She darted past the landlady into the hall just as the rolling pin came down, missing her arm by inches. Laughing under her breath, she headed for the foot of the stairs and peered up. At least the concert was m.u.f.fled in here.
"Hallo, Blue," she shouted. "The sooner you come down and take your medicine, the sooner we"ll be off your hands."
Doors opened upstairs and startled faces peered down the stairwell at her.
"Well, really!" said Mrs. Sandridge, coming up behind her.
"You"re disturbing everyone in the place. Call yourself the law?"
Zee turned and gestured at the empty spot on her vest where her tin star was usually pinned. "No, ma"am. I"m off duty." A loud har-rumph met that remark but the rolling pin kept its distance. Keeping a wary eye on it, Zee turned back to the stairwell. Blue"s face had joined those peering down at her.
"Come on down, Blue. We promise to go easy on you."
After a moment he gave a reluctant nod. Mission accomplished, Zee eased her way back outside, past the still annoyed Mrs.
Sandridge.
Lamps had gone on all along the street, and faces now peered from every open window and door as people watched the chivaree. A distant coyote had added its howling to the din. If anything, it improved it.
Zee was contemplating putting her fingers in her ears, when 338 something made her cheek smart. She glanced up, puzzled.
Something hit her on the forehead too. Hailstones?
She s.n.a.t.c.hed one of the tiny missiles out of the air and examined it, then laughed and shook her head. Barred from using their guns, people were firing peashooters instead, peppering the windowpane of Blue"s room with dried peas.
Christie came up beside Zee and pulled her down to her level. "Is he coming?"
She ducked another shower of peas. "On his way."
"Good. I can"t take much more of this."
The "music" stopped, and a loud cheer erupted. They turned in time to see an apprehensive Blue standing in the boarding house doorway. He stepped outside, and the crowd surged forward, taking Zee and Christie with it.
When things settled again, several of the stronger men had heaved Blue up onto their shoulders and were parading him up and down in front of the boarding house. The chivaree partic.i.p.ants yelled catcalls, cast aspersions on Blue"s s.e.xual prowess, sent well wishes to the happy couple, or demanded drink.
A glance up at Blue"s open window showed an anxious Jenny looking down at the melee. Zee gave her a rea.s.suring thumbs-up.
Blue gaped down at Zee from his perch and mouthed, "What do I do now?"
Reaching into her shirt pocket for the wad of bills she had crammed there earlier, she eased her way toward him. "Take this,"
she shouted, pressing the bills into his hand. "Tell them to buy drinks with it."
He nodded his understanding. Struggling upright, his supporters adjusting their grip to keep him from tumbling, he held up his hands for silence. It took a moment for everyone to notice, then the crowd quieted into an expectant hush.
"Thank you for all your good wishes, folks. I appreciate them.
Now if you don"t mind, my wife," he gestured toward the watching Jenny, "is waiting for me, and it is our honeymoon."
"What about us?" yelled someone.
"Yeah. What will you give us to leave you in peace?" shouted someone else.
"And by way of a thank you," Blue held up the money, eliciting a loud cheer, "the drinks are on me. Enjoy yourselves."
339.
A big woman in a sparkly purple eye maskRed Mary, if Zee was any judgehurried to the front and s.n.a.t.c.hed the bills from Blue"s hand. "Follow me," she shouted. "The celebration"s just beginning."
Those who wanted to go home and those who wanted to continue partying parted company. After a momentary confusion, Zee, Christie, and Blue found themselves alone on the sidewalk watching the procession wend its way toward the nearest saloon.
As the laughter and chatter, the clank and bong and rattle of instruments faded into the distance, Christie breathed a sigh of relief.
The watching faces along the street disappeared and the doors and windows thudded closed.
"Jenny, you"ll catch cold." Blue was gazing up at his wife. "Go back to bed. I"ll be up soon." She nodded, ducked back out of sight, and seconds later the sash window slid shut.
"All right?" asked Zee. Christie nodded. "How about you, Blue?"
He gave her a rueful grin. "Thanks for the dollars. You saved my bacon."
She grinned and shook his outstretched hand. "Always glad to help out a brother-in-law."
Christie cuddled closer to Zee and asked plaintively, "Can we go home now?"
Zee yawned as the day"s excitement caught up with her. "Reckon so." She winked at Blue. "What you still doing here? Your bride"s awaiting."
"Oh . . . yes." Blushing, he turned on his heel and headed for the boarding house"s front door. "Good night," he called, as he disappeared inside. "And thank you again."
"You"re welcome," shouted Zee.
"What a day!" said Christie, as they strolled arm in arm to where they"d left the buckboard.
"Mm." Zee helped Christie up before untethering the horse. "But you know what, darlin"?" She hopped up on the seat beside her. "The best bit"s yet to come."
Epilogue.
Christie hurried into the kitchen, glad to leave the tobacco smoke and noisy hubbub behind for a short while. No wonder Zerelda had burst into tears.
She peered out the window. In the back yard, Zee was talking to their niece and bouncing her up and down. Christie tried to make out what she was saying. Something about the horsey? Whatever it was met with an enthusiastic wave of miniature hands and feet. Christie chuckled and turned away.
Gla.s.ses. I came for gla.s.ses.
She was kneeling, unearthing them from a bottom cupboard, when the door opened letting in the noise from the parlor. Someone was playing "Beautiful Dreamer" very badly. It couldn"t be Blue or Jenny, Hogan or Angie, Ann or Curly, as none of them could play a note.
