Free The Prettiest Girl in the Land (The Traherns #3) by Nancy Radke Page A

Ma’am.”
    She had combed it in a style I’d never worn before, but knew I
would wear a lot. It changed the shape of my face, making me look much
prettier. No match for Mary, but not as plain as I had thought myself.
    “That’s how you should wear it, Ma’am.”
    “I bet you could open your own hair place, Lila. Women would
love the kind of thing you’ve done for me.”
    “Really? I never thought about it.”
    “People in this country, for the most part, don’t have a maid. I
bet they’d pay you handsome to wash their hair like you did mine and make it
look good on them. You have a gift.”
    “Thank you, Ma’am.”
    “Ruth.”
    “Ruth.”
    “That’s better. Now what did you do to my dress? It looks
wonderful. I can never iron it and make it look like that.”
    “I starched it, Ma’am. Ruth. With potato water. I put a little
on after I washed and rinsed it. You have to be careful not to use too much, or
it will be stiff. I do all the linens this way. Mrs. Jones loves it. You want
to grab the water before you season the potatoes. I keep some in the icebox. My
mum taught me.”
    “It looks grand.” I looked around for my pile of dirty clothes.
They were gone!

6
    “Lila, my other clothes. Where...?”
    “Here, Ma’am. Ruth. I couldn’t stand them. Your coins are all
there, except two.” She opened a small door into a closet. My skirt and blouse
hung there, clean, and my underskirt was folded.
    I put on my undergarment, then the dress she had ironed. It was
light after the heavy traveling outfit.
    “Your coins show, Ma’am. Ruth. This won’t hide them.”
    “What do people do?”
    “Gents wear a money belt. Women carry a purse and aren’t
expected to have much. You could put it in the bank, but that money won’t go
far, here. Things cost. Most things come by ship or overland.”
    “Thank you. I used one to pay my landlady in Memphis. The other
is still in my purse, in case I needed it on the journey.”
    “Take a couple in your purse and have Mrs. Jones put the rest in
her safe.”
    She helped me take the coins out. I had ten in all, what seemed
a lot to me in the mountains. Lila took me to Mrs. Jones’ area of the house and
that woman put them away for me and gave me a paper saying how much I had.
    “Thank you,” I said.
    “Thank you for saving my son’s life. You and Gage and Travers.
We knew it could be a dangerous job, but the pay is better than most. He wanted
to earn enough to start a small dairy farm.”
    “How is he doing?”
    “Excellent. He sent word with the pony express riders, which is
how I knew before you got here. What are you and your man planning to do?”
    “I’ve got a job with Mr. Debras doing freight.” I felt I should
explain once more, so said, “I don’t know what Gage will be doing. We really
aren’t together. I’ve just known him all my life.”
    “He talked like you were someone important to him.”
    “I don’t know about that.”
    “You’ll need more than one dress, so I’ll have Lila take you to
where she buys hers. It’s good fabric, and reasonable.”
    “Thank you, Ma’am.”
    “And you need to look at the newspaper.”
    She walked over to a small table, picked up a paper and carried
it back to me. It had an account of our trip, written by the reporter. He’d
sent one back east and sold one to this paper too. And probably others.
    “Travers is famous,” she said.  “And so are you.”
    I read the story the reporter had written and recognized a few
things that had happened. But he had used up a whole lot of his freedom of
speech. Travers was this wonder dog, and Gage and I had emerged as heroic
figures who were more than human.
    “Land sakes,” I said. “That man could turn a sow bug into a sow.”
    “I expect he did exaggerate.”
    “I have a hard time recognizing us. Dare I go outside?”
    “You go with Lila and get yourself another dress and some other
things. I received a message from the bankers that they want to meet you