Rimfire Bride (12 page)

Greta opened her eyes. “Is it time to get up?” she asked sleepily.

“No, go back to sleep. I’ll come to bed in a minute.”

“Well, Drew,” Walter
Watson said, “it looks like a clean sweep, and you know what that means, don’t you? We won’t be able to live with Colonel Lounsberry. He’ll claim victory for the whole Citizens’ Ticket.”

“He’ll be crowing, that’s for sure, but I guess he has a right to,” Drew said. “He was the one who started preaching reform, and now everybody in Burleigh County will benefit, and that includes you.”

“I suppose you’re right, but I can’t afford to let it be known that I support this ticket. I’m a merchant, and I have customers who vote on all sides. I have to keep myself neutral.”

“I can see that. Oh, I saw your newest employee here tonight.”

“Jana is quite a woman.” Watson chuckled. “Do you know I had more men in my store in one day than I’ve had in the last six months? Yes, sir, she can certainly draw the men in and, not only that, persuade them to part with their money. She is
a jim-dandy of a salesperson, and I’ve got you to thank for bringing her to me.”

Drew didn’t reply as he clenched his mouth in anger. He didn’t like the thought of Jana Hartmann drawing the men in. If she could do that fully clothed, what could she do if she went to work for Little Casino?

He shook his head to clear the thought. Whatever she did, it wasn’t any of his business. After all, she was a pretty woman, and she had a right to make a living any way she chose. Besides, he had no personal investment in the woman. He’d only met her yesterday.

Drew lay awake
all night long. He was unable to get the image of Jana Hartmann out of his mind. Finally he decided what to do. He would go to Rimfire, and he would take his two boys with him.

Rimfire was his bonanza ranch, which Drew had initially acquired by buying Valentine script from the US government. The script allowed the holder to claim land of his choosing as long as it was public. Drew had chosen land along the Little Missouri River. In addition, the Northern Pacific had given him more land as compensation for deed work he had done for the railroad, and that brought his total holdings to twenty thousand acres.

Drew’s ranch house, the small one that was there now, and the bigger one that was being built, stood just back from the river. He had chosen a spot, shaded by cottonwood trees, that looked across the river to a strip of meadowland. To the west rose a line of sheer cliffs and grassy plateaus.
As the sun set on the first day he came to see his land, it ignited a golden glow that stretched from end to end all along the rim of the cliffs. It looked as if the rim were on fire.

“Rimfire,” he said. And the name of his ranch was born.

Rimfire was located in the Badlands, about 130 miles west of Bismarck. Since the railroad bridge had crossed the Missouri River, it was now an easy six- or seven-hour train trip to the small hamlet where he and the boys would get off. The railroad called the settlement Pyramid Park, but the locals called it Little Missouri, though some sages referred to it as Little Misery. But Drew didn’t think it miserable, he thought it peaceful.

Yes, a trip to Rimfire would soothe his mind, indeed.

“It’s grown cold
outside!” Elfrieda informed him the next morning when Drew told her what he was going to do. “You can’t take those babies out there in the cold like this. And besides, Sam is in school.”

“We won’t be gone long, and the boys love it at the ranch. I promise we’ll be back before Thanksgiving,” Drew said as he poured another cup of coffee.

“You’ll bring ’em back with roaring head colds, I just know it,” Elfrieda said as she went to awaken the boys.

Drew stood at the window looking out on the bleak landscape. His house was near the edge of town, and the view was rolling plains. Was Elfrieda
right? Did he have a right to jeopardize his children just because he wanted to get away from a woman—a woman who didn’t even know he wanted to get away from her? What was wrong with him? He who was always the rational one.

Well, he was going, and he had an excuse. His foreman, Devlin McCarthy, was building a new and larger house for him, and he should really check on its progress before hard winter set in.

“Daddy, Daddy, is it true?” Benji yelled as he came running into the kitchen in his pajamas. “Are we going to Rimfire?”

“It’s true, Benji.” Drew smiled at the boy’s enthusiasm.

“Yeah, yeah, and I’m going to ride Africa.”

“No, you’re not.” Drew picked his son up and threw him over his shoulder. “Africa is Mr. Carswell’s horse.”

