Hidden Truths (22 page)

I hope the rivers at home aren't running so high.
Thoughts
of her family were with her every mile of the way.

"Boss, look!" Phin shouted and pointed.

Before them, wooden platforms dangled on scaffolds over the
falls. Indians leaned over the edge of the platforms and dipped nets on long
poles into the foaming river. Downstream, where the river was calmer, fishermen
in canoes drove spears into the water.

"They're fishing for salmon," Luke shouted over
the roaring river.

On the high bluffs to both sides of the river, dozens of
lodges had been erected — not as many as there had been twenty years ago, Luke
noticed.

The fort was gone now too. Only a few abandoned buildings
remained. The town that had grown around the fort was bustling, though.

When Luke's herd crowded into town, people jumped back from
the busy main street.

A big sign hanging from one of the false fronts caught
Luke's attention. "Baths," the sign declared in capital letters. Her
skin itched in reaction. She hadn't bathed in almost two weeks.

At home, bathing wasn't a problem. Every Saturday night,
Luke dragged a tin tub into one corner of the kitchen and filled it with hot
water. Nora hung a sheet from the rafters, and then it was bathing time. Luke
always bathed last — "Because Papa is the dirtiest," Nora said. The
girls never questioned it.

When the girls were little, Nora had put them to bed right
after their own baths, and now they knew that every person should be given
privacy while in the tub.

Her ranch hands had no such restraint. Bathing with them
anywhere near her was too dangerous.

Later,
Luke promised herself. She urged Dancer on and
drove one of the geldings away from a lovingly tended garden, stopping him from
making a meal of some woman's first spring flowers. "Keep them away from
the gardens, boys," she called. She had no money to pay for trampled
flower beds and vegetable patches.

They drove the herd toward the livery stable, and Luke
dismounted to negotiate with the stable owner. With hordes of miners in town,
she wanted to hurry before all the baths were reserved for the night.

*  *  *

Luke slung her new saddlebags, full of supplies, over her
shoulder and left the dry-goods store. Her boots pounded down the boardwalk as
she hurried toward the baths.

A Chinese man carrying a stack of towels opened the door.
"We all full," he told Luke. "You wait outside."

While Luke waited, she took in the busy town; then her gaze
wandered to the horizon, where white-capped Mount Hood loomed in the distance.
The familiar sight made Luke feel less separated from her family, but at the
same time, it increased the longing to be home.

The door to one of the bathing cabins opened, and a man
stepped out, twirling his still damp mustache.

Luke waited while the Chinese man disappeared into the cabin
with two buckets of steaming water. Her skin prickled in expectation of sinking
into the bath. She hoped the cabin had a sturdy bolt so that she could enjoy
her bath without worrying about anyone barging in. She would place a chair
beneath the door handle, just in case.

After two more trips with the heavy buckets across his
shoulders, the Chinese man gave a nod, allowing Luke to enter.

She rushed forward — and collided with another man who had
his eye on the bath.

They stumbled back and stared at each other.

Her bathing rival was a bit older and smaller than Luke.
Salt-and-pepper hair stuck out beneath a brown hat. A buttoned coat bulged at
the right hip, indicating that the stranger was armed.

Then Luke's gaze traveled upward and found another bulge.
Two bulges, to be exact. Luke blinked.
He... she's a woman?

Luke forgot about her bath as she stared at the stranger.
Years ago, Tess had told her she knew others like her, but Luke had never met
another woman who lived her life as a man.

Was the stranger living in disguise? If she was, she needed
a few lessons.
She should at least wrap her chest and cut her hair shorter.

"Go ahead," the stranger said. Her voice wasn't
that of a man, and she didn't try to make it sound deeper. "I think you
were here first." She swept her hand at the bathing cabin.

Luke hesitated. She desperately wanted a bath, but decades
of living as a man left her little choice. Nora sometimes teased her about her
gentlemanly manners and warned her that one day, a damsel in distress would be
her downfall. "After you, ma'am," she said and held her breath,
waiting for the stranger's reaction to being called "ma'am."

