The Fiery Ring (17 page)

“No, we haven’t known each other very long, and he’s just getting over his injuries, so we haven’t talked all that much.” This was not entirely true, but true enough, Joy felt. Chase hadn’t talked about his time with the circus except to mention it once or twice.

“He was in charge of the big cats. He was the best man in the business,” Stella said.

“You mean he trained them?”

“You mean tell you never heard of the great Chase Hardin?”

“I guess I don’t keep up with circuses. I haven’t seen one since I was six years old.”

“Well, he was the star of this circus,” Stella said flatly. “But he’s not a star now, as you can see. C’mon, I don’t have time for this.” As she strode rapidly along, Stella said nothing more until they stopped in front of a tent off to one side. “Listen, you cause trouble with our men here and out you go.”

“I won’t do that, Mrs. House.”

“Be sure you don’t. That’s Annie Delaney over there.” She stepped inside the tent and called out, “Annie, I want you to meet someone. This is Joy Smith. She says she can cook and she’s looking for work. See if she can handle the job and let me know.” She turned and left the tent without even so much as a good-bye.

Joy was somewhat nonplussed by Stella House. She knew the woman didn’t like her—that was easy enough to discern—but then perhaps she didn’t like anybody. Joy looked more hopefully at the woman who was standing by a wood-burning cook stove stirring a steaming pot, and went over to her. The cook was a woman of average height with reddish hair and intense blue eyes. When she stepped toward Annie to speak to her, Joy noticed she had a limp, but otherwise she appeared strong and able.

“Well, Joy Smith?” she said, with her hands on her hips. “You say you can cook?”

“Oh yes, ma’am!”

“Well, we’ll see about that. I don’t want any prima donnas in here. I just need somebody who can cook, wash dishes, and peel potatoes. Are you a prima donna?”

“A what?”

“Do you want to be a star in the circus?”

Joy smiled. “Why, no, I never even thought of such a thing.”

“You come all by yourself? Where are you from?” Annie demanded.

“I came with Chase Hardin. He’s going to work with somebody named Ritter.”

The woman’s eyes widened with surprise. Then she asked suspiciously, “What are you doing running around with Chase? You’re not married to him, are you? You’re not old enough for that, although I guess you’re big enough, and that’s old enough these days.”

Joy knew then that she was going to get very tired of explaining her relationship with Chase, but it had to be done. “There was an accident, and Chase got hurt. He needed somebody to take care of him, so we stayed with a woman in Nebraska, Mrs. Hannah Smith. I had to get to Galveston, and Chase came along to look out after me.”

Annie Delaney listened to this with a suspicious air. “All right. You’re not telling me everything, but I’m not telling you everything either.” She turned abruptly. All of her motions were swift, and she pointed at a basket full of potatoes over against the tent wall. “Wash those potatoes and peel ’em. I’ll give you a try, but we don’t need anybody around here who can’t carry their own weight.”

****

“I’m all through with those potatoes, Miss Delaney.”

Annie turned and exclaimed, “Well, that didn’t take long!” She picked up one of the potatoes and looked at the peelings.
“You can peel potatoes anyhow. Some of the help I get leave peelin’s a half-inch thick. It’ll be time for lunch soon. I want you to start cooking steaks. You ever cook steaks before?”

“Not that many,” Joy said, staring at the small mountain of steaks on a table beside the stove. “How do you want ’em cooked? Well . . . medium well . . . rare?”

Annie laughed, and it made her look much younger. She was probably in her midthirties, Joy guessed. “They don’t care,” Annie said. “They’ll be so hungry they could eat ’em any way. Just make ’em medium well. If you get a few of ’em too well done, somebody will like ’em that way. If some of ’em are rare, some will like ’em that way too.”

Joy threw herself into the work of cooking the steaks while Annie went outside to where the tables were lined up. Her husband, Pete, came over and said, “How you doin’, sweetheart?” He leaned over and kissed her, pulling her close for a hug and a love pat.

“Keep your paws to yourself, old man! Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Aw, come on now. Be sweet.” He kissed her again, and she held on to him a moment, then said, “Did you hear about Chase?”

“Yeah, I met him and the girl that’s with him. Who told you?”

“Stella brought the girl by and wanted me to see if she could handle the work here.”

“What do you think about her?”

