Where the Deer and the Antelope Play (Code of the West) (13 page)

Within three minutes Pepper was surrounded by a half-dozen men who seemed to be all talking to her at once. The subjects ranged from the latest fashions in New Orleans to r
eports of a new gold strike in the San Juan Mountains.

“Did you say you just came down from Pingree Hill?” she asked the short, bald man with a full beard.

“Yes, Miss Pepper, and I might add it was a disappointment to see the dance hall burned down. Not that I’m the type of man normally to stop at such a place, mind you. But I had hoped for a spot of refreshment.”

“You mean, there’s no one left living there at all?”

“The barn and corrals are still standing. And the privies, but that’s it. I didn’t see a soul anywhere.”

“Where did Mrs. Hastings and the others go?”

“Hastings?”

“April Hastings, the proprietress. Did they go to Fort Collins?”

A middle-aged man with distinguished flecks of gray at his temples and small, gold wire-framed eyeglasses spoke up. “I heard someone say that they all moved to Laramie City.”

“Laramie City? That’s a long way.”

Danni Mae will miss the wedding. She promised to sing and Stack needs to be there.

“Say, Miss Pepper.” Thom Moran strolled over with his brown vest buttoned too tight, his hands jammed into his back pockets. “When’s the weddin’? Ain’t that coming up any day now?”

“It’s just a week away. Thanks for asking.”

“I almost stopped in to see old Tap myself. I was up that way yesterday doin' a little hunting.”

“I don’t think he’s at the ranch now.”

“Someone’s there. I was clean over in the Independence Hills, but I could see a column of smoke from the ranch house. ‘Yes, sir,’ I says to myself, ‘Tap’s in there warmin’ by the fire.’”

“It might be Wiley. He’s got a man named Wiley helping at the ranch.”

“The Wiley who used to work at the Rafter R?” a man with dark circles under his eyes and a drooping mustache asked.

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“I ran across him two days ago up on the Wyomin’ border. Tole me he was on his way to Laramie City to send a couple telegrams.”

If Wiley’s not at the ranch, who’s burning a fire in the house?

The talk soon turned to a debate over whether Missouri’s Governor Crittenden should have granted a pardon to Bob Ford after Ford shot Jesse James in the back. The division of opinion seemed to be split at the Mason-Dixon line, and Pe
pper excused herself before talk turned to the war of rebellion—or of secession—depending on the loyalties of the speaker.

She pushed her way into the kitchen to say good night to Mrs. McCurley and stumbled into Little Bob barging into the parlor. Although she had not lost her footing, he reached out and held her shoulders.

“Are you all right, Miss Pepper?”

“Little Bob, would you please take your hands off my -shoulders.”

“Yes, ma’am. I was just trying to—”

“I know exactly what you were trying to do.”

“Boy, I’m glad I ran into you.”

“Obviously.” She glared. “Now remove your hands.”

“No, what I mean is . . .” He let his hands drop to his side, but he took a step closer. “I wanted to talk to you about our conversation the other day. You were absolutely correct.”

Stepping back an arm’s length from him, she tilted her head to the right. “I’m glad you see it my way. It shows real m
aturity.”

“Yes, I know. You said that it was best in the long run to be real honest with each other. And I’ve been thinking for two days, that’s exactly my problem. I just haven’t had the nerve to speak up and be honest. So here goes. I’m sure everyone can tell that I’m madly in love with you. So that’s no secret. But to be real honest, I want you to know that I plan on making you my wife and have you move with me back to Baltimore.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.”

“No, ma’am. That’s the gospel truth.”

“Little Bob, get something into your head. In a few days I’m going to marry Tap Andrews, a man I love and want to spend my life with.”

Her throat tensed with each word.

“You are no longer merely annoying, but you are getting close to abuse. Perhaps you’re not aware of how such offenders are dealt with in the West. Mr. Andrews packs a Winchester ’73 and a Colt .44. He has spent his life pointing it at men and pulling the trigger. I, too, often carry a .32 Colt and, if necessary, will not hesitate to use it, as I have had to do on several occasions. This is Colorado, not Connecticut. Your advances will no longer be tolerated.”

Little Bob scratched the back of his head, his mouth gaped open. “So I am starting to get to you? Is that what you said?”

“What I said was, if you continue to harass me or reach out and grab me as you did when I entered this room, either I or the man I’m about to marry will shoot you.”

The smile dropped off his face. “That’s what I love about this country. Folks aren’t afraid to relax and tease each other. Back east most people would have taken that ser
iously. Yes, ma’am.”

Pepper glared at Little Bob Gundersen.
There is no way possible you could ever have graduated from college.

She marched out of the kitchen and straight to her room. For the first time since moving in, she locked the door.

