Ethan turned to look at the two women.
"What is it Amelia?"
She looked at him for a long moment, her eyes piercing into his own before she said anything.
"You know you can tell me anything."
She nodded at that, knowing it nearly to be true.
"It's about Clara…"
He looked at the younger woman standing next to Amelia. She looked not much older than Claire but her eyes…they looked older.
"Nice to meet you Clara…"
The other woman smiled at him almost shyly. She glanced over at John Taylor who smiled at her.
"I heard about you…from Mrs. Lawson here," she said, "You're the marshal right?"
He nodded.
"I am…and I'm here to make sure that everyone is treated fairly," he said, "no matter what you might have heard."
Clara looked at Amelia.
"She said that you would do your best," she said, "That's all anyone can do."
The certainty in her voice tugged at him and he knew she wanted to tell him something. She looked at Amelia again and Ethan saw her nod slightly. Still Clara hesitated.
"I'll listen to you Clara," he said, "If you need help…"
"I…I ran away," she said, "Not by myself…Mrs. Lawson and Mrs. Rogers helped me…it'd been so long since my auntie died."
He heard that she missed the woman who'd tried to raise her still. But he'd figured she'd fallen into hard times since because she wound up with Bella.
"I didn't have parents myself Clara," he said, "But I did have an older sister who did the best she could to take care of me."
Clara looked down at her hands.
"I don't have any sisters or brothers, not that I know of any way until now. I feel like I've got family and I don't want to lose it."
Ethan frowned.
"Lose it…what do you mean?"
She paused much longer this time but Ethan was a patient man. He didn't push her but waited for her to resume talking.
"I…I belong to someone," she said, "He'd bought me after someone grabbed me off the street and…I didn't know what would happen…he locked me up in a room but then Bella found me."
Amelia nodded.
"She did and some of the others," she said, "The people who bought her and them might be looking for her."
"These people have names?"
The two women looked at each other.
"Not that we know," Amelia said, "but they worked for others…it was back in San Francisco and a lot had changed."
Ethan knew that. He'd been getting plenty of wires about it and Dylan Daggett and his gang. But then there were many outlaw gangs running loose in the big cities.
"You think they might look for her here?"
"Maybe…if they really want to get her back…they might try all the towns in the area."
Ethan considered that knowing she could be right. But he didn't know much about the men who had bought Clara…let alone the men who they worked for who pulled the strings.
"They might have given up but if they do come here, it'd help if we knew what they looked like…think you can describe them for us Clara?"
The young woman nodded.
"I have a good memory," she said, "My auntie said I did…and a head for numbers."
Ethan smiled thinking she'd found herself in the right place.
"We'll get the descriptions and then we'll have more to work with," he said, "Dakota and I will keep an eye out on who comes into Paradise."
Amelia looked at him.
"Thanks Ethan…she's been very worried about it."
He knew that Amelia had worried too and thought she'd really gotten herself attached to this group of women led by the former outlaw and he didn't know why. John Taylor had been quiet all this time but he'd been listening.
They started walking away from him and he turned to John Taylor.
"So you think this gang will show up here?"
John Taylor turned his attention back to his fishing pole.
"If they do, you'll be ready for them."
Claire did what Axelrod told her to with the books but she didn't like the fact that he had decided to hold a meeting with other merchants along with Darrin and Martha in the store. She stuck to updating the sales figures in his books while Axelrod began his latest rant about how he'd lost some of his profits that week once news got out about Bella's new ranch.
He'd heard grumbles since the news got out about the reporter coming from San Francisco to write about her latest adventure as a rancher in Paradise.
Ethan walked in late and stood in the books just listening. He saw her and smiled but soon focused on what was being said. She knew he didn't look happy.
Sam stood up.
"Did you know what Mrs. Lawson did," he said, "She aimed a gun at one of my customers and scared a bunch of them away."
Not the entire story Ethan knew but Sam had a captive audience. The town had been struggling since the copper mine failed to produce much revenue and had been winding down its operations. Fewer mining employees met fewer men showing up at the saloon to get drunk and be in need of a woman's attention.
