Badger sat up. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place? Send ’im in.”
Stoney nodded and left. Badger grabbed the bottle and set it on the floor beside him then dropped the empty glass over the top of it. No sense lettin’ his visitor know it was there.
Unable to sit still, he rose and strode to the door. He recognized the man walking toward him, but he couldn’t remember his name. The man had spent more than one night here.
Stepping back to allow the man to enter, Badger gestured toward the chair that sat against the wall. “Have a seat.”
The man nodded, licked his thick lips as if he expected something, and then plopped onto the edge of the chair.
Badger took his seat behind his desk, leaned back, and steepled his fingers across his belly. He didn’t want to appear too eager because then the information would cost him more. The man sure looked like he could use a coin or two. His faded overalls had more patches than the crazy quilt his ma made when he was a boy. “Who are you? And what do you want? I’m a busy man, you know.”
The man nodded. “Ernie Slaughter. I heard you was lookin’ for one of your gals what upped and ran off.”
“Maybe. Stoney said you’d seen someone who looked like my missin’ lady.”
“Not looked like. It was her … Sapphire. I’d’a knowed her anywhere with them big blue eyes and that yeller hair. Whooowee! She’s a looker.”
Excitement churned in Badger’s gut, but he kept his expression neutral. “There are lots of women around these parts with blond hair and blue eyes.”
“Maybe so, but they ain’t got the attitude Sapphire has. She can pert near slice a man in two with that blue fire blazing from her eyes.”
Badger rubbed the stubble on his chin and studied Mr. Slaughter. The name sure didn’t fit the pudgy bum.
The man frowned. “I’d have had her if’n some cowpoke hadn’t come and helped her.”
Badger grunted. The notion of Sapphire taking up with a cowboy didn’t sit well with him. “Did she have a young boy or a half-grown half-breed girl with her?”
“Nuh-uh. She was by herself, riding astride on a fine-lookin’ horse.”
Badger described the horse Sapphire had taken from his barn. “Does that sound like the same horse?”
“Naw, that wasn’t the one she rode.”
Where would Sapphire have gotten another horse? From that cowboy? He picked up a pencil, gripping it so hard it snapped in two. Probably from some besotted man she’d taken up with. “Where was this?”
The man lifted a brow. “I reckon that info’mation is worth somethin’.”
Badger stared at the man. Slaughter might be stringing him along. Since the man had been here before, he would know enough about Sapphire to describe her as he had. He might be wasting his money, but then again, this was the first potential lead he’d had. He tugged open a drawer, withdrew a pair of Morgan silver dollars, and pushed them across the desk.
Greedy eyed, Slaughter watched them move his way. He reached for them, but Badger laid his hand over them. “Where did you see her?”
“’Twas over in Guthrie, just yesterday. I hopped the train back here last night so’s I could tell you. Spent my last dollar on that train. I don’t reckon you could pay for my fare, huh?”
Sapphire was in Guthrie? Taken off guard, Badger fell back against his chair, and Slaughter snatched the coins. She had been only thirty miles away all this time? How could she have been so stupid as to stay someplace so close? Surely she knew he’d be looking for her. “You say you saw her in town?”
Slaughter nodded.
“Do you know where she went after that?”
“Nah. That cowboy looked like he could fight, so I just hurried back here. I knowed you’d wanna know I saw her.”
Feeling generous and a bit lucky that Slaughter had run into Sapphire, he tossed the man another coin. “Thank you for your information. Come back tonight for a free visit with the lady of your choice.”
Slaughter’s wide mouth lifted. “That’s right kind of ya.”
Badger nodded and waved his hand for the man to leave. As soon as he heard the outer door close, he yelled, “Stoney, get in here.”
The big man lumbered into his office. “What you need, boss?”
“Got my first real lead on Sapphire. Saddle up my horse. I’m going to Guthrie.”
Stoney lifted a brow. “How come you ain’t takin’ the train?”
