A Dream to Call My Own (10 page)

“Come see my building blocks,” he declared. “There’s a special way to pack them in their box and instructions on how to make all kinds of things.”

“I’ll be right there.” He turned to Lacy. “I just wanted you to know how grateful Beth and I are for how you’ve stepped in to befriend Justin and for all the party preparations. You’ll make a good mother yourself someday.”

She considered his statement even as she moved to the sanctuary of the kitchen. Everything was changing before her eyes. Her sisters had families of their own. Gallatin Crossing had become a nightmare of chaos and underhanded dealings. Hank was even planning to get them relocated before winter set in. She frowned as thoughts once again came to her about where she belonged in all of this.

Lacy longed to take a walk in the cemetery but shied away from that idea. The river was only a short distance away, and there were numerous tents and squatters there. Sadly, some of the graves had even been vandalized. She sighed. There was nowhere to go. No hope of refuge or quiet contemplation.

She heard Julianne begin to fuss and cry in the front room. It was only a moment before Gwen appeared with her daughter in her arms.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were in here,” her sister said, shifting the baby. “Julianne is overtired, and I’m going to put her to bed.”

“Would you like me to take her up?” Lacy asked.

“That would be lovely. I’ll stay down here and see that Beth doesn’t overdo. I’m still not convinced she should have come downstairs.”

“Well, Nick carried her, so it’s not like she expended any energy doing so,” Lacy said, taking Julianne in her arms. The baby seemed unhappy with the transfer, but Lacy only smiled. “You go ahead. We’ll be just fine.”

Cubby had never cared for the taste of whiskey, but tonight he allowed himself to forget that fact and tossed back his fourth drink. His father would be livid if he found out Cubby had wasted the best stock on himself.

“He’ll just have to deal with it,” the boy said, slurring his words and weaving on his feet.

The only reason Cubby was indulging in the fiery liquid was the memory of Lacy telling him he was just like his father. Those words still haunted him. Something inside had told him that this was what everyone thought of him so he might as well give in to it. After all, it might be true.

He thought of his father’s ruthlessness—his lack of concern for anyone but himself. “I’m not like him,” Cubby whispered, staggering to his feet.

The back door to the saloon had been left wide open to let in the cool night air, and Cubby made his way to the undulating portal. Gripping the wall, he tried to straighten. Why couldn’t he focus?

He stumbled out the back door and barely caught himself before he kissed the ground. His head spun and his vision blurred. “I’m not like him!”

Cubby pressed upward and eased onto his knees. He pulled a revolver from his waistband. His father had insisted he carry it to guard the precious liquor stores from the gold rush rowdies. Now, without thinking of the problems it could cause, Cubby pulled back the hammer and pointed it toward Gallatin House.

“I’m not my father!” he shouted and fired a shot into the air. He heard the breaking of glass and fired twice more.

The noise was deafening and caused Cubby to reel back on his heels. “You don’t understand. I’m not like him at all!”

He fired again, then felt the gun knocked from his hands. He looked up to see Wyman shaking his head.

Wyman bent over and picked up the pistol. “You idiot. What do you think you’re doing? Get up.”

Cubby shook his head.

Wyman laughed and yanked the boy to his feet. “You’re drunk. I ought to leave you here to rot, but someone would probably steal your boots. Come on, I’ll get you inside.”

Cubby tried to bat away Wyman’s hold, but his hands only sliced through empty air. “I’m not like him,” Cubby told Wyman as the older man dragged him back into the saloon.

Wyman looked at Cubby in confusion. “Like who?”

Cubby tried hard to straighten and square his shoulders. “Like . . . him. Like . . . my father.”

His father’s right-hand man laughed and pushed Cubby past the storeroom to his own quarters. “You’re exactly like him. Right down to the bone.”

Cubby shook his head, but that only served to increase his dizziness. He lost his footing as Wyman pushed him toward his cot.

“Sleep it off, Cubby. You’ll pay for this tomorrow, but right now you’re no use to anyone.”

“I’m no use to anyone,” Cubby muttered and closed his eyes. “No use.”

Lacy was face down on the floor of the bedroom when Hank and Dave rushed into the room. She had covered the baby with her body and could tell from Julianne’s cry that she was still alive.

“Don’t move, Lacy,” Dave commanded. “You’re covered in glass.”

She felt her muscles automatically stiffen. When she had heard the gun shot and breaking glass from the room next door, Lacy had instinctively dropped to the floor, with Julianne tucked safely beneath her. Seconds later the window shattered behind her.

The men worked to clear the broken bits of window before Dave lifted Lacy and Julianne from the floor in one sweeping motion. Hank quickly retrieved his daughter and checked her for any cuts.

