Evasive Eddie Joe (Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs Book 16) Read online

  The “more” came up in the form of her question on where they would live. Eddie Joe realized then he had to make arrangements for someplace private for the two of them, because one didn’t bring a wife to live in the bunkhouse with a bunch of grungy cowboys, not all of whom could be trusted around a woman. In the end, Eddie Joe accepted the paper and pencil Lizett Millard handed him so he could write out a letter telling about himself.

  Just before he started writing, Lizett cautioned him. “Mr. Hampton, my advice is to be honest about you, your situation, and the kind of home you would be offering a potential wife. Don’t lead her on to expect something grander than what she will live with if she marries you. Otherwise, you risk finding yourself married to a woman full of resentment over being lied to.”

  Eddie Joe thought hard on her advice as he wrote about himself, the kind of home they would live in, and what she could expect living on the ranch. Part of it he made up as he went, because he didn’t really have a home for a bride—yet. However, he was honest enough to write down what he felt he could reasonably put together within the next several months—assuming his boss cooperated.

  Eddie Joe handed Lizett her letter and her fee so she could start picking out women to whom he could write.

  “Mr. Hampton, it may take several months. Unfortunately for you, if a woman is a good match for one of these miners I’m working with, I will need to fulfill my obligation to my contract with Prosperity Mine first. However, I am constantly contacted by women seeking the opportunity to marry in the West, so I know we will find the right match for you.”

  Eddie Joe left Mrs. Millard of the Colorado Bridal Agency full of enthusiasm, excited about having his own wife so he could begin to build a family. He wore a silly grin the whole time he hitched the horses up to the buckboard, refusing to tell Johnny B. what the joke was all about. He stopped by the Catholic cemetery to collect Juanita who rose from her place under a tree.

  It was only when they were well away from Jubilee Springs and silence had settled over the pair traveling back to the ranch that the enormity of what he had done began to sink into Eddie Joe. How was he going to get a home built on the ranch without his boss knowing it?

  Okay, the boss needed to know—eventually.

  How was he going to talk hard-headed Zeb Jacobson into agreeing to allow him enough land far away from the bunkhouse, but not too far, where he could build said house? How was he bring in the stove, sink and furniture, the pump and well, and everything else that was needed to make a house—even a one room cabin—habitable?

  Eddie Joe scratched his head as he thought about the other issue Mrs. Millard had brought up and which seemed to concern her. Only one woman lived on the ranch—Juanita. Only two women lived in town over a mile away, and one of them, Sulky Sally who worked the saloon, wasn’t friend material for a wife. A few wives resided on surrounding ranches, but not many, and they were spread out. How was he going to help his wife not feel isolated and lonely for female company?

  When the answer came to him, Eddie Joe once again broke out into a smile. He nodded his head. Yep, he knew what he needed to do to convince his boss to go along with his plan, but do it in a way so the boss did not guess what Eddie was up to.

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  MONARCH BEND, COLORADO –JULY 5, 1881

  CHAPTER 3

  ~o0o~

  “Eddie Joe! Need you in the office. Have some things I need to discuss with you.”

  “Right away, Boss.”

  Even though he had told the Jacobson Ranch barn boy, Rusty, he’s be there right away to line out the work for the day, Eddie Joe knew better than to deny his boss when Zebulon Jacobson ordered him into the ranch office for a meeting. He only hoped he hadn’t done something in town during his second visit to Jubilee Springs that Zeb would take exception to. After he brought Juanita home Sunday, he told some of the hands who had been stuck at the ranch that weekend about how there was going to be fireworks for Independence Day on Monday. When he had let three of them go to Jubilee Springs with him to see the fireworks, that alone could have been enough to set Zeb off.

  To be on the safe side, in case his boss decided to chew his backside out about it, Eddie Joe stiffened his spine and mentally prepared for the worst as he started for the veranda of the ranch house. Following his usual pattern which he knew annoyed Zeb, but not enough to prompt him to do anything about it, Eddie Joe took the most direct route. That meant instead of walking to the stairs, he made a beeline for a section of bannister and leaped over it, his boots landing on the wood deck with a thud. Eddie Joe smiled as he watched his boss hesitate, shake his head, then enter the office.

