by Iris Kelly
“Well, I never would have known. It certainly isn’t noticeable at all,” Lydia said, noticing Susie’s discomfort.
“I think she ought to wear a patch over her bad eye. Like a pirate. I’ve got a whole book about pirates,” Jake rattled on.
“Now there’s a thought. I have no doubt that being a pirate is even more exciting than being a rancher,” Lydia mused. “But that’s entirely up to Susie, as there are a hundred and one things that she is going to be able to do beautifully with the need of only one eye. I, for example, enjoy playing the piano. But as a way to challenge myself, I have learned how to play several songs with both of my eyes completely closed, just letting my fingers work by memory.”
Susie was heartened and intrigued. “I like to hear the piano. Do you really think I could learn how to play one? Even with my bad eye?”
“I’m absolutely sure. In fact, you should visit your uncle, and I will be happy to give you some lessons.”
“He’s our great uncle,” Susie said.
Giles grunted from across the room where he was talking with Willie. Why did great uncle make him sound even older than grandpa? But he was happy to see Susie made at ease. Since the noxious fever that had left her half blind when she was only four, he had kept a watchful eye on her. And he could only be grateful for Lydia’s kind attentiveness to her. He certainly would welcome the opportunity to involve the child in something that could make her happy. Not to mention, he wouldn’t mind hearing Mrs. Maxwell’s piano playing again.
Willie leapt up several times to check on his wife. Ostensibly, to check on the progress of the meal, but each time he took the opportunity to encircle his wife’s waist and plant a small kiss on her cheek. Lydia couldn’t help but notice, with wistful longing. What a lucky woman. Giles noticed as well, remembering how a handful of young’uns underfoot had never dimmed his enthusiasm for his wife.
Dinner was a very talkative, sociable affair. Both Rachel and young Susie were awed that Lydia had actually become a rancher. Rachel loved her family life and took pride in the cozy home she had created. But it was 1883, and the territorial laws were opening up a lot of interesting opportunities for women. She liked the idea of Susie spending more time with Lydia and learning about new possibilities.
By the time Lydia and Giles were ready to leave, it was clear that Lydia had made quite the impression.
“When you come back, you have to bring Mrs. Maxwell with you,” young Jake instructed.
“Well, we’ll just see what we can do about that,” Giles said.
“If you come back without her . . .” Jake said warningly.
“What’s gonna happen if I come without her?”
“We won’t give you any pie,” Jake announced cheerfully. “So you better bring her.”
Jake’s parents chuckled.
“That’s about the size of it, Uncle Giles. Don’t say you haven’t been warned,” Willie teased.
“We hope to see you again, Mrs. Maxwell,” Rachel said.
“I look forward to it. Susie. Jake. Charlie.”
Giles could only marvel at the spell Lydia had just cast over his relatives. He knew that her background was fairly upper crust, but not for a moment had she been anything but a gracious and eager guest in his nephew’s humble home.
*****
The ride back was filled with an extension of the family stories that had enlivened the evening. By the time they arrived at Lydia’s ranch, she was well-schooled on the young Coopers’ early shenanigans.
“You charmed the pants off of them. Did you hear that boy threaten to take away my dessert?”
Lydia laughed, and at the same time her heart ached to live at a closer embrace to such childish affection.
“Your family in Boston must miss you somethin’ terrible. And your late husband must have counted himself a very lucky man,” Giles said.
These assumptions were so far from the truth that they immediately took the wind out of Lydia’s merry mood.
“You couldn’t be more wrong, Mr. Cooper. My brother-in-law never counted on being saddled with his wife’s widowed sister. While she was alive, I was respectfully tolerated. But after my sister died, he and his new wife were continually wondering why this burdensome charity case was still in their midst.
Not a financial burden, mind you. I insisted on contributing to the household, and they had no qualms about accepting. But my very presence carried my sister’s ghost with me, I think, and they wanted no reminder of that earlier life. In any case, I was never made to feel welcome, and I was reduced to making my presence as small as humanly possible. I wasn’t able to breathe, Mr. Cooper, until I arrived out here.”
