Lilli Stone

10

Making my way to the back rooms, I found the one in front a smaller version of the living room, beds enough for five men and a small fireplace. The last bedroom had just one bed, large, with a thick homespun mattress. A solid dresser stood in the corner, and next to it, secured to the wall, was a full-length mirror. On a peg in the wall hung a tin cup, a man's shaving razor and a worn leather stropping piece.

A small bench sat in one corner in front of a vanity, and I realized with a start this was a couple's room. It was obvious that it was meant for both a man and a woman to share, and I backed away uneasily until my eyes fell on the small hand carved table by the bed.

Limping slowly over I reached down and picked up a dust covered picture frame from where it had fallen. Turning it over, I studied the picture and gasped. It was Judd, a much younger Judd with a lovely young woman, a bride from the look of her dress. I had no idea he'd ever been married, and I felt a shaft of pity for him. She must have died, or the man I knew could never have been persuaded to leave her side. When he gave his word, it was done.

Ranse stepped into the room behind me. When I turned around, I knew he saw the same things I did, and what they meant. His eyes met mine as I held out the photograph. Ranse took it, did a brief, careful study, then shrugged an eyebrow, handing it back.

"Too bad," he commented softly. "This is some place, Lilli. You know that's Brazilian Teak for the door and furniture? Hard, durable and fire resistant, Ash built for every contingency."

"It's perfect," I almost whispered the words. "I can't believe it's mine,"

"Are you going to make out alright on your own? Silence eats away at a person after a while."

At his words I gave an involuntary start. Alone? I had forgotten that Ranse was leaving, as he'd only agreed to get me here. Now he'd be back to his own life, whatever and wherever that took him. Taking a short breath, I half-smiled.

"I'll be fine. Thanks for everything, Ranse. I never would have gotten here without you."

"Oh, I don't know about that," he grinned at me for the first time in a long while. "You have a way about you that makes a body anxious to help."

"You're too generous, but I mean it." My fingers fiddled with the bracelet. "Thank you."

I was serious, suddenly wishing I had the nerve to tell him how much I thought of him, but I did not. At seventeen, I was still too much a girl to know how to speak to a man such as Eli Ransom. He noted the change in my attitude and looked at me for a long moment before turning away. He spoke over his shoulder as he moved into the main room.

"I'll get you set up with what supplies and fresh meat I can before I go. We should also scout out the valley and get you set for the winter best we can. I'm also sure that Ash would've had a weapons cache around here somewhere, and we'd best find it. The land here isn't settled."

The door closed behind him and I was left standing alone, again feeling like the abandoned and no-account girl found on the side of a cattle trail. Best not to think on that, I told myself, there was too much work to do.

By week's end Ranse had laid by a good store of meat for me, and we jerked most of it, and put the rest in the deep, cold cellar I found below the pantry floor. He headed off into the northern hills for Fort Benton and came back nine days later. For years the trading post had thrived as a center of business in the area, and as the American Fur Company's base of operations. Serving Indians and white fur traders alike, the trading post flourished as pelts and hides were exchanged for clothing, arms, liquor, and other supplies.

The post also served as a center of peace talks between the local Indian tribes and the white settlers. This allowed for the US Government to builds roads and to navigate the Missouri River in exchange for annual grants to the Blackfoot tribe, as well as promising buffalo hunting rights to the Crow Indians.