Heart and Hand: Gold Sky Series

by Carter, Rebel

  She owed so much to her books, now including this bit of fortune and peace in Gold Sky as well. Never let it be said that a well-read woman wasn't worth her salt.

  Except that all of her careful avoiding and turning a blind eye to the other woman's continuous presence in Will's life all came to a halt today, a pleasant Saturday morning, until Forrest had loaded her into the buckboard with a pointed look.

  Julie could take a hint, and no matter how hard she worked like a supplicant in front of The Lady’s Cooking Compendium she just couldn’t manage to turn out anything edible. To her consternation, she had failed at making a pie no less than ten times. It was a sore issue in the house, especially when Will kept returning home, day after day, with some baked good or another from Rosemary. The desserts tasted like ash in her mouth each night after the less than edible or identifiable dinner she had prepared.

  Seeing as a majority of their meals ended up turning to ash, Julie had to hire a cook or her husbands would either waste away into nothing or plan a mutiny in which they hired one for her. And letting the men choose the cook ran the risk of finding Rosemary in her home, so here she was trying not to glare at the unsuspecting door of the newspaper office.

  She could do this.

  She had come out during one of the most maddening and scandalous seasons on record for The Four Hundred, and she had managed to do it all with her nose firmly ensconced in a book. Julie nodded to herself, sucked in a fortifying breath, and pushed open the door into the office.

  She would do this.

  Though no sooner had she set a foot over the threshold than she heard her name called out. Julie froze, still as a statue, and turned her head to the side. If the Lord were merciful, it wouldn't be Rosemary, though knowing her luck…

  “Julie!”

  Prompted by the voice, Julie turned to the side entirely, and she let out a relieved sigh when she saw Alice hurrying toward her with a smile on her face.

  “Oh, young lady, I see those men of yours finally let you out on your own.” Alice paused and wagged a finger at Julie. "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't call you young lady, as no doubt those men have made a woman out of you by now."

  Julie blushed. "I, ah, well—”

  "I'm being crass. I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Alice looped her arm through Julie's and gave her a sweet smile. "Forgive an old woman?"

  "You're hardly a day over thirty."

  Alice pulled a face. "I'll have you know I'm nowhere near thirty."

  Julie blanched, her eyes going wide, as she began to stutter, "Oh, I didn't mean to say that you—”

  Alice threw her head back and let out a peal of laughter. "Julie, I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" She waved her hands with another merry laugh. "I'm nearly fifty, you know."

  "Really?" Julie gaped.

  "Truly."

  "How sensational. What is your secret?" Julie lowered her voice to a hushed whisper.

  "That, my blushing bride, is a story for another time." Alice bumped her shoulder against Julie's in a good-natured tease. "Now that you're away from the ranch, how are you? Tell. Me. Everything. Have your virile husbands taught you much in the way of the intimacies of marriage?"

  "Alice!" Julie clapped a hand over her mouth. The words set her cheeks aflame, but mostly because she was bursting at the seams with things to tell her friend. There was no denying that she had gotten a thorough education from her husbands, or that her life had consisted mainly of the schoolhouse and her place at the ranch. It was hard not to make a beeline for the ranch as soon as she was able, not with Forrest waiting on her with the buckboard outside the schoolhouse, and certainly not when she knew what waited for her behind the doors of their bedroom.

  Julie's pulse raced at remembering the passionate exploration she had engaged in, which had not been relegated to their bedroom as of late. Just last night she had been taken by surprise on the dining room table when she had wandered downstairs looking for a snack.

  Will had given her something far more tempting than the chocolates she’d been after.

  “A lady never kisses and tells.” Julie smiled brightly, pushing away the thoughts of her husband and their dining room table.

  Alice threw her arms around Julie. “You would be proper, but that's all right. I forgive the virtue and good breeding. What are you doing here, hmm? I came this way to pay for next week’s advertisement.”

  “Just placing an advert for a cook.” Julie held up the piece of paper with the small ad she had penciled in.

