Deborah Camp (14 page)

Sally lingered another few moments before making a sound of frustration and leaving them.

“She has her nerve,” Reno said, “making scolding noises at us when she’s carrying on with a skunk.”

“I can’t believe she’d take such a man seriously.”

“Dellie, don’t be so pig-headed.”

“I’m giving her the benefit of the doubt.”

“Why her and not me?”

“What do you mean?” She studied him, puzzled by the strain in his voice.

“I mean, you are quick to condemn me at every opportunity, but you refuse to believe that Sally might be fluttering her lashes at Terrapin. Why is that? We used to be friends, Dellie. Why would you assume I’m a rotten scoundrel and insist that Sally’s motives are as pure as snow?”

“I know Sally better.” Something inside her squirmed. Her conscience, perhaps?

“I’m your husband.”

She frowned and heaved a sigh. “In name, yes, but Sally has been part of my life for a long time. I know
her and I can’t for the life of me see her sneaking off with any man, much less a man like Taylor Terrapin.”

“She defended him the other day. Remember? I don’t think she shares your low opinion of Terrapin, Dellie. I think you are once again making a mighty big assumption.”

“Once again?” She arched a brow, wondering just what he meant by that.

“You have a habit of assuming a lot about people, Dellie. You’re going to regret that one day.” He smiled and tapped her nose lightly with his fingertip. “Mark my words.”

She curbed her natural instinct to defend herself and her friend, forcing herself to think through what he’d said. “You saw her last night. What time?”

“Must have been close to midnight.”

“She retired shortly after nine and was up with the chickens.”

“I saw her, Dellie. I saw
them.”

The certainty in his demeanor made Adele restless with anxiety. She paced, head down, searching frantically for an explanation. But all she could grasp was the memory of Sally going up to her room for a nap after the dinner trade had tapered off. She’d looked tired, like a woman who hadn’t gotten much sleep last night.

“I think you should have a talk with her, Dellie, and try to make her see that Terrapin isn’t the kind of man she wants to entice. He might be worth some money, but his heart is as black as the ace of spades.”

“If this is true, if she is carrying on with that man behind my back …” Adele shook her head, the idea turning sour in her mind. “Sally must be mad.”

“You going to talk to her?”

“I’ll ask if it’s true. I trust you are willing for me to tell her how I came on this news?”

He shrugged. “Sure. I’ll be interested to hear what she says. Little Nugget thinks it’s only a matter of days before Terrapin and Sally make it known around town that they’re a couple. Little Nugget says Terrapin is pleased to have a town lady interested in him. One he doesn’t have to pay or threaten, that is.”

“It’s appalling,” Adele said, and would have left him there in the darkness if he hadn’t grabbed her hand to stop her. “Something else?”

“Just this.”

His mouth found hers and touched off sparks, even though the kiss was light and airy. “You go ahead and have a private chat with her, and I’ll see you later tonight in the parlor.”

Adele eased her hand from his. “I suppose you’re going to another poker game. Or will you find your pleasure at the saloon tonight?”

“There you go making assumptions again, Dellie.”

“I am guessing based on your usual behavior.”

“What do you know about my usual behavior?” He waved aside any answer she would have made. “Never mind. I’m going to feed the horses, Dellie dear. Sorry to disappoint you.”

She knew she should offer an apology, but the words stuck in her throat, lodged there by her own monumental pride. Reno strode away from her. She turned and moved slowly toward the back door of the restaurant, her heart heavy and a crack in her certainty that she knew what was true and what was false.

Sally sat at the kitchen table, a lamp spilling light across her face and a book open in front of her. Mrs. McDonald dried a big pot and set it on the stove, then reached behind her to untie her apron.

“I was cleaning up so that Colleen can take over in here for the evening trade,” Mrs. McDonald said. “You need anything else before I go upstairs?”

“No. By the way, I put the finishing touches to that work dress of yours. I laid it out on your bed.”

“Really? Oh, thanks ever so much.” Mrs. McDonald smiled and clapped her hands in anticipation. “I’ll look like part of the place now instead of somebody just passing through. I’ll wear it tomorrow. Good night, ma’am. See you in the morning, Mrs. Baldridge.”

