INSIDE THE front room was a desk, behind which a grizzly old man stood. “You want something, Missy?” he asked. “We got rooms, nice enough.”
“No. I’m looking for Rose Smith. A young woman who—”
“Doan have no Rose Smith registered.”
“She’s with Colonel Heffernan.” I near choked on the name.
“Oh, that one. Room 3D. You say you are?”
“Didn’t say, but she’s my sister.”
“Go on up the stairs. Right at the end of the hallway.”
I hurried up. Twenty-five minutes, Gabe had said. How long would it take to convince Sis Goose to come with me? Would I have to convince her? I made swift time down the hallway. Some of the doors were not marked, but there, at the end, was the room. It said 3D, but the D was hanging half off. The woodwork was dark, and although it was a bright day outside none of the brightness seemed to come in the one window at the end of the hall.
I clutched her blue velvet cloak against my breast and knocked on the door. Softly. There were footsteps inside and it opened a crack.
Through that crack I saw her familiar beautiful brown eyes, saw them go wide, heard her gasp, “Luli!”
The door creaked as it opened. I just stood there and she reached out for me and hugged me as if we’d never been parted. “Luli, what are you doing here? How did you find me?”
And then it came to her. “Gabe?”
“He’s downstairs. Outside, Sis. We came after you. We saw Heffernan go into the saloon down the street. We know we have only half an hour.”
“The saloon, yes. If he’s there, it’ll be more than half an hour. He told me he was going to see the old fort. Oh, Luli, why did you come?”
She almost wailed it. Sorrowfully.
“To bring you home. Come on now, there’s no time for questions. Get your things together. And here.” I held out the blue cloak. “Remember this? Gabe would like you to wear it.”
She whirled on me. Her eyes blazed. “Gabe! Does he think he still has the right to tell me what to do? I’m free now, and I’m not a little girl any longer.”
It took me by surprise, much as I feared it would happen. “Gabe loves you, Sis. He wants to get you away from Heffernan.”
She put the cloak around her shoulders in front of a dirty mirror. The room had a bed and a nightstand and a slop bucket. No rugs on the floor. Tattered lace curtains on the windows. I shuddered.
“Thank you for bringing this. Tell Mama that it’ll help cover my delicate condition. Remember we used to play at one of us being in a delicate condition?”
“Yes, I remember.” She showed, even with the cape on. Oh, what would I say to Gabe when she came down?
“How we laughed! Well, I can tell you, Luli, it’s nothing to laugh about. I’m carrying a baby, a real live baby.” Tears were in her eyes, and she drew the blue cloak over her tummy.
“Gabe’s baby,” I reminded her.
“Did you ever tell him?”
“No.”
She gasped. “Why?” She turned to me.
“Because I kept my promise to you. I owed you that.”
“And nobody else knows, either?”
“No.”
“My God. What would they all say?”
“It’s up to you to tell them, Sis. You wanted it that way.”
“My mother died having me. Do you think I’ll die, Luli?”
“No. Not if you come home with us and are properly cared for. Mama will get you a doctor.”
“The colonel says he knows how to deliver babies. Learned it in the army. Says he’s going to take care of me, Luli.”
“Why would you want to go with him?”
She turned to me. “He gave me freedom.”
“Then why did everyone we meet on the way here tell us you acted as if you didn’t want to be with him? One person said he had your hands tied.”
She looked out the window. “I can’t go back with you and Gabe, even if I wanted to. Heffernan says if I run off, he’ll find me and kill me. And my child. I don’t care for myself, Luli. But I care for my baby. Maybe with the third generation it’ll have some luck in the world.”
“Gabe will protect you,” I promised. “Always.”
“Oh?” She turned on me. “The way he protected me from the truth of my being free?”
“Sis, I did, too. We had to. And so did Mama and Pa. And you know how they love you.”
“But Gabe’s love was supposed to be different.” Tears came down her face and her chest heaved. She wiped her face with her hand. “Why didn’t he come up instead of sending you? Sent you to do his dirty work for him.”
“Sis.” I took a step toward her. “Because he saw Heffernan leave. Heard him say he’d be back in half an hour. Because he’s waiting for him. Come on, Sis, you can’t pretend that you don’t love Gabe. I know you. I know you do.”
“Of course I do! I love him and I hate him for what he did to me. But if it wasn’t for Heffernan’s threat to kill me, at least I’d go down and give Gabe what-for. Then I’d think about forgiving him. Now that isn’t possible.”
“Oh, Sis, come on with me, please. We can work all these other things out. Gabe loves you so much that I think he’ll die if you don’t come with us. And I want you, too. We all do. You know, Pa is dying. And he wants to see you again.”
That struck her. “Pa? Dying?”
“Yes. He’s going fast, too. Likely he’s lying there in his bed right now just waiting to see you first before he dies.”
I was being unfair, I knew it. But I had to use everything I had.
She bit her lower lip and dropped her eyes. “You’d better go. He may be back any minute.”
“I . . . can’t . . . go, Sis. Not without you.”
“You want Heffernan to shoot Gabe? He will, you know. He’s crazy enough. And he’ll shoot you, too. So go.”
“What’ll I tell Gabe?”
“Oh God. Tell him I love him. Tell him anything. That if he loves me and doesn’t want me to be killed, he’ll leave. That he’ll find someone else. Explain things to Pa and Mama. Tell them I’m sorry.”
She was ushering me from the room as she spoke. I was at the door. I took one last look at her. “I can shoot a gun, you know. And if you think Gabe is going to just leave on your say-so, then you’re crazy, too.”
She hugged me. “I’m going to keep the cloak, Luli. Thank you. Thank Gabe for coming. Tell him I’m happy.”
“You’re carrying his child!”
“Go, Luli, go. And don’t ever run off with a scoundrel.”