Amethyst (40 page)

Per giggled all the way through the time she waltzed him around the circle. Joel blushed redder than his neckerchief when she made him dance with her, his father grinning over the bowing of the fiddle. She danced the polka with Beans and the Texas Star with Jeremiah McHenry.

“You sure made a fine picture with Mrs. Grant.”

When he met her again, he answered, “She’s a fine woman.”

Back around and together. “Did you get the roof on?”

“Not yet.”

“We made him enough shingles.” Joel was her next partner as the square dance continued. “Ada Mae and me are pretty good splitters.”

“You and Ada Mae are good at whatever you decide to do.”

It wasn’t exertion that made the boy’s face red this time. Any little compliment would do.

They finished that dance, and the music slowed for a waltz. The mouth organ sang the melody above the chords of the guitar, then Rand took a turn fingering the melody.

Opal looked around to see no one fiddling.

Jacob appeared at her elbow. “May I have this dance?”

At the look in his eyes, she swallowed her smart reply and just nodded. Butterflies exploded in her middle as her feet matched the pattern with his. The music swirled them around, her hand held firmly in his, his shoulder corded beneath her fingers.

Her heart kept on singing after the music stopped.

“Thank you.”

Think of something to say
. “You play real well.”

“Joel wants to learn too.” He squeezed her hand and let it go. “I need to get back up there so Rand can dance with Ruby.”

“Sure.” Lonely made her hand want to reach for his. Instead, she went to find Ruby and take Mary. “Go dance with your husband.”

Ruby kissed her cheek. “Thank you. I will.”

“That was the grandest party ever,” Mrs. Grant said as they rode home in the wagon.

“Far different from the Chicago variety.” Pearl looked up from her seat in the wagon bed behind Carl and Mrs. Grant.

“I got bored with those long ago. Your McHenry is quite the gentleman. It’s not hard to picture him in full dress uniform commanding his men.”

“He didn’t even keep his uniforms. Said he wanted nothing more than to have a home here in the badlands.” Pearl shook her head. “I think you shocked him when you asked for a sidesaddle.”

“Men need to be shocked. It’s good for them. My John never knew what to expect. It made our life interesting—that was for sure. Of course, I have shocked my share of people in my time. If I were younger, I’d want to live in this country too.” She turned farther so she could see Amethyst, who had Carly snuggled in her lap. “You made a good choice, Amethyst dear, to stay here, but I still want you to come to Chicago with me.”

“We’ll see.”

“You’re not thinking of leaving me, are you?”

Amethyst smiled at the shock in Pearl’s voice. How good it felt to be wanted. How much she had wanted Mr. McHenry to ask her to dance. She sighed. But he didn’t. Why was she surprised? Other than those pleasant evenings when they visited in the parlor, he never saw her for anything other than the one who cooked and served.

Maid material, not wife material. Could she stay here in Medora and see him at church and socials and not care? The ugly thought came again, and this time she gave it a name before slamming it away. Jealousy—plain and simple. But oh, so painful.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Shame that Mrs. Grant wasn’t a bit younger.

Jeremiah stared into the purpling dusk. While his porch still lacked a roof, a chair tipped back against the solid wall gave him the view he’d dreamed of. A U-shaped bend in the river, cottonwoods sheltering the banks, and the buttes fading to bands of gray beyond the far shore. His cattle grazed on the bottom land where the hay had already been cut and stacked like bread loaves near the future barn site. Two deer wandered down to the river’s edge to drink, alert to every movement.

Flycatchers dipped and dove; bats joined them in their nightly forage for flying insects.

He thought back to the celebration, the ride to show Mrs. Grant the phantasmal shapes of the land, the colors, the wildness. What an entertaining companion.

