Breathless(73)

Portia thought back. “I remember the day we arrived in Virginia City. It was right after Aunt Eddy was shot. When she recovered, Regan and I asked her a hundred questions. We didn’t know what marriage was and I remember to this day how appalled she looked when I asked if we were going to have to have relations with Uncle Rhine. She said no of course, but it took me a long time to actually believe her. My mother’s customers were mostly brutes, so I thought all men were that way.”

“We’re not.”

“I know,” she whispered. “When my mother sent us away, my insides felt like pieces of a broken glass and I didn’t know how I was supposed to go back together.” The memory tore open the bandage she always wore over that hurt and tears sprang to her eyes. She dashed them away. “You’d think I’d be over that by now.”

“I don’t know if you ever get over something like that.”

“You’re good for me, cowboy. I’m glad you love me.”

He hugged her tight and whispered, “Always.”





Chapter Seventeen




After the newlyweds rejoined the world, Mr. Nogales and his men began building the house. He told them it was too early to estimate when they’d be able to move in due to all the work needed to level the site and set the foundation, but the Randolphs didn’t care that there was no date. They were happy enough knowing the work had begun. Mr. Nogales’s sister, Angelica, owned a brick making operation in Flagstaff and she hired Portia to do her books, too. Carmichael Bookkeeping now had three clients. Mr. Nogales, his sister, and the Fontaine Hotel. Portia was delighted.

“I’ve decided to name the ranch the Duchess Randolph in your honor,” Kent said one morning, walking into her office at the hotel.

“You’re pulling my leg.”

“No and here’s proof.” He showed her a piece of paper that had drawn on it a stylized D over an upside down R. “It’ll be the brand for our cattle. I’ll get it registered the next time I go into Tucson.”

Portia was touched by the tribute. “Can I reward you with kisses?”

“Only if I can get more than kisses later.”

“You have a deal.”

They were in the middle of the kiss when Regan’s voice interrupted them. “Lord. You two are as bad as Uncle Rhine and Aunt Eddy.”

Kent turned Portia loose and headed to the door where Regan stood. He gave his sister-in-law a peck on the cheek. “We love you, too.”

And he left to ride out to the ranch.

Smiling at her husband’s exit, Portia asked, “What can I do for you, Regan?”

“I’m ready to talk to Aunt Eddy and Uncle Rhine. Can you come with me?”

Regan nodded tightly.



To their credit, their aunt and uncle took the news rather calmly, Portia thought, but it didn’t mean they liked it. As Portia had done on her wedding day, they pointed out all the things that could go wrong.

“How do you know this man isn’t lying to you?” Rhine asked.

“I don’t.”

Eddy sighed. “Regan, I love you dearly and you are old enough to make your own decisions but are you sure you want to travel all that way for what might turn out to be fool’s gold?”

“If it is, I promise to come home.”

Rhine said, “I’d feel better about this if he came down to meet us and then escorted you back.”

“I would, too,” Eddy admitted.

“He’s the only doctor in his part of the territory and he doesn’t want to leave his patients alone for the length of time it would take him to get here and go back. Which I understand. That says to me how seriously he takes his profession.”

Or he could be lying, Portia thought to herself.

They spent a few more minutes discussing all the things that might go wrong, but Regan had her mind made up and so stuck to her guns.

Rhine looked upset but there was pain in his eyes, too. Like Portia he was already missing Regan. “When is he expecting you?”

“In a few weeks.”

Eddy looked stricken. “So soon?”

Regan nodded.

“Then let your uncle and me know what we need to do to help you get ready.”

“I will and thank you for not making this harder to tell you. I’ve been worried.”

“You just transferred that worry to us,” Eddy said with a sad smile.

“I’m sorry.”

“No apology needed. As I said, you are old enough to direct your own life. I just have to accept that. I don’t love you any less.”

The two embraced and Regan whispered, “Thank you.”



A few days later, tickets in hand, Eddy, her lady friends, and Portia and Kent boarded the train bound for San Francisco and the women’s conference. Regan stayed home to continue seeing to her move to Wyoming. Portia and Kent were set to stay a few days longer and she planned to be extra sweet to him for agreeing to come along.

Upon arrival, they took cabs to their hotel and rested up for their dinner that evening with Rhine’s half brother Andrew, his wife Freda and their son Little Drew.

The conference the next day turned out to be an exciting affair. Women from all over the West converged on the grove behind the local Baptist church to hear speeches, plot strategies for advancing suffrage, and reaffirm their commitments to uplifting the race. Portia had never seen such a gathering of determined, forceful, and articulate women, and it filled her with pride. She saw Ada Jakes at a table selling pamphlets. The woman looked her off. Portia didn’t care. She saw Winston, too, with a dark-skinned woman on his arm. His eyes widened at the sight of Portia but he didn’t approach her and she didn’t approach him either.