“She’s a funny little kid. I don’t know how old she is. Probably no more than sixteen or seventeen, I would guess, but she’s a good worker so far.”

“Well, hope it works out for you. You’ve needed some help. I’ve been gripin’ at Stella about that for a long time.”

“She might work out, but I don’t know about Chase. Has he been drinkin’?”

“Couldn’t tell it if he had, but he’s lost a lot of weight.”

“The girl says he was in an accident of some kind. Just gettin’ over it.”

“Well, we don’t need any cripples around here. But he’s a pretty good guy, Chase is.”

“I don’t think he’ll make it. Remember what he said when he walked out? ‘I’ll never go in the big cage again!’ ”

“Nothin’ I can do about that.” He kissed her again and picked up an apple and left, munching it. Annie went back to join Joy at the stove. She started opening huge cans of beans and dumping them into a cast-iron pot. “We need to get another stove,” she complained. “It’s hard to cook everything at once. Just see that these get heated up.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You don’t have to be so formal. First names are all right, except for the colonel.” She had a sudden thought and said, “Say, you and Chase aren’t married, are you?”

“No, we’re not.”

“You don’t look like a bad girl.”

Joy’s face flushed, and she said indignantly, “I’m not! We’re just friends. I helped him out, and he’s doing me a good turn, is all. There’s nothing between us.”

Annie was not completely convinced, but she shrugged her shoulders. “Well, it’s his business and yours.”

Joy flipped the steaks over and said, “Why did Chase leave the circus?”

“You don’t know?”

“No, he never talks about it much.”

“I guess I can understand why not. It was a pretty hard time for him.”

“Mrs. House says he was the best wild-animal trainer in the world.”

“Well, in America at least,” Annie agreed. “I don’t know about Europe, but he was world-class in my book.”

“What happened to him?”

Annie hesitated for a moment, but the girl had an open air about her, and although it was hard to believe a guy and a
girl could travel around together and be innocent, somehow she suspected this girl was telling the truth. “Well, it’s not a happy story. Chase rose up pretty quick in the business. He was the youngest there was, really, and the best. I was performing then too.”

“What did you do?” Joy interrupted.

“I was a bareback rider, but I got thrown and hurt. Had to quit. Good thing I was married to Pete. I couldn’t perform anymore, so I started working in the cook tent.” She looked down for a moment, regret in her blue eyes. Then she shook it off and said, “It was a real tough break for Chase.”

Joy sensed a tragic story coming, and when Annie hesitated, she asked, “What happened, Annie?”

“One of the tigers went wild one night. The lights went out for just a minute, and the tiger lunged at Chase. When the lights came back on, the other cats were beginning to jump off their perches. He was lucky he didn’t get killed!”

“How awful for him.”

“It ruined him. He was clawed up pretty bad. Was laid up for three months. He tried to come back, but he couldn’t do it. He’d lost his nerve, and in his business, that’s all a man has. He walked away from the circus without a word. Just left everything. That was two years ago, and this is the first anybody has heard of him. Where did you run into him?”

“In South Dakota.”

“Does he drink all the time?”

“No. I haven’t seen him have a drink in all the time I’ve known him.”

“I remember the night he left. I wasn’t performing then, but I was watching. Everybody was. Chase tried to go into the cage, but he couldn’t do it. Pete was standing there beside me. Chase came over, and his face was white as paper. He said, ‘Pete, get somebody else. I’ve lost my nerve. I’ll never go in a cage again!’ He disappeared that night, and this is the first we’ve heard of him.”

Joy was so caught up with the story she had forgotten the
steaks. Annie called out, “You’re burnin’ those steaks! Get to work, girl.”

****

Karl Ritter was speaking with a beautiful young woman when Stella House interrupted them. She said, “Karl, this is Chase Hardin. Chase, this is Karl Ritter.”

Ritter was surprised. “Why, sure! I saw your act several times. Always thought you were the best.”

“Thank you, Mr. Ritter.”

Stella said, “You need a helper, Karl. Chase needs a job.”

Ritter stared at Chase. “But you can’t be serious! I mean, I just need someone to clean cages and move the cats in and out of the big cage.”

“I can handle that.” Chase knew Ritter was familiar with his background and said, “I got out of the animal training business, but I’m pretty good with sick animals—and I don’t mind cleaning the cages.”

