by E. E. Burke
“Better to be disciplined by his mam than to be punished by the law when he’s grown and don’t know self-control. Yer doin’ right by Danny, and he knows you love him.” Rose embraced her.
Most times, Susannah was the one offering comfort, so it felt odd to receive it. “Thank you for that bit of wisdom. I shall remind myself of it when I’m fearful I’m being too hard on him.”
She didn’t add that it was her fault he was so unhappy because she hadn’t been able to give him the kind of life he deserved. They’d lived with two other families in a shared hovel because she couldn’t dare go home. Instead, she had slaved at a factory to provide the barest necessities. Her father and Dan’s parents might’ve given up searching for them, but she couldn’t take that chance. Coming west had been her best option, and marriage would provide the respectability and security they both needed. If only she could find a man she trusted with her life—and, more importantly, her son’s life.
Rose patted her back. “If you need someone to watch Danny while yer workin’, we’d love to have him stay with us. Val could collect him when he comes to town in the mornings.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the generous offer. For the next few days, though, I must insist that he buckle down on his schoolwork, which he’s been neglecting.” Susannah tugged at the bottom of her jacket and smoothed her skirt. The time had come to deal with her son’s unacceptable attitude and behavior. Avoiding a confrontation wouldn’t make the problem go away. “Delilah and Hope are around here somewhere, I know they’d be delighted to see you. I’ll come back down after Danny and I have had our talk.”
With a heavy heart, she mounted the stairs and made her way to the modest room that she shared with the two remaining single women, in exchange for helping around the hotel. Not exactly slave labor, as Ross Hardt had suggested, but close.
When she opened the door, Danny looked up from where he sat cross-legged on the floor with an open book in his lap. Alarm and fear flashed across his face before he jumped to his feet and ran to her, throwing his arms around her waist.
“I’m sorry, Momma. Please don’t be angry! I didn’t mean to…” The rest of what he said was muffled in her skirts.
She wrapped her arms around his slender shoulders and hugged him. His deep, shuddering sobs wrenched her heart. How could she punish him when he was so obviously contrite?
“Dearest, I’m not angry with you. But you must mind me, and you must learn respect…”
“I respect you, a-and I’ll mind you, promise.”
She threaded her fingers through his silky hair, a little darker than hers, more the color of his father’s. The top of his head reached her chin. Heavens, he was growing up so fast, and she had promised to find him a good father, but she was running out of time. Even so, she couldn’t afford to be hasty. Marrying the wrong man would be worse than not marrying at all.
“Come, sit down. Let’s talk about what happened and what you’ll do differently the next time.” She took the chair while he plopped down on the pallet they shared at night. Hope and Delilah took the one bed. Susannah had insisted on it, using the opportunity to show her son that gentlemen always made sure ladies were comfortable, even if it meant giving up a soft bed.
She’d tried so hard to teach him and give him everything he needed. What was painfully clear, he needed a firmer hand—firm, yet motivated by kindness.
“I know this has been hard on you, not having your old friends around to play with and not being able to go to school—”
“Not going to school don’t bother me.” He dragged the storybook into his lap, one of the few books they owned. “I can already read better than my friends.”
“Doesn’t bother you,” she corrected. “It bothers me. You need to be learning more than I can teach you, instead of picking up bad habits from boys who don’t practice proper speech.”
Danny made a face. “They don’t care about proper speech.”
“A gentleman speaks properly.”
“But what if there ain’t—I mean, aren’t any gentlemen around to care?”
“There are ladies around, so you should behave like a gentleman regardless. And there are gentlemen around. Mr. Valentine, for one, and…” Her new boss had shown surprising qualities. “Mr. Hardt is a gentleman too.”
Danny looked doubtful. “He’s scary.”
Ross Hardt scared her as well, though for different reasons. Considering her unwise attraction to him, she must be vigilant and behave with utmost propriety, give him no reason to believe she was a woman of loose morals. She had worked too hard to convince the world otherwise.