A companion. That’s what he wanted and needed. All his life he’d been a loner, rising through the ranks of the army through sheer force and tenacity beyond a bulldog. He could get along with anyone—coerce or cajole or flat-out scare men into doing their duty or even the impossible. He had his house, his land, a few cattle, and silence. He could get a dog, hire a hand. The chair creaking sounded loud in the stillness. But he wanted his companion to be female, and he wanted to be married. Was that asking too much? Being around the other couples made him realize what he was missing. He rubbed his thigh to ease the ache. Sometimes, like tonight, when he’d been on his feet most of the day, the ache became only a small part of the unheard scream from muscles that refused to return to their earlier strength. He got up, fetched his flask, and took a swig. The last swallow. He had no more. He’d planned on stopping by Williams’ to buy a bottle, but in all the business of haying and with the picnic, he’d forgotten. Until now.

He’d tried willow-bark tea, chewing willow bark—vile stuff— and laudanum, but none worked as well as whiskey. Or at least were as pleasurable.

He thought of riding into town and claiming his still-paid-for room at the boardinghouse. He could stop by and refill his flask on the way. Instead, he grunted himself upright and went on into the house to light a lamp and read. Anything to get his mind off the pain. But with no glass in the windows and no screen doors, the mosquitoes serenading him and feasting on all visible skin made him blow out the light and crawl into the pallet on the floor. He’d not had time to string the ropes for a bed yet, or fill a tick with hay, or sew a seam for that matter.

It promised to be a long night.

In the brief moments just before he fell asleep, he saw Miss O’Shaunasy on the backs of his eyelids. Amethyst. Amethyst, ah, that was better.

They finished up the haying with only one rainstorm to slow them down but with stacks for everyone. Then the rains came and soaked the earth, sending the water to bring the prairie grass sprouting back up again to refill what they’d taken.

His roof let in nary a drop.

He kept a store to suffer the nights no more. Since his field had been hayed off, the plow took up his days. He broke an acre of sod to start with, then another, the furrows turning over straight and smooth. He’d leave it to deteriorate during the fall and winter, then after another plowing in the spring, the land would be ready for seeding. Finished with his own sod breaking, he did the same for Rand, a good thing since he was using Rand’s team to plow with. He learned to sharpen the plowshare and keep the rows straight.

A farmer is what I’m becoming. I thought to range cattle and ship fat steers in the fall
. Roundup time had seemed more like a huge party than grinding work. When he wasn’t plowing to pay back all the debts he felt he owed for his neighbors’ help, he was cutting trees so he could get a barn up to shelter Kentucky during the winter. The big horse was not used to ranging like the local ponies.

More than once he stopped by Williams’.

“Come for supper tonight,” Pearl invited one day when he’d dropped by.

“Thanks. Where’s Miss O’Shaunasy? I haven’t seen her lately.” He held his coffee cup up for a refill.

“She left for Chicago yesterday.”

“Chicago?”

“Yes. Mrs. Grant invited her, encouraged her actually, to go and help start up a new business, and since we have so few guests here, she felt she was an imposition and left.” Pearl swallowed and sniffed. “The house is so empty without her.”

“I can’t believe she left.” Shock never had felt good, but this news hit like a fist in the belly.

“Me neither.” Pearl sank down in a chair, propping her elbows on the table. “I tried to convince her to stay, but this was a really good offer.”

McHenry drained his coffee. “I didn’t see that coming.” He set the cup back in the saucer with a clink and rose. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

“That will be fine.”

“I’ll bring a wagon by so we can load up the furniture. Carl said he’s finished.”

“I’ll tell him.”

Jeremiah left, shaking his head.
Why would she do that? I thought she liked it here
. He rode on toward home, stopping by the Harrison ranch on his way. He found Rand down at the barn trimming horse hooves.

“Did you know Miss O’Shaunasy left with Mrs. Grant for Chicago?” “Nope, can’t say as I did. Sorry to hear that.” Rand ran the rasp around the hoof again and sighted down it to make sure the hoof was level.

“Now, why would she go and do that?”

Rand set the foot down and stood. “Jeremiah, are you blind in both eyes or what?”

“What?”

“The woman loves you, and you paid her no more attention than a serving maid. What do you expect?”

“Ah, come on.”

“Suit yourself. You had fine wife material there, and you failed to see it.”

McHenry plunked down on a bench. Surely Rand was talking through his hat. Surely.