“She looks fine,” he declared and handed her to Gwen, who stood at the door looking horrified.

“What happened?” Gwen asked, clutching Julianne tightly.

“Some idiot was out there shooting off his gun,” Dave said. “Are you hurt, Lacy?”

Touched by his tenderness and concern, Lacy met his worried expression. “I don’t think so.”

He reluctantly set her on her feet. “Are you sure?”

Lacy watched as Hank crossed the room to look out the broken window. She could see now just how narrowly she had escaped danger. They’d been standing in front of the window only moments ago, and now . . . She shuddered.

“I’m fine, but I’d like to lie down in my room.”

Dave nodded and led her past Gwen, who reached out to stop them. “I’m so grateful you’re both all right. I heard the gunfire and the breaking glass, and I feared the worst. You saved her life.” Gwen kissed the top of Julianne’s head.

“We were in front of that window when the first shot hit.” Lacy shook her head. “It was a miracle that I dropped to the floor. I think we have God to thank for that.”

She pushed past her sister and into the hall with Dave right behind her. He took hold of her elbow and led her to her bedroom door. Lacy stared at the door for a moment and began to shake. What if someone shot out her windows tonight, as well?

Lacy turned to Dave, and he pulled her close. The comfort found in his embrace washed over her. It wasn’t the sensation of passion she’d known before; rather this time the embrace offered her safety and protection. Lacy relished the feeling and refused to move for several minutes.

“I’m so glad you’re not hurt,” Dave whispered against her hair.

Lacy sighed. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt like this, but the feeling was so wondrous she prayed it would go on forever. If this was love, she very much wanted it to last.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“I heard about the trouble last night,” Patience said as she joined her son just before the Sunday service at Gallatin House.

“It’s getting worse,” Dave said. “The prospectors are out of control most nights, and it doesn’t help that Rafe offers them cheap whiskey and beer.”

“What can you do about it?” his mother asked.

“I’ve been asking the sheriff for more men to help me in this area, but there isn’t any money. Rafe has his own group of enforcers to keep law and order in his area, but that doesn’t help the rest of us.”

His mother nodded and held his arm tight. “I’m worried for you.”

He looked at her and smiled. He hadn’t meant to cause her fear. “Hank plans a town meeting after services today. Last night he made up his mind about moving.”

“Where will they go?”

“The idea is to relocate to property being offered by the railroad. It would be about the same distance for you and Pa to travel, only in the other direction. Hank wants to talk to everyone after church and see who else might want to go.”

“I see. Well, that sounds reasonable, but what’s to keep this from happening again? I mean, once a town is set up, the rowdies are bound to follow.”

Dave considered this for a moment. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see. I know the railroad officials told Hank they would set up some kind of authority. Maybe they would pay for a better police force.”

His mother laughed. “You’re the best there is—I’ve no doubt about that. But you’re just one man, son.”

He could see the love and pride in his mother’s eyes and gave her shoulder a squeeze. “I suppose that’s your way of telling me to be careful and to not try to do it all myself.”

His mother raised a brow. “Is that such bad advice? After all, you’re soon to be a married man. You don’t want to make Lacy a widow before you even get her to the altar.”

“Well, if we weren’t married, she wouldn’t exactly be a widow, now, would she?”

“That’s beside the point. You need to be careful. You know how I worry about you in this line of work.”

“What is your mother worrying about now?” Dave’s father asked as he came to join them.

“It would probably be easier to tell you what she’s not worried about,” Dave teased. “In this instance, however, she’s concerned about my line of work.”

“Well, you could always come back to work at the ranch. With the railroad coming through, I’ve already been approached about providing beef and pork. I’ve decided to expand again and bring in five hundred head from Texas.”

Dave looked at his father in disbelief. “Five hundred? When?”

“They’re already on their way. They’ll be up here by September.”

“When did you decide this?”

The question went unanswered, however, as Pastor Flikkema called out his customary greeting from the Psalms, “ ‘I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ ”

The Sunday service passed quickly with Pastor Flikkema offering encouragement in wake of the multiple problems facing the small community. A few of the miners had joined them for church in the front room of Gallatin House, but most were still sleeping off the effects of their Saturday night merriments.

After the pastor concluded with prayer, he raised his arms. “If you would all remain seated, Mr. Bishop has asked to say a few words.”

There was a rumbling of comments, but no one moved. Lacy watched as Hank made his way to the front of the room. He seemed determined and confident, and she knew he had made up his mind about relocating.