“He can come across as gruff.” As well as captivating and fascinating… Oh, for goodness sake, he’d hired her to help with paperwork, and that would be the extent of their relationship. “He’s offered me a job helping to organize his office, so you’ll be seeing more of him, and I expect you to be polite.”
The sound of rapid footsteps on the stairs came a moment before the door swung open, and Mrs. Fry marched inside. The impertinent woman didn’t even knock. The plump, gray-haired proprietress with the kindly face had fooled them for a while. Now, she made no pretense of having a tender disposition. Her forehead creased in an angry frown.
“Mrs. Braddock, the others told me you’d returned. I must speak with you.”
Susannah stood slowly. “If you would pardon me while I finish my conversation with Danny, then I would be happy to speak with you.”
The older woman narrowed her eyes at Danny. “He is the reason we need to talk.”
Her son shrank back, his face contorted with fear, and Susannah’s heart constricted when he threw her a wild, pleading look. “I didn’t mean to—”
“While you were out, he broke the pitcher on the washstand and spilled water all over the floor, and it dripped through the ceiling onto the dining room table while our guests were eating! I discovered Miss Bodean cleaning dirt off the stairway runner, dirt he left there by wearing filthy shoes inside. Those are not the only messes he’s made since you two moved in. I can’t say I’m surprised, seeing how you allow him to gallivant all over creation with those other heathens. I’m running a hotel here, Mrs. Braddock, not a home for wayward children.”
The unexpected attack robbed Susannah of speech.
“I didn’t break it on purpose, I swear.” Danny’s eyes welled with tears. “I was just trying to get some water to help Miss Bodean clean up—”
“Ridiculous excuse, if I ever heard one.”
Susannah longed to tell the old hag that it was as good as the excuses the proprietors gave for serving watered down soup and sour wine. Except, battling rudeness with rudeness wouldn’t help matters. “I will replace the pitcher and clean up the stair runner. And I’ll have a talk with Danny about—”
“It’s not a talking-to he needs,” the old woman spat back. “You’d best take a strap to him. Spare the rod, spoil the child…”
Susannah gripped her skirts to keep from slapping the horrid old biddy, whose personality reminded her of the hatchet-faced spinster who had supervised the seamstresses at the factory. Self-righteous. Pompous. Mean-spirited. “Madam, your advice in this matter is unwelcome. I will discipline my son as I see fit.”
The woman’s plump cheeks turned bright red. “You’ll find another place to live, that’s what you’ll do. I’ll not put up with you two any longer. You are both far too much trouble. I’m done being charitable.”
With that, she whirled around and marched down the stairs, her heavy footfalls reverberating in the upper hall in time with the thudding of Susannah’s heart.
Susannah put her hand to her chest, finding it difficult to breathe. Dear heavens, what would she do? There were no other places in town to stay, not for respectable women, much less a woman with a child.
Danny circled his arms around her waist and rested his cheek on her back. “I’ll take care of you.”
She twisted around and embraced her son. Oh, how she loved him! There was no love as fierce and
deep as the love a mother had for her child.
“Thank you, Danny,” she whispered into his hair. She wouldn’t crush his pride by telling him he couldn’t possibly take care of her. He would need every scrap of confidence to get through what Fate seemed determined to throw at them. “I know you’d take good care of me. But right now it’s my turn to take care of you.”
“Where will we live?”
“I don’t know yet, but haven’t we always had a place to stay?” She forced optimism into her voice because she didn’t want him to worry. Until he was old enough to handle his own problems, she would do everything in her power to protect him, just as she’d done ever since the day she’d bundled him up and run away from home.
Chapter 3
Ross checked his watch, then tucked it into his vest pocket and went to look out the front window—again. His new employee might not have a watch. That would explain why she was more than an hour late. Another explanation for her tardiness, she’d changed her mind.
