I’m the one they run to. And to be honest, I’m glad that idiot struck me and not Millie.”
The wound had started oozing again. Dinah reached for the ice. “Hold this here. Cold slows the bleeding.” She figured Ruby could use the break. Doc’s estimate of the number of stiches was about half as many as it’d actually take. “Would you like another shot of rum?”
“Yes, please.”
Dinah handed her the glass and Ruby lifted her head only enough to drink and swallow.
Silence stretched between them.
Finally Ruby sighed. “I’d rather we keep talking.”
“About?”
“Anything to keep my mind off of this.”
“Your dress is gorgeous.” The burgundy velvet was off the shoulders with cut away cap sleeves. A black silk horizontally pleated bodice showcased the tops of her breasts and the deep valley between them. The low and formfitting waistline of black lace had been sewn atop the velvet, giving that section of the dress the appearance of an entirely different color. The skirt wasn’t voluminous, in keeping with the latest slimmer style.
“Thank you. I reworked the top and cut enough fabric from the skirt I could almost make another dress out of it.”
“You sew?”
Ruby turned her head and looked at Dinah. “Out of necessity, yes. No dressmakers in Labelle and the ladies’ shop in Sundance refused my patronage. Their loss. I have four women to dress who adore pretty things, so I’ve learned to adapt.”
“Is it offensive if I ask how you became a madam?”
“Seeing how you’re fixing my face and I’ve had enough rum not to care what you think of me, I’ll grant you the true sordid saga of Ruby Redmond.”
That barbed comment got Dinah’s back up. “Should I thank you for lumping me in with the other judgmental idiots who live here? Because you’re not the only one who’s been subjected to ugliness and rumors, Miss Redmond.”
Ruby’s eyes turned sharp even beneath the glassy effects of the rum and pain. “I like to hear you snap back, Miss Thompson. Most women are too flustered in my presence to say much of anything. Or they’re frothing pure venom out of their mean mouths. There’s usually no in between.”
“I’m not bragging when I say I’m not like most small-minded women in this town.” She paused. “And please. Call me Dinah.”
“Okay, Dinah. Where are you from originally?”
“Cheyenne.”
“What brought you out here?”
“Money. Frontier teachers make more. I’ve been on my own for the most part since I was thirteen.”
“Me too.”
Dinah’s focus dropped to the ice pack and she narrowed her eyes. “If you can’t keep that where it’s supposed to be, we’ll have to stop talking.”
Ruby smirked and adjusted the ice. “Better?”
“Yes. Now my life history is boring. Tell me the sordid saga.”
“My parents joined the throng of people migrating to Deadwood, intending to get rich striking gold, except they got there too late. I was ten, my brother Eddie was fifteen.”
“Where did your family move from?”
“Minnesota. For two years we lived in a miner’s camp and when the fever went through, it took both my parents. Eddie and I survived the fever and the mining camp for another year. My brother had bigger aspirations than scrabbling in the dirt for gold or felling timber. And caring for his sister wasn’t in his plans. So he sold me to Madam Marie of the infamous Deadwood Gold Nugget brothel.”
Dinah’s mouth dropped open.
“At the time I was thirteen, but Eddie told Marie I was sixteen. I’d developed a womanly shape early so that was believable. Marie had a harder time believing I’d retained my virginity living in a miner’s camp. Until I told her I dressed in baggy men’s clothes, forewent baths and didn’t venture from our campsite. Our parents had been savvy enough to pick a spot against a hill with a small cave. The only reason we survived the winters was because that dirt cave kept us dry and out of the wind and snow. The front section under the canvas offered a windbreak for a campfire.”
Ruby faced the ceiling but kept her eyes closed. “Eddie worked odd jobs that year it was just the two of us. He hunted and fished. I cooked what he caught. I hauled water and if no one was around I hunted for berries and other edibles in the forest.”
She froze when the needle pierced her skin and Dinah followed it with a quick tug of thread. “And?”
“And we were barely surviving. So maybe I should’ve been