But he was a grown man, so he knew he could take care of himself. He wasn’t like a child, completely naive to what would eventually happen when she left.
No, he would be just fine. There wasn’t a woman alive who could make him believe she could be trusted.
Even one who was now bent over investigating a flower on the path with his daughter as though it was the most important thing in her life.
No, especially not her.
Chapter 10
“I don’t see why I gotta help. This isn’t man’s work. Why can’t I just go help pa in the field?”
Mrs. Hammond finished dumping the last bucket of creek water into the tub, then set it down on the ground and turned to face her grandson. “Owen Hammond, you know your pa wouldn’t want to hear you talking like that about lady’s or man’s work. Sometimes a body has to do whatever they can to help, regardless of whether or not they think it’s work they need to be doing.”
Owen scowled and caught Kathryn’s eye before he turned away and kicked at a stone on the ground. But not before she’d noticed the redness in his cheeks. She knew he was embarrassed being scolded by his grandmother in front of her, but even though he was ill-mannered at times, Kathryn understood. She really didn’t know what she could do to make things easier for him, though. Owen seemed determined today to argue with everyone and just be grumpy to anyone who tried to talk to him. His father was plowing a bit more of the land, hoping to plant more crops there next spring, and had asked Owen to help his grandma and her carry water for their laundry.
Kathryn had been relieved to see that she wouldn’t actually have to crouch down in the creek like she’d been imagining. Instead, they’d carried a tub down next to it where a small stand had been built to set it on to make washing clothes easier. Delia had been so proud to point it out to her, saying that some families still just washed their clothes right in the creek, but they didn’t have to do that anymore.
Kathryn didn’t have the heart to tell the little girl that this was still quite primitive to what she’d had back home. In truth, she hadn’t actually ever washed her own clothes before, so she was nervous that it was going to be painfully obvious to everyone else just how much she didn’t know.
“Now, in the colder months, we wash our clothes up at the house. But in the summer, we do them out here so we don’t heat the house up any more than it is. Besides that, I much prefer being down here at the creek, instead of having to haul buckets of water up. When winter comes, we just use well water or melt some snow on the fire.”
Mrs. Hammond lifted the wicker basket she’d used to bring all of their clothes down to the creek and carried them over to where another tub was sitting on a large iron grate over a roaring fire. “We wash all the whites first, by letting them sit in some boiling water before taking them over to the washboard. Then we wash any colors, and the last ones are Colt’s dirty work clothes.” She smiled over at Kathryn. “But you just have your few clothes, so I would think you can even get away with only washing your things every two weeks.”
“Well, I appreciate you taking your Saturday to show me how to do this. I know your regular laundry day is Monday.”
Mrs. Hammond nodded as she threw more white clothing into the boiling tub. “Yes, it works best to do it on Mondays because sometimes it takes a few days for clothing to dry completely in the colder months, so it gives me time to also do any mending and the ironing before everyone needs their Sunday best.”
Kathryn watched in admiration as the woman so matter-of-factly talked about her chores. They were such a part of her life that she barely even had to think about them anymore. But Kathryn knew how hard these everyday chores were in reality, even if these hardened frontier women had grown accustomed to them. She thought about her own mother, and knew without a doubt, these were tasks she would never be able to handle.
Life out here was so different from what Kathryn had grown up with, and for a brief second, the familiar doubts started to nudge her. But she quickly pushed them away and bent down to lift her own basket up. She walked over and threw her few white items into the boiling water.
“There, now while we wait for those to be ready to rinse, we will fill these buckets back up and set them near the fire to warm. It’s better to do the scrubbing in warm water so our hands don’t get too cold.”
Kathryn worked alongside her, with Owen and Delia helping as much as they could. She was sure she would never understand how the older woman ever managed to do all of this on her own every week. Between moving the wet, heavy clothing between tubs and then actually wringing the water out of them, Kathryn was quickly exhausted. But she didn’t want to let on to Mrs. Hammond because she knew the older woman would just tell her to rest and would finish it on her own.
Kathryn was determined this was a chore she would learn to do, and do it well enough that she wouldn’t need anyone to help her. If she planned to live out here on her own, she had to be able to do these basic tasks.
“When can I come back and stay with you, Miss Reeves? It was so much fun, wasn’t it? I can still smell the nice perfume you let me spray on my school dress, even though it was already three days ago.”
Kathryn smiled over at Delia crouched down at the creek beside her filling up a bucket. The little girl tried to fill it all the way to carry it like the rest of them, but she was so small it almost tipped her over whenever she tried to walk.
“Delia, didn’t your pa tell you not to be inviting yourself to Miss Reeves’s house anymore? You mind your manners.”
“It’s fine, really, Mrs. Hammond. I don’t mind. I enjoyed having the company for the nights she stayed.” She looked at Delia and smiled. “But you always must obey what your pa tells you, isn’t that right? I promise, one day soon I’ll invite you down to stay again.”