Badger unlocked his gun case, grabbed a rifle, and started loading it. “The train arrived yesterday, so there won’t be another one for several days. I can be in Guthrie by then.”
“Guthrie? I’m surprised she’s that close.”
“That was my first thought when Slaughter told me. She should’ve run a whole lot farther.” He grinned for the first time in weeks. “I’m gonna get her and bring her back.”
“After you teach her a lesson?”
“Nope. I’ll do that here so the other gals will learn from her mistake.”
Baron sat at the table, sipping his coffee, feeling worse than he had in as long as he could remember. He’d tossed and turned the night before, thinking of Jo and dreaming of her being hurt or in trouble. Why couldn’t she leave him alone? He’d made his choice. He refused to be attracted to a woman who’d slept with other men—even if that woman was the mother of his nephew.
He stared into the liquid blackness of his cup. Why did it fail to revive him this morning as it normally did? Perhaps it was his lack of sleep.
Why did he feel as if he’d made the wrong choice where Jo was concerned? Even God had used harlots—he winced at the thought of Jo as a loose woman—in the Bible to accomplish His purpose. But he certainly wasn’t God. And having special feelings for the woman his brother had lived with in a matrimonial way didn’t sit well with him.
So why was he so miserable?
Footsteps came his way, but he’d noticed them too late to slip away. He continued staring into his cup as his father walked into the kitchen. He paused on the other side of the table and gazed at Baron. “Rough night?”
“You could say that.”
His father poured himself a cup then sat down. “What seems to be the problem, son? Are you still upset about Mark?”
“Shouldn’t I be?”
“Of course, but then, you two were never very close. I guess it surprises me that you’re taking his death so hard.” He took a sip of his coffee, and Baron could feel the man’s eyes on him. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think a woman is at the root of your sleeplessness.”
Baron glanced up. “How do you know about that—that I had trouble sleeping, I mean.”
His father lifted one eyebrow. “Because it sounded as if there was a herd of buffalo wallowing in a mud puddle above our bed all night.”
“My apologies, but that’s the only room upstairs with a bed. I suppose I could move it to the other room.”
His father waved his hand in the air. “That isn’t necessary. I had trouble sleeping, too.”
“May I ask why?”
He shrugged. “I’m struggling with the fact that I wasn’t a very good father.”
Baron straightened. “You were a fine father.”
“Perhaps I was where you were concerned, but not so much with Mark. I never understood how your mother could coddle that boy so much.”
“Mark learned at a young age how to get what he wanted.” Especially where women were concerned.
His father wrapped both hands around his coffee cup. “I can’t pretend that Mark’s latest escapade and the news of his death won’t hurt business, because they will. The Hillborne reputation has been severely tarnished. Your mother is afraid to show her face in St. Louis.”
He understood. His parents were members of the wealthiest class in St. Louis, and news of Mark would make its way to each house, to the gentlemen’s parlors, the ladies’ tearooms, and the country clubs. “Perhaps it’s time for you to take Mother to Europe like you’ve wanted to do for so long.
”
His father’s eyes glimmered. “You know, I think that is a grand idea. We’d be gone for months, and by the time we returned, this awful news of Mark’s affair with a married woman will have died down. Perhaps you should come with us. I know it would make your mother happy.”
He shook his head. “Someone has to keep an eye on our business affairs.”
“Don’t say affair. Just the thought of it makes me shudder. Poor Abigail.”
“I suspect her parents will send her away somewhere, too.” Baron rose and refilled both cups then sat down again.
“To be honest, I think in the long run Abigail will be better off without Mark. In truth, she’s been without him for a long while. She’ll be free to remarry a man who will appreciate her more than Mark ever did.”
“That’s true.” Baron hoped she didn’t turn her eyes his way. She’d said more than once she wished she’d married him instead of his brother. When he thought of marriage, Jo was foremost in his thoughts. Was that because he hated how Mark had taken advantage of her when she was so young and naive? Or perhaps he merely cared for her because she was the mother of his nephew.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s got you so bothered? Somehow, I don’t think it’s your brother.”
