by Rita Hestand
Sarah stared at her, seeing her in a new light, loving her just a tad more for it.
"I think I see what you are saying, Ma." Sarah said softly.
"Good. Now you lift your head up and realize that you are as good as any. You are a lady, because that is what you've made of yourself. Being a lady isn't something you are born with, it's something you acquire my dear. Don't you ever think you aren't good enough for anyone. I won't hear of it. You understand me?" Ma said and stopped long enough from cleaning the stove off to see her reaction.
"Yes Ma, I do." Sarah smiled sadly. "I'll try to think more of myself, but it goes back to the way I was raised. I left home in shame. I knew it wasn't right, but I just couldn't get along and my folks shamed me. When someone does that, it's not hard to lower your standards. I knew a lot of girls that did worse and never worried one minute about it. But I'm just not cut that way."
Like a dark shadow, annoyance and anger crossed Ma's ordinarily pleasant face. "Families can do more harm than they know sometimes. I guess from here on out, I'll have to be your family."
"Oh Ma….I love you!" Sarah cried and hugged her.
Chapter Six
"So did Luke ask you to the dance?" Maggie asked as she came down the stairs for breakfast.
"No, he did not." Sarah sighed. "But…Josh Reynolds did."
"You are kidding?" Maggie's eyes widened and she stared at Sarah. "But Sarah he's too old for you…"
"He's not too old for a dance." Sarah insisted, firming her lips and going to sit at the table. "I'm not going to marry him, Maggie. I'm just going to the dance with him. I won't go without an escort, and Josh invited me. He likes me and he's a good friend."
"But…" Maggie kept protesting. "He's going to think you are sweet on him for accepting."
Ma shook her head. "Leave her alone. She's settling for Josh."
"Settling?" Sarah repeated. "There is not one thing wrong with Josh Reynolds. Besides, it would have been bad manners to turn him down. No one else asked me."
"Not a thing wrong with it." Jo Ella added as she joined them in the kitchen. "I think it's great she's going with Josh."
Maggie shot her a quick frown, "You've got to be kidding. Sarah can do much better than Josh Reynolds."
Jo Ella crooked her head. "Maybe she can, but she didn't accept a proposal, just an invitation to the dance. Besides, Josh is well respected in the community, he owns a sizable ranch and he's a deacon in the church. What could be better?"
Jo Ella winked at Maggie. Maggie stared then began to nod, "Oh, yes, of course you are right again Jo Ella. Taken as a whole, he isn't so bad."
"He's not any worse than Chester," Trish offered as she stood on the last step of the stairs.
Everyone turned around to look at Trish.
"Chester Smith" They choired as disbelief and disgust mingled on their faces.
"Chester, you don't mean it. You and Chester?" Jo Ella frowned shaking her head with disgust.
"What? He's got a place, he's steady, why not." Trish shrugged. "He's big enough and strong enough to take care of me. What's wrong with Chester?"
Ma rolled her eyes but didn't add to the confusion between the girls.
But when the girls kept quibbling she shook her head, put her hands on her hips and stared them all down. "Girls, girls, it's just a dance. The important thing is that you are all going. And hopefully you will all have a good time."
"Besides, Josh is just a few inches taller than me, so I don't have to tiptoe to kiss him."
"Kiss him, that frog!" Maggie snapped. "Why would anyone want to kiss the man?"
Sarah's cheeks flamed. "Just a goodnight kiss. He deserves that much for asking me."
"That might be leading him on, dearie…" Ma injected.
Sarah shrugged, "Hadn't thought about that. Maybe you are right. Maybe just a handshake then."
Trish swayed up to Maggie and looked her in the eye. "Beauty is in the eye of the one that's looking."
"Fine, you girls want to be stuck with those losers, go ahead. I've got my eye on the Mayor."
"The mayor!"
Again everyone was aghast.
"The mayor doesn't usually invite anyone to the dances. After all, he's the caller for some of the dances." Ma corrected.
