Drina’s Choice

by Agnes Alexander

  “Oh, no. That’ll never do, will it Miz Drina?”

  “I think it would be better if we had the wedding here, Milly.” Drina smiled at her.

  “I agree,” Beulah said. “You can get married right here in front of this fireplace and we’ll put candles around just like we did for Miz Drina. I’ll have you a good wedding supper cooked and we’ll celebrate. I bet all of Gus’s friends will want to celebrate with him.”

  Tears rolled down Milly’s face. “Would you really do all that for me?”

  “Of course we will. We can also invite your friends, Milly.”

  “I don’t have any friends except you and Beulah, now that Lottie’s gone.”

  “Well, Beulah and I will be there in our best clothes to celebrate with you.”

  “Oh, Drina. I didn’t know women like you existed. You and Beulah are the best people in the world.”

  “Oh, my, such flattery.” Beulah stood. “Before I get the big head, I’m going to get in the kitchen and finish up dinner. Them carpenters in there are going to want to eat in a little while, and I sure don’t want to disappointment them and not have it ready.”

  Milly wiped her eyes and put her dress aside. “Can I help you, Beulah?”

  “No, honey. You go on sewing. We don’t want you to get married in a half-made frock.”

  * * * *

  The blizzard ended and though it remained cold, it took only a couple of days for the bright sun to melt enough snow so the wedding could be scheduled for Saturday. Drina had Milly take a bubble bath in the hip tub and was brushing the bride’s long red hair. “Would you like to have it put on top of your head, Milly?”

  “I think Gus likes it down.”

  “Then we’ll leave it down. I have some ribbons that will match your beautiful new dress. I’ll weave them in it.”

  “Thank you, Drina.” She looked at herself in the mirror. “I don’t look like a whore, do I?”

  “Milly, you never looked like a whore even when you were forced to dress like one. Now, get that idea off your mind and concentrate on getting ready to marry the man you love.”

  “I know it sounds silly for no longer than I’ve known Gus, but I do love him, Drina. I really do. I can’t wait to start living in the lovely cabin you and Mr. Wilcox are letting us use.”

  “So, you do like it?”

  “I love it. When Gus took me to see it yesterday I couldn’t believe it was going to be our home. I was so happy when Beulah went down there to help me clean.”

  “I’m glad the stove worked. Aaron said the men were going to move some stove wood down there today.” She wound the pink and blue ribbons in Milly’s long locks. She was a little slow because her sprained wrist was still a bit sore. “Aaron arranged for Salty to take a table and chairs and a bed from the attic to the cabin this morning. It’s not a lot, but with the food supplies and the linens Beulah took down there, you should have enough to get by until you can get the other things you need.”

  There was a knock on the door and Beulah stuck her head in. “Are you two about ready to come down? There’s a nervous groom waiting. He’s afraid the bride might change her mind.”

  Milly laughed and stood. “No chance of that.”

  “You look pretty, honey.” Beulah smiled. “Miz Drina, you go on down and take your place as Milly’s attendant. I’ll bring her right down behind you. Now let’s go get this girl married up.”

  “Never let it be said I held things up.” She gave Milly a quick hug. “See you in front of the fireplace.”

  “I’ll be there.”

  Drina scooted out the door and Beulah said, “Count to fifty, then we’ll go downstairs.”

  Milly hugged her and whispered, “I love you, Beulah.”

  Beulah blushed. “Ah, go on with you, girl. Now, it’s been enough time. Let’s head for your whole new life, Miss Milly.”

  * * * *

  Fanny opened the door and a heavyset man glared at her. “Where’s my daughter?”

  Startled, Fanny only stared at him.

  “Are you deaf, woman? Where’s my daughter?”

  In a shaky voice Fanny said, “She’s upstairs, sir. The second door on the right. Follow me.”

  “I can go up the stairs on my own. Come along, doctor.”

  A tall, thin man followed the heavy one up the stairs.

  Pushing the door of the second room on the right open, Barnabas Chesterfield stalked into the room.

