CHAPTER NINETEEN
The journey to Colorado Springs was uneventful and the party arrived towards the end of the second day of travelling. A number of people came out to look at the newcomers and it seemed to Hank that the town wasn't so small after all. It sure looked like there were plenty of men around, who would no doubt pay for his whiskey and the girls.
He drove up to the old bar now and halted the wagon outside.
"This is it?" said Clarice, wrinkling her nose.
"Yeah, this is it."
"Couldn't you've found a better place…?" she went on.
"Don't start," interrupted Hank, his attention switching to Murphy who had now appeared on the porch, a bottle in one hand and a gun in the other. He squinted up at them from blood-shot eyes and then lowered the gun again.
"It's you, is it?" he grunted.
"All packed up, are ya?" Hank said.
"Nah, but it won't take me long." He turned and went back into the building. "Ruby! Marie! Get yer things! We're movin' out!"
Hank jumped to the ground and lifted Clarice down from the wagon. Jake and a couple of other men approached then and helped the three girls down from the back. Hank grinned to himself as Lissy began flirting with the barber; she wasn't wasting any time and would doubtless make him plenty of money. He left them to it and walked into the bar. There were no customers and no whiskey or beer either, from the look of it. Murphy appeared to have used what he had and not bothered to restock.
The old man and his two middle-aged girls were gone an hour later and Hank looked through the rooms in the back of the building. There were three altogether, one large one which had apparently been Murphy's and one for each of the women. He moved his own things into the larger room, then allocated the others. Clarice and Lissy were to share and Myra and Suzannah to have the third until a home could be found for Suzannah and additional rooms built on. Clarice immediately began to complain about everything; it was cramped, it was dirty, she had to share a room, the town was in the middle of nowhere, there appeared to be nowhere to buy clothes, and on and on. Hank ignored her and went back out to the front of the building to deal with the wagon and the two horses.
"There's a small corral 'round the back," Jake advised him and led the way. "Ya got some good-lookin' girls," he commented.
Hank grinned. "Ya liked the look of Lissy?" he said.
"The one with the….?" Jake gestured with both hands to indicate large breasts. Hank snorted.
"What're ya gonna be chargin'?" asked Jake.
"Ain't figured that out yet. Ya can have her for free tonight if ya want, so long as ya give her a bed 'til mornin'; we're short on space." Anything to shut Clarice up.
"Ya serious?" Jake's face lit up.
"Yeah, I'll send her over to ya later. Where's Murphy get his supplies from?"
"Loren. Ya know the guy at the mercantile?"
"I'll pay him a visit tomorrow," Hank said, unharnessing the horse from the wagon and turning it into the small corral. Jake freed the other horse and closed the gate, then returned to his shop. When Hank went back into the building, Clarice was squabbling with Lissy and Myra and Suzannah had disappeared into the room allocated to them.
"Settle down, Clarice," he sighed. "Lissy, ya got a customer waitin' at the barber's shop. Get outta here."
"Sure, Hank." Lissy left immediately.
"Now ya got a room to yerself, at least for tonight," Hank said to Clarice. "So stop yer whinin'."
"It ain't just the room, it's the whole place. We're in the middle of nowhere! Where am I gonna get clothes? Who's gonna deliver the baby?" moaned Clarice.
"I guess ya can order clothes from the mercantile if they ain't got none in stock," Hank said. "The baby ain't comin' for months yet and when it does, there's plenty of women here to help ya."
Clarice opened her mouth, but was silenced by Hank's angry bark. "I don't wanna hear it! Nothin's ever good enough for ya! We're here now and if ya don't like it, it's too bad."
Clarice retreated to her room and stayed there for the rest of the night. There wasn't a great deal more that Hank could do and after a while, he too got an early night. In the morning he would get things moving on expanding the saloon and ordering in supplies.
Lissy returned just after eight o'clock the next day, boasting that Jake had given her a generous tip and she was going to the general store to spend it. Clarice, who had risen in a more pleasant frame of mind, immediately fell to sulking and Hank gave her some money to spend too, exasperated.
That morning he spent a good portion of his money buying lumber, nails, paint and ordering in new beds, whiskey, beer and bar snacks such as pickled eggs and gherkins and so on. Loren Bray pointed him in the direction of a couple of men who were looking for work and Hank employed them to start work immediately on the saloon and later that day, found two more unemployed ranchers who were handy with hammer and nails and took them on too.
Myra was sent back to Loren's store to buy food for everyone and she took to preparing meals as best she could with the limited supplies and facilities. A home was found for Suzannah on only the second day when Hank returned to Loren's store for some cigars. He mentioned to the storekeeper that he needed to find a home for a ten-year-old girl and another customer interrupted the conversation. George Barton, a man of around thirty, said that he and his wife had lost their little daughter to the grip the year before and as his wife was unable to have another child, both had resigned themselves to the fact that there would be no children in their life.
"She's a shy little thing," Hank said. "Well-behaved."
"Whose is she?"
"She's the sister of one of my employees."
"Perhaps you'd bring her to meet me and my wife," George said. "We live in the white cottage over there." He pointed from the doorway.
"Sure," Hank agreed. It looked as if one problem may have been solved.
He took Myra and Suzannah to meet the Bartons that afternoon and Mrs Barton loved the young girl on sight and was keen to take her away from the growing saloon. They agreed to send her to school, which at present was in the church and let Myra visit whenever she wanted to. When they returned to the saloon, Jake was hanging about outside eyeing Lissy who was sitting on the porch with Clarice, the pair apparently having got over their squabble.
