Pearl (45 page)
Pearl gave out her presents to all the children. Every child came and picked out a candy cane and a gingerbread man, then several of the men blew out the candles on the tree before it caught fire.
‘‘Merry Christmas, and God bless us every one,’’ Ruby said in closing.
When everyone had gathered their things and trooped out the door, the jingling of bells from horse harnesses carried the song on out toward the hills.
Ruby said the last good-bye and closed the door, leaning her forehead against the wood, feeling Rand standing right behind her.
‘‘Merry Christmas, Ruby.’’
How fine her name sounded when he said it. ‘‘Merry Christmas, Rand.’’ She turned and laid her head against his chest.
Merry Christmas indeed.
‘‘Jed, he asked me to marry him,’’ Cimarron announced after the last of the guests had left.
‘‘And you said?’’ Pearl glanced up at the man who looked down on Cimarron as if he’d reached the Holy Grail.
‘‘She said yes.’’ His whisper wore awe and reverence like a costly cloak. Pearl glanced over at Ruby to see her eyes shining.
Charlie cleared his throat. ‘‘Well, I say it’s about time.’’ For some strange reason, he had to clear his throat again.
‘‘So . . .’’ Opal struggled to say something she obviously didn’t want to. ‘‘So, does that mean you . . . you won’t be here at Dove House anymore?’’
‘‘Now, why would I leave here?’’ Cimarron reached over and patted Opal’s cheek. ‘‘We’re not goin’ anywhere, honeybun. I’m hoping Ruby will let us take up that other room on the top floor until we get us a house built.’’
‘‘But we can’t do that until spring, so . . .’’
All eyes turned to Ruby, who looked to be pondering on a deep question, her eyes half closed, two frown lines between her eyebrows.
‘‘Ruby.’’ Opal sounded like the elder on the point of scolding for a moment.
‘‘Well, I have to think of all the ramifications.’’
‘‘What’s ramifications?’’
‘‘Ramifications. All sides of the issue, how things could be affected by this new move, things like that.’’
‘‘Just say yes and get it over with.’’ Opal gave a deep sigh.
‘‘Opal, you are getting to be quite an actress.’’ Pearl chuckled. ‘‘Come on, Ruby, the suspense is costing these two people a year’s growth.’’
‘‘I don’t know, if Jed gets any bigger, he won’t get through the doors as it is.’’ Now it was Charlie’s turn to quirk an eyebrow.
Pearl glanced to the tree, now sans candles. How wonderful it would be to light it again. She looked back to Ruby.
‘‘All right.’’ She nodded once. ‘‘The new room it is.’’
Applause made the tree shiver. The tree shook. The tree started to tip forward.
Opal shrieked. Charlie leaped to save the tree. Milly squeaked and scrambled to get out of the way. Gray Bar leaped from the upper branches, landed scrambling, and tore around the room looking for a way out.
Opal and Ruby burst out laughing at the same time, joined by the others, with Jed’s bass nearly drowning out everyone.
‘‘Did you see his eyes?’’ Opal chortled.
‘‘Good thing he didn’t land on any of us. His claws were spread wide out.’’ Milly covered her lower face with her hands and giggled on.
‘‘He about got your hair.’’ Daisy, sitting in a rocking chair, patted Milly on top of her head. ‘‘Thought sure he was comin’ straight for me.’’
‘‘Poor kitty. Guess he thought that tree was his for climbing.’’ Opal glanced up at Charlie. ‘‘You sure are quick when you need to be.’’
‘‘Old Charlie’s always been quick. Had to be around here.’’ Rand tipped back in his chair so the back legs creaked. ‘‘Hey, Carl, why you sittin’ clear back there?’’
‘‘So the cat won’t attack me.’’
Opal rolled her eyes. ‘‘I asked him too, and he said he liked the wall. What kind of an answer is that?’’
Pearl looked over her shoulder, feeling his gaze resting on her. ‘‘How did you ever get that desk done in time for Christmas?’’ ‘‘Long hours, Miss Hossfuss.’’
Charlie turned his chair around and crossed his arms on the back. ‘‘I say we open the presents now. It’s almost Christmas day as it is.’’
They had cleaned up the kitchen and moved the tables and chairs back in place in the dining room so that all would be ready for breakfast. Most of the other guests had gone off to bed, and some of the marquis’s workmen were still down at Williams’s.
Everyone looked to Ruby.
‘‘What? Do you think I’m the mother here?’’
‘‘Nope, but you’re the boss lady.’’
‘‘We should wait for morning.’’
‘‘Ah.’’ Opal looked to Charlie. ‘‘Ask her real nice.’’
Charlie rolled his eyes. ‘‘I don’t know how to ask real nice.’’
Ruby stretched out the moment. ‘‘All right. We all have five minutes to bring our gifts out of hiding and get them under the tree.’’
Everyone ran in different directions, and the stack of presents grew. Something big in the back had a blanket thrown over it.
‘‘All right,’’ Ruby declared when they all assembled again, most with a cup of coffee in hand. ‘‘Opal will hand out the gifts, and we all take turns, starting with the youngest. Someone tell Opal to pick her gift out.’’
‘‘That one on your right, angel singer.’’ Pearl pointed to a package.
Opal tore off the wrapping and held up a book. ‘‘Now I have two books of my very own.’’
‘‘What’s the title?’’
‘‘‘Black Beauty.’’’ She flipped open the pages. ‘‘It’s about a horse! Thank you, Miss Hossfuss. I can’t wait to read it.’’
