Wanted: Miller (Silverpines Series Book 10)

by George H. McVey

  She had never liked her full name but when he said it her body trembled and desire flooded through her. Betsy had been warning her for ten days that what she thought she knew about marital relations weren’t what they were really like. She had thought she’d meant they were worse but tonight she got the idea maybe she meant they were desirable. At least if the way Braylon’s kisses made her feel were any indication.

  Not only was he handsome and a good kisser and a smooth talker full of words of love and poetry but he was intelligent. He’d spent time talking with Alexzander and Luther, holding his own with them both, talking about innovations in milling and law and rebuilding a city or town’s infrastructure. She wasn’t sure what he was saying but the men seemed to understand and were asking his opinion. Yet he was just as interested in listening to the things that Betsy and Maude wanted to see in the regrown Silverpines and had suggestions for that as well. Along with every word spoken, she felt his attention riveted to her. He was attentive, even offering to refill her drink as well as Betsy’s and Maude’s but always after asking her first. Victoria mentioned how attentive Braylon was to Tonya and all three women had giggled at how he seemed completely infatuated with her already. She couldn’t help but notice it herself and for the first time in her life, it made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the room.

  She fell asleep thanking God for the blessing that was Braylon Watts. Of all the men who could have answered her advertisement, it had been him. In her dreams she saw him in their home, children around him as he read to them, children with dark hair and green eyes and red hair and grey eyes. She saw a timber industry that was growing and a lumberyard full of cut lumber and a town that was growing again. Yes, in her dreams Braylon Watts was everything she’d imagined he would be and more.

  Tonya bounced out of bed even before first light. She needed to look her best because Braylon was here and he had called her lovely last night. She wanted him to see her the same way at breakfast today. She knew it was vain and silly, after all she helped run the sawmill but he was so handsome and she wanted to keep him interested in her and her alone. This led her to a not so pleasant thought. Had he come to Silverpines because he wanted her as a wife or because by taking her as a wife he got her mill? Why was he really here willing to marry her?

  She went ahead and did her morning ablutions and dressed in her best day dress, paying special attention to her hair and getting it just so. She would just have to see how things went today and pray that she was wrong and it was her he wanted, not her mill. Maybe she should go and see Luther Garrison about her legal rights after they married. Was there a way to protect her lumberyard and mill after she was married? How would she be able to do that without Braylon knowing? Would she marry him if doing so gave him control of everything her Papa had built? She shook her head; why was she worried about all this? Braylon was a good man. Surely he wasn’t out to marry her just to get hold of her mill, was he?

  Granted she’d need a husband because lumberjacks were big manly men who didn’t want to have a woman boss them but he could be the boss without having final control over her property, couldn’t he? She would definitely be stopping by to see Mayor Garrison today without her fiancé.

  With that, she pinched her cheeks for some color and rushed down to breakfast.

  Tonya blushed at the compliments Braylon paid her at the breakfast table and decided that all her fears were just that, fears. She was starting to relax when Paul looked up at her like every morning for the last eleven and asked, “So what’s the plan for today, boss?”

  She opened her mouth to hand out assignments when Braylon spoke up. “I was thinking that today you brothers would show me the operation, how the timber side of our operation runs. We’d go look at the cut and the mess that was left behind and make a plan to get it cleaned up and ready to start operating again. Then I want to inspect the mill and see what improvements we need to make to be more efficient and provide some other revenue streams. This afternoon I’d like to get a look around town, talk to some of the other business owners, and see how we can be of use to them.”

  “Braylon, we have timber that needs milled.”

  “I realize that, my dear Antonia. We’ll get back to that in a few months after we get the improvements made that we need to make.”

  She stopped eating and looked at him. “Excuse me?”

  “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”

  “Did you just tell me that we aren’t going to be cutting lumber for a few months?”

  “Yes, I have some ideas for how to help improve Silverpines that involve making some improvements to the mill. I need to make sure my ideas will work and talk to the blacksmith but we should be able to get the improvements made and be back up and running by first of the year.”

  “I have orders that need filled now, Braylon. What are people supposed to do for the lumber they need to finish their homes and business repairs before the first snowfall? Or what is Betsy supposed to do for mining timbers? You might not have caught this yesterday at dinner but her father’s investors want her to reopen the mine. She and Maude have sent for an engineer and he’ll need mining timbers when he arrives.”

  “Well, order them like you were doing before.”

  “Not when I have perfectly good logs out there and able backs to work the mill, I won’t.”

  “I say we will.”

  She could feel her red-haired temper rising. “YOU SAY?”

  She looked at Peter, James, and Paul. “Gentlemen, would you excuse Mister Watts and me? When you finish breakfast start back to running the saw and hauling in the logs. We need another day of mining timber; once those are done we’ll go back to the other orders we have to fill.”

  “Gotcha, boss.” The three men quickly fled the table.”

  “Antonia, what are you doing?”

  “What am I doing? What I’m doing, Mister Watts, is running my business. What do you think you’re doing?”

  “What you asked me here to do.”