Ritter was a fine-looking man pushing thirty. He had Nordic good looks—blond hair, piercing blue eyes, strong features, tall and well built. He was usually self-assured, but this troubled him. “I need a helper, Chase, but people will talk. I mean, you were the best!”

“Ancient history,” Chase said. “I can handle it.”

Ritter looked at Stella, then shrugged. “Fine with me, Stella.”

“All right, Chase,” Stella said in a businesslike tone. “Get settled in and then we’ll talk terms.”

Ritter watched Stella as she turned and walked away, and Chase could almost read his mind.
He knows that Stella and I were lovers—and he’s wondering how to deal with me.
“I’m ready to go to work, Mr. Ritter.”

“Just Karl is fine. Come along. I’ll introduce you to the cats—but you’ll remember some of them. . . .”

****

Joy had worked furiously getting the tables set and the food out. She was aware that everyone was staring at her, and more than one of the men had grinned and made a pass at her, but she ignored them.

Through the tent flap, Annie watched the young woman as she moved around the tables efficiently, pouring coffee and refilling plates. Joy was moving about so quickly she was out of breath when she came back in.

“Slow down, girl!” Annie admonished her. “No sense in killing yourself.”

“I don’t mind. Work never hurt anybody.”

Annie lifted one eyebrow. “No, it didn’t, but most people these days don’t know that.” As the women worked side by side, Annie asked, “Do you have a place to stay yet, Joy? You can share our trailer. Even help me do some of the cleaning. You’ll have to sleep on the couch, though.”

“That’s fine,” Joy said. “I appreciate it.” She looked outside and said, “Look, there’s Chase.”

Joy put a steak on a plate and carried it out to him. Chase had taken a place at a table next to Oz and across from Gypsy Dan. “Here, Chase. Did you and Mr. Ritter work something out?”

“We’re all set. I’ll start right after we eat.”

“Will you be careful not to work too hard?” she asked. “Your ribs won’t take it.”

“What’s wrong with your ribs?” Gypsy Dan asked, leaning forward.

“He had an accident and got some ribs cracked,” Joy explained.

Oz whistled. “That’s a bad one. I had that happen once. The test’s center pole slipped and nearly killed me. Nothing worse than cracked ribs.”

Joy left, but from time to time she glanced out at Chase. He was eating slowly. She saw a big man with blond hair and steely blue eyes approach Chase’s table. “Is that Karl Ritter?” she asked Annie.

“That’s him.”

Joy went out to the tables and approached the trainer. “Mr. Ritter, I’m Joy Smith.”

Ritter stopped and smiled at her. “Good to meet you, Joy. You’re helping Annie, I understand.”

“Yes. I . . . I know Chase wouldn’t tell you, but he’s been hurt. He’s got some cracked ribs.”

Ritter was surprised. “He didn’t mention that. Hey, Chase, you should have told me.”

“They’re healing up just fine.”

Ritter smiled at Joy. “Thanks for telling me. I’ll look out he doesn’t do too much.”

Joy smiled, relieved. “That’s nice of you, Mr. Ritter.”

“Just first names in the circus. Karl is fine. Welcome to the big show. Hope you can cook as good as Annie.” He turned, made his way to a table, and took a seat.

Pete Delaney had been listening to this. “Didn’t know about the ribs, Chase.”

“I’ll be okay. Thanks, Pete.”

“You got a place to bunk yet?”

“Not yet.”

“He could stay with me,” Oz piped up. “I’ve got room.”

“That sounds good. Thanks.”

Pete Delaney left, and Joy wanted to speak to Chase, but everyone seemed to be watching them. Instead, she turned and went back into the cook tent, and as she left, Oz said, “You ain’t gonna have it easy, Chase. It’s been a while since you worked with the big cats, and then there’s that history with you and Stella. Think you can handle that?”

“That’s been over for a long time, Oz.”

“If you say so. But it’s going to be rough cleaning out cages when you been a star.”

“I can handle that too.”

Phineas Oz was a small man but had a large amount of wisdom. He knew something was going on in Chase Hardin,
but he didn’t know what. He stared at his friend for a moment, then said, “Okay, just holler if it gets too bad.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Fall From Grace

As soon as Joy awoke she plucked her journal from the suitcase, then picked up the fountain pen Chase had given her for her birthday. She leafed through until she found the last entry and then wrote: