If Jane thought she was helping, she wasn't, and Weedy nearly choked on his pie. Thank goodness he hadn't accepted one of those pictures as part of the Dead Mary deal.
"I heard what that little floozy did," Addy declared vehemently, "I'm surprised that didn't get shut down, though it ain't no surprise. That girl was always doin' whatever she thought needed doin' ta get attention. Sad..." she shook her head, "child has no other way ta feel important an' valued." Addy glanced at Jane. "Be glad ya got family that loves ya."
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"I heard what that little floozy did," Addy declared vehemently.
Jane wanted to laugh. 'Floozy' She'd use that herself from now on. "Oooh, that Maxwell Adams, he's such a floozy!" She wondered vaguely what it meant.
"I'm surprised that didn't get shut down, though it ain't no surprise. That girl was always doin' whatever she thought needed doin' ta get attention. Sad..." she shook her head, "child has no other way ta feel important an' valued." Addy glanced at Jane. "Be glad ya got family that loves ya."
"Oh I am" she assured "Even when we hate each other, we love each other"
There was a knock at the door.
"Oh no... I hope that isn't one of them!" Jane yelped.
It turned out it was - her mother.
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
"You two just stay here an' finish yer supper," Addy instructed as she rose and headed for the door, Farley bouncing along beside her. She raked her fingers through her damp hair before opening the door, not recognizing who the woman there was, except that she shared some traits with Miss Jane, so she may very well be the girl's mother, as predicted!
"Evenin'," Addy greeted with a grin, "can I help ya?" Leaning down, she tried to shoo Farley back into the house...the pup had skipped past her, and was hopping up on the woman's skirts for a pet!
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"Hello you!" said the woman gruffly, straining against her corsets to reach down and give Farley a vigorous pat on the back which made his tail stick up and wag manically, as he stood stock still, panting, and enjoying the tough-looking woman's attentions.
"Jesus Christ, don't let my sons see this mutt, those two pansies have been whinin' about getting a puppy ever since we moved here." she grumped.
She stood up straight with a sound of creaking whalebone.
"Listen, sorry to bother you, sister, but I'm looking for my daughter - Jane, blonde pigtails and specs, kinda stupid dreamy look on her phiz? - couple of girls down there said she came in here with your boy, little tattletales. She was meant to be home an hour ago, and my other kids were gettin' the jitters that the strangler'd got 'er. Stupid little bastards! Anyway, serve 'er right if he did throttle 'er, stayin' out like this! I mean, am I right or am I right?" the woman said. She might have best been described as 'Abusive... but friendly with it'.
"Oh, I'm Patty Patterson Forde, down at the new Gents Outfitters." she informed Addy as she jerked a thumb behind her.
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
"Jesus Christ, don't let my sons see this mutt, those two pansies have been whinin' about getting a puppy ever since we moved here." she grumped.
"He's new here," Addy explained, grinning as she pulled the pup back. "He's my boy's." The woman was brash, but she seemed to be all right.
"Listen, sorry to bother you, sister, but I'm looking for my daughter - Jane, blonde pigtails and specs, kinda stupid dreamy look on her phiz? - couple of girls down there said she came in here with your boy, little tattletales. She was meant to be home an hour ago, and my other kids were gettin' the jitters that the strangler'd got 'er. Stupid little bastards! Anyway, serve 'er right if he did throttle 'er, stayin' out like this! I mean, am I right or am I right?" the woman said. She might have best been described as 'Abusive... but friendly with it'.
"Well, gotta say that young'ns easy lose track'a time," Addy explained.
"Oh, I'm Patty Patterson Forde, down at the new Gents Outfitters."
"Good ta meet you, Miz Forde." Addy stepped back and gestured into the house. "Come on in, please. Miss Jane's here, I offered her supper, then we were gonna bring her home. She's a mite...raggedy right now...that there pup was all muddy...me, too, an' she an' Weedy helped me clean him up...her dress is dryin' right there." She pointed to the garment slung over a rocker by the fire. "Would ya join us fer some coffee an' pie?" She grinned. "It's from th' Lickskillet."
