An Unexpected Dilemma Bride_Family of Love Series_A Western Romance Story

by Elliee Atkinson

  Daryl turned his head and stared at James, suddenly feeling the weight of his gun. “I am. And you are James Fisher. We are neighbors. That’s how you know me. You can just go on back to what you were doing, James. I’ve got no beef with you.”

  “You got no…” James threw his head back and laughed the laugh of a drunken sailor. “Wha… you better not have no beef with me, Mr. Daryl Fisher. I got a beef with you!”

  Daryl raised his eyebrows and turned on the stool to face him, his hand still gripping the glass beer mug. He didn’t notice the bartender staring at the glass in his hand as if he really wanted to take it before Daryl smashed it into a million shards of glass. “What is your beef with me? My cattle going on your land? My dogs bothering you?”

  “Those things and more!” James spat, stumbling a bit but managing to get close enough to hold himself up on the bar counter.

  Daryl shook his head. “Then you must be thinking about a different Daryl. I don’t herd cattle unless I’m doing it with my friend Heath as a paid favor. And I don’t own any dogs.”

  James didn’t seem to register that Daryl had just poked holes in both his grievances.

  “I know you’re trying to steal my wife, Mr. Daryl Parker! Don’t try to deny it. I seen you two together. I know what you been doing!”

  Daryl was taken aback. “Pardon me? You are mistaken. I am in no way trying to take your wife from you.”

  “I seen ya! I seen ya talkin’!”

  Daryl shook his head. “That means nothing. We talk all the time. Johnny likes to come over and help me with chores around my house.”

  “He’s got chores to do at home! He don’t need to come to your house and do them. You a grown man, do them yourself!”

  “I don’t ask him to come over. He just does.”

  “Well not no more.”

  “You’re going to keep him from coming over to my house?”

  “That’s right! And Esther, too! You ain’t takin’ my family.”

  “I’m not trying to.”

  James lifted one hand, opened his mouth, and fell over in front of Daryl, who stared down at him in disgust.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE LOUISVILLE SPRING FESTIVAL

  THE LOUISVILLE SPRING FESTIVAL

  It was a perfect day for the festival: blue skies, puffy white clouds here and there, and a light breeze to keep the air comfortable. Daryl looked around at the people walking around, eating pretzels and chatting. Children ran all around, kicking balls and playing chase. That is, when they weren’t pushing big pretzels into their mouths to see how much they could fit in before one of their parents noticed and scolded them for it.

  He smiled. It was a friendly community. His sister had left Louisville because she said it was getting too big and she wanted to live in a smaller town. However, he liked the atmosphere of the people, the events, and the laughter. He supposed the same thing was happening in Wickenburg, but he’d never lived there, so he didn’t really know.

  “Daryl!” He heard his name and turned to see Heath coming toward him.

  “Heath! It’s a beautiful day for the festival, ain’t it?”

  “It sure is. And speaking of beautiful…” Heath pointed toward the booth, where the ladies were selling baked goods. Lily and Laura were standing there, chatting, and eating small cakes.

  “I don’t know where those ladies are putting all that food. They are as slender as ever.”

  Heath gave Daryl an amused look. “You’re concerned about how much food they’re eating? What are you, a woman now?”

  Daryl chuckled. “Not a chance, my friend. I just don’t think I could eat cake like that and not gain any weight.”

  Heath shook his head, reaching out and poking Daryl in the side. “You sure don’t need to do that.”

  “Keep your fingers off me unless you want to lose one,” Daryl warned in a low voice.

  They both laughed.

  “Let’s go ask them where they put all that cake,” Heath said, starting to walk over to the women.

  “Don’t you dare tell them that,” Daryl exclaimed quickly. “I don’t want to upset them.”

  Heath just laughed. “Maybe I won’t tell them. Maybe I will.”

  Daryl followed after him, calling out warnings that just made Heath laugh harder.

