A Windswept Promise

by Brandi Boddie

  “What did you say, daughter?”

  She forced herself to be brave. Dusty risked destroying his future in the town by confessing how he felt about her. She could risk a tongue-lashing from her mother in comparison. “Dusty didn’t deserve the way we treated him but he was too respectful to say so. We owe him an apology.”

  “We owe him nothing. I’m surprised how freely you speak these days.” Her mother took the other end of the coverlet and pulled it taut with extra force. “It’s that voting business and petition peddling. I’m telling your father that you need to stay at home until you remember how you’ve been brought up.”

  Sophie’s shoulders drooped in frustration. With each day that passed, the little freedoms she was granted slipped away. She had no purpose, no cause to which to devote her time and energy, and now, no Dusty.

  Her mother continued doling out the punishment. “Until I see fit, you will leave only to attend church and when Chad calls upon you.”

  Her beau was the last person on her mind. “Mayor Hooper is expecting the petition. How am I supposed to get it completed if I remain at the farm?” Or to find Dusty, she dared not utter.

  “We’re done talking about this.” Her mother finished making the bed and gathered the bottle on the vanity table.

  “If you insist upon forgetting yourself, I’ll keep reminding you.”

  Sophie counted her mother’s footsteps until they reached the downstairs floorboards. She ran to the window, threw the catch, and hoisted it open. A brisk wind swept in and blew one of the small porcelain figurines off the vanity table. It fell to the floor, one of the limbs shattering.

  She returned her attention to the path leading to the main road that resided twenty feet below. There was no stealing away from that height. She was certain to get caught if she tried to sneak out from the front or kitchen door.

  Her stomach felt uneasy again. Sophie continued to study the fields below opening to vast prairie in the distance. She didn’t want to disobey her parents or cause them to be angry at her, yet neither did she want to continue being treated like a child.

  Dr. Dorothea was correct in her assessment. Twenty-one was a very good age to start making her own decisions. Sophie just wished it were that easy.

  A full six weeks passed before Sophie was granted permission to resume her usual activities within the town. During the month and a half that she was forced to remain at home, she found little reprieve in visits from Linda and the ladies of her mother’s weekly tea gathering. No word was spoken of her punishment to them, but Sophie surmised that the entire circle of her family’s friends and associates knew that something was amiss on the farm. Everyone was simply too polite to raise questions.

  Chad called upon her twice weekly, having dinner with her family on Tuesday evenings and taking her strolling upon the promenade by the lake on Saturday afternoons. Without her saying anything he took prompt notice of Dusty’s absence, and the timing of it couldn’t have made him happier.

  He remarked upon it again one Tuesday in mid-July after he arrived at her house and had to tether his own horse to the fence. “I don’t mind that he’s gone. I was always dubious of Sterling.”

  Sophie stood by as he put his coat on the rack beside the door. He always wore a coat no matter the weather. Cautious and predictable.

  “Sterling’s quick and sudden departure confirms he was up to no good,” he prattled on. “I’m surprised he didn’t try to take anything of value with him.”

  “Not every man of modest means is born to be a thief,” she replied, goaded into defending Dusty yet again. She thought by now she would be used to his carrying on about Dusty. But nothing she said ever assuaged his jealousy of the cowboy.

  “I don’t refer to valuables only as jewels and trinkets. Sterling had another treasure in mind, one that he failed to win.” Chad took one hand from the coat rack and stroked her cheek. Sophie moved his hand away.

  “Regardless of what you believed about Dusty wishing to court me, his absence doesn’t give you liberties with my person.”

  Chad pressed his lips together until they formed a ring of white. “You keep talking as though the man stood a chance of rivaling with me for your affections.”

  “He doesn’t. Didn’t.” Sophie shifted, uncomfortable speaking about Dusty when her parents were just down the hallway. “I keep talking because you insist on bringing this subject up time and time again.”

  “Let’s change the subject, then. The food in the dining room smells good. How are you and your family this evening, my darling?” He took to giving her endearing names now. In another time she would have thrilled at them. Today they just sounded tired and uninspired.

  The table was set and Sophie’s family awaited them in the dining room. Chad conversed in more amiable fashion once the food was passed around.

  “My father’s giving his annual party next month before the elections. He’d like for you and your family to be the guests of honor, Sophie.”

  She put her fork down. “Why?”

  Her mother gasped. “I think what my daughter means is, to what do we owe this honor?”

  Chad wiped his mouth on a napkin. “For your continued support of his campaign. It really has been one of the reasons for his success. He wishes to honor that.”

  “Tell your father thank you and that we will surely honor his invitation.” Sophie’s father spoke for all of them.

