Coming From California (The Pioneer Brides 0f Rattlesnake Ridge Book 2)

by Catherine Bilson

  “Of course, Sheriff. Just a moment.” Hurrying into the schoolhouse, Daisy had to take a second to calm her racing heart. Someone had been watching her—not just trying to get inside, but standing outside in the dark watching her!

  Her emotions shifted. Mutated. Until she was more outraged than afraid.

  “I have a gun, Sheriff,” she said as she handed McCullough the paper and a piece of charcoal.

  “Is that so? You know how to use it?” McCullough sounded completely unbothered by her revelation as he knelt down in the dirt and began tracing the boot print.

  “My father taught me. That’s what the sisters heard last night. When I heard the latch rattle, I got the gun out, and I shouted at whoever was trying to get in that I would shoot him if he did.”

  “Good for you, ma’am.” McCullough didn’t even glance up at her.

  “You wouldn’t arrest me if I did shoot a man?” That surprised her.

  “Not if he was breaking into your home or attacking you, ma’am. Got no time for men who mistreat women or try to take what ain’t freely given. You shoot him with impunity, and if you don’t kill him, I’ll string him up myself as an example to others.” His tone was calm and matter-of-fact.

  Daisy believed him. “Well, it’s good to know I have your support, Sheriff.”

  “You certainly do, ma’am. Can’t have miscreants in my town prowling around spying on ladies.” Finishing his sketch, McCullough rose to his feet. “And just in case he comes back, I’ll have whoever is on patrol each night walk by and check nobody’s lurking around here.”

  “That’s very kind of you.” Except… the thought of Deputy Grant Watson being one of those who came by to check on her made Daisy feel distinctly uncomfortable. “Ah, how will I know it’s your men and not the prowler, Sheriff?”

  “Well, my men always carry lanterns, Miss Daisy.” He looked amused at her concern. “I’ll have them whistle as they approach, too, and if your candle is still lit, they’ll call out.”

  “Right.”

  McCullough considered her for a moment. “There something else bothering you, Miss Daisy?”

  “You’re an astute man, Sheriff. The truth is… well, I feel a little foolish saying it, but…” She couldn’t even make the words come out.

  McCullough nudged his hat a little further back on his head. “Heard you’d been steppin’ out with Luke Rockford. You worried he might be the one?”

  “No!” she denied the insinuation immediately. “No. Not for one second.”

  “Well, that’s good. I can’t imagine Rockford creepin’ around like that, either. So, what is it that’s got you stammering?”

  “Apart from Luke, ah, Mr. Rockford that is, the only man in town who’s shown me any particular attention is one of your deputies,” Daisy said in a rush. “Grant Watson.”

  McCullough hummed meditatively. “I hadn’t heard that, which surprises me. You’d be surprised how much gossip comes to my ears, Miss Daisy. There ain’t much that in this town I don’t hear about, sooner rather than later.”

  “I’m not surprised at all,” Daisy said with a small grin. “I know you inspire confidence in me, Sheriff.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. Watson’s a reliable man, but I won’t say he’s one who’s easy to get to know. Not too forthcoming about his personal life. I don’t like to think he’d harass a woman, but then again I’ve been known to be wrong.” McCullough shook his head with a sigh. “There’s a thought. Does anyone in town except you and me know about your gun?”

  “Only the prowler last night, who heard me shout that I had one.”

  “That’s what I thought. Let’s just keep that information between us, yeah? And you can be sure I’ll be taking a close look at everyone’s boots.”

  The sheriff must mean the prowler might slip up and mention he knew Daisy had a gun, she realized, and with that she had to be content and trust McCullough to do his job.

  “Thank you for stopping by,” she said warmly. “You’ve helped put my mind at rest. If you’ll excuse me, however, I must get ready for school; the children will be arriving any moment now.”

  “Much obliged, ma’am.” Tipping his hat to her, McCullough went on his way.

  Daisy stood alone glaring at the bootprint under her window until at last she scowled, kicked some dirt over it, and went inside.

