Ada's Secret (11 page)

Patrick jumped from the platform and landed in the wagon. A startled Sheba reared as he slapped the reins against the surprised horse’s rump. She wasn’t used to this type of treatment, and in fear she leapt forward against her harness and jerked wildly. The buckboard careened from side to side as the horse and wagon pulled the maniacal driver away.

“Patrick!” I called after him, “Please, it’s not as it seems!” But anger and distance deafened his ears as he whipped Sheba to a full gallop toward the ranch. Only dust and emptiness remained. Lettie and Ma silently watched my reaction. All my words had evaporated after him. Hot tears flowed from deep within my broken heart. Suddenly, my world had shattered.

I watched the reactions on the faces surrounding me. The people who loved me were silently holding watch as my world crumbled. Beautiful women, strong women, women of passion and love, stood before me. Tearing my work bonnet from my head, I loosened my hair. “Dammit, I’m tired of living in fear. I love that man, and I don’t want to lose him, but I can’t continue to be something I am not. I’m tired of hiding my past, and I won’t live in fear of people judging me. No man’s hand ever touched me until my wedding day, and I’m proud of who I am and what I do. If he can’t love me because of his narrow-mindedness, then to hell with him!”

Grace stood imploring me, “Please, Ada, don’t be hasty. Let me reason with him. He’ll have you back when he sees the truth. A hothead he may be, but he is a reasonable man. Please let me talk to him.”

“No, Grace, I love you and I love him, but if he can’t ‘
abide
’ this, I can’t ‘
abide
’ his pigheaded foolishness. I will not live in fear of the truth anymore. I have nothing to be ashamed of.

“Aunt Lettie, if you have a seat in your railcar, I’d like to come back and work at the ranch. I believe I have all the skills required, and I don’t expect much pay. Room and board is all I ask.”

“Are ya sure, Honey?” Aunt Lettie’s raspy voice was filled with emotion.

“I’m sure, Aunt Lettie. Please, let’s go home.”

Aunt Lettie nodded in grim silence and motioned toward the waiting railcar as the locomotive belched fire and growled its discontent.

I hugged Grace as she tried to reason with me again, but I was beyond reasoning. Her skirts brushed the rough steps as she dismounted the platform. Her imploring eyes locked with mine one last time as I entered the car, but my tears were now all gone. I knew I would hurt later, but right now it felt good to be me. Seeing the railroad car in full daylight, I could now make out the words scrolled on the side. “The Silver Dove and Saloon.”

Everyone was subdued as we boarded the luxury car built to transport the ladies to special events. The scene that had just erupted before them made everyone apprehensive. I stepped into the warm, deep red, interior of the passenger car. When a familiar voice caught my attention. “Lettie, who is that with you?”

Recognizing me, Jeremiah shouted in excitement, “Is that Ada? As I live and breathe, it’s my Ada girl!” Jeremiah wrapped his huge arms around my waist and hugged me until it hurt.

“Jeremiah, I am still trying to breathe here, so can you be a bit less excited?” I squeaked.

He held me away from him, his dark eyes drinking me in from head to toe, and then gathered me into another huge bear hug, but this time he was a little gentler. “Where are you going, girl?”

“I’ll explain later, Jeremiah,” Lettie interrupted. “Right now we are going home, and Ada’s coming with us.”

Jeremiah looked stunned. “It seems we have a lot to catch up on,” he said as he studied my tearstained cheeks. “I’ll be back to talk after we put a few miles between us and this station.” I watched as he exited the front of the passenger car and entered the engineer’s cabin. Soon the train’s whistle was signaling the locomotive’s exit from the Fort Collins station.

Settling back into one of the velvet seats, I stared out the window as I watched the familiar sights of Fort Collins fall away. The massive steel wheels gained momentum and were soon singing their rhythmic song. I didn’t want to think about Patrick and the future, so I let my thoughts flow to the past.

***

M
y attentions drifted back to my childhood, and I comprehended how very full of love it had been. There were rough times, but overall my life had been full of blessings. Ma, Aunt Lettie, Jeremiah, and all of the ladies at the Dove had worked hard to provide me with an affectionate environment.

I remembered that the winters were always the hardest time for me. While I loved learning at school, it was difficult being there. Once the parents learned where I lived, they would forbid their children to speak to me. However, that didn’t stop the teasing.

