Unforgettable

by Rosanne Bittner

  Guthrie had a full city council in charge now, and many laws had been passed to protect public morality and good order, laws that were strictly enforced. Allyson had breathed a tremendous sigh of relief when Nolan Ives had finally gone back to Chicago seven months ago, but she had seen him again today. He was back, and had reopened his law office. This time he had brought his wife with him. That was why she was having trouble sleeping. She still worried that Ives would drag her before the board of arbitration that adjudicated continued disputes over lot ownership. She knew Ives had those men in his pocket. If he wanted, he could open a case against her and drag her all the way to the federal court at Muskogee. He had the money to do it, but she didn’t have extra to spend on getting her own attorney, nor the time to travel to Muskogee to plead her case.

  She could only pray that Nolan Ives was finished with her. Before he left for Chicago, he had visited her twice, always with rough-looking men, asking that she sell her lots to him. Twice she had turned him down, in spite of the fact that he had offered her a large sum of money. For her it was not the money, but the principle of the thing, and now that she had built her boarding house and was paying her taxes like everyone else, she felt well established enough that even Ives could not give her any more trouble. He must have looked at every way possible to get her lots from her, but thanks to Ethan getting the papers signed and properly dated that first day, there was not much the man could do…unless he ever found out Toby was her brother, not her husband. That might be something he could use against her.

  Her eyes finally began to droop, but she was suddenly awake again when she thought she heard someone fidgeting at the back door of the kitchen outside her room. She listened. Had she forgotten to bolt the door? She quickly rose and pulled on a robe, then took her pistol from under her pillow. She moved to the door to her room. “Who’s out there?” she demanded, her heart pounding. She decided then and there she would trade the small derringer in for a bigger, more powerful six-gun, afraid the small pistol would not really stop a man. She screamed and jumped back when the door to her room suddenly burst open and a man loomed inside. By the light of her lantern, she recognized him as the gunman who had shot Toby nearly a year ago!

  “Got a message for you,” came his voice, “from Mr. Ives. He’s back in town to stay. He’s already bought up most of the lots around you. It’s time to sell out, Mrs. Mills.” The words were spoken in a threatening sneer.

  Allyson stepped back, pointing the pistol at him. “I have told Mr. Ives before that I am also here to stay!” She had no idea how she had managed to find her voice. Her whole body tingled with fear.

  The man glanced at the pistol and just grinned. “I ain’t afraid of no stinkin’ little pop gun, lady. And I ain’t here to hurt you, at least not this time. Mr. Ives just wanted me to show you how easy it is to break in here in the middle of the night, says it ain’t right for a little woman like yourself to be sleeping alone.” His eyes moved over her. “Could be dangerous for a woman.” He turned, then looked back at her. “You think about it. Take the money and run, before this place burns down around you some night or some man slips in here and takes over where your piss-ass coward of a husband left off.”

  “Get out of here!” Allyson seethed. “I might not be able to kill you with this gun, but it can do enough harm to bring you a lot of pain, especially if I put a bullet in your belly!”

  She heard a low laugh. “You just remember you ain’t got your big Indian buck around to protect you anymore. Why’d he leave anyway? If I was sharing your bed like he was, I’d stick around a while.”

  Allyson’s eyes widened. “Ethan Temple never—”

  “Save it, lady. Face the facts. You’re little and weak and alone, and this ain’t never gonna work. Sell out to Ives while he’s still willing to pay you good money, before he finds out whatever the truth is about you and has you run out of town!” The man left, slamming the door to her room, then the outer door.

  Allyson stood shivering yet sweating. She opened the bedroom door and peeked out, then hurried to the outer door and shoved the bolt lock closed, cursing herself for forgetting to do it earlier. She hurried back into her room, leaving the door open so she could see into the kitchen. She had thought Nolan Ives was finally going to leave her alone, but apparently she was wrong. Burn her out? Would he really do that? And would he really send a man or men here in the night to rape her?

  Maybe she could hire men to guard her place at night. The trouble was, that would take money. Maybe she could offer free rooms to men who kept watch for her. It would mean less income, but it might be worth it. She was not giving up!

  She moved to the bed, laying the pistol aside and putting her head in her hands. Why did Ives have to come back? Everything had been going so well, and he was the only fly in the ointment. The man had all the land and money it seemed right for a person to have. But some people just couldn’t get enough, she figured. If she had truly taken her lots legally, she wouldn’t be so worried. What would the man do next? Why couldn’t he have stayed in Chicago?

  She looked over at her pistol, trying to convince herself that Nolan Ives’s tactics would not work. She was not going to be defeated by fear. She picked up the pistol and put it back under her pillow. She lay down again, thinking how nice it would be if Ethan were still around. He would know what to do about this. Ives knew she wouldn’t complain to the law, because that might draw too much attention and create a new investigation of her ownership. That was the last thing she wanted.

  She shivered, aching to sleep but knowing she would probably lie staring at the clock until dawn, and dawn would bring a new day’s work. She decided she would post a “HELP WANTED” sign out front tomorrow. It wasn’t fair that she should have to go to the expense of hiring someone to watch the place, but she figured she had no choice. Nolan Ives was still determined to get it.

