Grace, page 11
part #10 of The Widows of Wildcat Ridge Series
Chapter 12
“Grace?” Ellie joined her sister as the last of the attendees headed home. “What’s going on between you and Benjamin?”
“Nothing!” She smiled slightly at Reed who held a very sleepy Tessa in his arms. “I mean, I’m really not sure.” She must have sounded as confused as she felt, because Ellie studied her in the faint light from the lantern she carried. “I’m sure it was nothing. You know he likes to make my life miserable.”
“Funny, you don’t look miserable.”
Grace changed the subject. “Your scavenger hunt was a grand success. The widows were so surprised and thrilled. You’ve made the coming winter easier for them all. I’m so proud of you.”
“It was Reed’s idea, but I’m glad he convinced me to go along with it. We should get Tessa out of the night air. May we walk you home?”
“I’d like that honor, if Mrs. Hill would allow me.” Ben Sloane stepped out of the shadows, smelling of horses and straw.
“Good evening, Mr. Sloane. I hadn’t seen you since the three-legged races. We thought you didn’t stay for the festivities.”
“I went to help keep the animals calm. Sometimes the racket will stir them up and we didn’t need a stampede to ruin the evening.”
“We are grateful to you. Grace.” Ellie didn’t even look at her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Grace stared after her sister, not believing she’d left her here with Benjamin. Alone. Nearly everyone was gone now, seeking the warmth of homes and beds.
“Grace?” Ben offered his left arm. “You might as well accept. I’ll follow you the whole way there, anyway.”
Giving in, Grace slipped her fingers into the bend of his elbow. She could feel the heat from his body through her glove and his sleeve, luring her closer. After a few minutes of silence, she had to admit it was nice to walk with a man again. Determined to break the spell he was weaving around her, she spoke up. “What did you mean?”
Ben steered her around a slow-moving couple. “When?”
“When you said do, too.” Grace felt a rush of heat in her face that had nothing to do with his nearness. Or maybe it did.
“You said I didn’t like you, but I do, too.”
She laughed. “We can’t be together for two minutes without arguing.”
“We’ve already made it for nearly five,” he pointed out. “I’ll bet, if we try, we can make it all the way to the Wells Fargo without disagreeing on anything.”
“Only if we don’t talk,” she muttered, making him laugh. They settled into a companionable quiet, neither needing to say more. It wasn’t until they reached the back door that Grace realized one of them couldn’t stay. “Benjamin? I haven’t had time to—”
“I know. I asked you to go somewhere safe for the day, remember? I’ll find somewhere else to sleep tonight.” He held out his hand. “But I’ll need the key to let you inside.”
He unlocked the door, lit a lamp and checked that the premises were secure. When he came back to where she waited, Grace had made a decision.
“Stay here, tonight.”
Ben raised an eyebrow even as his gaze drifted to her lips, reminding her he’d offered to kiss her when they were alone.
“I mean, there’s plenty of room down here. I’ll get you several blankets to make you more comfortable. And Thomas will be home soon, so we won’t be alone for—”
“Then I’d better do this now.”
Moving slowly, Ben brushed his lips across hers. She should stop him. She knew she should at least say something, but words deserted her. Instead, she swayed forward slightly to meet him the next time.
As the press of lips grew into a kiss, Grace snuggled into his warmth. This, she thought. This was what I’d missed with Theo. He’d kissed her, but never really kissed her. And before Benjamin, she never knew there could be a difference.
It took her several moments to realize he’d eased back. He brushed kisses along her jaw and nuzzled her temple, like he had earlier.
“You smell so wonderful. Flowers and spice and… Grace.”
“Hmmm?”
“Tell me to stop. I’m not sure I can do that on my own.”
“Benjamin, we should stop. Though I don’t want to,” she admitted.
With a groan, he returned to her lips and what she’d thought was a kiss became so much more. Heat and wonder blended and grew, spinning out of control into desire. Memories of the joy of two people together, man and woman, rose, swamping her. Suddenly Ben released her and stumbled back a few steps.
