Shadows Through Time

by Madeline Baker

  She drew him closer, closer, might have begged him to take her, then and there, if Angelina hadn’t chosen that moment to knock on the door.

  “Reese?” she called, opening the door to peer inside. “I’m through with my bath, so if you…oh!”

  Kelsey felt a rush of heat flood her cheeks at the shocked look on Angelina’s face even as she found herself wondering how a girl who had been raised in a whorehouse could look so stunned by something as ordinary as a kiss between two fully clothed adults.

  Sitting up, Reese muttered, “I should have locked that damn door.”

  With a sigh, Kelsey slid her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up, straightening her skirt. Perhaps it was a good thing Angelina had burst in when she did, she thought, reminding herself again that it would be foolish to get any more involved with Reese than she already was.

  Cheeks red with embarrassment, Angelina stammered, “I…I’m sorry, I didn’t know…I didn’t mean to…You said you weren’t…” With a choked cry, she backed up and slammed the door.

  Shaking his head, Reese turned to look at Kelsey. No one blushed prettier, he thought, quietly cursing Angelina’s interruption. But maybe it was for the best. He hadn’t been with a woman he cared for since Chumani, had vowed he would never put himself in a position like that again, never expose himself to the kind of hurt her death had caused him.

  Clearing his throat, he said, “Maybe it would be best if we got you a room of your own.”

  Kelsey nodded, hoping her disappointment didn’t show on her face. She knew it was the right thing to do, the smart thing, but she wasn’t at all happy about it.

  “I’ll take care of it in the morning,” he said. “Why don’t you go to bed. I reckon I’ll go take that bath now.”

  She nodded again, afraid to speak for fear her voice might betray her feelings.

  When he left the room, she took off her shoes and stockings and her dress, then climbed into bed. Pulling the covers up to her chin, she turned on her side and closed her eyes, hoping she would be asleep before Reese returned.

  * * * * *

  For Kelsey, eating breakfast with Reese and Angelina the following morning was more than a little uncomfortable, to say the least. She glanced at Reese from time to time, wondering what he was thinking. She didn’t have to wonder what Angelina was thinking. The girl had every reason to think Kelsey was doing more than just sleeping in Reese’s bed. Kelsey thought about setting the record straight and then decided against it. What difference did it make what the girl thought? Besides, true to his word, Reese had gotten Kelsey a room of her own. He had given her the key that morning before they came down for breakfast. Was it by accident or design that her new room adjoined his?

  Her gaze moved over him. He had changed into a clean gray shirt and black trousers. She heartily wished she had a change of clothes, as well. Her gingham dress looked like she had slept it in and of course, she had. After breakfast, she was going to walk down to the Chinese laundry at the other end of the street and ask if they could wash and press her dress while she waited.

  “So,” Angelina said brightly, “what are you two going to do today?”

  Kelsey shrugged. “I don’t know.” Other than seeing about having her dress cleaned, she didn’t have any plans.

  Reese rubbed his hand over his jaw. “I’m thinkin’ of getting’ a shave and playin’ a little poker.” Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a handful of bills. He counted out twenty-five dollars and handed it to Kelsey, then counted a like amount and gave it to Angelina. “Why don’t you ladies go buy yourselves whatever you need.”

  “Oh, Reese,” Angelina squealed, clutching the greenbacks to her chest, “you’re just the sweetest man I’ve ever met!”

  He nodded. “That’s me,” he said dryly.

  “Thank you,” Kelsey said. “I’ll pay you back somehow.”

  “No need.” Rising, he dropped a couple of bills on the table, plucked his hat from the back of his chair and settled it on his head. “I’ll see you ladies at suppertime.”

  Tucking the greenbacks into her skirt pocket, Kelsey pushed her chair back and stood up. “Well, see ya later, Angelina.”

  Angelina quickly wiped her mouth on her napkin and rose as well. “Can I go with you? I don’t want to be alone…” She smiled uncertainly. “I don’t know anyone here and…”

  Kelsey’s first instinct was to say no, but then she remembered what Reese had told her. How would she feel if she was young and on her own, afraid to go back home. To a brothel, of all places. Looking at it like that, she couldn’t blame the girl for doing whatever she thought necessary to survive. All that flirting with Reese had probably just been the desperate act of a young girl with no one to care for her and no place to go.

