EXCERPT:
Springton,
Northern Nebraska 1897
“You’ve
got a good line, cowboy, only the clothespin fell off.”
Tessa Alderman tilted her red gold head to one side and gave
the tall cowboy a slanted look as she cleared away his breakfast
dishes in the restaurant she and Sophie Alderman owned.
Springton’s
main restaurant did a lively business Saturday mornings. The
cowhands and farm workers who came in on Friday night for
a weekend of shopping, drinking and meeting their friends
usually stayed overnight at the small hotel, or at Lizzie
Turner’s Rooming House. They most often ended up at
Tessa’s Arrowhead Restaurant for breakfast.
The
cowboy’s face reddened and he grinned good-naturedly
at her. “Well, Tessa, since I can see you’re up
to your usual witty self and I’m already full as a tick
on a hog’s back I might as well leave. I’ll see
you at noon.”
“Your
tongue is plumb frolicsome too this morning, Ned. Go along
with you.” She briefly watched as Ned shook his head,
turned and went toward the outside restaurant door into the
bright early morning sunlight.
Tessa
felt proud of her restaurant today. She’d awakened this
morning with the feeling something momentous would happen.
With great anticipation she wondered what it would be.
The
green checkered tablecloths were clean and crisply starched.
Her famous peach pies were already baked and the pork roast
in the oven began to smell delicious. It would be done just
right for her noon crowd.
Tessa
put the used dishes in the dishpan under the counter and wiped
her hands on a damp towel kept nearby for that purpose. She
grinned, feeling ready for the anticipated “happening”.
“Those
boys sure like bantering words with you,” Hilda, Tessa’s
very reliable kitchen help, said from the kitchen. She moved
her iron gray head from side to side while a smile quirked
the corners of her small mouth upward. “I’ll take
those dirty dishes.” Tessa had found Hilda wandering
outside in an early Nebraska snowstorm, snatching garbage
from the restaurant’s throw-aways. She was about to
hurry away when Tessa stopped her and offered her the job
she had had for some months now. Both found it a very satisfactory
arrangement, especially when business became overwhelming
for her and Sophie. Besides, Sophie often had midwifery work
that took her away from the restaurant and that had left Tessa
alone.
The
sunlight coming through the outside front doorway suddenly
disappeared causing Tessa to looked up and stare.
The
man in her doorway was very tall and had shoulders so broad
they filled the doorway, cutting off the light. He ducked
his head coming further into the room. He paused, squinting
into the darker interior of the restaurant, then strode over
to a table in the middle of the room.
He
was no back-to-the-wall type of man, Tessa noted. He sure
wasn’t like any of the local cow handlers or farmers
she had ever seen. The valise he set down beside the chair
looked to be of expensive leather. His gray bowler hat came
off and was put on the chair beside him. An indention showed
in a ring around his dark hair from the pressure of the hat.
As he sat down it seemed to Tessa that his big arm muscles
strained every seam of his gray corduroy jacket. His thigh
muscles tightened the matching gray corduroy of his trousers.
Tessa
felt heat rise in her face. The guilt of staring at him was
exaggerated further when he grinned at her in friendly, but
amused fashion. A lock of black hair fell on his high white
forehead and Tessa thought the pale blue of his eyes would
drown her. What a combination to start even a cold girl’s
temperature to rise.
“Could...could
I help you?” Tessa managed. She clutched her white apron
in trembling hands.
“I
hope so.” His deep voice sent tremors to her stomach.
“I need coffee first, and a place to room for a few
days. I also heard of Tessa’s famous peach pie and I’d
like some.”
The
way he stared at her lips Tessa wondered if peach pie and
coffee was all he would like. In the kitchen she shook herself
back to being Tessa, the efficient, and to Tessa, the uninvolved
banterer who held men way out at arm’s length and beyond.
She
cut an extra big piece of peach pie with shaking hands. How
deep was that dimple in his chin? With the plate of pie in
one hand and a filled coffee mug in the other she miraculously
made it to his table without tripping herself on her full
yellow checked skirt.
He
looked up with questioning eyes.
“Oh.
