An Encounter of Courageous Hearts: A Historical Western Romance Book

by Lorelei Brogan

  Now, it was almost as if she could help someone else so they wouldn’t so intensely feel what she had done in the same situation.

  She could make Ginger feel a little better, keep her company and keep her mind off of all that she had lost. Lana was sure that eventually, she would bring Nick around. He didn’t seem like a bad guy. In fact, maybe he was just hurting, like his sister.

  Chapter 14

  Nick shook his head and chuckled once more as he dumped the harmless garden spider outside. Lana’s reaction had been priceless. He had figured it would be a good joke, but he hadn’t figured she had hated spiders that much. It only made it all the better.

  He turned to see Derek riding up. It was no surprise that he was arriving so late. Derek always got up later than he did.

  Derek tied his horse near Nick’s and then crossed the distance between them in long strides.

  “I figured you’d be here. I thought I would invite you to come with me to the saloon for drinks. You know that thing that you told me about yesterday? The saloon would be the perfect place to find out if there was anything about Daniel you didn’t know about.”

  Nick nodded, “You’re probably right. As much as I dislike that place, maybe I should pass by there with you.”

  Derek shrugged, “I don’t know what there is to hate about it. It’s a powerful great place.”

  “I’m sure… if drinking whiskey till you pass out is your thing.” Nick leveled Derek with a look and Derek smiled sheepishly. Derek knew he had a problem, but it was unlikely that he would ever fix it. He was too used to having a whiskey or a smoke whenever he liked, and he liked it all the time.

  “Let’s stay for lunch and then we’ll get going.”

  “What were you dumping right now?” Derek peered over Nick’s shoulder as if trying to spot the object he had been disposing of.

  “A spider… a little reminder to Lana she’s not in the city anymore.”

  Derek scoffed, “I’m sure they have spiders in the city.”

  “If they do, Lana has either never seen one before or someone always took care of them for her because she hated it. She about jumped out of her skin.”

  “Are you sure you really want to do this?” Derek glanced toward the house.

  “Come on, Derek. We already had this conversation, besides you practically gave me the idea.”

  “What? I did not! I just think you should also consider how hurt your sister will be when her friend decides to abandon her because of your antics.”

  Nick frowned. “That’s not going to happen. If anything, this will show Ginger that I was right. Now, come on. Let’s go have us some lunch. Lana made some bread earlier.”

  “See? You like it that she’s cooking.”

  Nick felt his cheeks blush red. “That doesn’t mean anything. I like it when anyone cooks. I like food in general and so do you. Let’s get going.”

  When they walked into the cabin, a delicious, warm smell hit Nick’s nose. When they walked around the corner into the kitchen, there was a feast laid across the table. There were plates of roast beef with carrots all around the table. Mashed potatoes and corn were in big bowls at the center. The freshly baked bread was sliced and sitting beside a fresh block of butter. Sliced cheese and some fresh milk in a large pitcher sat next to the bread.

  Nick’s mouth watered as he sat down. He found Lana watching him curiously. Realizing that he hadn’t introduced Derek, he stood and motioned to him. “Lana, this is Derek, one of my closest friends. Derek, this is Lana.”

  Derek gave a charming smile and hurried to take Lana’s hand. If Nick had wanted him to act unfriendly in any way, Derek had certainly not gotten the message.

  He gushed about how wonderful the food looked and how lucky they were all to have her there.

  Nick wanted to kick him under the table, only he wasn’t sitting down yet so he couldn’t.

  He hadn’t needed Derek to encourage Lana and by the glow on her face, he had just done that, only so much that it looked as if even a dozen spiders wouldn’t make her run.

  They sat down and they all joined hands to say grace. Right before they closed their eyes, Nick looked across the table and his gaze locked with Ginger’s. She was giving him that warning look again.

  Lana had helped her come to the table and she was positively glowing. Nick felt a momentary pang of guilt. Maybe Derek was right and he should be trying to make this work for Ginger instead of trying to ruin it.

  ---*---

  “Thank you for lunch. I’ll certainly be back in the future! That was some spectacular set of vittles!” Derek called over his shoulder as Nick and he walked outside of the cabin.

  Nick elbowed his friend in the ribs as soon as they were clear. “What in the world are you doing?”

  Derek looked at him innocently. “What do you mean? I was just being polite.”

