"He was very easy to get along with," Lucinda agreed. "Very polite. Your brother...Wyatt? He was easy to get along with, too." She smiled as she continued to dry the dishes.
Clara asked if her father resembled Lucinda's husband, to which Lucinda nodded earnestly. "I think he does." The two men were not identical by any means, but at least in Lucinda's mind, they did look a lot alike.
"I have his picture in my trunk at the boarding house. I'll bring it tomorrow if you'd like to see it and we can compare it to your father if he does visit today or tomorrow."
Of course, she didn't mean hold the picture up to Aurelian and compare the men while he was standing in the restaurant. She meant to show the picture to Clara after Aurelian had left, and then the younger woman could see if her father really did look like Lucinda's husband.
t was nice to hear that the woman had had a very positive experience meeting both her father and her little brother.
"Glad to hear it," Clara smiled then asked if Lucinda's husband resembled her father. Lucinda certainly thought so.
"Then your husband was a very handsome man. Of course I am a bit biased when it comes to my father," Clara remarked.
"I have his picture in my trunk at the boarding house. I'll bring it tomorrow if you'd like to see it and we can compare it to your father if he does visit today or tomorrow."
"I would very much like to see it, you do that," nodded Clara, "However....you realize I do not need my father to come by in person to compare your photograph to how he looks." She smiled.
"How did you two meet? If I might ask..."
Lucinda laughed. "Just like I'm biased in my husband's favor. Your father comes very close to him in looks, though, Clara."
She was flustered for a moment when Clara pointed out that Aurelian didn't need to be present at all for her to compare the two men, then nodded. "Oh. Oh, of course. Well, since he's coming by today or tomorrow anyway, it'll be the perfect time for me to bring the photograph."
It was a smooth recovery, in her opinion. Something about thinking about Aurelian and Francis at the same time made her mind go in every direction, which was undesirable. She prided herself on being level-headed most times (if a little scatter-brained), but this was the second time she'd nearly made a fool of herself.
She focused on Clara's question about where she'd met Francis. "Oh, we met at a ball. It was my second ball of the season, I think, and all the girls my age were looking for husbands. All the men there were looking for wives. Anyway, I danced with Francis once, and then again, and again. The next ball we had, I barely danced with anyone else. He made me feel like I was dancing on the clouds."
She clutched the towel to her chest, remembering how young and simple she'd been then. There was so much more to life than pretty dresses and compliments, and Francis had helped her see that.
"I both forgive and expect your bias, naturally enough," Clara took the woman's opinion in stride.
As for Lucinda's idea of showing her the photo of her former husband, if nothing else simple curiosity called for Clara to nod, "Please do."
Clara asked about how the woman had met her husband.
"Oh, we met at a ball. It was my second ball of the season, I think, and all the girls my age were looking for husbands. All the men there were looking for wives. Anyway, I danced with Francis once, and then again, and again. The next ball we had, I barely danced with anyone else. He made me feel like I was dancing on the clouds."
Clara actually smiled at the tale, it was a happy one and there was a similarity to her own life experience too.
"Sounds wonderful. It was the same with me and my Jacob. He first approached me at the last barn dance we had. We had never met. I was not....well....popular with boys and honestly had some verbal run ins with a couple of them. But Jacob was so polite and nice. He treated me like I was fine crystal, if you know what I mean. What is that old line? Swept me off my feet? Well, that is what Jacob did to me. "
Even now the memory of that night was still such a fond one.
"Yes, Dear"
Well, talk of the Devil and he will appear, or so the saying goes. Jacob chose that moment to come through the back door into the kitchen - crash through the back door might be more the word, for he was in the sort of condition that Clara was, perhaps, starting to get used to. He could be called at any time of day or night to carry messages over distances long or short, over territories safe or highly dangerous. He had yet to come home with an arrow through his hat, but it was only a matter of time.
He was dusty, bowlegged from riding and tired - his half open eyes clogged with dirt from the trail, his revolver and rifle, which he toted with him along with his Western Union satchel, mercifully unused this trip. He yelled a greeting as he sleepwalked through the door "I'm back! Don't mind if I don't kiss you, I'm filthy as Hell. Got any coffee on the boil? How's lil' Arabella?" That was his joke name for the baby to be: he liked to tease his wife about their friend's conviction that they were going to name the child after her.
He didn't notice the other lady until just then.
"Oh, sorry Mam!" he pulled his battered looking hat off his head "Didn't see you there!"
Who the heck was this woman? He'd never set eyes on her before and she was in the kitchen with pinny on like she worked there. For one very brief moment it even crossed his mind that it was Mrs Pike, come back from San Francisco all sorta transmogrified.