“I wanted to let everyone know that we’ve decided to relocate Gallatin House and Bishop’s Emporium.” There were a few protests, but Hank spoke out above them. “Please hear me out. Last night there were problems, and someone shot out two of my upstairs windows. They narrowly missed shooting my sister-in-law, who was holding my infant daughter at the time. I can’t continue to expose my family to such danger.”

There were gasps from the women and Mr. Lindquist called out to ask, “Who was the culprit?”

Hank shook his head. “We don’t know who was responsible, but we can’t ignore that things around here have only gotten worse. Nick and I are planning to ride up to the surveyed area tomorrow. The railroad has already mapped out their route, and we intend to work with them to find a location that will benefit them, as well as the stage company. We believe if we work with these two businesses, we will see great benefit as a town. I just wanted to let you know this so that if you wanted to be a part of it, you could join us.”

“What would that involve?” Leon Bradley asked. As the local cheesemonger, he and his wife knew the importance of community.

“The railroad has spoken in the past of offering discounted, even free, land for those who would relocate and settle on the property owned by the railroad. I intend to meet with the officials and see what exactly is available. I would like to be able to go to them with a pledge from as many of you as possible. That pledge would include the promise to set up business and live in the area for, say, five or ten years. If we pledge to remain in place, it will give the railroad adequate facilities to make it worth their trouble to negotiate the land with us.”

Lacy listened as other questions were posed and Hank worked out the details. Though it sounded like a solid plan, for reasons beyond her understanding her heart just wasn’t in it. She didn’t want to remain here, but neither did she want to trade one problem for another. And how did she and Dave fit into all of this? Frankly, she found herself wishing she could just disappear up into the high country and forget the rest of the world.

She hadn’t told anyone else, but all through the night, she’d tossed and turned, worried someone would start shooting again at the house. Sleep only came after she dragged her mattress to the floor and slept on the ground as far from her window as possible.

The formal meeting concluded with everyone gathering for a potluck dinner in the dining room. The conversation about the move continued, but Lacy paid little attention. Instead, she prepared a tray of lunch for Beth and made her way up the back stairs to her sister’s room.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Lacy greeted with a smile. “I brought enough for an army.”

Beth closed her Bible and put it aside. “As a matter of fact, I am. I hope you’ll sit with me for a while. I get lonely tucked up here away from everyone.”

Lacy placed the tray beside Beth on the bed. “I would love to stay.” She turned and pulled up a chair. “I find I’m growing weary of crowds. Everyone is always talking at once, and the noise seems to echo in my ears.”

“I’m getting all the peace and quiet a body could want,” Beth admitted. “I’ll be glad when the baby comes and I can get back up and around.”

Lacy watched her sister lovingly pat her swollen abdomen. It amazed her to imagine that a human being—a living baby—resided there. “Are you feeling all right?” she asked.

“As well as I can expect.” Beth took up a piece of bread and began to butter it. “I feel completely useless, though.”

Lacy laughed. “You don’t have to be pregnant to feel that way, I assure you.” She offered a blessing on the food and waited until her sister began to eat in earnest before bringing up the idea of the move.

“Has Nick talked to you about Hank’s plan to move north?”

Beth nodded. “We discussed it at length last night, after the shooting.”

“And what are your thoughts on the matter?” Lacy asked.

Her sister grew thoughtful. “You know that I never wanted to leave Gallatin House. I never wanted to move again.”

“That’s why I asked.”

“The baby changed my heart on the idea, however. I guess when I considered the dangers, it wasn’t difficult to agree to the move. I imagined you on the ground with
my
child tucked underneath.” She shook her head. “I thought of losing you and baby Julianne. It was more than I could bear to think of, Lacy.”

“I hate the mess that’s become of our little town. It used to be so peaceful—so perfect. Even Rafe’s Friday and Saturday parties weren’t so bad—certainly nothing like it is now.”

Beth nodded. “It just goes to show how bad company can corrupt. Nick says there is so much trash and destruction that I wouldn’t even recognize the river area now. Of course for me, it hasn’t seemed the same since our home burned down and Nick lost the livery and smithy.”

“So you don’t mind the idea of leaving here?”

“Not anymore. I’ve come to realize that my home is really wherever my husband is—where my family members are. And that needs to be a place where we all will be safe.”

“But the new place won’t be some utopia,” Lacy stated. “The railroad will bring in scoundrels the same as this gold rush. That won’t change just because we get away from Rafe. There will be other Rafes, too. We’ve been fortunate there’s only been one saloon to contend with up until now. Most towns have several.”

“And this one is soon to have others, as well,” Beth said. “At least that’s what Nick told me. Rafe is none too happy about it, but apparently the wealth is too good to ignore, and newcomers want a part.”

