Rimfire Bride (22 page)

As Drew and Jim wandered around the shop selecting other pieces of furniture, Jana walked to the front of the store. She tried to decipher what the conversation between Jim Cady and Drew had meant.

“That’s a start,” Drew said when they left the store. “Now let’s go to Eisenbach’s. Sol will no doubt have more comfortable sofas and chairs than Jim had.”

“What were you two talking about?” Jana asked, realizing that the “cabin” might be a bit larger than she’d envisioned.

“We were just haggling over the price. Five bedsteads was quite a sale for him.”

“Not the beds—the pool. What was that about?”

“Oh, it was nothing.”

“I don’t believe you for one minute, Drew Malone. Why do I have the feeling that the pool has something to do with me? More specifically, something to do with us?”

The smile Drew gave her was absolutely dazzling. “I can’t tell you about it because you’d cheat if you knew all the details. Come on, we’ve got work to do.”

By the end of the day, Drew, with Jana’s input, had selected furnishings for what Jana learned was an eight-room house, hardly a “cabin” by her
estimation. He had consulted her on various pieces and was acquiescent on her suggestions. A part of her wanted to think she was selecting furniture for a house—no, a home—for her and Drew and the boys. But she knew that was only the figment of an active imagination.

When they were back on Main Street, Drew turned in the opposite direction.

“I should get back to help Greta,” Jana said when she realized they were going away from the hotel.

“She can handle tonight’s soup without you, and besides, I want to confuse Hank a little bit. Let’s get a bite to eat at Le Bon Ton,” Drew said as he ushered her toward the restaurant.

“I can’t.”

“Please, Jana. I want to spend as much time as I can with you. Will you join me?”

Jana took a deep breath. “I will.”

The following morning,
Jana was humming a little tune as she was selecting a dress from the new shipment that had arrived while she was out yesterday. Her thoughts were of Drew and the pleasant evening she had spent with him. Was it too much to hope that he enjoyed her company as much as she enjoyed his? She had never been happier in her life. When she stepped away, she was admiring the drape of the soft faille dress she had chosen to display on the mannequin when Hank Thompson and Carl Meunch came into the store.

“Why, hello, you two, what brings you here?”
she asked with a broad smile. Then suddenly the smile was replaced by a look of concern. “Oh, no, has something happened to Greta?” she asked, her voice tinged with fear.

“No, she’s fine,” Hank said quickly, putting his hand out to calm her. “But she’s the reason we’re here.”

“Oh.” Jana sighed with relief. “You had me a little worried. What can I do for you?”

“We want to buy something,” Carl said, “but we don’t know what we want.”

“The boys ’n’ me,” Hank said, “that is, the boys who come to the Custer Saloon, well, we’ve took up a collection, and what we would like to do is buy Greta a dress. Not one to work in, but a dress she can wear at Sunday go to meetin’s and such. We want to give it to her for Christmas.”

“And we thought, bein’ as Greta is your sister, and bein’ as you work here and all, well, you’d be able to give us an idea on what she might like,” Carl added.

“My, what a wonderful thing you’re doing for her,” Jana said, genuinely touched by the gesture. “I’d be honored to help pick out a dress for Greta. Her favorite color is blue, so we can start there.”

“Since it’s for Christmas, don’t you think she would like something red?” Hank asked.

“That’s a good idea, Hank.” Jana went directly to a red chasseur jacket that was trimmed in black basket braid. “I think this would be useful if you paired it with a black cashmere skirt. What do you think?”

“I don’t know. We sort of wanted a dress,” Carl said.

Jana smiled. They were going to be more difficult than her usual customer. She pulled out stylish redingotes with pretty shoulder capes and suits of rough-finished English tweeds. They finally settled on a myrtle-green brocade dress with a mantle of brown velvet.

“This is the one,” Carl said. “How much is it?”

“That one is a little more expensive,” Jana said. “It’ll be six dollars and fifty cents.”

Both men began to smile broadly.

“We’ve got enough money for two outfits. We’ll take the skirt and the red jacket if you don’t think she’ll think it looks like a soldier,” Carl said.

“I think Greta will think it’s wonderful, and she will love you even more for thinking of her.”

The purchases made,
the two men left with the dresses wrapped in a package. Jana took her place in the window, smiling as she thought of the pleasure her sister would take from the generosity of “her gentlemen.”