The girl had spent two nights with Kathryn, and she was the first one to admit just having someone else there had taken some of the fear out of the darkness outside her window at night. She knew she was being silly, and there wasn’t really anything to worry about, but after growing up under the glow of the city streetlights at night, she hadn’t ever imagined how dark the world around her would be without them.
Delia had informed her the first night she stayed that the awful howling and yipping sounds outside her window were just coyotes. She said they wouldn’t hurt them unless they were sick or hungry, but Kathryn wasn’t sure she believed her. Likely, it was just something her father had told the child to keep her from being scared of them.
Kathryn sat for a moment after the others lifted their buckets to carry back up the embankment, looking at her reflection in the water trickling past her.
In the clear depths, she could see dirt smudged around her eye, and many strands of hair poking out through the kerchief Mrs. Hammond had insisted she wear to keep it all pulled back while they worked. She didn’t recognize the woman staring back at her, and she realized that within just a short week, she’d already changed from the girl she’d been growing up. She was proud of how she’d handled this first chance to be independent, even if she did look a little dusty and work-worn.
Dipping her fingers in the water, she leaned slightly forward to get a better look at the dirt on her face and reached up to wipe at it. The ripples in the creek made it hard to see, but if she just got down a little bit closer…
“You’re going to fall in.”
The words spoken loudly behind her startled her, and her foot slipped on the rock she’d been crouching on. Before she had a chance to even blink, she was lying face down in the cold water. She quickly jumped up, screaming as she reached up to push the wet hair that had escaped and flopped down into her face as she struggled to see.
Her eyes locked on Colt’s shocked face staring back at her from the bank, just as her feet slipped out from under her again on the wet uneven creek bed beneath her. This time, she was sure her legs went straight in the air before her backside landed on a hard, cold rock, sending shooting pain through her entire
body.
She barely noticed the splash of the water as it covered her completely. Gasping for air, she sat up and struggled to get back onto her feet, but no matter how hard she tried, her slippery shoes wouldn’t grip on anything underneath her. The weight of her dress and underclothes weighed her down, making her attempts even more difficult.
Just when she was about to plunk herself down in the middle of the creek in defeat, she glanced up and saw Colt stepping into the water with his arms outstretched to grab her. She wasn’t completely sure, but by the smirk on his face, it seemed he was fighting to hold back his laughter. She was immediately reminded of just a few days ago when she’d clumsily fallen out of the wagon and needed his assistance too.
This was not the impression of an independent and confident woman she’d been hoping to send to the people of this community. But at least she could be thankful it seemed to only happen in front of him.
“Stop flailing and take my hand!”
“I’m not flailing!”
Even as she said it, she knew she was, but she was suddenly feeling extremely embarrassed and angry. Never in her life had she been clumsy, and now it seemed like she couldn’t do anything without making a scene.
Finally, he grabbed her roughly by the arm and dragged her to standing, then pulled her onto the bank where the children and their grandmother were watching in horror as she’d carried on as though she was surely going to drown.
In less than a foot of water.
“You need to be more careful, Miss Reeves.” Poor little Delia ran over and threw her arms around her soaking wet skirt.
Kathryn glared at Mr. Hammond. “Well, if people didn’t sneak up behind others when they were leaning over open water, things like that wouldn’t happen.”
He raised an eyebrow and was definitely struggling not to laugh. “I really didn’t sneak up behind anyone. I assumed you’d seen me coming, or at the very least, heard me speaking to the children when I arrived.”
She’d been so lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t even heard him. She let go of Delia and smiled reassuringly at the child as she stepped back and stared up at her with big, scared eyes.
Kathryn wasn’t going to fight with her father in front of her, so she just reached down and started wringing out her skirt. She could only imagine the mess she looked like right now, and suddenly, her eyes burned from the tears that were threatening.
The last thing she wanted was for anyone to see her break down. “Mrs. Hammond, I’m going to run back to my cabin to get dry clothes on. I’ll be back shortly, so just leave any of my clothes that are left to wash, and I’ll finish when I’m dried off.”
She couldn’t even look at the kind older woman because of the worry she knew she’d see in her eyes. She just needed to get back to her cabin.
As she walked away as fast as she could without being in a full run, she could hear Mrs. Hammond scolding her son once again.
And as much as Kathryn would love to stop and turn back so she could hear Colt Hammond getting put in his place by his mother, the embarrassment of everything that had happened wasn’t worth it.
Something about that man caused her to act like a dithering fool, and she was determined from this point forward to stay as far away from him as she could.
Chapter 11
“Miss Reeves said she’s just going to have supper at her own place. She says she’s quite tired from all the work today, but said to make sure I thank you for the offer.”
Delia struggled to catch her breath after racing back up to the house from the cabin. She warily looked toward her father who was leaning against the fireplace mantle. “Do you think she’s mad at you?”
Colt rolled his eyes as he shook his head at his daughter. “Of course not. Miss Reeves told you she was tired. I’m sure all the manual labor she had to do today did play her out. It’s not like she’d be used to any kind of work like that.”
