Soiled Dove (17 page)

Loretta said, a little disappointed.

“You will, but it ain’t quite ready for anyone to live in just yet,” he grunted as he slid a large valise toward the back. “It’ll take some fixin’ up, but the roof is solid.”

He pushed the main door to the house open and led her to a small room near the back of the house. As Loretta entered, she glanced around and nodded. It was small, but there were two windows that gave her a wonderful view. On one side tall trees cast shade, but the other let her see the mountains and the small valley they’d traveled through on their way to the homestead. The room was furnished with a small bed big enough for one and a small chest of drawers. A washstand sat under the rear window and held a porcelain pitcher and wash basin.

“You can see the small cabin back in those trees,”

Ino said as he set the bag down at the foot of the bed.

“This is very nice, Mr. Valdez,” Loretta said. “For now.”

“I’ll get your other bag,” he said. Loretta followed him outside and reached into the front of the buckboard to get her travel valise as he pulled a second bag from the bed of the wagon. Just as they were entering the house, Ino heard the sound of hooves approaching. “Might be Clare and the hands,”

he said, taking a deep breath.

Loretta placed a hand on his back. “Are you sure it will be all right that I’m here?” she asked.

“It’ll be fine, ma’am,” he nodded. He set the bag down and waited for Clare to come into view. “Why don’t you take your valise to your room, Miss Loretta.

I’ll bring this one in a few minutes.”

Loretta started to protest being sent to her room like a child, but thought better of it. She walked into the main room of the house and watched through a front window as Ino greeted two riders on horseback who were followed by a small buggy. Two younger-looking men swung off their horses and were on the ground before the animals came to a complete stop.

One of them grabbed the bridle of the horse pulling the buggy while the second moved to the side of the conveyance to help someone out. Loretta recognized the passenger as Clare McIlhenney, who held a hand gingerly across her abdomen and moved slowly as she got her feet beneath her. Clare patted the cowboy on the shoulder and limped toward Ino, pushing her wide-brimmed hat back on her head while the men led the horse and buggy toward the stable. Loretta saw the frowning, angry look on Clare’s face and turned away.

“I see you finally made it back,” Clare snapped.

She shifted her weight uncomfortably.

“Yeah, we just got here. There was a real bad storm last night so we didn’t get as early a start this mornin’ as I hoped,” Ino said calmly as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Must’ve been the same fuckin’ storm that spooked our herd over half of southern Colorado during the night,” Clare said loudly as she stepped toward Ino, glaring at him. “Me and the boys been out since before sunup roundin’ them up. Sure as hell could’ve used another hand.”

“I got back as soon as I could…,” Ino began.

Clare brought her face so close to his that their noses nearly touched. “It wasn’t goddamn soon enough!” Clare seethed.

“Clare…”

“I told you I don’t need anyone else up here. I can handle it without the assistance of some woman we barely know,” Clare spat as she poked Ino in the chest. “She can pack up her shit and you’ll take her back to town in a couple of days. You hear me?”

“We need her here, Clare,” Ino said. “Why’re you bein’ so damn stubborn?”

“I don’t want strangers in my house. Why is that so hard for you to get into that thick Mexican head of yours?”

“My but it’s chilly out here,” Loretta commented lightly as she approached Clare and her foreman.

“And I’m not referring to the weather,” she added with a glance at Clare. “You sound much stronger than the last time we spoke, Miss McIlhenney. Would you care for a cup of hot coffee?” Clare and Ino had been so busy glaring at one another that neither saw Loretta come out of the house carrying a small tray of cups and a steaming pot of coffee. “I don’t know yet how you take your coffee, but I hope black will do for now,” Loretta said nonchalantly as she handed a cup to Clare and another to Ino, who was staring at her rather stupidly. She used a piece of checkered cloth to pick up the battered pot and pour. “You could use a new pot, by the way,” she said with a smile.

“Washing it daily will cut back on the bitterness.”

Clare grabbed her hat from her head and accepted the cup. “Thank you, ma’am,” she said, softening her voice. The subtle scent of perfume struck Clare’s nose, surprising her with the way it triggered her memories.

Loretta nodded. “I’ll just take these to your hands.”

