Xenia’s Renegade (7 page)

“But—”

“Don’t worry. I won’t drop him.”

They started walking away from the saloon.

“You never said where we were going,” Xenia said.

“We’re taking you to the ranch. There are plenty of bedrooms and food and anything else you might want tonight.” Ty smiled at her. “That didn’t come out right. I meant like a bath, or a place to relax. Things like that.”’

“I see,” Xenia mumbled.

He could tell she was exhausted or sleepy. Maybe both. “Wilt, these ladies are tired. When we get to the bench in front of Mason’s General Store why don’t one of us wait there with them and the other one go on to the livery and get the buggy?”

They reached the store. It was closed, but Ty indicated for the sisters to sit on the bench. “Since you’re holding the baby, I’ll go get the buggy, Wilt.” Ty glanced at Xenia. “I’ll be back shortly.”

She nodded and gave him a weak smile. 

****

Ty was able to get a buggy with a front bench and a back seat. They insisted the women take the seat. They didn’t argue. There was little talk because everyone was tired. They were nearing the ranch when Wilt glanced back. He smiled. The sisters were asleep, and so was Johnny, cuddled across Mea Ann’s chest. He was glad Ty had asked the livery stable man’s wife for some milk. She only had a little left from distributing what she had milked, but it was enough to settle Johnny down.

In a low voice he said, “The women have given up and gone to sleep.”

“Good. They’ve been through a lot today. Much more than any city female should have to endure.”

“Did they tell you what they’re doing in Deer Meadow?”

Ty shook his head. “I gathered they had some sort of business with a relative here.”

“Mea Ann told me they came to help a relative who was in jail for something he didn’t do.”

“I don’t know of anybody being in jail. In fact, I’m pretty sure it was empty when I took those men in earlier tonight.”

“If they’re willing to tell us, we’ll find out in the morning. Maybe we can help them solve their problems.”

“I’ve never known you to be so eager to help strangers, Wilt.”

“Since I’ve met the Poindexter sisters I seem to have gotten a little softer.”

Ty chuckled. “I hate to admit it, but so have I. I couldn’t even work up any enthusiasm with Sassy Sue sitting on my lap tonight, and you know she’s always been able to excite me.”

“I know what you mean. Though I’ve never been with the girl, Little Lil didn’t do a thing for me, either.”

They entered the yard of a long, rambling one-story adobe ranch house and Ty stopped the buggy near the hitching post. “We’re here. Let’s get these people inside.”

Xenia stirred and opened her eyes. “Are we at your ranch?”

“Yes. We’re here.” Ty moved to her side of the buggy. “Let me help you down.”

“In a minute. I need to wake up Mea Ann.”

“Wilt will take care of her.”

“Fine.” She stood and accepted his hand.

He ignored her hand and took hold of her around her waist. She felt as light as a child as he swung her to the ground.

“Thank you.” She turned toward the house. “Oh, how lovely. Are you sure we’re at the right place?”

He chuckled. “Yes, we’re at the right place. Did you expect me to live in a cave or some such thing?”

She giggled. “Of course I did. A cave would suit you.” She started forward and stumbled.

Ty put his arm around her. “Don’t go falling. I think you’re still half asleep.”

“I’m not, but I sure want to go back to asleep as soon as I can.”

Johnny began to cry.

“Oh, he’s hungry. We haven’t had enough milk for him since we got to town,” Mea Ann said.

“We have milk in the house. We’ll get him some as soon as we get inside.” Wilt glanced at the baby in his arms. “Little fellow sure has a big set of lungs.”

“I’m sorry he’s crying, but he’s just a baby.”

“I didn’t mean to complain about his noise. I simply meant to say he had a good, strong voice. He’ll make a great rancher. I can see him yelling at the cows when he’s a bit older.”

Mea Ann laughed. “I think he’s a little young to chase cows.”

“Don’t pay any attention to him, Mea Ann,” Ty said. “He’s always looking for good cow hands to work on the ranch.”