  Once inside, something told Eddie Joe not to assume this was a social call. He remained standing as he watched his employer round the desk and sit in his wooden office chair with its contoured slats holding up the back rest. He held his breath as Zeb laced his fingers together as he placed them in front of him on the desk and leaned forward. “Have a good time in Jubilee Springs yesterday?”

  Eddie Joe studied his boss.

  Uh, oh. Someone said something.

  Eddie Joe decided to play it cool until he knew for sure which way the wind was going to blow, although he suspected it would be a tornado coming towards him. “Yes, I did. Reckon all the boys that went with me did, from what I could tell. Jubilee Springs had fireworks this year. Rusty, I think that was the first time he’s ever seen fireworks. He couldn’t get over it.”

  “Fireworks? Since when did the Springs start having fireworks?”

  “Since they started expanding the town. The Bainbridge brothers that own the mine, I hear they put on quite a production the whole weekend, although it was mostly for some of their own men. Still, the Independence Day celebration was worth going to. You should of come, Boss. It would have done you good to get away from the ranch for a bit.”

  Zeb groused. “Someone had to stay here and take care of things while all you yahoos went off playing. I would have thought the day you took Juanita in there would’ve been enough town time for you. What else happened you’d like to tell me about?”

  Eddie Joe stuck his thumbs in his pockets and rocked back on his boot heels. He licked his lips.

  Yup! He knows.

  Eddie Joe knew when he found out who was so anxious to run to the boss first thing at the crack of dawn to squeal to him about what had taken place the previous day, he’d be sorely tempted to pound the man into the ground.

  Eddie Joe decided his best defense was a good offense. “You ever thought about getting married, Boss?”

  Zeb slapped his palms flat on his desktop and jerked back in his chair so far he almost hit his head against the back wall. “What on earth brought on a tomfool question like that?”

  “Well, I was just noticing when I was in the Springs this weekend, there were more families than I ever seen before, and a lot of businesses coming in and all. The place has a real permanent feel to it, not like a town sprung up due to a silver rush that will fade to nothing in five years or so. So, I was thinking. Here you have this nice successful ranch you’ve built up over the years, but what’s going to happen to it when…you know… none of us lives for forever.”

  Zeb half rose out of his chair. “Not your concern, Eddie Joe.”

  Eddie Joe fought the urge to jiggle his leg, which would be a sure sign of the uncertainty he felt over bringing the subject up so abruptly. “I figured you might want to start a family so you have someone to pass it along to. You know, so all your hard work doesn’t end up being for nothing. Unless, of course, you want to name me in your will, seeing as how I’m almost like a son to you.” Eddie Joe stopped and offered his boss a toothy grin.

  “Not hardly. Sometimes I wonder why I tolerate your sorry hide around my place.”

  “Now, Boss, you know I do good work for you. I’m right proud to ride for a brand that’s the best around.”

  “You’re absolutely right I’m the bes
t around. I’ve worked hard to build up this spread to what it is today. It takes a lot of work, and I certainly haven’t had time to go chasing around looking for a woman to marry.”

  Eddie Joe shifted on his feet, almost like he was searching for the right words. “But, haven’t you thought, Boss, it’d be mighty nice to have a woman around the place?”

  Zeb settled down and leaned back in his chair, his arms folded. “I do have a woman around the place. Her name is Juanita, and she does a fine job of keeping up the house and cooking meals for me.”

  Eddie Joe scrunched his forehead as he considered Zeb’s retort. This conversation was not going well at all. He continued to push the idea that the boss should consider marriage, up until he pointed out how close Zeb Jacobson was to being forty years of age. The explosion that followed that remark told Eddie Joe it was time to ease away completely. He almost did until Zeb, in response to his suggestion that if he wasn’t going to marry and have children to pass the ranch to, he could will it to him, demanded to know what Eddie Joe thought he would do with the ranch since he was also single and not that far behind him in age.