"Exactly, but he'll be there, and so will I." Maggie chuckled. "And, he isn't married or attached."
"Well, you certainly set your sites high." Ma acknowledged.
Maggie laughed.
When Luke came for dinner that evening, Ma bided her time to talk to him. Luke seemed to pay attention to all the girls, almost as though he were looking them over.
"So, Luke have you invited anyone to the dance on Saturday?" Ma asked in front everyone.
Luke dished himself a helping of mashed potatoes and passed them around to Harry. "As a matter of fact, I invited Emily Thompson."
Ma's mouth hung open for a moment. "Emily…well…what do you know."
Sarah's eyes rounded, but she controlled her reaction well.
"Is everyone going?" Luke asked.
Harry smiled, "Me and Jo will be there."
"I'm going with Chester," Trish offered.
Luke's head crooked. "Really…Chester Smith?"
"Yes, do you know him?"
"Quite well, in fact. I'm a little surprised he's attending the dance at all. He usually doesn't go in for that sort of thing."
Maggie smiled, "Well, I'm going with Ma, but I'm sure I can find someone to dance with there."
Luke glanced at her and smiled. "I'm sure you can too, in fact save me one!"
Then he turned to Sarah who pretended more interest in her food than his scrutiny.
"And you Sarah, do you have an escort?"
"As a matter of fact, I do…I'm going with Josh." She said in a small voice.
"Josh?" Luke frowned. "Josh Reynolds?"
"That's right." Sarah answered shooting him a look of defiance. "Something wrong with that?"
"N-no. It's just I'm a little surprised. He's at least ten years your senior." Luke spouted before thinking.
All heads turned to him.
Sarah ignored them all and swallowed, taking a drink of her tea. "He asked, I accepted. It's that simple."
It should have been the end of the discussion she decided but Luke looked piqued the rest of the evening.
Before leaving that same evening, he pulled Ma aside and asked her. "Do you think it wise for Sarah to go to a dance with a man nearly twice her age?"
Ma looked taken aback. "It would have been rude of her to refuse, since no one else asked her. Besides, Josh is a nice man."
"Granted, he is. But, Sarah…she's so…"
"Young?"
"Naïve maybe?" Luke corrected.
Ma chuckled. "Perhaps you should get to know Sarah better. She's not naïve Luke. She is young, she hasn't been courted since she's been here and she has a contract to get married within the year. Although she's not husband hunting, she is looking over her options. I think she's merely exploring the possibilities."
"Oh yes, I forgot, she is a mail order bride, isn't she. But Josh. I can't imagine the two of them…"
"Strangers things have happened Luke." Ma said as she cast Luke a curious glance.
"What happens if she doesn't get married within the year?"
"She becomes a saloon girl, of course."
"Saloon girl? Sarah? I had no idea. Well perhaps we should help her find a husband. I'd hate to see that happen."
"How you gonna do that, she' has a mind of her own, Luke. Besides, it's hard for me to believe who you invited."
"Why, Emily is beautiful."
"Emily is…well, she's Emily."
Luke reddened. "You don't approve of me calling upon her?"
"I have nothing to do with that Luke, but she does have a little bit of a reputation as a flirt. Not many men take her seriously. You being the preacher…well…"
"A person can improve themselves, Ma…" He defended.
"If
a person wants to, yes. And I'd remember that if I were you. A lot of men have courted her thinking they could tame her. It hasn't happened yet, and I don't look for it too." Ma nodded. "She enjoys flirting with men, and I don't think she's ready to settle down."
"You think flirting is a sin?" Luke asked perplexed by Ma's attitude.
"No sir, not in itself. But if you want to be a preacher, your wife needs to be interested in something other than herself, if you'll excuse me for saying so. A preacher's wife should be one that thinks of others first. Emily has only one thing on her mind, herself. And sooner or later you'll come to find that out."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Ma. But, I did ask her to the dance and I don't think it would be right to stand her up at this late date."
"Of course not," Ma agreed. "Maybe she will change for you. Maybe you are what she needs in life. How would I know…?"
