A Windswept Promise

by Brandi Boddie

  Her heart stirred within her chest as he tended to her comfort and safety, making sure that she was in no danger of falling from the horse. A rugged confidence graced his movements as he inspected the saddle straps and made sure Bess’s bridle was set in place. He moved to Sophie’s right, brushing against her hand. His canvas shirt had been washed enough times where she could feel the heat of his skin through the soft fabric. He was close enough for her to reach down and touch his face.

  Why was she thinking of touching his face? Sophie kept a tight grip upon the reins and forced herself to pay attention to the sun rising above the wheat fields in the distance. Dusty finally climbed into the saddle of his horse and led the way down the road.

  As the path widened for them to ride alongside each other, Sophie matched her horse’s stride to his. Dusty stared at the road ahead, one hand holding the reins, the other resting on the saddle’s pommel. He wore a reflective countenance. “Guess Chad’s asked for permission to court you now, hasn’t he?”

  “Yes.” Admitting it brought a sense of discomfort to her, when yesterday she had been eager to share the news with Linda and Margaret. “You didn’t have to escort me into town if you didn’t want to.”

  “Mr. Charlton told me to.”

  “He doesn’t know that you and Chad don’t see eye-to-eye.” Sophie pushed a long branch from a tree out of her way as Bess walked beneath it. Morning mist rose off the lake as they passed by. The peace of the forested area, enlivened with the occasional birdsong, made her imagine she and Dusty were the only two people in the world.

  “It’s not about me and Chad agreeing with each other. I don’t think he should be your beau.”

  Sophie wanted to ask why, even though she knew the answer. “That’s not your decision.”

  “Maybe not, but I’m entitled to an opinion, at least. You could do better.”

  “Oh, I can, can I? And who could possibly be a more eligible bachelor than Chad Hooper? I see no other man in this town who’s a banker, a representative for the Katy rail, and whose father is mayor.”

  That old twinkle returned to Dusty’s eyes as he took his gaze off the road. “All that doesn’t mean a horseshoe in a bucket of hog slop. What do high and fancy titles have to do with him courting you?”

  “Plenty.”

  Dusty persuaded her to elaborate by raising his eyebrow.

  “For starters, it shows that he’s a diligent worker.”

  “Or that the position was handed to him.”

  “No, Chad rightfully earned his place. He studied to be a banker.”

  “That still doesn’t show how he’s suited to court you.”

  Sophie threw one hand in the air. “I knew you’d show out. Please don’t talk like that in front of the mayor.”

  “Don’t you mean his boy?”

  “Chad too. And he’s not a boy. He’s twenty-four, about the same age as you.”

  “Why, Miss Sophie, I’m surprised you know that much about me.” He pushed his hat down to avoid the sun’s glare as they rode in its direction but his mischievous smile was plain to see.

  “Only about as much as you’d care to tell.” She sat stiff as a board in the saddle, thinking of what to quip next. Bess made a misstep as her hoof connected with a wagon wheel rut in the road. Sophie slipped, grabbing the horse’s mane and the lower pommel over her left leg to keep from falling.

  A strong hand grabbed her arm and held her in place. “You got your balance?”

  Sophie repositioned herself and hooked her right leg more securely over the top pommel. “I wasn’t expecting Bess to falter like that.”

  “Her hoof may still be bothering her. I’ll have a look at it again while you’re talking with the mayor.” Dusty released her arm but the warmth remained where he made contact. A look passed between them. At that moment their prior quibbling, albeit all in good fun, was pushed aside. He may joke and flirt with her like a schoolboy but he was a man. One that didn’t hesitate to protect her when necessary.

  They rode the rest of the way to town in silence.

  Assurance was alive with shopkeepers opening stores for the day and travelers leaving the hotel to take a stagecoach to the station. Sophie and Dusty cut through the square and rode to the residential areas. The further they ventured away from the square the bigger the houses became, until they reached the largest one, a two-story structure complete with eight windows that faced the front alone. A white picket fence lined the house’s perimeter and shielded a budding flower garden from being trampled.

  “Mayor’s house seems to get bigger each election.” Dusty took his stallion to the tethering post by the fence. “I’m expecting a butler to open the door.”

  “Hush. They might hear you. Help me down, please.”

  “Not if you tell me to hush, I won’t.” He pretended to take his time to get to her. “You’ll just be late for your meeting.”

  Sophie wasn’t worried. “If you insist.” She unhooked her foot from the stirrup and slid out of the saddle. Four feet was a longer descent than she expected. Her skirt fanned out and smacked the ground, stirring up a ring of dust.

  “Sophie, you could’ve hurt yourself.” He scolded her while rushing to her aid. “Don’t do that again.”

