Innocent Hearts Part 3

"CATHERINE!" MARTHA CRIED as Kate came breathlessly through the door. "Where have you been? It's late and we were worried sick!" She grabbed Kate by the shoulders and peered at her intently. "I was about to send your father out to search for you!"

"For heaven's sake, Martha," Martin exclaimed. "Let the girl talk!"

"I was down at the auction grounds, you knew that," Kate answered, her thoughts still on her afternoon with Jessie. "And it's not even dark yet!"

"I know I've said this is a safe town, but this week especially," Martin began gently, "it's not safe for a young girl out alone at this hour."

"I was not alone," Kate replied, more forcefully than she had intended.

"And who was that young man who brought you home?" Martha queried archly.

Kate flushed a deep scarlet, her black eyes flashing against her pale skin. For a moment she was too angry to speak.

"That was not a young man," she cried indignantly. "That was Jessie Forbes. She's a rancher from north of town!" Uncertain why, Kate felt instantly protective of Jessie. Silly, because if anyone didn't need protecting, it was Jessie Forbes. Still, she faced her mother with a defiant glint in her eye.

"A woman!!" Martha cried, appalled.

Martin relaxed perceptibly and chuckled. "Kate couldn't have been with anyone safer, my dear. Jessie Forbes is an extremely capable young woman. I met her at the newspaper office some weeks ago. As Kate said, she runs a ranch - apparently quite successfully. She's bright and has a sound head on her shoulders."

Martha turned from her daughter to husband, a shocked expression on her face. "I saw this young woman, Martin, and it's a--a--a disgrace. She was wearing pants!"

"Well goodness, Martha. This isn't Boston. You could hardly expect her to tend her herd in a dress!" Martin replied easily. "Out here women dress more practically."

"Practically!" Martha, who even now would not consider wearing the popular bloomer, was scandalized. She looked with concern at Kate, who continued to look rebellious. "I hope this isn't the kind of thing that you find admirable. No decent woman would be found dressed like that in public. And I do believe she was wearing a gun!"

"It's actually a Colt .45 peacemaker, Mother," Kate announced, dropping her shawl on a chair and walking to her father. She took his arm, avoiding her mother's astounded glance. "Shall we have dinner?"

Jessie awakened shortly after nine that night, ravenous. After checking her stock she'd returned to her room and stretched out on the bed, meaning only to close her eyes for a moment. She'd thought back to the afternoon and the pleasure she had drawn from Kate's company. With the memory of Kate's quick smile playing through her mind, she had drifted off to sleep.

Once awake, she washed quickly, threw on a leather vest over her shirt, and went in search of food. She was in the mood for a thick steak and some fried potatoes. She ate alone in the nearly deserted hotel dining room and then ambled into the saloon. The din of male voices was considerable and the air ripe with the odor of horses, well-worked men, and rivers of whiskey. She pushed her way through the crowd to the end of the bar, away from the bulk of the cowboys and the occasional dancehall girl.

"Evening, Frank. Guess business is good, huh?" she greeted the bartender.

"Jessie Forbes!" shouted the portly bewhiskered man behind the long, scarred bar. "Good to see you. Yep, there's quite a bunch here tonight. Can I get you something?"

"I think a brandy, Frank," she replied, fishing a coin from her levis.

She turned, drink in hand, to watch the room, tipping her gla.s.s now and then when someone called a greeting. Those who didn't know her personally had heard of her from others. She did not feel strange in the room full of men, because, in many ways, she was like them. She lived and worked on the same land as they, and sweated the same on a hard day's ride, and bled just as easily when a horse kicked a stone her way or a jerked rope burned a raw gash across her palm. She gave it no more thought than she did what the next day would bring. She was a rancher; that was her life.

A man moved close to her in the press of bodies growing denser near the bar. "Cards, Jess?"

Jessie turned toward the voice, her face lighting with pleasure. "Hank Trilby! How are you? And how are things at your ranch?

The tall, dark-haired cowboy grinned with pride. "I brought my first herd down today, Jess, and they're a fine bunch. Hope you take a look at them tomorrow." Hank had been with her father before Tom Forbes' death and had stayed on after Jessie took over the ranch. When he had a chance to buy into a spread nearby, Jessie had willingly backed him. She had not been wrong. Hank owned the ranch now and was doing well.

"I'll do that, Hank. I've been looking for a few new mares. Did I hear you say cards?"

Hank laughed, pointing to a table at one side of the room where four men sat dealing cards. "We've been waiting for an easy mark," he teased.

