The Heart of a Soiled Dove (3 page)

Aurora reached up her skirt, eyes on everyone in mistrust, and pulled out her little leather purse.

Without a word, Aurora made her way to the front. The spite filling the air was tangible. Thatcher Poe greeted her. His crooked and perverse smile was capable of stretching after all. Kate was still fanning herself wildly and it was Iris who said, “You’re the new girl, bought that old farmhouse…. You planning on using it as a brothel?”

Aurora ignored the question and handed money over to the greedy fellow.

He shoved the girl. “Have fun with her.”

Boisterous laughter filled every space as they made their way through the madness and met up with Emmy. The girl was panic-stricken and near hysteria. Aurora gestured for her to sit. “What’s your name?”

“Carrie Anne Nixon, from Missouri.”

“You’re nothing but a scrawny thing,” Emmy said flatly.

Aurora looked up at Emmy, wanting her to show some empathy. “I’m Aurora and this is Emerald, friends call her Emmy.”

Carrie Anne slightly relaxed in their presence. “I’m obliged for all you done.”

Aurora looked around to see if anyone had come after them, realizing now that it wasn’t a bright idea to show the whole town where she kept her money. “I don’t know ‘what I done.’ Except now we have another enemy or two inside of town.”

She glanced up at Emmy knowing exactly what she was thinking. She’d once saved her, too.

“Seems to me you do a lot of this ‘I don’t know’ stuff. You’re causing trouble everywhere, Aurora – with some powerful rancher, now this,” Emmy said, as bluntly as only she could do.

“Well, it’s done, same as us being called to this town and finding our home. We’ll make our way here. No one’s going to care about one near prostitute.” She looked upon Carrie Anne. “No offense meant.”

“It’s all right. I been called worse.”

That wasn’t the point, but they needed to move on out until things settled. She couldn’t risk someone holding her up for her money, and the urge to go back in and save some more was just too strong. They’d better get moving. She couldn’t save everyone, not yet. With a look at their horse next to Emmy though, she realized they couldn’t leave.

“Let’s get to the livery, see if they have a wagon and a horse for sale.”

Before long, the three of them sat scrunched together in a buckboard and Emmy “giddy-upped” the team. Aurora was grateful to have had minimal conversation on the ride back through the splendor of the trees. Finally, in the nick of time before the sun set, their buggy pulled around the bend and Aurora she said with pride, “This is your new home, Carrie Anne.”

“I got nothing to pay you back with. I got no clothes on my back ‘ceptin’ what you see.” She looked down towards her hands resting in her lap. “I ain’t strong neither.”

Suddenly her countenance brightened. “I can cook. I can cook real good.”

Aurora comforted her by gently patting her hands. “You never mind what you can or cannot do. I am glad that you are not going to be sold like a piece of cattle….”

“Or a blackie,” Emmy said with bitter attitude.

“Or a Negro,” Aurora corrected.

Carrie Anne wondered aloud, “Those other girls, they were sold to awful people…weren’t they?”

Emmy’s response was rough and scolding. “She can’t rescue ever body, girl. Be thankful she chose you. It seems she’s got an eye for who needs saving.” Emmy pulled the team to a stop near the broken down barn, a barn which still had no door.

Aurora smiled with warmth. “I wish I could have given all those girls a home. I really do.”

As Aurora began to unhitch the team Emmy slanted her head in the direction of Carrie Anne. “Go ahead and take her for a look see, I’ll tend to the animals.”

Aurora hooked her arm through Carrie Anne’s. “Come, I’ll show you your bedroom. It faces east, so you’ll see the sun rise every morning, and it’s next to my room.”

Since the dawn broke, the girls had worked like regular ranch hands and were about ready to pass out from fatigue. A perspiring Aurora decided to call it a day and pulled Emmy and Carrie Anne back a few steps to admire their hard work.

They stood speechless, and silence dragged on until Aurora belted out with sidesplitting laughter. “It’s terrible!”

The fence they’d painstakingly worked on all morning was beyond crooked, with uneven planks and some poles higher than others. Even the horses seemed amused, mocking the women with snorts.

Emmy shook her head and swore.

Aurora held up a finger to shush her. “We don’t talk like that anymore, Emerald Sanborn.”