  Tired from a short night’s sleep, she struggled to focus on her pupils and was relieved when a welcome diversion arrived in the form of a large parcel of books. Reverend Brown and Mayor Winthrop had lost no time in taking her idea for a library to the town council. Who, in turn, had presented her with a much larger budget than she’d expected, along with a free hand to order books. She’d spent a happy evening choosing books to order, but the first contributions to the library came from a rather large donation the Reverend and Mrs. Brown had collected from the community. Recruiting the older children to assist her, she soon had them pasting in labels and carefully placing the books, alphabetized by author, on the shelves she’d reserved for them at the rear of the schoolhouse.

  “Will there be more books than this, Miss Daisy?” Phillip Dobson Jr. asked her, wide-eyed and almost reverent as he carefully turned the pages in a leather-bound copy of Dickens’s Great Expectations—a gift from one Grant Watson.

  “Plenty more,” Daisy said.

  “Do you think I might be able to help you in the library?” the boy asked shyly. “I know you plan to open on Sundays; do you start this weekend?”

  “No, because I didn’t think we’d have any books yet!” Daisy grinned. “The following Sunday. Mr. Langhorne is putting a notice in the Recorder that the library will be open to patrons after church for two hours. I’d certainly appreciate your help.”

  Phillip Jr. would make an excellent assistant librarian, she mused while showing him the ledger she planned to use to record borrowings and returns. He has beautiful handwriting, too. Decided, she told him he could do the recording on the following Sunday and watched his face light up. Truth was, he’d be doing her a favor, since he knew everyone in town and wouldn’t have to ask for all their names. But from his expression, one might think she’d offered him the moon.

  After seeing all the children off at the end of the school day, she was just tidying up the schoolroom when a rap on the doorframe had her turning around quickly, wary just in case it wasn’t who she expected, before she recognized Luke.

  “Ready for that walk?” He leaned against the doorframe, removing his hat and giving her a dazzling smile.

  He looks exceptionally handsome today, Daisy thought, staring at him for a moment before realizing what was different about him. “You’ve got a new coat!”

  Luke nodded at her. “Glad you noticed. And I got a new haircut too.”

  She hadn’t minded the unruly black curls but had to admit he did look neater with it cropped close. The dark blue coat brought out the bright blue of his eyes, too. “You look very handsome,” she blurted.

  He looked startled before a slow grin dawned. “I’m sure glad to hear you think so.” Pushing off the doorframe, he took a step toward her.

  She pointed a finger at him. “Oh no. You stay right there. I’m going to make sure I’ve latched all the windows, and then we’re leaving. I’m not giving you the opportunity to be alone with me again, Luke Rockford!”

  She definitely heard him mutter, “Pity,” behind her as she hurried through her task. She shook her head. Incorrigible man. There was still a smile on her face as she returned to his side.

  Luke waited patiently as she locked the schoolhouse door and put the key in her purse before extending his arm. “Anywhere you need to go, Miss Daisy?” he inquired politely as she tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow, feeling the fine wool of his new jacket under her fingers. “The store perhaps?”

  “No, I’ve got everything I need.”

  “Then let’s just take a walk up Main Street, shall we?”

  She had no objection, and so they set off, walking at
a pace little better than an amble. Just a respectable courting couple, Daisy thought with a private little smile, noting they weren’t the only ones doing the same thing.

  “We didn’t finish our conversation last night,” Luke said after a few moments of walking. He spoke quietly, and Daisy thought he didn’t want to be overheard.

  “Indeed,” she agreed. She’d been thinking a good deal about the poor dead man in Reno and the assayer in Virginia City who had narrowly avoided the same fate. “Did you speak to Sheriff McCullough today?”

  “I did, and he mentioned he’d seen you about a different matter, which is something else we’re going to talk about,” Luke said, anger creeping into his tone. “But I need to finish telling you about Virginia City first, because it’s possible you might be getting a letter.” He paused as an older couple approached with a friendly greeting, and they wasted a few moments passing the time of day.