  “Oh, let me take a look at that. I might know a gal.” Alice already had the sheet of paper in her hand before Julie could so much as protest, but she didn’t mind. Alice's energy was infectious, and she welcomed it wholeheartedly.

  “That would be helpful.” Julie clasped her hands and watched as Alice scanned the notice.

  “You’re being generous with pay,” Alice said after reading the small advert.

  “Just want to give what’s fair.”

  “Twenty dollars a week is more than fair.” Alice wagged the paper at her. “And not even to clean? Just cook? I’d add in cleaning as well.”

  “I’ve been managing the cleaning but...it would be nice to rest a little more.” Julie sighed, thinking of how she wanted to spend less time scrubbing floors or doing laundry and more time working on new ways to engage her students.

  “You’re a teacher. That’s hard enough work. I say add in the cleaning bit. Here, let me.” Alice snatched up a pencil from a passing clerk's hand and ignored the man’s startled look. “Definitely the wash as well," she hummed, staring down at the paper as she wrote. "That’s hell in the winter, and while we are warming up now, it never hurts to have someone used to it when the time comes.”

  “Alice—” Julie tried to take the sheet back, but the other woman suddenly stood up with a jab of the pencil.

  “You know what? I know a woman, fantastic cook, housemaid, the works! She’ll show you how to mend like a dream.” Alice nodded, tucking the notice into her reticule. “Don’t you worry about a thing. I’ll send her over this afternoon. Her name is Leslie.”

  Julie blinked at the speediness of Alice’s action. “Are you sure?”

  “Oh, quite. You’ll love Leslie. She’s a mother hen sort of woman and very deserving of this kind of pay. She lives in town and helps me when I’m in need. You won’t regret taking her on.”

  "Alice, thank you so much!” Julie bounced on her toes in excitement.

  Alice looped her arm through Julie’s and pulled her close. “Plus, she’s an older woman. You won’t have to worry about her sniffing around your husbands like a certain citizen,” she said, her voice now barely above a whisper.

  “Alice, I don’t know wh—”

  Alice pursed her lips. “Don’t lie to me. I thought we were friends. I see the way she looks at Will. We all do. Have for a while.”

  The other woman turned her head, prompting Julie to follow her gaze, which landed on Rosemary. The blonde woman moved about the office with a stack of papers in one hand and a cup of tea in the other. She looked at ease in the hustle and bustle of the newsroom, which irked Julie because she realized that she had never seen Rosemary with a hair out of place. She self-consciously smoothed a hand over her own curls, which made Alice smirk at her.

  “You’re much prettier,” she said.

  Julie sighed. “Thank you. But that isn't the point. Women shouldn't have to...tear one another down to feel better.”

  "That's no fun when the other one is an utter monster."

  The corner's of Julie's lips turned up in a smile. "Thank you nonetheless."

  “What are friends for?”

  “Evidently placating insecure wives,” Julie muttered, turning to leave the newsroom now that her business of hiring a cook has been seen to. The relief of not having to engage with Rosemary put a happy smile on her face and a spring in her step. Perhaps today could still turn out to be the perfect Saturday Julie had envisioned upon waking.

  Alice stepped beside her. “Y
ou’re not insecure. She’s wanted Will since before her husband died. God rest his soul.”

  “Are you serious?” Julie hissed with a wide-eyed look at the new bit of information. Alice gave her a quick nod, but before she could say more Rosemary appeared at their side, blocking their access to the news office door.

  “Well, look at you two!” Rosemary smiled at them. “Tell me, what has the two of you whispering like schoolgirls?”

  Alice gave a small shrug. “Oh, you know, the secrets of the newlywed bride.”

  Rosemary’s smile faltered at that. She cleared her throat before cutting her eyes to Julie. “Ah, yes, what happy days you must be experiencing.”

  Julie inclined her head. “Thank you. I am.”

  “Hard not to, with such fine men for company,” Alice added with a wink.

  “Alice!” Julie swatted at the other woman, which only made Alice giggle and Rosemary scowl, an expression that Julie wasn’t upset to see after all the vexation the blonde’s baked goods had caused her that week. She considered it just desserts.

