Chapter Nine
Two Days Later — Noon
Heavy raindrops pelted the windows, creating a loud pitter-patter all around the house. The storm had rolled in shortly after breakfast, and everybody was forced to stay inside.
Ellen was visiting again, so she, Sadie and Ruby were in the sitting room working on a donation box for a local family who had lost all of their belongings in a nasty fire two nights earlier.
“What else could they need?” Sadie asked, tapping her finger against the tip of her nose.
The box she was currently looking at was already overflowing with useful items such as linens, blankets, pots and pans, chinaware, cups, and cutlery.
Next to that one stood two more, one filled with food staples such as flour, beans, and rice as well as canned goods, while the other one contained ready-prepared foods such as cheeses, breads, cold cuts, and dried meats.
“I’ve got something!” Ruby yelled, as she held up a drawing she’d just finished. It showed some stick figures next to a house, which was next to a tree and an animal that looked like a cross between a cow and a goat. Sadie took it and smiled at her.
“That is very thoughtful of you, Sweetheart!” she said to the girl, who instantly smiled proudly.
“This already looks like a lot,” Ellen said with wide eyes as she stared at all the boxes. Sadie smiled at her.
“Should I not tell you about the two boxes of my parents’ old clothes which I dropped off just yesterday?” she asked with raised eyebrows and a cheeky grin. Ellen stared at her. Then, she smiled at her friend.
“Won’t it be strange if you see these people walking around in your father’s jackets and your mother’s dresses when you go into town?” Ellen asked with a worried look. Sadie’s grin vanished and was replaced by a somewhat sadder expression.
“I didn’t think about that,” she said quietly. But then she shrugged. “What’s done is done. And both of my parents would want me to give all their clothes to these people. I’ll learn to live with it. It’s all part of the process, I guess.”
“Process of what?” Louise asked as she walked into the room carrying a large tray.
Both women told her what they’d been talking about while Louise placed the tray on the table and started to pour each of the ladies—including little Ruby—a cup of tea.
The cook then placed dainty little pastries and tiny cakes on small plates, handing one to each of them, before she sat down on the settee next to Ruby, holding the plate for her while she ate.
“Ah, that process,” Louise finally replied with a small nod.
“Moving on is never easy. When you’ve lost loved ones, it’s important to honor them in the way you already do every day,” Louise said to Sadie with a warm smile.
“But what you are doing for these poor people right now is truly commendable. I am sure your mother and father see all that you do and are very proud of you.”
“Can they still see?” Ruby asked then, which made all of the women in the room pause.
”Grammy told me that my mommy is in heaven with God,” she said, before she turned to Sadie.
“You said your mommy is in heaven.” Then she turned to Louise.
“You said that she can see Sadie. Can my mommy see me, too?” Ruby asked, hopeful, looking at all of them.
Ellen immediately turned away and dabbed her face with a handkerchief. Sadie and Louise exchanged a quick glance and it was clear that both women were overcome with sudden sadness for the little girl.
Sadie’s eyes blurred slightly and she had to blink rapidly not to let any tears fall. She didn’t want Ruby to see that. She had to clear her throat twice, because the lump in her throat wouldn’t budge.
“Yes, she can,” Louise finally said to Ruby, her voice thick with emotion. “She is always around you and watching over you, and she always will be.”
“Like an angel?” Ruby asked excitedly. All three of the women nodded.
“Absolutely!” Ellen confirmed. Ruby’s face broke out in a beaming smile, even though there was also sadness in her bright green eyes.
Meanwhile, Sadie’s heart broke for her. Ruby had been too young to remember her mother, so she only knew her from people talking about her.
Yet, Sadie could clearly see that Ruby missed her.
“And God is watching over her and you,” she told her reassuringly.
Sadie vowed to find out as much as she could about Ruby’s mother so she could share it with her at moments like these. It struck her deeply that both of them had lost their mothers, connecting them in a way that was as sad as it was meaningful.
Louise clapped her hands and broke the heavy silence that had fallen over the room.
“Time to get back into the kitchen,” she said as she got up from the settee. She gave Ruby a soft kiss on top of her head and turned to leave. “Let me know if you need anything,” she said, then she walked out of the room. Ellen released a heavy sigh.
“These are really yummy!” Ruby said, holding up a tiny cake. “I’m going to draw Black Shadow now. For the other box,” she declared as she slid off the settee and walked over to the small table with all her paper and crayons.
“Let’s talk about something else,” Sadie suggested as she watched the little girl draw a large black blob on a blank piece of paper as if nothing had happened.
