Tracie Peterson - [Desert Roses 01]
Read Tracie Peterson - [Desert Roses 01] Online
Authors: Shadows of the Canyon
© 2002 by Tracie Peterson
Published by Bethany House Publishers
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright owners. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-0329-8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Cover design by Koechel Peterson & Associates
With thanks to Jeanne Schick for her help with this project. You answered my questions faithfully and patiently and that meant the world to me. I appreciate your sweet spirit and kindness.
Also thanks goes to Janice Griffith at the Old Trails Museum in Winslow, Arizona, for her help with details related to the Harvey Girls. I appreciate your depth of knowledge on the subject and your willingness to help me.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
E
L
T
OVAR
H
OTEL
, G
RAND
C
ANYON
, 1923
“And in here,” Alexandria Keegan announced, “are the bulk refrigerator storage areas.” Alex stepped past the new Harvey House recruit and opened the door to the unit. “We keep all manner of fresh produce, fish, and . . .” She fell silent as she heard the new girl gasp.
“Oh, Miss Keegan,” the girl said, blushing red and turning away.
Alex couldn’t imagine what the problem was, for the girl looked positively mortified. Turning to look into the unit, Alex fully expected to see a dead rat on the floor. Such a distasteful occurrence didn’t happen often, but there was that rare occasion when something unpleasant marred the Harvey restaurant’s otherwise impeccable reputation.
Alex grimaced at the scene. It was a rat, all right. But this rat was the two-legged type. Worse still, this rat was her father.
Rufus Keegan, well-known for his philandering ways, was at it once again. Pressed into a compromising position in the corner of the room, one of the newer Harvey Girls appeared to be enjoying Rufus Keegan’s lack of discretion.
Alex felt her cheeks grow hot as embarrassment washed over her. How many times would she have to endure this shame upon her family? How could her father just go on
humiliating her mother like this, never concerning himself with the pain he caused? Alex felt tears come to her eyes at the thought of all her mother had endured.
“Bernice, please go to the main dining room and bring Mrs. Godfrey.” Alex steadied her emotions. She knew it would be better to have the dining room manager and housemother take charge of the situation.
Bernice, whose face was nearly as red as her bobbed hair, hurried off down the corridor. Alex turned to find her father smoothing the wrinkles in his clothing.
“Do you never tire of bringing shame to our family?” Alex asked, her voice a deadly calm.
“There needn’t be any shame if you keep your mouth shut. Honestly, Alexandria, I don’t see why you concern yourself with matters that have little to do with you.”
Alex forced herself to remain silent and looked past her father to Melina Page. The girl was clearly embarrassed, but she didn’t appear overly worried as she adjusted her black Harvey uniform.
“You should gather your things, Melina. I’m certain Mrs. Godfrey will have no further use for you,” Alex said, staring hard at the girl.
“But you said you’d keep me from getting fired,” Melina said, turning to Rufus. He only shrugged and chuckled. “But you promised!” Melina’s voice raised an octave.
“He promised my mother a great many things, as well,” Alex said. “But so far, he doesn’t seem to honor any of those promises, either.” Without conscious thought, Alex reached for the closest object—a plump, ripe, California tomato. “You are without a doubt everything the newspapers say about you and more. I’m ashamed to call you Father.”
“Then don’t. And don’t take that tone with me. You don’t have to call me Father or even acknowledge me as such, but I won’t take a dressing down by the likes of you or anyone else. I don’t take that tone of voice from the governor of this state! What makes you think I’ll take it from my daughter?”
Shame was quickly overcome by anger, as years of betrayal seemed to culminate in this one act. Without warning, Alex threw the tomato. She picked up another tomato and then another. Hurling them mindlessly at her father, she shouted a tirade of disapproval.
“You don’t care anything about my mother. You’ve caused her nothing but shame and anguish. Her health suffers because of you and she has no friends because you can’t even give the pretense of discretion.”
The ripe tomatoes splattered against the wall, against Melina’s dress, and against the stun-faced Keegan.
Uncaring about the mess she was making or the vegetables she might destroy, Alex only knew that she wanted to hurt her father as badly as he’d hurt her mother. “We’ve suffered so much because of you. Mother can’t even go to church for fear of what will be said to her!”
“Miss Keegan!”
The voice of Mrs. Godfrey caused Alex to pause. She looked momentarily at the confused woman, then picked up an apple. “My father and Melina chose to make this their trysting place.” She hurled the apple, which her father barely managed to dodge before it hit the back wall with a dull thud.
Mrs. Godfrey reached out to Alex. Her grasp on Alex’s left hand did nothing to waylay her from securing another apple with her right. This time she aimed for Melina.