Oh, yes, fork for your pie and a spoon for your coffee.”
Tessa hurried away with her face burning. She was so furious
with herself she wasn’t sure how or when she got back
in the kitchen and out again with his utensils. Luckily Hilda
had taken the dishwater out to dump it and didn’t see
how upset she’d become over one handsome man. This couldn’t
be happening; not to her. Not after all these years.
Tessa
frowned. More than one good looking man had come in the restaurant
over the past eighteen years. Why this one? It had to be the
unusual dimple Tessa told herself and she smiled at him past
the cross-through from kitchen to counter area.
When
he smiled back and she still felt in control of her feelings
she mentally patted herself on the back. Daring herself to
stay calm she walked back into the dining room to refill his
coffee cup.
“Springton
looks like a nice little town,” he said. “My name
is Joe Gilmore. I’m looking for a small valley that
has a cabin in the center. I was told it is located somewhere
east of town and it has a fence around it to keep out cattle
and horses. Do you have any idea exactly where that might
be and how to get to it?”
“You
don’t look like a cowboy,” Tessa said. She pointed
to the bowler hat on the chair. “Are you looking for
someone at one of the ranches?”
His
grin almost undid her resolve to stay in control of her feelings,
and especially the color that threatened to rise in her face.
“I’ll
have my Stetson and boots on when I find out where the cabin
is so I can ride to it.”
“Oh.
In that case, Sheriff Coble could likely tell you right where
it is.”
“No
hurry. I’ll have another piece of peach pie.”
He continued to stare at her lips, making Tessa nervous again.
She hoped her hair had not come undone from the braid she
wore today, or that she didn’t have flour on her face
from making her pies.
Tessa
poured a scant amount of coffee in his almost full cup, noticed
that he drank it black and hurried to the kitchen.
Hilda
appeared inside the back door with the empty dishpan in her
hands. “I seen a customer come in. Anyone we know?”
Her work roughened hands swiped the dish cloth around in the
pan to remove excess water before hanging the pan on a nail
by the dry sink.
“A very educated sounding customer I’ve never
seen before,” Tessa said very softly so Joe Gilmore
wouldn’t hear them. She hurried out with his second
piece of pie.
*
* * *
Joe
thought it would look too contrived if he ordered a third
piece of pie from the pretty waitress. Pretty? Beauty and
grace like hers was more than pretty. But he felt like that
cowboy he’d heard leaving the restaurant admitting he
was full as a tick. Joe racked his brain for another reason
to keep the pretty waitress coming to his table. His teeth
would float if he had any more coffee.
“Is
there a rooming house in town?” Joe asked.
“Lizzie
Turner has real nice rooms,” she said.
“I’ll
remember that,” Joe said. “Your pie is the best
I’ve ever had.”
“Thank
you.”
He
noticed the slightly shy tilt to her red gold head. Her greenish
eyes were shaded by thick dark lashes. He’d seen that
unusual combination of dark brows and lashes on a blond person
only a few times in his life.
“Which
way is the rooming house?”
“Down
the street to the left.”
“Thank
you, Miss?”
“Alderman,
Tessa Alderman. My aunt and I own this restaurant. Our special
for dinner will be roast pork.”
Reluctantly
he gathered up his hat and valise. He suddenly remembered
he hadn’t paid for his pie and coffee so he put them
down again and put the money on the table, along with a generous
tip. Slowly he picked up hat and valise again while he tried
to think of another delay he could use. “What time will
dinner be?”
“Dinner
is ready at eleven-thirty or so,” Tessa said.
“I’ll
be back, Miss Alderman.” He smiled, happy inside because
he would see this beautiful woman again and hear her lilting
voice. He strode out the door, anxious to get settled in a
room so he could return to the restaurant sooner. He almost
stopped in his tracks. Was she married? He’d called
her Miss Alderman and she hadn’t contradicted him.
A
side visit to the Sheriff’s Office for directions wouldn’t
take long and he could come right back. He’d look for
a ring on her finger then, just to be more sure. After dinner
would be soon enough to rent a horse and saddle. Joe hurried
down the dusty street. He had noticed a newspaper office,
a hardware store, general store and a bank as well as a couple
saloons. The Sheriff’s Office was the opposite direction
from the rooming house so he’d wait with that visit.
