In the Shadow of the Mountains

by Rosanne Bittner

  The two men rode off, and Irene took a moment to glance back at Hank Loring. To her surprise, he also turned to look. She waved, and he answered with his own wave, and she felt the oddest sensation that she would see him again. She turned and rode after her father, thinking how strange and different she had felt in the mountains and here in the foothills and plains, almost removed from the real Irene, the one who would have to find herself again when she got back to Denver.

  One thing was sure. She must stop thinking about Ramon and get on with her life. There would never be anything more than that one lovely day, that glorious ride, that heroic deed, that warm kiss that had awakened a whole new world of womanly desires. She could not imagine that any man could make her feel quite the same way again. She glanced back once more, but Hank Loring was just a small dot on the vast horizon.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “We can move into the house in another month,” Bea told Kirk. “There will still be a few things to finish, but it’s done enough that we can have Irene’s party by mid-August. I’ve written to Cynthia again and invited her.”

  “She won’t answer, Bea. She never answers.”

  “Maybe she will this time.”

  Kirk sighed. “Why can’t you let it go, Bea?”

  They lay in bed together, Kirk’s first night back from the trip into the mountains. He did not want to talk about the new house or business. He wanted to tell his wife about his trip and Irene’s experiences—all she had learned.

  “I can’t let it go,” Bea answered bitterly.

  “It’s been over sixteen years. They’ve never written back or tried to see you.”

  “They’re just jealous, and that’s fine with me. I’ll keep inviting them, to show how gracious I can be.”

  Kirk almost laughed, but he knew what a delicate subject it was with her. “Well, I’m glad you’re finally able to move into your new house.”

  “Our house.”

  “Yours. I never wanted all that fancy stuff.”

  “You have to learn how important you are now, Kirk. People expect men like you to live in houses like that. I’d like to have a welcoming ball for the new governor, too. John Evans is a wonderful choice, except that we would rather have had General Larimer. I think he was very disappointed. At any rate, Evans is a widower—such a tragic story. Lost his wife and three children when he was only twenty-three. He was a doctor then but gave it up, probably because he couldn’t save his own family.”

  “Who told you all this?”

  “We have to know everything about our new governor, Kirk. There are ways of finding out. At any rate, he went into real estate and is also quite involved with the railroad. That’s good for Colorado. Everyone says the railroad will eventually come all the way to Denver.”

  Kirk laughed. “You, too?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Red keeps harping about the railroad. He told me years ago he thought it would come all the way west some day. I didn’t believe him then, but I do now, seeing as how it’s already halfway through Kansas.” He turned to her, moving one arm across her breasts, hoping to get no resistance.

  Bea stiffened, sure the only reason he was being amorous was because on this trip he had been unable to sleep with the whores because of Irene. Still, it had been weeks since they had made love, and each time her husband needed her, she hoped this time she could respond as she should. Why did she always suddenly freeze at his touch? Would she never get over the shock and surprise of that first night? He had been kind and gentle, yet she could still feel the humiliation, the pain. Perhaps if she had been passionately in love instead of just wanting to consummate her marriage quickly, it would have been different for her.

  “How are things at the mines?” she asked, leaving his arm where it was.

  He settled his head on her pillow. “The Johnny Boy isn’t yielding what it was, but it’s still workable. I’m thinking of buying the Eagle and the Merry Widow mines down at Pikes Peak. I don’t think the owners are getting the maximum out of those mines, and I’ve got a hunch they both have richer veins that haven’t been found yet. I talked privately with some of the workers and they feel the same way.”

  “Do what you think best, but I think you ought to start paying those men in greenbacks instead of gold, Kirk. For every dollar in our own gold we pay out, we have to match from our own supply; but every dollar in paper money only costs us about ninety cents in gold, and the ratio is expected to widen even more. The dollar could go all the way down to fifty cents in gold or less.”

