The Reluctant Bride (20 page)

“I think we all ought to go,” another man said. “We’ve all lost cattle.”

“You’re wasting your time,” still another said. “He wouldn’t invite us to go out there if he had stolen cows in that valley. That’d be the same as putting his head in a noose.”

“This is just a ploy to make us stop suspecting him,” Stocker said. “We know it’s none of us doing the rustling, so it’s got to be him. I say we ride in there together and hang him and every one of those crooks who work for him.”

“You can’t convict a man without proof,” Tanzy said. “And you can’t hang him without a trial.”

“This is the Colorado Territory,” someone shouted. “Horse thieving and cattle rustling are hanging offenses.”

“I don’t like Russ one bit, but he ain’t stupid,” one said. “We’ve tried to pin something on him for years and we ain’t succeeded so far.”

“We sent him to jail for killing Toley,” Stocker said. “We pinned that on him.”

The sudden quiet, the averted gazes, told Tanzy more clearly than anything she’d heard that something had not been right about that trial. Whatever happened, these men weren’t proud of it.

“I say we don’t waste our time poking around Russ’s Valley,” a man said. “I say we go looking for the missing cows. We ought to search every canyon, pass, valley, and gully within a hundred miles that could hide even two head. We’ll know as soon as we find the cows who’s been doing the rustling, and we’ll have the evidence to hang them.”

“You’re wasting your time searching all over for cows he’s already sold,” Stocker insisted. “I’m not pulling my men off my herds to send them on a wild-goose chase so Russ can steal even more cows while they’re gone. Either we go in there and hang him without all this fiddle-faddle, or I’ll have nothing to do with it.”

Stocker stalked from the hotel lobby. The men talked among themselves for a while, arguing loudly for one course of action or another, but ultimately left without making any decision. That didn’t surprise Tanzy. She hadn’t expected they’d do anything without Stocker’s approval and leadership.

She couldn’t forget the men’s reaction to Russ’s conviction. Maybe it
had
been a fair fight and Stocker had pressured the jury to convict him unfairly and send him to prison. That would be more than enough reason for Russ to bear a grudge that would never entirely go away. Then maybe she’d overstated the enmity between Russ and Stocker. Maybe Russ wasn’t feuding with Stocker. If he had wanted to kill the other man, surely he could have found an opportunity in the five years since he’d been released from jail. Fear of the law never stopped feuds in Kentucky. She didn’t expect it would in the Colorado Territory.

It was easier to believe Russ since she’d read some of the things he’d written. She knew it was possible he’d written them just to change her mind, but she couldn’t see any reason for him to worry about the opinion of a woman he didn’t want to marry. Despite the kiss, she hadn’t seen any change in his attitude toward her.

It must have been a moment of weakness, even loneliness, that prompted the kiss. She smiled to herself as she climbed the steps to her room. It was nice to know she had the power to pull him free of his iron reserve for at least a moment. He’d probably cursed himself all the way back to the ranch, expecting her to Start making demands, expecting special treatment, or whatever it was he thought women did that had given him such a bad opinion of them. It had something to do with his mother. That realization made her more sympathetic toward him. It was a shame he wasn’t different. Being married to him could have been quite exciting.

What was she talking about? She didn’t want excitement in her marriage. She wanted dependability and stability. She wanted a home of her own, children, and the knowledge that they could grow up safely. And she wanted a husband who would see her as his equal, someone whose feelings mattered, whose opinions were to be valued, whose knowledge was important to the success of the family. On that score Russ failed dismally.

Tanzy knew something was afoot when she saw Ethel Peters, Jem Bridger’s mother, and another woman Coming toward the schoolhouse accompanied by Betty. Their stride, aggressive and determined, and their expressions, grim and angry, warned her that it probably wouldn’t be something to her liking.

“What are they all coming here for?” Tardy asked.

“I don’t know,” Tanzy said. Ethel had said she would be checking Tanzy’s progress, but this didn’t look like a progress report committee. The women looked more like vigilantes. Time to go back inside,” Tanzy called out to the students.

“We haven’t been out our full time,” several protested.

“I’ll let you stay out longer this afternoon,” Tanzy said.

“Now go back inside and get to work.”

The children grumbled, but one look at Ethel’s committee convinced them to follow orders.

“Tardy, I want you to be responsible for the children until I’m done.”

Tardy looked stunned. “Me?”

“Don’t you think you can do it?”

“Nobody’s ever made me responsible for anything.”

“Well, you are now. And I don’t want everybody with their noses stuck to the Windows.”

Tardy headed toward the schoolhouse, a spring in his step, but he turned back with a worried look just before he went inside. Tanzy thought he probably had reason.

“Good morning,” she said when Ethel and the others came to a stop in a semicircle around her. “Is something wrong?”

“I hope not,” Ethel said, “but Betty Hicks has made a very serious accusation against you. We’re here in hopes you can prove she’s mistaken.”

“I’m not mistaken,” Betty said, her lips formed in a false smile, her eyes gleaming in anticipation. “I knew I’d seen her somewhere the moment I laid eyes on her. It just took me a while to remember.”

“What did you remember?” Tanzy asked.

“I remembered that we worked at the same gambling hall in St. Louis.
That’s
what I remembered.”

Chapter Thirteen

“I don’t remember seeing you in St. Louis,” Tanzy said to Betty.

“I quit about the time you started. I remember you because one of the girls said you’d be getting all the trade ’cause you was younger and prettier than the rest of us”

Tanzy had gotten far more attention than she’d wanted.

“Are you denying you worked in a gambling hall?” Ethel asked.

“Nobody’s asked me where I worked or what I did before I came here.”

“I’m asking now,” Ethel said, her lips firmly compressed in a disapproving frown.