  Ethan tied Blackfoot and stood back to study Ally’s Place, shaking his head at the perseverance and determination of the woman who owned it. So, Ally Mills had done exactly what she said she would do. It was hard to believe only a year had passed since he was last here. Guthrie was a full-fledged town, with organized streets and new buildings lining them and sporting every kind of business imaginable. Ally’s Place was a fine-looking structure, and it was near a brand new train depot, an excellent location for travelers. Lace curtains decorated the windows, and beneath the establishment name on the sign were the words “ROOMS AND FOOD.” He noticed another sign that read “HELP WANTED—DEPENDABLE MAN FOR NIGHT SECURITY.” He couldn’t help wondering what that was all about. Had Ally been robbed or threatened?

  The building, freshly whitewashed, took up most of the two lots Ally had claimed, and pots of fresh flowers sat near the doorway. Ethan debated over whether or not to go inside. Did she still hate him for that last night? Too much had been left unsaid between them but the hurt had run too deep at first for him to stay. He had needed time away, and maybe it was the same for her. Fact was, maybe she had taken a husband.

  He grinned at the thought. No, not Ally. She was married to her business. He threw down a cheroot and stepped on it in the dirt street. He removed his hat then, taking a deep breath before he went inside, wondering how she might look now. She was almost eighteen. Would she welcome him, or wish he had never come back? Most likely he was a fool to be here at all.

  Because of the warm spring day, the door had been left open with only a screen door to go through. Ethan smelled bread baking and myriad other food smells, all wonderful. He looked around at several tables covered with checkered cloths, most of them occupied. Business looked good. An older woman came out from a back room, carrying a tray of food. She looked a little surprised when she saw him, and Ethan felt the old hurt that would probably never go away. He figured she was wondering if Indians should be allowed in here. Fact was, most of the people seated were staring at him. What irked him most was that this whole territory used to belong to the Indians, and he glared right back at a c
ouple of people who quickly turned away. The woman with the tray set it down on a nearby table and turned to him, smoothing her apron and looking nervous. “Is there something I can do for you?”

  “Yes. I’m looking for Ally Mills. She around? I’m Ethan Temple.”

  The woman’s eyes brightened. “Oh, Mr. Temple! Ally has mentioned you a time or two. You were the scout who helped her out when her husband was killed. She says you bought her her first cookstove.”

  Ethan nodded. “That’s me.” He wondered what else Ally had said. Did she mention he had loved her? Probably not. How could she tell anyone she had been at all intimate with an Indian? That night he left she had made it pretty clear she thought that was totally inappropriate. “Is she here?”

  “Yes. I believe she’s cleaning a room upstairs in the rooming house.” She indicated some double doors to the left of the restaurant. “You just go through there, down the hall and up the stairs. You’ll find her up there somewhere.”

  Ethan looked around the room again, noticing another woman come out with yet another tray. “Looks like Ally’s business is really going great.”

  “Oh, yes, she’s quite the businesswoman for such a young thing. She’s hired two cooks and me, and another woman who helps her clean. People used to talk about how she would never make it, being so young and all, her husband getting killed before they could even get started, but she’s got a lot of determination. This business is her whole life.”

  Ethan grinned wryly. “I’m sure it is. Thanks for your help.” He turned and headed for the double doors, feeling watchful eyes as he left the room. He walked down a hall decorated with flowered wallpaper, counting five rooms on each side. He could hear voices here and there through the thin walls, and when he reached the last room before the stairway, a man came out carrying a covered bucket. Ethan suspected it held waste from a chamber pot. He had seen a horse-drawn night cart outside when he tied Blackfoot, and he had always thought driving one of those things and having to dump human waste had to be one of the worst jobs a man could have, but then he supposed someone had to do it. He nodded to the unsmiling man and headed up the stairs to a second floor, wondering where Ally had gotten the money so quickly to build this place. Apparently business had been good from the start, maybe thanks to that stove he’d bought her. Part of him had been so angry that night that he could have hit her, yet he’d felt like an ass at the same time. He’d wanted to make up for it somehow, hoped finding the stove when she woke up helped keep her opinion of him from being all bad. He could understand her reaction to his making love to her. She’d been awfully young, afraid of men, and he did give her that whiskey. But her remark about him being Indian, as though it was something terrible…that was hard to forgive and forget. So, why was he here? Why couldn’t he just let sleeping dogs lie? What had drawn him back?

  He knew damn well what it was. It was that long, thick hair the color of red-rock, those innocent blue eyes that made him want to possess her; it was the knowledge that underneath all that stubborn determination to be brave and totally independent, he sensed fear, and a need to be loved; and then there was the distinct feeling that there was still a woman inside that body who had not yet been fully awakened, even though he’d physically claimed her innocence. She had not totally given herself to him that night, not in heart and spirit, not in passion. Almost every night since then he had imagined how wonderful it would be if she’d give herself that way. Maybe she already had…but to someone else.