When the stranger smiled, her features softened, and there
was no longer any doubt in Luke's mind. She was dealing with a woman.
"It's not often that I get treated like a lady," the woman said. Her
tone revealed that she didn't care. Steely brown eyes told Luke that the
stranger could take care of herself. Still, a hint of vulnerability around her
mouth remained.

Luke could imagine how hard her life might be. The stranger
wasn't welcome in saloons or as the owner of a business, because she was not a
man and didn't try to pass as one. But looking like this, she also wasn't asked
to participate in needle circles or attend the women's Bible study.

She would never fit in, never be respected by anyone, have
no family and no friends.

Lord, I couldn't live like that.
While she had been a
loner in the past, now she would rather die than live without her family.
Keeping her true gender secret and lying to her daughters was the price she had
to pay.

"Frankie?" a woman called. She stepped down from
the boardwalk and opened her parasol before she crossed the street.

Seems I was wrong about her not having any friends.
Luke watched the woman approach. Even from the distance, her clothes and her
movements revealed a lady of some standing. How had she come to be friends with
the unusual Frankie?

Luke took in the lady's lithe body and golden hair that held
a few silver streaks. Blue eyes looked back at her with gentle interest — and
then widened. The parasol fell out of the woman's hand. "L-Luke? Is that
you?"

"Tess?"

Soft arms wrapped around her in a stranglehold.

"Tess," Luke murmured into the
ear of the only friend she'd had for many years.

Finally, Tess moved back an inch and brushed her lips against
Luke's, saying hello in her usual way as if seventeen days, not seventeen
years, had passed since they had last seen each other.

"I can't believe it," Luke said. A part of her had
thought she would never see Tess again. They had exchanged many letters over
the years, but she couldn't entrust her secrets to a piece of paper. "What
are you doing here? Last I heard you were in Montana with that partner of
yours, Frank."

"Oh, we were. But when Frankie got sent to Oregon, we
decided to pay you a visit. I didn't mention it in my last letter, because I
didn't want to disappoint anyone in case Frankie's job took longer than
expected. We sent off a letter to you yesterday, but we might make it to the
ranch before the letter." Tess's gaze traveled to something or someone
behind Luke. A smile formed on her full lips.

Luke turned.

The woman in men's clothes watched them, her head cocked to
one side.

Oh.
Realization dawned, and Luke found herself
staring.
That's Frank? Frankie? Tess's companion, the person who shares her
life, is a woman?
So Tess was equally reluctant to entrust her secrets to a
letter that might fall into the wrong hands.

"We have some catching up to do," Tess said.
"Are you staying in town for a few days? Is Nora here too?" She
looked around for her old friend.

"No," Luke said. Nora's absence was like a
constant nagging ache. She longed to wrap her arms around Nora and feel the
wild whirl of emotions inside her calm. "Nora is at home, taking care of
the ranch, while I'm driving a herd of horses to Fort Boise. I'm just staying
in The Dalles until first light tomorrow morning."

Tess rested her hand in the bend of Luke's arm. "Oh,
don't worry. We'll have all the time in the world to talk when you get back.
We're staying a few weeks if that's all right with you and Nora. We're even
thinking about settling down in Oregon."

Luke clutched the hand on her arm. The thought of her old
friend living nearby wiped away her exhaustion. She grinned broadly.
"Really?"

"We haven't made a final decision yet. Frankie has some
things to wrap up in town, and then we'll travel west to visit your family. I'm
eager to meet Amy and Nattie."

Another heavy weight dropped from Luke's shoulders. Tess
could make sure Nora and the girls were all right.

"Boss?" Phin called from across the street. He
stopped in front of them and stared at Frankie and Tess with a less than
welcoming expression.

Luke's relief waned. Concern stirred in her belly. If her
ranch hands saw her with a woman who dressed like a man, they might get a few
ideas about her too. Things they had never questioned before would begin to
make sense when they compared her to Frankie.

But Phin wasn't looking at Frankie. His gaze was fixed on
Tess. "I don't want to interrupt, but..."

"It's all right," Luke said. "This is an old
friend of mine, Tess Swenson."

"I'm not that old." Tess gave them a wink.