She giggled again. “Well, he can stop trying to make my baby one of them.”

Ty opened the door and led them inside. An Indian woman met them in the parlor and Ty said, “I know you’re curious, but please don’t ask any questions now, Aunt Chapa. This baby needs some milk and these ladies are exhausted and need to get in beds as soon as they eat a bite. Then Wilt and I will explain everything.”

Without arguing. Chapa nodded and began carrying out his requests. It wasn’t long until the sisters faced a whirlwind of activity. The friendly Indian woman made quick progress of getting the baby a bottle of milk, sitting them down to bread and butter and jam with hot coffee. She then disappeared to prepare rooms for them. On her return, she offered to take the baby so Mea Ann could relax.

Mea Ann refused. “I want Johnny with me. I’ll sleep better knowing he’s cuddled in my arms.”

“As you wish,” the woman said.

In a short time, Xenia found herself in a bedroom with a huge bed with a big fluffy feather mattress and a collection of feather pillows. Though she would have liked to take a bath, she was too tired. She made do by washing up from the pitcher of warm water the Indian woman brought to her. She then dug in her valise and found a nightgown. In a matter of minutes, she was in bed, wondering if her sister had such a nice room. She didn’t wonder long, because in minutes, she fell into a deep sleep.

****

“Alright, boys, I’ve done what you told me to do. I have the baby fed and your lady friends are in clean beds in the two guest rooms in Ty’s section of the house. More than likely, they’re already asleep.  You two are sitting around drinking coffee and showing no signs of heading to the saloon to relax like you usually do on a Friday night, so don’t you think it’s about time somebody explained to me what the devil is going on around here?”

The cousins chuckled, then Wilt said, “It’s a long story Aunt Chapa. Maybe Ty should tell you what happened before I became involved.”

Ty straightened up from the way he was slumped over this coffee. “I’ll be glad to start. As you know I went to Fort Verde on business. My horse gave out south of Phoenix and I caught the stage. That’s when I met the Poindexter sisters.” He continued the story up until the women found Johnny under the bed.

Chapa interrupted. “So the baby doesn’t belong to Miss Mea Ann?”

Ty shook his head. “Not physically, Aunt Chapa, but it sure looks like she’s claimed it. I’ve never seen a woman take to a baby she didn’t give birth to as fast as Mea Ann has to this one.”

Chapa frowned. “But she’s so protective of him—and she’s a white woman. Doesn’t she realize how people will treat her if she continues to keep the child with her?”

“I think she got a taste of that tonight,” Wilt said. “But we’ll get to that later. Go on with your story, Ty.”

“There’s not a lot more until we ran into Wilt.”

“How did that happen?”

Ty went on to explain how they defended themselves in the way station until the outlaws finally gave up. “When we were able to start again, I rode with Ray on the stage bench because of his wound. I thought I’d be able to help him get us to town.” He paused and laughed. “That’s when Xenia yelled for us to stop. We did, and she demanded we do something about the other passenger, Lou Bullins. She and her sister both refused to ride in the coach another mile with him. They said if I didn’t do something, they were going to walk into town.”

“What in the world did he do?”

“He insulted them and they said he talked mean about the baby. I’m not sure what he said, but it must have been pretty rough, because they were both ready to get out of the coach.”

Chapa laughed. “I can see those two city women walking on the dusty trail into town.”

“Well, anyway, I got Bullins settled on top of the stage and we headed out. It wasn’t long until we ran into an ambush, led by my cousin.”

“What?” Chapa looked startled.

“You take it from here, Wilt.”

“I’m ashamed to say I let two rascals surprise me. They had me in their gun sights before I knew what was happening.”

“Oh, Wilt. They didn’t hurt you, did they?”

He patted his aunt’s arm. “Not at all. In fact, Ty read my face and knew what had happened. We managed to overpower them without any bloodshed.”