  Brit jerked around, ready to scold Fanny for interrupting, then he saw his father-in-law. He smiled, stood and held out his hand. “Barnabas, it’s good to see you.”

  Barnabas ignored his hand. “Move. I want to see my baby girl.”

  Brit stepped back.

  “Oh, how pale she is. What are you doing to help her? She looks like she’s starving. Are you trying to kill her?”

  “Of course not. Fanny keeps chicken broth and light soups for her and we feed it to her so she’ll have the strength to recover.”

  “How do you get it in her?” The tall thin man asked.

  “I hold her head up and feed her with a spoon. It isn’t easy, because she won’t swallow on her own. I have to rub her neck to get it down.”

  “Sounds like you’re doing the right thing.”

  Barnabas took the chair beside Adeline’s bed. He held her hand and muttered loving words to her. “She’s so beautiful. She can’t be in this condition.” He whirled around. “What did you do to her, Vance?”

  “I wish I could tell you what happened, Barnabas. We were going to dinner and she collapsed on the dining room floor. She’s been like this ever since.”

  “I don’t believe you. You hit her, didn’t you?”

  “Of course not. How could you say such a thing?”

  “Don’t mind him, Mr. Vance. He’s been like this ever since he got your message. I’m Doctor Kenneth O’Neil.”

  “I’m glad you’re here, Dr. O’Neil. I hope you can discover something Dr. Danson hasn’t been able to find.”

  “I’ll do my best.” He put his hands on Chesterfield’s shoulders. “Let me examine her, Barnabas. Maybe I can help your daughter.”

  Barnabas hesitated, but finally moved away and let the doctor have the chair beside Adeline.

  “You got a drink, Vance?”

  “Of course.” Brit moved to the table beside one of the three chairs at the fireplace and picked up the whiskey bottle. He poured a drink into a crystal glass and handed it to Barnabas, who had moved over to a chair and plopped down.

  “I didn’t believe she was sick until I saw her. She looks so little and helpless.” He took a swallow of his drink.

  “I know what you mean, Barnabas. Ever since it happened, I can’t eat. I can’t sleep, and I haven’t been able to work. All I want to do is sit beside her bed just in case she wakes up and calls to me.” Brit forced his voice to crack. “I know as a strong man, I’m not supposed to admit this, but I’ve cried until there are no more tears.”

  Chesterfield looked at him and seemed to soften. “I didn’t mean to be so brusque when I came in, Brit. I was so scared my baby would die before I got here.”

  “Don’t say that. I won’t even consider that my Adeline could die. I can’t lose my wonderful wife.”

  Barnabas didn’t say anything for a minute. Finally, he took a deep breath, and looked into Brit’s eyes. “You really love my daughter, don’t you, son?”

  Brit closed his eyes and swallowed the smile when he realized he’d fooled his father-in-law. He whispered, “I love her more than anything in this world.”

  Barnabas reached over and patted Brit’s arm. “Don’t fret, son. We’re not gonna let her die.”

  “Oh, Barnabas, I’m so glad you came. The family needs to be together at such a time.”

  “Don’t you worry, Brit. I’m here, and I don’t plan to go anywhere until my daughter is well and with us again.”

  Brit nodded and poured himself a drink. He took the chair by his father-in-law. He was sure the
big businessman was hoping for his daughter to get well while her husband sipped his drink and wondered how to keep the old man him thinking Adeline was the love of his life. When the bitch finally died, they’d grieve together as a family should. He’d then wait a decent length of time and somehow see that Barnabas Chesterfield joined his daughter in death.

  * * * *

  Drina let out a big sigh and snuggled a little closer in bed to Aaron.

  “Are you tired?”

  “A little,” she muttered, “but you should be more worn out than me.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You pushed yourself to walk around without your crutches. You shouldn’t have done that.”

  “I think it’s time I stopped depending on those crutches. I need to get this leg back in shape. I have a lot of work to do.”

  “What do you have to do? Beulah told me there isn’t as much to do on a ranch in winter.”

