by Merry Farmer
A spattering of applause turned into a full roar. People took their seats again and Howard went on.
“You all made such a lovely picture standing up here in your new finery, but now is the time to vote.”
“I have ballots—or rather, questionnaires—right here,” Mr. Gunn said, holding up the papers. “Each of these papers asks questions about the fit of your dresses, whether your seamstress accomplished the vision you had for it, and whether it is fully executed. Please score them on those items and sign your name to the bottom of the paper. Signatures will be verified,” he added, darting a glance to the Bonneville sisters, “to be sure that no false scoresheets are turned in.”
“I wasn’t planning to do that anyhow,” Melinda piped up, face red.
Howard cleared his throat. “Yes. Well. Gunn will give you the scoresheets now. Fill them out, and bring them up here to the voting box.”
“Do they really need a box if each woman is required to sign their name to the scoresheet?” Wendy whispered.
Travis’s mouth twitched to a grin. “Howard likes to do things with as much drama as possible.”
Wendy snorted, then covered her face as she laughed. The sound warmed Travis, and he too smiled.
At least until he caught sight of Bonneville glaring at him across the aisle. There was no mistaking the disdain in the sour man’s expression. Even if Travis had wanted to talk to the man about changing his mind and hiring him, that one look said any effort to reconcile with him would be a complete loss. The look also convinced Travis he wouldn’t want to reconcile with the man anyhow. But that didn’t change the fact that he was now unemployed and soon to be broke.
“There we go.” Howard clapped his hands together and rubbed them as Gunn finished handing out the scoresheets. “Now that that’s done, all we have to do now is wait.”
Chapter 11
The main auditorium of Haskell’s school echoed with excited chatter. As Travis and Wendy stepped into the room, they were not only greeted by the scent of fried chicken and fall vegetables from the potluck, they were met by the applause and admiration of friends.
“You’ve held your head up remarkably through this whole competition,” Estelle was first to say, hugging Wendy like a sister. “And I love my dress.”
“Me too,” Lucy rushed to add. “Whatever the results of the voting are—and I don’t believe for a moment that you’ll lose—I want you to make all of my clothes from now on. It’ll save me the time of making them myself.” She laughed at her joke.
“It’s no laughing matter,” Katie said, although she too laughed. “I don’t have time to fuss with sewing these days, not with all my little ones to chase after. And I may just need a few very special dresses before long too.” She pressed a hand to her abdomen.
The ladies all cooed and congratulated her. Travis kept his smile in place, but he didn’t know the first thing about the women’s world. Babies were—
He nearly choked as the realization hit him that, in all likelihood, he and Wendy would have babies to worry about in as little as a year’s time. How could he possible handle that with no idea what would happen next in his life? The happy conversation of the women began to blur into a jumble that left him gasping for breath.
“Son.” Travis jumped a mile when Howard Haskell came up behind him and slapped him on the back. “You look as though you’ve swallowed a horseshoe.”
“Uh…”
Travis was saved from explaining his panic as Wendy spun to face Howard.
“Mr. Haskell, come what may, I can’t thank you enough for hatching the idea of this contest,” she said. “It has truly been the fulfillment of a dream.”
Howard beamed, puffing his chest with pride. “A good competition can solve all sorts of ills, my dear.”
“I never would have believed it, but now I know that’s true. And again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.” She rested a hand on Howard’s arm.
Howard blushed as if the queen herself had granted him a boon. “See, Elizabeth?” He turned to his wife, who stood smiling by his side. “Competitions are a good thing, not a frivolous waste of time.”
Travis’s lips twitched as Elizabeth Haskell rolled her eyes at her husband. He could only imagine what kind of arguments had gone on in the Haskell home over this and half a dozen of Howard’s other wild ideas.
“This one was a good thing,” Wendy insisted. “No matter what the outcome, not only have I proven my skill to the town, I’ve made wonderful new friends.” She turned to smile back at Estelle, Lucy, and Katie.
