Ruby

Ruby

Book Four of Sister of Destiny Series

by

Dwight W Hunter

Copyright 2013 Dwight W. Hunter

All rights reserved

Smashwords Edition

ISBN: 9781301024605

Also by the author at most e-book retailers, are six more books in The Sisters of Series. (Discover series titles at the end of this book.)

All novels in The Sisters of Destiny Series are completely fictional. Any resemblance to person or person's names living or dead is purely coincidental

Thank you for downloading this e-book. It is the copyright of the author, and may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy at Smashwords.com, where they can also discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support

Introduction

The small community of Teaken, like so many frontier communities, died with their founders. When early twentieth century Model T Fords and other four-wheel breeds reduced horse centered travel from days to minutes; closely spaced homesteader villages anchored by a blacksmith shop, general store and saloon suffered the same fate as saddle horses, hacks and wagons.

I chose Teaken for the birthplace of Ruby, because my mother was born there in 1896, the eighth and last child in a family of seven girls and one boy. My mother went on to birth seven sons and one daughter

Being a son of Northern Idaho, born on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, I feel its rich frontier history has been neglected by history and literature. Perhaps this oversight came from the region not being known to storytellers in the vein of Ned Buntline, Zane Gray and Louis L’amour to popularized miners, homesteaders, Indian leaders, villains and, yes, Soiled Doves. The latter brought touches of tenderness, most times for a price, to rough, tumble and short lived frontier men

The men blazed roads, mined gold, wrestled homestead from brush and rocks. They built saloon, erected churches,schools and jails. Their farms and ranches fed a section of the nation while settling this majestic country.

Table of Contents

Chapter01 - Freedom

Chapter02 - Slight of Hand

Chapter03 - New Beginnings

Chapter04 - The Next Step

Chapter05 - The transition

Chapter06 - At Work

Chapter07 - Sam

Chapter08 - The Trial

Chapter09 - The Son

Chapter10 - The Unexpected

Chapter11 - Relatives

Chapter12 - Prospects

Chapter13 - The Deal

Chapter14 - Brains vs Inside Plumbing

Chapter15 - The Deal

Chapter16 - Widows

Chapter17 - Ruby Makes a Deal

Chapter18 - Vacation

Chapter19 - The Hotel

Chapter20 - The Dilemma

Chapter21 - It Finally Happened

Chapter22 - Good Byes

Chapter23 - Under Sail

Chapter24 - Saint Francis

Chapter25 - The Meeting

Chapter26 - Getting into Business

Chapter27 - Pirates of the East Bay

Chapter28 - A Dinner Conversation

About_the_Author

Sisters_of_Destiny

Epilogue

Chapter1 - Freedom

His rough unwashed work callused hand snaked out quickly followed by a sharp ‘crack’ as it found Ruby’s left cheek.

That’s just a sample! Jed snarled watching his wife stagger backward and sideways as she regained her balance. Her left hand involuntarily rose to soothe her stinging cheek where four angry red finger tracks were quickly growing.

When I want an excuse I'll ask for it. Get your lazy ass busy fixin’ me somethin’ decent to eat, not the dry crap that’s been settin’ on the stove all day. Dropping his hand Jed turned, took four faltering steps before crumbling into a rough homemade rocking chair. After a half dozen sweeps, his head slumped forward lapsing into a throat-gurgling drunken slumber.

Three months before, Jed added minor physical assault to his growing repertoire of verbal abuses. His sporadic moonshine drinking slowly progressed to almost daily consumption, growing into shortened intervals between bouts of disconnected drunkenness. Each progressive episode led to a corresponding increase in unprovoked belligerent verbal assaults. Not only did Ruby have to bear the brunt of his bellicose behavior, she became more distressed at how fast Jed was consuming the small savings she managed to accumulate. Times were hard, with barter of labor or farm produced goods serving as common currency. To most settlers the possession of two or three twenty-dollar gold pieces represented a small fortune.

Living a life similar to many young single men finding themselves folded into the westward migration, Jed worked his way west from Ohio taking whatever job provided him with food and a place to sleep. Though a good and willing worker, Jed carried one serious flaw... an abrasive personality. Without premeditated intention, he tended to rub people the wrong direction. Most times this defect was overlooked by his willingness to take directions and put in a productive day's work. Three years ago, after turned twenty, he knocked on Isaac Buckwell's door seeking work.

Buckwell, his wife, Mary and children were newly arrived homesteaders forming the community of Teaken Ridge, in Idaho Indian Territory. Their family included 21 year old Charlie, followed by Ruby age 19, another son, Jessie, age 17 and lastly a daughter, Caroline, recently turned fourteen. The Buckwells were blessed with good health and sound bodies.

