Page 127 of Head Room

“It’s not fitting,” Maggie said at last, though it hardly needed saying.She started scrubbing again, but she watched the lady through her eyelashes.

“Nonsense.I find there are a great many things I could learn from you.And I do believe there are a few bits of wisdom that I might impart to you in return.”Mrs.XX’s eyes took on a crafty glow.“Things that might help you ease the way for your husband.”

Maggie’s opinion of Mrs.XX rose a bit.She knew how to barter, that was for certain-sure.Hold out to the other bargainer something they’d have a hard time resisting, to start.

“What things?”

“The small ways of a lady,” Mrs.XX replied promptly.“Certain touches that would show you to the world in a more, shall we say, acceptable light.”

By the world, Maggie knew she meant the officers.In the world outside the officers, it took no touches to be acceptable.It took hard work, honesty, a quick mind and, occasionally, the willingness to point a gun where it would do the most hurting.

But the world of officers and their ladies was nearly as alien to Maggie as the fantastical land of China that Peter was forever talking about.And it was that world where Ransom rightly belonged.For he had been an officer.And he might well be one again, if he didn’t have a rag-bag of a wife holding him back.

Denying her own stab of hope, she held up her red and roughened hands, letting the water drip down her bare forearms.“No lady touches here.”

“No,” Mrs.XX agreed calmly.“And, frankly, in the States that would be quite an obstacle.But the world is not so rigid here.And you might come to be quite well accepted if you would allow the other ladies to pretend there are no differences.”

Maggie plunged her hands in the water, looking down as if searching for the shirt she’d been washing.“She made me spitting mad.”

“Did she?”

Mrs.XX’s tone was one of such utter surprise that Maggie looked up, only to see that the other woman’s eyes were glittering with amusement.Maggie stared at her a moment, then she found herself smiling back.

“You see, that’s the first lesson.You can think one thing and say quite another.”She sighed.“It is not, I fear, what our moral leaders would teach us, but it is quite a necessary skill in this modern world of ours.It can keep you out of a good deal of trouble.”

And her staying out of trouble would ease the way for Ransom, Maggie could see that, plain as day.What she didn’t see was— “What do you want from me?”

“Ah, that’s simple, Mrs.Fletcher.While I teach you of the ways of my world, I want you to teach me of the ways of yours.”

“Mine?”Maggie asked in confusion, looking around at the rough laundry shack.Whyever would a fine lady like Mrs.XX want to learn about her world?

“The West,” the captain’s wife explained.“This land, the people, the adventures you’ve had.”

Maggie flinched slightly.She wanted to hear all the horrors.Maggie started to shake her head, but Mrs.XX touched her arm, above where it disappeared into the water.

“My dear, I don’t explain myself well.I do apologize.I mean to say how much I admire your determination and your...your ability to endure and survive.You see, I have no intention of being one of those wives who waits for her husband years on end, safely immured in her parents’ home back East.I intend to stay beside my husband wherever he goes.But I cannot be a burden to him, for that would be even worse than not being together.So I must learn how to thrive in this world, and I can imagine no better teacher than you, Mrs.Fletcher.”

Perhaps it was the courtesy of the title.Perhaps it was the honest passion of the woman’s words striking an echoing note deep in Maggie.Whatever it was, Maggie broke a cardinal rule of bartering, and gave away a precious bargaining chip.

“You’ll thrive, Mrs.XX.”

The other woman didn’t doubt her, not with look or reply, but she did ask for reassurance.“How could you tell such a thing?”

“There’s a look.You’ve got it.On the wagon train, and then working at the road ranch, I got so I could pick it out.Right from the start, there’s a look of those who’ll stick and those who won’t.There’s a look that says they’ll turn around and go back, hurrying to escape being surrounded by so much new and strange.And there’s a look in the faces of those that won’t ever have a chance to turn around and go back.A look you see, and you learn to look away from.”

Maggie subsided into silence, astonished at herself, at the way the words tumbled out of her.

Two full minutes ticked by as Maggie stared at her hands in the water.Mrs.XX let out a breath at last.

“I believe you, Mrs.Fletcher.And I am grateful.I shall be even more grateful if you would agree to my proposal and help ease my way, as I am prepared to help ease yours.Will you agree?”

Maggie met her eyes.“Yes.”

A smile broke across Mrs.XX’s face.“Good.Shall we shake on it?”

She extended her gloved hand.Maggie extracted her hands from the water and dried them on her apron.

Even through the glove, the other woman’s hand felt delicate and soft.A bolt of despair struck through Maggie.