More than that, her gaze traveled on across the room to where Honoria Bonneville was watching their conversation. It could have been Travis’s imagination, but he swore that Honoria would have rather been standing with them than with her catty sisters. He shifted his weight, rubbing his chin and studying Honoria. There had to be some way to separate her from her family enough so that she could have friends outside—
“You!”
Rex Bonneville's booming accusation hushed half the conversations in the room. Travis blinked and stood straighter, only to find Bonneville marching across the room to him.
“Finally come out of hiding, have you?” Bonneville boomed. He went so far as to poke a finger into Travis’s chest when they stood toe-to-toe.
Travis ignored the gesture rather than punch Bonneville in the face, which was what he wanted to do. “I haven’t been hiding,” he said. “In fact, everyone in town knows where I’ve been.”
“You’ve been hiding from me, you weasely little traitor.”
Elizabeth and the other women gasped and clucked over Bonneville’s slight, but Travis brushed it off.
“I don’t see how I could be a traitor when my loyalties were never with you in the first place, Bonneville.”
“I should say not,” Bonneville growled.
“The only loyalties I owe are to my wife.”
“Her?” Bonneville snorted. “Well, I hope she makes you very happy, because she’s cost you the best job you’ll ever be offered.”
“So I’ve heard.” Travis stood tall, arms crossed, staring straight into Bonneville’s eyes without blinking. “Frankly, after the events of this week, I was less and less inclined to accept it anyhow.” Bonneville started to speak, but Travis went on with, “I took a look at that contract of yours. Does Billy know that your terms imply he could never buy land anywhere in Wyoming and set up a ranch of his own at any point for fifty years after leaving your employ?”
“Why…I’m sure…he does.” Bonneville’s face went red and he darted an anxious glance around the room, no doubt looking for Billy.
“What kind of dastardly contract are you shoving at your employees?” Howard demanded. Before Bonneville answered, he turned to Travis. “You’re not going to work as Bonneville’s manager?”
“No,” Travis said.
At the same time, Bonneville snapped, “My employment contracts are none of your business.”
Without further comment, he turned and marched back across the room to his daughters.
“There’s no end to that man’s underhandedness,” Elizabeth hummed under her breath.
“I wouldn’t work for him if he was the last person in Wyoming who was hiring,” Travis said. “Of course, that also means I don’t have a job at all now.” He did his utmost not to look at Howard, not to seem like he was asking or begging for his job back. He had more pride than that.
Sensing his problem, Wendy took his arm, smiling up at him. “Any man worth his salt would be proud to have my husband working for them.”
“You can say that again,” Howard proclaimed, just like Travis knew he would. “You’re welcome to come back to Paradise Ranch whenever you’re ready.” His jubilant expression dropped. “Although it would be difficult for me to demote Luke Chance after he’s shown such a knack for your job.”
“I’m not sure it would be right for me to come back,” Travis reassured him.
“No?”
Trav
is turned to Wendy, smiling back at the confidence and hope in her eyes. She was far more optimistic than he ever would be. All the more reason to give his whole heart to her.
“You see, sir.” He turned back to Howard. “Wendy tells me it’s important for her to live in town if she’s going to start her dressmaking business.”
“Which I would like to do, whether I win this competition or not,” Wendy explained.
“So living out at the ranch, or even in The Village, wouldn’t work for us. I’m sure we can find a boarding house that will accept a married couple somewhere in town. And as for work…” He trailed off, still without a clue of how to solve that problem. If worst came to worst, he supposed he could do odd jobs for people here and there.
“Living in town you say?” Howard rubbed his jaw and hummed. “Boarding house…town work…hmm.” He raised his head out of his thoughts and searched the room. A moment later, he waved to Herb Waters. “Herb! Come over here at once, I have an idea.”
Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Here we go again.”
Howard ignored her and waved for Herb to move faster. An expectant buzz began to build at the base of Travis’s spine, working its way up to his throat. He glanced to Wendy, who looked back at him in question. Travis shook his head and shrugged slightly.