In sync, they turned to the sudden approach of a horse and rider. Grateful for a distraction, Aurora went to meet their guest.

Quickly washing up in a wooden bucket near the well, Aurora dried her hands and was ready to receive the man. His posture didn’t seem threatening and she hoped he was friendly, but more than anything, wondered what he might be doing on her property. He spoke the first words of introduction, “Greetings Ma’am.”

“Welcome. I’m Aurora Young, on their way coming is Emmy and Carrie Anne.”

“I’m Reverend Jonathan Palmer, may I?” He gestured to dismount.

“Of course!” She was ecstatic to have a preacher calling.

“We’re so happy to have you.” She measured the man. He was younger than she thought a Reverend would be. And she certainly didn’t expect a preacher to be so handsome. My how she’d come to judge what a man ought to look like for his profession. She was no better than others looking upon her a certain way.
Forgive me, Lord.

By the time they’d reached the porch, Emmy and Carrie Anne were washed and met up with them. Aurora made a beaming introduction. “Girls, this is itinerant preacher Reverend Jonathan Palmer.”

He reached out his hand in a friendly gesture. “Please, Reverend John is what I prefer. Grateful to make you ladies’ acquaintance.”

Emmy stared at his hand as if it might bite her. Thankfully, Aurora noted that Carrie Anne was more at ease in his presence and took his hand briefly in hers.

“Well then.” Aurora clasped her hands together. “Shall we feed Reverend John some refreshments?”

After a delightful afternoon getting to know the new preacher, Aurora took the Reverend on a horseback ride around her property. She’d yet to even see it all and was eager to view it with someone she was so content to have in her company. She found out that he came around town every six weeks and had four brothers, all preachers.

“Pine City has been a tougher town on me than most,” he said.

Casting him a sideways glance, she saw him troubled. Aurora wasn’t surprised though, after what she’d been witness to so far. Folks weren’t exactly welcoming with open arms. They rode a piece in silence and looped around back to where they came upon the fence, so amateurishly done. Out of fun, she let him squirm a little bit. “Do you like our fence? The girls and I worked hard on it all morning.”

Poor blessed man looked to want to spare her feelings more than anything in the world and said, “It’s… coming along I reckon.”

Aurora bust out a laugh. “I reckon it is, too.”

He looked at her kindly, a playful twinkle in his blue eyes. “Ah, I see you’re jesting.”

She smiled brightly and kicked her horse’s flanks to get moving. “I tend to do that.”

Catching up to her, Reverend John and Aurora rode parallel. They spoke at ease and were as comfortable together as if they’d known each other a long while. Aurora believed God had delivered her a special friend and thanked Him for being so good to her.

Reverend John asked, “Would you mind if I got you some help for your, ah, fence? I might be a preacher, but I know what a fence ought to look like.”

She eyed him a moment. He was sincere and wanting nothing in return. “I can pay. Whoever you bring back with you, tell them I need to hire them.”

They reached the barn where he dismounted. “Normally folks would help out a neighbor for free.”

Aurora followed suit and her booted feet hit the ground. She walked her horse to its stall. “I could see that, but I haven’t exactly made many neighborly friends here yet so let’s just treat it like a hire.” She spread her hands out to stress her surroundings. “As you can see, we’ve a lot of work to be done and Emmy and Carrie Anne both would prefer not to do that kind of labor.”

A sad feeling settled into the pit of Aurora’s stomach when she knew it was time for him to go. It had been a long while since she had been around someone who could offer something spiritually. And he’d shared there were no church services in Pine City. For the Reverend, he could offer her church learning. She was hungry to know more about Christianity and the Bible. Leona had passed away much too soon, leaving Aurora unfulfilled and still searching. She did what she could, but didn’t want the void in her knowledge to remain empty forever. Finally, she had another Leona in her life.

He reached into the saddlebag on his horse and presented her with a worn Bible. “I want you to have this.”

“I, I couldn’t.”

“It belonged to a woman I used to know. She was very giving and selfless. Trust me, she would have wanted you to have it.”

Speechless for once, Aurora accepted it.

“I have to make my way back into town. Been gone much longer than I anticipated.” He smiled wide. “However, I doubt much that anyone has missed me.”

“Could I offer you anything before you go?” she asked, not liking the dreaded feeling his absence would bring.

