All or Nothing by Ashley Elizabeth Ludwig

Author:Ashley Elizabeth Ludwig [Ludwig, Ashley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: White Rose Publishing (an entity of Pelican Ventures, LLC)
Published: 2009-12-31T06:00:00+00:00

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After what seemed an age, RuthAnne followed Dolly out of the water. Dried and dressed, they sat on the small stretch of beach, sharing a deeper bond than she had ever dreamed possible.

“Thank you.” Dolly grasped RuthAnne’s hand.

“Don’t thank me. I had nothing to do with it.”

“I meant for last night! Here I thought no man could ever want me and Katie, and he’s plumb been under my nose the whole time. Good thing he’s stubborn as a mule.”

“Well, you two just needed to air a few things out, is all.” RuthAnne shook off a last bit of sand from her toes and slipped on her shoes.

“Speaking of...” Dolly turned to face RuthAnne. The sun warmed their faces and dried their hair into ringlets on their shoulders. “You need to come clean with me.”

RuthAnne hesitated. “About what?”

“Just how you met our dear friend Bowen Shepherd and what your intentions are with him. Bowen’s near and dear to my heart.”

“Yes, I know. In fact, I always assumed...”

“What? That he and I?” Dolly laughed. “It’s only natural you would have thought we had been...well, intimate.”

Heat rushed to her ears. “No, that wasn’t what I thought. I thought you loved him.”

“He saved me, you know. It was a much worse thing than being stranded in a storm. I was newly pregnant with Katie. I wouldn’t give her up, and they were threatening to throw me out on my ear. Bowen was storming through town looking for a fight after that horrible Camp Grant incident.”

“Camp Grant?” RuthAnne had heard it mentioned, and every time she asked about it people hushed up as if ashamed or afraid.

“That was in spring of ’71.” Dolly explained further. “Back when the city thought it could do more good than harm by starting a war between two Indian tribes. They sent Bowen to clean up the mess, and it changed him. He searched out the masterminds behind the massacre and brought them to town for trial. When the judge let them all go—heck, the judge all but gave the Citizens for Public Safety Committee a commendation! Bowen went crazy, like a wild man, ready to bring them to justice by his own self...something stopped him. He had tracked down a certain high-ranking cavalry officer.”

RuthAnne’s mind clicked. The post commander? She opened her mouth to voice it, but Dolly simply held up a hand. Her face was sorrowful; her eyes told a million tragic stories.

Dolly continued. “I worked the Wedge because I had no choice; it was a good place for a girl like me. The Opera House, it was called, was considered a high-profile establishment. Not the usual riffraff, but a place where solid citizens could discreetly come to call. They kept us in pretty dresses, powders, all of the trappings and then some. Once a month, a Chinese lady would come and see to it none of us were in the family way. As awful as it was, it became almost...normal. Just something to detach yourself from; let your mind drift away, pretend you weren’t there.

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