  Feeling ashamed for the way she had behaved, Kelsey smiled back at Angelina and said, “Come on, let’s go.”

  Leaving the hotel, Kelsey headed for the general store. Since she had money for a new dress, she would take the one she was wearing to the laundry later.

  Angelina trailed along beside her, looking in store windows, her eyes wide with wonder, like a child at Christmas.

  “Haven’t you ever been shopping before?” Kelsey asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Angelina said, grinning, “but I’ve never had money of my own before. And Mama always picked my clothes for me.”

  Kelsey glanced at the girl’s outfit, amazed that any mother would dress her teen-age daughter in such a way, then shook her head. Angelina’s mother wasn’t like most mothers. She was a hooker and she dressed her daughter accordingly. And effectively, judging by the looks Angelina received from every boy over twelve and every man they passed.

  Kelsey hesitated when she reached the general store. Things had gone horribly wrong the last time she had been there. Reminding herself that lightning didn’t strike twice in the same place, she hoped, she opened the door and stepped inside, with Angelina at her heels.

  Nate Osgood stood behind the counter. He looked up as Kelsey entered the building.

  He looked at her a moment and then smiled in recognition. “You’re looking well,” he said.

  “So are you.”

  He rubbed the back of his head. “That was a day I’d just as soon forget.”

  “Me, too,” Kelsey agreed. “I thought we were both goners for sure that day.”

  He nodded. “And who’s this with you?”

  “This is Angelina Ridgeway. Angelina, this is Mr. Osgood. He owns the store.”

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Ridgeway,” Nate said.

  “Likewise, I’m sure,” Angelina replied, not quite meeting his eyes.

  “Anything I can help you ladies with?”

  “Not right now,” Kelsey said, “we’re just browsing.”

  “Well, let me know if you need anything,” he said, and went back to whatever it was he had been doing.

  Kelsey and Angelina went their separate ways inside the store. Kelsey moved along the first aisle, stopping now and then to look at whatever caught her eye. She was in no hurry. She had all day and nothing else to do.

  She picked up a package of hairpins, a couple of ribbons so she could tie back her hair, several pairs of cotton stockings. She smiled her thanks when Mr. Osgood brought her a hand basket to carry her purchases.

  Moving on, she dropped several bars of lavender soap into her basket. She grinned as she looked at some of the prices. Hard to believe that you could actually buy a dozen eggs for ten cents, or that butter was only twenty-three cents a pound, or that a pound of coffee was only thirteen cents. Of course, it wasn’t Starbucks! As for eggs, the last time she had bought a dozen, they were over three dollars.

  Wandering through the store, she was amazed that Mr. Osgood ever sold anything. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for the way things were laid out. Bottles of whiskey were mixed in with bottles of quinine and something called Aunt Ru’s Prickly Ash Bitters. One shelf held bottles of “cures” for a number of ailments,
like Lou’s Consumption Cure and Fletcher’s Castoria and Dr. Dee’s Obesity Powders, guaranteed to make you lose weight.

  Kelsey had to laugh at that. Apparently the obsession to be thin wasn’t limited to the women of the future!

  She moved to another aisle. Haphazardly stacked in a pile on a long table were chamber pots and cuspidors, dish pans and coffee grinders, washboards and tea kettles, flour sifters and bread pans and a few items that left her wondering what they were.

  She passed a glass case filled with an assortment of knives, another that displayed handguns, large and small.

  The one thing she didn’t see was ladies’ underwear, which meant she would just have to keep washing her bra and panties out by hand every night.

  When she reached the back of the store, she paused to pet a large black and white cat that was curled up on the window ledge.

