Unbridled Dreams (31 page)
“Have you begun the new ensemble I’d ordered for this fall yet?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I—”
“Good,” Willa interrupted. “I won’t be needing it after all. I’d appreciate it if you could just carry the payment I made as a credit on your books. I’m certain I’ll need some work done in coming weeks. I’m just—well. Things are little uncertain at the moment regarding my plans for the fall..”
Miss Avery nodded. “Actually I’d thought that might be the case.” she said. “When I saw that the house was closed up, I thought I should wait to begin until I’d heard from you again.”
Closed up? The house has been closed up? Just because Ella Jane
and Samuel married and left town is no reason
— “Well then,” Willa said, “I’ll be in touch. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
She left the shop quickly, climbed into her buggy, and drove to the house. What was this nonsense Ellen Avery was spouting about her and Otto closing things up? Otto said he was living at the hotel, but she hadn’t really taken that seriously. After all, he was the one who’d wanted the big house in the first place. She couldn’t imagine him ever really giving it up.
She pulled the buggy beneath the portico and went to the side door, surprised when she could not look inside. Someone had drawn every drape in the house. Her heart pounding, Willa unlocked the door and let herself in. Every stick of furniture in the house had been covered with drop cloths. Ella Jane’s room was empty. The kitchen was in order, but both icebox and pantry were empty. Someone had set a mousetrap beneath the kitchen table.
He’d really done it.
She let herself out and locked the door.
Willa drove to the bank. After all, Otto should know she’d been at the house in case someone reported seeing a woman snooping around. Of course everyone in North Platte recognized Willa Friedrich’s horse and buggy. She didn’t really believe anyone would report a “suspicious person” snooping around the house. But it wouldn’t hurt for Otto to know that in spite of his betrayal, she could be civil. It also wouldn’t hurt for everyone to see that the Friedrichs could effect a civilized separation.
“He’s been staying over at the hotel since closing up the house,” Wilber said.
Willa nodded. “I know.” She paused. “I’ll just wait in his office until he returns. If you don’t think it’ll be too long?”
“Well, ma’am, I couldn’t say exactly. But you won’t want to wait in there. Mr. Friedrich’s in Denver. Didn’t say when he’d be back.”
The Wild West arrived in New York sometime during the night of June 25. Belle awoke the instant the train stopped moving. She lay for a few minutes listening to the now familiar sounds of pulleys and hammers, whinnies and hoofbeats, as supply wagons were unloaded and tents raised. When it was clear she wasn’t going to be able to go back to sleep, she climbed out of her berth and began to dress.
“You’ve certainly come a long way since your cowbell days,” Helen said from her upper berth. She reached down and ruffled Belle’s hair. “In case you haven’t noticed, it’s still pitch-dark outside.”
“But they’re putting up the tents.
Our
tent. Aren’t you sick of living on this train? And think of it—there’s an ocean out there! And the city of New York! And the bridge! Who can sleep thinking about all of that?!”
“Apparently
no one
stuck in a Pullman with you,” Mabel grumbled. With a dramatic sigh she turned over, telegraphing her intention to try.
Belle grabbed her boots. “Well, you three can sleep all day if you like. I’m going to go see if Diamond’s unloaded yet. Maybe braid his mane for the parade. Do you think Ma would let me have some ribbon?”
“For crying out loud,” Mabel said. “Will you
hush
?”
Rolling her eyes, Belle did an exaggerated tiptoe for the door, sitting on the bottom step to pull on her boots. Helen wasn’t far behind.
The dressing tent was already up. Helen and Belle were among the first Wild Westers to arrive, but Shep and Monte soon popped in, and just as Belle was asking Ma Clemmons if there might be some red fabric she could tear into strips and braid into Diamond’s mane and tail, Dora Spurgeon ducked inside, too.
“Nope,” Ma shook her head. “I’ve got no red fabric to spare.” She reached for a box. “But let’s see what we can rustle up.” She opened the box and with mock surprise said, “Well, lookee here.” She pulled out a dark blue split skirt, matching vest, and a red shirt. Draping the vest and shirt over her arm, Ma held up the skirt. “Looks to be about your size, wouldn’t you say?”
“It’s perfect.” Belle caressed the soft blue fabric, then held the skirt up to her waist.
Shep reached behind a folding screen and produced a hatbox holding a new fawn-colored Stetson with a scarlet hatband. “Approved by Mr. Salsbury as required,” Shep said with a smile.
“And h-h-here,” Dora said, and pulled a white kerchief out of her pocket. “I p-p-put those b-beads on the edge. S-s-ilver, so they shine in the l-lights.”
Tears welled up as Belle looked at her circle of friends. “I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s all right,” Ma Clemmons said, “because there’s no time for a speech anyway.” She handed Belle a pile of red, white, and blue ribbons. “At least not if you’re going to get that horse’s mane braided in time for Liberty Belle’s first official parade.”
“Excited or scared?” Shep joined Belle at the ferry railing.
“A little of both,” Belle said. She motioned toward the city. “That’s an amazing sight for a girl from Nebraska.”
“That’s an amazing sight for anyone from anywhere,” Shep said.