  Lily saw them first and lifted one hand to wave, a sweet smile spreading across her pretty face. Heath slowed down to let Daryl catch up with him and just before they reached the women, he looked at Daryl with a smile and murmured, “Ain’t that the prettiest smile you’ve ever seen?”

  Daryl grinned at him. “I can think of at least one other that is just as pretty.”

  “I’m so glad you came to the festival, Heath.”

  “You knew I would be here,” Heath responded, nodding at the pretzel vendor, who happened to be an old friend of his named Josh. “Hey Josh, I’ll take one of those.”

  “You got it, Heath. Daryl?”

  “Yeah, I’ll take one.”

  “I told you I was gonna be here. I would’ve been pretty disappointed if you hadn’t come. I was really looking forward to sharing pretzels and laughs with you. Did you get some lemonade?”

  “I don’t like lemonade,” Lily said and shook her head. “I have some fruit juice. What would you like? There are some with crushed ice over there. I love that kind of cold drink.”

  “I gotta get some of that. I love crushed ice with cherry juice. It’s hard to find,” Daryl said, looking in the direction of the beverage tent.

  “Let’s go then. I’ll take some of that.” Heath took Lily’s upper arm and gently urged her to walk beside him as they went to the tent.

  “Have you ladies been here long?” Daryl said, walking behind them with Laura.

  Laura put one hand up to cover her mouth, chewing the rest of the pretzel before answering. “Well… we got here early this morning to help some of the ladies set up their tables. And then we went home and changed and came back.”

  “Why did you change?”

  Laura shrugged, looking up at him. “It was cooler this morning than it is now. We didn’t want to be burning up under several layers. We decided to put on lighter dresses and wear our slip-on shoes instead of the boots. It’s getting warmer every day and I really like that. It’s one of my favorite things about living on this side of the country.”

  “Virginia isn’t like this, I take it.”

  She shook her head. “No. It’s green and snows during the winter. Heavily. And the air is very moist. There are more bugs. Flying bugs. Gnats. Especially in the fall, when the winter is coming. I don’t like it much. I don’t think I’ll ever live there.”

  “I like it here, but I haven’t traveled much. I don’t have time anyway. Too many people depend on me here in Louisville.”

  “You must really like doing things for other people. You’re a man everyone turns to in a crisis.”

  “Yeah, you’d think that would be the sheriff or the mayor, but I am neither of those.”

  “Have you ever thought of running to be elected for either position? I bet you would succeed in both.”

  “Don’t know about the success part, but I really don’t want a label put on what I do. I just like being able to help people in need. And if they want to give me some money for helping, I’ll accept it, but it isn’t a requirement. A lot of the people out here are struggling and just need a helping hand. I’m not struggling financially and I’m in good health. Why not do what I can to help people who aren’t in my position?”

  Laura smiled up at him. “You really are a good man. Lily was right about you.”

  He smiled back. “What does Lily know about me that you don’t?”

  “Oh, Heath talks about you like you’re brothers. Lily asked him if he had a brother and he said you were the nearest thing to it. So she asked about you, what you do, what you’re like. When he told her that you give a helping hand to people who need it and there wasn’t really a job title you had, she told me that night
. She was very impressed by your résumé and all that Heath said about you. He speaks highly of you. He’s never, to my knowledge, said anything negative about you to Lily.”

  Daryl nodded. “I’d hope not. I try not to do things that will stir up trouble. I’ll finish trouble, but I won’t start it. I just don’t have time for that.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I… I like spending time with you. I hope we get to see each other more often.”

  “We’re adults.” He grinned at her. “We can do whatever we want. We can make plans and actually keep them.”

  “Would you like to make some plans with me?” Laura’s eyes were soft when she looked up at him. They’d reached the tent and were standing in a makeshift line, waiting their turn to get a drink. Though they were in the middle of a group of people, Daryl felt like it was just the two of them. He wanted to sweep her off her feet and kiss her full on the lips.

