Drina’s Choice

by Agnes Alexander

  She had a feeling it was the latter, but she wasn’t going to argue. She went down the hall and slipped into Aaron’s room. She smiled when she saw him sleeping peacefully. She put the cut out pieces of the blue dress with yellow and pink flowers on the table and moved to the bed. She straightened the covers, and on impulse, leaned down and kissed his brow. “I’m not sure what’s going on,” she whispered, “but I think everybody is keeping secrets from me. They all acted suspicious. Even Salty.”

  She jumped when Aaron whispered, “What did Salty do to you?”

  Catching her breath, she said, “Nothing, really.”

  “What does that mean?”

  She pulled the rocking chair close to his bed. “I’m not sure, Aaron. Two women came up in a buggy and one of them was hurt. I have no idea who she was, but Beulah said she was going to take care of her, then she sent me out of the room. I have a feeling she didn’t want me to know who these women are. The other woman kept looking at me and Salty hurried out of the room so I couldn’t ask him any questions. I have a feeling something strange is going on.”

  “Well, Drina, I’m not sure what it could be. Maybe it was some neighbor who needed help.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  He frowned. “Then who could it be?”

  “As I said, I have no idea, but I think I heard the other woman in the buggy call the sick lady Lottie.”

  * * * *

  Aaron felt like he’d been kicked in the chest by Beulah’s mule. He figured he turned white because he felt all the blood drain to his feet and it felt like his heart was about to pound out of his body. He could only stare at her, unable to speak.

  If she noticed she didn’t say. “Would you know who these people could be?”

  When he didn’t answer she prompted him. “Did you hear me, Aaron?’

  He finally said, “I heard you, Drina.”

  She looked at him. “Well, are you going to answer me?”

  His mind was whirling. What was he supposed to do? Should he tell his wife Lottie had been his favorite girl at The Swinging Door? Or was he simply supposed to tell her Lottie was a whore who needed help? Or, God forbid, was he supposed to tell her this was the woman he spent their wedding night with?

  “I’m waiting, Aaron. Have your forgotten our pledge of honesty already?”

  “I haven’t forgotten.”

  “Then do you know who these women are or not?”

  “I haven’t seen them, but,” he took a deep breath and blurted, “I think they might be a couple of the women who work at The Swinging Door Saloon.”

  She stared at him a moment, then without a word she turned and walked out of the room.

  “Damn,” he muttered. “I’ve ruined my chances with her, now.”

  * * * *

  Beulah looked up when she entered the room. “Miz Drina, what are you doing in here?”

  “Am I not allowed in here?” Her voice was a little harsher than she meant it to be.

  Beulah looked away. “Of course you are. This is your house.”

  Drina turned toward Milly. “What’s your name?” Her voice was neither friendly nor unfriendly.

  “It’s Milly Franklin, Miz Wilcox.” The little redhead looked scared.

  “I hate to not be hospitable, but may I ask what you want here?”

  There was a moan from the couch.

  “Lottie’s waking up.” Milly moved over to her. “How’re you feeling?”

  “What happened?” Lottie asked as she tried to sit up. “Where am I?”

  Before Milly could answer, Drina said, “You’re at the Rocking Chair Ranch. I’m Drina Wilcox. May I ask who you are?”

  Lottie looked around like a trapped rabbit. “Lottie,” she managed to mutter.

  “Miz Wilcox, maybe you should go…”

  “No, Beulah. I want to know what’s going on.” She looked back to Lottie. “Your friend Milly seems to be a little tongue-tied. Maybe you can tell me why you’ve come out to our ranch. People don’t usually pay visits in such nasty weather.”

  Lottie forced a smile. “We didn’t come here to upset you, Mrs. Wilcox. We came here because we had no choice.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Lottie pushed herself to a sitting position, but didn’t say anything.

  Milly said, “I think we should tell her, Lottie.”

  Lottie nodded. “A man almost killed me in the saloon. I think he was sent to murder me because I’d figured out who shot Aaron.”

  Drina stared at her for a second. “Why didn’t you go to the sheriff?”

