Page 14

D aisy tossed and turned, stared out the window at the moon and stars for what seemed like hours, beat her feather pillow into shape several times, and even tried counting fluffy little sheep.

But the little white critters reminded her of Claude being a sheep herder, and that caused even more insomnia.

Could Lily be right about him flirting with her?

She had just dozed off when gunshots woke her up. She sat up in bed and wished she was back at the Paradise, which was located so far out of town that she never heard all the hullabaloo that went on in Spanish Fort. Lily peeked in the door and then opened it wide.

“Good morning. Did the firecrackers wake you?”

Daisy covered a yawn with her hand. “Good morning to you. I thought it was gunshots. Is that coffee I smell?”

Lily sat down on the edge of the bed. “I found a few sticks of wood out back and started a small blaze in the stove so we could have coffee with the rest of our pies for breakfast. Evidently, from all the noise I hear out on the street, the holiday has already started. Let’s eat and then get dressed.

Maybe we should walk down to Beulah’s place for some staples and see if a crowd is already gathering.

We can’t live on pie and coffee forever. ”

Daisy slung her legs over the side of the bed. “But we can this morning. Did you sleep well?”

“No, I did not,” Lily answered. “It’ll take me a while to adjust to the sounds of city living.

I grew up in a quiet little town, and then we more or less lived out in the country in Spanish Fort.

But last night I could hear the piano music playing from the saloon down the street, and my mind went around and around like a wagon wheel. How about you?”

“Same as you.” Daisy slipped her nightgown over her head and dressed in a royal blue skirt and red-and-white-striped shirtwaist. She wasn’t about to admit that Claude Maguire was the primary reason she couldn’t sleep. “Are you going to dress for the holiday?”

“Oh, yes, I am,” Lily answered with a grin. “I’m wearing my red skirt and blue calico shirtwaist.”

“Red?” Daisy laid her hand over her heart in mock horror. “Coffee for breakfast, swearing in public, and now a red skirt?”

“If the folks in town knew what I did to make the money to put in this shop, a red skirt would be at the bottom of the list of all my many sins.”

“You got that right,” Daisy agreed with a slight nod. “We are both stirring up trouble. My shirtwaist has red stripes, so neither of us are setting a good example for the ladies in Autrie.”

“It could get worse if Beulah’s plans work out concerning women’s rights.” Lily led the way into the store, where she had already set the table. “Thank goodness we found some curtains in those crates and got them hung last evening.”

“Not quite ready to let the whole world look in the windows at you in your nightdress?” Daisy teased and sat down in one of the mismatched chairs.

“Not today. Maybe not ever. I’ve had enough of men seeing me dressed in thin cotton,” Lily declared, and brought two cups of coffee from the kitchen.

“Should we get some cookies from Beulah to put out for anyone who might come into the store today?” Daisy asked. “This is a lot like a grand opening, so we should put on the fancy for any prospective customers, right?”

Lily took a sip of her coffee and then a bite out of the lemon pie. “I was thinking the same thing. Maybe we should make some each morning to have over there on the counter every day when we are really open for business.”

“We’ll have the fanciest store in town,” Daisy said.

“At least for a month,” Lily agreed.

Lily hadn’t been totally honest with Daisy about her sleepless night.

She had gone right to sleep but dreamed about Matt Maguire and woke up weeping into her pillow.

When and if he ever found out the truth, he would wish he’d taken them to the hotel where the saloon ladies worked instead of the Crockett.

“Why do I have to be attracted to the wrong men?” she asked her reflection in the tiny handheld mirror that matched her hairbrush.

Circumstances almost beyond any of her personal control had put her in the brothel business, and because of that, Matt, a decent man, would never look sideways at her again if he knew the truth.

“Life is not fair,” she said and laid the mirror to the side.

When she finished dressing and had twisted her hair into a topknot, she left her bedroom and went back into the store.

Daisy had opened the curtains, and light flowed into the large room.

Several little kids had their noses pushed up against the new shop’s windows, and the whole town looked to be alive with people milling about everywhere.

“If you’ll mind the store, I’ll go down to Beulah’s and try to rustle up refreshments. If we don’t get any folks in here today, we can enjoy them ourselves,” Daisy offered.

Lily nodded in agreement. “I will gladly let you fight that crowd. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many people in one spot.”