Jana had been drawing for a couple of hours when she heard a light tap on the window. She looked up to see Drew. She waved as he turned to enter the store.

“I want you to know, Miss Hartmann, you aren’t the only artist I know.” He handed her a sheet of paper. “Benji wanted me to give you this.” On the paper were two circles as heads with stick arms and legs. One was bigger with lines that indicated
long hair, and the other was much smaller and standing alongside. The arms of the taller figure and the shorter figure were connected, as if holding hands.

“He says to ask you if you know who this is.”

“I can guess if he asked you to give it to me. I think this beautiful creature with the flowing hair is me, and this handsome young gentleman is Benji, and the best part is that we’re holding hands.”

Drew shook his head. “That’s right, but how did you know that?”

“When one is an
artiste
, one can recognize a fellow
artiste
,” Jana said in an affected French accent.

“Well, I have another request of the
artiste
. You’re invited for supper tonight, food to be prepared by the acclaimed French cook Elfrieda, and her two sous-chefs, Sam and Benji. May I escort madam to my home?”

“Drew, I ran out on Greta last night, and I can’t leave her two nights in a row.”

“Did she have a problem last night?

“No, she said Carl helped her.”

“And he probably enjoyed doing it. Please come, Jana. I think the boys are fixing a special dessert just for you, and they’ll be disappointed if you don’t come.”

Jana looked directly at Drew, pondering what had just happened. If she accepted his invitation, she was moving their relationship, if that was what it was, to another dimension. It was one thing to go to Drew’s home to help prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for prisoners in the local jail, but it was
a completely different thing to go to his home to have a supper—a family supper, for no reason at all, other than to spend some time with him and his sons.

“If it will help you make up your mind, Jana, I’ll throw in an evening at the Opera House. Colonel Lounsberry said the show that’s playing now is really funny. So now, will you consider it?”

Of course she would consider it.

But the picture of a little boy with a solemn face came into her mind. If she proceeded, she would have to win not only the hearts of Drew and Benji, but also convince Sam that she was not ever going to usurp his memory of and the love he felt for his mother.

Jana broke into a wide smile. “I’ll come, but you might be embarrassed. Do you know I’ve never been to an opera house?”

“Then it will be my pleasure to introduce you to vaudeville. I’ll come by the hotel at six, if that’s all right with you.”

“I’ll be ready.”

When Jana walked into the hotel, she apprehensively went into the saloon to tell Greta that, again tonight, she would not be around to help her.

“How was your day?” Greta asked as she brushed the fall of her hair away from her brow.

“It was busy,” Jana said. “People are beginning to buy Christmas presents already. I can’t believe this town has so much money.”

“You mean people are getting more than the candy and nuts we always got for Christmas?” Greta asked with a chuckle.

“Don’t forget, we got an orange, too. But it was the best Mama could do for us. I miss her, don’t you?”

“I think about her all the time. Do you think we could send her some Swiss chocolate for Christmas? Maybe we could find some like Dewey Gehrig’s cousin brought when he came from Zurich.”

“She’d like that. I’ll ask Drew if he knows where we could get some.”

“Drew? Aren’t we getting awfully familiar with Mr. Malone?”

Jana’s face turned crimson. “Greta, I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry? Why would you say that? I think it’s wonderful. You deserve all the happiness you can get.”

“I won’t be here tonight. He’s asked me to come to supper at his house, and . . .” Jana hesitated.

“And what?”

“And then I’m going to Whitney’s Opera House with him.”

Greta laughed at her sister’s apparent discomfort in telling her the plans for the evening, but then she got a serious look on her face.

“Are you in love with Drew Malone?”

“What?” Jana asked with a little gasp. “Greta, how can you ask such a thing?”

“I don’t know anything about love, but I can see how your eyes light up when you talk about him. I know what love is between us, and I know I love Mama. And Papa, well, I suppose I honor him because that’s one of the Ten Commandments, but I can’t say I love him. It’s just that I don’t know anything about the love between a man and a
woman, so that’s why I asked you. Are you in love with Drew?”

“I—no—I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so, but you might be?”

“I don’t know, Greta. I don’t know any more about falling in love than you do.”

Greta started stirring the pot of soup, then looked directly at Jana. “If you do decide you’re in love with Drew, will you tell me? And will you tell me what it feels like?”

