Chapter Seven

Previously:

…. Once she reached the cabin she set the buckets down on a bench that sat next to the south wall of the cabin. The window-which had small hole in the bottom corner-made it so she could hear her widowed father talking to one of their 'neighbors'-he actually lived four miles away- along with another man she did not know. She wouldn't have listened in on the conversation only the neighbor had just said her name. As she listened, her eyes widened. However, after her father left the room, the two other men lowered their voices and continued talking. What she heard them say before her father reentered the room made her eyes grow even larger and her heart skip a beat. Quietly, she slipped away, never having been heard or seen by any of the men. In a matter of minutes, she was riding away from her father's cabin as fast as she could- without endangering her horse.

When she heard spurs hitting the stairs, and Nick making a comment to Heath, she pushed the memory aside and sat straight up-and prayed for the best.

"Chelsie… Chelsie Hamilton is that you?" Nick stopped the moment he saw the brown-haired, blue eyed woman dressed in a simple gingham dress sitting next to their room's door. She'd never been a raving beauty; only, she was still easy on the eyes. A smile a mile wide spread across his face as Chelsie stood up and returned his smile.

"Been a few years," she said as they closed the gap between them. Soon they were both embracing.

"Just a few?" Nick let go and stepped back, a smile still on his face. "Ten years is more than a few. I had accepted the fact that we'd never see each other again. What have you been doing?"

"May we talk inside?" she gestured towards the room he and Heath had been given. "Though, it would be nice to have your friend's name as well." Her eyes kindly chastised Nick for not making proper introductions before he'd asked her anything

"Sorry, this is my brother, Heath. Heath, this is Chelsie Hamilton." Nick looked from Chelsie to Heath, and then back to Chelsie.

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Heath's lopsided grin appeared on his face.

"Chelsie, or Miss Hamilton, not ma'am. I'm not old enough for that ma'am bit yet." Her eyes laughed as she spoke.

Heath and Nick chuckled while Nick unlocked the door. Soon Chelsie was sitting on the only chair in the room; Nick sat on the side of his bed while Heath was leaning against the dresser.

"Last time I saw you- you had mud all over your uniform." Chelsie chuckled at the memory.

"Well, if you hadn't startled me, I wouldn't have stepped backwards and tripped over that small rock-thus landing in that stupid mud puddle!" Nick shot back-even as he grinned wide. He then grew serious. "You're calling yourself by my name. That tells me something is dreadfully wrong only, why talk to Adam Cartwright and send him to Stockton to tell me you were here? Why not send me a wire or, better yet, come to Stockton yourself? I wouldn't have shut the door on you, nor would any member of my family."

Chelsie sighed as she stood up and walked over to the window, though she stood to the side of it-thus making it so she could see the people walking-or riding-through Carson City. However, anyone looking up at the window would not have seen her-or at least have had an extremely hard time telling that someone was watching them. It was an action that put both Nick and Heath on alert.

"Chelsie?" Nick asked as he started to rise only to have her begin talking.

"I couldn't send a telegram." Chelsie turned her face away from the window and looked at Nick and his brother. "Thomas Lane is the only worker in the telegraph office where my father lives and, I couldn't send one from here. The telegraph officer is a man by the name of Ruford Lewis. Thomas and Ruford are very well aware of each other and, who knows, they may very well have a friendship- as I've seen Ruford with some of Thomas' other friends in the past. As far as traveling to California myself," she moved away from the window and then sat back down in the chair, after moving it away from the wall. "I started out for Stockton, even if it was risky traveling by myself. Only, I had a couple of close calls that made me change my destination to Carson City. This town was the closet city to where I was camped." She looked at them as if to ask if they could guess what problems she had had.

"A couple of men sorry they approached you?" Nick, who knew how hard Chelsie could hit and kick, asked-though he kept any smile off his face. He didn't want her to think he was making light of what had apparently happened.

"You could say that." Her eyes twinkled for a second before she continued talking. "I consider it a miracle that Adam attended the church social the day after I arrived-and that I heard him talking about his trip to Modesto. It gave me a safe way to get you word. I was nervous, I admit. Afraid your impulsive nature might have changed just enough to send some Pinkerton down here instead of coming yourself."

Heath couldn't keep back a chuckle, or keep his eyes from laughing.

Nick shot him a glare, though there was no real annoyance in it. "I told you once the word impulsive should have been my middle name." That got a chuckle out of both Heath and Chelsie. "What makes it unsafe to send telegraphs through those two men?"

"Mr. Lewis would tell Thomas about any telegram I sent from here. I'm sure of that. Even if he didn't, Lyle Richardson would if I sent one to Stockton." She wasn't surprised by the shocked expressions that leapt onto the two brothers' faces.

"Stockton's newest telegraph officer?" Nick looked at her in amazement.

"Yes. He's Thomas' cousin." She stated flatly. "A man with two faces." She sighed. "Truth be told, I overheard things while Thomas, my father and another gentlemen stood in my father's living room. No, I was not in the room, nor were they aware of my presence. The conversation my father had with the two men startled me only I would not have fled. I'd simply have stood my ground and fought against what they were discussing with all I had. I would have come out on top, no doubt about that one. No, it was the conversation Thomas and his friend had after my father stepped out of the room that had me fleeing my father's home. It's what they said that made me send for you the way I did."

Without even trying, both Nick and Heath asked at the same time, "What did they say?"

It was an answer they'd have to wait for as they heard a disturbance outside, and ran to the window to see what the rucks was all about.