The Dreammaker

Kaitlin pumped water into a wooden bucket. She’d known questions of this nature would come up. “Business partners. Strictly business.”

“That’s right.” Tripp’s voice sounded from the doorway.

He walked into the kitchen carrying another crate. Rafe followed him inside.

“We’re just running the store together,” Tripp said. “That’s all.”

“Papa?” Charlie pulled on Tripp’s trouser leg. “How come ladies’ underwear has bows on it?”

A stunned silence fell. All eyes riveted Tripp.

He gulped. “What?”

“See?” Charlie pointed into the bedroom. “Miss Kaitlin’s underwear has pink bows. How come?”

Without wanting to, Tripp gazed into her room at the white garments piled in the middle of the bed. Soft, delicate, womanly things.

“Uh, well, uh…” Tripp pulled at his shirt collar. “We’ll talk about that later.”

Tripp took Charlie’s hand and hurried out the door, Rafe on his heels.

Over the next several hours they unloaded the wagon, cleaned the upstairs bedroom and moved the furniture in, a bureau and washstand, a small bed in one corner, a double across the room. The kitchen was half done when hunger overcame everyone and they went next door to Julia’s to eat.

The back room was small but cozy, with a lace tablecloth, fresh flowers, and the delicious smell of roasted chicken in the air. They settled around the table.

“When do you think you’ll open the store?” Julia asked as she passed the biscuits.

“Don’t know, exactly.” Tripp spooned peas onto Charlie’s plate, then took some for himself. “I have to do some figuring on that.”

“Well, it can’t be soon enough to suit me,” Julia said. “I’m so glad you’re here. Porter needs another store—and a lot of other things.”

Rafe shook his head. “I don’t know. Some townsfolk were glad when the railroad changed its mind and didn’t come through here. Didn’t like the notion of all those new people coming in. You never know what kind of folks you’ll get.”

“I think it would have been good for Porter,” Julia said. “It certainly would have helped my business.”

Rafe chuckled. “I guess if the railroad had come through town, you two wouldn’t have ended up with old man Finch’s store.”

Kaitlin and Tripp glanced at each other across the table.

“I wonder if he sold his other property here in town?” Rafe asked. “He owned a lot of land.”

“Good riddance to him, I say. A grumpier, more hateful old man I’ve never met.” Julia nodded. “Mr. Finch hasn’t been back to Porter in months. I hope he’s gone forever.”

“He’ll be mighty surprised if he comes back and sees how well our store is doing.” Kaitlin nodded confidently.

“We’ll have to see how things go.” Tripp looked down at Charlie beside him. “Eat your vegetables, son.”

“Things will go well,” Kaitlin said. “I just know it.”

“Well,” Tripp said, “we’ll have to see.”

They finished supper, and while Kaitlin and Julia cleaned the kitchen, Tripp and Rafe went outside to check on the horses.

“Come on, Charlie,” Tripp called from the door.

The boy rubbed his eyes and slid down from the kitchen chair.

“Charlie can stay with us,” Kaitlin said.

Tripp shook his head. “No. Charlie stays with me. Come on, son.”

Julia followed the boy to the door and closed her hand over Rafe’s arm. “You won’t be out late, will you?”

He eased her fingers away. “I’ll be back in a while.”

The men went outside, with Charlie running ahead of them. It was dark now, with only lanterns from the back windows of the shops to light the way.

Rafe stopped a short distance down the boardwalk. “I ought to apologize for Julia.”

“Apologize for what? She seems like a nice woman, a good wife.”

Rafe shook his head. “She’s pretty headstrong, if you get my meaning.”

He’d never known a woman more headstrong than Kaitlin Jeffers, but didn’t think that was exactly what Rafe meant.

“Damn…” Rafe hesitated to speak, and shoved his hands in his pockets. “Julia just won’t keep her hands off of me. You know what I’m saying?”

Tripp’s gut tightened. “What?”

“Every time I turn around, there she is. Every morning. Every evening. Every time I get near her, she’s wanting to—Well, you know.” The man blushed.

Tripp’s mouth went dry. “Every time?”

“Every time.” Rafe sighed heavily. “But I’ve got a business to run. I’m at the livery before dawn, and most times I work straight through until after dark. You know what I’m saying, don’t you? I mean, seeing that you’ve got little Charlie, you must have been married once. Did you have this problem?”

Hell no, he hadn’t had this problem. In fact, he didn’t even understand why Rafe considered it a problem.

“So you don’t like making love to your wife?” Tripp asked.

“No, it’s not that.” Rafe shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe what that woman does to get me into bed with her. Why, just this morning I was trying to shave and here she came. Took my shaving soap, and before I knew what was happening, she had her top off and the lather all over her.”

Tripp gulped. “Shaving soap?”

“I told her I had to go to work.” Rafe grunted. “She needs to realize I haven’t got time for that stuff.”

Tripp’s jaw sagged. “You mean you didn’t…?”

“That’s the last thing I need, coming in to work late. Shoot, my brothers give me hell about Julia as it is.” Rafe nodded solemnly. “Lucky you’ve got a business partner and not a wife. You don’t have those problems.”