Faith emerged from one of those rooms, still buttoning the front of her dress. She left a few buttons undone at the top, and the look of joy in her eyes warmed Bret’s heart. “Bret! Oh, it’s so good to see you!” Faith literally ran to her with open arms, and Bret sensed her sadness in spite of the joy of the moment.
“My goodness! I didn’t expect such a warm welcome!” She hugged Faith, patting her back. “Let me have a look at you, Faith Sommers. Or I guess it’s Beaumont now, isn’t it?” She pulled away. “You’re more beautiful than I remembered. Maybe it’s because you’ve turned into much more a woman than the half child I met when you had that baby. How the heck old are you now, anyway?”
“I’m twenty-four. Johnny is already five years old!”
“Yes, he told me. And what a handsome child he is. His father must have been a looker!”
Faith smiled sadly. “Johnny was very handsome.”
Bret folded her parasol and set it aside. “Well, Ben and I, we saw your ad in the Denver papers asking people to come and settle in the growing railroad town of Sommers Station. We knew it had to be you who placed the ad—always wondered how you were doing. They’re starting to get pretty uppity in Denver about people like us, so we thought, heck, let’s go to Sommers Station and see about having our own business. We were just working for other people in Denver—running gambling tables and such. Say, where’s Hilda?”
Sadness filled Faith’s eyes. “Hilda…died…four years ago. Oh, there is so much to tell you, Bret.” Bret never even knew the truth about how Johnny had died, and to explain about Hilda meant telling the truth about Johnny. So much had happened since then. “Do you have time?”
“I have all the time in the world. Ben and I came here to open a saloon, if you’ll allow one in this new little town of yours.”
Faith put a hand to a strand of hair that had fallen out of her plain bun. Ever since Gabe’s disappearance she had not cared much how pretty she was. She’d never worn her hair down and loose again. The thought of what Bret did for a living, the colorful way she was dressed now, made Faith more aware of her own plain appearance. “Well, I…I suppose. Every town has a saloon—usually several! I just wouldn’t want…well…I don’t think it would be right to have…”
“Prostitution?” Bret waved her off. “Heck, I didn’t plan on that. Just a legal establishment—beer and drinks, men can play cards, that sort of thing.” She studied Faith’s appearance. Yes, she was beautiful as ever, but there was a terrible sadness in her eyes, a tired look about her. And she was too thin. She took hold of her hand. “Now, my dear, first things first. We’ll talk about the saloon later. I want to know about Hilda—and I especially want to know more about what the lady at the rooming house told me—something about a husband lighting out on you—and now Johnny says he’s got a new baby brother. What in the world is going on?”
Faith closed her eyes against the endless pain. “I wish I knew, Bret. You’re a worldly woman. Maybe you will have an idea what I should do.”
“Well, I don’t know about that, honey, but I’ll try. Let’s go into the parlor and talk about it.”
Faith nodded. “You go sit down. I’ll put Johnny down for his nap. Where is Ben?”
“Oh, he’s taking care of baggage and such. He’ll fend for himself for now.”
“You have no idea how good it is to see you, Bret. You’re one person I know I can talk to and you’d understand anything. One thing I want you to understand right now is that my husband did not ‘light out’ on me, as you put it. I will never believe that. I may never know what happened to him, but I’ll never believe it was his own doing. Come into the bedroom and see the baby.” She led Bret down the hall and into her own bedroom, where Johnny sat playing on the floor near the cot where his little brother slept. Faith ordered Johnny to go lie down, and the boy climbed onto his own homemade bed, sinking into the feather mattress.
Faith gently stroked her second son’s straight black hair. “He’s fourteen months old already. His name is Alexander, named after his grandfather Beaumont.”
Bret studied the child’s dark skin and hair. “Beaumont. That’s French, I think. That boy looks more Mexican or Indian.”