“Princess, you’re unbelievable.” He stared at her with eyes gone dark with need. “Amazing. So—” He broke off at the sound of a key in the lock.
Grace had only a moment to let him see her own desire and disappointment before she hurried up the stairs to her rooms. She heard Benjamin greet Thomas and Tommy, could make out Tommy’s enthusiastic retelling of the race he’d won with his friend, Sean.
Moving quickly, she gathered blankets and the fluffiest pillow she had. After stopping to gather her wits, Grace returned to the lower floor. “Your blankets, Mr. Sloane.”
Ben trailed his fingers along her arm and hand as he accepted the pile. “I appreciate these. I know I’ll sleep better tonight.”
“I’ll sleep on the floor, Mr. Sloane. You can have my cot.”
It seemed to Grace that Ben had taken a long time to look away from her, but that just might be wishing on her part.
“I appreciate the offer, Tommy, and when you’ve grown a bit taller, I’ll take you up on it.”
Ben and Thomas shared a laugh when Tommy straightened as tall as he could, measuring himself against Ben’s great height. Grace bid the men good night and returned upstairs to a second night of lying awake and pacing.
When the first cock-a-doodle-doo rang out from someone’s hen house, Grace was dressed and ready to get outside. Slipping quietly down the steps in stocking feet, carrying the work boots Cordelia had convinced her to buy, she crept out the back door, locking it behind her. She was certainly not going around the front and making coffee again. Settling on the top step, she put on her footwear, then sat and watched the light rise over the mountains.
The familiar sound of a new team being let into the corral broke the silence and brought Grace to her feet. “Good morning, Jasper. Steve, how are you this fine day?”
“Doing well, Grace. What are you doing up so early?”
“Couldn’t sleep after all the fun yesterday.”
Steve slapped the last mule on the rump, sending him braying and kicking into the corral. Jasper secured the gate and joined them at the railing. “The kids will be talking about those games until next summer. And the money? Where did that come from? Every single widow got an envelope, I think.”
“They did,” Grace confirmed. “The money came from Mr. Crane.”
Both men stared in disbelief. “That skinflint? He gave money to the widows? For nothing?”
Grace nodded in agreement of Steve’s assessment. “I believe there was something about the union filing a lawsuit if he didn’t pay out some of the benefits due the widows.
Jasper slapped his thigh and cackled. “I’ll bet he’s still stompin’ and stewin’ over that.”
“Serves the old goat right, if you ask me.”
“I couldn’t agree more, gentlemen. You have a wonderful day, you hear me?”
“Almost forgot.” Steve called back. “Would you tell Ben the stage’s axle is fixed? I couldn’t sleep last night, neither.”
Grace waved them off and went to get another bucket for water. The barn door hung slightly crooked and took all of Grace’s strength to drag open. Stepping into the gloom, she felt her way to the lantern and matches that were kept just to the right of the opening.
As the flame caught, she lowered the glass and rubbed out the match, making sure no spark remained to catch fire to the straw and dry wood in the barn. Outside in the corral, she could hear the jingling harness as the mules trotted around the small space.
Trimming the wick, she turned toward the feed bins and came face to face with the biggest dog she’d ever seen. Grace thought she’d managed to stifle her scream, until she heard pounding feet coming down the back steps. Suddenly the door was wrenched open and Benjamin ran in, gun at the ready, flanked by Thomas and Tommy. She sagged in relief when Ben skidded to a stop beside her.
Grace couldn’t take her eyes off the dog, so she just pointed. “What is that?” The question came out in a choked whisper.
Benjamin eased the hammer forward on his revolver. “That is a dog.”
Thomas peered in from the doorway. “That’s one big animal.”
“That’s Jinks.” Tommy shouldered his way inside. “What’s he doing here?”
“He’s our new guard dog.”
“Guard dog?” Grace watched the enormous animal shuffle over to lean against Ben, his big pink tongue lolling out between matching rows of sharp teeth.