  “Everybody says Sheriff Zane Mason is a good man, but I know Brit Vance has made it a point to become a good friend of his. Besides, I feel the sheriff is like most men. He probably wouldn’t do anything except turn his head when a woman like me was murdered.”

  From the way they were dressed, Drina had already figured out these women must be from the saloon. But if they knew who shot Aaron, she couldn’t send them away. She turned to Beulah. “Please, go make some tea. I can use a cup and I suppose our guests could, too. In the meantime, I think these ladies need to speak to Aaron. He’ll know what should be done.”

  “Whatever you think is best, Miz Drina.” Beulah looked as if she disapproved, but she headed toward the kitchen without comment.

  “Are you able to walk, Lottie?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Wilcox.”

  “Good. There’s only my chair in the room where Aaron is. I’ll get this one over here and you can get the one under the window, Milly. Then you ladies follow me.” Drina picked up the cane bottomed chair she’d indicated and walked down the hall. She hoped she looked confident, because she felt like mush inside. What would happen when Aaron saw these two women? Would he run her out of the room? Would his eyes light up? Would he have one or both of them sit beside his bed and hold his hand?

  She shook these thoughts away and pushed opened the door. “There are some people here to see you, Aaron.”

  He glanced around and total surprise covered his face, but he only nodded.

  Drina put the chair down a little distance from the rocking chair she used. Pushing her rocker closer to the head of his bed, she motioned for Lottie to take the chair she’d placed next to hers. She figured Milly could take the one she brought in.

  “What’s going on?” Aaron reached out and took Drina’s hand as soon as she sat.

  She didn’t remove her hand from his. “If you’re up to it I’ll let them explain.”

  “I’m up to it.”

  “Now, Lottie, maybe you should tell Aaron what you started to tell me in the parlor.”

  Lottie took a deep breath. “Yesterday, Cleg Keller came to my room to kill me, but I managed to get away by telling him you were alive. He was so mad, he as much as admitted one of his boys shot you.”

  “I figured it was one of them, but why would he want to kill you?”

  Drina felt pressure on her hand and she returned it.

  “You know Cleg’s not smart enough to do anything on his own. Somebody has to tell him what to do and how to do it.”

  “Do you know who that person is?”

  “I think I do. That’s why he sent Cleg to murder me.”

  “Who is it, Lottie?”

  “Brit Vance.”

  Aaron frowned “You’ve got to be wrong there. Brit Vance is a friend of mine. A good friend.”

  “No, he’s not Aaron. He’s as sneaky as they come. Ask Milly.”

  “She’s right, Aaron.” Milly glanced at Drina, but went on, “He came to my room the other night and kept asking me when I saw you last. Finally I told him I hadn’t seen you at all and he slapped me. I don’t know if he believed me or if he just wanted to hit me.”

  “This is hard for me to believe.”

  “Believe it, Aaron,” Lottie said. “I’m almost positive he paid Cleg’s boy to shoot you. After Cleg beat me up, I made the mistake of asking the doctor how you were doing. It wasn’t long until Brit was in my room asking qu
estions.”

  “What kind of questions?”

  “Like why was I talking to the doctor and why I wanted to know how you were doing?” She glanced at Drina. “He finally left, but I could tell he wasn’t through with me. He means for me to die. I’m getting too close to the truth.”

  “What truth, Lottie?”

  “I’m not sure, but whatever it is, it would work better if you were out of the picture.”

  Aaron was quiet for a minute and Drina wondered if he was going to speak again.

  There was a knock on the door and Drina pulled her hand from Aaron’s. “It’s probably Beulah with the tea.”

  “I put some coffee on the tray for Mr. Aaron.”

  “Thank you, Beulah.” Drina took the tray.

  “I see a man coming up the road. Are you expecting anybody else, Mr. Aaron?”

  “No, I’m not, Beulah, but as soon as you can tell who it is, come tell me.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Then, don’t let them in here. Tell them I’m sleeping or something.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Drina will let you know when it’s all right for me to have company.”