“Herb.” Howard thumped the man on the back as he joined their circle. “How’s your sister in Denver doing?”
“Not too well,” Herb sighed, twisting his hat in his hands, eyes downcast. “The doctors say it’s her heart. She’s a widow, you know, and has no one to run that business of hers. I’ll probably have to leave Haskell to take things in hand, just like we were talking about the other day.”
In spite of the sadness of the story, Howard beamed from ear to ear. “There you go.” He nodded to Travis.
Travis blinked and frowned. He exchanged a confused look with Wendy before turning back to Howard. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s as simple as Sunday.” Howard rocked on his heels and tucked his thumbs into his vest. “Travis here is in need of a job,” he told Herb. “He’s got loads of experience working with cattle and horses. Herb will leave behind a thriving livery when he leaves. Have you got someone to replace you?” he asked Herb to be sure.
Herb rubbed the back of his neck, his troubled expression brightening to relief as he studied Travis. “No, I don’t. At least, I didn’t.” His smile grew. “You want to take over the livery from me, son?”
An elephant could have charged through the room and Travis wouldn’t have been more stunned. “The livery?”
“Sure.” Howard laughed. “It’s all horses and wagons, mostly. Nothing you couldn’t manage. And it’s right here in the heart of town.”
Beside him, Travis felt Wendy draw in a breath. “You would hire Travis to take over your livery? Just like that?”
“Hire?” Herb chuckled. “Mrs. Montrose, if I do need to go to my sister and her family, I would give it to him. Or at least become a silent partner, collecting a share of the profits while Travis here was part-owner and ran the place.” He studied Travis again. “In fact, I like the idea more and more.”
Wendy pressed a hand to her chest. “I’ve never known people who could be so generous.”
“That’s what we do in Haskell,” Howard said with a broad grin. “That’s the whole point of the town, the whole reason I established it. I want this place to be all about neighbors helping neighbors.”
Wendy laughed, her eyes sparkling. “All right. Do you think you could find a neighbor willing to let a room to a newly married couple?”
It was Howard’s turn to laugh. “What do you mean, let a room?”
“We’ll need someplace to live until I’ve earned enough money to build a house,” Travis said.
“Nonsense.” Howard waved away his protest. “I have it on good authority that you’re about to win this dressmaking competition, Mrs. Montrose.”
Travis frowned in confusion, and so did Wendy.
“I…I wouldn’t presume, Mr. Haskell, but even if I do…”
“Part of a prize is one of the empty stores on Main Street, is it not?” Howard went on.
Again, Wendy and Travis exchanged puzzled glances.
“That’s all well and good for Wendy’s shop,” Travis started.
“The stores have living quarters on the second floor, above the shop itself,” Howard interrupted to reveal his final surprise. His grin grew to almost comic proportions.
Travis’s jaw dropped. “The store is a house too?”
“Yes, it is.” Howard thumped him on the arm. “Clever, eh?”
It was more than clever, it was the best surprise Travis ever could have thought of.
“See,” Wendy said beside him, laughing. “I told you that everything would be all right.”
“Well…I…” Travis stuttered.
“Listen to your wife,” Howard said, nodding to Travis, then turning to Elizabeth. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this life, it’s always listen to your wife.”
Before Travis could make any sort of a reply beyond dropping his shoulders and laughing with the wonder of it all, Theophilus Gunn moved to the center of the room and clapped his hands.
“Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention. The results of the dressmaking competition are in.”
Wendy caught her breath at Mr. Gunn’s announcement. Her head whirled with the unexpected turn of events surrounding Travis’s job. It spun even more at the thought that they could live above her shop, but she didn’t want to let happiness get the better of her until she was completely certain the shop was hers. Judging by the show of support she’d had from the ladies she’d constructed dresses for and the way Melinda’s clients were standing on the other side of the school auditorium from her as Mr. Gunn held up a small card to read, the results seemed obvious.