  However, he didn’t. He just smiled at her. “I think I would like to do that,” he answered.

  Heath turned and looked back at Daryl. “I hear you two talking about making plans. Funny enough, Lily and me were doing the same thing. I am planning to take George to Tombstone next month. We should all go.”

  “Why would we want to go to Tombstone?” Daryl asked. “That’s a dangerous place for these ladies.”

  “I don’t think it’s dangerous,” Heath responded, taking his cup of lemonade from the young girl on the other side of the booth. “Thank you, Jessica.”

  Jessica nodded and smiled, pouring drinks for the rest of the group.

  “They have shoot-outs in that town every week. Let’s go to Wickenburg and see Rebecca and the family.”

  “That’s where your sister is?” Lily asked, taking a sip from her drink.

  “It is. I haven’t seen them in some time. I think you’d like it. It’s a lot smaller than here. Only about a thousand residents.”

  “That’s fewer than we have here?” Laura asked with wide eyes.

  “I haven’t been there. I don’t rightly know how many residents they have.”

  “How many saloons they got?” Heath asked. They had all gotten their drinks and were walking away from the vendor in a boy-girl-boy-girl row. Daryl spotted Esther and her children on the other side of the grassy commons. His heart jumped and he wondered if he should go talk to her. She needed to know what her husband was thinking.

  “Two, I think. What does that matter?” Daryl asked, coming back to the conversation.

  “You can usually tell how prosperous a town is by the churches. You can tell how rough it is by the number of saloons.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yep.”

  “And what system did you make up to prove that theory?”

  Heath grinned. “Easy. There’s one saloon towns and that means they’re newly established and haven’t had time to grow. There’s two saloon towns and that means they have had time to grow and are probably prospering well. Three saloon towns, like ours, are growing massively and we have our fair share of crime and outlaws here. That’s why we have to have a sheriff and people like Daryl here to straighten out the messes that get made. Then there’s four saloon towns like Tombstone. And that’s where the outlaws and criminals like to go.”

  “Yet you were going to take George there?”

  Heath shook his head. “Not now that I’ve talked myself out of it. Wickenburg it is, my friends.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  NO HANDSHAKE FOR DARYL

  NO HANDSHAKE FOR DARYL

  The ladies laughed.

  “What if there’s somewhere I’d like to go? Or Lily might like to visit. You know, we haven’t been to Virginia in years.”

  “Virginia!” Heath exclaimed. “That’s all the way on the East Coast. I can’t take that much time off work. I gotta make money. Only Daryl here with his hefty finances could pull something like that off.”

  “Oh, no, don’t bring me into this. I’d go to Virginia if they wanted to. But you got George and you have to think of him first. We won’t go to Virginia. Is there anywhere else close by you’d like to visit?”

  “I suppose we could go to Tucson. It’s supposed to be a nice little…” Laura looked at Heath pointedly. “Two-saloon town.”

  “But if we go there,” Daryl pointed out. “We might as well go to the two-saloon town where my sister and nephews and niece and brother-in-law are. Right?”

  Laura laughed. “You are right, Daryl. I totally see your side. All right, we’ll go to Wickenburg. It’s a plan.”

  Daryl glanced to the side, noticing that Esther had caught sight of him. The look on her face made Daryl feel bad. He’d gone back and told Esther where James was the day she’d asked him to find him. He didn’t mention all the circumstances and what happened, but did manage to tell her that James drank himself into unconsciousness and was being taken care of at the Long Trail Saloon. She said that was where she figured he was. When she pressed him about what he was doing or how he looked, Daryl only shook his head. “He was as drunk as a man can get, Esther,” he’d said. “Let it go or you will be very unhappy when he gets home.”

  Esther waved Daryl over. He hoped it was an indication that James was not there.

  “Excuse me, would you? I need to talk to a friend.”