  Again Beulah said, “Yes, sir,” then slipped out the door.

  Drina handed Aaron the coffee then poured tea for the women. “Maybe we better drink it fast.”

  “I agree. It’s probably Brit Vance. I knew as soon as he discovered Milly and I were gone he’d come out here looking for us.”

  “How did you two get here?” Aaron took a sip of his coffee.

  “In a rented buggy,” Milly said.

  “It’ll be out front.”

  “No, it won’t,” Drina said. “Salty said he was going to put it in the barn because of the sleet.”

  “Good.”

  Aaron drank from his coffee cup again. “It’s hard for me to take in the fact that Brit is involved in this.”

  “He owns the saloon, Aaron.” Lottie lifted the tea cup to her lips.

  Aaron looked surprised. “I thought Hal owned it.”

  “Everybody believes that, but he doesn’t own anything. He lost his interest to Brit several months ago. Brit only lets him work there as a cover. He doesn’t want the townspeople to know the upstanding railroad man owns the establishment.”

  Aaron bit his lip. “You’re sure about this?”

  Lottie nodded and Milly said, “She’s right. She told me she happened to walk in on them when they were transferring the deed to the place. They did it in the saloon office, I suppose because Brit didn’t want anybody at the railroad to know.”

  “One of the other girls said he keeps buying places of business in town, but keeps it quiet because he doesn’t want his father-in-law, the big railroad tycoon in San Francisco to know,” Lottie added.

  “He’s also bought a couple of ranches,” Milly finished.

  “Ranches?” Drina spoke for the first time.

  Lottie nodded.

  Drina turned to Aaron. “Do you suppose he thinks he can get the Rocking Chair?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Think, Aaron,” she persisted. “If he knows how your uncle held the mortgage and about the stipulations he put on the place for you to work it out…”

  Aaron looked into her eyes. “Brit sure was determined to tell everyone about…” He stopped himself from continuing. There was no way he was going to talk about the wedding night in front of these women.

  There was a knock at the door. Drina sat her cup down and opened it.

  Beulah stuck her head in. “I think it’s that railroad man coming up to the house, Mr. Aaron.”

  “What are we going to do now?” Aaron frowned.

  Drina stood. “We’ve got to hide these women.”

  “But where?”Aaron looked at her. “We don’t have time to put these chairs up and …”

  Drina patted his good shoulder. “Leave it to me.” She turned to Lottie and Milly and said, “Give your cups to Beulah. She’ll stash them somewhere and after she lets the man inside, she’s going to come back and bring me the needle and thread I’ve asked her to find.”

  Everyone nodded. Beulah gathered the cups and left the room. Milly and Lottie looked at Drina waiting for more instructions.

  “Now, I know this is going to be uncomfortable, but one of you has to get in the wardrobe over there. The other one has to slide under the bed.” They stared at her and she added, “Or you can wait here and come face to face with your friend, Brit.”

  Milly hurried to slip under the bed. Lottie scurried to the wardrobe.

  Aaron stared at Drina. “What about the chairs.”

  “They’ll be no problem,” she said. She quickly moved the two chairs to the side of the room and grabbed the material she’d cut into a dress pattern, distributing the pieces on the chairs. She then pulled her rocking chair up close to his bed and said, “Now, we’re ready.”

  He reached for her hand. “You amaze me,” he whispered.

  “I’m glad,” she whispered back. “Besides I had a lot of practice hiding things from Pa and making our shack presentable when he had unexpected company.”

  Chapter 13

  Brit Vance glanced around the yard in front of and beside the house. There were no signs of a buggy though the man at the livery told him one of the whores had rented one. He figured they’d come here for sure. Where else could they have gone? Did they simply run away because they were scared? This would be easy to find out when he got in the house. Even if Aaron had abandoned her on their wedding night, he still felt sure Aaron’s new wife would never allow women such as these to come inside.