Bob McCurley had a fire burning in the white fireplace. After hanging her dress in the wardrobe, she scooted the green Queen Anne chair over to the hearth and plopped down.

Lord, I don’t know why I get so mad at Little Bob. I’m glad I have this room to come to. This has been the only place in my life where I’ve felt perfectly safe. I want a whole house that’s just mine. Mine and Tap’s. A house where there aren’t drunks dow
nstairs or Little Bobs in the parlor.

I need some rest.

I need to see Tap.

He must be at the ranch if Wiley’s in Laramie city. He might be hurt. He might need somebody there to doctor him.

Sometime within the next half hour Pepper Paige, wearing petticoats, fell asleep in the chair in front of the fire, but not before deciding to go to the ranch and check on Tap.

Bob McCurley had the buggy hitched up and waiting out front before Pepper finished breakfast.

“Mrs. Mac, please don’t tell Little Bob what direction I went. I’m so tired of him pestering me.”

“I thought for sure he’d go back east for Christmas.”

“He told me he was going to stay in the West, but I don’t know how long his money will last.” Pepper fastened the top pearl button on her high-necked chocolate brown dress and pulled on her coat and her hooded cape.

“Some of ’em never seem to run out of money. Sort of makes you think their kin wants ’em not to come home. I think Little Bob went out huntin’ early. I haven’t seen him all mornin’.”

“If Tap’s not feelin’ well, I might spend the night. But he’s got a friend out there. I promise it will be proper.”

“Now look at you, talkin’ to me as if I was your mama.”

“Aren’t you?”

“Go on, girl. Take care of Mr. Andrews. In a
nother seven days you won’t have any other choice.”

Pepper slipped past the pots and pans hung from the pounded copper ceiling and into the yard. A couple of men scrambled to rope horses in the corrals.

Climbing into the buggy, she tugged the thick buffalo robe over her legs and was glad that Mr. McCurley hadn’t put any coals in the warming box.

It was a long ride but a familiar one. Pepper’s mind flitted from weddings to babies to Tap. From bank loans due to burned-down dance halls. To working at dance halls. And back to Tap.

She had just crossed the frozen river when she caught sight of a rider following several miles behind. As she started the ascent up into Triple Creek Valley, she thought she saw the rider again.

I can’t believe this. Surely Little Bob wouldn’t do this to me a
fter that scolding I gave him yesterday.

She drove the buggy up to the second grove of juniper trees, tied it off, and threw her cape over a small tree near the rear of the buggy. Carrying her satchel, she hiked back to the first cluster of trees and waited.

Pepper shivered as the rider approached. Hiding behind the cover of the trees, she watched Little Bob ride past her and slowly approach the buggy. Pepper crept up behind him and pulled her .32 sheathed-triggered “Lady Colt” out of the satchel.

Little Bob stopped about twenty feet from the buggy and hollered, “Miss Pepper? Are you all right?”

The sound of her .32 cocking caused him to spin around. He fumbled at his rifle scabbard.

“Miss Pepper! You startled me. Is that your cape up there?”

“My range with this revolver is about fifty feet. I do not want you within fifty feet of me for the rest of my life. Do you understand?”

“Don’t go pointing that gun. This isn’t a very funny game.”

“It’s not a game. Why are you following me?”

“Oh, no, I assure you. I was out hunting. I wanted to try out this new Sharps ‘Creedmoor.’ But it just happened that I cut across your trail and wanted to make sure you got safely to wherever it is you’re going."

“Please leave now.” She raised the gun to chest level.

“Did you ever notice how agitated you get when I’m around? I had this class in behaviorism. Such actions mean that you are secretly attracted to me. This might come as a surprise, but in the East many women seemed fairly indiffe
rent.”

“At the count of three, I’m pulling this trigger.”

“I’ve been out west for almost four months, and you’re the first person to threaten to shoot me.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“The way they talked back at school you’d think everyone west of Kansas was a bloodthirsty killer. But don’t worry about me. I’ll just lag along behind to make sure . . . Are you going to the ranch?"

She pointed the gutta-percha-handled .32 rimfire to a spot about five feet to the left of Little Bob’s horse’s front feet. She squeezed the trigger. The horse bolted southwest at a full ga
llop. The gun recoiled but Pepper still saw a final vision of Little Bob struggle to keep on his horse.

Pepper hiked back to the buggy, retrieved her cape, and once again set out.

I know, I should be more patient. Lord, teach me to be a gracious married lady. I know Little Bob will not be the last jerk I have to deal with.

Even though the clouds hung heavy and low, bringing a damp coldness, Pepper felt flushed with anger and some r
emorse as she drove on. Any trace of the sun was completely buried by the impending storm, yet she sensed that it was a little past noon.

