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“We’re not going to run around naked,” Beulah chuckled. “I’ll explain about the clothes when we get home.”

Matt Maguire held up traffic when he stopped in the narrow center aisle to allow the ladies to go ahead of him. “Gonna be a hot one, isn’t it, Miz Beulah?”

Beulah wiped beads of sweat from her forehead with a hankie. “Always is, in July. Has the heat dried up all your pastures yet? And what are you doing back in town so quickly?”

“I’ve still got some green grass in areas, thanks to the river,” Matt said. “A little rain through the summer would help out. And it is my turn this week to spend the day with Uncle Elijah. Claude will probably be here next week.”

“I’d forgotten whose turn it was,” Beulah told him. “A bit of rain—even in the form of a storm—would help everyone. Tempers get testy when it’s this hot. We have more shoot-outs during times like this than when the temperature is down around the freezing line.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Matt agreed with a nod. “Ladies.” He tipped his hat toward Lily and Daisy.

“Mr. Maguire,” Lily said over her shoulder, but Daisy noticed she stole glances at him when he crawled up onto the buckboard beside an older man.

Daisy nudged her with an elbow. “I saw that, and I don’t blame you. He’s one fine-lookin’ fellow.”

“‘Lookin’’ is all there will ever be,” Lily declared as soon as he was out of earshot.

“Why’s that?” Beulah asked.

“I’m not interested in finding a husband,” Lily informed her.

“Smart woman.” Beulah led the way for the three of them to meander through the wagons that filled the whole lot in front of and beside the church.

“Miz Beulah,” a familiar voice said.

“Judge Martin,” she said. “Think we might get some rain in the next few days?”

“One can always hope and pray,” he said.

“I would like you to meet my friends, Lily and Daisy,” Beulah made introductions. “They are hoping to put in a seamstress and hat-making shop. Do you know of any businesses or buildings that might work for that?”

“I’ll keep my eyes open,” he answered. “I would offer you a ride home, but since my fiancée, Sally Anne”—he locked eyes with Daisy—“couldn’t attend services this morning, I rode my horse rather than hitching up the buggy.”

“Thank you,” Beulah said with a smile. “It’s not that far, and after sitting so long, it’s good to have a little walk.”

“So, he’s engaged?” Daisy wondered if he’d told his bride-to-be that she was the love of his life.

“Yep,” Beulah answered. “Sally Anne is one of the richest ladies in the county. He’ll do well to marry her.”

A vision of his strong muscles and tight abdomen filled Daisy’s mind. Her job at the Paradise was to make him feel good, but by the end of the night, he had left her with feelings she had never had before—and probably never would again.

Just before the three women went inside the general store, Lily dabbed at the sweat traveling in what seemed like rivers from her face to her neck and on down her corset.

Her shirtwaist and undergarments would definitely have to be washed that night and hung up to dry.

She blamed all the heat on the weather, but if she was honest, that was only about half of the reason she was perspiring—the other part could be attributed to her thoughts about Matt Maguire.

“Makin’ you sweat, is he?” Beulah giggled and motioned for Lily and Daisy to follow her through the store and into the living quarters.

“I’m not sure if it’s him or the heat,” Lily confessed, “or maybe a combination of both. Tell me about him.”

“He lives on a sheep ranch. Some folks call it a sheep farm , but I always say that if there’s animals—be it cows, sheep, or goats—it’s a ranch. It’s north of town, and Elijah Maguire, the fellow who owns the wagon yard, is his uncle.”

“I see,” Lily said.

“Elijah turned the family ranch over to Matt and his cousin Claude a while back. The two of them are doing a fine job of keeping it going. They try to spend time with Elijah on Sundays, so they come to church with him, and then they have dinner together at the café down from the hotel. Other than that, I only see him when he comes in for supplies,” Beulah told her.

“Is he married?” Lily asked.

Beulah motioned for them to follow her down a short hallway and talked as she walked ahead of them.

“No, he is not. Good lookin’ as he is, you’d think that some woman would snatch him up, but all the ladies at the ranch are kin to him, and he’s not around town long enough for anyone to lay a trap for him.

” She slung open a creaky door and stood to the side.

“This is my spare bedroom, and today it belongs to y’all.

I’ve laid out a night dress for each of you.

Sunday afternoons is my time to shed all these clothes and relax.

I thought you might like to do the same, but if you don’t want to do that, then there’s no pressure.

I’ll meet you in the kitchen for lunch in a few minutes.

Afterwards, we will take a nice nap to get away from this heat for a spell and then visit the rest of the afternoon.

” She closed the door and left them alone.

“What does this remind you of?” Lily asked as she unfastened a whole row of buttons down the front of her snow-white shirtwaist.

“The morning after, when we would lounge around in our robes after our clients left and get ready for the next night,” Daisy answered.

“Then we would all put on our white dresses and sit on the porch until Jems let the next seven men in the gates. I was terrified that first night I had a customer,” she admitted.

“Did you cry?” Daisy asked.

Lily shivered at the memory. “A little after the feller left the next morning, but it wasn’t as bad as when my fiancé forced me to submit to him.”

“How did you ever agree to work in a brothel after that experience?” Daisy asked.

“Miz Raven.” Lily folded her skirt and shirtwaist and laid them on the bed.

“If you’ll remember, neither of us really had a customer for two weeks after we moved into the Paradise.

