Читать книгу Calico Christmas at Dry Creek - Janet Tronstad - Страница 10

There was a cluster of cottonwood trees leading into the small town of Miles City. The trees were slender and not rooted very deep in the gray alkali soil, but they gave some relief from the vast emptiness that seemed to echo back and forth in this part of the territories. Elizabeth hadn’t been prepared for all of this vastness. It felt as though God could look right down and see her, not because He was searching her out, but just because there was so little else in sight. Well, if He wanted to look, she couldn’t stop Him. It did make her nervous, though.

She sat on the wagon seat next to Jake. It had rained some on the way here and the dampness had turned the ground dark. It wasn’t wet enough to slow down the wagon wheels, though, so Elizabeth had been holding the baby in her arms to protect the little one from the worst of the jostling as they bumped along the rough road. She looked down and smiled.

Elizabeth might not want God looking at her, but she was glad He knew about the baby. She adjusted the blanket covering the infant and, when she looked up again, Jake had turned the oxen team slightly to enter the town and she could see the main street for the first time.

The trip to Miles City had been slow. Jake had his horse tied to the back of the wagon, and Spotted Fawn had ridden her pony as far away from the wagon as she could while still riding with them.

“Why, it’s full of people.” Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. There were people everywhere and dozens of wagon wheels had made tracks down the street. Her first feeling was relief that she and Matthew hadn’t come through this town before he got the fever.

Matthew had everything so well planned. He’d told her it would be okay if he started his store by selling things from the back of their wagon. He figured most of the buildings would be thrown together with bits of canvas and mud-chinked logs so people would not expect to shop in a regular mercantile as they would if they were back East.

But Matthew had been wrong. There were no canvas and rough-hewn huts to be seen. The frame buildings were neatly painted and laid out on two sides of something called Richmond Square. There was even a sign naming the place. That meant someone had money. Miles City was not like the gold-mining towns Matthew had heard about that were thrown together haphazardly because everyone was looking for gold. The gnarled branches of the cottonwoods weren’t the kind of trees used to make the plank boards in these buildings.

“Somebody hauled in a lot of lumber.” Elizabeth wondered if maybe the town had been rough earlier, but had grown up without Matthew hearing about it.

Jake nodded. “It came in on the steamboats. I brought some of the lumber down from Fort Benton myself. I was going to add onto my place, but I gave it to the school instead.”

Elizabeth was glad no one could see the flannel union suits and unbleached muslin Matthew had packed so hopefully in the bottom of their wagon.

“We couldn’t afford to take a steamboat,” she said. “Not with all the goods Matthew wanted to bring. That’s why he got us our wagon. Fortunately, we found a few other wagons still going this way, so we came together.”

Elizabeth wondered what she would do with all of the things Matthew had packed in that wagon. Most of it was rough fabrics with little value. The best cloth they had was the red calico cotton she’d dyed herself. It was one of the few things in the bottom of the wagon that truly belonged to her.

Most people wouldn’t even have attempted what she’d done, but an old woman had told Elizabeth about the dye process and she’d decided to try it. She liked the name of it—Turkey red oil-boiled dye. It had all sounded so grand and exotic.

She’d been pregnant at the time and wanted some bright red yarn so she could knit a blanket for their baby’s first Christmas. Matthew had said it was foolish to give a present to a baby, but she didn’t think so. Most of the reds that were dyed in other ways would fade or bleed with each washing and she wanted a blanket that would hold its color for generations to come. She had pictured her baby showing the blanket to his or her own baby in the distant future and telling the little one that Grandma had made the red blanket for a very special Christmas years ago.

A lone rider passed their wagon and Elizabeth was jolted out of her memories. She’d gotten so caught up in thinking about the Christmas yarn that she’d forgotten that her whole reason for making it was now gone. She had no family. No husband to worry about pleasing. She had no use for a red blanket that held its color for generations.

Her life had changed once again and an unbleached gray was enough to mark her endless days. She was sure she could sell the red yarn, and the fabric she’d dyed, too, but she doubted there would be much of a market for the other things she and Matthew had brought west. The people walking in and out of the stores here were not wearing poor clothes. It was mostly men walking around, but there were women, too. And they were clearly used to getting good fabrics.