“His father was half Sioux Indian.” Oh, how it hurt to talk about him! “Gabriel Beaumont, called Tall Bear by the Sioux. Gabe’s father was a French trapper. It’s such a long story, Bret.” She met Bret’s eyes. “I loved him more than I could ever love another man again. And I know that if he could, he would be here right now. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive, and I don’t know what to tell Johnny or the new baby—if I’m a widow, a free woman, or still married. But it doesn’t matter. I’ll never be interested in another man.”
Bret put her hands on her hips. “You’re only twenty-four, and you have two sons to raise. You have to consider marrying again, Faith.”
Faith shook her head. “I got along on my own just fine before Gabe came along. I didn’t marry him to have someone to take care of me. I married him because I loved him and wanted to share my life with him. I won’t love another man that way, although I know the boys need a man in their lives.” She met Bret’s eyes. “I’d wager with all the men you’ve known, you’ve never seen one as handsome as Gabe Beaumont. He’s the one who saved my life after Johnny—” She closed her eyes and sighed. “Let’s go into the parlor. I’ll make some tea and explain it all to you. It’s so nice to have you here. There are a lot of women in this town, but they’re all new friends, and I’ve never felt able to really talk to any of them about intimate things. None of them understands how I feel about Gabe. They all think I’m crazy to still believe he didn’t run out on me. They think I should get a legal divorce and start my life over.”
“Well, you tell it all to me and maybe I can help. I have to say, it’s nice to be so welcome. Most women won’t walk on the same side of the street with me, if you know what I mean.” Bret followed Faith into the kitchen, where Faith put on a kettle of water to heat. She began explaining, needing to get it all out, and for the next two hours, over several cups of tea and through an occasional venting of tears, Faith told Bret everything, from Johnny’s death, how Hilda had died, how Gabe had come back into her life as an outlaw, then returned to work for her…that first night he’d come to her bed…their agreement to marry, how and when he had disappeared.
“Since then I’ve stayed here not so much to build my town, but to be here if and when Gabe comes back. I want him always to be able to find me.”
“My, my, my,” Bret said softly, shaking her head. “You’ve been through so much, Faith. I could never be as strong as you’ve been.”
“What do you think? Do you believe Gabe just deliberately rode out of my life?”
Bret shook her head. “I don’t know what to think. I’ve seen all kinds of men, and Lord knows half of them aren’t worth two cents. There’s plenty who will desert their wives and families for another woman, gold, or just because they’ve got the wanders. The way you describe Gabe Beaumont—I just don’t know what to tell you, Faith. A woman like you, a wonderful little boy, a new baby on the way—”
“He didn’t know about the baby. I was going to wait and tell him when he got back from Cheyenne.”
Bret ran a finger around the rim of her teacup, which bore lipstick stains. “Tell me more about this Tod Harding.”
Faith walked to the back door, looking out toward the mountains. Where are you, Gabe? Oh, how she had ached for him every night for over a year now. “I don’t know what to tell you except that I can’t help believing he’s played a part in Gabe’s disappearance. I have no truly valid reason to believe it, but the way he looked at Gabe in town just two months before he disappeared…it was so threatening, so hateful. Harding is wealthy and obviously a man who does not like to be outdone by anyone. He apparently had an eye for me, and he seemed very surprised I had married. I have this deep, deep feeling it was more than that, though, yet I can’t quite figure what it was. Whatever his motive, I can’
t believe anyone could be so vengeful and cruel as to arrange something like Gabe’s disappearance and let a wife and mother worry and wonder what has happened to her children’s father.” She turned to Bret. “Maybe it’s all my imagination, Bret. It does seem rather preposterous.”
Bret thought how much she admired this young woman of such courage. “Maybe not so preposterous. As far as I’m concerned, no man in his right mind would run out on someone like you. I don’t have an explanation for your husband’s disappearance, either, but I’d like to meet this Tod Harding.”
“You’ll get the chance. He’s written me a letter telling me he’s coming to Sommers Station soon to open a lumber-supply business here, maybe even a hotel.”