Holly and Rose and the rest of the girls did a lot by talking to me about things.

All young women should talk to a shady lady before they get married.

Women should not even let a man court her with no more knowledge than I did.

If I ever have a daughter”—she slipped the longer of the two thin cotton nightdresses over her head—“I’m going to be sure she understands everything before she goes to bed with a man. ”

Daisy nodded in agreement as she buttoned the front of a similar thin, flowing dress. “And that she never has to submit to any man, and she can control the bedroom scene as well as he can.”

“Amen to that,” Lily said.

Beulah eased the door open. “Lunch is on the table when y’all are ready.”

“Coming right out,” Lily called and sniffed the air.

“I don’t know why you’re sniffing—I don’t smell anything cooking, and I’m a little nervous about this setup,” Daisy said in a low tone. “And just so you know, I did not put on my shoes or stockings after I got dressed in this wonderful, cool nightgown.”

Lily padded barefoot across the room and opened the door the rest of the way. “Me, either, and something does seem odd about this kind of Sunday dinner. Maybe I was wrong about Beulah being a good woman for us to be friends with.”

Not one scent floated out from the kitchen—no roast beef, chicken, or even coffee—which made Lily wonder what exactly they were having. The pancakes she’d had for breakfast had long since failed her, and she was starving.

Beulah nodded toward the chairs around a lovely table set for three with what had to be her best dishes.

“Hot, heavy food in this weather didn’t sound good, so I made a cold gazpacho soup, egg salad sandwiches, and a vegetable tray.

I sliced up a loaf of bread and have fresh butter and strawberry jam.

Then we have a key lime pie for dessert.

And ice in our sweet tea. How does that sound? I hope you aren’t disappointed.”

“This looks absolutely beautiful,” Lily said as she sat down in one of the chairs. “And I was actually dreading having to sit up straight in my hot outfit and eat a big lunch.”

“Me too,” Beulah said.

“How did you do all this in the time it took us to get dressed?” Daisy felt a little better about the situation.

“I got a lot of the stuff ready last night and shoved it in the icebox; then I went ahead and dipped the soup before I called y’all,” Beulah said.

“My mama was a great cook, but she was always picking up more recipes and ideas from other folks that drifted in and out of Autrie. A family from Spain settled here for a few months and taught her to make this cold soup. I believe we’ve been thoroughly blessed enough at church this morning, so let’s just eat. ”

Lily dipped into the soup, took a bite, and said, “This is like what Miz Raven made on hot days, only a little spicier.”

“And who is that?” Beulah asked.

“A lady that we lived with,” Daisy said in a hurry. “She was a very good friend.”

“Why didn’t she come here with you?” Beulah asked.

“She was from England, and she decided to go back,” Lily explained. “She was an advocate for women’s rights, and they’re really making some progress over there.”

“I’m glad you mentioned that,” Beulah said.

“I’d like to start a women’s auxiliary group here, associated with both churches.

We can make embroidered pieces like tea towels and pillowcases to sell at next year’s Independence Day celebration, and work on them while we talk at the meetings, with money to go to the schools and churches and, ideally, mostly used for our bigger causes. ”

Lily laid her spoon down and picked up her sandwich. “Do you think you could raise enough money for all those things?”

“Of course, but our time together would be a place for oppressed women like Alma. A little time each week to get away from their husbands, good or bad, and visit with other women. And believe me, there is a lot of women who fit in that category. Who knows,” Beulah said with a wink, “perhaps we’ll get to talking about what we can do about that oppression. ”

“Sign us up,” Lily said without hesitation.

“You aren’t afraid that it will cause problems with your store?” Daisy asked.

Beulah laughed. “I run the store to help people and because I like to visit with folks. I wouldn’t get to do much of that if I just holed up back here.

Besides, I have a monopoly on supplies in this town and enough money not to work for the rest of my life, so I’m not worried.

But I do want to help women to understand that if they want any rights—however small they might be—they are going to have to unite and fight for them. ”

“It’ll most likely only be baby steps at first,” Lily said.

“That’s better than standing still,” Beulah declared.

“I’ll put the word out. All I’ll have to do is tell a couple of women and it’ll spread.

We can have our first meeting right here in my store a week from tomorrow.

That’ll give folks a week to tell others.

Maybe by then you’ll find a building and be almost ready to set up your seamstress shop, and we can announce that. ”

Lily chewed slowly and then washed her food down with a sip of iced tea. “Why did you wait so long to do this?” she asked. “You have evidently wanted to start something to help women for a long time.”

Beulah looked up to the rough wooden ceiling rafters.

“I was waiting for the Lord to give me a sign. That came when y’all walked into my store—two independent women who traveled alone and didn’t seem to be interested in getting married real soon.

And then when you mentioned your friend was helping with women’s rights, that was like an angel sat down on my shoulder and whispered that the time was right.

I came up with the women’s auxiliary thing as I watched all the women in church this morning.

When a boy is twelve years old, he knows to behave during services, but it would be real nice if families could sit together and the menfolk could help with the smaller children. ”

Lily had thought the same thing that morning. Maybe it wasn’t an angel on Beulah’s shoulder, but simply the spirit of liberated women joining forces.

Daisy spread butter on a thick slice of homemade bread. “Families sitting together would be a good starting point.”

“I agree that sitting together on Sundays might be the first of the baby steps,” Lily said. “But be aware, even that little bit won’t come without a war.”