Matthew hadn’t had the money to buy any but the lowest quality. He thought that, by the time people demanded better goods, he would have the money to buy them. His heart would have been broken if he had lived to see his dream fall apart.

Nothing was turning out the way they had planned, Elizabeth told herself as she looked away from the busy street and back at the man sitting beside her on the wagon seat.

She couldn’t believe she was going to marry this man. She still felt married to Matthew.

She, Jake and the girls had left the fort before midday. She had put everything back in the wagon and Jake had managed to convince Mr. Miller to return the oxen that were now pulling it. The blacksmith had even thrown in a bag of oats for good wishes on their life together. Elizabeth hadn’t known what to say when the man carried out the oats so she’d unpacked six jars of her best canned green beans and given them to him in appreciation.

Jake grunted as he turned and motioned for Spotted Fawn to come closer.

Then he turned to Elizabeth. “This town gets busier every day. Someone put up that hotel hoping that the railroad will stop here. All of the surveying the army is doing has people on edge wondering what route the railroad will take when it comes this way. I tell people it’s years away, but no one knows for sure.”

Elizabeth thought Jake wanted to say more about the railroad, but he didn’t do it so she kept looking around. She noticed that the hotel was only one of several two-story buildings on the street. The rain had turned the top of the ground into a thick mud. Several horses and a buggy were making their way through the street. The wheels didn’t sink in far, but the boots of the men walking seemed to pick up a layer of mud.

“Maybe Matthew could have gotten a job clerking in one of these places,” Elizabeth said looking down the length of the street. In her heart, though, she knew he would have refused to work for someone else. He would have given up. They would have been even poorer here than they had been back in Kansas. She would have had to take in laundry again and there would have been no one to watch the baby while she lifted the tubs of scalding water.

The laundry itself would have been difficult, too. No one seemed to be wearing simple clothes. The woman hurrying across the street in front of them was holding up skirts that showed lace-trimmed petticoats. Ruffles like that required a hot iron at the end of it all. And the skirt over the petticoats looked as if it was made of blue French serge. It would take extra brushing to keep the double weave looking nice. And no one wanted to pay extra for any of it.

A modest blue hat sat atop the woman’s brilliant copper hair. Elizabeth looked at the hair closely. The hair was so colorful she wondered, at first, if it had been dyed with henna. But surely the woman could not get those tones with the dye, so the hair must be natural. Elizabeth almost envied her until the woman lifted her head and finally saw Elizabeth and Jake. The woman glanced up with a vague smile, but as she looked fully at Jake, her expression turned to shock and then to an indignant frown. Elizabeth wondered if the woman was angry with them for some reason, but she hurried off before Elizabeth could ask Jake about her.

“I’ll send a note down to the reverend while we buy a few things at the store,” Jake said as he slowed the wagon.

Elizabeth forced her attention back to the man beside her. “Oh, you don’t need to do that—buy anything, I mean. Not for me.”

“You’ll still need things for the girls. Dresses and all.”

Elizabeth wondered if Jake knew how much things like that cost. A man who wore buckskin wasn’t likely to know how dear fabric was. If it was gingham or calico, the price might not be too bad. But a twill silk or French serge material was impossible. Still, it was nice of him to think of what they needed. It was more than Matthew had ever done. “I know how to get by. We won’t need much that’s store-bought.”

“I want the girls to look like ladies.”

“Surely they won’t need to—” Elizabeth stumbled when she saw she was giving offense. “Not because they’re Indian girls. That’s not what I meant.”

“They have white blood in them, too. Red Tail was half-white.”

“Of course. It’s just that they’re only girls.”

“I want them to have the best dresses possible. We’ll order from San Francisco if we have to.”

Elizabeth nodded. Now she’d gotten his pride involved. He was probably going to spend money on dresses that they should be saving for winter food. But she knew men well enough to know that she’d only make matters worse by continuing to press him on it. She would sew the dresses herself, of course, and she’d only pick out the cheaper fabrics. Maybe she could even use some of the muslin they had in the wagon. The bark of an oak tree made a light yellow dye that would set the muslin well and the girls wouldn’t even notice the material wasn’t store-bought.