Giles’s face grimaced. How could anyone have behaved so inhospitably toward this lovely woman? Her warm affection toward Willie’s children was all the evidence he needed of her true loving nature. As for her in-laws in Boston, the lot of them should have been horse-whipped for not treating her like the valued guest that she was.
“As for my late husband . . . I know that you had a beautiful and loving marriage. And when that is your experience, it is natural to assume that others share it. But my husband didn’t love me, Mr. Cooper. He despised me.”
Giles didn’t doubt her word; he couldn’t. Her face had turned dark with the memory of it. But it was beyond baffling. “That’s absolutely impossible to believe, Mrs. Maxwell. How could he possibly have felt that way?”
“I cannot bear children, Mr. Cooper. I could not provide him with an heir. You, with your houseful of eight children, with your love of family, can well imagine how worthless and disappointing he would have found such a wife.”
Ah, now the mystery of Mr. Maxwell’s cruelty was uncovered, but not in a way that excused his maltreatment of his wife. If this is the burden that your marriage encounters, then it must be endured with an even tighter devotion to one another. Not to punish a beautiful and loving woman for a circumstance clearly beyond her control.
“In the years leading up to his death, he made me daily aware of his anger, in a manner that I have a difficult time erasing from my memory.”
Giles felt his fists clench. He was flooded with an irrational desire to protect this woman from harm; harm that had been committed so long ago. “He never hit you, did he?”
“Oh, no. His blows were all verbal. I have spent twelve years trying to forget them, but some haunt me to this day.”
Lydia noticed how agitated Giles had become on her behalf. She touched him lightly on the arm. “It’s kind of you to be concerned. But the important thing is that I’m free of them now. I fully accept that my life is not going to be like other women’s. A good marriage would have been a great blessing, but I see it was the wrong place to look for salvation. And I am quite reconciled now to living without it. Relieved, actually. My solitary status suits me to perfection, and I intend to find a complete abundance of satisfaction in my ranch, and in my friends. I hope I may count you among them.”
“I’d be honored. I surely would.”
“Good.” Lydia looked upward, at a night sky that was both typically and miraculously full of a billion stars. “I would like to sleep under these stars one night. And I intend to.”
“You are peculiar, Mrs. Maxwell. I think you are the most peculiar woman I have ever met.”
Of course, by “peculiar” he meant “remarkable”, though he was a not a man given to such gushing flattery. But the admiration in his voice could not be disguised, and Lydia accepted it for the compliment that it was.
She turned to make a very cautious exit from the wagon.
“Now hold on there.” Giles leapt off and quickly made it over to her side. He braced his arms around her waist and helped lift her to the ground. They stood for one frozen moment, bodies practically touching, before Lydia backed away toward the house.
“Thank you for sharing your family with me tonight, Mr. Cooper.”
“Good night . . . Mrs. Maxwell.”
Giles waited until he saw the inter
ior lamps lit through the windows before he got back on the wagon. He couldn’t stop thinking about Lydia’s story, and the lack of appreciation she had experienced was still inconceivable to him. Now she was here, alone in that house, arousing every instinct of protection he had. No harm was going to come to her, either from malice or her own inexperience. He would see to that. After all, isn’t that merely what any good friend and neighbor would do?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The next couple of weeks were crammed with fruitful activity for Lydia. Barbed wire was purchased for her little farm area, and then the fence needed to go up. There was little enthusiasm or support for the project among her workers. Lydia was adding heavily to their duties for something that no other rancher was fool enough to insist on. To quell the rumblings, Lydia decided to hire four extra pairs of hands for the project—at least right through the first planting. Now that the spring round-up and branding were out of the way, there were quite a few men in town looking for work. Lydia enlisted Mr. Cooper’s assistance to supply three temporary workers who he often used seasonally. The fourth she could take care of by herself.
