Mae: Book Six: The Cattleman's Daughters Read online

  “Mae,” Melissa called, making her friend turn back. “I believe you were inviting me to tea today?” she smiled wickedly.

  “Oh Mel, can you? That would be splendid.” She nearly bounced in the saddle. “Come on then. Maud’s earned a good rest.”

  Both woman waved at the men as they rode side-by-side out of sight.

  “If ya ask me, there goes trouble,” Carl said, lifting his reins and tapping his hat more firmly on his head.

  “I couldn’t agree more,” Sean and Reese said together.

  “The worst thing about it is, we’re all daft enough to go along with it,” Sean added.

  “At least it’s interesting,” Reese smiled.

  “Until you get caught,” Sean grumbled.

  Reese reached out and patted the other man on the shoulder. “We’ll pull it off, don’t worry.” He chuckled and started out once more. “And I think whatever your cousin has done to her hair will help.”

  “Mae, what in heaven’s name did you do to your hair?” Mel spoke as soon as they were out of earshot of the men.

  Mae’s deep sigh showed that she was not at all satisfied with her new bangs. “I saw it in a newspaper,” she began. “It was last week when I wasn’t allowed to leave my room. There was really nothing to do but read and sew, read and sew.” She turned to look at her friend. “You know I truly hate sewing.”

  Melissa laughed. “I’m sure you do, but tell me about your hair.”

  “Well, I saw this picture in the paper of a woman with these sort of swooping bangs and the more I looked at, it the more I liked it. I studied the picture for a long time and figured out exactly how she must have done it and then…” She shrugged as if that were explanation enough.

  “And then?” Mel prompted.

  “I cut it,” Mae stated flatly. “When Ginny saw it she dropped the tea tray, but managed not to scream.”

  “And what about your aunt? What did she do?”

  Mae started to giggle, then covered her mouth as guilt washed over her. “She fainted,” she finally said, sounding somehow joyous and contrite at the same time. “If Mr. Carver hadn’t been there to catch her, I think she would have fallen to the floor right there.”

  A wicked gleam entered Mel’s jade eyes. “I know it’s wrong, but after how she treated you, I can’t make myself feel sorry for her.”

  “You know, I don’t think Jemma can help the way she is,” Mae stated absently. “She’s so used to getting exactly what she wants, whether it’s good for her or not, that she can’t understand how anyone else feels.”

  “Mae, you have a good heart,” Mel said, patting her arm. “Only you could feel sorry for your aunt.”

  “Well, I really do hate my hair,” Mae said, “and after she recovered, Aunt Jemma sent Anita to try to fix it, so now it at least looks fashionable.”

  Mel giggled. “Don’t worry Mae, it’s only hair, it will grow back.”

  “That’s true. The last time I had to cut my hair was when I got my braid so tangled in Nona’s wash she brought out the pruning shears and lopped off six inches.”

  “She didn’t?” Mel gasped.

  “Yes she did, and told me it was no better than I deserved for racing my pony through the linens.”

  Chapter 15

  Boston Massachusetts August 1891

  “Professor Rickard, this is our new assistant Matt, he’s part of a self-improvement plan for the less fortunate.” Sean Blakely could taste the lie on his tongue, but it wouldn’t be the first time his cousin had talked him into doing something foolish.

  “Yes of course, the Dean mentioned this to me.” The willow-thin instructor turned a bespectacled face toward the two young men standing next to the dissecting table. “Rather young to be an assistant isn’t he?” the teacher said, squinting at the boy in the overlarge britches and capacious school-boy cap.

  Sean rubbed the back of his neck. “I suppose they want to keep his type off of the streets, sir. I believe I’m to show him the ropes this week.”

  Mae tapped her boot tip against her cousin’s shoe. He always rubbed the back of his neck when he was lying, and she didn’t want the tell to give them away.

  “It’s seems rather unusual, but who am I to argue. Now let’s begin.”

