The Whippoorwill Trilogy - Sharon Sala Page 0,198

tried, the funnier everything became.

“Only the strong… Lord have mercy.” She rolled off the bed onto the floor, pointed at Eulis, and then slapped her hands over her face as she was struck with a fresh wave of hysteria. “Stop… stop… don’t look at me,” she begged.

The innkeeper frowned. “I don’t know what I said that was so humorous. This is not Philadelphia.”

Letty took a deep breath and bit her lower lip, but it was no use. She looked at Eulis and then rolled over on her belly, laid her forehead in the crook of one arm, and started slapping the floor with the flat of her other hand as she laughed until she cried.

Eulis sighed. It was to be expected that the relief of reaching their destination would come out in some fashion, but he would never have expected this.

Mrs. Cocker stared at the woman as if she’d lost her mind and then turned to Eulis.

“Is she all right… I mean… she’s not touched in the head or anything, is she? I don’t want no crazy woman sleeping under my roof.”

Eulis grinned. “No ma’am, she’s not crazy. She’s also no sissy, and the fact that you looked at her and thought that might be the case is what has tickled her funny bone.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t get the joke,” Mrs. Cocker said. “Stew’s on the stove when you’re ready to eat. Bath tubs are out back. I’ve got three, only one’s got a hole in it. Pay up front.”

“What’ll we owe you?” Eulis asked.

“A dollar apiece,” she said.

“A dollar?”

She put her hands on her hips and nodded again to accentuate her price.

“A dollar, and a cheap price at that. From here, it’s four miles to Denver and the gold fields. Things are a lot higher there.”

Eulis counted out the money, then sat down on the bed and waited for Letty to regain her senses as the innkeeper left the room.

“You ’bout finished,” he finally asked.

Letty gave up one last laugh, and then rolled over on her back, holding her belly.

“Oh… oh… I hurt. I don’t know when I’ve laughed so much. Can you believe she didn’t think we were tough enough to be here?”

Eulis grinned. “Yeah, well, she doesn’t know us, is all.”

Letty sat up, then looked at Eulis, thinking as she did that he seemed really tall from down here.

“No. She doesn’t know us.”

Eulis gave her a hand up.

“Come on, Sister Leticia. You need to go wash that mean off you before you hurt someone.”

She grinned. No matter what lay in wait for them, she was going to enjoy this night as it was meant to be enjoyed. No telling how long it would be again before she got to take a warm bath and sleep in a real bed—under a real roof.

Fever—Hot And Gold

In deference to her sex, Mrs. Cocker had offered Letty separate sleeping quarters behind a curtained alcove beyond the main sleeping room, but Letty had refused. After coming this far with Eulis at her side, she wasn’t going to start separating herself from him now.

They had bathed, eaten a supper of stew and cornbread, and some of the best dried apple pie that Letty had ever tasted. After tending to their mules, they wearily crawled into bed.

There were at least two dozen beds in the room, and more than half of them were filled. Letty lay on her side with her face to the wall, listening to the sounds of the men settling down for the night.

Except for Mrs. Cocker, Letty was the only female on the place, but she didn’t feel threatened. The men who’d come to Cherry Creek had a fever all right, but not for women. They’d come for gold.

Eulis was unusually quiet. As Letty lay there, waiting for sleep to claim her, she realized that she was also listening to him. She heard the cot squeak as he settled himself into a comfortable spot, then felt the warmth of his breath against the back of her neck as he exhaled wearily. Somewhere off in the distance, she heard the faint echo of a gunshot and flinched. She’d heard of how wild a gold camp could be, but she’d been in rough places before. She consoled herself with the fact that at least this time, she wasn’t at the mercy of men, depending on their favors for her living. Here, she was an equal. She had just as good a chance at striking it rich as any man here. All it