The Chili Queen (27 page)

Emma set her sewing in her lap and glanced at Ned, but before she could say anything, Ned asked, “About Addie, is she all right?”

The question vexed Welcome. Ned had deserted Addie, and Welcome didn’t feel like salving Ned’s conscience by telling him that Addie was fine, better than fine. So he replied, “The day you left, she lined up her bottles of rot and got full after noon and was on it big for four, five, six days, drunk early and late. Whilst she was on the bender, she had a row with the girls and gave Miss Belle a swelled nose. Then Miss Addie locked the girls out of the house, and Miss Tillie got stung on the lip by a scorpion when she lay down on the porch. After that, the whores lit out, and Addie shut down The Chili Queen.”

Emma looked uncomfortable, and Ned said, “You should have stopped her.”

Welcome wanted to reply that if Ned had not deserted her, Addie would not have gone on the spree. Besides, Welcome
had
stopped her. “I guess she’d still be reposing there till now if she hadn’t got sick from drinking and eating bad mutton and sent me out to the chemist for laudanum. So short of reason was she that I feared she would kill herself, and I told her no shiftless road agent was worth it.” Welcome was enjoying himself, but Ned winced, and Emma looked stern, and although what he had said was the truth, Welcome decided it best to end the recitation. “Miss Addie thought that over and said she was tired of being indisposed. Shortly, she was in much better order and went out and found a man to buy The Chili Queen for an eating house. Then she packed up and got on the train.” He turned to Emma. “Your roses died.”

“I’m glad to hear she is all right then,” Ned said. “Where did she go?”

Welcome shrugged. “She didn’t say, and I didn’t ask. By then, I was in receipt of Emmie’s letter, with such terrible news as I have never before received.” Welcome stopped and removed a silk handkerchief and dabbed at his eyes, annoyed at himself for the tears. “I got on a train myself and came here.”

Emma nodded and glanced at Ned, who dipped his head. She cleared her throat and said, “There is no reason we can’t go on, the three of us. Of course, we have no choice, since with the money gone, Ned cannot buy the ranch in Telluride. I suppose you know that is what he planned to do with the money.” Emma looked at Welcome, who did not respond. Of course, Welcome knew it. There wasn’t much that had happened between Ned and Emma that he didn’t know, except for what had gone on during the trip to Jasper. Emma had returned from it much troubled in her soul, and she and Welcome had had an unpleasant exchange over her refusal to discuss it.

When Welcome didn’t reply, Emma cleared her throat. “So we must all earn our living once more.” She looked at Ned again. “I have learned that there is a man in St. George, Utah, a Mormon with three wives,” she began.

She stopped when Welcome began to shake his head. “I cannot.”

“But, of course, you can, Welcome. We are a team. You and John and I have played it all so well before. We need Ned. He will take John’s place.”

Welcome stiffened. “Never for me,” he said.

Emma thought that over. “No, I suppose not.” She lapsed into silence. The sun had touched the edge of the mountain, and shadows covered the yard now. She shivered, and Welcome, too, felt the fall chill, so different from the heat of New Mexico. “You must be tired,” Emma said, standing. “Tonight, we will enjoy a fine dinner at the Hotel de Paris, and tomorrow, I shall see to the service for John. You must go through John’s things. I set his diamond stickpin aside for you and his watch. Anything else you wish to have is yours.”

“Thank you.”

Ned stood, too, coming up behind Emma and clasping her about the waist. “You best tell him,” he said.

Emma smiled at Ned, and she covered his hands with her own. Welcome never had seen her so happy. In fact, he was not sure he had seen her truly happy at all. Emma blushed and held up her hand so that he could see a gold ring with a red stone. “Last week, Pastor Darnell married Ned and me.” She added shyly, “I need Ned.”

Welcome stared at her for a long time, wondering why it was necessary that she marry so quickly. After all, she and John had been together for years, and they had never had preaching over them. He looked at Ned, who grinned like a school boy, then back at Emma, who seemed as eager as a child for his approval. “Well,” he said. “Well, I guess that’s fine. I guess that’s just fine.” Emma stepped forward and kissed Welcome on the cheek, something she had not done before. Then Ned shook his hand, and Welcome said again, “That’s just fine.” And when he thought it over, Welcome decided it was fine.

In the end, Welcome agreed to participate in one more job. Emma said she understood why he did not want to be partners with Ned, but they had designed this job with a part for Welcome and could not pull it off without him. Besides, she pointed out, Welcome’s cut of the Nalgitas job had gone over the side of the cliff, too, and he must be short of money. They would divide the pickings, with Welcome getting one-half, and she and Ned the rest. That would give Welcome a start, she said. He did not want to work with Ned and Emma, but they would think it odd, might even grow suspicious, if he turned down such a generous offer. After all, John had paid him a fourth. So at last, Welcome said he would join them.

He stayed on for another day so that he could attend the service for John, then finalize the scam. Emma took charge. She always had been in charge, Welcome thought with surprise. He had not realized until then that John had done her bidding, not the other way around, and so would Ned. The two of them would do well together. They did not need him.

Since the job would not begin for a month, Welcome told Ned and Emma he had business to attend to and would meet them in Utah. Emma replied that he did not need to leave Georgetown, that any differences among the three of them were resolved, but Welcome insisted. So Ned and Emma took him to the depot and waved him off. When Welcome reached Denver, he took a train south.

He reached San Antonio in the early evening and walked from the depot to the Plaza de Armas under a darkening sky, where the rays of the sun were like shavings of gold. He had packed away the bright gloves and waistcoat and put on plain clothes, for Texans were not as tolerant of a Negro who stood out as the Coloradans. He had thought of donning a dress but decided against it, for he wanted to be a man when he met her.

