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“We don’t have much reason to come to town,” Oscar said. “We grow most of what we eat right here on the estate. And Elijah delivers what we don’t have for us.”

“Not that I’m complainin’,” Laverne said.

“I’ve turned into a bit of a hermit these past few years.

I want to thank all of you for taking care of Sally Anne out at your camp.

If I wasn’t so old and wasn’t needed here, I would have been right out there with you.

I hear the ladies comin’ down the stairs. Y’all go on in the parlor.”

“Do they really know that this place is about to be a bordello?” Lily whispered to Sally Anne when they were in the foyer.

“They do,” she answered. “Short form of a long story is that Oscar and Otis are cousins, and they do not get along. It’s probably been years since they’ve even spoken to each other.”

“I see,” Lily said. “Is everyone in town related in some way to everyone else?”

“Pretty much,” Sally Anne answered. “Wes was about the only man I could marry.” And then she smiled at Frannie, who was the last saloon girl to come down the stairs.

“I feel like I’m dreaming,” Frannie whispered.

Sally Anne sat down on the blue velvet sofa.

“Here’s the deal: you-all can run a brothel, or you can live here and do whatever else you want.

Laverne is getting old and could use some help taking care of this big house and in the kitchen.

Oscar manages the hired hands, and she cooks and feeds them two meals a day, but he could use help, too.

He could train one of you to take care of the books and maybe another one to step into his shoes as supervisor of the ranch. ”

“That’s quite an offer,” Molly chimed in. “If I wasn’t going to England with Sally Anne, I would gladly help Laverne in the kitchen.”

“Molly and I have already started packing our trunks.” Sally Anne’s eyes sparkled, and she patted Molly on the shoulder. “It’s fortunate that we’re the same size and that I have plenty of clothing for half a dozen women.”

Frannie swiped a tear from her eye. “We are the luckiest women in town.”

Lily laid a hand on Frannie’s wrist. “We all are. Sally Anne, do you know when you are leaving?”

“I’m still working on it, but when we do, will y’all come to see us off? I never realized how much planning went into a trip like this. Daddy always took care of that when we traveled abroad.”

“Of course we will,” Lily answered. “And don’t be surprised if there’s more than just us four there to wave goodbye.”

“I bet all the ladies who camped with us are there,” Daisy said.

“Well, I know that I’ll be there, for sure,” Frannie said. “But right now I want to talk about the ranch. How many hired hands are there?”

“About twenty-five,” Sally Anne answered. “We have cattle and grow our own hay for them. It’s a pretty big estate. Daddy made a fortune running longhorns from here to Dodge City right after the war.”

“That would mean we wouldn’t have to entertain men?” Lula, one of the other saloon ladies, asked.

“Only if you want to—and then there’s no questions asked. I believe in free love, so whether you choose to sleep with a male friend or not is your business,” Sally Anne replied.

“But our reputation will always follow us,” Lula said. “Who would ever want to marry one of us?”

“Oscar married me,” Laverne said as she set a tray with cookies and tea on the small library table in the corner. “He took me right out of a house even more horrible than the one Otis runs. You are right about the past following you, but I’ve had a wonderful life.”

“I’ll work for Laverne and Oscar,” Frannie said. “You don’t have to pay me. Room and board will be enough.”

Lula raised her hand. “Me too.”

The other three did the same.

“I would have stood beside you no matter what, but I’m glad you made this decision,” Sally Anne said. “And you definitely will each get a paycheck at the end of each month. You will not work for nothing. That’s settled.”

Frannie held up a palm and shook her head. “Not really. You said that at least one of us will work with Oscar to learn the books and another to learn to be a supervisor. How are the hired hands going to like being bossed around by a woman?”

“They don’t have to like it—they just have to obey,” Sally Anne answered. “That will be one more step for women’s rights.”

Life is full of twists and turns, Lily thought. Oscar had to have forgiven Laverne for her past. Would Matt Maguire be that kind of man?

“Don’t life turn around?” Daisy said on the way to church the next morning.

“It does have a way of doing just that,” Lily agreed. “But what are you talking about?”

“That story that Sally Anne told us about Laverne kind of explains her decision to work so hard for women’s rights. I get the impression that Laverne had a big hand in helping raise Sally Anne.”

“Could be,” Lily answered. “This whole new life that we’re trying to live seems like it has all kinds of sharp turns and surprises in the path, don’t it?

Speaking of which, I expect our new independent women will be in church this morning, but how many husbands and fiancés do you suppose will be there? ”

“Every one of them, I hope!” Daisy sent up a silent prayer that all the husbands, fiancés, and young men in town would be there to support their mothers, girlfriends, and sisters.

Then she gasped. “What if there’s no preacher?

Tobias might not even show up. He was pretty mad when he stormed out of the church two weeks ago. ”

“Then Maggie can preach,” Lily answered. “Do you think Frannie and Sally Anne will attend services?”

“Hello!” Beulah came out of her store and joined them.

“I heard that last question, and no, they will not be with us this morning. Sally Anne and Molly are busy with their plans. Frannie says that she wouldn’t want to cause shame to the very women who were kind to her.

Laverne never attends either church. It’s been thirty years since Oscar hauled her out to Sally Anne’s ranch.

