Diantha

by Zina Abbott

  “Don’t know. I quit my job at the ranch, Hilaina. After seeing how it was going with Boss and Hal, I realized there was more to life than what I’d been living. It was time I moved on.”

  Hilaina studied him. After seeing his boss and friend get married, he decided he was missing something? Did that mean he now wanted to get married and have a family? Dare she hope he might want to create a family with her? “But, why here? There’s a whole passel of cities between that ranch in Colorado and here.”

  “I came for you, Hilaina. Figured I’d see you again and decide if there’s enough between us to keep me here. You already told me about your ma wanting to stay in Wildcat Ridge. Knowing you don’t plan on leaving her behind don’t bother me. I’ll wait and see if the widows in this town can afford to hire me to do enough work for them so I can earn a living here. Can’t promise more than that.”

  Her body trembling with excitement, Hilaina stepped closer until she almost leaned against Buck’s chest. Her voice came in a whisper. “Figure on eating supper with us tonight, Buck. I want you to meet Ma.”

  Buck shook his head. “Can’t tonight, Hilaina. After I build this box for Hank’s coal, I have half a wagonload to deliver to Mrs. Magnus. Then I need to head back to Curdy’s Crossing and get a full order for Mayor Fugit.”

  “What about Sunday, Buck? It ain’t fitting you working on no Sunday. That’s the Lord’s day.”

  “Well, I’m not used to going to church, the ranch being so far from the nearest one and all. Hal reads from the Bible each Sunday, which I like just fine, especially when he reads one of the stories instead of all that begat business. Thing is, animals need to be seen to no matter if it’s Sunday or not. I told Jasper I’d take care of mine myself unless I tell him different.”

  “Ain’t it best you give them a rest that day, what with all the hauling they been doing? You get them took care of in the morning and come over with us. We’ll fix you some right smart vittles. I’ll read the Bible to you, me or Ma, and Ma and I can sing some church songs. Say you’ll come, Buck.”

  Hilaina felt a wave of relief wash over her as he smiled and nodded. “You talked me right into it, Hilaina. I’d be right pleased to meet your ma and spend Sunday with you.” She watched as he fished a paper out of his pocket. “Now, I can’t read a book, but I can a map. Show me where you live.”

  Hilaina pointed to a spot beyond the streets someone had drawn on the paper. “Don’t worry none about finding our place, Buck. I’ll come to the livery and fetch you. Now, I best get this laundry going.” She hesitated. “Someone done started my fire for me. Was that you?”

  Buck grinned at her. “It was me. Wasn’t sure if I’d still be around when you showed up, but I figured the least I could do was light a fire for you. Water’s probably hot by now, too.”

  Oh, Buck lit a fire for her, all right. The one that warmed her the most was the fire that ignited inside her after seeing Buck again. She heard him say it herself—he had come back for her. She let him go without a fight last summer, but this time, she’d give him every reason to stay. Any widow in town who tried to get her clutches on Buckley John Kramer was going to discover he was not easy pickings, not with Hilaina around. All she had to do was convince him he felt the same way about her.

  “Thank you kindly, Buck. Reckon I’ll catch you around town before I come fetch you on Sunday. You best get back to building your coal box so’s you can earn your money to stay here.”

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  Chapter 11

  ~o0o~

  September 14, 1884

  B uck did not see Hilaina again until Sunday around noon when, true to her word, she showed up at the livery stable looking for him. Before she arrived, he took care of his animals early, making a point to inspect their hides where the harness pieces rubbed. He checked their hooves to make sure they were still healthy after all the time spent on the road. He remembered the location of the bath house from his first trip to Wildcat Ridge and made a visit there to shave for the first time in a week and wash the coal dust out of his hair and the pores of his skin. Dressed in clean clothes, he felt as ready as he could be to spend the day with Hilaina and meet her mother.

  Buck descended the ladder leading to the hayloft just as Hilaina approached the stalls that held his two animals. She wore the same dress she wore to the dance earlier in the summer but did not wear any hat or gloves like he had seen on women traveling to church.

  “These two yours, Buck? Recognize them from the day at the hotel.”

