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Chapter Seventeen
Nick shook hands with the army captain and stood back as the man mounted his horse. He tipped his hat as the ragged troop of men headed for the main road again and he smiled to himself as he headed across towards the hotel. It felt good to be the bearer of good news.
As he climbed the staircase towards the upper floor rooms, he wasn't surprised to see young Lily making her way back down with a tray laden with dirty plates and cutlery.
"Mornin' Lil."
The shy young girl blushed as she did any time she was paid any mind by a man and she smiled in response.
Nick kept going up the stairs and wondered if the girl would ever outgrow her shyness. At thirteen she was blossoming into a beauty and her father was going to have to be more careful which customers' rooms he allowed her to be sent to. Not all men were like the ones he was about to catch up with. As he raised a hand to knock, he heard laughter on the other side of the door. When Adam pulled the door open, he wasn't surprised to see Hoss sitting on the side of the bed with a checkers board propped on his lap. Something had just happened before he arrived that had the big man huffing and fuming, but he could see it was all bluff. Joe was trying to stifle a laugh as he threw his hands up in mock surrender.
"I wasn't cheating!"
Adam rolled his eyes as he ushered the sheriff into the room. "He never does! Leastways not in any way that Hoss can ever catch him at it!"
"Just you wait 'til you're back up on those two feet o' yours 'cause you're gonna need to git runnin', little brother!"
Joe giggled as Hoss threw his arms around in an exaggerated gesture and Nick couldn't help but comment.
"I'd get runnin' now, Joe if I was you! This brother of yours looks like he don't like to lose."
Hoss turned around at the comment and looked chagrined. "I was just windin' him up."
Adam clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder and smiled. "He knows that, Hoss."
"I was actually looking for your father, but I see he's not here."
"He's gone down to the livery to see about renting a buckboard."
"Well that's what I came to tell him about. The army patrol I just spoke with says the Indians have moved west so you should have a safe run home." Nick lowered his voice as he leaned in closer to Adam. "Of course, I'd still have to say to be careful."
Adam nodded as he took in the hushed warning. His father had weighed up the danger and the need to get his boy home and had decided it was time to leave for the Ponderosa. Joe was on the mend and Matthew was almost rash free with his face finally clear of the red spots. There were still a few across his feet, but the doctor was confident they would soon all be gone. He still insisted the boy needed some meat on his bones and Ben had assured him that Hop Sing would take on that challenge with relish.
The sun was well past setting as the wagon rolled into the yard. Joe had complained loudly about being made to ride in the back instead of riding his pony, but his father had nodded and pursed his lips and then shook his head firmly. He had finally smiled as he rejected the adamant argument. His son was coming back to him if he was up to arguing. Of course, the fact that Joe couldn't possibly sit a horse for more than five minutes didn't stop his son putting up a token protest.
The road home had been a long and slow one as all three boys had settled in the back amidst a pile of blankets and plump feathered pillows that had been purchased from the mercantile. Matthew was finally regaining some colour in his cheeks while he slept for a good portion of the trip. Joe wasn't fooling anyone that he was as fine as he said he was and he quietly accepted the powdered pain draughts that his father mixed into a cup of water every so often. His leg throbbed, but the wound was barely inflamed whenever Hoss unbandaged it and redressed it. As the wagon rolled along, Joe had also slept and Derek had been left to his own thoughts.
The road looked vastly different on the return journey than it had on the way north. Instead of almost blind panic, there was an air of calm as the group headed for home.
Home.
It was such a small word that held such huge promises. Derek allowed his thoughts to wander to a time when he had a place called home. It wasn't a huge home, but it was warm and smelled of cinnamon and apples and there was a woman who made him feel safe when his father went to sea. Mrs Harris was so old he couldn't guess at her age, but her white hair was always tied neatly in a firm bun at the nape of her neck and her voluminous apron was often sprinkled with flour and whatever she was baking. How he missed her baking! And her hugs. And the words of comfort that she had in abundance when his father's ship went down. The day he had found her face down on the floor with her eyes glassed over and vacant was etched deep into his spirit. Not long after that he had found himself in the place that some called Somerset Orphanage, but he secretly thought of as something else. It was a place of despair and darkness where he spent most nights trying to drown his heartache in his pillow.