Jake turned towards Hank at once. "What's Lissy doin' tonight?" he asked.
Hank grinned. "Liked her, did ya?"
"Ain't much in the way of pretty girls in this town," Jake admitted.
"Well, she costs money this time," Hank told him. "If ya want her for the night, it's five bucks. And give her supper and breakfast too."
"Five bucks?" echoed Jake.
"It'd be around that normally, only ya wouldn't get the whole night," said Hank.
"Alright," Jake agreed after only a brief hesitation.
And so there were only Clarice and Myra at the saloon that night. Clarice was still sulking and retired early, Myra following suit not long after. Hank stayed in the bar area for a while and then decided to go and talk to Clarice; see if he couldn't cheer her up. He tapped quietly on her door and opened it before she had the chance to reply.
"Want some company?" he asked.
"Not really. I ain't in the mood."
"What's wrong with ya?" Hank demanded.
"I'm pregnant, in case ya'd forgotten."
"Didn't make no difference last week when ya got paid for it!"
"Leave me alone!"
"Fine. I got better things to do." Hank backed out of the room and slammed the door. Were they ever going to get back on track? He leaned against the wall outside her door, angry, frustrated and lonely, thinking about the last few months with Clarice. When she wasn't so foul-tempered she could be amazing, but those episodes were getting few and far between.
'I ain't much good with advice, but I can listen.' Myra's voice came to mind. He had found himself telling her things without even realising it. After another moment he pushed himself away from the wall and went to her door. He slowly opened it a few inches and found the room in darkness except for the dim light coming in the window.
"Myra? You awake?" he whispered.
"Yes."
He stepped inside and closed the door quietly behind him. Myra sat up at once and wrapped her arms around her knees.
"Are ya alright, Hank?" she asked, sounding somewhat nervous.
"Yeah. Just want some company." Hank went to sit on the edge of the bed. "Clarice is drivin' me crazy," he said. "I thought she'd get better once we got here."
"Maybe she will when the buildin' work's all finished and we all got proper rooms," Myra said. "She's still gettin' sick too, I guess that ain't helpin'."
"Yeah, maybe. How about you?"
"I'm fine. I'm happy Suzannah has a good place to live."
Hank smiled and found himself relaxing. He continued chatting to Myra and an hour slipped by. She seemed so sweet and uncomplicated. He told her the story about how he won the saloon at poker and made her laugh and then suddenly he was leaning over to kiss her. He doubted she'd even been kissed before, but somehow her tentative and inexpert response was more exciting than if she'd had years of practise. He slid his arms around her and lowered her back onto the bed.
Myra was soft and yielding and made no protest to anything Hank did. Her only sound was a sudden cry of pain when he thrust into her, ignorant of how a woman's first time might be and therefore no less gentle than he would have been with Clarice.
"Sorry," she whispered and then remained silent until the end, holding onto him and gradually beginning to move with him, the rickety old bed creaking rhythmically beneath them.
Hank stayed there, his arms still around her until she fell asleep, then got up, quickly dressed and tiptoed out of the room and back to his own. He lay awake a while, doing his best not to compare Clarice and Myra, but finding himself doing it anyway. He wondered if Clarice would guess, but found it impossible to feel any guilt. She hadn't shown him much consideration so the hell with her. He rolled over, pulled the pillow over his head and fell asleep.
Hank got up early, went out back to the well and drew some water to wash up, then gave the horses some oats and water. By the time he went back inside Clarice was up.
"Hey," he said.
"'Mornin'. Sorry about last night. I feel better now," she told him.
"Good."
"I ain't sick today, so maybe I'm over that."
"I hope so." Hank pulled a cigar out and lit it, wishing he had some strong coffee to go with it.
"Hank, I ain't deaf, ya know," Clarice said suddenly.
"What?"
"I was wonderin' how long it'd take ya." She stepped closer to him. "Myra," she added. "Don't pretend ya don't know what I'm talkin' about."
"I ain't stupid," Hank muttered, suddenly feeling a pang of guilt which was quickly followed by annoyance. She seemed to think it was fine for her to carry on working, despite being with him and despite being pregnant. He scowled now, expecting her to explode at him, but he was surprised.
"It ain't important," she said with a shrug.
"Ya mean ya don't care?" he asked.
"No. It's just business." Her words were casual, but there was a peculiar look in her eyes he'd never seen before; one of hurt.
"Yeah, just business," he nodded.
Any further discussion was interrupted by the return of Lissy, who handed over her five dollars from Jake.
"He's keen, that one," she said with a giggle. "Been workin' out how many haircuts he's gotta do to have me back again."
"Here." Hank gave her two-fifty back and she went to talk to Clarice.
A few minutes later Myra appeared, looking extremely nervous. Hank quickly escaped outside, relieved at hearing the workmen arriving and hoping that Clarice wasn't going to give Myra a hard time. However, a little later he saw the three girls heading out towards the mercantile, arm in arm and all chattering together. He doubted he'd ever understand Clarice if he lived to be a hundred.
He was even more surprised that night when he found Clarice waiting for him in his room. He had barely got the door closed before she fell on him and proceeded to spend a good portion of the night making it clear she had got over whatever problems she had with him. When they eventually snuggled under the quilt together, exhausted, the last thing he heard before he fell asleep was Clarice saying she loved him.