“Much obliged but no, I need to be on my way. I will send you some good men for hire straight away.”

She stood in place long after he was gone. Holding the good book against her chest in a hug, she proceeded back to the house where she felt highly unequipped to be of service to the two women inside. They counted on her, much as she would like to have counted on Reverend Jonathan Palmer. But he was gone and she was all they had.

True to his word, the Reverend sent workers to Aurora’s home. The next morning five riders came through the trees and into full view. Emmy’s face broke into delight and Aurora directed, “Carrie Anne, you best get to slicing up some bacon and check the hens for their eggs, see how many we have.” She peered out the window. “We’re not used to feeding grown men.”

Aurora exited onto the porch and awaited their arrival. Emmy followed her out. When they got within hearing distance Aurora said, “Pump’s just there. Feel free to wash up and join us in the kitchen after you get your horses settled.”

Soon enough, the girls had their very first guests – each a fine, fit and experienced cowboy, squished into Aurora’s kitchen. It appeared that Reverend Johnny, as the men referred to him, managed to catch them in between cattle drives and they were looking for work. Without much vetting on her end, Aurora had to trust that Reverend John had sent only reliable men. She looked into each ones’ eyes, waiting to feel her keen sense of men-discernment, and when no flares of warning went off, she invited them to eat. She hid a smile. Their eyes were feasting as much on the home cooked meal as on the women themselves.

“I’m afraid there’s no formal place to sit down quite yet, but grab a plate and a crate.”

A unified response echoed in the tiny room. “Yes, Ma’am.”

Variously, they were all hunkered down onto crates. Aurora thought of the staunch meals served what seemed like an eternity ago at Madam Hazel’s. Remembering the traditional ways of it all, the lustful stares of longing, the mock visiting, and it was all under the pretense of the unspoken business dealing. It was where Aurora had been admired, bought and paid for.

She surveyed those around her table, the shyness, awkwardness – it was as it should be.

Emmy’s untimely and blatant question caught her off guard. “Where are these fine gentlemen sleeping tonight?”

Luke Rigby coughed and Victor Mills stopped his fork midway.

Roman Brennan, the man they all seemed to answer to spoke. “We’re used to under the stars. Ain’t that right, boys?”

Luke agreed with Roman, then put forth a question of his own. “It isn’t none of my business, but what in tarnation are you girls doing all alone out here?”

Aurora began to scoop up their empty plates. “We’re going to ranch.”

“Does Donovan Ramsey know this?” The question came from Roman.

“Why should he care what I plan to do on my very own land?”

The men all shared a look and Aurora thought,
not this again!
She answered to God alone, not to any man.

“I used to raise chickens on my farm in Missouri, milked cows.” Carrie Anne wrinkled her freckled nose. “Fed the hawgs.”

Aurora loved how Carrie Anne’s words were drawn out.

Victor made her blush. “A pretty gal like you raisin’ hogs? I just can’t believe it.”

Shyness seemed to have overtaken Carrie Anne. She abruptly began to clear the table and Roman stood to help. He removed a tin plate from her hands with a gentle brush against her palm. Instantly Aurora’s inbred instinct came on guard, but it was easily let down – this group did not fit the bill in terms of the brutes she’d known.

Carrie Anne seemed to struggle under his nearness. Aurora was going to replace Roman until she heard him say, “I am not so proud to think this is just women’s work.”

“Amen to that!” Emmy agreed.

Four days later Aurora emerged from mending bridles and working with leather – which Roman had earlier schooled her to do. She shielded the sun from her eyes by throwing on a floppy hat. Her stance exuded pride as she observed the small community working before her – impressed was an understatement for how she felt at that moment. Victor and Luke were double sawing a tree for the fence, after giving the girls much good-natured grief about their carpentry work. Her gaze shifted towards Roman and Christopher, putting up a newly built and sturdy looking barn door, and to Emmy, who was painting fence posts around Carrie Anne’s fresh dug garden. Jed had come towards Carrie Anne and arranged a few stumps for them to sit on in the shade. Since the two looked to be insinuating that it was time for a break, Aurora set down her project and joined them. Today was a peaceful day – what a difference it made when men expect nothing from you, when you are the one a man came to for orders. When you are in charge of all that is around you, including your very own self.