Why would she? Her options were limited and she’d appeared grateful for the chance to earn enough to repay what she owed. Perhaps she was easily distracted.
The streets were unnaturally quiet, like the calm before a storm. He suspected word had gotten around about the outcome of the race between the two competing railroads, and everyone had gone south to see if the news was true. The telegram he’d received had directed him to travel down to the border to confirm the report.
He’d prefer to spend time alone with Susannah, put the first steps in his plan to woo her into action before all hell broke loose.
He whirled around and strode past a bookshelf that needed dusting to where maps were mounted on the wall, the largest which showed the existing railroad line running directly south through Kansas, and the proposed route through Indian Territory down to Texas. If they lost the race, that route wouldn’t be completed. He couldn’t count on his investment in the railroad to pay off, which made his father’s surprising offer timely.
The door rattled.
“Pardon me for being late.” Susannah rushed in, hauling her son behind her. “I’ve brought Danny.” She snatched off the child’s cap and handed it to him. “I hope you don’t mind.”
Yes, he did mind. Having the boy around would be a distraction, not to mention, a child’s presence would make any courtship effort awkward. On the other hand, this would give him a chance to show he could be a good father, her one requirement for a spouse. How hard could it be? All he had to do was remember what his father had done—and do the opposite.
As if sensing his reluctance, she wrapped her arm around her son’s slight shoulders and drew him to her side, as a mother hen might gather her chick beneath her wing. He’d seen Danny at church and in town, but only in his mother’s company. She kept him on a short rein, apparently. She could give the boy a little freedom to go outside and play, that’s what Ross imagined he would want to do were he in the boy’s shoes.
Ross dragged two chairs to the desk, putting one next to his roller chair. The other he moved in front of the desk and motioned to it. “Danny, you sit here.”
The boy glanced at his mother, who smoothed down a tuft of brown hair that stuck up from a cowlick on his crown. Ross’s chest grew tight. His own mother used to stroke his hair like that. Odd, he hadn’t recalled it until just now.
“Go on, sit down as Mr. Hardt says and do your reading while we work,” Susannah instructed her son.
Danny scooted onto the seat and opened a book on his lap. “How long do I have to read?”
“Until I tell you it’s time to work on your sums.”
The boy heaved a pained sigh, throwing a glance in Ross’s direction, seeking empathy.
He understood Danny’s pain, having spent many fretful hours in a schoolroom. “When I was your age, the teacher tied me to a chair and told me I would have to stay there until I learned patience.”
Susannah’s horrified expression matched the one on her son’s face. They might imagine he was suggesting similar tactics.
“Tying up children, or any creature, isn’t the way to teach patience, only fear.”
The two appeared unconvinced of his sincerity. In fact, Susanna moved the chair he’d positioned next to his around to the side of the desk. She wasn’t making this courtship easy. He would have to convince her to sit next to him before she would agree to marry him.
He plopped down in his chair and leaned back. Susannah posed a challenge, and he liked challenges. The prospect of returning to the ranch and engaging in demanding, physical labor also appealed to him, even if he wasn’t looking forward to dealing with his irascible father. “I never did like sitting. Still don’t. I’d rather be outside.”
“Me too!” Danny brightened, recognizing a comrade in arms. “Do you have a horse, Mr. Hardt?”
“I have two.” When he’d left home, he had ridden away on the horse that had carried him through the war, and leading a mare he’d raised from a foal. He had taken only what belonged to him. He’d return with the horses and the money he’d been able to save to purchase livestock.
“Could I see them, please?” Danny rocked in his seat. If he kept that up, the chair would topple over.
Susannah placed one hand on his shoulder and he stopped. “Danny, please read and be quiet.”
Ross spotted his opportunity. “Let’s you and me strike a bargain. Finish the schoolwork your mother wants you to do, and you and I can go for a ride.”
Danny’s face fell. “I don’t know how to ride.”
