Bewildered in Billings

by Lynn Donovan

  Would she ever get to talk to Dotty?

  Tatem Miller slipped out of a pew and stepped in next to Ginger. His parents and sister walked ahead of him. “Good day, Miss Ginger.”

  She lifted her eyes from the feet she was following in front of her. “Oh, Tater, er um, Tatem. Good day.” She scooted forward.

  “Sure getting hot.” Tatem slid forward with her.

  “Uh, yes. You’d never know we were so far up in the Rockies.” A half step closer to the exit.

  “Nice picnic weather.” Tatem lifted his eyes to meet hers.

  She considered what he had said with a tilt of her head. Another step. Sunlight angled across the line of people stopping at the open door to shake the Pastor’s hand. It was so bright in contrast to the interior of the church, it caused Ginger to squint. “I-I suppose so.”

  She reached that line of sunlight and felt its warmth. Almost out of the church door. Could she see Dotty and Aidan waiting in the churchyard? No. But she knew Dotty would wait.

  Tatem nodded, thoughtful. “I was thinking—”

  The line ahead of Ginger broke free and she was able to rush out the door. “Could you excuse me?” she muttered to Tatem and made a cordial nod to the Pastor as she hurried outside. Her eyes slammed shut in the full midday sun. She squinted, shielding with her hand, to search for Dotty. Tatem said something behind her, but Ginger didn’t hear his words.

  “You are not going to believe what Lovelorn said!” Ginger ran to Dotty. “I can’t make sense of it.”

  Dotty’s eyes went wide. “What did she say?”

  Ginger reached into her reticule and pulled out the folded article she had cut from the paper. She fumbled to open it so Dotty could read the response. Dotty’s eyes moved quickly down the page. “Huh? That’s interesting.”

  “Is it?” Ginger frowned. “I can’t make heads or tails of it. What does she mean?”

  Dotty’s eyes lifted to check on her children then returned to Ginger. “Well, I think we are doing the right thing by having the barn dance, and as long as you go expecting to meet the right man for you, it’ll happen.”

  Dotty smiled and handed Ginger her article. Ginger stared at the paper, then Dotty. “Really? You think it’s that simple?”

  Dotty’s eyebrows rose in answer to Ginger’s question. “Apparently Lovelorn thinks so.”

  Ginger stared at Dotty as she gathered her children and climbed into their wagon. “I’m so happy for you, Ginger.” Dotty waved as Aidan reined the mule to move forward.

  “Who’s Lovelorn.”

  Ginger gasped. Tatem stood behind her. Had he heard everything?

  She twirled around to face him. “I-It’s nobody.” Ginger pursed her lips. “Just a matchmaker columnist in the St. Louis Gazette that Dorothy Orchid wrote to. That’s how she and Aidan met and now she’s happily married…”

  “Oh. You want a matchmaker to find you a husband?” Sadness filled Tatem’s eyes.

  “No!” Ginger answered too fast. “I— well… No! I just asked for some advice.”

  “Really?” Tatem walked beside her as she crossed the churchyard to find her parents. “What advise did this Lovelorn give you?”

  Ginger stared at him for a moment. Should she tell Tatem what the Lovelorn had replied? “She said I should attend social events with expectancy.”

  “Hum.” Tatem smiled. “And… is that what this barn dance is about?”

  “That was Dotty’s idea.” Ginger sputtered. “I-I just said I would help. My mother too. The four of us, really. It’s a tradition. You know every year after harvest, all of Billings celebrates in one way or another. Dorothy can’t be expected to put on a barn dance for the whole community all by herself. Besides, she’s with child and don’t need to wear herself out like that.”

  Tatem nodded with a mischievous smile curled on his lips. “So, you going to attend this barn dance with expectancy?”

  “I suppose so. It’s what Lovelorn told me to do. That and— she says I will find my true love if I do. How can I do anything differently?”

  Tatem grinned as his eyes met Gingers. “Sounds like good advice to me.”

  She gawked at him as he walked away. She had nearly told him that Lovelorn said her true love was right in front of her nose…

  But that couldn’t be right.

