"That'd be real nice for her, Miss Caroline, that little girl just thinks the world of you, even though she don't always show it." Messalina nodded.
"Make that pretty much NEVER shows it," Caroline pointed out and with some justice too.
There was a delay though as she then had to discuss things for her act with the fiddler and also meet the temporary piano player, a blind girl of all things. Oh and deal with some idiot who was offended by the very presence of a negro in the same room with him. Caroline dismissed him in no uncertain terms.
Frances seemed very sweet and Caroline assured the girl she would pass on her message to the ...ahem, gravely ill Arabella.
*****
Entering Ara's room, there was the girl lying in her bed looking all angelic and quite sound asleep, it was a good act. But then Ara was quite capable of such performances, Caroline had learned that much a long time ago. You'd think other people would have too by now?
There was poor Bridget, whom Caroline never failed to gaze upon with real sympathy.
"Likes. Likes... book." she stammered out, then looked up and smiled at Caroline again.
"Hello hon. Yes, she certainly does," Caroline nodded with a smile. 'Pity she didn't practice a lot of what it taught. Though in all fairness, Caroline had never read the thing. And had zero desire to start at this point in her life.
Bridget got to her feet, her wooden limb knocking slightly on the bare floorboards. she walked over to the saloon singer. "Be with... Arabella."
"Oh I will, dear. Thank you for stayin' with her. That was very kind of you. Now why don't you go down inta the kitchen and tell Mammy that Miss Caroline sez you can have a piece of that pecan pie she bought from the diner. You earned it," Caroline knew the girl liked to eat.
Want... dolls!
"Likes. Likes... book." she stammered out, then looked up and smiled at Caroline again.
"Hello hon. Yes, she certainly does," Caroline nodded with a smile. 'Pity she didn't practice a lot of what it taught. Though in all fairness, Caroline had never read the thing. And had zero desire to start at this point in her life.
Bridget got to her feet, her wooden limb knocking slightly on the bare floorboards. she walked over to the saloon singer. "Be with... Arabella."
"Oh I will, dear. Thank you for stayin' with her. That was very kind of you. Now why don't you go down inta the kitchen and tell Mammy that Miss Caroline sez you can have a piece of that pecan pie she bought from the diner. You earned it," Caroline knew the girl liked to eat.
Bridget (who did indeed like to eat; especially pie; especially pecan pie) simply shook her head. Jemima had given her explicit instructions not to leave Arabella's side until either she came back or Miriam arrived. "Got... got stay." she explained and went and stood near the door, but without going out of it. it was the best she could offer, given her limited understanding of her instructions.
Got... got stay." Bridget replied and went and stood near the door, but without going out of it.
"No, ya don't, hon. I'm here, Ara ain't alone," Caroline frowned, surprised her pie bribe didn't even work on the normally voracious girl.
What the hell, Caroline would not force the poor simpleton to leave, that would be mean. So be it then. She stepped up to the side of the bed so she was staring down at the unconscious (unless it was an act) young girl , Ara was peaceful looking now, almost angelic (that was a laugh). She sighed.
"Doubt you can even hear this if you are really sick of this brain fever. I sure as hell never heard of anything like it but then I ain't no doctor. But soon as I heard, I wanted to come up and check on ya. You get better, Ara. We're a pair down there, I need you for the act. But more than that, I love you...love you like family. Like the little sister I never had until we met. We've had our ups and downs, mostly yer fault I have to say....but in the long run that don't matter none. No matter what...we are family."
She concluded by placing one hand very gently on one of Ara's arms, "I gotta go, sweetie, put on a show. Wish you were down there with me. Talk to you later, hon."
Want... dolls!
"Doubt you can even hear this if you are really sick of this brain fever. I sure as hell never heard of anything like it but then I ain't no doctor. But soon as I heard, I wanted to come up and check on ya. You get better, Ara. We're a pair down there, I need you for the act. But more than that, I love you...love you like family. Like the little sister I never had until we met. We've had our ups and downs, mostly yer fault I have to say....but in the long run that don't matter none. No matter what...we are family."
For all that her hot and cold, sweating and shivering skinny little body was in the room, her eyes occasionally moving fretfully beneath the lids, Arabella was elsewhere. She was in the lifeboat; she was at the old crossroads, she was walking in that lonesome valley. She was in a happy land far, far away beyond the sunset where He, for now, had taken her hand. Yet somehow, as events were to prove, she heard Caroline's words: or at least felt her love, even there.
She concluded by placing one hand very gently on one of Ara's arms, "I gotta go, sweetie, put on a show. Wish you were down there with me. Talk to you later, hon."
Bridget gave her her usual, vacant smile as Caroline made her way out of the room, but a tear that formed in her eye showed that she understood and felt more than most people gave her credit for.
Maybe it was the mellow tones of Hector Wigfall's fiddle, or Frances Grimes' more classically trained fingers at the piano, or maybe something in the singer herself that gave that night's performance in the Saloon a slightly more maudlin and poignant timbre than usual. Heck and Frances played again the next two nights, too; Arabella's fever broke, and no word was spoken of the words that Caroline had spoken. Not, that is, until that fateful night of Horace Potee's downfall.