It
didn’t take long to pay for a room and deposit his things
inside. His felt hat was a little crushed from being in the
valise but he shook it back into shape. The last leg of his
journey on a stage coach from the train depot had put a layer
of dust on the fine leather valise his parents had given him
last Christmas. Absentmindedly he brushed it off; his thoughts
were on red-gold hair and green eyes.
He
ruefully shook his head side to side. Thirty-eight years old
and he’d escaped the ball and chain of marriage. Why
now did he feel this tremendous attraction to a woman? Pretty
women had come and gone in his life over his grown up years
without one of them sending him to this amount of...what?
Confusion was one word that came to him. Another word was
magnetism; he felt the pull to spend more time with Tessa
Alderman. She charmed his senses and she’d hardly spoken
more than a few words.
He’d
heard the bantering words to that cowboy as he came up to
the restaurant door. A frown pinched between his eyebrows.
How many male friends would he need to beat off if he truly
was interested in sweet voiced Tessa?
The
word beat brought a deeper frown as he involuntarily looked
down at his knuckles. The scars on them were scarcely visible
anymore they were so old. The scars on his soul were invisible
but much deeper.
Joe
shook off the melancholy thoughts, removed his traveling suit
and poured the lukewarm water provided in a heavy stoneware
pitcher into the matching basin. He rinsed his hands and face,
then decided that in order to look his best for dinner he
would shave. The mid morning pie wasn’t enough to last
him the rest of the day. Besides, he wanted to look as good
as possible when he saw Tessa again.
He
also needed to get directions to the cabin where Gramps had
died of a heart attack last year. He would see Sheriff Bill
Coble for that.
Tessa’s
Arrowhead Restaurant filled up fast and Joe realized it was
a Saturday. Nearby ranchers and farmers now had their buggies
and buckboards lined up along the wide main street. All eyes
turned to stare at him as he filled the doorway. Tessa cast
one quick look in his direction. He was pleased by the sudden
color that bloomed in her cheeks. Not wanting to embarrass
her by staring, Joe took a quick look around.
The
sheriff and a deputy sat at a corner table near the kitchen
where each could sit with his back to a wall. Joe headed in
that direction.
“I’m
Joe Gilmore, Sheriff,” he said. “I’m looking
for a cabin my grandfather, Jonas Gilmore, rented for a visit
with an artist friend about a year ago.” He described
what little he knew about the cabin, which seemed to be familiar
to the sheriff and his deputy. He soon had directions that
should be easy to follow. Joe looked around the restaurant
for a table.
Two
ranch families shared a large table. Tessa bustled about carrying
food to the tables. Her yellow checkered skirt swirled and
swished about her hurrying feet. An otherwise clean white
apron had a spill of coffee down one side, or was it gravy?
“You
gonna stand blockin’ the way or can I find a seat?”
Startled,
Joe turned out of the way, apologized and moved to one side.
“Looks
like we gotta wait anyhow,” said the plump cowboy. “You
new in town?”
“I
just came today,” Joe said.
“If
we ever git a table you gotta try Tessa’s pie.”
“I
already have.” He didn’t really want to jabber
with this man. He’d much rather concentrate on watching
Tessa as she hurried from table to table.
“I
come here ever chanct I git,” the cowboy said. His eyes
were on Tessa. “I’d rather watch her walk than
eat fried chicken.”
Joe
frowned down at the shorter man. He wasn’t sure he liked
the remark, but why it should bother him was a good question.
Two
tables emptied of customers. Joe hurried forward to sit down,
and there Tessa was, right at his elbow. He didn’t see
any ring on her finger.
*
* * *
“What
will you have today?” Tessa asked. She must appear calm
so she didn’t sound unfriendly. That would not be good
for business. Contrarily, she felt so at ease with him, but
not at ease. What did that mean? He certainly aroused her
awareness of him as a very desirable man friend.
“I
believe you said you’d have roast pork,” Joe said.
