On the bright side, the privacy of having her own room allowed Ruth to begin to work on baby things like socks and caps and gowns. In the meantime though, she still had work to do on the blanket and she should get to know her host.

When her tears had dried up and she'd made herself presentable again, she found Señora Martinez sewing by the fire in the main room.

"Mind if I join you?" Ruth asked, holding up her own bag of knitting supplies. "I got some things to work on."

"Not at all, but I thought a religious person such as yourself would spend her time reading the Bible and in prayer."

"Well, I was doing some of that too," she said, patting the Bible she'd brought out. "But things don't make themselves. Work's got to be done. That's in the Bible too."

"I suppose it is."

"You and your husband were very kind to let us stay in your old home," she said as she got situated in the chair opposite Señora Martinez's. "And kind to open your home to me now."

She shrugged. "No big thing. It just sits there unused. And it isn't the first time I've helped my husband with his work."

"And he translated for me at the revival. That was nice too."

"So he said. I didn't make it because I was sick."

"I'm glad you're feeling better. Could be I'll get another one together before I'm on my way again."

Señora Martinez looked doubtful. "Señora Cole-" she began.

"Please, just call me, Sister Ruth."

"Very well, Sister Ruth. I could understand why your married name would cause you pain right now. Would I be thoughtless in reminding you that you could drop the case anytime you wish? It is better to put up with the weaknesses of one's husband than not. Families are the center of a woman's life after all, no?"

"It's more complicated than that. I really couldn't drop it."

Señora Martinez let it drop. They worked in silence for awhile until they heard a mewing outside the window.

"One of our pet cats," Señora Martinez explained. "She was the runt of the litter as a kitten and her mother rejected her. I kept her alive feeding her on goat's milk and keeping her warm by the stove and she thinks she belongs in the house now. She doesn't. She would shred the furniture to pieces."

Ruth was crying actual tears over what she'd just shared. At the thought of a mother rejecting an imperfect baby and the kindhearted action Señora Martinez had taken. It was a silly thing to cry over. She knew that with her head, but she couldn't control the overreaction. She hoped it wasn't going to be this way the whole pregnancy.

"I am sorry to upset you. Surely you knew animals sometimes do this. It is just the way nature works. The way God works, I suppose."

"No, I know. It's just with everything happening lately, I reckon. I really thought I was out of tears, but I guess not."

Señora Martinez accepted the explanation for her tears and Ruth continued to knit and Señora Martinez to sew.

"I think I could use a walk," Ruth said at last. She was making progress on the blanket slowly but surely. She'd gotten the second square done, 5 inches across and down. She just wasn't the knitting type, at least not the sit-and-knit-for-long-periods-of-time kind of knitter. She could knit pretty fast, but her inability to sit still for a long time handicapped her.

"If you must," Señora Martinez said, putting down her own things and standing up.

"You mean I can't even take a walk by myself?"

"Not if I intend on being a good chaperone and I do."

They might as well have made her a prisoner, Ruth thought. At least, she was allowed to feel the sunshine. She smiled, determining to make the best of it. "Well, I'll be glad for the company. It'll keep me from getting too down."

They took a walk through town and Ruth received a lot of looks, which wasn't so unusual. When you were known for faith healing and your husband known for being the fastest draw in the west, you got used to being looked at, but these looks were more unkind than that. And they didn't even know the half of it.

It was as she'd told Kid, keeping the annulment a secret was a joke, whether people were allowed to sit in on the proceedings or not. And as Señora Martinez had predicted, she was the one taking the brunt of the blame if those telling looks were to be believed.

"I'm ready to go back," Ruth said before they'd walked very far.

Señora Martinez looked sympathetic. "Of course."

Inside again, Ruth had the urge to throw the covers over her head and call it a day, but she had to eat for the baby's sake. "I'm used to eating earlier. Would you care over much if I had me a bite to eat and turned in early?"

"I imagine you have had a trying day. Come to the kitchen. Our cook is a young girl that lives here in town. She is not here yet, but I will find you something. I am sure there must be leftovers stored somewhere. I told my husband that we really need to consider having a cook live in. It makes it not convenient when you want to eat in between meals."

"Oh, don't go to any trouble on my account. I could wake up in time for dinner if need be."

"No, I insist," she said, her tone saying she really wouldn't take no for an answer.

Ruth followed her to the kitchen. She had a very nice stove. It was no wonder she'd left the box stove.

"Ah, yes, some arroz from lunch and bread," Señora Martinez said, pulling said items out. "Fortunately, Isabella always makes too much. She's used to fixing for a large family."

Ruth had gotten through lunch with no trouble, but she could tell from the way her stomach was revolting at the smell of the chicken broth the rice had obviously been cooked in that there was going to be trouble, but it would be rude not to eat. She spooned the rice onto the bread and took a bite with Señora Martinez watching.

It turned out to be a mistake to ignore the smell even for the sake of politeness. Fortunately, the kitchen door wasn't very far away and she ran outside to empty the contents of her stomach.

Her chaperone was on her heels. When she straightened back up, Señora Martinez felt her forehead with the back of her hand for fever and found the skin cool to the touch. "You're expecting," she concluded in a matter of fact tone.

