Antebellum BK 1 (15 page)

“
Yes, Madam.”

“
So what’s a woman to do?”

“
What is it that you wish to do, Madam?”

“
I can’t sleep so I thought a glass of wine might help.”

“
Well. The bars over on Mission Street serve women.” He winked.

Clementine didn’t understand the wink, but decided it would be best to ignore it. “Mission Street you say?”

“
I wasn’t being serious, Madam.”

“
Well, I am serious. How do I get there?”

He shrugged and pointed toward the front door. “Just go outside, turn either way, walk to the end of the block and turn toward the Bay. The next street is Mission.”

“
Thank you.” She marched through the lobby, pushed through the revolving door and was stunned by the chill. For a moment, she considered giving up, but the thought of that empty room spurred her on into the chilly night.

The bar smelled like beer and it was probably filthy, but the lamps were too dim to see. About half the tables were occupied; all by men. Two tawdry-looking women and a drunk were seated at the bar.

“
Help you?” the bartender asked.

Clementine had started for a table, but changed her mind and walked to the bar. “I’d like a glass of wine, please.”

“
A dollar and a nickel,” he said.

“
For a glass of wine?”

“
The wine’s a nickel. The stool’s a dollar.”

She looked confused. “What if I sit at a table?”

“
A dollar and a nickel.”

“
I don’t understand.”

“
What’s to understand? You wanna work here, it costs a dollar.”

“
Work here? I don’t… Oh. Work here.” She smiled. “No, no. You’ve got it wrong. I’m a reasonably respectable married woman, but I couldn’t sleep and thought a glass of wine would help.”

The bartender took a second look at Clementine’s hair, clothes and fingernails, then revised his opinion. “This ain’t no place for a lady, Lady.”

“
It’s either here or pacing my hotel room all night. The dining room’s closed and they wouldn’t let me into the so-called
gentlemen’s saloon
without a male escort.”

He wiped out a wineglass with his apron and poured wine from a gallon jug. “This is grape juice, sugar and grain alcohol,” he said. “We don’t get much call for real wine.”

Clementine opened her purse and took out a dollar. “Keep the change.”

“
For another nickel we could turn a big profit,” he quipped, looking her over lasciviously.

“
How much profit?” She sipped the so-called wine.

“
What?” He did a double take.

“
How much could we make for the night?”

“
You’re joshin’ me, right?”

“
I’m just curious.”

“
The whole night?” he asked.

“
Yes.”

“
You mean the whole night with one John?”

“
Yes,” she giggled. “Is that so unheard of?”

“
Here it is. Most of the girls work by the trick. You know what that means?”

“
Yes. How many tricks equal a night?”

He shook his head. “It doesn’t work like that.”

Clementine dug through her purse and came up with a nickel. “Let’s see.”

“
See what?”

“
You negotiate the price, and I’ll split it with you.”

He gave her a dubious look. “I don’t have time to play games.”

“
I’m not playing a game.”

“
You plannin’ on stiffin’ the sucker?”

“
Stiffin?”

“
Dumpin’ him. Runnin’ out without deliverin’. Like that.”

“
Oh. No. I won’t stiff him. But I have a condition.”

“
What?”

“
He must leave at sunup. Not before and not after.”

“
You thinkin’ of takin’ this joker to your hotel room?”

“
Yes. Why not? It’s a very nice suite and there’s a back staircase very near.”

“
A suite.” He raised his eyebrows.

“
Yes. A living room, two bedrooms and a small dinette. My husband uses one of the bedrooms for an office.”

“
No bathroom?” he asked sarcastically.

“
Oh yes,” she said, missing the sarcasm. “Of course it has a bathroom.”

“
If I didn’t have to work I’d be up for it.”

“
What time do you get off?”

“
We’re open all night.”

“
What nights do you have off?”

“
You serious?”

“
Absolutely.”

“
Sunday. I get Sundays off.”

“
Too bad. My husband will be back on Saturday.”

“
Just my luck.”

“
So? Do we have a deal?”

“
Deal?”

“
I’ll give you fifty percent of the price you negotiate.”

“
Okay, Lady. If you’re serious, we got a deal.”

“
I’m serious.”

He looked over the patrons. “There’s nobody here that’s worth your time.”

“
Then I’ll just drink your quasi-wine. Maybe if I have enough I won’t need company.” She put another nickel on the bar.

“
Don’t drink too fast. We sometimes get some high rollers in here after the saloons close.”

~

Clementine rolled onto her side and found herself looking into the open mouth of a snoring man. She punched him in the stomach. “Hey. Hey you. Wake up. You were supposed to be gone by sunup.”

“
Huh?” He made a face and blinked at her stupidly.

