Montana Rose (11 page)

Cassie followed them back, carrying a small basket of eggs. She sheepishly offered them to Libby. “Does this ruin Red’s job? Neither of us did the work. We shouldn’t get paid for it.”

Libby just laughed. “You are a natural, honey.”

“A natural what?” Cassie didn’t know what she meant.

Libby laughed harder.

All the men had quietly returned to their seats and were eating at the meals they’d deserted.

Cassie gathered every ounce of courage she had, plus manufactured a little from out of thin air, and said, “Thank you all so much for your help. I appreciate it more than you can ever know.”

Every man stared at her as if she’d spoken some foreign tongue. Then all jumbled together they said, “You’re welcome, Miz Dawson,” or, “Glad to help, ma’am,” or something like that. Cassie thought she heard someone say, “Red’s a lucky man.” It occurred to her that any of these men might have asked her to marry him a week ago.

Cassie went back to Muriel’s.

Muriel was bustling back and forth, filling one order after another. Finally Cassie, who was sitting in rather nervous silence at the heating stove, gathered her wits about her enough to start helping. She really thought she did help this time. The crowd dispersed quickly after her efforts doubled the speed with which the customers, all men, were waited on. She acknowledged all their kind remarks and asked their names. Griff ’s words about them being riffraff echoed in her ears.

Muriel heaved a sigh of relief when the store finally emptied. She turned to Cassie and said, “If Red is going to keep coming in here and doing his odd jobs every Saturday, why don’t I hire you to work with me here. Saturday afternoon is my busiest time. I’d love the help as well as the company. Once the baby comes, we’ll set up a cradle, and any time the baby needs you to nurse him or change his diapers, you’ll be able to take a break in the back room.”

“It sounds just fine, Muriel. I’d be glad to help. Would you let me work off Griff ’s bill and then use what I earn toward the supplies Red and I need?”

Muriel said, “Griff ’s bill is taken care of, but you can swap for supplies.”

“I’d need to ask Red first. But if it’s okay with him, I’d be most grateful for the chance. Do you think I dare to make all the men in town deliver Libby’s groceries every week?”

“What?”

Cassie told her how she’d managed to deliver that mountain of supplies.

Muriel laughed until she had to wipe her eyes on her calico dress.

So Cassie, who’d become the china doll for her last husband, became an odd-job girl for her next one. She thought it was an improvement.

“Cass, wake up.”

She had the odd sensation of being a baby back in her mother’s arms. Being rocked gently back and forth. She fell back asleep. The rocking continued.

“Cass honey, wake up. We gotta go.”

The gentle voice kept pestering her. She was disoriented for a few seconds.

Red crouched in front of her; his hand rocked her shoulder and he spoke in hushed tones. “I’m sorry it got so late. I had more to do than usual. And thanks for delivering the groceries. Libby told me all about it.”

Cassie realized she was asleep on Muriel’s couch in the dim light of early evening.

The first thing she thought of was how she’d ruined his job at the diner. She whispered because he was whispering. “I’m sorry, did Libby still pay you? I didn’t mean—” She stopped her mumbled apology when Red smiled at her.

“Don’t worry about it. Libby said if they volunteer to help you when you’re doing my work and the job gets done, it’s all the same to her.”

Cassie pushed against the couch, her stomach a bit unwieldy in her groggy state. Red slipped his arms under her shoulders and knees and lifted her into his arms. She was fat with the baby, but he lifted her as if he didn’t notice her weight.

He continued speaking softly. “Muriel said you’d eaten with her and Seth. Then we decided to let you sleep while she fed me and told me about the job she offered you.”

“Is that okay with you, Red? She was really busy. I just pitched in to help her. It was only after we were done that she suggested paying me.”

“It’s fine for now, but I told her when the baby got closer it might be too much for you. We don’t want you to be exhausted now, do we?” He hefted her up and down a few times in his arms as if to remind her that she was indeed very tired or she wouldn’t be cradled in his arms this way.

“I’ll be careful, Red. Muriel will know what I can and can’t do.” Cassie leaned closer to him to share her wonderful discovery. “Muriel knows everything about babies. She and Libby and Leota told me so much today. I feel smarter already. Except then later I thought of a lot of questions, so I want to talk to them again. And the way they just talked and talked about having babies and caring for them, like it was the most natural thing in the world to do, it made me feel better about everything. And, I ... I shouldn’t have done it because it was disloyal to Griff, but I said about an expectant mother being unclean and ... oh, Red, the things they said about Griff. It wasn’t right at all and I made them stop, but maybe there are more ways than just his of seeing things.” Cassie laid her heavy head on his shoulder, exhausted and a little shocked at the way she was chattering and saying such a horrible thing about Griff. She’d have never admitted that if she wasn’t still half asleep.

“I got us a room at Grant’s. ’Bye, Seth, Muriel, and thanks.”