Jessie laughed, her eyes twinkling. "Haven't you got enough there already?"

Well after midnight, Jessie pushed her chair back and tossed her cards down. "That's it, boys. If I stay any longer I'll be selling next year's herd!"

Several men laughed, knowing that if anything she was slightly ahead. As she rose from the table a soft voice at her elbow murmured, "h.e.l.lo, Montana."

Jessie turned, her gaze falling on a woman with long blond hair that cascaded thickly over bare, milk-pale shoulders. Her dress was emerald green, low cut and close fitting, with a constraining bodice that boldly lifted her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to the verge of immodesty and beyond.

"Why, h.e.l.lo Mae," Jessie replied warmly. "I'm about ready to turn in, but would you like to have a brandy with me first? You can catch me up on all the news."

Mae gave a deep-throated chuckle and rested her well-kept hand against Jessie's st.u.r.dy shoulder.

"You can have a brandy, Montana. I'll have a whiskey, thanks!"

Jessie smiled and made a path for them to the bar. As she placed Mae's drink down, Jessie tried to recall the first time they had met. It must have been her first roundup after her father had died. She had been barely eighteen and had come looking for Jed in the saloon one night when their best brood mare had gone down with colic out in the stockyard. The saloon had been more crowded than ever, and as she searched the room for her men, a big, burly Texan, a stranger, had grabbed her roughly from behind.

"Now looky here, will you, boys? Just take a gander at what wandered in. Isn't she a fine one, though, and wearing a sidearm, too!" He'd laughed drunkenly and pulled her hat off, one hand under her chin, the other still grasping her arm. Out of the corner of her eye, Jessie had seen Jed with several others heading toward her, blood in their eyes. In a minute there would be a brawling fight, or worse.

Jessie stood very still and raised one hand slightly, waving her men away. Jed stopped, his body tense, and signaled to the others to wait, but his eyes never left Jessie's face. She pulled her hat out of the Texan's grasp, stepping back and freeing her other arm as she did so. She slowly put her hat back on and stood quietly facing the leering cowboy.

"I'm Jessie Forbes. You must be new around here, or else you'd know that. I don't believe I know your name. I'm here looking for my men, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me through." She spoke quietly but her words carried to those nearest her. Several men turned a watchful eye on the cowboy. The air crackled with tension.

"Oh, you'd like to get by, would you?" he mocked, swaying slightly and making another grab for her. "How would you like to come upstairs with me instead? Might be I could show you a good time."

Jessie sidestepped quickly and remained facing him. "Mister, I wouldn't take any pleasure in killing you, but you're wearing out my patience. These fellas here are all trying to enjoy this roundup, and so am I. n.o.body wants trouble. Now I don't want to have my men get all busted up trying to make you be reasonable, so if you don't go off somewhere and let me be, I'm gonna have to shoot you myself." She spoke quietly, and hadn't made any move toward her gun, but several cowboys nearby drew sharp breaths and pushed quickly out of the way.

The stranger had laughed hoa.r.s.ely, his eyes flickering to the faces around him. None were friendly.

"You think you can take me?" he jeered, licking his lips, which were suddenly dry.

"I can, but I'd rather not." Her voice was soft but every man in the room heard her.

He looked at the deadly calm in her eyes, and dropped his gaze. "I ain't never shot no woman, and you're not gonna be the first," he muttered, turning slowly away.

As quickly as it had begun it was over, but Jessie had won her rightful place in the mind of every man present. As Jessie made her way through the crowd, a woman had approached, stopping her with a hand on her arm. Jessie remembered that her eyes had been as green as spring gra.s.s, deep and warm.

"I want to thank you for keeping these d.a.m.n fools from tearing up this place. I'm afraid some of my girls would have been hurt. Mind you, I think you're daft."

That had been six roundups ago, and over the years since, she and Mae had become friends. Whenever Jessie was in town she made it a point to stop in to the saloon to say h.e.l.lo or to buy Mae a drink after the last of the cowhands had staggered off at the end of the night. Their friendship was an unconscious appreciation between two women who were often misunderstood, and Jessie had learned to value their moments together. She could talk to Mae in a way that she could to no one else, not even Jed.

"Hey, Montana, what are you dreaming about?" Mae asked as she circled her gla.s.s over the top of the bar watching the dark liquid swirl close to the brim.

Jessie smiled at the woman pressed close against her side. Mae's head barely reached Jessie's shoulder and Jessie had to lean down to make herself heard. "I was remembering that first night when I met you."

"Oh Lord, that was a sight," Mae laughed, downing the whiskey shot in one practiced flick of her wrist. "You and that cowboy in a standoff. Would you have really shot that fella?"