It had nothing to do with Bella and the other women. He knew that Sam fumed over Bella and Amelia showing up to offer other jobs to the women who worked his establishment.
"I might wind up having to put my place up for sale," he said, "if business doesn't improve."
Other voices chimed in one on top of another.
"Yeah and I've lost a lot of customers in the past month," another man said, "With that outlaw here things will get a lot worse."
Darrin silenced the crowd as he usually did with a hand gesture and then turned to Ethan. He put a smile on his face as if he were trying to be helpful but he was anything but…Ethan knew he was trying to ante up the pressure put on him to pressure the women into leaving town.
But he wasn't going to buckle. Darrin just had to get through that head and Martha, she just smiled at him as if she had nothing to do with it. Before the meeting even started, she'd come up to him fiddled with his coat and told him just to listen to her father.
"You know you and me…together…we could form a partnership to really push this town forward."
Ethan just looked at her because he knew it wouldn't work. Darrin and Martha might push their ambitions forward but he knew that people would be hurt by them, people he cared about…she must know that.
"I don't think I have enough time to do that," he said, "I'm supposed to keep the peace remember."
She'd sighed and just asked him to think about it before they'd headed inside. But now she bolstered her father's position not through words so much but through the way she acted. He walked to where Claire worked the books. She'd been paying attention even if she didn't act like it.
"Uncle Ethan…why are you agreeing to all these changes…?"
Had she read him that way?
"I'm not agreeing Claire," he said, "I'm supposed to be unbiased. My job's just to make sure nobody on either side does something to hurt the other."
She sighed.
"Bella Rogers is the one who's been targeted and she's not done anything wrong," she said, "besides Amelia's on her side and she's smart."
"Yes she is but I still can't take sides here."
Claire paused.
"I understand that…it's the same way for me in the schoolhouse when two students fight…I can't pick one over the other, I can only look at the facts."
"Being a marshal's like that sometimes."
Not to mention that often he did feel like he was dealing with children carrying on in the school yard. Martha walked up to both of them, smiling.
"Hi Claire…"
"Hi Ms Wyatt…how are you doing today?"
"Just fine, I see that Mr. Axelrod's kept you very busy."
Claire nodded.
"I do his books and they're not always easy to figure out."
"Ah that's true in a lot of businesses Claire," Martha said, "You'll find that out."
Claire shrugged and looked at Ethan.
"I'm starting tomorrow to help Bella Rogers out with her ledgers," she said, "Amelia suggested it since I worked as a bank teller."
Ethan nodded.
"You'll do very well at it."
Martha didn't look to pleased at the news.
"Claire…dear…perhaps you should rethink that decision and if you need another job, I can help you find…"
Claire just looked straight at her.
"No thank you Ms Wyatt. I'm looking forward to working with her and Amelia at the ranch."
Martha pursed her lips but said nothing more about it. She turned to Ethan.
"I'll see you after the meeting," she said, "I have reservations for us at the restaurant."
Ethan shook his head.
"I have work to do at the office before I head on back with Claire."
Martha just looked disappointed.
"Oh I'm sorry about that," she said, "I wanted to talk to you about a possible business venture."
"Maybe later…my plate's full right now."
Martha moved back to where her father stood and Claire grimaced.
"She wanted you to eat dinner with her."
"I know…but like I said, I've got a full plate."
Claire nodded approvingly.
"I tried to like her but she's very pushy. She thinks her way is the right way, the only way and I don't think that's true. I like Paradise the way it is now."
Ethan didn't like Paradise much at all but he didn't buy into this newest version of what it could be. He knew that Darrin's high interest rates on his loans were what was taking a toll on the merchants. Amelia had been right about that.
It had been good seeing her today even in passing. He knew he'd have to have Bella or her or someone bring Clara into town to describe the men who might come after her. Amelia had clearly taken a shining to the young woman and wanted to protect her. But he needed to know more than they were telling him so he'd do some information gathering of his own.
Starting with a couple of wires he'd send out to San Francisco to get some of those answers.