Chapter 14: Another Door Opens

The sun was high in the sky when the afternoon stage rode into Walnut Grove. A single passenger stepped down as the coach pulled in front of Nellie's restaurant. Robert Brady wiped the dust that had been kicked up by the stage horses from his face and glanced across town. There stood his prized establishment, the Silver Coin. After almost three years in operation, the saloon was finally making its money back and Brady wanted to take a trip out to his country bar to check on things.

After walking up the saloon steps and making his way inside, Brady looked around the room, taking note of any repairs that needed to be fixed. "Pierce!"

The bartender was quick to appear from the back storage room at the sound of his boss. "Mr. Brady! How are you, sir?"

The two men met up in the center of the room with a firm handshake. "Doing good, John. Shops back east are busier than ever. How's business here been?"

"Fine, sir. A steady stream of customers and from what my books show, the Silver Coin has finally been making you back its starting up costs."

A wide grin appeared on Brady's face. "Good. I knew my investment would turn a profit soon enough. I told my colleagues that this place would be a good site for a saloon. Most customers come in from out of town, I presume."

"The majority come from out of town, but there are the occasional town residents that stop by. Some of 'em even got tabs going." Pierce explained to his boss with a devilish smirk.

The proud businessman began to chuckle at the thought of people from this supposed dry town spending their hard earned money in his establishment on liquor and booze. "Remember all the fuss they tried to give us when we first opened? Country folks really thought that they could scare me away."

"I remember, sir."

"Hicks don't know what's good for 'em. Well, then! I think I'll have a drink, bartender." The two men walked together over to the bar top and Pierce was quick to pour a tall glass of the best beer on tap. Brady took a seat as the glass was slid his way.

"Mr. Brady, can I offer up a suggestion?" Pierce asked as he watched his boss take a sip of his drink.

"Will it make me money?"

The younger man smirked again. "Possibly. Think of it as an unconventional investment."

Brady nodded his head. "In that case, I'm all ears."

"Ya' see, there's this kid who lives in town. He stops by here with some friends every once and awhile for a drink and game of poker. He's a good gambler. Better than most of the drifters that come through here." Pierce began to explain.

"How old is he?"

"I'd say seventeen, maybe eighteen now."

"I've never known a good gambler being that young."

"Well, he's good. Great even." Pierce set his elbows down on the bar top and leaned in closer. "He's cleaned out city slickers with ease and walks away after winning large pots. It's like the kid was born with this innate skill of gambling, easily bluffing and lying straight to your face."

Brady huffed. "And how does this help me make money, Pierce?"

"After watching this kid, I figured out how he does it. You see, the boy sniffs out newcomers into town, offers up a game and purposefully loses the first couple of hands. Acts all naive and dumb while playing at first. Then, when he sees his opponents getting cocky, that's when he'll strike and take everything they've got. Kid's got an itch to gamble and I think that under the right circumstances, he'd be easy to exploit."

Brady stared at his employee. This would not have been the first time a suggestion such as this passed through his ears. Rigged houses were a staple of saloons in the big cities. "You're saying we clean the kid out?"

"Clean him out definitely. But I was thinking of getting him indebted to you and make him part of the house. Give him thirty, maybe twenty percent of what he takes in, just like how we run it in the city."

"Make the kid an in-house player? I don't know if that would work in such a small town. Still, I'd like to see this boy in action and I wouldn't mind sitting down for a nice high stakes game. You think you can make it happen?"

"Leave it to me, sir. He maybe smart, but he's still just a naive kid. He'll be easy to take advantage of if I play the right cards."

"I bet so." Brady took another quick sip of his drink. "What's this kid's name?"

"Albert. Albert Ingalls."

Over the mercantile, Willie was trying his best to hide away from the world in his bedroom. Sprawled out on his bed, the boy was flipping through penny dreadfuls he had to keep away from his mother incase she decided to confiscate them again. Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to hide forever.

"Willie!"

The boy groaned at the sound of his father calling his name and got up to open his bedroom door. "Yeah, pa?"

"Come on down here. I need to have a talk with you."

Willie huffed and walked downstairs to see his father waiting by the front door of their home. "What is it?"

"Let's go for a walk, son." Nels motioned for the boy to follow him outside.

As Willie walked through town with his pa, he began to get a bit suspicious, but more so curious about what Nels wanted to talk to him about. "Is something wrong, pa?"

"No, of course not. I just wanted to talk to you about something I heard earlier today. Why don't we go in here?" Nels stopped his step and looked up at the building they had ended up in front of.

"The saloon?" Willie was hit with immediate panic when he noticed that they were standing in front of the Silver Coin. His father had to have figured out about his outings to the saloon! "But ma doesn't even like us going near here."

"Your mother will get mad at me if she ever finds out. If she ever finds out, Willie." Nels nodded his head then started walking up the steps inside the building. "Come on, son."

Willie swallowed hard, mentally preparing himself for the scolding of a lifetime. His pa seemed all too calm taking a seat at one of the empty tables. Willie glanced over his shoulder to see Pierce taking care of a few other customers, but then the man started coming over to them.

"Mr. Oleson." Pierce was on guard when approaching the father and son sitting together. "I didn't think I'd see you in here again."

"Times have changed. Besides, I know my wife will never talk to you. Mind getting my son and I a drink?"

Pierce looked over at Willie, wondering what in the world was going on. He could have easily outed the saloon regular to his father, but instead he went back to his work. "Sure thing."

Nels waited for Pierce to deliver them their drinks, then took a sip for himself. Willie sat motionless with tight tension in his muscles, confused out of his mind about what was going on.

"So Willie, I had a talk with Nellie the other day and she mentioned something about you."

Nellie told him! Even after she said she would keep the secret about him going to the saloon! "She did? What'd she say?"

"Well, she mentioned how she would see you around town with Rachel Brown."

"Rachel Brown?" Willie's shoulders fell.

"Yes. Willie, are you seeing her?"

The boy wanted to let out a long sigh of relief. Out of the two secrets he had been keeping from his parents, he was glad Rachel was the one his pa had found out about. "Yeah. I am."

"You like her?" Nels smiled at his son.

"I do...I like her a lot. I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you about her before." Willie felt more comfortable now knowing that he was not going to get reprimanded like he thought. It also felt nice that he could finally talk to his pa about his growing relationship with Rachel. "I was kind of afraid that if ma found out she might get mad and try to stop me from seeing Rachel. She always said that I should marry a girl from a well-off family. I don't think Rachel's family is something ma would approve of."

"Forget about what your mother thinks. What matters is that you really care for this girl. Right?"

"Yeah, but what if she doesn't approve of our relationship and doesn't think we should be together?"

"Willie, it's your life, not your mother's. I know she can be overbearing at times and have strong opinions, but the thing that matters to her the most is her children's happiness."

Willie nodded, thinking back to all of the toys and nice clothes Harriet would spend way too much money on for her children's sake. "So, you think I should tell her about Rachel?"

"I do, but tell her when you and Rachel are both ready. And if you need it, I'll have your back. Rachel is a very nice girl. I think you picked a good one."

"Thanks, pa." Willie smiled and was about to reach for the glass he had been neglecting throughout the conversation, but he stopped himself. "Nellie didn't say anything else about me, did she?"

"No." Nels took another sip of his own drink. "Why? You've got something else to hide?"

"Yeah. I do." The boy then started laughing to himself and took a sip from the glass. "My father took me to a saloon for a drink against my mother's orders."

Nels then let out a hearty laugh. "And you will keep that secret for the rest of your life!"