In their struggle to carve out successful farms from rugged raw land, early pioneers were forced to 'make do' with only the tools, room and weight allowed them to bring west. The first ray of prosperity arrived two years ago with the discovery of gold... placer gold in the Pierce region further back in the mountains.

Isaac and his neighbors regularly pooled their efforts to transport hogs, beef cattle and other farm produced products to various staging points along the Clearwater River where they sold their goods to miners stampeding gold bearing streams in upriver tributaries. Herds of cattle were frequently driven overland to the gold mining district at Pierce, where the population recently swelled into thousands. Buckwell used better sense than allow himself to be bitten by the get-rich-quick 'Gold Bug', preferring to mine his gold from miners in exchange for products from his farm.

Buckwell hired Jed and found him to be a dependable worker. At times Jed worked for other farmers, yet always returned to the Buckwell farm he considered home. With Jed becoming a partial member of the family, opportunity allowed Jed and Ruby to draw close, leading to emotional states each thought was love, culminating in their marriage a year ago. As a wedding gift, Buckwell gave his new son-in-law sufficient materials to build a two-room house on land recently purchased from a neighbor. The property didn't amount much; it was hilly, rocky and infested with scrub jackpines, with a few scattered patches of tillable ground. The forty did have one redeeming asset, a good flowing year around spring.

Isaac appreciated Jed's industry and dependability while recognizing his lack of business and social abilities, leaving Isaac with substantial doubt concerning Jed's suitability as son-in-law material.

On occasions when moonshine was at hand, Jed drank more than he could handle and the imbibed alcohol added to his natural poor social graces causing Jed to become surly and ugly. On two separate occasions his quarrelsome actions netted Jed a pair of black eyes and a lost tooth.

Anticipating the probability of Jed seeking permission to marry Ruby, Isaac frequently pointed out and cautioned Ruby about Jed’s unsettled personality, warning her Jed’s defects would probably get worse. Isaac doubting Jed possessed enough strength of character to bring his cross-threaded personality under control. Running true to form, for a young woman with marriage on her mind, Ruby discounted her father’s admonitions, trusting in her compassion and affection to turn Jed into a good husband. However, she did accept from the outset Jed lack of ability to manage their finances.

With Jed failing to make sexual advances during their courtship, Ruby naively assumed it stemmed from his lack of experience, gentleman-like manner and respect for her as his future wife. Jed held her hands, embraced and kissed her... most times following Ruby’s lead. Their conversations revolved around day-to-day activities and neighborhood gossip; but Jed always shied away from talking about their future.

Jed seldom talked about his family or experiences. By piecing together fragments from things Jed mentioned about his past, Ruby assembled a reasonable resume of his life. Orphaned at an early age and taken in by a disgruntled uncle who considered Jed a burden to his already improvised family. Jed grew up nurtured on leftovers and wearing hand-me-down clothes. Without ever being accepted as part of the family, Jed was nevertheless continuously reminded by his uncle of how lucky he should feel to have generous relatives willing to give him food, clothes and a place to sleep. Schooling ended when Jed was strong enough to do a man's work. At fourteen Jed attempted to stand up to his uncle when accused of breaking a hoe handle. The altercation resulted in him being beaten with a trace chain, causing it bleed and later became discolored from bruises. A week later, the lacerations were scabbed over and with strength returning to his pummeled back muscles, Jed ran away.

Keeping on the move, his common wages were food and lodging for whatever work he found. In between jobs Jed became intimately acquainted with two frequent companions... hunger and cold. His age and life style kept him in constant search for bigger clothes and increased nourishment for his growing body. Since running away... a desire to head west became his driving force. Jed’s mind kept telling him the west, wherever that might be, offered opportunity to those willing to work hard enough to claim it. He became an authority on hard work, but had never quite got the hang of the elusive term ‘opportunity’. Jed’s first attachment to people or a place happened when he reached the Buckwell farm.

Following the announcement of her engagement, Ruby’s curiosity for the bedroom part of marriage suddenly unfolded. She immediately set about trying to fit into place remembered offhand remarks made by her mother relating to behaviors of married couples. Having been old enough to comprehend the basic principles of birthing when her younger brother and sister were born; Ruby’s immediate concerns centered on putting together a realistic mental view of how activities associated with conception fit together. Based on observations of farm animal procreative processes, it seemed obvious humans were fitted with a more sophisticated way of reaching comparable ends than the blunt blasé mechanism of animals mating.