“I lived in my father’s house until he and my brothers were killed. I went to St. Louis looking for a job. I discovered the only Jobs for young women with no skills and no references were in places like gambling halls, so I took what was offered. I worked in the River Queen for six months. I left when I came as a mail-order bride to marry Russ Tibbolt.”

“Why would you do that?” Ethel asked.

“A friend of mine had come west as a mail-order bride and wrote to tell me how happy she was. I had hoped that marrying Mr. Tibbolt would prove to be just as wonderful for me. As you know, I decided not to accept his offer.”

“We can’t have a woman who worked in a gambling hall teaching our children,” Mrs. Bridger said.

“Why not?” Tanzy asked. “I didn’t lose my virtue.”

“We don’t know that,” Betty said.

“We don’t know that you didn’t, either,” Tanzy said, turning on Betty, “but I didn’t come making accusations against you. I didn’t attempt to ruin your reputation.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered,” the other woman said. “Everybody knows she’s a fallen woman.”

“We can’t let you remain as the teacher,” Ethel said. “Soon everybody in town will know about your past.”

“You can’t expect
that
one to keep her mouth shut,” Mrs. Bridger said, giving Betty a nasty look, “when she thinks she’s got a piece of juicy gossip.”

“I was just doing my civic duty,” Betty said.

“If you was doing that, you’d leave town,” Mrs. Bridger shot back. “But Ethel is right,” she said, turning back to Tanzy. “I don’t want you teaching my Jem. No telling what kind of ideas you might put in his head.”

“There’s nothing I can do but relieve you of your Position,” Ethel said. “Immediately.”

“No! You can’t do that! She’s the best teacher we ever had.”

Tanzy turned to see Tardy bound down the schoolhouse steps and run toward them. Several students had their noses to the Windows.

“Richard Benton,” his Aunt Ethel intoned, “you know you’re not allowed to speak to your elders like that.”

“You can’t fire Miss Gallant,” he repeated, looking from one face to another. “Nobody cares where she worked.”

“I’m afraid that’s not true,” Ethel said.

“I bet she lied,” Tardy said, pointing to Betty. “Everybody knows she’d do anything to get Mr. Tibbolt to marry her.”

“She didn’t lie,” Tanzy said. “I did work in a gambling hall.”

That doesn’t make you bad.”

“No, but your aunt and probably most of the town believe that makes me an unsuitable person to be teaching young children. They’re afraid it might Signal their approval of such things.”

“What things?”

“That’s none of your business,” Ethel said.

“Activities associated with gambling,” Tanzy said.

“You didn’t do any of those
activities,
did you?”

“No, but that doesn’t seem to matter.”

“It ought to.”

“I agree, but I’m not the one making the decision.”

“I’ll talk to everybody,” Tardy said defiantly to his aunt. “They’ll want her to stay. You’ll see.”

“I don’t want to be at the center of a senseless commotion,” Tanzy said. “I’ve seen what happened to Mr. Tibbolt and I don’t want it to happen to me.” She turned to Ethel. “Since you’ve seen fit to relieve me of my position immediately, one of you will have to take over for the rest of the day.”

“None of us is a teacher,” Ethel said.

“You should have thought of that before you fired me with a schoolhouse full of children. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to my room.”

“The town will cease to pay for your board,” Ethel said.

“I’ll see to my own expenses.”

“I hate you, Aunt Ethel,” Tanzy heard Tardy said. “I hate all of you.”

“Be quiet, Richard Benton, and get back into that schoolhouse,” his aunt said.

“I’m never going back there and you can’t make me,” Tardy shouted and ran past Tanzy toward town.

“Tanzy felt like running away, too, but she had nowhere to go.

“I heard about what happened at the schoolhouse today,” Stocker said to Tanzy. He’d found her in the restaurant and sat down at her table without asking permission. “It’s a shame some people are so prejudiced, but there’s not much we can do about it.”

Tanzy didn’t know how he expected her to respond. No one had been more responsible in perpetuating prejudice than he.

“I’ve discovered people are often eager to put their own weaknesses off on others.”

Stocker eyed her silently for a moment. “You’re a very direct woman. I didn’t see that at first.”

“Why not?”

“All women have to do is lay eyes on Russ and they do anything he wants.”

“I don’t see how you can say that. Except for Betty, every woman in town seems to dislike him very much.”

“Because I’ve made sure they do.”

“Do you think that’s fair?”

“He’s a killer, a liar, and a thief. I want everybody to know it.”

They do. Did you have a reason for sitting down with me?”

“I came to offer you a job.”

“Why should I take the kind of job that just got me fired?”

“Because you need a job, and I’ll pay you twice what they paid you to teach school.”

That was indeed a temptation. She could pay Russ back and save money to leave town in half the time. It hardly mattered now if she worked in a saloon.

“I still want a husband and family. I don’t see how working in your saloon will get that for me.”

“You’ll meet lots of men.”

“Not necessarily the kind who will make good husbands.”

“Why haven’t you run any of those stolen cows into Tibbolt’s valley?” Stocker asked Chick.

“I can’t get in there with him guarding that pass day and night”

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep the ranchers from taking a look for themselves. You know what’s going to happen when they don’t find any stolen cows, don’t you? They’re going to come looking for you.”

Chick chuckled inwardly with the knowledge that nobody could catch him with rustled cows. He’d already sold every one.

“I’ll keep trying,” Chick said, “but it looks like we’ll have to try something different.”

“I don’t care what you do. Just get those cows in there.”

First he had to steal some more cows. It amused him to know he intended to steal them from Stocker. He might even keep one or two back to sneak into Russ’s Valley. If he could find a way to get them in without getting killed.