“Mmm?” Sally looked up from the book. “Oh, yes. Good night, Mrs. McDonald.” She watched the woman leave the kitchen and shook her head. “She’s a strange one. I told her she could call me Sally and I’d call her Doris, but she said she preferred last names. She said she liked being called Mrs. McDonald.”

“I believe it’s been a long time since anyone called her that,” Adele noted, sitting across the table from Sally. “What are you reading?”

“A love story.” Sally placed a strip of leather in the slim volume to mark her place and closed the book. “I’m sorry if I interrupted out there earlier. When I saw you with
him
, I thought you would welcome the interference.”

“Reno told me something that has me quite in a stir.”

“Is that why you were letting him take advantage of you?”

“He wasn’t,” Adele said softly. She looked away from Sally’s scolding expression, then swung her gaze back to her friend’s face to catch her reaction. “He said you have a new beau in town.”

Sally’s face tensed and her eyes narrowed a fraction. For the first time Adele noticed the small lines fanning from the corners of her wide-spaced eyes and the shallow creases bracketing her mouth. The years had put them there. Long, bad years of turbulence and heartache.

“He was gossiping about me? Spreading tales?”

“No, he was telling me what he witnessed last night and what some people in town are saying about you. Reno says he saw you meeting a man last night and riding away with him. Reno says the man was Taylor Terrapin and that the talk in town is that you and Terrapin are courting.”

“He has no right snooping around and peering at me from the bushes!” Sally stood up, her skirts rustling. “I hope you told him to mind his own business.”

“I told him I didn’t believe you would take up with a man like Terrapin but I would ask you about it. I’m asking, Sally.” Folding her hands on the tabletop, Adele waited, but she knew the answer in her heart. Good Lord, it was true! Was Sally so unhappy as a widow that she would accept the advances of a bloodless man like Terrapin?

Sally faced her, her expression haughty and her brown eyes snapping. “He is not what you think, Adele. Taylor is kind and has been nothing but a gentleman
to me. He’s misunderstood by so many. Those women at the saloon, he gives them a roof over their heads and—”

“Oh, stop.” Adele covered her ears with her hands, blocking out the paltry excuses. “Please, stop. You’re breaking my heart, Sally, and Win is rolling over in his grave.”

“Don’t bring Win into this. You’ll never know what I went through for that man. Winston was no saint, Adele. He never loved me. I was second choice after you.”

“That’s not altogether true. He always had his eye on you. But that doesn’t excuse this. What can you be thinking, accepting the attentions of such a man?”

“He happens to run this town, Adele. Unlike your husband, who is little more than the town drunk.”

Adele flinched, and anger burst in her like a storm. “Don’t even try to compare Reno with Terrapin. Reno makes no pitiful excuses for his actions. What balderdash has Terrapin been feeding you? He said he was providing a roof over those women’s heads at the saloon, did he?”

“They would be doing what they do in the streets, in the alleyways, in the barns and stables, if he didn’t provide them a clean, safe place,” Sally informed her. “Taylor says they like the life. He gives them a place to ply their trade away from the eyes of respectable people like us.”

“I hope he doesn’t include himself in that lot.” Adele sprang up from the chair. “God’s nightgown, Sally! Will you listen to yourself? You are attempting to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and it can’t be done. Before it’s too late, end this. Tell Terrapin
you will not see him again, that you no longer want his company. Most people in town don’t know about you two yet, so your reputation can be saved.”

“Save your own, Adele,” Sally said, almost hissing. “Yours is worse than mine. Why, you’re the town laughingstock, wedding that no-’count Reno Gold after you fetched him from the dustbins of some saloon up north. However, nobody has anything but respect for Taylor. When he walks down the street, people smile and greet him. He has carved a niche for himself in Whistle Stop.”

Adele clutched the edge of the table, rocked off balance by Sally’s tongue-lashing. “He has not carved a niche, Sally. Your new beau has cut through this town with the finesse of a dull ax, chopping and hacking away, scaring everybody and chasing off anyone who doesn’t like the way he runs things. How many men do you think he’s murdered in cold blood, Sally? How many women has he ruined?”

“Hush! You don’t know these things. You don’t understand him as I do.” Sally’s face contorted with her anger, and spots of pink flecked her cheeks and throat. “I’m going to marry him, Adele.”

