Winter's Refuge
Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Seven
HEYES
Me and the Kid met the early stage on Thursday morning. I had done all I could on hiring a contractor by mail and telegraph. I wanted to meet with her and hear the commitment and the passion in her voice. I found her by answering an ad she had placed in Mike Loveland's newspaper. It read "Parrish Construction. We specialize in private homes designed to meet your needs at a reasonable price. K.T. Parrish, Contractor."
I telegraphed the specifications for Lom's house and got the tentative plans in the mail. And they were perfect with some small touches that made them unique, like a picture window in the smaller bedroom with a comfortable window seat with storage. I had no idea she was a woman at this point. I telegraphed her about two small changes that her plans had inspired. When the revised plans arrived, the accompanying letter was signed Kimberly Teresa Parrish. She asked that I please be open to hiring her, even though she was a woman. I did. Now we were about to meet her in person.
I don't know what I expected her to look like. I'd seen a few women doing men's jobs that tried to dress similar to men to be accepted. That seldom works. K.T. didn't. She wore a sensible dark blue skirt out of sturdy material, a white blouse, and a waist length jacket of the same dark blue fabric. She looked professional and cute. She was barely five feet tall with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.
She looked around when the driver helped her out of the stage. Me and the Kid headed to meet her, but Dr. Crehan greeted her first.
"Miss, may I help you?" he asked.
"I think Miss Parrish was looking for us," I said from a few feet away.
Crehan didn't take his eyes off of her. "Miss Parrish," he said, formally taking off his hat and bowing slightly. "Elmer Crehan, doctor, at your service."
She was plain looking until she smiled. Her smile made her long face round and was reflected in her brown eyes. "Kimberly Parrish, contractor," she answered.
"Miss Parrish is the contractor for a new house at Phoenix. She's in town today to finalize the plans," the Kid said, studying Crehan. It was plain to see he was smitten with the woman. "We got to get to Phoenix and show her around. She's leaving on the four o'clock stage."
I don't think the doctor heard the Kid at all. As he stood there with his hat in his hand, he extended his hand to her and said, "It's been a pleasure to meet you, Miss Parrish."
We found out from Aiden later that Crehan had stood watching our buggy leave town. Aiden and Frank knew what she was, but Crehan hadn't understood that she was our contractor. That was a man's profession in his eastern viewpoint. When they made it clear to him, he simply said, "I love western women."
ASJ*ASJ
As we pulled onto Curry Road, I pointed out the area we had set aside for the warehouse, right next to Ken's Boot Emporium.
"Do they also make women's boots? I have been looking for a pair sturdy enough to wear on job sites," Miss Parrish wondered.
"Ken Josephs can make any kind of boots in any size," the Kid bragged. "If you're serious, we can stop there before you leave."
ASJ*ASJ
Miss Parrish, or KT as she had asked us to call her, walked the area where Lom had proposed his house be built. "I think if we move it back twenty to thirty feet, Mr. Trevors would have more privacy. Does he own enough land here?" she asked.
"Move it back if you think that would be better. This is our land. We're renting it to him, so Phoenix stays whole," I told her.
Taking a watch out of a pocket in her skirt, she said, "I've seen all I need to see. I can start in a week. Should take less than four weeks to construct both the house and warehouse. I have my own team but will need to supplement from local talent. Can you suggest a few men looking for work?" Without waiting for an answer, she added, "And I have time to visit your bootmaker."
ASJ*ASJ
We were early getting back to Three Birds and me and the Kid thought we'd take her for an early supper, but that plan changed when Dr. Crehan met our buggy.
He put out his hand to help Miss Parrish down. "Miss Parrish, would you do me the honor of allowing me to take you to an early supper before your stage leaves? I would love to hear how a woman got into construction." His words were serious and earnest.
"The honor would be mine, Dr. Crehan," she answered.
JED 'KID' CURRY
"Oh yeah, and Aiden says he wants some time to talk at the meetin'," I told Heyes as he was preparin' the agenda for the Town Council Meetin' tonight.
"What about?" Heyes asked.
"He didn't say."
Heyes got a put upon expression on his face. "Then how am I supposed to know how much time to give him on the schedule?" he huffed at me.
"Give him ten minutes and I'll tell him before he starts," I answered. Heyes is fastidious about the agenda and the minutes of the meetin'. That's a good word for it, but I'll never call him that to his face. He's just tryin' to help me with all this, but I always remind him that we took the position as head of the Town Council together as partners.
