by Sarah Cass
“I wouldn’t know. What time is it?”
“Dunno.”
She sighed and rose, well aware his gaze remained on her even as he got his trousers back on. Perhaps later she’d take further advantage, or maybe not if he was going to laugh at her. “What is so funny?”
“Ya look like a wild woman, all them curls stickin’ out everywhere.”
“Oh, drat.” She set her hands on her head, laughing with him. “Happens every time they’re unleashed. You pulled out my tie early on in the evening. I must look a fright.”
“Ya do.” He grinned, but it faded when the next crash came on loud with the distinct crack of wood. “I ain’t open; thought you said they wouldn’t attack.”
“They usually don’t!” Kat snatched the sheet and wrapped it around herself as she raced out behind him.
Sure enough, the ladies of the temperance league were streaming in through the busted door. Helen stood proud at the front with her hatchet.
Kat gasped. “Helen! What are you doing attacking with hatchets at this hour?”
Helen’s eyes widened and the hatchet slipped from her hand. “Katherine, what are you doing?”
Cole strode toward the woman, and moved fast enough to take Helen’s hatchet before she could recover from her shock to grab it herself. “Get outta my saloon.”
“No.” Without her hatchet, Helen’s voice wavered.
“I said,” Cole hefted the hatchet, “get outta my saloon.”
Helen backed up a step, which brought an inappropriate giggle out of Kat. When Helen glared at her, Kat only shrugged. “You won’t win this time. If you try to keep on, I’ll get every man on the street to abandon his wagon and come help Cole haul every one of you out of here.”
“You defend this solicitor of sin?” Helen’s nose wrinkled. “Then again, you gave into his devilish ways. You should be ashamed.”
“Oh, do stop putting on such false airs. I know you’ve made time with men on our trip. You scream when you lie with them, we all know it.” Kat scooted closer to Cole’s side. “And Cole may not be a good man-”
Cole snorted and dropped the hatchet to his shoulder. “That so?”
“But he’s not the devil, either. He’s supplying exactly what the men would get elsewhere in other more devious ways if no saloons existed.” Kat glanced at Cole out of the corner of her eye and offered him a wink.
“She’s making stories to divert us from our task! She wouldn’t walk into the street in nothing but a sheet.” Helen’s voice took on a desperate shrill. “Onward.”
Kat pushed her way past Helen toward the door. Most of the ladies moved out of her way, but Lottie remained in the broken doorway, hatchet in hand. Kat stood in front of the young woman without fear. “You’d best move, or I’ll tell Helen all about what happened in Kansas. I doubt you’ll be welcome in a world of temperance, then.”
Lottie paled, her freckles standing out in stark relief at the change. When the ladies had been camped out at their counterparts’ bedside, and Kat had been helping Bess, Lottie had stolen away from the group. Kat alone knew Lottie had been at a brothel with a woman, and had been so drunk Kat had to retrieve her and sober her up to return her to the hospital for vigil.
Through several queries from the others about what happened in Kansas, Lottie held her ground. Then she dropped her eyes and shook her head. “We should go. We cannot change things here.”
“She’s right, Helen.” Kat turned back to the leader, intentionally flashing her leg as she did. “I guarantee that if you break anything more than that door, I will get a lawyer and make sure you stay in jail. The word of God won’t help you there.”
Cole pushed Helen toward the door. “Move. You don’t wanna know what I’ll do if ya try to stay.”
“What’s going on in here?” Graham barreled in, knocking over Lottie in the process. “What’re all these—well, hello there Kathy.”
“You do not have permission to call me that.” Kat glared her annoyance right at Graham. “And these women thought they’d take some time to destroy the bar.”
“Graham.” Cole tossed the hatchet at the bulky man. “Hold that. Any of ‘em move, do what ya need to.”
Kat jumped back when Cole grabbed Helen and flung her over his shoulder. Helen’s shriek must have startled the whores into action, because they came spilling out of the back. Kat’s own curiosity couldn’t be sated, so she darted to the window and threw open the shutters when Cole burst through the broken door.