‘‘Now for Milly.’’
‘‘Shame Adam Stone couldn’t be here.’’
Milly blushed forty shades of red.
Opal handed her a gift. ‘‘From me.’’
Milly unwrapped a pair of embroidered pillowcases. ‘‘Thank you, how pretty.’’
‘‘For your hope chest. Ruby says every girl needs a hope chest.’’
‘‘You made these for me?’’ Milly laid them in her lap and traced one of the flowers.
‘‘Took forever.’’ Opal’s sigh made for more chuckles.
As the gift pile dwindled, Ruby kept looking at the blanket-covered one in the back.
Pearl watched her. She had a sachet filled with rose petals from Milly, a hand-carved pen with two nibs from Charlie, an apron from Cimarron, and stationery from Ruby. But the most amazing gift of all was the desk. And Carl had assured her that it was hers, not the school’s. How could she ever thank him enough?
He’d moved his chair closer, close enough that she could reach around and take his hand. Those hands that could call forth such beauty from wood. A gift like that was not proper. Her mother would be aghast. Her father would ask him to declare his intentions. Did he have intentions? She angled her body so she could watch him out of the corner of her eye. When she caught him watching her, heat flared up her neck. She automatically touched her fingers to the underside of her jaw. If only she was beautiful. If only . . .
‘‘So who is that big one for?’’ Opal glanced around the room to see Rand nod.
‘‘From me to you.’’
‘‘For me?’’ Her voice squeaked in excitement.
‘‘I found it on my trip to Chicago. Pull it out.’’
Opal pulled the blanket off. ‘‘A saddle! Look at that. A roping saddle.’’
‘‘Rand, you can’t—’’ He held up a hand to stop Ruby before she really got going. ‘‘Yes, I can. Opal needs a saddle, and that cowboy needed the money. He near to gave it away.’’
‘‘Thank you, Mr. Harrison.’’
‘‘Now there’s another gift you can give me.’’ He looked right at Opal after a glance at Ruby. ‘‘You can call me Rand and forget the Mr. Harrison bit.’’ He held up a hand again when Ruby started to sputter. ‘‘I know what’s proper, and we all know what good manners Opal has but, well, let’s just say it is time.’’
Pearl leaned back, her arms locked around her knees, not the most ladylike position, but here on the floor she felt closer to all of them, like they were all gathered in a half circle that signified more than friends and people who worked together. Far as she could see, Ruby’s dream of a family was mighty close to being a reality in this group of friends.
And she was included. Here had nothing to do with her father. In fact, he was
persona non grata,
at least in these friends’ eyes. Here she was accepted, nay, more than that. She was looked up to as the teacher. Miss Hossfuss, a badge of honor.
Pearl Hossfuss, a friend with friends.
Carl watched her as she laughed and joked with all those around her. So beautiful and yet she wore a nearly transparent veil, one she hid behind as if afraid to peek out, afraid someone would look beyond that veil and not like what they see.
How did he know that? He stroked the desk he’d so lovingly crafted. For her. Always for her. Could she look at the desk and see his reflection? A reflection was always safer than the real thing.
If he reached out, he could touch her hair. Pearl Hossfuss, the daughter of one of the wealthier men in Chicago, out here in Little Misery, a land of misfits and has-beens. Of course she came to teach school, but when she tired of this, she would return to a wealthy life in Chicago.
He’d said it.
‘‘She stays with me.’’
But had she heard that in the tension of the moment? What colossal nerve he had. To even dream of it. Pearl Hossfuss and Carl Hegland?
He glanced up when someone called his name.
‘‘Thought we’d move the desk into the schoolroom, so no one spills on it in the morning.’’ Charlie had two corners and nodded to the other end. Carl nodded and, laying the book he’d been thumbing through on his chair, helped carry the desk into the schoolroom.
Pearl followed and set the kerosene lamp on the corner of the desk. ‘‘Where the light can reach all around the room,’’ she said, smiling.
Carl wished he could have made a fancier desk, but with the lack of time, he was lucky to have finished this one.
‘‘I don’t know how many times I’ve mentioned how I wanted drawers in a desk.’’
‘‘Wish there were more.’’
‘‘No, this is perfect. The room isn’t huge, and this way I can . . .’’ She stared into his eyes, shadowed by the angle of the lamp. ‘‘Thank you.’’
‘‘You are most welcome.’’
‘‘Perhaps we can read
The Iliad
together.’’
‘‘Most certainly. I won’t be working such long hours now.’’
Was that a hint of laughter she caught in his eyes?
‘‘I was concerned for you.’’
‘‘Really?’’
She nodded. ‘‘Really. I-I think we better join the others.’’
I’d rather not
. ‘‘Of course.’’
Vengeance was not a sin, or was it?
Ruby tried to concentrate on her bookwork, but thoughts of ways to get even with the people of Little Missouri ate at her like maggots on rotting meat. The night before someone had attached a sign to the front door—Go Bak Wher Yu Com Frum. If she could laugh at the spelling, perhaps she could ignore it, but things were beginning to get to her, especially considering all she’d done to help clean up this town and make it fit for decent people to live here. That was the problem. They weren’t decent people and didn’t want to become so.
Ink dripped from her pen and blotted the page. ‘‘Of all the—’’ She slammed her pen down, scattering ink on the tablecloth, and stormed into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup of coffee, took a sip, and promptly spit it out. Lukewarm.