Calico Christmas at Dry Creek

“Maybe Matthew could have gotten a job clerking in one of these places,” Elizabeth said looking down the length of the street. In her heart, though, she knew he would have refused to work for someone else. He would have given up. They would have been even poorer here than they had been back in Kansas. She would have had to take in laundry again and there would have been no one to watch the baby while she lifted the tubs of scalding water.

The laundry itself would have been difficult, too. No one seemed to be wearing simple clothes. The woman hurrying across the street in front of them was holding up skirts that showed lace-trimmed petticoats. Ruffles like that required a hot iron at the end of it all. And the skirt over the petticoats looked as if it was made of blue French serge. It would take extra brushing to keep the double weave looking nice. And no one wanted to pay extra for any of it.

A modest blue hat sat atop the woman’s brilliant copper hair. Elizabeth looked at the hair closely. The hair was so colorful she wondered, at first, if it had been dyed with henna. But surely the woman could not get those tones with the dye, so the hair must be natural. Elizabeth almost envied her until the woman lifted her head and finally saw Elizabeth and Jake. The woman glanced up with a vague smile, but as she looked fully at Jake, her expression turned to shock and then to an indignant frown. Elizabeth wondered if the woman was angry with them for some reason, but she hurried off before Elizabeth could ask Jake about her.

“I’ll send a note down to the reverend while we buy a few things at the store,” Jake said as he slowed the wagon.

Elizabeth forced her attention back to the man beside her. “Oh, you don’t need to do that—buy anything, I mean. Not for me.”

“You’ll still need things for the girls. Dresses and all.”

Elizabeth wondered if Jake knew how much things like that cost. A man who wore buckskin wasn’t likely to know how dear fabric was. If it was gingham or calico, the price might not be too bad. But a twill silk or French serge material was impossible. Still, it was nice of him to think of what they needed. It was more than Matthew had ever done. “I know how to get by. We won’t need much that’s store-bought.”

“I want the girls to look like ladies.”

“Surely they won’t need to—” Elizabeth stumbled when she saw she was giving offense. “Not because they’re Indian girls. That’s not what I meant.”

“They have white blood in them, too. Red Tail was half-white.”

“Of course. It’s just that they’re only girls.”

“I want them to have the best dresses possible. We’ll order from San Francisco if we have to.”

Elizabeth nodded. Now she’d gotten his pride involved. He was probably going to spend money on dresses that they should be saving for winter food. But she knew men well enough to know that she’d only make matters worse by continuing to press him on it. She would sew the dresses herself, of course, and she’d only pick out the cheaper fabrics. Maybe she could even use some of the muslin they had in the wagon. The bark of an oak tree made a light yellow dye that would set the muslin well and the girls wouldn’t even notice the material wasn’t store-bought.

“You should get a new dress, too,” Jake added. “Maybe something in a deep moss green to match your eyes.”

She didn’t have any dyes that went to a deep green. She had the leavings of some indigo that she could mix with wood ash to make black, but she’d have to buy bolted material to have any kind of a green. “I’d rather have some tea. And maybe a lid to cover my pan so I can steep it properly. “

Tea was cheaper and more to her liking than color-pressed fabric anyway. She’d had the luxury of real tea for a week or so now. A tin of it had been left on the seat of her wagon one morning with the hardtack. She hadn’t been able to brew it properly because she only had an open pan to hold it, but she’d enjoyed it immensely. Her conviction that she was dying had made her reckless and she’d used more of the tea than she had intended so she didn’t have much left.

Elizabeth felt Jake pull the wagon to a complete halt in front of a building with a large sign that read The Broadwater, Bubbel and Company Mercantile. The store was fronted by a small section of wooden walkway and she could look right into the windows. She had never seen so much merchandise, not even in any of the stores she’d gone to back in Kansas. She was glad she was still wearing her gray silk dress even though she didn’t have a proper hat to wear with it.

Jake jumped off the wagon and walked around to take the baby. He slipped the baby into his fur sling before reaching up with the other arm to offer Elizabeth help in stepping down from the wagon. Elizabeth was grateful for the assistance, more to impress anyone who might be watching them than because she needed the help. If they were going to do business in this town, Elizabeth wanted them to look respectable.