Bret folded her arms. “Good. He doesn’t know how well we know each other, and I have a way of getting things out of a man. Maybe I’ll get acquainted with him, get him to talk a little, if there’s anything for him to tell.” She pushed back her teacup. “Sooner or later every man in town will visit our saloon, including Tod Harding.”
“I don’t know, Bret.” Faith sat down again. “Harding is a smart man. He’s the kind who would know how to cover himself if he’d done anything illegal. He wouldn’t be careless enough to say anything.”
“Maybe not. We’ll see. You don’t know how clever I can be at worming information out of a man.”
Faith smiled, shaking her head. “When I first met you, I was shocked, but I quickly learned to like you. You’re brave in your own way, freer than even I could dream of.”
Bret grunted in laughter. “Not so free, honey. I’m stuck with this reputation. No decent man would ever marry me now, and there are times when I’d like to change my life, marry, have a kid. Don’t go envying me.”
“What about Ben? Why don’t you two marry?”
Bret laughed aloud then. “Ben? We’re just good friends, always have been. Ben is the last man on earth I would marry. It would just spoil a good friendship.” She leaned forward on her elbows. “So tell me about Sommers Station. Looks to me like it’s really growing.”
Faith smiled. Helping build this town was the only thing that had kept her from going crazy with worry these past many months. “It happened almost overnight. The UP built a branch close to the stage depot, and that was it. People started coming, just as Tod Harding said they would. I hate to admit he was right about anything, but he was right about that. Buck—the stage driver I told you went looking all over Wyoming for Gabe—he has stayed on to run a livery. He buys and sells saddles and bridle equipment, too. It was something he and Gabe were going to do together. You met Maude. She and her husband are from Germany—came here to homestead, but things got too hard and they were making no money. The man who does most of the building around here is Henry Baker, a man who was widowed on the way west. Others came in answer to my ads. Some are part of those who just travel the railroad looking for places to settle, start new businesses. When they first get here, they need a place to stay, so I enlarged the original depot and started the rooming house.”
She rose and picked up the teacups, carrying them to the sink. Bret noticed that a water pump had been installed so water could be pumped by hand inside the house.
“One business leads to another,” Faith continued, looking out the kitchen window. “I needed a carpenter. A carpenter needs lumber, tools, hardware. Wives come with husbands, and they need cloth for making clothes, food for cooking. People with such businesses come here and provide those things. Farmers outside of town bring the food, men who once were scouts and such are now hunters, bringing meat to town. That calls for a butcher, who also orders in beef from surrounding ranchers. Storing meat means needing someone to haul ice down from the mountains to cool the meat, which calls for a warehousing and freighting operation. More people means a church is needed, a school, and, yes, even a tavern. And so the town just keeps growing. We have a preacher, Louis Ames. He’s the preacher who married me and Gabe. He was a circuit preacher. Now he’s decided to stay here and build a church, holds services for now outside the little shack he lives in.”
“Well, well, well. It’s just like you dreamed it would be, isn’t it? You wanted something all your own, to show yourself and your family you could make it. All those years of loneliness, the hardship, fighting outlaws and Indians—it all paid off.”
Faith returned to the table. “Monetarily, I’m doing all right. I’m not making big money, mostly just making ends meet. I have a ways to go to be completely on my feet, but I know I can do it. I used the first money I made to pay for this house, to add on to the rooming house and build the railroad depot. I’ve found another woman who will help me open a restaurant next to the hotel. I laid claim to the railroad right-of-way land and several more acres north of it, and people who build on those lots pay me rent. I’ve held meetings, established a town tax on profits that we keep in a special fund for future growth. We’ll use it to find a way to bring in water from the mountains, maybe brick the streets, plant some trees, figure out a more modern sewer system instead of people just putting up privies.”
“My, oh my. Faith Beaumont, you’ve thought of everything. It’s amazing!”
Faith smiled bashfully. “Would you believe I’m the mayor of this little place? A woman? I’ll bet I’m the first woman mayor this country has ever had. I decided we needed to organize, maybe even hire a sheriff.”