He continued the story with Ty adding bits and pieces until Wilt ended with, “And that’s why we didn’t think we had a choice but to bring the sisters and the baby here.”

“Of course, you had no choice. I’m so glad you brought them to me. I’ll see that nobody bothers them again.”  She drummed her fingers on the table beside her chair. “You know you’re going to have to set some people in town to rights, don’t you? It’s the Sioux way.”

They both nodded and Ty said, “You’re right, Aunt Chapa. It’s the Sioux way.”

Xenia opened her eyes and stretched her arms over her head. For an instant, she thought she was at home in Richmond in her upstairs bedroom. But she couldn’t be. Nothing in this room looked familiar. It then dawned on her where she was and how she came to be here.

Jumping out of bed, she looked around. She was surprised when she saw her blue day dress lying across the back of a chair. Either the wrinkles had been shaken out or it had been pressed. She then noticed her valise sitting beside the tall mahogany wardrobe. She rushed over and looked inside. The bag was empty. Her next move was to jerk open the wardrobe doors. She’d been right. Her other two dresses, her spare nightgown, extra petticoats and two chemises hung in a neat row. She turned to the dresser and opened a drawer. Inside, she found her bloomers and stockings. Her brush and comb were lying on top.

Shaking her head, she wondered why someone had gone to the trouble. After all, she and her sister would be leaving today. They couldn’t stay in this house with the Eldridge cousins. That wouldn’t be proper at all.

She poured the water from the blue flowered pitcher into the matching bowl and took a quick sponge bath. She then cleaned her teeth and brushed her hair. Deciding it would take too long to put it up, she pulled it back with a blue ribbon she found among the many ribbons she kept in the inside pocket of her valise.

Now, she felt ready to face Mr. Ty Eldridge and demand that he take her and her sister back to town. They would certainly be able to find a room to rent today and they had to get on with the business of looking up their uncle.

In the huge kitchen that connected the two sections of the house, Mea Ann looked up from her position at the long wooden table where she was poking something into Johnny’s mouth.  “Good morning, Xenia.”

“Good morning, Mea Ann. What in the world are you giving Johnny?”

“It’s a mashed egg. Chapa said he looked old enough to be eating something besides milk. Of course we’ll give him the milk, too.”

Chapa came in from the back porch with a basket across her arm. “Well, good morning, Miss Xenia. Just give me a minute and I’ll put your breakfast on the table.”

“Good morning, ma’am.”

“Oh, my goodness, child. Don’t call me ma’am. Plain old Chapa is fine.”

“Then, Miss Chapa, don’t bother yourself to make breakfast for me. I can—”

She waved her hand. “It’s no bother. Most of it is already prepared…and please don’t call me
miss
. Just Chapa. When you say
miss
it reminds me that I never had the chance to get married.” She turned to Mea Ann. “How does that little fellow like that egg?”

“He seems to like it. I bet his mother had been feeding him some solid foods.”

“I don’t doubt that.” She placed the basket of eggs on the table. “Would you like something else, Mea Ann?”

“Not now, thank you, Chapa. After I finish feeding Johnny I might have another cup of coffee, but I don’t want it now. I might spill it and burn him.”

The woman chuckled. “I doubt that. You’re a good mother to him and I wouldn’t be afraid to bet my fortune, if I had such a thing, that you’ll never hurt him in any way.”

Xenia couldn’t help being surprised at the easy conversation that Mea Ann and Chapa exchanged. It was as if they’d known each other for years.

In a minute, Chapa placed a plate in front of Xenia. “My, that was fast.”

Chapa laughed. “I could say I conjured it up by Indian magic, but the truth is, I already had the bacon cooked and the potatoes fried. All I had to do was cook your egg and take the biscuits out of the warming oven.”

Xenia took a bite. “It’s delicious. I was too sleepy to eat much last night.”

“Tonight, you’ll feel differently. I put a big beef roast in the oven and it’ll be almost falling off the bone by supper. That’s the way my boys like it. I hope you ladies do, too.”

