A Love Behind The Broken Mask (Western Historical Romance)

by Lydia Olson

“Sure, it won’t,” Henry agreed. “But I’m gonna tell ya, anyway. You remember that hole in the fence? The one we found after the fire?”

  “’Course, I remember,” she said. “That fire about burned our house down.”

  “Yeah, well, we been making notes when these things happen, and doing extra checks at night and fresh in the morning. A few things have happened since, so John and I are pretty sure we have a good idea of what’s been happening on the outskirts. We think there’s either one man or a group of men targeting this property around this time of night and making it look accidental.

  “The fence wasn’t cut the night before, but it was cut by first light. The irrigation wasn’t backed up at night, but it was by first light. Whoever’s been doing this wants us to think it’s all bandits and accidents, but we don’t believe it is. I came out here to tell you to mind yourself on the road, because if you run into the man while he’s doin’ it, he won’t hesitate to kill you to keep his secret.”

  “Well, then, it’s good I picked a fast horse, ain’t it?” she said, smirking.

  “Bullets can take down horses, too, Ellie. Just be careful, okay?”

  “I will.” Eloise faked a confident smile.

  “Okay,” Henry said, tipping his hat.

  As she rode away, she felt more nervous than she’d let on.

  She believed Henry was just trying to scare her into staying home, but she also knew Henry wasn’t the type to lie to her, or to scare her for no reason. To her surprise and relief, however, the roads were clear. It seemed the bandits had yet to come back to town from their last round, and the man Henry spoke of was not out tonight.

  Without even thinking about it, Eloise tied up her horse and dashed right into Maudie’s Saloon. The long ride gave her too much time to think, and her father’s accusations that she couldn’t find a man who would want her the way she was kept coming back to mind. Maudie smiled and waved when she saw her, but Eloise skipped the regular greetings.

  “Make me into a lady,” she requested, slamming her fist on the bar.

  “What’s that...?” Maudie asked, laughing at Eloise with a man at the bar.

  “I’m being serious, Maudie – I want you to make me into a lady!” Eloise added, aggressively.

  “Okay, sweetheart,” she said, eyebrows raised. “Give me a minute to finish up what I’m doing out here, and I’ll meet you in the back.”

  Eloise groaned impatiently and slunk into the back room. She knew this room well, but it didn’t feel the same as it used to. In recent years, so many private card games had turned violent in this room that it sent a cold chill down her spine just to enter. She never understood how Miss Maudie could handle coming in here, experiencing that chill every day.

  When Eloise was young, she and her brother had spent many delightful afternoons playing games with Miss Maudie and her husband while their father was in town on business.

  Some of her fondest memories were spent crawling around this floor with Edison, pretending to be cattle and cowboys. It made her sad to think how she’d lost both her brother and her fond memories of this place to violence. Eloise was startled out of her thoughts when Miss Maudie entered the room.

  “Ah,” Miss Maudie exclaimed. “It’s been so long since we’ve spent time in here together!”

  “I was just thinking about that,” Eloise said.

  “Yes, but we had so many offers for it,” Miss Maudie said, sighing. “So many men were willing to pay extra for a private room to play cards in, and we didn’t have a real need for a lounge – so it was the best business decision we could make. Give it up for something better, ya know?”

  “Sure, but it doesn’t feel the same, now,” admitted Eloise. “I don’t like it. It’s not the same room anymore... or maybe that’s just because Edison isn’t here.”

  Miss Maudie sighed and came to stand behind the chair Eloise sat in. She rested her hands on Eloise’s shoulders as she spoke.

  “You make a good point,” she said. “We all miss him.”

  “Yeah,” Eloise whispered, thoughtlessly tapping her fingertips on the arm of the chair.

  “Now,” said Miss Maudie, brushing tears from her eyes and putting her hands on her hips. “What was this you were going on about out there? About turning you into a lady?”

  “Right,” Eloise said. “Daddy says men don’t want tomboys, so I’d like to be turned into a lady. Maybe not forever... but just to see what it looks like.”

  “My, my,” Maudie said, distantly.

  Miss Maudie stepped into the hall for a moment. Eloise readjusted in her seat, not sure if she should leave or just wait for Maudie to return. Luckily, she wasn’t gone long.

  “Ah, here we are!” Maudie said, reentering the room with a brush in her hand.

  “You’ll do it?” Eloise beamed.

  “I sure will – but what’s this your father told you about what men want?” she said.

  “Daddy thinks that no man besides Ryan McKinnon will ever want me with my hair like it is, and when I dress the way I do – and I’m determined to prove him wrong. I can find a better suitor than Ryan... just like you taught your Whiskey Girls to do here. So, I thought, who better to teach me than the master herself?”