  “Yes, Mr. Charlton. The party will be on the first Saturday of August. I have the formal invitation with me. My father would have told you himself, but he figured that Sophie would enjoy hearing it more from me.”

  Sophie closed her eyes so she could roll them. It wasn’t Chad’s father who reasoned that way.

  “You removed your necklace.”

  She opened her eyes again to Chad’s observant gaze. She put her fingers to her bare neck. “I didn’t wear it this evening.”

  “I can see that you don’t have it on. Is anything the matter?”

  In truth, Sophie had removed it before helping to prepare the evening meal, at her mother’s insistence that the necklace was too precious to wear while doing housework. “No, Chad. I didn’t want it to fall into the batter while I was baking.”

  “Yet you forgot to put it back on.”

  “I did forget.”

  Her simple answer made him raise an eyebrow, but he abandoned the subject and talked with her mother about the last pre-election party.

  What was wrong with her? She shouldn’t feel so short of temper around Chad when she was willing to overlook his jealousies before, even consider them to be a form of flattery. Dusty’s departure had caused her to change, to be impatient with the things that previously brought amusement. Sophie didn’t want to sit through the evening meal and listen to Chad talk of another company he planned to acquire, another trip that would take him to Missouri for two weeks.

  She waited and waited until dinner was finished and the plates were washed and stacked in the cupboard. It was no longer good to let Chad court her. Sophie considered how she stopped accepting gifts and invitations from that lawyer’s son in Claywalk after he insisted on attending every picnic, dance, and supper party with h
er. Her father hadn’t been too pleased with her decision to dismiss the young man after he gave him permission to court her, but he eventually let the matter subside, saying she was only eighteen, after all. Would he do so again if she called an end to Chad courting her? Her parents were probably eager to have her settled very soon.

  She sat through a round of checkers that her father and Chad played while her mother and siblings watched. The ticking of the grandfather clock in the sitting room made her foot tap anxiously in time. She excused herself and went to her bedroom to retrieve the necklace Chad had given her. Heart pumping fast, she began thinking of words to say when the time came to return the gift.

  The clock chimed half past seven when Sophie’s family allowed her to have a few moments alone outside with Chad before he left. Sophie listened to the sounds of evening on the farm, though none of the usual cricket chirps brought that familiar sense of comfort. She looked to the bunkhouse that appeared devoid of life now that it was no longer occupied by Dusty, but by Mr. Kent, a new worker that Daddy spared no time in hiring.

  Chad strode alongside her, carrying his coat under one arm. “You’ll enjoy the party this year, Sophie. My mother will be trying several new recipes. We’ve also hired a band of musicians from Chanute to play throughout the evening.”

  She dug into her skirt pocket and unfolded the handkerchief. The cool chain of the necklace brushed the back of her hand. “Chad, I think the time has come for me to tell you something.”

  “If you’re embarrassed about falling ill the last time you supped at my family’s home, not to worry. My mother says it happened to her when she was being courted by my father. A woman’s delicate nerves is all it is.”

  Was he aware of his habit of interrupting people and presuming to finish what they had to say? “No, it isn’t about that. It’s about our courtship. I haven’t been forthcoming with you.” As he drew his brows together, she produced the necklace from her pocket, dangling it by the toggle clasp. She took a fortifying breath. “I don’t think we should continue to see each other.”

  He stared at the gold rosebud that swung on the chain like a miniature pendulum. As though mesmerized by its movements, he met Sophie’s eyes only when it stopped.

  “What do you mean that we shouldn’t see each other?” He made no effort to reach for the necklace.

  She dropped her hand to her side. “My feelings have changed over the past weeks. I realize that when you asked my father for permission to court me, your intentions were to establish a. . . .” Her mind fished for a different word for marriage. “ . . . a degree of permanence. But I’m afraid that I’m no longer in agreement. Therefore, I cannot knowingly accept this token of your affection.”

  He glanced at the hand where she held the necklace. “Stop trying to be formal with me and explain why you suddenly want our arrangement to end.”

  Sophie’s spine grew rigid. He called their courtship an arrangement, making their time together sound as dry and procedural as one of his bank transactions. “I don’t see anything that’s arranged here. This necklace was a gift, not surety.”

  He took hold of the dangling flower bud, but didn’t pull it from her. “Why won’t you let me show affection with gifts or with embraces? I’ve been courting you for almost two months. People would think you didn’t care for me.”

  Chad was right about the timing of their courtship. Here it was the middle of July, and after her father approved of their pairing, not one kiss had she allowed Chad, save the occasional peck on the cheek. She was unable to explain the way she felt, but the thought of kissing him didn’t stir any notions of romance.