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"Good ta meet you, Miz Forde." Addy stepped back and gestured into the house.
"It's Mrs Patterson Forde" corrected the stoutly built little woman "but call me Patty, all my friends and neighbours do." she added gruffly, apparently admitting Addy into that charmed circle.
"Come on in, please. Miss Jane's here, I offered her supper, then we were gonna bring her home. She's a mite...raggedy right now...that there pup was all muddy...me, too, an' she an' Weedy helped me clean him up."
"Weedy?" echoed Mrs Patterson Forde as she looked about the kitchen with her gimlet eye, finally settling on the lad himself "Huh! So you're the young scallywag my daughter's got the vapours over!?" she demanded.
"Mother!" protested Jane, who had stood up promptly on her formidable mother's entrance.
"Well if he's called Weedy, who's this Porter kid you keep bleatin' on about?" the pleasantly plump woman asked. "An' what's that there negligée you're wearin'?!"
"..her dress is dryin' right there." Addy pointed to the garment slung over a rocker by the fire.
"Oh, thanks!" Patty nodded "Well, come on Janey, take that thing off and put your proper duds on" she commanded picking up Jane's knickerbockers and shaking them out for all the world to see.
"Oh Mother!!!" Jane screamed and, grabbing the drawers off her mother and, scooping up the smock, ran into Addy bedroom again to get dressed in private.
"Huh!" Patty shrugged "Don't know where she gets all this God-damn modesty from, not me, that's fer sure!"
"Would ya join us fer some coffee an' pie?" Addy grinned. "It's from th' Lickskillet."
"Yeah, thanks, why not!" nodded the woman and took a seat, looking at Weedy.
"So, what is it? Weedy or Porter? ... or Casanova?" she asked, her blue piercing eyes boring into his soul like a hot knife through butter "Hey, you're not one of those boys who sneaked into the theatre the other night, to see that Mudd girl's nudie show, are ya?"
She was pretty sure he was one of the boys she'd seen being chased out of the place by Ben Simons after the performance.
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
Addy saw the woman into the house, not expecting that she'd snatch up her daughter's unders to show to the whole world, but at least Weedy was as appalled as Jane, and quickly looked away.
"That there's Weedy...his proper name's Porter James, but I just called him Weedy from th' get-go, an' it's stuck." Indeed, most folks in town knew the tow-head as Weedy and he wasn't making any effort to change that.
"Weedy, this is Mrs. Patterson Forde, Jane's mother," Addy introduced the lad, who jumped to his feet in respect of a woman coming into the room (Addy didn't count).
"Afternoon, Ma'am."
"Hey, you're not one of those boys who sneaked into the theatre the other night, to see that Mudd girl's nudie show, are ya?"
If he'd been shot in the heart by an Injun arrow, Weedy couldn't have looked more startled and dismayed, and his mouth hung open for a moment before he snapped it shut.
"I...uh..." Well, he knew better than to lie, and he figured Addy would find out eventually, but this wasn't what he'd imagined.
Addy raised an eyebrow, noticing that the look on the boy's face said everything. Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. "I head some'a that...glad I didn't waste my coin." She snorted and shook her head again. "Bible, indeed! But Weedy asked ta spend th' night in barn with his friend Wyatt. Here, now," she nodded to the chair that Jane had vacated, then scooped a piece of pie onto a plate. "Ya want some cream poured over that?"
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
"I...uh..." Well, he knew better than to lie, and he figured Addy would find out eventually, but this wasn't what he'd imagined.
Addy raised an eyebrow, noticing that the look on the boy's face said everything.
Mrs Patterson Forde had a little twinkle in her eye which belied the grim set of her features.
"Come to think of it, the scamp I saw runnin' had more gingery hair."
