The Prettiest Girl in the Land (The Traherns #3) (9 page)

I yawned. Once started I couldn’t stop. She dried my hair in a
big towel while I wrapped up in another and stepped out of the bath. The water
had cooled down, but I felt so clean. It was wonderful.

I walked straight to the bed and threw back the covers.

“Do you have a gown?” she asked.

“No.” It was one of the items I had decided against carrying.

“I’ll get you one of mine, if you don’t mind.”

“Lila, you spoil me.”

She laughed, ran out of the room and soon returned with a white
nightgown. She helped me pull it over my head, and I lay down and didn’t wake
up until the next morning.

Travers whined, or I would have slept clear through the day.

I got out of bed and opened the door for him. It was beautiful
outside and I stood in the doorway and waited until he had finished and
returned.

I pulled my spare dress out of my pack. It was wrinkled and
dirty, and I put it outside my door, hanging on the latch. I still felt like my
body was one giant bruise. I pictured that bear, falling into the canyon and
bouncing all the way to the bottom. I felt like him.

I got a drink and used the chamber pot. The stress of the trip
had delayed my monthly cycle, but it looked to be slowly comin back. I fixed
myself up, crawled back into bed and fell asleep again.

That afternoon, Travers woke me again. I let him outside, and
decided I’d live.

A knock on my door.

“It’s Lila. I have your dress, Ma’am.”

I opened the door and she carried it inside.

It looked much better than I’d ever got it to look. I hated to
iron, and usually had the heat too hot or too cold, so the flat irons would
almost sear the cloth or wouldn’t smooth it at all.

“Lila, this is perfect.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“My name is Ruth. Call me Ruth.”

“Yes, Ma’am. May I do your hair?”

“Don’t you have other things to do?”

“Not right now. Your man is still asleep. Dinner is a few hours
off. The landlady is resting.”

People insisted on linking us together, thinking Gage was my
man. I no longer bothered to correct them. “I bet this is your rest time, too.”

“It is, Ma’am, but I need to fix your hair. Sit in your chair.”

She took my brush and began to work out the tangles and
practically put me to sleep again.

“There you are, Ma’am.”

She had combed it in a style I’d never worn before, but knew I
would wear a lot. It changed the shape of my face, making me look much
prettier. No match for Mary, but not as plain as I had thought myself.

“That’s how you should wear it, Ma’am.”

“I bet you could open your own hair place, Lila. Women would
love the kind of thing you’ve done for me.”

“Really? I never thought about it.”

“People in this country, for the most part, don’t have a maid. I
bet they’d pay you handsome to wash their hair like you did mine and make it
look good on them. You have a gift.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“Ruth.”

“Ruth.”

“That’s better. Now what did you do to my dress? It looks
wonderful. I can never iron it and make it look like that.”

“I starched it, Ma’am. Ruth. With potato water. I put a little
on after I washed and rinsed it. You have to be careful not to use too much, or
it will be stiff. I do all the linens this way. Mrs. Jones loves it. You want
to grab the water before you season the potatoes. I keep some in the icebox. My
mum taught me.”

“It looks grand.” I looked around for my pile of dirty clothes.
They were gone!

6

“Lila, my other clothes. Where...?”

“Here, Ma’am. Ruth. I couldn’t stand them. Your coins are all
there, except two.” She opened a small door into a closet. My skirt and blouse
hung there, clean, and my underskirt was folded.

I put on my undergarment, then the dress she had ironed. It was
light after the heavy traveling outfit.

“Your coins show, Ma’am. Ruth. This won’t hide them.”

“What do people do?”

“Gents wear a money belt. Women carry a purse and aren’t
expected to have much. You could put it in the bank, but that money won’t go
far, here. Things cost. Most things come by ship or overland.”

“Thank you. I used one to pay my landlady in Memphis. The other
is still in my purse, in case I needed it on the journey.”

“Take a couple in your purse and have Mrs. Jones put the rest in
her safe.”

She helped me take the coins out. I had ten in all, what seemed
a lot to me in the mountains. Lila took me to Mrs. Jones’ area of the house and
that woman put them away for me and gave me a paper saying how much I had.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Thank you for saving my son’s life. You and Gage and Travers.
We knew it could be a dangerous job, but the pay is better than most. He wanted
to earn enough to start a small dairy farm.”

“How is he doing?”

“Excellent. He sent word with the pony express riders, which is
how I knew before you got here. What are you and your man planning to do?”

“I’ve got a job with Mr. Debras doing freight.” I felt I should
explain once more, so said, “I don’t know what Gage will be doing. We really
aren’t together. I’ve just known him all my life.”

“He talked like you were someone important to him.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“You’ll need more than one dress, so I’ll have Lila take you to
where she buys hers. It’s good fabric, and reasonable.”

“Thank you, Ma’am.”

“And you need to look at the newspaper.”

She walked over to a small table, picked up a paper and carried
it back to me. It had an account of our trip, written by the reporter. He’d
sent one back east and sold one to this paper too. And probably others.

“Travers is famous,” she said.  “And so are you.”

I read the story the reporter had written and recognized a few
things that had happened. But he had used up a whole lot of his freedom of
speech. Travers was this wonder dog, and Gage and I had emerged as heroic
figures who were more than human.

“Land sakes,” I said. “That man could turn a sow bug into a sow.”

“I expect he did exaggerate.”

“I have a hard time recognizing us. Dare I go outside?”

