Chapter 15
Belle rode out before first light. She’d told the girls she was going, and they were already hard at work before dawn, anyway. The three of them would stay outside until breakfast time. Anthony would be awake by then…maybe.
The weather looked fair, and she pushed her mount hard to eat up the ground.
Still, it was midmorning before the Dawson place came into sight.
She’d never been here before. Smart, the way the soddy was built up against the canyon wall.
She should have thought of that. She had a lot of skills, but she’d never had the knack for building a sound structure, and there was no one to teach her. Her house and barn showed it.
She rode straight up to the soddy, noting the solid barn and the tight corrals. Even the sod house was square and solid looking. She tied her horse to the hitching post and strode to the front door, then pounded on it.
It took a long time, but finally, the heavy door, hinged with leather straps, scraped open and Cassie looked outside.
She looked about the same age as Lindsay, and it made Belle’s mother’s heart turn over to think of this woman on her second marriage, having a baby she had probably never asked for.
It made Belle want to go to war to protect her.
“Uh…you’re…Belle? Right? Belle Santoni?”
“Most folks call me Belle Tanner. They can’t keep up with the different husbands.” Belle nodded. “Just stopping in to visit if that’s all right.”
Cassie nodded and swung the door wide. “I’ve got coffee on. Red usually comes in for a cup about now. There’s plenty and I’ve fried some doughnuts.”
The grease and sugar and savory hot coffee smelled wonderful, and Cassie smiled as she let Belle pass. Belle shifted around her. She’d expected to find the girl in terrible straits. And perhaps she was. But it was hard to tell from the smile on her face.
A cave entrance caught Belle’s eye. “He built this in front of a cave?”
“Come and look. The cave is our bedroom, and over there”—Cassie pointed to a circle of buffalo hide hanging on the wall—“is a cave with a cold spring running through it we call the cooler.”
Instead of rescuing the girl, Belle was struck dumb with envy. She got a full tour, then settled in at the table with coffee and sweets.
“When’s your baby due?” Cassie laid her hand on her stomach.
“Spring or thereabouts.”
Cassie’s eyes grew round. “Don’t you know for sure either?”
“Either?” Feeling her brow furrow, Belle tried to answer in a way that would keep Cassie talking. Didn’t the woman know when her child was coming? “Well, it’s never exact. But I can guess pretty close. When is yours?”
Cassie began talking like a woman who was starved for another woman. Belle herself would be half mad with loneliness if her girls weren’t always at hand.
“Muriel told you what?” Belle gasped at the amazing amount of detail Muriel had dumped on Cassie. Maybe Belle ought to set the poor thing straight, but most likely, she’d just upset Cassie with conflicting information.
“And then her mother-in-law had her bite on a stick so…”
Belle had never considered biting on a stick.
The idea had merit. She listened more closely.
When the girl ran down, Belle said, “I’ve had my young’uns pretty much by myself, without knowing overly much about what to expect.
They just go ahead and be born no matter what you do.
Not much sense learning a bunch of rules about ’em ’cuz my three were all different. ”
Cassie’s eyes grew wide. “They’re different? What do you mean?”
“Well, different lengths of time that the laboring goes on. Different feeling to each time, one’ll be harder, the next easier. Not much rhyme or reason to it.”
“Leota Pickett has five, and she said hers were all mostly the very same.”
Shrugging, Belle changed the subject. “So how do you like married life?”
“It’s wonderful but kind of sad too.”
“What’s sad about it?” Belle knew good and well what was sad about married life. The list was so long…well, there wasn’t enough paper and ink in the world.
Blushing, Cassie leaned close and whispered, “Red won’t kiss me.”
Belle jerked upright in her chair. “He won’t?” Belle never had that problem.
Cassie shook her head, her cheeks blazing pink. “You’ve been married three times. Could you get any of them to kiss you?”
Because she couldn’t collect an intelligent thought in her head, Belle poured her coffee down her throat even though it was still nearly burning hot and held out her cup. “Can I have some more?”
Cassie hurried to get the pot and pour while Belle tried to gather her thoughts.
By the time Cassie settled in, Belle said, “So you must like having a husband, then?”
Cassie nodded.
“Did you like your other one?”
Cassie froze, her eyes wide as a startled deer’s. “Of…of course.”
