Vivid (6 page)

He sighed. "Hello, Widow Moss. Is
there a problem?"

He knew that was an asinine question;
neither his daughter nor the widow looked pleased. The widow's face had been
set in a permanent frown since the day he'd hired her to be Magic's governess.
Nate thought that the woman would be able to offer the child badly needed
lessons in deportment. However, Magic, operating under no such misconception,
had disliked the widow woman on sight. And the situation had not mellowed over
time.

"Who's she, Pa?" the girl asked,
gazing at Vivid.

Nate wanted to reply, "She's a menace
posing as a doctor," but said instead, "She's a doctor. Dr. Viveca
Lancaster, my daughter, Majestic Grayson. Dr. Lancaster, the Widow Moss."

All three females nodded politely to one
another, then Nate turned his attention back to the matter at hand and asked,
"What's happened?"

As usual, Magic opened her mouth to tell
her side first, but one glance from her father's dark eyes and she closed it.

The black-dressed widow gave Magic a smug
look, then spoke. "Mr. Grayson, I have tried and tried to exercise some
influence over this child's behavior but I cannot any longer. She absolutely
refuses to cooperate."

"Pa, I hate sewing."

The widow leaned down to look the young
girl straight in the eye and related sharply, "You liked it well enough
last night when you sewed my drawers together!"

Nate hid his laugh with a faked coughing
fit.

Vivid was not so fortunate. The widow's
statement caught her so off-guard the laugh bubbled out before she could choke
it back. The breach of manners garnered her a stern look from Widow Moss and
one of surprise from the child. When the widow turned back to Nate, Vivid took
the opportunity to wink at the little girl, who responded with a beaming smile.

The sour-faced widow continued, "I
won't be working for you any longer, Mr. Grayson. This child has put snakes in
my bed and rotten eggs in my bonnets, and I refuse to even think about that
nasty incident with my shoes and the cow manure."

Nate didn't want to think about that,
either. One morning about a month ago, Widow Moss had stepped into her shoes
only to discover them already occupied. He'd given Magic a good old-fashioned
licking for that prank and she hadn't been able to sit for a week. Only after
she'd gone to bed did he laugh until tears ran down his cheeks. Truthfully, he
didn't like the widow any more than his daughter did.

Vivid didn't know the prune-faced old
crone well enough to form an accurate opinion, but she did like the little
girl. Cow manure in the woman's shoes! Outstanding. Vivid wished she'd had that
type of nerve at that age, although she did remember standing on the ornate
balcony of her great aunt's house in Mexico City and surreptitiously dropping
small spiders down onto the heads of the dinner guests below. She could still
feel the sting of that whipping to this day. Had Majestic suffered a similar
fate? Vivid guessed she probably had, but that would only deter her until the
next time. Vivid's partner-in-crime had been her late grandmother Maria,
founder of the Female Plotting Rebelling Society. Grandmother Maria believed
that all females, regardless of age, race, or circumstances, should always be
plotting rebellion to better the state of women. Vivid had been raised as a
practicing co-conspirator. And the little girl at the center of attention here
looked to be a prime recruit.

"Magic, what do you have to say for
yourself?" Nate asked after hearing the litany of sins from the Widow
Moss.

"She can eat her old bonnet. I don't
want to be a lady."

"Do you see, Mr. Grayson? No manners,
no politeness, and no desire to be any better."

"Apologize, Magic. Now."

The girl did, grudgingly.

The Widow Moss did not appear mollified.
"Mr. Grayson, no amount of washing or deportment lessons will rid her of
her bastard beginnings. She would try Christ himself."

Vivid watched the youngster's shoulders
tense under the slur and waited for Grayson to respond. "Widow, I'd advise
you to keep such thoughts to yourself. Magic had no say in her birth."

"Excuse me, ma'am," Vivid
interrupted frostily. "Are you a Christian woman?"

The black-bonneted head turned and nodded.
From the look on the widow's face, she obviously had not forgiven Vivid for
laughing earlier. "Of course. I attend church every Sunday."

"Then maybe you can help me. There's
a passage from the Bible that begins, let's see, I think it reads, 'Suffer the
little children to come unto me...' I can't seem to remember the rest. Are you
familiar with that passage?"

Vivid watched the woman's whole body
tighten as if it had been dipped in alum. The widow obviously knew the rest of
the verse. "So," Vivid continued, "in light of that, do you
really believe the good Lord would turn His back on this child?"

The widow had no place to hide from Vivid's
icy calm. "No," she finally answered.

"Spoken like a true Christian. I'm a
regular churchgoer myself. What time are Sunday services?"

"Eleven."

"Thank you. I hope to see you
there."

To Nate, the Widow Moss looked as if she
hoped no such thing. He also didn't believe he'd be able to convince her to
stay on in his employ. After the cow manure surprise, only Magic's sincere
promise that the pranks would stop, and an increase in pay, kept the widow from
quitting on the spot. Now, after the chastisement from Lancaster, there was not
enough money in Michigan that would make the woman stay.

Vivid realized she'd probably made an
enemy of the widow but she didn't care. She walked over to Grayson's daughter
and asked in a soft voice, "Majestic, since I'm new here, may I count on
you to be my first friend?"

"Oh, yes!"

Vivid smiled. "Good. When I get
settled maybe your father will let you come visit me?"

Nate hated to see these two get together
as he had no doubts his daughter's behavior would only deteriorate under the
influence of the unconventional Viveca Lancaster, so he said instead,
"We'll see, Magic. We still have to settle this matter with Widow
Moss."

"I've already settled the matter, Mr.
Grayson," the old woman countered. "You will have to find someone else
to take over as governess. I refuse to do it any longer."

