The Chili Queen

The Chili Queen Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: The Chili Queen Read Online Free PDF
Author: Sandra Dallas
Tags: Fiction, Historical
blocks of squat houses, many of them made of adobe bricks and plastered with dirt. Addie found them homey, but she thought Emma would not be impressed. She’d prefer the frame houses with curlicues of sawn lumber for trim, although they were shabby, their paint peeling from the sand that blew against them. Addie looked for The Chili Queen and felt such a touch of pride when she spotted it, off by itself, close to the railroad station, that she pointed it out to Emma. But Emma was distracted, scanning the faces in the depot, as the train slid to a stop.
    “You see him?” Addie asked.
    Emma shook her head. “All I have is the picture. But he’ll recognize me. My photograph is a better likeness than his.”
    “Maybe that one.” Addie pointed to a man who stood off on one side. “Kind of short, isn’t he? Is your gentleman short?”
    Emma looked startled. “I don’t know.”
    Addie rolled her eyes, and Emma blushed. “I guess you’ll find out soon enough,” Addie said.
    She stood up, but Emma touched her arm and nodded at a man leaning against the depot. “Do you think he’s Mr. Withers?”
    Addie squinted at the big man who stood with one foot braced against the wall. “Not likely. That’s Charley Pea. He’s the blacksmith. He’s got him a wife. I know it for a fact. Mayme’s her name.” Charley had taken a trip to Texas the year before and had returned with a bride, who’d put on airs, pretending to be a lady. But Addie had told it around town that Mayme was a whore from Ft. Worth, a hussy so depraved she’d been thrown out of the whorehouse where Addie’d worked—for corrupting the other girls. Mayme had picked a fight with her once and had broken Addie’s nose and pulled out a chunk of Addie’s hair. Although the fight wasn’t Addie’s fault, she’d been docked by the madam. So Addie had been all too happy to expose Mayme, although Addie had paid for it. Now she had to take her horses twenty miles away to be shoed. The blacksmith still fairly hated her. In fact, when Addie passed him on the street not long before she went to Kansas City, he had spit tobacco juice on her skirt. And he was the one who’d thrown two kittens down her well. Addie was sure of it.
    Addie and Emma made their way down the aisle and onto the platform, which was crowded with men dressed mostly in rough clothes. Ranchers and miners stood beside the freight cars, waiting for shipments. Mexicans silently moved around them as they unloaded barrels and boxes. Men and a few women milled about the tracks waiting for passengers or just watching the train to see who got off. Addie knew some of them, but it wasn’t wise to greet customers in public, so she merely looked them over, raised an eyebrow at one, smiled at another. She touched Emma’s elbow and pointed her head at a neatly dressed man holding a hat in his hand and smiling in their direction. But just then, a woman made her way past them and joined him.
    Emma’s eyes darted about, and she seemed to lose her composure. “He’s not here,” she whispered.
    “Oh, you don’t know that. Maybe he’s inside, waiting for folks to leave. He might be shy,” Addie replied. “Or he went to the saloon for his dinner. Train’s awful late, you know. Now, you go sit on the bench in the shade and wait for him. He’ll be along directly.” If Emma was sitting in the shadows of the depot, the man might not see right off how old she was.
    “Will you wait with me?” Emma asked.
    Addie was tempted, since she was curious to see this Mr. Withers. But she didn’t fancy having the man recognize her and explain to Emma that she’d been keeping company all night and day with a whore. That wouldn’t bother Addie so much, but she didn’t see any reason to turn the woman into an enemy. And if Mr. Withers were as upright as Emma believed, he wasn’t likely to approach Emma with Addie sitting beside her. Besides, it was late—and a Saturday night, Addie realized with a start. She had to
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