[Desert Roses 03] - Beneath A Harvest Sky (33 page)

Bordered on one side by railroad tracks and by Highway 66 on the other, the hotel had been created to look like an ancient hacienda. The stone floors and arched entryways gave the hotel a Spanish look.

Rainy had to admit the architects and builders had done their jobs well.

“Rainy Gordon!” a thin, dark-haired woman declared as Rainy entered the dining room. “When did you get here?”

313 Rainy embraced the Harvey Girl and laughed.

“Daisy! I didn’t know you were working at La Posada.

I just got here. I arrived with my father’s good friend Gunther Albright. He’s that older man just across the hall.” She motioned and the younger woman craned her neck to see. Rainy had first met Daisy Kincaid at

La Fonda, where she worked as a Harvey waitress. Nearly a year earlier, Daisy had transferred to Chicago but now, apparently, she was back in the Southwest.

“I was going to ask if he might be a younger, single friend of your father’s, but I can see for myself he’s not,” Daisy giggled.

“No, definitely not. So when did you come to La Posada? I thought you were up Chicago way.”

Daisy directed her to the counter. “Sit here and I’ll bring you something to eat. You are hungry, aren’t you?”

“Famished. Gunther had to look into a problem with the car he requested, so he told me I might as well get a bite. We’re going up to the Hopi villages, where we plan to discuss an archaeological dig that Gunther wants to begin. I have friends up there who just might be able to help him get the permission he needs. But enough about me. Tell me everything you’ve been doing.”

“Well, it’s hard to tell everything,” Daisy teased. She placed a glass of lemonade in front of Rainy and laughed. “I almost got married.”

“No,” Rainy said, leaning in. “Why only almost?”

Daisy rolled her gaze to the ceiling and laughed. “He was flighty, as my mother put it, and he was a vacuum cleaner salesman. Mother said you just couldn’t trust a man who’s always working in dirt.”

Rainy grinned. “I suppose that leaves archaeologists out as well.” Determined to have a pleasant visit with Daisy, she tried not to think of Duncan. “So is that why you’re back in the desert? Baking your brain in order to forget your failed encounter with love?”

Daisy shook her head. “Goodness, no. I found myself pining for the desert as much as anything. Crazy as it sounds for this Michigan girl, I just couldn’t stay away.”

After an hour of chatter and a pleasant lunch of chicken salad and cantaloupe, Rainy got up to leave. “I never fail to be amazed at these lovely blue-and-yellow Spanish tiles,” she said, running her hand along the counter top. “What a wonder. The entire hotel is like an oasis in the desert.”

“It is,” Daisy agreed. “We’ve had so many movie stars come here. You’d be very impressed. We even had Phillip Vance.”

Rainy smiled and nodded. She didn’t even begin to feel like explaining Phillip to Daisy. “Well, look, I should continue to make preparations for our trip. We plan to head out early in the morning.”

“I’ll be working the breakfast shift. Come see me before you go. You’ll want to take some sandwiches and fruit. I’ll pack you something special.”

Rainy hugged her friend and thanked her for the kind offer and the conversation. Making her way upstairs, Rainy saw nothing of Gunther. She hoped he was able to figure out what had become of the car. He’d certainly been angry when he’d learned it wasn’t waiting for him as requested.

Rainy’s room was simple but charming. The windows had been opened to let in the evening breeze and there was a pitcher of water and a small bowl of fruit on the wooden desk beside the window. Rainy sat down and began undoing her bootlaces. Again, feelings of nostalgia washed over her as her gaze fixed on 5 the handwoven Indian rug beneath her feet.

“Oh, Lord, this is so hard for so many reasons,” she murmured and pulled off her boot. She couldn’t help but think of Duncan and wonder what he was doing. She visualized his wavy black hair and brown eyes, his firm jawline and gentle lips. She touched her hand to her mouth, remembering the feel of his kiss.