Jana chuckled. “Yes, little sister. If I do decide I’m in love with Drew, you’ll be the first person I tell. That is, after I tell him, of course.”

Greta threw a dish towel at her sister. “Go. Go get pretty for your date.”

A
s
promised, Drew showed up at the hotel at six o’clock to meet Jana, who was waiting in the lobby for him. She was dressed in a black wool skirt with a cream-colored, tucked shirtwaist, but at the last minute, she had picked up a lace fichu and thrown it around her shoulders. Having never been to an opera house, she had no idea how people would be dressed, but she felt the magenta fichu would dress up her rather plain outfit, and it would provide warmth if the place was drafty.

“I hope I didn’t keep you waiting,” Drew said as he came into the lobby, removing his hat.

“No, I just came down.”

“Do we need to check with Hank before we can leave?” Drew asked with a smile as he helped Jana into her cloak.

“Not tonight. I’ve already told him I’ll be late.”

Drew laughed. “I don’t think it will be too
late because I don’t want to get on Hank’s bad side.”

“Nor do I.” Jana laughed as well.

Benji was the
first to greet them when they stepped into Drew’s house. As he had done before, he ran first to Drew, to wrap his arms around his legs, then to Jana, to do the same thing.

“Did Daddy give you the picture I drew for you?” Benji asked.

“Indeed he did. It’s a fine picture, as fine a picture as I’ve seen in a long time.”

“Did you hang it on your wall?”

“I haven’t yet, but I certainly intend to do that.”

Elfrieda came into the front room then. “Good evening, Miss Hartmann. I’m so glad you came tonight.”

“Please call me Jana.”

“All right—Jana. Benji, you show your daddy and his friend into the dining room, and I’ll go finish up in the kitchen.”

“You’re my friend, too,” Benji said, taking Jana’s hand and leading her into the next room.

“Where’s Sam?” Drew asked.

“He’s in there.” Benji pointed to the parlor.

“I’ll get him.”

Sam did not
say a word throughout the dinner of roast venison, with homemade noodles, but Jana took comfort that he had sat with them to eat. The conversation was lively with Elfrieda joining them at the table, and when Drew announced that it
was time to leave, Elfrieda prompted the boys to get the dessert that they had made for Jana.

“Come on, Sam,” Benji said as he bounded into the kitchen. They came back with a tin and handed the box to Jana.

“Look inside,” Benji said excitedly. “We made these for you, and Sam made a card.”

Jana opened the tin and saw the snaps, which were obviously cut by the boys. She opened the folded piece of paper that lay on the top of the cookies.

“Is this your card, Sam?” Jana asked as she smiled toward him.

He looked away quickly as Jana opened it and looked at the drawing. Because Sam was older, his drawing was more carefully drawn than Benji’s. It was obviously a picture of Drew with Sam and Benji beside him. Written across the bottom in all capital letters was HATE, SAM.

Jana put the card in the pocket of her skirt. “I know I’m going to enjoy my cookies, but there are so many. Will you help me eat a few?” She offered the box to Benji and then Sam.

“We made them for you,” Benji said, “but we’ll help you if you want us to, won’t we, Sam?”

Sam turned and ran from the room.

“I’ve never seen him turn down Elfrieda’s snaps,” Drew said, grabbing a cookie for himself.

“He had a big supper. Maybe he’s full,” Jana said as she began taking out a few cookies. “I’ll leave the box behind with a few cookies in it. Maybe Sam will want a glass of milk and a cookie before he goes to bed.”

“Speaking of which, it’s time for you to get your nightshirt on, young man.” Drew picked Benji up and threw him over his shoulder and carried the squealing little boy up the stairs.

“I want to say good-bye to Jana,” he was yelling.

“Good night,” Jana said as she stood by the door waiting for Drew. Then she saw Sam’s head peeking around the doorframe of the parlor.

“I think your daddy needs you.” Jana tried to use her most pleasant schoolteacher voice. She did not want to be stern, but neither did she want Sam to think what he had done was acceptable. She knew it was not her place to say or do anything, and she would make certain Drew did not find out what his son had done. She watched as Sam passed by her, his head lowered to avoid any eye contact with her. Jana was convinced that the boy knew he had done something wrong.