  Buck walked up next to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He pulled her close enough he could feel the heat off her body through both their clothes. “Yep, Boss gave them to me. I told Jasper to put them in stalls where they can see each other, because Charley don’t like it when he can’t see Mabel. Mabel’s the mare and the mule’s Charley. Don’t get too close to Charley. He’s an ornery cuss.” Buck shook his head and laughed softly. “He and I get along, but he’s been known to bite and kick most people who come near him.”

  Hilaina turned and smiled up at Buck. “I ain’t afraid of no animals. Reckon these two and me will get along right fine.” She looked down at his waist. “You cain’t go walking through town wearing a pistol, Buck. Marshal Bowles don’t like it, especially on Sunday. Best leave it here.”

  “I’m not leaving my guns behind. Never know who I might meet on the street, or who might come in here and nose around without Jasper seeing them.”

  “Best figure to bring your coat and wrap them inside, then. Besides, it gets plumb cold once the sun goes down, and you’ll be glad you brung it. Ma and me done figured on you staying a spell. Hope you don’t aim to eat and take off right after.”

  “No, but I can’t stay too late. Hank and I plan to leave early tomorrow to get his boxes off the train in Curdy’s Crossing. Don’t you worry; though. I’ll be there plenty long enough for you and your ma to be ready to shoo me out the door.”

  Hilaina focused her gaze on Buck’s and spoke softly. “I ain’t going to shoo you out the door none too quick, Buck.”

  Buck swallowed to clear his throat. “I’ll get my coat and then we’ll go.”

  While descending the ladder with his coat over his shoulder, Buck looked across the stable to see Hilaina in the stall with Charley. The mule, a look of contentment on his face, leaned into her as she scratched him between his eyes. “Hilaina! I warned you about Charley. Get out of that stall before you get hurt.”

  Hilaina turned to him with a smile. “I done told you, I do right smart with animals. Me and Charley are getting along fine. Maybe it ain’t people he don’t like, maybe it’s most men. He ever have a man beat on him when he was young?”

  “Don’t rightly know. Only know he was on the ranch when I got there, and I’m about the only one he’d let near him.”

  “You done told me he likes Mabel, so I figured I’d see if he’d warm up to me seeing as how I ain’t no man.”

  No, she surely was not a man, for which Buck felt mighty grateful. He watched as, upon hearing her name, Mabel stuck her head over the wall dividing her stall from Charley’s. Hilaina reached up with her other hand to stroke Mabel’s muzzle. At Charley’s snort of protest at her sharing her attention, she picked up a handful of hay and hand-fed it to Charley. She grabbed a second handful and gave it Mabel, who lifted her head back over the divider to eat it in her own stall. Hilaina patted Charley on his neck as she walked past him and out of the stall.

  A look of annoyance on his face, Buck joined her as she closed the stall door behind her. With his sidearm rolled inside the coat he tucked under his arm, and his hand holding his rifle, he offered his free arm to Hilaina as he turned towards the outside entrance. “You just don’t mind at all, do you, Hilaina?”

  Hilaina placed her hand on the offered forearm and smiled sweetly. “Not if I don’t see no call to. Besides, after I got my first load of wash into soaking last Friday, I spent some time with them tw
o while you was busy with your sawing and hammering. Me, Charley, and Mabel already done become friends, even though I didn’t know no names.”

  As they started down the boardwalk in the direction of the home in Miners’ Row where the Dowds’ still lived, Hilaina looked up at Buck with a teasing grin. “Besides, if I go cut firewood with you, ain’t it best I know them two so’s I can help take care of them?”

  “What makes you think I plan to take you with me to cut firewood?”

  “Diantha done told me after you get coal for folks in town, you’ll go chop a passel of firewood for the laundry stove. Ma and me, we need firewood, too. Figured if you go on days I ain’t got no job to work, I can help you cut and stack. I aim to tend to Mabel and Charley and see to your vittles, too.”

  “Cutting firewood is hard work, Hilaina, especially if I’m chopping down a good-sized tree.”

