by Linda Bridey
Renee smiled. “Just say it. I’m hard to offend, Brody. Go ahead.”
“Ok. Your pa said that you weren’t interested in dating and that he wouldn’t tolerate any fooling around where you were concerned,” Brody said.
A consummate actress, Renee hid her fury at her father behind a smile. “Oh, Pa is always kidding around. Don’t pay any attention to what he said. I’m certainly interested, and I don’t need his permission to see anyone.”
Brody shifted his feet nervously. “No, he was dead serious. I’m sorry, Renee, but I’m friends with him, and I don’t want any friction at work when he comes to perform.”
He was one of the bouncers at the Watering Hole and Switch put on a show there a couple of nights a week.
“I see,” Renee said, smiling tightly. “Well, it’s nice that you respect his friendship. I’ll take those now.”
“I’ll carry them for you.”
“That’s all right. I’m fine,” she responded.
Reluctantly, Brody handed the material to her. “I’m sorry, Renee.”
“That’s ok, but it’s your loss,” she said, giving him a haughty look before sashaying away.
Brody looked heavenward and let out a sigh of frustration before continuing his shopping.
*****
Renee fumed at her father as she walked towards home. She remembered that Tim and Randy were coming to supper and thought she’d better tell them not to since there was going to be a feud when she took Switch to task for his meddling. She turned at the corner and headed for the Dawson Dialogue, the town newspaper.
She could use the telephone there to call the Dwyer residence, one of the seven places around town that had phone service. Entering the office, she saw Chief Black Fox sitting at the telegraph machine taking down a telegram. He always took a shift on Wednesdays. She smiled at him when he looked up but didn’t disturb him so that he didn’t mess up the message.
It was amusing to see an Indian chief working a telegraph machine, but he was good at it and he liked seeing what was going on with the military forts close by and the sillier messages people sent to each other.
Renee set her things down on an empty table that was used for putting the newspapers together and picked up the telephone receiver. She kept ringing the appropriate extension until the Dwyers’ head butler, Randall, answered.
“Hello, Dwyer residence,” he said in his cultured British accent.
“Hello, Randall. This is Renee Keller. How are you?”
“I’m well, thank you. And yourself?”
She forced a note of cheerfulness into her voice. “I’m just fine. I was wondering if Timmy is home.”
“Yes, Master Tim is in the parlor. I’ll fetch him for you. One moment.”
“Thank you, Randall.”
The line was silent for several moments before Tim said, “Hi, Renee. What’s going on?”
“I’m calling to tell you that it’s not a good night for you and Randy to come to dinner. But will you still pick me up at seven like we planned?” she asked.
“Yeah, sure. Is everything ok?”
Renee blinked back tears. “Not really. It’s going to be unpleasant at home this evening, I’m afraid, and I don’t want you boys to get caught in the middle of it.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. Is there anything I can do?”
“No, but thank you,” she said. “I have to go now, but I’ll see you tonight. Be prepared to buy me a couple of drinks, money bags.”
His husky laugh in her ear had a comforting effect on her. “You got it. I’ll take good care of you.”
“I know you will. Goodbye, Timmy.”
“See ya.”
Renee hung up and saw Black Fox looking at her, his dark eyes filled with questions. “Han, Grandfather,” she said, kissing his cheek.
He smiled. “Hau, granddaughter. What is wrong?”
“Nothing much. I’m going to kill my father, that’s all,” she said.
His eyebrows rose. He wasn’t used to hearing people say that about Switch, who was sweet-natured and rarely had a bad word to say about anyone. “What did he do to make you so angry?”
“He’s been interfering in my personal business. That’s all I’ll say for now, but I’m sure you’ll hear all about it,” she said.
“Be careful what you say, Renee,” Black Fox said. “Words said in anger cannot be taken back.”
“I’ll try to remember that,” she said, hugging the man who’d become a surrogate grandfather to her.
