An Unexpected Dilemma Bride_Family of Love Series_A Western Romance Story

by Elliee Atkinson

  Alice went to the kitchen and was back quickly. She’d made tea earlier in the day and stored it in the icebox. She brought out a tray with cups and a pitcher and set it on a shelf. “What happened to James?” Alice sounded like she was forcing herself to ask the question, as though she didn’t really want to know.

  “It looks like someone poisoned him,” Joshua replied. “But we won’t know until the doctor confirms it.” He turned to look at Adam. “Will the messenger know to come here?”

  Adam nodded. “I’m sure the doc thought of that. He was already here.”

  “Oh yeah, of course.”

  “He didn’t say anything to you about it, Alice?”

  Alice’s eyes had widened and one hand covered her mouth in shock. “No, he didn’t. Oh dear. That’s so heartbreaking! I just spoke to James a few days ago. You don’t think Laura had anything to do with it, do you?” She lowered her voice, her eyes moving to the door of the room Laura was occupying.

  As she listened, Alice filled the cups with tea and handed them to the men. Joshua took a glass from her and smiled. “Thank you. I don’t think she did it, Alice, and you know the woman better than I do, so you probably have little to worry about. That doesn’t mean we won’t explore every option. I hope any evidence we find takes us away from her. There’s just no guarantee though.”

  “I understand. I do believe you. You always were a trustworthy young man, according to your uncle.”

  Joshua grinned. “Thank you, Aunt.”

  “She has been asleep for about an hour. When she wakes up, I believe she’ll be strong enough to talk to you. What are you going to ask her?

  “Basic questions. Has James had any major conflicts recently? With anyone in the writing industry, perhaps? Other writers? Jealous competitors? That kind of stuff. I’m sure Uncle will have some questions, too. You don’t know any of those answers, do you?”

  “I don’t think I do, Joshua.”

  “I’d like to know if he was involved in anything strange. I kind of doubt it, but I really don’t know. Uncle Adam doesn’t know them as well as you do. Someone he worked with could have done this. I need to know who was around him, especially those he was around most often. People can be deceitful. I don’t believe that James was deceiving his wife, though.”

  “I don’t understand. He was a good man. I never saw him argue with anyone. He was a writer who wasn’t afraid to speak about views. He had a lot of knowledge regarding issues that matter, but he was always willing to listen to what other people thought. Personally, I can’t recall any time I ever heard of him getting into an argument with someone.”

  Adam nodded as his wife spoke.

  Nate looked at them. “She should rest for now. I’m starved. I haven’t eaten for hours. Can I trouble you for a sandwich?”

  “Oh absolutely. I’ll make a big dinner for us all and we can discuss all of this with Laura then, if she feels comfortable.”

  “I hope Laura will be able to tell us something. It’s hard to figure out a mystery when there aren’t any clues. So far, there is no obvious murderer.”

  “So far, we don’t even know if he was murdered,” Joshua said.

  Nate nodded. “Yeah. I forgot.”

  “I’m happy you’re here, Joshua. Adam is always called to help with these things and sometimes I don’t get to see him for days on end. With you here, maybe it will be resolved quickly. No offense, my dear.”

  “I am not offended,” Adam said softly, eyeing his wife with love. “I know you worry about me.”

  Joshua nodded. “That’s apparent to us all. So tell me, Alice, who is going to tell Laura that James is… gone?”

  “Doc already told her.”

  “How did she react?”

  “She was hysterical,” Alice replied in a tone that implied he should have known that. “That’s why the doc had to give her a sedative. Something to calm her. She was traumatized.”

  “What do you think she will do if we tell her he was murdered… if he was?”

  “I don’t know. She could very well fall apart. I know I would. If something happened to Adam…” She stopped talking, not wanting to continue that train of thought.

  “I think she is going to need to be watched,” Adam said. “Someone will have to notify his extended family. His mother lives in Dry Gulch. I’ll send a telegram to her tomorrow morning. I don’t know if he has any other brothers or sisters. His dad is not living.