  “So, tell me, how is the dance planning going?” Rosemary asked, turning the conversation away from talk of Julie’s newlywed bliss.

  “Excuse me? Dance?” Julie blinked in surprise.

  “The spring dance,” Rosemary said, one hand at her chest with feigned innocence. Something in her words had Julie wary, like she was about to have some very unpleasant news dropped in her lap.

  “What spring dance?”

  Rosemary held up a hand. “Sorry. The school has put it on for the past three years. It’s become a Gold Sky tradition. One of the biggest events in the entire town.”

  Julie’s eyes darted to Alice to see if Rosemary was telling the truth, and the wince she saw on her friend’s face had Julie letting out a sigh.

  “When is it supposed to be put on?" she asked, resigned to her fate of planning a spring dance. If it was a tradition, there was no way around it.

  “Next Thursday,” Rosemary said with a shake of her head. “Did no one tell you?”

  Julie gritted her teeth. Now she knew the other woman played at concern. There was no mistaking the patronizing tone in Rosemary’s voice, and she put on a tight smile.

  “No, not a word.”

  “Odd, doesn’t the newspaper send out a reporter to get the full story on the preparations at least two weeks before the dance?” Alice asked, pinning Rosemary with a disapproving look.

  “Oh, yes, I suppose they have in the past. Funny thing, that. We've just been so busy around here!” Rosemary tapped her chin with a sigh and then shrugged. “Well, that just means you’ll have to work doubly hard to ensure we have the best spring dance yet, isn’t that right, Julie?”

  Julie’s fingers tightened on her reticule. “Of course. The absolute best Gold Sky has ever seen.” She cleared her throat and stepped toward the door. “And that means I should be heading out now. Alice, please send Leslie by as soon as you can. I suspect I’ll be needing the extra set of hands sooner than I realized.”

  “Of course. Here, let me walk with you.” Alice once again was at her side and helping her push open the door.

  “Goodbye, ladies!” Rosemary called after them with a little wiggle of her fingers.

  “Is it safe to say that I abhor that woman?” Julie fumed as they walked along the storefronts.

  “Not in the least, and that’s not even because she wants your husband,” Alice replied with a shake of her head.

  “It’s that apparent?” Julie frowned, pausing to give a cautionary look over her shoulder toward the newspaper office. The last thing she wanted was Rosemary sneaking up on them again.

  Alice gave her hand a squeeze. “It is, and you’re right to feel like you do. She’s always been a forward woman, and after her husband died, well, she just does as she pleases. Doesn’t care who gets hurt.”

  “I see.”

  “I wouldn’t worry,” Alice told her. “Your husbands are smitten with you. They barely leave your side. It used to be that they were in town so much, but since you arrived, that’s changed.”

  Julie nodded, but she couldn't shake Alice’s words. It had been one thing to blame her jealousy on travel nerves or being tired, or on the simple fact that she couldn’t cook or bake while Rosemary did so with little effort. It was another thing to know that her suspicions about Rosemary were correct and that knowledge of it was public.

  “Speak of the devil.” Alice nudged her in the side, and Julie looked up in surprise, but she smiled when she saw Forrest and Will ambling down the boardwalk toward her. Though her smile faltered when she noticed Will raising his hand in greeting to someone inside the newspaper office.

  She had a guess as to who had caught his attention through the window.

  “Don’t pay her any mind,” Alice told her, seeing her reaction. “What you need to do is focus on planning the dance. I’ll have Leslie by at about two today, and you can discuss a satisfactory routine at the ranch.”

  Julie jerked her eyes away from Will stopping to talk to an excited Rosemary, who had bustled out of the newspaper office to chat, and gave Alice a nod.

  “I should stay busy.”

  “Yes, you should.” Alice gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I’ve got to run back to the boarding house before Peter sets the place ablaze. Left him making breakfast while our cook is in Butte.”

