“Will you be able to return with me?” Irene asked Elisabeth.
“Yes, of course. I’ll probably need to finish your brother’s shopping anyway.”
Irene accompanied her on a hunt for a stove. Once that was selected and purchased, Elisabeth had a driver take them to each one of the furniture makers so that she’d seen every last available piece before making a decision.
“Help me choose bedroom furniture,” she said to Irene. “The less ornate pieces appeal to me, but perhaps your brother would like something fancier.”
“I agree on the more simple pieces. The other parts of the rooms, like curtains and coverlets, can always be added and changed.”
“We didn’t talk about this, but each room needs a rug. Floors are awfully cold come December and January.”
Irene pointed across the street. “I saw carpets in the window over there.”
With Irene’s help, Elisabeth selected three sets of bedroom furniture and six room-size rugs. They made a trip to the bank, and she returned to each store to pay for all the items and plan their delivery.
“The other things are going to have to wait until tomorrow,” she told Irene. “We have plans for the theater tonight.”
Relieved, Irene smiled and hugged her. “Let’s start getting ready and have an early dinner.”
Two hours later, as the carriage they’d hired drew closer to an enormous two-story brick building, Elisabeth noted that the entire front was larger and square, a facade for the slant-roofed long narrow building behind it.
As they pulled directly in front, light spilled from the windows on the first floor and loud music met their ears. Both women stared out the windows in confusion.
The carriage jostled as the driver climbed down. He opened the door.
Elisabeth accepted his assistance and climbed to the ground. “Are you sure this is the right place?”
“You wanted the Denver Theater, didn’t you, miss?”
“Yes, but this…this doesn’t look like a theater.”
“The performances actually take place on the second story. The entrance is on the side over there. This first floor here is a saloon and gambling hall. You can try your luck at any number of games. Faro, poker, roulette, monte, chuck-a-luck…and you don’t have to worry about your play getting over too late. The place is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.”
Dubious about the wisdom of being left in front of this establishment, Elisabeth turned to Irene, who now stood beside her. The other young woman wore a concerned frown.
“Need a hand, ladies?” A burly fellow in wrinkled trousers with suspenders over his flannel shirt called to them. “I’d be glad to show you around. Appears to me you’re new to the gaming tables.”
“We were just leaving, thank you.” Elisabeth turned. “Back in,” she said to Irene. “Please return us to our hotel.”
“Elisabeth,” Irene whispered and grabbed her arm. She was staring over Elisabeth’s shoulder toward the noisy gambling hall. “Isn’t that…?”
Elisabeth followed her gaze. At the corner of the building, a gas lamp shone down on a gathering of well-dressed men. “Rhys?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“That’s what I thought.”
“Maybe he’s here for the theater.” Once they were back inside, before the driver shut the door, she asked, “Wait just a few minutes, please. Until that group of gentlemen over there moves along.” She leaned back to stay out of view and still be able to see.
The driver climbed back atop the carriage.
One of the men shook hands with Rhys before turning and leaving. The rest of them, Rhys included, walked to the front door and entered the hall.
Apparently the driver had been watching, because the carriage pulled away from the curb.
“Sorry about our evening plans being spoiled,” Irene said.
“We’ll go to the music hall tomorrow evening,” Elisabeth suggested. “I’ve been there before, and it’s not located over a saloon.”
They laughed together.
“Will you tell your father?” Irene asked. “That you saw Mr. Jackson there?”
“I’m not sure what I should do.” And she didn’t. The Jacksons had been guests at their table for the past seven years. Elisabeth perceived that Rhys would have welcomed her interest and, because he was such a close friend of the family, she had considered the idea of courting. She wanted to give the man the benefit of the doubt, but seeing him at that place didn’t really leave much doubt.
“Yes, I’ll mention it to my father,” she decided. “Then he’ll have as much information as I do and can form his own opinion.”
The following morning they finished shopping for furniture and household wares. Most of the afternoon was spent looking for slippers and underclothing. Elisabeth let Irene know she’d need boots and a warm coat in the coming months, so that was next on their list of errands. Elisabeth sent telegrams to her father and Gabe informing them the two of them would be staying a second night.
They enjoyed a leisurely supper and attended the music hall before spending their last night at the hotel.
Gabe and Gil met them at the train station the following day.
Gil swept Irene up in a hug and spun her in a circle. “I sure missed you.”
Standing right there on the platform with passengers moving around them, she tipped her head back and kissed him.
Elisabeth glanced at Gabe just as he looked at her. He gave her a grin.
“Did you notice I was gone?” she asked.
“Life was hardly worth living without you.”
She laughed and smacked his arm playfully. “What did you do?”
“Plastered walls.”
“I have a lot to tell you. I made a few sketches and I have your receipts in my satchel.”
“You can clean up and rest, then tell me later.”
“This evening,” she said. “Come to the house for supper.”
That evening Kathryn DeSmet, the schoolteacher, had been invited for supper, along with Donetta Barnes.