“After he gets a bath.” Ben pushed the dog away, pausing to scratch one long ear. “He’ll be good for you to have around. Won’t you, boy?”
“Me?” Grace forgot all about being scared and rounded on Ben. “I can hardly feed myself, let alone a dog of this size.”
“Then he can stay here and I’ll feed him.” Ben shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him either way.
“You don’t want Jinks around, Mr. Sloane. He’s bad luck. His whole family died in that mine. That’s why we call him Jinks.”
Ben aimed a quelling stare at the boy. “What did his family call him?”
Tommy kicked at the dirt with one booted toe. “I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knew him from before.”
When the dog nosed under her hand for some attention, Grace gingerly stroked one ear, amazed at how silky the fur was. “How could anyone not know this dog? He’s bigger than most of our mules.”
“We’ll come up with a good name for him.” Ben gave the canine another scratch. “Tommy, after the stage comes through, I could use your help giving him a bath.”
“Yes, sir.” The boy glanced up, a sly smile on his lips. “But we’re gonna need a lot of soap.”
With Ben there to take over the morning routine of the office, Grace was at loose ends. After passing the message about the axle and packing her things to be returned to Ellie’s room at the hotel, she grabbed her shawl and went for a walk.
Wandering into town, she greeted those she saw, sharing memories about the previous day’s events. Continuing up Front Street, she took the long way around, through the field they’d used last night. Several women were cleaning up the area and moving chairs and tables back inside the church.
Deciding it was time to check on her little house and the schoolroom, Grace headed in that direction. She waved at Thalia when the young woman came out to sweep her front porch. A few more steps and she found herself standing in front of the schoolhouse.
The building was no more than fifteen feet across the front and only slightly more from front to back. She climbed the three steps to a small wooden porch of weathered wood. The door was unlocked and must have blown open at some point, judging by the leaves and animal tracks inside.
Rows of chairs were lines up behind plank tables, all facing the front. On the front wall, behind a large desk, were graded assignments, nearly all with broad slashes through the mistakes. “What a terrible thing to have to see every morning.” Grace took off her shawl and hunted up a broom and dust rags. She removed every piece of paper from the wall without looking at them and stacked them to one side to be cleaned. “No need to build expectations before I even meet the children.”
She could tell where the older ones sat by the distances between chairs and tables. The littlest ones were up front on the right, the next age group up front on the left, and so on. Twelve chairs in all. A few additional chairs were stacked behind the wall just inside the front door.
“Hello? Anyone home?”
“Ellie?” Grace set aside the broom as Tessa barreled around the corner. “Tessa, my girl.”
“Aunt Grace!” She pelted into Grace’s arms, giggling as Grace used her momentum to swing them both in a circle. “Look what I found.” She held out a fist-sized rock sparkling with quartz crystals.
“It’s beautiful, sweetie.”
“For you.” Tessa wiggled down and ran to place the rock in a place of honor on the desk. “It goes here.” She grinned up at Grace as Ellie joined them.
“We’re here to help you clean up. I saw you go by the hotel,” she explained how they’d known where to look. “When you didn’t come right back, I thought you might have circled around here.”
“I’m glad for your help, and your company.” As they had many times as girls, they chatted as they dusted and swept and piled. Grace rescued a slate and set Tessa up with a small chunk of chalk to draw on the clean sides.
“Looking at this room, I wonder if your previous schoolmaster wasn’t a bit strict.”
“He was terrible, Grace. If he sent the girls out of here crying and the boys embarrassed, he considered the day a success.”
“I hope that’s not what Hester expects of me. I couldn’t possibly display a child’s mistakes on the front wall for all to see.”
“Is that what those are?” Ellie pointed at the burn pile.
“I’ll start a new collection with Tessa’s pictures. Do you know if there were slates and books?”
“Everything would be in here or in the house next door. Want to go look?”
“Has anyone removed his personal possessions?” Grace wasn’t keen on finding half-eaten food and a dirty cup on the kitchen table.
“I don’t know. Let’s go find out.”