When Jed held her close and kissed her, she became acutely aware of new feelings in her breasts and loins, knowing those sensations could only be satisfied through intimate interactions with a man. As her wedding date grew near she became increasingly eager to experience the satisfaction these new feelings her mate would bring. When she and Jed went to bed on their wedding night, Ruby knew these fantasized and undefined expectations would call out for satisfaction.

Ruby and Jed were married in the Cream Ridge neighborhood church by a circuit-riding preacher at four o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, attended by five neighboring families. Following the brief ceremony, a caravan of six farm wagons jolted over five miles of rocky-rutted road to the Buckwell to celebrate with a reception and dance.

While the women cleared away and washed supper dishes, men moved furniture from the combination living-dining room and quickly transformed it into a dance floor. A fiddler player and banjo picker, accompanied by a squeezebox player soon had the crowd dancing. Near midnight when tired feet overpowered over come their owner’s heads for further fun, collective fatigue called a halt to the festivities. As night shifted into morning, exhausted celebrant’s bodies, sitting on uncomfortable wooden wagon seats or stretched out on the floor of wagon boxes, were jolted by rigid wheels rolling across road ruts and over rocks as wagons carried earlier revelers to their respective homes.

Although Isaac neither frowned upon, nor encouraged the consumption of moonshine, he provided only a limited amount of homemade wine as a celebrating agent for the occasion. Through sparse provision of intoxicates, Isaac hoped his new son-in-law would be denied the ingredients for making a fool of himself. Ruby made an effort to keep a short leash on Jed after hearing bits of supper conversation between two men laughing about getting Jed drunk on his wedding night.

Having never learned to dance, one agonizing turn around the floor of their obligatory wedding dance tested Jed’s humor to its utmost. Sensing his growing anxiety, Ruby successfully steered her new husband outside and past the ‘shine jugs’ on the way to their new home.

Walking home, Jed still felt foolish about his poor dancing performance, heightened with building misgivings crank up his craving for a long pull of corn liquor to build his courage for what lay ahead. He remained quiet without initiating conversation and responded with single word replies to Ruby's comments.

Once in bed Ruby's self-perceived misgivings, coupled with her mother’s comments about Jed's doubtful prowess began to manifest when he turned his eyes away while she undressed and put out the light before he began taking off his clothes. Slowly their passions grew with longer more pressing kisses while their hands searched each other's bodies. When Jed made an attempt to consummate their union... he failed to rise for the occasion. Holding back tears of disappointment Ruby attempted to console Jed, telling him he was nervous and everything would be put right in time. Without answering Jed rolled out of bed to fumble in the dark for his clothes.

Don’t feel so bad Jed, sweetheart. Come back to bed so we can talk. I love you and mean to be an understanding wife.

Ah shut up damn it. You don't understand shit about me. Leave me alone. I've got to get out of here.

Trigged by resounding slam of the door behind Jed, Ruby's tears began to flow and continued until she cried herself to sleep. All her hopes, expectations and curiosity lay floundering upon the rocks of Jed’s emotional disabilities. She remembered earlier warnings from her parents about Jed's probable conditions; those warnings were suddenly a reality. Worst of all, Ruby was forced to face the fact this heartbreaking mistake was the result of her youthful romantic expectations

Daylight was steadily defeating darkness when Jed quietly entered the house after having spent a cold night in the barn. Not wanting to be seen alone on his wedding night, he sneaked back to the main house and make off with a near empty moonshine jug. Retreating to the barn he consoled himself with barely enough whiskey to blunt his emotional pain but not enough to reach the oblivion he so badly desired.

He was starting to doze off sitting in the rocking chair when Ruby stirred.

Are you all right Jed?

Yea, I'm O. K., he mumbled. Sorry about last night. Guess I wasn't thinkin' quite right. Don't look like I'm much on this lovin’ stuff either. Maybe one of these days I'll get the hang of it. Anyway, it'll put off having brats runnin' around, he smirked. Can't remember if I ever told you. I don't want any kids.

Then why did you get married if you don't want to make love or have a family?

Don't know. Just seemed like the thing to do. Anyway, you kept harpin' about gittin’ married and your old man seemed willin' to give us a start so I just did it.

You mean. You don't really love me?

Not sure I know what love is. All I ever got was my ass beat on. Never knew my folks and even if I had, they most likely would have been the same way. Everyone I’ve ever saw beat on their kids, so I figured that must be the way to treated 'em.

Jed, I'm so sorry you had such a rough time growing up, but not all parents treat their children so cruelly , comforted Ruby, turning back the bed cover to expose her nakedness, hoping her nudity might kindle his desire for her.

Instead he blurted out,

Haven't you got any shame woman? Get your clothes on. It’s time to fix me breakfast so I can get to work.

