There's No Place Like Rhodes (Book 2)

The Letters

January 9 th 1900

Me and my bright ideas.

Don't know what in the hell I was thinking asking Karen to stay on. Her company ain't fully bad or nothing, but I'd forgotten her sharp tongue and them first couple weeks trying to get her to kick the habit weren't no Sunday stroll. Some of those days she seemed sicker than me, with her fever, her nausea and her trembling hands. Makes me grateful I never took to the bottle that hard, for I would surely be dead.

I don't regret convincing her to stay, despite my griping of the opposite. The likelihood of her surviving if she'd left here upset and ready to drink away the pain would have been low. She's kept occupied now, and her getting that Molly business off her chest was surely an improvement to her mental state.

In the meantime, now that she seems past the worst of it, she's been an extra hand for me around the property. We got the wagon fixed, pain in the ass that it was getting that damn wheel back on.

I'm teaching her some tracking, same as Charles taught me. She ain't shown much interest and she ain't much of a hunter besides, but it passes the time and keeps both of us busy. Maybe we'll try fishing in the spring, but I ain't never been good at that anyhow.

While we was hunting, I found a tree felled in the woods. Musta been from summer storms this past year 'cause it ain't rotted none.

As for Charlotte, if I ain't been told she was pregnant, I would've never guessed. It ain't obvious and Charlotte says it could take months for it to be so. Apparently, there ain't much else to do in the first few months of pregnancy except watch it happen.

Missed all that with Eliza. I tried to be there for Abigail, but I guess I wasn't as supportive as I thought I was back then. At least she had Susan and the other girls. Now that I'm thinking on it, maybe Karen weren't there for her either. Seems that was about the time me and her were working together on them banks down in Arizona.

Either way, it's all worked out so me and Charlotte could focus on Karen's health first.

That wolf ain't been seen so I'm thinking it's moved on.

February 18th

Can't wait for spring.

It ain't been snowing as hard nor much, but them temperatures have been brutal. The last two days, I only left the house to check on the horses. That little stable ain't enough for them. I'm gonna have to build onto it some time, but the air 'bout shreds my lungs right now.

Karen's mostly back to her old self, as I've always known her at least, but without the drinking herself blind every night. That's good for her and all, but we've been butting heads more often than not. It's this damn cold forcing us in close quarters, I reckon. Can't nothing be done about it except to suffer one another and Charlotte stuck between us. She tolerates us both somehow. Keeps us civilized.

Mostly what's been irritating me with Karen is this book she's been reading. She got hold of some manual on childbirth. I didn't even know they made such a thing. I had a look at it and I do not intend to make that mistake again. The sketches inside ain't meant to be born from pen to paper, let alone have eyes laid on them. I've seen animals give birth and it ain't as gruesome as what is portrayed in that book.

The rest of it seems to be a guide on handling pregnancy and she's reading it with no hint of cynicism. The thing is, I never thought I'd see the day Karen Jones took herself serious. It's like she's working twice as hard to prove something. Just ain't sure who she's doing it for.