Part 9 (1/2)
The dough had risen to twice its size, and she slid the three pans into the oven before bundling Jolie into a heavy blanket, then slipping into her jacket. She picked up Jolie and the cloth-wrapped ham sandwiches she had made and left the cabin.
When Laura entered the post, Fletch had only one customer. Daniel's Maida. The new wife greeted her with a friendly smile, then looked eagerly at the bundle in her arms.
”How's the little one taking to this cold weather?” she asked. ”Daniel tells me she's the prettiest little thing he ever saw.” Knowing that Maida was hinting to see Jolie, Laura folded back the blanket and the little one gave them her ready smile. ”Oh, isn't she precious,” Maida whispered in some awe. ”She does look like a live doll.” She wailed a finger down Jolie's smooth cheek and said with yearning in her voice, ”I can't wait to have a baby of my own.”
”Would you like to hold her?”
”Yes, I would,” Maida answered eagerly.
”Let's go into the back room where you can sit down,” Laura said and led the way.
Fletch's dark eyes bored into Laura's back. Not once had the little witch looked at him. She acted as though he were a part of the merchandise stacked on the shelves behind him. When Milly entered the store a few minutes later, he scowled at her instead of returning her smile.
Taylor was sitting up in bed playing a lonely game of solitaire when Laura and Maida entered his room. Laura had fixed the storage room up the best she could. She felt that if Taylor had to spend at least two months there he didn't have to lie amid boxes and crates and rubble that had acc.u.mulated over the years. He had even saved a sled she had used as a youngster. Someday Jolie would use it.
After she had swept out the room, she had hung a pair of heavy drapes over the small window. No one could look in now when b.u.t.terfly came visiting at night. The next day she had had Elisha bring a rocker and a small table from her attic room while she earned a couple of colorful rugs. She nodded her head in satisfaction every time she entered the room.
Taylor's face lit up with a wide smile. ”My, my, two beautiful women coming to visit me at the same time,” he said. ”Or should I say three beautiful females. Let me see that little scutter, Jolie.”
Laura gave Maida an apologetic look as she lifted her daughter out of the blanket and laid her in Taylor's lap. Jolie immediately began chortling, happy to see Taylor. As he gently chucked her under the chin, it was clear they shared a mutual love.
Laura had noticed that the little one was becoming attached to Fletch also, Which always brought a sour smile to her lips. Poor baby, she didn't know what a rotter her father was.
When Jolie sneezed suddenly, Taylor looked alarmed. ”I'm going to miss seeing this little one, but I don't think it is wise for you to be bringing her out in the cold every day. From now on Fletch can pick up my meals. We surely don't want this one coming down with pneumonia.”
Laura didn't want that to happen either, but she didn't like the idea of Fletch coming to the cabin while she was alone.
But what could she say? Pa and Fletch were back on their close footing, and certainly she didn't want to cause trouble between them again. Pa would be curious and wouldn't stop questioning her until he, G.o.d forbid, got the whole truth out of her.
So she nodded agreement and, taking Jolie from Taylor, gave her over to Maida. Taylor bit into his sandwich, and it grew silent except for Maida's soft talk to Jolie and Milly's gay chatter in the store and Fletch's occasional gruff answer to some question or other.
Taylor grinned over a mouthful of ham. ”That one is in here every day, and I think Fletch is getting tired of her always hanging around.”
”I'm not surprised.” Maida lifted her head from looking at Jolie. ”She comes to our cabin every night. When she's ready to go home she hints to Fletch to walk with her, but he never does.”
Laura could believe that. Fletch was an uncaring brute. It was just like him to use a woman and then put her out of his mind. Hadn't he done the same thing to her?
Laura and Maida were preparing to leave when they heard Bertha, the madam, bustle into the store. ”Whew,” she exclaimed, ”it's cold enough out there to freeze the bails off a wooden Indian.” Fletch's laugh was the first real one Laura'd had heard from him since her return.
Fletch liked the loudmouthed madam, and her girls as well. A man always knew where he stood with them. All they expected was a fast romp and then good-bye. There was no clinging on, no hinting at marriage.
”What can I do for you, Bertha?” he asked with a wide smile.
”Well, you could come visit my girls. They're complainin' that you haven't been to the pleasure house since you returned home.”
”I'm sorry about that.” Fletch grinned. ”But I've been pretty busy with the store and all.”
Milly laid a proprietary hand on Fletch's arm and said to Bertha with a warning in her voice, ”I guess you know what the 'and all' means.” Bertha looked at the hand gripping Fletch's arm, then up to his frowning face. Her lips lifted in an amused smile. ”If you say so, Miss Howard.”
Fletch started to jerk his arm free, then saw Laura and Maida come from the back room. He not only let Milly's hand lie where it was, he covered it with his own hand, an action for Laura's benefit.
If Laura saw it, he wasn't aware of it. She was busy greeting Bertha with a friendly smile. ”Bertha, meet Maida. She and her husband are newcomers to Big Pine.” Bertha and Maida smiled at each other; then Laura asked, ”How have you been? I haven't see you or your girls since the blizzard.”
”I'm fine, honey, and so are those lazy girls of mine. I tried to get them to come over to the store but they won't budge from the stove.”
”You mean they ain't still in bed, restin' up from a busy night?” Milly sneered.
Bertha raked contemptuous eyes over the speaker's plump body. ”How come you're up so early, talking about busy nights?”
”Well, I never!” Milly huffed.
”The h.e.l.l you ain't,” Bertha came right back at her. ”You've been on your back more times than any of my girls.”
Milly's face became an angry red when Maida giggled and Taylor's loud guffaw sounded from his room. When Milly felt Fletch's arm shaking in silent mirth, she jerked away from him and stamped across the floor. The outside door shuddered, she slammed it so hard behind her.
With some difficulty Laura and Maida brought a semblance of sobriety to their faces. They discussed Justine's wedding, and Maida shyly asked Laura if she would help her make a dress for the affair.
”Certainly. I'd be happy to. Do you have the material?”
”Not yet. Daniel said I should pick out what I want. I was hoping you'd help me choose.”
”That will be fun.” Laura smiled at the girl/woman. ”I love looking at material. Pa got in some new a couple weeks ago. There's some lovely woolens.”
They made plans to meet at the store the next day to choose a dress length and get started on the dress. When Laura left she ignored Fletch again.
”She's such a nice person,” Maida said before telling Fletch that she would like five pounds of flour, a pail of lard, and a box of baking soda.
Fletch only grunted and went about filling her order.
Laura was growing more nervous by the minute. It was nearly five o'clock, and any minute Fletch would be coming to pick up Taylor's supper. She had it ready in a cloth-covered basket. There was a small pail of venison stew, half a loaf of freshly baked bread, and several b.u.t.ter cookies. The basket sat on the table, handy for her to pick up and pa.s.s to him through the door. She didn't want him coming inside the cabin. Something warned her that it would be dangerous to let him walk through the door.
As it happened, Fletch was inside the cabin before she was aware he was anywhere near it. She remembered that he could walk as quietly as an Indian if he wanted to, and that of course he wouldn't knock on his own father's door.
”Why do you look so shocked to see me?” Fletch scowled at her. ”You did talk Pa into sending me for his supper... all his meals from now on.”
”I did no such thing,” Laura denied sharply. ”It was all his idea. He's afraid Jolie will catch cold, being brought out in the freezing temperature.”
”Yes, after you put the idea in his head.”
”That's not true. He said it after Jolie sneezed.”
After a moment's silence, Fletch asked gruffly, ”Do you think Beltran would care that much for your baby? I think not. He didn't even care enough about it to marry you. To give the little one his name.”