“Telling you would only hurt you more—and I don’t want to do that.”
Several expressions crossed his father’s face; then he tapped his index finger on the table several times—a signal that Baron learned long ago meant he’d made a decision. “Why don’t you tell me and let me be the judge?”
Baron considered doing that, but he’d promised Jo not to tell his parents about Jamie. Still … he didn’t promise not to tell them about her connection to Mark. His stomach quivered.
“I could use some advice.” And his father had always given him good advice. He told him about meeting a woman who believed she was married to Mark, but he didn’t say her name. Then he told how the woman discovered that the man Mark hired to marry them wasn’t a real preacher—that he merely pretended because Mark paid him to. “So you see, she thought she was legally married to Mark, but he tricked her.”
His father shook his head. “I never realized your brother was so depraved. How could you and he come from the same source yet turn out so different?”
Baron thought it had to do with his mother’s pampering Mark so much, but he wouldn’t point fingers or say anything to make his parents hurt more than they already were. How awful it must be to birth a child and spend a good part of your life raising him, only to have him turn out to be so self-centered and cruel.
Lord, please don’t let me ever be so selfish or mean.
His thoughts shot straight to Jo. Was he treating her wrongly? Hadn’t he offered her a job? Offered to help with Jamie?
But he’d been selfish in not offering his heart. Mark was no longer around to shame him for caring for the same woman. He barely knew Jo, and yet she tugged at his heart like no woman ever had.
“We need to do right by this woman.” His father tapped the table again and stared at him. “It’s that woman you introduced me to, isn’t it? What was her name?”
“Jo.” He didn’t bother to deny it, because he wouldn’t lie to his father.
Nodding, his father said, “It’s good that you offered her a job. I’m proud of you, son. Many people would have shunned her or turned her out. You did the right thing in giving her employment.”
Humbled, he hung his head. His father’s compliments were few and far between. “Thank you. That means a lot.”
For a long moment his father remained silent, just looking at Baron. “You have feelings for this Jo, don’t you?”
Baron lifted one shoulder and lowered it. He ran his hand through his uncombed hair. “I don’t know.”
His father grinned. “Well, I certainly do. If you had no feelings for the woman, you wouldn’t be so distressed. Only a woman, business, or your children can keep you wrestling at night like you were—and you don’t have any children. And the business is going well, so that only leaves a woman as the source of your distress.” He chuckled. “They usually are.”
Baron sat back, marveling at his father’s wisdom. “So, what do I do? You do understand that Jo lived in sin with Mark?”
“Was it living in sin if she truly thought she was married?”
But she wasn’t married when she lived at the bordello. And yet, what other choices were there for a woman who’d been taken advantage of as she had? Even most churches probably would have turned her away. And she had a son, which made things even harder.
A verse in the Bible rushed through his mind. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone.”
“I need to talk to her.”
His father smiled. “That would be a good place to start.”
Relief warmed Baron’s bones. He couldn’t hold Jo responsible for ending up at a bordello when that Badger fellow had lied to her and tricked her. God would have him forgive her. He needed to. Wanted to. And talking to Jo was definitely a good start. He swigged down the last of his coffee, ready to be on his way. “Do you mind if I go now and leave the store closed for a while?”
His father rose. “No need for that. I’ll tend it. You run along and talk to that gal of yours.”
Baron smiled at the thought of Jo being his. Knowing her personality, she probably wouldn’t even talk to him today. She’d make him wait a week or two and stew on his behavior—or lack of it.
Footsteps sounded out front, followed by hard pounding on the door. Baron hurried to it, not wanting his visitor to awaken his mother. He pulled open the door, surprised to see Gabe so early.
“Morning. What brings you here at this hour?”
Gabe stepped inside without invitation. “Is Jo here? Did she come in early to work?”
Baron shook his head. “No. I haven’t seen her since yesterday.”
