Laundry Lady's Love (Ladies of Sanctuary House Book 1) Read online

  “Oh, good. I was afraid I’d have to raise the rates before I even started.” She smiled at him. He didn’t have his hat on so she could see that his dark blonde hair was somewhat curly even though it was cut short. A thought struck her. “Hank,” she said. “Who cuts your hair? You’re the barber.”

  He grinned at her, a dimple appearing in his chin. His straight white teeth gleaming in the morning sunshine contrasted with his dark brown eyes. “I do. It’s something the man who trained me taught me how to do. Takes time to learn how to cut looking in a mirror. I’m much better at it now.”

  Laura surveyed his head. “You’ll do. A fine advertisement for your shop.” She stepped back toward the clothesline and basket of wet laundry waiting to be hung, signaling an end to the conversation. He was a handsome man, and she didn’t need the distraction.

  ~~~~~

  Hank watched her lean over to pick up a wet garment, straightening and lifting her arms to pin it to the line. She was a mighty fine looking woman. Her Mother Hubbard dress of brown and red striped cotton hid most of her curves, but she was slim in the right places and full in the ones that interested a man. She’d unbuttoned the cuffs and rolled her sleeves back, exposing her forearms. Her bonnet shielded her face from his view, but he knew how pretty she was.

  When she didn’t come to the shop to collect his dirty laundry, he’d been a bit peeved. Laura had said she’d come first thing in the morning. When he’d exited the back door, his irritation had turned to himself. She’d obviously been working for quite a while. The clothesline was half filled and would be totally soon with the rest of the load waiting to be hung. It made him somewhat ashamed that he’d not been up and ready with his laundry when she had come to the shop.

  Maybe he needed to be open earlier in the morning. That hadn’t seemed necessary since most of his customers came later in the morning or after lunch. Of course, with the ladies of Sanctuary House waiting to be courted, he’d most likely see more men wanting shaves, haircuts, and baths.

  That thought pleased him. It meant more income, something that was always welcome.

  Hank turned away from the pleasing view of the young woman and crossed the alley, going in the back door of his shop. He had a sign to paint, as well as changing the opening time for his shop.

  ~~~~~

  Laura walked along the boardwalk and peeked into the barbershop through the large window. She didn’t want to disturb Hank if he were with a customer. Most of the laundry Hank had brought her that morning was folded into the pillowcase he’d included. She’d done the sheets and towels first figuring he’d need those back as soon as possible. The towels he needed for his work and the sheets were, most likely, the only set he had.

  Laura studied the room. Against the wall was an oak shelving unit. In the center was a large mirror. The cabinet base was deeper on the sides than in the middle. She figured that was so Hank could move easily between it and the barber chair.

  Never having seen one before, Laura was surprised that the chair simply looked like an armchair with a headrest and attached foot stool. On the opposite wall near the door was a row of hooks attached to a board. Several chairs were lined up under the window. A doorway covered with a curtain must lead to a hall where the bathing rooms would be located.

  A man was putting money on the counter while Hank swept up hair on the floor. They were chatting and laughing. Shortly, the man moved to the door and took his hat off the hook, so Laura walked over. As he exited, he looked Laura up and down, a smile spreading across his face.

  “Ma’am.” He tipped his hat. “I’m Red Dickerson, cowboy on the Bent Arrow Ranch. Pleased to make your acquaintance. I’ll get an introduction at the school raising.” Red smiled and ambled across the boardwalk, jumped down to the street, and slipped under the hitching rail. Taking the horse’s reins, he mounted, tipped his hat again, and set the horse in motion to head out of town.

  Laura stood watching until he kicked the horse into a gallop. She took in a deep breath of air and slowly let it out. No man had looked at her in such an intense way since her husband, Alan. Oh, my.

  Turning, she met the gaze of Hank. He was looking at her, too. Just as intently. Laura swallowed. Pasting a smile on her face, she held out the pillowcase filled with clean laundry. “I’ve brought part of what you gave me this morning. The rest still needs to be ironed. I thought you might need the towels and …” She paused. Sheets were such an intimate thing. “These.” It was a lame finish, but all she could muster in the situation. She pulled her lips into some semblance of a smile.