He chuckled. “I remember holding you as a baby. You were very cute.”
“Was I?”
“Yes. You had such thick hair and it stood up like you were frightened,” he said.
She laughed. “I’m glad it doesn’t look like that now.”
“No, it does not. You have become a very beautiful woman.”
“Thank you, Grandfather. Well, I’m heading home. Have fun with your telegrams,” she said, gathering up her packages again and leaving.
*****
Switch whistled as he entered his home and hung up his coat and scarf in the foyer late that afternoon. Going into the parlor, he called out, “Anyone home?”
He heard someone on the stairs and went to the bottom. “Hello, daughter,” he said, smiling. “How was your day off?”
“I had a very nice day. I made some brownies this morning and had lunch with Timmy,” she said, reaching the foyer. “I went to Elliot’s to get some material to make pillowcases with. I ran into Brody Benson and he told me something very peculiar.”
He followed her into the kitchen, where she started peeling potatoes. “What did he tell you?”
“Well, he was somehow under the impression that I wasn’t interested in seeing anyone. I don’t know where he would get such a silly idea,” she said.
Uh-oh, Switch thought. “I might have mentioned something like that to him. You haven’t been out with anyone but Sawyer and that was just as friends. I thought maybe you’d gotten soured on men—”
“Stop lying!” she pounded the counter, making him jump. “He said that you basically warned him away. Why would you do that? It’s none of your business!”
Switch dropped all pretenses. “Renee, it was for your own good. You’re a very beautiful young woman and I see the way men look at you. You’re my little girl and I’m not going to let anyone take advantage of you.”
“Take advantage of me? Do I seem like the kind of girl who gets taken advantage of?” she asked.
An odd look flitted across his face. “Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
His dark eyes sparked with irritation, a rare emotion for him, but he kept his words gentle. “Renee, I know that you, um, uh, enjoy men.”
Deep embarrassment froze her in place and her hand clenched around the paring knife handle.
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m just trying to protect you,” Switch said. “I know you’re mad at me and that’s ok, but please try to understand. I’m your father, and fathers protect their kids.”
Renee laid the knife down on counter and wiped her hands on a towel. “I know you mean well, but have you done the same thing with Skip?”
“Well, no, but he’s so shy around girls—”
“But if he wasn’t? If he enjoyed girls, would you go around warning them away from him?” she asked.
“It’s different for girls, Renee,” he said.
“Well, not for this girl,” she said, walking out of the kitchen.
“Where are you going?”
She mounted the stairs to the second story, Switch following her.
“I’m going to pack.”
“Pack? Where are you going?” Switch asked, alarmed.
“I’m going to find my own place so that no one meddles in my business anymore,” she said.
Switch put a hand on her arm. “You can’t move out. Renee, don’t do anything rash, honey.”
She whirled around to face him when she reached the top of the stairs. “I ca
n’t I move out? Why? I make my own money, and I’m twenty now. If I were a man you wouldn’t be telling me that. You didn’t say that to Jethro when he moved to New York a few years ago. I never thought you were sexist, Pa, but I see that I was wrong about that.”
“It’s not like that,” he said. “Don’t leave. Where are you going to go?”
“I’ll stay at the hotel until I find a place. I’m sure I can find a little apartment or something,” she said. “Maybe move in with another woman who’s in the same predicament I am.”
“You call your father trying to protect you a predicament? You’re lucky to have a father who gives a damn about you because mine sure didn’t. You can be mad at me all you want, but what I did, I did out of love for you, not because I’m sexist,” Switch said fervently.
Renee remembered her grandfather’s words and reined in her anger as best she could. “I understand, but although your intentions are loving, they’re still sexist. It’s time for me to make my own way now and my own decisions. I love you, Pa, but I’ve made up my mind.”
Switch fought back tears. “I can’t tie you up or force you to stay, but please don’t leave until you find a place. At least let your ma and me help you get set up somewhere. Please?”
