Cera's Place by Elizabeth McKenna Read Free Book Online Page B

were thinking!” Ginger hit him again. “It was written all over your face! And let me tell you, Cera would take a gun to you if she knew you were thinking about her like that.”
    Jake chuckled despite the threat of bodily harm. “I’m sure you’re right, Red. I’m sure you’re right. But what’s a man to do? She’s so cantankerous.”
    “Do you know how many men walk into this saloon every month? Every week? Hell, every day?” Ginger spread her arms wide. “Cera gets propositions constantly, but she just smiles politely and says ‘no thank you’ without a second thought. She’s bad tempered with you because you’re different. You’ve made her feel something she hasn’t felt in a long time—maybe never.”
    “She’s said something to you?” Jake leaned forward, eyebrows raised.
    “She don’t have to. I can see it in the way she acts when you’re here and when you aren’t. If you are serious, you’ll figure out a way to bring her around. Why don’t you come upstairs and let me show you something. Maybe it’ll help.”
    Jake held up his hands. “Whoa, now, Red, I appreciate the offer, but you’re, well, a little too much woman for me. I haven’t been on that horse lately and I’d hate to disappoint you.”
    Ginger let out a long sigh. “As much as I’d love to try you out, Captain, I’m not asking you to my bedroom. Just come with me. I’ll keep my hands to myself.”
    Jake followed Ginger up the stairs, eyeing her backside. “I do have to admit, Red, I admire the view from here.”
    Ginger turned and winked. “Most men do—unless they don’t have a heartbeat.”
    In the narrow hallway, Ginger stopped in front of half a dozen photographs mounted on the wall. With a wave of her hand, she explained, “We call this our Wall of Dreams. Before the ladies in these pictures worked at Cera’s Place, they were whores, but now they are respectable.” She pointed to the first frame. “This is Kate. She’s a school-marm in San Diego. And this Helen. She lives on a farm just outside of the city with her husband and two children. I could go on, but the point is, all these women owe their new lives to Cera. She gave them a decent job with no whoring, encouraged them to save their money, and then to go after their dreams.”
    “So Cera’s dream was to own a saloon?”
    Ginger frowned and shook her head. “Cera don’t talk about her dreams. She’s too busy helping the rest of us.”
    “When will your picture be up there?”
    “When I can afford to move to New York. I’m going to be an actress.” Ginger struck a pose with her head held high and bosom sticking out.
    Jake chuckled. “And a fine one you will be.” He studied the photographs some more. “What about this one? Is that Cera with her parents?”
    At the end of the row, a gold frame held a worn and faded picture. A crease ran through the middle, as if the photograph had been folded and placed in a pocket for many years. The frame looked of high quality, something the local general store didn’t stock. In the picture, a man and a woman stood on the porch of a clapboard house. A small girl sat on the steps between them. The woman was the spitting image of Cera, except for the eyes. The man and the child had Cera’s eyes.
    “Yes,” Ginger confirmed, “a few years before they headed west to prospect for gold. Her mama died shortly after they joined a miner’s camp. Influenza got her. Cera was eight and took over caring for her daddy, cooking and such. For years, they bounced around the countryside, trying to find a fortune.
    “Then one day, her daddy got shot right in front of her, something about who had rights to a claim. She wasn’t even a full-grown woman and you know what she did?” Her head tilted at the question, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “She picked up a gun, aimed it straight at her daddy’s killer, and shot him dead.
    “Well, you can imagine, the man’s friends weren’t too happy with her. They beat