Chapter Five
By the time the sun began to set, Nick, Jeramiah and La'akea had reached an old way station that had not been used in a number of years. The small wooden building had two sets of windows, one set by the front door and a set that could be seen on the right side of the station. Each set of windows were made up of nine squares of glass with an one inch piece of wood separating each small 'window' pane. A few of the smaller pieces of glass had holes in them, and the front door looked as it might fall off its hinges.
"Not the best place…" Jeremiah started to speak only to whip his rifle out of its sheath, which hung on the side of the saddle. The action was brought on by the sound of quiet footsteps that was coming from the other side of the way station. Nick also had his pistol out of his holster faster than Jeremiah thought possible.
"Don't shoot!" A brown haired, green eyed man who stood roughly five feet five inches and had broad shoulders stepped around the corner. Because he had his hands slightly up in the air, Nick put his pistol back in its holster. He was surprised-though he didn't know why-when Jeremiah slid his rifle back in its sheath, jumped off his horse, strode quickly over to the stranger and called him by name.
"Adam Pierce! I wondered when you'd show your face." Jeremiah, who didn't really like the federal agent, still smiled to be polite and introduced the two men to each other. "Adam has been assigned to find work in Stockton, to be a go between myself and my superiors." Jeremiah told Nick. Then he looked at Adam. "Before you ask, you heard me right. This is Nick Barkley and; yes, I told him all about the mission." He batted his hand through the air. "Come on, let's fix this door and get settled for the night. La'akea got cook the rest of the beans we have. Good thing we'll be in Stockton tomorrow, need to replenish a few supplies." The whole time Jeremiah was talking, he was walking up the steps of the building and then going inside.
"You told him about Barrett and Alderson?" Adam stared at Jeremiah after entering the building.
"I told you." Jeremiah answered as he started helping Nick with the door. The last thing they needed was some stray animal wandering in during the middle of the night. "I didn't agree with keeping any member of the Barkley family clueless. When life crossed Mr. Barkley's path and mine," Jeremiah nodded towards Nick, "I went ahead and told him. He's agreed to help us. He'll talk to his family as well, get them to at least agree to stay out of our way."
Adam shook his head, but didn't argue. Why should he when he'd been told by more than one person that Jeremiah Shaw had a way of being on the winning side of any argument. While Jeremiah and Nick fixed the door and Adam put the tipped over furniture back the way they should be, La'akea was looking in the back…for any unused firewood. She was relieved when she found a small pile, along with some kindling. It wasn't long before she had a fire going in the old pot belly stove that sat in the left hand corner of the room and the beans were cooking. Everything would have been fine only Mr. Pierce made a very unnecessary assumption. "It has to be nice to be able to travel overseas and find such a woman." He walked over to where Jeremiah and Nick were just finished working on the door. "How much did you have to pay for the her?"
Nick, who was appalled at the thought Jeremiah Shaw/Stone had actually bought the woman, had no time think before Jeremiah had whirled around and planted his right fist across Adam Pierce's jaw while planting his left fist into the man's stomach. After Adam fell to the way station floor, clutching his stomach and bleeding from his lower lip, Jeremiah stood ready to attack him again if he needed to. "Women are not objects to be bought and sold! I did not pay anything for her! La'akea is a lady, and she is my wife! I would think you would have been informed you of this!" He then told the man that, in no uncertain terms, that he was to address La'akea as Mrs. Stone during the mission, treat her with respect and, if he got any other unacceptable ideas, Jeremiah would finish beating Adam…almost to the point of death. "I'm not going to hang for just anyone!"
Adam, who had indeed been told about the relationship-but had not believed it-sat up and apologized. Only when Adam had slipped over to the hole filled couch did Jeremiah turn to Nick-who was smiling from ear to ear. "Are you going to say anything?" Jeremiah's eyes were still full of fury.
"No," Nick held his hands up in mock surrender, "but if he says anything like that again-or tries anything-I'll hold him down for you."
Jeremiah started grinning wide-as did La'akea. Since they met plenty of people willing to ask the same question as Adam Pierce had just voiced, it was refreshing to hear someone with Nick Barkley's reputation offer to back both of them up if they needed it.
"Thanks," Jeremiah shot another glare at Adam, who wasn't stupid enough to ask any more questions or crazy enough to entertain any unacceptable thoughts, and then sat down at the table with Nick. "When we get to Stockton, it would be best if you rode into town first or; better yet, go straight to your family's ranch and talk with them. We can't be seen together before you officially hire me."
Nick wasn't about to fight that idea. As far as he was concerned, the sooner he got home, the better.