Clare stared after her as she walked toward the stable and handed the other cups to the cowboys who were unsaddling their horses. Rather than returning to the house, she picked up a saddle and helped put the tack away, chatting with the cowboys as she did so. “She’s a pretty little thing, ain’t she?” Ino leaned closer and asked quietly.

“I reckon, but that don’t change nothin’. Goddamn it, what the hell were you thinkin’? Or did you let your pecker do that for you?”

“I already told you. We need someone who can cook and clean while you’re laid up. I hired her so’s I could have more time to help you and the boys with the herd without wonderin’ what kind of cold meal was waitin’ for us back at the house. I’m gettin’ kinda tired of jerky and beans. Ain’t you?”

“What’re you payin’ her?” Clare asked, taking a sip of coffee.

“I told her
you
would pay her twenty dollars a month. If it don’t work out, you can take it outta my pay.”

“I’ll give her until right before the first snowfall, but I don’t think she’ll make it that long. You know how it is out here,” Clare said. “Ain’t no place for a decent woman.”

“You live out here.”

“No one’s mistaken me for a decent woman since I left Pennsylvania when I was barely an adult,” she said. She gulped down the remainder of her coffee.

“Damn good coffee though.”

“Musta washed the pot,” Ino mumbled.

After Loretta returned to the house, Ino finished his coffee and handed the cup to Clare before turning back to the buckboard. As Ino leaned down to unhook and remove the horses’ harnesses, Clare saw Caleb join him. He patted the hind quarters of the nearest horse.

“Pretty girl,” Caleb commented with a glance toward the house.

“Yeah,” Ino grunted. “Guess so.”

“I wouldn’t mind tappin’ a little of that sometime,” Caleb said with a grin

Clare didn’t like what the young cowboy implied, but she was surprised when Ino dropped the reins to the team and grabbed the front of Caleb’s shirt, pushing him roughly into the side of the buckboard.

“You lay a hand on her I’ll kill you myself, boy.

She’s here to help out until Clare’s back on her feet.

She don’t need some worthless piece of shit like you pantin’ after her ass.
Comprende
?” Clare heard Ino threaten.

“I got it, I got it!” Caleb hissed. “I didn’t mean nothin’ by it.”

Clare dropped her head and smiled as Ino shoved Caleb away and led the horses toward the stable. She reached for the handle of the front door to her home, but hesitated. Maybe she should wait for Ino. She suddenly felt ill at ease, remembering the lively hazel eyes she had seen at the doctor’s office. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be alone in the house with her new housekeeper. There was something in Loretta’s eyes that made Clare nervous. What had she seen?

Defiance? Fear? Whatever it was made Clare uncomfortable.

CLARE TRIED TO ignore Loretta as much as possible over dinner, limiting her conversation to yes and no whenever possible. Loretta had managed to find enough food to prepare a decent dinner, but chattered on about getting seasonings for their food the next time she was in Trinidad. Loretta and Ino carried on a lively conversation over dinner while Clare kept her eyes on her plate as if she was afraid someone might steal it, refusing to participate in the conversation. When dinner was finished, Clare watched Loretta clear the table and prepare to wash their dishes. Ino took a bag of loose tobacco from a bowl in the middle of the table and rolled a cigarette.

He struck a match, inhaled a lungful of smoke and exhaled it silently as he glanced at Clare.

“I thought I’d watch the herd tonight,” he said.

“They might still be a little spooked from the storm.”

“Good. I could use a full night’s sleep,” Clare said as she packed tobacco down into the bowl of a pipe and lit it. She stood slowly and limped to a chair in front of the fireplace and lowered her body gingerly.

She felt more relaxed now that there was a reasonable distance between her and Loretta. Clare picked up a book lying on the table next to her chair and slid a pair of reading glasses on.

“Which meadow are they in?” Ino asked.

“Upper. We saw some animal prints this morning not far from there so keep your eyes open.”

“Bears?”

“Too small. Probably a couple of wolves wandering down looking for easy prey among the calves.”

Clare watched over the top of her glasses as Ino stood up with his cigarette clenched between his teeth and grabbed his hat and coat. It was still early enough in the spring that the nights were chilly. He picked up his gloves, took a rifle from its place over the mantle and checked it. Then he opened a cabinet near the front door and pulled out a dozen rounds.