Which left . . . Surely not Sister Florence? Well, she had had rather a lot to drink.
"Need any help, Christie?"
She smiled up at Ann Shaw. "You and Curly have already done more than your fair share. Those peach pies were wonderful."
Ann closed the kitchen door behind her, m.u.f.fling the noise. "Blue ate one all by himself," she said. "He"s putting on weight, isn"t he?"
Christie straightened and carried the gla.s.ses to the sink where she proceeded to wash the dust from them. "Let"s not mince words, Ann.
My brother is getting fat. He is also boring. If he tells me one more longwinded story about what he and the other members of the Cactus Club have been up to . . ." She broke off. "He"s happy though. That"s the important thing."
Ann picked up a tea towel and began to dry the gla.s.ses. Christie smiled her thanks.
341.
"And Jenny expecting again too," said Ann. "Already."
"I know. Poor girl. Someone should have a word with her and Blue about where babies come from."
Ann shot her a mischievous glance. "Sister Florence, perhaps?"
Christie snorted. "Now that I would pay to see."
She stacked the clean gla.s.ses on a tray then looked out the window once more. Zee appeared to be explaining the intricacies of saddles to her namesake. She chuckled. Ann turned to see what had amused her and smiled.
"Curly was the same, when our two were young. Soft as b.u.t.ter, he was, though he pretended otherwise."
Christie leaned forward and rapped her knuckle against the windowpane. Zee turned at the sound, saw her, and grinned.
"Everything all right?" mouthed Christie.
Zee nodded, bounced her niece up and down one last time, then rested her against her shoulder and walked toward the house. The back door opened.
"Peaceful out there," said Zee, coming in and closing the door behind her.
Christie sighed. "Remind me again whose idea this soiree was?"
"Yours, darlin". All yours." Zee bent forward, careful not to jog the sleepy baby, and pressed a kiss on Christie"s cheek. "What are you two doing in here? You had enough already? Evening"s still young."
Christie gestured at the tray. "We ran out of gla.s.ses."
Zee pursed her lips. "The way Sister Florence and Angie are knocking back the hard stuff, we"ll soon be out of whiskey."
"She"s certainly not your run of the mill nun, is she?"
"She"s Angie"s friend," said Zee. "What did you expect? Hey, little one. Ready for a nap?" The baby yawned, opened tiny hands like starfish then curled them closed again.
Christie regarded the two Zees fondly. With her fair hair and faun-like eyes, her niece looked nothing like her namesake. But Jenny had insisted on naming her daughter after the deputy, and Zee hadn"t had the heart to say no.
"Let"s get her back to her mother." She picked up the tray and led the way.
GIF.
342.
Faces turned in Christie"s direction as she entered the parlor, and a loud cheer greeted the new arrivals. She placed the tray of gla.s.ses on the top of the piano. Sister Florence grinned up at her and continued her discordant plinkety plink.
Christie turned and watched Zee make her way toward Jenny. The young mother was sitting on the sofa next to her husband. She smiled, accepted the baby from Zee, exchanged a few words with her, then stood up.
"I"m just taking her upstairs," Jenny told Christie, as she came within earshot. "She"ll sleep now, I think."
Christie nodded. The smoke had grown thicker and made her eyes smart. She crossed to the window and flung it wide open.
"You never did tell us what this little shindig is in honor of, Christie," said Angie, whose pipe was the primary source of the smoke. "Your new piano?"
The upright pianoforte had arrived by wagon just over a fortnight agounexpectedly as far as Christie was concerned, but it was clear from Zee"s reaction that she and Blue had been hatching the plot to transport it to Benson for some time. Overjoyed at the instrument"s arrival, Christie had at once arranged for the tuner to call.
She had missed being able to play Chopin and Beethoven sonatas whenever the mood took herthe wh.o.r.es favored popular songs.
Now, she could play the cla.s.sics to her heart"s content, though she was happy to switch to something lighter whenever Zee was around.
On occasion, Zee even accompanied hershe had revealed an unsuspected talent for the jew"s-harp and the harmonica (all those long evenings spent sitting by a camp fire, she confessed).
"Partly the piano," said Christie. "But today is also a very special anniversary."
Sister Florence stopped playing. "Really?" Her eyes were bright.
"Whose?" The abrupt cessation of the music made all heads turn toward them. Christie"s cheeks grew warm, and she resisted the urge to flee.
"Exactly one year ago," she announced, as a quizzical-looking Zee came to stand beside her, "something happened to change the course of my life." The parlor door opened and Jenny returned minus the baby, to be met by shushing noises and nods in Christie"s direction. She slid into her seat and looked expectantly at Christie.
A warm hand eased into Christie"s and she gripped it. "A year ago 343.
today, someone came into my life who has since become indispensa-ble to my happiness." She turned to regard the woman standing next to her. "Zee."
Zee"s gaze turned inwards, and after a moment she nodded, her expression one of surprised pleasure. "To the very day," she confirmed, raising Christie"s hand to her lips.
A chorus of oohs and ahs met this gesture, until Hogan spoiled the mood by shouting, "Anyone got a pail of cold water handy?"
"If they have," riposted Zee, "it"s going over your head."
Christie gave Zee and her boss a quelling glance and waited for silence to return. "What"s more," she continued, "it was my brother who brought us together."
"I did not," protested Blue.
Christie frowned at him. "Was it not because he"d had dealings with you in the past that Hogan told Zee to wait at our house for the train?"