  He moved down the upstairs hallway, saw an open doorway, heard a woman humming softly. He stopped then, approached more quietly, and peeked around the door to see a woman in a flowered print dress bent over putting clean sheets on a bed. He noticed the room was pleasant, with more flowered wallpaper and a little curtained-off area where there was probably a chamber pot and washbowl. Besides the bed, the room contained a nightstand with an oil lamp, a wardrobe, a small rug on the wood floor, and lace curtains at the window.

  The woman straightened, her back to him. Her lustrous red hair was pulled back at the sides with combs—she was still slender, and maybe a little taller. Who else but Ally had that red hair? His voice caught in his throat, and he contemplated turning and leaving. A little voice somewhere deep inside told him he’d be better off, but his feet would not move. He stepped farther inside, swallowing before speaking. “Hello, Ally.”

  She quickly turned, with a look Ethan was sure was at first startled fear, as though she had been expecting someone to come after her. The look quickly changed to one of pleasant surprise. “Ethan!”

  She was more beautiful than ever, a more mature look about her. Was it because she’d lost her virginity to him a year ago? Or was it just the independent success she had enjoyed not only as one of the few females in Guthrie who owned her own business, but one of the youngest? She came closer, looking as though she wanted to hug him, but holding back. “I never thought I’d see you again,” she told him. She began to redden then, and dropped her gaze. “I mean…” She folded her arms and turned away. “What are you doing here? Where have you been?” She finally faced him again. “Why didn’t you come back the next morning so I could thank you for the stove?” Her face was still red. “And I do thank you, Ethan. After what happened, I don’t understand why you did that.”

  “I did it because contrary to what you believed, I really did care about you. I wasn’t just trying to use you, Ally. I guess that’s why I’m here, to make sure you understand that.”

  Allyson shivered a little as his dark eyes moved over her. This man knew intimate things about her, had put himself inside her. It made her feel almost as though she belonged to him, yet she didn’t, nor did she even want to. He had caught her off guard, and the instant awakening of memories stirred a little wave of desire that surprised her. Why did he look more handsome than he did a year ago? There he stood, in tight denim pants and dusty, leather boots, a red shirt with sleeves rolled up to reveal muscled arms, dark skin. There were those disturbing dark eyes. His very presence filled the room. She thought she had gotten over the wondering and curiosity about what it might have been like to allow Ethan Temple to show her everything about being a woman, to lie naked beside him…

  “I…when I saw the stove…I think I understood then,” she answered. She smiled nervously, walking over to the window. “I’m so surprised, I don’t know what to say, what to think.” She put a hand to her hair, suddenly self-conscious of how she looked. She hadn’t had a chance to put a little color on her pale cheeks or twist her hair up into a fancy do. Several people had left their rooms, and she would spend most of the day changing beds and doing laundry.

  Ethan looked around the room. “Looks like that stove worked miracles.”

  Allyson smiled, glad the ice was broken, excitement and pride quickly filling her soul. “Isn’t it wonderful? I’ll bet you were surprised when you rode up and saw my building.”

  He smiled softly. “Not completely. I knew how determined you were. I just don’t understand how you got that much money so fast. You even have hired help.”

  “Not just that, but I have to pay occupation taxes, fifty dollars a month.” She held her chin proudly. “But I can afford it. Being so close to the train station, my restaurant is almost always busy, and most of my rooms are rented. A few people live here as a permanent residence, some just for a week or so, here on business. The rest are people who just need a room for the night—whatever. It all worked exactly like I thought it would.” She took a deep breath and put out her arms, turning around. “Isn’t it wonderful? I just wish Toby could see all this.”

  Ethan walked farther into the room. “Well, maybe he does see it, from up in heaven somewhere.”

  “I like to think that he does.” She motioned to the nearby chair. “Sit down, Ethan.”

  He glanced at the pile of sheets on the floor. “You look pretty busy. Maybe I’d better come back.”

  Their eyes held, both of them needing to talk, to clear up old misunderstandin
gs. “All right,” she said. “You come back here this evening, and I’ll give you the best meal you ever had, and then we’ll talk.” She grew sober. “We do need to talk, don’t we?”

  Ethan nodded. “Like I said. That’s why I came back.”

  Why did she suddenly feel too warm? “Well, no matter how long you intend to stay, you have to stay at least one night. That means you’ll need a room, and I won’t let you stay anyplace but right here. The least I can do for that stove is give you a room for the night for free.”

  Why do you have to be so damn beautiful? he thought. “I’d like that.” He looked around again. “This sure is a far cry from those two broken-down horses and that miserable tent, isn’t it? You’ve done good, Ally, real good. I’m proud of you. Toby would be, too.”

  She folded her arms self-consciously again, wishing she could quit thinking about how it felt when he’d kissed her, touched her. She reminded herself of the one reason she never should have let him do either one of those things. He looked mostly Indian. She also reminded herself that this time maybe he had just come to see how successful she was and maybe get a share of it by trying to woo her again. Still, he didn’t seem like a man who cared about those things. “Thank you.” This man was intimate with me, stole my virginity! It felt so strange just to stand here talking to him like a long-lost friend, but then he was that, too, wasn’t he? “I told you I could do it.”