Clare had returned to her reading when Ino’s shadow fell over the book, blocking her light.

“Um…listen. I…uh…promised Miss Loretta a hot bath soon as we got here. You know, instead of the stream out back. I’ll get one of the boys to heat the water and….”

“She can do it herself,” Clare interrupted brusquely and glanced to where Loretta stood washing dishes. “Last thing I need is some horny cowboy traipsin’ in and out of my house. Just try to stay awake out there tonight.”

LORETTA FINISHED WASHING the dinner dishes. The sun had dipped behind the mountain, casting the homestead into a quiet blue-gray. Above the homestead the last red and orange rays of the day curled around the side of the mountain like gnarled fingers, trying desperately to hold on for a few more minutes. Loretta was intrigued as the fingers of light slowly lost their grip and slipped away. She had never seen anything like it. Sunsets had always been beautiful to her, but the colors were more vibrant now than they had been in the city. She wiped down the kitchen counter and dried her hands on a small towel, gazing out the kitchen window. She saw Ino swing onto the back of his horse and settle into the saddle.

When Loretta’s eyes met his for a moment he nodded almost imperceptively in her direction and turned the horse away. With a sigh, Loretta walked toward Clare.

“Would you like another cup of coffee before you turn in?” Loretta asked. Clare hadn’t heard her approach and the unexpected sound of her voice startled her, sending a stabbing pain through her side.Clare pursed her lips and thought about it for a second before nodding. “Just one. Daylight comes early here.”

Loretta poured two cups and set one next to Clare, who resumed smoking her pipe and reading a book.

“May I join you?” Loretta asked.

“Suit yourself,” Clare muttered.

Loretta sat down across from her. “I was hoping you could answer a few questions for me,” she said.

Clare looked over the top of her reading glasses.

“About what?”

“I don’t know much about you, or Mr. Valdez. I like to know about the people I work for.”

“Why?” Clare asked, removing her glasses and setting them on the table next to her chair.

“It makes working together more interesting, don’t you think?”

“Never thought about it. What other people do is none of my business. My life is no one else’s business.”

“That seems rather unfriendly,” Loretta observed.

Clare closed her book and set it on the table.

“How old are you, Mrs. Langford?”

“Twenty.”

“Got any family?”

“I guess my mother and her husband are still alive, but I haven’t seen them in years. Other than that I don’t have any family.”

“Isn’t the preacher your brother-in-law?”

“He’s not my real family. I married into his,”

Loretta answered after some thought.

“What happened to your man?”

“Uh…Charles was killed in an accident…last year,” Loretta said between sips of coffee. She and Cyrus had never discussed the particulars of their lie.

She needed to remember everything she said to warn him when she was in town again.

“Apparently you’re no longer in mourning,” Clare said. “I don’t mean to sound cruel, Mrs. Langford, but since I’m old enough to be your mother, I figure I owe you the truth about life out here. If you came here to start a new and exciting life I suggest you keep moving west or return to your home. This is a cold, unforgiving place. I don’t just mean Trinidad. This part of the west is still trying to decide whether it’s civilized or not. Hell, it’s not even a part of the United States yet even though I expect it will be soon. Life here isn’t easy for a woman, especially one without a man to see after her.”

“If it’s so bad here why did you come to Trinidad?” Loretta asked.

“I was about your age when I arrived here…alone.

My parents and brother were killed about two days ride from here. My father bought this land from an agent back east and sold everything we owned to make the trip. There was nothing for me to go back to.”“I’m sorry about your family.”

“Long time ago.

“And Mr. Valdez?” Loretta asked, settling comfortably in her chair. For all the gruffness and seemingly unwelcome attitude, she was finding Clare McIllhenney an interesting woman to talk to. If you could get her started, she would talk.

“Ino came here on a cattle drive up from Texas about twenty years ago. He saved my life when my family was attacked and tended me until I recovered.

Been with me ever since like a stray dog.”

The two women drank their coffee

companionably.

“Life is difficult here, Mrs. Langford,” Clare said.

“We don’t get many chances to make mistakes. We’re a long way from town.”