by Zina Abbott
BIG MEADOWS VALENTINE
By Zina Abbott
Big Meadows Valentine
Copyright© 2015 Robyn Echols (aka Zina Abbott)
Cover Design Livia Reasoner
Prairie Rose Publications
www.prairierosepublications.com
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real.
The author used the names of some of the real people who lived in Lundy at the time this story took place. Some of those names are: Charley Hector, owner of the Lundy and Bodie Stage Line and U.S. Mail contractor; Ed or Eddie Hector, driver for the Lundy and Bodie Stage Line; Leonard Haas and Frederick Gluntz, owners of The Arcade saloon; Charles McLean, butcher and elected Justice of the Peace; and Andrew Barnes, furniture maker and mortician. The manner in which the author depicted these characters is purely fictional and in no way is intended to be a representation of these actual historical people. All other characters in this novel are strictly creations of the author's imagination and in no manner are intended to resemble any actual persons, living or deceased.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
PROLOGUE
pIKE COUNTY, OHIO – LATE SPRING 1880
Beth stood in the doorway a moment before she entered the small ramshackle clapboard home. From his rocking chair before the fire, Elmer Jessup, suppressed a cough as he looked up to see his oldest daughter backlit by the sinking golden orb of the sun. The sight of her prompted young Zelly to race to the stove to scoop the last of the meager stew that was mainly potatoes and turnips flavored by a young squirrel and some early garden greens into an enameled tin bowl.
Beth’s feet dragged as she slowly stepped through the doorway and collapsed in her spot on the bench to the kitchen table. She gave her sister a look of gratitude as her supper slid into place before her. Then, resting her head on the bent knuckles of her left hand, she said a quick grace over the meal.
“You get them north fields done?” Elmer’s insistent voice crackled as Beth took her first bite.
“Yes, Pa. I done got it plowed. I aim to get it planted startin’ tomorrow. Figure Zelly can come help a mite if her time’s not all took up with the garden.”
“Reckon I can help part of the day if I’m feelin’ up to it. You girls got no business bein’ out there doin’ a man’s work.”
“Ain’t no other choice, Pa,” Beth said.
Every night. He talks about the same thing every night.
Beth eyed the blood on the rag stuffed to the side of her father’s pant leg. His lungs had never been strong ever since he caught pneumonia during the Civil War. But the last several years he had been fighting consumption. He had increasingly been unable to do the heavy farm work, which meant that those tasks had regularly fallen to Beth. She knew until he actually showed up in the field, she would not count on her father being well enough to work.
“I’m doin’ fine, Pa. No call you walkin’ clear out there. Druther you hoe in the garden and let Zelly come out for a spell ’til she’s needed back at the house.”
Elmer grunted in disgust. Resenting the limitations his health put upon him, his voice grew demanding, determined to keep hold of the reins of managing his household.
“You need to get in here to eat supper when Zelly gets it fixed instead of makin’ her hold it for you.”
Beth closed her eyes and struggled to enjoy her stew while listening to her father fuss at her.
“I’m sorry, Zelly. It’s just I druther finish up for the day so’s I can get ol’ Mose back to the barn and took care of. That way, neither of us has to go back out and work ’til dark. Won’t be too much more longer like this.”
“That’s fine, Bethie. Supper taste okay?”
“Right fine, Zelly. You’re cookin’s good.”
Beth watched as Zelly beamed at the praise. Beth realized that by her sister’s age, she had been in charge of getting meals together for her family for a couple of years. The difference between her and her sister was that she loved to cook and bake. On the other hand, Zelly felt uneasy around the stove. She much preferred needlework, even though she had little time for the fancy stitching she favored.
That morning, when Zelly had panicked over how to fix supper, Beth had suggested that her sister add just a small amount of young greens to the cooked dish to add some flavor. She warned her sister to not take too many leaves out of the garden. With the radishes about ready, in a few days they would have enough greens for a fresh salad.
Beth studied her sister, seven years her junior. She had always considered Zelly such a young child. That evening, she realized that although her sister was still flat-chested, more womanly curves were beginning to blossom on her body. Zelly’s hair was blonde and wavy like Beth remembered seeing on their mother—the mother who had died while trying to bring a baby brother into the world when Beth was ten and Zelly was three. Beth’s hair was the same medium brown as their father’s. In a few more years, Zelly was going to have a beauty about her face that Beth could never hope to achieve. Except that the two had the same rounded eyes with the same hazelnut brown color, it was hard for others to tell they were siblings.
“Ain’t right, you workin’ in the fields like this, Beth. This is a man’s work you’re doin’.”
Beth swallowed and clenched her teeth to keep from lashing back in anger. She was so tired—tired in so many ways. She was tired of the grueling work in the fields. She was tired of worrying about Zelly taking on too much for her age. She was tired of worrying about the unknown varmint that kept trying to break into her chicken coop. Mostly, she was tired of listening to the nightly litany of complaints and criticisms her father showered upon her. Still, contrary to her nature, she forced her voice to remain respectful.
“Won’t be no problem much longer, Pa. Once the fields done get planted, there won’t be no need for me workin’ such long hours. It’s just that the rains kept comin’ so late this spring, we didn’t have hardly no time this year to get the ground worked and seed planted.”