He pointed across the water to a small island. “Bledsoe’s Island. Liberty Enlightening the World. Most of it still in crates around the base.”
“Can we go over there sometime?”
“I’ll take you first chance we get,” Shep said.
Monte spoke up. “Too bad Orrin Knox won’t be around for that.” He held one hand up and swept it across an imaginary banner. “Liberty Belle meets Liberty.”
They all laughed, then Shep nodded in the opposite direction of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge. “If you’re
real
nice to me, I might even see my way clear to take you to see the bridge close up. But you got to be
real
nice. It costs three cents to cross it on the pedestrian walkway. I wouldn’t want to waste my hard-earned money on just anyone.”
Belle arched one eyebrow and looked up at him. “I’ll have you know I’m not ‘just anyone,’ cowboy.”
He smiled down at her. “Well, you’re right about that, ma’am, and I do stand corrected.”
Feeling herself begin to blush, Belle changed the subject, pointing to the ferry landing. “There’s more people than in the whole of North Platte just right there at the landing.”
Helen Keen shook her head. “I am gonna be more than ready to skedaddle straight to the train station and head for my wide-open spaces when this season is over and done.”
Belle began to get nervous. “One thing’s certain. I’m grateful for good old Diamond and his steady temperament today.”
Helen patted Diamond’s neck. “He’s a good old boy. And you’ll do fine. Just follow Dora and me, and don’t try anything too flashy right away.”
The ferry landed. Leading Diamond, Belle followed the other cowgirls ashore. Diamond’s ears came forward. He began to dance around a bit. “It’s all right,” Belle said quietly. She put a hand on the horse’s neck. “Just a waterfront. Different smells, I know. Not like back home. But see there up ahead? You know those other horses. And there’s Helen . . . and Dora . . . and grouchy old Mabel . . . and it’s just another parade. Noisier than Washington, but still just a parade. We’ll be fine.” Whether she was talking to herself or the horse didn’t really matter. Diamond calmed down a little and she began to feel better, too.
Helen led the way to where the troupe was forming a long line just outside the ferry station. Belle mounted up. Diamond flicked his silken tail and tossed his head as he danced into place.
“I think he likes it,” Belle laughed as the old pony began to show more spirit than she’d ever seen.
“Of course he does, honey,” Helen said. “The boys always like to strut their stuff.” She nodded up ahead. “Look at the Shepherd. He’s having the time of his life.”
It was true. Shep hadn’t even mounted up yet. Instead, he’d walked to where a group of New Yorkers—of the feminine variety— lined the curb. He was signing autographs and smiling and nodding, and if it hadn’t been for Nate Salsbury’s piercing whistle, Belle thought Shep might have just been swallowed up by the mass of ladies struggling to talk to him. When he tipped his hat and leaped into the saddle without using his stirrups, the ladies squealed with delight. Shep backed his palomino away from the curb and guided him into place just behind Buffalo Bill and alongside Annie Oakley and Lillian Smith. Cody stood up in his stirrups and, raising his arm like an army scout giving orders to a column of soldiers, motioned for everyone to move out. The band began to play, and off they went.
As the parade took shape, cowboys, vaqueros, and Indians fell in behind the Wild West stars, and Belle lost sight of Shep. Ma Clemmons’s husband, Grady, followed the Indians, leading a pair of tame buffalo. Next came the Deadwood mail coach and mounted riders playing the part of the pony express charging up and down either side of the procession brandishing pistols as their ponies’ hoofs clattered on the brick streets.
Finally, it was the women’s turn to ride. Belle hadn’t gone three city blocks before her face began to hurt from smiling and her shoulders to ache from waving.
“I can’t feel my face anymore,” Belle said at one point.
“The price of fame, honey,” Helen replied without even looking over. She signaled her horse to rear up, and the crowd applauded and whistled. Diamond tossed his head and swished his tail. Helen laughed. “Go ahead,” she said to Belle. “Give it a whirl. Just remember we’re going to be doing this for about twice as long as we did in D.C., so pace yourself. And the horse.”
In the next block Belle and Diamond put on the show. Then Mabel and Dora followed suit. Belle slipped behind her saddle and lay prone across Diamond’s back. The reaction was so enthusiastic that Mabel and Dora began to show a few of their tricks, too. At one point, Belle took her feet out of the stirrups, turned around and, riding backward, bent her knees and positioned her feet atop Diamond’s rump. Leaning back, she hoped she was giving the impression of a lady in repose. Apparently she was, because the crowd loved it. On impulse, she took her kerchief off and, waving it in the air, looked back at Dora. When Dora nodded, Belle tossed the kerchief. Dora caught it, then tossed it to Mabel. But Mabel didn’t even try to toss it back. Instead, she twirled it in the air and then threw it down. Belle spun Diamond around and swooped down and picked the kerchief up off the pavement. Again, the crowd roared approval.
By the time the Wild West parade made the turn that would take them back down the length of Manhattan Island to the ferry landing, the four riders had repeated every trick over and over again. Muscles hurt that Belle didn’t even know she had. She was exhausted, and she had never felt better in her life.