Only then, as Red carried her out of the room, did Cassie realize Seth and Muriel had been standing just behind him the whole time. She felt her cheeks heat up at the thought that they’d seen Red hold her so close. She thought about the whispered conversation she and Red just had and realized she’d been unconsciously keeping quiet because she’d thought everyone else in the house was asleep. Next she wasn’t sure if she’d said critical words to Red about the ladies for being upset at Griff. She peeked around Red and said, “Good-bye.”

Seth waved and Muriel had a satisfied smile similar to the one she’d had this afternoon when Red had left Cassie in her care.

Cassie worried the whole way to Grant’s Hotel. Then she realized Red had carried her the entire distance, right down Main Street, and she worried about that. It was quiet and all the businesses were closed. The only thing lit up was the Golden Butte, and tinny music came out of the swinging saloon doors.

She was still consumed with her doubts when Red set her down in their room. Letting him carry her the whole way was so rude. “Is it very late, Red? It gets dark early this time of year, but it’s not full dark. We don’t have to go to bed yet if you don’t want to.”

“I have preachin’ tomorrow ’cuz Parson Bergstrom is out of town. I’ve already thought of what I want to say, but I want to spend a little time studyin’ on it, so if it’s all right with you, I’ll sit up for a while with the lantern on. If it doesn’t disturb you, that is. I think you should sleep, Cass. You’ve had a big day. If my reading bothers you, Lars will let me use his dining room.”

“I’m sure you won’t bother me,” Cassie said politely. She felt anxious at the idea of his leaving her alone in this unfamiliar room.

“Okay then, I’ll read in here. I’ll give you a few minutes of privacy to get ready for bed.” Red politely left the room while she hurried around to find her nightgown.

She changed, and when she was ready, she cracked the door open an inch and peeked out. He was leaning patiently against the wall straight across from her door, reading a Bible.

“I’m ready now,” she said shyly. “You can come back.”

She ducked behind the door and crawled into bed quickly before Red came in.

Red sat in a rocker, reading his big black Bible by lantern light.

She thought it was the most comforting sight in the world. “What are you reading?”

“I’m going to talk about marriage tomorrow morning. That’s all I ever do, talk about what I’ve done during the week and how God has been with me. I don’t exactly preach a regular sermon. I’m studying with the parson to be a licensed minister. He’s helping me get approved through his mission society so I can take over in Divide and he can serve other towns.”

“Is that hard, to get licensed?”

Red shrugged and she saw his strong shoulders rise. He carried a lot of weight on them, with no complaint. “It’s a lot of Bible study, but I like doing that anyway, so no, I wouldn’t call it hard.”

She compared Red’s tattered Bible with the massive elegant book her family had handed down. No one had ever read it because it was printed in German. It was only for recording family history and for show. Her mother had often told her it was a gift to royalty, given to Cassie’s countess great-grandmother back in Spain. She ached to think of giving it up, but it couldn’t be helped now.

On a soft sigh, she relaxed as she watched Red’s competent hands silently turn the tissue-thin page. She decided she liked Red’s Bible better.

She fell asleep almost instantly.

Red always got to sleep late on Sunday.

It was something he’d been doing ever since he’d taken over the preaching at Divide, as if his body had a clock of its own and it knew he was miles from his stock and his morning chores. Usually he was outside on the hard ground, something he enjoyed. Although in the winter, it got a little rugged. Muriel had been known to let him sleep on the floor inside, since they held the church services in the general store. But this morning he woke in a soft feather bed. One he’d turned and beaten himself just yesterday. He could still smell the fresh outdoors on it from when he’d let it lie in the sunlight for a while.

He didn’t think much about the smell and the fluffed-up feathers. They were just a little slice of pleasure added to how Cassie felt in his arms. She was hanging on him just like every morning. Red took a long time praying his thanks to God for how nice she felt. He marveled at how wonderful heaven must be if it was better than how he was feeling right now.

He had plenty of time before he needed to get up for services. They didn’t hold them until real late, nine o’clock, so people could get their morning chores done and get in from out of town.

The time at church was Red’s favorite time of the week. He wasn’t a man who believed you had to go to church to talk to God. He carried God with him in his heart all the time, but he loved the joy that rose up in his soul when he talked and sang with other believers. Sharing his faith as a preacher inspired him to study his Bible and pray to God a dozen times a day. He found something exciting every time he read, and God touched his life in a hundred ways during the week that he wanted to tell people about.

He didn’t run a church service in a very normal way. He didn’t exactly preach a sermon like Parson Bergstrom did. He’d just start talking about something he’d read and how he’d reacted to it. He’d ask the people who were there what they thought about his impressions, and they’d all end up talking long and hard about the Bible verse he’d selected that week.

