Read Online The Chili Queen by Sandra Dallas - Free Book Online Page A

only matters what I tell.”
    Addie had to agree with the wisdom of that. Welcome was no gossip. But then, there wasn’t anybody for her to gossip with. She left The Chili Queen only to buy fixings, and as far as Addie knew, the woman hadn’t made any friends in Nalgitas. Besides, Addie trusted her. She liked her, too.
    Welcome poured hot water from the teakettle into a basin and began to hum softly as she soaped the pots.
    “You got how much coming to you, was it?” Addie asked Emma.
    “Oh, I don’t know, maybe a thousand dollars,” Emma said, looking wary.
    “I thought you said five thousand,” Welcome put in.
    “It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not after it,” Addie said, hurt that after all she’d done for Emma, the woman didn’t trust her.
    Emma at least had the grace to blush. “I guess five thousand dollars is about right.”
    “There ought to be some way for her to get that money. Then she wouldn’t have to make hats. Shoot, maybe we could help her. We could all come out a little bit richer, you know, get our cut from her brother,” Ned said. He winked at Addie.
    She returned a faint nod. “You got your name on his bank account?” she asked Emma.
    “Oh, no. It’s all in John’s name.” Emma took a tiny bite of potatoes and looked over her shoulder at Welcome and nodded her approval.
    Addie furrowed her forehead as she thought. “I could take him in a card game easy.” Ned had never seen her work a sucker at cards, had never seen her perform sleight of hand at all, and Addie thought it would be a fine thing to show him how good she was.
    Emma swallowed the potatoes, then wiped her mouth with a napkin. Addie noticed the napkin lying next to her own plate and put it into her lap.
    “John doesn’t play cards,” Emma said.
    “You say he’s greedy, do you?” Addie asked.
    “Yes, he’s greedy.”
    Ned stopped eating, and with his fork in the air, he studied Addie.
    “’Times a man gets so greedy, he don’t think good,” Welcome put in.
    “I was going to say that.” Addie used her hand to wipe her mouth, then remembered the napkin and touched it to her lips. “Didn’t he tell you to watch out for an investment? Didn’t I hear him tell you that?” Addie asked.
    Ned put down his fork, while Welcome turned her back to the dishpan and folded her arms in front of her. Addie was on to something, and the three of them waited for Emma to answer. It was so still in the kitchen that when Ned scraped the floor with his boots as he leaned back in his chair, Addie jumped.
    “Well?” Addie asked when Emma didn’t reply.
    Emma nodded, glancing furtively at Ned, then at Welcome.
    “Then I guess the way to get your money is to find something for him to invest in.” Addie nodded once to emphasize her words, and forked a piece of meat into her mouth. She studied the way Emma held her fork between her thumb and forefinger, then looked at her own utensil, which was held in her fist like she was grasping a bucket handle. She changed her grip, then glanced around to see if the others had noticed, but only Welcome was watching her.
    “But what?” Emma asked. “That’s the question, isn’t it? What could we get John to put his money into? He won’t just send me the cash, you know. He’s not stupid.”
    “Oh,” Addie said. “I guess that’s right.”
    Ned pursed his lips together as he thought. “Why don’t you tell him you found a gold mine.”
    Emma laughed and set down her fork in the middle of her plate, the knife beside it. Addie wondered how she could eat so fast taking those little bites. “There’s no way in the world John would invest in a gold mine.”
    “Maybe he’d set you up in the hat business. How about that?” Addie asked.
    Emma shook her head. “No, I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing I didn’t get married. Besides, the only thing John likes is land. He bought so much after Father died that I warned him we’d be land poor.”
    The three of them