Boot Hill Bride (32 page)
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Boot Hill Bride
by Lauri Robinson
"You were pregnant?"
"Yes, with Kendra."
"Kendra isn't..." Randi's cheeks were on fire, she couldn't
finish her sentence.
"Isn't Skeeter's?" Lila asked, and then continued answering
her own question. "Not biologically, but bless his heart, in his
eyes, and mine, she's his daughter in every way." Her gaze
went to Jessie. "I was raped. Jessie killed him."
This time Randi's eyes all but popped out of her head.
"Killed him?"
Both of the women nodded. Randi swallowed, her gaze
bouncing between the two women. "Ma had said both of your
weddings were arranged, but I had no idea of the
circumstances."
"Arranged?" Jessie giggled.
"What did she say?" Lila wanted to know.
"I don't really remember, it was right after our wedding,
and I was quite upset. She was trying to ease my fears."
"They were arranged all right," Jessie laughed. "By her
shotgun and several feet of stiff rope."
Randi looked at Lila. "The first day you arrived. You said
you couldn't believe Ma was the same woman who tied you to
a chair and made you marry Skeeter. I thought you were
teasing."
Lila shook her head. "As soon as she discovered I was
pregnant, she sent," Lila paused as if remembering, "I think it
was Hog, to get the preacher."
Jessie piped in. "It was Hog who got the preacher for us
too." She giggled again. "Who fetched yours?"
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"Bug," Randi supplied. By now her tears had dried up, left
her face feeling dry and her eyes puffy. She rubbed at them.
"But my problems go deeper. My fath—"
Lila pressed a finger to Randi's lips. "Your father is nothing
Hog can't handle. Trust me, the Quinter boys are invincible.
And they love their women deeper and stronger than God
Almighty."
Jessie laid a hand on Randi's knee. "We know your father's
a Populist. And the trouble he's caused. But none of us,
including Hog, hold that against you. You can't control what
your father does. Nor are you responsible for his actions. You
have no control over any of that. But, you do have control
over what you do. How you support your husband and his
dream." She stood, pointed around the area. "Look at all this.
Look at what you and Hog accomplished." Her gesture, one
finger pointing, landed on Randi. "I said you and Hog because
that's what it's been, right from the beginning you've been
beside him, helping him. Don't let anyone take that away
from you. Stand up and be proud of it. Be proud of your
husband." Jessie planted her hands on her hips. "And fight
like hell if anyone tries to come between the two of you."
Lila leaned over, close to Randi's ear. "The Quinter men
may be invincible, but you'll never find a fiercer woman than
those of us brave enough to stay married to one of them.
Listen to Jessie, she was the first and blazed a trail for the
rest of us to follow."
Jessie's eyes bugged, and her stern, fierce look dissolved
as a fit of giggles rippled her trim frame. She fell to her
knees, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.
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"Do I remind you of Ma or what?"
Randi and Lila looked at each other, and jointly burst with
laughter. And that's how Skeeter found them. She and Lila
sitting on the couch, Jessie crouched on the floor, laughing so
hard tears streamed from their eyes.
"Lila?" he asked, very apprehensively.
"Yes?" she responded, still giggling out of control.
"I—ah—You all right?" he asked, glancing around.
She stood and stumbled toward him, holding her stomach
against the mirth still spewing out her mouth. "Yes, my dear
husband," she managed to say. "I'm—we're just fine." She
wiped her face with both hands and then kissed him, long and
deep.
"What did you need?" she asked.
Jessie climbed up to sit beside Randi on the couch, and the
two of them, as if it was totally their business to know, looked
at Skeeter and waited for his reply.
His gaze bounced around the room as if looking for
whatever made them behave so silly. He shrugged and held
up a tiny pair of shoes.
"Kendra got her shoes wet. Did we bring an extra pair?"
"No, I didn't. I just brought those," Lila replied. "Where is
she?"
"Out by the pond with Kid and Joel." He looked at Jessie.
"Joel got any extras?"
"No. He grows so fast it's impossible to keep him in one
pair let alone two," Jess answered.
He nodded. "Well, then, Kid and I are going to town. We'll
take Kendra and Joel with us."
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A small puddle had formed on the floor beneath the shoes
he held.
"Were the children walking in the pond?" Randi asked.
"Yes. We took their shoes off." His face grew red as he
spoke. "But they threw them in."
"Were you playing in the pond as well?" Lila asked,
pointing to his pant legs, which were wet up to the knees.
"I have extra boots," he said, smiling at Lila. "I'm thinking
we need to have Snake come build us a pond like that.
Complete with the little gold fish. Kendra loves it."
"Oh?" Lila asked with a smile.
"Yes, it's not very deep so both she and Charles could play
in it. Especially on hot days. We could put it out back by the—
"
Lila stopped his explanation with another kiss. This time
Randi and Jessie looked away, letting the couple have their
privacy.
A few minutes later, Skeeter said, "Do you ladies need
anything from town?"
"No," Randi and Jessie answered in unison.
As he left the room, Eva came down the stairs from the
rooms above, carrying little Winifred. Patting the baby's back,
she said, "She just woke up from her nap, I changed her, but
I think she's a wee bit hungry."
"Thank you," Jessie said, moving across the room to take
her daughter. "We're going to do each other's hair. Do you
want to join us?"
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Eva shook her head. Her long, straight brown hair fluttered
in front of her face. "No, thank you. I won't be attending the
dance tonight."
