay it aside
and get word to me. There’s a reward out for information about this woman. I’m not sure of the amount, but if she’s who we
think she is, you’ll be in for a slice of the reward.”

“I’m just worried I’ll lose my job.”

“I can assure you that you won’t. I’ve been with the Bureau for nine years. They take care of their own.”

“All right, Mr. Bredlow, I’ll do as you say. The woman seems nice enough, but kind of snooty for my taste. She comes in and
talks to Patricia, but she buys very little. Asks a lot of questions as if she plans to stay in town for a long time.

“Not a word to your wife.”

“I won’t.” He shook his head vigorously. “I don’t want her involved in this. Not that she’d say anything, mind you. I just
don’t want her to worry. She’s expecting.”

Ethan thought over his conversation with the postmaster and felt he was on the right track. Louella Lindstrom would have connections,
and they would try to get in touch with her, or her with them. He needed just one little thread to tie her in and his job
would be done.

His thoughts turned again to Pauline. He’d never had to fight so hard for a woman, and he relished the challenge. One day
she would goad him too far, and he would kiss that defiant look off her face. He grinned. Damn the woman. Maybe it would happen
tomorrow.

S
upper was scarcely over when the knocker sounded on the front door. Louella answered and after a few minutes came into the
dining room to announce that Jesse had a caller.

Thinking that surely it was Wade, Jesse hurried to the parlor. Much to her disappointment and surprise, Edsel Harper rose
from the settee to greet her.

“Evening, Miss Jesse.” Edsel was dressed as he was each day when he went to the bank: dark serge suit, white shirt and high
stiff collar. He looked hot and uncomfortable.

“Evening, Edsel. Did you come to see my father?”

“No. Oh, no, Miss Jesse. I’ve come to take you for a ride. After such an exhausting day, you are in need of some relaxation,
I’m sure, and I have the means to provide it.”

“I’m glad you’ve a buggy of your own, but I’m not really interested in a ride. Thank you anyway.”

“Let me be the judge of what’s best for you. That’s a man’s role, you know. My buggy is waiting. Shall we go?” He reached
to cup her elbow in his hand.

Jesse stepped out of his reach. “I said no, Edsel, but thanks again for the kind thought.” That is if it was your thought,
she wanted to add. “I do not want to go.”

“Oh, but a ride would cool you off.”

“A bath will do the same thing.”

“Then will you sit on the porch with me for a while?”

“No. I have things to do—”

“Just for a while,” he coaxed. His eyes had a brightness to them as they roamed her face and lowered to her breasts. His red
lips turned down in a pout. Jesse couldn’t help but compare his lips to Wade’s wide firm mouth.

“I told you I have things to do,” she said in a firm, no-nonsense manner.

Her words wiped the smile from Edsel’s face and a flush of red covered his cheeks. He straightened his shoulders and threw
back his head just as she had seen his father do when he was talking to a farmer who was asking for a loan.

“Miss Jesse, maybe you don’t realize it now, but your reputation has suffered a severe blow. I’m here to help you recover
it. You have very few friends left in this town. If you’re seen riding or sitting on the front porch with me, the gossip will
soon die down.”

Anger caused Jesse’s cheeks to flush, but she spoke calmly.

“I appreciate your willingness to sacrifice your reputation to help me, Edsel, but I can’t allow you to do it. Gossip is like
the poisoned fangs of a rattler. It leaves its venom to work in the wound. It may be years before my name is even mentioned
by the
decent
women of this town because I am considered… flawed.” She finished dramatically but her sarcasm failed to register with Edsel.

“I’m willing, Miss Jesse. I’ll do whatever it takes to see that you are vindicated. It wasn’t your fault. You were trying
to be kind and gentle as you were raised to be. A refined young lady is no match for that hill trash. Why, there’s no telling
what harm you could have suffered. Heaven forbid”—Edsel lifted his hands palms up—“in that dark ball park he could have ravished
you.”

Anger, with a full head of steam, boiled up in Jesse. With her hands on her hips and eyes blazing she cast aside all pretense
of politeness to a guest in her home.

“Don’t you dare call Wade Simmer hill trash, you… you mealy-mouthed worm!” The words exploded from her mouth in a high screech
of indignation.

Edsel’s face registered first shock and then disbelief. But it didn’t stop Jesse’s tirade.

