Lucinda tried to stifle a laugh. Of course she hadn't brought a whole meal from the diner along with her. Although now that she thought about it, that might not be a bad idea sometime. "Well...I didn't really bring food. I thought I could whip up some cornbread or something like that inside. But..." She reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a small bundle. "I did bring some cookies."
She grinned and pulled one cookie from inside the fabric where it lay nestled against five others. If there was one thing Lucinda had learned working at the diner, it was that boys liked sweets. Holding it out to Wyatt, she wiggled it tantalizingly. "Have one now and then maybe we'll each have one after dinner."
She tucked the rest of the cookies back into her pocket and leaned forward to inspect Wyatt's clothes, trying not to get too close. Her nostrils weren't quite ready for that. "You might need lye to get them really clean, but water will do just fine to get the muck off -- or at least make it easier to do later."
As Wyatt thought of a story about Clara, Lucinda straightened up -- very fast when she heard what the story was actually about. Her eyes widened. "Gracious. No, I don't believe she has told me about that. I'm sure we would have gotten around to it eventually." She wasn't at all sure that Clara would have ever brought up the subject. "I hope your father came riding up to save the day?"
"Oh we got us some cornbread we haven't finished eatin' yet, you could take 'im that. Although, maybe save a thin slice for me?" Wyatt helpfully pointed out.
"Then there is some venison jerky. Pa likes that more than me and Clara. He traded some vegetables for it a while back," he added, "Think you can find it or should I come in and show ya?"
Even better his step mother to be had cookies! He eagerly took the one offered, "Oh thank ya." Probably should have washed his hands first but too late as he chomped it all in a few fast bites.
Now he did not care for her clothes washing idea so he quickly changed the subject. Turned out the woman didn't even know about what had happened to Clara that one time at the pond last year. Such a great story too.
"Nope, Pa wasn't even around when it happened. He was helping a neighbor with tree stumps. Clara was swimming all by herself and she didn't even have any clothes at all on. They were piled up on shore and also Pa's Dragoon Colt. You know for protection like from bears or Indians. Well these two cowpokes rode up and saw her and then they asked her to come out out of the water so they could take a peek at her...well, you know...you're one. At her girl parts. She wouldn't come out, they got frustrated and stole both her clothes and the Dragoon. And rode right off. Clara was mad as a hornet. She had no choice but to walk back to our house all naked and such. Lucky for her a deputy came riding along - no not Charlie our current one. This was a woman deputy. Hannah something....She gave Clara a blanket to cover up her embarrassing parts and then took her back to our place."
"Hard to tell who was madder. Clara or Pa."
"I'll certainly save you a slice." Lucinda grinned. "And I think I can find the jerky just fine." There couldn't be too many cupboards in the house where the jerky would be, after all.
Lucinda leaned against a stall while Wyatt told the story, her face paling and eyes widening. The nerve of those two cowpokes! After her initial shock and anger, her face started burning with second-hand humiliation as she imagined herself in Clara's place. Straight-laced, prim and proper Clara. She must have been mortified and furious.
"What did your father do?" she asked finally when she'd had a moment to process the story. It was hard to imagine calm, easygoing Aurelian losing his temper, but she knew that such a humiliating, shameful thing was certainly something to be angry about. "He couldn't just let them get away with it, could he?"
"What did your father do?" she asked, "He couldn't just let them get away with it, could he?"
"Nothing he could do, least at first. Clara didn't know who they were. And so she couldn't tell the deputy who they were. Pa of course didn't know then either. So first thing they did is go to the Lost Lake place and take Clara along. She got a chance to look at all the hands they had. She didn't recognize anybody. So much for that," Wyatt shrugged.
"Now why they didn't go and ask Evergreen or other spreads, ain't sure. Nobody tells me nothin," another shrug, when you're 12, there are a lot of mysteries in life.
"But eventually the mystery got solved and that's another exciting story...........if yer heart can take all the excitement?" he figured she was a refined woman afterall and they were a mite emotional. He'd hate to have her faint or something dramatic.
Lucinda tried to imagine the helplessness Aurelian must have felt, but was jerked out of the story by Wyatt's commentary. "That is strange. I've heard better things about Lost Lake than Evergreen." She wondered why Aurelian's mind hadn't jumped straight to Evergreen when he'd heard about the incident, not knowing the whole thing was much more complicated that Wyatt was making it.
But apparently Clara's ordeal was not over yet, and Wyatt was still willing to tell her about it, although he worried her delicate feminine heart would be able to stand it.
Lucinda laughed. "I think I'll be all right. Let's head toward the house just in case it's too much for me, though." She picked up her skirts again and headed for the barn door, then turned back. "Or if you'd rather go swimming right away, you can tell me the rest of the story later."
"Oh Lost Lake is fine. In fact Clara ended up working there for awhile. She took care of a couple of little kids there. Well, until ummm. man named Shade or such up and decided to marry our school teacher all of a sudden. Clara got mad because she thought he was interested in her but guess he wasn't. Lucky for her Jacob came along cuz otherwise I'm not so sure anyone round here would have ever married her."
If Wyatt had reasons for that rather harsh assessment he did not go on to share them with Lucinda. The pair of them started to head for the house now, the woman even giving him permission to go swimming right off. Nice! But it wouldn't take that long to tell the rest of this story, Wyatt loved this part of it alright. Because this part he saw with his very own eyes!
"Before I go, lemme finish it for you then so you don't sit there frettin' and wonderin' how it turned out," he declared.
