“I’m not loaning you any more money if that’s what you’re thinking.”
He looked nervously from Belle to Calamity and back again. He cleared his throat. “No, ma’am, that’s the furtherest thing from my mind.” He dramatically dropped to one knee and lowered his chin, looking up at Belle. He looked so much like a forlorn puppy begging for table scraps, I almost laughed before I caught myself.
“I would like to ask for your hand in marriage,” he said.
Calamity grabbed the bottle and strode away. Belle watched Calamity’s reaction, then looked at me. “Did he just ask me to marry him?”
I nodded. “He did.”
Calamity tipped her bottle high and drank.
Belle looked back to Pete. “How drunk are you anyway?”
Pete said, “It ain’t the whiskey talking, Belle. I want you as my wife and that there’s a well-known fact.”
“I can’t marry you, Pete.”
He looked abashed. “Why not?”
Belle looked at Calamity. I think she must have been looking for Calamity to jump in, maybe to save her from Pete. But all Calamity was doing was sitting at the table shuffling cards.
Belle took all her rage and hurt out on Pete. “You’re too ugly to marry, that’s why.”
Pete exhaled like he had been sucker punched. “A man can’t be helping his looks.”
“No, but you could stay at home.”
Pete backed away, blinking. “No need to be cruel about it. What’d I ever do to you but give you most of everything I earned?”
“You follow me around like a whipped dog, that’s what. I tried being nice. Now I have to be cruel to make you go away. It’s your own fault I have to be that way.”
I wished I could have taken Pete aside and told him his timing wasn’t too good. Not that Belle ever would have married him anyway, but he sure picked a fine time to be asking.
Pete mashed his hat back down on his head. He drew himself up as tall as he could go and said angrily, “There ain’t nobody who loves you like me. Now, I’m going to give you one more chance. We going to get hitched or not?”
Calamity slapped the cards down on the table with enough force to crack one of its legs. She stood and said, “Didn’t you hear the lady? She don’t want to have nothing to do with you.”
Pete’s precious ego had been pricked once too often. He whirled to face Calamity. “I’ll ask you kindly to mind your own damn business.”
Calamity didn’t so much as blink. She stared a hole right though Pete and said low, “It is my business. You had your chance. She said no. Now go sit back down if you know what’s good for you.”
I stole a look at Belle during this confrontation. And, by God, I saw written on her face plain as day something I didn’t want to see. She loved Calamity. Even if she didn’t know it herself.
Pete must have seen it on her face too, because the next thing I knew, he drew his revolver, pointed it at Calamity and said, “I got half a mind to shoot you and collect that reward.”
“It’s going to take more than half a mind to kill me. Or half a man for that matter,” Calamity said.
“Let’s see just how big you are without a whip in your hands.”
“Well, if you want to get killed so bad, then so be it.” Calamity unhooked the leather thong holding her gun in her holster.
I threw my dishcloth on the bar. “Not in here, you’re not. You want to fill each other full of holes, go outside.”
Pete holstered his piece. “Outside then.” He marched past Calamity and out the front doors.
Calamity watched the doors swing back and forth. She turned to me and said, “See how it happens? Men just keep begging me to kill them.” She took a step toward the doors, then turned back to face us. “Only one of us is coming back. Just in case it’s not me: Charlie, it’s been a pleasure to talk with you. And Olivia…” She moved to Belle, grabbed her by the shoulders and planted a kiss on her lips. Before Belle could protest, Calamity turned and walked out the doors.
For a tense ten seconds, Belle and I stared at the doors. We couldn’t hear a thing except the sound of our own breath. Then, from outside, Calamity’s voice boomed, “Say your prayers, Pete, then make the first move.”
Belle stood. I held my breath. One shot was fired. Belle gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Three more shots were fired in rapid succession. There was a long period of silence with neither one of us breathing.
Belle eased back onto the stool.
I said more to myself than Belle, “Wonder who got it?”
“No need to wonder,” she said. “Pete just caught three bullets.”