  Moving to the next aisle, she found a rack of ready-to-wear dresses. There were only a dozen or so. She held up two of them, thinking they looked like they might fit. The first was a green and brown stripe with long sleeves, a nipped-in waist and a ruffled skirt. The second was dark blue with a fitted bodice, a square neck and short puffy sleeves. They weren’t Liz Claiborne or Donna Karan, she lamented, draping them over her arm, but they would have to do.

  She found a pair of black kid half-boots and added them to her basket and she was ready to go.

  Angelina was standing at the front counter, chatting with Mr. Osgood while he added up her purchases. Kelsey was happy to see that, among other things, the girl had chosen a couple of skirts and shirtwaists in subdued colors.

  A short time later, her purchases wrapped in brown paper and tied with string, Kelsey left the store with Angelina again trailing at her heels.

  “That was fun,” Angelina said, hurrying up beside her. “And I have money left over!” Delving into a small sack, she pulled out two peppermint sticks. “I bought one for you,” she said, offering the sweet to Kelsey. “I bought some divinity, too. And some licorice for Reese. Do you think he likes licorice?”

  “I don’t know, but thank you for the candy.”

  “You’re welcome. Are you and Reese going to get married?”

  “Married! Heavens, no, why would you think such a thing?”

  “Well, you don’t act like a whore and he doesn’t treat you like one,” the girl said candidly, “but I saw you two kissing, so I thought…” She licked her peppermint stick, then shrugged. “You know, I just thought you were engaged or something.”

  “No, we’re not engaged or anything. We were just kissing.”

  “My mom never kisses the johns. She says it’s too intimate.”

  Kelsey thought she might choke on her peppermint stick. Paid sex with a stranger was okay, but kissing was too intimate?

  “Come on, Angie,” she said, “let’s go get some lunch. Or supper, or dinner, or whatever they call it here.”

  Reese took a deep breath as he stepped into the Square Deal Saloon. It was like coming home. He passed the roulette wheel, the faro table and the blackjack table, skirted a handful of cowhands playing three card monte. A couple of Chinese men were playing fan tan over in the corner.

  Reese nodded at the bartender as he made his way to his favorite table in the back.

  Old man Neff was already there, along with Ed Booth and a couple of other men Reese recognized though their names escaped him.

  He nodded to the other men as he sat down.

  “Hey,” old man Neff said, shuffling the deck. “Where the hell have you been?”

  Reese shrugged. “Can’t spend all my time sitting here taking your money.”

  “Well, now,” Neff said, chuckling. “I purely do appreciate that, yessir.”

  “I was hoping you’d left town for good,” Booth remarked.

  “Is that right?” Reese picked up the cards he’d been dealt.

  “Yea,” Booth said, fanning his cards in his hand. “I figure that’s the only way I’ll ever get ahead.”

  “You could quit playing,” Reese suggested. “Spend your nights at home with the missus.”

  Neff laughed as he dealt the last card. “Why do you think he plays poker?”

  “I heard you ran into some trouble over at Osgood’s the other day,” Booth said.

  “Trouble’s right,” Reese muttered, thinking it had come in twos. Looking up, he saw one of them pass through the saloon’s bat-wing doors. She was wearing a new dress that managed to be modest and enticing at the same time. Watching the sway of her hips, he decided it probably wasn’t the dress at all. It was the woman.

  How had he forgotten that Kelsey worked here?

  Reese watched her go over to the bar and talk to Pete, probably asking him if she still had a job. He hoped the answer was no. She was far too tempting for his peace of mind. Seeing her in here every day was a torment he didn’t need, especially now, when he knew how intoxicating her kisses were, when he knew the taste of her lips, the way the contours of her body molded against his. Damn! Sleeping beside her last night had been torture of the worst kind. He had no sooner fallen asleep than he woke with her shapely little fanny pressed up against his groin. Every in-drawn breath had carried the scent of her sleep-warmed skin to his nostrils, her silky hair had tickled his cheek. His reaction had been predictable and immediate. He’d gotten her a room of her own first thing that morning.

  “Reese, you in?”

  “Yea.” He tossed two dollars into the pot, his gaze still on Kelsey and Pete. He could only hope that Pete was telling her that he had changed his mind and didn’t want her working in the saloon anymore.