The boy was missing out if he’d never been on a horse. Not only that, on a ranch, knowing how to ride would be a necessity. Here was a chance to befriend Danny, and also impress his mother. “That’s easily remedied. I’ll teach you.”
“Honest? That would be bully.”
Susannah shook her head. “That’s very kind of you, but Danny’s too young.”
She really needed to loosen those apron strings. Ross restrained himself from saying as much, which would call her authority into question and imply he knew more about parenting. He had no experience with raising children, but he had been a boy once.
“Soldier is a gentle horse. I wouldn’t put Danny on him otherwise.”
“I’m sure he is, but…” Susannah worried her lower lip with her teeth. Ross imagined himself nibbling on that full lower lip, enticing her to submit to a kiss, a possibility he would have to explore when he could get her alone.
“I’ll think about it,” she said finally.
Danny stopped wiggling and opened his book. “I’ll read everything and do my arithmetic.”
Susannah sent Ross a grateful look, which made him feel good about how he’d handled things. He was getting the hang of this father role pretty quick.
“All right. You do your work, and then we can go meet the horses.” Susannah finally agreed.
“And I can learn to ride?”
“One step at a time.” She examined a letter from one of the piles in front of her, and directed her next remark to Ross. “We should get to work. I don’t have much time today. I have to search for lodging.”
“Why? Are you dissatisfied with the hotel?”
“Mrs. Fry said we had to leave ’cause I got the carpet dirty and broke a water pitcher,” Danny announced. “She said we were too much trouble.”
“Danny, hush.” Susannah kept her gaze averted as she continued sorting through papers, making neat little stacks. “We can’t expect to remain in a hotel. It isn’t a good place for children.”
“I’ll have a talk with Mrs. Fry,” Ross said firmly. He wasn’t about to stand by and allow Susannah and her son to be tossed out like soiled hay for what seemed a minor offense. “If we pull the railroad business, she’ll change her tune.”
Susannah jerked her head up, frowning. “Pray tell, why would you do that? You cut off funding for our expenses and said we’d be responsible for our own lodging. Why would it matter to you if we have to go elsewhere?”
Her
tart reply sent a hot flush up Ross’s neck and into his face. He hadn’t wanted to withdraw support, but the railroad directors had refused to provide additional monies, and in a tersely worded message, suggested he should’ve gotten the women married off sooner. “The budget didn’t allow for continued subsidies. That doesn’t mean I want to see you suffer.”
She looked down at the papers in her hand, seeming unwilling to meet his gaze. Her cheeks colored, and when she spoke her voice had an apologetic tone. “If you withdraw your business, Mrs. Fry will certainly expel my two friends, so no thank you. I will find another place to stay.”
Frustrating, but she was right.
Ross rocked back in his chair, making the frame creak. Susannah glanced up at him, perhaps hoping the chair would collapse and he’d fall on his ass. “Where do you expect to stay?”
She slipped a letter back into an envelope and placed it atop one of the stacks she’d created. “Mr. Appleton has an extra room upstairs that he rents out, or so I’ve heard.”
“He’s already rented it to railroad workers. All the merchants have rented out their extra rooms to our workers and construction crews.”
Her look of pained disbelief twisted the knife already lodged in his chest. She and her son wouldn’t find suitable lodging in a day’s time. Only one solution came to mind.
“You’ll take my rail car. There’s a pull-down berth, extra bedding for Danny, and I can move things around so you’ll be more comfortable.”
She gaped at him like he’d lost his mind. “We…we can’t stay with you.”
No, not yet, that wouldn’t be decent. He’d get around to proposing later, once she got past wanting to poke a stick in his eye. “I can put up a cot in the back of the office.”
Instead of acting relieved, as he assumed she would be, she shook her head again. “No, absolutely not. I won’t put you out of your lodgings.”
Pride and independence were good traits for the wife of a Texas rancher. Right now though, he needed to nurture a little less self-sufficiency in order to gain her trust. “You’re not putting me out, Mrs. Braddock. I am offering to move out.”