Adele sat heavily in the chair again. “No. Don’t say that, Sally. Please.”

“You didn’t listen to me when I begged you not to marry Reno, so I will return the favor. Don’t try to talk me out of it. I believe Mr. Terrapin means to ask me to marry him soon, and I will accept his proposal. We have discussed things. He wants to build a big, fine house out on that property he bought by Bobcat Creek. We’ll build it on the crest of a hill and have a view of the cattle ranch we mean to start out there.”

Adele shook her head and wondered if she’d ever really known Sally Baldridge. Until this moment she hadn’t seen her clearly. Friendship had lightened the darker colors of Sally’s character. Now Adele identified the stark streak of greed in Sally’s soul. Sally had always wanted to be the richest woman around and she’d stop at nothing to achieve that. Everyone had said that she’d married Winston for his money and that when he lost his fortune he also lost Sally’s affection, but Adele had refused to believe it. She’d been a fool. Acquiring money was Sally’s chief ambition and money was the only commodity that could entice her to wed.

“You can’t marry him.”

Sally laughed. “You aren’t my mother, Adele. I don’t need your permission or your blessing.”

“I am your employer and you signed a contract,” Adele reminded her, grasping at her last straw. “That contract prohibits you from marrying for three more months. If you marry him before that time expires, I’ll take you to court.”

“
Y
ou told her you’d take her to court?
” Reno sat on the cot in the parlor and stared at Adele, not knowing whether to groan or laugh or do a little of both.

“That’s right. I have a contract that states clearly she cannot marry or leave my employ for another three months. By that time, I’m sure she will have come to her senses.”

“Yes, but will you have come to yours?” Reno held up his hands to stop her sharp retaliation. “Sally is your best friend. You can’t treat her as though she’s your wayward daughter or your disloyal worker.”

“I am trying to save her from herself.” Adele roamed the room, skirts rustling and flags of color rising into her cheeks. “She might hate me now, but later—”

“She’ll despise you,” Reno finished for her, earning a dark scowl. “She’s a grown woman and she has decided to take up with a grown man. There’s not a damn thing you can do about it. If you try to force her to stay here, you’ll be buying trouble and ending
your friendship with her forever. Even if she comes to believe that you know what you’re talking about when it comes to Terrapin, she’ll never be your friend again, because she’ll resent the hell out of you for being right.”

“Then what do you suggest I do? Let her marry that blackguard?”

Reno rested his hands on his bent knees. “I was hoping you could talk her out of it, but failing that, then, yes, stand back and let her get on with it. That’s my best advice.”

She stopped and shoved her fists onto her hips. “Well, your best advice stinks to high heaven.”

He grinned, thinking she was the prettiest, orneriest, most stubborn woman on God’s green earth.

She narrowed her eyes. “You weren’t really surprised to see Sally with Taylor Terrapin, were you?”

“No.” He bent over and pulled off his boots. “Makes sense once you figure out what’s important to Sally. Money makes a man a prince in her eyes.”

Adele winced. “Oh, I hate to believe such a thing of her, but why else would she even give that man the time of day? What can I do, Reno? Other than enforce that contract, what else can I do?”

Reno unbuttoned his shirt. “I’ve told you. Nothing. It’s not up to you to pick her husband for her.” He twisted around to pull the curtains across the window behind him and caught sight of Sally moving quickly across the side yard. “There she goes.”

“Who? What?” Adele rested a knee on the cot and peered out the window. “God’s nightgown! She’s sneaking off to see that cold-blooded snake this very minute! I must stop her.”

Reno grasped her arm. “No, Dellie. It makes no nevermind to me whether you keep Sally as a friend, but I know it means a lot to you, so I’m telling you to leave her be.”

She looked as if she meant to ignore his advice, but then she seemed to melt. Sitting on the cot beside him, she placed her hands over her face and released a tortured groan.

“Tear up the contract, Dellie.”

“How can I? Everyone else is expected to abide by those contracts. I hire nice women, and they are rare in these parts. They’re all looking to marry. If I don’t hold them to the contracts, I’ll be searching for waitresses so much that I won’t have time to manage the restaurant. It’s what the owner wants.”