  “I wouldn’t want to be the one to tell his mother.” Nate said.

  “She knows Adam,” Alice said. “He will send the telegram. You’ll be tactful, won’t you, Adam? Do it gently.”

  “Of course, dear. I’ve known Mrs. Persinger for a long time.”

  “Persinger?” Nate said with eyebrows raised. “I thought she was James Youngblood’s mother. Wouldn’t she also be a Youngblood?”

  “She remarried after the death of her first husband, Gerald Youngblood.”

  “Interesting.” Nate nodded. “You think maybe someone from that side of the family is involved?”

  Joshua jostled Adam’s arm and gestured with his head. Adam looked toward Nate and saw why Joshua had gotten his attention.

  “Maybe James didn’t lose his father. Maybe the man just pretended to die to get away from his wife and son. No responsibilities, you know. Dry Gulch isn’t the nicest of places to live, so I’ve heard. Perhaps he was resentful when he came back and discovered that the woman had remarried. Maybe he’s seeking revenge. Maybe he’s acting like someone else, like… someone from town maybe… just a stranger passing through… I bet that could happen. Don’t you bet that could happen?”

  Joshua was smiling, shaking his head in the negative. “You come up with some far-fetched theories, my friend. Nah, I don’t think it’s that. I think it’s something else. I think we gotta find out more information about what happened before we keep going down rabbit trails. don’t even know how he died.”

  “I’m sure we will find out soon enough. You saw the body. Did it look like a natural death to you?”

  “I don’t see a whole heckuva lot of dead people, Nate,” Joshua replied. “But no, I reckon James didn’t look like he died of anything natural.”

  “There ya go.”

  “My opinion is not fact,” Joshua said firmly. “Let’s just wait for the message from Doc.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  LAURA WAKES UP

  LAURA WAKES UP

  An hour later, their conversation came to an abrupt halt when they heard the sound of a door opening and a soft female voice saying, “Hello? Alice, are you here?”

  Alice stood quickly, putting down her cup. “I’m right here, dear. I’m right here.” She grasped her skirt with both hands and jogged to the door. The men stood up and watched for a moment before going to stand outside the door.

  Alice went toward her, but Laura was standing in the hallway looking at her. “Oh, Alice. I forgot where I was for a minute. I… was hoping it was all a dream. It wasn’t a dream, was it, Alice? It wasn’t a dream.” She looked like she was getting ready to crumble.

  “Come back and lay down, Laura. You aren’t alone. We are right here for you.”

  Laura began weeping again and went back to bed without saying another word. She sat up, her shoulders jerking as she struggled to hold in her sobs. She looked listless and lost, her eyes dark and rimmed with red. She covered her face with both hands and cried; a soft sound that made every heart in the room ache.

  Nate leaned over and whispered to Joshua while Alice consoled Laura. “She is beautiful, isn’t she, Josh? James was a lucky man,” he murmured quietly.

  Joshua hadn’t particularly noticed before then. He gave Laura a longer look and had to agree with Nate. “She is,” he whispered back. “But she’s in more pain than I can imagine.”

  “Even so, she still looks beautiful.”

  Laura, how are you?” Alice put one hand on her shoulder and patted it gently. “Your eyes are red. Here’s a handkerchief. Does yo
ur head hurt?”

  “Yes. It does.”

  “I’ll get something to put on it if you like.””

  “I appreciate that and all that you are doing.” She looked past Alice to where the men were standing, each looking at her with concern on their faces. “Hello,” she said softly, her eyes settling on Joshua. “I saw you last night. I am so sorry to interrupt your time with your family. Alice told me who you are. I am sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about that at all, Laura. Please don’t worry about it,” Joshua replied.

  The men stepped closer to the bed. As they approached, Nate gently nudged Joshua, who gave him a strange look, wondering what he was up to now.

  Alice stood and the men approached until they were standing directly next to her. “Laura, do you feel strong enough to talk about what happened? You must have come to us because you wanted our help in figuring this out. Adam can help, and Joshua is just as smart as he is. We all want to help you find out what happened, but we can’t without your help. You know more about James’s life than we do.”