  

  “Oh, Missus Talulah, this dress has to be… the dress of all dresses.” Ginger squeezed the fashion magazine against her chest. “I mean, this barn dance is—”

  “Can you keep a secret?” Ginger whispered.

  Mrs. Talulah lifted tired eyes and nodded, with straight pins protruding from her pursed lips.

  Ginger pulled out the article from Lovelorn. “I wrote a columnist! And Dorothy Orchid agrees that she is telling me this barn dance is going to be where I meet my… TRUE LOVE!” Ginger squealed. “Next time I’m in your shop, it’s gonna be to have you make my wedding dress!”

  She lowered the magazine and flipped through the pages. “And I know exactly what I will want.”

  She closed her eyes and spun in place with the magazine clutched tightly to her bosom. “I want yards and yards of silk satin, and gigot sleeves, tapering to my wrists. The skirt will flow into a train that sweeps behind me, with bows and lace accentuating the bodice and hem. I want wax flowers across my hair and a veil of Chantilly. Slippers to match, and a cascading bouquet of hydrangeas and lilacs, lily of the valley, and fragrant roses.”

  Ginger sighed. The seamstress gawked at her with widening startled eyes.

  “Missus Talulah, I want the people of Billings to gasp when they see me walk down the aisle, and my true love to feel faint from the joy in his heart for how beautiful his bride looks in this dress. This dress…”

  Ginger jerked to face Mrs. Talulah. “But that’s not this dress.” She flipped through the magazine. “Nooo. This dress is for the Moonlight Harvest Barn Dance and it can’t be that amazing, but still I want it to be as amazing as… THAT!” She pointed to a model in the magazine. “I want that dress, Missus Talulah. Can you make that for me by September?”

  “Well.” Mrs. Talulah dropped some of the pins as she spoke. They tinged the wooden floor as they bounced at her feet. “I certainly can try.”

  “Oh, thank you!” Ginger hugged the woman. “I knew you could do this for me. Mother will be by to arrange for payment.” She hugged the seamstress again. “Thank you so much!”

  Chapter Six

  

  The day of the barn dance had finally arrived. The morning had been filled with last minute details out at the copper mining camp. Ginger rushed into her parent’s house. Her dress had been delivered from Mrs Talulah’s, while she had been gone, and hung on the door of her chifforobe. Sea-foam-green silk taffeta draped elegantly from a snugly fitted bodice. It was trimmed across the shoulders in a delicate lace that Mrs. Talulah made by hand. It was a one-of-a-kind and complimented Ginger’s unusually red hair. The cobbler has died her slippers to match the light green of the dress and mother gave her emerald earrings to wear. All these things had been laid out for Ginger to change into and head back to the camp.

  She washed quickly from the pitcher and bowl and sat at her vanity to fix her hair. A quick brushing, then a twist up on the crown of her head, she secured with pins and pulled a few wisps to soften her face. A touch of rouge to her cheeks and lips, and a pat of powder. She was ready to don the beautiful dress.

  She stood before her chifforobe and gingerly eased herself into the gown. “Mother!” She cried for help lacing and tying the bodice.

  Her mother rushed through the door, flustered and wrapped in her dressing gown, her hair half pinned up and half hanging over her shoulder. “What is it, dear?”

  “Oh Mother.” Ginger sighed. “Come, sit down. Let me help with your hair.”

  “Thank you, dear Ginger-snap.” Mother grinned, having caller her Father’s pet name. “Pamy is skilled in many things, but hairstyling is not one of them.”

  Th
ey giggled and Ginger unpinned her mother’s hair and brushed it out, twisted, tucked, and rolled it into a design that looked elegant and yet simple. She pinned it securely and handed her mother a small mirror.

  “Oh, Ginger. It’s lovely.” Mother patted her hair tenderly. “Now, what is it you needed?”

  “I can’t…” She turned and pointed over her shoulder and around her waist.

  “Here, let me.” Mother tugged and tightened the lacings, securing it at the bottom of her waist with a neat bow. “There you are.”

  Ginger turned and hugged her mother. “Go, you need to get dressed, too.”

  Mother smiled and crossed the room to leave.

  “Mother? Didn’t you say you would lay out those pretty, dangly emerald earrings for me?”