Daisy donned her straw hat with the red and blue streamers hanging down her back. “Me, either, but you got to admit, it’s very exciting.” She unlocked the door and stepped out onto the board sidewalk and waved at Lily through the window as the kids scattered in front of her.

The crates, some empty and others half-full of bedding and other items that weren’t in use, had been shoved into the kitchen.

Lily was heading that way when the little bell above the door sounded.

Figuring that Daisy had forgotten her purse, she whipped around to find Beulah coming inside with two other women.

“Oh my!” Beulah gasped. “You’ve got things arranged and fabrics on the shelves.

This is beautiful. And you bought the sewing machine.

I’m sorry, where are my manners? This is Edith Monroe, wife of the bank president, Wallace Monroe .

..” She pointed to a tiny woman with salt-and-pepper-colored hair and a face so full of wrinkles that she looked like a dried-apple doll.

“And this is Maudie Lawson, her sister. Maudie always comes to town for a visit on festival day. I brought them in to meet you, but I wasn’t expecting to see things all put away. ”

Maudie was taller than Edith, but her hair was totally white, and she didn’t have nearly as many wrinkles.

Lily chuckled. “I’m glad to meet you ladies, but please don’t look in the kitchen.”

“Looks like you are going to have a very nice store here,” Edith said.

“I will definitely be interested in doing business with you. I already know that I’ll need a new dress for my niece’s wedding, which is set for September.

She’s marrying Judge Martin. She hasn’t found a seamstress to make her wedding dress yet, either, and that white brocade might be the very thing.

Could you set the bolt back for me? I can bring her in next week. ”

“I would be glad to do that,” Lily said and removed the bolt from the shelf. “I’ll just take it to the back room and hold it for you.”

“Thank you,” Edith said and sat down on the sofa.

“This would be a good place for the new women’s auxiliary to meet.

Plenty of room, but we would need more chairs.

Elijah has a couple of old church pews at the wagon yard.

When we put new ones in at the church, we sold them to him.

I would be glad to donate them to the cause.

They would fit fine under those shelves. ”

“That’s very kind of you,” Lily said.

“Consider it done,” Edith said.

“We could barter,” Lily suggested. “I could make your dress for the wedding in exchange for the pews.” She had trouble keeping her laughter at bay at the thought of church pews in a shop run by two reformed brothel workers.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” Edith said. “Is that coffee I smell?”

“Yes, ma’am, it is,” Lily answered.

“If it’s not too presumptuous of me, I would love a cup,” Edith whispered.

Lily smiled. “Not at all. Give me a moment to get some clean mugs.”

“Make that two,” Maudie added. “We don’t dare order such in the hotel—and truth be told, I hate hot tea. I do like Beulah’s sweet tea.” She shot a broad wink across the room toward Beulah.

Lily made a mental note to pry more information out of Beulah about these two women, who by all appearances were quite well-to-do.

Apparently, they came into her store pretty often and visited if she shared her special sweet tea, but she had told Lily and Daisy that most women’s husbands didn’t want them to have anything to do with her.

“I’d say to pour me up a cup, also, but I’d best get back to my store,” Beulah said. “Y’all have a good visit, and I’ll tell all the women I see about the meeting next Monday afternoon at two o’clock.”

“Daisy is on her way to your place to buy cookies,” Lily said.

“I ran out of baked goods an hour after I opened the store, but I steered her down the street to a vendor. Claude’s mother from the sheep farm is selling fresh strawberry muffins.

She should be ...” Beulah pointed toward the window.

“There she is now. See you later this evening when they set off the fireworks.” She opened the door and stood back to let Daisy in, then closed it behind her.

Lily made introductions. “This is Edith and Maudie, and this is my partner, Daisy. Put those muffins on the table, please. I’m going to get the ladies some mugs for coffee. Do you take sugar? We are still trying to get things organized and I can’t offer cream, but we do have sugar cubes.”

“Sugar is good,” Maudie said. “We’d ask for a little dollop of bourbon if you had it.”

“I’m sorry, but I’ll try to have it ready the next time you come in,” Lily said and hoped that she masked her surprise. Proper women asking for coffee was a shock, but bourbon? Maybe she’d had the wrong idea about how the other half lived.

Edith stood up and took a seat at the table. “This is going to be a wonderful place for us to have our meetings.”