As he carried Helen to the trough, Kat almost dropped her sheet trying to cover her laughter. “Oh, he isn’t!”
The women gathered around the shutters, exclamations and protests wrenching the morning air. Laughter from the whores interrupted the indignation, and Kat had to join the whores at the large splash of water that flew over the edge of the trough. “He did!”
The ladies dropped their hatchets on their rush outside to tend to Helen. As a crowd gathered outside and Graham moved to pick up the hatchets, Kat rushed back to the room she’d shared with Cole the night before.
She was halfway dressed when the door opened and shut again. With her hands on her buttons, she froze. “Cole?”
“Yeah. Just came to find my damn shirt.”
“I think that came off in the other room.” Kat turned to face him as she buttoned the last button. “Can’t remember where I threw it, though.”
“Shame. Guess I don’t wear a shirt when I go find Hammy about fixin’ my damn door. Crazy loons, every one of them.”
Kat chuckled. “You’ll simultaneously embarrass and thrill every woman you pass.”
“You won’t be ashamed.”
“If I were a hypocrite I would pretend, but I won’t.”
He leaned against the wall when she tried to tame her hair down. “You ain’t gettin’ any ideas, are ya?”
“Ideas?” She quirked a brow, but dropped it quickly in the battle with her hair. “If you’re asking if I’m going to get all moony eyed over you, the answer is no. I had fun last night and sure wouldn’t mind doing it again, but I have no aspirations of turning you into a good man who does right with the strength of a good woman.”
“Ya wanna again? Now?”
“As romantic as your suggestion is, I need to get to the Silver Saddle and get my things moved out.” Kat wouldn’t admit she actually would right then. Last thing he needed was to think he held any power or sway over her. “Perhaps another day, if I’m feeling peckish.”
“Fair enough.”
“Thank you, by the way. It’s been a while since I’ve been around a man that could handle a woman the right way. I needed that.”
“Glad I could help.”
“I’m glad you could, too.”
* * * *
Kat hovered at the top of the stairs, staring at her current landlord, of sorts, Cora Turner. Cora had been kind enough to let Kat keep a room, and had refused payment. So instead, Kat got to enjoy good food, good company, and see a happy family in motion. It had been years since she’d been around such a thing as a happy family.
At the bottom of the stairs Cora stood at a table chopping vegetables to dump in the pot beside her. The sweet smell of blackberry pie filled the air, and Cora hummed as she worked. Her dark hair was done up in a loose knot with a few strays flying free. A young boy with dark curls darted in and around her skirts and the table, seemingly unnoticed by her as she continued her work
She turned her head and smiled at Kat as she descended the stairs. “There you are, you lie-a-bed. You’re off to an awful late start today.”
“Honestly, I was reading and enjoying the quiet.” Kat grinned and snatched the little boy on his next race around Cora’s skirts. “What are you up to, Isaac? Are you pestering your Mama?”
Isaac blew a raspberry and tried to flip right out of Kat’s arms.
Kat chuckled and set the boy down to resume his racing. In the past week she’d continued to indulge in multiple pleasurable evenings with Cole. Word had
spread like wildfire through the town, helped along by Graham, she was sure.
The rumors and buzz had created some ignorant comments and judgment from certain members of the town, but Kat ignored them as always. To her credit, after an initial scolding and warning to think about what she was doing, Cora still treated Kat the same as she had when she’d offered her a room.
“Sorry I missed breakfast, but is that blackberry pie I smell?” Kat popped a piece of carrot in her mouth.
“Sure is. You planning on being here for lunch?” Cora kept chopping, her knife working through the vegetables with quick efficient movements despite her laughing toddler. “Beef stew and fried chicken are on the menu.”
“Cora, I’m telling you—putting the restaurant into your general store was a stroke of genius. I wouldn’t miss your stew for anything.” Kat gave her friend a half-hug so as to not interrupt her work. “But if I’m going to be back here, I have a few errands to run first.”
“Don’t miss another meal.” Cora scolded with knife in hand. “I won’t have a starving boarder on my watch.”
“Promise. I might even have two slices of pie.”
“Glutton.”