“You go with Lila and get yourself another dress and some other
things. I received a message from the bankers that they want to meet you and
Gage tomorrow. So you’ll want something nice for that meeting.”

“Walking out of the mountains, I didn’t carry much extra.”

“Right. You’ll need to buy most everything. Things are expensive
here, so at first just get your essentials. For a nice dress to meet the
bankers, I’ll have Lila take you where I usually go. She’s a shrewd shopper and
will help you out.”

“Don’t you need her?”

“I got along without her before she came. She’s given me a
wonderful break. But I’m seeing a wedding in the near future--my son is sweet
on her and her on him. Don’t say anything. It’s just that I can see it in their
eyes. She’ll make a lovely daughter. So kind and considerate. So let her help
you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Jones.”

“Now how about something to eat?”

“Anything that isn’t full of sand.”

She laughed and led me into her private dining area. “Sit here.”

She had some biscuits she’d made for breakfast that she’d kept
warm on the back of the stove, and she threw on some eggs to go with them. A
fresh peach to start off with, then eggs, biscuits that almost fell apart, and
butter and her homemade jam. It had been almost over a month since I’d had
anything fresh, and that peach tasted like honey. This woman knew how to cook.

“Mrs. Jones, would you mind giving me some cooking lessons? I’d
pay you for them.”

“Can’t you cook, Ruth?”

“Survival cooking. My ma and pa died while I was young, and us
kids took care of ourselves. I started cooking at eight, and I knew some
things, but never had the chance to learn things like these biscuits. Mine are
always rock hard.”

“You just mixed them too long. With biscuits, the less you mix
the better. Just enough to get them started, then you press them into shape.”

“So that’s what was wrong.” The boys could barely eat what I
fixed. They were all as skinny as a rail.

“I’ll gladly show you some cooking. You come in and help me fix
some things before and after your job. Your help will be payment enough.”

“Thank you.” This was wonderful. I’d like to be able to feed my
Boaz.

“Lila’s ready to take you shopping. There’s a cab that swings by
here about now and she went out to stop it. Do you feel up to at least being
measured for a dress?”

“Oh, yes.”

I went with Lila and we stopped and bought me some
undergarments, socks, shoes, and a nightie. The shopkeeper went through my
coins like they were pennies. 

“Lila, I’m not going to have enough to pay the dressmaker.”

“Mrs. Jones said to put them on her account. You can pay her
later.”

Now I didn’t like to be beholden to anyone. The Bible says to
owe no man anything, and that the borrower was the slave of the lender.

But it looked like I didn’t have much choice. As soon as I got
me some money from my job, I’d pay her back right quick.

The dressmaker said her price was always pretty much the same.
The cost of the dress was in the material. She had some silks from China that I
couldn’t touch with my rough hands, but she let me feel them with my forearm. I
asked for her cheapest cloth, and it still looked better than anything in the
mountains. And much more expensive.

“It costs so much to ship it here, that it doesn’t pay to bring
in cheap things,” she said, and I could see the reason for that.

“What you want is something pretty and substantial, so it will
last a long time. Then the cost is spread out and in the end isn’t so bad. I’d
get any of these fabrics, but would recommend the blue print. You have
beautiful blue eyes and it will make them more noticeable.”

It was at the wrong end of the cost, but I couldn’t complain. I
put on the undergarments Lila had helped me buy, then the dressmaker used her
tape and wrote me down. “I’ll have this ready for you tomorrow morning. Come
here before you go to your meeting.”

“That fast?”

“Mrs. Jones is a good customer of mine. She gets ladies in fresh
off the ships and sends them here for their dresses.  Lila says you are to
meet the bankers tomorrow at one. You come at eleven and we’ll put in the hem.
Your work dress may not be ready then, but the one you’ll need to meet them
will be.”

“Thank you very much. And Ma’am, could I get some of the cloth
scraps?”

“I’ll give you some right now, already cut to size.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I always have some ready.”

When we got back, Gage was up and heading out the door, clean
shaven and back in his broadcloth outfit.. He stopped, looked me up and down,
and smiled.

“The dirt does wash off,” he said.

“Thankfully.”

“I love your hair that way. Looks beautiful.”

“Thank you.” I wasn’t used to being complimented on my looks.
Lila had done an outstanding job.

“I’m off to find work,” he added. “Mrs. Jones showed me the
newspaper. With that kind of recommendation, I should get some quick.”

He was back at suppertime, saying he’d got a job as a driver
hauling freight to the mines. “The miners pay for it in gold dust, so the
company wanted someone who they could count on not to take the money and
skedaddle.”

I’d spent a wonderful afternoon in the kitchen, learning how to
make a soup stock and pies with flaky crusts. It felt grand to be able to
actually enjoy what I’d cooked.

I told Mrs. Jones that I always burned everything, and she said
I had my stove too hot and was trying to cook things too fast.

She had a huge stove with two ovens, but a lot of it was extra
top. There were different spots on the top, one where she could set a pot to
simmer all day, and another to boil potatoes. And it had a warming shelf. I
think anyone could cook using that. I watched her careful like, seeing what I’d
been doing wrong most of my life, asking questions and having her show me.

Her other boarders came back from work, so we had a table full.
Twelve in all. They asked Gage and me so many questions that we almost didn’t
get to eat.

Afterwards Gage asked me outside. He wanted to sit on the porch
swing that Mrs. Jones had there, but I told him I needed to put Travers outside
once more. So instead we went to my room, opened the door for Travers, and
followed him out into the backyard.