Chapter Twelve

Jeremiah sat at a table that stood in the middle of Harry's saloon. While he had a beer off to the side, he was barely touching it. He never drank a lot when he was playing cards. On the other hand, the men who had ridden into town with him and Barrett didn't care. That being the case, neither him nor Barrett were surprised when one of the men lost a lot of money to Jeremiah.

"You need to go sleep it off." Barrett grabbed the man's collar when he started saying Jeremiah must have cheated. "I've been watching him deal-he's not dealing from the bottom and, before you say it, those cards he's dealing are mine! They're NOT marked!" He then shoved his friend back down onto his seat. The man had the decency to look embarrassed. Apologizing, he stood back up saying he was going to see if Harry had a place he could rest until the others were ready to go home.

"We haven't even been here an hour." Jeremiah looked at Barrett after the man walked away with the help of the other two men who were with them, both promised to be right back. "Is he always like this?"

"Always, even during the war." Barrett replied as he took the cards from Jeremiah and began shuffling them. "The general he served under thought about getting him kicked out of his unit more than once."

Due to everything Jeremiah had read before accepting this assignment, he knew which general Barrett was referring too. "Guess Hacker needed all the help he could get." Jeremiah answered while lowering voice. Hacker was actually an alternative name General Alderson used only to those serving him in one way or the other…a name no one but the men working with him were supposed to know. Jeremiah hoped that by using the name when talking about Alderson he would gain some more points as it were.

It worked-as Barrett's eyes widened in shock and he quickly replied-lowering his voice as well. "You helped the general out as well?"

"I helped a lot of generals out." Jeremiah answered as he took a small swallow of beer. He hope Barrett would assume he was implying that the generals he'd helped were on the South's side. It was a hope that was granted as Barrett did just that, the man said nothing as the other men returned and their game resumed.

While Barrett and the other men talked, Jeremiah-for the most part-simply listened. It was because of remaining quiet that he overheard a couple of visitors talking at a nearby table. Although, he couldn't hear everything they said he still heard one of them men say 'It never would have happened if the idiot hadn't assumed they were after him.' Jeremiah repeated those words silently to himself as an idea formed in his mind. By the time the game was over, Jeremiah had come up with a plan he hoped would work…as it would speed things up.

"You leaving already?" Barrett and the other men asked when Jeremiah folded and called it quits.

"I have some activity planned back at my house." Jeremiah inwardly cringed as the words came out of his mouth. As far as he was concerned 'those activities' had no business being discussed in public. However, it was one thing that would give Barrett and the other men no reason to question his departure.

True to their nature, Barrett and the other men chuckled and made some crude remarks. It was all Jeremiah could do not to feed the men his fists-as the major of the remarks were about his relationship to La'akea. As it was, he simply turned and walked out of the saloon.

Once outside, Jeremiah hurried around the corner of the saloon and entered in the back way, hoping Harry or one of the waitresses would be in the back. He was in lucky as Sally, a twenty-five year old brunette, practically bumped into him. Because he and his wife had actually met Sally when they first arrived in Stockton, Jeremiah knew how friendly she was-even to someone such as La'akea. He pulled a few coins out of his pocket and held them out to the young woman. "I saw Nick and Heath Barkley at another table when I left. I'll give you these, plus another couple coins later, if you go tell them to meet 'a friend' at the hotel in fifteen minutes. If anyone hears you and asks, tell them the truth…you can't give them details when you don't know what's going on."

"Don't worry about giving more money later, Mister Stone. This is enough." Sally took the coins from him and turned to go back into the main part of the saloon. "I'll deliver the message and keep my mouth shut."

Jeremiah smiled and then quickly exited the building. He wanted to get Adam Pierce as well. After all, he didn't care to repeat what he had in mind more than necessary.

While Jeremiah was busy in town, La'akea had been thrilled-but nervous- when Victoria Barkley had knocked on her door. The two women now sat in the living room…which consisted of a couch, two chairs, a coffee table and a small piano-which Tom and Victoria had placed in the home years before, so anyone using the house could use it if they wished. Each piece of furniture was spaced evenly throughout the twelve by fourteen room.

"Would you like some tea?" La'akea asked once Mrs. Barkley was seated on the couch.

Victoria smiled and thanked her. "Yes, I would."

La'akea hurried through the archway that separated the kitchen from the living room, and then back with two cups of tea; she handed one of the cups to Victoria before sitting down in one of the chairs. "I want to thank you for," she paused and then said, "giving your support to my husband and his work." La'akea hoped she had chosen the right words, for even after all the time she'd lived in the United States she still struggled with the English language at times.

"You are more than welcome. I am grateful to learn he helped Nick out a time or two during the war." Victoria told her before setting her partially filled cup of tea on the coffee table. Taking a deep breath, Victoria continued speaking. "Though, I was hoping to learn more about you and your husband. That is, if I can do so without crossing any lines as it were."

The fact that Victoria's statement made La'akea a tad bit uncomfortable was extremely clear-as the young woman set down her own cup, smoothed out her skirt even as she shifted her position in the chair. "I am from the Philippines , and my husband was raised in Kansas. However, he has umm traveled many places. Matthew Shaw had his hand in a number of businesses, a …trait that my husband shares with him. We met when the two of them traveled to my island. Later, after your Civil War was over, Jeremiah came back to my island in 'sixty-seven and asked me to marry him. It was a proposal I accepted …gladly." The fact that they remained childless was not by choice, was a fact La'akea saw no reason to discuss.

"Matthew Shaw? That is your husband's father?" Victoria asked-disturbed that the name actually rang a bell, but why was a fact that she couldn't remember for the life of her.

La'akea felt her heart pounding just a little. She had made a few promises to her husband-and had no intention of breaking them, even if she thought she should. "He was my father-in-law." La'akea replied politely. "He passed away last year, as did Mama Shaw." She then asked Victoria to tell her about the daughter she'd only heard about, something Victoria was more than happy to do. La'akea listened attentively, grateful that the conversation had turned away from her husband's past and that she was learning more about his sister at the same time.