His blue eyes never stopped their steady look at her face.
“I’ll have that.”
“Coffee?”
“No,
just water, for now.”
“Thank
you.” Tessa spun around, raised one finger at Hilda
in a signal for one order of their special. Tessa felt if
she called out the order of ‘pig in a garden’
she’d sound crude to this educated appearing man.
“You
need help,” Sophie Alderman came in the front door and
up beside her. “Business is really good these days.”
She put on an apron and started serving customers. Her shorter,
slightly plump form flitted around. Her smiles and greetings
showed she knew everyone in the room. Tessa really appreciated
her presence.
“Is
that your sister?” Joe asked when Tessa brought his
filled plate.
“My
aunt,” Tessa said, then hurried away to another customer.
Angry
at herself for feeling the urge to sit right down and explain
her and Sophie’s complicated relationship, Tessa stayed
in the kitchen as the crowd thinned out.
*
* * *
Joe’s
mind questioned why the two women were related when they looked
so little alike, but that was their business. Very often siblings
did not look alike. He really wasn’t interested in anyone
but Tessa. Why?
She
is so beautiful! I’ve seen lots of pretty women. Chicago,
New York and Omaha all had their share.
He’d
seen women out riding on bicycles in New York. Out east he’d
even seen a lady in one of those new fangled motor cars that
scared all the horses. None of them had taken his breath away
like this woman. None had piqued his interest so much in such
a short time. He debated whether to ask for something more.
Pie! Yes, that would work. Anything so he could stay a little
longer.
“Could
I have a piece of peach pie, ma’am?” Joe said
to the older waitress.
“Coffee
with that?” she asked.
“Yes,
please,” Joe said. He glanced to the kitchen where he
could see Tessa busily wiping the freshly washed heavy restaurant
plates.
The
older woman smiled. “Shall I have Tessa bring it?”
Joe
felt heat rising up his neck and into his face. Was his interest
in Tessa that obvious? He grinned at the waitress. “I
would like that, ma’am.”
“I’m
Sophie, Tessa’s aunt.”
“You’re
much too young, you know,” Joe said.
Sophie
laughed. “I know it, but let’s just leave it like
that.” She pursed her full lips and frowned as if regretting
her impulsive volunteering of Tessa to bring his pie.
Joe
watched Sophie disappear into the kitchen. He kept his eyes
on that doorway, waiting for Tessa to appear.
Tessa
had pie in one hand and coffee in the other when she did appear.
Her hurrying flattened the yellow checked skirt to her body.
Joe felt his temperature rise like the steam of the hot coffee
in her hand, especially when he made doubly sure there was
no ring on her finger.
“Thank
you, Tessa,” he said. “Now that the crowd has
gone would it be all right for you to sit with me a moment?
I’d really enjoy that.”
Tessa
glanced to the kitchen. She looked like she wanted to flee
but her hand was on the chair like she wanted to stay.
Joe
saw Sophie nod from the kitchen and still Tessa hesitated.
“I
don’t bite,” Joe said. “I’ll be on
my best behavior. What is the countryside like here? Should
I use a buggy or had I better rent a horse to get to the Diamond
O Ranch where my grandfather rented a cabin.”
“It
depends on the rain. Sometimes the road gets really soft for
a buggy.”
“A
horse it is then.”
“Hod
Border has good horses at his livery stable.”
“Does
he have saddles to rent, too?” Joe looked down at his
peach pie that he hadn’t touched. Talking with Tessa
was even better than her scrumptious pie. The flutter of her
skirt hem on his new boots fascinated him a moment with the
thought of the shapely legs and body that skirt covered.
During
the afternoon Tessa’s aunt made friendly conversation
with him now and then and the older woman in the kitchen kept
grinning at him.
The
time passed so fast that the evening’s dusky shadows
surprised Joe. He glanced outside the windows and said, “Ladies,
I think I’ll walk around your town a little to wear
off all I’ve eaten today.” He bade Tessa goodbye
as he leaned over the pass-through counter between kitchen
and dining area. He’d been watching her and Hilda work
on the next meal. Sophie no longer hurried about helping out
with the waitress work. She’d gone on her way somewhere
and he didn’t give her another thought.
