Lou's POV
Buck and Noah had been gone for three days, Kid for five. Teaspoon had to call in some additional riders; Jimmy, Cody, and Ike were about to drop from sheer exhaustion from having to cover their rides plus four other riders. I felt bad that I couldn't pull my weight anymore, so Rachel tried to keep me busy, teaching me to cook, sew, and knit. She also kept me busy cleaning. That was all well and good but it did nothing to keep my mind busy. I was about to go mad being stuck inside doing woman's work, Rachel must have known this, because she just came in and told me we were going to Tompkins' store.
"But we're good on supplies." I said confused, that was the only time we ever went in there was to get supplies. "We're not going for supplies. We're going to get material to make you some clothes. I don't mind you borrowing mine, but we don't exactly have the same figure and your dresses are too nice for everyday wear." Rachel said. I knew she had a point but I really hated the idea. I missed my pants.
We walked into Tompkins' general store. "Morning Rachel, Lou." Tompkins said when he saw us. It hadn't even registered that Tompkins had called me Lou until Rachel said, "You mean Louise dontcha." "Right" was all Tompkins said. I looked at him in shock, he was grinning. "You knew?" Tompkins laughed, "Of course I did, what did you take me for an old fool?" I shook my head, "Why didn't you say anything?" Tompkins shrugged, "Weren't any of my business how you dressed. So what's it going to be Rachel, it's not your normal supply day." Rachel smiled, "We're not here for supplies. We are here to get material to make Lou some new clothes." "Well I've got some real nice material right over here." Tompkins said walking toward the fabric table.
After about an hour in his store we left with enough material to make me a dress, four shirts, three skirts, and a riding skirt. I told Rachel I could wear my pants to go riding but she wouldn't hear of it. We also bought me some new underthings. I couldn't exactly wear long johns with a skirt. I felt embarrassed to be buying those from Tompkins but he didn't have any suitable material for unmentionables. I drew the line at a corset though. I absolutely refused to buy one of those. I had never worn a corset and I had no intention of starting now. Besides it wasn't like I really needed one for support.
Once we got back to the house Rachel helped me cut out the fabric for the riding skirt first. I think she knew I was dying to go for a ride. Ike, Jimmy, and Cody came in for lunch right about the time I stabbed my finger with a needle for the hundredth time. I let out a string of curses that no 'lady' should know. This of course caused them all a good laugh and for me to get scolded by Rachel. She said that if I was going to be a girl from now on I had to quit talking like one of the boys. I muttered under my breath while Rachel went to put the food on the table. Being a girl was no fun at all.
Ike put his arm around my shoulder and gave me a look that said he understood. "It's not all that bad Lou, once everything cools down you can dress how you want again." Cody said sitting down at the table with a grateful sigh. Rachel had cooked lunch today. The poor boys were about to starve from having to eat my cooking yesterday. "You know Lou if you want to get back at Kid for us you know for making us work like dogs the past few days. You could always feed him one of your meals." Jimmy said teasing me. I glared at him as the others, including Rachel, laughed. "Oh come on its not that bad. Is it?" I asked. The guys just looked at each other. "Great, I'm hopeless." I muttered. "No, you just need more practice is all. You don't become a good cook overnight. And you've only been attempting to cook for a couple of days. You'll learn." Rachel assured me.
Personally I hoped I did better in the kitchen than I was doing on my riding skirt. I had already had to rip out stitches five times. At this rate I wouldn't have a riding skirt for a month. After lunch the boys left to do their chores and I helped Rachel clean up. Afterwards she showed me what I had been doing wrong with my sewing. With her help I had it almost finished by bedtime.
The next morning I cooked breakfast and managed to only burn myself twice and only one of the flapjacks. After breakfast Rachel helped me make an apple pie for dessert. While it was cooking we finished up my riding skirt. I was thrilled; I could go for a ride now. I was also thrilled when we pulled my pie from the oven and it was perfect. We put it on the windowsill to cool and I went to change into my new skirt.