ASJ*ASJ
"Father Patrick, you have four minutes left," said Palmer Robinson. He'd become our unappointed timekeeper. "If you have anything else besides getting more land for the cemetery, you'd better bring it up now."
Father was flustered at the demandin' tone Palmer used. I'll talk to him about it after the meetin'. If we don't stick strictly to the schedule, it's no calamity.
"Well, we agreed at our last meeting to invite Mason's Crescent to our church social. Now I'd like to propose inviting the people of Mallard Springs also. Some of them were in Three Birds last week and saw the posters. They're willing to bring food and help with set up or take down or whatever else might be needed. I think they want to make amends." Father Patrick spoke very quickly, and I know he was thinking of that four minutes he had left. The council discussion burst into an argumentative discussion.
Sittin' next to Heyes, I just listened while he tried to take notes of what was bein' said, then yelled. That's when I stood up and in a strong voice, yelled, "Attention please. Quiet. There's been a lot of discussin' on this so I'm callin' for a vote. All in favor?" I saw Heyes count the hands. "All opposed?" Again, my partner counted the votes. I looked at his paper.
"It's a tie and Heyes says he's abstainin' so I guess I get to decide. I heard both sides of what was said just now, and you both have points. I think I'm gonna vote with Father Patrick and say we forgive Mallard Springs and invite them, but not forgot they wouldn't come to help us after the tornado. If this works out, we will forget in time anyway."
There was grumblin' but no objections. Aiden coughed to get my attention. "Dr. Arden, you have the floor," I said.
Aiden stood. I admire how comfortable he is talkin' to groups of people. "Good evening, gentlemen and Miss Beverly. I want to talk to you about smallpox vaccines for the town."
"You want to give us smallpox?" Robinson asked.
"No, this is a shot that will STOP you from getting smallpox. Dr. Crehan and Mr. Maday brought this suggestion from the east and I had them order a supply for Three Birds," Aiden stated.
Leo White, our new undertaker that took over for his uncle, Mr. Dwyer, when he passed hadn't talked much in these meetin's but now spoke up strongly. "That's not for me or my family. That's Indian mumble jumble from Maday's Indian wife. Not anything that a white man needs…or wants."
"No, this is hard science, fully researched. It's been written up in the medical journals. It's safe," argued Aiden.
I could see his frustration, so I said, "Count the Curry family in on those vaccines," I said loudly.
"And the Heyes family, too," my partner added.
"And Frank, Junior, and me," Miss Beverly told the group, and her husband nodded his agreement.
"I'll sign up for that," Father said.
"Me, too," Jeff said, and his brother Gabe, chimed in, "Me, too. And the rest of the Birde family."
But that was all from that meetin' that agreed to the smallpox vaccine and Aiden was disappointed. When he and Maday came out to the ranch the next day, we lined up for our shots and Auntie, Vince, and Rocky, Stephanie and Steven all joined us.
Juan objected to the shot for him and his family. When he rode out to fix fences, Hortencia and their boys came over and got their shot.
"Thanks, Jed and Heyes. This is really a good idea. Imagine just a shot and you won't get smallpox if it comes this way. I don't understand why everyone didn't jump at it," Aiden said as I walked him and Maday to their buggy. "Arnie and Eleanor and her mother came over today and I vaccinated them."
Heyes overheard. "It's new and different and some people have trouble accepting change," he said.
HEYES
The social life at Phoenix was limited, but Stephanie and Steven arrived when we were making plans for our first neighborhood church social. Father Patrick had listened to my suggestion and agreed that more get togethers were needed. Angie was ecstatic when she heard and immediately volunteered to help organize it. All the ladies' free time went toward planning for the social…and they enlisted us to distribute flyers. There was one posted at the school and the kids were told to tell their parents. There were two flyers in the mercantile windows, and Gabe and Jeff reminded each customer about it. Father Patrick mentioned it in church on Sunday. And at the last Town Council Meeting he suggested including Mallard Springs. The Kid's been busy with his special orders at the blacksmith shop and the town council depends on him for almost everything. So, I took Rocky and Steven with me to bring flyers to Mason's Crescent and the outlying ranches and farms.
"Wow, I didn't know there were places even smaller than Three Birds," Steven commented as we rode in. He was not used to riding horses and I knew that his bottom must be starting to hurt, even though he was on Spring's Promise with the smoothest gait of any of our horses.
Rocky looked at his brother. "Really, Steve? We grew up in a town no bigger than Mason's Crescent or have you forgotten?" There was an accusation in his tone. I know there had been some friction in the last week with Steven throwing the things about his life in Cheyenne out to Rocky. Rocky had become quiet in response. But I could tell that today, he'd had enough.