It wasn't until he met another woman who also baked pies and bread and smiled at him like he mattered that he began to climb out of the darkness. And then he had found his shadow. A five-year-old boy who followed him wherever he went. Even when he tried to climb out onto the roof so he could sit and stare at the stars that his father had taught him about. They showed the way home, he'd said. He'd stared at those stars on many nights and wondered why his papa hadn't found his way home.
He was oblivious as the wagon came to a stop as he was too busy staring up at the stars and wondering for the thousandth time where his father had ended up. Was his body still floating somewhere in the salty water he said flowed through his veins? Or had it been swallowed up by a big whale like happened to Jonah? Or had he been spirited away by the mermaids his father had told him about that lived somewhere mysterious?
He suddenly realised the wagon had stopped moving and he looked about at the huge house that loomed in front of him. Matthew was soundly asleep beside him and he nudged at the younger boy to wake him up. Joe was already trying to drag himself out of the end of the wagon while his brother was trying to stop him.
"Hold up there, Joe. Let me help you." Adam reached a hand out towards him and Joe almost objected. He was about to say something when he looked up and saw his brother's concern and he reached for the outstretched hand instead.
As he clambered down onto solid ground, his leg reminded him that it wasn't yet fully healed and he found his brother's arm wrapped around his waist before he could even ask for it. As he hobbled towards the house, he wasn't surprised when the door flew open and Hop Sing came barreling towards him. The torrent of words was so fast he couldn't pick up any of them, but the meaning was abundantly clear. The Chinese cook was very happy to have Number Three Son home again!
Behind them, Hoss had lifted Matthew out of the wagon and Ben had a grasp of Derek's arm to help him down. The two boys looked overwhelmed as they were led into the house. While Hop Sing fussed and brought food and heated water for a bath, his eyes stayed locked on the boy he feared may never return home. Joe looked tired, but his eyes betrayed his relief at making it home.
By the time the boys were all settled in bed and soundly asleep, Adam excused himself and headed for his room. A thought had been nagging at him and he made his way towards his dresser. He hesitated before pulling open the top drawer and reaching in for the wooden box that had sat in that drawer for many years. Joe had already confessed to taking the money, but he needed to see for himself. He was surprised to find a wad of money still sitting in the box as he'd expected it to be empty. As he lifted up the paper, he realised what Joe had done. A folded slip of paper was underneath a couple of top notes and he sucked in a slow breath as he pulled the paper out. When he opened it up and saw his brother's barely legible scrawl, he wasn't sure he wanted to read it. It really didn't matter now as Joe had shown valid reasons for his actions and there was no longer any issue between them. At least he didn't think there was.
Finally curiosity won out and he spread the paper on top of the dresser. A smudge in the ink at the bottom of the page made him smile as Joe seemed incapable of writing without smearing ink somewhere. Of course, being left-handed didn't help.
He skimmed across the lines and found himself holding his breath.
Dear Adam,
I know you will get mad when you read this but I promise I will pay it all back. Please don't hate me but I have a good reason. I can't tell you why but I need it.
Joe
Adam found his hand clenched against the edge of the dresser as he stared at the words. What was it about his relationship with his brother that could cause Joe to think he could ever hate him? True, if he had just discovered the money was gone without the reason behind it, he would have been furious. But was he so hard-nosed that Joe was justified in his fear? Adam hung his head as he considered once again how he spoke to his brother when he was angry with him. It was certainly never his intent to make him feel that way, but he could see how his young brother would read it and come to that conclusion.
"You got one too?"