***
The doors swung open, revealing Calamity with Pete’s hat in her teeth. She turned and backed through the doors, dragging Pete’s limp body by his boots. She dropped him in the middle of the floor, took three steps back and threw his hat over his slack face like she was playing a game of horseshoes. She wiped her brow and turned to face me and Belle.
I was so mortified that I know my mouth must have been hanging open. I couldn’t believe that she was so coldhearted as to kill somebody then flaunt his body in front of his friends. And if that weren’t enough, Calamity looked at me as calm as could be and said, “Eighteen.”
I have a notoriously long fuse, but this time the dynamite blew before I could stop it. I advanced on Calamity like David on Goliath, swinging my dishcloth like a slingshot. I beat her with the towel up one side and down the other. She covered her face with her arm, while I shouted things like, “Get him out of here! He was my friend! I don’t want any dead bodies strewn about! How dare you murder my friend and drag his body around like a cat with a mouse!”
The more I shouted, the madder I got. I lost the dishcloth somehow, but that didn’t stop me. I rapped on her with my fists. She hopped about, dodging my blows. I quickly drug a chair over to the center pole and took down the bull whip. “By God, I’ll show you. You can’t kill people every time you get a hankering!”
I snapped the whip at her and it cracked near her feet. She turned tail and ran to the corner of the room, saying, “What the hell’s got into you?”
She had moved out of reach of the whip so I jumped down from the chair. But Belle beat me to her. She marched up to Calamity like she was leading a parade. She pointed an accusing finger in her face and said, “What do you think has got into him? You just murdered our friend.”
Calamity looked surprised. “Murder? Hell, he’s not dead.”
I cocked my head. “Not dead?” I looked at Pete. He looked dead.
Calamity laughed one of those coyote howls of hers. When she stopped, she was breathless and gasping. “He’s all right. I gave him first draw and he missed. All I did was aim for his hat.”
I grabbed Pete’s hat and examined it. Sure enough there were three bullet holes in the pinched crown. I stuck my fingers through the hole and wiggled them at Belle.
“See?” Calamity said. “He was so scared that he keeled over backwards. Worst thing he’s got is a bump on the head. And a leaky hat.”
Belle looked sideways at Calamity. Calamity smiled slyly and said, “I wasn’t going to kill the li’l feller. Don’t you know me better’n that?”
Belle huffed away with a flurry of petticoats and went back to her stool and her drink.
I bent down next to Pete and slapped his cheeks. “Pete? Pete, talk to me, boy.” When he didn’t answer, I slapped him harder.
Calamity laughed. “Aw, let him sleep it off. He’ll wake up on his own.”
I found my dishcloth, wadded it up into a pillow and put it behind his head.
Calamity threw herself butt-first into the nearest chair. She took off her hat and ran her fingers through her hair. Belle glared at her from across the room. Calamity laughed nervously at Belle’s hard gaze and said, “He’s going to have one helluva headache when he wakes up.”
“I don’t find this all the least bit funny,” said Belle.
“It weren’t a joke. You d
idn’t want me to kill him, did you?”
“Of course I didn’t.”
I backed off to a corner of the room and drew up a chair. I had a feeling I was going to witness some fireworks.
“Then why’re your hackles up?” Calamity said. “You ain’t really got your heart set on him, have you?”
Belle looked away. “I refuse to honor such a silly question.” She got off her stool and headed for the stairs. Calamity jumped to her feet and intercepted Belle. She caught her by the arm and swung her around to face her. She pulled her close until I couldn’t have stuck a playing card in between their bodies. Calamity whispered, “Does that mean your heart is still up for grabs?”
Belle averted her head, refusing eye contact. “It is.”
“Then I reckon I’ll help myself to some grabbing.” She ducked her head in to steal a kiss, but Belle turned her cheek.
Belle put both palms on Calamity and pushed her away, saying, “You’ve done had your chance.”
Calamity took Belle’s hand in her own. “I know you, Olivia. Like the back of my own hand.”
