Cal glanced away, then quick as anything returned her gaze to mine and kept that stilted smile on her face.“Yes, sir, I did.I’m a married woman now.”
Her voice wobbled and her forehead creased.She was about to say something else when a whoop interrupted us and Trick burst upon the two of us like a rogue wave.
“Cal!Oh, Cal, ’tis you!”Trick yelled as she ran up to Cal and took her in a hearty hug, lifting her from the ground.
Cal made a noise of terror, and I put a hand to Trick’s arm.
“Careful there.You’ll spook her,” I said.
I didn’t know what was wrong with Cal—whether ’twas simply a need to be inconspicuous and we were calling all this attention, or whether ’twas something more worrying.
Oscar came up and hugged Cal next, and he was a mite gentler, and Cal seemed to relax and let him hold her for a brief moment before pulling gently away.
“I’m so glad we found you,” Oscar said.
“I’ve been busy, that’s all.My…husband keeps me very busy,” Cal said, her voice trembling and her gaze darting around.
“Oh, I see,” Oscar said with an implied meaning, and Trick said, “My, my, my, does he?”
Cal huffed a nervous laugh.“Well, yes, he does.He’s…he’s a beast between the sheets.”
Trick and Oscar laughed, and I smiled.But there was something not right here, and I aimed to figure it out.
“Where are you livin’ now?”I asked.
Cal shrugged.“Oh, out of town a ways…on Albert’s farm.We’ve got twenty acres.And fruit trees.And the house is lovely, so big.Takes my breath away every time I see it!”
“Really?”Oscar said.“We got a house now, too, Jimmy and me.In Port Essington.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Yep.My uncle had passed, but he’d left his land, and we built a house on it—with a sitting room and two bedrooms.”
I glowed at how proud Oscar sounded of the house we’d built with help from our friends.I missed it with a fierceness that surprised me.
“How come you ain’t been to see Miss June, Cal?She said you promised to go see her and let her know how you was gettin’ on,” I asked, giving Cal what I hoped was a look of expectation.
“Oh, I meant to.I kept meaning to.We’re so busy, you know.Not only withthat,” she said, at the ribald look Trick gave her.“With practical stuff, too.We got some farmhands we need to feed, and I help with all the field work.’Tis tiring being a farmer’s wife, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
I watched Oscar as he listened to Cal, then met his gaze when he turned to me.I shrugged.Who was I to say ’twasn’t so—or he or Trick neither.If Cal was lying—and part of me figured she was, or at the very least she was pretending everything was all right when ’twasn’t.But there was nothing we could do until she decided to trust us with the truth of it.We just had to let her know we cared about her, and we were here if she needed us.
“Won’t you come to the saloon for a minute?”Oscar said, “We’ll get you a drink and a bite to eat.”
“Oh, no thank you,” Cal said, turning in the other direction.“I need to go.Albert worries when I’m gone too long.”
“Cal,” Trick said, “we’d love to meet your husband and see your home.Won’t you have us over?You don’t gotta feed us or nothin’.We only want to see this fine house and land of yours.”Trick’s gaze was calculating, and I knew she was trying to figure things out, like I was.
“Oh, well, I…I have to ask him if that’s all right.”
“You do?”
Cal laughed, and it sounded on the verge of hysterical.“Oh, he’ll say yes, I’m sure.But I need to make sure he knows to expect you.He’s very private, my Albert.He don’t like to be with other folks too much.”
That there gave me warning bells in my head.I supposed it could be true that he was simply a loner who loved Cal dearly and owned a big house and fine land—but I had my doubts.
“Anyway, ‘twas lovely to see you all,” Cal said, gathering her skirts again and heading away from us and the dry goods store.“I have to go.Maybe I’ll see you again when you’re in town… Say hello to Miss June, tell her I’m fine and she don’t need to worry no more,” Cal’s voice broke on those last words and she turned away, hastening her step, then disappeared behind some buildings.
The three of us exchanged glances, in which our unease and unwillingness to accept what Cal had told us, was evident.