Renee, like her brothers, adored her parents and her father’s plea didn’t fall on deaf ears. “Ok, Pa. Thank you.”
“So, you don’t have to pack tonight then,” he said.
“No, but I do have to get ready to go out with Timmy and Randy,” she said. “We’re going over to the Howler in Wolf Point. They want to play pool.”
Switch didn’t like her going to the rowdy saloon, but he knew that Tim and Randy would take good care of her. “Ok.”
“They’ll be here at seven.” She kissed his cheek and went to her room, shutting the door behind her.
Switch went back down the stairs slowly in a state of shock. Putting his scarf and coat back on, he headed out into the cold winter wind.
Chapter Four
When Tim pulled up to the Keller house in his Model T, Renee was waiting outside for him. Randy had sat in back so that Renee could sit next to Tim.
“Hi, fellas,” she said, her expression bright. “I’m ready for a good time. How about you?”
“Yeah,” Randy agreed. “I’m ready to make some money at pool.”
Tim said, “Me, too. You can be our lady luck.”
“I will certainly do that,” she said as Tim pulled out.
Tim said, “I hope you weren’t waiting long.”
“Only a few minutes,” Renee replied.
“Everything ok? I was a little worried after you called me,” Tim said.
“Well, I had a pleasant argument with Pa, which is usually the way we fight, so I’m not sure if you can call it fighting. However, I had quite the row with Ma. Anyway, the windup is that I’m moving out.”
Tim gave her a sharp look. “Moving out? It was that bad?”
“Yes, but I’d rather not talk about it, if that’s ok?” she asked.
“Uh, sure, I guess,” Randy said. “That’s a pretty big deal, though, Renee.”
She tossed her head a little. “Yes, it is, but this way people won’t be able to stick their noses where they don’t belong.”
Tim was even more curious about what had happened, but her tense expression told him that she was very upset and he didn’t want to keep asking her questions. Instead, he sought to ease her agitation by making her laugh.
“Guess what?”
“What?” she asked.
“Jasmine grounded Daddy and Joey,” he said.
Randy laughed. “It was so funny.”
“What happened?” Renee asked.
“Well, they were arguing because Joey jumped the fence with Fern, that new Thoroughbred we bought. Daddy saw him and about had a heart attack. So he was swearing a blue streak at Joey and Joey was yellin’ back like he does. Jasmine walks right up to them and shouts, ‘Hey! Shut up!’ Well, they did. She points at Joey and says, ‘You’re grounded for a week for jumpin’ that fence like that. You should have checked her a little sooner than you did before going over. No dessert at supper.’ Then she points at Daddy and says, ‘And no whiskey for you for a week for swearin’ like that. I have spoken!’”
They all laughed for several minutes. “I have spoken” was a phrase that Black Fox often used when he was done reprimanding someone or giving them an order that he expected to be followed. Sometimes he meant it jokingly and other times he was dead serious. Jasmine, Tim’s niece, had picked up the phrase from him.
“She’s too much,” Renee said. “Did they listen to her?”
Tim said, “Well, Jr. didn’t have any pineapple upside-down cake at supper and Daddy didn’t have his usual drink after supper, so I guess they did.”
He and Randy kept talking about humorous subjects the whole way to Wolf Point and Renee was grateful to them for it. The Howler was crowded and Tim shouldered a path ahead of Renee to the bar.
Jinxy Jenkins, a petite blonde, smiled at them. “Well, there’s one of those handsome Dwyer boys. Oh! And Randy, you sweet thing. Where’s my kiss?”
Randy leaned over the bar and planted a big kiss on her cheek. “Don’t let your man see that or he’ll kill me,” he said, grinning.
“Well, if I had a man, I wouldn’t, but since I don’t, there’s nothing to worry about,” she said, flashing her dimples at him.
“Yeah, but your pa won’t like it,” he said, moving back.
