Cowboy Homecoming

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“You’d better not work on Sundays.”

As the meal progressed, they continued to make disparaging remarks, seeming to vie for the most indignant expression of outrage.

She could see Tolley clench his jaw as he struggled to control his temper, so she sent him a meaningful glare. He’d promised her he wouldn’t answer the others’ insults. They both needed to remember Mrs. Foster didn’t want to lose her boarders.

“Well!” Mrs. Runyan shot a cross look at Laurie and then Tolley. “At least you’ll be too busy to get into mischief.”

Mr. Parsley blinked and sputtered, clearly outdone. After a moment, he took his last bite of potato. “Miss Eberly, I do hope you have dessert for me. My room-and-board payment includes dessert after every supper.”

Laurie could hardly keep from rolling her eyes.

“Yes, of course, Mr. Parsley.” She stood and began to clear the empty plates. “It’ll only take a moment to whip the cream.”

She carried the stack of plates toward the kitchen and backed through the swinging door. But she couldn’t miss his comment. “Don’t take too long. You should have—”

She let the door swing closed, cutting off the rest of his complaint. Taking the cold bowl of cream from the icebox, she whipped it vigorously with Mrs. Foster’s new rotary eggbeater, taking out her annoyance on the hapless liquid. This wasn’t funny anymore. Pleasing these grumpy boarders seemed impossible. Only Tolley’s presence kept her calm.

* * *

“What do you think?” Early Saturday morning, Tolley stood inside the small room, Adam at his side as he considered the layout of the bathroom. “Any ideas about where to start?” He already had his own plans but wanted to hear the younger man’s opinions.

“Seems your water pipes will need to come up about here.” Adam pointed to a spot a few feet from the west window and close to the small cast-iron stove. “Drainage over there.” He indicated another spot close to the same wall. “And the vent pipe directly above it.”

“We should take out this west window and board up the hole. Otherwise, it’ll be pretty cold in here for bathing.”

“No, you don’t.” Laurie appeared in the doorway. “We need the ventilation.”

Tolley shook his head. “There’s your ventilation.” He pointed to the open north window, where frilly white curtains fluttered in the breeze. “That’ll be enough. In the winter, the cross breeze would freeze the water in the fixtures.”

“Cross ventilation works better to keep mildew from forming.”

Tolley looked at Adam for support.

Adam shrugged. “Don’t suppose the window needs to be boarded up. That woodstove should keep it warm enough.”

Laurie gave Tolley a triumphant smile.

“Aren’t you supposed to be fixing breakfast?” His stomach had growled for a good half hour.

“It’s in the oven and will be ready at eight o’clock sharp.” Another triumphant smile.

Something kicked up inside of Tolley’s chest. She looked awful cute when she smiled that way, with that sassy dimple making a rare appearance. If she kept on looking at him, he might just give her whatever she wanted. Except he’d built a house and a high school and knew far more than she did about such things. He pulled out his pocket watch.

“My, my, look at the time.” He showed her the timepiece, which read seven fifty-seven. “This is set to railroad time.”

“Oh! I thought—” She hurried from the room.

Adam appeared to hide a chuckle, then sobered. “Mr. Northam, do you mind if I make a suggestion?”

“You have some advice for dealing with females?”

Now Adam laughed out loud. “No, sir. I don’t know nothing...anything...about females. But I did help out a bit over at the hotel when they were putting in the washrooms.”

“Ah, very good.” Tolley looked at the youth with a new appreciation. “What’s your suggestion?”

“First, you gotta make sure the structure can bear the weight of a water-filled tub.” He waved a hand over the bare floor. “We should probably pull up a board or two and check the strength of the wood underneath.”

Tolley nodded. The idea made sense. “Shall we get started?”

“I wish I could, sir.” Adam shook his head. “This being Saturday, lots of folks come into town, so Mr. Russell needs me over at the livery stable.” He cast a worried look at Tolley. “I can help on Monday...unless you want to find someone else to work for you today?”

Tolley clapped him on the shoulder. “Nope. I’ll need your experience, so I can wait until Monday.”