“Ada’s mommy got laid ah!” and “Which one’s your daddy, Ada?” were just some of the cruel taunts the children sent my way.  One afternoon when the boys were teasing me, I decided I had taken enough. I tackled the biggest boy, punched him in the nose, and sent him home crying. After that the taunts stopped.

Being a loner, I immersed myself in my studies to make the tedious weekdays pass quickly. Ma and Aunt Lettie insisted that I go to Sarah and Jeremiah’s house for the weekends. On Friday evenings, before business at the Dove got rowdy, I would be shuttled over to the Freeman parlor where I would happily settle into blankets laid on the floor for my bed.

Jeremiah spent weekends managing business at the Dove, and Sarah loved having another pair of hands to help with their twin boys. Two energetic boys required undivided attention during the day, but at night Sarah and I spent quiet hours reading and talking.

“Ada, I know you have a hard time at school because you live at the Dove,” Sarah said one evening after the children had been put to bed. “You live in a different world than those other kids. And even though being different must be hard, your life contains art, music, and wealth that other children will never even dream about. Every day you see people from other parts of the world and hear languages that other students will never hear.” She punctuated her point by speaking the French she grew up with as a young girl.

***

T
he railcar suddenly hit a bump, and my thoughts were drawn back to the present. I looked around the railroad car full of the tired ladies of the Silver Dove and realized what an amazing family this was. I had twenty-eight aunts of varying colors, sizes, and cultures. Their features included anything from beautiful ebony skin, to stunning blue eyes, and to all manner of textures of hair. I had aunts speaking Spanish, sashaying next to aunts speaking French. Even though my life had been different, I now realized how special it had been, even with its hardships.

Now looking over at my red-haired, green-eyed mother, she seemed plain beside the exotic beauties around her. Her beauty and natural red hair had helped her succeed to become one of the best at her trade, but time and the hard work of providing for me had begun to catch up with her. Now, it was her exceptional management of the Silver Dove that made her valued.

As Ma had taken on more management and training duties, Lettie was freed to increase profits by marketing the Silver Dove and the Silver Dove Ranch. Most women did not own land, but Lettie was definitely not like most women. Her financial success at the Dove had allowed her to buy anything she desired, and her desire was to breed and race Quarter Horses.

When she bought the Silver Dove Ranch, Lettie had one registered stud and three mares. Within five years, Crackerjack’s stud fees were paying for the ranch’s entire overhead, and her yearlings were selling at top prices. Lettie loved horse-trading, but her business interests didn’t stop there. Soon she had created another opportunity at the ranch. Each summer she delivered the territory’s five top rodeos.

Lettie’s rodeos brought scores of cowboys from California to Chicago. They would arrive dreaming of the territory’s best prize money and beautiful women. It was my job to see that everything was ready for this flood of lonely men. Managing room reservations, calculating the odds on races, and helping Maria, the kitchen manager, provide the best vittles in the territory, were just some of my duties.

“There are huge profits when you give men a little prize money and lots to spend it on,” Lettie would say as the Sheriff accompanied her to the bank after each event.

Between rodeos, the ranch needed a full complement of ranch hands to mend fences, manage animals, and keep the meadows ready for hay season. These were skills that had served me well on Patrick’s ranch.

Patrick
. My thoughts returned to my current predicament.
Where would I be if I didn’t have this ranch to call home? I couldn’t begin to imagine what I would do if I was all-alone with no way to support myself. Now more than ever, I understood why my mother had to sell her virtue.

I
didn’t know what happened to Patrick after I left that day, but Grace told me the full story later. Patrick ran Sheba all the way back to the ranch at a full gallop. She was not accustomed to being driven so hard, and he was surprised when she lowered her head and kicked at the buckboard. “Sheba!” He pulled harshly on her bit and realized he was taking his anger out on the animal that least deserved it. The mare’s mouth dripped white frothy foam as her big chest heaved with the effort of breathing. She trickled sweat from her flanks and trembled from the senseless exertion that Patrick had put her through.

As the heat of his righteous anger began to dissipate, Patrick realized how his fury had hurt everything he loved. After removing the moist tack from the exhausted horse, he began brushing Sheba slowly, cooling her down. “Sheba! I’ve have punished you for something that isn’t any of your doing.”