Adam spun around to see Hoss standing in the doorway with a familiar-looking piece of paper in his hand. He knew, without asking, that Hoss's note would read differently to his. He didn't want to see it in black and white and he simply nodded in agreement.
"I'm kinda glad."
Adam stared at his brother, not quite sure he had heard correctly.
"He was desperate enough. I'm real glad he didn't try taking this from anywhere else. He knew we'd be mad, but we'd forgive him."
It wasn't that simple, but Adam wasn't going to dump his concerns on his brother. Instead he just nodded and folded the paper up again.
"You alright?"
Hoss was frowning at him and Adam knew just how perceptive his brother could be. He smiled as he nodded again.
"Sure. Just thinking. About how determined our little brother can be when he sets his mind to something."
"That's fer dang sure!" Hoss slowly crossed the room until he was standing next to the dresser. "Adam … what do ya s'pose Pa's gonna do with them two little fellas?"
Adam barely suppressed the smile that threatened as he looked at his brother's earnest face. "You can't keep them, Hoss!"
"I know that! I was just … I mean … I won't wanna see them handed out to somebody who don't really want them."
Adam dropped a hand on his brother's shoulder and smiled. "None of us do. Pa'll find somewhere for them to go. Someplace that's good for them."
Elise walked along the edge of the waterfront and scanned the ships that were docked there. Any one of the dozens of vessels could have been the one. He could be standing right in front of her or be thousands of miles out to sea. The salty air filled her nostrils and she drew in a deep breath. The smell of the sea was a peculiar mix of life and death. The salt spray was tangy and the sea breeze carried a faint odour of rotting seaweed that collected in the rocks below her. With each new incoming tide it got washed clean, only to once more ebb out to sea and leave behind a new batch.
"Where are you?"
Her eyes gazed out over the water, but they saw something else instead. The intense young boy who had come across her path just over two years before was gone. His story wasn't much different to any of the other children, but she had felt his pain just as deeply as every other child's. It took some time before he trusted her enough to talk about any of it. His mother had died when he was young and his father had raised him with the help of a kindly old widow who owned a house, but had no income. The rent from her boarder more than covered her needs and she loved having a child to fuss over as if he were hers. When the sailor drowned at sea, she had kept the child as her own. Until the day her heart gave out on her and the boy found himself cast adrift in a foreign world with nothing to anchor himself to.
Except it was all a lie.
The letters she had pilfered told another story altogether. Gregory Miller had put out to sea on a voyage to Panama. It was a journey he had done many times, but unlike every other time, the ship had foundered in a storm. It was presumed that all hands were lost at sea and he had been declared dead, along with the rest of the crew. It had taken him over two years to find his way home from wherever he had washed ashore and he had arrived at his home to find another family living there. Missus Harris had passed on and his son was nowhere to be found.
Elise drew herself up against the railing and watched as the sun began to drop lower over the horizon. She would need to head back soon if she was going to have supper done on time, but her gaze lingered over the ships that bobbed in the harbour.
"Where are you?" It was a duel-edged question as the frantic father had pursued every lead he could think of. Letters had arrived at the orphanage asking if they had seen his boy since neighbours had suggested that was possible. There was more than one orphanage in the port city and when Somerset had denied knowing anything, he'd tried all of them. Many times.
Elise shivered as she considered the sickening truth she had uncovered. Somerset not only knew who his boy was, but they also knew where he had gone. She beat her hand against the railing as neither Derek or Matthew had known where they were going to live. They just knew they would have a father and that was enough for both of them.
When she handed the batch of desperate letters over to the investigators, she had prayed many times over that the answers would come. A father was searching for a son he had been told was dead. In despair, he had gone back to the only thing he knew. He had sailed out on the tide to places unknown. A son had been sent away, believing his father was long dead. There was no justice in a world that allowed such a thing to go unchecked and she refused to believe in that kind of a world.
As she turned and trudged back up the hill towards the orphanage, she once again prayed that the answers would come.
Soon!