Belle shook her head. “I didn’t figure you did. Worthless man. My husbands have all been pretty much worthless. Made more work for me.”
“Well, I’m trying to work, but Red won’t let me do much, and he hovers. Can I ask you a question?” Cassie’s look suggested she was scared to death of the next words she planned to say.
“Sure.” Belle braced herself. This was going to involve more overly personal details about having a baby. The girl was just full of questions and strange information.
“The way you talked to Red, and Muriel and Seth for that matter, how…how did you work…work up the courage to speak so boldly? I’ve never known a woman to be so…so…”
“Cranky?” Belle fought a smile.
“No, well, yes, a little, I guess, but I wish…I mean, do your husbands like it? Did they tell you to act that way?”
Belle set her tin coffee cup down with a click and rested her arms on the table. She bent closer to Cassie. “No man tells me how to act. I act as I like, and he can put up with it and keep his mouth shut or get out.”
Cassie’s eyes got wide. Maybe she was going to tell Belle to get out. But those eyes studied her. Quiet, watchful.
“What are you thinking?” Belle had spent most of the last fourteen years shut up in her mountain valley. Truth be told, she hadn’t been around women much…nor men…save her children and the husbands.
“I’m just trying to remember the way you look straight into my eyes. The way you speak as if you don’t give one tiny fig if I like it or not. That’s…that’s…”
“Arrogant? Rude? Stupid?” Belle arched one brow.
“Wonderful.” The word was breathed quietly. “Did your mother act like this, or did one of your husbands ask it of you?”
Belle was torn between snarling and smiling.
The thought that one of her husbands would order her to be so contemptuous of him was really pretty funny.
“My mother was a perfect Southern lady. My husbands have been content to let me be however I want to be as long there’s plenty of hot food and I let them slink off and hide come chore time. ”
“Griff said a woman’s place was in the home, and it was shameful to do men’s work.”
Belle didn’t respond but just stared straight into Cassie’s eyes. Would the girl realize that she’d just insulted Belle mightily?
“But I think it’s wonderful. I wish I was more like you.”
And just like that, Belle had a sister. Not a child like her girls, but a woman who didn’t look down on her. Even admired her. Belle wanted to take Cassie home now more than ever.
The door opened fast, and Red came in, breathing hard.
No doubt he’d recognized her horse and figured she was here to kidnap his wife.
Well, Cassie clearly wouldn’t want to be kidnapped, and it made Belle so curious, it was killing her.
How could Cassie be happy? Was Red an actual good man, or was Cassie just that gullible?
Belle had to admit, the ways of God were a pure mystery.
The little pang of jealousy surprised Belle as she studied Red. His eyes were sharp. His chest heaving as if he’d sprinted. But he didn’t say a word except to greet her.
“Belle, you’ve come for a visit. Good to see you. You should have brought the girls.”
Belle had tried to be casual with Cassie, but because she didn’t know how to be much else than blunt on the normal course of things, she said, “I came to check if she was all right.”
“I’m glad you did. And you can see, she’s fine.”
Belle turned back to Cassie, who was busy staring at Red as if she were trying to think of a way to trick him into kissing her. “It defies reason, but she does seem to be fine.”
Red laughed as he poured himself coffee, then settled onto the floor by the fireplace before Belle even realized there were only two chairs in the house.
“I spent the morning trying to help a critter bent on killing me even though I was trying to save his life.” Red was off telling them both about a rambunctious steer that had gotten its horns hung up when it was trying to climb into a really tight clump of aspen trees.
When Red tried to get him, the steer had fought as if Red were planning on turning him into a steak dinner.
Red was obviously here to watch out for his wife. But he wasn’t rude about it. In fact, he was so kind and friendly, and had so clearly been working hard all morning, that Belle was nearly unable to believe Red’s story.
A sudden flash of insight told Belle that all men weren’t worthless. And didn’t that mean that the problem was really with her because she picked such a poor lot? It was a sad thing to admit.
Belle stared into her cup of coffee while Red told his story, Cassie hanging on every word, laughing given half a chance.
Her husband made the tale alive and funny with his arm movements and exaggerated tones.
Truth be told, Belle had never had this long a conversation with one of her husbands.
Oh, she’d talked at them and they’d talked at her, but they didn’t interact.
She expected nothing of them, and they gave her exactly that.
Would Anthony be different if she were different?
Maybe. Belle had never considered it before.