Luke smiled a little, "I trust your judgement Ma, but I guess I'll have to decide this one for myself."
Sarah walked in and began helping Ma clean up.
"Well, goodnight ladies," Luke made a point of looking straight at Sarah.
"Goodnight, Reverend." Sarah smiled sweetly.
She glanced at Ma, "What did the two of you have your heads together about?"
Ma stopped what she was doing and turned to look at Sarah. "He doesn't think it's a good idea for you and Josh to court."
"We aren't courting Ma. He asked me to the dance and I didn't want to be rude, since I had no escort for the evening and I did want to go. Besides, it's not Luke's concern, is it?"
"No, but it sure had an effect on him." Ma grinned.
"Well then, maybe I was right to accept. Anyone who'd ask Emily Thompson to the dance deserves what he gets."
Ma chuckled, "Maybe you are right about that."
Chapter Seven
The Saturday of the dance, Brady was sick and couldn't go fishing, so Sarah was home alone most of the day. Ma had made a big meal and was taking it to a older woman who was shut-in. Sarah had helped her cook the night before and Ma wasted no time the next morning loading it in the wagon.
Sarah felt discombobulated. On the one hand, she regretted accepting Josh's invitation to the dance, but on the other, she wanted to go the dance, and Luke certainly hadn't asked her to go. Maybe it was time to set her sights on someone else. Although, that someone wouldn't be Josh.
It dawned on her that she was using Josh just to go to the dance. Was that somehow wrong of her?
No, all was fair in love and war! Right?
She pulled the dress that Abigail had loaned her out of the closet. It was beautiful. It was strapless and tight in all the right places, and it flared toward her knees
This dress had to have cost a fortune, Sarah surmised. So what was Abigail doing loaning it to her?
Since the house was empty, she made herself a tub of water in Ma's bathtub on the back porch. She pulled the shades so no one could see in and locked the doors. Then after heating her water, she stepped into a pool of warm, soapy water, with fragrant lilac water. She hadn't pampered herself so, in a long time.
She closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep.
Immediately dreams of Luke danced in her head. Sinfully sweet dreams. She felt herself grow warm. She could picture him so perfectly. She was just about to kiss Luke when she heard some noise outside and jumped.
"Anyone there?" she called in the hallway as she had wrapped herself in a towel and started up the stairs. No one answered.
That was strange, she knew she heard something.
Afterwards she dried her hair as best she could, sitting on the edge of her bed.
Bored and discontent that her dream had been disturbed, she laid on the bed. She closed her eyes and low and behold, there was Luke, smack dab in her dreams again. She thought she'd got over that. However, this time she was still in the bath and he was coming toward her.
With a boldness that set her free, she stood up from the tub and let him feast his eyes on her.
His eyes went all glassy and a smile broke over his face, suddenly he was reaching for her, it was perfect, until…"You are grown up, aren't you!" He said.
"No, no, you aren't supposed to say that!" Sarah woke herself almost screaming.
She pushed the pillow away and cried.
However, realizing she was going to be all red-eyed, she stopped crying abruptly. "I'll show him a thing or two!"
She went to the mirror and started playing with her hair. She'd do it up and that would put some age on her.
She spent nearly an hour making her hair perfect, her lipstick just right, pinching her cheeks and looking at herself.
"If he doesn't see I'm a woman tonight, he never will." She decided.
Splashing some of Maggie perfume on, and slipping into her dress, she looked at herself long and hard in the mirror. She hadn't looked this good in a long time.
She was barefoot, but she didn't need shoes.
She sat on the edge of the bed. But it was way too early, she told herself. Shrugging she took the dress off and slipped a robe on.
She went to the kitchen, grabbed a cold biscuit and a piece of ham that Ma left her on the table and went back upstairs.
However, when she went to open the window, she saw smoke. Something was on fire. Her eyes searched for the source.
Throwing on an old dress she ran downstairs and opened the back door.