“I think it sounds delicious,” Mea Ann said. “I can hardly wait.”

Xenia frowned. “By supper, we’ll probably be back in town, Mea Ann. We need to check on Uncle Seymour. I was going to ask Ty to take us back this morning.”

There was a short silence that Chapa broke. “Ty and Wilt had business in town earlier. They left about an hour ago and said they’d be back by supper. I wouldn’t feel it’s my place to pull one of the men off the range to send him with you. Ty and Wilt have already assigned them their jobs.”

“I understand that. Don’t you, Xenia?” 

“I suppose I do,” she muttered.

“Good.” Chapa seemed to brighten. “Now as soon as you and little Johnny get through eating, Xenia, I’ll be happy to show you and Mea Ann around this big house and you can decide what you want to do for the rest of the day.” 

Xenia had no choice. She nodded. “That’ll be nice.”

****

Emma Wright brightened when the front door of her boarding house opened. “Well, my goodness, it’s the Eldridge cousins. You fellows should have come an hour earlier. I had a whopping good breakfast, and you could have joined in with my boarders.”

“We didn’t come to eat, Miss Wright.” Wilt removed his hat. Ty followed suit.

“Oh, my. You sound serious. Is something wrong?”

“I’m afraid there
is
something very wrong.”

“Oh, dear. What is it?”

“I have a question, Emma.” Ty glared at her.

“Well, I’ll answer it, if I can.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to answer this. How many vacant rooms do you have?”

She took a deep breath. “I see you need rooms for some reason.” She glanced at her book. “Right now I have three, but the school teacher is moving into the cabin near the school so after tomorrow, I’ll have four. Is that enough?”

Ty held up a finger. “One would have done the job.” He held up another finger. “Two would have been a bonus.”

She squinted her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Ty’s right. Two women and a little baby could have stayed in one room, but if you’d have given them two…”

Emma’s face drained of color. She barely whispered when she said, “They were friends of yours?”

“Yes, Emma,” Wilt said. “They are very good friends of ours. Such good friends that we’re upset anyone in the fine town of Deer Meadow would turn them out into the night.”

She gasped. “I didn’t know.”

“No, you didn’t know who they were, but what difference does that make? Two women and a baby came here to rent a room for the night and though you had rooms, you told them they’d have to get rid of the baby before you could rent to them.” Ty’s dark eyes got darker. “What did you expect them to do with the baby, Emma Wright? Did you think they’d take it to a church and leave it on the doorstep or to an Indian village and hand it to the first Indian woman they saw, or did you think they’d simply dump it on the street to starve and die or be run over by horses?”

Tears filled her eyes. “I didn’t think. I just saw it was…was…”

“A
breed,
Emma,” Wilt said. “I’m sure
breed
is not a hard word for you to say when there are none of us around to hear you use it.”

“I’d never use that word about you.”

“I know you wouldn’t to our faces, but how many other mixed blood people would you use it in front of? Did you say it to the lady last night?”

She swallowed.

Ty put his hat on. “Let’s go and let her think about what she’s done, Wilt. While we’re out, we’ll decide what’s going to be done about this boarding house. I think I know a nice Christian Indian lady who would like running something like this.”

“Oh, my Lord. You wouldn’t take the boarding house away from me, would you?”

Neither man answered. They simply walked out the door, slammed it behind them, and mounted the two horses tied at the hitching post.

Ty turned to his cousin. “Shall we go put the hotel clerk’s neck on the chopping block now?”

“That sounds good to me.”

****

After having a long talk with Alvin Stoneman, Ty and Wilt decided to go to the Boots and Spurs Café for lunch. As it usually was, the place was crowded at the noon hour. There was only one open table. It was in the back near the kitchen. It was always the last one to fill this time of year because it was hot in the area in the spring and summer with the heat from the kitchen streaming through the door every time it opened.

Wilt shrugged and headed for it. Ty followed.