  She straightened and brushed herself off. The force of her previous impact drove the corset into her ribs, where the boning of the garment dug and rubbed against her flesh. She longed to take a deep breath to regain herself, but was allowed no more than a few shallow, useless gulps. “I am not so helpless as to let you win at this game.”

  “What game? You knew I was teasing, and that I was coming to help you down.” He took her shoulders in a possessive gesture. “What if you had landed the wrong way and broken your ankle? Mr. Charlton would have my head on a stick.”

  She shot a glance at the door of the mayor’s house, hoping no one could see them. She wanted to know what Dusty’s true motivations were before she went inside. “Is it the pursuit of my affection or my father’s wrath that spurs you?”

  He dropped his hands from her. “Why do you do keep testing me to see how much it takes before I get angry? Stop rubbing your courtship with Chad in my face.” He backed away and took Bess to be tied to the post.

  Shocked, Sophie was motionless as he left her to tend to the horses. She expected him to toss a barb back, not get offended and stalk off. Once again she discovered that she did not have anything clever to say. “You brought up the whole thing on the way here about Chad courting me.”

  His back was toward her as he lifted Bess’s hoof to inspect it. “No, that was you. I’m just doing my job by seeing you into town.”

  “If you don’t like how I tease, then why don’t you ever say anything ahead of time before you go and get mad?”

  Dusty removed Rosemarie’s primer from his horse’s saddlebag and gave it to her. He took too long in answering the question. When he did, she wished she never asked. “You’re a lovely lady, but sometimes, Sophie, what you say just isn’t cute.”

  CHAPTER 13

  S OMEONE THAT APPEARED to be a butler opened the door when Sophie knocked. The white-haired man greeted her in a respectable suit of summer wool and p
olished brown shoes. He wasn’t there the last time her family had visited. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

  She was unsure whether to think of him as a butler. Such help was nearly unheard of in Kansas. “I’m Sophie Charlton, here to see Mayor Hooper. I was scheduled to meet him at nine.”

  “Yes, he told me to expect you. I’m Jarvis Shaw, his new assistant. Come in.”

  Sophie stepped through the open doorway, leaving her disagreement with Dusty and his horrible opinion of her outside with the horses. Sometimes what you say just isn’t cute. His words were a song that played over in her head, stinging repeatedly like a wasp. Time enough to think about him after the meeting when they had to ride all the way back home together. She’d make sure it was done in silence too.

  “Wait here.” Mr. Shaw left her standing in the hallway while he entered Mayor Hooper’s office. Sophie busied herself by studying the portraits hanging from the walls. A family portrait took up the center. Chad was a baby in his mother’s arms, all pink and swaddled in a long infant’s gown. A cap of snowy white sat on his bald head in imitation of a miniature bonnet. He appeared fussy.

  Mr. Shaw reappeared in the hall. “Mayor Hooper says you can come in.”

  Sophie patted her hair into place before entering the office. The mayor was at his desk, surrounded by plaques that decorated the walls. The Hoopers were Yankees, having accumulated modest wealth in Philadelphia before heading to Kansas to invest it in railroading. Their journey to good fortune was illustrated in the tintypes that also gave the office its décor.

  As Sophie took in the empty settee and chair, she realized that Chad was not present. Perhaps he was coming, on his way from a different part of the large house.

  The mayor greeted her. “Good morning, Miss Charlton. I’m glad you were able to make it to town. Please sit down. Would you like some coffee while you’re here?”

  “No, thank you.” It was always odd to hear him call her Miss Charlton, when in years prior to her coming of age, he and Mrs. Hooper called her Sophie. Primer in hand, she reclined on the settee, at least five steps away from the mayor’s desk. Why would he have guests seated so far from him? “Will Chad be attending the meeting as well?”

  “No, Chad left for the bank about an hour ago.”

  “Oh.” She had hoped he would be there to help her convince the mayor to put the school elections on the ballot. He knew it was important. Did he think that merely arranging her meeting with his father would be enough?

  She couldn’t afford to let her temper smolder in the company of Chad’s father. Sophie convinced herself to see reason. Perhaps Chad thought she was well able to seek the mayor’s aid without his help. Hadn’t she told him that she was capable? It was time to illustrate that fact to Mayor Hooper.

  She squared her shoulders and raised her chin. “Sir, I know you’re well aware of why I’m here. I mean to stand by the promise I made at the town belle contest by working to get women in Assurance the right to vote on school issues. As I recall, both schoolhouses are in need of instructors and administrators. Surely the names of those people can be put on ballots this year.” She ended her speech slightly winded. Rosemarie laced her stays tighter than she realized.