  “Sometimes Beulah talks too much.” He chuckled. “I might have another motive for wanting to get well.”

  “And what motive would that be?”

  “How about I tell you later?” Before she could answer he went on, “You looked pretty at the wedding.”

  “Why, thank you. I didn’t know you noticed.”

  “I couldn’t miss you in your pretty blue dress with the pink and yellow flowers. I thought you looked better than the bride.”

  “You amaze me sometimes, Aaron. What man notices flowers on a woman’s dress? Much less, the colors of them.”

  “I can’t help but notice things about you, Drina.”

  “Now you’re trying to flatter me.”

  He took a deep breath and put his arm around her shoulder. “Do you mind?”

  “I guess not.” Her voice quivered a little.

  “I have something to tell you, and I don’t want you to jump out of this bed and run.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “While I sat there and watched Gus and Milly get married I couldn’t help seeing how happy she and Gus were. Then I looked at you and you had a look in your eyes that told me you were thinking about our wedding.”

  “When a woman goes to a wedding she always thinks of hers.”

  “I could tell you weren’t thinking of yours as a happy occasion and it was my fault.”

  “Why would it be your fault, Aaron? I made the choice to come here and marry you. I kept my end of the agreement, and so did you. You married me and you gave me a home, and said you’d help Hannah. I got what I was promised.”

  “But you deserve so much more.”

  “What have I done to deserve more?”

  “You deserve more by just being you, Drina. You’re the most caring person I’ve ever met. Something told me on our wedding day I’d come to the point I couldn’t resist you. And whatever that something was, was right.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. When I saw Milly and Gus walk out and get in the wagon to head to their cabin, I saw the happiness on their faces. I saw a man who would be a loving and supportive mate to his wife and I saw a wife who was looking forward to becoming that man’s wife. Then, I remembered how you sat across the table from me at our wedding supper. You were scared, but you were willing to become a wife to me because you’d taken my name. And heel that I was, I left you and spent the night at The Swinging Door. All I could think at the time was there was no way I’d become a husband to the woman Uncle Walter forced me to marry. I decided I’d show him I’d never accept you. I’d spend my time with the whores anytime I needed a woman. My name was all you were ever going to get from me.”

  He took a deep breath. Drina still didn’t say anything.

  “I was such a fool, Drina. If I could take our wedding night back and change the circumstances, I’d do it. I just wish with all my being I could take the hurt I caused you away. I don’t want you to always remember I spent the night that should have been yours with Lottie. But I swear to you, I’ve never touched another woman since that night.”

  When he quit talking Drina reached for his hand. “I’ve already forgiven you, Aaron and I want you to know you didn’t make love to Lottie on our wedding night.”

  “Drina, don’t try to make things different than what they are. I woke up in Lottie’s bed.”

  “Didn’t you tell me you woke up dressed?”

  “Yes, but I must have dressed and then fell back asleep.”

  “No, you didn’t, Aaron.”

  He frowned into the darkness. “How would you know?”

  “I know because Lottie pulled me to the side before she left. She said you were so drunk when you got to her room you collapsed on the bed and didn’t wake up until early morning. Milly confirmed her story when she asked me if Lottie ever told me what happened that night.”

  “Then, I wasn’t unfaithful to you?”

  “No, Aaron. You weren’t unfaithful, though I’m not naïve enough to think you didn’t intend to be.”

  “I admit that, but I’m at least glad nothing happened.”

  “So am I; and as far as forgiveness is concerned, I forgave you while I was nursing your wounds. I saw a changed man in that bed. A man I want to be my husband, if that’s what he wants.”

  “I want that more than anything. Even more than I want to save this ranch. I know now with you at my side, I could get another ranch and build it up again. Will you make the choice to be by my side, Drina?”

  “Yes, Aaron.”

  “I want to kiss you. Not the pecks on the cheek we’ve shared, though they’re nice, I want to kiss you the way a man kisses the woman he’s fallen in love with.”

  “Are you saying—”

  “Yes, Drina. I’m not sure when it happened, I only know I’m in love with you.”

