Ten Thousand Charms (4 page)

“Well,” she said, “let's see what the girls have for breakfast.”

There was the usual bustle of activity in Jewell's cozy kitchen, but food wasn't a part of it.

“Girl, we ate near an hour ago,” Jewell said. She was pulling all the jars and tins from the shelves and assembling them on the table. “There's some coffee you can warm up.”

“Oh, let me fry her up some grits,” Mae said. “Poor thing in her condition, she needs her sleep.”

“Thanks, Mae,” Gloria said with a grateful smile.

Just then Sadie poked her head through the door. “One of the men just rode up. He says the supply wagon is about halfway up the pass. Should be here before dark.”

“A supply wagon?” Gloria said. “With all this snow?”

“Aw," Jewell said, “this ain't nothin'. It's the mildest winter I can remember.”

“It is unusual.” Biddy peered into the sugar canister. “Looks like we'll have enough for at least two dozen. Maybe three.”

“Three dozen what?” Gloria asked.

“Cookies," Biddy said. “We've only got a handful of currants, but I can chop them up real fine to make them stretch.”

“What's the occasion?” Gloria touched her finger quickly to the coffeepot to test its temperature.

“Supplies," Jewell said. “Come noon this placell be crawlin’ with men. They're holed up in their cabins now, but once that wagon shows…”

“It's like a party,” Biddy said, her voice excited. “Everybody gathers around and waits. Once the wagon's here, we unload it together to see what we've got.”

“Not much of a party with just cookies and coffee,” Mae said over her shoulder. She was patting a handful of cold cooked hominy into a cake to fry in a shallow pan of drippings. “We got about a dozen potatoes left. We could slice ‘em thin and fry those up. Sprinkle with a little vinegar…” Mae's mouth twisted in anticipated delight.

“Now it's sounding like a party,” Jewell said, granting the girls a rare smile. “I got about four bottles of whiskey left. We start pourin’ that, and those men oughta start wantin’ some more
fnendly
company.”

“Land sakes, Jewell,” Mae said. “With just me and Sadie?”

Biddy busied herself measuring and sifting flour and did not look at the other women in the room.

“Relax, Mae,” Jewell said. “There ain't but twenty men left here for the winter. And let's face it, they'd probably rather have a good cookie than… Just my dumb luck, tryin’ to strike it big in a mine camp full of monks.”

“Maybe," Mae said, “we should count our blessings. There's worse things in life than nice men.”

“Much worse,” Gloria said. “Like hunger. Can we spare any molasses for those grits?”

It was, indeed, like a party. Jewell had all but abandoned her makeup during the slow winter months, but when she walked into the parlor, she was aglow in powder and rouge. Mae brushed Biddy's hair until it shone, then braided it into two coils that she wrapped around Biddy's head, securing them at the nape of her neck with a large red bow. Mae bundled as much of herself as she could into an unwilling corset, causing her bosom to billow up into an impressive display. Sadie wore blue velvet, trimmed in black lace. Her ash-colored hair curled into long coils, caught together at the nape of her neck and draped over her shoulders.

And Gloria. The dresses she brought from Virginia City had been long abandoned. Now she wore blouses borrowed from Sadie and one of Mae's skirts cinched above her expanding belly, which made the skirt ride up a little in the front, revealing unbuttoned boots and thick wool socks.

“I'm not quite the belle of Virginia City anymore, am I?” Gloria said.

“Oh, I don't know,” Sadie said. ‘You are shaped rather like a bell.”

“Very funny.”

“Maybe we can do something with your hair,” Sadie said.

“If you can, you're a better woman than I am.”

“No argument there.” Sadie took a brush and went to work on the mass of blonde curls that fell just below Gloria's shoulders. The result was a simple thick knot ornamented with a jeweled comb.

“It's beautiful,” Gloria said, referring to the comb.

“It was a gift,” Sadie said. “But you can keep it.”

The first men showed up just after noon, the products of their own special care in grooming. Their hair was slicked back with Macassar oil. Beards were trimmed and tamed; many were cleanshaven for the first time in months.

Soon after they arrived, under Jewell's pointed instruction, they began laying planks across wooden barrels in Jewell's yard for makeshift tables.

The thermometer read forty degrees—an unseasonable warm spell in January—and everybody seemed to revel in the respite from bitter winter winds. Biddy's cookies were laid out on platters, but they were soon bolted down by the hungry miners. Likewise were Mae's fried potatoes. Sadie poured cup after cup of coffee; Jewell served shot after shot of whiskey

Gloria watched it all from behind her blue flowered curtains.