  With a nod, Kelsey turned away from the bar. He knew, from the expression on her face, that Pete hadn’t said no.

  * * * * *

  Kelsey hurried back to her room at the hotel. It was three o’clock. She was supposed to be at work in an hour.

  Her room looked pretty much like Reese’s—small and square, with a single window, a double bed and a four-drawer dresser with an attached mirror. A flowered bowl and pitcher stood on a tray atop the mahogany dresser. An easy chair covered in a faded print occupied the corner near the window.

  She had left her purchases in her room before going to the saloon to talk to Pete. Now she unwrapped the packages and put her things away, then changed out of her dress and into her jeans and tee shirt, as Pete had directed. It seemed the men in the saloon liked her in pants. One thing was for certain, she was going to have them laundered in the morning.

  She brushed out her hair and let it fall around her shoulders, then put on her tennis shoes. If she was going to be on her feet for eight hours, she was going to be comfortable!

  With a last look at herself in the mirror, she left her room and walked down to Angelina’s and knocked on the door.

  Angelina opened it a moment later, her mouth forming an O when she got a look at Kelsey’s attire.

  “Where did you get that shirt?” the girl exclaimed, then frowned as she began reading the words aloud, “I’m P-M-S-ing and I have a gun…what does P-M-S-ing mean? A gun?” she exclaimed, her eyes widening. “Are you kidding?”

  Kelsey sighed. “It’s a joke back where I come from and I don’t have time to explain it to you now, I’ve got to go to work.”

  “Work? You work? Where?”

  “At the Square Deal Saloon across the street.”

  Angelina’s eyes widened. “So you are a…”

  “No, I’m not. I serve drinks and that’s all, end of discussion, period.”

  “Oh, sure.”

  “I’m mean it, Angie, that’s all I do. Will you be all right here, by yourself?”

  Angie made a face at her.

  “All right, stupid question. But listen, I don’t think you should go wandering around town by yourself after dark.”

  “You’re not my mother,” Angie replied sullenly. “I don’t have to listen to you.”

  “That’s right, you don’t. Do whatever you want. I have to go.”

  “K
elsey, wait!” Angelina grabbed Kelsey’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Do you want to meet me downstairs for dinner at six?”

  “All right.”

  “Okay, see you then.”

  Leaving the hotel, Kelsey admitted that sometimes she wanted to smack Angie up side the head and sometimes she just felt sorry for the girl. No doubt Angie had had a rough life, growing up in a brothel with a mother who saw her as nothing more than a potential whore.

  Being careful to look both ways, Kelsey crossed the street and headed for the Square Deal. She wasn’t looking forward to spending eight hours in a stinky saloon with men who didn’t smell much better but it was the only job in town. And she needed a job, not only to pay for her room and board, but to pay Reese back for the money he had loaned her.

  Taking a deep breath, she pushed her way through the bat-wing doors. The smell of alcohol and cigar smoke and perspiration was just as bad as she remembered. A rotund man in a plaid shirt, brown trousers and a black derby hat sat at the piano playing what sounded like The Blue Tail Fly, though it was hard to be sure, since the piano was so out of tune.

  Whistles and cat calls followed her progress toward the bar where she checked in with Pete. Then, squaring her shoulders, she forced a smile and went to work.

  Kelsey was delivering drinks to a table near the back when she saw Reese. He was sitting with his back to the wall, his gaze not on the cards in his hand, but on her.

  She felt her cheeks grow hot under his warm regard as she handed out the drinks on her tray.

  As the night wore on, she did her best to ignore him as she made her way back and forth between the tables and the bar, but time and again she caught him watching her, a speculative gleam in his dark eyes.

  She was glad when dinnertime came.

  Leaving the saloon, she paused on the boardwalk and took a couple of deep breaths to clear her nostrils of the smell of cigar smoke, then she crossed the street and went into the hotel dining room.

  Angelina was already there, waiting for her. Clad in one of her new outfits, with her hair pulled away from her face by a pink ribbon, Angie looked young and vulnerable.