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Chapter Thirteen
The sun was just coming up when Rhine finally entered his apartments above the saloon. Saturday night was always the Union’s busiest, and after all the revelry and noise, he looked forward to some peace and quiet and grabbing a few hours of sleep. As he removed his tie and began undressing, his thoughts turned to Eddy. She’d been on his mind since leaving Sylvia’s, but only now did he have the luxury of fully reviewing the encounter. She’d admitted to having no experience with men and he’d tasted that reticence in the kiss, but as the intensity took hold, he’d also tasted a hidden wellspring of passion any man would want to coax to the fore, and he was selfish enough to want to be that man. Her innocence made her ripe for seduction. All he need do was let passion overwhelm her and she’d be his, but he had more honor than that. He wanted the little queen to come to him of her own free will; wanted to hear her whisper his name as he slowly undressed her, tease her with his touch until she lay twisting in his bed and then feel her damp heat sheath him while they made love until they were both too sated to move. But the only proper way to turn fantasy into reality was to court her, and in light of the barriers that stood between them, he had no idea how to go about it. At least not presently.
Nude, he climbed into bed, and in the dark she continued to hold his thoughts. Hearing her say she was descended from a queen had stopped his breathing. With the blood of queens flowing through his own veins he’d appreciated the irony. Had the Old Queens placed her in his life as a cruel joke? Was he being tested to decide once and for all who he wanted to be? Or was she a temptation he was supposed to gird himself against? He’d never been this baffled by his feelings for Natalie. Never once had he gone to bed craving to see her as soon as the sun rose, but he felt that way about Eddy. She believed in love, something he knew nothing about because other than Andrew and his wife, he’d never witnessed it. Although his mother Azelia bore two children, she certainly hadn’t loved or been loved by Carson Fontaine, and Carson’s obsession with Azelia had fostered only bitterness and anger from his wife Sally Anne. There’d been no love there. Rhine assumed he’d been loved by his mother, but he couldn’t swear by it. He’d been only a bit past five years old when she died, and sadly, he didn’t remember her. Turning his thoughts away from that loss and the immensely painful knowledge of how and why she’d died, his mind shifted back to Eddy.
How could he ensure a future that included her? There was the mistress route, but she’d never agree and he’d never ask. He supposed his only options were to either leave her be, which he’d already eschewed, or grab the bull by the horns and turn his life upside down. Truthfully it was probably the only way she’d accept him and his feelings. But that choice was a difficult one filled with immeasurable ramifications, including turning his back on nearly everything he’d built since coming west. That he’d even be contemplating such a drastic move was scary, but to not have her in his life was scarier. He had no clear vision of what he should do but he had to make a decision—soon.
“Eddy, there’s a line of fifty people waiting outside!”
Eddy looked up into Sylvia’s startled face and took a quick glance around the kitchen at the food she and Maria and her sons were preparing to plate. “We don’t have enough to serve that many, Sylvia.”
“I know, but what a wonderful dilemma to have.”
Eddy wasn’t so sure. She didn’t like the idea of not being able to feed the people who’d come counting on a meal. “Do you have a plan?”
“Other than turning some folks away, no.”
Eddy didn’t like that either.
“If the Sunday numbers keep rising, we may need to hire more help and enlarge the dining room. In the meantime, I need to go back out and see how many more I can fit inside.”
As she left the kitchen, Maria removed a large pan of done rolls from the oven. “People love your cooking, Eddy,” Maria said.
“I’m glad, but I don’t want any hard feelings from those who’ll be turned away.” That said, she went back to mashing potatoes.
Usually Eddy and Maria’s tasks were putting the food on the plates while Maria’s sons took the orders out to the diners, but due to the day’s extra large crowd, the women had to do both. Eddy had been warned about the number of people, but when she stepped into the dining room carrying a plate in each hand the sheer volume shocked her. There were miners sitting on the floor along the walls. The room held fifteen people comfortably but Sylvia had somehow managed to shoehorn in so many more that there wasn’t room left to turn around. The people lined up outside waiting to get in reached as far as the eye could see. Squeezed into the far side of the room was an old trestle table taken from the storage building out back. Where Sylvia had gotten the benches for it to provide the seating, Eddy didn’t know, nor did she have time to dwell on it. There was too much to do. She and the Valdez family raced back and forth between the kitchen and the dining room setting down filled plates and removing the empty ones. Luckily there were no menus, folks got whatever Eddy cooked, so they didn’t have to waste time waiting for the diners to make up their mind. The offerings were chicken, mashed potatoes, sweetened carrots, and rolls. The only choice allowed was the cake. Silver or gold. When Eddy first began working for Sylvia, those who came to eat on Sundays would often linger over their meals and spend time chatting with diners at tables nearby, but not this day. Sylvia was moving about the room politely doing her best to encourage people to eat quickly so those waiting outside could take their place.
Dinner was served from two p.m. until four p.m., and by four-thirty when the last satisfied customers paid their bills and departed, a weary Eddy dropped into a kitchen chair. She was hot, sweaty, and her feet ached. Luckily, she’d had the foresight to put food aside for herself and the Valdez family, otherwise they would’ve gone hungry because there wasn’t a scrap left.
Sylvia joined them while they ate. “We made another pile of money today. Eddy, you are a gold mine.”
She smiled tiredly.
Sylvia turned to Maria and her sons. “And we couldn’t have done this without you and your sons, Maria. Thank you.”
She, too, offered a tired smile. “We need more help, Sylvie.”
Sylvia nodded. “We do. I’ll ask around town tomorrow. If you know anyone who might be interested, have them come see me.”
“I will.”
Once they finished eating, everyone pitched in to clean up and then the Valdez family went home.
“I think I’m going to draw a bath and relax for the rest of the evening,” Eddy said. She really wanted to get off her feet.
“You’ve earned it,” the pleased Sylvia said.
But before Eddy could leave the kitchen, there was a knock on the back door. Sylvia went to investigate. “Why, Zeke,” she said, turning and smiling knowingly at Eddy. “What brings you here? As if I didn’t know.”
He entered the room, and the smile he turned on Eddy buoyed her a bit. She was glad to see him.
“I know you had to work today, Eddy, but I brought you some ice cream from the social. Probably all melted by now though.”
“That was so sweet of you, Zeke.” She took the small bowl from his hand. The cream had indeed melted but not all the way through. “Please, sit,” she said. “Let me get a spoon.”
Sylvia said, “I’ll leave you two to your visiting.”
Eddy dipped her spoon into the mostly melted cream. “This is very good. How was the social?”