  Hank took the bundle. “Thank you. I appreciate you thinking of the towels. I’ve been busier than I thought I’d be today. I’m a thinking it’s the school raising. Men are wanting to gussy up for when they met you ladies.”

  Laura couldn’t help but glance where the cowboy had disappeared.

  “Would you please come and look at the sign I painted for you? I think you’ll be tickled with it.” Hank stood back and held out an arm to indicate she should precede him into the barbershop.

  The room was well lit by the large window. There were lamps fixed to the wall. It was neat, but a pile of towels had been tossed on the floor in the corner. The barber chair was centered before the mirror. A potbellied stove was against the back wall with a large tank attached to it.

  Leaning on the counter was a small sign:

  Duffle Laundry Service

  One to Four Day Service Available

  Prices Negotiated

  “Um, I thought it might be best to be vague about the cost. Also, the time. That way, if you’re busy you can charge a bit more if they want it back right quick.”

  “What a wonderful idea. I would have never thought of that. I was worried about being able to get everything done if I had a lot of customers all at one time.”

  Hank smiled. “Glad you like it. I was a mite concerned you’d think I was being pushy.”

  “No, thank you. I appreciate your talent for business.” Laura reached out her hand and placed it on his arm, emphasizing her words.

  Hank stood just a bit taller. He cleared his throat. “Would you like to see the rest of the shop? I had another thought, too.”

  “Certainly.”

  As he led the way through a curtained doorway, into a hall, Hank said, “I thought, maybe, I would put a basket back here.” He pointed to the floor next to the back door. “I could put the laundry in it, and you could fetch it up without going around the building. It’d save you a heap of steps. Since you’ll be doing the towels mighty often, it’d add up over time.”

  Laura grinned. “Thank you. I could deliver the clean things back here, too. Just place them in the basket. That way I won’t be disturbing you and your customers.”

  The look Hank gave her made butterflies dance in her stomach. “Mrs. Duffle, Laura, you could never disturb me with your presence.”