“Toby let’s me ride him. Toby said I could ride him, next time I came.”

“We’ll see.”

Just then Sam walked into the kitchen fully dressed.

“What’s the matter, Sam? Didn’t Mrs. Considine tell you we’re going to Rimfire?”

“Yes.”

Putting Benji down, Drew moved to Sam and bent down to his six-year-old. “Don’t you want to go, Son?”

“It makes me sad. I think about Mama when we’re there.”

“I know, Sam, I know, but Mama’s in heaven, and she wants us to do all the things that we would
do if she was with us.” Drew pulled his son close to him and held him.

“Does she want us to have a new mama?”

Drew pulled back and looked directly at Sam. “Why do you ask that?”

“Because Miss Peterson said I need a new mama.”

“Your teacher said that?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What did you say?”

Sam blinked his eyes over and over, holding back tears. “I don’t want a new mama.”

“Are we going to get a new mama? I want a new mama, I want a new mama!” Benji said over and over as he ran round and round the table.

“Out of the mouths of babes,” Elfrieda said as she entered the room.

“Get Benji dressed, and put a few things in a rucksack for us, would you, Elfrieda? I’ve got to tell Frank I’m going to be gone for a couple of weeks.” Drew gave Sam one last squeeze.

Jana had arrived
at the Emporium before eight o’clock and was standing out front when Mr. Watson showed up.

“You were outstanding last night. I can’t tell you how many people came to compliment me on my method of advertising. Do you know, Eben Strauss asked me if you could wear some of his jewelry while you’re in the window.”

“And what did you tell him?”

Mr. Watson grinned widely. “Just what do you think I told him? As long as we get a commission
on what you sell, you can wear all the diamonds and rubies he’s got in his store. Would that be all right with you?”

“Oh, I don’t know about all of this, Mr. Watson. It makes me a little uncomfortable. I feel a little like I’m duping people out of their money.”

“Nonsense, girl, we’re not making anybody buy anything. They just see something they think is pretty, and then they want it for themselves. But we don’t want to overdo a good thing. Today, I think you should work in the store, maybe work in the stockroom, just so you know what all we have for sale.”

“I think I’d like that.” Jana took off her coat and hung it on a peg in the stockroom.

“Why don’t you start straightening up back there? We were selling things so fast yesterday, everything got in a mess.”

“I can see what you mean.” Jana saw articles of clothing everywhere.

She spent most of the day in the stockroom, and while she was doing mindless work, she thought about Drew Malone. He was an enigma to her. She replayed everything that had happened when she had been with him—at the Sheridan House when he had praised her for rebuffing Richards when he’d tried to buy her vote, and when he had chided her for not knowing more about New Salem and Pastor Kling, and then when he had understood when she said she wanted to homestead.

Then she thought of the physical contact she had had with him, starting with when he had kept
her from tripping on the boardwalk and offered her his arm as they walked to the telegraph office. Then after he had sold her skills to Mr. Watson, he had grabbed her hand as they left the store, and all these things seemed to be the most natural thing in the world for a man and a woman to do.

And then there was last night.

While she was dancing with Drew, she thought it was the first time in her life that she felt like a desirable woman. And finally there was a moment—
that
moment was how she thought of it—the moment when he almost . . . what? Was she reading too much into a reaction? He was looking at her with eyes that she thought were filled with passion, and then, when he lowered his head, his lips were but an inch away from her own. She felt, no she knew, he was going to kiss her. But he was interrupted.

For the rest of the evening, he avoided her. Why?

Then it hit her. Maybe he was married. She hadn’t even thought of that. Yes, that must be it. He was probably married, and if he was, she had no business even thinking about him.

But even though she tried, his face with the captivating blue eyes kept reappearing in her mind. Pastor Kling couldn’t get here fast enough.

“Are you nuts?
You’re going to Rimfire today?” Frank Allen asked when Drew told him what he was going to do. “I’ve had three people in here already this morning because, after the election, they know they won’t have to pay off a politician just to buy a piece of property.”

“You can handle it, Frank. Besides, I’m not going to be gone that long. I need to see how the house is coming along.”

“You can’t kid me. That house has been going up since August and you’ve not even thought about it until now. I know you, something’s happened.”