“He doesn’t deserve to get away with this.” Alex nearly screamed the words, not caring who heard.
“Hey, what’s happening? I heard the hollering going on all the way down the . . .”
Alex turned, catching sight of Luke Toland. The tall, lanky cowboy had his hat pushed back on his head, his sandy-colored hair hanging down over his left brow. He appeared shocked to say the least, but Alex could take no more of her father’s indiscretion.
She jerked away from Mrs. Godfrey and reached again for the nearest object. It just happened to be a large stalk of
celery. Before she could throw it, however, Luke stepped in and took hold of her.
“I don’t know what’s happening here, but I’m sure throwing this celery isn’t going to remedy the matter.” He spoke softly and eyed Alex with grave concern. His gentleness was her undoing, and her tears overflowed as she collapsed against his chest and began to cry.
“He doesn’t care how much he hurts us,” she sobbed.
“Miss Page, please pick up your apron and follow me,” Mrs. Godfrey commanded. “Your services will no longer be required by the Fred Harvey Company.”
“But Mr. Keegan said . . .”
Alex lifted her gaze as Mrs. Godfrey frowned disapprovingly. “It doesn’t matter what Mr. Keegan said. You are in my charge, and we do not tolerate this kind of behavior.”
Melina began to cry as she passed by Alex, apron in hand. “But I need this job. I—”
“You should have thought about that before you lowered your standards of decency,” Mrs. Godfrey said, leading the weeping girl from the room and down the hall.
“Perhaps if everyone lowered their standards a bit,” Rufus Keegan suggested in a loud voice, “we wouldn’t find ourselves answering to uptight virgins and sour old biddies.”
Alex twisted in Luke’s arms and started to charge for her father, wanting only to scratch the smug look off his face and clean the air of his vile words. Luke held her tight, however, and no matter how she tried to fight his hold, her actions were futile.
“Alex,” Luke whispered against her ear, “it won’t do any good. He doesn’t care.”
Alex grew still in his arms. She looked over her shoulder, his face so close it nearly touched her own. Turning back to her father, she felt her rage further ignite at the expression on his face.
“I see this wrangler knows how to handle you. Good for you, son.” Keegan smoothed the sides of his mustache and
trailed the stroke down to his chin. “You know, maybe if you’d spend more time keeping hold of her, teaching her the more pertinent things of life,” he grinned and approached Alex and Luke with confident strides, “she’d be a whole lot happier and maybe even more cooperative.” He paused as he passed by the couple. “See, I’ve always found that women were fairly easy to control so long as you handled them just right. Handle her with a tighter rein, cowboy. Show her who’s the boss. It’s about time she learned what the right man could do for her.”
Alex drew back as though slapped. She could feel Luke tighten his hold on her arms, but it was the way Luke ground his teeth together that told her he’d reached his own limits with this conversation.
Reaching up to touch Luke’s hand, Alex watched her father saunter down the hallway. “Like you said, Luke, he doesn’t care.”
“I want to put my fist through his face,” Luke growled, his grasp becoming painful to Alex.
“You’re hurting me, Luke,” she said, patting his hand. He released her immediately. Alex turned and looked at her dearest friend in all the world. “Thanks for keeping me from making too big of a spectacle.”
Luke’s expression seemed to soften as he turned to look Alex in the face. “Your pitching arm needs some work,” he said with a grin. Gone was the look of rage that had just been there. Alex could see his shoulders relax.
Turning back to look at the mess she’d created, Alex shook her head. “I couldn’t help myself. I saw him doing those unspeakable things and shaming my mother, and all I wanted to do was hurt him.” She looked back at Luke. “I wanted to hurt him like he was hurting me . . . hurting her.”
Alex felt the tears smart her eyes again. “I try so hard to be a good Christian—to keep an attitude that would be pleasing to God—but then something like this happens. Oh, Luke, I can’t take much more. How can I respect a man who
so clearly does not deserve such honor? My mother has been hurt so much. What if she finds out what Father has done here today? Now her health has been suffering. I want to take her away from all of this, but she won’t go.”
“Why not?”
Alex shrugged. “She says she could never make it on her own—that Father would strip her of everything but the clothes on her back. She won’t saddle her daughters with this, either. My sister, Audra, has offered to have Mother come live with her and her family in Wyoming, but Mother says it isn’t right. But, Luke, it isn’t right that she suffer this humiliation every time Father decides to chase after the newest Harvey Girl or hotel maid. It seems he’s exhausted his possibilities in Williams, so now he’s come here to the canyon and El Tovar. Soon there won’t be a skirt in Arizona he hasn’t tried to claim for his own. The management here is livid that Father would besmirch their good name.”