Even as he said it, he did feel a twinge of guilt thinking his daughter could perhaps be right. Although he wasn’t sure why the woman would be mad at him, even though his mother had scolded him soundly after Miss Reeves had left to change into dry clothes.
He’d offered to wait and apologize when she returned to finish her laundry at the creek. But he’d been told in no uncertain terms to make sure he had gone back to his own chores before then. He couldn’t remember the last time his mother had been so angry with him.
Now, as he met her eyes where she stood at the entryway into the small kitchen, he knew she was still fuming.
“Colt Hammond. Now look what you’ve done.”
He let out an exasperated sigh. “Would you please explain to me what I’ve done? I don’t understand how Miss Reeves falling into the creek is reason for everyone to be so upset with me.”
“Son, you know I love you, but you can be a complete dim-witted fool sometimes.”
She turned and walked into the kitchen, leaving him standing with his mouth hanging open. He knew even if he lived to be a hundred, he would never understand how a woman’s mind worked.
“Delia, you run back outside and tell your brother to come in and wash up for supper. I think he’s out behind the barn with the new foal.”
“Yes, Pa.” She looked toward the kitchen, then back at him with a worried look as though she knew he was in trouble for something.
“Don’t worry about me. I can handle your grandmother. I’m a grown man.” He winked at his daughter, and she giggled before running out the door.
He wished he truly felt as brave as he’d acted. One thing he’d learned the hard way as a young boy was not to push his mother too far. She’d never laid a hand to him, but she had a look that would strike fear into even the toughest of men.
“So, do you want to explain to me exactly what I’ve done? I simply walked down to the creek to say hello to my family, a woman falls into the water, and suddenly everyone wants to hang me up by my britches.”
His mother turned around from the counter where she was ladling the stew into the bowls. “She didn’t just fall into the water, and you know it. You walked up and startled her.”
He put his hands out and lifted his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. “And how is that my fault?”
“You know full well you’ve been stomping around and doing everything you can to prove that she doesn’t belong out here. And don’t even try denying it. I’ve seen how you’ve been acting.”
“Well, just because I don’t believe she’ll cope with life here, it doesn’t mean I walked up behind her and deliberately scared her, hoping she’d fall into the creek.” He walked over to lift a biscuit off the plate, but his mother slapped his hand away. “The way you’re all acting, you’d think I went over and pushed her.”
His mother turned and faced him with her hands on her hips. She held the wooden ladle in one hand, and the thick gravy dripped onto her clean apron.
“If you’d seen that poor girl when she came back to finish her work, you’d understand why I’m so angry. She was embarrassed, and no matter how much I tried to assure her that she wasn’t the first to fall into the creek doing laundry, she wouldn’t believe me.”
“She also fell out of the wagon a few days ago, Mother. Don’t you remember? I can’t really help it if the woman is a bit clumsy.”
“Colt, do you not think perhaps she’s just trying so hard to prove that she belongs here, that maybe, just maybe, she ends up a little flustered at times? In the schoolroom, there is absolutely no doubt she’s in her element and where she belongs. The children in this town already love her. But she knows she has a lot to learn about living on the frontier, but bless her, at least she is trying.”
He knew Delia couldn’t say enough nice things about her teacher every day when she got home from school, and everyone he’d spoken to in town had nothing but praise for how much their children were enjoying school.
But that was as far as her “skills” went.
“Mother, I just don’t think it’s a good idea for al
l of these children to get too attached to a woman who will never last even a few more weeks out here. I’m just being realistic. Even her clothing won’t be able to withstand life on the frontier. Did you see the skirt she was wearing today? It was made from better material than your best Sunday dress.”
His mother hadn’t taken her eyes off his face. “Is it the children you’re really worried about, Colt?”
He clenched his jaw tight and ignored the sudden pounding in his chest. He loved and respected his mother more than anyone in this world, but he wasn’t going to let her make insinuations that weren’t true.
“Why don’t you just say what you’re getting at?”
“Colt, I watched what happened with Arlene. I spent those years watching as she became a bitter, horrible woman to you, but you still kept believing she could learn to love living here as much as you did. I sat back while she almost convinced you to give everything up that you love here to move to a city where she could live more civilized.” Her voice softened and she came over closer. “Thankfully, she didn’t succeed. I hate to think about what could have happened.”
“Well, that’s all done and over. And it has nothing to do with Miss Reeves falling in the creek.” He wasn’t in the mood to discuss his past failures with his mother right now.
Her hand reached out and landed on his arm before he could turn away. “Not every woman from the city is like Arlene. That’s all I’m saying. Give Miss Reeves a chance to prove she can manage out here. You have to see that she’s at least trying, and that’s more than your wife ever did.”
Thankfully, the screen door slammed, and Delia ran into the kitchen with Owen right behind her.
“Is Miss Reeves leaving, Pa?” Owen’s voice sounded almost relieved.
“No, she’s not leaving. Why would you say that?” Colt looked between his children, and while his son seemed happy with the thought, Delia looked devastated. Her eyes dropped to take sudden interest in her boot.
Love is Patient Page 5