  “I won’t pay those men in greenbacks. Most of them know good and well paper money is worth less. They’ll have less buying power with greenbacks. I won’t do that to them.”

  “Kirk, the war is creating a lot of inflation. We’ll need as much pure gold for our own use as we can get. It will buy us a lot more to the dollar, and at the same time we’d be saving on the other end by paying the miners in greenbacks.”

  “I said I won’t do it.” Kirk pulled his arm away, disgusted that even at this intimate moment, lying in bed with her husband just home from a long absence, Bea Kirkland could talk about nothing but money. “Those men trust me,” he told her. “And they’re good workers. I’m not going to turn on them like that, and that’s how they would look at it. It’s important to have good, trustworthy men working those mines, Bea, and it’s important to keep them happy. They get paid in gold and that’s that.”

  “Some of the other mine owners are turning to paper money.”

  “And some of their workers talk about striking. I don’t intend to get into a mess like that. Strikes can get pretty ugly. I usually go along with you on your decisions, but not this one. They get paid in gold.”

  She sighed resignedly, irritated by what she considered his stupidity. Kirk rubbed his eyes. “If you’re worried about how to watch your dollar, I’d advise you to invest in more of that land to the south, long as you don’t dislocate some of the Mexicans who have been settled there for years. I met a man by the name of Hank Loring, a rancher. He says the cattle industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and I believe him. If the railroad comes all the way through Kansas to Colorado, beef can be shipped east by train. Apparently people are acquiring a taste for it. Not much choice, what with buffalo and deer and other game getting harder to find every year. I hate to say it, but wild game is becoming a thing of the past. We’ve got to turn to tame meat, and there’s no better land than out here for raising cattle. There isn’t any place east of us with as much good grazing land.”

  She turned on her side to face him. “Are you sure it’s not a risk?”

  “I’ve been thinking on it all the way back from Pikes Peak. It takes lots of land, Bea, but this Loring thinks the demand for beef will go sky-high, especially after the war. Might not be a bad idea to lay claim to as much of that land south of here as we can. You’ve always said we have to keep branching out our investmente for the day when the mines play out. And I see a lot of growth down around Colorado City.”

  She lay back into her pillow. “The Byers and a few of our friends have talked about how some of that area could be set up as a kind of resort area, since it’s a little warmer and drier in the winter.”

  “It’s real pretty country, Bea, but Colorado City is no place for proper ladies. It’s a pretty wild town.”

  “Well then, maybe we can form our own little vacation community there. As for the cattle idea, you could be right. I’ll look into it. I’ve been wanting to expand the farm, too. I’ll have to get busy on it right away, now that the Homestead Act has been passed. Maybe with this new law, Denver can get rid of some of its vagrants. Every day new refugees come here, mostly homeless people from the South with hardly more than the clothes on their backs.”

  Kirk wondered when she had lost her understanding and sympathy for such people, if she ever had any. After all, she had been poor and homeless once herself.

  “They can’t help what happened to them.”

  �
�They shouldn’t have started the war and seceded from the Union.”

  “That was all political. You can’t blame individuals for that. Most of these people didn’t want the war.”

  “Be that as it may, they’re flooding Denver, just when we’re managing to get rid of the vagrant Indians and Mexicans.” She sniffed. “Maybe we could strike some kind of deal with this Hank Loring. If he knows about raising cattle, maybe he would consider overseeing a ranch for us for part of the profits, something like that. And your friend Red is right about the value of land rising if the railroad comes through, although I’m amazed a man like that thinks beyond the next five minutes.”

  She turned to face him, putting a hand on his arm. “I’ll look into it. I may have to use part of the special fund I set aside for the investments you make in the mines. There should be plenty, even if you buy the Eagle and the Merry Widow.”