  He shook his head and realized things would have never gotten this far if Adeline’s father hadn’t been in town back in the summer and had come out here to the dinner Aaron put on when he thought he had the place paid off. Lord, it was hard being married to a Chesterfield. They were demanding and ruthless when it came to something they wanted. And when Daddy Chesterfield saw the prosperous Rocking Horse Ranch, he decided he wanted it, no matter what it took to get it. Ever since that night, Adeline hadn’t stopped harping on it. Yes, he’d said he’d find out how the ranch could be bought or if necessary taken, but did she have to keep saying, “Daddy wants the place, Brit. You’ve got to get it for him. He’ll never be satisfied until he has it.”

  She had even gone so far as to write her father as soon as he went back to San Francisco telling him it was practically a done deal. Brit knew he had to make good on his promise because if he didn’t, Adeline might get so upset she’d leave him. Where would he be then? Old man Chesterfield had all the money, and he’d be cut off if he didn’t give Adeline everything she wanted. And what she wanted now was this ranch so she could make a present of it to her father. She said it was the old man’s dream to own a cattle ranch someday, and since the Wilcox spread was the nicest ranch near Hatchet Springs, she wanted him to have it.

  Brit had no choice. He had to make sure Aaron Wilcox lost his wife one way or the other. Then he was positive the uncle would sell him the ranch and Adeline would be happy – for a while, anyway.

  Shrugging, Brit knocked on the door and was surprised when Beulah answered it with a dish towel on her shoulder. She held a couple of spools of thread in her hand. “Hello, sir.”

  “Ma’am. I’m Brit Vance. I’ve come to check on Aaron.”

  “You shore picked a pleasant day to visit.” Beulah looked him over, but her eyes told him nothing.

  He figured this Indian woman was loyal to her boss, but took nothing off him. He wondered how she’d get along with the Chesterfields, then almost laughed. The squaw wouldn’t last a day, especially if Adeline had anything to do with it. Though her mother had been a high society lady, Adeline was worse. She thought she was too good for anybody who wasn’t from San Francisco like her family and she certainly thought she was better than people of another race.

  “Well, Mr. Vance, are you going to stand there in the door and let all the heat out of the house or are you g
oing to come in?”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am.” He stepped inside and she closed the door.

  “Wait here and I’ll see if Mr. Aaron is awake.”

  He thought she might lie to him about Aaron being asleep. “I’ll just follow you. If he’s asleep, maybe I could get a cup of coffee. It’s mighty cold out there.”

  “It shore is.” She started down the hall.

  “Is his bedroom downstairs?”

  “He’s been sleeping down here since he was shot.”

  So, Brit thought, he’s not sleeping with his new wife. That’s a point in my favor. Wonder where she is, anyway?

  Beulah knocked gently on the door, then opened it slightly. “Mr. Aaron has company. Is he awake?”

  Brit was surprised when a female voice said, “He is. Show the visitor in, Beulah.”

  Beulah stood aside and motioned for Brit to enter the bedroom.

  “Hello, my friend,” Aaron said. “Come in and have a seat.”

  Drina got up from her rocking chair and said, “I’ll move some of my sewing from one of these for you.” She moved across the room and put all the material in one chair.

  “Let me get that for you.” He gave Drina a smile. She was his second surprise of the day. He’d heard she was a plain woman, but she was beautiful—and in the right clothes, she’d have her pick of men in Hatchet Springs. How could Aaron not want to sleep with her? I’d take her in a heartbeat.

  “Thank you, sir.” She moved back to the rocking chair.

  “Mrs. Wilcox, here’s the thread you wanted. I’ll just put it here with your material.”

  Drina thanked her then looked at Brit. “I’m sure Aaron is ready for a hot cup of coffee. Would you like one?”

  “You’re right. I am,” Aaron said then added, “Brit, I don’t think you’ve met my wife, Drina. Honey, this is Brit Vance, the most illustrious railroad man in Hatchet Springs.”

  “Hello, Mrs. Wilcox and don’t let him fool you. I’m the only railroad man in Hatchet Springs. I’m here to see the railroad eventually comes through this area.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you, and since you’re a friend of my husband’s I’d like for you to call me Drina.”