  “I know. I done it with Pa until…” Hilaina tightened her hold on Buck’s arm, pulling herself closer to him, her voice breaking with emotion. “Just want to spend time with you, Buck.”

  Buck leaned over and ran his lips across the strands of hair she wore pulled back with a ribbon. If they were not walking on a public street with a good chance Hilaina’s ma was watching them out a window, he would be tempted to kiss her. “I like that you want to spend time with me, Hilaina. I feel the same. I’m right pleased to be spending most of the day with you and your ma. It don’t earn me any money, but some things are worth more than money.”

  After Hilaina pointed out the house she shared with her mother, the first detail that stood out to him was it appeared larger than the other cabins on the street. Once they were within several yards of the door, he leaned from one side to the other and realized someone had built onto the place.

  As soon as the pair entered the front door, Buck caught sight of an older woman standing at a four-burner, wood cookstove with a hot water reservoir on the side. He first noticed her short, rounded body although her arms appeared to be as thin as Hilaina’s. Her reddish-brown hair she wore pulled back in a bun was about the same color as her daughter’s, except it was shot with gray. She wore a dark brown dress with a large bibbed apron over it, no doubt to protect her clothes while she cooked. She turned to face him.

  “Ma, this here is the man I done told you about, Buckley John Kramer. Buck, this here’s my ma, Elmira Dowd.”

  Buck liked the tone of pride in her voice as Hilaina introduced her mother. He smiled and nodded. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am. I sure appreciate this invitation to dinner.”

  “Pleasure’s mine. Name’s Elmira.” Buck glanced at the chair she pointed to. “Take a load off.”

  Buck grinned at the woman who turned her back on him to resume her food preparation. Before he sat down, he handed his hat, coat, and weapons over to Hilaina, who put them near the door. He surveyed the room. It was as he had guessed. Aside from the loft that covered most of the kitchen and sitting area, doors led to two rooms that had been added on.

  “Hilaina, set that table with them blue enamel plates. Vittles is about done.”

  “Sure smells good, ma’am—I mean, Elmira. Anything I can do to help?”

  “Nope. Just get in the way. Butchered a pig last week. Got pork tonight.”

  While she set the table, Hilaina started talking about how her ma had a sow and four pigs, but they were getting too big to keep feeding. She took one to Olive Muckelrath, the butcher, who traded butchering and smoking for some of the pork.

  Buck couldn’t resist teasing. “That was quite some story. You sure like talking, Hilaina. The boys back at the ranch thought I talked a lot, but I can’t hold a candle to you. Does your ma like to talk as much as you do?”

  “Cain’t nary get no word in edgewise.”

  “Don’t know about that. Hilaina’s always quoting your bits of wisdom.”

  His comment met with nothing more than a grunt. Buck looked over at Elmira, whose back remained facing the room. “Elmira, when she talks too much, you just need to take up whistling. I learned early on the best way to get Hilaina to hush up long enough to get said what I want to say was to whistle a tune she likes hearing.”

  Hilaina sucked in a breath and stomped her foot. “Buck!”

  “Now, don’t fuss at me, Hilaina. Didn’t say I don’t like what you have to say. Just sometimes need you to take a breath.”

  “Cain’t whistle none, only hum. Humming don’t do no good with Hilaina.”

  Buck’s eyes widened in appreciation as Elmira turned to reveal the platter holding the pork roast surrounded by potatoes and carrots. “That looks mighty tasty, Elmira. I can hardly wait to dig into it.”

  “Need to bless it first. Not Hilaina, unless you favor cold vittles.”

  Hilaina, her hands akimbo, huffed her annoyance. “Now, Ma, that ain’t nice.”

  “But true, ain’t it? Sit, girl. Buck, reckon you can pray.”

  “Uh, I don’t rightly know how to pray over the food. Hal on the ranch I used to work for done it for us until he got married and moved to his own place. Shorty’s in charge of the bunkhouse now, and he’s not the praying type.”

  “Reckon I’ll do the praying. Best you learn for next time. Hilaina needs a praying man.”

  After listening to Elmira finish her short blessing on the food, Buck felt confident he could manage a prayer like hers. He sensed the next challenge he faced came when Elmira handed him a meat carving knife.

