Forbidden Fire

by Bonnie K. Winn

  They rode on for a few more miles, but Katherine never seemed bored, only more intrigued with the vast acres of farmland and huge sprawling ranches. Finally reaching a break in the golden blanket of wheat, they passed a herd of sheep. “Look!” she pointed.

  “They raise them for wool. Not much material gets out this way.” At her look of surprise he continued. “At least not before the railroad got here. You must have noticed that the store doesn’t have more than two or three bolts of cloth at a time.”

  “This is a hard life for so many of these women,” Katherine murmured. Jake wondered how she knew and listened in silence as she mused, “Set miles apart from one another, they face everything alone.”

  They reached a bend in the road and saw a house on the rise. Much more imposing than the few soddies, log cabins, and dugouts they’d passed, this home dominated the landscape.

  She glanced at Jake curiously.

  “The Browning house,” he supplied before she could ask.

  “I’m glad Sadie’s not one of the women who has such a hard life.”

  Jake slanted an oblique glance at her. “You sure?”

  Her face fell into lines of surprise. “Is there something I don’t know about Sadie?”

  “You assume a lot about people.”

  “Is that your cryptic way of telling me something about Sadie?” Katherine turned to him in exasperation.

  “She could use a friend.”

  Katherine stared at him, dumbfounded. “Surely you’re not suggesting me?”

  Jake slowed the horses and turned to her after they stopped. “There’s something you need to know about Sadie.” Katherine waited expectantly. “She was a mail-order bride.”

  Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “Sadie?”

  “Able Browning had five kids to raise when his wife died. There weren’t any single women out here, so he sent for a mail-order wife, and Sadie answered his advertisement.” Jake looked as though he wanted to say more, but instead gazed past her to the imposing house.

  Katherine turned in the same direction, staring at the seemingly happy house. Concern etched itself on her face. Had Sadie been forced into a situation she, too, could not prevent?

  Still, common sense prevailed. “My friendship would only cause her more problems,” Katherine protested.

  “Most of the other women are jealous of Browning’s wealth.” Jake shrugged his shoulders. “They don’t have much sympathy to waste on Sadie since they work sixteen hours a day just to keep food on the table.”

  Indecision wavered across Katherine’s face. Taking advantage of her silence, Jake flicked the reins and headed the buggy toward the Browning house.

  “Oh, Jake, I don’t know.” But her protest was half-hearted, and Jake continued through the arched gateway.

  As they pulled up at the whitewashed structure, Katherine saw that the yard was well ordered. Jake held up his hand to help her dismount, and she hesitated for only a moment as she anticipated the shock of his touch. When his hand captured hers, she wasn’t disappointed. Stepping away quickly, she hid the trembling of her gloved fingers in the folds of her skirt.

  Glancing up, she caught the awareness in Jake’s gaze. They were tiptoeing around their attraction, and they both knew it. The door burst open abruptly, saving her from that piercing glare.

  “Katherine! Reverend Payne! What are you doing here? I mean, I’m so glad to see you!” Flustered, Sadie swiped at the wisps of hair that fell next to her face. “Please, come in.”

  Barely allowing them to answer, Sadie ushered them in, delight lighting her face. Katherine gazed around the house, surprised at its austere, rigid furnishings. An oversized portrait of a stern, forbidding woman stared down at them from the entry hall. Katherine wondered if this was the previous Mrs. Browning.

  “I baked some fresh cookies, and the children haven’t finished them all. I’ll check on the coffee, too.” Bustling away, Sadie looked as though they’d brought Christmas with them, she was so excited.

  “Still think she doesn’t need your friendship?”

  “I’ve learned to use caution, Jake.”

  Her double meaning crackled in the air between them. She worried more about his lack of caution than her own foolish whimsy. But either way they were entertaining dangerous desires.

  “Here we are!” Sadie’s return shattered their tension, and both turned in her direction. Placing the laden tray on the serving table, Sadie offered them steaming cups of coffee and small plates of brown cookies.

