A Quilt for Christmas (18 page)

“That's the truth of it.”

“How awful.” Eliza wished now that she had not pried.

“When I found out I was in the family way, I didn't have no choice but to take up with him. After we was married, Hugh beat me bad, and sometimes I wished I'd die, but I had to protect my baby. I can't say I purely hate Hugh, because Baby Nance come of it all.” She took a deep breath and straightened her back, then turned to Eliza. “I didn't tell you before because I feared you wouldn't take me in. But you've been good to me, so I'm telling you now because you got the right to know what kind of person you brought to your house. You want I should move out now that you know the truth? I wouldn't care to shame you by me being there.”

Eliza transferred the reins to her left hand and put her right on Missouri Ann's arm. “My dear friend, it was not your fault, and even if it had been, I wouldn't ask you to leave. As I have said, you are very like a sister to me now. I don't believe I could get along without you.”

“You sure have helped me,” Missouri Ann said.

Eliza remembered what Mercy had told her the day she'd agreed to hide Clara and said, “And you, me. Helping each other is what friends do.”

*   *   *

It wasn't more than a week before Print Ritter rode into the barnyard where Eliza and Davy were shelling walnuts and tied his horse to the rail. He wore a clean shirt, and Eliza thought that while he was not as handsome as Will, he was nonetheless a fine-looking man.

“May I have a minute, Mrs. Spooner?” he asked, taking off his hat. He glanced at Davy, who stood and said it was time to start the milking.

“You are welcome to sit down, Mr. Ritter, although I expect you've come to see Missouri Ann, who is in the house.”

“Yes, ma'am.” He waited until Davy had gone into the barn, then leaned forward. “I come to talk to you on a serious matter.”

Eliza was puzzled and told him to go ahead.

“I would like to ask your permission for Mrs. Missouri Ann's hand in marriage.”

Eliza almost whooped, for the idea that she held sway over Missouri Ann tickled her. “Ask
me
?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“She is her own person, Mr. Ritter. She will make the decision without my help.”

“Well, I feel it's proper to ask somebody, and none of the Starks is going to say yes. It's not right, her being a lady, that I shouldn't ask. I aim to take her to Colorado, if she'll have me.”

“And Nance, too?”

“Yes, ma'am. She ain't likely to go without that baby.” He paused. “Nor me, neither.”

“No, I can see your point.” Eliza pretended to ponder Print's question. “If it is up to me to allow you to marry Missouri Ann, then I will ask you to promise to cherish her and care for her and never raise a hand to her.”

“That's an easy promise.”

Eliza wondered if Missouri Ann had told him about the rape, and if she hadn't, what Print's reaction would be if he found out, whether he would still want her. Of course, it was not Eliza's place to reveal Missouri Ann's secret. Nonetheless, she said, “Missouri Ann is a good woman, the finest I've ever known. She has had a hard life, harder than most, and been ill treated—”

“I know that, Mrs. Spooner. She informed me of the circumstances of how she come to marry a Stark, and I think highly of her for telling me. It wasn't her fault. If I was to meet up with Hugh Stark, I'd punch him in the nose for what he done to her, but I guess I can't sock him on account of he's dead.”

“No.” Eliza smiled and dusted the bits of black walnut shell off her hands. “Then you have my approval, Mr. Ritter, but only if Missouri Ann says yes.” She paused. “I have no doubt as to her answer.”

Print grinned at Eliza, then went to the house and knocked on the door. A few minutes later, he came out with Missouri Ann, who said, “Me and Mr. Ritter's going to take a walk to the orchard.”

Eliza nodded and tried to look casual, glancing down at the black walnuts that remained to be cracked, although she knew she was too excited now to deal with them. She watched as Print took Missouri Ann's arm and the two of them disappeared among the apple trees. Davy came from the barn then, just in time to see the couple leave. He grinned at Eliza and said, “It's about time he asked her to marry him.”

Davy went back to his chores, but Eliza sat on the bench until dusk waiting for Print and Missouri Ann to return. When they did, they were holding hands, Print grinning and Missouri Ann looking flustered and happy. “You'll never guess what Mr. Ritter gave me,” Missouri Ann said.