A pregnancy was turning out to be harder to hide than Ruth had thought. It seemed all of Tucson was going to find out the joyous news before she left.

sss

Kid had on the gloves Ruth had knitted for him. It was as close as he could come to touching her. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine that it was her loving hands covering his.

He'd known this day was coming, maybe not so soon, but he'd known he was going to have to separate from her for her own good at some point. But that still hadn't prepared him for the loss and emptiness he felt at her absence.

Nitis looked amused and Kid quickly took them off. "I was just seeing if they fit. It'd be about like her to get it wrong."

Nitis said nothing only gave him a knowing smirk.

Kid was upset and that almost always manifested itself by giving him a short fuse. "You know how did I end up sharing a house with you anyway? You're Ruth's project, not mine."

"You tell your wife leave. I not able follow now. Must wait," Nitis answered in his stilted English as serious and somber as it was possible to be as if Kid really didn't realize how this situation had occurred.

He and Nitis had mostly avoided other since Ruth left. Kid had continued to work on his belt while Nitis had played a wooden flute until the simple melody he kept playing over and over felt engrained into his head. Nitis stopped only to eat the food that Kid had scrounged up, which meant more crackers and preserves and the leftover beans from lunch. Kid had seen the flute attached to his waist when they found him, but he hadn't taken it. Now he wished he had. A knock put a stop to the playing.

"Who is it this time of day? The sun's long set." Kid asked more to himself than Nitis. He secretly hoped it was Ruth, but of course, it wasn't. It was Señor Martinez. "Yeah?"

"You should be at the saloon."

"I should?" he asked with a contrary, defiant look.

"I mean, please, Señor Cole. If you want to build a good case, it is wise."

"When will all the court stuff begin?"

"Tomorrow. He saw the other case this afternoon and is already finished. He has other towns to go to. He will move as quickly as he can."

"Good. How's Sister Ruth?"

"For a man who so wants this, you do not act like a man ready to leave your wife."

"Can't a man care about what happens to a woman without being deeply in love with her? So how is she?"

"Resting when I went home for dinner. But my wife says she is very agreeable and not likely to be any trouble."

"No, she won't be any trouble. She can be downright charming when she's not being mulish."

"So you coming?"

Kid looked back. Nitis had hidden himself. He wouldn't mind getting away from the man's music and disagreeable looks for awhile. "Fine. Let's go."

Kid grabbed his coat and his gloves. The desert was a cold place at night. He could almost hear Nitis' smirking from his hidden spot. Outside Kid asked, "What is it exactly that you have in mind? Is this Father Eduardo at the saloon or something?"

"No. You'll just sit. Allow yourself to be seen with another woman. Let her sit on your lap. Kiss her a little bit. Think how many witnesses that will create."

He would be embarrassing Sister Ruth with such an action, not to mention himself, but if it would speed up the case, wasn't it worth it? No, Kid decided, he wasn't going to blacken his own soul even just a little bit to get this annulment. "That would be too much like cheating."

"You are very noble, Señor Cole. I guess you could only be seen going up to her room with her. It does not take much to make people talk. She will be one of the witnesses testifying. Her name is Lolita. She does not speak English, but I have explained to her that it is for show. She is smart enough that she will understand the change I am sure."

"Lolita," he repeated. "I can remember that. You'll have to point her out to me."

"You never did tell me why you and Señora Cole no longer wish to be married."

"That's cause it ain't any of your business." He realized he was being harsh towards the man going to such great lengths to help them and he adjusted his tone. "Listen, I appreciate everything you're doing. It's just some folks just ain't cut out for marriage. It's as simple as that. I'm one of them."

The saloon got kind of quiet when Kid entered. It almost always did as if they were afraid he would suddenly whip out his gun and blast them all.

One man wasn't in awe of him though. Mr. Via glared at him from where he was drinking at the bar. He got up and came over to him. "Men like you make me sick."

What was that supposed to mean, Kid wondered. Men who cheated on their wife? He didn't blame him for saying so as he felt the same way.

"You can bet if I'm called to testify, I will. You're trying to get out of paying her alimony, aren't you?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I've given her money to live on. It's got nothing to do with that."

"You still make me sick," he said, leaving the saloon on those words.

"That is the mujer," Señora Martinez said in a whisper. "In the purple dress."

The girl was nice to look at. Why she'd resorted to this lifestyle in a land where men outnumbered the women, he didn't know.

He went up to her. "You and I have a date."

She smiled in recognition.

He paid for her time to the grinning saloon owner. She understood what the exchange of money meant. He hated that his money was going in support of a vile practice, but it couldn't be helped.

They ascended the stairs together and she took him to her room. Door closed, she started to remove her dress. When he tried to move back, she grabbed a hold of the sleeve to his coat. Something had gotten lost in the lines of communication. Likely she thought he had decided he really wanted her company after all.

Since explaining was out of the question, he ran and escaped like Joseph, leaving his coat in her hands. He made the window his exit, so as not to undo the work done. Fortunately the small window was above the canopy roof. He only had to let go of the window sill and solid footing was just a few inches below his feet.

Hanging out of a window in the cold air without his coat likely wasn't going to do his consumption any good. Yep, he thought with his backside facing Tucson, he was real noble alright.