Chapter Seventy-One

Shiloh had been quietly packing, getting everything together she would need for the trip to Boston and for her performances, everything that Aaron and Anna would need and everything Amalee would need. She had already sent word to Titus to contact everyone and arrange for the tickets. The props, costumes and equipment were to be at the train station in Reno the day before they were to leave. The entire company coming from the west would be traveling together. The transcontinental railroad had been completed, and the first train over its tracks had successfully crossed the country only two weeks before. Since, there had been a train going east every day.

Adam found her in the music room going through her music, deciding what she would take and what would stay behind. She had a box full of inkwells and pens ready in addition to stacks upon stacks of blank score sheets. She had selected a number of books to read considering she would only have her violin while on the train. She had packed toys for the children and had invited Amalee to pick some books she might like to read. And she had done it all quietly…without uttering a word to Adam. She didn't speak at the breakfast table or the dinner table, she didn't speak in the bedroom either in the morning or the evening. She didn't come looking for him when he worked late in his office. And if she left the house, she didn't say goodbye or tell him where she was going.

When Adam walked through the doors of the music room and closed them behind him, her head snapped up, and realizing she was trapped in the room with him, she moved to the other side of the piano.

"Why are you avoiding me?" he asked, standing in front of the doors with his hands clasped in front of him, the picture of calm.

"I'm preparing to go to Boston," she answered, sounding just as calm.

"Is that so difficult you can't speak to me while you do it?" he asked without moving.

"Let me rephrase that," she said as she continued to flip through her music, her flipping making a bit more noise as the paper rattled. Without looking up at him, she said, "I'm getting used to the idea of going to Boston alone."

"Sweetheart, I'll get to Boston as soon as I give the city a plan to repair the city hall."

"Unless they find something else they need from you and only you can do it because of your contract with the city. It's too bad I didn't get your promises to me in writing."

Adam moved toward her to the right of the piano, but she quickly went around and to the door, opening it, walking through and closing it behind her without looking back.

He breathed heavily through his nose as his lips curled in frustration and his head bowed so that his eyes moved up to watch her retreat. He followed her out of the music room and watched her take her revolver and two rifles from the gun cabinet, taking them upstairs. He followed her into their bedroom where he closed the door, turned the key and dropped it in his trouser pocket. "We're not leaving this room until you talk to me."

Shiloh carefully laid the guns in an open trunk. "The children."

"Amalee and Beau are with them. They'll be fine for a while."

"Adam, you have been very clear about what you're going to do. Why can't you just do it and…" She sucked in a deep breath. "And leave me be," she said as she let the breath out.

Adam's lower jaw crooked to one side. He realized it wasn't anger he was dealing with. He knew she felt betrayed, but there was something more. Taking a step toward the bed, he stopped when she moved to the other side. "Shiloh, we need to talk about this."

"I told you how I feel. It didn't make a difference. So why do we need to talk any further? Nothing I say will make you change your mind."

"Because you haven't told me everything. What's frightening you so?"

She snorted. "You see, that is what frightens me the most. You don't know. You always know everything ahead of anything I do away from you, but this time you are so…engrossed…in the needs of people you don't know, you've forgotten your wife and children. Why don't you go read about what happens when the great Central Pacific Railroad leaves Reno for Promontory? And when the Union Pacific leaves Promontory going east. And when you do, just remember that Amalee and I are traveling alone with two babies."

Turning toward the door and unlocking it, Adam left Shiloh in the bedroom and went in search of the Territorial Enterprise. Finding the newspaper where he'd left it on his desk, he turned page after page until he found a short article at the bottom of a page mentioning train robberies and Indians sabotaging tracks. Dropping the paper, he let himself fall back in the chair. Shiloh was right. Ordinarily, he would have paid attention to every detail going on with the train that would carry his wife and children across the country. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. He gathered his gun belt and hat and left.

In the meantime, Shiloh went back to the gun cabinet and gathered boxes of ammunition to pack with the guns.

XXXXXXXX

Adam rode to town to contact Mark Harris. He could've ridden to the Harris ranch, but in an effort to keep the Harris' anonymity intact, he went to the hotel, and taking a piece of hotel paper and an envelope off the stack on the front desk, he wrote out a long note, addressed the envelope to David Jones and took the stuffed envelope to the post office where there were boxes for local people to pick up their mail. He slid the envelope into the appropriate box.

Next, he went to the telegraph office and sent a telegram to Charles Crocker.

After Adam rode away from the house, Shiloh asked Shorty to hitch the buggy, and leaving the children with Amalee, she drove herself into town.

Adam had just stepped out of the post office when Shiloh arrived. He stepped back into the shadows and watched her stop the buggy in front of Mrs. Lewis' dress shop, disembark from the buggy and step inside. While he waited to see what she was doing, he walked down to one of the many saloons in Virginia City, ordered a beer, and got comfortable on one of the chairs out front, again in the shadow of the cover over the boardwalk. He slowly finished two beers before she came out with Mrs. Lewis, both carrying a stack of boxes. Another woman followed them out with another tall stack of boxes.