  Once the couple was gone, Daisy listened carefully as Luke explained that the doctor from Virginia City might be sending a letter with some information if he was able to confirm the poison in the whiskey bottle.

  “I’ve got no problem with that,” she said at once. “I’ve got a good reason to be seeing Sheriff McCullough now anyway, and no—” she held up a hand to stop him from changing the subject, “—we’re not going to talk about that yet either, because that’s today’s conversation, and we still didn’t finish yesterday’s.”

  Luke grinned. “Yes, ma’am. Except now I think I’ve told you everything.”

  “And I think you haven’t, not from what Barb said yesterday evening. She implied you and Mr. Hollis got some good news from the assay office.”

  “Oh, Good Lord, I didn’t tell you that part!” Luke smacked his forehead with his free hand. “Oh, Daisy, I’m that sorry. I thought I started with that. Of course, Barb would assume you knew—Jack and I agreed we wouldn’t tell her about the poisoning, not wanting to worry her, but I had to tell you because of the letter…”

  “It’s all right.” Daisy squeezed his arm lightly, feeling warm inside at his slip at calling her merely Daisy. From anyone else, she’d have pulled them up sharply for disrespect, but from Luke… well, she liked being just Daisy to him. “I understand, and I’m honored you chose to trust me with it. Won’t you trust me with the other news, too?”

  “So, to explain, I have to tell you a little bit about my father,” Luke said, and as they walked, he told her about Robbie Rockford. His father. A man who’d farmed a small ranch and worked part-time in the mine for cash, but whose true love was prospecting.

  “He swore there was a big strike yet to be found,” Luke told her, “and when he died, he left me all his notebooks and a stack of maps drawn in his own hand with cryptic notes scribbled all over them. I put them all away in a trunk I left with Ma when I went away to war, but since I came back, I’ve been reading through them again. For the last three summers Jack and I have been searching up in the high country, trying to narrow down a few likely spots. This year, we found one.”

  He looked around to check there was nobody close enough to see what he was doing before fishing a shiny, grayish-black rock with rough, cubic surfaces from his pocket. He held it out to Daisy.

  She inspected it, not sure what she was meant to see. “This is what you took to the assayer in Virginia City?”

  “We brought him a bigger piece, but yes. It’s a piece of galena ore, and this piece is rich in silver, with more than a trace amount of gold.”

  Daisy’s mouth fell open, and she met Luke’s sparkling blue eyes. “Gold?” she whispered, stunned. “I didn’t think…”

  “There was much gold in Nevada? Me either, but the assayer told me there’s more than we realize. It’s not lying about in nuggets like in the California goldfields, however. Has to be extracted, which is a much more expensive process, but the amount of silver in the ore makes it plenty worthwhile.”

  “I’m so happy for you!” She handed the rock back and watched him return it to his pocket. “What do you plan to do now?”

  “Well, we took all the steps to register the claim, and we went and asked to meet with Mr. Moss, the chief engineer at the Minnesota Queen Mine. Neither Jack nor I know anything about mining, see. We figured we should go into partnership with folks that do. Let them do all the running of it and we’ll just get a percentage of the profits once it starts producing—which could be a year away at least.”

  “It’s still wonderful news even if any potential profits are yet to be realized,” Daisy said, genuinely happy and excited for Luke.

  He smiled and looked away bashfully. “Thing is,” he said, “I had good news even before we went to the assayer. Last Sunday, Mr. Simpson, my stepfather… well, he ain't got no children of his own. Pa’s little ranch was absorbed into the Shooting Star when Ma remarried, and Mr. S promised me I’d always have a place there. Now he wants me to be a partner, to inherit when he’s gone.”

  “Oh, Luke.” Overwhelmed, Daisy couldn’t express how overjoyed she felt for him. And more, what it meant for them, or could, if he meant what she hoped he did with his attentions to her.

  Chapter 16

  Luke delighted in Daisy’s obvious pleasure at his good fortune. He found himself babbling, telling her all about how he’d asked Jack to help him build his house and become the Shooting Star ranch foreman afterward. “If he wants to be, of course. Once our mine starts producing, he’ll have the money so’s he won’t have to work again, but I didn’t figure he’d want to wait that long to ask Barb to marry him.”