The air was still hot in the dusty plaza, but he was used to the heat and barely noticed the cooling breeze that carried the smell of roasted meat and spices. He passed a long table covered with bright oilcloth and smiled at a chili queen in a short red dress. She called to him in a language he didn’t understand, but he took her meaning and shook his head. He passed fires of mesquite and charcoal where women broiled meats and boiled buckets of coffee. The chili queens cried,
“Tamales y enchiladas, menudo y tripitas,”
as he strolled by the rows of tables. A woman with peacock feathers in her hair grabbed his hand, but he pulled it away and kept on until he saw Addie.

She was dressed in every way splendidly, a fashionable summer dress of a cotton so fine it might have been silk, cut modestly in front, for she did not need to flaunt her bosom like the chili queens. The dress was bedecked with lace and bows and ribboned flounces. A matching ribbon was entwined in her curls. He stood off at a distance—she was sitting on a bench, under a tin lantern, and did not see him at first—and admired her pillowy body. He had always preferred fleshy women. Then she turned languidly, and seeing him in the soft dusk, she smiled and indicated the bench. Welcome thought it best that they did not sit too close, although he was so light-skinned that in the dusky light, it would be difficult for anyone to know his color. He seated himself at the end of the bench, then slid his hand over to touch hers, as he inhaled her scent, a mixture of sweat and a heavy, flowery perfume. Addie sighed, then shifted and looked him full in the face.

“I have agreed to one more job,” he said. “Then it’s over.”

Addie nodded, then dipped her head at the tables in front of her. “All these here, they’re mine. I bought them,” she said. “And they didn’t cost hardly anything. When I get settled in, I’ll open us a restaurant, maybe buy one of those buildings over there.” She nodded at the smart brick and stone business blocks going up among the adobe buildings on the edge of the plaza.

“You are a shrewd businesswoman.” Welcome meant it.

“It was always my dream.”

Welcome squeezed her hand and said, “You have been tried by pain and disloyalty and heartache. It is high time you try something else.”

Addie was still a moment, as she gazed across the plaza at the back of a church. “Did you see Ned?”

Welcome had expected the question. “He asked about you.”

Addie waited.

“They are married.”

She didn’t say anything for a long time. Then she gave a deep laugh that thrilled Welcome, and said, “There but for the grace of God…”

Welcome said, “They’re happy.”

“I don’t mind. I never was one to bear a grudge. Besides…” She didn’t finish but turned to him again with a smile so sensuous that Welcome easily took her meaning.

There was a commotion at one of the tables, and Addie got up and went to see about the trouble. She inspected the arm of one of the chili queens, then went to a tub of water used for washing dishes. Addie dipped a rag into the water and held the wet cloth against a burn on the woman’s arm. She tenderly wiped away tears on the chili queen’s face, and led her to a bench and told her to rest. Welcome felt a happiness that Addie was so kindhearted. He was not only lucky but blessed to have found such a woman.

In a minute, Addie returned with a bowl of chili and handed it to Welcome, who used a tortilla to scoop it into his mouth. The stew was rich and greasy, and Welcome savored the heat and bite of the seasonings. He was glad Addie was a woman of hearty tastes.

“What about the money?” Addie asked.

Welcome chuckled. “They never even opened the bag.”

“Katy, bar the door!” Addie said. She was so tickled that she began to laugh, and she reached out and linked her arm through Welcome’s. “Not ever?”

Welcome shook his head. “Never. You read her letter, where she said the purse had gone over the cliff. She tried to open it often. Ned caught up with them, but the bag was locked, and you forgot to give her the key.”

“Well, I guess I did at that,” Addie said. Welcome could see the glow in her eyes as she turned to him and winked. “I guess I forgot to give them the money, too.”

“Are you sorry they didn’t find out?”

Addie’s eyes grew misty, and Welcome patted her hand. “You have such a tender heart,” he said.

Addie sniffed and replied, “I wanted them to find out, of course, wanted them to know
I
had outsmarted
them
. I have that right, you know. They betrayed me, both of them. But that was before…” She stopped and chuckled. “Now, I think it’s better this way. You know, and that’s enough for me.”

“It was the cleverest switch I ever saw. I almost could not believe my eyes.”

Addie cocked her head and said proudly, “I told you I used to be the best there ever was. I guess I still am.”

“I was mightily conflicted at the time,” Welcome said, but, of course, Addie knew that. They had talked about it before. At first, when he had seen Addie switch the money that she had wrapped in a handkerchief, for a packet of newspaper tied up in a similar handkerchief and hidden in the waist of her dress, he had wanted to warn John. John had not seen the switch, nor had Ned, because Addie had ordered both of them to look away. But revealing Addie’s treachery there at the station would have spoiled John and Emma’s bunco game. So he had kept quiet, intending to find out where Addie hid the money and then take it to John himself.

So he had stayed on at The Chili Queen. But even if he had found the hiding place—and he never did—he couldn’t have left Addie then, for she was in pain and drunk as a lord, and abandoning her would not be a manly thing. Then Emma’s letter came, telling him John was dead and Ned was with her in Georgetown. And by then, he had developed such feelings for Addie.

The remarkable thing was that Addie wasn’t surprised when Welcome told her he was a man. She’d said that all along she’d had an idea he wasn’t any woman.

“La!” she’d said, she’d always appreciated a dark man.

“Plenty of white men will be willing to look after you now that you have money,” he’d said.

“Now that I have money, I can choose the man I want to look after me,” she’d replied, reaching for Welcome. “And the man I choose is dark.”

The memory of that gave Welcome a warm feeling. He put down the empty bowl and he slid across the bench until his body touched Addie’s. She ran her hand along the warm muscles of his arm. She took his hand, and they stood. Then in the Mexican twilight, they strolled across the plaza, where the air was sultry with the scent of chili and melodious with the calls of the chili queens.