I was out the door and in the barn saddling lightning in a matter of minutes. I tried to think of where I could go for a ride. Dressed as a woman, it wasn't safe to ride alone on the open prairie, so I settled for a ride to see Emily. A little while later I was riding into her yard, she was just coming out of the barn when I stopped and dismounted, tying my horse to the hitching post.
"Hey Lou what brings you by today?" Emily asked walking up to me. I smiled, "I just needed to get out of the house. Rachel was driving me mad, keeping me inside doing woman's work." Emily grinned; she knew exactly how I felt. She was a woman after my own heart. "Well come on then. You can help me with some chores that aren't woman's work." I grinned. "We better get you a pair of pants first though." My grin widened as I followed her into her house.
Emily was a bit taller than me and a little heavier but with a belt and a couple of rolls to the pant legs I was good to go. I spent a better part of the day helping Emily muck out barn stalls; shoe her horse, and a number of other odd jobs. By the time I left I was filthy, tired, and completely satisfied with myself. This was the kind of work I enjoyed doing. It not only kept my hands busy, but it was hard enough work that I didn't have time to let my mind wander to where the boys were.
I made it back home just before supper. Rachel was furious. She had been worried sick when I hadn't come home for lunch or to help with dinner. When she saw how dirty I was she was livid. Teaspoon and the boys just laughed. They knew I would never be a real lady. I went and got cleaned up and then joined the others for dinner.
After the boys returned to the bunkhouse Rachel sat me down and had a little talk with me. She told me she understood how hard this was on me. But I had to at least try to behave like a proper girl. I had to think about the others, if someone from the company made the connection, they could still lose their jobs. Then my quitting and marrying Buck would be for nothing. I knew she was right and swore to try harder. I told her I just couldn't stop my mind wandering when I did woman's work. I was worried about the boys. Doing physical labor distracted me. So Rachel came up with the brilliant idea that I should do the gardening if I was looking for physical labor and that was the one thing I could do that wasn't considered man's work. I knew what I would be doing in the morning.
So the next morning after breakfast I got to work in the garden and Rachel sat down on the porch to watch as she worked on sewing my new dress. She said it would be quicker if I just let her do it. I knew that was true, so she didn't get any arguments from me on that account, besides I hated sewing.
Shortly before lunch Rachel went back inside to take the roast she had put in the oven out. I went to the well and drew some water to wash up before she called us in. I had just poured a dipper full of water over my head when I heard the sounds of riders coming into the yard. I looked up to see Buck, Noah, and Kid. They were home.
I was just about to rush to greet them, when Rachel's words rang out in my head as to how a lady acted. So as ladylike as I possibly could be, I walked over to the boys to welcome then home. Noah looked over at me and bit his lower lip in an attempt to not laugh as he turned his head away. Kid wouldn't look at me. Buck quickly walked over to me taking his jacket off he put it around my shoulders. I gave him a questioning look; he leaned down and whispered in my ear. "Your shirt is wet and we can see right through it."
I looked down and blushed hotly, as I pulled Buck's jacket closed tighter. Maybe I should reconsider that corset. I pulled away from the boys and rushed inside to change shirts. Rachel was just coming outside when I rushed past her. I could hear her say to the boys, "What's the matter with Lou?" "Wardrobe malfunction" Noah said with a chuckle, and then I heard him grunt. I looked out my window to see him lying flat on his back looking up at Buck. Buck apparently had pulled him off his horse. I was so embarrassed; being a woman was harder than I thought.
Rachel came in my room a few minutes later to see if I was ok. I told her I was fine just embarrassed. I said I knew why woman wore so many layers of underclothes now. She laughed, "Yes they do serve a purpose other than to make us miserably hot." I chuckled, "Is Noah ok, it looked like he took a fall from his horse?" Rachel laughed, "He's fine, that horse just reared right up for no reason what so ever." We both chuckled over what Buck had done. After I was decent again we headed downstairs to lunch and the boys.