  His friends nodded and Daryl started toward Esther. He stopped a few feet away when James came around the corner of a tent and walked straight to his wife. Daryl was left wondering if Esther thought James would take longer in the bathroom than he actually did or if she had purposefully called him over to get him to confront James.

  He went toward Esther, smiling down at Johnny as he approached. He didn’t want a confrontation with James, and could only hope the man wasn’t drunk and wouldn’t start an argument with him.

  “Howdy, neighbor!” Johnny said, lifting one hand for Daryl to shake.

  “Well, howdy there. You’re getting to be a man now, I can see. Nice, firm shake. I’m impressed.”

  Johnny beamed up at him, turning the bright smile to his mother. “Did you hear that, Mama? He thinks I have a firm handshake.

  “Yes, and we all know how cowboys don’t lie, right?” Esther smiled at Daryl. James was now standing at her side, glaring at him. He looked back at the man, gathering his courage.

  “Hello, Mr. Fisher.” He held out his hand for the other man to shake. James looked down at his hand but didn’t take it. He withdrew it and looked at Esther. “You are all enjoying your day at the festival today?”

  “Yes, we are having a good time,” Esther answered.

  “We were, yes. It’s not as fun right at this moment,” James grumbled, staring daggers at Daryl.

  “Daryl, will you take me to the play park? Will you take me and Bethany to the play park?”

  “Your mother will take you to the play park, Johnny,” James said gruffly. “You don’t need to go with Mr. Parker.”

  “I like going with Daryl though. We went to the play park last time and he had just as much fun as we did, didn’t you, Daryl?”

  “Daryl, huh?” James narrowed his eyes. “You know my son well enough for him to call you by your first name, Mr. Parker?”

  Daryl reached out and ruffled Johnny’s hair, making the boy duck and laugh. “Yeah, he’s a good little helper to me. Remember when I told you that? The other day? At the Long Trail saloon?” Daryl glared back at James, daring him to say another word that would prompt Daryl to spill all about James’s bad behavior. To his credit, James heard the threat and backed off.

  “I’ll take you and Bethany to the play park, Johnny,” Daryl agreed. He could see Esther wanted to ask if she could come, too. She was saved from being left behind when James looked at her and said, “I’m going to the beer garden. You go to the play park with them and keep a good eye on them. And I mean them. Do you understand me?”

  Esther looked at him with frightened eyes. “I understand, James.”

  “I see or hear anything I don’t like and we’ll have to talk
about it when we get home.” He gave her an angry look before turning away and stomping off to the area just outside the Long Trail Saloon the men in Louisville had affectionately dubbed the “beer garden” during the Spring Festival.

  “He’s not in a good mood, is he?” Daryl asked as they turned to walk after the children, who had sprinted away from them as fast as they could.

  “He’s never in a good mood, Daryl. You should know that by now. But he’s actually been a little bit pleasant today. It’s almost like he’s trying to be who he used to be.”

  Daryl shook his head. “I wish he would stop drinking. I think that would help your relationship with him.”

  “It would change it completely,” Esther agreed. “But he’s not going to do anything he doesn’t want to do.”

  “I know. I can tell.”

  “Johnny and Bethany really like you, Daryl.”

  “I’m glad. Where are the twins?”

  “I asked Mrs. Johnson to let them all play together, since she has those two little ones of her own that are about the twins’ ages. She’s watching them with her older girls.”

  “That’s nice of them.”

  “They all get along very well. I like for them to have time with children their age and Mrs. Johnson is the only woman in town who likes to get them all together and have playtime. The festival is the best time for it because there are sectioned ribboned off for the little ones to play all in the same place.”

  Daryl could tell she was rambling on just for the sake of talking. She continued and he half-listened while the rest of his brain thought about how nice it would be to be back with Laura, enjoying the festival.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  JOHNNY’S NEW DADDY

  JOHNNY’S NEW DADDY

  I’m going to buy them some pretzels, Daryl,” Esther said. “Would you keep an eye on them for me?”