  “Sure,” Miss Maudie said, struggling to get her brush through a knot in Eloise’s hair. “But when was the last time you brushed your hair?”

  “Brushed? Why would I brush? I’m just gonna get it dirty again, anyway,” she argued.

  “Do you own a brush?” Miss Maudie scoffed.

  “I think so... I don’t really know,” admitted Eloise, crinkling her nose. “I always just give my hair a good wash and then throw it back in a ponytail!”

  “Well, you can have this one,” Maudie said, still struggling to break through the tangles.

  “Thanks, Maudie, but I’ll probably barely use it,” she confessed. “Truth is, I don’t really know what I’m trying to prove. Ryan thinks I should be more of a lady, but Daddy thinks Ryan likes me just the way I am. And I told Daddy I could try to find another suitor, but he laughed at me.”

  “Well, your daddy would know men,” Miss Maudie chuckled. “Sure, there are always exceptions – some men might prefer tomboys over ladies – but the kind of man who does so is always important. What kind of man were you looking for?”

  “Well, Wilson said he likes me just how I am,” Eloise pointed out.

  “Now, I thought he might have something to do with this!” Miss Maudie said. “The way you were looking at him the other day, and the way you looked at me when I offered him our services! Boy, I sure thought there was something going on there.”

  “Yeah. Truth is, I’ve spent a lot of time with him these last few days, and there’s something there with Wilson that I’ve never felt with anyone else,” Eloise said. “Definitely not Ryan.”

  “You kiss him?” she said.

  Eloise pulled her head away and turned around to stare Miss Maudie in the face. She wasn’t sure if Miss Maudie was making a joke, but when she looked her in the eye, it was clear she wasn’t.

  “What?” Eloise gasped. “What makes you think...?”

  “Ah, see,” Miss Maudie said, turning Eloise’s chair so she was facing forward again. “There’s a lot to be said about a man in his kiss. How can you know you wanna be with this man if you’ve never kissed one before?”

  “Well... we could have kissed once,” she said. “But I didn’t know it was that important.”

  “Oh, very, very important,” Miss Maudie told her, setting down the hairbrush. “But are you sure this Wilson fella is a good man?”

  “Ryan doesn’t seem to like him – and Edison never did – but Daddy trusts him, and I always have,” she said. “He’s a bit rough around the edges, but most people say the same about me.”

  “Now, where did you hear that?” Miss Maudie gasped.

  “Well, I just thought, with me not being much of a lady, that I was too rough?” Eloise said, sighing. “I guess it was just something R
yan did today that made me think that, and what Daddy said...”

  “Hmm,” Maudie said thoughtfully. “Well, I don’t think you’re rough around the edges – but I’m worried the same may not be true of your friend Wilson. At the very least, he may not be an honest man.”

  “What do you mean?” wondered Eloise.

  Miss Maudie chuckled nervously and picked the brush up again, combing through Eloise’s hair despite having just finished brushing it. Eloise didn’t like her reaction. She had never known Miss Maudie to be nervous about telling her something, no matter how inappropriate or upsetting.

  “What? What is it?” Eloise persisted.

  “Well... not to throw around accusations, but I overheard Wilson tell you that he found his fortune in gold,” Miss Maudie said. “He made certain to keep it a secret from the rest of the town, which made me worry, because there was a large shipment of gold stolen from a stagecoach along the Santa Fe trail – the same way he was traveling.

  “Not to mention, before the poker game with the sheriff, Wilson said a lot of things about his hatred for this town, and even threatened to be sure it burned to the ground. It sounded like he was only trying to get the sheriff riled up, but then he won a stack of land deeds off the sheriff... I’m worried he may not be the man you think he is, anymore.”

  “Oh, no.” Eloise slumped in her chair. “But, no, Wilson would never force a family off their land.”

  “Well, I always say the truth’s in the proof,” Miss Maudie said. “But I do have an idea to solve your little predicament. Hows about you come to the saloon’s masquerade ball tomorrow night – invite both your suitors? Then, under the cover of a beautiful disguise – courtesy of me - you can kiss them both. That’ll show you who’s the better man.”

  “I dunno about that – you do know that Daddy will be at the ball, too?” Eloise ventured, slyly watching to see Miss Maudie’s reaction at the mention of Dillion.

  “That’s all very interesting – but how about we take a look at some dresses?” Miss Maudie said, winking.

  Chapter Ten

  “Please, no!” Eloise could be heard yelling, terrified, between strings of profanity. “Stop, Maudie – please don’t make me do this!”