  While it had been years since Katherine had gone visiting, the impeccable manners her mother had instilled in her didn’t fail. The coffee, even when laced with milk, tasted bitter, but Katherine smiled as she sipped the unsavory brew. She noticed Jake’s fleeting grimace before he, too, composed his features. Biting into one of the cookies, Katherine tasted salt and flour before she washed it down with a sip of coffee.

  Sadie smiled nervously. “I’m sorry, I’m not much of a cook.”

  “The cookies have a very nice texture,” Katherine replied. No taste, but they were textured.

  “Thank you.” Sadie looked relieved. “The children hate my cooking, and I never know if I’m improving. They say none of it compares to their mother’s.”

  Katherine felt her heart wrench. Pitifully eager for a bit of praise, Sadie apparently received precious little. “I don’t believe anyone thinks another person’s cooking will ever compare to their mother’s. I’m that way myself.”

  Jake spoke up. “Katherine’s right. No one can roast a chicken like my mother.”

  “Perhaps you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it like that.” Brightening, Sadie sipped her own coffee and then shook her head. “I just can’t seem to get the coffee right, though.”

  Tactfully avoiding the coffee, Katherine smiled. “We all have different talents, Sadie. I’m sure your family appreciates yours.”

  The glow faded from Sadie’s eyes, and she replied quietly, “Perhaps.”

  Their talk continued to be subdued, although Jake managed to raise Sadie’s spirits a bit before they left. As the buggy moved forward along the road, Katherine glanced back, seeing Sadie’s forlorn wave.

  “I don’t understand. Able wanted a wife to take care of his home and children, but Sadie can’t cook. How—”

  “Sadie was raised in the city with a houseful of servants. She didn’t even know how to wash clothes when she got here. Able hired a woman to do the housework, but he’s not happy about it. Thought that was going to be Sadie’s job.”

  “So, Able advertised for a strong housewife and he got Sadie?”

  “Exactly.” Jake kept his voice even, but Katherine sensed what he’d left unspoken.

  “No wonder she’s so unhappy. Why do you suppose she answered his advertisement?”

  Jake met her glance. “That’s why she needs a friend, Katherine. Someone she can confide in who won’t ridicule her.”

  “But you’re her minister.”

  “She needs a friend, not someone in her husband’s employ.”

  Katherine could see the wisdom in his words but also knew the folly in becoming involved. It wasn’t as though she’d never tried before, in different towns with different people. The result had always been the same, except for one thing. She’d never had someone like Jake ask her to step in. Searching his face, she acknowledged she’d never had anyone like him before, period.

  Chapter 12

  Katherine’s bedroom was awash with light far greater than an oil lamp could provide in the dead of night. She awoke with a start. Seeing the reflection of a fire shining through her window, she muffled a scream before bolting from the bed. Expecting to find herself choked with smoke and blanketed by the heat from the fire, she was surprised when her feet touched the floor and found it to be cool.

  Rushing to the window, she stared down at the saloon’s structure, which stood untouched. Horrified, she stared next door. But the church, too, was safe. She stared straight out across the flat land a
nd saw the flames against the black horizon.

  The door to the parsonage was flung open, and Jake pushed past the porch, running to the horse shed. Terrified, mindless of her nightdress, she tore out of her room and down the stairs.

  Jake threw the saddle on the horse, cinching it as she flew into the shed.

  “Jake!”

  The sight of Katherine silhouetted in his doorway, clad only in her nightdress, momentarily froze his frantic actions. “What are you doing here?”

  “I saw the fire. I thought it was our place at first.”

  His face was grim. “Prairie fire, Katherine. I’ve got to get out there and help. They need every man they can get.” He tightened the cinch. “I just hope we’re not too late.”

  “Jake…”

  He led the horse from the stall, prepared to mount. “Yes?” he said impatiently.