  “Yes, dear. I did. They’re right—”

  Mother stopped near her vanity table. “I put them here, so you’d see them first thing. Oh dear.”

  They looked under the table, behind her small jewelry box, under the hairbrush, the hand mirror. “Goodness…” Mother looked around the room. “Wait.” She rushed over to the window. “Here’s the one.” She bent and picked up the single earring.

  Ginger stared at the open window. “How odd. It’s as if a squirrel came in through the window and took your earrings, only she dropped one during her escape.”

  “Oh Ginger! Your imagination, sometimes—”

  They gawked at the window, all the same. “Well.” Mother broke the silence. “I have a pair of pearl earrings that will look just as lovely. It will accent the white lace on your gown.”

  Ginger frowned. “Thank you, Mother. They’ll be lovely. I just… I was really looking forward to wearing your emeralds. But more importantly, I’m sorry the pair is incomplete.” She looked out the window, on the roof. “I do hope we find the other one.”

  “No to worry.” Mother assured her. “Nothing is ever really lost, just misplaced.” She walked to Ginger’s door. “I’ll get you those pearls.”

  

  “…attend social gatherings with expectancy.” Ginger let the Lovelorn’s words repeat in her mind as she sat in the backseat of Father’s buggy. This trip to Dotty’s place seemed to take forever. She was crammed in the back seat, trying not to wrinkle her skirts any more than would be expected. The air was warm and stuffy, and with the winding, twisting trail-like road up the mountain, her stomach was beginning to feel queasy.

  Or was it her nerves?

  This was the social event of the year. She was attending with expectancy as prescribed by so many advisors. She rolled her eyes. Tonight her true love would be revealed “in front of her very nose.” She sighed.

  Mother turned. “What’s wrong, dear?”

  “Nothing, Mother.” Ginger swayed with the rough road and bumped her shoulder against the buggy’s interior. She winced. “I’m fine.”

  “We’re almost there. I know you are excited. I’m excited for you.” Mother turned back around.

  Ginger tilted her head. Did Mother know about the reply from the newspaper columnist? It never occurred to Ginger that anybody else would read her letter in the paper and realize it had been she who wrote it. But now that she thought about it, anyone could have.

  How many did? Did Tatem? Utter embarrassment slammed into her heart like a lightning bolt striking a weather vane. She sat back and stared at the back of Father’s hat. Suddenly, she did not want to go to this barn dance!

  Everyone knew she was attending with expectations of finding a suitor.

  She would be a laughing stock! No one would dance with her for fear she would latch on to them with expectations of a proposal. Good Lord, what had she done?

  When Father pulled into the center of the Mining Camp and reined their horse to a halt, Ginger seriously considered begging him to take her home. She reached up and fingered the earrings Mother had loaned her. The Emerald ones would be been so much prettier. But no one would know she had planned to wear green emerald stones instead of pearls. She sighed and let Father take her hand and ease her down out of the box of doom.

  Fiddle music resonated from the barn as she and her parents walked toward it. The doors were propped wide open. The horses and mules were outside in the corral, goats were in a pen, and the chickens had been moved to a lean-to shed. Sawdust had been scattered on a designated dance area, a dais was constructed for the fiddle player and his brother who played a bass cello. Candles were suspended from the hay loft, in mason jars to control the dripping, by fishing line making it appear to be star lights inside the barn.

  Tables has been set up along the walls and covered with potluck dishes, a barrel of water, pitchers of tea, and enameled coffee pots sat on a potbelly stove, keeping the brews warm, but making the barn too warm for right now. She knew as the sun went down the potbelly stove would be a treasured object in that barn. Her eyes rolled over the people for Dotty Orchid.

  She sat on a stack of hay bales. Ginger excused herself from her parents and headed straight to her friend. Dotty looked exhausted but happy. She was barefoot because her feet and ankles were swollen. She had told Ginger earlier that she didn’t care what the women said, she was great with child and would do what she pleased.

  Ginger didn’t think she looked so very “great with child” but wasn’t going to argue with her either. “Dotty!”