So began the first day of Ruby's marriage. The passage of time didn’t improve their relationship and unfortunately it grew steadily more sterile. Slowly Ruby grew quiet and withdrawn spending less time with her mother and sister, Caroline. Her family recognized the marriage was a mistake from the very beginning but felt it best not to interfere... knowing marriages sometimes got off to rocky starts, yet they hoped hers would improve.

Jed still carried out his tasks as before, sometimes even putting in longer days now than before his and Kate's marriage. His trustworthiness and dependability began to slip during the five months after his marriage. During same period he returned home drunk more often than sober. His drinking increased in severity, reaching a point where Isaac took him aside to tell him he had better go easy on the moonshine, but those admonitions came to nothing but shattered hopes.

On one particular afternoon, Jed returned from taking a wagonload of pigs to the small settlement of Peck on the Clearwater River. In keeping with his recent custom, he bought a jar of moonshine along the way and consumed it as he traveled. Close to dark, he stopped the wagon near their house and almost fell from the seat before staggering into the house where he collapsed in a rocking chair. Hoping to keep her father from seeing Jed, Ruby let Jed alone to take care of the horses. Entering the barn she found her father doing chores. Caught by surprise she stammered, Hi Daddy! Jed came home tired so I told him I’d care for the horses.

There's no to spin me yarns, Ruby. You and I both know he's drunk, so no need making excuses for him.

You're right of course she answered looking down. He's drunk and asleep in the rocking chair after almost falling from the wagon.

I’ve told him a couple of times to lay off the booze, but it seems he has seen fit to disregard my advice, admitted her father.

Daddy, I don't know what to do with him. Had I not been so darn bullheaded and listened to you, none of this would have happened. I’ve cried myself to the point of not feeling anything now. I know you and Mama are worried. Something has to go one way or another before too much longer.

I'm truly sorry for you, Ruby. It calls to mind the old adage about hindsight always being perfect. It proves our foresight was out of kilter a year ago. I have to admit Jed has been a good worker, his industry fogged my vision else I'd have sent him down the road when he first started paying you attention.

Yes, Daddy, I know. It seems work is all he knows. He told me about being beaten by his uncle leading him to run away from home when still a boy. Now he doesn't like or want to have children. Not that it makes any difference, he can't make them anyway.

Are you telling me he’s not a man? questioned Isaac, with a startled look.

That's about the size of it. To put it bluntly, I'm a married virgin.

Well I'll be damned! So that's it. He can't make it and tries to work his embarrassment and gets drunk to dull his shame.

I believe you're right Daddy. In a way I feel sorry for him. I’ve tried everything I can think of... but nothing has made any difference.

Has he hit or hurt you? Isaac asked.

No. Not yet, but somehow I keep expecting he will.

Well, you let me know if he does! I'll not tolerate a man lifting his hand to my daughter. I'll wring his neck if he does and you can count on it and if Charlie finds out Jed is mistreating you, he’ll most likely tend to Jed.

Thank you Daddy. I love you, concluded Ruby reaching up to put her arms around her father’s neck before kissing his cheek. I hope Charlie doesn't do anything foolish, Jed isn't worth getting in trouble over.

When Ruby returned to their house, she found Jed in the rocking chair still fast asleep.

Since then, he came home drunk more frequently. As his drinking increased, his verbal abuse became more cutting. A month earlier he struck her for the first time, tonight he struck her on the face.

Ruby never before discussed Jed’s behavior, other than one brief conversation with her father. Tears and hopes for a loving marriage now took on the form of metaphorical bleached bones cashed in the desert silently telling their story of a desiccated marriage. Seldom did Ruby notice any stirring of her feeling and moved like an inanimate machine... devoid of spirit.

After months of tortured emotional turmoil, her mind finally accepted an alarming fact, the soul of her marriage was ambushed long before their ‘I do’s’ were said... it began years ago during Jed’s formative years when lack of love and constant mistreatment wrote a twisted view of life deep into the core of his personality. Recently Ruby told Jed their marriage amounted to an empty shell with little purpose in believing otherwise.

He responded by saying,

Well, you’ll just have to accept it like it is. Ain't there’s no need for you to get pissy because there’s not a damn thing you can do about it. Divorce is out of the question, so keep your lippy mouth shut and like it! He accentuated his position by slamming the door as he left the house.

Jed’s ultimatum and door slamming drew a line in the sand for Ruby’s feeling toward Jed. It now became only a matter of time. His remark about her being powerless to change their present situation set the trigger she needed to begin thinking about making a change in her life.

