Chapter Nine
Previously:
The conversation was kept light until the food was eaten and Fen, along with Carl and Nick were sitting on the porch. It didn't pass either man that Carl had checked to see that every window was shut tight before he'd joined them.
"Okay, what is going on that is so important…and why you don't want your mother hearing what you have to say." Fen spoke in a low, but firm, tone of voice. Nick's eyes were loudly demanding to be told the same thing.
Leah stepped out the side door to find Nick sitting on a chair with his injured foot resting on a small footstool. She could see her uncle mounting his horse. "Uncle Fen is going into town, said he was going to send a telegraph to Stockton and see if the regular sheriff is back in town." She leaned against the railing that ran alongside the side of the porch that was connected to the side of the house. If it was her house, Leah would have wrapped the railing around the front porch as well. After all; to her, it seemed to be a job only half finished. "Uncle Fen said the banker and one Herman Stokes are into counterfeiting and land scams; that Carl learned the men know 'Bear' has been looking into things and plan on killing him when he gets back-if they can't find him sooner once they start looking. Is that true?" She didn't know why she asked Nick such a question; it's not like he Uncle had ever lied to her.
" 'If he's not back at the end of two months, we'll hire someone to kill him before he gets back into town. We can't have him blow our cover.' That's what Carl overheard, what caused him to send you the telegram." Nick, who had been watching Fen ride away, turned his head and looked at Leah. "It's true. I talked your uncle into telegraphing my brothers. Bear needs to be found before those two men hire anyone…and I'm not comfortable with Fen and I looking for him without extra help- even if we wind up not needing it." Nick growled as he glanced at his wrapped foot and ankle. "After all, if push comes to shove there may be a fight. Sure, I can still use my pistol and gun only a physical altercation?" He again looked at his ankle. "I won't be much good." Even as he said the words, he got the strongest impression it wasn't going to as big of a deal as he was making it out to be.
"I appreciate you thinking along those sides. That is, taking the time to think of those around you. Many men wouldn't." While Leah's voice did not betray the feelings that arose inside her when she spoke, Nick still saw the flash of disgust that flew across her eyes for a split second.
Nick took a chance and asked, "Your 'dear' brother – in- law being one of them?"
Leah couldn't help but give Nick an embarrassed grin. "Do you always 'read' someone so well?"
Nick laughed and shook his head. "No, not really. Just ask my family. Jump without looking is more my speed; and yes, I've paid for that a time or two." Then, as if to prove his point, Nick impulsively asked her if she'd ever been married or had a serious beau. "Don't need to find someone coming after me." Nick grinned wide which, naturally, made it so his dimples were very much visible.
Since he'd smiled before, Leah didn't know why the dimples reached out and made her inwardly smile this time-only they did. It threw her off and, for a second, she couldn't answer. Though, she had him laughing when she said, "And you've only had that happen once?"
"If I claim the fifth, would it help?" Nick replied once he quit laughing; well, quit enough to answer her question.
Leah laughed along with him and then grew serious. "Some of my friends are male only they are more like brothers than anything, none of them even close to being my beau. When it comes to marriages?" She sighed and continued – her voice just a tad bit quieter than it had been. "I was engaged to be married once- a few years back. Frederick and I never made it to the altar though. He died from injuries sustained after falling off his father's barn roof."
"Ouch." Nick fidgeted just enough to adjust his sitting position. As he did so, he saw Carl come out of the Douglas barn. The way the boy was constantly working around his family's place impressed Nick, and he said as much. "Bear has a good son there. I hope…" his voice trailed off when Carl drew closer. The last thing Nick wanted to do was upset the young boy.
Nick waited until Carl sat down on the porch before he said anything, and then it was to find out if anything was wrong-as the boy seemed deep in thought. "Anything I can do?"
"Or me?" Like Nick, Leah was concerned about Carl and the load the young man had been carrying-still was to a large degree.
"Uncle Fen told Mother what was really going on. She's not too happy with me." Carl took his eyes off the ground and looked at Leah and Nick. "A part of me is furious Uncle Fen told her, only most of me knows he had to."
"Yes, he did." Nick and Leah said simultaneously—causing them, and Carl – who was quick to 'complain' about it, to chuckle just a little.
"Look," Nick moved his leg off the footstool and leaned forward. "I know my brothers. Once they get the telegram Fen will send, they will get down here as fast as they can. We'll do our best to find your father before anyone can harm him." He then told Carl not to worry that there would be anything in the telegram that would turn any heads. "You, your father and Fen Miller are not the only ones who know how to get help using phrases that say one thing and mean another."
"Now, smile." Leah urged him. "You know," she gestured towards Nick, "He speaks the truth." She might have said more only Mrs. Douglas had opened the window and was asking her son to go into the house and help her with a 'small job'.
Carl stood up and looked at Nick and Leah. "Thanks, I mean, thanks for everything." He then disappeared in the house, leaving to Nick and Leah to continue talking with each other.