  “Oh, dear me.” Dotty stood. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! My goodness. That gown is unbelievably beautiful.” She made Ginger turn so she could see all sides of her gown. “You make that color come to life. You’re red hair and that… green? You’re just breath-taking.”

  Ginger giggled. “Mother was going to loan me some emerald earrings.” Ginger fidgeted with the pearls on her earlobe. “But somehow they got misplaced. So she let me wear these pearls.”

  Dotty shook her head. “They are just lovely.” She turned to the bale she had been sitting on. “Now, here’s your dance card and a pencil. You know we schoolteachers always have pencils available.” She laughed. “Hold it in front of you as you say hello to everyone and let the men sign up to dance with you.”

  Ginger looked at the card and chewed her lip. “I-I don’t know.”

  “Now, Ginger, my dear, sweet friend. This is what you’ve been waiting for. Remember, attend with expectancy. It’s going to be just fine… and have fun! I’m having fun, and I’m not looking for a suitor!” Dotty laughed and eased back down awkwardly onto the bale. “Go, mingle, get dance requests!” Dotty shooed her with a brush of her hand.

  Ginger sighed and forced herself to turn from Dotty and walk through the crowd. She glanced down at her dance card. Temptation filled her heart to write names on it that she knew would be safe. Tatem!

  He stood near the musician’s platform. She rushed to him. “Do me a favor.”

  He smiled at her and found herself lost in the twinkle of his eyes. What was that about? She cleared her throat.

  “Um, would you, please, sign my dance card so I’m not standing alone, over there, by the food all night.” She pleaded with an exaggerated smile.

  “Actually, Miss Ginger. I had planned to dance with you tonight. I will be happy to sign your card. May I enter my name more than once?”

  “Yeah.” She cocked her head back. “Sure, why not. Thank you.” But regret shoved its way into her gut. How was she to meet her true love if Tatem was the only one who signed her dance card? “Uh, but. Don’t—”

  He looked up from writing. Guilt swamped her heart. “Never mind.” Let fate fall where it may. She waited for him to write his name a few times and hand her card back.

  She looked at the card, then blinked. He had written his name twice: First and last.

  Chapter Seven

  

  Tatem smiled when Ginger looked at his name on her dance card. In truth, he didn’t plan to dance with anyone other than Ginger, but it would have been rude to fill in every line with his name.

  He had planned this for weeks, ever since he learned there was going to
be a barn dance. He would have the first dance with her, and then catch one or two if she was available, but he definitely wanted that last dance. Meanwhile he would speak to her father and ask permission.

  Tatem’s father indicated he and Roderick Houndsman were pleasantly acquainted through business transactions and Tatem interpreted that to mean Mr. Houndsman would not object to Tatem courting his daughter.

  He’d already spoken to the fiddler and requested the waltz he wanted for that last dance. When it ended, he planned to drop down on one knee, whip out Grandmama’s ring, and ask Ginger if she’d consider being his bride. Smooth as duck spit. This would be a memorable night for both of them.

  The fiddler and bass cellist stepped back on the platform. He ran his bow across the strings to get everyone’s attention. “Welcome, everyone, to the Moonlight Harvest Barn Dance. We’re gonna start this shindig here in a minute or two, but first, our Host and Hostess would like to say a few words.”

  Everyone applauded as Aidan and Dorothy Orchid stepped on the platform. “We just wanted to thank the good people of our community for helping us re-build this barn.” Aidan shouted to be heard. “Now, there’s a lot of good food over there on the tables and Drake Two-Rivers informed me that if you ask real nice, he might show you gentlemen where he has hidden some of his famous recipe.” Aidan cupped his hand around is mouth as if to share a secret. “That’s moonshine to you city slickers.”

  The people chuckled. Dorothy frowned at her husband which made the men laugh all the harder. Aidan put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him. “So, let’s let the musicians do what they came here to do.” He turned his face to Dorothy. “Sweetheart, may I have this first dance?”

  She blushed and nodded. They stepped down together as the fiddler raised his instrument and drew the bow across the strings in a song that was not too fast for Mrs. Orchid’s sake. Tatem search the crowd for Ginger, spotted her bright hair, and made his way over to her. “Miss Ginger, I believe I have this dance.”