  “I’ve been waiting for a long time to hear you say those words, because I’ve wanted to tell you how much I love you.”

  The kiss they shared grew into a passion neither of them expected or could have stopped even if they’d wanted to. After they made love and were falling asleep, a thought filtered across Aaron’s mind.

  Though I laughed at him when he said it, I realize now Uncle Walter was right when he told me that someday I’d thank him for sending for Drina to marry me. And I’m going to surprise him and do that very thing one of these days.

  He smiled and pulled his wife closer to him as he fell asleep.

  Chapter 25

  The next day Zane sat at his desk finishing up some paper work. His mind kept thinking of Adeline Vance and the way she looked lying motionless. He wondered if he should go visit her again. She might have given a sign of recovering. Too, his mind kept slipping back to the story Drina Wilcox told about the man in Georgia who hit his head twice before it killed him. Could it be possible that Adeline fell before she went to the dining room? Could she have not mentioned the fall to anyone? And why was he suspicious of Brit Vance’s actions when he was there? The man did or said nothing to indicate he knew more about his wife’s condition than was obvious. It was just a feeling Zane got sometimes when he interrogated a person who looked innocent in the beginning, but later turned out to be guilty. Maybe it was because he knew by the way Brit had behaved in the past that he didn’t love his wife no matter how he tried now to say he did. He remembered only a few days before Lottie disappeared from The Swinging Door, Brit was bragging about how much more he enjoyed Lottie’s company than his wife’s.

  Shoving aside the papers, Zane stood, moved toward the door and grabbed his hat off the peg. He was going back to the Vance residence to satisfy his curiosity.

  He pulled his coat tight around him as he stepped outside. Though most of the snow was gone, it was still bitterly cold and the street was deserted. He did see a man going into the gun shop, and a man who looked a lot like Brit entering the saloon, but no one else.

  It didn’t take him long to reach the big house where Brit and Adeline lived. He noticed smoke coming out of two of the three chimneys.
This meant a fire still glowed in Adeline’s bedroom. He assumed the other one came from the kitchen.

  He climbed the steps and knocked on the door.

  “Hello, Sheriff,” Fanny said as she opened the door. “I suppose you want to see Mrs. Vance.”

  “That I do, Fanny.”

  “Well, go up on up. You look cold so I’ll go bring some coffee. I figure Mr. Chesterfield could use some, too.”

  “Mr. Chesterfield’s here?”

  “Yes. He arrived a couple of days ago.”

  Zane nodded and headed up the stairs. He knocked on the bedroom door and entered when a voice from inside invited him in.

  Barnabas Chesterfield and a man Zane didn’t recognize were seated in two of the three chairs near the fireplace. They stood as he approached them. “Hello, Sheriff.”

  He nodded and took the man’s extended hand. “Mr. Chesterfield.”

  “Dr. Kenneth O’Neil.” The man held out his hand.

  Kyle shook it and introduced himself. He then took the chair Barnabas indicated. “I assume there’s been no change in Mrs. Vance.”

  “You’re right. We’re all baffled.”

  “We sure are,” the doctor said. “I met with Dr. Danson and neither of us have an answer to this dilemma.”

  Zane had the urge to tell him about the man Drina knew, but pushed the thought aside. “I’m sure you’ll discover what caused it sooner or later.”

  “Oh, Lord, I hope so. I can’t imagine losing my baby girl. My son-in-law feels the same way.” Barnabas looked at Zane. “Of course, as sheriff and a friend of his, I’m sure you’re aware of what a devoted husband Brit is to my precious Adeline.”

  Zane was glad a knock on the door prevented him for having to answer. Fanny entered with coffee for the three of them. She sat the tray on the table beside Barnabas and filled three cups. “There’s sugar and milk on the tray, sirs. I figured you’d want to put whatever you want in your own cups.”

  The doctor pointed to the cookies. “Those look good. Did you make them?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He nodded. “I think it’s wonderful how the women in this town do their own baking.”