  “Polite? You practically asked the girl to marry you.”

  “Wouldn’t be that bad of an idea,” Derek laughed softly. “She is sooome cook!”

  “Yes, it would be a bad idea. You know how I feel about that whole situation and I bet you just made it a whole lot worse.”

  Derek shook his head, “Calm down. It’s going to work out fine. In the end, you can’t force her to leave. I think you should just settle back and enjoy her cooking. That’s what I’d be doing if I was in your shoes. I just don’t want to be on the wrong side of things when she leaves.”

  Nick grimaced as they mounted their horses. If he hadn’t wanted to go down to the saloon before, he especially didn’t want to go now, but he felt like he had no choice. They needed to get a move on with Daniel’s investigation and Derek was right. If there was something that Daniel had been involved with that he didn’t know about the best place to find that out was the saloon.

  It didn’t take long to get there. In fact, Nick barely felt the distance before they were arriving at the saloon. The loud music spilled into the street. Even though it was early afternoon, there still seemed to be plenty of people sitting inside the saloon.

  “Shouldn’t we wait until a little later? Everyone is going to recognize us. Why would they tell us anything?”

  “Don’t be so uptight. Trust me, I have lots of experience with these places.”

  “I’m sure you do,” Nick muttered under his breath.

  “Whiskey has a way of loosening people up. A lot of these people know me and trust me as a regular. We’ll find some information, you’ll see.”

  Nick still felt reluctant, but he followed Derek’s lead and tied the horse to the post as they walked inside.

  Most everyone stuck to what they were doing. Only a few people turned to look their way.

  Whenever someone met his gaze, he quickly looked away. He felt as if everyone could see that he wasn’t a regular as Derek had said.

  He hadn’t stepped foot into a saloon for years. Derek led him up to the front counter. There was a man behind it who looked at them with a steady glare. “Hello Derek, welcome back.” He then turned his attention to Nick, “Can’t say I’ve seen you around these parts before.”

  Nick nervously opened and closed his mouth. He couldn’t think of anything that seemed like the right thing to say.

  “He’s with me, you know. He’s my best friend. The one I’ve always been telling you about.”

  The man’s stern scowl widened into a grin. “Oh! I finally get to meet you! There is nothing that Derek hasn’t told us about you.”

  “I see,” Nick glanced at Derek. Now he felt totally self-conscious. He could imagine Derek spewing things about him while he was drunk and that couldn’t be good, could it?

  “Well, the two of you are always welcome here. Tell me, is there anything else I can get you?” The man slid two glasses of whiskey in front of them as he spoke.

  “Actually,” Derek glanced at Nick before he continued. “Nick here wanted to come here to get some closure.”

  “Closure?” the man’s eyebrows shot up.

  �
�His brother-in-law was the one killed in the accident with the wagon.” Derek’s voice was low and for once, Nick didn’t hear a trace of a joke in it.

  “I’m sorry. It’s tough losing family. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost family like that.”

  Derek nodded and tipped his head back, downing the first whiskey. Nick stared at his glass while twisting it in circles between his fingers.

  “So, what kind of closure are you looking for?” The man poured Derek another drink and Nick took a reluctant sip of his own.

  “It’s hard to know how well you know people. Nick here just wants to know everything he can about what sort of things Daniel liked to do while he was alive.”

  The man behind the counter eyed them both as if he didn’t quite believe that was what they were looking for.

  “If you were family, wouldn’t you know most everything about each other?” He raised one of his eyebrows in a strange way that Nick hadn’t known was possible to do.

  “We did. I considered Daniel a brother to me. It’s just… you know, I want to make sure all of his affairs are in order because he does have a wife and two children.”

  The man nodded. “Understandable. Now, I don’t know much about him. I saw him in here a lot though. He liked to spend a bit of time at the gambling table.”

  “Are you sure?” Nick’s body tensed. He never would have guessed Daniel to be a gambler. In fact, he had seen him much more as a man like himself who avoided whiskey and bad associations.

  “I’m certain, nearly every night. Usually at later times than earlier. He didn’t have too much trouble finding partners to gamble with seeing as he usually lost and usually paid.”

  Nick nodded, assimilating the information. This opened up a whole new list of possibilities for the reasons someone might want to hurt Daniel. Maybe someone was angry about him winning.

  Or maybe someone hadn’t gotten paid. “There’s nothing else?”

