In the dark, there is freedom

Jeremiah Clark isn't a frequent visitor to the Desert Rose -- they have some clients who come in daily -- but he's been in there enough that most of the seasoned girls know he's there for Madam Lenora and Madam Lenora only. He's never shown an interest in any of the other girls, and he's been coming to the saloon for so long, nobody can really remember how Lenora got to be his favorite.

"It's like he was drawn to her," Jo Beth likes to say to the newer girls. It's almost inevitable when Jeremiah comes in and there's a new girl working at the saloon. She tries to catch his attention and flirt with him, but Jo Beth is always quick to tell the girl he's off-limits and how Jeremiah and Lenora met: he walked into the saloon, his coat and hat dusty from the trail, and Lenora, why, she was standing beside the bar, looking a vision in her low-cut deep burgundy-colored dress. Jeremiah was so enamored by the sight of her that he walked right over to her and laid a kiss on her.

"And they've been dancing around a courtship ever since," Jo Beth says to Claudine, the newest dancing girl. "Miss Lenora, she won't leave the Desert Rose, and Jeremiah's a drifter. He don't like settling down too much, but you can bet your bottom dollar he'll be in here every couple of weeks to see Miss Lenora, and he always asks for her."

Claudine's eyes are wide, a look of awe on her face. "That's so romantic!" she exclaims, and she winces as Jo Beth shushes her and scowls. "Sorry... Do you think she loves him?"

Jo Beth's eyes twinkle a bit as she nods. "Oh, absolutely!" she says, her voice just a touch above a whisper. Her eyes flick toward a table a few feet away, where Jeremiah is seated, sipping at some whiskey. "You can see it in her eyes. Her whole face lights up when she sees him." She gasps a bit, lightly smacking Claudine's arm with the folded up fan she's holding in her hand. "Look! Here she comes now!"

Claudine turns her gaze toward the staircase, and both young women watch the madam of the saloon slowly descend. Her eyes scan the crowd and settle almost immediately on Jeremiah, and her face does brighten considerably. The girls watch her as she walks over to the table, and Jeremiah lifts his head, a smile playing across his face. He stands up and pushes his chair under the table before offering Lenora his arm. She smiles and loops her arm around his, whispering something in his ear that makes him laugh, a deep rumble from somewhere low in his chest, and Claudine sighs wistfully as they walk, arm in arm, toward the staircase.

"Think I'll ever find love here?" she asks, glancing at Jo Beth, who shrugs.

"Maybe," she says. "Never know what's gonna blow through those doors. Ain't no man like Jeremiah Clark though. Trust me, we've all been looking." She smiles and gives Claudine an encouraging pat on the back. "You're gonna fit in nicely around here, Claudine. Just remember -- Jeremiah's off-limits. You don't wanna see Miss Lenora when she's angry."