  ”I think I can do it. I know someone killed James. I just know it.”

  “How do you know that?” Adam asked.

  “Because he was always so healthy! I’ve never seen him sick. I really haven’t! And for him to turn blue like that… for no reason! I… I… Oh, oh…” She covered her face with the handkerchief and cried into it.

  Joshua looked at Adam, wondering if he should bring up the argument Cynthia said she heard. Adam shook his head, knowing what his nephew was thinking.

  “I’m so sorry, Laura.”

  Laura continued shaking her head, placing both hands over her ears, as if the information wouldn’t get through if she blocked it. “I don’t understand this. Why? Why would…no, it just can’t be!”

  “Laura,” Nate leaned forward, placing one hand on the woman’s shoulder. “We don’t want to frighten you, but if there’s anything, anyone you can think of that might have a grudge against your husband, they might be after you next. Are you sure you don’t know of anyone?”

  “No! It just doesn’t make sense! He was a good man! A great and kind man. He would have been a wonderful father, if God had chosen to give us children. Now…now I’m only left with nothing to hold on to that is a part of him! I have nothing to live for! My love is gone!” Laura’s voice broke as she cried. She sobbed uncontrollably. “It’s not possible! It can’t be true!”

  Alice pushed Nate out of the way and grabbed Laura around her shoulders. She pulled her into a tight, warm hug. “Oh, my poor, dear friend. I know you loved James so very much. I know I would feel just like you do if something happened to Adam. I want to be here for you; you just tell me if there’s anything you need. I’m not going to leave until I know you’re going to be all right. I hate to make you keep thinking about it. But there must have been someone with something against James.”

  “No, no, no! He had… no enemies! Everyone loved him. He was… not having relations or any kind of relationship with another woman. He always got along with other writers. There was never any rivalry or jealousy. He just wasn’t that kind of man. He was positive and friendly. You know these things, Alice!”

  Alice nodded. “I do.”

  “He was a good man!” Laura sobbed. “A good, good man!”

  Alice looked over her shoulder at Adam and Joshua. “She can’t go through this right now.”

  “No, I want to help,” Laura said. “I…I need to know if he really was murdered, and if he was, I want to find out who did it. He didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve to lose his life. There is simply no reason for it.”

  Alice looked back down at the young woman. “Do you want me to fetch anyone for you? Do you want to talk to anyone?”

  “My…my friends, Samuel and Cynthia Whitman. They are the closest friends James and I have. If you want to know more about James, things I didn’t know about him, you can ask Samuel. I think they were close. They were friends. I think they talked.”

  “I will send for them.” Alice nodded, standing.

  Laura stopped her, putting one hand on her arm. “Don’t go yet, Alice. Talk to me for a minute. Please?”

  “I’ll go get them. I wanted to talk to Samuel again anyway,” Adam said softly.

  “Thank you, Adam. I appreciate it.”

  Adam gestured with his head and the men left the room.

  What do you think, Adam?” Joshua asked. “She look sincerely distraught to you?”

  Adam nodded, not looking at his nephew. He was staring into the fireplace, although there was no fire. “I think we really need to find out what the doc knows. Let’s go on down to his clinic. It’s not far from here. I want to talk to him. If James died of something natural, we are wasting our time. We need to be helping Laura with funeral arrangements, if that’s the case.”

  “I’m sure her friend Cynthia will help her with that,” Joshua said, sardonically. Adam looked at him.

  “You don’t like Mrs. Whitman?”

  Joshua shrugged. “She seemed a bit off to me, Uncle. I don’t know. Maybe it was just me.”

  “Well, we’ll just keep an eye on her then, won’t we?”

  “Yeah, I think we should. And that husband. He seemed nice, but he sure doesn’t seem like he likes her all that much.”

  Adam nodded. “A marriage made in Hell, it would seem.”

  “You got that right, Uncle.”

  “I never did get that sandwich,” Nate said with a sigh. “How about we stop at the Inn and get something?”