“You snooped and found out we went to the ball park. How dare you spy on me!” She stepped up to him and thumped his chest
with her forefinger. “Wade is worth a hundred of you. What have you ever done for your fellow man? You think you’re better
than anyone else because your name is Harper. You sit in your bank lording it over the poor souls who come in seeking a loan
so they can keep body and soul together. Wade Simmer is the most decent man I’ve ever met. He cares about his neighbors. He
cares about those less fortunate than he is, and he’s had to tolerate this town’s hostility because you Harpers keep stirring
up things that happened years back.”

Edsel backed toward the door and Jesse followed.

“Now, just a minute, Miss Jesse, I didn’t spy—”

“Don’t Miss Jesse me, you… you… sappy, stuck-up jackass.” Her voice was loud enough to be heard all over the house.

“Now just a minute—”

“Just a minute is all you’ve got to get out of this house. But before you go, I want you to know that as far as my reputation
in this prissy, small-minded, Harper-controlled town is concerned, I don’t give a hoot and a holler about what anyone thinks,
and that includes the almighty Harpers. I
love
Wade Simmer. Love him, love him, love him,” she repeated in a high screech. “I’m going to marry him. Now go home and tell
your mamma and papa that the doctor’s daughter is going to hell in a hand basket. Then you can cry on your mamma’s shoulder.”

Edsel stood as if frozen. His eyes narrowed, his lips were pressed so tightly together they looked like a thin red line. The
hands holding his hat shook.

“You’re making a terrible mistake.” When he spoke his voice was low and controlled. “A mistake you’ll regret for the rest
of your life.”

“If my marrying Wade is a mistake, it’s
my mistake.”

“You’ll be sorry for this,” he said quietly. “Mark my words, Jesse,” he said, deliberately leaving off the polite “Miss” he
had always used.

He looked at her with eyes filled with hatred. Then he turned on his heels and left, closing the door softly behind him.

Jesse stood motionless with her hands clasped in front of her. Suddenly she realized what had evaded her before. There was
something deep and evil working in Edsel Harper. His eyes had glowed as he looked at her breasts although the dress she wore
was not tight-fitting. It was as if he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Susan bounded into the room.

“You sure told him off, Jess. Old Louella is mad as a hornet. She said your behavior was
disgraceful!
You are ruined in this town… and on and on. Well, la-de-da! I thought it was… heavenly. It’s about time someone put that
stuck-up toad in his place.”

“Did everyone hear?”

Susan nodded happily. “Papa got up in the middle of it and went into the surgery. I’m not sure, but I thought I saw a grin
on his face before he shut the door.”

“I lost my temper, Susy. Heavens to Betsy, three times in the last two weeks I’ve lost it.”

“He’s a nasty old thing anyhow. Jeff Stealy found a dirty magazine in the back of his buggy. Mary Sue and I just got a peek
when he took it away from us. There were pictures of naked women—”

“For goodness sake. When did this happen?”

“A week ago. Edsel’s buggy was behind the bank. Jeff saw some papers sticking out from under the seat in the back. He pulled
them out and found the dirty magazine. He’s had fun showing it around to the boys, but he won’t let me and Mary Sue see it.”

“I hope he didn’t show it to Todd.”

“He didn’t. He said Todd was too young to appreciate it. Imagine old Edsel having a dirty magazine.” Susan wrapped her arms
about her sister’s waist. “Jess, did you mean it when you said you were going to marry Mr. Simmer?”

“With all my heart I meant it. I’m going to marry him someday. But don’t worry. I’ll not go and leave you and Todd with Mrs.
Lindstrom.”

“Does Papa know?”

“He knows.”

“Could Todd and I come with you?”

“And leave Papa at the mercy of Louella? No, I’ll not leave until she’s gone.”

“She wants to marry Papa. I know she does.”

“Don’t worry about Papa. He’s smart enough to see through her sooner or later.”

“I wish she’d go.”

“So do I, but we’ve got to trust Papa, Susy. We both know that he’d never do anything to hurt his children. He hired her to
relieve me of the household chores. But he’s bound to realize she’s more trouble than she’s worth. We’ve got to wait it out.
I’ll make you a bet that she’ll be out of here by Christmas.”

“Christmas! We gotta put up with her that long?”

“Maybe not. Where’s Pauline?”

“She took a few of the dishes to the kitchen. But when she heard what you were saying to Edsel, she laughed, and Ghost-face
said that you and Pauline were two of a kind. Pauline ran up to her room giggling all the way.”

“I want to talk to her.” With Jesse’s arm across Susan’s shoulders they walked to the foot of the stairway. “Keep an eye on
Todd,” Jesse said in a low voice. “See that he stays out of Louella’s way. I’m sure she set up the arrangement for Edsel to
call on me; and after what happened, she may take her spite out on Todd.”

“If she does, I’ll fix her wagon!”