“Yes, mendin’ shirts. I’d much rather be doin’ somethin’ else.”
“Well,” he said, slapping his hat against his thigh, “s’pose someone’s gotta do it.”
“Suppose someone does,” she replied, frowning down at the wrinkled shirt in her lap.
Kate noticed movement to her left and looked up. A pair of Indian women walked past on their way back from the fort, their arms full of two enormous cast-iron pots. The intricate and colorful beading on their deerskin clothes stood out among the drab greens and browns of the pioneer women’s dresses like wildflowers on a mountainside, the turquoise and yellow and red contrasting beautifully with the soft gray rabbit fur on their moccasins. There might be some purpose to needlework if you could make something like that. Kate watched them in fascination. They were enchantingly beautiful, with their shiny black braids swaying gently against their backs. So lovely yet undoubtedly strong.
Jacob passed by the dark-haired women, tipping his hat to them respectfully, his stride confident and strong. She thought of how he had guided her through the stampede and held her when she’d been overwhelmed in the aftermath. His deep voice rumbled in her memory.We make a pretty good team, don’t we?Her heart warmed. Jacob’s shirtsleeves were rolled up to his elbows, showing forearms corded with muscle.My, was it ever nice to be held by those arms.Her gaze climbed up to his bearded face, and she realized with a start that he was looking right back at her. He winked and grinned. Her eyes went wide. She quickly ducked her head to hide her blush. What was she thinking? It was definitelynotproper of her to be thinking of him at all, let alone in that way! Kate put a hand to her hot cheek, hoping no one had noticed.
“What do you say, Miss Kate?”
Kate froze. She’d been so completely distracted that she’d stopped listening altogether. What had she missed? Her eyes darted between Andrew’s expectant gaze and Maria’s encouraging one. She couldn’t possibly ask for clarification without offending Andrew. She settled for a partly audible somewhat agreeable murmur and slight head nod, alarmed at the resulting grin on Andrew’s face. What had she just agreed to? He was talking again.
“That’s right dandy! I’ll come by your wagon tonight then, to take you.”
Kate just nodded dumbly.Take me? Take me where?Her mind whirled, trying to recover the lost conversation. Maria smiled broadly.
“I’ll see you tonight. And may I say, Miss Kate, you look mighty fine today,” Andrew said, taking her hand abruptly and kissing it, his lips smooth and dry on her skin. He walked away whistling, his lanky legs carrying him quickly out of earshot.
Kate turned to Maria, flabbergasted. “What on earth just happened?”
Maria laughed, a delighted twinkle in her dark eyes. “You, my friend, were just asked to the Fort Kearney dance.”
Kate’s mouth dropped open. The first time in her life she’d been asked to a dance, really properly asked by a young man hoping to escort her, and she’d missed it! She swallowed and said in a small voice. “A dance?”
“Oh, yes. I think Andrew is sweet on you.”
“But we’ve known each other for years. Since we were kids!”
“Well, you aren’t kids any longer. And he has a nice pair of shoulders on him.” Maria winked mischievously.
Kate’s ears went hot. She wasn’t wrong. But could she think of Andrew in that way? She remembered the feel of his kiss on her hand. Heapparently thought of her that way, at least a little bit. The beginnings of giddy butterflies fluttered in her stomach.
Maria looked at her from the corner of her eye. “He did say you looked mighty fine.”
Kate busied herself with her mending again. “It’s probably because this is the first time in days he’s seen me out of trousers and in a dress. Likely forgot I was a girl.” Maria just laughed. But Kate couldn’t quite forget another pair of strong shoulders belonging to another young man. And he had the kindest, bluest eyes she’d ever seen.
The noise of Fort Kearney assaulted Kate after weeks under the open sky. Shouts, raucous laughter, old men bartering, the pealing of the blacksmith’s hammer on his anvil, braying mules, barking dogs, and the tromp and shouted commands of the company of soldiers drilling in the yard all blended together in the curious cacophony of a frontier fort. Crude adobe longhouses crowded together alongside two-story clapboard buildings that shone brightly in their newness. The buildings were roughly cordoned around a square, hard-packed dirt parade ground, and one side had a line of cottonwood trees, just like Jacob had said, casting the most shade they’d seen since leaving the Little Blue.
It was all so exciting! Kate surreptitiously checked the coin purse hidden in the folds of her skirt. Still there. Good. She glanced at her brother. Danny bounced with energy as he walked along beside her, craning his neck trying to take everything in at once. They passed the officers’ barracks, and she saw his eyes light up as he watched the soldiers drilling in their sharp blue uniforms, their rifles shouldered at the same precise angle, buttons and buckles flashing in the sun. Kate smiled wryly. If it wasn’t for his promise to Ma to stay with Pa to run the ranch, he’d join up in a heartbeat.
Kate finally spotted the sutler’s store by the steady traffic in and out of the small sod building and the sign in rough lettering promising “everything you might need, from tent pegs to feed.” As she reached out to open the latch, the door swung open, and Andrew nearly bowled her over.
“Heavens!” Kate cried out in surprise. “Andrew, you nearly stopped my heart!”
Looking flustered, he ducked his head through the too-short doorway and edged around her. “Beggin’ your pardon, Miss Kate, I didn’t mean to give you a fright like that. I didn’t know you was here. I mean, I knew you’d be here, just not … here, right at this moment.”
“I was just startled, is all,” she replied. Was he hiding something behind his back?
“Well, I guess I’ll be off then,” he said curtly and strode off down the dirt-packed road like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
Danny snorted. “What’s got his goat?”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Kate replied faintly. She hadn’t told Danny about Andrew asking her to the dance. She’d never hear the end of it. But Andrew had left so abruptly. Had he changed his mind about tonight? She pushed the distracting thoughts away. She’d find out sooner or later.
Stepping out of the bright sunlight, Kate had to let her eyes adjust to the sudden darkness of the general store. The room slowly came into focus, revealing something less like a store and more like the random assortment of items one might find stuffed in the attic of an old forgotten house. Chests, crates, barrels, bolts of cloth, sacks of beans, rakes, buttons, tubs of lard, knick-knacks and trinkets were all stacked and strewn across every available surface, including much of the floor. There was even a plowshare hanging from the ceiling. Kate carefully picked her way through the clutter toward the plank counter at the back, wherethe largest balancing scale she’d ever seen took pride of place in the very center.
The proprietor didn’t even look up at her approach. He meticulously measured beans onto his scale, his long, skinny neck bent over his work, bony hands moving painstakingly slow. She waited for the shopkeeper to acknowledge her. Long moments passed. Kate glanced back at Danny. He just raised his eyebrows and shrugged. The dim light from the one grimy window shone garishly off the top of the shopkeeper’s bald head. She coughed. He continued measuring beans. Was he deaf?