“I don’t want to stay mad at Duncan Hartford. I want to forgive him and rush back to Santa Fe and tell him that I will love him forever.” She sighed. “But I can’t. He would never believe me. Not after I acted like a spoiled child. Someday I may learn to keep my mouth shut and not jump to conclusions, but I fear it’s too late for Duncan and me.”

She pulled off the other boot, then went to unpack her belongings. Spying her Bible, she began to read through a few psalms. They were always comforting to her, but today she couldn’t concentrate long enough to feel anything but confusion and frustration.

“Lord,” she prayed aloud, “I’ve tried hard to let this go. I know I’ve done a poor job in many ways. I know I should never have let matters get out of hand.

I thought I understood your will for my life and I thought you’d given me a clear and easy path to attain that will. But none of this has been easy, and I feel rather beaten and depleted.”

She put the Bible aside and stretched out on the bed. On her back with her hands beneath her head, Rainy stared at the ceiling and tried not to imagine Duncan’s face or his touch. She tried not to hear his voice or see his eyes. She thought she’d almost managed the matter as she began to doze off to sleep, but her dreams betrayed her.

In her mind, she saw herself Duncan’s wife. They were happy. They were working together on a dig and she had found something of great interest to show her husband. Duncan had nodded approvingly and had lifted her in the air to whirl her round and round. The action took her breath away and Rainy awoke with a start, gasping for air.

The silence of the room reminded her that she was all alone. The dream had been a pleasurable moment and now, in its absence, Rainy felt only empty loneliness in its place.

Tossing and turning in her bed, Rainy argued with herself and then with God. “I can forgive him, Lord. I can forgive the fact that he wormed his way into my heart in order to spy on me. I really can. But if he’s the man for me, then why did he not believe me innocent? Why did he get involved with the investigation and try to prove me guilty?”

Or was he trying to prove you innocent?
A voice from deep within seemed to challenge her.

That thought had never come to mind. Maybe Duncan had put himself into the position of assisting the authorities because he didn’t believe her guilty, just as he’d said. Rainy sat straight up in bed at this thought.
Have I misjudged him?
Were his actions meant to save me instead of condemn me? Just then she remembered Duncan’s words that day in Santa Fe.
“I
wanted to prove you were innocent.”

Rainy suddenly felt ill.
Have I ruined ever ything,
Lord? Have I put an end to my one chance at happiness with
Duncan?
She got up and began to pace. “Oh, God, please take this misery from me. I long to do whatever it is you want me to do. I can’t bear the way I feel.”

She pressed her hand against the soft folds of her skirt. “Deep inside, I want to do the right thing. I just don’t know what it is.”

She threw herself to her knees. In the middle of the room, she prayed as she’d never prayed before. “I know I’ve not always listened for your voice. I know that I’ve often tried to take control of situations and work them out in my own way. I see how I did that with Duncan and even with Phillip. I charged into those situations without allowing you to work. But, God, in all honesty, I love Duncan. Please forgive me and show me that I haven’t ruined my only chance for love with him. Please give me a sign—show me a verse—something, Lord.”

She prayed for what seemed an eternity, begging and pleading for God’s forgiveness and direction. By the time Rainy fell back into bed, she was exhausted— wearied from struggling to understand God’s will for her life. Would it always be this hard?

————

“She went where?” Sonny questioned, more than a little upset.

“Calm down, son. I wasn’t any happier than you to hear what she did,” his father stated, “but you know your sister and her headstrong ways.”

“But this goes even beyond her usual nonsense. To go out on a trip like this with no one but your friend for a companion is . . . Why didn’t you insist she have someone else go along? Why didn’t she wait for me? I would have been happy to help.”

Sonny paced back and forth as Duncan watched and waited for someone to answer. He wanted to know the same things. He felt more than a little frustrated that he wouldn’t be able to talk to Rainy and explain his actions. He didn’t want even one more day to pass between them without her hearing the truth.

“I tried to suggest that she wait for you,” Sonny’s mother said. “But Gunther needed to get the cooperation of the Hopi as soon as possible, and I had no idea you would return so quickly. I guess she just felt she needed to do Gunther this favor on behalf of us.”