They were halfway there when a tall man in a black suit, silver vest and red tie said, “Hey fellows, how about joining me. Theo, here, just said he had to leave and I wanted to discuss something with you.”

They nodded and moved to the table beside the window. “So you want to see us, Rathbone?”

“I do.”

“Sorry, I have to leave you two here with the banker, boys. I bet you’re in for an interesting discussion.” Theo said as he stood. “But Katie expects me to get back to the store by one, and when the wife says
be there
, you better be there, or you’ll have an unhappy wife.”

“We’ll see you later Theo.”

“He nodded and left.

Wilt and Ty pulled out chairs and sat. Before they could ask what Rathbone wanted, the waitress walked up.

“Just give us two of whatever the specials are, Maggie,” Wilt said.

“And I assume you want coffee.”

He smiled at her. “You assume right.”

She left and Ty turned to Robert. “What’s going on?”

He chuckled. “Had an interesting little visit from Emma Wright just as I was leaving my office to come here for dinner.”

Ty shook his head. “Doesn’t surprise me she came to see you.”

“What did she have to say?” Wilt asked.

“Wanted to know if you were going to demand that she pay off her mortgage. Of course, I told her I couldn’t tell her if you had made such a decision. I felt I owed you that, besides I told her the truth; a banker has to keep his depositors’ business to himself.”

“I’m sure we both agree with that, don’t we Ty?”

“We do, but let me ask, did Emma explain why she thought we were going to call her loan due?”

“She said she’d made the worst mistake of her life. Said she turned away two women who seemed to be very special to you. Told me one of them had a baby that looked like it was mixed blood to her and she didn’t think she was the kind of woman she’d want in the boarding house. But she heard in the general store this morning that one of the ladies had rescued the baby after a massacre. She felt terrible that she had turned them away, and said she was afraid you were going to punish her by calling her debt due.”

“Do you think we made her feel that way, Wilt?”

Wilt laughed. “Probably did.”

Robert continued, “She went on to tell me she thought those women might be your fiancées, and you’d be looking for them there this morning.” He raised an eyebrow. “Any truth to that?”

Ty glanced at Wilt who finally said, “Nah.”

Their food arrived and nobody said anything until the waitress left. Ty then changed the subject. “Don’t be surprised if Alvin Stoneman pays you a visit this afternoon. We had a talk with him, too.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, men. Don’t you realize I have more to do than to smooth the feathers of the folks you hold mortgages on?”

“Well, now you know…” Ty started.

Robert laughed. “Hold it. I know you always say you can take your business elsewhere, but I know you’d never do it since we’re good friends. In the meantime, forget I complained. I’ll deal with Mr. Stoneman. Is there anyone else you’ve upset this morning who might come in to see me?”

“Not that I know of,” Wilt said as he lifted a chicken leg to his mouth.

“Unless you count Sassy Sue. I had to walk out on her last night, but I didn’t threaten her with anything.”

They all laughed and Wilt added, “And Little Lil. I had to drop her, too. Again, no warning.”

“Now, wait a minute. You fellows are jumping down some of our business people’s throats because of two strange women, but you are worried about two of the Golden Door’s women? I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to, Rathbone. Just handle the upset townspeople.”

“And it looks like you have one waiting to see you.” Wilt nodded toward the door. “Stoneman just walked in and when he saw us with you he turned white as a ghost.”

Robert shrugged. “Then, I guess I better go talk with him. He doesn’t look like he knows what to do.”

“We’ll see you later, Robert.”

Maggie came around with the coffee pot. “Would you like more?” She gave them a seductive smile.

“Sure.” Ty held up his cup.

Wilt followed.

“Is there anything else I can get you?”

“No, thank you, Miss Thurman.” Wilt smiled at her.

After she left, Ty said. “I think Maggie likes your looks.”

“More than likely, Maggie likes my money.”

Ty laughed. “You’re probably right. If we were penniless I’m sure she’d be like the rest of the people in this town would be. They wouldn’t look twice at breeds like us.”