“It appears we have a clear winner,” Mr. Gunn went on to confirm her suspicions. “And that winner is Mrs. Wendy Montrose.”
The ladies standing around Wendy burst into cheers and hugged her. The rest of the room applauded. At least, the rest of the room except for the Bonneville sisters.
“What?” Melinda exclaimed, indignant. She picked up her skirts and advanced on Mr. Gunn in the center of the room like a general leading a charge. “There must have been some mistake. You read the card wrong.”
Vivian and Bebe followed her, Honoria reluctantly tagging along. As Melinda reached Mr. Gunn, she snatched the card out of his hand. She scanned it, then let out an indignant yelp.
“Forty-three? I only scored forty-three out of one hundred?”
“I didn’t think it would be appropriate to read the scores aloud.” Mr. Gunn spoke softly and tried to retrieve the card from Melinda, but Vivian pushed him out of the way.
“Ninety-two?” she bellowed. “That…that…” Her face twisted as she failed to find a polite word to call Wendy. “She scored ninety-two?”
In spite of the venom of Vivian’s words and three of the Bonneville sisters’ looks, Wendy smiled. “It was nice of her to advertise that to the room,” she said quietly.
Beside her, Travis laughed and reached for her hand. “Yes, it was.”
“Honoria, this is all your fault,” Melinda continued to rage. She spun around to seek out her sister and swung at her with and open hand.
Honoria ducked back and avoided being slapped. “I did my very best,” she said, her voice raised only slightly louder than normal.
“Did your best to make a fool of me,” Melinda huffed. She was completely unaware of the gasps and shock from everyone who had just witnessed her attempting to hit her sister. “You should have tried harder. You shouldn’t have stopped me from getting those Mexican women down by the station to help.”
“She didn’t stop you from getting them to help,” Bebe said, a little too loud. “They did half of your work.”
“Bebe, I didn’t ask you,” Melinda snapped. It was too late. She gasped and snapped straight, s
uddenly seeing dozens of sets of eyes staring at her and her blatant admission of cheating. “I mean, I didn’t…I didn’t ask anyone to do any of the work.” Her face flushed bright red as she twisted to meet disapproving stares and shaking heads with uneasy laughter and a desperate smile. “I did all the work. All the work except what Honoria did. If there were any mistakes, they were Honoria’s fault. I didn’t…”
All at once, she gave up in a huff. Her pretend smiled twisted to a sneer and she made a grunting noise of disgust.
“Oh, who cares,” she growled, throwing up her hands. “I didn’t really want to slave away making dresses for the likes of you all day anyhow. I was meant for better things.”
She tilted her nose into the air with a sniff, grabbed Vivian’s arm for support, and marched through the crowd of amused and horrified townsfolk—who parted to let the two of them, Bebe, and Honoria pass.
Honoria paused when she reached Wendy. “I’m sorry about the cheating,” she said, darting an anxious glance at her sister’s departing backs. “I would have told you, but I figured you have so much talent and drive that you would win even with Melinda’s dirty tricks. But I’m still sorry.”
“It’s all right.” Wendy reached for Honoria’s hands and squeezed them, heart bleeding for the woman. “We can still be friends.”
Honoria’s face lit, and tears swam in her eyes. “Really? Even though Melinda was so horrible? Even though I helped her?”
“Of course. And if you ever want to help out or just join me for sewing and conversation, my door will always be open to you.”
“Oh.” Honoria raised her hands to hide her face. “I would like that so much. I would—”
“Honoria!” Vivian bellowed from the doorway. “Get away from that creature and come here!”
Honoria swallowed and sent Wendy one final look before picking up her skirts and fleeing toward her sisters. A lump formed in Wendy’s throat, and she wished there was a way for Honoria to flee from her sisters instead. Sadly, it didn’t seem as though that would happen any time soon as Rex Bonneville stomped across the room and exited the auditorium right behind Honoria, muttering something to her that Wendy couldn’t hear.
