Page 80 of Beyond Montana's Sky
Although skeptical that anything would change, Edith couldn’t resist the need to spend time with him.Let me enjoy the dream and fill my empty heart for a while.She gifted him with a smile. “I think that can be arranged.”
EPILOGUE
May 1897
Boston Harbor
Out on Boston Harbor, the stinging wind and salty tang in the air felt bracing and refreshing. Edith sat with Cai on the padded bench in the cockpit of the Cannons’ fifty-eight foot yachtMercy, the bear fur covering their legs.
Phillip, with his own bearskin tucked around him, was at the helm, straddling the bowed, wooden captain’s seat like a saddle. For today’s sail, he’d brought along his twenty-one-year-old brother, Steven, as crew, and, of course, conscripted Ben, who willingly helped get the boat underway.
Now, both young men sat on cushions in the bow, their backs to the cockpit. From the angle of their heads and frequent gesturing and pointing, Steven was adding to Ben’s knowledge of sailing.
Edith watched Cai, delighting in the way his eyes widened and then sparked when the wind caught the sails and the boat tilted and sped. Not too fast,Mercywasn’t a racing yacht, but a pleasure craft.
Cai’s grin made her heart melt. She felt ecstatic to be on the water, gazing out at the panoramic view of the city and sharing the experience with the man she loved.
The Grayson family, Henry and Mildred, Julia and her girls, as well as a surprise visitor were in the salon below. She could hear her nieces engaging Cai’s friend from the ranch, Bear Anderson, directing his attention to various sights out the portholes.
Just this week, Bear detoured from his journey to Concord to descend upon them. He’d taken one look at Julia and was smitten.
His gentle flirtation brought pink to Julia’s cheeks and more genuine smiles than any Edith had seen since she’d been in Boston.
Edith was dressed for the day in a simple blouse and, daringly, bloomers under a skirt of blue-and-white-striped woolen crepon, the hem ending at mid-calves. A half-cape kept her upper body warm. The ribbons of the hat shading her face tied firmly under her chin. A gust of wind sent the brim flapping around her forehead.
A few weeks ago, Edith went on a shopping spree and had yachting costumes tailored for her son and Cai —blue sailor jackets with gold buttons, similar to those Phillip, Steven, and Henry wore. After Bear’s arrival, because she knew Cai would complain about his friend’s teasing, she’d also had one quickly made for their guest.
In spite of the men’s grumbles that they werecowboysnotsailors, they looked handsome and dapper, which made the expense worth it. In the next few weeks, she resolved to have a photograph taken, perhaps in front of the boat, just to memorialize their appearance. She’d send a copy toFarfarandMormor.
In the months since Cai arrived in Boston, he’d won the hearts of the Grayson ladies and received Henry’s approval. They doted on him, treating him like family and encouraging him to run tame in their homes. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t his charm that won them over, although, of course, his flirtatious teasing of all the females—from Mildred down to Hetty—melted their reserve like butter in the sunshine.
No, sharing grief was the key to the Graysons’ acceptance. The sneaky man visited Mildred when he knew Edith was out shopping. He mentioned Anna Beth and Sarah Marie, and then told her about Aurelia. Even though the circumstances of the three girls’ lives and deaths were so different, Cai and Mildred’s sorrows were similar.
From Mildred’s later account to Edith, she and Cai laughed and cried together, which he’d foreseen and was one of the reasons he hadn’t wanted Edith present.
Another time when Edith wasn’t around, having coaxed Mildred into attending a ladies literary salon, Cai managed to get Henry talking about his four children. Upon returning home, she and her mother-in-law found the men smelling of brandy, with an air of having unburdened themselves to fellow comrades.
Her nieces were fascinated by stories of Aurelia and continually begged Cai for tales of his sister. Something in the telling, bringing Aurie to life for the girls, obviously lightened more of the grief he bore under his irrepressible humor.
When Julia bestowed the courtesy title of ‘uncle’ upon him, Edith dared share Cai’s belief that their marriage would take place. Where and when was still up in the air, for to have a summer wedding in Sweetwater Springs didn’t seem possible.
Annis came up from the salon, her sisters crowding behind her. Their cork vests over the boy’s clothes that Cai talked Julia into allowing them to wear made their bodies bulky. With one hand on each side of the doorway, Annis leaned forward. “May we go sit in the bow, please? Mama says we can if we’re with two adults—one on each side of us. She said Ben doesn’t count.”
Edith chuckled. “Good thing Ben can’t hear you.” Just seeing the girls regain their customary animation had been worth the sacrifice of living in Boston.
Still holding the helm, Phillip tossed the bearskin aside and rose. As if dismounting from a horse, he flung his leg over the captain’s seat. “I’ll go with you. I wouldn’t call my brother an adult,” he said with typical brotherly humor, raising his voice loud enough to carry to the bow.
“I heard that,” Steven called back.
“But since Steven wasn’t listed on Julia’sdoesn’t countlist, he’ll have to do.” Phillip cast Edith a cheeky grin. “Ready to take the helm? Or have those years among the landlubbers made you forget how to be a sailor?” He moved aside, holding onto a spoke to keep the wheel steady.
She lifted her chin. “Get along with you, before I order you to swab the decks.”
Grinning, Phillip saluted. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
Edith changed places, grateful for how the bloomers aided her ease of movement without exposing her limbs. Still, she wistfully wondered about the efficacy of wearing men’s trousers. In the West, she knew some women did so in the privacy of their farms and ranches. A rare female, such as Sheriff Granger, went about in male garb most of the time.
Holding onto the wheel, she felt the tug of the wind and pull of the ocean and grasped the spokes more strongly. She glanced at Cai.