Shaking her head, she rolled her eyes. "I heard some'a that...glad I didn't waste my coin." She snorted and shook her head again.
"Oh, apparently it was quite religious... scenes from the Bible... Salome... Delilah... Mother Eve 'fore she found her fig leaf?" the plump blonde woman recounted every one of Arabella's risqué roles in the play, all the time keeping a steady gaze on Weedy.
"Bible, indeed! But Weedy asked ta spend th' night in barn with his friend Wyatt."
"That right, Weedy?" Patty asked. Hold on - did she just wink at him? "Well, I don't blame them boys that did sneak in... quite natural at that age. I wish my two'd do somethin' like that! One just wants to play his flute all the time and the other picks flowers and writes poems! Wouldn't mind if he was doin' that to get in to some girl's drawers, er, good graces I mean, but he just does it cause he likes 'em!"
"Here, now," she nodded to the chair that Jane had vacated, then scooped a piece of pie onto a plate.
Patty ruffled Weedy's hair as she took a seat and told him "Sit down Tiger, you're making me nervous! That's it, right down next to me!" she said, patting the adjacent chair. She seemed to have taken a liking to the rough and tumble boyish boy.
"Ya want some cream poured over that?"
"Well, thank y' kindly, neighbour" Petty nodded.
She looked up at Addy.
"Listen, Ms Chappel, me and you might wanna have a little talk sometime soon about a certain business matter I got brewin' up. I've obtained the concession to supply that new mine working North of town , sutler, laundry, that sort of thing. Need to figure out transport of supplies, don't wanna have to invest in horses and carts and drivers and stuff of my own."
Sit down, shut up, don't touch anythin'
Weedy plopped down into his chair as Addy poured cream over Patty's piece of pie then pulled over a crate to sit on, leaving the third chair for Jane, should the girl dare to venture from the bedroom and show her face. She meant to get more chairs, now that her brother and nephew were living here, but she'd been busy.
"There ya go." Addy pulled her own plate closer and took a bite of pie.
"Listen, Ms Chappel, me and you might wanna have a little talk sometime soon about a certain business matter I got brewin' up. I've obtained the concession to supply that new mine working North of town , sutler, laundry, that sort of thing. Need to figure out transport of supplies, don't wanna have to invest in horses and carts and drivers and stuff of my own."
"Addy, please." Well, here was a coincidence! "Ya mean Speed Guyer's mine? Funny ya mention that, I got a contract with them an' th' lumber company ta run freight up there." She shrugged. "Don't see as we can't accommodate whatever ya need hauled up there...so long as it don't talk back!"
Oh dear, we're all of a flutter!
Mrs Patterson Forde told the wagon woman about her business opportunity north of the city.
"Ya mean Speed Guyer's mine? Funny ya mention that, I got a contract with them an' th' lumber company ta run freight up there."
"Nah, it's some new diggin's owned by that snake Forner at the Saloon. Hmm, wonder if Guyer's place needs a sutler, too? Well, one step at a time." Patty ruminated.
She shrugged. "Don't see as we can't accommodate whatever ya need hauled up there...so long as it don't talk back!"
Patty laughed "Ha! Some of it might - I got a couple of fellers called Flagg and Baur gonna actually run the thing. Flagg's a pretty straight feller, Baur, I've known years, but he's still a puzzle. Married to an Injun!" she revealed by way of illustration "Flagg's sweet on that little girl from the saloon, Sally... er... what's she call herself? Sally Cutts. I reckon they'll be wed before long... she's a shrewd one! Then we can poach her from the saloon and put her in charge of the laundry side of things."
"Sally's marrying Mister Flagg?!" yelped Jane, walking back in properly dressed now.
"Yeah, but shut up, big mouth, neither of 'em know it yet! I knew it first time I saw 'em together, though" Patty scolded. She looked at the lad next to her at the table.
"You gotta watch out for these girls, Weedy... the 'marrying kind'!" she warned him.