  Kirk moved away from her, sitting up and putting his feet over the side of the bed. He hadn’t wanted to bring up the subject of Red’s loan just yet, but now Bea had done it for him. “You’ll have to dip into something else,” he said carefully. “I loaned some of that money to Red McKinley. We stopped down at Kirkland Enterprises today before we got here and sealed the agreement.” She was silent for a moment, but he could feel her wrath hanging heavy in the air. He was glad it was dark so he didn’t have to see the look in her eyes. He remained on the edge of the bed, his back to her, and he felt her move to sit up.

  “You actually loaned money to that vagrant?”

  “He’s not a vagrant. He’s a good man, and an old friend.”

  “My God,” she muttered, moving off the bed. He heard her pulling on her robe, and she turned up an oil lamp, coming around to stand at the foot of the bed, her hand on the huge mahogany bedpost. “How much? And what for?”

  He looked up at her, then slowly rose. “Fifteen thousand, for a lumber mill.”

  She literally paled, and her eyes widened with fury. “Fifteen thousand! For God’s sake, Kirk, we already lost ten thousand when we invested in those government drafts for the Volunteers! And you turn around and literally give away another fifteen, when you know we have to be extra careful for a while!”

  “I didn’t give anything away. The man is a friend and he needs a start. It’s a personal loan at two percent interest, and he doesn’t have to start paying it back until he’s making a profit. He couldn’t have gotten a loan like that from a bank.”

  “Certainly not from my bank,” she almost shouted.

  “Keep your voice down,” he warned. “I don’t want the kids hearing the way you talk.”

  “The way I talk! What about the way their father wastes money that will be theirs someday? Red McKinley is a drifter, a worthless mountain man who will throw that money away with the wind! You know how men like that are!”

  Their eyes met, and she instantly regretted the remark, but she was not about to admit it. “I am that kind of man,” Kirk growled, his eyes on fire with anger and hurt. “But I still think I’ve done pretty damn well by you, Bea Kirkland!”

  “Only because of my common sense about how to handle money! I set up that fund with full confidence that you would use it wisely, and you always have. You have no right giving out such a loan without my approval.”

  He stepped closer, tempted to hit her. “I’ll remind you it’s our money, not just yours, woman! I’ve always given you free reign, and you’ve by God got the head for handling it. But if I want to do something for a friend, I’ll not let greed get in the way.”

  She stiffened. “It isn’t greed. It’s common sense! I do not intend to ever be poor and dependent again, David Kirkland, and that means we cannot be handing out money to every beggar who comes along!”

  “Red’s no beggar! I had to practically talk him into it. He’s a proud man, Bea, and he’ll pay it back. He’s got a good head on his shoulders, and his idea for the lumber mill happens to make a lot of sense.”

  She turned away. “I don’t want to hear it, not right now. I can’t believe you’ve done this.”

  “And I can’t believe how you’ve changed.”

  “I haven’t changed. I told you exactly what I wanted before I married you.” She walked farther away, folding her arms and keeping her back to him. “The word is survival, Kirk, nothing more, nothing less. How many men have we seen strike it rich only to lose it all through careless spending? We can’t let that happen to us.” She turned to face him. “Thanks to you, within two months we’ve washed twenty-five thousand dollars down the drain! You’re the one who advised investing in those government drafts, and now this! Don’t you ever give the children any consideration in all of this? Don’t you realize you’re jeopardizing their futures?”

  “We have plenty to fall back on, and you know it. Those draft notes aren’t my fault. Plenty of other businessmen in this town invested in them and lost their asses. That’s water over the dam, Bea. This loan is nothing like that. Red will pay it back.”

  She closed her eyes and sighed. “You’re such a dreamer, Kirk. So impractical, too wild and reckless.”

  He walked to a chair over which his pants were draped and picked them up, pulling them on. “And you wish you could be the same way sometimes,” he answered.

  “What?”

  He pulled on a shirt and began buttoning it. “You heard me.” He turned to face her, tucking in the shirt. “You want to let go, to be free and easy, but you don’t know how. You’re so wrapped up in your goddamn need to have money that you’re obsessed with it, Bea, and you’re going to end up destroying this family because of it.”