But I wouldn’t be surprised if she and the ladies don’t have a singing, kind of like what we did at the camp. ”

Lily stopped walking and turned to focus on Beulah. “You knew that story?”

“My mama told me about her before she died. Laverne used to come to the store, but the way the women treated her back then was even worse than folks treat reformed shady ladies today. Mama told me that if the saloon girls came into the business, I was to treat them with the same respect that I showed everyone else.” Beulah pulled a lace fan from her purse and changed the subject.

“It’s going to be another hot one, and there’s not a single little rain cloud up in the sky. ”

Daisy dabbed at the sweat beads collecting on her upper lip. “I still don’t know why Sally Anne has to go all the way to England. There’s plenty of work to be done right here in Texas.”

“She needs to get away from the judge, and she’ll learn things over there that will help her.

When she feels like she is ready or when she gets homesick, she’ll be back, even if it’s just for a visit,” Beulah replied and kept the fan going as fast as she could.

“I hope that Tobias doesn’t get too wound up in his sermon and ends up keeping us past noon.

Which reminds me, why don’t y’all have lunch with me today?

It’s too hot to fire up the stove, so we can have a cold soup and sandwiches like we did last time.

The iceman doesn’t come around for a couple more days, so we’ll have to drink lukewarm tea,” Beulah answered.

“I can live with that—and thank you,” Lily said and pointed toward the churchyard when they were only a few houses away.

“It’s not ladylike to point,” Daisy scolded.

Beulah laughed. “Who says we are ladies?”

“You’ve got a point.” Daisy laughed with her.

“It looks like either Tobias or Maggie will be preaching to a crowd.” She could hear the normal noise coming out the open door and windows, which meant folks were visiting before the service began.

With the heat outside crawling up to the suffocating stage, she dreaded going inside—so many bodies jammed into the pews, and even if the occasional breeze did find a way in, it wouldn’t last long.

“I’d rather be at home,” she whispered.

“So would I, but we need to go support our little lambs,” Beulah told them.

Lambs!

That one word reminded Daisy of Claude, and a vision of him filled her mind.

He was lying outside under a big shade tree with his head in her lap.

A creek bubbled nearby, and little lambs romped through the tall green grass.

She must’ve been smiling, because she felt both of the other women staring at her.

“What?” She frowned.

“We’re talking about heat that would scorch the devil’s forked little tail, and you are smiling,” Lily said.

“I was mentally preparing myself for the heat by thinking about a pastoral scene with lambs playing in the tall grass,” she answered.

They started walking again, and Lily shivered. “How can a cold chill chase down my back in this heat?”

“What were you thinking about?” Beulah used her fan to create a little breeze for her face.

“Daisy mentioned tall grass, and it reminded me of all those snakes slithering out at the camp,” Lily answered as she removed her fan from her purse.

“All you are doing is moving hot air,” Daisy told them.

“I’ll be really glad when fall comes, or even winter.

I can put enough clothes on to stay warm when it’s freezing cold, but I can only take so many off when it’s this hot.

” Daisy walked through the doors into the sanctuary and glanced over the crowd.

She couldn’t find Elijah, which definitely meant no Matt or Claude.

“There doesn’t seem to be a place for us except on the front row. ”

“Then that’s where we will sit,” Beulah said and started down the center aisle.

“Miz Daisy!” Bea yelled when she passed by the pew where Amanda and her entire family, including her husband, were sitting.

“Hello!” Daisy said. “My, don’t you look pretty today.”

“Thank you,” Amanda mouthed.

Daisy laid a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

One little step, she thought, had changed Sunday morning, even if it never went past that.

She sat down and took her fan out of her purse.

Hot air beat no air, and from the look on the good preacher’s face, he was about to put more heated words out into the sanctuary.

“Good morning, folks,” he said in a calm voice.

“I see there have been some changes made in our seating arrangements. Maggie tells me that old dogs can learn new tricks, but I’m not so sure that I can.

So, with that in mind, I will be retiring as soon as the deacons find a preacher to take my place.

This morning, though, I would like to read the first eight verses from the third chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes.

” He cleared his throat and glanced down at Maggie, who was sitting on the front row.

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”

He stopped and wiped beads of sweat from his brow.

“These verses have reminded me that God is in control, even of the situation here in this town. The last time I stood in this pulpit, I preached about wives being submissive. I still believe that, but Maggie has reminded me that there is a rest of the story that follows those verses.” He opened his Bible to a different place and read, “ Husbands should love their wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So, ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. ” Tobias smiled at the congregation.

“I see some men wiggling in their seats. Is this landing on your soul? It did with me when Maggie came home, and we had a long talk. I owe you ladies an apology for the way I behaved. It was not with the spirit of Jesus in my heart. And now, with that said, go home and let all of this sink into your hearts. Maggie and I will be leaving soon to make a fresh start somewhere else. We haven’t made definite plans, but we will make that decision together.

Now I will ask Elijah to give the benediction. ”

As soon as Elijah’s short prayer ended, folks stood up and began to file out of the church, the hum of conversation rising like a swarm of bees. Beulah shook her head slowly. “I bet Tobias has calluses on his knees from praying that Maggie would come back to him.”

“I’m just wondering if any of what he said will sink into the men’s hearts,” Daisy said as she stood up.

“If one powerful man can be changed, then I have hope,” Lily said.