  That was when Eddie Joe could not resist telling his boss he had some ideas about that and proceeded to tell him all about the brides in Jubilee Springs, and about the mine setting things up for ten of the miners to write to the women before they came.

  “That Mrs. Millard must have done something right.”

  “Mrs. Millard…”

  “The lady with the bridal agency.”

  “And you’re saying I should write her a letter. Then based on how I dot my ‘i’s and cross my ‘t’s, she’ll figure out who I should marry? I’ve never heard of such nonsense. And I sure don’t want you talking this up with the other men. The last thing I need is for you, or anyone else, getting any ridiculous ideas.”

  Eddie Joe swallowed. He did not dare tell the boss he already got the idea and wrote his first letter. “Most of these boys at the ranch are looking for temporary arrangements, Boss. But, not every cowhand wants to ride the cowboy trail all his life, especially someone like you who’s ended up with a nice spread. You want to have a say on who ends up with it when you pass on, don’t you?”

  “Stop trying to put me in my grave, Eddie Joe.”

  Eddie Joe flung his head side to side in an exaggerated shake. “Nope! No, Boss, I’m not trying to do anything of the kind. Just looking out for the best interests of the ranch. Just keep in mind she only uses handwriting to narrow down who you’d most likely do good with. You write letters back and forth to a couple of those ladies for months. Only if you think things will work out with the lady do you make arrangements to meet up in person. You should talk to her yourself, Boss. She chaperoned the brides up this last weekend, and says when she has another batch ready to come, she’ll chaperone them up, too. I can…” Eddie Joe cleaned his throat. “I mean, if I hear anything about when she’s due up this way again, I’ll let you know.”

  Zeb offered Eddie Joe a gimlet eye. “So I can stand in line behind a bunch of miners to ask her to find me a woman because I can’t find one by myself?”

  “No, now, Boss. You’re trying to put words in my mouth that I had no intention of putting in there. I’m just saying, seeing as how there aren’t hardly any decent single women in these parts, working with this woman to help bring someone in who might make you happy and give you a good family may not be a half-bad idea.”

  After leaving the office, Eddie Joe turned towards the barn, a smile on his face. He’d left enough sign along the trail for the boss to follow. For it had come to him on the drive back from Jubilee Springs Sunday afternoon that the best way to convince the boss to go along with his plan of being a married foreman and to provide female companionship for his future wife was for Zeb Jacobson to get married first. His boss could lead the way—or at least think he did.

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  OUTSIDE KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – AUGUST, 1881

  CHAPTER 4

  ~o0o~

  As Mary Dowell stepped through the door to toss out the scrub water she had used to first wash the breakfast dishes and then the kitchen floor, she caught sight of her daughter walking up the lane towards the house. She had just received the letter from Etta the day before explaining her plight and warning she was on her way home. Mary propped the pan against the side of the house and half-ran, half-limped down the lane to meet her.

  “Hello, Etta. Got word yesterday you’re coming home.”

  Mary swallowed and did her best to hide how appalled she felt at Etta’s appearance. This daughter had always been small and slightly built. However, she was even thinner than Mary had recalled when Etta had left with her new husband almost three years earlier. Her face bore a hollowed-out, haunted look. “You know you can’t stay here, don’t you, Etta?”

  Henrietta Crabtree lowered her head, fighting tears at the abrupt greeting after not seeing her mother since she left with her husband. She kept her words soft. “I know, Ma. But I had nowhere else to go. Buford was only renting the place, and once he turned up dead, Mr. Jenks told me I had to get out. At least he gave me the train ticket and some money for what little crop Buford planted.”