“You should be takin’ care of your own family.”
“Right now, you’re my family, Pa. You and Zelly. I’m takin’ care of my own.”
“That ain’t what I mean, Beth, and you know it. It’s time you was married. I need to see you settled afore I go. I want to see me some grandbabies. At least one.”
“You will, Pa.” Zelly ran to her father’s side. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. “You’re goin’ to live a long time and see lots of grandbabies.”
Elmer pushed his youngest away as he struggled to inhale enough air to see him through the bout of coughing that was ready to overtake him. He grabbed the reddish-brown stained rag and held it to his mouth as he erupted into hacking and gasping.
Open-mouthed, Zelly backed away, her face a study of dismay. Even though the sisters were well-acquainted with their father’s condition, Zelly denied its reality. On the other hand, Beth regarded her father with a practiced eye. His cheeks were flushed. He was running a fever again. He needed to go to his bed instead of worrying about how she was managing the farm.
Finally, the coughing spell subsided and, his eyes closed, Elmer slumped in the rocker, his head thumping against the wooden crosspiece of the chair back. Silence reigned for several moments before Zelly’s small voice asked the question in both sisters’ minds.
“You better now, Pa?
”
After a few moments, Elmer inhaled deeply enough that the girls could see his chest rise and fall.
“Come here, Beth. Stand right here where I can see you good. Reckon it’s time I done told you somethin’.”
Her apprehension growing, Beth slowly rose from her bench and walked over until she stood before her father.
“Yes, Pa?”
Elmer rolled his head up using the back of the rocker to support it until he could look directly into his eldest’s face.
“I been sittin’ on this, ever since we done got back from town Saturday. Reckon now’s as good a time as any to tell you.”
Except for the popping noise of the stick of firewood that shattered into coals inside the wood stove, the room remained silent while Beth waited for her father to summon enough breath to continue.
“I done made provisions for you, daughter. You ain’t gonna be workin’ like this no more. I found me a man to buy the farm.”
His words immediately propelled Beth into action. Her face suffused with shock, she threw her splayed hands up next to her head as she sucked in her breath. Next, she leaned forward and reached to grab her father’s hands clinging to the wooden arms of the rocker. At the last moment, she thought better of it and clasped her hands in front of her.
“No, Pa! There ain’t no call you doin’ that. We’re doin’ right fine. Sellin’ the farm will force us to move to town. You don’t want that.”
“We ain’t movin’ to town. We’re stayin’ right here. I done found you a husband, Beth. It’s part of the deal. He’s goin’ to marry you as part of buyin’ the farm.”
“What? No, Pa! I ain’t goin’ to marry as part of no land deal.”
“You’ll do what I say, girl! I’m your pa and know what’s best for you. You’ll marry up with him. Reckon that way, no matter what happens to me, you’ll be took care of, you and Zelly, ’til she marries.”
“Pa, that’s slavery! You fought a war to end slavery, yet you’re meanin’ to sell me off, your own daughter?”
“Elizabeth Rose, that’s enough! I ain’t listenin’ to no talk like that! Seein’ you get a husband ain’t the same as slavery and you know it.”
Dependin’ on the man, Pa. I done seen enough to know that.
“Pa, I druther find my own husband in time. I’ll be of age in a couple of months. If somethin’ happens to you, I can inherit. You know I’ll do right by Zelly. You can even set it up so Judge Bates sees to her portion ’til she’s of age.”
“Even if I was to leave the farm to you and Zelly, who’s goin’ to run it?”
“I am, Pa! Who you figure’s been behind the plow and brung in the harvest the last two year? I have!”
Beth ignored the pained look that crossed her father’s face before it once again hardened with determination.
“Still can’t do it, you bein’ a woman. You got to have a man to do the sellin’. Men will cheat a woman.”
“I done been doin’ it, Pa, the times you’ve been too sick to go. Ain’t no reason women can’t take care of business proper without men tellin’ them how. Widder Jackson takes care of her’s right fine.”
“They don’t cheat you ’cause they know if they try, they’ll deal with me next time I’m to town. It ain’t goin’ to be the same when I’m gone.”
“Who is it?”
“Name’s James Dodd. Goes by Jim.”
Beth shook her head in confusion. “Ain’t never heard of him. What you know about him? How you know he ain’t no shyster?”
“His family has a farm over Waverly way. He’s been out west in the gold and silver fields ten years or better, but he’s back now his Pa’s dead. His older brother inherited the land, but he got money and some of the cattle includin’ a young bull that will do good for improvin’ our stock. He’s ready to settle down. Just needs land.”
Beth heaved a sigh, as her shoulders drooped in resignation.
“Pa, I ain’t marryin’ no stranger. You aim to sell the land, reckon I can’t stop you. Just leave me out of it.”
“Don’t work that way. He ain’t got enough to cover the whole price. He done agreed to marry you and take your portion of dowry in land. Instead of you workin’ the fields, you’ll care for a home and have a man to take care of you like it oughtta be.”