Kat didn’t bother denying, just waved over her shoulder as she ran from the store. Halfway down the steps, she stopped. The stagecoach was back in town, which meant the ladies were leaving.
After Helen’s embarrassing dumping in the horse trough, they’d become virtual hermits in Martha’s boarding house. No one had seen hide nor tail of them, even at church.
Moments later Helen came around the coach, and stopped when she spotted Kat. Helen’s eyes narrowed and she lifted her nose in the air before she flounced to the coach.
Kat snorted and hopped down the rest of the stairs to head down the street. Several buildings away Lottie paced back and forth, casting an occasional glance toward the stagecoach. When she spotted Kat, Lottie scrambled to change her footing and head Kat’s direction. “Kat.”
At the use of her preferred name, Kat lifted a brow. Lottie hadn’t ever bothered to use the name she preferred, and Kat was sure it was done to annoy her. Kat pursed her lips and slowed to meet her. “Yes?”
“You aren’t going to tell, are you?”
Kat sagged and shook her head. “Selfish thoughts as always, I see. What purpose would me telling anyone do? It was a threat, one that worked.”
“Good. I’ve got nowhere else to go.”
“I’m sure you’d find somewhere if you stopped pretending.” Kat set her hand on Lottie’s shoulder. “Take care of yourself. You’re not a bad person, but you’ll be one if you keep on the path you’re on.”
Lottie’s eyes glistened with tears, but not one fell. She tore her gaze away. “I’d best be off. Farewell, Kat.”
“Farewell. Be careful.” Kat sighed as Lottie took off toward the coach. She spared a moment of concern over where the young woman would end up, but then let it drop. There were a lot of things she could change, Lottie was no longer one of them.
With a shrug, Kat turned and resumed her path down the boardwalk. She wanted to stop the telegraph office and send word to Patrick, and see if he’d sent any to her.
An elegant woman with chestnut hair done up in an elaborate knot under an equally elaborate hat stepped out of a door just ahead of Kat. The woman tugged her skirt free of a loose nail and pulled the door closed behind her.
Kat smiled in greeting. “Dr. Pearson, yes?”
“What? Oh, my. I mean, yes.” Dr. Pearson tipped her head in a nod, but her gaze travelled along Kat’s clothing before reaching her face. “I’m Dr. Pearson. May I help you? It’s Miss Daugherty, right?”
“I prefer Kat, but yes. I was hoping to set an appointment.” Kat’s smile grew at the wide eyed surprise on the pretty doctor’s features.
“Are you ill?”
“No, I don’t believe so. I have been travelling for some time and,” Kat stepped closer to drop her tone, “I enjoy the company of men from time to time, and it has been a while since I’ve seen a doctor. I wish to make sure I am healthy as I was when I left—and procure, perhaps, some precautionary measures.”
Delicate pink lit the doctor’s features, but she nodded. “I keep myself in supply as my only patients currently are Mr. Mitchell’s whores.”
“Now you have another. Thank you, Dr. Pearson.” Kat held out her hand. “It’s good to meet a woman in your field. It’s high time I did.”
“Thank you.” Dr. Pearson shook her hand. “Would tomorrow morning suit you? I’m free, so you may pick your time.”
“It would. I’ll be by at ten. Thank you.”
Dr. Pearson nodded and adjusted her bag.
“Now that business is concluded. Would you perhaps join me for lunch later? I do hate eating alone and Cora is busy in the kitchen.” Kat smiled. “I would be fascinated to hear your story.”
“No one wishes to hear that.” A strong denial, but a smile teased her features.
“I do. Please, join me at noon. You’d be doing me a favor. I mean, if you don’t have plans with your husband.”
“No. He’s out on business. I’ll join you. Thank you.”
“Good. I’ll see you then.” Kat slipped off before the doctor could come up with a viable excuse. Down the street, Kat’s sister stood on the porch of the boarding house beating a rug over the hitching post.
Kat debated taking another route and avoiding her sister as she had all week, but she supposed the time to be childish was over. If she stayed in Dominion Falls for any length of time, she’d have to see Martha now and then.
