Enss - Love lessons from the old West : wisdom from wild women

The idea for a book on this subject has always been something that has interested me. I could have used such a book on love lessons when I was in high school. I would have been particularly interested in the chapter about Calamity Jane. Like Calamity, I, too, was infatuated with a well-known person. It was the most remote of chances, I know, but I thought if I dressed and acted like one of the guys he might notice my talent and want to marry me. Thats the way I thought Calamity Jane got Wild Bill Hickoks attention. Sadly for me, George Brett, third baseman for the Kansas City Royals, wasnt hanging around a ball field waiting for the lone girl on the baseball team to announce her undying devotion to him. The age difference alone would have made such a union illegalI was thirteen, and Brett was twenty-one. That fact was of complete indifference to me.

Brett went on to set many major league baseball records, got married (not to me), had three children, and is co-owner of the Kansas City Royals. With my George Brett rookie baseball card tucked safely inside my wallet, I went on to write this book.

Id like to take this opportunity to recognize those who inspired a need for Love Lessons ... Johnny Bench, Cal Ripkin, and, of course, George Brett.

This, my twenty-fifth book on a western theme, has been written with devotion to all the makers of the West. Those brave pioneers who ventured into wild, uncharted territories in search of a better life. Without the help of the staff at the California State Library History Room, the men and women who run the Adams Museum in Deadwood, the brilliant people at the Kansas Historical Society, the long-suffering librarians at the Madelyn Helling Library in Nevada County, California, and the courteous individuals at the Kit Carson Museum in Taos, New Mexico, I wouldnt have been able to acquire the historical documents necessary to complete the book.

Finally, to my patient editor, Erin Turner, and the staff of Globe Pequot Press, thank you for your expertise and dedication to the job. Erin, you are a wonder.

To buy books in quantity for corporate use or incentives, call (800) 9620973 or e-mail premiums@GlobePequot.com.

A TWODOT BOOK

Copyright 2014 by Chris Enss

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to Globe Pequot Press, Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, Po Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.

TwoDot is an imprint of Globe Pequot Press and a registered trademark of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.

Text design/layout: Lisa Reneson

Project editor: Lauren Brancato

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Enss, Chris, 1961-

Love lessons from the old West : wisdom from wild women / Chris Enss ; foreword by Brenda Novak.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-7627-7400-5 (pbk.)

1. CourtshipWest (U.S.)History19th century. 2. WomenWest (U.S.)Biography. 3. West (U.S.)Social life and customs19th century. 4. West (U.S.)History1848-1890. I. Title.

HQ801.A2E57 2014

306.73409034dc23

2013015027

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For George

The Old West.

Those three words conjure images of dirt trails, majestic horses, and a way of life that after so much time feels worlds away. But there is a unifying force that ties us inexplicably to our past: the undying power of love. Love affects us allin what we do, what we think, and how we live our lives. It is as vital to us as the water we drinkand it was to the women in the West.

This far removed from a time when life was shorter and, in some ways, simpler (though not easier!), movies and TV often give an inaccurate, romanticized view of how people existed, especially the women. Most usually, the Old West is depicted by stereotypesthe gunslinger coming to town for revenge, the door-splitting saloon fight, prostitutes floating around a card room with a piano playing in the background. Its easy to forget that most of the people who populated the western region of our country were not so different from us.

Chris Ensss book, Love Lessons from the Old West, is a vivid reminder of our similarities. Every woman featured in this collection experienced love differently, and yet it enriched the womens lives in ways that transcend their deaths. Decades later we connect these women to the men who owned their hearts. Whether separated by circumstance, lifestyle, or death, these women prove that love, no matter how short a time you have it, changes you forever. I thank Chris for reminding me, and all those who read these stories, that no matter who we are or when we live, in the end, love is all that matters.

Brenda Novak, New York Times bestselling author of the Whiskey Creek series

Other Books by Chris Enss

Pistol Packin Madams: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West

Buffalo Gals: Women of Buffalo Bills Wild West Show

The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physicians of the Old West

How the West Was Worn: Bustles and Buckskins on the Wild Frontier

Hearts West: True Stories of Mail-Order Brides on the Frontier

A Beautiful Mine: Women Prospectors of the Old West

Frontier Teachers: Stories of Heroic Women of the Old West

The Lady Was a Gambler: True Stories of Notorious Women of the Old West

Outlaw Tales of California: True Stories of the Golden States Most Infamous Crooks, Culprits, and Cutthroats

Tales Behind the Tombstones: The Deaths and Burials of the Old Wests Most Nefarious Outlaws, Notorious Women, and Celebrated Lawmen

W ITH J O A NN C HARTIER

With Great Hope: Women of the California Gold Rush

Love Untamed: Romances of the Old West

Gilded Girls: Women Entertainers of the Old West

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon: Women Soldiers and Patriots of the Western Frontier

W ITH H OWARD K AZANJIAN

The Young Duke: The Early Life of John Wayne

Happy Trails: A Pictorial Celebration of the Life and Times of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

The Cowboy and the Seorita: A Biography of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans

Thunder over the Prairie: The True Story of a Murder and a Manhunt by the Greatest Posse of All Time

Sam Sixkiller: Cherokee Frontier Lawman

LOVE LESSONS FROM THE OLD WEST

This wasnt the first time Mary had turned her face when Jake bent to kiss her, but she caught the pained look on his face as he planted a light caress on her smooth cheek. All the other times she had withheld her lips for the same reasonjealousy. Not of another woman, but of their neighbor, Tom Dixon.

Mary tucked away a stray tendril of dark brown hair and picked up a shovel to turn the small stream of water from the spring down two dry rows of her garden. She puttered around in the mud, a slim, lithe figure in a gingham dress and beehive bonnet, while Jake saddled their horse and rode away.

She always thrilled a little when she watched him on a horse. He might be a bit awkward on the ground, but, mounted, he was the handsomest man she knew. He was tall, with the broad shoulders and narrow hips of a cowman, and on a horse his legs didnt look too long. She could see the little ducktails of straw-colored hair at the back of his neck.

Jake was the kindest man she had ever known. There would have been a look of tenderness in her eyes, except that she was a practical woman who would stand no nonsense from herself.