He
reluctantly reminded himself he had to rent a horse and saddle
from the livery and he needed a canteen from one of the stores.
But that could wait another day.
The
moon was just beginning to give a little light when Joe stepped
from the restaurant onto the boardwalk. He should have invited
Tessa for a moonlight walk, except after working all day in
the restaurant she was likely tired of being on her feet.
He
crossed the dusty street and started up the boardwalk toward
Lizzie’s big rooming house where he’d rented a
room for a week.
A
shadow showed against the corner of Lizzie’s house,
a shadow like a raised mallet!
Joe ducked and swung a long arm in defense. The smell of an
old gunny sack wafted and was gone. It draped on his shoulder
as his arm was grabbed.
The
man was big! Almost as big as his own six-four. Joe’s
left fist into the man’s belly told him he was softer
than his own hard muscles. Maybe he could take care of this
quick and find out what it was all about. He had no great
amount of money on him where it was visible. Why else was
he being attacked?
Long
bony arms circled his neck from behind. The arm was choking
him. A long body hung down his back, but with scrawny legs
encircling his waist. How many men were there?
Joe
braced his feet, tensed his neck muscles, and then deliberately
lunged backward, falling atop the skinny man. The man exploded
a whomph and let go. Joe rolled over and up onto his feet.
The
big fellow came at Joe with heavy arms reaching to grapple
and crush. Joe dodged and clubbed the side of his head.
“What
goes on here?”
A
scramble of feet and both assailants were gone.
“What
happened?” A man with a badge appeared next to Joe.
“I’m Deputy Tom Worthmire. We met in the restaurant.
What is going on here? Robbery?”
“Attempted
anyway,” Joe said. He picked up the smelly gunny bag.
“Two men wanted to give me a new hat,” he said.
“They didn’t like my derby, I guess.”
“It
does look a little citified for our neck of the woods.”
The man with a Sheriff’s badge, was also familiar to
Joe as Sheriff Bill Coble, stepped up beside the deputy. “No
offense. Just an observation. Are you all right?”
“I’m
fine,” Joe said. “I think the big one will have
a nice black bruise where I hit him.”
“You
must have a powerful right,” Tom said. “Looked
like he was out when I started this way.”
“Odd
that they would try something like this on a moonlit night,”
Sheriff Coble said. “Are you carrying valuables? Lizzie
has a safe you can use if you do.”
Joe
wiped his bruised mouth with his white handkerchief. “The
big fellow packed quite a wallop of his own. Lots of weight
behind it. Flabby body though.”
“Doesn’t
sound like anyone we know here,” Tom said. “If
you’re all right, I’ll just make my rounds and
see if anyone shows up in the saloons with a battered look.
You were swinging right and left pretty good.”
“It
wasn’t much of a fight,” Joe said. “I’ve
had better with my boys at school.”
“You’re
a school teacher?”
“I
am.”
“That
gunny bag tells me they planned to take you someplace,”
Sheriff Coble said. “Any idea why?”
Joe
hesitated, thinking no one knew about Grandpa’s gold
nuggets. At least no one was supposed to know. Suppose the
information had somehow leaked out. He shook his head. Starting
a search for gold nuggets could bring on a stampede of any
number of undesirable characters. He said nothing.
“Well,
have a good night then,” the sheriff said. “I’m
off for home. Tom will be around town if you need him.”
“Thanks,”
Joe said. He watched the sheriff move back down the street
for a moment before he entered the rooming house.
In
his room he checked the drawers in the dresser that held his
socks and underwear. Someone had fumbled through them. He
couldn’t tell if anyone searched the pockets of his
extra suit hanging on the hanger on a hook in the shallow
closet. They would have found nothing. He kept his money in
a money belt around his waist. Tomorrow he would transfer
most of it to the safe Lizzie had for the use of her roomers.
His
room had one window overlooking a porch roof. He stared out
into the night. He guessed that one of the men could have
hoisted the other up onto the roof so he could enter the room
that way. Joe wadded up an old newspaper he’d read on
the train and scattered the crumpled bits below the window.