  “Stay with me,” Sean whispered, glaring at the small figure beside him, “and mind the way you walk.”

  Mae smiled and pulled her fetlock, but held her tongue. Just standing in the room was fascinating. All manner of drawings of the inner working of animals were plastered to the walls, small and even large skeletons, held together by fine wire, stood on various surfaces about the room, and shelves lined with jars of yellowish liquid held all manner of preserved creatures.

  On a large table before them lay the carcass of a sheep which had been split down the middle, the two flaps of skin and wool pinned to the wooden table.

  Mae leaned over the animal, trying to see all of the things inside. She recognized most of the organs and structure, but tried to see them with new eyes as the professor began explaining the workings of the animal as a whole.

  Soon she and Sean were elbow deep in the contents of the sheep’s stomach as they listened to Mr. Rickard’s lecture.

  An hour later she sat next to Sean in a stuffy classroom, as together they recreated the mechanics of a sheep in paper and pencil. As they worked, her mind returned to the day before when she’d received a large package from Mel.

  “It’s a very large package, Miss,” Ginny stated, laying the heavy box on a trunk. “What is it, anyway?”

  Mae looked Ginny up and down, the woman was still a bean-pole, but she was such a lovely person and it showed through on her softly freckled features.

  “It’s a secret, Ginny,” Mae replied.

  “Another one!” Ginny gasped, “Miss if you have too many secrets, you’ll eventually get caught.”

  “You worry too much, Ginny,” Mae said, flouncing to the box and beginning to untie the strings that held it together.

  The first thing that came out of the box was a soft pink gown that Mae had admired in one of the shops Melissa frequented. The item had been placed in a window as an example of the seamstresses’ skill.

  “Mel’s very clever,” Mae said, holding the dress up to her and twirling around in a circle. “She’s disguised the goods, so to speak.”

  Ginny blinked at the young woman holding the dress, still not comprehending.

  Laying the dress on the bed, Mae returned to the box and carefully extracted a false bottom, revealing what was beneath.

  “Miss, them’s boy’s clothes.”

  “Yes, they are,” Mae said with a mischievous smile.

  “But what do you want with them?”

  “I’ll need them to hide me in plain sight, Ginny. I’m wearing them to school.”

  The young maid’s face had gone so pale that Mae grabbed her arm and pushed her down on the chaise.

  “You can’t, Miss, you just can’t,” Ginny’s eyes were as big as saucers.

  “I can and I will. I have no desire to attend a school for women and learn wifely skills such as cooking and cleaning,” she stated, placing her hands on her hips. “Nona already made me learn all of that, anyway,” she added, wrinkling her nose.

  “But Miss, what will people say?”

  “People will not know,” Mae said, leaning toward the girl, a serious look on her face. “I’m going to learn to be a veterinarian like my cousin.”

  At the mention of Sean, Ginny sat up a little straighter and some color returned to her cheeks. “Is he going to help you?”

  “Yes.”

  “But what if you get caught? Won’t they expel him from the college?”

  “We’ve already thought of that,” Mae said, taking a seat next to her companion. “At first I thought we could say I was Sean’s little brother or cousin, but then he’d be responsible for me and that wouldn’t be right.”

  “Fine time to worry about what’s right, if you ask me,” Ginny sai
d boldly, blushing with embarrassment. “I’m sorry Miss, I didn’t mean to offend.”

  “How many times do I have to tell you, Ginny, you don’t need to be afraid to speak your mind to me.” Mae patted the girls arm.

  “So how will you get into the college if you aren’t to be Sean’s relative?” Ginny asked, interest sparkling in her coppery eyes.

  “I have a sponsor,” Mae’s reply was bright. “One Reese Middleton is sponsoring a poor underprivileged waif as an assistant to the school of Veterinarian Medicine.”

  She stood then, stepping up to the box and snatching a gray school-boy cap, pulling it over her hair and down toward her eyes, transforming the petite black-haired beauty into a surly looking lad from the borough.