By that time, the telegrapher came down the boardwalk on the other side of the street and handed a telegram to Adam. He read it, then went back to the post office, and reclaimed the envelope he had slipped into a box earlier. He folded it and slipped it into his back pocket.

While Shiloh said her goodbyes to Mrs. Lewis, Adam took the opportunity to walk quickly across the street to the buggy and tie his horse to the back. He was standing next to her to take her hand as she turned to step up into the buggy.

Shiloh tensed and sucked in a breath, but seeing Adam's apologetic smile, she deflated. "Have you started following me around now?"

"No, I was already in town when you got here. My business is finished here, and from the looks of the back of the buggy, yours is, too, so there's no reason for us to go home separately."

At her disgruntled expression, he quickly looked around them, then leaned in. "Have you stopped loving me?" he asked as his head slightly wagged.

Her answer was quick…definite. "No. I'm just getting used to being without you." She accepted his hand as he helped her into the buggy, after which he walked around to the other side.

The buggy seat leaned when he sat down, making her slide into his side. Even though the corner of his mouth turned up when he looked at her, she just closed her eyes and exhaled before she moved back to the other side of the seat.

During the silent ride home, Adam pulled into a shady grove of trees. He wrapped the reins around the brake handle, removed his hat and set it on top of a pile of boxes behind the seat, then turned to Shiloh and pulled her into his arms and into a long, slow kiss. Leaving her lips just as slowly, he held on, and moved his mouth to her ear, whispering, "You, Shiloh, are more important to me than anything or anyone."

"Considering where you've been without me and where you're going without me, that's becoming harder and harder to believe," she said quietly without looking him in the eye.

"Sweetheart, you were right. I wasn't paying attention as closely as I should have, and I'm sorry for that."

She turned away and shook her head. "Some of those gangs have had up to eleven or twelve men. And Mr. Crocker is sending his private car again. Where do you think train robbers will look first?"

"I sent a telegram to Crocker. He's well aware of the problems on the route. He's been sending Pinkertons with the train. He'll be sending even more the day you leave. He's also sending another car with ample stock to quickly fix any track issues the Indians might cause.

Shiloh bowed her head.

"Adam, I have to take my jewelry, money, my violin. What if the Pinkerton's fail?"

"I doubt they will, but I have an idea. Amalee sews. She can sew several pockets into your petticoats."

"I can't take all of my jewelry that way. It'll be too heavy. And I'm not asking Amalee to take that kind of risk."

"I don't mean for Amalee to take the risk either. You can take what money you'll need for the trip in a pocket in your petticoat, and the more expensive pieces of jewelry. For the rest, I can put a false bottom in your trunk," Adam said. "Crocker also said there was a hidden panel in one of the walls of the car."

"What about my violin?" she asked.

"I doubt a train robber will know the difference between a Stradivarius and an ordinary violin."

Unconvinced, she said, "Maybe."

"Shiloh, the Pinkerton's can protect you better than I can alone."

Shiloh squinted. "If I'm going to die on a train, I'd rather die with you than a Pinkerton."

"There hasn't been anyone killed in any of the robberies."

"I know that," she said with a slight smile she was trying hard to hide. When the smile bloomed, she said, "You can't blame a girl for trying."

Adam was relieved she was, at least, in a better mood, though when they arrived at home, her silence ruled again. He put an arm around her and whisked her away to his office. "I thought we'd gotten through this."

She looked at him sadly. "I remember how hard it was the last time we were apart."

Sitting on the side of the desk, he took her hands and pulled her between his legs with her hands resting on his chest. "You wanted to work, remember? You and I have two very different careers, so you have to expect there will be times when we're apart."

"But Adam, I've been planning this for a very long time, and I don't think it's fair when you jump at San Francisco's every beck and call regardless of the commitments you know I've made. I may as well…just…quit," she said, hanging her head.

"What do you think would have happened if you hadn't married me?" he asked.

"I don't know." She looked into his eyes. "Would we have been friends? Would you still have convinced me to perform that first time? Or would you have left me alone to run the Flying W?" Looking away, she said, "I might have gone to Europe. If I had and came back, I'd probably be traveling from city to city performing until I got tired of it. I might have sold the ranch and settled in New York. Or I might have kept the ranch…and the horses." Closing her eyes, she turned away. "I hate to say this, but I might have even married Will and ended up like Natalie Peterson."

Now, Adam was frowning. "Shiloh, other than Will, are you sorry you missed any of it?"

Smiling briefly, she moved her arms around him and lay her head on his chest. "No, I'm not. I just didn't think you and I would be going separate ways…separating the children. I never even considered the possibility until it happened last year. Now, it's happening again. And if the ground shakes in San Francisco all the time as you say, it's going to happen even more."

"So, what are we left with?" he said with his eyebrows raised. He watched her eyes become profoundly sad.

"We're left with dealing with it," she said softly. "Or giving up," she thought to herself. "Excuse me. I need to go see about dinner." She gave him a token smile, gently pushed away and left him alone in his office.