Ellie gathered up Tessa, promising she could come back in the morning and finish her drawing. Walking next door, Grace hesitated before opening the door. The scent of rotten food hit in a sickening wave. Ellie coughed and stepped back. Tessa’s nose wrinkled up. “It smells bad, Mama.”
“It certainly does.”
“I suppose we have the answer to our question.”
“Grace. Eleanora. Wait for me.” They turned to see Thalia hurrying up the short walk. “When I saw you headed this way, I knew what you’d find. Hester realized yesterday, with everything else happening, no one had taken time to empty these houses when the occupants… Well, you know.” Holding her breath, she plunged through the door and Grace could hear her opening windows and doors before she returned to the porch. “There. It should be a little better in a minute or two.”
Waiting for those minutes to pass, the women walked around the outside of the house. It wasn’t much bigger than the schoolhouse, with a front and back door and one window on each of the other two walls. Grace stood on her toes to look inside the windows. The kitchen and dining room shared one side while the tiny bedroom and parlor split the other, but there were no inside walls to provide privacy.
“At least you’ve got good ventilation,” Ellie pointed out the back door.
“But I can’t have anyone over for dinner. Can you imagine asking Hester to eat in my bedroom?”
“Maybe we can come up with something, like hanging a curtain to block it off. Then you could tie it back to get the heat from the stove.”
“We’ll have to see about wood for the stove and fireplaces.”
“I don’t believe there are fireplaces.” Ellie backtracked, with Tessa dancing around her in circles. “No chimney over here.”
“Or here.” Thalia checked the other side. “Shall we go inside now?”
Grace led the way into the dim interior. The smell was a little better, but the first thing she did was carry the plate from the table and throw it out the back door. The pot still on the cold stove was next. “That will help even more.” She turned a slow circle in the single room. Only two dirty windows for light and the small stove for heat.
“Grace, you can’t live here.” Ellie was adamant. “You’ll freeze this winter. Maybe one of the other houses would be better?”
“It will be fine, Sister. This is the house that comes with the position and I will make it work. Trust me.”
Making plans to meet them after church the next morning, Thalia took Tessa home with her, leaving the sisters alone in the little house.
“I’ll go see if the pump out back works. Did you see a bucket any—” Grace fell silent when the bell rang, announcing the arrival of the Wells Fargo stage. She was surprised at how sad she was to be missing it.
“Are you all right?” Ellie joined her and rubbed a comforting hand up and down her back.
“I didn’t think I would mind.” Grace went to stand on the front porch and looked in the direction of the stage stop. “I only had the position for a week.”
“But you enjoyed it.”
“I did. I was making a difference, Ellie, for you and all the other women Mortimer Crane is terrorizing. Now?”
“This will make a difference, too, Grace. With our children educated, we know they’ll have better futures. That’s very important to every mother in town. You have to believe that.”
“I do, Ellie. It’s just…” Grace fell silent, unable to put into words why being the branch manager was so important to her. “Let’s get something done, before Thalia brings Tessa back.”
They worked side by side for a couple of hours, making a small dent in what needed to be done. The table and stove received the first of what would be several scrubbings and the leaves, dirt, and mice droppings were banished from every corner.
That’s enough for today.” Grace called a halt when she heard Tessa’s chatter coming up the walk. “I’ll bring lye soap and more rags tomorrow, but we’ll have to start in the schoolroom.”
“I’ll bring another broom. And maybe an army to help.” Ellie placed her hands on the small of her back and stretched. “This place is a mess. I don’t think he cleaned it the entire time he was here.”
“The schoolroom, either.” Grace was dismayed at the condition of both places. “How could he care for young minds when he didn’t have the discipline to care for himself?”
Ellie collected Tessa from Thalia and they all headed home. Grace was halfway across the bridge before she realized it was no longer her home. Her shoulders sagged under the weight of exhaustion and uncertainty. “I can’t stay there and I can’t move into that house. Not yet.” She came to a halt in the middle of the street, not certain which way to go.
