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Rhine eased the hammer back. “I say she isn’t. Give me your money!”
He quickly surrendered. “Okay!”
Rhine stepped back. Nash fumbled through his pockets and with a shaking hand offered up fifty dollars in bills and coins.
“Where’s the rest?”
“A man’s gotta live.”
“By preying on women and leaving them to die in the desert!”
Nash wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“I want you out of town right now.”
“You can’t make me leave. Why’re you so worked up over a nigger woman anyway?”
The fist that exploded in Nash’s face put him back on the floor. “Be out of Virginia City by sundown,” Rhine said icily. “Or I’ll hunt you down like a rabid dog.”
Rhine collected his payment from the shocked Lady Ruby and exited the Silver Palace without further word.
On the ride back to the Union, his encounter with Nash made him glad he’d stepped away from his race. As a man of color he would never have been able to champion Eddy the way he had; not without threat of arrest or a noose.
That evening, Eddy was in the kitchen making the dough for the dinner rolls she’d be offering with Sunday’s dinner. With the steadily increasing numbers of people showing up to eat, she hoped tripling the batch would allow each diner to have two rolls to accompany their meal of roast chicken and vegetables. She’d already cut up and seasoned the chicken pieces and they were resting in large roasters in the cold box. She still had a few cakes to ice, but overall her work was just about done for the day. Sylvia had gone over to Vera’s for their weekly Saturday night card game. August was spending his evening with Cherry. Miner Gabe Horne was working the midnight shift, and she had no idea where the always boastful Whitman Brown was, nor did she care. All that mattered was she had the house to herself for the evening. Once she was done in the kitchen, her plan was to draw a bath, soak away the day’s tension and the large bruise blooming on her forearm from Nash’s unwanted attentions, and generally relax ahead of what would be a busy Sunday.
With the dough done, she divided it up, placed each soft mound in a bowl, and covered the bowls with clean, flour-dusted towels so the dough could rise undisturbed overnight.
Taking out more butter and sugar so she could make the icing for the cakes, a knock on the back door made her look up. It was dark so she had trouble seeing who was there. Wiping her hands on a towel, she walked over and saw Rhine standing under the light. She’d spent the balance of the day trying to convince herself that he’d not make good on his promise to stop by and see about her. With it being Saturday night, she was certain he’d be far too busy with his saloon. She was wrong. She drew in a deep calming breath. “Rhine.”
“I came to check on you.”
“Thank you. I’m fine.”
“I just wanted to make sure.”
As the night echoed around them, they studied each other through the screen. Common sense dictated she send him on his way, but instead she heard herself ask, “Would you like to come in?”
“I would.”
By inviting him in, she was aware that she was opening herself up to whatever might come to pass, but she was determined to keep the walls she’d built around herself erect and intact. She stepped back so he could enter. His eyes brushed hers, and the air in the room seemed to warm and thicken. “Sit if you care to. I’m in the middle of icing cakes for tomorrow’s dinner and I need to finish.”
“Thank you. What kind?” he asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs.
She was determined to keep the atmosphere light. “Two gold. Two silver. We sell them by the slice.”
As conscious of his presence as she was of her own breathing, she whipped the sugar and butter and added the sweet milk a bit at a time until the icing reached the proper consistency.
“Why’d you invite me in?”
The quiet tone of his voice stroked her like a hand, but she chuckled softly, “Because you obviously don’t take no for an answer.”
“There is that.”
“Also, it’s dark. You were discreet enough to come to the back door. I’m also here alone. Both of which will hopefully save me from the gossips.” She began frosting the cakes, all the while telling herself she wasn’t nervous.
“You do that well.”
“Years of practice. As I may have told you before, my mother was a cook.” As she moved on to the second cake, she saw him reach into his coat and extract some money. She froze. “And that is for?”