  “It sure didn’t sound like it. I brought you here to help me get my mill working and get timber and lumber cut. Instead, you’re talking about additional revenue streams and shutting down until the first of the year. Perhaps I need to remind you that until eleven days ago this mill was shut down for six months. I just got it up and running again.”

  “I know that but if we shut it down now I can get the parts made and ordered. We cannot just cut lumber; we can bring electricity to Silverpines. Think of it, electric lights in every home and business.”

  She stood to her feet. “Get out!”

  “What?”

  “Get out of my house. Get your things and get out of my mill.”

  Braylon stood and approached her. “Antonia my dear, calm down.”

  “Don’t you tell me to calm down. Who do you think you are? Did you really think I would let you come here and take my family’s mill away from me? I asked you here to marry me and help me run my lumber and timber business, not shut my mill down for over a year to bring electricity to town. I don’t need electricity; I need those logs brought into the lumberyard and turned into lumber. That’s what you are here for, but not anymore. I knew your sweet words and kisses were lies. You want my mill. Well, you can’t have it. Get your stuff and get off my property!”

  “You’re being unreasonable, Antonia. Just listen and look at my plans.”

  She turned and ran into her father’s office with Braylon right behind her. Yanking open the desk, Tonya reached in and pulled out her Papa’s Colt Peacemaker. “GET OUT!” She pointed the gun right at his smug, lying, handsome face. Get out or by God I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

  Braylon raised his hands and started backing out of the room. “I’m leaving. I’ll be at the hotel when you’ve calmed down and want to talk about this.”

  “There is nothing to talk about, Mr. Watts. Not now, not ever. Woodson Lumber is what we’re called. That’s what we do! I’ll ensure that someone brings you money for
a train ticket back to Ohio.”

  He stopped. “What do you mean back to Ohio? We’re getting married Sunday.”

  “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the only man in Silverpines. Get off my land before I shoot you for a lying schemer. You’re just like those other con men in town.”

  She watched as he opened and closed his mouth before shaking his head and turning and walking out the front door, slamming it closed behind him. She stood at the window and watched as he crossed the lumberyard and went into the mill. A few moments later he came out carrying his carpet bag and headed up the road to town. Tonya slid down until she was sitting on the floor and began to weep. She knew he’d been too good to be true.

  Braylon stood in the hotel room. He’d just paid two dollars for a week’s stay. What had just happened? One minute he was happy, falling in love, about to marry the sweetest most beautiful woman and get everything his heart wanted. A wife, a home, his own mill where he could implement his idea for bringing electricity to small towns by using their mill. To being threatened at gunpoint and told to leave. His wedding called off. He didn’t even know what he’d done. Why had she brought him here if she wasn’t going to listen to him? It was like being with his father again. His thoughts, his ideas, weren’t worth listening to.

  What had he done wrong? If Antonia had only listened, they’d be set for life. He’d have given her a legacy that their children could be proud of. Why had she thrown him out for trying to make things better? He closed his eyes and all he could see was her long flowing red hair and green eyes. He could still taste her lips from the kisses he’d stolen last night. Were those to be the only ones from her he ever got?

  He looked at his carpetbag. Inside were the plans he’d made on the way to Silverpines. Useless now. Honestly, without Antonia everything was useless. He’d gambled on a woman half a country away from everything he knew and lost. Well, when all else failed there was one thing left to do. Find the nearest pub and drink his cares away.

  He turned and yanked open the door to his hotel room and headed downstairs. At the front desk he asked the guy standing there where the nearest pub was.

  “This is Silverpines, Mister Watts, we don’t have a pub. It is a mining and lumber town; the saloon’s across the railroad tracks and to the right. You won’t be able to miss it.”

  “Thanks. Could you send someone to the mill to retrieve the rest of my bags?” He tossed a silver dollar on the counter.

  “I’ll have them placed in your room, sir.”

  “Thanks.”

  Braylon turned and headed out when he ran into Alexzander Sewell. “What are you doing here? I thought you’d be out at the mill with Tonya?”

  He shook his head. “Nope! She pointed a gun at me and told me to get out and never come back. Said I was a con man and cheat and she never wanted to see me again.”

  “What did you do?”

  Braylon shrugged “I got no idea. One minute we were having breakfast with the Bunyan brothers and talking about the plans for the mill, next she’s pointing a gun at me and telling me to get out before she shoots me.”

  Alex looked at him “Come on, let’s take a walk and you talk me through it.” They headed out and turned toward the business district in town.

  “Let’s start at the beginning. You were having breakfast together? Just you and Tonya?”

  Braylon shook his head. “No, all five of us. Tonya, me, the Bunyan brothers.”

  “All right, you were all having breakfast. Then what happened?”

  “Paul asked what the work plan for the day was and I told him I’d like them to show me the logjam and timberline and explain that part of the business to me. Then we’d inspect the mill and see how much time we’d need to shut down to make some improvements I have in mind.”

  Alexzander stopped walking. “You said that just like that? You wanted to see how long you’d need to shut the mill down for to make some improvements?’