"Why not?" Randi asked.
The gaze from Eva's brown eyes remained locked on the
floor. "I'd prefer to watch the children. So you can all attend."
"Mrs. Timmer, the head of housekeeping here at the hotel
has two daughters and Howard's already asked them to watch
the children tonight." Randi stepped forward. "We really
would like you to attend, Eva."
"Please do, Eva," Lila said. "We all want you to."
Eva blushed a delicate pink. "I—um—"
"Please say it's because you have nothing to wear," Jessie
said from the settee where she nursed Winifred. "Because I
brought along half of my closet, since I didn't know what I
wanted to wear. And if you borrow something, Kid won't be
able to grumble about hauling it all back home."
"Well," Eva said, twirling one toe over the floor.
"Please say yes," Randi begged.
"Yes, please, Eva," Lila added.
"I suppose I could," Eva answered quietly.
The other three of them were not quiet at all. Their
screeches of glee woke Charles who had been sleeping
upstairs. The sound of his cry sent Lila skittering up the steps
to retrieve him.
The busy actions downstairs were nothing compared to the
controlled havoc caused by four women upstairs preparing for
the grandest ball any of them would ever attend. Even Ma
and Willamina lit out of the area as fast as they had arrived,
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each one carrying a baby and laughing at the chaos in their
wake.
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Their trials and errors paid off, and Randi knew the exact
moment. Dressed in her black gown, with her hair pulled into
a perfect coiffeur, per Lila's determination and decorated with
tiny white flowers stuck in with several additional pins, Randi
was putting the final touches to Eva's hair when the door to
their apartment opened.
The men, Howard, Kid, Skeeter, Snake, and Bug, laughing
about something, filed into the room. Their chuckles turned
into gasps as their feet stuck to the floor, and they ran into
one another like a flock of sheep trying to walk into the same
barn stall.
The women, Jessie, dressed in a stunning pink gown
decorated with tiny pearls, and Lila, wearing a deep purple
creation that was simply cut and adorned with a large bow in
the back but looked absolutely spectacular on her, as well as
Eva, clothed with a pale mint-colored chiffon ensemble that
made her look like an angel who'd floated down from heaven,
all turned to greet the men.
"Damn if we ain't gonna be the envy of every man from
Mexico to Canada and back again," Skeeter, the first one to
catch his bearings, said. He crossed the room, arms spread
wide to encircle Lila.
Kid didn't say a word. He just swallowed several times,
and his eyes never wandered from Jessie as he moved
forward to gently fold her into his arms.
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Bug was next in line. He blinked several times, and then
rubbed his big brown eyes as he stuttered, "E-Eva?"
Snake elbowed his younger brother. "Yes, it's Eva, you
idiot." Snake sauntered across the room. "You look right
pretty, Eva."
Eva pulled her eyes from Bug and turned a sweet smile
Snake's way. "Thanks," she murmured.
Randi glanced back to Bug, wanting to see his reaction
since she thought he was sweet on Eva, but her gaze was
caught by the final man in the room. Howard's stare blazed
down on her with all the heat of the sun and struck the core
of her being with more power than a lightning bolt. He started
to move forward, and she dropped her hands from Eva's
shoulders. They met in the center of the room, drawn
together by some invisible tether.
"You're gorgeous," he said. At least that's what she
thought he said, but since her ears were ringing she couldn't
be sure. Her mind had traveled back in time, to this
afternoon, when Jessie had demanded that she fight like hell
if anyone ever tried to come between the two of them.
Standing here, being showered by his love and feeling the
shelter of his strength surrounding her, she determined that
was exactly what she would do—tonight and every other day
and night of her life.
The party was in full force, and Howard, though part of
him was floating on cloud nine, kept a wary eye on the
doorways. He knew Randi's father would show up, the
problem was he didn't know if the man would walk in the
front door or sneak in the back like a weasel. Walking through
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the crowd, he nodded, accepted congratulations, and paused
to share a few words with one guest or another while making
his way to the kitchen—the last place he'd seen his wife.
She'd been deep in conversation with the woman they'd hired
to oversee the kitchen for the evening. The food, a variety of
beef and pork, besides numerous side dishes had been
prepared the days before and safely stored in the ice-filled
cellar beneath the hotel. The woman had already been
instructed on how to re-heat the different dishes on the huge
oil-burning stove, and he had no idea what more Randi
needed to oversee.
He sidestepped around two servers, carrying full trays out
the swinging door, and then eased his way forward to peek
through the glass opening, making sure he wouldn't collide
with another server.
A smile twitched at his lips. She was there, standing at the
high work table, fussing with something or another. He
pushed the door open and sauntered in. Too engrossed in the
task at hand, Randi didn't realize he'd approached until his
hands settled on her trim hips.
Startled, she gasped and turned to stare up at him. A
smile instantly formed.
"Hello," she said.
He kissed her earlobe. "Hello." After another small peck,
he asked, "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I noticed the trays of beef in the dining room were
almost empty. I thought I'd put another one together."
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"We've hired people to do that tonight." He twisted her
around to face him. "We'll be filling trays and cooking meals
for many years. Tonight is our chance to enjoy our guests."
She glanced around the room, where over half a dozen
people hustled about.
"Someone else can refill the meat trays," he said.
"I suppose you're right," she said, picking up a towel to