  As Etta began to open her tow sack filled with what few possessions remained to her, Mary stepped forward and closed her hands over Etta’s to still her. She glanced around to see if anyone on the farm may have noticed. Fortunately, her body should have hidden Etta’s movements from Annalee or any of Etta’s siblings that may have been looking out the window. “Not now, Etta. Don’t let on you got anything with you, or that Annalee will demand it all. You may need it to get on from here.” Mary paused and reached up her palm to cup the side of her daughter’s face. “I truly am happy to see you, Etta, but your brother and Annalee are not going to be pleased you’ve come. You know that.”

  “I know, Ma. But you and Cal and Annalee are family. Where else can I go? You think I would’ve come if there’d been any other place but the whorehouse?”

  Mary heaved a sigh and looked off into the distance. “You’re right. As much as we don’t need another mouth to feed, Cal wouldn’t have wanted to see that. But, we’ll have to find someplace else for you as soon as we can, Etta. I have a claim on this place, even though it will all go to Cal when I’m gone. The way he’ll look at it, you don’t. Only the fact he knows he has an obligation to take care of family will let you in the door. But you don’t know what it’s like living here now, especially with your new sister-in-law.”

  Etta’s words were barely audible. “I can about figure, Ma. If you recollect, I knew Annalee from before.”

  Etta was more familiar with Annalee than she wanted to be. Growing up, the girl had been snooty and overbearing, always targeting Etta with her belittling comments. Unlike her more substantially-built siblings with their rich honey blonde or brown hair, Etta had always been skinny with flyaway hair so light blonde it appeared she had never grown out of the towhead stage. Annalee had even questioned if Pa was her real father, or if she was the spawn of one of the Yankee soldiers who had invaded the region in the early days of the Civil War.

  Etta had never liked Annalee, and she had thought her brother had enough sense to avoid her. Yet, less than a year after she left with Buford her mother’s letter told her Cal and Annalee had married. When a letter had come not quite seven months later telling her she now had a niece, Etta knew how Annalee had trapped her brother. He no doubt had been drawn by the dark-haired beauty with the figure that was already full and shapely by the time Etta had left home.

  No, Etta had not looked forward to coming home to live with her brother’s wife, but she didn’t know what else to do. Other than take care of a house and help on the farm, Etta had no skills to help her find a job that would allow a nineteen year-old widow to live on her own.

  “How’s your knee, Ma? It still paining you?”

  Mary turned toward the house and linked arms with Etta as they slowly cont
inued towards the house. “About the same, worse in the winter. We’ll have to find you someplace before Cal gets the notion to sell you off like your pa did to Buford.” Mary stopped and faced her daughter again. “It wasn’t that your pa didn’t love you, Etta. It’s just he knew he was dying of consumption, and Buford was willing to pay him enough to buy seed money for the next year. You got to be grateful at least your pa made him marry you.”

  “I know, Ma.”

  Only Etta wasn’t grateful she had been married to Buford Crabtree. The man had only been a few years shy of her father’s age. She often wondered if her pa had known Buford stayed drunk more than he stayed sober, and that he was a mean drunk. He wasn’t a good provider, either. He often beat her when he had been drinking, blaming her for making him angry. No matter what she did or didn’t do, she could not avoid his anger. Etta battled feeling guilty over the relief she felt now he was dead.

  “You heard from Jeffy?” Jefferson, her brother two years her junior, had been named after the Confederate president. Etta knew he had left home about the time Cal had married Annalee to farm himself out to someone who could use hired help.

  “No, he don’t write. And it’s best you don’t bring up mention of your brother around Cal. He still blames not having Jeffy’s help for the problems he has making this farm pay well. Too many worthless mouths to feed, he claims, and now we have you. The first beau your sister Ginny takes a shine to, my guess is Cal will have them to the preacher before they know it.” Mary nodded towards Etta’s left hand. “What happened there?”

  “Buford’s last gift before he left the night he got himself stabbed behind the saloon. Blamed me for not making a good supper, even though I did the best I could, seeing as how he didn’t give me no money to buy much. Slammed my fingers in the door on purpose. Think two of them got broke. I wrapped them all real tight, just in case.”