Belle jerked her hand away. “Keep your distance or you’ll be getting reacquainted with the back of my hand.”
“You don’t mean that.”
“Like hell I don’t.”
Calamity pulled her back to her. “You want me. I know you do. I can see it. You want me.”
Belle twisted away. “The only way I want you is out of my life. Again.”
Calamity lightly stroked Belle’s arm like she would a snake, slow and easy, afraid that any sudden movement and she’d get bit. “No, you don’t. You want to be in my arms again where you belong.”
Belle turned to walk away. Calamity bent low and quickly scooped Belle into her arms. She carried her toward the stairs. Belle put up a mighty good struggle, twisting and kicking out, yelling, “Put me down! Damn you! Let loose of me!”
Calamity threw Belle over her shoulder and swatted her on the bottom, saying, “Settle down, Livvy. Stop your wiggling before I drop you.”
I thought about intervening at this point, but something, perhaps Calamity’s tone, told me not to. I watched Calamity climb the steps, careful-like, with Belle beating on her shoulders and back and cussing a blue streak.
Calamity reached the top of the stairs, carried Belle to the door and kicked it open. She marched inside and unceremoniously tossed her onto the bed.
I was curious as to how this would play out so I sneaked up the stairs behind them. I didn’t tippy-toe or anything quite that ridiculous, but I did slip off my shoes and walk in just my stocking feet. I slunk down the landing and pressed my back to the wall right beside Belle’s opened door. I listened to everything they said and I didn’t feel guilty about it one iota. After all, Belle may have needed my help at some point and this way I was ready to step in. I didn’t have my derringer anymore, but I was armed with a couple of hard-soled shoes.
I heard Belle sniffling and then Calamity said, “I’ve seen better looking rat’s nests than this.”
To which Belle responded, “You can leave any time now.”
Footsteps trod around the room. Then they stopped. Calamity said, “This is what it’s come to, Livvy? Spending your life locked away with opium as your onliest friend?”
Belle answered with a scalded tone. “You made me what you see before you.”
Footsteps, Calamity’s I presume, emphasized each word. “You went from spreading your legs for an old man to spreading your legs for a whole town. That was none of my doing.”
“Every bit of it’s your fault!” This outburst was followed by a crash. Belle must have thrown something to make her point stronger.
The footsteps stopped. I heard coins being put on the top of the dresser. (I know the sounds of coins, believe you me.) “Is that enough?” Calamity asked.
“For what?”
Calamity said, “You lay with anybody that’s got a dollar in his pocket. Well, there’s three dollars. That should buy me a couple of hours.”
I heard a rustling of fabric (bedclothes? petticoats?), then Belle’s feet hit the floor. She said, “I am not for sale.”
“You’re used to being bought and sold, ain’t you? How many men you reckon you slept with in the three years since I last laid eyes on you?”
There came the sharp sound of flesh striking flesh, and I knew that Belle had just slapped Calamity’s face. Belle said, “That is none of your business!”
If Calamity was wanting to get into Belle’s bed, she was sure enough going about it the wrong way. I guessed her temper and hurt feelings were getting in the way of her logic.
I heard coins hit the floor and roll every which way. It didn’t take a genius to figure that Belle had thrown them at the feet of Calamity. Several seconds of silence followed. At this point my curiosity got the better of me and I peeked around the door frame.
I saw Calamity grab Belle, toss her to the center of the bed, then drag her by her feet to the edge of the mattress.
Belle kicked like a mule, saying, “Leave me alone!”
“Is this how you’re used to it now? Rough is the way you like it?” Calamity pushed up Belle’s skirt and wedged herself between Belle’s legs.
Belle reared up and slapped Calamity hard enough to send her reeling back. That seemed to knock some sense into her. She stood looking at Belle with her hand pressed over her stinging cheek. Belle raised up on her knees in the middle of the bed. “You think you’re going to rough me up and I’m going to forget? That you can throw me in a bed and the whole past is wiped clean? If that’s what you think then you got another think coming!”