“Thank you, sir.” The relief on Adam’s face touched something deep inside of Tolley. Maybe this project wasn’t only about helping Mrs. Foster.

Later, as Tolley sat at the desk in his room sketching possible layouts for the bathroom fixtures, a knock sounded on his door.

“Tolley, Rosamond and Garrick came to see you,” Laurie called. “They’re downstairs.”

Rosamond! His family hadn’t entirely deserted him. “I’ll be right down.”

He quickly donned his suit jacket, mainly to look good for his always well-dressed English brother-in-law, and started for the door. On a whim, he grabbed the sketches. Maybe Garrick could give him some advice about adapting the room.

Halfway down the stairs, another thought struck him. Had they come with news of the Colonel? Had his father died?

“Tolley!” Rosamond rushed into his arms and held him fast.

As he enfolded her in a firm embrace, his sketches fluttered to the floor.

Over her shoulder Garrick wore an unreadable expression. But then, he was English, so most of his expressions were unreadable.

Tolley squeezed his sister before moving her back to arm’s length. “I-it’s good to see you, sis. What brings you here?” He stilled his racing heart, preparing for bad news.

“Tolley, we’ve all been so taken up with Father’s illness.” She wiped away tears. “He’s doing as well as can be expected. But this morning as we were getting ready to move back to the hotel, I realized how we’d barely acknowledged your homecoming.” She hugged him again. “I’m so sorry. I’ve missed you terribly. We all have, especially Mother. She sends her love.”

He patted her back and swallowed the unexpected riot of emotions her words caused. So the Colonel still lived, thank the Lord. And Mother hadn’t entirely forgotten Tolley. “Thanks. Did the family get word about Mrs. Foster’s fall?” He needed to move to a safer topic so he wouldn’t break down in front of Garrick. Or Laurie, who stood nearby. He didn’t mind her being here, but a man had his pride when it came to emotional matters, especially in front of other people.

“Yes, Doc told us.” Rosamond moved to Garrick’s side. “We’d like to see her, if she’s well enough.”

Doubt crowded out his growing joy. They’d come to visit Mrs. Foster, not him.

“I’ll go check.” Laurie skipped up the stairs, her light footfalls as dainty as any Boston belle’s.

At least Tolley could count on her friendship, even if he did have to put up with her prickliness.

“I say, old man.” Garrick clapped him on the shoulder. “What’ve you done with yourself these past few days?” He picked up the sketches and gave them a cursory glance before handing them to Tolley. “Building something?”

“Yes. An upstairs bathroom.” As much as he wanted to feign indifference, Tolley couldn’t keep the eagerness from his voice.

“Absolutely brilliant.” Garrick inspected the pages.

Rosamond moved to Tolley’s other side and did the same. “How exciting. Tell us all about it.”

“Laurie and I—” he paused, savoring for a moment the partnership they’d formed to take care of the elderly lady “—we think it’s ridiculous for our Mrs. Foster to carry water upstairs any longer, so we decided to turn the smallest bedroom into a bathroom.”

“Oh, Tolley.” Rosamond’s eyes filled with tears, and she gripped his arm and gazed up at him with sisterly admiration that brought a homesick ache to his heart. “How good of you.”

He gulped. “I have to do something to fill my time before my law practice picks up.”

“Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.” Garrick continued to study the drawings. “Where did you plan to get the fixtures?”

“Mrs. Winsted’s Montgomery Ward catalogue has tubs and sinks for sale. Not sure about the commode.”

Rosamond grinned at Garrick, and he nodded.

“Well, old boy, you don’t want to wait for a delivery from Chicago. We have the items you need in our hotel storeroom.”

“Do you mean it?” Tolley laughed in surprise. “Why, we can have the whole thing installed within weeks.”

“That’s very generous.” Smiling, Laurie descended the staircase. “I know Mrs. Foster will be pleased. By the way, she’s waiting for you both to visit.”

“Very good.” Rosamond’s voice held a hint of her husband’s English accent. “Let’s go.”