True
. The years had been kind to Tess. She was still
a beautiful woman. Only a few wrinkles around her mouth and eyes told the story
of her hard life. "This is Phineas Sharpe, my foreman."

After some hesitation, Phin tipped his hat and then turned
to Luke. "The livery stable's hay looks moldy to me. I'm not sure we can
feed it to the horses. Can you come take a look?"

"Now?"

Phin nodded.

Luke turned a regretful glance at Tess.

"We're staying at the hotel across the street."
Tess pointed. "Come over and have supper with us when you're done. Just
ask for Tess Swenson and her cousin."

Cousin?
Luke almost snorted. Frankie and Tess didn't
look any more alike than she and Nora did. But they didn't have a choice. If
they told people they were sweethearts, they'd be run out of town within
seconds. At least Luke had spared Nora that kind of hiding when she had decided
to keep living as a man.

She followed Phin to the livery stable, her mind still
reeling with the sudden reunion.

One look at the hay in the livery stable had her glaring at
Phin. "That hay is perfectly fine. Not even a hint of mold, and you knew
that."

"I wanted to make sure —"

"Nonsense," Luke said. "I taught you better
than that. You never needed me before to decide if the hay is safe for the
horses. Why now?"

Phin shuffled his feet. For a moment, he seemed like the
awkward adolescent he had been when he had first come to the ranch.

"I get a feeling you wanted to drag me away from my
friend." Old feelings of protectiveness resurfaced. She never allowed
others to treat Tess like anything but a lady. But Phin didn't know about
Tess's past. To anyone looking at Tess, she would appear like a wealthy lady
with a strange taste in traveling companions. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Phin said. "I just wonder..."
He hesitated.

"Yes? Come on. Spit it out, boy!" Luke's patience
was running thin. Her time with Tess was short, and she didn't want to waste
it.

Phin looked up and into her eyes. "I wonder what Mrs.
Hamilton would think of you meeting your 'old friend' at the hotel."

Why would Nora have anything against me having supper
with — oh!
Laughter bubbled up when Luke finally understood.
"Phin," she said. "You know me better than that. In all the
years of my marriage, I never even looked at another woman."

"You kissed her," Phin said, a silent accusation
in his voice.

His defense of her marriage and of Nora's feelings warmed
Luke's heart, but at the same time, it annoyed her that he doubted her
faithfulness to Nora.
Maybe I've upheld my manly image a little too well.
Now my men think I'm a philanderer.

"Tess is an old friend," she said. "She's
Nora's friend too, and she greeted me that way long before I met Nora."

"But she wasn't always just a friend, was she?"

Impatient to end this line of conversation, Luke wanted to
tell him it was none of his business, but she stopped herself. Phin was more
than just a ranch hand. He was a part of her family. "That was over
decades ago, Phin. Now we're nothing more than friends. Nora knows that. She
has never doubted my faithfulness, and neither should you."

Phin rubbed his blond beard stubbles that made him look like
one of the Vikings from Nattie's books. "Sorry. I didn't mean to accuse
you of anything. I just never saw you acting so familiar with a woman other
than Mrs. Hamilton. Guess I felt like a son meeting his father's
mistress."

"Tess is not my mistress, and I'm too young to be your
father." Luke gave him a playful slap on the shoulder.

A grin chased away the serious expression on Phin's face.
"Not by much."

"Then I better go visit my friend before I'm too old to
take her to dinner," Luke said. But first, she would take that
long-awaited bath.

*  *  *

Luke tugged on the sleeves of her cleanest shirt and
smoothed her hands over her vest to make sure no hint of her breasts was
noticeable beneath her clothes.
Calm down
.
Tess knows exactly what's
beneath your clothes.
But still, if she took Tess out to supper, she wanted
to appear the perfect gentleman.

After one final brush over her pant legs, she left her hotel
room and knocked on Tess's door.

An elegantly dressed woman opened. It wasn't Tess.

"Oh. I'm sorry." Luke snatched her hat off and
squeezed it between her hands. "I must have the wrong room numb—" She
stopped and stared. "Frankie?"