  Winter turned to spring and Mae was suddenly full of life. She finally felt that she was learning something useful, and that with Mel as her friend, she could cope with the social demands of life in Boston.

  By day she was the poor boy from the wrong side of the track come to work for the college, and by night she was the demure young lady her aunt wanted her to be - at least when she was at home.

  Often she stayed with Mel and her family or spent time with her friend. Reese was always around, offering to escort them. He was an attentive brother and Mae always appreciated the things he did for his sister. Sometimes Reese would even go so far as to fetch Mae when his sister was busy.

  April came and went and as the showers of spring brought new growth, it also brought change.

  “Oh good morning, Reese,” Mae called as she stepped out of the house. They were going riding again and she could not wait to show Mel the most recent letter from home. “Where’s Mel?” she asked.

  Reese furrowed his brow, his features stormy. “She and Carl will meet us in the park,” he said gruffly. “They were going over the books in Father’s office this morning and couldn’t break away.”

  “I see,” Mae said, allowing the groom to help her into the saddle. “I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it.” She smiled, trying to cheer him, but it had no effect.

  “I would have sent word, but I’d already arranged for Sean to meet us in the park and didn’t want to disappoint both of you.”

  “That was very kind,” Mae agreed. “Are you feeling alright, Reese?” she asked abruptly.

  “What? Yes, of course. Why do you ask?” His voice was still gruff.

  “You seem out of sorts, that’s all.”

  Reese Middleton took a deep breath. He had known this girl for nearly two years now, and she barely noticed him. He was not used to such treatment and his ego chafed at the slight, or was it something more.

  As an eligible bachelor of a well-known family he was used to girls fawning on him, pursuing him. A few had even sought to trap him into a convenient marriage. He smiled, thinking of how his sister had always spotted those traps and sprung them for him.

  Somehow, Mae was different. She treated him kindly, she was even friendly to him, if for no other reason than she loved his sister. Mae had been good for Mel, but now Melissa was distracted with a project of her own and spent what seemed to him entirely too much time with one Cathal (Carl) McHain.

  “You’re doing it again,” the girl riding next to him said, looking at him suspiciously.

  “What am I doing?”

  “Scowling. You look like someone’s stolen your best friend and you don’t know how or why.”

  Reese chuckled. “Perhaps I am. I guess I’m not used to sharing my sister.”

  “You’ve had no problem sharing her with met” Mae rebuked.

  “That’s different,” he said “You’re…” he hesitated unsure of what to say.

  “What am It Reese?” Mae asked, her dark eyes sparkling as they merged into the light traffic on the main street.

  “You’re special.”

  The sound of Mae’s laughter caught him by surprise, and he turned to study her. Her head was thrown back exposing her milky throat and her pink lips were parted in glee.

  Reese swallowed hard, repressing the urge to kiss the soft, exposed flesh. “What’s so funny? Why are you laughing?” he finally managed.

  “I’ve been called special far too often not to,” she said, mirth making her voice soft. “I don’t think it means something good in my case.”

  “Why would you say that?” he asked, bewildered at her response to what should have been a compliment.

  “I think there are different kinds of special,” Mae said, her voice still cheerful. “When I couldn’t sit still any longer in lessons, my Nona would let me go outside for a while or send me to do some chores. When my sisters complained that they had to finish their lesson, Nona would say, ‘You know Mae’s special.’” The girl chuckled again.

  “But special is good,” Reese persisted.

  “Not when it means you’re different than everyone else and have to do things in a way unlike the more conventional ones.”

  “You are anything but conventional, I’ll agree to that,” Reese spoke, noting how his mood had lightened during the conversation.

  “You see, ‘Special’, different, not quite normal.”

  “I didn’t mean it as an insult,” Reese bridled.

  “I know,” Mae began, stretching across the space between them and placing her hand on his. “I’ve always had too much energy and not enough patience. I need to be doing something, or I can’t concentrate. Sometimes it’s a burden.”