“He’s not here tonight.”
Randy frowned. “Who’s helping you tonight? You can’t keep up with all of this on your own.”
“How would you like a job for the night? I pay real good,” she replied.
Randy grinned. “I’d be honored to assist you, madam,” he said, imitating his father, Chester’s, English accent.
“Ooh! You keep talking like that and I might have to steal you away from the Sweet Spot,” Jinxy said.
“Sorry, Tim,” Randy said. “I can’t turn down the kind of money I’ll make tonight.”
“Go ahead. Have fun,” Tim said with a wink. “And pour us a couple of beers.”
Randy trotted around behind the bar and put on an apron. “You got it. I better get a big tip, too.”
Tim laughed and pulled out a twenty from his wallet. “Now, come here. If I’m gonna play Daddy, I have to do this right.”
Randy set the beer on the bar for them and leaned closer.
Tim imitated his father’s Texan accent. “Thanks for the beer, Randy,” he said, tucking the money in Randy’s shirt pocket. He patted it. “Keep up the good work.”
Randy said, “Yes, sir. I will, sir.”
Renee laughed at their clowning around and then she and Tim went to the back of the bar where the pool tables were located. Tim took her coat and hung it up with his on a peg on the wall. Then he sat down with her to wait until the current game of pool ended.
“Are you gonna play with me?” he asked her.
“Me? No. I don’t play,” she said.
“You don’t? Wanna learn?”
She shook her head a little. “Don’t you want a more challenging opponent?”
“I think teaching you would be fun.”
“Why not? I’ll try anything once,” she said.
When it came their turn, Tim showed her how to rack the balls and break the triangle of orbs with the cue ball.
“Do you want the odd or even numbered balls?” Tim asked.
“Odd.”
“Ok,” he said and began to show her the proper cue stick techniques for whatever shot she was trying to accomplish.
“I’m never going to remember all of this,” she said.
He put more chalk on the cue stick and handed it to her. She bent down, narrowing her eyes as she lined up her shot. “Five ball, side pocket,” she said before sinking it in one shot.
Tim watched in amazement as she proceeded to make the next four shots in rapid succession. “You little minx! Y
ou know how to play.”
“Oh, maybe just a little,” she said, batting her eyelashes at him.
He laughed with delight, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You wanna have some real fun?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“See those two guys at the next table?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Tim grinned. “I think it’s time for them to lose some money.”
Renee giggled. “I like the way you think, Timmy.”
*****
Three hours later, the three friends left the Howler, with Renee at the wheel since neither man was quite sober enough to drive. Although she loved having fun, Renee wasn’t a big drinker and she was in complete control of her faculties.
Tim said, “Congratulations, Miss Keller, you made quite the haul tonight. Those boys won’t forget you anytime soon.”
“We made quite the haul, future Congressman Dwyer. I know exactly what I’m going to do with my share,” she said.
“What’s that?” Randy asked.
“Use it towards my new place,” she said. “Wherever that will be. I’ll have enough for my first month’s rent and then some.”
Tim said, “Will you let me donate to the cause? God knows I don’t need the money.”
“You’re very sweet, Tim, but no. I need to do this on my own,” she said. “Donate it to the Red Cross or the church if you don’t want it.”
“I’d rather donate it to you, but ok,” Tim said, rolling down the window. “Lord, it was hot in there.”
“Randy, how come you didn’t ask Jinxy out?” Renee asked.
“Have you ever seen her father?”
“No.”
“Picture a guy about the size of Raven who wears a gun and looks meaner than a snake. He’s why I don’t.”
“So he’s sexist, too,” she said.
Tim heard the note of anger in her voice. “What do you mean?”
Her hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Why is it all right for fathers to tell their daughters who they can see, when they can see them, and expect them to stay virgins until they’re married? Hmm? But why is it ok for boys to do whatever they please? Be with as many women as they want? Answer me that, boys.”