Irene chattered about their trip, about their dresses and the seamstress, and then launched into the tale of how they’d changed their mind about the theater once they’d seen the location.
“That was using wisdom,” Sam told his oldest daughter.
Somehow it didn’t seem like the right time to mention seeing Rhys there.
Later, after cleaning up, when Elisabeth and Gabe were alone in the dining room, she spread out the receipts and her drawings and proceeded to describe every thing they’d purchased.
“What your father said about using wisdom,” Gabe inquired. “Would some people call that common sense?”
“There is common sense, as well,” she answered. “But do you remember when I said I knew inside whether something was wrong or right?” At his nod, she continued. “I knew it would be a mistake to go in there. I didn’t see lightning bolts or hear an audible voice from above, but I just knew. In here.” She touched her bodice.
He listened attentively.
“I can’t say for sure something bad would have happened, but I think it might have. This way I may never know, but I probably avoided something I’d have been sorry for later—if I hadn’t heeded the warning.”
She showed him her drawings and described the furniture. “I’m not much of an artist. I didn’t do these pieces justice.”
“You bought ’most everything the house needs,” he told her.
“I hope you’re going to be pleased.”
“You need to come out and see how the house is coming along. It’s nearly finished, and you haven’t seen it. I should have taken you before.”
“I’d love to see it now.”
“Let me know when you have a free morning, and I’ll rent a rig. Or you can ride.”
“I’m not much of a rider.”
“Once things are more settled, you and Abigail can come for riding lessons.”
She never thought she’d think it o
r say it, but after considering learning to ride and thinking about having Gabe as an instructor, she said, “I’d like that.”
A person would’ve thought she’d given him the deed to a diamond mine, the way pleasure lit his features. “All right then.”
The following morning, he arrived with a buggy pulled by a single black horse.
“Isn’t Irene coming with us?”
“I asked her, but she had something she wanted to do.”
He helped her up to the seat.
“I took the liberty of buyin’ a lunch to bring along in case we get hungry.”
She couldn’t picture the two of them sharing a cozy picnic lunch without finding something to argue about, but she supposed it could happen. Last time they’d ridden out here they’d had Phillip along as a buffer.
Already, there was a road of sorts, where before there’d been only grass and fields. She remarked on the difference.
“All those wagons filled with supplies and all the workers coming and going have fashioned a path right to my house,” he said. “Ought to make it easier on the horses when there’s snow on the ground.”
Up ahead, Elisabeth spotted something that surprised her and made her heart leap. In the place where they’d crossed the stream previously, a bridge had been built. Just wide enough for a wagon, but solid and well above the water.
“You built a bridge!”
“Made it easier to get the full wagons across,” he told her. “And this way if Anna comes out to the ranch, it won’t be as hard for her.”
She turned to look at him.
“Your father mentioned that Anna was afraid of water. You didn’t like crossing the stream much, either.” He didn’t meet her eyes. “A bridge was practical.”
“Indeed.”
She was grateful for the ease of crossing. If Anna comes to the ranch, he’d said. Interesting how he thought of her family coming to visit him. He’d probably invited Anna to come ride horses, too.
The entire clearing looked so different; the sight caught her by surprise. She’d expected a house, yes, but this was beginning to look like a ranch. A stable had been constructed, a long low building, painted white with a red roof.
A tall fellow in a faded blue shirt and a dun-colored hat was setting a fence post into the ground as they pulled up. Elisabeth didn’t recognize him. Another man exited the stable and caught sight of them.
Gabe motioned him forward and called to the other, “John!”
Both men approached and removed their hats in deference to Elisabeth’s company.
“This is Miss Hart. Elisabeth, this is Ward Dodd and John McEndree.”
John, the one who’d been putting up the corral fence, gave her a toothy smile. “Pleasure to meet you, miss.”
“These are my first two hands,” Gabe told her. “They already think I’m workin’ ’em hard, and the horses don’t even arrive ’til next week.”
John laughed. “I’ll be glad when it’s horses we’re dealing with, and not fence posts.”
The men went back to work, and Gabe ushered her toward the house. It was a long one-story home. The exterior wood siding hadn’t been painted yet, but there was a door and plenty of windows.
The dooryard was dirt, of course. A walkway of boards had been fashioned, and she supposed the wood came in handy when it rained.
The door opened into a foyer. Not as grand or as large as the Harts’, but adequate. Doorways led to rooms on either side, and a hallway led back to a wood-paneled hallway on the left and a smaller hall on the right.
The smells of new wood and fresh plaster permeated the air. “I’ve never been inside a brand-new house before.”
The first two rooms were large with floor-to-ceiling windows. “A sitting room?” she asked about the one on the left with the fireplace.
“Yep. And across the entryway is the dining room. I thought about having a cabinetmaker build storage right into this wall. What do you think?”
“It sounds perfect.”