Steven turned in his saddle and almost lost his balance.
"Obviously riding horses was not one of the advantages you had in Cheyenne," Rocky snapped at his brother. And I thought of how Rocky was afraid of the horses when he first came to Phoenix.
I didn't like this conversation. "Let's tie our horses here by the church. There's a trough here where we can give them water. We can walk down to the mercantile."
The brothers followed me in silence and pulled up to the rail. But Steven didn't dismount and there was a look on his face that took me a moment to understand. His bottom was so sore, he wasn't sure how to get off of Spring's Promise. "Rocky, help your brother dismount."
Both boys looked at me. Rocky understood what I was doing and gave me a nod. Steven's look was defiant. But the older brother showed his growing maturity. He stood near Spring's Promise and held his reins. "Steve, your bottom must hurt. You'll feel better once you're standing on the ground. Let me balance you," Rocky said. There was no accusation in his tone, only a willingness to help.
And the younger brother responded and slowly lowered himself to the ground, with his brother's help. He smiled at Rocky. "You're right, Cheyenne has nothing to compare to the Phoenix horses we get to ride."
The Mason's Crescent Mercantile was small, but while I was talking to the clerk about our church social, I let them pick out a few penny candies. Both discussed the pros and cons of each candy before making their choices and all was fine between them. And Steven never bragged about Cheyenne again…at least not that I heard.
ASJ*ASJ
Rocky had been to some of the small ranches and farms before delivering things they had repaired in the blacksmith shop. He had the restriction that he can't leave Phoenix without either me or the Kid, but Steven doesn't need to know that. Word of the social traveled fast and before we left the mercantile; the ladies of Mason's Creek were waiting for us outside the door. They were very excited and were all talking at once telling me what food they wanted to bring, and could they come early and more I couldn't keep track of.
And not all the ladies were old. The younger girls were smiling at Rocky and Steven. When the boys realized that, they blushed and melted back into the mercantile. I gave the ladies a few flyers and told them I had to be on my way. They closed in a circle still talking excitedly about the social.
Rocky and Steven were waiting by the horses, standing by the side of the church building so they couldn't be seen. I smiled at them. "Some of those girls were real cute," I said, not commenting on Rocky helping his brother onto his horse. "You could have told them you'd see them at the social."
Rocky blushed. "They sure were. But none of them would want to dance with an ex-convict on parole," he said, looking away from me. "You don't understand."
"I don't understand?" I answered. "I DON'T?"
Rocky pulled his horse to a stop next to me. "When you got out of prison you were still Hannibal Heyes, leader of the Devil's Hole Gang. You had Phoenix to come home to."
I reached down and pulled the reins of his horse, so he had to look at me. "Prison broke me, my body and my mind. I was whipped so many times I can't count. I couldn't talk, couldn't form words, I was terrified of everyone and everything except the Kid. I called him sir at first. It took me months before I could write words on a chalkboard, words, not sentences, and not often coherent thoughts. I still lose my ability to talk when I'm stressed after all this time. I was so skinny that the Kid had to force me to eat. And always, I was scared.
"Chrissy's trustee bought Phoenix as a rundown, abandoned ranch that just happened to have a blacksmith shop. The Kid ever tell you where he learned to be a blacksmith and the lashes it cost him? Well, ask him sometime. He and Chrissy, mostly the Kid, built this place from almost nothing and by the time I got out of prison, EIGHT months after he did because I kept messing up, I had a place to come and heal. That took a long time, and I thought I'd never find a woman to love who knew what I was, what I had gone through. And then on a trip to North Dakota, I met Angie. I was afraid to talk to her, or even hope that she'd talk to me. And it led to this life because I did take a chance; I was healed enough to take a chance.
"Prison did NOT break you, Rocky. Dr. Arden and Matt McWinters watched over a young boy they thought didn't belong in prison. Sure, you're on parole, but that doesn't mean you can't talk to a girl or two…or three. Remember that and don't ever tell me or the Kid we wouldn't understand about being in prison!" I was out of breath when I finished. He made me mad, but I had cooled down by the time I finished.
Rocky looked chagrined. Steven was staring at me in amazement. "I'm sorry, Mr. Heyes, I wasn't thinking," Rocky apologized, but I could see there was something on his mind so waited before we moved on. "Maybe I shouldn't be asking this, but what happened to him in prison that made Mr. Curry think he weren't worth anything to anybody?" he asked.
"That's something you need to ask him about, not me," I answered. "Come on, let's go. We have a ranch and three farms to stop at on our way back."