Jessie grinned suddenly. "I don't know. I hadn't thought about it yet!" She laughed at the look of dismay on her companion's face. "How are you, Mae? It seems like an age since we've talked."

"Oh, a little older, Jessie, but still holding up. Haven't seen you around too much these last few months. Not forgetting old friends, are you?" Mae searched Jessie's face, realizing once again how fine looking she was. Too handsome for a woman, but too pleasing to the eye for a man.

Jessie smiled at her fondly and shook her head. "Not you, Mae. I couldn't forget you.'

Mae colored slightly and gazed at their reflections in the mirror behind the bar, choosing her words carefully. "Say, Montana, who was that young woman I saw you strolling through town with today? Don't think I know her."

Jessie turned startled eyes on Mae. "Why, her name is Kate Beecher, Mae. She and her family just moved here from Boston. I didn't see you. Why didn't you call out?"

"Oh! I was busy doing something as I recall. An Easterner you say," she sounded wary.

"What's the matter, Mae?" Jessie asked, surprised by the suspicion in her voice.

Mae forced a laugh and looked up at Jessie, saying lightly, "Why nothing, Jessie. It's just that you have to remember those Easterners are a flighty bunch. They come out here and everything is new and different and they fall in love with the sparkle of it. Only after a while they get tired of it, and throw it all away like a worn out shoe."

Jessie stared at Mae, trying to understand what she was talking about. She was still thinking about it later that night when she fell tiredly into bed.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

KATE WAS AT the auction as early as she could manage the next morning, having recruited John Schroeder to carry her camera and equipment once again. This time she chose a spot that wasn't directly in the path of careening livestock. Women from town had set up tables under a grove of trees just beyond the stockyards and were providing refreshments and sandwiches for the hordes of men congregating in front of the stands. Children raced about while worried mothers followed frantically behind them. And the cowboys kept coming, driving herds into town day and night. The numbers of men in town had swelled during the night, and the sound of boisterous revelry had filled the streets well after midnight. Kate had lain awake for hours, listening to the echoes of laughter on the night air, thinking about her day. She could never recall a time that she had enjoyed more. She could have talked with Jessie for hours, and she so wanted the chance to see her again. When she announced at breakfast that she was planning on returning to the auction later that morning, Kate's mother objected.

"What could possibly interest you in that place?" Martha asked in exasperation. "Dirt and animals and rough men!"

"Everything!" Kate had replied. "There is so much to see, and so many things to learn."

"And what about your plans to help Hannah with the spinning today?" Martha queried, thinking that this at least was a useful skill. Despite the fact that the dry goods store stocked sewing material and even some apparel brought by wagon from the east, it was clear that some clothing and household linens were going to need to be fashioned by hand.

"I'm going to the Schroeder's as soon as the breakfast dishes are finished," Kate affirmed, knowing that there were things she must learn that she had never dreamed of needing to do before. Most of the time she welcomed the opportunity to spend time with Hannah and some of the other women, but her heart wasn't in it today. Not when a mile away the streets teemed with excitement.

"Roundup only comes once a year, Martha," Martin had offered, seeing the disappointment in Kate's face. He was as distracted by all the goings on as his daughter, but he at least had the excuse of gathering information for the paper to explain his attendance at the events. "I'm sure that Mrs. Schroeder won't mind Kate's absence for a few days. I'll walk Kate over there myself and explain."

Hannah had more than understood. She had been packing lunches when Martin and Kate arrived, explaining that she had volunteered to watch one of the food tables. When Kate promised to help her later that day, Hannah had shooed her off with John in tow, saying, "You go on then. I'm 'most done here, and I've seen plenty of roundups. I don't mind missing a few hours of this one."

So by late morning Kate was eagerly searching the crowds for a sign of Jessie Forbes. She was beginning to despair as she wended her way through throngs of men, down one dusty aisle after another, corral after corral of animals that all looked alike surrounding her on every side. The cowboys looked all of a kind, too. Broad-brimmed hats, vests over faded cotton shirts, dusty levis and the ever-present leather chaps. Most had smudges of trail dirt on their faces, too, rendering them nearly interchangeable. Until Kate saw her.