  She remained silent, and he mounted the horse. He dug his heels in the animal’s flanks. “Be careful!” she called out as he left.

  Jake rode on, and she wasn’t sure if he’d heard her. Another flash of light galvanized her into action. Running into the house, she headed for Morgan’s door, pounding on it until he opened it.

  “What the hell?” Morgan’s sleepy face showed his outrage as he stood in his doorway in his long johns.

  “It’s a fire!” When he looked around in horror, she reached out for his arm. “Not here. At one of the farms outside of town. Jake said they need all the help they can get.”

  Morgan looked as though he wanted to remind her they might not be wanted. Instead he raked a hand through his tousled hair. “Just take me a minute to get my pants on.”

  Annette stuck her head out of her room. “What’s going on?”

  Katherine told her quickly and then dashed to her own room and found a simple skirt and blouse along with her sturdy riding boots. Dispensing with the usual corset, she snatched up her clothes and dressed almost as rapidly as Morgan did. Breathless, she reached him at the bottom of the stairs. He was holding several blankets.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

  “With you. They said they could use everyone.”

  “Katherine—”

  “I don’t think we have time to argue.”

  Knowing she was right, Morgan shook his head and quickly hitched the buggy while Katherine found their shovels and hoes. They rode out of town rapidly. The blaze silenced them as they watched it creep up the hills in the buffalo grass and then flare in the redtop bunch grass. The reddened sky reflected the inferno beneath, washing them both in its fiery gaze.

  Katherine was breathless as she turned to her partner. “It looked like our place was burning. It seemed so close.”

  “Reflection,” Morgan muttered, trying to control the horses, who were not eager to head toward the smoke.

  In the distance they could see the silhouettes of men fighting the fire outlined against the encroaching flames. Morgan urged the horses to go faster. Katherine clung to the buggy seat, frightened for the farmers and ranchers whose homes were threatened, and frightened for Jake who had rushed to their aid.

  Reaching the home closest to the fire, Morgan reined in the horses. It was quite apparent that the log cabin was close to perishing. Men and women had formed a line to dig a trench around the house. The furrows that had already been carved in the dirt would not hold back the flames. Without asking, Morgan and Katherine grabbed their shovels and joined the ranks of people digging in the dirt.

  “Look there!” a woman cried. “The fire jumped the river, Tom! It’s heading toward our place.”

  Several of the people grabbed their shovels and ran toward their horses and wagons. While willing to help their neighbors, they had to save their own places. The woman whose home had just been abandoned looked ready to surrender. Katherine grabbed her shovel and made her way next to the woman. “Now’s no time to give up,” she encouraged, digging in with all her might.

  The woman wavered and then grabbed a wet blanket, prepared to beat back the flames. Jake tore around the side of the building. “Wind’s changed. If we can get this side covered, it might pass the house.”

  They ran to the other side of the house and started digging furiously. Katherine glimpsed Jake’s muscular build as he seemed to do the work of three men. He turned just then, shouting above the wind and approaching flames. “Get blankets!”

  Dropping her shovel, Katherine ran to the buggy and grabbed the blankets they’d brought along. She found the water barrel and soaked them before running back around the building. Morgan and Jake continued digging the trench while Katherine and the other woman beat at the flames of burning grass. The woman’s husband attacked the hottest part of the fire, fighting desperately to save his home.

  A valiant wildflower swayed in the dry grass before it, too, was swallowed up in the blaze. Katherine beat at that same patch of grass, willing the fire to stop. She ignored the smoke that choked the air, knowing if they didn’t halt the fire now, the house was lost.

  She glanced up in surprise when Jake’s hands closed over hers, taking the blanket from her. “Get back!”

  “But—”

  “Now, Katherine!”

  Jake, Morgan, and the farmer took the front line, and Katherine ran to find more blankets. Unsuccessful, she spotted grain sacks next to the barn and seized them. After soaking them, she raced back to the fire, handing one to the woman as they both fought the blaze again.