“You should get a new dress, too,” Jake added. “Maybe something in a deep moss green to match your eyes.”

She didn’t have any dyes that went to a deep green. She had the leavings of some indigo that she could mix with wood ash to make black, but she’d have to buy bolted material to have any kind of a green. “I’d rather have some tea. And maybe a lid to cover my pan so I can steep it properly. “

Tea was cheaper and more to her liking than color-pressed fabric anyway. She’d had the luxury of real tea for a week or so now. A tin of it had been left on the seat of her wagon one morning with the hardtack. She hadn’t been able to brew it properly because she only had an open pan to hold it, but she’d enjoyed it immensely. Her conviction that she was dying had made her reckless and she’d used more of the tea than she had intended so she didn’t have much left.

Elizabeth felt Jake pull the wagon to a complete halt in front of a building with a large sign that read The Broadwater, Bubbel and Company Mercantile. The store was fronted by a small section of wooden walkway and she could look right into the windows. She had never seen so much merchandise, not even in any of the stores she’d gone to back in Kansas. She was glad she was still wearing her gray silk dress even though she didn’t have a proper hat to wear with it.

Jake jumped off the wagon and walked around to take the baby. He slipped the baby into his fur sling before reaching up with the other arm to offer Elizabeth help in stepping down from the wagon. Elizabeth was grateful for the assistance, more to impress anyone who might be watching them than because she needed the help. If they were going to do business in this town, Elizabeth wanted them to look respectable.

The warm smell of spices greeted Elizabeth when she walked through the door that Jake had opened for her. This time Elizabeth didn’t want to take any chances on unintentionally offending someone. She smiled at the woman behind the counter. She did not get a smile back. Spotted Fawn had not come in with them so Elizabeth wondered if it was the Indian baby that was causing the upset look in the woman’s eyes.

But that couldn’t be right, Elizabeth told herself. The furs covered the little one so completely that no one could even tell a baby rested in Jake’s arms. The woman was definitely staring at the furs, though. She must have been watching them through the windows.

“Good afternoon, Annabelle,” Jake said.

The woman did not answer. Her skin was flushed and her chin defiant. Her face looked kind, even if her eyes were braced for battle and focused on a spot to the right of the doorway. She was past middle-aged and some gray showed in the light brown hair she wore pulled back into a bun. Her white blouse was freshly pressed and her black wool skirt was proper.

Elizabeth thought the other woman wasn’t going to answer Jake, but finally she did.

“Good afternoon to you, as well.”

Only then did the woman meet Elizabeth’s eyes.

Elizabeth forced herself to smile. Even if the woman wouldn’t want to socialize with them for some reason, surely she would be polite. And, if Elizabeth were even more polite in return, the woman would need to continue answering back.

“You have a good store here. Your shelves are completely full. I see coffee and spices. Flour, too,” Elizabeth said. “You must be proud.”

The store looked well enough stocked to meet anyone’s needs. The front counters, showcase and shelves were a dark wood made shiny from repeated rubdowns. To the left, there was a tobacco cutter. Behind the woman there were tins of face powder and hand mirrors with matching brushes. A cracker barrel stood in front of the case. A few leather-bound books lay on the top of the counter.

Farther back, Elizabeth saw a tin of tea that was the same kind that had been left at her wagon. Beside it was a china teapot with lovely pink roses painted on its side.

“It’s not my store. I just clerk here,” the woman said stiffly.

“Still, you must make recommendations and I can’t think of anything your shelves are lacking.”

“We do have a good selection,” the woman admitted. By now her face looked pale as though she needed to force herself to stand by her words. “For our better customers.”

Elizabeth could see Jake’s jaw clench.

“I didn’t know you had different kinds of customers,” Jake said.

Annabelle was silent for a minute. “Your friends were here this morning, after you left.”

“Higgins and Wells?”

Annabelle looked miserable, but determined. “Our other customers complained.”

“I know they can be a little loud,” Jake said. “But I’ve never known them to mean anyone harm.”

The store clerk’s face tightened.

