station in case the owner asked about it.” Mina dusted off her skirt where some of the flour had obviously leaked out of the bag. “I’ll make a blueberry patch of pies if no one claims it. The preacher will be glad of it when I share the pies with his flock next Sunday.”
“And look what else we found, Daddy.” Violet opened the pouch Mina had given her to carry whatever treasures she found. She pulled out a cob pipe that had lost its stem, a rolled up newspaper, a silk ribbon, a piece of leather, and a tassel that could have easily been taken from the surrey he’d driven earlier.
“Looks like you found a bunch.” He examined each of her prizes carefully. “Decided what you’re going to do with them?”
“Angel said she’d fix ’em for me. I’m gonna give them to my friends. Angel said treasures should never be thrown away. You can always fix them up and give them a new home.”
“That’s mighty nice of you. I’ll bet your friends would enjoy them.”
“Except this ol’ newspaper. Jim Corbett said he’s seen enough newspaper at his grandpa’s house to last him till the earth runs out of ink.”
“I would like to keep it, if ye doona mind.” Mina waited until Violet handed her the newsprint then uncurled it. “It says here that rainmaker, Charles Hatfield, predicted heavy rains in San Diego, California, in January and, saints and begorra, if it didna come a downpour.” She held the headline up for Briar to see. “Maybe ye need to send the man a telegram and invite him to the panhandle.”
“Oh yeah,” Briar scoffed, “I’ll just bet every family who’s experienced the boom and bust of their wheat crop will go for that idea. I’d be laughed off the high plains.”
Mina gently hit Briar with the paper. “Ye have any better idea how to call down the rain?”
“Maybe talk some of Quanah’s kin into dancing for us. It always worked for them.”
“Is his tribe still around? Nathaniel said the area was safe.”
“The last battle was out in the canyon a few miles from here.”
“Rainmaker or rain dance”-Mina did an Irish jig-“whatever will get the message to heaven quicker, I’m thinking.”
Violet quickly returned her discoveries to the pouch and tugged on Mina’s skirt. “Will you fix my kite for me?”
“Sure, but I thought ye didna want to play with it anymore.”
“I got me a real important message to send.”
Briar escorted them home and made supper while Mina and Violet worked on the kite at the kitchen table. He enjoyed watching her instruct his daughter, listened closely as she answered Violet’s questions and guided every helpful hand the child offered. She did not criticize the misspelling of the message, but rather applauded Violet’s diligent effort. Mina knew how to work with children. She would be a good mother.
The thought led his mind too easily to the kisses they’d shared this afternoon and the feel of her in his arms. He tried to will the same image of Katie, but it dimmed in comparison to what he’d shared with Mina.
“Are you two about finished?” he asked, almost too brusquely, aware that he was angry at Mina for his betrayal of Katie’s memory. “I need to set the table soon.”
“All done,” Mina announced, handing the kite to Violet. “Go put that in yer room on top of your footrest and I’ll help yer da with the plates. Be sure to slant it sideways as you go through the doors.”
“You’ve got her believing she can call down the rain with that. Don’t you think you’re being a little foolish?” Briar stirred the gravy before it bubbled over. He took a bowl down from the cabinet to use once the gravy cooled.
“Is it a fool’s wish to hope? Better to use yer imagination and try, than to sit back and do nothing.”
Criticism echoed in Mina’s tone, stirring his anger further. He couldn’t let her innuendo go unchallenged. “Say what you mean, Mina. You’ve always been frank before.”
“Okay, then I will. Ye say ye want me, but ye do nothing about it. Ye say ye canna love again, but yer lips tell me differently. Why are ye content in withdrawing from the fact that death has parted ye from Katie Rose and ye must find a way to live without her? Ye’ve lost yer way, Briar, and ye just need to find yer way back. I hope ’tis me who leads ye there, but if someone else is in the plan, then so be it. But ye must trust yer heart again, man, if ye want a better life than the one ye’ve now chosen for the two of ye. And I say chosen, because ’tis what ye’ve done. Ye’re
He set the gravy off to cool. “My life’s not so bad.”
“It could be better.”
“Violet, come eat,” Briar called loudly, knowing Mina was right but unwilling to admit it. “You need to get to bed soon.”
“And yer da needs to stuff his mouth so he can evade the issue,” Mina added before she grabbed up the skillet and poured its contents into the blue-speckled tureen.
“Ohh, ’tis sorry I am.” After Mina dropped the red-hot container, she began to mop up the gravy with the hot pad she’d used to lift the skillet.
Briar grabbed an empty pan from the cabinet and quickly transferred the remainder of the mixture into the pan.
“Please let me help. I’ll-”
“I’ve got it. Go wash that off before it burns your hands.”
Apology etched her face. “I wasna thinking. It was hotter than…Ye can take it out of my first wages or ’tis another I’ll buy ye at-”
“It can’t be replaced.”
Her eyes rounded. “It was Katie Rose’s?”
“Our wedding bowl.”
When the bowl was empty, he placed it gently in the trash. “Tell Violet to wash her hands before she comes to the table. That will give me time to make sure we didn’t get any on the floor so none of us will slip on it.”
“I’ll send her in, but please doona set a plate for me. I-I canna eat.”
Mina yawned. It had to be three in the morning, but at last she was done. It had been difficult working in the dark, but she knew if she had turned on the light she might awaken Violet. She only hoped the glue on the tureen would hold and that the mixture of flowers, flax, and candle wax was enough to hold the porcelain together. She’d used flowers and candle wax for glue before, but the idea to add some of the blue flax to hide the crack had come to her about an hour ago. She’d taken the bowl apart again, gathered some of the flowers from Briar’s backyard, and altered the mixture. Just as she planned, the color of the flax blended perfectly with the bowl’s design and the crack was no longer visible. Now if the glue held, she would be able to present the bowl to Briar almost in its original shape. Almost.
She decided to check on Violet before turning in. Mina tiptoed to the child’s room, hoping not to wake her. The rascal had a bad habit of not really being asleep. Briar had returned to the station hours ago after doing the dishes. She’d started to help him, but then thought better of it. She’d broken one of Katie’s precious belongings. If she harmed another, he would never forgive her.
Mina smiled as she saw all the treasures Violet had found now laying about her room, all with a piece of paper and the person’s name to whom she planned to give the treasure scrawled across its surface. She leaned down to press a kiss against Violet’s brow only to discover a wisp of hair had fallen into the lass’s eyes. She smoothed it back, then gently kissed the tiny forehead.
“I ’member somebody doing that,” Violet whispered. The bruised eye opened slightly as she yawned. “I think it was my mommy.”
Mina pulled the covers up and tucked the child in, then sat on the edge of the bed. “Do ye remember much about her?”
“Only that she smelled nice and she sang pretty.”
“Did she give you this?” Mina lifted the silver baby rattle that lay on the stand next to the bed.
“Nope. That’s Daddy’s. His godfather gave it to him, and he gave it to me.”
“His godfather?”
“Mr. Corbett, the newspaper man. He’s the one who helped Daddy meet Mommy, I think. ’Least that’s what Daddy said.”