  “We need to dig the trenches deeper!” Morgan shouted.

  “There aren’t enough of us!” Jake yelled in return.

  Katherine watched in despair as the fire seemed to win. From the corner of her eye she saw bodies running toward them. Vance, the floorwalkers and dealers, Annette, and a few more of the girls ran toward them, holding shovels and hoes.

  The woman next to her turned her tear-stained face toward Katherine. “Bless you all.”

  Together the accumulated manpower dug the trench deeper and wider. Still they beat at the flames that threatened to jump the trench until the wind gradually began to shift. Jake was right. By protecting the north side of the house, they were able to conquer the last flames when the direction of the wind changed.

  Within a few hours they had put out all but a few remaining embers. Weary and with dirty, blackened faces, they looked around in victory. Katherine gathered her tools and placed them in the buggy. She turned to find the woman standing in front of her.

  “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “You just did.”

  The woman grasped Katherine’s hands in her own. “You ever need anything, you come to Bessie Johnson.”

  Nodding, Katherine climbed into the buggy, watching as Morgan and Jake shook hands with the farmer. The others collected their tools as they, too, were thanked.

  Katherine turned to Jake. “Can we help at another house?”

  Jake stared at the weary group. “You and the rest of the women go home.” He glanced at Morgan and caught his confirming nod. “We’ll help where we can.”

  The ride home was quiet as the women pondered the incredible night. After climbing down from the buggy, Katherine’s skirt dragged over the grass as she surveyed their property in the moonlight, stunned that it looked so peaceful, grateful it had been spared. It seemed so dark after the brightness of the fire. After the others went inside, she sat on a bench in the garden. Time passed as she absorbed the reality of the night’s events, how some were spared and others savaged.

  “I thought you’d be in a hot bath by now.” Jake’s voice startled her. She hadn’t heard him return. Glancing up, she saw a weary-looking Morgan and the rest of the men disappear into the saloon.

  “Just thinking how lucky we are,” Katherine answered, bringing her attention back to Jake.

  “That was a good thing you did.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “I’m glad we were there.”

  “So are the Johnsons.”

  The smell of scorched air lingered in the
early morning breeze. She wondered about the fates of the other people, knowing Jake would have ridden around to check on them.

  “What about the other people’s homes?”

  “Wind changed again and drove the fire back toward the river. The Rankin family lost everything before it turned, though.” He was silent for a moment. “I’ll get something to eat and check on the others.”

  “What do you suppose caused it?”

  “Lightning. Spark from the train. Could be most anything.”

  She glanced down, and he eased his fingers beneath her chin, bringing it up. Embarrassed, she swiped at the cinders on her face, but he stilled the motion.

  “This is a beautiful side of you, Katherine.”

  Self-consciously she laughed. “With my face black and my clothes filthy?”

  His eyes probed hers. “I wish you’d tell me.”

  Her breath betrayed her, quickening at his tone, his touch. “Tell you what?”

  “How you came to this job.”

  The excitement inside her died. For the past few hours she’d forgotten she was a saloon singer and he was a preacher. But it was a lapse that couldn’t be repeated. Stepping back, she moved out of his touch. “Good day, Reverend.”

  His hand dropped to his side, sadness etched over the blackened creases of his face. “Good day, Katherine.”

  Chapter 13

  “Are you sure you’re all right?” Sadie’s voice was rich with worry.

  “Perfectly.” Katherine dismissed her concern.

  “To hear Bessie Johnson tell it, you single-handedly saved their home.”

  “Hardly. We simply helped.” Katherine pushed a few melon seeds through the bars of the cage. The lovebirds picked them up delicately.

  Sadie gestured toward the birds. “How are they doing?”

  “Wonderfully. But I still feel you were too generous.”

  “Ready to give them back?” Sadie smiled mischievously.

  One bird smoothed its head under Katherine’s hand as she slipped in the seeds. She grinned back ruefully. “You win. I admit I’m in love with them.”