Free Fireblossom by Cynthia Wright Page B

off the table and poured in a generous amount of the amber liquid. Maddie declined to join her but sat stiffly opposite her guest and conversed as courteously as she was able. As it turned out, Garnet talked almost nonstop, even answering her own questions.
    "I hope you won't think I'm bein' rude, dearie, but I'm startin' to worry that you won't fit in here. You're not just weak and timid—you think you're better'n the rest of us, don'tcha?" Garnet tossed back the brandy, then poured another. "Well, that won't do if you mean to stay. Not if you want friends, leastways. I s'pose you've a notion that all we got in Deadwood is sin and vice and a lot of foul-mouthed miners who spit all day long. Ain't that so?"
    "Well, I – " Maddie tried to think how to reply.
    Garnet spared her the effort. "This town is growin' to be a place of real class. Maybe you didn't hear that an actual theater troupe is come to Deadwood! It's Jack Langrishe and his wife and two other actresses. They're putting up a theater right this minute down on Main Street! So honey, take some advice from old Garnet—join in and throw off those airs, or they'll just keep gettin' in your way of a good time!"
    Madeleine felt dangerously close to tears when Garnet Loomis reached across the table, pinched her cheek hard, and tugged it to-and-fro. When a tapping came at the kitchen door, she looked up hopefully. Fox ducked his handsome head under the lintel.
    "I apologize if I'm intruding..." he said hesitantly, glancing from Maddie to Mrs. Loomis with ill-concealed curiosity.
    "Absolutely not!" Maddie jumped to her feet and rushed to greet him as if he were a much loved relative returning from the war. "What a perfectly lovely surprise, Fox! How well you look!"
    In truth, that was an understatement. For an instant time seemed to stop as Maddie soaked up the picture Fox made framed in the sunlit doorway. He was thoroughly bronzed by the sun, which made his eyes even more crisply blue in contrast, and when he smiled the flash of his teeth was startling. Maddie could see that he was grimy and sweaty, too, but that made him appear stronger, leaner, taller, and more intensely male than ever.
    "Could you spare a cup of water for a thirsty man?" he asked.
    Maddie hurried to comply, and they all were silent for a minute as he drank. Finally, Garnet Loomis spoke up in loudly flirtatious tones, "Well, well, at last I get to meet the man every girl in Deadwood's pining for... 'specially little Victoria!" She winked, then stood up and put out her hand. "Fox, I'm Garnet Loomis! Come on and sit with us. I've been helpin' Miss Madeleine with her bread dough. You know how these eastern girls are, all weak and pale, fainting at a moment's notice!"
    With a slow smile that begged Maddie to meet his eyes, Fox said, "Faint? Miss Avery? Impossible! It is tempting, I know, to underestimate beautiful women, but Miss Avery is a very intrepid lady." He clasped Garnet's hand briefly, assessing the situation. "I'm afraid that we can't spare the time to socialize, Mrs. Loomis, because I've come to discuss a business matter with Miss Avery. If you'll excuse us..."
    Garnet all but dug in her heels as he steered her toward the door. "Say, did you hear the news? Jacob Horn rode into town this morning with an Injin head! He's been carrying it around to all the saloons, hopin' to sell it."
    "I doubt whether Miss Avery is interested," Fox remarked dryly.
    Shaking her head and frowning, Garnet declared, "Injins is somethin' we all have to think about, whether we like it or not. All I can say is that it's a good thing us whites got these Hills back. Some Injin lovers think those bloodthirsty, sneaking Sioux deserved to keep the Hills, but the truth is that they barely tiptoed higher than the foothills 'cause they were scared of evil spirits!"
    "Mrs. Loomis, at the risk of sounding like one of those Indian lovers you despise, I have to confess that I disagree with almost everything you've just said." Fox