  As Luke finished his explanation, he watched Daisy’s expressive face. The lips he longed to kiss again kept quirking into a smile which was one part delight and one part something he couldn’t bring himself to identify. Her eyes gleamed with emotion. She was happy for him. Happy for Jack. Happy for Barb and the twins. The sheer amount of goodness in this woman made Luke yearn for the future he could possibly have with her even more.

  “I don’t think he’s officially asked,” she said when he finally managed to make himself stop babbling. “I think he told Barb about his plans, and she pretty much told him they were headed straight to Reverend Brown to ask him to marry them. Assuming I read between the lines correctly from what she told me last night.”

  Luke roared with laughter. “If that don’t sound just like Barb! I wondered why Jack was sounding so cagey about when he was gonna ask her. He was headed to Handley’s store this afternoon to see if he could order her a ring.”

  “We’ll have to act surprised when Barb shows it off,” Daisy giggled.

  He laughed along with her and then sobered, licking his lips nervously. “Thing is, Mr. S said I should build a nice big house. Something grand, because the Shooting Star is one of the finest ranches in the county, and… something I could be proud to bring a wife home to. Something a respectable woman would like.”

  “Oh.” Daisy’s giggles died away, and she stared down at the sidewalk beneath their feet. “Well, that’s an admirable goal.”

  There was a brief, awkward silence before Luke said, “I have a terrible feeling you’re thinking I’m talking about some woman who’s not you.” Immediately, he cursed himself for the gaucheness of his words. Stumbling over his words was no way to woo an educated, clever lady like Miss Daisy!

  But the soft brown eyes which lifted to meet his were star-bright and the tremulous smile on her lips the widest and most joyous he’d ever seen. “Yes,” she said softly to his unasked question. The question which hung in the air between them like a petticoat in the wind.

  “Of course, it wouldn’t be ready until spring at the earliest,” he babbled, “and until then I’ve only got a bed in the bunkhouse to my name…”

  “This spring or in five springs, yes.” Her little hand squeezed his arm.

  His feet halted of their own accord. He stood rooted to the spot, staring down at Daisy until someone behind them said, “Well excuse me!” in a huff.

  They were blocking the sidewalk, b
ut Luke was too stunned to move. He just stared at her, stared in disbelief and hope. It wasn’t until Daisy tugged on his arm, drawing him right up to the side wall of the saddlery they were next to, that he was able to walk again.

  “D’you mean it?” he managed to get out finally past an unexpected blockage in his throat.

  Daisy looked around to make sure nobody could overhear before narrowing her eyes at him. “If you think I let just any man kiss me, Luke Rockford…”

  “No,” he said hastily. “Only, I didn’t really get to ask you yet.”

  “Now you don’t have to get all anxious about doing so, because you know what the answer’s going to be,” was Daisy’s complacent reply.

  He had to laugh. “I’m so far gone for you, Miss Daisy,” he got out through his chortles. “My pa always used to say it’d take a special lady to win my heart.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” she said pertly. Then her voice softened, and she gazed up at him through her lashes. “I think you’re pretty special too.”

  They smiled foolishly at each other for several long moments. Passersby just shook their heads at them. Luke couldn’t bring himself to care. Daisy thought he was special. Daisy wanted to be his wife. The rest of the world could stare at them askance, and he wouldn’t care. Daisy Jackson was his world.

  Of course, it was Daisy who came to her senses first, tugging on his arm to start him walking again. “So, spring?”

  He assumed she was asking when they would get married. “That’s right, or at least, I hope so. I’ve got money saved up to order the things I can’t build, like a fancy cooking stove and a proper bathtub and the like, and Mr. S promised me help too. We’re not far from town, really, less than half an hour by horse, so I can ride in to see you pretty often between times. Jack’s gonna rent a house for Barb and the twins until he can build their place, and I’ll rent a room at Miz May’s if I need one.”