Laurels
Chapter Thirteen
A/N I have researched just enough of the history of Lovell, Wyoming to know it existed in the eighteen seventies. However, I do not know the size etc so…I'm using writer's liberty on this chapter. I'm also using writer's liberty when it comes to train stations and their locations. Also, I don't know if there is a Grantsville in Wyoming or not. I haven't checked.
Previously: He had counted on Jarrod Barkley's help as the man seemed to have a way of attracting the women's attention; Macklin had seen that first hand back in Washington. "Oh well, I can be just a persuasive." Macklin told himself. "Besides, I guess I should be grateful he refused. This way I can get all the credit."
Macklin continued to tell himself that as he fell asleep.
~oOo~
Macklin, who had gotten off the train at Grantsville and bought a buggy and a couple of horses from a nearby livery stable, now pushed the horses northward. He told himself that the sooner he got to Lovell, the sooner he could start searching for Lillian Beecher. He just hoped his time would not be wasted. Though, the longer he'd travelled down the road, the more Macklin had gotten the impression he was being watched and followed. He didn't like that, and he'd stopped more than once in order to try to see if he could catch sight of whoever was keeping an eye on him. He'd finally pulled the buggy behind some huge boulders and waited for almost an hour in order to catch whoever it was, but they'd never made an appearance. Finally, as he drove the buggy into Lovell, he once again got the impression he was being followed. "Careful, man," he muttered only to himself, "If you're not careful, you'll be searching for more than a missing witness." Then, again, if he'd lost his mind, he wasn't about to admit it.
From where he sat on his horse, a single man watched as Macklin climbed out of the buggy and disappeared into Lovell's livery stable. It hadn't been easy tracking the man without getting caught…and mighty boring as he'd waited for Macklin to climb back into the buggy and leave the boulder that he'd been stupid enough to think could hide him and his mode of transportation.
"Are you crazy?" Jarrod asked as he and Eugene, who had just finished up another semester of school and returned home a mere four hours ago to learn all that had been going on in his absence, watched Nick and Hannah drive away and listened to what his youngest brother had planned.
"Look," Eugene turned on Jarrod and spoke evenly and calmly, "if the family is going to help Nick and Hannah, we need to know any information Macklin actually gets. It's just slow enough around here that Heath and McColl can run things. If that wasn't the case, Nick and the rest of you would have come up with something else. And," He added, "don't tell me Heath and McColl need my help. I'm not buying it."
"Mother's not going to like it." Jarrod said, and then laughed as Eugene told him to have her talk to Nick if she wanted to complain about Eugene's trip to Wyoming.
"After what you've told me, I can see why they said nothing to the family when they arrived home." Eugene said as he started to walk away, "But if my trailing Macklin is that big a problem, Mother can go after someone esle. I won't be here." He wasn't surprised when Jarrod chuckled and then, grudgingly, agreed his baby brother was right when he said the family needed any information Macklin might get in Wyoming.
Eugene, who had donned an eye patch, beat up old brown hat and disguised himself in other ways, made his way to town. Even if Macklin had never seen him; he wasn't taking any chances. Doing his best to appear relaxed, he made his way to the livery stable. As he had hoped, Macklin had left by the time Eugene walked into the stable.
"May I help you, sir?" An elderly, white haired, gentleman who was as thin as a rail asked as he stepped towards Eugene.
"Name's Jim," Eugene said, not wanting anyone in Lovell to have his real name. "I'm trying to find a friend, calls himself Macklin." Eugene started to describe the man-to ensure it looked as if he had no idea where the man was-only to be interrupted by the elderly gentleman whose name turned out to be Hank Barns.
"Your friend left here not three; maybe four, minutes ago. He was heading to the saloon." Mr. Barns said and then went back to work.
"I'd have thought a man like that would go elsewhere," Eugene thought as he walked out of the livery stable and headed for the saloon.
~oOo~
Jarrod walked into the Billiard room, having arrived home from Stockton; he'd picked up the mail and received a telegram from Texas. It simply read 'Packages arrived safely STOP Anthony'; the fact that his sister and nephew were safely hidden away in Texas was a relief to Jarrod. However, he stopped in his tracks as he saw the French doors open and his mother standing out on the veranda. As Jarrod had told his baby brother, she had not been happy when she'd learned why Gene had left when he'd just arrived home and where he was going.
"Quiet tonight," He said as he walked through the room and out onto the veranda, stopping alongside his mother. "Feels both nice and strange," When his mother didn't answer, Jarrod reached out and covered her hands, which were clasped together as she rested her lower arms on the railing that surrounded the veranda. "Everything will be fine; you'll see."
Victoria turned her head slowly and said with a rather exasperated tone of voice, "Why it is that my sons can't seem to go three or four months before they're involved in a situation that could prove the death of them-or others?"
Jarrod gave her a half smile and replied, "I assume you're talking anything from the trouble with the railroad, to the fake court martial, to Nick granting a dying man his request and marrying a woman he's never met before, to Eugene coming home from school only to go running off to Wyoming to play Macklin's shadow?"
Victoria's eyes filled with a look that screamed 'Don't patronize me! You know full well that's exactly the case…and you can throw in a few other incidents' as she said, "Nick's not going to hide up at that cabin for long. You know that. He and Hannah won't like the fact that we're, most likely, dealing with a share of a mess that they wanted to keep us out of." When Jarrod started to say he had been the one to suggest Nick take Hannah and hide her up at the lodge, Victoria stopped him. "He's like a couple of other Barkley men I know. He'll want to protect Hannah, but he won't like the idea that we're putting ourselves in the middle, and he's not here to help us. He'll want to change that." She then removed her hands from Jarrod's and threw up her hands, "I think I'm going to start giving every one of my white hairs a name…and the first seven are going to share names with my own family members!"
"Seven?" Jarrod looked at his mother with confusion on his face. "Don't you mean six, or are you adding Hannah to the list now since she and Nick are married?"
"I wasn't doing that, but I might as well add her so that would make it eight… nine counting Chad." Victoria answered. Again, Jarrod looked at her in confusion until she told him rather bluntly that Nick got an extra one. That comment made Jarrod roar with laughter before continuing to talk to his mother.