  “That’s absurd!”

  “Is it?” He buckled his belt and pulled on his boots, then grabbed his jacket.

  “Where are you going?”

  He pulled on his jacket and stepped closer. “Out to find a woman who is all the things you can’t let yourself be,” he told her. He saw the hurt in her eyes, but at the moment he didn’t care. “I’ve never said it out like this, Bea, but you’ve known for years. What the hell else is a man supposed to do? I try to feel sorry for you, but sometimes I can’t. This is our first night together in weeks, and I was actually glad to be back, actually thinking about making love to my wife; and you’re all worked up about money!”

  He turned and she grabbed his arm as though to stop him. He met her eyes, seeing the tears in them. “If only…if only you hadn’t given him that loan,” she said weakly. “It just…it upsets me, Kirk.”

  He pulled his arm away. “To say the least. I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll be back in time for breakfast. And don’t worry. I won’t do anything to embarrass the precious Kirkland name. The women I see know how to keep their mouths shut!”

  He left, and Bea thought of running after him, begging him to stay; but when she pictured him handing over fifteen thousand dollars to Red McKinley, her fury knew no bounds. She climbed into bed, and moments later she heard a horse galloping away from the house. She tried to sleep but could not. She quickly pushed aside thoughts of Kirk with a prostitute. That was the least of her worries. Her biggest problem was figuring out how to make up her twenty-five-thousand-dollar loss.

  The summer of 1862 became one of busy chaos. The second Kirkland hotel was finished, a four-story brick structure with an expensive restaurant on the ground floor, complete with rich wood floors, elegant velvet-flocked soft green wallpaper, and chandeliers. Pictures and paintings with gold-plated frames hung on the walls, and food was served on the finest china by waitresses wearing crisp white aprons over dark blue uniforms. The kitchen utilized the latest in coal-burning stoves with two ovens and eight burners.

  Besides the hotel, the house was also completed. Amid finishing touches on the new mansion, Bea worked hard making sure the hotel, called the Denver Inn, was quickly filled so she could being making a profit as soon as possible. At the mansion chandeliers were hung, carpeting was laid, and curtains covered the tall windows.

  Chad began calling on Irene, and because
of her hurt over Ramon’s marrying so quickly, she allowed the visits. They played checkers in the parlor or went for buggy rides, sometimes visiting Kirkland Enterprises, where John worked every day now. Irene could see the unhappiness in his eyes, and without a word each of them knew the other missed Ramon, and longed for those precious days when the three of them shared time together at the mansion.

  Chad was amiable and honorable, always treating Irene with complete respect. She felt herself being drawn into a kind of invisible web of wanting to please her mother, wanting to erase the hurt of Ramon, wanting to honor the Kirkland name by seeing only the “proper” kind of young man.

  Still, though she grew to like Chad more and they became friends, she did not feel the same passion for him, in spite of his striking good looks, as she had felt for Ramon, or feel the quick pull at her insides Ramon had caused. It was more than obvious the effect Chad Jacobs had on other women. Irene could read it in their eyes. They all but gawked at his handsomeness, swooned beneath his charm. Sometimes Irene wondered if there was something wrong with her for not feeling the same way. She supposed it was only because she was still not quite over Ramon, and she blamed herself for that. Maybe more time was all she needed. Surely not every relationship started out with such intense passion.

  That summer also brought a variety of troubles. Drought and grasshoppers destroyed most farm crops, including the Kirkland potatoes. The vines and leaves were eaten up before they could blossom, which meant no potatoes would grow under the earth. What the grasshoppers did not destroy, lack of rain did. Still, Bea Kirkland, ever ready, had food shipped in from California, via the family’s own freighting line and packed amid chunks of ice from the Sierras. Bea tripled the prices of potatoes and vegetables that made it through the journey without perishing, but Kirk insisted on handing some out free to the indigent and homeless, much to Bea’s consternation.