The smoke from the house and the woodstove in the barn both rose straight up and seemed to be held suspended like two ancient, crumbling marble columns.

He is home. Probably was going to wait until tomorrow to come to McCurleys’. Maybe he’s fixing something to eat. I wonder if that Mr. Wiley’s around? Hope not. I hope Tap and I have some time when we can talk private-like.

She drove to the west of the leafless cottonwoods and parked behind the woodshed and the tiny blacksmith shop. Pepper heard voices coming from inside the house.

That can’t be a woman.  Who’s here?

As she slipped up to the front door, she glanced around the yard looking for signs of another buggy or carriage.

This is strange. Is that banker back? Or maybe . . .

She heard a woman laugh and call out something about a dance. She paused, her gloved hand in the air, then rapped the door with several hard knocks.

“Tap, it’s my turn.” A girl with big, hollow eyes and straight, dark hair stopped giggling when she saw Pepper. She wore an oversized dance-hall dress that would have been revealing if there had been anything to reveal.

“Who are you?” Pepper demanded.

“Well, who are
you?”
the girl asked.

Pepper could feel the anger burn in her throat. “I demand to know who you are,” she shouted.

“I don’t think I like you.” The girl slammed the door.

What is this?

Pepper banged again on the door.

This time a woman with long black hair hanging to her waist and olive-colored skin appeared.

“Selena?” Pepper choked.

“Well, well, well. The yellow-haired dance-hall queen has come to visit us.”

“Us? What do you mean us?”

“You didn’t really think you could keep that cowboy happy all by yourself, did you?” Selena purred.

Pepper stormed through the rough wooden doorway. “What in the world is going on?”

Danni Mae ran out of the kitchen wearing a soiled apron over her dress and smelling of baked bread.
“Pepper, Honey, what a wonderful surprise. Tap didn’t say anything about you coming to visit today.” She threw her arms around Pepper and squeezed hard. “I guess you heard about April’s?”

“What’s going on?” Another woman stepped forward. “Paula?”

“Hi! Your Tap is quite some fella. He and Stack went out and got our money back from those outlaws.”

“But what are you doing here?”

“Oh,” Selena broke in, “so the
vaquero
just happened to forget to tell you that he invited us girls to stay with him until after the wedding?”

“He did what?”

Danni Mae grabbed Pepper’s hand and led her into the hot, steamy kitchen. “We were freezing, scared, and had no place to go. Stack bundled us into the wagon and drove us out here. We are on our way to Wyoming, but Tap was afraid we wouldn’t be back for the weddin’, so he invited us to stay at the ranch.”

The girl who first met her at the door scooted into the ki
tchen. “Danni Mae, can you tie this ribbon straight for me? When it’s behind my head, I always get it crooked.”

Swirling around, she looked Pepper in the eyes. “I don’t think I’m goin’ to like you.”

Pepper stared with her mouth open when the girl ran back to the front room.

“Who is that?”

“Rocky, a new girl at the dance hall.”

“How old is she?”

“Says she’s eighteen. I figure it’s more like sixteen.”

“If that. What’s she doing working at April’s?”

“How old were you when you started letting those drunks and deadbeats in Boise City twirl you around the dance hall?”

“Fifteen, but I—”

“Yeah, me too. Don’t mind her. She gets real cranky when she doesn’t have her medicine.”

“Laudanum or opium?” Pepper asked.

“Laudanum. It shows, doesn’t it?”

The two walked to the front room and stopped near the p
iano. “Danni Mae, where’s Tap?”

“In the barn, I suppose. We were tryin’ to get things ready for the party.”

“What party?”

“We wanted to thank the men for recoverin’ our poke,” Paula explained.

“Men? Oh, is Stack here, too?”

“Sure.” Danni Mae grinned. “He’ll be tickled to see you. And then there’s Wiley. He’s a nice man.”

Pepper caught a lilt in Danni Mae’s voice. “How nice?”

“Really, really nice.” Danni Mae winked.

“That’s what I thought.” Pepper scowled. “Now just exactly how do all seven of you fit in this house?”

“The men sleep in the tack room.”

“And,” Selena cooed, “we have Señor Andrews’s bed. We’re breakin’ it in for you, honey.”

“Don’t pay her no mind,” Danni Mae advised. “All of us girls are camped in that room. Except for Rocky. She’s in the attic.”

“This place has an attic?” Pepper sputtered.

“That Tapadera is full of surprises, isn’t he,
mi alma?”
Selena wrapped her long hair around face like a veil.

“I’m going out to the barn,” Pepper announced.