*****
Even though Lydia was now fully installed in her new home, she still had occasion to go into town almost every day, which almost always prompted a quick visit over to Miss Mabel’s. This time, Lydia went there to pay Ajax a call.
“Have you found a job yet?” Lydia asked
“No, ma’am, I have not.”
“Well, I have a very temporary situation to offer you, one that will only last a few weeks, but at least it will give you a bit of cash for that time. You can stay in our bunkhouse; three other men are also being hired short-term.”
Miss Mabel had been listening at the parlor entrance. “So I can finally rent your room out to some payin’ customer.”
“Aunt Mabel. You ain’t gonna give away my room is ya?”
“Hmmph. ’Bout time. Keep him as long as you like, Mrs. Maxwell.” She left for the kitchen.
“And Ajax. I’m wondering if you could do a little favor for me. Don’t let the men know that you have any special acquaintance of me. I’m pretty sure no one was close enough to take notice of you earlier when you dropped me off. And then could you let me know . . . now I’m not asking you to be a spy or anything, but could you let me know what the men are saying about me? It would help me, I think, to become a better boss.”
“Oh, now the job just got real interestin’. Spy is my middle name. You just leave it to me. I’ve been keepin’ an ear to the ground and pullin’ information out of fellas for a long time. Don’t you worry. I’ll show up tomorrow and say how I heard there was some hirin’ goin’ on. And we’ll only talk together back here, real sneaky like. Hooo! This gonna be fun!”
Lydia could only laugh. She had never anticipated such enthusiasm. And it was going to be nice to have a friendly face among the workers, even if she could only see it from a distance.
*****
Willie brought little Susie over to Giles’s for her first piano lesson. Lydia treated them all to a little concert, which at Giles’s insistence, included Beethoven’s Fifth. She hoped to inspire the little girl with music glorious enough to endure the drudgery of practicing scales and learning notes. As promised, Lydia delivered an entire piece with eyes closed, which had Susie clamoring to get started.
Giles and Willy convened quietly on the costs of supplying Willie’s household with a piano of their own. Giles knew that he could and should have volunteered to have his own piano transported over to Willie’s home, but that would mean that there would never be any prospect of the treat of hearing Mrs. Maxwell play in his own home. And that was not a pleasant thought. He’d be more than happy to cover the expense for Susie to have her own instrument. But no hurry. Even that option would pull their lessons out of his home, which didn’t suit him at all.
After Willie and Susie left, Giles presented Lydia with a thank-you present: a rifle.
“Your understanding of feminine preferences is improving, Mr. Cooper. It is just what I have been hoping for.”
“And I thought I was gonna to have to talk you into it. This one’s real lightweight, so you can hold a steady aim much easier.”
“Do you think you might have a few moments today to show me how to use it?”
“Today, tomorrow, the day after that. It’s gonna take a little while to get the hang of it. I’m gonna show you how to load today. And we’ll get in a little target practice.”
Giles was tirelessly patient. He continually had to correct her stance and the angle at which she held the rifle, which required standing right behind her and guiding her arms. Giles’s body radiated heat in a way that proved a serious distraction for Lydia.
She had actually envisioned this very scene while she had still thought that Mr. Cooper was to be her husband. She knew that he would teach her how to shoot, and had anticipated his strong arms positioned around her, helpfully training her aim. Now, it was from a friend that she received this lesson in such close quarters. How silly to let it affect her so. He certainly would not be impressed if she could not keep her mind on the lesson.
Giles was closer than he had been to any woman since his wife’s death, excepting his own daughters. What was that lovely smell? The only scents he could identify with any conviction were lavender and rose. But this was quite different. Peach? Strawberry? He didn’t even dare to ask. He would hate for her to think that his mind was occupied with anything besides helping her acquire this new skill.
Lydia was far from a natural. She would require a multitude of lessons before she acquired a reliable aim. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to bother either one of them one bit.
*****
“Who do you plan on shootin’?” Miss Mabel demanded.