“I…ah—” Elizabeth tried to think of something to say to relieve the tension “—I am surprised to see such a fine store. Back in Kansas, we hadn’t expected to see something like this way out here. My husband would have—”

Elizabeth faltered to a stop, but then continued. “My husband wanted to own a store like this someday.”

Annabelle took her eyes off Jake and turned them toward Elizabeth. Something flickered in the woman’s eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

Jake looked at the shelves behind the counter and then turned to the clerk. “We need to buy a wedding ring.”

Oh, dear, Elizabeth thought. She was not sure she could marry another man who wanted to spend money so freely. She accepted that she would be the one responsible for providing most of the food and clothing. She had always had to do for herself and those around her. But cash money was hard to come by and she didn’t like to see it slip away no matter who had worked for it.

“I don’t need a new ring,” Elizabeth whispered as she leaned closer to Jake. She had no desire to embarrass him in front of the store clerk, but they needed to come to some understanding. “We can use the one I already have.”

“I won’t use your husband’s ring.”

Elizabeth watched as the clerk turned to look for something on the shelf behind the counter. Elizabeth figured the woman was giving them some privacy. She smoothed down the skirt of her dress.

“The ring was my mother’s,” Elizabeth murmured quietly. She’d been given it at her parents’ funeral and had kept it all the years since. Matthew had been relieved that he didn’t need to buy a ring for her. “And it’s an expense that we don’t need.”

Elizabeth watched Annabelle turn around and set a tray on the counter. The woman’s face softened slightly as she studied Elizabeth. “You’re that woman, aren’t you? The one out by the fort who lost her husband and baby?”

Elizabeth gave a jerky nod. So that was the problem. “The doctor says I’m past the time of getting the fever, though. You don’t need to worry.”

The woman reached over and set her hand on Elizabeth’s arm. “I felt so sorry for you. I sent a tin of tea out with one of the soldiers. I hope you got it. Tea always soothes me when I don’t feel good.”

Elizabeth relaxed. Maybe the woman was just cautious with strangers. Or maybe Jake’s friends had upset other customers by cursing or something. It was likely a misunderstanding of sorts. Annabelle seemed to be a nice person.

“That tea was such a lovely gift,” Elizabeth said as she smiled at the other woman. “I don’t know when I’ve had tea that I’ve enjoyed as much. I had some sassafras bark in the wagon with me, but I used most of it up when my husband was sick.”

Elizabeth didn’t think she’d ever be able to drink sassafras tea again without picturing Matthew dying. Even the smell of it made her feel ill.

The woman nodded. “That tea was from England. We got it with our last shipment.”

Elizabeth thought the woman was going to say something more, but instead she glanced up at Jake and all of the friendliness in her face drained away. She looked worried and afraid.

Jake didn’t see it because he was looking down at the rings, but Elizabeth did.

“We’ll want a gold ring, of course.” Jake was looking at the tray of rings the woman had set on the counter. Dozens of rings were lined up in shiny rows.

Annabelle bit her lip and, when she didn’t move, Jake looked up.

“Perhaps you would care to wait outside while she tries on the rings,” Annabelle suggested softly.

Elizabeth could see the woman had needed to brace herself to say those words.

“Some women like to try on several,” Annabelle added as her face flushed.

Jake nodded, although he looked doubtful. “I guess I should see about sending that note to the reverend anyway. Otherwise he’ll probably leave the schoolhouse before we get there.”

The store clerk watched Jake walk out of the store and close the door before she turned to Elizabeth.

“I can’t let you do this,” the woman whispered in a rush. She had bright spots of color on her cheeks. “I’m a widow, too. I know what it’s like. And he is a striking man. But, surely you’re not so desperate that you’ll marry him.”

Elizabeth stiffened. “I know it’s unusual. And I haven’t known him long, but he seems like a good, God-fearing man.”

Elizabeth saw no need to tell Annabelle about the arrangement she and Jake had made.

Annabelle pursed her lips. “A man like him needs to fear God a little more if you ask me.”

A man like what? Elizabeth wondered. “If it’s the girls. I know they are Indians, but I understand that Mr. Hargrove is not. Besides, I believe we are all God’s creatures.”