  Oh, my.

  ~~~~~

  That evening Laura carried her Bible down to the parlor. It was the room across the foyer from the dining room on the first floor. It was large enough for the ladies to gather with a few others. There were several settees and straight chairs as well as occasional tables. Sconces on the walls as well as table lamps could be lit to illuminate the room. There weren’t a lot of knick-knacks as the ladies hadn’t had them to bring. A couple of the chairs now had tatted doilies. More would appear as they were completed. Ruth tatted well, and Esther could crochet with the thinnest of threads. Laura knit and crocheted but only practical items such as socks, mittens, hats, and scarves.

  Laura turned the wick up in the oil lantern sitting on a table by the settee. It was her favorite of the lamps because the base was beaded swirls in red glass. She’d just settled the boys in bed. The evening light was fading to darkness. She was tired but wanted a bit of time with the Lord.

  The bookmark took her to where she’d last left off reading— Jeremiah twenty-nine. When she came to verse eleven, Laura ran her finger over the words. For I k
now the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

  God did have a plan for Laura’s future. It was something she’d doubted when her husband died, and she couldn’t find honest work. Just when Laura thought she would have to resort to the oldest profession, God had provided for her.

  Laura had been expecting when they left Pennsylvania but lost the baby as they traveled through Indiana. Then Alan had died in a small town in Illinois. There hadn’t been any opportunities for employment there, and Laura had struggled to get the oxen moving to pull the wagon to the next town.

  That’s where Nugget Nate had shown up. The tall, buckskin clad man was standing in the middle of the street when Laura came out of the mercantile nearly in tears. She was exhausted, holding the hand of almost four-year-old Eddie and carrying eighteen-month-old Mark. The woman she had spoken to in the store had looked at her with a haughty expression and told her the only employment for her kind was at the brothel just outside of town. That the woman hadn’t known Laura from Adam didn’t seem to matter. The assumption that she was a fallen woman stung. Laura hadn’t known what to do. Just as the tears started to fall, she heard a deep male voice.

  “You’s be a lookin’ like you’s in need of some help, ma’am. I do believe I be the one who been called ta help ya.” The man strode up the street with long steps and picked up Eddie, tossing him in the air, catching him easily to his chest. “Mighty fine young ’un ya got here, ma’am. That un, too. My Penny’ll be pleased ta have ‘em ta tend to whilst we make our way ta Sanctuary Place.”

  “Sir, um. I’m not that kind of woman. I’m a God-fearing person and won’t be selling myself…”

  The man began to laugh, then stopped abruptly and gave her a fierce look. “Ain’t never in my life been ta that kind o’ woman and never made a lady into one. Rescued a few and that’s what I’m a doin’ now. Keepin’ ya from havin’ ta make the choice to eat or not. God done give ya them two little ones. He ain’t wantin’ ya to have ta sin in order ta be a keepin’ em fit and a growin’.

  “Name’s Nugget Nate Ryder, an’ my wagon an’ wife, Penny, be at the edge of town a waitin’ on my figurin’ out what the Callin’ done brung us here fer. Now that I done that, it be time ta skedaddle outa here. That there be yer wagon?”

  He lifted Eddie’s arm to point. Eddie giggled. It was the first time since Alan died that his son had laughed. The tightness and fear in Laura’s heart eased. It seemed as if God had heard her prayers after all.

  She’d felt so abandoned by God in the past few weeks. First, losing her little girl who’d been born far too early. Then, Alan dying of a fever just a few days ago. Having to leave both graves, never to visit again. Not being able to find honest work in either town. Thinking she’d have to take employment in a saloon or brothel to be able to feed her sons. She’d cried out to her Heavenly Father but hadn’t seemed to be on the receiving end of His blessing and provision.

  Now, the famous Nugget Nate Ryder, legendary, wealthy, mountain man of the West, defender of the victimized, and purveyor of justice stood before her. God hadn’t forgotten her. Hadn’t ignored her pleas. He had sent Nugget Nate to help her in her hour of desperation.

  Tears had fallen down Laura’s face, and she nearly collapsed in relief. God had provided. “Praise be to God. You, sir, are an answer to prayer. My faith is restored.”

  Without saying another word, which Laura would later find out was very unusual for Nugget Nate, he led her to her wagon and helped her and the boys settle onto the seat. He climbed up beside them and with a “Hup!” set the oxen on their plodding way to the edge of town where Penny, the love of his life, waited.

  Since that time, Laura held to the promise of that verse in Jeremiah. God did have a plan for her life and that of her boys. It was what had prompted her to choose to come to Stones Creek with the first group of ladies from the Place. As insecure as Laura had been about the move, she’d wanted more than living at the mission for herself, for her sons too. The possibility of her marrying again, and thus the benefits of having a father help rear them into manhood, was what she hoped was God’s plan for her life.

  Now, Laura had the beginnings of a business which could sustain her if, and until she chose to marry. Laura knew about laundry. She’d been doing it for the last five years at Sanctuary Place.