“He led her through a doorway into a small room with shelves all the way to the ceiling. “I did these myself, because they’re simply functional. This area is for dishes and storing food,” he explained. “And the kitchen’s right through here. You can get to it this way, or by continuing on down that front hall where we came in—or of course by the back door.”
The kitchen was as big as the Harts’, with work spaces built along the walls and a long, waist-high table about four feet away from the stove. There was even room aside from that for a long table for eating.
“Donetta is going to love working in here,” she told him. “The stove I ordered is perfect. I was concerned it might be a little big, but I see now this room called for it.”
Again, there were floor-to-ceiling windows, and the view of the stables with the mountains behind was spectacular.
She remembered the diagrams he’d drawn for her and pointed. “This must be for Donetta?” None of the rooms had doors yet, so she simply walked in. The space was more than adequate, and even had a small dressing room area. “You’ve given her such a nice big space. And two windows. She’ll like this.”
“I hope so. It’s going to be a big adjustment. I want to give her privacy, but don’t want her to feel alone.” They walked back out to the kitchen. “I’ll dig a root cellar next summer.”
“It looks as though you’ve thought of everything.”
“Come on. I’ll show you the rest.”
“Each one of these rooms will have a small heating stove,” he said. “I ordered them from a catalogue at Larken’s. They should be here in another week or so.”
“You’ll need them when the snow and wind blow.”
The hallway was wide and long with doors opening off each side. His wasn’t a traditional home like those that lined the streets in Jackson Springs, but it was practical and plenty adequate for even a large family.
She supposed two and three stories atop each other saved lot space in the city. Out here he hadn’t needed to concern himself with that and constructed a sprawling dwelling.
He showed her one large empty bedroom and five smaller ones. “You didn’t plaster all of this yourself?”
“I’d have been here all winter,” he replied. “No, I’ve had help throughout the entire process. I don’t know how happy the people in town are now, though. They’ve had to find someone else to run their errands. Junie Pruitt was in the telegraph office one day when I was there and expressed an interest in coming out to see the work going on. Turns out he’s pretty handy with a saw and hammer. He’s been here every day since.”
“Where is everyone today?”
“While the plaster’s hardening this morning, we’re finishing the inside of the stable, and you saw the fencing going up.”
She suspected the diversion of workers may have had something to do with her visit, too.
“I’ll show you where the bunkhouse is going to be.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You already hired a couple men to work the horses with you, didn’t you? Where are they staying?”
“Stables. Cook their meals over a fire for now. They’re counting on that situation changing real soon.” He guided her back through the house and out the front door. “As soon as the floors are varnished and there’s furniture, I’ll bring Donetta and Irene.”
“It’s really nice that there will be another woman for Irene.”
“For the short time that Irene is here,” he said, “yes.”
Gabe helped her back into the buggy, got in and guided the horse to take them around behind the house. With this view it was plain just how long the structure was. He had chosen the level piece of ground well.
“I plan to go up in those hills and dig the largest trees I can manage,” he said. “Plant several along the side of the house there. He slanted her a grin. “Can’t forget to order Abigail’s fruit trees, either.”
“You’re kind to my sisters.”
“Surprised that I’m no
t all bad?”
“I never thought you were all bad. Or bad at all.”
“When I see how they thrive in your family…how different it all seems from anything I ever knew…well, I see how I let Irene grow up without that. I don’t know that I could have given it to her the same, being just a brother and only one person, but I’ll never know now.”
“She turned out just fine, Gabe.”
He deliberately looked away, and their ride was silent for several minutes. The land sloped upward and the horse slowed. “I’m going to bring water from up there,” he said. “There are springs farther up. Gravity will carry it.”
“How will that work?”
“We’ll build a sturdy trough, and it’ll bring water right down to the house. Can even water a garden with it.”
“What about in winter when it freezes?”
“In winter we’ll melt snow. Are you up to walking?”
“Sure.”
After finding shade for the horse, he unharnessed the animal so it could graze. He reached for her hand, and together they made their way up the hillside. They came across a deer trail, and followed the path upward. The trail reminded her of the one Josie had told her about behind their home, though this was farther from Gabe’s house.
It had turned into a warm morning, and perspiration cooled her face before they reached the first spring. Water poured from crevices in rocks and spilled into a sparkling clear pond.
“This is beautiful,” she breathed.
They found a place to perch and settled to catch their breath, enjoying the peaceful sound of the water. The loamy scent of the earth and pine needles enveloped them. In the stillness, a raccoon emerged from the undergrowth and carried a twig laden with berries to the water’s edge.
Elisabeth glanced at Gabe. He’d seen the animal, too. Reaching for her hand, he met her eyes. She turned her attention back just as three baby raccoons joined the first and sat on their haunches waiting for her to wash their meal.
She drank from the stream, and the babies followed her example. Minutes later, she turned and nature’s parade disappeared back into the foliage.
Marrying the Preacher's Daughter Page 18