“Wolves. Bears. Rustlers.” Lydia shrugged sheepishly. “It occurs to me now that I forgot to ask Mr. Cooper who I’d be most likely to be shooting at. But it is a Western essential, isn’t it?”
“I think they need to stop shippin’ so many Western novels back East. Folks’ll keep comin’ out here with crazy ideas. How’s ranchin’ suit ya?”
“Oh, I’m so busy. There’s so much to do and so much to learn. I’m enjoying every bit of it, but sometimes it’s a bit overwhelming.”
“It’s easier for a family to handle. A houseful of young’uns can take care of a lot of the chores. Why don’t you get yourself a couple?”
“A . . . couple of what?”
“Young’uns. Just get a schedule for the orphan train. Pick up some hard-workin’ grateful young’uns.”
“Orphan train?”
“Sure. Folks pick up an extra young’un all the time. They need more hands to work on their farm or ranch. Sometimes it’s married folk who can’t have children. Sometimes it’s some disreputable folks who intend to take advantage. But anyone can do it. You treat ’em right, and I know you would, and you’ll have yourself some loyal company. And the help you need.”
Could this really be true? Children! Lydia’s head was spinning. This was the missing piece of a perfect dream. Time spent with Willie Cooper’s household had only served to awaken those long repressed desires. She could actually fill her empty house with the sound of children. And have the mutual love and attachment that had always eluded her.
“Oh, Miss Mabel. I could kiss you. There’s nothing more I want than to have a family of my own.”
“Best thing is get a ten-year-old boy. They’s old enough to be helpful, but young enough to stay around for another eight or ten years.”
“A ten-year-old. Yes, that would be fine. But . . . I think I would also like to have a baby. I will love the older child without question. And I’ll do everything I can to be loved by him. Maybe he’ll truly see me as his mother, maybe not. But a baby. She will need a mother, and will never see me as anything but her mother.
Oh, I loved being with Willie Cooper’s little Charlie. And Virginia and Lewis’s baby, Felicity. . . it’s actually Felicity Mabel. Did you kno
w that? Did you know she was named after you?”
Miss Mabel scoffed. “Yeah, I knowed. Ain’t those two the silliest things you ever met? Doin’ such a foolish thing. Mabel ain’t no kind of special name.”
She quickly shuffled off to the kitchen, wiping a tear away. Lydia was awash in sentiment of her own. Motherhood. If the ranch had brought her contentment, the thought of children made her giddy with happiness. She had never wanted anything so badly in her entire life.
*****
Unfortunately, other pressing matters would require the delay of Lydia’s plan to acquire children. One of the most important was that a little trip out of town would be required to get the seed she needed for her plot of winter grain. Cheyenne’s stores were geared toward ranching, not farming. Giles had given her the name and address of a grain store in Pine Bluffs that would have exactly what she needed. But it was not on the train route and was a two-day ride by wagon. Giles told her to send one of her men.
But all her men were grumblingly engaged in putting up the fence. The only person who could be easily spared was herself. Why not? The route seemed straightforward. The seed would be loaded and unloaded for her at either end. She would get to see a bit more of the land and a new town. Ajax would be at the ranch to surreptitiously keep an eye on things. And best of all, the two days’ journey would necessitate one night of camping along the way. Sleeping under the stars! As much as the prospect thrilled her, she could well imagine Mr. Cooper’s disapproval. She certainly didn’t want to put herself in any real danger, but for a less biased assessment, she would have to turn to her other trusted advisor.
*****
“Have you ever spent the night on the road? By yourself?” Lydia inquired.
“’Course I have. Railroad wasn’t always there. Everyone got out here by wagon. Thems was rough days. Plenty of folks never made it,” Miss Mabel said.
“But were you ever alone? Taking care of yourself, out in the open?”
“Sure. Few times. Even before my husband left for the gold, he would take off for days and leave me fendin’ for myself. Yeah, I had occasion to get around by myself. Sure didn’t do it for the fun of it, though.”