“Why, I can't imagine.”

“He gave me a proposal of marriage.”

“What a surprise,” Eliza said.

“We're going to find a gold mine in Colorado, and maybe one day we'll come back to Kansas and buy us a farm. I wouldn't want to leave Kansas for good. I believe it's as close to heaven as I'll ever get.” She smiled shyly and added, “Especially if Mr. Ritter's here.”

 

CHAPTER NINE

May 4, 1865

Both Print and Missouri Ann wanted to be married as soon as possible. The war had ended a month before, and soldiers would be heading west to find gold mines. Print hoped to beat them to it. Besides, Missouri Ann had run into Taft Stark in town the week before, and he'd told her that Mother Stark was ailing and wanted to see Nance. It would be a kindness if she would call with Nance, he'd said. But Missouri Ann remembered Mother Stark's warning about visiting and refused to go. What if the Starks claimed the baby? Missouri Ann was scared, especially after Taft told her that a lawyer had informed them they had a right to Hugh's child. If the Starks knew she was going to be married, they'd say that she could have other babies and that Nance belonged to them.

So Print and Missouri Ann decided to be married right away. They would keep the wedding a secret, even from the other three members of the quilting circle. The women would be hurt if they weren't invited to the ceremony, hurt that they couldn't use a bit of their hoarded sugar and cinnamon to make cakes and pies to honor their friend. But Missouri Ann couldn't risk the chance the Starks would find out.

The day before the ceremony, Ettie showed up at the Spooner farm with a chocolate cake, filled with nuts and dried fruit. “It's what you'd call a groom's cake,” Ettie explained. “Not that there's any need for one, you understand. I just made it and thought you might like it, seeing as how the war's done with, so it's a reason to celebrate.”

Ettie didn't fool Eliza. “How did you know about Missouri Ann?” Eliza asked.

The older woman flipped her hand back and forth. “Know what?”

Eliza only smiled at her, inviting Ettie to explain herself.

“Mercy and Anna haven't heard a thing about it. So don't you worry. By the way, it's been rumored in town that Print's going off to California if they marry. Amos Stark asked if that was so, and I told him he best not let the rest of his family know. Colorado, is it?”

Eliza wouldn't answer. She didn't have to. She knew full well that Ettie had all the details.

“Lord Harry! I'll miss that girl. She's like a bit of yellow silk in an overalls quilt, makes you smile when she speaks. I believe she's as good a friend as you'll ever have, Eliza.”

“She is at that,” Eliza replied. She didn't know what she'd have done without Missouri Ann and her other friends, who had held on to her in her time of sorrow. One of them was always stopping by with a custard sprinkled with a rare bit of cinnamon or a bottle of peaches or a jar of pickles, saying, “I just don't have a taste for them right now.” They shared their scraps of fabric with her. Mercy loaned her a book of poems. Anna brought a little framed picture she had composed of pressed flowers. But mostly, they came to sit with her, to spend an hour or two to keep her from loneliness. Eliza knew what it took to snatch the hours away from chores, and she was grateful most of all for their presence. Without friends, she could not have made it through the first days of that hard time. She did not want to think how lonely she would be without Missouri Ann.

“I'll just be on my way,” Ettie said, “but I believe I'd like to see Baby Nance one more time.” Ettie went outside and cornered Missouri Ann and Nance, and Eliza saw Ettie embrace them both.

Missouri Ann came into the house, shaking her head. “I suppose it's not a surprise me and Print are getting married, but how did she know it was tomorrow?”

“Ettie always knows. But she'll keep it to herself.”

“That Ettie. She's a daisy.”

The wedding was even simpler than Eliza's own wedding, which had been performed in the parlor of her parents' house in Ohio, with only family and a few friends in attendance. Now, as she stood up with Missouri Ann as Print and Missouri Ann said their vows, Eliza thought back to her own wedding day, in late spring when the smell of lilacs drifted through the windows and birds sang in the meadow beyond the house. She was dressed in pale green lawn, a white ribbon for a sash, which emphasized her tiny waist. Her white kid slippers barely showed under her skirt, which was made of yards and yards of material and was full over her hoops. She carried a bouquet of daisies. Eliza and Will had stood in front of the parlor window, the breeze blowing the curtains, making them billow just like Eliza's wedding skirt. She remembered how after he slipped the old ring onto her finger, Will kept hold of her hand and would not let go, held it until the end of the ceremony. He squeezed so hard that Eliza's blood almost stopped. Will had teased Eliza that he would kiss her at the end of the ceremony, and Eliza almost hoped he would, although such a thing would have been unseemly and would have shocked the guests. But Will held his kisses until they were alone.