The warm smell of spices greeted Elizabeth when she walked through the door that Jake had opened for her. This time Elizabeth didn’t want to take any chances on unintentionally offending someone. She smiled at the woman behind the counter. She did not get a smile back. Spotted Fawn had not come in with them so Elizabeth wondered if it was the Indian baby that was causing the upset look in the woman’s eyes.

But that couldn’t be right, Elizabeth told herself. The furs covered the little one so completely that no one could even tell a baby rested in Jake’s arms. The woman was definitely staring at the furs, though. She must have been watching them through the windows.

“Good afternoon, Annabelle,” Jake said.

The woman did not answer. Her skin was flushed and her chin defiant. Her face looked kind, even if her eyes were braced for battle and focused on a spot to the right of the doorway. She was past middle-aged and some gray showed in the light brown hair she wore pulled back into a bun. Her white blouse was freshly pressed and her black wool skirt was proper.

Elizabeth thought the other woman wasn’t going to answer Jake, but finally she did.

“Good afternoon to you, as well.”

Only then did the woman meet Elizabeth’s eyes.

Elizabeth forced herself to smile. Even if the woman wouldn’t want to socialize with them for some reason, surely she would be polite. And, if Elizabeth were even more polite in return, the woman would need to continue answering back.

“You have a good store here. Your shelves are completely full. I see coffee and spices. Flour, too,” Elizabeth said. “You must be proud.”

The store looked well enough stocked to meet anyone’s needs. The front counters, showcase and shelves were a dark wood made shiny from repeated rubdowns. To the left, there was a tobacco cutter. Behind the woman there were tins of face powder and hand mirrors with matching brushes. A cracker barrel stood in front of the case. A few leather-bound books lay on the top of the counter.

Farther back, Elizabeth saw a tin of tea that was the same kind that had been left at her wagon. Beside it was a china teapot with lovely pink roses painted on its side.

“It’s not my store. I just clerk here,” the woman said stiffly.

“Still, you must make recommendations and I can’t think of anything your shelves are lacking.”

“We do have a good selection,” the woman admitted. By now her face looked pale as though she needed to force herself to stand by her words. “For our better customers.”

Elizabeth could see Jake’s jaw clench.

“I didn’t know you had different kinds of customers,” Jake said.

Annabelle was silent for a minute. “Your friends were here this morning, after you left.”

“Higgins and Wells?”

Annabelle looked miserable, but determined. “Our other customers complained.”

“I know they can be a little loud,” Jake said. “But I’ve never known them to mean anyone harm.”

The store clerk’s face tightened.

“I…ah—” Elizabeth tried to think of something to say to relieve the tension “—I am surprised to see such a fine store. Back in Kansas, we hadn’t expected to see something like this way out here. My husband would have—”

Elizabeth faltered to a stop, but then continued. “My husband wanted to own a store like this someday.”

Annabelle took her eyes off Jake and turned them toward Elizabeth. Something flickered in the woman’s eyes, but she didn’t say anything.

Jake looked at the shelves behind the counter and then turned to the clerk. “We need to buy a wedding ring.”

Oh, dear, Elizabeth thought. She was not sure she could marry another man who wanted to spend money so freely. She accepted that she would be the one responsible for providing most of the food and clothing. She had always had to do for herself and those around her. But cash money was hard to come by and she didn’t like to see it slip away no matter who had worked for it.

“I don’t need a new ring,” Elizabeth whispered as she leaned closer to Jake. She had no desire to embarrass him in front of the store clerk, but they needed to come to some understanding. “We can use the one I already have.”

“I won’t use your husband’s ring.”

Elizabeth watched as the clerk turned to look for something on the shelf behind the counter. Elizabeth figured the woman was giving them some privacy. She smoothed down the skirt of her dress.

“The ring was my mother’s,” Elizabeth murmured quietly. She’d been given it at her parents’ funeral and had kept it all the years since. Matthew had been relieved that he didn’t need to buy a ring for her. “And it’s an expense that we don’t need.”

Elizabeth watched Annabelle turn around and set a tray on the counter. The woman’s face softened slightly as she studied Elizabeth. “You’re that woman, aren’t you? The one out by the fort who lost her husband and baby?”

Elizabeth gave a jerky nod. So that was the problem. “The doctor says I’m past the time of getting the fever, though. You don’t need to worry.”