Then Kate wondered how she had ever mistaken her for one of the cowboys just a few weeks before. Jessie stood talking with a burly fellow, her face in profile to Kate. Even with the brim of her hat tipped down, throwing shadows over her eyes, Jessie's subtle grace was apparent. She was lean and taut, much like some of the younger men, but the gentle arch of her neck and the elegant curve of her jaw were inherently beautiful in a way that even the handsomest youth was not. Jessie loosely clasped her gun belt in a pose Kate recognized, and Kate studied Jessie's hands, fixing on the long, slender fingers. She remembered the careful way Jessie had held her hand the previous afternoon in the hotel and her heart tripped a beat, her stomach making a sudden turn at the same time. Kate caught her breath, feeling suddenly, unaccountably, warm.

At that moment, Jessie turned and looked her way. Jessie smiled, and Kate smiled back, wondering at the rush of happiness that winged to her on that glorious smile. Jessie said something to the man she was with and hurried to Kate's side.

"Why, Kate! I didn't expect to see you here again today." She surveyed the nearby crowd. "Are you alone?"

"John Emory walked me down," Kate replied. "He's off with one of the wranglers just now."

Jessie grinned. "That boy has a real itch to be a cowboy. His father has something different in mind for him, I'll wager."

"Didn't yours?" Kaye asked as they began to walk back towards the main arena where the auctioning was about to begin. Her own parents had allowed her far more leniency than many of her girlfriends had enjoyed, letting her pursue her interest in photography and history and literature and other subjects considered inappropriate for young women, but Kate couldn't imagine that Jessie's parents approved of her working on the ranch. Even in this demanding place where women were forced by circ.u.mstance to labor in ways their eastern cousins would find unthinkable, Kate had quickly recognized that women did not, as a rule, determine their own destiny.

For a moment Jessie looked puzzled. "Not that he ever said. Out here settlers' children always work the land in some way or another. The littlest ones carry water and feed the stock, and the older ones rope and ride or plow, whatever needs to be done."

"The girls, too?" Kate asked carefully, thinking of the newspaper accounts she had read of the suffragettes in New York State who were speaking out for a woman's right to vote and even own property. It wasn't a popular concept. Her mother had declared that these gatherings were unseemly, and that no woman with any sense would want to take on the problems that went along with having that kind of say in things. "Some things are best left to men," Martha had said with a frown.

"h.e.l.lo, Josiah," Jessie said to a man who spoke to them as they pa.s.sed. "Well," she continued, "if there's work to be done, everybody does it. Boys cook, and men help with the wash if need be, and come harvest time every able body in the house, man, woman, or child, is in the field."

"And shooting game and herding horses?" Kate persisted.

Jessie grinned. "I've seen some women who were d.a.m.n fine shots with a rifle. As to the riding, that's almost required if you're going to get anywhere further than town." She was suddenly serious. "My father taught me to be a rancher because I wanted to be. I don't remember much about my mother. She died of influenza when I was three. From the time I was small I wanted to be like my father. Jed says I was riding before I could walk, and by the time I was seven I had my first rifle. I liked school well enough, but I'd rather have been tending the herd out on the range. My father made me stay in school until I was fifteen, which is longer than any of the girls usually go. I'm glad now that he did."

Kate listened to the wistful tone in Jessie's voice and heard how much she missed her father. Kate ached for her loss, but she was struck, too, by Jessie's simple certainty. Jessie lived the life she loved. What an amazing thing. Kate walked along in silence, wondering why, until now, she had never though to question her own life and the path that had been preordained for her.

They stopped by the fence surrounding the main show ring, and Jessie leaned her back against the rail, studying Kate. Kate's dark eyes were distant, a touch of sadness clouding her usually animated features. "What's bothering you, Kate?"

Kate blushed. "Nothing. I was just thinking how much I envied you."

Jessie laughed, that deep melodious sound Kate found so lovely. "I doubt that you'd envy me after a night sleeping out in the cold, up some canyon with nothing for company but wolves and mountain goats!"

Kate laughed, too. "You'll have to take me some time so I can find out for myself." She hesitated, then went on boldly, "Would you? Take me up there sometime?"

"Kate," Jessie said softly. "It's rough country but a few dozen miles from here. Beautiful, but heartless. It's hard even for those of us who have done it all our lives." She hated the look of disappointment that flickered across Kate's face. "But I'd be happy to show you around the ranch. Not much to see but the bunkhouse and the cook cabin and a bunch of pens, but if you'd like..."

"Oh, I'd love that," Kate affirmed, "very much."

"Well, then, it's settled." Jessie pulled a watch from her pocket and frowned. "I'd better get along, Kate. I've got business waiting on me."

"I promised I'd help Mrs. Schroeder, too," Kate admitted reluctantly. "Good luck with the auction. I'll be thinking of you."

Jessie smiled, pleased. "Thank you, Kate."