“I came back, didn’t I?” Calamity mumbled.
Belle wiped a tear away. Her voice started out full of rage, “I waited. I waited like you told me to, but you never showed. I stood there in the cold until the tip of my nose about broke off.” Then she said with a sadness that broke my own heart, “I stood there until my heart was frozen solid.”
Calamity didn’t answer. She stared at her boots.
Belle continued. “He found me like that. Shivering and sniffling in a corner of the barn. He drug me back and used his fists to make me pay for trying to run away. He made me pay all right, with interest. All because you never showed. I had to put up with his hands all over me, his…for six months more. That’s how long it took me to leave him.” Belle swiped at her eyes and continued, “And what did I find when I left? That there’s no way for a woman on her own to earn a living. So, I did the same thing I’d already been doing for him except now it was with strangers. I have to lay here on my back and let those strangers inside me.” This time she didn’t wipe away the tears but let them course their way down her face and drip into her lap. She said softly, “And I blame you.” She raised her voice and said it again. “I blame you.”
“Olivia…I…I came back. I’m here now. I searched high and low until I found you.” Calamity’s eyes were shiny. She blinked and watched Belle’s face.
“No, you didn’t,” Belle said softly. “Calamity Jane found me. But the woman I once loved is gone.”
Calamity opened her mouth to say something, but Belle didn’t let her get a word out. She said, “I don’t know who you are.”
Belle shifted and I saw her face then. Everything about her painful past was clearly etched in every line of her face. It was a picture I knew I’d never be able to get out of my head and something I hoped to never see again. When she climbed off the bed, I hightailed it back down the stairs. I could hear their voices trailing after me.
Calamity asked, “What’re you doing?”
“I can tell you what I’m not doing,” Belle said. “I’m not making the same mistake twice.”
By the time Belle walked out onto the landing and looked down, I was sitting on a chair putting on my shoes. Pete had gotten himself to the table and had his head in his hands, groaning. Belle directed her gaze to Pete. “How you feeling, Pete?”
He looked up at her and smiled—if you
can call a grimace a smile. “Not too bad, I reckon.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Good thing I got a hard head, huh?”
Belle didn’t waste any time coming to the point. “That offer of marriage still good?”
Calamity rushed to the doorway. “What’re you doing, Olivia?”
Pete stood. “Sure it is. You mean it? You mean you will?”
Belle sucked in a lung full of air and said, “Let’s do it!”
“Olivia,” Calamity begged, “don’t be rash.”
Pete was so excited he started hopping up and down. “You ain’t just pulling my leg?”
“I’m not in the habit of saying things twice, Pete. As my soon-to-be husband you should know that. So quit wasting time and let’s get hitched.”
Calamity grabbed Belle’s shoulder, saying, “Olivia, you can’t do this to me.”
Belle pulled away from Calamity’s grasp. “I can. And I am.”
Belle picked up the hem of her skirt and marched down the stairs. Calamity slumped against the wall.
Pete threw his hat in the air. “We’re getting hitched!”
Calamity took off her hat and threw it on the floor. “Damn…”
Pete caught his hat on its descent, slapped his leg and said, “Hot damn!” He grabbed Belle in a hug and put his lips to hers. Belle allowed it for a second, then pushed him off her.
I felt sorry for Pete. It’s mighty hard to kiss a woman who doesn’t kiss back.
I looked up at Calamity. She was gritting her teeth and watching the back of Belle walk out the doors. Calamity sure didn’t look like she was done fighting. Not by a long shot.
***
Things had settled down some, but I knew it was the calm before the storm. Calamity shuffled the deck of cards, and they whirred over and over between her hands. I was trying to read, but the words paled in comparison to the drama I felt building around me. I turned a page. My eyes followed the words, but my mind couldn’t make heads nor tails out of them.
“What’re we going to do about this, Charlie? Belle don’t love him.”
I let out a sigh like a bellows stoking a fire. “Belle has made up her mind. And once it’s made up, it can’t be undone,” I said.
Wild at Heart Page 6