Lacy nibbled on a piece of cold fried chicken. She knew from what she’d heard Hank say that numerous people were arriving daily with hopes of sharing the profits of the gold rush. So far, however, she hadn’t seen that much gold changing hands.

“You really seem troubled about all of this,” Beth said, breaking through Lacy’s thoughts. “What are you and Dave planning to do?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it,” Lacy confessed. “We haven’t had much time to talk about anything.”

“What about the wedding? Have you set the date?”

“No. Dave’s been much too busy with all the trouble around here. Someone is always getting knifed or shot, or something is being stolen. Rafe has hired people to keep some order on his property, but inevitably, it spills out onto the streets. Dave can’t keep up with it, and of course, he hasn’t had any time at all to continue looking for Pa’s killer.”

Beth reached out and took hold of Lacy’s hand. “Do you ever think that maybe it’s time to let that go by the wayside?”

“What do you mean?” Lacy asked. “Forget about getting justice for Pa?”

“Don’t you think God will see that Pa gets justice?”

“Guilty folks go free all the time—they don’t pay for what they’ve done.”

“Don’t they? Do you honestly think that God will let them go unpunished?”

Lacy thought about this for a moment. “I have no way of knowing exactly how God will handle it once they’re dead and gone, but it doesn’t seem to me that there is much justice here on earth unless you demand it.”

“It just appears that you’re spending a lot of your life focused on the dead instead of the living.”

This angered Lacy—partly because it was true but mainly because it made Beth sound as though she thought Lacy foolish. “I suppose you think it was just one of those sad accidents that we will never have answers for. But I know better. Cubby told me that Rafe knows what happened.”

Beth looked at her oddly. “Then why hasn’t he told Dave or even us?”

Lacy shrugged. “Probably because he had something to do with it. I’m not really sure, but I intend for the truth to come out and the guilty parties to pay. I can hardly do that if I go moving off. The truth must be found right here.”

“Oh, Lacy, you can’t be responsible for this. Please don’t let this keep you from real happiness.”

Lacy got to her feet and put her hands on her hips. “I’m not giving up. For once in my life, I’m not going to fail to see this through.”

“Is that what this is really all about?” Beth asked.

“What do you mean?” Lacy felt her brows come together as she narrowed her eyes.

“I mean, have you made this about you rather than Pa?”

For a moment Lacy couldn’t think of anything to say. Had her focus changed? Was this more about her overcoming failure than honoring her father?

“Lacy, you can’t keep doing this. It’s too dangerous. If Dave is too busy with everything else that’s going on, you’ll just have to wait until the time comes when he can work on it. Otherwise, you might pay with your life.”

Cubby woke with a horrible headache and wave of nausea that he couldn’t hold back. He was glad someone had thought to put a bucket beside his bed. After losing what little contents he had left in his stomach, Cubby moaned and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

“Well, you sure made a mess of things last night,” his father commented from the doorway. “I oughta beat you within an inch of your life for stealing my whiskey, but it seems you’ve managed to do what I couldn’t.”

Cubby looked up in his misery to meet his father’s self-satisfied expression. “What are you talkin’ about?”

“You nearly killed Lacy Gallatin last night. When you shot at Gallatin House, it broke a window where she was standing with the Bishop brat. That put the fear of God into Hank, and now he’s making plans to sell out and move north.”

“Is she all right?” Cubby asked, struggling to sit up. He felt another wave of nausea but ignored it. “Is Lacy all right?”

Rafe laughed. “They’re all just fine. They had a meetin’ after church today. I heard about it through one of my men who posed as a good churchgoing miner. Apparently, the civilized people of Gallatin Crossing have had enough of the problems and dangers of living in a mining and gambling town.”

Cubby held his head. “You don’t have to yell.”

His father laughed again. “I’m not yelling. You’re sufferin’ from over-indulging. I was gonna give you a swift kick in the pants, but like I said, it’s hard to be mad at someone who’s managed to do what I couldn’t.”

“I didn’t mean to do any of that,” Cubby said, feeling sicker by the minute. He’d nearly killed Lacy, and all because he wanted to prove to her that he wasn’t like his father. Yet everything he’d done only pointed to that fact more than ever.

“It don’t matter what you meant to do,” Rafe countered. “Now get out of bed and clean yourself up. I’ll go mix you a cure. There’s work to do, and I can’t have you sleepin’ off the entire day. My generosity only extends so far.”

Cubby nodded and closed his eyes against the pain. He opened them quickly enough, however, when his father added, “And if you ever think to do something that stupid again, I won’t be so forgivin’.”