  Mayor Hooper listened with a patient yet undecipherable expression on his face. He folded his hands atop the desk. “I understand that you want to give ladies the right to vote in our town, Miss Charlton, but it’s not that simple. You can’t just put together a school election. Our children’s facilities aren’t large enough where they require someone to run a campaign to be voted as administrator.”

  Sophie ran her fingers over the fraying spine of Rosemarie’s primer. “What about a vote for new school supplies instead? This is my little sister’s reading primer. Look at the state of it, outdated and falling apart. Can’t we do something?”

  Mayor Hooper accepted the primer from her when she stood and walked five paces to hand it to him. He flipped open the faded cover with his index finger and flicked through the worn pages. “I don’t see anything wrong with this book, Miss Charlton. It’s aged, but the words and illustrations are still highly legible.”

  “Mayor, that primer dates before the start of the War Between the States. If the teacher were not present, boys and girls wouldn’t know if the North or South had won.”

  “But there is an instructor to guide the children.”

  Sophie was taken aback by his glib remark. “Surely you don’t think that’s acceptable?”

  Mayor Hooper closed the primer. “Young lady, when I was a boy in school, we didn’t have primers. I learned to read with whatever literature my mother had in our house, which wasn’t much. When I went to the schoolroom, I practiced my letters and grammar on a slate. In my humble opinion, what the students have now is a vast improvement.”

  “I’m not speaking ill of your schooling, Mayor, but Assurance can afford to purchase new supplies for the children. The railroad brings new resources to our town nearly every day.”

  “Are you taking a stance for the schoolchildren, or for the potential women voters that you hope will participate on account of these elections?”

  Sophie fell silent as she scrambled for the right words. “Well . . . both.”

  Mayor Hooper shook his head, his smile fatherly and a bit condescending all at once. “Now you realize how politics are played. In order for you to get what you want, you have to use other means, even other people, to get it.”

  Sophie stiffened in vehement protest. “I would never use innocent children as a means to further my agenda. We have a terrible misunderstanding if you think that’s what I’m doing.”

  He kept his outward composure leveled. “How will you convince the citizens of that? If there was another way to allow women to vote in this town, would you have still touched upon school elections?”

  “I don’t think that’s a question for me to answer. The state constitution made it so that women can only vote in school elections. A better question is why Assurance leaves the election off the ballot.” Awareness dawned on her, and made her cross. “I should think men want to keep women away from the polls.”

  “I assure you, Miss Charlton, that it’s not deliberate. Assurance is still growing.” The mayor’s tone grew terse. Sophie was pleased that her argument was getting through to him. She only wished she had taken more time to educate herself in the way of legislation and current events.

  “The town is still growing, but not progressing in its view of citizens being equal. We don’t want to be the laughingstock of Kansas.” The more she defended her stance the more intriguing the subject became. Why shouldn’t a woman’s vote count?

  “I’ll tell you what. If you can show me that people in town share your sentiment, I will find a way to put school elections on the ballot this year. Bring me a petition with as many names as you can find.”

  Sophie became heartened by his willingness to reexamine the town’s election policies. Or perchance he was doing it simply because he wanted her father to vote him in for another term. No matter. As he implied, more than one end could be accomplished in politics.

  “Thank you, sir. I will get started immediately.”

  He chuckled and returned to being the patriarch of the house as opposed to the mayor of Ass
urance. “Not too immediate. My wife learned that you were coming and wanted to spend a few moments with you. She’s in the sitting room, waiting with tea and scones.”

  Sophie refused the offer of coffee earlier, but after such an adversarial debate she welcomed a respite. She had argued like a man before the mayor. Her mother would be most displeased if she were to find out.

  Mayor Hooper led Sophie into the sitting room, greeted his wife, and left the two of them to return to his office. Sophie returned Mrs. Hooper’s polite salutation. “How do you do, Mrs. Hooper?”

  “I hope you didn’t give my poor husband too much trouble with the election ballots.” The mayor’s wife patted the chair next to her for Sophie to be seated. She poured two cups of tea.

  “No, ma’am. Mayor Hooper was willing to listen.”

  “You have my son Chad to thank for that. You take sugar, don’t you?”

  “Yes, two lumps.”

  “He’s very fond of you.”

  Sophie accepted the cup from her. “As I him.”

  “Oh, I’m certain, as you had shown by attending the festival at Claywalk with him last year.”

  Sophie stopped in mid-sip, raising her eyes over the teacup. Had Chad spoken to his mother of the fiasco, when he caught her voicing aloud at the festival her preference to be escorted by another man instead?

  Mrs. Hooper did not give an outward indication that she knew anything to be remiss. “I wished at the time that something could have come of your association, but Chad left for his studies in the fall. Better late than never, I should say.” Sophie nodded and let her talk.

  “His time away at college has made him more reflective, but you must not be alarmed. He always was a quiet, serious boy.”