He
propped a chair under the door knob, then removed his clothes
and went to bed. The warm spring day had a cooler night, but
a sheet was enough cover.
Hands
behind his head he pondered the brief fight he’d had.
Hardly a fight in his estimation. Two men had tried to capture
him and had failed. He concluded they must have guessed about
his money belt. He turned his thoughts to the lovely Tessa
instead.
*
* * *
Tessa
put away the last of the cleaned pans ready for use in the
morning. As she blew out the kitchen lamps she flipped her
paisley shawl around her shoulders. In the dining room she
blew out those lamps, leaving one lit while she put a match
to a small lantern she used to light her way home.
She
scarcely needed the lantern as the moon was high enough it
cast some light on the street. She smelled dust. Someone had
stirred it up enough that it hung in the soft spring air,
wafting from the direction of Lizzie’s Rooming House.
The
man called Joe must have gone that way. She smiled. He was
a friendly man, one who excited her in a way no other ever
had. She pondered that phenomenon.
Ned
was fun, but way too young. Mr. Bridgeman was very nice, but
way too old. Any number of cowhands and ranchers were either
in between those ages, or married. Old Doc Gillam was extra
friendly because Sophie worked with him delivering babies.
Sheriff Bill Coble and Hod from the livery were both very,
very married with children on the way. Deputy Tom Worthmire
was practically a newlywed and also very young.
I’m
getting old, Tessa thought as she opened the door to her and
Sophie’s house.
Comfort.
Tessa quickly ran a button hook down her shoes and kicked
them off.
Rancher
Jason Brock. The bank teller. No one compared with Joe Gilmore.
She smiled. His chin dimple needed exploring. His formidable
size could be a little daunting, but he seemed to have a gentle
side, too. Could she learn to forget all her negative thoughts
about men…and enjoy for a brief time, the pleasure of
knowing this one particular man?
*
* * *
Next
morning Joe left the rooming house and walked to Tessa’s
restaurant. Springton sat in the dusty-streeted splendor of
an early June morning. The few trees in town were leafed out
and a few garden plots were spaded for early plants. It took
no time at all for his long legs to cover the two streets
of the town. Behind the barn at the livery seemed the most
private spot for a session of shadow boxing to keep himself
in shape, especially after all the food he’d consumed
the day before.
He
looked forward to spending a couple more days with Tessa,
as much as she would allow, when she wasn’t really busy
working. He’d glanced through the restaurant’s
big plate glass window as he’d passed on his way to
the livery barn. Today she wore a plain green dress that matched
the color of her eyes.
The
time flew by. On the afternoon of his third day he stopped
for coffee at the restaurant.
“Green
apples came up from southern Colorado. Do you want to try
a slice of green apple pie for a change?” Tessa asked.
Her smile sent his heart skittering in his chest.
“Sure
thing. I talked with a man named Charlie who said he would
be looking forward to some. Do you know him?”
“I
surely do,” Tessa said. “He works for the sheriff
and his wife at their ranch. He may be in any time...like
right now.” She waved as the door opened. “Hello,
Charlie, are you ready for green apple pie?”
“Sure
am,” Charlie said. Under his white hair his face turned
a little pink as he added, “I seen Sophie out at Bets
Coble’s. She says tell you ‘hello’. I passed
by the telegraph office so they gave me this message to give
Joe Gilmore.”
Joe
read the telegram and felt all the color drain from his face.
“My grandmother has had another one of her bad spells.
I’m to hurry with my chores here and get home as soon
as possible.”
“I’m
so sorry, Joe,” Tessa said. “I hope she will soon
recover. I’ve enjoyed having you here at the restaurant
these three days.” Then she reddened and tilted her
head with a nip at her lower lip. He’d noticed that
habit came when she grew reserved and shy with him.
“It’s
always a worry. I’ll be getting a horse real early.
Can you pack me a sandwich so I can head out right away in
the morning? I shouldn’t have any trouble finding the
log cabin going like the sheriff told me. I’ll get my
business there taken care of, and be on my way back soon.”
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