“You goin’ to sell me off, too, Pa?” Zelly asked in a querulous voice, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Hush, now, Zelly. This don’t concern you none.”
“What about Zelly, Pa? You go and hand over the farm to this man, you won’t have nothin’ for her.”
“He’s payin’ enough I can set Zelly’s portion aside and still have my own money to live on.”
Beth gritted her teeth as she vigorously shook her head. She began to pace the floor.
“So, you’re fixin’ to get you two the money while stickin’ me with marryin’ some strange man. I ain’t for sale, Pa. I druther just take my chickens and make my own way.”
“They ain’t your chickens, Beth.”
“I hope to shout them’s my chickens! I bought them first chicks with my own birthday money. Every chicken out there came from them. I even done sold eggs to buy my own feed. They’re mine, though no one here’s minded eatin’ off them.”
“You ain’t of age, yet, girl, and that makes them chickens mine. Once you marry Mr. Dodd, they’ll be his.”
“They’re mine, Pa! You can’t up and take my chickens away from me and you can’t make me marry no man.”
“Stop fussin’ about them chickens, Beth! Jim Dodd ain’t got no call to get rid of them. But, you’re goin’ to marry him next month without raisin’ no more Cain about it.”
Beth shook her head as she collapsed on her knees at the side of her father’s rocker. Grasping her father’s hand she rested her forehead on his forearm.
“Please, Pa. I’m beggin’. Give up this whole notion of sellin’ me off to this man. You’ll get better. Even if the Lord does call you home, Zelly and I can farm this place.”
“That’s enough, girl!” Elmer fought back a cough. It was obvious he was on the verge of collapse. “The contract’s done been drawed up and signed. Judge Bates already got it in his safe. Jim Dodd done paid his portion. The way things is wrote up, he gets the farm either way. But, you don’t marry him, girl, we got us nowhere else to go. Now, I’m doin’ this for your future— yours and Zelly’s.”
CHAPTER 1
LUNDY, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 1884
In spite of the heavy wool coat and muffler and her quilt she had wrapped around her to keep the wind off her, Beth sat hunched over and shivering. For most of the last hour of her trip on the stage driven by Eddie Hector, the bricks that had been heated when they left the stage stop named Central Station lay cold beneath her feet. Eddie had informed Beth that his older brother, Charley Hector who owned the Lundy to Bodie Stage Line, had purchased the old station from a man named Drinkwine. While Beth found that mildly interesting, she was more interested in reaching her destination and finding Jim Dodd.
The leather flaps covering the windows had done little to block the biting January winter wind as the stage struggled along. But, Eddie had been quick to explain to anyone who would listen that he had been recently promoted to stage driver by Charley, and he would prove himself by getting the mail and his passengers through safely.
It had taken far longer than the advertised three hours to make the trip from Bodie up to Lundy. The snow had been deep enough in places that more than once, Eddie and the other two men riding the stage had dismounted and grabbed the shovels the driver kept handy in order to clear the road. Much to the consternation of the three men, Beth had insisted on being given a shovel, too. She had let them know in no uncertain terms that she had been raised on a farm and taken over the heavy work after her father’s consumption had sapped the strength out of him. If she could shovel snow away from the back door in order to get to the barn and if she could muck out stalls, she could help clear the road so they could pr
oceed.
Besides, the activity helped to keep her warm.
As the coach rolled to a halt, Eddie called out that they had arrived. Beth’s head emerged from her quilt cocoon. She slowly forced her body to uncurl and exit the stage while promising her stiffened joints she would find warmth soon. She surveyed the area to discover wood buildings, some of them devoid of paint, bordering snow-covered streets sliced by muddy ruts. The town was set against a backdrop of the steep eastern slopes of the Sierra-Nevada Mountains dotted with evergreens and bare aspen trees.
So, this was Lundy.
Unlike some of the other mining towns she had stopped in during the search for her reprobate husband, Lundy’s stage stop was not a saloon. Charley Hector actually had his own livery and stable yard for his animals. Unfortunately, the one advantage a saloon would have provided was a warm place for her to go to restore feeling in her legs and feet.
As much as I hated parting with the money, it was right smart of me to buy this heavy coat and new boots while in Reno.
“If you want, come on inside the livery to warm up a bit, ma’am.” Eddie Hector’s voice interrupted Beth’s thoughts. He grabbed her valise and spoke to her over his shoulder as he walked toward the open livery door. “My brother Heck’s got a little office inside and our stable hand’s got a fire goin’ in the Franklin. Guess he figured I’d be ready for some heatin’ up once I finally rolled into town.”
“Thank you kindly, Mr. Hector. It’s right airish out here.”
“It’s just Eddie.”
Beth looked down at the folded quilt now draped over her left arm as she followed the driver inside. Eddie dropped her valise just inside the door and motioned her to a chair placed next to the stove. She sank onto the wooden seat, grateful to sit on something that wasn’t moving. Using her foot, she nudged around some of the bricks she noticed on the floor next to the stove. Next she stacked one on top of the other. She used those bricks as a footrest, holding her feet as close to the bottom of the stove as she dared without touching the hot metal. It felt good when her toes began to tingle with the warmth.