  Braylon nodded. “Yeah, I have plans in my carpetbag to add a hydroelectric power plant to the wheel and bring electricity to Silverpines.”

  “But you told Tonya you were going to close her mill down to do it?’

  “Yes. I can’t add the equipment to the wheel with it running.”

  “So you told her the mill that hasn’t cut timber in six months wasn’t going to be cutting timber again?”

  “Yeah. For just a few more months.”

  “Braylon, let me ask you a question. Besides marrying her, why did Tonya invite you here?’

  “To get the mill running again.”

  “Take a look around you; do you see how nice all these buildings look?”

  “Yes, you’d never know two earthquakes hit less than a year ago.”

  “Not right here you wouldn’t. Come with me.”

  Alexzander led him off Main Street and within a few blocks he could see buildings that sat in need of repair, some missing wood, some leaning or partially collapsed. “All these building are waiting on lumber. Do you know why?’

  “No.”

  Until the Bunyan brothers showed up ten days ago, the mill hadn’t cut a single plank of wood. All the shops and homes that have been repaired, Tonya ordered the lumber for them from Portland.”

  “Still she should have made a good amount of money.”

  “Braylon, she didn’t make anything for six months, not a penny. In fact she lost money.”

  “What?! How’s that possible?!”

  “The lumber company in Portland charged her full price plus shipping. But because this was her home, she charged what she’d always charged for the lumber. All of us men were new here; we didn’t realize she wasn’t charging us for the shipping or even the full price the company in Portland was charging her. The money she sent to you for your trip here? That was the very last money she had to her name. Until ten days ago when three lumberjacks showed up and started cutting her timber into lumber for her to sell.”

  “Then I come and tell her I’m stopping the mill from cutting lumber for several more months.”

  Alexzander nodded. “Yes, you came in and told her what she was going to do with her company that she brought you here to get running again. And it wasn’t getting it running again. It was the exact opposite.”

  Alexzander sighed. “I’m not saying your idea for bringing electricity isn’t a good one. Not saying it isn’t a bad one since I ain’t seen it. But I can tell you this. That woman you came here to marry, like every other woman in this town, lost the people she loved the most and in doing so, unlike some of them she lost her livelihood, too. Then she finds a man who is supposed to come and be her hero and help her get it all back. Love, a family, her business, but instead he’s focused on his dreams and plans and misses that she can’t see beyond today. Because she spent six months surviving by her grit alone.”

  Braylon nodded. “She can’t dream because she’s still living the nightmare.”

  “Yep, and you just became the monster in knight’s armor come to take it all away.”

  Braylon sighed. “What am I gonna do?”

  Alex slapped him on the back. “Fix it and know it won’t be quick. Oh, and beg a lot.” He turned and started walking away before turning back to Braylon. “Oh, and Ray, don’t get shot doing it.”

  “Thanks.”

  “You might talk to Betsy and Maude and plan to beg them, too. If you convince them to help you, it might be wise.”

  Chapter Four

  Tonya had no clue how long she sat on the floor right by the front door. But she did notice when two pairs of arms wrapped around her from both sides. Betsy and Maude both holding her tight. “Tonya, what’s wrong?”

  “He’s a monster!” she wailed.

  “Did he hurt you?”

  “No, not like that; he took over. He told the brothers that we were going to close the mill until after the first of the year. I’ll be ruined by then. Bankrupt.”

  “Well, did you tell him that?”

  She shook her head an
d pointed at the peacemaker lying beside her. “No, I told the no good lying snake to get out or get shot.”

  Maude sighed. “Of course you did.”

  Tonya looked at her. “What’s that mean?”

  “It means, Tonya my dear, that you lost your temper and went for a weapon like always. That’s why your papa had them locked up in his desk. Remember?”

  “Don’t you take his side. He was going to shut down my mill. I just got it working again.”

  “Whoa there, hotshot. I’m not taking his side. I’m just reminding you that you have a temper and a tendency to threaten to shoot people when it’s hot.”

  “Come on, let’s get some tea and you tell us what’s happened. After all, last night it looked like you two were getting along fine. Betsy and I were worried you’d jump the broom before you said your vows.”

  She shook her head violently. “There aren’t going to be any vows. I told him to go back to Ohio, the wedding’s off.”

  “Tonya, you’re not thinking this through. You need to calm down and reason this out.”

  She shook her head. “No, I won’t marry him. He just wants my mill and he wouldn’t even do what it took to run it.”

  Maude and Betsy shared a look. “What? What’s that look about?”

  Betsy smoothed her hair. “You can’t have it both ways, Tonya. Either he took over and did something you didn’t like or he would do what was necessary to run it. Right now you’re just reacting to your emotions but you’re not making any sense. Didn’t you ask him here to marry you and take over running the mill?”

  “Not like this. We’ve got orders to fill and lumber to cut.”

  “Did you tell him that?”

  Tonya looked at her friend. “What?”

  “When he said we’re going to close the mill for a few months, did you calmly tell him that you had orders to fill or did you fly off the handle in a temper fit and run for a gun and threaten to shoot him?”