  Adam looked at him. “I’ve got a better idea. Let’s go to the Horse N Saddle. I’d like to talk to Sam. See what he thinks.”

  “He’s the one I talked to?” Nate asked.

  “Yeah, he is.”

  “I liked him.”

  “Everyone does.”

  The men went to the door, pulled their jackets from the hooks on the wall and shrugging them on quickly. Each lit a lantern so they could see as they went to town.

  Alice stayed by Laura’s side while the woman talked. She reminisced about her wedding, their plans to have children, how they wanted to travel and see the sights.

  “Who doesn’t want that with their love, Alice? I ask you, who wouldn’t want that?”

  “It’s what we all want, Laura,” Alice agreed. “Happiness. Peace. Love. It’s what we all want. But sometimes we don’t get it.”

  “Or we only get it for a short time.”

  “I hope you don’t mind that I’m sitting here talking to you. I know you’d probably prefer Cynthia, but…”

  Laura shook her head. “No, I am happy you are here talking to me. Cynthia can be a little overboard. She is such a comfort to me at times, and a good friend. However,… she’s a little bit strange.”

  Alice grinned. “Yes, I’ve seen her at church and at the sewing circle. She can be a little loud, can’t she?”

  “Yeah. She’s a sweet woman, but… sometimes I can’t stand to be around her.”

  “I understand. Hopefully, when Adam comes back with her, you will feel like talking to her.”

  “I want to tell you something, Alice. Please don’t tell anyone.” Laura sounded desperate, leaning toward Alice and taking both her hands to hold. “You must not tell anyone. All right?”

  Alice raised her eyebrows. “What is it, dear? You can tell me. You know I won’t tell anyone.”

  “I know. But… well, this isn’t something good. It might not look good on me, I mean.”

  “Tell me what it is, Laura, if you want to. You don’t have to. Just know that.”

  Laura nodded. “I… I had a little argument with James the night before he…”

  Chills ran over Alice’s body. She knew immediately that if Adam, Joshua or the sheriff found that out, they would be suspicious of Laura. She didn’t believe her friend was capable of anything like murder, especially of a man Laura truly loved. “Oh my. What was it about?”

  Laura hesitated. “It’s a terrible thing to know
that the last thing you said to the one you love was that you wished they weren’t lying to you. I don’t think he was lying now. Now I think something really was going wrong with him. That he really was in danger.”

  Alice inhaled deeply. She wished Laura had told Adam these things. They could prove helpful. “How was he in danger?” she asked. “What made you think he was in danger?”

  “I saw… I saw some letters in his desk. He wouldn’t let me read them, but I got a look at one and it looked threatening to me. ‘If you don’t do this, you will be sorry for it.’ That kind of thing. Almost childish, in a way. He told me it was nothing for me to be concerned about. The next day, he’s… he’s gone from me. Gone! And I’ll never be able to tell him again how much I love him. That I never suspected he was doing anything wrong. I don’t believe he was with another woman, even though…” She stopped again and continued in a lower voice. “Even though the letters looked like they were written by a woman. But I won’t believe it, Alice. I simply won’t believe it.”

  Alice pulled her into another hug. “I understand, dear. I really, really do. You just calm down. We’ll figure all this out together. I want you to tell Adam that, okay?”

  Laura shook her head. “I can’t tell him! He will think I was still angry with James and killed him somehow. Especially if it was some kind of poison!”

  “What makes you think it was poison?”

  Laura looked up at Alice. “I saw what he looked like, Alice. You didn’t. If it was anything unnatural, it had to be something he ate or drank or… it could only be poison.”

  “I reckon you’re right, Laura. How horrible. Why would anyone do that to your poor husband? I can’t imagine him ever doing anything that would make someone that mad. If he was being threatened, what was it with and why?” Alice shook her head. “Such a confusing mystery.”

  “I don’t understand why bad things have to happen to people like him. He was a wonderful man.” Laura lowered her head again and sobbed into the handkerchief.

  Alice scooted closer and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. “It’s going to be all right, Laura. Sooner or later, you will feel better. I promise. Maybe you will even love again.”