Gabe yanked on his hat and slapped his leg, sending a cloud of dust to the floor. He heard his father walk up behind him. Gabe’s eyes shot to him. “This is my father, Wilfred Marquis Hillborne, the second.” Baron held his hand toward his father then in front of Gabe. “And this is Gabriel Coulter, a friend and Jo’s brother-in-law.”
“Nice to meet you.” Gabe nodded; then his gaze jerked back to Baron’s. “There’s no time for visiting. Jo, Sarah, and Jamie are missing.”
Heading south, Jo pressed the horse hard. They still had several hours of daylight, and she meant to make the most of them. Sarah hadn’t said a word since they’d left Lara’s, and Jamie squirmed and cried at being bound to her again until he finally fell asleep. She hated taking them from Lara’s comfortable house into a world of unknowns.
Why was it that when she was ready to be with her family—to stay and make amends—she had to run away again? But she couldn’t put them in danger. Gabe and Lara had their own children to be concerned for. They didn’t need to be worrying about her, too. But she knew they would as soon as Lara found the note she’d left. She shouldn’t have let Sarah talk her into waiting until early morning to leave. She had to get far enough away that anyone following her would lose their tracks.
She checked the sun, half-hidden behind the pewter clouds, to make sure she was still heading toward Texas. It made the most sense because the temperatures would warm the farther south she went. In the Oklahoma Territory, you never knew whether to expect warm, sunny days in April or cold weather with a slim possibility of snow or ice. Fortunately, this spring the weather had leaned to the warm side. Still, tonight would be chilly. The wool blanket she “borrowed” from her sister would help keep them from being too cold.
Behind her Sarah coughed. Jo had noticed her doing that earlier. She hoped Sarah wasn’t taking sick. If things went well and she didn’t miss her mark, tomorrow they would be in Kingfisher. Badger would head north from Oklahoma City to Guthrie and probably spend several days hunting for them, only to discover they were gone. She smiled. Once again, she’d outsmarted him. He’d never c
ontrol her life again—no man would.
Baron’s image intruded into her mind. She might have been willing to pursue a relationship with him, but he made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with a woman who’d lived in a bordello, no matter that it wasn’t her choice. She was tainted.
Men could force themselves on a woman, and she was the one who ended up with the bad reputation. But as Grandpa often said, life isn’t fair.
The pastor at Gabe and Lara’s church had talked about how God had used several harlots in the Bible to do good works. Rahab even saved the lives of several Hebrew spies, and in a roundabout way, saved her whole family from destruction when Jericho was destroyed. Why, of all the people in Jericho, had God chosen to use a harlot?
She didn’t understand, but if God could save Rahab, couldn’t He save her?
Hadn’t Jack said something about that? He’d told her that he had to stop running from God—whatever that meant.
She reined the horse down into a shallow creek, allowed it a short drink, and then nudged his sides with her heels. He moved on, and she allowed him to walk for a time, even though she wanted to gallop. They had to get away before someone found them and made them come home.
Too much was at stake.
Just before the sun sank below the horizon, she reined the horse to a stop. Sarah slid off the back of the horse and curled up near a tree. After dismounting and changing Jamie, Jo pulled out some biscuits left over from breakfast, as well as some ham slices and cheese. Sarah ate very little then lay down on the blanket and was asleep before Jamie. Jo nursed her son, and then he, too, fell asleep.
She cleaned up their supper mess, watered the horse, and then washed off in the nearby creek before lying down. Tired as she was from the stress of the day, sleep evaded her. She worried that she’d upset Lara and Grandpa. Worried that Gabe would come gunning for her for upsetting Lara. And she couldn’t help thinking about Baron. The one time she was truly honest with someone, it had come back to bite her. If she’d never told him about her past or Mark’s trickery, maybe she and Baron would have had a chance together. But she’d lied so much that she couldn’t stand telling falsehoods to a man she admired. She hadn’t meant to care for him, but he’d been so kind and understanding, and genuinely happy to be an uncle.
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