  The man shook his head, sympathy in his eyes. “No, I’m sorry. I wish I could be of more help.”

  “That’s fine, you’ve been plenty of help.” Daniel turned and headed towards the gambling tables. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Derek down the glass of whiskey that he hadn’t drunk.

  Derek caught up to him despite the fact that Nick was walking briskly. “So, did you find something useful out? Where are you headed? Do you want to play a game?”

  They had stopped in front of one of the gambling tables. There were already four others playing.

  “Sure, I don’t like this sort of thing, but it would be great if we could find out what games Daniel liked to play and with who.”

  Derek nodded and took a seat between two men who looked as if they played all the time.

  Nick took a seat across from him and the man who was in charge of the cards dealt them each a hand.

  While Nick didn’t often play, he did know how to play. Eric had loved cards and they had often played together after a long day of work. With a wave of nostalgia, Nick realized that the last time he had played had been with Eric.

  “Is this the first time you’ve played?” the man to his left asked, leaning in as he played his turn.

  “No, I enjoy a game every once in a while.” Nick avoided the man’s gaze. He wondered if the man could tell he was lying. “My brother-in-law Daniel used to play here often. I myself usually played in Greyson.”

  “Oh, I see. Yeah, I remember Daniel. It’s a shame what happened to him.” The man shook his head and looked genuinely sorry.

  “Did you know him well?”

  “I did. He was in here almost every other night. When he didn’t play with us, he’d play at that table over there.” The man jutted his chin out towards the table that was now bursting with yells of victory as someone won the game. “Never could figure why. They are cutthroats when you don’t pay on time.”

  This new information sparked interest in Nick. He was surprised to hear of the frequency of the visits. He had never imagined that Daniel would be much of a gambler.

  He had always seemed like such a family man. He had been the first to church on Sunday and turned down whiskey when others offered it to him. This information was all a shock to Nick.

  “You sure you’re talking about the right man? Daniel was always private with his spare time, but he never mentioned playing here.”

  The man nodded enthusiastically. “The man owed me a tidy sum. All’s forgiven though since there’s no way to pay it back now.”

  Nick eyed the man. He wondered for a moment if he could have been the one to kill Daniel, but there was something honest in the man’s eyes that made him doubt it.

  For the rest of the game, Nick didn’t pay much attention. In fact, he barely noticed when he lost. He hadn’t bet much so he didn’t lose much, and in the end, it was worth the information he’d found out.

  “Come on Derek, let’s go.” Once the game was over, Nick stood from his chair. He gave a quick glance in the direction of the other table the man had mentioned. There were four men who looked as if they were friends.

  Another two looked nervous as they played. The game they were playing seemed to be finished and one of the nervous-looking ones was shaking his head, his face pale.

  The other four grinned and laughed before one of them leaned over and grabbed the losing man by the shirt. “Pay up, McGregor! You know that’s the rules.”

  The other three nodded and watched as if they were enjoying the tussle. Derek looked confused that they were leaving already but the time that they had spent there had been plenty.

  Nick now suspected more than ever that this hadn’t been an accident, but he needed to find more proof to be sure. He knew, for one thing, he was certainly on the right path to finding out the truth.

  Chapter 15

  Lana leaned back into the large, overstuffed chair in the parlor. She pulled out the copy of Gulliver’s Travels and opened it to the third chapter as Freddy and Lydia climbed up beside her.

  It was a book that she had loved reading every single time they’d looked at it with her class. It seemed that despite their lack of knowledge in reading and school, Lydia and Freddy liked it much the same. Its fanciful story seemed to capture their imaginations.

  Since she had begun reading it to them, they had begged for just one more page or chapter. It was refreshing for Lana to find something that they actually liked to do with her when it seemed in a way that everything was a battle.

  “Are you ready?” Lana asked, turning to both of them.

  “We’re ready,” Lydia said quickly.

  The chair was just big enough for the three of them to sit cozily together. Ginger was laying down in her bed nearby, watching with glowing eyes.

  Nick had said that Ginger could probably move back to her room in a couple of days. He had wanted her to be in the parlor for the warmth of the fire but also the easier access to getting up for the bathroom and other things. Now that she was getting stronger every day, she would be able to have the privacy of her room once more.

  While Lana was sure that Ginger was happy about this, there was something nice about having Ginger in the middle of everything all the time.