From the corner of the barn, Buttercup mooed her unhappiness. He was late with her breakfast, and her full udder was painful. “I’ve involved you in this awful mess too. Whom else have I hurt today?” he said, sitting down to milk her.

After settling the animals in, Patrick looked across the yard. Everything leading up to the cabin looked so inviting because of the special touches Ada had applied. Even the laundry tubs were neatly stowed, waiting for their weekly ritual. The garden sat tilled and was ready for spring planting. His winter clothes hung on a peg, where Ada had left them to air-dry. Everywhere he looked reflected the goodness and decency of the woman he had rebuked and left standing at the train-station.

“Oh dear God, what have I done?” Patrick stood in misery as he removed his hat, wiped his forehead, and gazed at the empty cabin. “I’ve judged Ada because of my bad experience with Miriam, but Ada isn’t Miriam,” he whispered to the wind as he chastised himself. “I was so quick to condemn the woman I truly loved that I didn’t even give her a chance to explain,” he continued. “She tried to tell me that I didn’t understand. Understand what? I have to find out.” He looked across the ranch that now held no purpose for him. “I don’t want to live here without her,” he said, inclining his gaze skyward as if pleading to God.

Patrick’s thoughts focused.
Frank and Grace should have her at their ranch by now
.
I’ve been an ass. I have to set this right. Why did I have to be so pigheaded? I’ll be honest with her and admit how horribly wrong I’ve been. What ever it takes. I can’t stand to lose her. Dear God, please, let her find it in her heart to forgive me.

He pulled his collar up against the cold wind blowing down off the high peaks as he set off for the Tellers’ ranch. Buttercup and Sheba were safe in the barn munching on an extra ration of grain to make amends for the wrongs committed against them.

“I’ll need to hurry,” he said. Looking at the cold grey clouds that were quickly obscuring the high peaks, Patrick tried to judge the speed and strength of the approaching storm. He coughed into the cold wet drizzle that had already started to fall. “I should have enough time to get there and back before the brunt of the storm hits.”

Holding on to his hat, he started jogging toward the Tellers’ ranch. He glanced at the cattle as they began to huddle together in the pasture.
They’ll have plenty of shelter in the willows by the creek,
Patrick thought as the cold rain dampened his cheeks.

Patrick’s heart was hopeful as he played the scenarios through his mind of what would happen when he saw Ada.
She’ll understand. We’ll get through this. I overreacted. I love her, and that’s all that matters.
Finally reaching the Tellers’ ranch, Patrick crossed the pasture and stepped up on the porch. He knocked on the door and when no one answered, he opened the door and entered. “Knock, knock! Anybody home?” he called. The kids were playing in the parlor and oblivious to his presence. Hoping that he could talk with Grace alone, he said, “Grace, knock, knock, it’s Patrick! Can I talk with you?” Hearing the sounds of skillets banging, he headed to the kitchen.

“Grace, it’s Patrick! Can I talk with you?” he repeated more loudly. As he rounded the corner to the kitchen, he sensed something heavy heading toward his head. Patrick quickly ducked and lowered himself to one knee. Grace’s cast iron skillet swished within inches of his skull, knocking his hat across the floor.

“I should brain you with this old skillet!” Grace shouted, picking up the frying pan and standing over his cowering form.

“What? What did I do?” Patrick questioned as Grace lowered her weapon.

“You are not only a buffoon and a hothead, Patrick Burgess, but you are an idiot and a fool. That woman is a much better woman than you’ll ever deserve, and you turned her out like she was some kind of garbage.”

Grace slammed the skillet down on the cutting board. “I never thought I would see the day when I wanted to shake you until your teeth rattled, but by heaven, Patrick, if I wasn’t such a peaceful woman, I really would knock some sense into your thick head with this skillet!”

Patrick had known Grace for a long time and had never seen her this mad. He held up his hands in absolute surrender. “Ada said she would be coming home with you, so I’ve come to beg her forgiveness, and pray that she will have me back. Grace, I know I did a terrible thing and I’ve come to apologize and promise that I will never do anything this stupid again.” Patrick lowered his hands and bowed his head humbly.