Ellen nodded. “So, tell me! How is it going with your new husband?” she tried.
Sadie shrugged. “We don’t see much of each other,” she replied honestly. “He’s mostly gone during the day, either patrolling the ranch or going into town to talk to people.”
“About what?” Ellen asked curiously. Sadie shrugged again.
“I don’t actually know,” she said with a blank expression. “He seems to be working on something. Sometimes he’s up until late at night, going over stacks of paperwork, ledgers and maps, taking notes… We haven’t spoken about any of it. It’s not really any of my business, so I don’t ask.”
Ellen pulled a face. “But he is your husband, now,” she countered. “It’s your right to ask.”
Sadie shook her head. “On paper,” she corrected. “Whatever he’s doing is none of my business. As long as he doesn’t butt into my business affairs, it’s all right.”
“He’s lucky he’s such a good-looking man,” Ellen commented with a cheeky smile. “He seems to get away with a lot.”
Sadie clucked her tongue. “Don’t say that!” she replied in mock outrage. She couldn’t quite hide the smile forming on her lips.
Sadie knew that Ellen wasn’t all that wrong about what she was saying, because she did happen to find Sam very attractive. However, she was bound by their formal agreement and never forgot that their marriage wasn’t based on any of that.
“He’s only here to prevent Walter from taking over the ranch,” she added stubbornly. “I don’t even know if I can trust him as a man yet,” she added quietly, so Ruby wouldn’t hear her. Ellen’s eyebrows shot up.
“What if he has hidden motives after all, just like all the others?” she asked, though she didn’t really believe it herself. None of the other applicants to her ad had sounded as sincere as Sam.
“Didn’t you sign a contract?” Ellen asked, blowing Sadie’s argument straight out of the water. Sadie could only nod. “Then stop looking for problems unless he shows you some real ones. Give the man a fighting chance, would you?”
“Finished!” Ruby called out, holding up her next drawing.
Ellen and Sadie both watched as the little girl slid off her chair and started running toward them, holding up the paper as well as the rest of the cake.
“Don’t run!” Sadie called out to her, but Ruby was too excited.
She wasn’t watching where she was stepping and before anybody could prevent it from happening, Ruby stumbled on the edge of the rug.
She fell forward and because she didn’t let go of her drawing or the cake, she landed first on her knees, and then on her elbows before banging her head on the floor.
Sadie and Ellen jumped up at the same time, but it happened too fast.
Ruby started crying almost immediately. There was blood on her knee and also on her lip. She’d clearly taken a hard fall.
Ellen took the drawing and cake from her while Sadie picked Ruby up and rushed her into the kitchen, where Louise immediately sprang into action.
Within minutes, clean strips of linen were dunked in hot water to dab away the blood and clean the scrapes.
Ellen tried to talk soothingly to Ruby, but she was still crying hysterically.
Meanwhile, Sadie went to the medicine cabinet and brought out a small glass container with a healing salve.
“This is going to burn just a little,” she told Ruby, who vehemently shook her head no. “But it’s going to help heal it much, much faster,” Sadie tried again. “And after that you can have another tiny cake, if you want, hm?”
“No!” Ruby cried, though her sobs slowed down a little.
It was at that moment that the back door opened and Sam walked inside. He pulled off his hat and soaking jacket, hanging both on a nearby hook.
As soon as he saw his daughter in tears, sitting up on the counter, bleeding, his previously relaxed expression changed into a worried scowl.
“What is going on here?” he called out with a thunderous voice that Sadie would have expected. Sam was usually so calm and quiet. “What happened?”
Ellen and Sadie rushed to explain it to him, but much to their surprise, Sam clearly didn’t want to hear it.
“I don’t need to hear excuses!” he said grumpily with a disapproving look, which was mainly aimed at Sadie. “You were supposed to watch her!”
“We did! Both of us!” Ellen yelled defensively. Louise held up both hands to calm everybody down, but by now Sadie was just as mad as Sam was.
“There are no excuses!” she retorted, unwilling to just take it. “It happened too fast. We couldn’t do anything!”
“You were clearly not paying attention, then!” Sam yelled back at her.
“It’s nobody’s fault!” Louise shouted over everybody, finally getting all of their attention. “Children fall. They get hurt. It’s normal,” she said as calmly as she could to Sam.
He stared at her for a second, but then he scoffed and picked up his daughter, who was now merely whimpering.
Sam didn’t say anything else. He just turned and walked out of the kitchen.