After the refreshments were gone, the men tossed horseshoes to pass the time. Soon, heralded by shouts of “It's here! It's here!” from scouts stationed at the mouth of the pass, a single wagon, burdened with crates and barrels and boxes and led by a team of sturdy oxen, made its way into the clearing.

“Gloria! Come join us!” Sadie was yelling from the middle of Jewell's yard.

Gloria parted her curtains and gave a jaunty wave.

“It is
Weihnachten!”

Gloria crossed to her door, opened it a crack and peeked her head out. “What?”

“Weihnachten!
Christmas!”

“Little late for Christmas, don't you think?”

“Better late than never,” Sadie said.

It was, in a word, bounty. There were sacks of flour, corn-meal, sugar, tobacco. Two barrels of beer were immediately tapped, and coffee cups overflowed with foam. One whole
plank was lined with tins of oysters, crates of apples, sacks of potatoes, and boxes of crackers. There were five smoked hams, links upon links of sausages, onions, herbs, beans, bacon, coffee, tea, and whiskey

The wagon's master, a jovial man named Ernie, set up his scale at the head of a table and opened for business. One by one, orderly, the men of Silver Peak lined up, their pockets full of gold and coin and cash, and prepared to pay Ernie's inflated prices.

Gloria left her cabin and took her place with Sadie and the girls off to the side.

“Jewell always lets the men go first,” Biddy whispered. “They don't take much, don't cook much. Then she buys up whatever's left and cooks it up to sell to them later on.”

“Smart woman,” Gloria said.

The sun continued to spread a certain warmth, and the jovial mood of the crowd grew with each purchase. Jewell broke away from the girls and worked her way through the crowd, greeting the men, pouring beer, telling jokes.

“Now, Sam, what're you gonna do with that coffee? From what I hear, your coffee'd make a horse go blind. Bill, you know you need an onion to go with them sausages. What's this, Mason? My whiskey ain't good enough for you, you gotta buy your own?”

The men, slicked and dandy, blushed and hemmed and hawed under her attention. The same men who thought nothing of tossing her a twenty-dollar gold piece before heading upstairs with Sadie turned into jelly when Jewell tickled their chins and called them handsome. Gloria envied her ease in conversation.

Jewell's whiskey-rough voice was such’ an integral part of the party's noise, Gloria's attention was drawn when it abruptly stopped.

Two people—a man and a woman—had slipped into the supply line. The man was well over six feet tall with shoulders broad enough to span a doorway. His hair, parted down the middle, hung nearly to his shoulders. He clutched his hat in one
hand; the other hand rested on the back of a woman who could only be his wife.

“MacGregan," Jewell said in a tone of extreme, exaggerated politeness. “Mrs. MacGregan.”

“Good afternoon, Miss Gunn,” MacGregan said. Gloria detected a faint Irish brogue in his voice. The wife said nothing.

“You don't make it down here too often,” Jewell said, seeming to enjoy his discomfort.

“Been cooped up in that cabin too long,” MacGregan said. “Never know how long a warm spell like this is gonna last.”

“It is nice, isn't it? Can I get you a drink?”

“No, no thank you. I'm not a drinkin’ man.”

“Ah, yes, of course. I forgot. Perhaps some tea for your wife?”

“That would be—” He was interrupted by a brief, fierce shake of his wife's head. “No, but thank you.”

“All right then.” Jewell reached up to give MacGregan a hearty pat on the arm—much to his wife's obvious consternation—before taking up with
a.
group of four men who needed her to settle some kind of bet.

“Who is that?” Gloria asked Sadie.

“John William MacGregan. He and his wife got here about a year ago. They have a cabin pretty far up the mountain. Don't come down here much.”

“Why not?”

“Can't you guess?” Sadie said. “The wife. Look at her, the prude. I suspect she doesn't care much for us.”

“How does Jewell know him?”

“I think she knows him from before she got here. Maybe he has some wild, mysterious past.”

“The wife doesn't look too wild.”

Mrs. MacGregan was tall, though not as tall as Sadie, and thin. Gaunt, really. She wore a heavy dark coat, and her narrow face popped out of it like a pale flame. Wisps of black hair clung to her cheeks. Most of the party had abandoned their heavy wraps, but Mrs. MacGregan not only wore hers, but continued to
clutch it close to her. Gloria noticed something familiar in the posture and leaned over to tell Sadie.