  Julie nodded and waved at her friend, but the moment Alice left she looked back at Will and wished that she could believe Alice’s words about not worrying over Rosemary, because at the moment the petite blonde woman didn’t seem to have any problem holding Will’s attention.

  “Get the advert placed?”

  Forrest’s question pulled her attention away from watching Rosemary and Will talk.

  “Ah, no. Alice knows a woman who would be perfect. She’s having her come by at two.” Julie did her best to recover from her displeasure at seeing Rosemary and Will together.

  It meant nothing because he was, she reminded herself, married to her. Not the blonde.

  “Well, that’s great news. Alice knows wonderful people around town, and she’d only send the best our way. Always been kind to us.” Forrest smiled at her, though he cleared his throat when he noticed the pinched look on her face that she hadn’t quite managed to wipe away. “Something wrong, little bird?”

  “No, it’s nothing.” Julie took his arm and gestured towards the mercantile. “Shall we see if the curtains and extra linens for the upstairs have come in?”

  Forrest glanced behind him. “Will wanted to come with us…”

  “Will seems to be otherwise occupied,” Julie replied, already walking along, tugging her big husband along behind her. “And I need to get by the grocer as well for more supplies. I know you wanted to hire on a few hands, and meals are a requirement for labor. Plus, I just found out about the spring dance. Not much time to spare.”

  Forrest made a face. “Spring dance? They have you planning that? Usually there’s a committee working on it for months ahead of time.”

  Julie’s steps faltered. “Months?” she asked, giving him an aghast look.

  “Least that’s the way it was last year. Rosemary headed it up. Assumed she would again this year.”

  “So the school is only the venue for the dance? Not the planner?” Julie asked, glaring over her shoulder at where Rosemary had one hand on Will’s shoulder. They were standing too close together, and it had Julie’s teeth on edge. She had half a mind to march over there and say something, but she refused to give Rosemary the satisfaction.

  “Not that I recall, but I never paid much attention to it. Only did last year on account of that being when—” He stopped short and suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Well, I just did last year, is all.”

  Julie raised an eyebrow at him. “Why did you last year?” she asked as they walked into the mercantile.

  “Doesn’t matter, little bird.” Forrest shook his head and stepped past her to the counter. “I’ll check on the order if
you want to take a look around.”

  Julie nodded, confused at Forrest’s lack of an explanation. She didn’t understand why he wasn’t answering her question. It didn’t seem like a big one to ask, but she could tell it made him uncomfortable to talk about. Julie didn’t press the issue, and Forrest looked relieved for it as they made their way to the grocer’s. Only when she saw a beautiful display of apples did her thoughts turned from Forrest’s odd behavior.

  “We’ll take a bushel,” he told the grocer when he caught her looking at the fruit longingly.

  “Really?” Julie asked excitedly.

  “Of course. And I almost forgot. We got two telegrams waiting for you from your family. We can go get them after this.”

  “Oh, I hope one is from my mother. I know she has so many questions at this point. Do you think my letter got there yet?”

  “Could be if things went smoothly.” Forrest smiled at her excitement as he watched her hurry around the store, picking out their groceries for the next couple of weeks. Forrest added on his own list of staples to Julie’s, and she practically skipped down the boardwalk to the sheriff's station.

  News from her family was almost enough to stop her from noticing that Will was still absent from what was supposed to be their first shopping trip as a trio.

  Almost.

  That was, until she found out that her letter had indeed made it to New York City. All thoughts of her consternation at Rosemary and Will left her as she devoured news from home. Julie sat at Forrest’s desk, scratching out a reply to her mother’s inquiry after the social scene in Gold Sky and what her husband was like.

  The simple question had Julie tapping her chin with her pencil, thinking of a truthful answer.

  Her mother didn’t know about Will, and it seemed the best course of action was to keep it that way. Not until she had more time to explain the situation to her family. Perhaps a visit to Gold Sky would be the best time to do that?

  She had just finished describing how kind Forrest was when the door banged open, causing both Forrest and Julie to jerk toward the door in surprise.