Now a month later, the resolve made when Jed walked out and slammed the door played through her thinking as she stood looking down at her husband slumped over asleep, drugged by alcohol while she felt the physical pain in her cheek brought about by his first severe physical assault.

Ruby’s neck flexing allowing her head to move with Jed’s blow otherwise she would have been knocked unconscious. By good fortune, her teeth and inner mouth survived undamaged. His finger marks would silently speak of the incident for days.

Gathering physical strength and mental resolve allowed her thinking faculties to return. The current situation didn’t exactly fit any of her preplanned scenarios, but opportunity fueled by primal desire for retaliation fueled by anger prompted her to take immediate action with no thought given to its final results.

Time had come to teach Jed a lesson. Crossing to the cookstove she took a castiron skillet from its place on the warming oven. Grasping the handle in a both hands, she hefted it a couple times to give her arms a feeling of its weight and moved to Jed's side.

Lifting the skillet over her head, she momentarily halted to focus her concentration. With her arms energized from surging adrenalin, she drove the black cudgel through an accelerating arc downward to strike the back of Jed’s brain drugged head. The skillet’s crushing blow gave up a dull audible thud as bone surrendered to the iron skillet’s devastating force caving in the back of Jed’s skull. The mechanical trauma to Jed’s head set off reflexive nerve action to momentarily stiffen his body before his head jerked upward for a moment, allowing blood to trickle from his nose down across his chin and onto his shirt. As muscles relaxed, Jed’s broken head gently settled forward to rest between his now lifeless thighs.

After calmly returning the skillet to its resting place on the warming oven, Ruby took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, took another breath and spoke aloud to Jed's lifeless body,

You no good son-of-a-bitch, who says I can’t do anything about this hopeless miserable miscarriage of a marriage. I'm free of you forever... and good riddance!

Chapter2 - Slight of Hand

Looking down at Jed’s lifeless body, slumped before her, Ruby spoke aloud,

Shit! I just I cured one problem only to create another. O.K. Ruby, now how are you going to get out of this scrape? The question echoed through her mind.

Come on Ruby, she thought. You're a smart girl; think of something, how did I feel each time he came home drunk? Oh yes! I was always surprised he hadn’t gone to sleep and fallen from the wagon seat. That’s it, the perfect way to solve this mess, but I’ll need Daddy’s help to make it work.

On the way to the door she remembered her face. Pausing before a mirror, the reflection confirmed her fears, four horizontal red strips spread over most of her left cheek. Dipping into the flour bin she took a pinch of flour and smoothed it on her face. The flour helped tone down some of the redness but made her look like a ghost. It required several swipes with a dishtowel to reclaim her face. The flour made poor covering, but it would have to do for now. Outdoors she ran toward the barn hoping to find her father alone doing chores. Close to the barn she paused to let her breathing settle while listening for a sign of her father’s presence. Exhaling a sigh of relief, she heard his voice soothing a young colt. Breathing normally, she called.

Daddy! I've got to talk with you.

What's the problem, Honey? Jed drunk again, Isaac responded, answering his own question.

Yes! And then some, I need your help real bad, Ruby answered as her father approached searching her face for an answer, noticing her flour frosted cheeks.

In jest he asked, "What did he do, stick your head in the flour barrel?

No, Daddy! It's a whole lot worse. I just killed Jed, she replied sternly, turning her head so Isaac could see her left cheek.

A look of horror spread across his face as he heard her words and thought about the cruel marks Jed hand made on his daughter’s face.

That son-of-a-bitch finally got around to hitting you. If you killed him it saved me the trouble of wringing his ornery neck. Now tell me how it happened, he encouraged putting his arm around her.

Jed came through the door wanting something to eat, she related, looking up into her father’s eyes, I told him supper had been ready for over an hour. He cursed me complaining he didn't want dried out food I had ready and, then he slapped me. After calling me a few names he sat down in the rocking chair and passed out. Thinking back over some of things he did before and now hitting me, my anger overflowed. I anted to fight back and without thinking about the consequences, I took down the castiron skillet and hit him on the back of his head. Guess I must have been so mad I didn't realize how hard I hit him. Instead of teaching him a lesson, I killed him... and you know what? I'm not a damn bit sorry for having done it.

Too bad it came to this, her father consoled. It's wrong to take a life, but if you hadn't done it, I suspect someone else would have before too much longer. You know there has been considerable talk going around about his drinking. People have been wondering how much longer you were going to put up with him.

I didn't know about the talk, she confessed looking up at her father. And yes, I know killing a person is dreadfully wrong, but I just couldn’t take his abuse any longer. After he hit me... it just happened.

"What's done is done, and there’s no way we can change it back. Now we need to figure out how to explain