"Oh no, it's the barn where we have the dances!" She shrieked. Running, she hadn't realized she was barefoot, but she kept running all the way down the main street to the barn.
The fire was roiling now. Flames shot everywhere.
A crowd had gathered, some had tried to put it out with buckets of water, but it blazed out of control now and all efforts stopped.
"What happened?" Sarah asked Harry who was holding an empty water bucket.
"We're not sure yet." Harry answered glancing at her.
"This is awful…What can I do to help?" Sarah insisted.
"Nothing." Harry nodded. "You better get back to the house. You don't have shoes on."
"Oh…well, I saw the smoke and came running."
"Nothing we can do now except wet down the buildings near it." Harry told her.
"Need any help?"
"No, I just sent Ma and the other girls home. You go on too." Harry told her.
"Sorry, I can help as well as they can." She pointed to the men bringing buckets of water. She filed right behind them with a bucket.
Harry smiled at her.
Luke showed up and started helping too. When he saw Sarah filling buckets for the men, he stopped for a minute.
"Sarah, this is no place for you!" He insisted.
"Nonsense, I can help." She assured him.
He stared at her for several minutes, and then began taking the full bucket toward Harry and the men in the front.
After a short while, Harry came toward her. "That's about all we can do for now. You get yourself home, young lady."
"Yes sir!" Sarah smiled.
She nodded slowly and walked back to the house.
When she sauntered into the kitchen, she saw Ma and the girls around the table. "No dance tonight, huh?"
"Oh, well, they will have another one in a week or two when they decide where." Ma assured them.
Sarah started up the stairs with the skirt of her wet dress in her hand.
"Sarah, why are you all wet?" Ma wanted to know.
"Oh that, well, I was filling the buckets for the men…," she explained.
"Filling the…." Ma shook her head. "I should have known you would be out there helping. Well take those wet things off and let me have them, I'm doing the wash in the morning."
"Thanks Ma. I didn't do much, just filled the buckets. They were dousing it on the surrounding buildings so they wouldn't catch fire."
"Harry will have to help clean the mess up, and try to find someone to help him." Jo Ella shook her head.
"One of the horses was cau
ght in the fire, sure does stink down there." Maggie reflected.
"Oh my God! What could have happened?" Sarah asked. "What could have set it off?" She paused on the stairs.
"I figure someone was smoking out in the barn and didn't put it out good, it caught on fire. Either that or someone tipped over a lantern." Ma decided.
When Luke came in, he had smoke smeared all over his dark suit. "You were right, Ma. Ole man Fargate was killed in the fire; a piece of his pipe was right beside what was left of him."
Every eye turned on Luke and the girls all reacted with shouts and tears.
Sarah felt a tear on her cheek, but she didn't swipe it away. She felt numb, knowing someone had died in that fire. "Poor Mr. Fargate."
Luke came to stand beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm afraid so. There won't be a dance tonight. We'll have his burial in a couple of days. One of his boys doesn't live here, so we'll be waiting on him before we have the funeral. I'd appreciate it if we could get some food over to Mrs. Fargate's."
"Of course we can. We'll get busy now." Ma nodded her head, and then all of a sudden she broke down and cried. Ma seldom cried but obviously, Mr. Fargate was well liked. "Poor old Sam. He dearly loved that old pipe and his smokes. But his Martha, she wouldn't allow him to smoke in the house, said it made her wallpaper yellow. So he had to sneak around to smoke at all. I just don't know what will come of her, though. They were married forty-five years. You live that long with someone, it's gotta be hard."
Sarah came to stand beside Ma. "We'll help her!"
Ma looked into Sarah's sad eyes and nodded. "We surely will."
"Is anybody helping Harry?" Ma asked.
"Yes, he ran me off after half the town offered their help." Luke smiled. "He said to tell you to have some sandwiches made up for everyone."
"I can do that. I got all the help I need in this room." Ma smiled at the girls.
Luke watched the hustle and bustle as all the girls got busy helping with the food. "I've got to go see Mrs. Fargate, tell her…"