Bret laughed. “Just wait until Ben hears about this!”
Faith’s smile faded, and her eyes teared. “I’d give it all up in a second, if it meant having Gabe back.” She quickly wiped at her eyes. “Right now I have to stay here. I have two sons to support. If I could, I’d leave and search the whole country for Gabe, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin. Buck tried everywhere, even went to the Sioux reservations. That’s the main reason I suspect foul play, Bret. If he did feel he had to leave, he would have gone back to his people. Someone among them would have known where he was. He wouldn’t just disappear completely. And a man like Gabe would be remembered by someone. He’s big and dark and handsome, very unique.”
Bret felt tears forming in her own eyes. “I’m so sorry, honey. I’d sure like to have known the man. Sounds like quite a catch to me. Hell, Lord knows you wouldn’t have settled for just any John Doe. It would take quite a man for somebody like you to decide you wanted to be with him the rest of your life, especially after the lesson you learned on that first husband.” She sighed. “What a life you’ve had. Hell, they could write a book about you.”
Faith shook her head. “Hardly. This all started out with my being a foolish, headstrong girl who was determined to have her own way. I was a child married to a child, and running off cost both of us dearly. Everything else that happened was just—I don’t know—fate, I guess. The result of knowing I had to survive somehow, for my son. Now there are two sons who need my care.”
The baby started crying, and Faith rose. “I’d better tend to Alex. Johnny is probably awake, too.”
“Sure. I’ll go unpack and freshen up.” Bret got up and stretched. “Ben and I will find that builder—oh, by the way, I need you to put in a good word for me with Maude. I don’t think she much approves of me. She said she had a room left, but she needed your okay to let me stay in it. I sent Ben on to the hotel. I don’t think Maude would put up with us sleeping in the same room, although we’ve done it plenty of times.”
Faith shook her head, wiping at more tears. “How on earth did you two end up together?”
“Oh, we go way back—both orphans in New York City. We just always got along, ran off to work on riverboats for a while. Ben, he got into playing cards, got pretty good at it—makes his living now just gambling, but that’s being outlawed in a lot of places. We figured we’d come here and open a legitimate business together, just run a saloon, maybe hire a piano player. I sing some. I’ll probably put on a couple of shows a night, and Ben can run the bar. We’ll build our own rooms upstairs and live there eventually.”
Faith walked up to
the woman and hugged her again. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”
“So am I, now that I know you’re still here and you need somebody to talk to. Believe me, there isn’t anything you can’t tell me, honey. I’m only thirty-five, but I’ve lived enough I ought to be eighty. I guess it’s time I got out of the business of prostitution. There aren’t many men who’d pay much for a used-up woman like me.”
“You’re still quite pretty, Bret, and I think you know it.”
The woman smiled, several lines creasing around her eyes. “Well, thanks, but I know when it’s time to quit. It all started with—” Her smile faded. “Some man on the, riverboat decided I must be there for more than just cooking for the crews. I put up a good fight, but he was stronger.” She shrugged. “After that I didn’t have much pride left, and it was like you—I had to survive. I picked the only way I knew how. It was wrong, but I was young and scared. After a while I just fell into the business like any other business a person might have. I knew I wasn’t fit for any decent man after that, so I just kept at it, and me and Ben, we just traveled the country doing what we knew best. Would you believe Ben and I have never slept together?”
Faith could feel the woman’s pain, sensed her loneliness. “Yes. I believe it.”
Bret put on the face of someone who could brush off anything with little effort. “Good. I don’t think anyone else would ever believe that.” She walked out and down the hall to take up her parasol. Alex was still fussing, but Faith saw Bret to the door.
“Welcome to Sommers Station, Bret. You and Ben, you come back here for supper—six-thirty. Will you do that?”
Bret’s mouth twitched slightly, and she was obviously fighting a need to cry. “Sure. That’s real nice of you, Faith.”
Tame the Wild Wind Page 32