With her shoulders squared, she kept going down the boardwalk.
Not surprisingly, when Martha turned her way, she ceased beating the rug and set her hands on her hips. Martha’s graying hair was breaking free of her bun from the exertion of her working, and her once thin waist had expanded some inches.
Kat almost felt bad for the change her sister had undergone. Almost.
“Katherine.” Martha touched her arm. “Wait.”
“For what?” Kat turned toward her sister, ready for a fight. “You to tell me what a horrible person I am? Or perhaps tell Mother and drag her here?”
“I just don’t believe you’re thinking. To take up with a man like Cole Mitchell is a grievous mistake.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. I’ve not ‘taken up’ with anyone. I am enjoying Cole’s company, that is all. Men do it all the time, why shouldn’t a woman when she wants?”
“It’s not right, or decent.”
“Right? Decent? You’re a fine one to talk.” Kat bowed to her sister. “To Martha, the most hypocritical person in Dominion Falls.”
“I beg your pardon?” Martha’s nostrils flared in indignation. “I’m not a hypocrite.”
“But you are. You, who took up with an Indian while engaged. You, who were with a good man like Daniel—and got pregnant by another man. You are a fine one to talk about what is right and decent in the world.”
“You wouldn’t have the faintest idea what I went through during that time.” Martha gripped her rug beater. “You were a child.”
“Exactly. Was. I nearly had to bear the consequences of your actions. However, I’m an adult now and can make my own choices.” Kat stepped closer. “You’ve tried to become this perfect person to make up for what you did. Problem is, people hate you more now than they did then. Maybe they’d have gotten over the whole Starbird thing if you hadn’t become the epitome of mother at her most uptight.”
“I had to make it right,” Martha whispered.
“Some things, you never can.” Kat turned on her heel and strode away.
“You’ve never been in love, Kat!” Martha called after her, “When you are, you’ll understand then.”
Kat brushed off the words as desperation and rushed along the muddy street quick as she could. There were no further impediments to her arrival at the telegraph office.
Inside Norman sorted mail into boxes, his back to the door. “Be right there
,” he said in an acerbic tone, like he was annoyed anyone dared interrupt him from his work for a different sort of work.
She covered her mouth to hide her giggle. For some reason she found the grumpy gentleman endearing. In the week since she’d been home they’d had a few run-ins, usually right in his office. She’d become convinced his admonishments were little more than him trying to give her advice, it just happened to come in the form of scolding.
“No hurry, Norman,” Kat said when she managed to stop her quiet laughter. If anything, she wanted to be nice to him. She thought maybe he was lonely after his wife had passed some years ago. An older gentleman often had few prospects once his wife was gone, and as they’d never had children, he had no one else to pester.
“Oh, it’s you.” He kept his back to her, slipping envelopes into boxes until the small stack was depleted. “What’re you after?”
“Quite a bit, actually.” She leaned on the counter with a bright grin. “Life, laughter, happiness, fun.”
He grumbled and moved to his desk. “Got a wire for ya.”
“Oh, good. Is it from Patrick?”
“In St. Louis, yeah.” Norman set it on the counter. “What else?”
She read the wire quickly. Bess was doing well, and he was pleased she’d managed to have fun. She grinned. “First, I’d like to reply. Then, I have another request.”
Norman got his pad out and wrote almost as fast as she spoke. He ticked off the words with his pencil and nodded. “That’ll be two bits.”
“Of course.” Kat handed him the money, then set her hand on his arm. “Would you join me for supper this evening?”
He narrowed his eyes at her hand, then lifted his gaze to meet hers. “’Scuse me?”
“You aren’t going deaf. You heard me.”
“What’re you doin’? Makin’ a spectacle of yourself like ya are, and now this?”
“I’m not making a spectacle. Others are making one for me. I tried to be discreet, but people had other ideas.” She pulled her hand back. “I thought I would like the company, and I thought you might as well. Forgive me, for I see I was wrong.”
He shook his head. “Why Cole?”
“Well, why not? I have no delusions of love, not with him. I have yet to find a man that would make me feel that way.”