  She withdrew her hand, leaving behind an empty feeling. “I want to sit still; I want to do all of the things I’m asked, but it takes so much effort.” Mae sighed heavily, a kind of sadness etching her face.

  “You must hate living with your aunt, then.”

  “It’s better now that I have things to occupy me.” She smiled and winked waggishly.

  “I’ve seen what you’ve been up to, as a matter of fact I’ve stuck my neck out for you to get up to it,” he said, remembering what the lovely girl looked like entering the college each day in her boyish disguise. He couldn’t believe that no one had spotted the petite young woman beneath the garb.

  They rounded the last turn to see Melissa, Carl and Sean waiting for them and Reese let the conversation drop, but could not stop wondering why this slip of a girl had such an effect on him.

  Chapter 16

  Mae was tired. The semester was nearly over and more and more often the students in Sean’s class were placing demands on her. “Fetch this, carry that,” and the expression “here boy” was about to make her scream. Still, she carried on no matter how demanding they were, and each day she learned something new about the care and treatment of animals.

  She was standing at the back of the class when a particularly arrogant student called. “Here, boy. Bring me that book,” he pointed to a nearby table, “the Descriptive Anatomy of Horses and Domestic Animals. If you can read.” he added snidely, making several others in the class laugh.

  Mae turned toward the table indicated. She was used to the demeaning comments and ignored this one as well. As she turned to hand the book to the rude young man, another student stuck his foot out and she tripped, tumbling to the floor in a heap.

  Madly Mae tried to catch herself, one hand going to the hat while the other reached for the ground where she landed in a heap, watching in horror as her hat went skidding toward the door and her hair spilled around her like an inky wave.

  For two beats of her heart, the room froze in shocked silence.

  “It’s a girl!” a stunned voice wailed as Mae scrambled to her feet and dashed for the door, scooping her hat up as she fled.

  “Stop! Stop!” she heard Professor Rickard shout as the sound of pounding feet echoed down the empty corridor.

  Behind her, Mae could hear the men from the classroom chasing her, and she ran faster as adrenaline pumped through her veins. If she were caught, she couldn’t think of that now as she bolted through the double doors of the college, turned down the pavement and leapt over a hedge. A moment later, she heard the so
und of running feet, then a policeman’s whistle.

  Her heart pounding in her chest, Mae hunkered down in the deep shadow of the hedge, tears pouring down her dirt-smudged face. What had she been thinking? If her aunt found out… she shivered, then froze. If they found out that Sean had any part in this, he would be dismissed.

  A soft whisper of fabric drew her attention as her heart leapt into her throat. They’d found her.

  “Put your hat on.” Sean’s words were a gossamer breath. “Ssh, put this on.” He handed her a tattered coat. “I told them where I thought you lived and sent them in that direction, then said I’d circle around to be sure we hadn’t missed you.” To her surprise, he smiled. “It was plain as day you’d jumped the hedge, you broke two twigs with your shoe, and turned over a leaf.” He shook his head. “People are practically blind in this city.”

  “Sean.”

  “Shh. Go to the women’s college and change, then get rid of those clothes. The game’s done.” He leaned forward, pinching her cheeks. “Now scoot.”

  Once changed, Mae spent the next several hours in the library at the women’s college, where she attended a handful of classes each week. She wasn’t sure if it was safe to go home. What if someone had recognized her?

  “Mae, there you are,” Melissa sashayed across the room, reaching for Mae’s hand the instant they met. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes,” Mae whispered, “but I didn’t know if I could go home yet.”

  “It’s alright, I dropped in on your aunt a little while ago.” She smiled brightly, “I pretended I was there to take you out for lunch and had completely forgotten you had classes today.” She winked conspiratorially, her green eyes dancing. “Jemma didn’t know a thing.”

  “Thank goodness,” Mae said, releasing a tense breath.

  “Now come along and I’ll take you home.”

  Melissa Middleton gave instructions to her driver to take them the long route back to the Johnson home, before climbing into the closed carriage with her friend.