Effie (Cowboys and Debutantes Book 1) by Kit Morgan & Cowboys & Debutantes

Author:Kit Morgan & Cowboys & Debutantes [Morgan, Kit]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Angel Creek Press
Published: 2017-05-09T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Alice Capshaw was a short, plump woman with dark hair and hazel eyes underneath a veritable thicket of eyebrows, and stared at Effie, her dress, her hair, her everything with undiluted envy. She’d served them coffee and leftover biscuits upon their arrival, and now the men were headed to the barn to discuss whatever a hog farmer and a horse rancher talked about. This left the two women alone.

Effie nibbled nervously at a biscuit, not sure where to start.

“I’m sorry we ain’t got no proper thangs to give.”

Effie blinked. “Proper? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“Them biscuits is from two days ago. I know they’s stale, but …”

“No, they’re quite all right,” Effie assured her. They weren’t really, but she chewed and swallowed, helped by a sip of sour coffee.

“They’s all we got,” Alice continued.

Effie stared at her in shock. “What do you mean?”

“John ain’t got to town yet on account he’s waitin’ on Bathsheba. She’s one o’ the mares, ‘n she’s ‘bout to foal. Won’t leave her, the stubborn man. But horse breedin’s his business, so I figger he knows what he’s doin’.”

Effie smiled and took another bite. After the trip, the previous day’s surprises and her own self-chastisement, she’d have eaten anything Alice had put in front of her. Stale biscuits? Fine – when in Rome … “I’m sure he does.” She took another sip and glanced around the small parlor and its sparse furnishings. It was a bigger house than hers, she could say that for it, and smelled better besides – clearly the result of a woman’s touch. “What a lovely home you have. Did you decorate it yourself?”

Alice beamed. “Sure did. I pick flowers every other day in the summer and put ‘em around the house. I like flowers, don’t you?”

Effie nodded absently, thinking of the huge flower arrangements she’d been sent from suitors over the last two seasons. If only her father hadn’t lost everything …

“You should come pickin’ with me.”

Effie straightened. “What?”

“Come on – let’s see what we can find.” Alice stood. “The menfolk won’t be done for awhile yet.”

Effie brushed crumbs from her lap. “All right, then.”

Alice fetched a bonnet off a peg near the door, put it on, then wrapped a thin shawl around her shoulders. “Ain’t ya got no shawl?”

“No, but it’s okay,” Effie insisted. “It’s warmer here than back home. We had a very long winter.” She swore she was still thawing out from it.

“That’s a right purty hat,” Alice said. “I … like yer dress too. Course, I’d never be able to wear somethin’ so fine.”

Effie’s chest tightened. “Of course you could.”

Alice shook her head. “Ain’t no one ‘round here can make a dress like that. Besides, wouldn’t look as good on me as it does on you.”

“Nonsense,” Effie said. “You’d look pretty as a picture.”

Alice laughed. “A big picture.”

Effie stared at her a moment, then realized she was talking about her weight and made sure not to smile. “Doesn’t Baker City have a dressmaker?”

“Sure, but I cain’t afford one.

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