Nate sighed. "Well, I'm sure there's
nothing I can say to convince you otherwise, so I thank you for your help. Send
my the bill for your...drawers, and stop by the bank and tell Joshua to give you
a month's extra pay."

"Thank you, Mr. Grayson."

She turned, blessed both Vivid and Magic
with acerbic looks, and walked out.

"What happened to your hat, Pa?"
Magic asked, picking it up from where he'd tossed it on the desk. She stuck two
small brown fingers through the hole and wiggled them. "Looks like it's
been shot to death."

"Accident," her father
explained. He took the hat from her, saying, "Why don't you go over to the
store and see if there're any new newspapers? Aunt Gail should be back by the
time we get home, and she'll be glad if we bring her one."

"Okay, Pa." The beautiful little
girl with her pigtails and topaz eyes then turned to Vivid. "I'll come
visit when Pa says I can, okay?"

"That'll be fine," Vivid
replied.

Magic ran out.

"Walk!" her father called
belatedly.

"You have a lovely daughter, Mr.
Grayson."

"Thank you, but she's a tornado
sometimes."

Vivid watched him walk to the desk and
lean over to retrieve some papers. "Would you approve of
her
being
the doctor here?" she asked.

Nate looked her in the eye, surveyed her a
moment, then replied, "My daughter grew up here. She won't run the first
time we get a half-foot of snow."

"And I will?"

"I believe so, yes."

Vivid shook her head at his stubbornness.
"How does your wife feel about female doctors?"

"I don't have a wife. It's just me,
Abigail, and my daughter."

Vivid wondered if he was a widower.

Her eyes settled on his hat. "I'll
pay for the hat," she offered again.

"Save your money. You'll need it for
the ticket home."

“Mr. Grayson, I am not going home. I have
a signed contract."

"Since I don't remember signing it,
how much legitimacy can it have?"

"The papers, which you signed, were
drawn up by my cousin Alejandro, who can stand before the bar not only in these
United States but in Mexico and Spain as well. He gets very offended when
someone questions the integrity of his documents."

"So?"

"And so, unless you wish me to bring
legal charges against you, I expect you to honor the contract
you
signed."

Nate looked at the sparkling challenge in
her eyes. "You
are
going back, Lancaster."

"Not quietly I won't."

"No?" he asked.

"No."

Nate sighed and walked over to the window.
A glance outside showed him that a small crowd had gathered, peering in to
observe the proceedings. He pulled the curtains closed.

"Okay. Since you are so hell-bent on
having this job, it's yours."

Vivid smiled in triumph.

He walked back to the desk, "Don't
look so pleased; this is only a trial—"

Vivid protested, "The contract
states—"

"I read it. But if I conclude you're
really not qualified, you're out on your bustle, contract or not. I'll take my
chances with your cousin Alejandro and the courts. Things being the way they
are for the race these days, we'd be lucky to get inside a courthouse."

She knew he was right, but since Vivid
also knew she was the best damned doctor these people had ever seen, she saw no
problem in accepting the modified agreement. “Fair enough, but why did you
change your mind?''

He leaned back on the edge of the desk,
folded his arms across his chest, and replied in a pleased tone, "Because
this way I can win the war without firing a shot."

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "I
don't understand."

"My aunt and her very formidable
minions would hound my backside to the grave if I simply sent you home without
giving you a chance. But if I sit back and wait for you to fall flat on that
perfect little...face of yours, I can say I told you so."

"Your support is duly noted,"
Vivid drawled and then added, "Do you prefer your crow hot or cold,
because when I serve it, I'll need to know."

He smiled.

Further discussion was set aside when
Magic returned with a strange man, about the same age as Nate. He nodded
politely to Vivid, and she smiled.

"Well, Nate, everybody wants to know,
she staying?"

Nate looked over her way. "Yes,
Vernon, she's staying."

Vivid smiled triumphantly in return, then
heard Nate tell the man, "When you go to the depot tomorrow, Vernon, pick
up her trunks."

The man nodded, then asked Vivid,
"Where do you want us to take them when we get back, Doc?"

Vivid didn't have the slightest idea and
she looked to Grayson for an answer. Magic spoke first, as usual.
"Shouldn't she live where Doc Miner lived, Pa?"

"Where did Doc Miner live,
Magic?" Vivid asked.

"In the little house behind
ours."

"I see. Well, Mr. Grayson, where
should the man take my trunks?"

"Take them over to the house, Vernon.
Thanks."

Vernon turned to leave but Vivid called
him back. "Mr. Vernon?"

He gave Vivid a smile. "Name's
Stevenson, Doc. Vernon's my given name."

"I'm sorry. Mr.
Stevenson—"

"Call me Vernon."

She shook her head and smiled. “Thank you,
Vernon. I just want to say, most of those trunks contain medical supplies and
books; please be careful with them."

"I'll treat them like they're made of
gold."

Vivid nodded her thanks.

"Have Nate bring you by to meet my
missus when you get settled," Vernon said. "That fine with you,
Nate?"

Nate thought about having this
unconventional woman in his own backyard and it gave him a headache. He took
his spectacles off, set them on the desk, and rubbed his weary eyes. It was
still early in the day, yet he felt as if it were way past dark. "Fine
with me, Vernon."

Vivid turned to Magic then and said,
"Well, Magic, looks like you and I are going to be neighbors."

While Magic clapped with glee, Vivid
looked over at Nate. Their eyes held and Vivid smiled.

Nate saw Vernon out to the wooden walk,
then took a moment to shoo the small but curious crowd away from his door and
window. Everyone wanted to know about the lady doctor, and all had questions.
He promised their questions would be answered at the next council meeting and
they reluctantly dispersed.