He was especially looking forward to this Sunday morning. Being married had given him a new angle on a lot of the Bible. He was viewing love from a husband’s perspective now, and that had given a depth to several Bible stories that he’d never thought of quite the same way.

He kept coming back to Ephesians and the directive from Paul for wives to submit themselves to their husbands. There were three verses that talked about wives, and Red figured that was where the wedding vows got the word
obey
for wives but not for husbands. Then for the next ten or so verses it told husbands all they had to do for their wives. Care for her as he would his own body. Love her as Christ loved the church. Die for her if need be just as Christ died for everyone. The Bible made far more demands on the husband than it did on the wife. And Red reckoned that if a man held up his end of the bargain, no wife in the world would have trouble obeying a man that decent.

He hugged Cassie a little tighter and smiled to himself. Cassie didn’t obey worth a hoot. But then Red didn’t exactly order her around either. It just wasn’t in his nature to be bossy. His main goal in life was to protect her from one brush with death after another without hurting her feelings any.

He kissed the top of her head as he did every morning and admitted she was getting a little better. She never made the same mistake twice. It was just that she kept coming up with new ways to kill herself and him with her. He thought if they could just live out the next couple of weeks, she might turn into about the best little wife a man ever had.

He got kicked in the side, and Red almost trembled from the stunning sensation of a little life growing inside Cassie. The tiny assault drew him from his satisfying musing about marriage to a more personal inspection of his lawfully wedded wife.

Cassie’s head nestled on his left shoulder. Her black hair had been braided when she went to bed, but as it did most nights, it escaped her ribbons. It was spread across his chest and her back all the way to her waist. Her left leg was hooked over his. Her warm belly rested between their bodies, and maybe the little feller was saying it was too tight a squeeze because he seemed to be trying to knock himself a little more space.

Red’s arm rested across the top of Cassie’s stomach, and he didn’t resist the temptation to brush her hair aside, smoothing it over and over. Once in a while the babe moved so vigorously that Red thought he must be doing a somersault. He laughed silently at the energetic tyke and longed for the day he’d come on out and join the family.

Red knew he ought to just slip out of bed as he did most mornings at home, but this was Sunday and they had a good hour to dress and eat breakfast before services. He had no excuse to tear himself away. So he smoothed her hair and held her close and decided Sunday, already his favorite day, had just become about a hundredfold better.

Cassie’s breathing became slightly less regular, and he knew she was waking up. He watched her face closely, eager to memorize every nuance of her expression when she realized how she was clinging to him. Like the mornings when he hadn’t slipped away quickly enough, he expected her to pull back in alarm and put about a foot of space between them. He didn’t mind, not too much. He thought her trust in him and her desire to be close to him when she was sleeping was a good sign because her actions weren’t all clouded up with grief and embarrassment. She honestly liked to be held in her sleep, and he thought with time that would spread into the daytime. And he’d be glad to be the one to hold her for the rest of her life.

She rubbed her cheek against the bristly hair that peeked through the top of his nightshirt, even turning a bit to lightly scratch her nose. She muttered a bit and the babe kicked again. Cassie’s hand glided slowly across Red’s waist to rest on her stomach. Her eyes fluttered open and she stared straight at Red.

Quickly before she could pull away, Red ran one finger down the curve of her cheek and said, “I like feelin’ the babe move this way. Thank you for lying close to me like this.”

Red felt her control that little jump of embarrassment that accompanied waking every morning. Instead, she let her hand rest on the baby, and Red’s hand joined hers and they stared at the visibly moving white flannel on her belly and just incidentally went on holding each other.

After her muscles had relaxed against him, Red said, “Tell me what all Muriel and Libby and Leota said about babies yesterday.”

Cassie surprised him by laughing. He thought that meant she was comfortable hugged up against him and that made him happy.

“Oh Red, the things they said right out loud. Private things I’d never before heard anyone say.”

Red tilted her chin up. “Now Cass, just because you’ve never heard it before doesn’t mean no one else has. You’ve been mighty sheltered, with your mama dying when you were so young and Griff being uncomfortable talking about such things. I want you to talk to me about this. I’m telling you right now, nothing is too personal for a wife to say to her husband.”

Cassie nodded. “You’re right. It just seemed so ... sort of wicked, I guess. But they aren’t wicked ladies. I know that. So I decided to listen and learn and we ended up laughing at the whole business of delivering a baby into the world. Muriel asked me terribly personal questions and I answered all I could. She ... she wanted to know how evenly my l–lady’s time was spaced. When I told her sometimes months apart, she wanted to know how long before I missed my ... time had I been ... been...” Cassie stopped talking.

Red rubbed one finger down the length of her nose. “Say it, Cass.”

“She wanted to know when Griff and I had ... had seen to his...” Cassie had buried her face more and more in his chest. “His husbandly ... prerogatives.” She glanced at him when she was finished and her face was blazing red.