  “Been butchered once. Slice it right nice.”

  Buck managed to cut the roast without mangling it too bad. He ate his fill of what he considered the best meal he had eaten since the hotel wedding supper for Boss and Hal back in Curdy’s Crossing the previous June. Satisfied, he leaned away from the table with a smile on his face. “Elmira, that was a mighty fine meal. Thank you.”

  “Hilaina cooks right good. Come again next Sunday.”

  “I appreciate the invitation. Only, if you two are going to all the work, let me bring some meat by for you. Maybe Hilaina can show me where the butcher shop in town is.”

  “Ain’t hard to find. Olive got a good beef or venison roast, Hilaina’d be right proud to cook it up for you.”

  Buck moved his chair away from the table and closed his eyes. Contented like he had not felt in months, he allowed his thoughts to drift while Hilaina, talking non-stop about what she planned to prepare the following Sunday, cleared the table and started washing dishes while Elmira put the remaining food up. He realized he must have dozed off when the two women pulled their chairs across the room by the front window. Elmira held a thick book with a black leather cover.

  “Light’s best by the winder. Hilaina, you read first.”

  Buck moved his chair closer to the two women. “Did Hilaina tell you I can’t read? I tried, but I never could learn. She said you two would read the Bible to me.”

  “Reading ain’t the only reason she done asked you. Had a cousin thataway. Nary could read. Right smart, except when it come to his letters.”

  After the two took turns reading several chapters, which included one of the stories Buck recalled from listening to Hal’s Bible readings, Hilaina and Elmira decided to sing.

  Elmira turned to Buck. “Know ‘My Savior Will Supply My Need’ sung to ‘Resignation?’ Hilaina’s pa favored that tune.”

  “Can’t say I know that one.”

  “Time you learned.”

  The two women cleared their throats and began to sing in unison.

  My Shepherd will supply my need:

  Jehovah is His Name;

  In pastures fresh He makes me feed,

  Beside the living stream.

  Buck winced inside upon hearing Elmira sing with a slightly flat, gravelly voice. Hilaina’s voice sounded clear. He could tell she stayed on key. He liked the catchy melody with several repetitions. He formed his mouth and folded his tongue as he silently practiced whistling it. It would be easy to learn.

  By the third verse, he felt comfortable enough to softly join in
as an accompaniment to their vocal performance. When the song ended, Elmira smiled at Buck, the first smile he had seen on the woman’s face.

  “Ain’t never heard such slap-fine whistling since afore Hilaina’s pa passed. I’d be right pleased to sing it again.”

  They ended up singing the hymn three more times until Buck got the notes and timing down, and the three performed the number in perfect harmony.

  As the sun began to set, while Buck walked back to the livery, he reviewed the afternoon he had spent with Hilaina and her mother. As much as he felt the heightened awareness that came from being in the same room with Hilaina and regretted the necessity of keeping his hands to himself and not pulling her on his lap in the presence of her mother, he admitted he also enjoyed being around Elmira Dowd. He failed to reconcile the jokes and snide remarks about mothers-in-law he heard through the years with the thought of her as a member of his family. He enjoyed her abrupt manner of speaking, so different from her daughter. Besides, Elmira seemed to appreciate his whistling as much as Hilaina did. Being with them filled him with a sense of belonging to a family again, something he never really felt living and working on the Grassy Fork Ranch.

  Buck began to whistle the new tune Hilaina and her ma had taught him that day. He did not remember all the words to the hymn, but the last line kept repeating itself in his head:

  No more a stranger, nor a guest,

  But like a child at home.

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  Chapter 12

  ~o0o~

  September 16, 1884

  D iantha stared at the register page in front of her without seeing it. The sounds of Hank breaking open wooden crates in the next room distracted her. He and the young man, Buck, who had brought her a load of coal the previous week, returned from Curdy’s Crossing towards evening before dark. In spite of the days that still stayed light fairly late, they had barely unloaded all of Hank’s supplies before Buck would have needed a lantern to take his wagon back to the livery.