  Several men sat in the saloon, their conversations paused to listen to the colorful language echoing out of one of the back rooms. The men chuckled, and some of them left and returned a moment later with more of their friends. They had only their imagination to figure out what may be happening back there, and that was enough for most of them.

  “Well, now, that’s a creative use of the English language,” one man said.

  “Wait, isn’t that the Hastings girl?” another man asked. “I’ve never heard her talk like that before.”

  “Can’t imagine what Maudie’s done to her to make her that livid,” the first said.

  As Eloise’s screams and profanity intensified, business in the saloon came to a standstill. Some men looked concerned, while others tried to peek to see what was happening. As if on cue, one of Miss Maudie’s Whiskey Girls appeared at the end of the hall nearest the saloon, her hair and makeup a mess, and smiled uncomfortably.

  “She’s fine, really,” she assured the crowd, forcing a smile.

  “What are you ladies doing to her?” one man wondered.

  “Yeah, is that how you become a Whiskey Girl?” another yelled.

  The saloon erupted with laughter. The Whiskey Girl ran her fingers through her untidy hair and brushed away the makeup that was running down her face. She tried to force a laugh, but it sounded more like a dying animal. It was obvious she was trying not to cry. The man nearest her put the back of his hand on her forehead to check her temperature.

  “You feelin’ all right, honey?” he said. “You look like the Hastings girl’s attacked you!”

  “No, no, I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile. “And no one’s being attacked back there – it just seems like the concept of a real bath is foreign to that girl.”

  The Whiskey Girl giggled uncomfortably, then ducked back into the hallway before things could get any worse. She brushed tears from her eyes as she entered the back room, where Eloise stood, head down, next to a murky bath. Eloise had a towel wrapped around her, water dripping from her hair, and a murderous glare on her face. The Whiskey Girl sighed of relief.

  “I am so glad you’re done,” she said.

  “Everything okay out front?” Miss Maudie asked, rushing over to dry Eloise’s hair.

  “It will be now – but everyone was sure concerned about the woman being tortured to death in the back room,” she explained. “And it seems I look just as sickly as she does.”

  “Hmm,” Miss Maudie said, disinterestedly. “But you told them everything was okay?”

  “I tried – but it seems that someone splashing her bathwater all over me made everything look even worse when I went out there to assure them,” the Whiskey Girl whined. “How are they supposed to believe everything is okay back here when I look like this...?”

  “I knew I should’ve gone in your place,” another Whiskey Girl said, choking up. “I’m so sorry.”

  “No, it wasn’t so bad, thanks,” the first girl said, dramatically. “It’s just, if I had known she was gonna make this big a deal out of getting a bath, I wouldn’t have offered to help.”

  “Oh, hush – you're all fine,” Miss Maudie said. “I don’t need to remind you how bad off any of you were when I first cleaned you up, do I?”

  “Yes, but at least none of us caused a scene,” the first girl whined.

  “If you don’t like it, you can leave,” Eloise said, glaring at the girl, and then resting her forehead against her hands. “Aw, Miss Maudie – I feel like a horse kicked me in the back of the head! How can you take baths so often when this is what it feels like?”

  “Now, it only feels that bad because of how long you’ve gone without one,” Maudie explained. “Your hair can only hold so much dirt before the dirt’ll fight back when you try to get it out! Almost like all that filth has made a nice, cozy home in there, or somethin’.”

  “Then let it stay living there!” Eloise gasped. “Oh, this is what I imagine death would feel like.”

  “Now, now – don't be like that,” Miss Maudie said. “When we get finished with you, no man will be able to resist you. Oh, I can’t wait to see how this night goes for ya!”

  “I can’t wait, either,” another Whiskey Girl, who Eloise recognized as the flirting girl from the other night, squealed. “I’ve been waiting for this moment since I first saw you! I just thought, ‘wow, that girl would be so beautiful if she actually cared what she looked like – I hope she’ll come to me and allow me to do her hair one day!’ And now, here we are!”

  “How many of you are there?” Eloise worried, looking frightfully around the room. “I just thought Miss Maudie would be touching me. Oh, I don’t like this.”

  “Oh, there’s not so many of us,” the Whiskey Girl said, taking a step toward Eloise.

  Eloise felt like a calf being cornered by a pack of wolves. Several Whiskey Girls slowly approached her with their hands outstretched, which felt more like they were trying to eat her than dress her up.

  Eloise backed up, eyes wide, until she hit the wall behind her. Now, she was cornered for real. She didn’t know what else to do, so she screamed and barreled through what she saw as a pack of ravenous Whiskey Girls, knocking several of them to the ground.