Chapter Five

Excerpt from Chapter Four:

Nick only gave her a quick hug. "I remember, and I still say there's a chance the blame doesn't lay at your feet. Either way, it doesn't matter to me." Nick found himself yawning. "For now, let's get some sleep. If we get up and leave bright and early, we should be able to make it to the one of places my friend rests his horses by nightfall. That is, if we only make absolutely necessary stops and make them as short as possible."

Nick's morning came too early for Elizabeth. Sure, she was used to being up around six in the morning. However, Nick had been dressed and gently shaking her awake at four-thirty o'clock. A good share of her wanted to chew him out for waking her up at 'this insane hour; however, the part that knew he was in the right forced her to open her eyes, get out of bed and dress.

The Lawsons-who had heard their guests up and moving around, stepped out of their rooms. Mrs. Lawson spoke up. "You don't have to leave so early."

Nick apologized. "I'm afraid we do. We have a long way to go; the sooner we leave, the sooner we'll be at our destination."

"Well," Mrs. Lawson headed for kitchen. "You can at least let me fix you something to eat. I'll keep it simple and make it fast."

"She can do it too." Reverend Lawson chuckled as he thought on his wife's amazing ability to come up with an extremely good meal in a short amount of time if the needed arose.

For the sake of politeness, Nick and Elizabeth didn't argue. By the time they drove away from the Lawsons, they had to agree with the good reverend. In fact, once they were back on the road, Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder and wished aloud for a cook as good as 'that good woman'. "She's the best cook I've met."

"I wouldn't say that." Nick, who still remembered the food Elizabeth had cooked at the Jacksons' home, looked at his wife. The compliment had his wife blushing.

"Thanks," Elizabeth smiled back and then fell into silence. Nick was thinking about his friend and hoping the man still felt like he owed Nick. After all, thanks to his out of the ordinary choices, Nick might be estranged from his family for a very long time.

For Elizabeth's part she was thinking about Tabitha. As she thought on the young girl, she sent a silent prayer upwards. Had she known what her brother was going to suggest, and that she and Nick would take him up on the idea, Elizabeth would have thought twice about placing the child in the deaf school. Then again, she silently sighed, the outcome probably would still have come out the same. After all, the fact remained-the deaf school was the best place for Tabitha for the time being.

The next few hours seemed to drag unless she and Nick were talking. However, thanks to a rather uneventful journey, they found themselves riding into the town of Silver Springs right when Nick had hoped they would. While the place was more populated than Hildale had been, Elizabeth was surprised to realize it was still a smaller town. For whatever reason, she'd expected a place that held an office for a stagecoach line to be bigger. Only when Nick pulled up to the livery stable did she question him about his friend.

"What if he's not here? What if he's away taking passengers to various towns?" Elizabeth asked as Nick helped her out of the surrey.

"I said he worked for the company. I never said he made regular runs." Nick smiled as a young boy around fourteen walked out of the livery stable just as Nick was thinking to go inside. There was no need for the boy or Nick to give introductions. The lad was Gideon Harvey, the son of Nick's friend, Damion.

"Hey, Mister Barkley! When did you get in town? Father never said a word." Gideon was all smiles-even as he appeared to be looking Elizabeth over.

'Hormonal boy' Nick chuckled only to himself. "I didn't tell him my wife and I were coming in. Is he at the office?" Both he and Elizabeth had to hold in their laughter at the crestfallen look that appeared on the boy's face when Nick said the word 'wife'. The last thing they wanted to do was upset the lad.

"Yeah, he is. I'll take care of your horses and the rig." Gideon, who had quickly rebounded from his disappointment, was again smiling.

"Thanks," Nick handed him a couple of dollars, took Elizabeth's hand and walked away from the stable. Only when they were a safe distance away did Elizabeth allow her laughter to escape.

"I never thought I'd have that happen!" Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder and then at Nick. "I never had a boy take more than a couple of looks at me when I was fourteen."

Nick was amazed when he heard the comment…and it made him wonder if that fact had anything to do with her willingness to go along with Cliff when he'd approached her about her first husband and Tabitha. Though, he didn't ask about it. Why should he? It was in the past, and he was her husband now. Well, for the time being he was. "The boys back then needed glasses."

Elizabeth again found herself blushing even as she found herself wondering about Nick and his teenage years. "What about you? Did you have a lot of girlfriends?"

Now it was Nick's turn to be uncomfortable. He wasn't used to girls asking about his past. Then again, he'd never really given any of them much of a chance. "I had my fair share of dates, but I didn't have a steady girlfriend until I hit twenty, and then I think it was the fact she was such a good cook that had me dating her so seriously." He chuckled a little, and then shrugged his shoulders. "Didn't work out, and I've never met one I was actually willing to propose too."

Elizabeth started to ask him what he was looking for in a wife – besides being able to cook - when they reached a building with the words HARVEY'S STAGECOACH LINE painted in the window.

"Let's hope Damion can help us." Nick opened the door for Elizabeth. Once she'd entered the building, he followed. Within seconds they were being greeted by a black-haired gentleman who stood a good five feet nine inches-if not ten; he was dressed in a fine tailored suit.

"Nick, you son of a gun! You should have told me you were coming to town and bringing such a pretty lady fr…" Damion's words were cut short when his eyes fell on the gold band Nick was wearing on his left hand. Naturally, the gold band made it so Damion's eyes flew over to Elizabeth's left hand. When he saw a gold band sporting a small beautiful diamond, his mouth fell open.

Nick couldn't help but laugh just a little at his friend's reaction and then quickly grew serious once more. "My wife and I have a matter that we need your help with." His eyes added the word 'desperately' to his sentence. "That and I was hoping you still had some of that good whiskey of yours around." Again, his eyes added extra words. This time the silent message was 'I really a few drinks."

"Come into my office." Damion stepped aside and let his long time friend and his wife walk by him. After telling his secretary to take any messages while he was busy, Damion also entered the office and shut the door.