  “It isn’t that I don’t care for you. One cannot rush these things. Love and affection take time to blossom.” Sophie wished she could believe her own words. She willed herself to relive the heady rush of excitement that came at the spring festival when Chad bid on her food basket. It was an adventure to flirt with him, then.

  He dropped the necklace charm. “You keep that. Once again, you parry and deflect from what’s being asked of you. A year ago you knew that I wanted to court you. There’s no point in pretending that we need to start all over again.” He crossed the front yard to untie his horse from the fence. “You needn’t flirt with me anymore by playing coy.”

  Sophie huffed at his audacity. “That is an awful thing to say. You know better than to speak that way to me.”

  He gave a wearied reply. “I’m beginning to think you speak to me only for the enjoyment of sparring.”

  “Be well assured that I do no such thing.” If only she could find the man she did enjoy bantering with. No one in her family had seen or heard from Dusty since he left. “Chad, please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.” She marched up to him and the horse, prepared to drop the necklace into Chad’s coat pocket if necessary.

  “You’re upset, Sophie. It’s my fault. I’ve made you feel rushed and I promise not to do it again. I’ll see you at the party.” He gave her hand a final squeeze before getting onto the horse.

  Sophie had one last chance. “This is hard for me to express, but I don’t think I—”

  “Say no more. I won’t pressure you. You’ll kiss me when you’re ready.” He gave her a formal smile, one that she’d seen him give his bank clientele, and turned his horse toward the road.

  Why couldn’t she speak fast enough? Chad rode away and she went into the house, promising herself to confront him again the next time they met.

  CHAPTER 22

  T HE FOLLOWING DAY Sophie put her frustrations with Chad aside as she prepared to go into town. She finally had the chance to resume getting her petition signed and sent to the mayor before the party. While David readied the wagon, she made sure she was dressed appropriately to stand at the train station for a long period of time, choosing a white blouse with full sleeves and a plaid skirt.

  “This time, don’t forget to wear the necklace Chad gave you.” Sophie’s mother fastened the chain around her neck before helping to tie her hair up in a green ribbon. She did not share in her daughter’s anticipation of obtaining names for the petition. “Whether you get two signatures or two hundred today, I want that list out of your hands by tomorrow.”

  “I will give it to Mayor Hooper by morning,” Sophie promised. As soon as the ribbon was tied she wasted no time in leaving the house.

  Outside she passed the new hired hand as he stood at the fence, giving it a fresh coat of varnish. Short in stature, with a stocky frame and hair that was beginning to thin at the temples, he appeared to be at least fifteen years older than Dusty.

  “Good afternoon,” Sophie said. He looked about as though he couldn’t determine the direction of her voice. When he eventually recognized her, he jabbed his full-bearded chin down in a terse nod and went back to painting.

  Her brother saw it from the wagon. “I don’t like Mr. Kent too well. He’s about as curmudgeonly as one of those traveling orators that come to town.”

  “At least the orators engage in conversation.” Sophie didn’t like how unsociable the new worker was, either. No doubt that was her father’s reason for hiring him. He spoke solely to her father, hid in the bunkhouse after all the chores were finished, and had a habit of spitting tobacco on the ground where everyone could see. She sidestepped a
wad of it near the wagon’s front right wheel.

  “Farm work’s been more tiresome than ever with Dusty gone,” David voiced when they were down the path and well out of earshot of Mr. Kent.

  “Is that why you readily agreed to accompany me to the train station?” Sophie teased rather than admit that she also missed Dusty. It took his leaving to make her realize how much she did speak to him on a given day. She found herself missing the warm smile and affection he’d shown her, even when she sought to irritate or rebuff him. Would she experience that again or did her family’s harsh treatment convince him to stay well away from her for good?

  “We should go see him.”

  The sun got in her eyes. She squinted to look at David. “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me. He’s at the Zephyr Ranch. Mr. Hastings the blacksmith said so the last time Pa and me went into town. He only told me when Pa wasn’t listening.”

  Sophie leaned over the side of the wagon to see if they were out of earshot. “You know we can’t do that.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because Mother and Daddy expect us to be at the train station. We can’t lie to them.”

  “We can go to the station now and go to the ranch after-wards. They won’t know.”

  Sophie took the tempting idea into contemplation. Guilt at deceiving her parents won out. “No, that would be wrong.”

  David made a face at her. “You’re just as stodgy as Mr. Kent.”

  “Just drive the wagon and I’ll never ask you to help me get another petition signed.” She quieted her brother but kept thinking about visiting the ranch. How would Dusty take to seeing her after leaving the farm under cold circumstances, all of them her fault?