When the ceremony was over, Eliza's father recorded the names and date in the family Bible, then her mother set out refreshments—a cake, lemonade, and the divinity candy whose recipe had been passed down for generations and was served only on special occasions. Afterward, the couple climbed into a borrowed buggy and set out for the farm Will had rented. They lived there until they moved to Kansas.

Eliza recalled her wedding night. She had grown up on a farm. She knew what happened between male and female, but she was a little afraid of the act, not sure what was expected of her. After all, some of the male animals were violent when they mated. She wished her mother had told her, but Eliza's mother was prim. So were her married girlfriends. They said only, “It's not so bad. Wait and see.” Will was gentle, kind, saying he would stop if she wanted him to. But she didn't, partly because she was curious, partly because she wanted it over with. There was no joy in the act for her that night, but it came later. Now as she listened to Print and Missouri Ann recite their vows, with John Hamlin officiating, Eliza grieved for the pleasure that was no longer hers, would never be hers again.

Just as John pronounced Print and Missouri Ann man and wife, there was the clatter of horses and a wagon in the lane, and Eliza feared that the Starks had found out about the wedding and meant to stop it. If they had, they were too late. Instead of the Starks, however, Ettie drove into the barnyard, Mercy and Anna on the seat beside her, the children in the wagon bed.

“I know the wedding is a secret, but by morning, it won't be anymore,” Ettie said. “Mercy and Anna would flail me alive if they found out I knew Missouri Ann was getting married and hadn't told them. We're your friends, and we're here to celebrate with you.” Eliza was glad they had come, not just because her friends would blame her for keeping the secret but because their presence underscored how much they valued Missouri Ann. The woman had had few friends since she'd married Hugh Stark, and those friendships with the members of the little quilting group were something she could savor all her life.

Ettie climbed down from the wagon with a bundle covered with white muslin. “I expect you could use another quilt out west, it being cold as a widow's bed there,” Ettie said, then put her hand over her mouth, glancing at Eliza and Mercy. “I shouldn't have said that. I ask you to forgive it. I open my mouth before I think.”

“This is a day for happiness,” Eliza told her, and Mercy agreed.

Ettie nodded. “I brung you a quilt, Missouri Ann. We all worked on it, even you, so it's a gift from all of us.” She unfolded a pieced quilt.

“It's your Kansas Dugout,” Missouri Ann said. “Isn't that the sweetest thing! Why, that means we'll always sleep in Kansas.”

“I thought you might feel that way. It'll serve until you come back home,” Ettie told her, looking pleased with herself that the gift was a success.

“I never got a present before, and now I have two,” Missouri Ann said, flustered. “Look what Print give me.” She held out her hand to show off a gold ring with a clear stone in it. “I never had a ring before. It's got glass in it.”

Anna grasped Missouri Ann's hand so they all could admire the ring. “I believe that's a diamond,” she said.

“What's that?”

“It's a stone.”

Missouri Ann frowned, then whispered, “Don't say nothing to Print about that. Leastways the diamond's as pretty as glass.”

Eliza served Ettie's cake and her own white cake topped by whipped cream, and then as the guests wished them a happy life, Print and Missouri Ann climbed into Print's wagon and were off. Print had sold the smithy to Andy Jones for more than enough to make the trip.

“We'll be back. We ain't going to Colorado for all time. We're Kansas people,” Missouri Ann called, as the wedding party followed the couple down the lane. Print slapped the reins over the horses, Missouri Ann held on to his arm, and Nance perched beside her, clutching Miss Cat, Luzena's doll. Luzena, saying she herself was too old for dolls, had presented it to Nance as a remembrance.