"It was the fall festival and the town had it's big celebration with games and judging things like biggest beets and best chickens. It's a lot of fun with plenty of food too. I love caramel apples," he started, "Anyhow they had this beer tent for the men to quench their thirsts. And it was full most of the time lemme tell you. Clara peeked in there and saw the two jaspers who had took her clothes and the Dragoon Colt. Clear as day. So she got mad and walked right in and went up to those two cowpokes - they were Evergreen hands, I had already guessed that much. She demanded they give it all back and an apology too. They laughed and Clara got madder. Everyone was watchin' and listenin' to this."
"Oh I almost forgot, me n' Weedy were outside by the tent flap watchin' the whole thing. I figured it was gonna come to a brawl. Sure enough, the bigger jasper, ugly cuss too, had wound up and decked Clara. Yeah, hit a girl! Well, that set it off and before you know it everybody was punching away and wrestling on the ground. And the language, I think I learned a few cuss words even Pa never said. Clara tried to get in a few swings but Shade kept grabbing her and putting on the bar. It was really funny. Even that prissy woman lawyer was in it, she stabbed a man with her hatpin...turned out wrong man but things got confusing as you might imagine."
"I could go on but I know you ladies don't like fight stuff so I will skip to the end. The sheriff comes in and breaks it up, ends up arresting those two Evergreen jaspers. They later agree to give back Clara her clothes and even more important really, the Dragoon Colt. It's Pa's only pistol, he had it in the war. He doesn't talk about it but he did serve in the Union army and I'm sure he killed a whole passel of those rebs, Pa's a good shot."
"Anyhow best brawl I ever saw................ummm, well.....only brawl I ever saw," he admitted.
"Before I go, lemme finish it for you then so you don't sit there frettin' and wonderin' how it turned out," he declared.
Lucinda turned away to hide a smile. Wyatt was a treasure, worrying that she'd care so much about Clara's tale of woe. "Lovely," she said as they headed toward the house. It turned out he didn't need any prompting, providing a very detailed account of how Clara's clothes and Aurelian's pistol were retrieved.
Who knew that things got so exciting in Kalispell? True, there had been a few spectacles since she'd arrived, like the shooting of Marshal Guyer, but for the most part Kalispell seemed just like a sleepy little town. Maybe there would be another festival this fall and she'd get to see some exciting things for herself.
"Well, you've seen one more brawl than I have," she said after he finished, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "Thank you for telling me what happened. And you told it so well, too. I would have forgotten everything but the exciting bits if it were me."
Then Lucinda straightened up and pushed the door to the house open. "Before you head off to the pond, which way did your father go this morning? I don't want to spend all day wandering around the farm looking for him while the cornbread gets cold."
As she stepped inside the house and looked back out at Wyatt, a little shiver ran down her spine. This felt so...right. Like she was meant to be stationed in this doorway to look out for Wyatt and Aurelian. Well, if things kept progressing as they had been, soon the cabin might become her new home.
"Well, you've seen one more brawl than I have," she said after he finished, reaching out to ruffle his hair. "Thank you for telling me what happened. And you told it so well, too. I would have forgotten everything but the exciting bits if it were me."
"Well, all of it was pretty exciting, least I thought so. But I wouldn't worry, you'll probably get a chance to see a brawl someday," Wyatt not really catching on to her remark, he just imagined EVERY person wanted to see brawls and that was no doubt not the case.
Then Lucinda straightened up and pushed the door to the house open. "Before you head off to the pond, which way did your father go this morning? I don't want to spend all day wandering around the farm looking for him while the cornbread gets cold."
"Oh sure! You see that tree line over there?" he pointed.
"Just go north that way and at the end of it, you should see him out in the field...well unless he roamed off someplace," Wyatt shrugged, he couldn't account for everything.
"Thanks for letting me go swimmin' and I'd really appreciate it if you save me some of that cornbread," he flashed a boyish grin and off he went, toward the pond like it was a race between him and some invisible opponent.
"Of course I'll save you some." Lucinda winked at Wyatt and watched, shading her hand with her eyes, as he ran off to where the pond must be.
Then she went over to the stove to build up the fire, poked around the kitchen until she found the cornmeal, flour, and everything else she would need to make cornbread. It was fairly simple to whip up -- even she could do it without messing it up. After putting it in the oven, she poked around some more until she found the jerky.
It was strange, nosing around someone else's kitchen. It still had the marks of Clara's influence, with some things neatly organized, but some things were put away haphazardly, like maybe Wyatt had been in a hurry -- maybe to go swimming again. She smiled.
Half an hour later, she set out in the direction of the treeline, a basket on one arm containing the jerky, three quarters of the cornbread, and a canteen of water just in case Aurelian had used all of his already, and a small quilt tucked under her other arm. As she neared the end of the treeline, she spotted Aurelian.
"Yoo-hoo!" she called, suddenly overcome with nerves. What if Aurelian wasn't as happy to see her as she'd hoped? What if he didn't want to be distracted right now?
Half an hour later, she set out in the direction of the treeline, a basket on one arm containing the jerky, three quarters of the cornbread, and a canteen of water just in case Aurelian had used all of his already, and a small quilt tucked under her other arm. As she neared the end of the treeline, she spotted Aurelian.
"Yoo-hoo!" she called.
Aurelian was adding to the stones on the side of the field to make a sort of fence line, shirt sleeves rolled up, when he heard her voice. Oh he recognized it alright. Lucinda. He turned toward the sound. Sure enough and her arms were filled. Had she brought that stuff all the way out to the farm from town?
"Well well.........I must say this is a pleasant surprise. I did not expect any visitors but you are always a welcome sight, Lucinda."
He dropped the rock in his hands and wiped them along the sides of his trousers.
"