“
My husband will be here any minute. He’s a colonel in the army and he carries a sidearm. If you wanna live to see the noonday sun you better get your ass outta here fast.”

“
Shit. Why didn’t you tell me all that last night?”

“
It slipped my mind.”

“
Say. Are you bullshittin’ me?”

“
Bullshittin’? Bullshitting, I mean?”

“
Yeah. Are you lyin’ about the husband.”

Clementine rolled off the bed and opened the closet door to reveal a row of starched uniforms. “Does that look like bullshit?”

“
No. It looks like trouble.” He began dressing. “Can I see you again?”

“
Yes.” She slipped her arms into a silk dressing gown. “The next time my husband leaves town I’ll be drinking quasi-wine at that same bar.”

“
This is probably stupid of me to say, but a beauty like you could get a lot more than twenty bucks for – your services.”

“
How much more?”

He shrugged. “If you worked outta a class place, like this hotel here, you could get a hundred a night.”

“
Working from here would be suicidal.”

“
There are plenty of first class hotels in town.”

“
Do you have the kind of connections I’d need?”

“
I might. For the right deal.”

“
Fifty percent?”

“
That’ll work.”

“
My husband is often called away unexpectedly so I don’t know what nights I’ll be available in advance.”

“
It don’t matter. If we get you in the right spot, I can fill your dance card in ten minutes.”

“
Really? If that’s so you should be charging more.”

He chuckled and stamped to get his boot all the way on. “Maybe. I’ll see you when I see you.”

“
Wait. Just let me peek out the door.”

“
Good idea. It wouldn’t be so good if I was to get caught by the house dick.”

“
By who – whom? Dick?”

“
The house dick.”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid that I don’t know what that is.”

“
You got a lot to learn, Honey.”

“
So it would seem.” She opened the living room door a crack and looked out, then opened it all the way. “Bye. It was nice.”

“
Nice. Yeah, it
was
nice. Picture that.” He chuckled and hurried down the hall toward the back stairs.

Clementine closed the door and leaned against it. “What the hell is wrong with me?” She banged her head against the door. “God. I’m so stupid. Never again.”

July
9, 1850

Mesilla, New Mexico

T
he Mesilla Valley was a strip of green, split down the middle by the Rio Grande, in a vast sea of brown sand, with occasional patches of yucca and greasewood. Josiah Whipple reined in the wagon and gestured toward the towering mountain peaks. “They call that the Organ Mountain. Looks just like a pipe organ, don’t it?”

“
Yes.” Marina shaded her eyes and looked across the river at the expanse of green. “What a beautiful place.”

“
Thought you said that you’d been here before.”

“
I have. I passed through here twice. But I was in a hurry and didn’t notice how pretty it was.”

Whipple nodded. “Yeah. That happens when we’re young. We take things for granted and don’t slow down enough to enjoy ‘em.”

“
Slowing down wasn’t an option. My first time through here I was running away from home. The second time I was running from a detachment of Mexican soldiers who intended to hang me.”

He turned to look at her. “Don’t suppose you’d want to tell me about it.”

“
Someday, maybe.” She forced her eyes away from the verdant view. “Let’s go. I’m anxious for a bath. The road to my brother’s place is only about a mile further.”

He whipped the reins and clicked to the horses. “When was it that you run away from home? When you was a kid, or after you was married?”

“
Why does that matter?”

“
Cause if it was after you was married and had kids of yer own it might explain some things that yer kids have said over the years.”

“
That’s family business and I’d prefer not to discuss it with outsiders, Josiah.”

“
Outsiders.” He turned to glare at her. “In case you ain’t noticed, Marina, since they come to Texas, I’ve been doin’ a sight more motherin’ of yer family than you.”

“
Almost anyone could make that claim.”

He started to answer her, then decided against it and urged the horses to pick up their pace.

Marina looked away toward the mountains again. “I’ve done some horrible things in my life, Josiah, but running away from my family was the worst. Anna never forgave me and it turned William to ice.”

“
Why’d y’ do it?”

She sighed. “All the wrong reasons. Vanity, mostly.”

“
What’s that mean?”

“
I already said more than I wanted to,” she snapped. “Let it alone.”

“
Okay.”

She jabbed him with her elbow. “You’re as bad as my husband.”

“
In what way?”

“
He would never argue with me either.”

“
There ain’t no point in arguin’ with you, Marina. You never back down or agree with nothin’ that anybody else says.”

“
I suppose that’s true. Why do you put up with me?”

“
Can’t really say. Memories, I reckon.”

“
Memories of what?”

“
The most beautiful woman I ever did see.”

She choked back a sob. “What a nice thing to say.”