“She's pregnant, too.”

“You think so?”

“Look at her,” Gloria said.

'You are right,” Sadie said. “Poor thing. She looks so sickly, too.”

“You should talk to her, offer to help.”

“But of course,” Sadie said, “Then maybe we'll drink some tea and tell each other secrets.”

“Listen,” Gloria said. “She's going to need a midwife.”

“All right,” Sadie said, “but you go with me to talk to her.”

Mrs. MacGregan's eyes narrowed with each step Gloria and Sadie took. Finally, she took a step back as if to hide herself behind her massive husband.

“Mrs. MacGregan?” Sadie spoke to the woman as if she were a child hiding in a coal closet. “Hello, Mrs. MacGregan. My name is Sadie, and this is Gloria.”

Sadie held out her hand, but Mrs. MacGregan made no attempt to take it.

“Katherine,” John William said, “don't be rude.”

Katherine MacGregan emerged from behind her husband and offered the women a timid hand. “Pleased to meet you,” she said without unclenching her teeth.

There was an uncomfortable beat of silence, the four of them standing, staring. Sadie rocked back and forth on her heels. Gloria looked just past Katherine MacGregan up into the trees dripping with melted snow.

Sadie took a deep, deep breath. “So, Mrs. MacGregan, when are you due?”

“Excuse me?” Her voice was full of indignation.

“She's askin’ about the baby,” John William said. He turned to Sadie. “This spring. Probably April.”

“Gloria is due in March,” Sadie said, pointing to Gloria's obvious mound.

“Well, congratulations.” John William's voice was tinged with
discomfort, but it seemed to stem from embarrassment rather than disapproval.

Gloria tried to coax a smile of camaraderie from Mrs. MacGregan, but was disappointed.

“I just wanted you to know,” Sadie said, “that we are here—I am here—if you need us. Me.”

“And why,” Mrs. MacGregan asked, “would I need you?”

“I am a skilled midwife.” Sadie said.

When Gloria looked at Sadie, she seemed to have grown another inch. The top of her head came nearly to John William MacGregan's chin.

“When your time comes, just send your husband down, and I'll be right up to help you.”

“That's good to know,” John William said. He held his hand out to shake Sadie's. When Sadie grasped it, though, Mrs. MacGregan slapped Sadie's hand away.

“He will
not
be darkening the door of your house.”

“Now, Katherine,” John William said, his voice tinged with warning.

“I only meant—” Sadie said.

“I don't care what you
mzant”
Mrs. MacGregan said. “We don't need you or your kind.”

“Katherine!” His voice was harsh, but then gentle as he turned to address Sadie. “Excuse her. She hasn't been feeling well. What with…well, everything.”

“Well then, good day to you,” Sadie said. “And good luck.”

“Good-bye,” Mrs. MacGregan said.

“It was nice to meet you,” John William said. “Both of you.”

Sadie turned Gloria toward Jewell's house full of smiles and laughter, but Gloria stepped back and grabbed Mrs. MacGregan's cold hand, refusing to relinquish her grip even when the woman tried to yank it away

“Listen, Mrs. Mac—Katherine,” she said. “We're all just women here. Just women.” Her mind tumbled with more words, but something in Katherine MacGregan's face stopped
her from speaking further. The vacant, dismissive stare that first greeted Gloria altered, slowly. The captive hand gave a nearly imperceptible squeeze, and Katherine's clear blue eyes emitted just a hint of warmth. Gloria thought she sensed a nod, but didn't want to force the issue or prolong the discomfort.

“Let's go," she said to Sadie, and together they walked into Jewell's house.

They made their way up the mountain, slowly, stopping often for Katherine to catch her breath or rest a spell on a boulder or fallen tree. He helped her as much as he could—gave a supporting arm, cleared the branches, carried the bundle of supplies—but still she complained of exhaustion.

“I thought the trip might be too much,” John William said. “Should 1 take the supplies up and come back? Maybe carry you?”

“Don't be foolish,” Katherine said. “1 needed to get out of that cabin. The fresh air is lovely. Just let me sit a spell here, if you don't mind.”

He did mind, a little. He wanted to get her home and settled, safe and comfortable. She didn't look well. The brisk afternoon air did nothing to add color to her pale, sunken cheeks. Her breath was coming in short, shallow spurts. But he settled himself on a fallen tree trunk, she on a wide/smooth rock. They sat, still and quiet, the surrounding branches heavy with melting snow.