Elizabeth knew that was stretching the truth. She wasn’t sure what she thought about God and the Indians. But she wasn’t going to admit that to a stranger in this town where the girls needed acceptance. She owed them that much loyalty at least.

“It’s not the girls. It’s him.”

“Oh.” Elizabeth felt herself go cold. “What do you mean?”

“I mean he’s a wolfer.” Annabelle’s lips deepened in a disapproving line. “At least those friends of his are. They were in today and, well, it’s no conversation for a lady. It’s disgusting what they do. Even the Indians are better.”

Elizabeth swallowed. “He mentioned that he had done some prospecting for gold and some trapping.”

The woman nodded grimly. “The trapping days have been over for years. Even the buffalo are thinning out. What trappers that are left have turned to wolfing. His friends wanted to put in an order for that poison—strychnine—this morning. A big bag of it. I told them no. As though we’d carry that. They kill a buffalo and sprinkle the dead animal with it.”

“Oh, dear, you’re sure?”

The woman nodded. “I used to think that the one, Higgins, was a good God-fearing man. A little rough in his manners maybe, but he told me he prays and—he even asked if he could walk me home from church if he came someday. I said yes, but then—”

The woman crossed her arms. “Then he started bragging about how he can poison up to sixty wolves in one night the way they do it. And no holes in the pelts, either, so they get top dollar on the furs. All they do is go out and pick up the dead wolves the next morning. With unblemished pelts just like the folks back East want them.”

Annabelle paused and looked a little sad. “He’s got all the money he needs now, of course. But…to die of strychnine poisoning. Even for a wolf, well, I simply can’t condone it. The convulsions. The foaming at the mouth. Besides, other animals die, too—it’s not just the wolves. And, birds. I love birds, even the vultures. It’s not fair to the animals, they don’t have a chance.”

“Oh, dear.” Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. She hadn’t known Jake for long, but he didn’t seem like a cruel man. She had a bit of poison in her wagon, of course. All dyers did. The indigo leavings used to make a strong black dye were poisonous. She was careful with it, though, and always kept it in a lidded jar so no animal could mistakenly eat it.

“Jake lives out there on Dry Creek by those friends of his. I talked to the manager and he agrees with me. I’m not going to sell the men poison. Decent folks are trying to make Miles City a good place to live. There’s talk all the time that someday the railroad representatives will come to town and look us over. I don’t want to be selling strychnine to wolfers when that happens.”

“So it’s not the girls?”

The woman shook her head and then gave a small smile. “Folks around here might shoot an Indian, but they’d spit on a wolfer. If they had the nerve, that is.”

“Oh.”

“I’m just giving you a word of caution.”

“I’m grateful.”

Elizabeth realized she was in trouble. She wanted to help the baby, but she didn’t see how she could marry someone like Jake. Even if the marriage wasn’t real, she would be out there alone with him and the girls—and his wolfer friends. What if they put poison in her tea some morning? She had been willing to die, but she didn’t want to be murdered.

“I don’t suppose there’s any jobs available in town.”

The woman frowned. “Virginia Parker got a job recently working at the saloon down the street, playing piano.”

“Oh, I couldn’t work in a saloon. What decent woman could?”

“I’ll not hear anything said about Virginia. She’s a fine young woman. There’s just not much work around here and most of it’s in the saloons.”

“Surely there are other jobs. I could teach a little school. Not Latin or anything fancy. But I’m good with numbers.”

“The Reverend Olson already teaches school. He even knows Latin. But, between that and his preaching, he barely makes enough to keep body and soul together for him and his wife. The town hasn’t exactly gotten around to paying anyone for the school yet. The parents are going to meet to see what they can do about it. My son, Thomas, goes to the school.”

“I wouldn’t need to make much. It’s only me to support.”

“Could you sew enough to be a dressmaker?”

“If the styles were simple.”

The woman shook her head. “You’d need ruffles and hoops to please this crowd. Most of the regular women make their own dresses. It’s the women in the saloons—not Virginia, of course, but the other women—they are the ones willing to pay someone to make dresses for them. But they want French lace and that new kind of shimmering braid they’ve been asking for. In silver and gold both, mind you. We stock some of the best silks in the world just for them. But, what’s a good fabric if the thing doesn’t fit right? A handy seamstress could make a good living if she knew fashion.”