“You cain’t,” Rocky hollered. “The barn is off limits to us women. That’s what Tap said. He won’t let none of us go out there, no matter how lonesome we get.”

“I can assure you, it is not off limits to me.”

Getting the bed ready? Tap, how could you do this to me? Didn’t you know how Selena would use you? I can’t believe you’d actually invite her to stay for the wedding.

Pepper tugged open the big wooden door and barged into the cavernous barn. Daylight behind her, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dimness. She turned toward a banging sound and spotted Tap nailing a horseshoe on Brownie’s right rear hoof.

She stormed behind him. “I can’t believe you’d let Selena move into our, your bedroom, eh, house. You know perfectly well how I feel about her.”

He continued shoeing the horse.

“Tap, are you listening to me? We haven’t seen each other for days, and you’re going to pretend like I’m not even here? I want to know right now why you didn’t ask me about Selena and the girls staying at the ranch.”

He reached to his mouth and grabbed another horseshoe nail and drove it through the shoe into the hoof, all the while humming a tune.

“You think this is funny? You think this is a game? You think you can play around with my emotions? I can tell you one thing, Mr. Tapadera Andrews, I have half a mind to call off the whole wedding. You can’t treat me this way. Tap! Are you going to say something or not?”

“Pepper, girl, what’s all the screaming?” Stack Lowery stepped out of the tack room, his shirt unbuttoned and u
ntucked, revealing the strength of his chest.

“I’ve been talking to this man for five minutes, and he won’t even turn around and say a word. You tell him that I’m going back to McCurleys’. I don’t care if I ever—”

“Don’t pay Tap no mind. He can’t hear you.”

“Can’t hear?”

“Didn’t you see that ear? He busted it. He doesn’t hear anything but a shout into his left ear.”

“He what? But how?”

“He took a hard blow from a rifle barrel. His left ear seems to be gettin’ better, unless there’s a lot of other noises.”

“He didn’t hear me at all?”

Lowery Tap in the shoulder. “You got company, partner.”

“What?”

“Compadre,”
Stack hollered. “There’s a mighty purdy yellow-haired girl here to see you.”

Tap whipped around.

“Pepper!” He yanked the nails from his mouth and tossed down the hammer.

“Your ear. It’s all swollen. Your face is black and blue. Honey, you look awful.”

“What?”

Pepper ran to Tap and threw her arms around him. “You look horrible,” she cried out in his left ear.

He held her tight. “Yeah. Isn’t that a mess? But we got the girls’ money.”

“Does it hurt?” she yelled.

“As long as I keep busy, it’s all right. Can’t sleep good though. Stack’s snorin’ keeps me awake.”

“Snoring? I thought you couldn’t hear.”

“I can’t. Now you know how loud he snores.” He smirked. “What are you doin’ here? I wanted to heal up a little before you had to look at me. But am I glad you came. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

She pushed away, but remained in his arms. “What about the bank loan?”

“What about that Franklin baby?”

“Baby’s fine,” she shouted.

“I’ve got Wade checkin’ into the loan.” He looked her over again. “You’ve got to be just about the prettiest thing in the world.”

“What do you mean ‘just about’?”

He had a twinkle in his tired, hurting eyes. “Guess what? Danni Mae and all the girls are the house. They didn’t have a place to stay. I knew you were plannin’ on havin’ them at the wedding, so I invited the whole bunch. I knew that’s what you’d want.”

7

S
itting in the hayloft, Pepper scooted closer to Tap, holding his left arm with both hands and leaning toward his face. Even on a December afternoon the hay smelled fresh and slightly warm.

“Are you gettin’ cold, darlin’?” he asked, slipping his arm around her shoulder and squeezing her close. A
lthough they were in the shadows, he still noticed a sparkle in her green eyes.

She shook her head, then laughed.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

“Look at us.” She spoke loudly enough for Tap to hear. “This is our ranch, our dream house, the place where we hide from our pasts and live the quiet life. It’s supposed to be our little island of peace and serenity. I’ve been in dance halls that were quieter than that house.”

He laughed with her. “How can a place so remote be so crowded? What a pair to draw to . . . Everywhere we go people start driftin’ in. Do you think it’s always goin’ to be this way?”

“I surely hope not, but it’s all right—this week.” Tap’s arm felt good on her shoulder. Safe. Warm. Loving.

Tap pushed his hat back and gently brushed his right ear.

“Does it hurt bad?”

“Mainly just itches, but it surely does ring loud. Don’t know if I’ll ever hear much out of that ear again. No need to fret about that. It feels a whole lot better than a bullet.” He squeezed her hand. “Here we are, hiding in the loft like a couple of school kids just to get a little privacy. Yes, ma’am, stick with me, and I’ll show you a mighty fine time.”