  Laura had a Daguerreotype of herself and Alan taken at the time they were married. In its hinged case, the image sat on her bedside table. With the possibility of a suitor, maybe she should close the case and put the image away. Not yet though. It still gave her comfort to look at his handsome face. Mark was looking more like him all the time. Neither boy remembered their father. They’d been too young when he died.

  Laura read the verse again. Yes, she’d stand on that promise. God did have a plan for her. She just needed to be willing to keep focused on His plan and not go heading off in a different direction.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Laura accepted another coffee mug and dipped it in the dishwater. It might have been the hundredth one she washed that day. The people of Stones Creek were raising the school building. People, mostly men of course, had come from around the area to help with its construction. There was the ulterior motive of meeting the women who had come to town and were living at Sanctuary House.

  The scarcity of women in the West and eight single women suddenly in town drew interested men from a wide area. That the women were fairly young and willing to marry peaked that interest. Few of the men cared that most had rather unsavory pasts. Now, however, the women were all Christian believers and looking for a better future for themselves and their children.

  Laura’s past wasn’t something to regret. She’d simply been unfortunate to have her husband die as they migrated from Pennsylvania, heading west looking for more opportunity than they’d had back home.

  The late July day was sunny but not overly hot. There was enough of a breeze to keep the insects from pestering. It came down from the mountains to the west and brought the scent of pine and honeysuckle with it.

  A whistle cut through the air calling attention to a good looking young man standing on the bed of a buckboard wagon. He’d been introduced to Laura earlier as Lincoln Pierce. He was the foreman of the Chasing R Ranch and married to the owner’s daughter.

  “I’ve been asked to make an announcement as my voice carries well.”

  “Some might call you a loudmouth,” another voice yelled from the crowd. Laughter erupted. Linc chuckled, too.

  “Suppose so, but if you want to be introduced to the ladies, you might want to be nice to me, Pete.” Another round of laughter made the man pause. “As you all know, Stones Creek has been blessed by the arrival of eight beautiful women along with their children.

  “Nugget Nate made it possible for these women to come and find new homes and lives here. They are willing to consider marrying. One of the objectives of today is to introduce them. Now, I’m not going to haul them up into the wagon so you can view them. They aren’t cattle.

  “Many of you have met them as they’ve gone about town. They’ve begun to make changes, additions to Stones Creek. The Creek Cafe has opened, adding to Mrs. Wilson’s bakery. There’s a new dressmaker in with Mrs. Steele. Many of you are much less scruffy now that Mrs. Duffle is available to wash your clothing.”

  Laura blushed at being mentioned. Her business was doing well. The first couple of weeks had been rough. Many of the men who employed her to do their laundry hadn’t had their clothing washed in far too long. It made getting them clean take longer, with much more scrubbing. She’d raised her fees for the initial washing to reflect that. Although the men grumbled some, they agreed and paid. She’d made it clear that if they waited until their clothes were that dirty again, she would charge even more.

  Telling the men had taken all the courage she had, but once she’d instructed several men, it got easier. She wasn’t going to allow herself to be overworked per load ju
st because someone didn’t want to have their clothing washed often enough. Hank had praised her for her steadfast insistence, telling her she was getting to be a dab hand at business. His comment had raised her spirits after a particularly trying day.

  Linc went on, explaining how the courting of the women would be handled. Four respected men of the community had been tasked with overseeing that the women were courted and could choose who would be allowed to court them. Each man had to gain the approval of these men: Dr. Eli Steele, Ben Cutler, the general store owner, Sheriff Newt Riverby, and Pastor Noah Preston.

  Today, any man could be introduced, and that was encouraged, but if they were interested in doing any courting, they needed to speak with the men in charge.

  The thought of meeting all the men gathered for the school raising made Laura’s stomach clench. She’d known Alan since they were young. They’d courted while she finished school, then gotten married. She’d had Eddie a year and a half later, and Mark two years after that.

  Linc, jumping down from the wagon, brought Laura’s thoughts back to the present. People began mingling again, and Ruth handed her another dirty coffee mug. Well, she wouldn’t meet very many of the men standing behind the tub of dishwater.

  Surveying the area showed piles of lumber and tools. The foundation and floor had been built previously. Walls and the roof would be erected today. If all went well, the building would be framed, shingled, and sided by nightfall. Several men were already carrying boards and beginning to nail them together.

  “Laura, Ruth,” Mrs. Sara Cutler said, walking up to them. “Let Mrs. Fugard and me take over the washing. We want you to go and be introduced to the community, don’t we, Mrs. Fugard?”

  The pinched look on the woman’s face said just the opposite. Laura and the rest of the House ladies knew Mrs. Fugard didn’t approve of them coming to Stones Creek. Most of the people welcomed the addition to the town. Of course, most were men who were hoping to find wives. Several of the women considered all the House ladies soiled doves, not worthy to walk on the same side of the street. Mrs. Fugard was one of them.