“I could learn. I’d just need to buy some patterns.”

“We don’t have any of the new styles yet. The owner hasn’t even sent off for them. We have some old ones, of course, but—”

“Oh, well. I suppose I could take in laundry for a while.” Elizabeth squared her shoulders. She’d do that if she had to and keep the Indian baby with her for the winter. “I’m used to washing men’s shirts and woolens.”

The woman shook her head. “Sam Lee does that. You may have seen the sign on your way into town—Good Washing and Fireworks Here? He’s a Chinaman who does the laundry for most of the town. He’d be hard to beat.”

Elizabeth heard the door to the mercantile open.

“Who’d be hard to beat?” Jake asked as he walked inside and up to the counter. He had the baby in the sling next to his chest. He didn’t know what had Annabelle in such a contrary mood, but she couldn’t have picked a worse time. He’d come to know her because she went to church most Sundays just as he did. He’d always thought her to be a sensible woman and Higgins had praised her extravagantly the last time Jake had shared their evening fire.

Maybe that was the problem.

“I don’t suppose it’s Higgins?” Jake asked Annabelle directly. Higgins had been a trapper for decades, as Jake’s father had been. The man was said to have wrestled a grizzly once and gone back to chopping wood afterward as if like there had been nothing to it. But for all of the man’s courage, he had even less of an idea about how to act around refined women than Jake did.

“I was speaking of the man who does the laundry,” the store clerk said stiffly. “Mr. Higgins is none of my concern.”

“All right then,” Jake said slowly. That should be good, he thought. He turned to Elizabeth. “Did you find a ring that fit?”

“Not quite.” Elizabeth hesitated. “Maybe we could use my mother’s ring until we find exactly what we want.”

Jake searched Elizabeth’s face. “If you’re sure. Most women like new things.”

Something was wrong. Annabelle had stared at his shoulder most of the time she was talking to him and Elizabeth could barely look him in the eye. He supposed she was finally realizing what she was about to do. Not that he could blame her. He knew he had no business marrying someone like her and dragging her into the problems he’d probably have with the people of this town.

Of course, why would that make Annabelle so unfriendly? Maybe it did have something to do with Higgins instead.

“Higgins didn’t propose to you, did he?” Jake suddenly asked. Annabelle had been in town for several months now. Her husband had been a miner over by Helena until he’d been shot and killed. But maybe she’d lived back East before that. “I know things are different out here. Most men don’t feel they have the time to spend courting, so they just get to the point. But they don’t mean any harm by it.”

Jake figured he was speaking for himself as well as his friend.

“Mr. Higgins most certainly did not propose,” Annabelle protested. Her face had gone a bright pink and she looked indignant. “He knows better than that. He’s never even come calling. I’m a widow in mourning. A decent women wouldn’t—” Annabelle stopped and looked at Elizabeth. “Oh. I didn’t mean—”

Elizabeth waved the words away. “Don’t worry about it.”

Jake didn’t know what had happened to his Elizabeth. All of her indignation was gone. She looked tired. For the first time, he felt the urge to put his arm around her shoulders. He didn’t deserve this woman, but he did plan to protect her with all of his might. The problem was he wasn’t exactly sure how to protect her from the discouragement Annabelle was causing her.

“You won’t need to see Higgins if you don’t want to,” Jake said quietly to Elizabeth. “I usually just go over and sit with him and Wells at their place anyway.”

It was probably best if he kept his old trapper friends away from her.

He could see Elizabeth straighten her shoulders. “Your friends will always be welcome at your home. I wouldn’t stand in their way. It’s your house.”

“It will be your house, too.”

Now that they were talking about it, Jake wondered what Elizabeth would think of his house. They were mentioning it as though it was a grand place, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t even really a house. He supposed it would be considered a cabin if a man were generous in his judging. Jake had given all the smooth lumber he had to the school when they were building that. He was due to get lumber in return when the school had some money, but he planned to let the debt pass. The children needed books more than he needed a better cabin, especially since it was just him.