“But she won’t be able to dig them out if they get stuck. Those roads up from Winslow can be really bad at times. What if she’s in a sandstorm? She could forget about the arroyos and get caught in a flash flood. After all, this is the rainy season and they’ve already had several heavy rains over that way.”

Sonny’s father held up his hands. “You’re only serving to worry your mother. If it’s all that much of a concern, why don’t you take the train out tomorrow and go after her?”

“That’s it!” Duncan declared, getting to his feet.

“Let’s go after her. Let’s help them. Two vehicles would be better than one. If one gets stuck the other one can pull it out.”

“Rather like the verses in Ecclesiastes, eh?” Ray Gordon said with a smile. “ ‘Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.’ Together, you two will make Rainy a threefold cord and she’s sure to be safe.”

“I can arrange a car in Winslow with Clarkson’s company. I might even be able to get us free passage on the train,” Sonny said with a grin.

“If not, I’ll pay for it,” Duncan replied. He turned to Ray and grew rather embarrassed. “You might as well know that I plan to marry your daughter—if it meets with your approval.”

Ray looked to his wife and both exchanged broad smiles. “It’s more important that it meets with Rainy’s approval. Perhaps,” Ray said, putting his arm around Duncan, “we need to have a little talk.”

————

Duncan had never known more frustration than waiting for the morning train. He had longed to leave the night before, but there was no way to get passage to Winslow. Sonny had even tried to get them on a freight train, but that hadn’t worked at all.

Now as they stood waiting to board their train, he could hardly force coherent thought.
What if she’s in
danger? What if they’ve gotten stuck in the desert and had to
spend the night?
He paced on the platform while Sonny sat nearby, hat in hand.

“Well, Sonny Gordon,” Bethel Driscoll announced as she approached them. “What brings you here?”

“Catching a train,” Sonny said rather sarcastically.

Duncan immediately suspected that Sonny wanted to keep their mission under wraps. He gave Bethel a tentative smile and tipped his hat. “Good morning.”

“Mr. Hartford, isn’t it?” She smiled rather coyly.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you two traveling together?”

“Yes,” Sonny said matter-of-factly, getting to his feet. “What are you doing here? I thought given Jen-netta’s medical condition you’d be at her side in Santa Fe.”

“I was with Jennetta until yesterday. She told me to leave her alone and demanded I go, so I did.” She shrugged as though the incident meant nothing to her. “I’m to meet some friends coming in from Santa Fe. They’re going to stay with me while Chester is away.”

Sonny didn’t seem to have the time or interest to get into Bethel’s affairs with Jennetta, so he chose to keep the subject on Chester’s travels. “And where has he gotten off to this time?” Sonny asked.

Bethel laughed. “Oh, he’s on some fool expedition with my uncle.”

Duncan forced himself not to react. He held his breath momentarily for fear of making a scene. Sonny seemed to be taking the same track.

“Chester and Gunther are working together?”

Sonny asked.

“Oh, mercy, yes,” Bethel said. “They’ve been involved in several projects these last months. I’ve never seen a man so enthusiastic about working with Indian artifacts as Chester. Sometimes I think he might be part Indian. We have the silly things all over the house.”

Sonny and Duncan exchanged a look. Duncan knew exactly what Sonny was thinking. Duncan would love to see the pieces in Bethel’s house, but in order to do so, even if she were willing, they’d miss their train.

As if on cue, the train whistle sounded from a mile down the track. “Here she comes,” Sonny murmured.

Duncan nodded. “I guess we’ll be saying good-bye, Mrs. Driscoll.”

She laughed. “Well, you could both delay your trip and have breakfast with my party. We’re quite a lively bunch, don’t you know.”

“Thank you, no. We have some pretty urgent business,” Sonny replied for them.

Duncan thought it an understatement. To him, the business had just become a matter of life and death.

Especially with Chester Driscoll involved.