Chapter 5 #2
Clary sat up. She decided to wash and get dressed and go down to breakfast. If she saw Evelyn then, she would ask if her sister wanted to come with her to fix up the coaches. The coaches belonged to them both, after all. It was all their father had left them.
Once she was ready, Clary headed downstairs. As she approached the reception, someone came up the steps. Clary stared in disbelief. It was a disheveled, clearly sleepy Evelyn. She looked as though she’d been up all night.
“Evelyn?” she asked, staring.
“Clary,” her sister said. As she spoke, the whiskey fumes on her breath hit Clary in the face. She reeled back to get away from the unpleasant odor. “Hey, sis!” Evelyn slurred. “Where you goin’ so late?”
“To the stables where we left the coaches,” Clary said. “And what do you mean ‘so late’? It’s eight in the morning, Evelyn.”
Evelyn swayed as she held onto the banister. “Is it? Well …” she snorted a laugh. “That Felix is a sly old fox. That’s what he is.”
“You were out playing cards?” Clary asked, trying very hard to keep her tone neutral.
“Yipitydoodah, sister of mine. I most certainly was,” Evelyn mumbled. “And I won!”
Clary swallowed down the words she was longing to say.
“All right, I’ll see you later.” She pushed past Evelyn and hurried down the remainder of the stairs.
When she reached the bottom, she turned around and found that Evelyn was staring at her, wide-eyed.
She blinked and suddenly seemed a lot more sober.
“Hold on! Aren’t you going to yell at me?”
“No,” Clary said. “You’re twenty-three years old, Evelyn; if you can’t be responsible for yourself by now, then … I don’t know when you will be.” She turned and strode away before she could say anything else.
It felt good. What a surprise that was. Not shouldering the responsibility for her little sister’s actions was a great weight lifted. She found a smile creeping across her lips.
When she reached the dining room, she greeted everyone with a big smile. “Good morning.”
“Morning,” people mumbled in reply.
Clary filled her plate with eggs, ham, and toast and went to sit beside another young woman.
“Hi, I’m Sarah,” she said.
“Clary. Nice to meet you.”
“You’re the stagecoach woman, right?” Sarah asked. She had a sweet, quiet voice.
“I am,” Clary said.
Sarah smiled. “I’m pleased to meet you. I work at the clinic, and Ross is looking for Evelyn.”
“My sister,” Clary said flatly. She bit her lip. “Is he okay?”
“Oh yes, he’s going to be fine. We’re discharging him later today. I think he wants to thank Evelyn for helping him,” Sarah said, speaking mostly to her almost empty plate.
“Right,” Clary said. “I’ll pass on the message.”
Sarah smiled. “Thanks.”
Clary ate her breakfast in silence, wondering how much work it would be to get Evelyn presentable. Then she remembered that her sister’s state was none of her business anymore.
When she had finished her food, she left the message at the front desk with Mrs. Odenkirk and set off.
Her first stop was the general store, where she bought some varnish for the coaches and a couple of tools she would need.
The rest of what she needed she had in a box in her coach.
She would have those bullet holes patched up in no time.
It felt good, heading off down the street in this new town, which would soon feel like home, with a fresh start. She whistled a happy tune as she walked and greeted everyone she passed.
However, there was a niggling concern in the back of her mind. What had Evelyn gotten into? Why was she so very drunk? She didn’t usually drink to excess, so what had happened that she was inebriated when she came home?
“No, I’m not thinking about her!” she snapped.
A group of young girls walking arm in arm stared at her as though she were a crazy lady.
Clary smiled sheepishly.
Sorry, my thoughts are just terribly loud today.
Hurrying on, she soon reached the farmyard and spent a few minutes leaning on the fence, watching the herds graze. Her town had been surrounded by farmers and ranchers. She liked seeing animals out under the sun in the grassy fields. It made her feel peaceful when nothing else would.
Kyle walked over to her, smiling. “Hi. Here to check on your coaches?”
“Here to repair them,” Clary said, holding up the varnish and other things she had bought.
“Ah, I can help you if you like,” he offered.
“No, it’s fine. I’m used to it,” Clary said. “This isn’t the first time we’ve been shot at.”
“You don’t say?” Kyle asked, his eyes twinkling. “Well, if you need me, I’ll be out tending the animals.”
She nodded her thanks and set off to the barn where her coaches were being housed.
They were exactly where she had left them.
Everything inside them was intact, including her repair kit.
This was the part of the work that she really enjoyed.
She loved spending time with the coaches, varnishing, replacing fittings when they had worn out, and cleaning.
There was nothing like that wonderful smell of a coach that was newly spiffed up.
Running her hands over the coach, she smiled.
It was like having her father there with her.
Like being able to see him still. She set to work filling in the bullet holes, hoping it would silence the voice in her head that was screaming for her to run to Evelyn and get her back in line.
Thomas had suggested that she give her sister some space, and she meant to do that.
Anyway, it would give her some time to explore her relationship with him, and that was something Clary was very eager to do.