He looked at Clara for some sort of explanation.
There was the sound of the back door opening, Clara turned and there he was, her Jacob. Truthfully he looked worn out.
"I'm back! Don't mind if I don't kiss you, I'm filthy as Hell. Got any coffee on the boil? How's lil' Arabella?" he drawled before stopping when he saw Clara was not alone.
"Hello Jacob. I am glad you are back. Yes, there is coffee of course, let me pour you some," she answered then even as she reached for the coffee pot on the stove.
As for that Arabella crack, she decided to just ignore it. She had not even told Lucinda she was pregnant and thus far it did not really show, well to others. When she was undressed she was definitely noticing that previously flat belly of hers was beginning to expand. Soon enough anyone would notice though.
"Oh, sorry Mam!" Jacob pulled his battered looking hat off his head "Didn't see you there!"
"Yes, this is Mrs. Lucinda Dietrich, widowed. She is helping here in the diner," Clara started on the introductions.
"This here is my husband Jacob Lutz," she smiled at him then glanced to Lucinda, "Admittedly he looked a whole lot more handsome that night at the dance."
But in truth it had never been about looks, at least not to Clara. She loved him for so much more than that.
Lucinda was still smiling at Clara's description of how she'd met Jacob when a dusty man burst in. She really almost dropped a dish this time, but Clara did not seem too flustered, so she calmed down. Apparently this was Clara's husband Jacob. There was something about "little Arabella" that didn't make sense, so she ignored it.
"Hello, Jacob," she said, making sure her hands were dry before offering it to him to shake. On second thought, if he was really as filthy as he'd said, maybe shaking hands wasn't such a good idea. But she'd already put her hand out, and pulling it back now would be more rude than not offering it in the first place.
"I think I can see the handsome underneath all that dust," she said with a smile to Clara. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lutz." She glanced back and forth between Clara and her husband, suddenly awkward. What did one do in a situation like this? She'd never been around someone whose husband had just come in dirty from a long trip before.
"Yes, Dear"
"Hello, Jacob," she said, making sure her hands were dry before offering it to him to shake.
Jacob wiped his hand on his coat front, which probably made it more dirty rather than less, and gingerly shook the woman's hand with a slightly embarrassed but respectful sounding "Mrs Dietrich". Jacob? That was a little familiar wasn't it? Well, he was only seventeen and he was covered in trail-dust: he probably looked like a little kid who had been out playing in the mud.
"I think I can see the handsome underneath all that dust," she said with a smile to Clara. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lutz." She glanced back and forth between Clara and her husband, suddenly awkward. What did one do in a situation like this? She'd never been around someone whose husband had just come in dirty from a long trip before.
"I don't know about handsome" he shook his head shyly "The Indians call me 'Long Nose'" He did have quite the schnozzle. "Just hope our kids get Clara's looks." he complimented his beautiful little wife, and he meant it.
He felt just as awkward as Lucinda did: having expected to just come in and flop in a corner of the kitchen with a cup of coffee before getting a wash and going to bed for a couple of hours; he'd been riding all night under a pale prairie moon: the safest time to travel with a reputed band of hostiles reported about.
"You, er, you new in town, Mrs Dietrich?" he asked. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the words were sort of sucked out of him by the uncomfortable silence that materialised between the three of them.
Clara appreciated Lucinda's remark about Jacob and then had to wonder if she actually blushed when her husband stated he hoped their kids got her looks. Yes, he had a bit of a long nose and was thin as a rail but Clara thought Jacob quite the catch both looks wise and in the strength plus goodness of his character.
"I just pray our kids are born with good health," Clara gave her take on the matter.
After shaking hands, both Jacob and Lucinda seemed to get awkward, she wasn't sure why? Jacob was normally quite talkative at least in her experience. But he did say something after a bit of pause.
"You, er, you new in town, Mrs Dietrich?"
Clara already knew the answer to that one but thought it would be better to let the woman handle it.
Clara and Jacob were a sweet couple. Lucinda felt a pang of grief at seeing them so happy together. It was almost like she was intruding on their happiness, which contributed to the awkwardness in the room.
She twisted the towel in her hands as she answered Jacob. "Well, I've been here almost a month now. But I suppose that's still relatively new, so yes." She looked at Clara now, not wanting to intrude any further on the couple's reunion. "I can come back around dinnertime, if you'd like? I've washed enough dishes that you should be fine for a while."
She was just happy to have landed the job, even on a trial basis. It was a step towards finding independence and a way to get back home if she decided on that.