“Will you drive us to the train?” Drew asked, cutting off the line of conversation.

“Ha, I see. You’re not only going to run out on me at a time when we are going to be very busy, you want me to facilitate it by driving you to the depot. Is that it?”

Drew chuckled. “That’s it.”

With Sam and
Benji loaded in the carriage, Drew and Frank headed for the railroad depot. They rode down Eighth Street turning onto Main. When they were in front of Watson’s Emporium, Frank came to a complete stop.

“I thought we’d get a chance to see the canary in the cage,” Frank said, “but she’s not there.”

“Maybe she flew to another nest,” Drew said sarcastically.

Frank looked questioningly at Drew. Did Jana Hartmann figure into the decision for this quick trip?

Drew looked with
pride on his two sons, four-year-old Benji sleeping soundly with his head nestled against Drew, and six-year-old Sam, his face pressed against the window of the train. For the first part of the ride, Sam had seldom taken his eyes off the landscape.

The boys were so different in personality. Benji was happy-go-lucky, never met anyone he considered a stranger, and Sam was reserved, always suspicious of anything that was new to him. The last two years had been difficult, and Drew knew that Sam still wasn’t over the trauma of seeing his mother fall to the ground, dying before his very eyes. He begrudgingly accepted the few women who were in his life: his grandmother; Miss Peterson, his schoolteacher; and Elfrieda. Drew had hoped that Elfrieda might be more nurturing, but she was first a housekeeper, then a cook, and finally a caregiver to the boys. He should have been more careful when he hired her, but until Elfrieda, every woman he had considered was interested in only one thing—marriage.

Benji snuggled closer to Drew, and he put his arm around his son, holding him more tightly. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it was time to take a wife. He knew that he could go for the rest of his life without ever getting married again, but maybe he owed it to his boys to find someone who would come into their house and make it a home.

He looked toward Sam, who seemed old beyond his years. The boy always seemed so sad, and it broke Drew’s heart that Sam was always so distant. During this time at Rimfire, he wanted to find a way to talk to Sam about what he thought of Drew’s bringing another woman into the house.

But who could that be?

The face of Jana Hartmann came to his mind. When he had first met her, he had been mentally attracted to her, and when he had seen her with
her hair in a less severe style, and in clothing other than the plain clothes of an immigrant, he realized he was also physically attracted to her.

But what about Little Casino? Why was Jana talking to the most prominent prostitute in Bismarck? But what if it was an innocent conversation? When he got back, he would make it his business to find out what kind of relationship the two women had.

The train began to slow as they approached the settlement of Little Missouri, so named because it was located on the west bank of the Little Missouri River at the Northern Pacific crossing. It was known as one of the roughest communities in the territory. The permanent population was no more than a couple dozen people during the day, but at night all kinds of derelicts showed up, generally men, and a few wayward women, who had no desire to ever be counted. They were the horse thieves, escaped criminals, deserted soldiers, renegade Indians, and other hoodlums who roved the Badlands, and the prostitutes who plied their avocation among such men.

But when Addie died, Drew had come for solace to this land that she’d loved so. They had found Rimfire together, and he had planned to someday make this ranch their home.

“Benji, it’s time to wake up,” Drew said as the train rolled across the bridge. “We’re here. Sam, put your coat on.” Drew began gathering their belongings and herded the children toward the exit.

“Mister, are you sure you want off here?” the conductor asked as he opened the door and put down a step stool, carefully looking up and down
the dirt road that ran in front of the depot. “This isn’t a place for kids.”

“We won’t be here long,” Drew said, wishing he had taken the time to wire Devlin McCarthy, his ranch foreman.

Sam was barely off the train when the conductor had the step picked up and the door closed. More than once, a conductor of the Pacific Express had been forced to dance as town rowdies shot at his feet, in what they considered great sport.

The town was originally the site of the Badlands Cantonment, a military installation where soldiers had been stationed to protect the railroad construction crews from the Indians. When the end of the track moved farther west, the soldiers moved, too, and the buildings were abandoned. Now a few shanties, a post office, a sutler’s store, the Pyramid Park Hotel, a livery stable, and nine saloons all lined up in a row facing the Little Missouri River.